GREEN AND SILVER » discontinued

six

BEFORE SHE HAD LEFT, Professor Fleming had given Hermione another letter, one with instructions on how to catch the train. Apparently she had to go to King's Cross Station and catch the Hogwart's Express at 11 am from Platform 9 ¾. It also had instructions on how to get to this 'Platform 9¾'. Hermione just had to run straight at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. Simple? Yeah, totally.

Hermione spent most of her summer reading through my books. She was especially interested in Transfiguration, but just couldn't wait for any class really, as long as it had something to do magic. Hermione had memorised all of the course books, of course, and had been practicing some basic spells, she had mastered the 'reparo' spell, and had learnt the theory of most of the other spells. In fact, she was itching to go back to Diagon Alley and get her second year books to start learning.

Hermione's wand was still not feeling quite right, which is why she was working so hard to learn more spells. Maybe if she just kept on doing magic, it would eventually feel more natural?

Hermione woke up around 6 am on September 1st, and quickly got dressed into comfortable clothes. She knew she would be on a train for a while, and she had enough common sense to know that walking into King's Cross Station with a massive trunk and wizard's robes on, she would get more attention than was a good idea if she was going to run through a wall.

Hermione spent the rest of the morning reading over my books, especially Hogwarts: A History. She wanted to know as much as possible about Hogwarts and magic before she got there, wouldn't that make people like me more?

Her parents finally woke up and we left around 10 am. Even though they only lived half an hour away from the station, Hermione wanted to be there early and get a good compartment. They arrived and Hermione loaded all of her luggage onto a trolley. The Granger family stood in front of the barrier between the platforms. They all knew that only witches and wizards would be able to get through the barrier to platform 9¾. For about 5 minutes they didn't say anything, but then Hermione suddenly hugged them tight "Oh, mummy, daddy, I'm going to miss you so much!"

"Honey, make sure to write to us at least once a week"

"Of course I will! I'll try and write more often than that"

"Be careful, and be safe. Try not to get into any trouble"

"Of course I'm not going to get into trouble! I'd rather die than be expelled"

Hermione gave them one last hug and through their shoulders she I saw another family of 3, all with shining white blonde hair. The son had the same sort of trunk as Hermione, so she assumed he was Hogwarts bound as well. Hermione noticed him staring at her, so she gave him a small smile, but he ignored it. Hermione frowned, she couldn't have done anything wrong, could she?

Hermione brushed it off and held tight to the handle of her trolley, steeling herself for running through a brick wall. She took a deep breath, and ran straight at the wall, sure that she would crash, but surprisingly, she didn't. Hermione kept running, almost bumping into someone else. "Oh, sorry" It was their own fault for standing in the way of the barrier.

Hermione looked around and smiled at the sights. There were people with cats, rats, toads, and cats. The whole platform was filled with smoke, coming from an exhaust pipe sticking out of the top of the scarlet train, with large lettering on it reading 'Hogwarts Express'. Hermione stared in awe at it until someone bumped into me "Oy, watch it!" She turned around and saw that it was the same blonde boy from outside the barrier. "Sorry" he said gently "I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy. And you are?" Hermione was about to reply when Draco's parents walked up. His father sneered at me and his mother wrinkled her nose, as if there was a disgusting smell somewhere. "Draco, why are you associating yourself with this scum?" his father said.

"Yes, you should never talk to mudbloods! We are purebloods, you know that we're above them" his mother added. Draco looked ashamed and muttered "Sorry, mother. Sorry, father" and walked away from me, flashing me an apologetic look. Hermione was confused. What was a mudblood?

Hermione hauled her trunk off my trolley and half pulled, half pushed it onto the train. She stood, waiting for the doorway to clear so that she could find a seat. Hermione felt a lurch, and almost fell over, but luckily someone caught me. Someone with familiar blonde hair. Why did he keep popping up everywhere? "Thank you" Hermione said to him, embarrassed "You're welcome" he opened his mouth, as if about to say something, but quickly closed it and walked away. Hermione stared out the window to see the train leaving the station and as she glanced down the train, she saw kids waving goodbye to their parents, and couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness that her parents couldn't properly see her off on her first day of Hogwarts.