A/N: I wanted to try this out. AU in the places that are different from HBP and waaayyyyy AU after the ending of HBP. Please Please Review if you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Hermione paced back and forth past the gargoyle leading to the headmaster's office. She was worrying the already crinkled note between her fingers, wondering what warranted a trip to the headmaster's. She had never been alone with the powerful wizard, and she was terrified.

She took a deep breath and uttered the password. The gargoyle slid aside, revealing a spiraling staircase. She glared at the numerous steps. It was the only thing she couldn't stand about Hogwarts; there were too many stairs. She climbed them dutifully, counting them as she went, as she always did.

She knocked gently on the door and she heard a faint 'come in'. She took another breath before slowly opening the solid wood door. The Headmaster was sitting at his desk, looking over some paperwork. With a flourish of his pen, he signed his name and looked at Hermione.

"Ah, Ms. Granger, on time as always," his voice was soothing.

"Headmaster," she nodded.

"Please call me Albus."

She shook her head, she never would be able to do that, she knew.

"I trust that the things spoken in this room will not reach other ears?"

"If that is what you wish, Headmaster," she said automatically.

He looked at her. Hermione couldn't discern the emotions behind his eyes. She had never been good at emotions, better so than Ron, but not much. She giggled at the thought of him and Lavender. Realizing she just laughed in front of the headmaster, she returned the stony, obedient look to her face. He was looking at her, smiling, as if he had known exactly what she was thinking.

"I am dying Ms. Granger."

He pulled his arm fully out of his sleeves to reveal his blackened hand. She gasped at the sight of it. It looked as if though he couldn't move any of his fingers. She stepped closer to examine it.

"What happened?" She asked, touching the land lightly.

"I did something in haste which I should have thought longer about," was his cryptic answer.

"I'm sure there is something I can do. If it is a curse than all we need to do is find the right counter curse and—"

"There is nothing to be done, Ms. Granger, Professor Snape and I have been over all possibilities. I am lucky he resides in this castle, for he gave me a little over a year to set affairs straight. There is nothing to be done." he repeated with finality as she opened her mouth once again.

"Is Professor Snape to be trusted, sir?" She asked, wondering how candidly the old man would speak to her.

"There will come a day when you will need to trust Severus with your life."

Hermione was unsatisfied with the non-answer, but let the issue drop.

"I have asked you here to tell you something."

Her ears almost physically perked up and she suddenly wished she had brought a pen with her. The headmaster gave her a kind smile.

"There will come a time when you have to put forgiveness over anger and grief."

Hermione nodded, pondering over the words. The elderly man sighed. Hermione suddenly thought he looked tired, old, sand overburdened. Three things she had never come to associate the powerful wizard until now. She was overcome with concern.

"None of that now, Ms. Granger. I am far too old for this world. I have been ready for my next great adventure."

Hermione nodded, not knowing what to say and wondering how he had known what she had been thinking. The room was silent, and after the silence persisted for some time, Hermione, thinking she had been dismissed, turned to leave.

"You know, I had a sister once."

Hermione froze on the spot and turned around. "I didn't know you had any siblings," she said.

"I was the cause of her death, though I did not kill her. She was ill, and I pushed her over the edge. You remind me so much of her, before she was ill. Bold, brave, cunning, intelligent, I just hope that this war and what it asks of you doesn't rip that from you."

The young girl felt awkward, and stress bubbled up inside of her.

"Do you think she will forgive me when I see her again?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked.

There was something in the way that his eyes searched hers, for answers, for something she could not give. She took a deep breath.

"Forgiveness is the final form of love," She said with conviction.

"Ah, yes, Niebuhr. You are surprisingly well-read, Ms. Granger."

Hermione, feeling her Gryffindor courage well up, started speaking.

"You are loved, Headmaster, by many, and you will be deeply missed when you are gone. The good that you have brought and the evil that you have vanquished from this world will never be forgotten."

"Thank you, Ms. Granger. I am not quite as terrified about walking into the abyss alone."

