Heartchains

Chapter 4

"Oh, hurry up would you?" Hermione heard Ron moan. "I'm starving."

"You're always starving." Seamus said,a smile tugging at his lips. Hermione had never seen Seamus smile like that, she'd ask him about it later. 

Ron was still not talking to her, in fact, he seemed perfectly content with his spot three seats away from herself.

The Great Halls door's opened and everyone turned around to get a glimpse of the first years. But, instead of the gaggle of giggling first years, in walked Pansy Parkinson. 

'Hm, that's odd. Why isn't she with her friends?' Hermione thought.

Apparently other people were thinking the same things.  They started shouting at her, all kinds of awful things. The shouts ranged from direct attacks:

"Where's your death-eater friends, Pugsy?" 

To indirect attacks to the teachers:

"I can't believe they let the bitch back here." Ron had shouted. 

Pansy stopped in her tracks, tears spilled from her eyes. She turned on her heels and ran out the door. The great hall, save Slytherin, erupted in a mix of cheers and laughter. 

Hermione felt her heart jolt. This was awful. To make matters worse, the teachers hadn't even did anything about it. They just let it happen. 

"Lousy cunt deserved it." Ron said. "Right Hermione?"

 Hermione turned toward him. Not only was that the first time he had spoken to her that day, it was to insult a girl who just ran out crying.

"No, I don't think she did." She said, sitting up. 

"What?" Ron said, looking incredulous. 

"No one deserves to be humiliated like that. Sure, she might have messed up but really, that was just immature." She huffed and returned to looking at the door. 

"Mental, I'm telling you." Ron muttered. 

"You're one to talk!" Hermione exclaimed, not caring that she was likely attracting everyone's attention. "Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean that it's useless! Maybe you're just stupid!"

"Is that so?" Ron shouted. "Maybe you just don't make sense."

"Ron, you're so, thick!" She said, tears forcing their way through her eyes. She wiped angerly at them. 

The Great Hall doors opened and in walked the first years. 

"Great start." Hermione heard Harry mutter.

........................................................................................................................

After the ceremony, Headmistress McGonagall ordered the eight years to remain seated and wait for further instructions.

"As you most likely noticed, this year will not be like the previous years. Considering the war that took place last year, none of you shall be returning to a house, per say. You will have your own separate dorm which shall be located in one of the new towers built over the summer." She paused and looked over at the students confused faces. She grinned.

"I thought you'd all had read the article in the Daily Profit by now but, showing by your facial expressions, you have not."

"I read it, Headmistress," Hermione said, putting her hand in the air. 

"Well, I had assumed you had, Ms. Granger. You do tend to be rather 'in the know', so to speak." Minerva could not withhold the grin tugging at her lips.

"Anyway, for those of you who had not read the article, it stated that Hogwarts had gone into renovations over the summer. In fact, I believe there was an advertisement placed in the beginning of summer. I was very proud of the turnout, seeing as many of you showed."

Hermione saw Ron duck his head down; she knew that he had not gone. That was what they had argued about. 

"Now, as you can tell, the castle has been restored to its' former glory. However, due to some cases of irreversible spell damage, some parts of the castle had to be blocked off and so we decided to add a new wing. That is what the article was about and the new wing is where you lot will be staying." She clapped her hand together and then waved her wand in a circular function. 

Maps of the school appeared in front of them. One of the hallways was circled.

"The circled hallway is your wing. I do think that you are all capable of finding it, especially with these maps. We will figure out your schedules later, for now, that is all." And with that, she waved them off.