Author's Note: Hey y'all! I thought I'd rewrite this chapter and make it a bit longer, alright? Hope you like this version better, 'cause I do!!! :) Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the books belongs to JK! Thought you knew that?

The Magic of Hate, Lust and Love

Chapter 1: The Summer of Sorrow

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"Oh mother, look at this! It's absolutely wonderful! I've never ever seen anything like this before! I love it! It is the perfect Graduation dress, mother! Can I have it, please Mum, please?" Hermione Granger pleaded her mother as she stood gracefully in front of a body-length mirror in a small design shop in the middle of Muggle London. She danced around a bit, looking at her reflection as it danced with her.

She was beaming with happiness as she surveyed the pretty girl in the mirror wearing a very elegant and feminine dress. It was a milky white dress made of thin, see-through material with a light pinkish petticoat underneath that prevented the topmost layer from exposing unnecessary skin through it. The upper part of the dress was tight and hugged her curves, leaving her shoulders bare and giving her a small cleavage and it flowed freely and loosely down a bit past her knees to a laced hem, like a waterfall on a warm midsummer day. The sleeves were elbow-length with laces at the ends as well. It was light and perfect.

"It's perfect for Graduation, dear, I agree with you." Mrs Granger said to her daughter as she stood behind Hermione, looking at both their reflections over Hermione's shoulder.

They were both smiling broadly, with the same smile that exposed white teeth and the same light brown and curly hair that came down to the mid-back on Hermione and to the shoulder on Mrs Granger. The same facial features were visible and anyone could figure out that these two were related. (Exception was the colour of their eyes; Hermione's eyes were a deep brown when Mrs Granger's were a light greyish.)

"The other's will surely wear dark dress robes, but I can't seem to take my eyes off it, Mum, seeing that it's very beautiful yet very expensive!" Hermione said, giving a slight laugh with her soft voice. Her mother only smiled for a long while.

Suddenly Mrs Granger's eyes started to water and big glittering tears fell down on her cheeks from where they slid down onto Hermione's shoulder. The daughter turned quickly around to face her mother in worry.

"What's wrong? Do you think that this dress is that horrid?! Or – or is it too expensive?! Oh, Mum, I could always look for another one..." Hermione asked panicked with her eyebrows raised. But Mrs Granger shook her head fiercely, her curls bouncing onto her face before she threw her arms around Hermione's neck and started sobbing uncontrollably in her shoulder as Hermione patted her back with a slight smile on her face. "So you hate the dress that much, huh?" she asked quietly and received a slight laugh mixed with a sob from her mother.

"No, n-no…the d-dress is perfect, honey…" Mrs Granger answered as the tears continued to flow down her cheeks. She lifted her head to look at Hermione with a smile on her face before she inhaled deeply and said; "It's just t-that I can't imagine m-my little Hermione getting graduated…" she sobbed and lifted her arm to wipe the tears away from her eyes and cheeks with the sleeve of her blouse. "…I'd like it if you hadn't grown at all from an eleven year old little girl." she finished calmly, looking into her grown daughter's eyes.

Hermione gave a little chuckle and hugged her mother again saying; "It's OK, Mum, and I know that but you knew that I weren't going to stay as your little baby Hermione forever." they broke apart again, looking at each other closely.

"I wish you would." Mrs Granger said sadly, yet looking proudly at her. "You have grown so much and it scares me…." she said and sighed.

"There is nothing to be afraid of, mother. And growing is absolutely normal, I assure you, people tend to do that actually." Hermione said amused with a giggle to which her mother joined and they giggled together, hugging each other tightly.

When they broke apart once again, Hermione turned to the mirror, looking at her reflection which was smiling.

"Can I have this dress, Mum? Please?" Hermione asked her mother sweetly, looking at her mother's reflection now, which was looking at them both. "I really, really like it, no, I love it!" she said with pleading eyes.

Mrs Granger fake sighed and rolled her eyes at Hermione with a smile. "Oh, alright, if you love it so much, I might buy it for you…" she said amused as Hermione grinned happily and squealed excitedly before she hurried to the fitting room where her clothes lay in a messy pile on the floor.

She closed the door behind her and heard her mother sit down on a chair outside the fitting room she was in. Hermione started to tug off the dress slowly.

