Decisions

Early November 1998

Hermione drew a hot bath, added rose bath salts, her personal favorite even if others said is smelled "old lady," and sunk into the water with a heavy sigh.

"What a day." She spoke aloud to herself. "Was passing my N.E.W.T.s really that important? I'm pretty sure I can just walk into anywhere and say my name a get a job. Not that I would but...I know I'm smart enough, and I can learn quickly what I don't already know. Why must I torture myself like this? Sometimes I think the boys had the right idea- skip all the Hogwarts stuff and just take a job. I know I made the right decision to come back. I can't just use my name and what I've done for our world to my advantage. I'm not that person. I love learning. I love being here..."

She sat there for a while longer pondering her decisions. Not only the decision to return to Hogwarts but to return without her best friends but also the decision to not be with Ron, the decision to be Head Girl, the decision to obliviate her parents and send them to Australia and when would be a good time to bring them back, and the decisions she had yet to make. Those were the decisions that were eating at her the most. Were her parents going to hate her? What in the world was she going to do after Hogwarts? Who would she end up with? She then realized she was in the bath to relax not to ponder every decision she had made since the war started. So she made the decision to not think about her decisions and laid in the bath till it turned cold.

She grudgingly pulled herself out of the tub, cast a drying spell on her hair which she decided was in a great need of a hair cut, dressed, grabbed her bag and walked out of the bathroom. She went and knocked on the Head Boys room. He was also one of the few in her year that decided to return and study for the N.E.W.T.s Hermione didn't really know him before the war. He was a Ravenclaw that was part of the DA but not someone she really got to know. She now was trying to build relationships outside of her comfort zone. She never had a problem with any of the other houses, minus Slytherin, but she didn't go out of her way to make friends with them. Since there were only 4 students from her year in her house that returned and Ginny was busy with Quidditch all the time, and Luna, well as much as she loves Luna she just can't spend but so much time with the girl without wanting to pull her own hair out, she was "forced" to make friends outside of her house. Neville, Dean, and Seamus were often off doing their own thing. Neville spent large amounts of time in the greenhouses and with Professor Sprout. He was talking about becoming her apprentice and then taking over for her when she retired. Seamus and Dean were always trying to make new potions and blowing things up. She thought they were trying to follow in George and Fred's footsteps but were not having near the success they did. Sometimes she thought they just came back so they could have excuses to blow things up. They were always costing Gryffindor house points. Oh, it made Hermione so mad to take points from her own house especially from two of the oldest students in the school. She didn't have this much trouble from the first years Slytherins. She needed to tell George about these two. She was sure he could use some help after they graduated.

Suddenly the door to Luke's room open and he welcomed Hermione in. They were in serious need of a revision to the current patrol schedule. She pulled out the current schedule and they both groaned. This was going to be a long evening. Some of the prefects just weren't working well together and were causing more harm than good. They had already switched it twice, but some of these perfects were a down right pain. Before they began he laughed and asked if she had taken another bath and used rose bath salts. She just huffed and said she liked her rose bath salts and he needed to back off.

"Old lady," He mumbled under his breath but not quite quiet enough.

Hermione picked up her wand and silently cast a spell that made him unable to talk, just a jumbled mess of sounds came out when he tried to talk, that made Hermione laugh, very loudly. Once she had her laugh she said the counter spell and he just glared at her. They then both grabbed quills and looked at the sad excuse of a schedule.

An hour later they were still contemplating over this.

"Astoria doesn't work well with Andy and Andy doesn't work well with Holly. Why can't these kids just get along?" Luke yelled as he slammed his quill down.

Hermione sighed, rubbed her temples, and picked her quill back up. She changed a few names around and stuck Astoria with the male Ravenclaw perfect, Marco. She felt bad for Marco, but Astoria had to be put with someone and he would probably be able to deal with her mouth better than the rest. Astoria was one of the few older Slytherins that returned to Hogwarts. She was one of the few who never picked sides during the war and had nothing to say on the issue. This is why McGonagall chose her to be the prefect. She had a terrible mouth on her and loved to argue but she didn't care about blood, and right now that was very important in the Slytherin house.

"What about this, Luke? Astoria and Marco don't seem to have any issues and he'll keep her grounded enough."

"That will work, I believe. Let's hope we don't have to do this again till after the holidays. Want to grab a bite to eat in Hogsmead? I'm not in the mood to be in the Great Hall tonight."

"Sure, sounds great. I don't know if I can handle all the 4th and 5th years running around flirting and just being plain ol' obnoxious tonight. Let me take these back to my room and I'll meet you in the courtyard in 5 minutes."

They slowly made their way into the village and to a small quaint little restaurant that was opened not long after the war ended. It was a cheerful little place that was full of life. It was not the place that Hermione ever expected to see a Slytherin. It just wasn't there scene. It was bright and colorful and always full of people. In amidst of all the color she saw a tall blond with grey silver eyes. He was looking right through her.