The platform was packed with people all rushing to get onto the Hogwarts Express.

It looked like hundreds of kids went to Hogwarts. Hermione pushed her cart off down the platform then began walking around the train, where the sound of laughter, owls hooting, and cats meowing roared in her ears. It was only ten thirty on the clock. 

She looked around for what felt like forever, when finally Hermione found someone in their robes, and they were in Ravenclaw apparently.

Hermione knocked bravely on the compartment door.

The girl pushed open the door and Hermione came in with a smile.

"Hello. I was just wondering due to the fact that I'm new here and I wanted to find out as much as possible about Hogwarts and its Houses, and students, and founders - well anyway I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me a few things about Ravenclaw House and perhaps tell me the pros and cons and if you think I would make a good fit for your House."

Hermione was out of breath when she finished but she looked calm and breathed normally.

"Whoa - that was a mouthful - even for a Ravenclaw. And we've been known to ramble on a bit ourselves. Let's see. Well, I just love our common room. It's way up high! We get lots of sunlight! There's a large library, almost as large as the normal library. Our colors are blue and silver. Er - I do suppose you'd make a good Ravenclaw. I can't really think of any cons except - well sometimes I feel a bit like I'm almost unoriginal."

Hermione nodded.

Just what she had suspected.

"Thank you for your help! Really!" Hermione walked out and began walking up the compartments again, just looking for a Gryffindor or Slytherin she could talk to.

After walking up and down the compartments for twenty minutes she finally saw a compartment full of four whole Slytherins, wearing their robes and laughing. There were three boys and one girl. The three had short dark hair, and pasty skin, and the girl looked sort of like them, except she had out of place freckles and tanish skin. Perhaps she had dyed her hair, and the boys were maybe related.

Hermione, again knocked politely.

"COME IN!" the girl's voice bellowed. 

Hermione sighed and then entered. 

"Hello. I'm new to Hogwarts. I'm a first year, you see. I wanted to know why you think being in Slytherin is the best at Hogwarts. I'd like to know so that I can make my decision before it's too late. My name is Hermione Granger and I'll be willing to stay here no matter how long it takes so that I can get a good idea."

"I like your moxy," said one of the boys, a rather large one.

A skinny, tall blacked-haired boy nodded with a smirk. 

"I love Slytherin 'cause we're always winners," answered the boy. The other three nodded. "We win at everything. Quidditch, the House Cup - both of which have been ours six years in a row. We just can't be beaten," bragged the last boy.

The girl smiled then finally spoke again.

"I don't know how we could be beaten. We're too cunning - too charming - too smart. The other Houses have nothing on us. You know what they say - if placed in Slytherin you're destined for greatness!"

"What about your common room?" asked Hermione.

"We're down in the dungeons," the girl went on.

"Right in the middle of the Black Lake," smirked the thick boy.

"There's not much light, but there is a lot of green - and snakes of course. Because Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that. Some people say it's the mark of a Dark wizard, but I say it's a mark of great power - a mark of great destiny."

Hermione nodded. This was all very interesting but this group did not seem like the pleasant type.

They looked bossy and conceited - and acted the part too. They were sure smug and everything that made a Dark wizard they prized. It disturbed Hermione and she wanted to leave.

They all heard a loud whistle that roared in their ears.

"I should be going," said Hermione and she turned to leave.

Hermione's mind cleared for a moment due to the sound, but when she could think again she heard the skinny one's voice. 

"Hey, why don't you already know this stuff? Most people that want to get into Slytherin already have it all figured out by the time their ten."

"Oh, I'm Muggle-born you see!" explained Hermione, sliding the compartment door closed again as the train began to move.

Suddenly, she heard a crackling laughter from behind her and turned, knowing it was from their compartment. It was now not only one voice that filled her ears it was all four laughing loudly in harmony.

"A Mudblood in Slytherin!" they exclaimed. "Can you imagine?!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow in curiosity. What on earth was a Mudblood? It was clearly no Muggle word. Hermione had a Muggle vocabulary larger than most adults. It was some type of wizard lingo. She had seen no mention of it in her books though. How could this be? She must have skipped over something!

