Year One: Ties of Destiny

Chapter Three

Draco Malfoy

Platform 9 ¾

September 1st

The blonde boy makes his way onto the scarlet train. He has no one to wave good-bye to, for a house elf had apparated him there. Walking down the train, he looks for the last compartment on the south end. Finally finding it, he opens the door, only to find a small, long haired, brunette girl sitting in the corner, her legs pulled close to her body as she looks out the giant window.

Putting on an arrogant facade, the boy sits down across from the girl. She does not even react to his presence; it is as if she is oblivious to the world around her. He takes notice to the way her bushy hair covers the left side her face, as if it was hiding something.

"Hey," he says, crossing his arms over his chest.

The girl jumps and looks at him with a wide muddy-brown eye.

"I'm Draco Malfoy. What's your name?"

She looks at him for a long while, before saying something, her voice barely a whisper.

"Sorry, can you speak up?"

Her cheeks turn red, with her voice a bit higher, she says, "Hermione."

"Well, Hermione, do you have a last name?"

She nods her head.

"Well, what is?"

"P-professor D-dumbledore s-said I-I s-should k-keep it a s-secret…" she stutters.

"Why? Are you someone special?"

"No."

"Whatever, you bore me."

A quiet surrounds them, each one looking out the window at the blurred scenery.

A few minutes later there is a knock at the door and a brown haired boy opens it. His hair long and covering the right side of his face.

"Is there a hair fashion trend I don't know about?" asks Draco.

"Err…I just came to see if I could sit in here. Everywhere else is too noisy."

"I guess," says Draco, recognizing the boy, but saying nothing.

"Thanks. I'm—"

"I know who you are. No need to announce it to the whole train. I don't want a horde of people coming in here to get your autograph. I'm Draco Malfoy."

Neville looks at the boy, surprised, but is grateful that he did not react like the rest of the people in the wizarding world. He then looks over at the girl who is across diagonally from him. "Hi," he says.

Hermione ignores him, back to being oblivious to the world.

"What's up with her?" he asks.

"I have no clue. She was already here by the time I got here. I barely got her to say a full sentence to me. She says her name is Hermione, but she will not give me her last name. She said that the old geezer Dumbledore told her not to. It's a load of bull shit if you ask me."

Neville looks at the girl. "Hi, Hermione."

She jumps and lets out a squeak of surprise before looking at him. "H-hello…"She wraps her arms tighter around her knees, feeling claustrophobic at having the boys near her in such a small place. Neville stares at her, what was her problem?

Granger house

August 27th

Hermione sits outside on the stoop of her house, waiting for this mystery person to come. It was already two in the afternoon and the person had yet to come. Suddenly, out of nowhere a man appears with a small pop sound and stares down at the girl. She stares back mouth open and eyes wide with surprise and fear; she is too scared to move. She takes in his appearance; he has on a tight black t-shirt and blue jeans, with heavy combat boots on his feet; long stringy black hair drapes over his face as he stares down at her. "Miss Granger I presume?" he drawls. She shrinks back slightly, and shakily nods her head. He stares at her in silence a while longer, before taking a step back to help her feel less threatened. "My name is Severus Snape; I am the potions Master and professor at Hogwarts. I have come to take you to Diagon Alley." At this, the girl relaxes slightly. She then stands and walks closer to him, still having not said a word.

"Where do you think you're going, you little bitch!" slurs her father as he stumbles out on to the stoop, beer in hand. Snape looks up at the man, who was only wearing a dingy wife-beater and his boxers.

The girl trembles as she turns around. "I-I am going to g-going to go get my s-school supplies. R-remember…I-I t-told you the other d-day. I-I am going to H-hogwarts."

"Don't you talk to me like that, you little liar! I'm not payin for no school for your worthless arse!" he stumbles closer to the two and the girl almost presses herself into the professor, but does not touch him.

"Sir, Hogwarts is free. You won't have to pay anything," says Severus, staring at the man in disgust.

The man looks like he is going to say something, but loses his balance and falls down. "Ow! Fuck!" he curses loudly, making the girl jump in fright once again almost pressing herself against the professor. Trusting a man she just met over her own father. Mr. Granger looks around seeming confused, "How did I get out here?" his voice slurs, he then looks at Hermione. "What are you doing here you bitch? Get out of here!" he yells. She turns and runs around Snape to go across the street. "Don't come back!" he yells after her.

