September 1st.

Naturally, Hermione's last two weeks at home went gratingly slow. The first night back from Diagon Alley, she had slept fitfully, and the memories from that day frequently penetrated her dreams. At last the day came when Hermione and her parents left the house with her trunk in tow and caught the train into London.

The last fortnight of Hermione's life had been plagued by her parents' constant worried inquiries of 'Are you sure you want to go?' and 'No one is forcing you into this?' and worst of all "We're proud of you". One would think her impending freedom would make her parents bearable but in fact it seemed that their worry wart nature was crushing her spirit even more than usual. It was all she could do to force her fake smiles and keep to her room as much as possible.

If any good had come of two weeks waiting, Hermione had already read most of her school books and retained the knowledge they imparted. The Standard Book of Spells Grade One by Miranda Goshawk had been especially fun since it gave her a jumpstart on a few basic spells and their accompanying wand movements. Unfortunately, it had been expressed that students weren't supposed to practiced magic outside of school so as much as she burned to test her wand, Hermione had to resist.

But now their train was pulling into King's Cross station and once she boarded the Hogwarts express Hermione would be able to give her wand a few tries. Exiting their train, the Grangers walked along til they reached the very solid looking wall between platforms 9 and 10. In a group they all walked toward it and stood, stupidly, next to it. Hermione pressed her hand into the brick and saw it pass through. Waiting carefully til there was no one looking, the Grangers pressed themselves into and through the wall and stepped out onto a vast and bustling platform.

Wizard families were busily ushering their kids about with their trunks and their owls. Every once in a while, the Grangers would catch sight of another family who looked rather ordinary but the vast majority seemed very wizard like indeed which led them to wonder exactly how common it was for muggle-borns to occur. They tried not to gawk at the eccentricity of these people, however the sight of a tough elderly witch sporting a stuffed vulture on her head was hard to ignore. It was ten minutes till departure and Hermione wanted to get nice and settled so she hugged both her mother and father, withstood their last minute admonishments of 'be careful' and entered the red Hogwarts Express.

There were only students on the train though some were quite a bit older, the muggle equivalent of high schoolers perhaps she thought. Walking along the open compartments her mind raced. Does she just step in and join someone? She knew absolutely no-one in this world…Finally she found a compartment with just one occupant; a chubby boy with dark hair who was currently on all fours looking under the seat.

"Hi." said Hermione, awkwardly.

The boy gave a jump at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, uh hi…"

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Oh, not at all."

"I'm Hermione Granger." She extended her hand.

"N-neville Longbottom." said Neville with an awkward smile.

After shaking hands Hermione stashed her trunk in the cargo space above the seats and sat down. Neville however sat and looked mildly bothered about something. He kept glancing out the window nervously.

"What's the matter?" asked Hermione.

"My gran is going to kill me." said Neville sullenly. He indicated the lady with the vulture head gear.

"That lady's your grandmother?" asked Hermione interestedly.

"Yeah." said Neville half-heartedly.

"I'm not from around here so I'm sorry I offend but why does she wear that hat?"

At this Neville gave a wry smile.

"Well, she's very traditional, my gran….She keeps up the older fashions, ya know?"

Hermione nodded, still looking at Grandma Longbottom.

"So, are you muggleborn?" Neville asked the question in a hushed voice as if scared of offending Hermione.

"Yes. My parents (Hermione indicated them on the platform. They seemed to be making awkward conversation with a short, plump red haired witch) are dentists."

"I'm sorry?"

"You know, they fix people's teeth. Don't you have wizard dentists?" she asked at the confused look at Neville's face.

"No. There's spells and potions for that kind of thing."

Hermione was intrigued. Magic and spells she had expected but she hadn't paid much thought to potions despite her newly purchased book on the matter. At that moment the train lurched and the whistle sounded. Hermione and Neville stuck their heads out the window and waved to their respective parents along with every other kid on the train. Slowly, the Hogwarts Express began it's roll down the tracks. Most people kept waving til their parents' were out of sight, Hermione however pulled herself back into the compartment and sighed.

"Free." she thought.

Hermione and Neville spent the next couple hours talking about the differences in wizard and muggle society. Eventually, Neville returned to the floor as he continued the conversation.

"…she'd kill me for losing Trevor-my toad. He's so slippery and always disappears at the worst times."

"I'll help you find him then." offered Hermione. It seemed like the friendly thing to do. Figuring Neville could scour the relatively small compartment himself, Hermione stepped into the aisle to look. Most compartments had been closed and Hermione worried that the stampede of footsteps earlier may have crushed poor Trevor. Without thinking she slid open a nearby door. Two boys around her age were sitting in the compartment, one red head and one black haired messy looking boy.

"Have either of you seen a toad. A boy named Neville has lost one."

"No." said the red haired boy. It was now she realized his wand was raised.

"Oh, you're doing magic?" Hermione then launched into a rambling declamation of how she had a tried a few spells that worked, how she wanted to be in Gryffindor and memorized her books by heart. "Let's see it."

"Sunshine daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened other than the sharp squeal from the rat at being prodded.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well it's not a very good one is it?" said Hermione, simply stating her mind. She didn't take note of the offended look the boy shot to his friend.

"Who are you?" asked Hermione.

"Um, Ron Weasley." said the Red Head.

"Harry Potter." said the black haired boy.

Hermione double took. The messy haired boy indeed had the lightning bolt scar on his head Hermione had heard about. Again she launched into a rambling speech about having read all about him. Harry seemed surprised that anything had ever been written about him. Hermione than excused herself and went back to her original compartment. Neville looked exasperated so she sat in silence until she heard footsteps pass her compartment and saw a group of three boys, two very burly, and one rather skinny, walk by. Craning her head into the open aisle she saw them go to the compartment of Harry and the red haired boy. After a moment, there seemed to be some sort of commotion.

Getting up, Hermione began a trek back to Harry's compartment when the group of three boys barreled pass , almost knocking her over. Upon seeing the scattered sweets on the floor it appeared a fight had occurred. Hermione asked something to the tune of 'what had they been doing' and when confronted with the awkward "why are you here again" stares, launched into how the boys should get changed and if they'd been fighting they should stop. Taken aback by the look on Ron's face she thought perhaps she'd been a bit rude. So she 'helpfully' informed him he had dirt on his nose before leaving and missing the glare he shot at her.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence between her and Neville until finally the train stopped.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update. Been Having a bit of trouble with my computer. Fixed now. Should be more soon. Thanks for reading!

Also by this Author: Dese Flies, Scars of Azkaban, Fckd by a Troll.