Hermione Granger and the Goblet Of Fire (Completed)

Chapter 9 - Off to Hogwarts

Hermione jumped out of bed with a smile on her face the next day, as she realised it was September 1st. She was going back to Hogwarts!

Despite most of her peers being relatively gloomy, Hermione found that she wasn't the only one who was full of energy. She had only been downstairs for five minutes when Mr Weasley came hurtling into the room. He pulled on his robes, bid everyone a quick farewell before running back out of the room. Hermione, Ginny and the twins looked at each other curiosly, before following Bill and Charlie into the kitchen

"Of course I will" Mrs Weasley was saying "You just look after Mad-Eye, we'll be fine"
Hermione saw Mr Weasley Disapparating just as she entered the kitchen. Harry and Ron had clearly just got up, and were standing in the corner of the room
"Did someone say Mad-Eye?" said Bill "What's he been up to now?"
"He says someone tried to break into his house last night" said Mrs. Weasley
"Mad-Eye Moody?" said George "Isn't he that nutter-"
"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody" said Mrs. Weasley firmly
"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" said Fred under his breath "Birds of a feather..."
"Moody was a great wizard in his time" said Bill
"He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?" said Charlie, and Bill nodded
"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?" said Fred "I mean, I know he's a genius and everything..."

"Who is Mad-Eye?" asked Harry blankly
"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry" said Charlie "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror - one of the best... a Dark wizard catcher" he added, seeing Harry's confused visage "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though... the families of people he caught, mainly... and I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere"

Bill and Charlie both decided to come with them to King's Cross, but, much to Hermione's relief, Percy said he really had to get to work
"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment" he said pompously "Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me."
"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" said George "I reckon he'll know your name soon"
Everyone laughed but Percy, who scowled and left

Due to the number of people, Mrs Weasley had had to order three Muggle taxis to take them to the station. They didn't look very pleased at the sight of so much luggage, two owls and a cat
"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us" said Mrs. Weasley as the three Muggles hauled the six trunks into the boots of the cars "But there weren't any to spare... Oh dear, they don't look happy, do they?"

The journey was not fun. One of Fred's fireworks accidentally went off in the back of the taxi Hermione, Ron and Harry were in. That panicked Crookshanks and by the time they had got to London they were all very scratched by the time they left the very grumpy taxi driver outside the station

Hermione saw several of her classmates on the way to right platform. She spotted the two other girls in her dormitory, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, watching the comings and goings of a coffee shop with the same interest that a scientist might observe a baboon. Hermione didn't feel inclined to greet them. She had never really got on well with the other Gryffindor girls, and she'd never spoken a word to Parvati's twin sister Padma, as she was in Ravenclaw. Hermione realised, with a pang of jealousy, that the three of them looked a lot better looking than they had when she had last seen them. Lavender had grown about a foot over the summer, and her hair seemed more glossy somehow. Both Patil twins were also taller and thinner, and they both had striking gold highlights in their black hair. Hermione knew that looks really didn't matter in the general scheme of things, but she still didn't think it was fair. Why was everyone else getting prettier and she was staying her ugly old self?

Soon after that, they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Hermione, Ron and Harry went first. They walked up to the barrier, talking about something, and walked straight through it into platform nine and three-quarters. Hermione could see the scarlet train billowing smoke just up ahead of them. She grinned