Snape quickly follows the girl, a little surprised at the way the girl lived. It was almost like his home growing up, minus having a witch for a mother. After catching up to the girl he can see that she is visibly shaken by her father. Taking a closer look at her, he could see that she has a faint bruise on her cheek still healing and he could not see her arms, for she wore a baggy old sweater. Looking into her eyes, he could see that her mind is distant, as if she has detached herself from the waking world. Gently and slowly—so night to frighten her—he held out his hand "Take my hand and hold on tight, don't let go. I am going to take us to Diagon Alley."

The girl looks at his hand, as if hesitant at actually touching someone, before she puts her small hand in his bigger one and held on tight, closing her eyes. Snape looks around to make sure no one would see them, but other than the house the girl lived at the rest of the neighborhood looked to be abandoned. Closing his eyes he pictured Diagon Ally and felt the familiar sensation of aparating, the girl to his surprise is silent, even his older students would gasped when they had to side along apparate.

Soon the two were standing in Diagon Ally. Hermione opens her eyes and lets go of Snape's hand. She looks around wide-eyed at all the shops and people walking around in colorful robes. "Alright," says Snape looking at the girl, seeing real emotion in her eyes since he had picked her up. "Let's get you some school supplies, a wand and some robes so that you don't keep sticking out like a muggle. He takes his wand from his jean's pocket and waves it, so now his clothes are now black robes. Hermione stares at him amazement; she then looks at his wand.

"I get one of those?" she asks.

"Yes, we will buy you one, we will have to try out a few first—" he stops, noticing her saddened eyes. "What wrong?" he asks.

"I-I don't h-have any m-money…" she stutters.

"Don't worry about money Miss Granger, the school has an account set up for students who need financial help.

"R-really?" she asks, looking at him with her brown eyes, and this time she is really seeing him.

"Yes."

He at least expected happiness to pass over her face, but there was nothing; she just looks at him with her brown eyes. "Where to first?" she asks.

"We'll get your wand first." He walks away from her in the direction of Ollivander's wand shop. She follows closely behind.

As the two walk into the store an old man looks up at them from where he had been stocking wands. "Ah, Mr. Snape, what can I do for you?"

"I have a student with me, who is getting her first wand."

"Oh, I see." Olivander peers around Snape to look at the girl hiding behind him. "Well, come here child, I can't sell you a wand if you are hiding back there, now can I?"

Hermione moves from behind Snape and walks over to the man; he looks at her for a moment, before walking back and disappearing among the rows and rows of shelves. He then came back out carrying a long box, shakily he opens it, he hands the girl a pale almost yellow wand with a knobbed base. She takes it and looks at it, she then looks at the old man, not sure of what she is supposed to do. "Well go on, flick it." She does so and jumps in surprise when the shelf next to her fell over. Hastily she hands the wand back to the man. "Well, that one was not it," he mutters as he moves back to the shelves As he looks over the wand boxes trying to choose the right one, he can't help but notice a box to his left, it almost seemed to glow and the magic around it pulsed. Walking over to it to see which one it was, he gasps, one of the wands he had since he had opened the shop had finally chosen an owner, this is a rare wand there were no others like it.

Carefully he takes the box out of its hole and takes it over to the waiting girl. He takes it gently out of the box and hands it to her. She takes it, immediately the magic swirled around her, and she closes her eyes, as if at peace, feeling completely relaxed.

The old man stares at the girl in amazement, "That wand is the oldest wand I have here; it is very rare and is no longer made. 111/2 inches, made with a unicorn hair and an albino phoenix feather, incased in ebony wood. The Celtic carvings on the base where carved by Merlin's great, great grandson, a master and making wands. It is an honor to see it finally have an owner."

Hermione looks back at Snape to see if he thought anything about it, the look on his face shows that he is greatly surprised. Snape then reaches into his pocket for his bag of gallons so that he can pay the man. However, the old man holds up his hand in gesture saying that it is not needed, "This…this one I am giving away. I never thought I would live to see it sold and now I just want it to have a good owner."

Severus looks at the man in surprise, before placing the bag back into his pocket. "Very well, come Miss Granger, we have more shopping to get done."