Hermione began to walk away, he mind full of thought. All she wanted to know at the moment was what a Mudblood was.

She was so lost in thought she didn't notice bumping into a round-faced boy, who looked quite worried.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going," said Hermione. "What's the matter."

"Well, it seems I've lost Trevor again. My gran's so disappointed. I'm always so irresponsible, you see," explained the round-faced boy.

"Perhaps I could help you find him. He probably just went to go find a compartment for the both of you," answered Hermione.

"What?"asked the boy. "Oh, you though Trevor was a person! Trevor is my pet toad. I'm always losing him."

"Oh!" exclaimed Hermione, finally understanding.

"Do you want help finding him?" asked Hermione. "You'd really do that? I mean, we have just met." "I would," answered Hermione. "Honestly." The boy smiled. "What's your name?" asked the boy.

"Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"Oh, I'm Neville. Neville Longbottom."

"I hope you excuse my asking, but are you Muggle-born?" asked Hermione.

"No, I'm pure-blooded, but my family thought I was a Squib for the longest. They tried everything they could to try and squeeze some magic out of me. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying at it and once he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankle. He accidentally let go but bounced into the road, without a scratch on me."

"I'm Muggle-born -"

"I don't know where that toad's always off to! Maybe it just hates me, not that I'm be surprised. . . ." frowned Neville. "What's the matter with you?" asked Hermione."I know if I were Trevor I would be appriecative that you cared for me for so long and spent so long searching when I got myself lost."

Neville gave her a weak smile.

"What House do you want to be in?" asked Hermione suddenly.

"Gryffindor!" answered Neville. "That's where my parents were - and my gran. Most of my family in fact. And the Gryffindor common room is really brilliant! Did you know our Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore was in that House?" asked Neville. Of course Hermione did but hearing Neville talk of Gryffindor in such light made Hermione's choice clear. There was no smugness or rudeness in Neville's voice and he was honest. "I'll help you search, but do you mind if I change into my robes first?"

Neville shook his head fiercely.

Hermione set off to change. She felt so proud putting on her Hogwarts robes for the first time, and looking down at herself she felt more brilliant then she had ever felt.

She came out to Neville, where he stood, waiting for her patiently.

They set off, looking into every compartment they could.

Hermione slid the doors open and took a look at at least seven different compartments before they came across one where two boys sat talking and eating candy. The first boy had messy jet-black hair that looked almost as hard to control as Hermione's. He had rounded glasses, taped together on the bridge several times. The second boy had red hair, a long nose, and plenty of freckles, not to mention he was fairly tall. He was also with a rat.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," said Hermione.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," the red-haired boy answered.

He sound annoyed, inconsiderate, and self-centered from what Hermione could tell, but she had lost her train of thought when she saw his wand. As beaten up and old as it seemed Hermione was still fascinated.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then," glowed Hermione.

The boy looked surprised but anxious to show off. 

"Er - all right." He cleared his throat loudly.

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

The red-haired boy waved his wand yet nothing happened.

Hermione was quite unimpressed. It was rather pathetic but Hermione would never say something that rude. Content on being nice Hermione answered, "Are you sure that's a real spell?"

"Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" Hermione was speaking very fast.

The both of them looked stunned.

"I'm Ron Weasley," muttered the red-haired boy.

"Harry Potter," answered the messy-haired boy.

Hermione's face lit up! She recognized that name! She had read all about him and the defeat of the greatest Dark wizard of all time - Lord Voldemort.

"Are you really?" asked Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" asked Harry.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione, surprised that Harry had no idea of these things. 

"Do either of you know what House you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. . . . Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

Hermione and Neville left the compartment with that and began searching for Neville's toad again.

They searched for what seemed like forever when Hermione let out a dry sigh.

Hermione was very tired of searching for Neville's pet. She had to have a moment of relax. "Neville, I'm going to see how much longer to Hogwarts," said Hermione. He nodded and kept searching. Hermione marched up the front of the train, and politely asked in her loudest voice, "When are we getting to Hogwarts?" 

