AN:/ For those of you who follow me as an author, I apologize that this is a new story and not an update. I do not wish to say that I have given up on my previous stories, but I also do not wish to mislead... the stories will remain up until I have finally decided wether or not I am giving up on them or not. My muse has not been kind to me as of late. Lets see how this story works out.

This story is obviously AU, but beware I am also changing some major events and deaths, as well as some other minor details, I welcome everyone who has a question to ask, but please keep in mind this is not strictly cannon. Especially in the Harry Potter universe.

Disclaimer: I do not own either Harry Potter, nor Vampire Diaries. Just a girl treating the characters like her own personal Barbie dolls. Though I do wish I owned Klaus... Yum.

Five months. Five damned long months since the battle of Hogwarts, and dinners at the Weasley's were beginning to become less tense. The Weasley's accepted the children of War over for an escape when ever they wanted, no matter what side they had been on. That was Molly's way of dealing, being a mother to anyone who needed it. I guess that's how Draco had become a constant fixture at Dinner since month 3. He needed an escape from his fathers hearings, his mothers worryings, and the guilt. It was a hard transition from loathing him to acceptance but now it was more than normal, his presence was expected.

Molly was humming as she cooked

The twins were starting to let life back into their jokes.

Ginny was coming out of her room more. Glowing with child despite the despair written all over her features.

But Hermione? She was still just going through the motions.

Five months. Five damned long months since Harry James Potter, and Ronald Bilius Weasley joined the numbers of dead at the Battle of Hogwarts. Five months since Hermione Jean Granger metaphorically died. Sure the Twins and Draco were doing what they could to breathe life back into the once strong bookworm, and she tried to put a face on for them but it really was just a facade.
Voldemort may be gone, but Her best friends were also, Hermione spent countless hours trying to recall every detail to think of how things could have gone differently. The worst part of it all was her memories weren't adding up. They were all there, but felt wrong somehow? Until she really started thinking about it, she hadn't realized how staged everything felt. Foreign and staged. If Hermione strained hard enough those memories would change ever so slightly, beginning to falter slightly at her determination, however she was normally distracted right at the last second before she could fully see any real difference.
As was the case as Molly stopped humming, and announced to the room Dinner was ready before calling up the stairs "Ginny, Ronald, Dinner is rea-" The room went deathly quiet as the twins and Hermione rushed forward, the twins caught Molly as she started to wobble from greif, and Hermione tried to embrace her.
"No, No, get away from me! Don't you know how painful it is to look at you?" Molly snapped causing Hermione to reel back in shock and hurt. The room was now even more silent if that were possible.

"I look at you, and all I see is the future I can never have! Ronald should be here! Harry should be here! Why are you here with them gone? Why didn't you do something?! YOU were the one who kept them alive all those years, and then you failed. You bloody failed to do what you were supposed you. Should have gone down with that damn ship I tell you!" Hermione hissed in a ragged hurt breath as Molly tried to catch her own.

"Molly!" Arthur called placing a hand on His wife's shoulder, the look on his face a mix of his own despair, and anger at his wife's words. He was hurting just as much but would never stoop to think such thoughts, let alone say them out loud to the girl who was practically his second daughter. Hi touch was all Molly needed to bring her back and ground her emotions.

"...Oh Hermione... No...I didn't mean..." Molly stumbled over her apology, but Hermione couldn't take another moment, she ran. She ran and she ran as fast as she could.

"HERMONE! Wait up will you?" A voice called from behind her, risking a glance over her shoulder she found the voice to belong to Draco, of course, she should have known.

"What?!" She snapped slowing her pace before completely stopping and turning to face him.

"Come on, You know she didn't mean it, shes a grieving mother. Shes back there crying thinking you hate her."
"I don't hate her... I just had to get out of there." she paused drawing in a shaky breath. "She's not wrong you know... I should have saved them. I keep thinking about how I could have done something anything differently, but how can I when my PTSD is messing with my mind so badly I don't even recognize my own memories? They feel so unreal, I can't make sense of them." Draco's breath hitched at her words, Hermione heard but almost didn't care. What could he say that he and the Twins hadn't already tried?
"Your memories aren't real." He said after a few moments of unsure pause. Hermione's eyes snapped to his, Alright that was something new and unsaid. Draco held up his hand silently asking her to wait until he could figure out how to say what he needed to. It was not going to be easy...

"Alright, I'm going to tell you something preposterous, and before you laugh in my face about it I am going to have to do a spell to prove it. Can I tell you a story?"

