Quick A/N / Disclaimer:

I own nothing but my own thoughts, mistakes, and idea's.

I did have a version of this story up before, I took it down and have redone it. If you have read it before it has changed ALOT.

I am sure there are still some small spelling error's as I went in and added a few things after it was Beta'd so please forgive those mistakes.

Now onto the story!

Chapter 1: The Train

Hermione sat in a compartment with the few returning eighth-year students from her own house. Harry and Ron decided not to return this year. They started their auror training instead, though after the summer she didn't mind being away from them. So instead she sat there with Neville, Seamus, Dean, and even though Ginny wasn't an eighth-year, she was still sitting with her friends. She was more with them than anyone from her year anyway, besides that now that she and Hermione were single they both decided to stay by each other's side.

Hermione looked out the window as her hand traveled to play with a silver pendant that hung on her wrist as conversations flowed around her. A commotion outside the compartment made her head turn to see the returning Slytherin eighth years. They were all stopping and looking around as if to see if there was room. There stood Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott. Hermione assumed that the rest of the Slytherins were not coming back. She looked at Draco who seemed to be watching her intently as her hand played with the pendant dangling from her bracelet It made her feel self-conscious and she dropped her hands to her lap again.

Blaise cleared his throat and looked at Ginny. "We… we don't have a compartment yet no one wants to sit with us… can we…?" The question wasn't asked, more so it was left hanging in the air. Ginny nodded that it was okay , and everyone else nodded their heads in agreement, though they knew Hermione's approval was the most important and looked to her for an answer.

"Sit, may as well get used to it, not many eighth years came back. No one from Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff came back," she said turning her attention back to the window, lost in her thoughts. Her mind going back to when she got the pendant, then skipping to the summer when Ron broke up with her because he didn't see it going anywhere. The whole time she knew her and Ron would never actually work out, but she had hope, hope that the familiar feeling he exuded would get her through the torment she was going through. But soon she was brought back to reality when she felt a presence sit beside her she looked to see it was Draco, as Blaise sat next to Ginny, and Theo next to Neville.

Draco looked at her out of the corner of his eye, seemingly on the verge of speaking, his mouth slightly open. The whole compartment was quiet, but it was surprisingly not awkward. Draco leaned over gently and looked at the pendent and then up at her. "Nice bracelet," he spoke kindly and then sat back up straight. Hermione stared at him for a moment, before she took her bracelet and tucked it away in her sleeve. Feeling the cool metal hit her skin made her feel calmer than she had previously, though her mind still wasn't focused on the conversations in the compartment.

"You know we saw what you lot did in the war; you were never really part of it," Neville said gently and looked at the Slytherins. "Zabini and Nott tried to save us from the Carrows more times than I can count. Not to mention sneaking us food into the Room of Requirement, since Gryffindor's didn't get to eat that often."

Draco paled a little at the comment. "You do know I was part of the war right Longbottom? I let them into the school; I tried to do what that noseless freak wanted," Draco stated and shook his head looking down.

"Maybe so, but then you changed. Otherwise Hermione would not have spoken on your behalf to try and get you to stay out of Azkaban. She wouldn't of convinced Harry to do the same either. So she obviously saw something in you that was redeemable," Neville stated.

Blaise put an arm around Ginny as though they had been doing that for a long time. Ginny looked at him and smiled softly.

"Blaise got me out of more tough spots then I care to admit," the red haired witch added.

Draco seemed a little putout; he was sitting in an entire compartment of either people who fought for the light and his friends who were neutral. Though he wasn't sure how the hell Theo never took the mark since his father was adamant about it for so long. His friends didn't seem to notice his discomfort, and if they did, they didn't say anything. The conversation moved on from their participation in the war, making Draco let out a soft sigh of relief.

"So where are Potter and Weasel?" Theo asked.

"Auror training," Hermione stated without looking at anyone, but her gaze kept returning to Draco.

"You still dating?" Theo pressed.

Hermione turned her attention to Theo for a moment and then shook her head. Ginny was the one who spoke up.

"Ron was a right git this summer,, and Harry, well, he seemed to always take his side. So we both are now single." Hermione was grateful that Ginny fielded that question since she wasn't sure if she could answer it without either getting mad or breaking down. Her emotions the past month haven't been stable.

FLASHBACK

"Mione' come on! It has been over a month." Ron pouted grabbing her elbow and pulling her back to face him.

"Well, I am sorry Ronald that I have not felt the need or want to be intimate. It may be the fact that I keep reliving my torture, or the fact that you are begging like a two-year-old going into a candy shop and their mum says no," Hermione snapped.

After the war, she was able to compartmentalize with ease, no nightmares for the first few weeks. Granted, she was depressed with the loss of all her friends and those she thought of her family, as well as her parents. But she was alright; she could pursue a relationship with Ron without too much of a burden on her mind.

Then the nightmares started to invade. It began with reliving the last battle which seemed tame compared to the nightmares that came later. Then she began to relive being tortured, and Ron was not as understanding as she had hoped him to bem especially now that it had been over a month since they had last been intimate.

"You use that excuse all the time. I get it, you were tortured, but you don't even want to try!" he complained

Hermione pulled her arm out of his grasp and glared at him. "I am done with this conversation Ronald. If you cannot understand that my body has been violated by Bellatrix Lestrange and then promised to Greyback to have his way with me and that it is affecting me, then you're not who I thought you were Maybe you should find someone else."

"Maybe I already have," he snapped back at her.

"Then go be with that slag, since she is helping you cheat!" Hermione said coldly and turned on her heel and began to leave the room.

"You'll be crawling back to me," he called after her.

"No I won't," she replied, though she doubted he was listening.