"Are you coming with my car or will you Apparate home?" Hermione heard her mother's voice ask her after a short while.

"I'm coming home with you, of course!" she answered immediately. "But I did think about visiting Diagon Alley first but since professor McGonagall hasn't sent me the booklist yet, even if I asked her personally to send it to me a bit earlier this year and she said that she might, you know, to practise for the NEWTs that are due this year." Hermione told Mrs Granger through the red curtain that separated them as she stood practically naked now when she had got the dress off of her.

She was only wearing a pair of small white knickers and a matching white lacy bra when she caught sight of herself in the mirror inside the fitting room. Still slightly busy-haired but not bucktoothed anymore, Hermione was sixteen years old, going for her seventh year at Hogwarts. She looked and felt just like any other girl in her age, except that she was a witch. Her skin was a little bit tanned after several spent hours under the sun on the balcony of their apartment, eating strawberries.

"You know what I was wondering one day not too long ago, Hermione?" came Mrs Granger's voice from outside the red curtain and Hermione snapped out of her thoughts, blushing furiously.

"What?" Hermione asked politely as she shook her head and averted her gaze from the mirror as she picked up her low cut jeans from the floor.

"I was wondering if you have had a boyfriend yet. I'm just curious to know, that's all. Of course I have my suspicions that tell me you have had many but you've never told me about them." Mrs Granger told her, sounding curious and amused at the same time. Hermione put on her jeans and took her yellow top from the floor and pulled it over her head before answering.

"I haven't told you about my 'boyfriends'," Mrs Granger giggled when Hermione paused. "because there haven't been any, Mum." she finished slowly. She was not ashamed of the fact that she may be the only girl along with Eloise Midgen, who hadn't had any boyfriends during their Hogwarts years till this day, she was proud of it actually. She liked paying books and exams more attention than boys and make-up. Hermione took her dark blue jacket from the peg on the wall of the fitting room and put it on. "I did tell you about Viktor Krum, didn't I?" she added as an afterthought.

"Oh yes, but he wasn't a boyfriend, was he?" Mrs Granger asked.

"No. He wasn't." Hermione answered annoyed. "I'm glad things didn't go further with him." she said softly grabbing her bag and the dress she had been fitting, in one hand and dragged the red curtain aside with the other, stepping out with a smile directed towards her mother who stood up from the chair she had been sitting in.

"Why is that?" Mrs Granger asked, tilting her to the side. "I thought you liked him, Hermione? Besides, he sounded very nice and charming in the telephone –"

"When have you been talking to Viktor by telephone?" Hermione cut her off, asking this shocked, and staring at her mother with raised eyebrows.

"Oh Lord, didn't I mention it to you at all?" Mrs Granger said and clapped her hand on her mouth.

"No, you didn't!" said Hermione angrily when such piece of information was given to her, obviously quite late since she had stopped contacting Viktor Krum over a year ago.

"I'm so sorry, dear! I totally forgot as it was the Christmas holidays in your fifth year," Hermione rolled her eyes. Fifth year…hmm. "and we were just leaving for that skiing holiday the three of us but you had your OWLs that year and – and you stayed with the Weasley's, didn't you? Yes…I was a bit angry at you when you couldn't accompany us –"

"Mum. What does this have to do with Viktor?" Hermione said, cutting her off.

"Oh! I'm sorry I got a bit carried away…" Mrs Granger said smiling. "Well, anyway, he called that Christmas holiday in hope to speak with you, but obviously you were not home so we had a nice little chat. He had a low voice, which is very manly if I may say so." she told her daughter with a smirk. Hermione shook her head.

"He was and is, of course, four years older than me and mind you, I wasn't exactly ready for a relationship with an adult at the age of fifteen! But you're right about his voice, it is manly. Yet he wasn't my type and he couldn't even pronounce my name correctly!" Hermione said hotly as they finally decided to move to the cash desk with the beautiful dress tightly clutched in Hermione's hand.

"And does that matter, honey?" Mrs Granger asked amused, receiving a cold glare from her daughter.

"Yeah, it does. I was never aware of the fact that he was talking to me if he wasn't standing in front my eyes!" Hermione explained as her mother paid the dress to the cashier. Mrs Granger was handing over some Muggle money when she started giggle uncontrollably. "It's not funny! I mean it, mother!"