He then walks out of the store, the older man looks down at the girl as she is about to leave and says, "I know you will do great things with that wand." She just looks at him, before running off to catch up with Snape.

~*~

"Miss Granger, we are done with our shopping, the Headmaster has requested me to take you to see him, before I take you home," says Severus, as the two of them reach the outskirts of Diagon Alley to where they could apparate to Hogsmead.


Hermione shivers at the thought of going home. "I-I have to g-go back?" she asks, hoping he will says no.

Snape looks down at her with an impassive face. "Yes Miss Granger, we cannot keep you at Hogwarts until the school year starts."

"What about the t-train? my p-parents won't t-take me."

"I'll come and get you and take you there. Now take my hand." He held out his hand again for her to take and she took it without hesitation this time and held on tight. Once again, Snape becomes surprised at the fact that she did not reacted to the feeling of apparating. Within seconds, they were standing in Hogsmead, right outside the Three Broomsticks.

Once again, she lets go of his hand quickly and looks around "T-this is H-hogwarts?" she asks.

"No, this is Hogsmead," he then points to the top of a hill where a huge castle sits overlooking the town. "That is Hogwarts."

The girl stares at the castle in amazement, it is like the ones from her fairytale books. She then looks at Snape who has begun the walk up the hill. Quickly she follows behind him.

The two step through the Headmaster's office door. Snape closes the door behind them and Hermione visibly tenses at hearing the door shut, as she will be alone in a closed room with two men. Both men notice the change in her body language and Dumbledore looks at Severus, "Severus, why don't you leave the door open, it's a bit stuffy in here." Severus nods and reopens the door. Hermione relaxes slightly, but is still on guard. She looks around the room. It has a circular shape, with burgundy carpet and one huge window sitting at the front of the room; many small shiny devices sit scattered throughout the room, either ticking or moving in some way. Her eyes then land on the red phoenix, who is sitting on its perch, also watching her.

"You can pet him if you want to," says Dumbledore as she looks at her, wondering if she was one of the people from the prophecy she is the right age and she is a muggleborn, now it all depended on what house she would get into, would she be the first muggleborn to get into Slytherin? Hermione glances at Dumbledore, as if finally seeing him for the first time. She then looks back to the phoenix, mesmerized by it. She takes a few steps forward, before stopping in front of the bird. Slowly she lifts her hand towards the back of the bird, before letting her fingers graze over the red and orange feathers. She smiles as the bird leans into her hand. "Now Miss Granger," says Dumbledore, "Could you please take a seat. There are some things that must be discussed before the school year starts on Saturday."Hermione nods before taking a seat in one of the chairs that sit in front of the desk. She looks back at Snape, only to see him standing by the window, arms crossed over his chest.

"Miss Granger, today in your shopping did you purchase a book called Hogwarts a History?" She nods, "Read it and memorize it, it will help you while you are here at Hogwarts. Now, for a more important matter, here at this school we have dorm like places where our students sleep. However, we call these places houses and there are four of them, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. There are descriptions of the houses in the book I told you about. There is a….if you happen to be placed into Slytherin you must keep your last name a secret."

"W-why?" she asks nervously.

"Because, the house of Slytherin has only ever accepted Purebloods and sometimes halfbloods. No muggleborn has ever been chosen to be in that house. And if you happen to be selected and people knew of your last name, your life would be in danger."

Hermione looks at the man with confused eyes, "Please s-sir can you ex-explain what a m-muggleborn is and w-why I would b-be chosen for s-slytherin?"

"A muggleborn is a witch or wizard with no magical parents, but has magical abilities in themselves. As for your other question I am afraid at this time I cannot answer it, if you being in Slytherin comes to pass I will tell you in the future why we had this talk. If it does not come to pass then do not worry about your name.
Hermione nods her head still very confused. Alright, I w-won't say anything about m-my last name."

"Very good Miss Granger, thank you for cooperating with me," he then takes out a pocket watch to look at the time. "It seems that I have used much of your time, it is time for you to go back home now Miss Granger." He looks at her as she tenses again at hearing it was time to go home. He reaches into a drawer and pulls out a tattered torn old book and then looks to Severus, who is now looking out the window, seeming lost in thought.

