A/N: Hello, everyone! And welcome to the first chapter of EROS, PHILEO, PRAGMA. Read, and please tell me what you think! Thank you and enjoy.

Also, things you should know before. The story is set in the seventh year of Hogwarts, Draco's attempt of killing Dumbledore fails in Sixth year and the Headmaster is still alive, Draco is pardoned for his crimes, and Voldemort is still in hiding.

Disclaimer: Anything recognizable belongs to J. K. Rowling. Saldy, I don't own Harry Potter, only the plot of this fanfiction.

I didn't fall in love with you. I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we'd choose anyway. And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you."

Kiersten White, "The Chaos of Stars"

Hermione groaned as she woke, early morning of Wednesday. She was lying on her stomach with her face buried in one of the many Gryffindor colored pillows; with a grunt of effort she rolled herself onto her back.

She dreaded leaving the bed, which was somewhat uncharacteristic of her.

It was a cold December. That meant Products from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Special Christmas Edition. Which also meant more patrolling for her at night, catching rebellious first and second years, using charmed mistletoes and placing them all on Snape's office door. As a Head Girl, it was her duty to the school, and she could practically hear Professor McGonagall's voice, to catch and report all and any suspicious doings of the students.

She rolled out of bed eventually, then cleaned herself up for the day and finally retired for breakfast.

She spotted Harry and Ron almost immediately and started to make her way to them. Ron waved enthusiastically at her, and Hermione smiled at his liveliness.

Things were finally good between the two of them. They tried dating right after the previous year, that not coming as a surprise to anyone around. Maybe that was the problem, Hermione thought. She felt so much pressure being shoved into the relationship, as everyone expected them to be the heroes, friends-for-years couple, she couldn't exactly view the relationship as anything natural anymore. They simply knew each other too well. He knew her fears and she knew his insecurities, he knew how her mind worked, and she knew what he was going to say before he even said it. They knew each other's fight, because it was theirs. By the end of the second month of their relationship, there was not much left for them, no more first times, no more excitement, that was when they called it. They broke up quietly, on mutual understanding. Of course, that called out a hysterics from Mrs. Weasley, as she hoped to make Hermione the new Weasley.

Still, Hermione was sure that Ron was still in love with her. She thought maybe it was just because he didn't know how not to be, he was just used to it. Loving her was a routine feeling. She trully hoped that would change soon.

Harry was being insanely supportive through the whole thing. He wasn't surprised when they got together, as well as he didn't even bat an eye when they split up. He smiled through their every fight and every good moment, silently waiting for his best friends to figure out what they really wanted. He took Ron to Hogsmeade, the day they broke up, and he held Hermione in a big brotherly embrace, the night after.

Passing the Ravenclaw table Hermione gave a small smile to Luna.

"Morning," she greeted the boys.

Ron smiled, his mouth already full and she rolled her eyes.

Harry loudly groaned staring intensely at a paper in his hands.

"What's wrong with you?"

He put the paper down on the table with a loud thump.

"It's Snape's assignment. I can't get it right, I don't know how and I am sure he just gave this to me so that I can completely fail his subject this semester."

"Harry, he's given us all the same assignment." Hermione replied.

"Well, the principle is the same, the subjects are different."

She shook her head at him, but didn't say anything, not wanting to look like she didn't empathize. He had a lot on his mind as it was.

"Actually," Harry took a breath. "I don't even care."

"That you'll fail Potions?" Ron asked stunned.

Harry shrugged and Hermione raised her eyes from her breakfast, to look at her best friend.

That was Harry's answer for most of things, nowadays. The spring of their sixth year made him even more paranoid and angry. Malfoy's attempt to kill Dumbledore had really effected him. And the fact that he was pardoned, even more. As much as he hated Snape and Malfoy - the feeling trippled. It felt like he only came back for his last year, just so he can spy on the two and make himself even more suspicious and angry.

Which was exactly what Hermione avoided feeling. She knew she was being naive, wanting to finish the school year calmly. But she tried really hard for the three of them. Every year, they ended up in some sort of a mess, and she wanted none of that right now. She knew what was coming, she knew that You Know Who was out there, and that Harry would eventually have to face him. The thought made her shudder.

But she did everything in her power to prevent trouble. For the first time in seven years she wanted to feel like a normal student. She wanted to finish her education with her two best friends, Outstandings in her exams, without ending up where they always ended up. Where she knew, they would eventually end up.

So, savoring their last year at Hogwarts, her all focus was on Harry. If there would be trouble within the five miles radium, he would find it, and she did everything she could to avert it.

"Just realx, okay?" She sighed. "I'll help you."

"Hey!" Ron protested. "You said you wouldn't help me! Why Harry?"

