Greetings! This is just the start of something, kind of the introduction chapter more than anything else. I've disregarded the epilogue while writing it, I hope you don't mind. The rating is because I'm not sure what will happen in future chapters.

Disclaimer: I make no money and own nothing.

Midnight Faeries

Chapter 1

It was an understatement to say that the War had changed things in the wizarding world. Everything was different—the government, the people, the cities, even Hogwarts—and Hermione wasn't entirely sure that she liked it.

Of course, many things were changed for the better. The Minister of Magic was not controlled by Death Eaters, magic folk did not feel frightened of each other because of blood status or political alignment, and no longer were shops boarded up because their owners had gone missing. But Hogwarts. Well, Hogwarts would never be the same without Dumbledore.

After the Final Battle, the school had been in ruins. Blood and crumbled stones had covered the lawn and the hallways, and the air was thick with dust. For days, that was how it remained. The dead were mourned, battle scars nursed, and still the school sat, untended. The blood dried and the dust settled. The hallways were quiet, the ghosts were withdrawn, and even Peeves was unnaturally somber. It should have been a time of celebration, a time to rejoice in the defeat of evil. Instead, it was a time of sadness.

And Hermione got tired of it. So three weeks after the final battle, she started cleaning. She dragged Harry and Ron with her to Hogwarts and they began the task of restoring the school to its original beauty. Each day they returned, and as word spread, others showed up to help. Because the school had been made by magic and damaged by magic, it was no easy task. However, thanks to the Hogwarts teachers and Hermione's memorization of Hogwarts, A History, new spells were woven and the school reassembled itself. It took four weeks to restore what one night had destroyed, but they did it.

And after they fixed the school, Headmistress McGonagall threw a celebration for everyone who had fought, or had known someone who had fought, or had heard about the fighting. That night, and into the next day, they partied, and they laughed and cried and celebrated and mourned, and they all vowed, in their own way, that they would never forget.

The following September, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and many of their classmates returned to Hogwarts to make up their seventh year. Ginny repeated her sixth year under teachers not corrupted by Voldemort, as did the rest of the students repeat the classes they had taken during the year of the War. The first year class was twice as large as usual, because of the new 11 year olds joining the repeating, now 12 year olds. But the school barely needed to expand to fit them, as the ranks of the older students had been thinned by the War.

It was an uneventful school year. No longer was there constant fear of facing Voldemort, and the golden trio relaxed in the quiet and the calm. Hermione studied, the boys sometimes did their homework, and they tried to laugh often. Usually, they succeeded. There were some days, however, when the past snuck up on them and remorse for the deaths overwhelmed them.

Slowly, they moved past sadness, and could smile again while thinking of those that had died in the War—Fred, Remus, Tonks, Dumbledore, Colin, and all the others. So many, there were so many to miss. But Hermione, Harry, and Ron tried to remember the good times. They tried to be happy.

Hermione was glad when graduation came, and it was time to leave Hogwarts. She loved the castle, but it held too many memories for her. She could not walk through the front hall without remembering the time Fred and George had turned it into a swamp, or go to the Quidditch pitch without thinking of Colin taking pictures of Ron barfing up slugs. When she looked up at the teachers' table in the dining hall, she felt the absence of Dumbledore and Snape like a pain in her side. And every time she looked out across the grounds, she saw them covered in fighting, spells being thrown, and good people falling. No, Hogwarts held too many memories to be a comfort to her anymore.

She, Harry, and Ron stuck together after graduation. They roomed together in London while Harry and Ron went through their first year of Auror training and Hermione through her first year of Healer classes. They shared a nice three bedroom flat, and although Hermione and Ron did date, they all stayed in their own rooms at night, thank you very much.

Auror training took two years in school, and three more years apprenticed in the field before one could be called a fully fledged Auror. Harry and Ron were among about fifty starting at that time, coming from all over—America, France, Germany, Africa, Brazil, to name a few places. Britain's Auror training program was renowned for producing Aurors who were at the top of the field. Despite the long days and large amounts of homework the boys received, they needed no nagging from Hermione to keep up with their classes. This was something important to them.

Hermione, on the other hand, was on the fast track to becoming a certified Healer. While the training normally took four years of study and two of apprenticeship, Hermione had been invited to join a program—called Topson's Healer Training—that reduced the years of study by half, and guaranteed an apprentice position immediately after graduation. It was a lot of work, covering twice as much material each week as normal, but Hermione rejoiced in it. She was going to make a difference. She was determined to do some good in the world.

She was not the only Hogwarts graduate attending Topson's. Padma Patil had also been invited to join the program, and the girls became good friends. By the time they entered their second year of training, they had gathered around them some new faces as well. There was Jenn Tully, the American, Spencer Foster, the Australian, and Kyle Garden, their fellow Briton. The six studied together and, on the weekends, partied together, in addition to being fast friends.