"I'm sorry, but that was funny and I do mean it, Hermione!" Mrs Granger said when she had stopped giggling and gave Hermione the dress which was now hers…Her eyes lit up and she beamed as he looked down at the paper bag, where the dress was, with satisfaction and a big grin on her face. "So I suppose it was a good purchase then?" she asked Hermione noticed the look in her eyes and the smile of her lips.

She was answered with a tight hug from Hermione and an excited laugh. "Good? It's fabulous! I love it, love it, just love it! Thank you, Mum!" Hermione said and released her mother from the rib breaking hug.

"You're welcome, darling." Mrs Granger said with a smile. "Now let's get home. I promised your father we'd be home in time for an early dinner." she added and the two of them headed to the door of the shop, Mrs Granger pushing it open for her daughter and stepping out to the sunny summer street after Hermione, the sun blinding their eyes and the sound of a heavy traffic was heard from in front of them now.

The Muggles, unaware of the Magical World, were hurrying in many directions of the street which was decorated with different kind of shops in every size. There were no clouds on the clear blue sky and nothing could go wrong on that lovely day…

"I've got to go and get the car and I expect you to jump aboard right here, alright?" Mrs Granger said with a nod and started walking backwards away from Hermione, tossing her hair over her shoulder before she turned and hurried along the street, melting into the crowd.

"Thanks for the dress, Mum! Bye!" Hermione couldn't resist thanking her again as she held the paper bag tightly in her hand and lost the sight of her mother. Then she was alone. The Muggles who passed by were looking either happy because of the weather and the holidays, or irritated, due to the fact that some were working and probably couldn't stand the sight of these glad people. Hermione sighed deeply. They had no worries, these plain Muggles, only the money and the workload. These people were worrying too much. She smiled to herself, clutching the paper bag again, thinking what a purchase she had made with her mother. Hermione Granger had actually been shopping! And found something that she really loved, not books this time, but a dress, the most beautiful one that fitted her quite well…

Hermione looked up from the paper bag she had been staring at, only to see a grey Volvo, driving down the street towards the place where she stood. It was still a long way away but she got a strange feeling that everything was not right. She wasn't smiling anymore. She knew that something was wrong, something dreadful was about to happen.

Hermione started walking up the street to meet up with the grey Volvo, first walking slowly but the increasing her pace and never taking her eyes off the car. But before she could figure out what was wrong, she saw something really strange that was happening. A trail of shiny blue sparks was shot towards the grey Volvo from the sidewalk and suddenly the car was sliding down the street with a high speed towards a red double-decker bus which was crossing the road in front of Mrs Granger's car and then before Hermione could even understand what the hell was really happening, she stopped her walk to stare at the Volvo in horror and then –

CRASH!

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"NO!"

Hermione Granger awoke with a start, bolting up into a sitting position in her bed. She was panting heavily like she had been running for the past hour and her face gleamed with cold sweat in the early morning. The hue of the rising sun, shining through her lowered curtain into her room. Her hands were gripping her blanket so tightly that her knuckles were white and her fingernails were digging into her palms through the fabric.

Not again… she thought because this dream or memory in this case, was repeating itself night after night.

Once she calmed down, her breath going back to normal and her hands letting their tight grip loose of the blanket, she lowered her head into her hands as silent tears flowed down her cheeks, soaking her bed sheets. Images flashed inside of her closed eyes and she opened them, preventing herself from seeing those things again.

It had happened three weeks ago. Only three weeks ago had her whole world crumbled as one of her strong supporters in life faded away into nothingness. Three weeks ago had been the last time she had been truly happy. Now, when she was going back to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry for her last and most difficult year, had her mother left her sad and alone to grieve after her spirit. She was broken and no one could heal her…

She really didn't want to rise and return to Hogwarts that day, but what else had she left?

Hermione's once blooming and close relationship to her father was now only a shadow of what it had been before the fatal accident. Mrs Granger had always been the one who had stopped their fights and made them friends again, hugging and loving. That was nothing anymore. Hermione and her father had grown so much apart that one couldn't call them father and daughter who had had a great relationship once. Nowadays they seemed to fight over every little thing and these fights would always end up with Hermione running up to her room with a tearstained face and red puffy eyes from crying and her father to open a new bottle of beer cussing madly. They were no longer a family in her opinion.

