They didn’t have to wait much longer before the first years filed in in neat columns, chattering their nerves like birds. The list was read, and, unlike the year before, Hermione’s name was nestled in between Pontner, Roddy and Smethley, Veronica. She stood, wondering whether they’d assumed she would go with the first years for a boat ride and feeling a perverse satisfaction that she’d disrupted their plans. Eyes lined her walk up to the dias, and when she put the Hat on her head she felt them all the more strongly.