"Severus, will you please take the portkey back with Miss Granger, after all it is her first time." Snape looks at him, before rolling his eyes and nodding, walking forward he places his index finger on to the book and then looks at Hermione so that she knows to do the same, she does and then she feels a strong pull on her navel and the feeling of falling.

Ron Weasley

Hogwarts Express

Ron steps onto the Hogwarts express, not even looking back at the red heads crowed around each other saying a tearful good-byes, it made him cringe at seeing it. Walking down the train, he stops at a few compartments, only to find them full. Finally, he reaches the end of the train and opens the compartment door only to find three people already sitting in it, a girl, and two boys.

Ron looks at them before saying, "Everywhere else is full. Can I sit in here with you guys?"

The brown haired boy to the left of the compartment nods his head and says, "Sure."

"Thanks," says Ron, moving into the compartment and sits down near the bushy haired girl who is looking out the window. He then notices the blonde haired boy in the seat across from him staring at him intently. "What?" he asks.

"Are you a Weasley?" the boy asks.

Ron glares, "Don't remind me, as far as anyone here is concerned I am just Ron. I don't want to be a Weasley. Besides, are you a Malfoy?"

"I am, I don't think I have ever met a Weasley who doesn't have pride about their family."

"Well, you just did."

Draco just stares at him before turning to look at Hermione "Hey…Hermione," he says. She jumps slightly and looks at him and then the other two boys, as if registering them in the compartment with her.

They watch as she visibly pulls herself into a tighter ball, "W-what?" she asks Draco, looking at him through her curtain of bushy hair.

"What house do you want to get into?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "I d-don't know…S-slytherin I guess."

Draco raises an eyebrow, "Really?" She nods her head.

"Why?" asks Ron, finally speaking to her.

"B-because, p-people want me t-to b-be."

"Your parents?" asks Neville.

She shakes her head, "No."

Deciding to leave her be. Neville turns to Draco "What house do you want to be in?"

"Slytherin," says Draco proudly. "You?"

"My Gran says I need to get into Gryffindor to maintain a good image, but I don't think I will be in that house. I'm not a cocky brave prick.

Draco laughs and looks at Ron, "You?"

"I don't care, any house except Gryffindor, hell, even Huffelpuff would be better than that house. I don't want to be anywhere near my family. I can't stand the bastards."

Draco gives him an almost but not quite smile, "You're alright, for a Weasley."

Neville Longbottom

Hogwarts Express

Neville sits, staring at the girl that sat diagonally across from him. She had been ignoring all of them expect for when being directly spoken to. There is something about her, something about all three of them. They all had the same air about them, however, Draco and Ron seemed to hide it better. What is it though?

Just as he is about to ask Hermione another question to get her talking more, the compartment door opens to reveal an old woman with a trolley in front of her. "Want anything from the trolley dears?"

Neville looks around at the people in the compartment with him. He could see Ron eyeing the trolley hungrily, Draco is pulling a sack from his robes, and to his surprise, Hermione is even looking at the food on the trolley. He puts a hand up to stop Draco from buying anything, "Yeah," he says and pulls a sack from his robes, which is filled with gallons, "I'll take the lot."

The old woman stares at him in shock, seeming to recognize him, before looking at his sack with greedy eyes. She takes out her wand and starts to levitate the items on the trolley to the space between Draco and him. She then takes gallons from Neville and walks away, humming a happy tune.

Draco stands and closes the compartment door. Neville stares at Ron and Hermione, who are now looking at the pile next to him. "Well go on, I can't eat all of it by myself." Without needing further nudging Ron gets up picks an arm full of treats for himself, before sitting down again.

Hermione stays where she is, as if seems torn on whether to move or not. "Go on," says Neville watching her, "I won't bite you, promise." The other two boys stare at her as well, while they eat.

Hermione looks at them all nervously, slowly she uncurls herself and gets up. Quickly as she can, she grabs a caldron cake and moves back to her seat. Her hair moves slightly, making the jagged scar on her cheek visible. All three boys look at her, a slight understanding in their eyes.

"What happened to your cheek?" Draco asks bluntly.

Hermione moves her hair, so that it covers the scar, before she looks at him with a hollow uncovered eye and very clearly she says, "I was bad."

The boys stare at her in surprise, a silent connection forming between them and her.