She scowled at him.

"Because I know that Harry will use that huge thing on his neck. You, will just copy my work, and I will end up doing the same homework twice."

Ron grinned.

"Nah, you just favor him above me."

She winked at him and Harry laughed.

"So do you finally have a date to the Christmas Ball?" Hermione inquired.

Ron was about to answer, but stopped himself, looking at her somewhat quizzically.

She hated moments like this. She never said she would like to pretend that she had never went out with Ron, and she didn't want to, she just tried to keep the subject as light as possible. They wanted it, it happened, and just didn't work out.

Sensing he was probably still feeling guilty about confessing that he was going to the Ball with another girl she rolled her eyes.

"So?"

"Did you just keep asking Martine Copplestone?" Harry chuckled, oblivious to the uncomfortable moment between his friends.

Ron's cheeks reddened a little but he managed to keep a straight face.

"For your information, she said yes."

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"Does she have a brain injury?"

"Did you hex her into saying yes?"

Ron gave both of his friends annoyed and disapproving look, then spoke with a new tone of confidence.

"At least I have a real date to the Ball."

That shut Harry up immediately.

It didn't have nearly as much of an effect on Hermione though.

"We have a real date too, Ronald."

"You're going with each other."

Hermione shrugged and smiled sweetly.

"I am more than pleased to go to the Ball with Harry Potter."

In truth, there was a silent agreement between Harry and her. He didn't ask her to the Ball though, he simply suggested it over one of their nights working in the library. And it was really the perfect plan. He was about the only one that Cormac McLaggen wouldn't try and somehow move around. Being the Chosen one he had some authority among students and although Hermione would mostly glower at anyone who were trying to dig their way to him just because of that, she was now actually silently grateful.

For Harry, taking Hermione was kind of perfect too. He though it would bother Ginny the least, as now ice was thin between them, due to their recent break up. Girls were friends, and since Ginny knew perfectly well that Hermione wasn't interested in him that way, he figured taking her was the best and dare he say mature choice.

"Whatever." Ron said.

Draco Malfoy was sitting in a Slytherin's common room, his legs lazily spread on the couch in front of him. He was all alone in the room, and have being woken up early, he could have a little time to himself.

He thought about this school year, almost half of it already done. And it was a good half of year. After last year's fiasco, he didn't even imagine going back to Hogwarts, getting back to the only place, where he felt normal. Although, the whispers and the looks sometimes prevented him feeling at ease. Nobody really knew, what had happened in the spring, but rumors fled, and quickly, and by the time September came, everyone had their own version on what might have happened.

Well, of course someone knew. Though he really didn't think that either Potter, Weasley or Granger would go around telling people. After all, this was the agreement the Ministry had made them to come to.

Draco silently thanked the Ministry every single day for that. It has been pointed out many times in his trial, that Draco had been under-aged, when he took the Mark, and doing it against his will, so the punishment he received was simple. After his trial, it was decided he would have to go back to Hogwarts, finish his last year, without so much as a tinniest slip off, following two years of magical probation.

Thanked the Ministry would be too big of a word. He was merely satisfied with their terms.

He didn't feel like thanking anyone.

"You coming to breakfast?" His thoughts were distracted by a girl's voice next to him.

Pansy. He didn't even hear her come in.

"I guess." He replied.

They walked to breakfast together, and he listened her ramble on about the Ball.

"You know, Theo wanted to talk to you about something." She added after giving him a full image of what she was going to wear, not that he was really listening.

"Oh yeah? About what?" He asked, still walking with his hands in his pockets, his frame elegant but broody, as always.

"Don't know," Pansy shrugged. "But he was pretty excited about something."

"Well, that can't be good," Draco chuckled halfheartedly, but it didn't really reach his grey eyes.

They reached the Slytherin table, sitting down next to Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott himself. He gave Draco a meaningful look, but the silver haired boy simply brushed it off, as he could not feel comfortable, feeling a pair of eyes already prying into him at the drop of a hat.

Of course, Harry sodding Potter was giving him the look of the millennium. How unexpected.

Draco threw him his coldest glare, without really having to fake it, and at the same time, Hermione Granger seemed to have distracted Potter of staring any further. Both of the Gryffindors had apprehensive looks on their faces, still they were slightly different. Potter looked positively mad, but on the other hand, Draco doubted he had ever seen him looking any differently. Nor did he expect it. Nor did he care. And his faithful friend, Hermione something-died-on-my-head Granger looked…worried. He touched Potter on the upper arm, to draw his attention and never gave him another look.

Observing was the thing Draco was really good at. He believed he had most people figured out, at least the one's worth his second look.

