Chapter 1
The Golden Trio Reunites

Disclaimer: I do not own or have credit to the creation of all the characters, events, places and significant objects of Harry Potter. All Harry Potter characters, events, places, etc is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment respectively and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. Some quotes are derived from the books and film and will be stated so beforehand or after.

Author's Notes: Hello there! Welcome to the first chapter! Just some quick notes before I start. This story begins just the same as Half Blood Prince (book/film) all the way till Deathly Hallows where it becomes EWE (Epilogue? What Epilogue?) where some things are altered.

This is my first chaptered Dramione fic and I hope you like it. Leave me some comments/reviews, I will be very happy to learn from my mistakes and improve my writing.

Izerius x

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It was the end of summer in the year 1996. The remaining bits of warmth from the burning sun filtered through the heavy thick clouds that hung low in the sky, casting a cool shade for many residing in England. This was no exception for the wizarding part of England. The sun had been torturous during the few couple of months, enveloping the country in sweltering heat. Everyone could sigh in relief knowing that summer was coming to an end and the cool autumn is approaching.

A particular young female witch was excited that summer was over not because that the weather will be a lot cooler than the previous months, but because school was starting soon. She was well aware she was the only person in her circle of friends who is enthusiastic for such a ridiculous reason like going back to school.

Hermione Granger smiled, laughing inwardly at her thoughts as she sat perched on a window seat with a book in her lap. She looked out the window of the room she was staying in the Burrow, viewing the stunning sunset along the horizon, probably one of the last ones she'll get to see this summer. She inhaled deeply and sighed comfortably, feeling at ease and at home here in the Burrow as she counted her lucky stars to have found such a caring a loving family like the Weasleys.

It was coming to her sixth year in Hogwarts and they still welcomed her with open arms and warm hugs, as though she was just another Weasley. Arthur and Molly Weasley treated her like their own daughter, Fred and George made her feel like a spoiled little sister and Ginny was her best friend and the sister she never had.

And then, there was Ron, her close friend – along with Harry – whom she had met and stuck with since the first year of her wizarding education. Only that recently, she had been feeling strange tingling butterfly-like sensations in her tummy whenever she was around the red-head and her skin would feel sparks whenever they were seated right beside each other.

Just a couple of hours ago, she caught herself staring into his stunning blue eyes for Merlin-knows-how-long – even Ron noticed and she immediately blushed and looked away.

Hermione buried her face in her book, cringing at the memory of that moment.

Is this what I think it is? she wondered, biting her lower lip. It's too soon to tell.

Right at that moment, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she composed herself as the person outside opened the door.

Speaking of the devil.

Hermione could feel her cheeks start to heat up as Ron poked his head through the gap, breaking into a smile when he found Hermione seated by the window.

"Hermione, Harry's here."

In an instant, all thoughts and daydreams of Ron were thrown out of the window as the brunette practically leaped off of the window seat and left her book where she was sitting at.

Rushing down the stairs of the Burrow, Hermione followed Ron to the ground floor where everyone was gathered to welcome the boy-who-lived. Harry looked up, hearing the loud footsteps of his two best friends trudging down the cramped stairway and smiled. Hermione went past Ron and flung her arms around Harry tightly.

"Glad to see you back again, Harry!" Hermione said.

"Good to see you too, 'Mione," Harry smiled back.

Hermione could see through that tight smile that something was bothering Harry but she knew better to ask him when they were alone. Mrs. Weasley then emerged from the kitchen and hurried everyone to settle down to have their feast of a dinner, now that Harry is safely back in the Burrow.

-xxx-

Hermione was stuffed from a delightful and warm dinner and she expected no less from the Weasley matriarch. She had joined her two friends on the couch, distributing mugs of tea to them and joined their conversation about their summer break stories. Ginny, Fred and George also joined in with them and cracked jokes together.

Molly Weasley trotted in from the kitchen with letters in her hands and an excited smile on her face.

"The owls brought something exciting for you three!" she sang, waving the letters at the trio.

"Our O.W.L. results are here!" Hermione chirped excitedly, bounding up to her feet.

Hermione was the first to reach Mrs. Weasley, who handed her the letter with her name on it, and did the same for the other two boys who were less enthusiastic than Hermione about getting their results.

"10 Galleons Hermione gets all 'Outstanding'," Fred whispered, nudging George in his arm.

"Deal, 10 Galleons if she doesn't get all 'Outstanding', even if she gets one 'Exceeds Expectations'," George agreed, nodding his head.

Seated back down on the floor beside the fireplace, the trio ripped through their letters and inspected their grades. After about a minute of them silently reading and making different faces at their report slips, Fred and George broke the silence.

"So? How many did you get?" they asked in unison.

Harry and Ron glanced at each other's slips with bored faces. They shared a look and a shrug.

"We both got 7," Ron said in a boring tone.

Everybody then glanced at Hermione, who was still frowning at her slip when she realized everyone in the room, including Molly and Arthur, were waiting for her to announce her grades.

"I got 10," she said with a shrug.

"You got 10 O.W.L.s and you're upset about it?" Ron asked bewilderedly, looking over her shoulder to read her grades. "Bloody hell, and with all 'Outstanding' grades!"

