Author's Note: Hello! After many years away from Fanfiction, I've rediscovered these old works and have gone through and edited all the chapters, and am working on new ones. Specifically, I've focused on making Pansy and Theo more believable and less one-dimensional. The past several years have given me more awareness and understanding of human relationships, guilt, trauma, and sense of duty. If you're a new reader, welcome. If you're a returning reader, I am sorry for having abandoned this story and I hope that you enjoy the changes.
Cue the Sun
"Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for."
Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish diplomat
Hermione Granger lazily pointed her wand at a melted candle and lit it even though it was bright outside. It was the last day of Hogwarts for Hermione Granger. She was sure she'd failed nearly all of her exams, and she was still full from the feast last night. Now, she was sitting at the edge of the lake with Harry and Ron, reminiscing about the past seven years before it was time to get on the train and leave the castle behind forever. The candles were left over from the feast the night before, and Ron and Harry had snatched some of the ones that had melted into funny shapes.
Harry chucked a rock into the lake, and Ron grinned approvingly as it skipped several times before plunking into the black water.
"Oy, this one looked like a rabbit missing one ear," chortled Ron, tossing a melted candle into the air and catching it, waving it under Harry's nose.
"Hey, it does," agreed Harry, intercepting the candle the next time Ron threw it into the air.
Hermione smiled at the two boys, watching silently. She'd miss moments like this. It was hard to believe that they were all going their separate ways.
"I hope you're a better Chaser than a Keeper," joked Harry, referring to Ron's new occupation. Ron scowled good-naturedly and shrugged. "Good luck keeping those Cannons in check."
"I'll try my best," was Ron's answer.
"You could have gone anywhere, mate," pointed out Harry, not unkindly. "Even Wood's team, Puddlemere United, would have taken you, and they're fantastic. Fourth in the league last year."
Ron laughed and shook his head. "Old loyalties. Give me five years, and people will be dying to join the Chudley Cannons."
Harry laughed and was about to bet on it when he saw Hermione staring blankly into the distance. "Hermione, is something wrong?"
She snapped out of her reverie and giggled nervously. "Don't be silly, Harry, I'm fine. It's just strange, school being over and all." She paused. "And, well…quite frankly, I'm just lucky we've all passed our N.E.W.T.s well, having taken so much time off school."
Ron grinned. "Not many N.E.W.T.s needed for Quidditch!" he said. Harry looked a bit sheepish, and Hermione instantly felt embarrassed.
"Harry, I—sorry, I didn't mean…you'll pass the rest of them, obviously…" Hermione couldn't believe she had said something so tactless. After the war, the three of them had decided to sit examinations with the rest of the class, and Hermione, having done mountains of self-study in preparation for and during the war, had fared well enough. But Harry had only scraped 'Acceptables' in Transfiguration and Potions. He needed those to become an Auror, but the Auror Office decided to make an exception in his case, and signed him on to begin training with the condition that he needed to pass both exams the following year.
"Did the Ministry owl about your application yet?" asked Ron. Hermione had sent in an application last week inquiring about a position in Law Enforcement.
"Uh-huh. I got the job."
"Hermione, that's brilliant," grinned Harry.
Hermione smiled back brightly and looked away. Her eyes fell on a blond a good distance away, sitting under the shade of a mulberry tree and scribbling furiously. She frowned as she realized the boy was Draco Malfoy, and figured that he was writing a last-minute Ministry application, no doubt for a high-end position reserved only for Malfoys. She wrinkled her nose slightly and turned once more to her best friends, shooting them a smile that they quickly returned.
Things were perfect, right here. The only thing she lamented at this particular point in time was that they would all be splitting up soon, and that she might very possibly become Draco Malfoy's colleague.
She was wrong, as he was actually filling out an application for Flourish and Blotts. Draco Malfoy brought the end of his quill to his mouth and thought, then glanced down again at what he'd written.
Name, Draco Abraxas Malfoy. He tapped the quill against his temple nervously. Normally, the very name would have made him a shoo-in for any occupation, but now things were different. He highly considered omitting his surname, but decided against it. If he couldn't get a job at Flourish and Blotts, Draco figured he didn't deserve to work anywhere.