And that's what he noticed about the two. After last year, Potter's only reaction at him was anger, annoying tantrums and, well…stalking. Which was opposite to Granger. Similarly to what was happening right now, she didn't give him as much as a second glimpse. Her way of dealing with her presumable anger towards him was ignorance. Which suited Draco just fine. The less contact with the three of them, the better.

He shrugged to himself, not really caring about it. His feelings towards the trio had never really changed. No matter what he went through last year, some things, he thought, would never change.

He stood up, suddenly not hungry anymore.

"Harry?"

Her best friend was now looking behind her back, towards the direction Malfoy had just swaggered out of the Hall.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"Harry."

"Hmm?"

"He's not going to kill anyone right here at breakfast, you know."

Harry finally looked back to her, trying to look as nonchalant as he could.

"What? No no-..."

"Mate," Ron said, then gulped a massive bite down his throat, recieving a disgusted scowl from Hermione. "She's right. Let it go already. He's been cleared, Ministry gave him full pardon. You can stop trying to frame him for murder."

Harry shook his head, then started filling his plate with pancakes.

Hermione looked at him sorrowful.

"Just relax, okay?" She said gently, affectionately brushing his hair away from his forehead.

Harry simply sighed. A certain parchment in his pocket seemed to weight ten times more, now that Malfoy was out of sight.

He had been carrying the Marauder's plan around him at all times, trying to find something to grab on, just to feed his own need for revenge on him.

He knew, he would eventually appease it. He knew it.

They carried on with the rest of the afternoon quite uneventfully, until Potions, of course. Gryffindors had this class together with Slytherins, and that was speaking for itself. No matter the situation, the day or the hour, it always ended up in Nott jumping at Harry stopping Ron from jumping on Malfoy.

Boys…

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at the front of the class, much to Ron's displeasure.

"Where's Malfoy?" Harry looked around the class a little anxiously.

"Harry, stop. You're starting to look like a maniac ex boyfriend." Hermione noted.

The second she said that, doors opened and the three Slytherins walked in, pretentious looks on their faces, eyeing everything with posh possessiveness like they owned the place.

Professor Snape strolled in after them, followed by Professor McGonagal.

"Good afternoon, everybody." The witch started, observing the auditorium. "I am sorry to interrupt the class." She said, receiving a glare from Snape.

"As you know, Christmas Ball is coming, and I wanted to give you a heads up. You, especially." She eyed the front desk not so subtly. She held up a parchment she had in her hand and read from it.

"Any kind of unnecessary use of magic, alcoholic drinks, profanity or dueling will not be tolerated. Hm. We don't want the events from last year to go down again, do we?"

Harry and Ron blushed furiously, and Hermione squirmed in her chair, none of them looking at the Professor.

Funny enough, none of the them knew the deeds of one another. Approximately one year ago all three of them met at detention, earned by something none of them chose to talk about.

Now Hermione was sure of Ronald's capability of doing something stupid and she decided she didn't really want to know what went down at the previous Yule Ball, but every time someone would mention it, he would instantly go tense and as red as a beetroot.

The detention Harry bought himself was a little more surprising. Except for his total irresponsibility and some weird disease for adventure, it was unexpected that he had done something like that in the Ball. He, just as Ron didn't say a word concerning the matter of his punishment.

"As the Head Girl, Miss Granger, I would assume to have your full dedication to the rules. Let us hope you will be more… attentive. This time." She coughed a bit awkwardly as if she remembered something that she didn't want to.

Hermione nodded, still glowering down at the table, warmth filling up her cheeks as she avoided looking the Head of the Gryffindor house.

"Sure. Will do." Hermione managed to get out.

"Well then. Carry on. I am sorry I intruded, Professor." With that she left the class.

The three of them took an easier breath, awkwardly throwing glances at one another.

"Now. Let's begin."

The next day all seventh years massively groaned, when the lunch was coming to an end. That meant one hour in History of Magic, one hour of Professor Binns' drowsy voice, which for students, eventually developed into a new found ability to sleep with their eyes open. Well, most of them. Harry Potter and Theodore Nott were full-time sleepers, eyes closed, they even drooled, if the weather was warm.

Very few students actually listened to the tales of Magic. Hermione, surely, wrote down the most important things, being the good student she was.

On that specific lesson, though... Everyone's eyes were wide open.

"Good morning, class. Ah, late again, Mister Malfoy. Mister Finnigan, if you would stop playing with your wand? Thank you... Sit down, sit down..."

"Soulmates in History of Magic?" Hermione asked indifferently, as she open her textbook to write a theme for the class.

"Indeed, Miss Granger." Professor smiled. "Now, I am sure you all know the story of Alastair and Tasia?"

Few low voices murmured the affirmative, though most of the class shook their heads.

