The Stage has been Set
Hermione brushed her long curls out of her face as she boarded the Hogwarts Express the same as she did every year. But this year, it was a bit more difficult to board with the same excitement as usual. It was harder to meet everyone’s eyes. She believed Harry when he said that Voldemort was back. She was then forced to think about what it would mean for her as a muggle-born. Sure, she had never been accepted by everyone anyway because blood prejudice had always been a prevalent part of her experience in the wizarding world, but now that could become a prominent part of her life.
She closed her eyes for a moment as the image of Dumbledore telling the school about what happened to Cedric in the tournament ran through her mind. The fact that the minister was actively denying the truth and not believing Harry and Dumbledore, meant more of a headache for the present and the future. It caused the Order to have more trouble recruiting and would mean that they would be behind the Death Eater’s numbers when the truth came out. A throat clearing behind her spurred her from her thoughts. She muttered a quick, mumbled apology and hurried to the next open train car. She opened and closed the door quickly without turning around. She took a deep breath in for five seconds and then let it in. She sat in the seat by the window and dropped her bag beside her. She looked out the window at all of the parents who were waving goodbye to their children as the time to leave came closer and closer.
Her mind wandered to her parents and what they were doing at that moment. She missed them. She hoped they weren’t worried. Ron walking into the cab pulled her from her thoughts. That seemed to be a common theme for the day so far as it had happened when she had seen her parents that morning as well.
“Hey Ron,” she said with a small smile. He gave his goofy smile back.
“Hey ‘Mione. Where did you disappear to this morning?” Hermione tried to school her face before she answered. She knew that he was referring to the fact that she left a vague note telling the Weasleys that she would just meet them at the platform. Hermione did not want to share why she had left because she was worried about how many tears would fall and the truth that would come out.
“Oh I just had errands to run, Ron. I had forgotten to give my parents their gifts and wanted to give them the gifts face to face because I won’t see them for a while.” Ron nodded, accepting her explanation. She gave Ron a weak smile in response, glad that he had accepted her excuse and moved on.
“Where’s Harry?” she asked Ron, after what seemed to be an awkward moment of silence to her. Ron shrugged, “I dunno. He was talking to Sirius last I saw.” Hermione nodded and pulled a book out of her bag and leaned her head against the window. The cool glass was a breath of fresh air against her pounding head. It wasn’t much but it did seem to help just a bit. Harry walked into the cabin just a few minutes later and sat across from Hermione and Ron. “Hello ‘Mione” was the only thing he said quietly before staring out the window at the passing trees much like she had been doing moments ago when she was pretending to be reading her book. Hermione watched him, honey-brown eyes cataloging his facial expressions, set jaw, and slightly troubled green eyes.
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The ride to Hogwarts seemed to go quickly as the trio sat in silence each in their own world. This was abnormal for them as normally their cabin was filled with laughter and conversation. The train creaked to a stop and pulled each of them out of their thoughts. When they got out and stepped on the platform, there was no loud, happy Hagrid to greet them and pull them from the gloom that seemed to be holding them. In his normal spot stood Flitwick and McGonagall. Hermione gave her two professors a small smile before following the boys to the self-pulling carriages.
Of course, things were not going to go smoothly for the trio. As they made their way through the gloomy trees, they ran into Malfoy and his goons. Malfoy turned around as he walked towards the carriages, a smirk plastered to his face. “I’m surprised they’re still letting you walk around free, Potter. I bet there is a cell in Azkaban with your name on it,” he told Harry, his voice lower and more prideful than the years before. Ron grabbed Harry by his biceps before he could jump at Malfoy. Malfoy backed up a little at the sight. “See? What did I tell you, boys? He’s a complete nutter.”
“Real mature,” Hermione muttered in the direction of Malfoy as his gleeful eyes turned to her. She kept eye contact for just a few seconds before breaking it, tearing honey brown from cool gray. She shook off the weird feeling that Malfoy’s piercing eyes seemed to bring about.
“Come on, Harry. It’s only Malfoy,” she said, her voice heavy as she helped Ron hold Harry back as Malfoy and his friends headed up the rest of the way to the wagons. Harry shrugged his two friends off angrily. “Why did you guys do that?” His green eyes pierced his friends. “He should have just kept quiet” Harry mumbled under his breath, kicking a rock angrily.
“I know,” Hermione said soothingly, “but it was Malfoy. It would have been completely out of character if he had been quiet.” Harry nodded dejectedly as Hermione gave his shoulder a gentle pat. The trio continued on the path to the carriages now that Malfoy and his goons were gone. They walked for a few minutes and saw Neville waiting with a weird knobby-looking plant for the next carriage. They talked for a few minutes, and Hermione watched as more and more tension left Harry’s body. They continued until the carriage pulled up.
Harry froze, watching as the carriage halted to a stop. He stared at the space in front of the carriage as if it was going to bite him. Hermione’s eyes moved from Harry to the spot he was staring at back to Harry. “Harry? What is it?” she asked, concern clear in her voice as her eyes continued their path between the two places. Harry cleared his throat before hoarsely asking, “You can’t see it?”
Hermione’s eyebrows raised, “See what?”
“The creature that is pulling the carriage”
“Harry. There is nothing pulling the carriage. They are pulling themselves just like usual.”
