~Good Afternoon~

~University is a trying time in my life, so bear with me~

~Halloween has come and gone but it is yah girls favorite time of the year so spooky time will be included in year two and as we go farther~

~How have you all been? Your comments have lifted me to have some type of motivation. I've been working on a story I'll probably never publish, my apologizes~

~This is mostly a filler chapter, but the next will be the start of year 2~

Chapter 6

Platform 9 ¾

December 20th, 1971

Monday

The siblings walked silently towards the platform, Sirius following awkwardly behind them. The snow made noise of protest as they walked over it. The morning before they left for the hall, James invited Sirius to their home since he was apparently not welcome at his, Hermione assumed this was in result of his sorting. She had said nothing as he trucked along, surprisingly not commenting on her "oh so unfortunate sorting" as they neared the impending grounding that they were both surely to receive. When their parents came into view James broke the silence.

"Why didn't you write to mum and dad Mya?" he asked, she shrugged her shoulders in response, before speaking,

"Didn't want Dad to be disappointed that I ended up a Slytherin." Sirius scoffed, and James widened his eyes,

"He would never Mya!" James insisted. She didn't respond as she walked swiftly to their mother as the woman engulfed her into a hug that his sister surely needed. Her perfume engulfed the small girl and she felt a shame that she had not written to the woman that welcomed her into her home. Her mother broke the hug and moved on to James as he let out a squeak of disapproval at her actions, their mother ignoring him and his protest entirely.

She faced her father and he had an expression in his eyes that seemed to be confusion and sadness, but not directed at her, but to the emblem that embedded her school robes. His eyes left the snake and went to hers and his expression changed to one of happiness, and he opened his arms after a moment of hesitation and she took them swiftly. They were silent and then he spoke so only she could hear,

"I knew you'd be just like your mother petal." Fleamont stated softly. Tears threatened to fall as she hugged him tighter, it would take him a while to accept that a Potter was in Slytherin but she his heartfelt words were enough for now.

"Come, Come, Best get you all home for the night." She motioned for them to follow her, "We've got a long discussion in front of us after all." She said, pointily looking at both of her children.

Potter Manor

December 21st, 1971

Library

Hermione sat in the library where her mom sat in front of her, seemingly acting as though their conversation was nothing more than a proper meeting for tea. The boys were currently outside with her father, not riding on their brooms, rather they were assisting Fleamont with the household chores that Nilly and Limely allowed James to do while Sirius and Fleamont watched with amusement at his inability to do things the "muggle way" as he put it. Since none of the three children were able to use magic outside of Hogwarts.

"So darling." Her mother started putting her teacup down, "Why in merlin did you not write home after your sorting?"

"I just…" she began, "I thought that you both would be disappointed since I was not a Gryffindor like James…" She finished looking down at her unscratched hands.

Her mother looked at her for a moment and sighed, "You know Hermione, I meant it when I said that I wanted a daughter." Hermione looked back up at her, eyes wide, "You arriving was a wonderful gift." Euphemia chuckled, "And I'm certain that I am the opposite of disappointed about your assortment."

"Really?"

"Why would I be? You've ruined thousands of years of Potter's being Gryffindor. I am beside myself with excitement over your father losing more galleons over this." She stated with a small smirk on her face, "Your fathers always been a little biased, but he will come around I promise, he did marry me after all."

Hermione smiled

"Now go tell your father about your need of practicing for tryouts next year." Euphemia said waving her off, "That should help you get ahead over your brother for his behavior."

Hermione stood up with a confused look on her face, "But I thought we were in trouble."

Euphemia chuckled, "I think me sending a howler to you was punishment enough for now, your brother on the other hand will have a few more chores to do. Understood darling?"

She shook her head in response, "Yes mum."

"Good girl, now scoot before Limely notices you're going outside."

She moved quickly, not wanting to be prevented from flying because of a house elf. She heard her mother behind her yelling something like saunter and walked a bit slower but still walking a clumsy saunter as she went to her room to change quickly.

Practicing made Hermione feel free, it was something that she never experienced before as she refused to do so in her other life. As her father told her to focus on the snitch she looked around as her curly hair moved away from her face in the light of the dimming sunlight. This was always her favorite time of the day, right before the darkness of the sky took over and showed the beauty of the stars and the moon stood proudly in the sky.

The colors that invaded the landscape had always made Hermione stop and stare that she was able to look at in a slight awe. The orange that would blend into the rare purple that sometimes showed itself before the daylight disappeared completely.

She didn't understand why she was afraid of being in the sky in the past – or the future of she was being real with herself, because it was beautiful.

Her ear twitched at the light fluttering of the snitch as it took her out of her dazed moment and whipped her head around to see it flying around her in excitement,

"Dad! Did you charm it?" she asked in awe.

The chuckle from the man in question made her look down at his gleaming smile, at being caught by his daughter,

"Yes Petal, I charmed it indeed."

"How?" she asked in amazement, "It's not trying to hide anymore!"

"It's simple darling… just a charm… I'll teach it to you sometime, after you learn how to use a quill."