She nodded and turned, walking down the stairs. On the way back, which was criminally far away, she contemplated the headmaster's situation. She concluded it would be terrifying to know you are going to die a year in advance, but at least one would be able to set things right. She gave the password to the Pink Lady and shuffled through the portrait hole.

Harry and Ron were there to greet her.

"What was that about?" Harry asked, concern obvious.

"He thought I should drop a class." She lied easily.

"Are you going to do that?" Ron asked.

"Not a chance," She gave her friends a wry grin.

They all laughed heartily, moving to one of the couches in the common room. When Hermione finally went to sleep that night, all her thoughts were on the headmaster's words and the time tables the firm Scottish woman was going to hand out the next morning.

HGDMHGDM

Tears were streaming down his face as he threateningly jabbed his wand at the old man. He had been so obvious. Everything he did could be traced back to him if they just looked hard enough. How had no one figured it out? Why had no one stopped him.

Dumbledore moved slightly, causing Draco to jump and straightened out his wand. Dumbledore was supposed to be a good guy. A hero. Dumbledore was supposed to win, to disarm him, to fight him off and escape. He wasn't supposed to disarm him.

"Draco Malfoy," The old man said.

He hated how loving his voice was. He hated the understanding look in his eyes. Tears poured faster down his face as he steeled himself.

"They'll kill my mum," He sobbed.

Dumbledore nodded, "I understand Draco."

"I don't want to kill you, but they'll kill my mum, and they'll make me watch. Then they'll kill me."

"You are not as evil as you think you are. Remember to trust those who try to help you."

Draco paused, he knew this was it. He was going to kill the headmaster. He saw the elderly man draw himself to his full height.

"You are forgiven for what you are forced to do," He said.

Draco heard footsteps behind him, he knew it was the Death Eaters he brought into the castle. He straightened up and summoned all the anger and hatred he could.

"Avada Kedavera."

Regret hit him as soon as the magic left his wand. He saw the green light hit the Headmaster full force. He stumbled backwards out the window, his soulless eyes still looking into his own. His stomach churned as the other Death Eaters watched Dumbledore fall from the tower. He fled the room as fast as he could.

There were students fighting in the hallways, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, even some Hufflepuffs. Not a Slytherin in sight.

We are a bunch of cowards, He thought, Not even coming to fight for our own side.

He saw Lovegood and the Granger girl helping Flitwick against some Death Eaters. Against some of his friend's parents. He suddenly wished he was among them, even though it meant forsaking everything he grew up with. Draco shook his head as he ran. It was too late for him. He saw the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and slammed it open, hoping the ghost girl who had listened to his laments so understandingly would be there. The bathroom was empty. He felt bile rising up in his throat and ran to one of the stalls, relieving his stomach of their contents as his soul fragmented.

HGDMHGDM

Hermione saw Malfoy run past and assumed the worst. She had sent an owl to the headmaster long ago with her suspicions, that it was Malfoy who was trying to kill him. Malfoy was in Borgin and Burkes. He had bought the cursed necklace that almost killed Katie Bell. She had asked after it under a false name and Burke himself had confirmed it. The wine had his script on the note attached to it. When she had sent the owl, she got a one sentence reply.

All is as it should be.

It was then that she knew that the headmaster wanted Malfoy to kill him, and the look of horror and regret on his face she knew it had been done. She saw him rushing towards the second-floor girls bathroom, and after making sure Luna and Professor Flitwick were secure in their positions, she bolted after him.

She gently closed the door behind her and warded it with the strongest magic she knew, just in case someone had been watching her. She heard retching coming from the second stall down and she knew it was Malfoy. She knocked on the stall door. She heard a scramble as the boy stood up of the floor of the bathroom and opened the stall. His face, covered in vomit and sweat and tears, contorted into a forced snear, as if he was trying to hold something back.

"Mudblood."

Before Hermione could retort or rebuke him, his face crumpled, and he fell forward into her arms. He was a good four inches taller and about thirty pounds heavier than her, so she staggered under the weight. She gently lowered them to the ground, and he started sobbing into her robes. She didn't know what to do. This was her mortal enemy, her childhood bully, the killer of the greatest wizard since Merlin himself, but as he fell apart in her arms, all she saw was a terrified boy who needed guidance. Guidance and a friend.

