Disclaimer to JK Rowling

Chapter One: Awakening

On the 31st October 1981, Harry Potter defeated the wizard Tom Riddle.

No one knows how he did it.

The blast from the curse that was cast was so great that Harry remained magicless, drained of his magical core.

For almost fifteen years he was hailed at the Boy-Who-Lived, the Greatest Wizard of His Age, whilst he slept.

Almost fifteen years later, his magic woke up.

And so did he.

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Hermione stirred, feeling sunlight dancing above her eyes. She squinted as she opened her eyes, cursing gently as the sun slipped behind grey clouds. Glancing at the clock that sat on her bedside table, she noted that it was well before seven in the morning. She hated this sort of awakening that came with a lack of curtains, but she had long accepted that it was one she had every sunny morning. It seemed that fate was not on her side and had decided to wake her up a full forty-five minutes before her alarm. A gloom settled on her lonely room, and she realised that fate had been ne'er to kind to her before. It would shock her too much if it started being kind to her now, of all days.

Hermione Granger was not an early-riser, if she could help it. She was not a morning person, but her general invisibility meant no one would go out of their way to irritate her.

This was one of those days where she was grateful for her downtrodden status.

Now fully awake, she quickly ran through her limited options of what she could do before class started. She could spend some time in the library before she went to the kitchens. She normally breakfasted at eight, any earlier and Chef Eideard would object. He had the breakfast of wizards to tend to, and she sadly fell last in line.

She could also visit Hagrid and help him tend to his animals, at this hour, he would probably be getting ready to feed the Thestrals. Preferring invisible animals over alternative number theorems, she lifted herself up. A shiver ran through her body, heating was a luxury that she was not afforded, and she pulled a dressing gown on. Tying the belt around herself, she slid her cold feet in a pair of slippers and walked towards the single bathroom.

Although it was unusual for boys and girls to share a bathroom, this lonely Common Room didn't house many students, and anyone who lived with her had to simply make do. She did used to share with Justin, but he… Hermione splashed cool water onto her face, brushing thoughts of her oldest friend away. She shivered again, and now she felt fully awake.

When she had finished her morning routine, she strode out in the Common area and stared wistfully at the door to her left. Smiling sadly, she turned right and back to her own dormitory. She passed her window, and saw the blaze of colours outside her window. Autumn had fully arrived, and it was a prelude to another bitter Scottish winter. It would be weeks, or if she was lucky – a month, before she would have to huddle in the Common area just to get through the night. Today, all she needed was an extra jumper, and even that was because she was going to visit Hagrid.

Shoving the books for her two classes of the day in her bag, she glanced back at the sad little living space that she called home. Hermione wondered what it would be like to live with a House, and a proper Common Room. The way that Draco described his own only seemed to increase the disparity between their standing. She imagined what it would be like to live with luxe emerald leather sofas, deep mahogany workbenches hued with a pretty green glow. Hermione's Common Room was plain and utilitarian, but it sufficed. It wasn't as if Hermione had spent a lot of time there anyway, most of her time was spent in the library, at Hagrid's or more recently, a disused crumbling courtyard where…

Stop thinking about it.

Hermione lifted the tapestry that covered her out-of-the-way Common Room, and hurried out. There wasn't much protection for her rooms but then again, there wasn't much to protect.

Walking past the Great Hall on her way out, she saw some early risers having breakfast. It was always the Ravenclaws who rose the earliest, and Hermione gleaned parts of conversation debating philosophy and theory. A handful of Gryffindors were sat there too, but hardly any Slytherins or Hufflepuffs. If she was allowed to eat in the Great Hall, would she be one of those sat at a table? Would being a Ravenclaw have altered her stance on early rising?

She had always wondered what it was like to eat in the Great Hall. She always saw the hubbub of the Grand Feasts from the kitchens, and drank in the excitement of the house-elves as they prepared for Halloween or the one-time Yule Ball, or Valentine's Feast. It must be exciting to have food appear, instead of thrust at her by an overworked house-elf.

Her right wrist itched, as it usually did, beneath her bracelet. It was times like these where she found herself subconsciously rubbing the area under her bracelet, times where she took stock of her situation. She wasn't usually bothered about the distance between her and other wizards at Hogwarts, but after entering her sixth year, she was no longer the naïve little girl she had been when she was eleven.

Two Gryffindors, Seamus Finnegan and Ron Weasley, almost walked into her as they boisterously entered the Great Hall. The former was using expletives thickly laden with an Irish tilt to convince the latter that an ill-fated Quidditch team was not worth his support, and the latter simply rose his voice speaking over his friend. Hermione had to jump back to avoid being walked into, knowing it was better to avoid a conflict rather than to cause one. Weasley lazily looked at her, his eyes boring through her as if daring her to confront him. Finnegan said something, and Weasley's attention was back to defending his team.

