The Golden Trio have headed back to Hogwarts for a final year alongside a select few of their former year group. Post Battle and Post Voldemort how will they fare as they attempt to rebuild their lives and finish school. And why is Malfoy head boy?
"Wow." Hermione couldn't keep in her outright wonderment at the sight of the train, a streak of scarlet across the platform, swarms of students surrounding it. Every time since her first year here, the train had always amazed her. Such a bright colour, and so big, it had always seemed larger than life, that the train itself was magical.
And now she was returning for her seventh year, her final year, which should have happened the year before. But only months after the great battle, they'd all received owls, Harry Ron and Hermione from where they were living, together in Grimmauld Place. School was back on to repeat the previous year, and it was a unanimous decision between the three of them that they returned.
And it was like it had never happened. The war, the desolation, the battle that really couldn't be described if you hadn't been there.
At least for the younger students. Surveying the crowds before her, a smile crawled onto her face as she saw the excited faces of what had to be first and second years. There were no echoes of the second wizarding war on their faces, no scars. Though, she added mentally, not all scars were external.
The white blonde head of Draco Malfoy came into view, quashing the errant thoughts she'd had about whether the death eater's son would return to school.
Though she had to stop thinking of him that way.
Since that dreadful day at Malfoy Manor, when he'd not revealed their identities, since his mother had saved Harry. Since the battle, when he'd cast a shield charm, only noticed by her, and stopped her being stunned. She'd never mentioned it to Ron or Harry, they hadn't noticed. But it'd registered in her mind. Malfoy wasn't good, and she wasn't forgetting the years of torment. But he wasn't a death eater's son. He looked up, and his grey eyes met hers for a second. She was taken back to the last time she'd seen him, in the Great Hall after the battle.
"Your mother did a noble thing, Malfoy." Hermione had opened with this when she'd approached the blonde boy, who'd been stood alone in the entrance hall. He'd looked lost, and for no real reason, she'd felt compelled to approach him.
"Yeah?" she was surprised, had been expecting a brush off. But his eyes held something more.
"So did you. You knew it was us." He tensed, and she took a step backwards, but he looked up.
"Take care of yourself, Granger." He'd said, walking out of the doors, and she'd stood and watched him, wondered what he'd do, then gone back to the boys.
A very slight incline of his head was all she received, and then he turned away. They weren't on good terms, but she'd grown over the past year, so had everyone. Their generation had played a massive part in the war, and they'd all grown up. Suddenly, the trivial school arguments seemed so miniscule, compared to everything they'd been through.
"Ready for this?" the jet black head of her best friend, Harry, came up on her left, and Ron, silent, on her right. She touched both their arms, and nodded.
"As I'll ever be." She said, and with a slight smile, started forward, the three of them falling into step.
They talked little of their war experience, sometimes casually referencing times they'd had whilst camping, but to others, not really at all. What they'd done, the adventure they'd taken together, had been monumental, the three of them instrumental to what had happened. The bond formed was forever. Their names would go down in history, already apparent from the stares they received from the other students as they boarded the train, but to them, they would always be Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Feels silly really, to be getting on this train again. After everything." Ron was the first one that spoke as they wandered down the carriage to find a compartment. In a way, it did. They were adults now, and technically, they wouldn't have been at school had the events of the past year not happened. It did seem odd to board the train as schoolchildren.
"I think it's right. This is where we started." Harry gestured around the train, indicating into a carriage which the other two followed him into.
"This is where I feel like I need to be." He finished.
Ginny Weasley chose this time to enter the carriage, beaming at Harry as he finished. Any more he'd meant to say was lost, as his eyes were now focused on Ginny. He reached out a hand, and their fingers easily intertwined as she sat down next to him. They were the perfect couple. Meant to be together, of course they were. She'd known of course, that they'd be back together as soon as Harry returned, if indeed he had. She wasn't exposed to much of their relationship, their conversations about the war, about everything, had been confined to the many hours Harry had spent with Ginny over the summer.
"That's nice, love." Ginny said teasingly, crossing her legs, referring to Harry's earlier statement.
"It's also important we finish our qualifications, of course." Hermione added, feeling it was necessary, and they both grinned at her, Ginny rolling her eyes in an over the top way.
"What do I need a qualification for? I defeated Voldemort." Harry winked at her to show he was only teasing, and set his head back, closing his eyes.
"It's true that not many people have an Order of Merlin whilst they're at school." Ginny mused, twirling a piece of her long red hair around her fingers. She looked back at him.
"But it'll be good to be back at Hogwarts. One more year." Harry smiled at her, and Hermione could tell by the slight movement in his hand that he'd squeezed hers.
"Next year you'll be sitting on this train without me." He said, his face neutral. Ginny nodded. He looked like he was about to say more, but they were suddenly interrupted by Neville.
"Alright guys?" They all smiled warmly at the boy, who looked old beyond his years. As the killer of the snake, and the only other besides Harry to face Voldemort, he had thoroughly deserbed his order of Merlin, 1st Class, and his name would show up in the history books alongside Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's, as he'd played a bigger part in the war than many would first assume.
"Luna will be along in a minute, she's talking to Dean." He flushed slightly at this comment, and Hermione bit her lip, avoiding looking at Ginny, for fear of laughing.
In some ways, Luna and Dean made perfect sense. She was unique, an individual, and beautiful, and deserved someone who loved her, and would try to understand her. Anyone who spent time with Dean and Luna together would instantly know that he was that person. But it was still a funny concept, all the same, though Hermione was pleased for her friend.
"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Ginny piped up, and everyone soon turned their attention to the game, wiling away the few hours it would take to arrive at Hogwarts. While it was incredible to Hermione that something as simple as cards, and school, could still exist, she relished in the fact that it did, and leant forward to take part.