"No? Well, too bad, too bad. I guess I will have to remind you real quick, won't I? So, the story of those two is set in the the beginning of all, as I like to tell." He sighed, for effect. "It is a great story of Greek Mythology, but we'll try not to dwell that deep into it, as today we are going to be talking about soulmates in Magic in general. So, I'm sure some of you heard, that in Greek Mythology it is said that originally, four arms and four legs belonged to humans, along with two faces on their one head. The greatest of all the God's, Zeus, was afraid of their strength and abilities, so he divided each of them, creating one pair of legs, one pair of arms and one face on each body, leaving them to spend the rest of their lives searching for their other half, their Soul Mate...Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Professor," Hermione spoke with her brows furrowed. "But what does Greek Mythology have to do with History of Magic?"

"Well, I am sure that you know, the very beginning of Magic starts in Greece."

"Yes, I know that," she nodded. "But I... fail to see how does mythology have an impact on history? Mythology is what it is, isn't it? Just myths, stories no one can prove?" She asked politely. From the corner of her eye, she could see a few students lift their heads up to the Professor, they seemed to catch Hermione's question.

"That's true, Miss Granger." The teacher nodded. "Still, as our ancestors lived in Ancient Greece, we are bound to teach students the tails of it."

Hermione didn't feel convinced, but gave the Professor a light nod, implying that she would carry on listening.

"Now, as I said, soulmates were supposed to walk the earth looking for each other, to become whole again. That's where the story of Alastair and Tasia comes in. Alastair was the henchman of Gods, the protector. He was banished from the Olympus, when he fell in love with Tasia, the daughter of Zeus. Zeus got very angry, but loving the boy as his son he didn't punish him that badly. He convinced Alastair that his daughter was not his soulmate, hence they would never be happy together. He sent Alastair down to Earth, and told him to look for his soulmate, and not to come back until he found her. Of course, he was never able to find one, as his soulmate was truly Tasia. Both Alastair and Tasia died from terrible deaths, without each other, cold and miserable, as they couldn't live fully without being whole." He stopped talking for a second. "Following this story many many wizards and witches have gone completely mad, devoting their whole lives to finding that one and only. Stories of soulmates are most common to Gods, as nobody in the history could pinpoint the actual evidence of explainable soulmates."

"No wonder why..." Hermione murmured.

Professor smiled at her skepticism, and Harry, next to her, snorted.

"I'm guessing you don't think that soulmates exist, Miss Granger?"

She bit her lip, considering her answer. Lots of pairs of eyes bored into her, and she blushed very softly.

"It's not that I don't think they exist, per se. I think you should be asking me if I believe they exist?" Hermione spoke slowly, in a diplomatic tone. "Because that's what it is, isn't it? It's a belief. The story of soulmates is a myth, hence it depends on how meaningful we speak ourselves into thinking it is?"

There was a pause of silence, but not the bored one, as usual. Students actually seemed interested in the story, in the lesson, even Hermione's statement. On her right she could even see Slytherins looking at her, none of them sneering, just plainly interested.

"Then, I guess, you don't believe in soulmates?" Professor asked.

Hermione squirmed in her chair, aware of the attention she was getting.

"I don't." She told firmly, but not in a snarky way. "I believe we choose who we love, and I think that... fate, or destiny has no part in it. Definitely not the Gods."

Professor Binns only nodded with a small smile, then after few moments of consideration proceeded with his lecture.

Hermione lowered her eyes to her notebook, feeling a little uncomfortable. It was not because of what she had said, she was secure in her beliefs, she stood for them and explained it. It was the attention that came after. Ron looked at her with a little sad look on his face, maybe a hint of disappointment in his eyes, that always seemed to be searching for hers.

Still, it was not his gaze that made her uneasy. She couldn't hold back no more, so she turned to her right and bravely met his cold eyes with hers. Malfoy looked at her with interest, a new found awareness, not mockingly or mean.

After holding his eyes for a few seconds, Hermione turned back to the Professor, not wanting to look at the intensity of his stare any longer.

It was at that very moment that she heard a very low murmur of Theodore Nott, most likely only meant for Malfoy to be heard. Something that she did not understand.

"We're doing it."

A/N: I really hope you enjoyed it? I posted this chapter a while ago, but carrying on with writing the story, I understood it lacked something, so I'm posting the chapter again.

The story of Alastair and Tasia is created by me. Their names are indeed of Ancient Greece, though there was no henchman named Alastair, and Zeus never fathered Tasia. However, the story of Zeus separating humans and leaving them to find each other as a way of finding soulmates is written by Plato, "The Symposium".

What do you think the Slytherins are up to?!

REVIEW PLEASE! It is super important, and I would like to know if people are interested in be carrying on with this fanfiction! Thank you.