Requiem to a Goddess {Hermione Granger}

Year 1: The Hogwarts Express

The Hogwarts Express was bright red, and it stood out in a space as gloomy and cramped as platform 9 ¾. Mother had told me how magical the platform was, how it seemed to bustle with life. Well, it certainly bustled with something.

Young wizards and witches, their families crowded around them, filled the space, their voices filling the air and jumbling together into an incoherent mess. They were all dressed the same, in similar drabs of grey and brown, sometimes a muted jewel tone. The setting was claustrophobic, people packed together in rows, and with every step I took, guided by my father beside me, I felt the brush of a different strangers shoulder. Everyone was taller than me, I had to strain my neck to see through the crowd. My arms were weighed down by my two suitcases, large boxes of leather that contained my school supplies. My body was so small in comparison to so many people, and my stomach squirmed at the idea that I might be squished between them.

Father led me through the pack of people, and without speaking to any of the surrounding strangers, he brought me to the train entrance.

"Odile."

"Yes, Father?"

"There's been rumors going around the ministry, about one of the students this year. You know very well the story of Harry Potter, the boy who lived."

"Yes."

"Supposedly he is now of age to be starting school, and he'll be attending Hogwarts as a first year, in the same grade level as you."

"Oh." Oh.

"You are aware of our family's... history with the war. It would be beneficial to us if you let the boy know that we are regretful of the parts we have played in the past."

"Of course, Father." The Yaxley family had been quick to side with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when the war started, and quick to claim that we were under the imperious curse once he was defeated. Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord, but he also lost his family to him. If he held grudges against the families that had sided with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, a lot of pureblood families would be at ends with him. Surely he would be smarter than to try challenging us; speaking out against the old families would destroy his social standing. Unless, of course, the rumors that he'd been raised outside of the world of Magic were true, and he was unaware of how he could benefit from befriending the old families.

"You know, I think I see the Greengrass family on the other end of the platform. Their daughter Daphne will be in your year, you'd do well to make her acquaintance."

"Yes Father."

"I think I'll go and pay them a visit. I trust you can find a compartment on the train on your own?"

"Yes Father."

With a switch of his dark cloak, he turned from me and headed towards the front of the train, where he'd supposedly spotted the Greengrass family. For a split second, I couldn't help wondering if he had actually seen them or if he was just eager to be rid of me, but I banished the idea from my mind. I swiftly carried myself and my luggage onto the passenger carriers, and found an empty compartment (compartment C) to sit in. I stored my suitcases up on the raft, struggling for a moment with their nearly comical weight. It was still early, 10:30 in the morning, and the train was nearly empty of students, most of whom were down on the platform saying goodbyes to their family. A comforting silence filled my compartment, and as I sat neatly near the singular window, I gave myself a moment to breathe.

Finally.

The coming months would be filled with magical classes, quidditch, and feasts supposedly unlike which I had ever seen before. And, more importantly, the next nine months I would be living nearly independently, away from my father and Benji, and while there would of course be the professors I'd have to obey, there would be no one singularly in charge of me. I'd be left -mostly- to my own devices. It was a dream come true.