Love Like Hermione, Hate Like Draco

Chapter 3: Hermione

Chapter 3: Hermione
The castle was bigger and more beautiful than I had ever imagined. The part of the castle with all of the owls flying around it seemed to tower over everything. We were starting to slow down, when the conductor started coming around and taking our trunks off of the racks. I stood up and brushed my robe off. It was black and long, touching the floor. The conductor handed me my trunk and hurried off to the next corridor. I pulled my trunk into the corridor with me and I sat down. The conductor screamed across the train, "Leave your trunks on the train. They will be taken care of for you." I didn't want to leave mine behind because of the people that could steal it, but I decided that I would because it was what I was told to do.

The train slowed to a complete stop. I stood up and followed the crowd filing out of the train. I stepped off of the train, almost slipping, but catching myself at the very last second. After I regained myself, I looked up and saw a tall man standing on the road with an oil lamp. There was something unusual about him, though. At first, I couldn't put my finger on it, but then I got it. He was tall, not just tall, but seven feet tall. He looked like a small giant. A voice rang through the air. "All first years, follow me to the boats. All first years, follow me to the boats!" It was the giant's voice. It was loud and scratchy sounding, but I was still deciding if I was scared of him or not.

We followed Hagrid to the boats. There were about 10 boats already sitting in the water. I didn't know who I was going to sit with, so I stood facing towards the boats for a minute. Then, someone put their hand on my back. I looked behind my left shoulder, but no one was standing there. Then I looked behind my right shoulder and saw a pair of grey eyes looking at me. The eyes looked familiar. At first, I thought it was Neville, but then the person spoke. "Hello, Hermione." It was Draco, and he was smiling now. He was very handsome with the moonlight streaking across his face. A smile grew across my face from ear to ear. I also started to blush, but I hoped that the late night sky hid that. "Draco." I could barely utter his name without saying something stupid or making a weird noise. This has never happened before, but it started happening around him. He was already changing me. I knew that I would have to be extremely careful around him. He was not only charming, but he also seemed persuasive or cunning in some way. His warm hand was still resting on my back. I never wanted it to leave. It was very warm and comforting near the chilly water. He was looking at the water when he said something to me, but I couldn't hear him. I giggled. "What did you say?" He turned around. His hair was shining in the moon light. His eyes seemed to flicker as he was taking in his surroundings. He was laughing now. "I said, 'The water is beautiful, but it has the disgusting, muddy forest sitting behind it.'" I nodded. "The water is very nice, but I think the forest is just as beautiful with it stunning changing leaves and amazing wildlife that can be found in it." He sighed. "I see what you mean, I guess." The big giant called to everyone standing on the shores. "Load the boats with five people each! We have to get you all across at the same time, but we can't take too many in one boat! Let's load up!" Draco slid his hand away from my back, down to my arm, then to my hand. He started to pull me towards the boats. "Would you sit with me, Hermione?" Now, I was really blushing. "I-I-I, sure." There was the stuttering, again. I could barely act like myself around him, and now I would be sitting next to him in a boat, in the water, at night. This was going to be a rough ride.

We loaded onto the boats, Crabbe and Goyle sitting in the front, Draco sitting behind them with me next to him, and another girl sitting behind me. I didn't know who she was, but she seemed very nice. "Hi, how are you?" I thought about pretending not to hear her, so I could talk to Draco, but then I thought about talking to Draco, and I decided that talking to her was the best bet. "Hello, I am fantastic, thanks for asking. How are you?" She smiled. "I am great, thanks." I was going to continue talking to her, when I was tapped on the shoulder. It was Draco. He nodded his head toward the girl I was sitting next to and whispered, "Lavender Brown. A pure-blood wizard. Her family is well known in the wizard world." I don't know what a pure-blood is or what it means, but I nodded like I understood. I turned back to the girl, Lavender Brown and started to talk to her again. "I'm Hermione Granger. It is very nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand and shook mine. "You as well, I am Lavender Brown." I was confused. How did he know who she was? He knew something else about her, too. I was nervous for a moment, but then I remembered him saying, "'Her family is well known in the wizard world.'" I had nothing to worry about.

We all sat in the boats, gawking at the beautiful castle. Draco turned around, right before we reached the shore. "It is beautiful, isn't it?" I didn't even have to think about my answer. "It really is." We hit shore not a moment too soon. We climbed out of the boats, everyone getting a little wet, and we started making our way up the hill to the castle. I lost Draco on the way up, but it didn't matter. I did like talking and hanging out with him, but I didn't need him at my side during every second of the day. I might not have talked to Draco on the way up, but I did run into the dark haired boy. What was his name? It was taking everything I had trying to remember. "Hi, Hermione. How was the boat ride over?" I still hadn't come up with his name yet, but I answered anyway. "Hi, ummmmmm... It was great." Then, a red headed boy came up behind us on Harry's left, me standing on his right. "Harry, wait up. I didn't know where you went." As soon as the other boy sit out Harry, I remembered that his name was Harry Potter, probably the most famous wizard of all time! The other boy, the other boy is Ron, Ron Weasleby. No, that doesn't sound right, Roooonnnnn... Weasley! I looked past Harry and over to Ron. "Hello, Ron." He looked confused, like I wasn't talking to him, but then he answered shortly. "Hello." I guess he didn't have much to say, but it could also be the fact that he is out of breath from running to catch up with Harry. Those two already seemed like two peas in a pod.

When we finally made it over the top of the hill, he stopped for a moment, until the giant started to talk. "All you young witches and wizards, I am Rubius Hagrid! I will take you to a set of doors, leading inside of the castle. Those doors will take you to a nice woman, Professor McGonagall. Then, she will take you to the Great Hall, and you will be directed from there." Then, he turned around and started to take us to the set of doors that he talked about. He slipped on his first step. The mud was very slippery. I tried not to laugh, but everyone else was. It was hard not to, actually. He didn't hit the ground, he caught himself before he could, but it did scare him. He turned back around to us, threw his arms in the air, and started laughing with us, which made me feel a little bit better. We walked to the castle without any more accidents, that I know of, but we were stopped before the castle. Hagrid told us to look at the tree, to stay back, but to look. The tree looked very old and almost dead, but then Hagrid got our attention. "Listen up! No one should go near this tree, is that understood?" Everyone started shaking their heads, but they didn't see his point. A smile started to creep on his face. "Does anyone know why?" People around me started to shake their heads. I felt like I knew it or read it somewhere, then I remembered! It was in "Hogwarts: A History", a book that we had to bring with us. My hand shot high into the air, so he could see it. He pointed to me, while saying, "Yes, you in the purple sweatshirt." I had to be smiling, so I tried to speak extra clearly. "I forget the name of the tree, but I do know that it is deadly dangerous. It swings its branches, vigorously, trying to hit whatever comes closest to it." He was nodding. "You are correct, and now I am going to give you all a short demonstration." He picked up a large stone and chucked it at the tree. It batted the stone away, leaving an echo in the air. "Follow me", Hagrid said. He led us through the doors, to a woman, who I assumed was Professor McGonagall. He wished us luck before going into the Great Hall, himself. The Professor was smiling. She was beautiful and she was wearing unusual clothes. She had a tall hat that sat about a foot and a half above her head and a green cloak that touched the ground. She finally spoke. "Will everyone listen, please?"