The train journey this year was... different. It was just as loud as ever, but for different reasons than usual.
Hardly any first years ran up and down the aisle overly excited, instead most of them stood by the big windows and were already on the phone with their parents. Either to describe everything on the train to them, or to pour out their homesick hearts with tears in their eyes after just the first hour's journey.
Even the older children hardly paid any attention to the new chocolate frog cards, preferring to accompany their stories from the summer holidays with holiday pictures on their mobile phones.
So little clusters formed everywhere around Muggle-borns and half-Muggles whose parents did not live in the wizarding world.
Michael Corner had a bunch of girls around him and proudly showed photos of himself at the beach, while Collin Creevey, one compartment away, discussed the pros and cons of Muggle photography with some of his friends.
As far as Hermione could hear through the noise, his strongest argument for the magical photos was that no one could ever have accidentally closed their eyes in group pictures.
Many were actually surprised and disappointed that the pictures on the phones didn't move and in turn fascinated by video footage Collin had taken of himself and his brother goofing around in the forest.
"If your technology is so advanced, why can't the pictures even wave?" sneered Ernie McMillan, who with a few others was just pushing past the compartment where Hermione, Ron and Harry were sitting with Luna and Neville.
"Well, every picture is free for now, and if you want to print it out, it'll cost less than a single acid pop," Colin could be heard calling out to him.
Hermione smirked. She rememberred very well when she had received a few sceptical looks in her first year after hanging developed pictures of her family on the wall behind her bed.
Unless both parents were Muggles, most at Hogwarts resorted to magical photos. Sure, who didn't like to see their loved ones laughing alive.
Ron and Ginny were actually not the only ones who had been given older phones by friends. Many who already used smartphones at home had brought their older models to others.
Luna and Neville, however, had bought their own in the days before school started.
Hermione would have loved to have been there when Luna had walked into a mobile phone shop. According to her description, she had looked around and picked out the prettiest one. In her case, that meant an "Alcatel One Touch Fire" with a thick, pink case that she had already covered with some glitter stones and plush bobbles.
Neville was shocked at how expensive the devices were and had therefore picked up an "LG G2 mini" - but just realised that he was a bit too clumsy for the tiny screen.
Hermione and Harry were more than amused by the whole scene. Surely the euphoria would die down after a few days or weeks.
Apart from a few phone calls here and there in the corridors and a few more souvenir photos than usual, probably not that much would change. Hopefully.
Arriving at Hogwarts, Hermione realised how much she missed the old castle. She knew the feeling from the past school years, but today there was a good portion of melancholy added tot he mix. After all, it was the last time she would experience that feeling of coming home within the thick stone walls.
It was her last year at Hogwarts and even though she knew she would always be welcome as a guest, her heart grew a little heavier with each step towards the front door. Ron didn't seem to share the melancholy. His stomach had already grumbled louder than the big wagon wheels could rattle beneath them on their way here and he couldn't move fast enough. Harry, on the other hand, seemed to be feeling much the same as her, if not worse.
Hermione's nostalgia was mixed with pity. She had two homes, after all. Harry only had Hogwarts, where he felt welcome and comfortable.
They hadn't even talked about what to do after this year in detail. Hermione had her plan, but the boys?
Yes, Harry and Ron wanted to become aurors, but where would they live, how did they imagine their lives? Somehow this topic had always been skirted around until now.
Only moments later, Hermione was jolted out of her thoughts when she almost bumped into Ron, who had stopped abruptly in front of her.
"What... What's going on?" Hermione looked past him. There were countless students in front of them, crowded together. They were still standing a few feet away from the door to the Great Hall, but there seemed to be no progress.
Normally, everyone rushed to their places full of anticipation to get the annual sorting ceremony over with as quickly as possible and then to be able to feast on the delicious food.
Over the murmur, Professor McGonagall's voice rang out all oft he sudden. She was standing right next to the big door and didn't seem happy at all.
"Oh please, you will have all year to do this, now off to your tables! Come on, move along, we don't have time for this nonsense!"
Another few minutes passed with the crowd moving very slowly forward until McGonagall finally raised her voice again.
"If you are not all in your seats within the next five minutes, we will confiscate all phones immediately!"
All at once the students started moving much faster.
"What was the problem?" murmured Harry as they finally entered the hall. Hermione looked around and caught sight of most of her classmates sitting at the tables and taking pictures of the Great Hall, the floating candles and the twinkling night sky.
"Everyone wanted a photo of the Great Hall from the doorway to send home, I guess..." she sighed, shaking her head with a grin. If she was completely honest - it had been her plan too. After all, her parents had never seen the hall before. Unlike many of the other parents. But of course, Professor McGonagall was right. She still had a whole year to take such picture.
