This is a trial shot. If I get responses I will upload again. I don't own anything I just enjoy playing with the characters. The parts in () are what Hermione is thinking.

Chapter 1

Absently tracing her fingertips over each of the bracelets her mother had given her, delighting in the smoothness of the pieces almost as if they were alive, Mya sat on the train waiting to go to her "New" school. Will she make friends, foes, learn? She hoped so – mainly though, her goal was to try to stay unnoticed and learn everything she needed to survive. It wouldn't do for anyone to find out who she really was… her mother and father stressed the importance of that over and over, again and again. She was pleased when she first got her letter and met the nice teacher that brought it. She knew that there was a strong possibility that she would be allowed to go. But, after much discussion and tears (on her part) it was agreed that she would be able to attend under certain conditions. Professor McGonagall would be the contact; she had to swear a Wizarding oath to not repeat anything about the family history and to help keep her safe. If Hermione couldn't stay anonymous, they would pull her from school and go into hiding again, just as they were finally settled and seemingly safe. She couldn't do that to her family, uprooting was so hard on everyone – her little brother and sister needed the stability that they were currently enjoying. Professor McGonagall would be there to listen and to help since it was apparent that she was going to have to be ostracized by her peers and it would be nice to have someone who knew and who she could talk to. Besides, since she was the transfiguration Teacher – she would be able to brush off some of the strange abilities that would appear to just talent or luck.

So, here she is Hermione Granger, plain, boring, bushy haired muggleborn only daughter of two dentists who lived a quiet and boring life to this point. If it came to it, she would pull a bossy, smarter-than-anyone-else attitude and hope people would stay away. It would hurt not to have friends, but the price was nothing compared to what would happen if anyone got too close to the truth. Sighing, she repeated the mantra in her head: Friendly, aloof and somewhat distant…... Friendly, aloof and somewhat distant…...

She was interrupted with her musings by a knock on the cabin door and a boy stood nervously looking around. He introduced himself as Neville and apparently had already lost his toad not five minutes from the station. She looked over the boy carefully noting his aura, and then looked into his eyes. She saw pain, sadness and fear, she also saw what could be, lurking in the recesses of his mind, and decided that she would help him. She would become a "distant friend", one that is there, silently encouraging, but would stay vague when it came to questions about herself and quietly help him along. Being a big sister, she had a lot of experience in looking for things and so she introduced herself with her new name and offered to help. Little did she know, she was well on her way to not being anonymous with that one gesture of friendship.

After tucking her bracelets inside her long sleeve shirt, Mya went from cabin to cabin asking about the toad on the lam (snicker toad, lam haha – I really need to stop bad jokes), all the while looking at people, sensing auras and mentally keeping a list of kids to stay away from. Kids that could possibly figure out who she was and would try and use her. They may be children but it didn't mean they couldn't tell their parents about her and that would never do – after all there were stories about her kind. There was a cabin with two red headed boys that seemed to have the happiest auras – they looked very mischievous with twinkles in their eyes (hmmm…. their auras were slightly off from each other though –so no problems in telling the two apart), a cabin with a blonde headed boy (he would be one to stay away from) and it continued until towards the end of the train. One of the bracelets warmed when she got to the last cabin, and even without knocking she knew who was there. For a moment she hesitated, but curiosity won out. She knocked and then cleared her throat as the two boys in the cabin seemed to be oblivious to her standing there. She asked if they had seen the missing toad and then watched as the red-headed boy attempted magic (badly, if she could say so herself), fixed Harry Potters glasses (really! what was his family thinking – sending him with broken glasses) and then left. She knew they could be friends, but could she accomplish that feat and them still not finding out about her? She would have to think about this…

She went back to her cabin and met back up with Neville, apologized about not finding his toad and stated that he should tell a teacher when they got to school. He nodded his head and then slumped into the seat opposite her. For a while all was silent, Neville upset about Trevor and Hermione reading. Soon it was time to change into their uniforms as the train was getting closer to the school. As they were getting off the train, they saw this huge man and he was telling them to get into this boat (hmmppph - looked like a dinghy to her and it didn't appear all that seaworthy) and as it glided across the lake, they had their first glimpse of the castle…..