"All except one!" Hermione sighed dejectedly. "I just can't seem to do as well in Defence Against the Dark Arts. What a stinker."

Fred and George came around to take a peek at Hermione's report slip and George hollered.

"That's 10 Galleons, brother!" he said, opening his palm to his twin brother.

"Damn it!" Fred huffed out as he dug out 10 Galleons from his pocket and slapping it onto George's hand. "I merely had faith Hermione would ace everything."

That brought a slight smile on Hermione's face as everybody laughed at Fred's loss, despite his bet being a good one.

"Thanks, Fred," Hermione said with a small laugh. "Sorry I slipped up this year."

"Now, now, no need to be sorry. All of you did amazing this year," Molly came to the trio and gathered them into a warm, awkward hug. "Better than the twins, of course!"

"Hey!" the twins shouted with annoyed faces.

Arthur stepped forward from his armchair, where he was sipping some tea from his mug, tapping his youngest son on the shoulder encouragingly.

"Come on now, cheer up you three! We'll soon go to Diagon Alley and shop for school supplies for the new school year," he said with excited eyes, perking the three 16-year-olds up.

-xxx-

The next day, Hermione went out to Diagon Alley with Harry and Ron and the rest of the Weasley clan. It was a beautiful day and the sky was clear with little tufts of white clouds. She loved walking down Diagon Alley, especially when it was busy with students buying school supplies.

She especially loved it when she bumped into Muggleborn wizards and witches in their first year and their Muggle parents trying to find their way through the maze of shops with the help of a Hogwarts teacher. It reminded her of her very first trip to Diagon Alley with her parents and Professor McGonagall helping them sort things out.

Hagrid had decided to join them as well, mostly to see Harry, making the trip a lot more fun. Hermione walked beside Harry, who was talking with Hagrid, behind the bunch of excited red-haired Weasleys. Her eyes were trained onto only one particular red-haired male until she realized this and quickly looked away.

Get a grip of yourself, Hermione! she scolded herself inwardly.

The group of them had made their rounds in Flourish and Blotts' and Hermione was happy she found all the textbooks she needed, even some additional reading materials that would help her in her assignments. As expected, she was the only person who needed two bags to carry her ridiculous amount of books.

While on their way from bookstore, Hermione spotted a Draco Malfoy stepping out of Madam Malkins' from across the street with his mother. He had a scowl on his face and muttering something under his breath as Mrs. Malfoy tried to catch up with her son, equally frustrated about something.

Hermione watched with narrowed eyes as the young Malfoy noticed the Golden Trio in front of him and his scowl menacingly at them.

"Out of my way, Potter!" he snarled, glaring at Harry.

The Slytherin purposely shoved his shoulder against the raven-haired boy as he walked past them. The three Gryffindors didn't bother fighting back at the blonde-haired boy since they were already used to his snarky attitude. They learned to just ignore his rude comments, unless if he inflicts damage upon any of them.

The trio followed the clan and entered Ron's brothers' shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and they were greeted warmly by the twins, who were impeccably dressed in fancy-coloured suits. Hermione had strayed away from her two best friends and she fiddled around with some of their interesting gadgets.

Eventually, she got a black eye from their punching telescope. Fred passed her a bruise removal paste that she applied on her eye, which removed the blue-black discolouration on her skin within the hour.

She continued to rummage through their store carefully as Harry and Ron were still perusing through up in the second level, but she stayed well within the sweets section. She glanced up at the front window of the shop and happened to see Malfoy stalking down outside, alone.

Wasn't he with his mother just a few minutes ago? Hermione wondered.

She slipped easily past the new patrons who just entered the shop, and walked out into the busy street. She followed the striking blonde hair amongst the bobs of heads in the crowds and soon realized Malfoy was walking towards Knockturn alley.

When she entered Knockturn alley, she heard hurried footsteps behind her and a hushed call of her name.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Harry hissed, catching up to her on quiet footsteps, Ron right behind her.

Placing her index finger on her lips, she gestured them to get behind her.

"Shush! Malfoy's acting strange," she whispered as she peeked around the corner.

The trio managed to get a peek at Malfoy entering Borgin and Burke's, a shop that sold dark artefacts. They could see the Malfoy heir talking to the owner of the shop. It was dark inside the shop and Malfoy seemed to be engulfed in the shadows. They could hardly make out what he was trying to say but Malfoy seemed to have shown the owner something under his sleeve.

Harry let out a faint gasp, "Malfoy's got the Dark Mark."

Hermione quickly led them out of Knockturn Alley and back into the busy streets of Diagon Alley but they still spoke in hushed whispers.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," Hermione said, glancing around them to make sure nobody's listening. "We could barely see anything, much less his arm."

"Then why would he be in that shady store and talking to the owner?" Ron wondered aloud.

"It makes sense that he's already gotten the Dark Mark over the summer break, and now he's helping Voldermort with his plans," Harry said convincingly.

"That is actually quite believable," Ron admitted, nodding his head even though he still had a confused frown on his face.

"We can't just assume things yet, especially when we don't have enough evidence against him," Hermione reminded the two boys. "We'll just keep our eyes peeled and our backs covered. Seems like this year's going to be a tough one."

-xxx-