The war had just ended. Literally, Voldemort had just been killed about an hour ago. It had been a long year, a year filled with anxiety and very little joy, but that was all about to change. Things were going to be very different. I knew they would be. I had hope that a completely new chapter was about to be started.
After a small bout of excitement and celebration, I sat down on a bench in the Great Hall. I looked around at my classmates, families, professors, and others that fought in the Battle of Hogwarts with a sense of content. Although there were many who had perished, they did not die in vain. All efforts had brought us to where we were now: on the other side.
"Hey," a strong, manly voice said to me. I broke out of my trance and looked above to where that voice came from. It was Ronald Weasley, my best friend and my… boyfriend? I smiled at him as he took a seat next to me. He snaked his arm around my waist and brought me closer to his bruised body.
"Hey," I said back as I nuzzled his neck.
Earlier that night, during the battle, I had had enough with all of my sexual, pent-up frustration with him and just laid a kiss right on his mouth. Ever since third year, I had began to notice him as more than a best friend. Throughout the past few years, Ronald and I have had our ups and downs: when he didn't ask me soon enough to the Yule Ball our fourth year, when he dated Lavender Brown our sixth year, when he left Harry and me to continue our search for Horcruxes a few months ago. All of these misfortunes had brought us to the comfortable place where we were now: happily more than friends.
"Do you have any idea what happened to Harry?" I laughed into his neck.
"No idea. He probably went up stairs to sleep, honestly."
"I wouldn't blame him! That's exactly what I want to do," I yawned. It was a struggled to keep my eyes open, while speaking to Ron. I laid my head on his shoulder and we sat in silence. It was comfortable; I was glad just to be in a presence that experienced the same things I had.
We sat still for about two minutes, and I was almost completely asleep when I heard a whisper: "It's me." I instantly sat up, recognizing Harry's voice, although I could not see him underneath his Invisibility Cloak. "Will you come with me?" Ron and I stood up instantly and followed him out of the Great Hall and around the corner, stepping over bits of blasted concrete.
As we walked, Harry swung the Cloak off of his body and began to explain what had happened between the walk back to the Great Hall after witnessing Snape's death and his approach towards the castle in Hagrid's arms.
We made our way to Professor Dumbledore's quarters and went upstairs to the office, where Harry received a round of applause from the portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses. He and Dumbledore had a brief conversation that was somewhat hard to follow, Harry repaired his broken wand with the Elder Wand, and we left the office.
"So, where do we go from here?" I asked Harry and Ron, as I curled my hands around theirs.
"Literally or figuratively?" Ron asked.
I shrugged and giggled quietly to myself. Honestly, I didn't even know if I meant literally or figuratively. My head was still swimming with thoughts of Voldemort's death and our triumphant victory and how Ron snogged me senseless mere hours ago, and there was no room for silly thoughts on the literal or figurative.
"Well, there is a four-poster bed in Gryffindor Tower with my name on it," Harry smiled, sleep close to overcoming him. I squeezed his hand, and Ron and I separated from Harry as he walked up a flight of stairs.
Ron released my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist once more.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked him, as we faced one another outside of the Great Hall. He rested his arms on my shoulders, and my arms slinked around his torso.
"I know what I want to do," he winked as he bent down and kissed me for the second time, which was almost as good as the first. I blushed and slapped him playfully, although he was reading my mind.
He laughed for a moment, but his laughter died quickly, as he peered inside the Great Hall and looked at a huddled mass of red-heads. While everyone around them was celebrating, his family was mourning the death of their beloved son and brother, Fred, who died in battle.
I know a part of him wanted to be with them, but like how I was feeling, he didn't want to leave my side. "You know what," I said, snapping him out of his gaze, "I'm going to go upstairs and lay down in the common room. Go and be with your family, and come find me later."
He knew that I knew what he wanted to do, and he pulled tight into his chest. "Thank you," he muttered and planted a kiss on top of my head. I squeezed him tightly and then released.
I made the familiar route up to Gryffindor Tower and smiled when I saw the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?" I asked hesitantly. Obviously, Harry had gotten inside the Tower somehow, so it mustn't have been that hard.
"There is not a password for you, Miss Granger," she said, as the portrait swung open. "Welcome back!"
I walked in and quickly gasped. There, lying on the floor, was Harry, mangled and twisted in the middle of the common room. I was instantly awake and alert; I drew my wand and hurried over to his side, my heart beating quickly. He appeared to be dead, and I squatted next to him, feeling his neck for a pulse. But then, something startled me: his loud snore.
He was not dead, but only asleep.
I rocked back from my squat to a sitting position next to Harry's sleeping body, too shaky to do anything else. I had thought a Death Eater had killed Harry the moment he walked into the common room, or his heart was so worn out that it had just stopped beating, but no, he was too tired to make it up several flights of stairs to the seventh-year dormitory.
While my wand was still out and at the ready, I whispered "Wingardium Leviosa" and flicked my wand, levitating Harry off the ground and over to a nearby couch.
I joined him on the adjacent arm chair and rested my feet on the coffee table. It took me a long time to get comfortable in that chair. Honestly, I would have moved across the common room to another set of couches, but I wanted, needed to be close to someone who I had shared so much with. I sank off the chair and onto the floor, where I crawled over and laid right in front of Harry and the couch. The shag rug covered the area and was comfortable and warm, and I fell quickly asleep in that position.
It was sometime later, much, much later, when I awoke briefly.
The first thing I noticed was how dark it was in the common room. I didn't know if I had slept all day or if I had been asleep for months.