Hermione nodded.

"We were best friends all throughout our years at Hogwarts."Hermione interrupted with a snort. Chuckling slightly Draco continued, "No No, let me finish. We really did hate each other until that night in the forbidden forest. After that night something changed, and The Golden Trio and I started a tentative, secret friendship. It was hard the first two years, Keeping it a secret but we managed. Then you smart as ever came up with a way to in a way replicate the idea of Tom's diary... No that wording isn't quite right is it? Tom's diary gave you the idea of 4 way journals. We'd talk for hours on end without anyone knowing. We could talk with each other privately and have conversation with the four of us at once. Soon after we found the room of requirement. That room proved to be our safe haven. We talked about what we needed of it for weeks before we put it to real use. It was a room that we could hang out in safely without the prying eyes of the school who would have something to say about our friendship. Especially my house mates. We had decided it would be best to not let on to anyone what was really going on between us. My family being who they were, my house being what they were, the room offered us reprieve from all expectations." Draco explained trying to ignore the look Hermione was giving him, it seemed to ask what exactly he'd been smoking. Other wise she was listening. Some of what he was saying was beginning to make sense, but how could she forget all this apparent good in him?

" Flash forward a couple of years and those expectations were getting harder to escape, especially with the threats made to me if I didn't join Voldemort's side. You and I would talk privately about these things. All my actions durring the war, while seemingly for the other side were carefully calculated and planned out with you. I didn't do anything without first planning it with you Hermione. You saved me in so many ways..." Draco trailed off, the admiration clear in his voice. There was the briefest of pauses before her cleared his throat. "Anyways, uh, where was I? Oh yes... You and I actually helped undermine Voldemort before we even knew about the Horcruxes, and of course I helped track them all down. I joined you on your sear-" At that moment Hermione had thought she heard enough.
"Draco stop!" She yelled yanking her sleeve up to reveal the scarred word on her arm. "You were an Ally? You helped us? You bloody stood by as you aunt tortured me! You were no help to our side!" Draco reached out and lightly traced her scar surprised that the witch would let him do so. He gulped looking at the teeth marks on her collar bone, knowing Bellatrix had given her quite a few scars, however none as noticeable as the words on her arm.

" Something else that was carefully calculated. I hadn't known that the snatchers would get you, or that you'd end up at the Manor... I think its time to do my spell. I knew that that ending would be hard for you to believe. May I?" every emotion was clearly written upon Draco's face, most prominently his silent pleas for her to trust him. Hermione slowly nodded her head. Draco Raised his wand, performing a wordless spell, As it hit Hermione she fell backwards at the force of not magic, but flood gates opening with in her mind. Draco was quick to catch and steady her.

"You may now remember this but due to how disorientated you must feel let me explain. Things were getting too risky, our friendship was starting to cause dangers to us all. You and I put our minds together to create a unique memory charm, one with a sure fire cure. We created false memories and implanted them in Harry and Ron's minds as they slept. You were the last to go. Only I was left with the true memories as our spell required as such. 'Think of it as the fiedelius charm for memories, we need a secret keeper' You told me. Apparently it made more sense to lock you memories away rather than mine."

They sat there in silence after that, the only sound being Hermione's ragged breathing. Her eyes darting back and forth as she replayed all of the memories. Draco was telling the truth. Not one bit of what he had to say was false. As she went through all of the 'new' information she found numerous things they could do differently, but could that have saved the boys? Harry maybe, possibly even Ron, but more than likely she could have only saved one of her best friends, not both.

And something else was bothering her. Draco seemed to have left something out after all. Because there was not just the trio and Draco on that trip. There was another. A fifth person who until five minutes ago was a complete stranger, whose existence was completely unknown, but since those five minutes had resumed his place of importance in Hermione's life.

"Draco, what about Damon? Do you know where he is? How he is doing?" Draco took in a sharp breath at her questions. Running a hand through his platinum hair he siged and nodded.

"I tried to find him after the war. Get his advice. He never answered my letter, but doing a tracking spell on my owl, I know where he is, He's in America. He went home." Hermione's eyes narrowed

"Well then, I know where I have to go next."

An:/ Hope you guys liked this little teaser. Sorry about the length if it is too short...? I just needed to get passed the initial setup, from here I promise more length. The startup is the hardest part, and being that its been a good long while since I have written anything it felt harder. If anyone is interested in being a beta please let me know. Apparently opening up spell check crashes my word processor? Weird right? Anyways Thank you for reading! Please review, I need all the encouragement I can get :)