Although Hermione loved Ron and Harry, she had realized during their first year of study that living with them was impractical for her. The flat was conveniently located for their commute to the Ministry's Auror school every day, but it was a rather complicated commute for getting to Topson's. Hermione had to take the Underground, and then a bus, and then walk another three blocks to get to class. The whole deal took between twenty and forty minutes, depending on which trains she caught and which buses she missed. Apparation wasn't a possibility because Topson's, like Hogwarts, had an anti-apparation charm on its premises, and it was located in a muggle business community. The program's head was working on finding a safe apparition point near the school, but until that happened, Hermione was dependent on mugle transportation and her own two feet.

So when Padma and Jenn suggested that for their second year, they share a townhouse two blocks from Topson's, Hermione agreed without a second thought. Ron and Harry would understand.

"Hermione!" Ron whined. "You can't move out, I'll never—I mean, we'll never get to see you anymore!"

Hermione continued to pack, undisturbed. "Oh, please, Ronald, I'll still be around! It's not like it's that far away, you'll just have to make an effort to come see me."

Ron frowned from her bedroom doorway. "I don't like that you won't be living with me anymore. What if you meet someone else?"

Hermione laughed. "Is that what you're worried about? Ron, you know that I love you."

Ron cracked a smile. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But I do like hearing you say it."

Hermione crossed the room and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you," she said, and leaned in to kiss him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't want to see that!" Exclaimed Harry good-naturedly, appearing in the hallway. He grinned at them, and then motioned to Hermione's room. "Do you need any help packing, 'Mione?" He asked.

Hermione disentangled herself from Ron and glanced around her near-empty bedroom. "I think I've got it pretty much finished, but thank you for offering, Harry." She smiled at him, and then glared playfully at her boyfriend. "Ron here has been watching me pack for two hours, and he hasn't asked me once if I needed help."

Ron flushed. "I'm not going to help with something I'm against!" He defended himself, then turned to Harry. "Why are you being so supportive?"

Harry shrugged and pushed past Ron, entering the room and sitting on queen-sized bed. "Well, Hermione has always done what she wanted to do. She isn't going to stop just because I tell her to."

"Thank you, Harry! I'm glad someone understands." Hermione looked pointedly at Ron, whose frown deepened.

"But you think it's safe?" He demanded.

"Hermione is almost twenty, Ron, she can take care of herself." Harry stretched and lounged against the bed frame. "Besides, she's not even living alone, she'll be with Padma and Jenn, and you know Ginny will crash there whenever she's in town."

Ginny had graduated from Hogwarts just a few months ago, and had immediately begun training to become a Gringotts curse breaker. She was currently following Bill around India, but every now and then would turn up, exhausted, on their living room couch.

Ron frowned. He didn't like being proved wrong. "Well, yeah, but still. I don't like it."

Hermione patted his cheek affectionately. "You don't have to, dear," she told him. "I'm moving out anyway."

"Ron," Harry said as Hermione went back to packing, "have you looked at that case study Auror Klark gave us?"

"Oh, yeah, I did. I think the fact that the man had a broken arm pretty much screams that he was the criminal, don't you?"

"I'm not so sure, that could have been from the spell's resonance, too. What about the little girl?"

"The twelve year old? No way."

"Why not? She has a wand, and the case study told us that she'd been reading her father's spell books, and the fact that the control of the spell was so terrible definitely shows that—"

"Boys," Hermione interrupted. "I'm done, and I'm heading out. Are we still planning on dinner Thursday night?"

Ron grinned at this. "Yup! My parents are expecting us at 7."

Hermione smiled back. "Wonderful! I'll have to meet you there, I'm working from 4 to 6:30."

"At the dance studio still?" Harry asked. "I have to say, it's an odd side job for a Healer-in-training."

Hermione shrugged. "I love it, the kids are great. And the money is helpful, too." She pulled out her wand and sent her luggage ahead to her new home. She turned to the bed and raised an eyebrow at Harry, who jumped up off it, and the black and white quilted bed vanished seconds later.

Ron grinned. "You should give me a dancing lesson some time, Hermione."

Hermione grinned back, playfully. "You'd like that, wouldn't you."

The redhead nodded. "In fact, I would."

"No promises," Hermione told him, and then waved at both boys. "I'll see you soon, bye!" She said, and with a crack, she was gone.

Ron turned to Harry. "I hate it when she does that," he complained.

"Apparate away without notice?" Harry asked. Ron nodded. "Yeah," the bespectacled boy agreed. "Me too."

In her new townhouse a few miles away, Hermione leaned against a wall, exhausted. Ron and Harry were her best friends, and she hated keeping things from them. It was draining, holding her tongue all the time.

But Hermione had a secret, and she was not going to spill.

If I have any facts wrong or you see any plot holes, please let me know! I'm applying to colleges this year, and as I'm planning to major in English, writing fan fictions has become a way for me to practice and get feedback. I'll update when I can!

Dramione in the chapters to come! The title will be explained in Chapter 2.