She pushed down the part of her that wanted to kick the boy, that wanted to scream 'murderer' over and over and over again and turn him over to the aurors, or better yet, Harry. She remembered Dumbledore's words. She had long known that this is what he had been talking about.

"He was dying," she said to the blonde boy.

He looked up at her, questions in his eyes.

"The curse from a horcrux was slowly killing him. Professor Snape saved his life, but only just. He gave him another year. I knew what you were doing, it was quite obvious really. I tried to warn the headmaster about it, but he just sent me this."

The Felix Felicis that she had took earlier, but had long worn off, had told her to grab the note the headmaster had sent her regarding the matter. She put it in front of his face so he could read the words written in the elegant scrawl.

"They were going to kill my mother," The blond boy said in a small voice.

"Then Headmaster Dumbledore knew that. He didn't want you to suffer and die when you could be saved and he himself already dying."

Malfoy sniffed and sat up. She had never seen him like this. There was no anger or malice as he looked into her face.

"I don't know what to do," He admitted.

Hermione was a quick thinker and an obsessive planner. She had been subconsciously planning for scenarios like this for months now. She knew that Harry, Ron, and herself would not be going back to school for the next year if the headmaster passed as she feared. She stood up, her plan already forming in her mind.

"Come with me."

Hermione stuck out her hand and he hesitantly took it. She removed the wards from the bathroom door and moved into the hallway.

HGDMHGDM

One part of Draco wanted the Granger girl to let go of his hand. He shouldn't be with her, let alone touching her. The other part of him felt safe holding her hand, having another person take the lead. She pulled him along, pausing at every corner to peer around it. They appeared at a statue of a one eyed witch.

"What are we doing her?" He whispered, not wanting to be exposed for so long.

It looked like she was trying to remember something. He felt a presence behind him and he whipped around. Lovegood was walking towards them, an airy feeling about her. He tugged at the curly hair and she turned to glare at him before she saw the light-haired girl.

"Luna, thank god."

"Are you going to take care of Draco Malfoy?" She asked.

Malfoy wondered what that meant, but he was too interested in the conversation to ponder about it for too long.

"Yes. Now Luna, I need you to take a message to Harry."

"That's good, no one has taken care of Draco Malfoy since Tracy died."

Draco froze. How did the girl know about his nanny?

"Very good Luna," She said, "Can you take a message to Harry."

"Of course."

"Tell Harry I have a plan, and that I love him, and that everything is going to be ok."

Lovegood nodded, "Yes, I love Harry too."

"Luna!"

Granger was obviously exasperated, and the thought made him smile a bit.

"Dissendium," the other girl said, "I am going to go find Harry now."

The blond girl turned away and sauntered down the hallway. Granger shook her head worriedly and pulled him down the new passageway.

"What was that about?" He asked, not really trusting his voice to be steady.

"She exists between worlds, I think. She's from a long line of seers and she doesn't know what's real and what is in her head."

"Does little Ms. Know-It-All actually believe in Divination?" He asked sarcastically.

"I believe in seers, I didn't like Trelawny." She said in a short tone.

They walked in silence for a while before they got to a trap door. She turned to Draco and told him to be absolutely quiet. He wanted to disobey her out of spite but knew she had taken a big risk getting him out of the castle.

She lifted the trap door and carefully stepped into a cellar. Once he joined her, he recognized various sweets from Honeydukes. They made quick work of sneaking out the back door of the store and down the deserted lane, keeping to the shadows. There was a cloaked figure at the end of the lane. Granger must have recognized him because she sped up.

Once they got closer, Draco knew it was Snape. Their hands were still joined, and he tugged on her hand, wanting to pull her away from a man he knew was evil. They were two feet in front of him.

"Ms. Lovegood sent me an hour ago," He said, seeming impatient, but held out his hand.

Granger grabbed it with a sureness he had never had and he felt a familiar squeeze before they disappeared.