But why didn't she have the courage to tell Harry and Ron, her very best friends, about the accident and her problems at home? Why was she acting that everything was OK in her letters that she sent to them? They thought that she had it well with her happy little family and cosy little house. Well, they were wrong and Hermione had not told them how wrong they really were…

Was she ready to go back to Hogwarts and pretend that everything was alright? To go back for a year at Hogwarts where all she could do was to cry and linger in sorrow? Perhaps it was better, than to stay home and do those same things.

Hermione kicked the blanket off her body and swung her feet over the edge of her bed and sat still for a moment. She had stopped crying now and she wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her pyjama before sighing deeply and looking around in her messy room.

Messy indeed, for all her clothes, books, quills, inkbottles, parchment rolls and other stuff lay sprawled across the dimly lit room and her Hogwarts trunk lay opened in one corner. Her wand was placed on the bedside table beside her alarm clock, which was not working. Hermione gazed at the wooden stick with a strange expression on her face and remembered the time when she had almost snapped it in two and let go of everything she held near. She wondered what she would be doing now if she would have done it. For one, she would not be going back to Hogwarts and secondly, she would just sit at home and do nothing at all. At least in Hogwarts she would be so busy with her school work that maybe she would have the chance to push some thoughts away. Hogwarts…a few hours and she would be heading towards the train station.

Hermione heard movement from the kitchen and guessed that her father must be up. She didn't really have the strength to rise up yet, so she lay down on her bed again and stared blankly at the ceiling above. Oh how she wished that her mother would still be alive… At times like these, she needed someone to hold her, to comfort her and to tell her soothingly that everything would be alright. Of course she knew that Harry and Ron would hold her, comfort her and tell her that everything would be alright, but somehow she felt that she needed more than that. Still that didn't explain why she hadn't told them about her family…

Till this day, she had read all the books over and over again only to expand her knowledge further. Sure she was going to be the Know-It-All once again but that didn't matter her at all. Somehow reading books made her forgot about her life for a while, it helped her to feel normal again, to be Hermione 'Bookworm' and 'Know-It-All' Granger again.

Hermione heard footsteps coming towards her room and stop outside the door.

"Are you awake, Hermione?" Mr Granger called from the other side of the door.

"Yeah…I'm awake, Dad." she replied hoarsely and turned her head to the door as it creaked open and Mr Granger's tired face looked at her as he stood in the door gap.

"Breakfast is ready, if you want it this early." he said with a sad tone in his voice. Hermione had tried to comfort him but he wouldn't let her.

"Thanks." she said softly and managed a small smile at him before the door was closed and she was alone once again.

She drifted back into her thoughts about Hogwarts and her last year. Why had her mother died just the summer before her last year and Graduation? Now she wouldn't see Hermione wearing her white silky dress she loved so much…

Hermione sighed and turned slightly so that she was looking at her bedside table where her wand and an alarm clock lay under a lamp. Suddenly she noticed that those weren't the only things that were above it. There, slightly out of sight behind her lamp, was a crumpled letter, with the Hogwarts crest on it. She reached out for it and remembered now what it was all about. Hermione opened it and took the parchment out in her hand and read it slowly as she lay on her back.

Dear Ms Granger,

You have been selected as Head Girl for Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Please note that this position is not to be taken lightly and that you will be trusted with a large amount of work and tasks, which you will be performing with the Head Boy ever so often along with your usual schoolwork…

Hermione couldn't read further. A tear escaped her eye and she hugged the letter tightly to her chest.

Her mother would've been so proud of her. Little Hermione as Head Girl of Hogwarts, who would've guessed? (Who wouldn't have…?) She would be busier than she thought this year, now with Head Girl position and schoolwork.

As she lay there, holding the letter tightly and more salty tears, falling down from her eyes, she closed her eyes, thinking of Hogwarts, and fell asleep once again…

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To Be Continued…

Author's Note: That was the first chapter, folks! Now I'd like you to review, please! :) It's going to be a long, good story, I promise!!! Sad beginning, I know, but this is going to be a Draco/Hermione romance fiction, so keep reading, you D/Hr fans!!! :)

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