The house teachers, however, had their hands full all evening reminding their students to please listen to Professor Dumbledore's speech, not to simply take other people's pictures without asking first and not to talk on the phone during dinner.
The first and second years in particular were difficult to restrain.
"Does the bet with the spam mails still stand?" asked Harry as the feast finally came to a slow end.
"Huh?" went Hermione, whom he had just snapped out of her toughts about her future, again.
"Er, yeah right. I think the first person to fall for something like that is Neville."
"Oh, so specific?" laughed Harry. "I thought we were going more by houses on that one. My money's on someone from Hufflepuff."
"No way." Hermione laughed too and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be a Gryffindor or a Slytherin. We're equally bad when it comes to that famous pride before the fall."
Harry's reply was a contemptuous snort, to which Hermione just smirked and took it as confirmation of her statement.
She saw Dean across the table looking over at them, grinning broadly.
"Should be interesting this year," he commented, snatching a chicken drumstick from under Ron's nose, which earned him an annoyed look.
"Definitely," Hermione agreed. She looked over to Professor McGonagall, who was just sitting in her chair looking distressed and slowly shaking her head, while Professor Dumbledore seemed to be chuckling to himself with shrugging shoulders as he refilled his glass.
Hermione buried her face in her hands as Harry and Ginny fought beside her over the last breakfast muffin. It had taken two days - TWO! - and she'd been added to five different and all pointless WhatsApp groups, the box of confiscated phones that stood menacingly in the Great Hall behind the teachers' table was already too small for all the devices collected and several people had ruined their phones either by water or by dopping them onto stone floors.
Not to mention Luna, who had already misplaced her lovingly decorated phone somewhere, and Pansy, who had already upset several Gryffindor girls by secretly filming them gossiping about Slytherin students in the courtyard.
"Stressed already?" sounded Dean's voice beside Hermione as he slid onto the empty seat next to her. "The school year hasn't even really started yet, has it?"
"I can't watch everyone here run to their doom," Hermione muttered through her fingers. "Nobody passes their final exams like that and they will all end up downloading dodgy files and getting all the viruses the internet has to offer."
"Oh, give it another week," Dean waved it off. "I think it's really funny right now, Seamus freaked out yesterday when I showed him there was an app where you could enter Quidditch results."
Hermione looked at him, confused.
"Excel." Dean grinned broadly as ever. "But seriously, Seamus and Neville downloaded so many apps yesterday that their phones crashed, they're like little kids at Honeydukes."
"Who can blame them..." sighed Hermione, looking around at the two of them. They were sitting some seats away from her, both tapping away on the touchscreen under the table.
"What are they playing?"
"Candycrush and Angry Birds," Dean replied, sounding like a proud big brother who had taught the little siblings a new swear word.
"Hermione!" Parvati called out. Her roommate rushed up to her all excited and crouched down behind Hermione so that they were both at eye level.
"Padma told me something and I need you to tell me if it's true or not."
"Uh, okay..."
"Are there really apps where you sign up to... well..." Parvati glanced quickly at Dean and Harry and lowered her voice. "On which you can look for people to...well, date?"
Oh no, please no!
"Yes...there are apps for everything, but what would you want with such an app at Hogwarts? Everyone who could come here for dates is already here."
"Yeah, well, I was just trying to get that confirmed. It's weird though, isn't it?"
"Some say so, some say different," Dean interjected, which immediately made Parvati stand up straight again. She apparently hadn't expected him to have heard her.
"All right. Thanks, Hermione." She turned on her heels and rushed back to her sister at the Ravenclaw table.
Dean burst out laughing beside Hermione.
"I don't think that's funny at all!" protested Hermione with worried lines on her forehead.
"I do," Dean gasped. "Just think of it. I wonder what's how such dating profiles would look like. For example..." He let his gaze roam the hall and lingered on the Slytherins.
"Malfoy."
Hermione pretended to vomit.
"Dragon666, new here, just signed up out of boredom, nothing serious, badboy through and through."
"Please stop!" pleaded Hermione, but even she couldn't suppress a giggle any longer.
"Or Crabbe and Goyle - they probably just share a profile or upload blurry group photos anyway, so you never know who's profile it actually is. Oh and Seamus would one hundred percent upload a picture of himself with a fish he caught."
"Sounds like an expert talking," Harry commented from the side.
"I have some older cousins," Dean returned with a shrug.
"I propose a new bet," Harry decided confidently. "Who's going to fall for a Catfish first? I vote for Lavender."
"Seamus," Hermione supposed.
"Hmm. Yeah, even though I don't wish it on him, I'm with Seamus too. I hope I'll catch on in time, though," Dean agreed. "Or Neville."
Hermione exhaled audibly.
"You're not the whole schools babysitter," Dean said, putting a hand on her shoulder and standing up. It was time for potions class.