The second thing I noticed was Harry's absence. I supposed he had awoken and made his way up to the four-poster bed he had been longing to sleep on.
The third thing I noticed was how cold I was. For it being early May, you would expect to be nice and warm. Unfortunately, that was not the case; it was very drafty in the common room.
As if he were an answer to my chilly prayer, Ron appeared from behind the couch with a blanket in tow. He smiled at me, and it made my already dizzy head spin. He laid down right next to me and covered our bodies with the blanket.
"What time is it?" I whispered, still feeling groggy.
"It's about ten-thirty at night. You and Harry slept the whole day!" he whispered back.
"I'm still really tired."
"I know you are, honey," Ron said quietly, tucking the blanket in at my side, "Just go back to sleep."
I awoke the next morning, feeling rested from the deep sleep I had the previous day before. I sat up, popped my back, and looked around, finding a quick note left on the nearby coffee table.
Hermione-
Good morning! Come down to the Great Hall when you wake up! I'll meet you there.
Love,
Ron
I smiled at his thoughtfulness and stood from the pallet on the floor. I exited the common room and ran through the corridors, feeling that today was the beginning of a new chapter, when I tasted the inside of my stale mouth. I took a small pit-stop at a lavatory, but was quickly on my way once more when I used my wand to fix my bad breath and tame my bed head.
Then, I ran the rest of the way to the Great Hall. As I entered, I scanned the masses for Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Spotting them at the Gryffindor table with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, I hurried over to them and sat down.
"Hello, Sleepyhead!" Ginny smiled in greeting.
"Hello, everyone! Such a lovely day, we're having, isn't it?" I asked, pouring myself some pumpkin juice.
"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" Neville questioned, causing laughter around our circle.
"I don't know! I'm just in such an incredible mood this morning! It feels as if everything is realigning in the world! Voldemort's dead, we've all survived, our lives are about to start!" I exclaimed. "Is that weird?" Everyone shrugged and shook their heads.
We fell into an uncomfortable silence, until Luna spoke up: "Everyone, let's go around the table and say one positive thing about this exact moment in time! I'll start!" She thought about this a little bit, before she said, "I like that I cannot sense any Whrackspurts in the immediate area. It puts me at ease."
She nodded towards Neville, who stared down at the sword of Gryffindor, which was still lying within his grasp. "Dumbledore had always said that only a true Gryffindor could pull the sword out of the Sorting Hat. I like the fact that I am a true Gryffindor. I mean, I had always known that I was meant to be in Gryffindor, but for the sword to recognize me as a true Gryffindor is an incredible feeling."
Ginny, who was sitting next to Neville opened her mouth. "I'm glad that Hogwarts is mostly still standing. Sure, parts of it have been blasted or smashed to pieces, but our home is mostly intact. We've spent so much time here, and while I was fighting, I wasn't working to protect myself or people… but the school and its honor," she said, her gaze transfixing on something in the distance. "But anyway, I'm just glad we can still recognize that we're in the Great Hall."
Ginny nudged his arm and he smiled at her. "I'm thankful for the elves and their food. You don't really appreciate them until you go for weeks and weeks without proper food to eat."
Harry looked at me from across the table, and I realized it was my turn. "I like that we can all be together again. I cannot tell you how many times you three crossed my mind and how I sometimes wished I could be with you guys at Hogwarts, studying and going to watch Quidditch and causing mischief. I'm glad that we can be friends for the rest of our lives." Neville, Luna, and Ginny smiled at me from across the table, and I looked upward at Ron, who was staring down at my face.
"I'm so glad that I get to sit next to the most beautiful girl in this room, and wrap my arm around her, and kiss her on the lips if I want to," Ron said with a smile.
Although what he said was very corny and disgustingly sweet and embarrassed me a bit, I blushed and smiled at him and squeezed his side. Ginny and Harry looked as if they were about to vomit, Neville looked a little confused, and Luna smiled her usual, lofty smile. "That was very sweet, Ronald." After a moment, Harry and Ginny said their goodbyes and left the table. Luna and Neville were asked something by the Parvarti twins, who were sitting at the Hufflepuff table, so they turned their backs on us to talk.
Ron leaned down and kissed me deeply on the lips. We kissed for a couple of seconds before he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "I really meant what I said, Hermione," he muttered, his warm breath airing my face.
"I know you did!" I said back, as we pulled apart. His kiss had put me back in my blissful mood, and as Luna and Neville turned around, I scanned the Great Hall, thinking contently about my future. That was when I locked eyes with Draco Malfoy, who was staring me down.
Although we only looked at each other for about five seconds, his dark grey eyes explained so much to me. He and his parents were not going to be sent to Azkaban, after their switch in alliance before the battle recommenced, so there was a touch of relief in his gaze. I could also see the exhaustion in his features. I had known that Voldemort had ordered him to kill Professor Dumbledore during our sixth year, and that had obviously pained him tremendously. Then, when we saw him again around Easter, he looked emotionally tired, like he had grown weary of always keeping his heart guarded on lock and key. His eyes looked haunted and scarred from all of the horrible things they had witnessed. There was also a sense of longing, hiding behind those grey eyes. I had no idea what he was longing for, but it was something not easily attainable.
After a bit of uncomfortable eye contact, I dropped my eyes for a moment and then lifted them once more to him. He was still looking at me.
"Hermione, who are you staring at?" Neville asked, breaking my concentration on Malfoy's face.
"Oh, no one, just staring into space!" I responded happily, turning some of my attention to Luna's explanation of her capture at the Christmas holidays. I glanced back to see if Malfoy was still staring at me, but he was gone.
And when you think the trouble has just ended…