Snorting gently, Hermione walked purposefully out of the Entrance Hall. It had always been like this. Not that people bullied her, people might have felt the wrath of Headmaster Dumbledore if she was driven out of Hogwarts by hateful bullies. Wizards at Hogwarts, Hermione thought to herself, weren't exactly nice either.

Except for one or two.

"Hullo, 'Ermione!" Hagrid boomed as Hermione bounded the last of the way to his hut. He waved with his spare hand, his other gripped a large wagon that dripped blood all over the dewy grass.

"Good morning, Hagrid," Hermione greeted as she caught her breath, and smiled brightly at him. "Off to feed the Thestrals?"

"Yer know me too well," Hagrid laughed, and he started walking. He took extra care to walk slower to match her pace, dragging his wagon along through the forest. "Yer always come ter see the Thestrals, woulda thought yer would prefer t'unicorns."

"You know I have always been fascinated by the Thestrals, despite not being able to see them."

"'Sa blessin' yer don't," Hagrid said gently, "'But they ain't half bad lookin'"

Hermione said nothing, knowing that he was right. Hermione couldn't see them because she hadn't seen death in her seventeen years, and wondered if she ever would. She didn't want to pry as to what death Hagrid had seen in his lifetime either. Then again, when war was rife fifteen years ago, anyone could have seen death.

She stayed silent, huffing gently as they made their way uphill. Their silence was punctuated by the sounds of the wheels of the wagon hitting uneven rocks in the ground. Several times, Hermione had found herself looking backwards, noticing that they were leaving a trail of blood. She wondered if Hagrid's dog, Fang, would follow the trial up the hill to find them later.

They reached the small clearing where a herd of Thestrals lived. The sun was peeking out of the clouds now, giving the clearing a golden glow. Hagrid whistled loudly, glancing around, and then his eyes settled on something. He grunted as he bent down to pick up a raw cut of meat, and he threw it in the air. A bite mark appeared in the side of it, before disappearing.

Hermione dropped her school bag and reached out towards the raw meat. Motioning her hand and thinking of the incantation to conjure a levitating spell, a slice of meat gently rose. She moved her hand, and the slice followed until she paused. She didn't have to wait long before the meat disappeared, eaten by an invisible Thestral.

"Aim some ov'r there," Hagrid instructed, pointing at a line of trees, "T'young 'uns are too scared ter come out."

Hermione nodded, and levitated slices of meat in the area that Hagrid had gestured. Hagrid watched as the meat flew across the clearing, sometimes telling her to move it left or right, or down and grinned when the meat disappeared in the mouth of a Thestral calf. Satisfied that the young were fed, Hagrid concentrated his efforts on the braver, elder Thestrals. Hermione felt a mouth brush against her shoulder, and a trail of blood was smeared across her jumper as the Thestral nuzzled her arm.

She made a noise halfway between disgust and delight, and grimaced at the blood. Hagrid shooed the Thestral away. Hermione watched as it made gentle imprints in the grass as it walked away.

"Sorry," Hagrid said, wincing at her arm.

"It's okay, Hagrid," Hermione said, and she checked her watch. It was a little before quarter past eight. "If I hurry, I think I have time to change before classes."

"Don't even think abou' skippin' breakfast," Hagrid warned, and Hermione waved him off, as she pulled her bag over her clean shoulder and she scurried down the hill, through the Forbidden Forest. On her descent, she saw Fang, walking sloppily up the hill, his tongue darting in and out of his mouth as he licked the drying blood trial. His head rose, and when he saw her, his tail started waggling.

Hermione had never been one to resist Fang. He scampered over, slobber dribbling out of his mouth and she knelt to give him a small cuddle and scratch. His nose went straight for her sleeve, and she got another helping of animal slobber. Such was life when one spent a lot of time with animals. She caught sight of her watch, and saw that it was nearing half-past. She let go of Fang, and made her way hastily towards Hogwarts.

"You're late," Chef Eideard said when Hermione bounded in the kitchens. She thought she would eat her breakfast on her way back to her room, and that way she may not be caught eating in the mess of people trying to get to class. She had Transfiguration next, which was only one corridor away from her Common Room.

"Yes, but - …"

"Do you not know that I have lunch to prepare for hundreds of students?"

"Yes, but - …"

"I cannot always acquiesce to the whims of a - …"

At that precise moment, Kitty, one of the nicer elves held out a plate of jam on toast for Hermione. Hermione grabbed two slices gratefully and asked for a napkin. Kitty clicked her fingers and one appeared out of thin air. Chef Eideard looked furious.

"Thanks Kit," Hermione said gratefully, wrapping her breakfast in the napkin. She hurried out of the kitchen, and casting the Chef an apologetic look she said, "Sorry, Chef. I'll be on time later."

