The train ride was quieter than Hermione would have thought it should be. Most of that was due to the fact that she couldn't find Harry or Ron anywhere.
"No luck?" Neville asked her once she sat down.
"Not a sign of them. Found Fred, George, and Percy. They all said Harry and Ron were right behind them. I hope they didn't miss the train."
"Harry and Ron came to the station with Ron's parents. If anything Mr. and Mrs. Weasley should be able to take care of it. You know that Wood doesn't come all the way to London to get on the train," Neville reasoned.
Hermione leaned against the wall and pulled a book out. It was as good a time as any to get started on possible homework reading assignments. She'd read the textbooks as best as she could since getting them. But she didn't have many clues as to what the assignments would be. She'd have a better idea the next day but she could still start taking notes.
They arrived not too much later and Hermione still hadn't seen hide nor hair of either Harry or Ron. She would have been more concerned but decided that she would wait until the feast to see what was going on. After all, she may have just missed them.
She sat down at the Gryffindor table with no sign of the boys. The sorting started and finished without any sign of them. She figured Ron would want to see his sister being sorted, even if it wasn't unlikely where she was going to wind up.
The feast ended soon enough, with rumors going around about Harry and Ron being expelled for crashing a flying car into a tree. And appearing before muggles.
They were ushered into the common room. And finally, Harry and Ron straggled in.
"Where have you been?" Hermione demanded. "Someone said you'd been expelled."
"We haven't been expelled," Harry said. "Thankfully."
"Can't you just leave us alone?" Ron moaned.
"Boys," Hermione said throwing up her hands and heading off to her bed. She wasn't going to deal with Ron if he didn't want her concern. At least Harry had the decency to look ashamed.