He continued scanning his application, checking it for correctness and neatness. His date of birth (June 5, 1981) was precisely inked along with his education (second in his class at Hogwarts, naturally, and he was quite bitter of the fact) and previous working experience (none). There was a blank box labeled "Special Skills," and Draco smirked as he facetiously listed 'can read.' He knew the people who worked at Flourish and Blotts were beneath him; he'd seen their employees, and from the looks of it, the ability to read was lacking in quite a few of them.
Below the box were a series of questions followed by blank lines. Draco read the first one to himself: "Why are you interested in a job here?" Draco was about to write, "My father is insane and likely to be sent to Azkaban," but quickly decided that might not be the best plan of action. He elected to leave that question blank for now. The next question asked him to list his greatest flaws… He decided to leave that question blank as well and looked at the next question.
"Why should Flourish and Blotts hire you?" Draco raised his eyebrows and scribbled, "Please see 'name'." Without any change of expression, he thought back to a time when this would have been true, which wasn't very long ago. If only Potter hadn't gone and ruined everything. Now the Malfoy name was tarnished, and getting a job at the Ministry wasn't going to be easy even with his 5 'Outstanding' N.E.W.T.s.
He frowned and scribbled out his little joke. But if You-Know-Who had won, where would he be then? Even within his ranks, he had been nothing. In the long term, being a Death Eater probably won't have been an ideal job either. Better safe, among books.
Satisfied with his application, he looked at the very last section; it consisted of seven boxes, one for each day of the week. The directions told him to mark which days he was free to work, and during which hours. Without hesitation, Draco brought his quill down to the parchment and wrote in giant letters across the boxes, "ALL."
It was the last day of Hogwarts for Draco Malfoy as well, naturally. He scowled at the people around him. He'd just dumped Pansy today and felt wonderfully liberated to be free of her and her manipulative personality, yet his newfound independence and happiness didn't counteract the fact that he was still sitting by himself underneath a tree filling out an application for Flourish and Blotts. He scanned the landscape in front of him; the grass was green and flawlessly manicured. Had Draco not been there, he never would have surmised that only a few months ago, there had been a war here.
But that wasn't his business, anyway.
No, he had nothing to do with any of that. He was merely a (future, hopefully) Flourish and Blotts employee, and though his father was on house arrest awaiting his trial, he was certainly not affiliated with him.
No, this was a new Draco Malfoy…he was turning over a new leaf. Since the death of Crabbe, he'd felt…well, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, couldn't quite explain the feeling. But he knew that Crabbe had something to do with it.
It didn't really explain why he was applying for the job, though. He just…he just needed to be out of the house. Draco knew he wasn't alone in this. After all, in the few weeks during which Draco had remained at home after the war while Hogwarts was being restored, how many arguments had he eavesdropped on between his mother and father? Something just wasn't the same, wasn't quite as correct as it once had been—his mother, Draco knew, felt the same way Draco was feeling. He didn't know the exact emotion, but he reckoned it had something to do with misplaced confusion about their circumstances, and what she had been taught her whole life. Lately Narcissa kept arguing with Lucius over his refusal to hire a Muggleborn as their lawyer: to him, it didn't matter if he was among the most accomplished lawyers of the decade, Lucius simply would not have it.
Things like that, though, told Draco that things were going to fall apart pretty soon, for both himself and for his parents.
Trying to push the thought from his mind, Draco bent his head down once more and continued to fill out the application.
Meanwhile, off in the distance, Pansy Parkinson was close to tears and surrounded by her girlfriends. Her posse included Millicent Bulstrode, bull-like but with commercial-worthy hair; Daphne Greengrass, charismatic and prejudice-free, or so she boasted; and Mandy Perkins, a sixth-year.
"I hate my life," declared Pansy dramatically.
"Did he tell you why?" cooed Daphne Greengrass sympathetically.
"No," whimpered Pansy, her voice trembling. "He—he just said he never wanted to see me again. And I thought h-he was going to p-propose…"
Millicent frowned and shook her head. "According to Witch Weekly's warning signs, he was going to propose. I just don't get it."