The Chef huffed and flounced off, rushing to prepare lunch for the hundreds of other students. She grimaced as the bitterness rose in her again, but she had another force to acquiesce. Her stomach was growling now, and she bit happily into her toast. She checked her watch as she swallowed, and rushed out into the Entrance Hall. The Hall was full of students making their way to their classes, and Hermione was stuck at the back of the crowd.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Granger."

Hermione turned around, with mouth full with toast and saw Draco sauntering towards her, with a cocky grin on his face. Acutely aware that she had bitten off more than she could chew, she could feel embarrassment rising through her. Theo followed him and bade Hermione a good morning.

"Morning," Hermione replied, once she had swallowed her toast. She looked at the floor, deliberately not meeting either of the boy's eyes.

"No Thestrals to feed this morning?" Draco asked, following her as she walked towards the Grand Staircase. Theo stepped to walk on the other side of her, and his nose wrinkled as he noticed her arm.

"Or did the Thestrals try to feed on you?" he asked with amusement, gesturing at her bloodied sleeve.

Draco looked around her and looked at the stain, and within seconds, he had pulled out his wand and vanished the offending mark. Hermione jolted a little, a pink flush creeping up her cheeks.

I hate that I'm so reliant on other people's magic.

Her wrist itched again. She distracted herself by smiling through her annoyance and asked, "Where's the third one of your Golden Trio? Flirting with Weasley again?"

Draco chortled, whilst Theo scowled.

"I thought you were the third one in our trio," Theo said, just as Draco answered, "Not ever since he was caught with Bulstrode in his bed."

Determinedly ignoring Theo's comment, Hermione turned to Draco and smirked, "I thought Blaise knew better than to play with fire."

"Clearly not, he was trying to chat up Lovegood this morning."

Hermione inhaled sharply. Then, she winced. Hermione knew that Ginny Weasley would not take too kindly to Blaise's flightiness, and had probably doled out a harsh punishment. The crowd of people seemed to stall on the first floor, just where her Transfiguration class was that morning. Hermione groaned.

What's going on?

People were clamouring near the Hospital Wing, stagnating the flow of people. Hermione checked her watch, she had ten minutes before she would be late for Transfiguration. She groaned. Standing on her tiptoes, to see what the commotion was about to no avail, she had to resort to sulkily eating her breakfast.

Was there another International Quidditch star lurking at Hogwarts that she was yet to find out about? Had Professor Lockhart returned to sign more autobiographies for students?

"We had to drop him off in the Hospital Wing with a bad case of the Bad-Bogey Hex," Draco's voice pulled Hermione from her thoughts. She turned to face him, and again, that cocky smile was plastered on his face.

"So, you must know what this fuss is all about," Hermione replied, her tone was suggestive, as if she was waiting for Draco to finish her sentence. It never took too much to egg Draco on, since he loved to parade his knowledge around her so much.

"Well, you didn't hear it from me, but Potter woke up."

Hermione blinked for a moment, and frowned at his response, "The Harry Potter? The one who defeated… well, you know who. So-called Saviour of the Wizarding World and Greatest Wizard of our Age, Harry Potter?"

"The one and the same," Draco replied coolly. He didn't seem too impressed with the mass of titles that Potter had accumulated during his slumber. To be honest, neither was Hermione.

"Just when I thought this school was getting boring, something happens to make it interesting," Theo said, looking pointedly at Draco.

Hermione shrugged, and she bit another mouthful of toast. She thought about her words as she chewed and when she had swallowed, she said, "This school has always been boring. Will I see you in the library later, Theo?"

Theo nodded, and Hermione turned to leave.

"One second, Granger," Draco said with a smile, grabbing her arm and holding her still. He pulled a handkerchief from his robes and gently dabbed at the side of her mouth, probably wiping some of the jam away. Once satisfied, he let go of her and smiled.

A blush swept across Hermione's face and neck as she rushed into the mass of people, ignoring the dirty looks she had received from the girls who had seen the rather intimate exchange. It was as if they were asking her, who are you to be doted on by Draco Malfoy? As she pushed further through the crowd towards her class, she was pushed back by disgruntled students, and she could hear their thoughts in their actions, how dare you, of all people, push into me?

Hermione didn't care for what they thought, because she would run late for her class if she didn't shove her away through. If Chef Eideard was close to denying her breakfast because she was late for his standards, she feared what Professor McGonagall would do if she was physically late for her class.

Such was the life of a mere Comp.

A/N: Okay, okay. I know I should be updating ch14 of Admonitions, but for the past month (or so), I've had this idea in my head and I wanted to write something that deviated quite a bit from canon, that differed from Admonitions and I keep getting drawn to writing this story [also, I'm rewriting parts of what I have got for Admonitions and nothing is coming out right]. I won't be updating this one as much as Admonitions, and whilst I have a "basic" idea of how I want this story to go, I'm still dithering on pairings/ratings.

As for questions, they get answered in the course of the story [I hope].

CSxo.