The Letters to No One - Romione

Chapter 21

The Gryffindor table cheered loudly as Hermione jumped from the stool and began to walk towards the long, wooden table decorated with banners of red and gold. She beamed as she headed towards Ron who looked just as happy as she was as Hermione took the seat next to him. The seat Ron had saved as he sat down, just in case.

'I can't believe it,' Hermione whispered as the first years continued to be sorted. She could still feel people's eyes on her but it didn't matter anymore. Her nerves were gone and it was as if she had been here for the past four years with everyone else.

'Which house did you expect?' Ginny asked from across the table.

'Honestly, Ravenclaw.' She answered. 'From what Ron said earlier I sounded like a perfect fit.'

'Ron tends to be biased when it comes to the houses,' Ginny laughed. 'And anyway the sorting hat knows more about you than you do about yourself.'

'Hey! I'm not that biased,' Ron moaned although he decided that she was probably right. 'Any house would've been fine,' he added as he turned to face Hermione again. 'As long as it wasn't Slytherin, I couldn't have a girlfriend in Slytherin, it would ruin my reputation.'

'What reputation?' Ginny asked with a smirk, but Ron didn't have the words to reply.Hermione blushed and looked up at Ron who returned her stare with a puzzled look.

'What?' He asked. 

'Girlfriend?' She whispered so that no one else on the table could hear them.

'Umm... Yeah... I mean... If you want.' He muttered awkwardly, avoiding eye contact as he cautiously ran his hand through his hair, his cheeks flaming.

'I would love that,' Hermione replied, smiling as Ron wrapped his arm tightly around her. The final first year was sorted into their house, Slytherin, and the muttering that had filled the great hall began to die down as Dumbledore stood up. He looked exactly the same as the day Hermione had first met him and it was comforting for her to see a familiar face.

'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts,' his voice boomed across the hall. 'Now... to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you. Now, let the feast begin.'

The tables began to fill with every type of food imaginable and everyone began to dig in as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Hermione, and a couple of first years, looked in amazement as dishes appeared, refilling themselves as the students hungrily began to eat.

'What?' Ron asked as he picked up three chicken legs from the table in front of him.

'This is incredible,' Hermione replied in awe.

'If you think this is incredible then you're going to be in for a few surprises over the next few years,' Ginny said with a smile.

'I guess it's more exciting for you because you grew up in the muggle world.' Ron added.

'Don't worry,' Harry said from Hermione's other side. 'It was exactly the same when I arrived. Everything here is just so different. You'll probably never get used to it.' 

'Do you know what classes you're in yet?' Ginny asked Hermione.

'Not yet, but McGonagall said I'll definitely be in classes with the first years. At least for now anyway. I have a bit of catching up to do.' Hermione said, her stomach flipping as the nerves kicked back in. She knew she would love it here, she just wasn't especially keen about having to start from scratch like all the first years. Although she was sure that some of them would already now much more magic than she did. 'I've read a few books about magic, so I'm hoping that maybe I can catch up a little bit, at least in the basics.' She added, knowing that she was going to work as hard as possible to make this work, after everything she had left behind she knew she had to make the most of this opportunity.