"It'll be okay," said Daphne, smiling and stroking Pansy's hair. "There are other mermen in the sea."
"That's easy for you to say, Mrs. Weasley," snapped Pansy irritably, then forced a very artificial smile. "I'm sorry. How are things with the old dragon-taming blood traitor?"
Daphne rolled her eyes; she was used to Pansy's invidious comments about her fiancé, Charlie Weasley. "He's fine," she answered. "He just got me these gorgeous earrings that he made from dragon claws himself…"
"I'm so glad you dumped Theodore finally," sighed Mandy happily. "That rat is not worth the dirt under my shoes." Millicent eagerly nodded her agreement.
"Well," said Daphne firmly, "you cheat on me, it's over; I don't care what your explanation is. Charlie treats me so much better. We're getting married next year."
"Can't believe your father's alright with that," Pansy muttered with a hint of a sneer on her face. "After all, he is a Weasley. It's not like he can even offer you money or anything of the sort."
Daphne snorted with laughter at Pansy's comment. "Pansy, darling," she cooed, "We Greengrasses have more than enough galleons to sustain ourselves; we will not be looking to the Weasleys for support. The only thing we need their support for is our bloodline."
Millicent, Pansy and Mandy all widened their eyes in understanding.
"He's a Pureblood," realized Mandy, nodding slowly.
"Exactly," stated Daphne. "Do you realize that they are among the only remaining Pureblood lines in existence? My mother and father told me to pursue Charlie Weasley; we Purebloods need to branch out at least a little, and it'd be a shame to see any of those Pureblooded Weasleys marrying Muggleborns or half-bloods and whatnot."
"So basically, you're taking one for the team? Create Pureblooded spawn with Weasley, carry on the bloodline, drop the surname later?" Pansy smirked at the thought.
Daphne frowned. "Of course, you're missing the part where I actually do care about him. Oh…and I'm due in January…that's why we're holding off the wedding, I do actually want to fit into my dress."
"If it's a girl, name it after me," joked Millicent.
"We've actually already decided on names," Daphne informed her happily. "Matilda if it's a girl, and Draco if it's a boy."
Pansy suddenly began to choke on her own spit. Daphne's eyes widened and she hit Pansy on the back. Pansy began to breathe again, then looked at Daphne incredulously.
"Draco?" she repeated, venom in her voice. "May I ask why?"
"After my grandfather," said Daphne defensively. "It has nothing to do with—"
"Whatever," grumbled Pansy. "Just don't make me the godmother."
"I wasn't going to," retorted Daphne.
"Calm down, you two," griped Mandy, the corners of her mouth turned downward. "At least you guys aren't going to be stuck in this school for another entire year. What am I going to do without you three?"
"Well, I'm sure you'll find something to do," said Pansy offhandedly.
"Or someone!" piped up Daphne. She grinned at the expression on Mandy's face, then caught sight of the three Gryffindors by the lake. "Oh, look," she smirked. "I wonder what poor Granger's going to do now that her only two friends are running off without her."
"What do you mean?" questioned Millicent.
"Well, Ron's off to train with the Chudley Cannons in Bristol," explained Daphne with a flip of her hair. "He got free tickets to his first game for his family, Charlie's taking me…as for Potter, he's got Auror training, didn't you know? It'll take years until he has a spare moment to dote upon Granger."
The subject quickly changed, as no one really wanted to discuss the Golden Trio on their last day. Draco still sat underneath the tree, rereading his application for the umpteenth time; by this time Goyle had awkwardly hovered over to him and was sitting silently next to him, more pensive than anyone had ever seen him. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all laughing, their smiles bright despite the shadowed corner of the lake they were standing by. Though they were all engaged in different conversations, one common thought ran repetitiously through each of their minds—that Hogwarts was finally over.
Hermione's eyes swept across the grounds, taking in everyone's laughter and smiles and joy, trying to capture it all before the moment in which she would have to leave, which she knew was approaching closer and closer with each passing second.
They say time waits for no one.
Hermione wondered if, possibly, it would ever wait for her.