"It won't be long, girly," the conductor responded. "Just go have a seat with the rest of the students and we'll be there before you know it."

Coming back seemed to take a shorter amount of time then going did. Now she would have to help Neville again.

They searched and searched and searched but neither of them could find Neville's pet toad.

"Oh, I've really done it now!" exclaimed Neville.

"It's alright Neville, we'll -" Hermione stopped talking in the middle of her sentence due to a loud noise coming from where'd they'd just been. 

"Stay here Neville," directed Hermione and she began to walk towards the source of the noise.

She was not surprised to see it was the compartment they had just left.

"What has been going on here?" asked Hermione as she barged in.

Hermione looked around. There were sweets all over the floor, but Ron seemed to ignore her and picked up his pet rat by the tail.

"I think he's been knocked out," he told Harry, completely forgetting Hermione's presence. He took a better look at his pig then went on. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep."

"You've met Malfoy before?" Ron asked.

They were both still ignoring Hermione.

"I was getting my uniform in Diagon Alley when I met him. He wasn't very pleasant but didn't realize who I was. He was getting his uniform too. He kept going on and on about trying to bully his father and just seemed to think he was the brilliant thing since sliced bread. He was on about Quidditch and how he wants to be in Slytherin. He said all of his family are Slytherins, he's pure-blooded you see, then he insulted Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, and Hufflepuff House, and then he insulted Muggles and Muggle-borns. Not to mention he kept sneering," explained Harry.

Hermione found this quite interesting. It sounded like all Slytherins had something against Muggle-borns, but she was still pretty upset that they were acting as if she was simply just not there.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. 

"They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched, My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." 

Hermione now knew to steer clear of a boy named Malfoy.

He and his family sounded like a bunch of cowards.

Ron finally bothered to acknowledge Hermione but he gave her a scowl. 

"Can we help you with something?" asked Ron rudely. "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabber's has been fighting, not us," said Ron, still scowling rudely at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

Hermione did not like Ron Weasley at all so far.

"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," lied Hermione, trying to sound less attentive. She did not want them to think of her as a stalker or something of that sort.

"And you've got dirt, on your nose, by the way, did you know?" she asked quickly.

Ron glared evilly at her as she left.

The train was finally slowing and Neville was fairly disappointed. He couldn't believe he had been so irresponsible with Trevor. Hermione tried to cheer him up but he was content on being upset. 

A loud voice that Hermione recognized as the conductor's filed the train:

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." 

Hermione was very excited, but Neville had never felt more gloomy. They began moving towards the exits on the train with the other hundred students when they suddenly heard a loud voice:

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" 

Hermione turned to look at Harry then back at the huge man with wild flowing black hair, and big black eyes.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

They followed the hairy giant man down a steep narrow path in the heavy darkness. Nobody spoke much at all. The sound of Neville's sad sniffing was heard though. 

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," said the man over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

Everyone "Oooooh"ed  as Hogwarts came into view. 

Hermione beamed at the beautiful castle with many towers on top of a huge mountain, with sparkling windows. "No more'n four to a boat!" directed the giant. 

Neville and Hermione chose to follow Ron and Harry into their boat.

"Everyone in!" bellowed the giant.

"Right then - FORWARD!"

All of the little boats moved forward together, crossing the black lake like it was glass. Everyone was quiet and stared up at the beautiful castle ahead. Hermione had never seen anything so great before in her lifetime.

"Heads down!" yelled the man when the first boats reached the cliff.

Everyone was sure to bend their heads down as they headed through a dark tunnel, which Hermione thought was taking them under the castle.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" asked the man. 

He was looking at Neville, whose round face lit up.

"Trevor!" cried Neville, holding out his hands. They all hurried up a passageway in the rock until they reached smooth, wet grass in the shadow of Hogwarts. They walked up a large flight of stone steps. They crowded around a large wooden door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Neville was holding onto Trevor tightly.

"You're not getting away from me so quick again, mate," said Neville to Trevor.

The giant knocked on the castle door three times until the door swung open and there stood Professor McGonagall.