Platform 9 ¾ was bustling with wizarding families. Hermione felt a slight pang in her heart as she watched wide-eyed first years nervously huddling near their parents’ sides before it was time for them to say their goodbyes. Growing up as a Muggle-born, she never had that opportunity and approached her first journey on Hogwarts Express as she did many things in life: alone with fortitude and an outright display of confidence in her intellectual prowess.