“I can see them too, you know. You are just as sane as I am.” came a quiet, dreamy voice. The group moved their concerned eyes from Harry to the blond-haired girl who had spoken. She was reading a magazine upside down before putting it down to look at the group who was climbing into the carriage with her. Hermione swallowed as she watched everyone try and sit as far away as possible from the girl. “Everyone this is Loony Love-” she caught herself, mortified at what she had just about said. Hermione tried to rapidly recover. “Luna Lovegood.” She finished with a sheepish look. She wanted to avoid everyone’s eyes if that was possible. Ron tried to be polite, but his confused look and wide eyes did not seem to get the memo and no words came out. It made for an awkward ride up to the castle. Luna every once in and while would pipe up with some exclamation about something she was reading in her magazine while everyone else shared looks of confusion or judgment when she was not aware. When they finally reached the school after what seemed to be an hour-long journey rather than a few minutes' ride, a few people sighed with relief.
Hermione’s sigh of relief came for a different reason. Hogwarts looked no different than before. A lot of things in her life had changed. Her parents had gotten more worried about her being in the Wizarding World, not only because of He- Who- Must-Not-Be-Named returning but because the world seemed to be getting darker. They often looked at her copy of the Daily Prophet that came every morning. They were alarmed by what the minister was saying about her best friend. She no longer felt safe being Harry Potter’s best friend. People were willing to show more dislike for muggle-borns. It seemed to be that certain people knew Voldemort was back and were willing to act upon some of his ideals. But at Hogwarts, no one out of the ordinary was going to be rude or mean to her because Dumbledore was going to be there. She looked at all of the lights shining through the windows of the castle as she waited for the rest of her friends to get out of the carriage.
Almost everyone who hopped off of the carriage had to run to their dorms to change before dinner. They usually had time to do so before dinner because they did not always have to be present at the very beginning of the sorting ceremony. Hermione did not rush as much as the boys did because she had packed the uniform she needed into her backpack that morning. She did not like to walk all the way to Gryffindor Tower when she first got to the castle. Her dorm mates were always talking and gossiping and doing hair and make-up. Hermione did not mind it too much, just she wanted to be alone, especially at this moment. She made her way to the second-floor bathroom. She knew no one else would be in it at this time, not even Moaning Myrtle.
Hermione quickly changed and muttered a quick spell to fix whatever bit of damage the wind had done to her hair while they were riding in the carriages. She rummaged around in her already stuffed bag. She pulled out a photo frame that she had carried with her. She traced the frame as she stared down at the photo. “I love you” was all she said to the photo that moved as she watched. One lone tear escaped down her face which she quickly wiped away. She gently placed the photo back into her bag and used her muggle clothing to hide it once more. She looked in the mirror for a moment to school her features so that sadness no longer was apparent. As she began her walk to the Great Hall from the bathroom, she passed Malfoy and his goons laughing. She watched them for a few seconds before her presence was announced by her shoes tapping along the stone floor of the corridor. For the second time that day, honey eyes met stormy gray for a few moments before their eyes drifted to different spots along the stone floor. None of them said anything as she walked past which made her feel weird as the only sound was her black Mary Janes hitting the floor with each step as she continued towards the Great Hall. She had expected at least one insult whether it be about her hair, teeth, blood, intelligence, or really anything but nothing came.
She sat in her normal seat beside Ron and across Harry. She dropped her bag beside her chair and turned towards the teachers’ table. She watched the sorting ceremony, clapping when expected, her eyes sneaking a glance at the little lady dressed in all pink. The woman was watching everyone as if she was remembering everything about them. It was… unsettling and set Hermione’s senses on edge especially when the two made eye contact. It seemed to create a battle of wills of who was going to look away first or who was going to read the other faster. The woman’s eyes seemed to be trying to peer into Hermione’s soul. Hermione felt as if she lost when the woman looked away. She was beyond confused about the whole situation. Harry had also been looking at the woman, but he did not have the same battle it seemed.
Hermione looked away from Harry when Dumbledore approached the podium to begin his annual beginning-of-the-year speech. He began by introducing new teachers. He mentioned the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher since Hagrid was away for a “small amount of time.” Then he introduced the new Defense of Dark Arts teacher as Dolores Umbridge. The lady in pink Ahemed after he announced the position. Everyone paused. No one ever interrupted Dumbledore’s speech. Dumbledore stopped and turned to her, and she began to move forward. Dumbledore gestured towards the podium when she reached him. He gave her a small smile, but Hermione could see the smallest tinge of annoyance in his eyes and smile. There was a bit of sarcastic wave to his gesture that was not missed. The woman began her speech
“Hello dear students. I am happy to be looking at all of your smiling faces who are ready to learn. I can tell we are all going to be good friends.”
Hermione looked around. No one was smiling and the only people that had said anything at all were Fred and George who laughed and muttered “That’s likely” right after she said the good friends part. No one was really friends with their professors. They all had different relationships with their professors. Sure they might be considered friends when their professors left the school, but not while they taught. The woman continued.
“We at the ministry believe that education is important, and we want to help in any way we can to make sure that the witches and wizards at this school are given an education that will truly benefit them.” With those final words, she sat down. Harry looked at Hermione and Ron.
“I know her. She was at my hearing. What is she doing here? What does she mean that the ministry wants to make sure we get an education that ‘truly benefits’ us?”
“It means that the ministry is interfering with Hogwarts. There is no longer a separation between our education and what the government wants us to learn.” Hermione said with a sigh. She was filled with sadness and anger at the news. Because the minister was against Harry and Dumbledore, it would leak into their education. It would probably be used to try and keep Harry quiet. They were trying to get their claws into the students and their beliefs. Hermione looked around to see if anyone else was bothered or concerned as she was. She saw many people with confusion written across their faces, but very few that were angry.
There was only one other person who looked like they felt the same: Draco Malfoy.