She flushed at the teasing tone in his voice and lowered herself down to the ground before dismounting off the broom and looking up at him,

"I really am sorry." She murmured.

"I know Petal," he replied, "And I'm sorry… I didn't want you to feel unwelcome suddenly because of the house you were put in." he sighed, "You will be brilliant… even as a Slytherin."

"Thank you, dad." She said happily,

"Bring it in." he gestured at her, and it didn't take her even a moment to be pulled into his embrace as a tug of happiness took over her.

Potter Manor

December 25th, 1971

Christmas morning was interesting to say the least, well it would've been less interesting if Hermione hadn't woken up to James pouncing on her bed as if he was a wild animal, screaming as if he had just won the Quidditch World Cup, it was 5 in the morning for merlins' sake.

The funniest thing though, was the muggle reindeer headband that he was wearing on his head. It glistened and lite up as her moved around in her bedroom, shouting that it was Christmas repeatedly. Hermione had to stop herself from laughing at his antics, and her remembrance of his future aminagus form.

She shuffled through her things as he continued to jump around, the antlers on his head, magically reacting to his movements, as if he was really a stag.

If only he knew.

She happily laughed and pulled out the muggle camera her mother had gifted her the night before and snapped a picture of the boy. He huffed and ran over to her, making them both topple to the ground,

"Nooooo! No one needs to know about this!" he yelled, suddenly embarrassed.

"Jamie!" Hermione squealed, "Get off you troll!"

He snatched the camera from her hands before removing the photo that she'd taken and threw it onto her dresser, secretly letting her keep the photo and snapped one of her laughing on the floor,

"Now were even Mya!" he stated proudly, scrambling away from his sister. His antlers stood proudly, making him look even more ridiculous than he did before.

She stood up from the floor and wiped down her pajamas, "Since you've now woken me up, lets go downstairs!"

"Yes!"

They both dashed out of the room and flew down the stairs, their mothers voice rang throughout the halls,

"Stop running you two! One of you wake up Sirius!"

They both laughed and kept going until they reached the living room.

It looked magnificent.

"I'm going to wake up Sirius!" James yelled as he basically launched himself back up the stairs, leaving Hermione alone to bask in her families living room.

The fireplace was already going making the room warmer in comparison to the rest of the house. The tree was large and was close to touching the ceiling but hovered only mere centimeters from doing so. All the ornaments gleamed from the glow of the fire, even the Slytherin crest that had been added just for her the day before. A few presents sat below the tree, waiting for the children to tear into them when the time came, and Hermione couldn't pretend that she wasn't excited for her first Christmas back home.

She sauntered into the room fully and sat herself down onto the chair closest to the fire and did her best to ignore the whispers of Sirius and her brother as they made their way into the room.

Her parents joined in soon after and her mother announced that since everyone was already awake, presents could be opened before they sat down to eat breakfast. James yelled once more in excitement as a present was handed to him.

He unwrapped the gift and stared at the contents inside.

The twin mirrors

"Mum what is this?" James asked.

"They are called Two-way mirrors." Their father spoke before their mother could, "They are magically connected, and will allow you to speak to someone on the other side, no matter where they are."

"Wicked!" James exclaimed looking at Sirius with a large smile before reaching into the box and pulling it out, not hesitating and handing the twin to Sirius, "Now we can talk all the time!"

Hermione smiled at the boys as Sirius spoke,

"That's so cool, lets try it!"

They played with the mirrors for a while, during this Fleamont handed a larger present to Hermione with a soft smile and the boys stopped their ogling at the mirrors and looked at Hermione's present with curiosity,

She tore the paper off and a broom sat on her lap in front of her, she had her very own broom. Not James's old one, her own broom.

And the best part?

It had the Slytherin house crest on it.

"It's beautiful." She murmured, looking at the woods detail and the bristles, "Thank you."

"You can try it out later today if the snow doesn't get to bad." Fleamont said happily.

"Yes, but for now were going to finish opening presents, and then we'll have some breakfast." Euphemia added.

They continued to open presents for the remainder of the morning, then ate breakfast as a family. As they talked at the table Euphemia started talking to directly Hermione,

"How are the dorms? Are they treating you okay?"

Hermione nodded, "My roommates are actually really nice, the girls have this weird obsession with my hair and Catherine Goyle never spots talking about the giant squid for some reason, but overall they've been great." Her mother nodded waiting for her to continue, "Emma Vanity wants me to try out for the team, and I met a girl from Ravenclaw named Pandora."

Best not bring up Lily… or Severus…

James dropped his fork, "WAIT! They want you to try out for Quidditch? You'll only be a second year!"

"James." Fleamont sternly stated before smiling at Hermione, "That's lovely Petal, your mother and I are going to have our work cut out for us when we attend the games, especially when you play against each other."

The twins mock glared at one another before laughing and Hermione spoke,

"Emma said that she wants me to try out, she said, 'Having a Potter on the team would be beneficial.'"

"Of course, it would be!" Fleamont replied proudly.

The rest of the holiday's passed without to much grief for the Potter children and their actions from their first term at Hogwarts, and then they were back on the train for Hogwarts for their second year.