She wasn't sure if he did cheat, but she couldn't take the burden of the relationship anymore . Her nightmares had been the cause of more than one of their fights. It took her a while to try and understand why she was alright right after the war, why she was able to even be with Ron, but then she broke. Maybe her mind was tricking itself, maybe her mind really wasn't as stable as she hoped.

She ended up talking to Molly, who seemed to understand more than Hermione thought she would. Despite the actions of her son, she gave Hermione some of the best advice she had ever received.

"Dear girl, during, before and now, after the war, you are still the rock for Harry. He went from no family to family, and then he lost so much including his own life at one point. Now he is helping raise a little boy that isn't his own. You were there for Ronald after Fred..." She trailed off, taking a breath and composing herself.

"And you have been there for all of us as well. Your body has finally caught up with everything now. t's broken and now it needs to repair itself. It might not seem like it, but both Ronald and Harry still need you as a rock, but for now you need to concentrate on you." Molly said. The Weasley matriarch then sat with Hermione as she cried for what felt like an hour.

END FLASHBACK

Slow chatter began to arise, and Draco looked at Hermione again. "You alright?" he asked gently. His concern for her well being brought her back out of her thoughts. and she truly looked at him for the first time since he had entered the compartment earlier that evening. It had been the first time since the incident at the Manor that he had been this close. As she studied him, she saw how his grey eyes were still sunken in from the lack of eating and stress. His blonde hair was longer, his bangs covering his eyes as though he wanted to hide. His skin was much paler than she remembered him to be in school, except for sixth year, of course. Hermione was sure she didn't look any better than he did. She couldn't remember the last time she looked in a mirror and wasn't disgusted by the dark circles under her eyes and the lackluster quality of her hair.

Draco studied her for a while, grateful she was distracted so he didn't get caught staring. He examined her as best he could without her or the others in the compartment questioning him. Her hair wasn't as bushy as it used to be. It seemed that she was somehow able to tame her previously unruly curls into soft curls that framed her face and cascaded down her back. It didn't have the natural shine it used to, probably from lack of nutrients. He surprised himself with that thought. Throughout their years at school, he had obviously watched her more closely than he remembered.

Her whiskey-colored eyes danced, but didn't seem to have the same focus as he recalled in school, but they didn't remind him of that Lovegood girl either. He could tell she was still trying to gain her weight back from whatever happened before the Manor and even at the Manor. She had on long sleeves covering her scars, though he didn't blame her, Bella wasn't nice to her. Then again Bella wasn't nice to anyone.

"Lost in thought is all… How are you?" she asked, trying to be kind. After all, if it wasn't for him she would probably have gone mad. He helped her at the Manor, and she wasn't sure she would be able to ever repay him Sure, she spoke for him at his trial, and vouched for him, but that didn't seem nearly enough.

Her mind began to wander as she felt the cold metal pressed against the inside of her wrist. She started to remember when she got it, and wasn't sure if she wanted those memories flooding her mind at this exact moment.

FLASHBACK

"Come on Granger, we need to hurry up. We don't have much time before Bella will bellow for you again," Malfoy said, pulling her up a flight of stairs and running down a hall before stopping and entering a room. It looked as though the room was his bedroom, but she let the thought drift from her mind. She was confused on why he had brought her here. She thought it was to help her, but maybe she trusted him too quickly.

"What are you going to do Malfoy? Rape me before she gets her claws in me? Prime me for the likes of Greyback?" She growled trying to get out of his grip.

"Honestly Granger if you think that little of me, maybe I shouldn't help you. Maybe I should just let you risk your sanity. Maybe I should just let you go down there, let Bella torture you, and not bother helping you," he hissed.

"I just don't understand why you want to help me," She finally said, raising her head to look him in the eyes.

"Hope," he said, simply. "These are dark times Granger, and you are the hope we need. Harry may be the boy-who-lived, but you are keeping him alive. If you die, so will he. I am not sure he is smart enough to finish this on his own, and don't even try to say Weasel will help him; you know he won't."

"Bella likes to use the Cruciatus curse. I had this bracelet charmed to be able to help repel the effects of it. It will not stop the pain or even the mental break, but it will help. I am not sure how long she plans on keeping you under the curse for… this bracelet may not be able to help at all," he admitted and sighed running a hand over his face.

"BRING ME THE MUDBLOOD!" Bella screeched from down the stairs.

"We must hurry," Draco said hurriedly quickly latching the bracelet around her wrist, making sure it was hidden from view. "If you get out of this Granger, make sure you find someplace safe to hide and make sure you don't get caught again. If there is a second time, you won't survive the torture then" he warned her. Grabbing her hand and he started out again.

"Why are you helping me?" Hermione asked again, as she was being dragged down the hallway. he didn't fully understand why he would help her. Sure he gave her a decent reason, but still it didn't explain why he was personally helping her. Slytherins always had an ulterior motive for their actions. There had to be something in this for him.

"I am helping you because you are the brains to take out noseless! He needs to die so that I may free myself and my mother of his wrath. So that my house may be a home again instead of his personal killing grounds," Draco said pushing Hermione up against a wall. "You are the one who will make sure Potter wins. Without you, they will have no luck, they will die and so will all hope." his normal harsh expression softened. "Just… be strong; you are the strongest and smartest witch of our age."

"Even for a mudblood," she snapped and saw him cringe.

"You are no mudblood, Granger, you… you are a very powerful witch, one whom I wish I got to know before this. We better go." He sighed and then heard Bella screech. Hermione's face drained of all color at the words, the warning, and the hope. She was his hope, and she didn't know if she would survive.

"Come on, just be strong." He said again, dragging Hermione down to be tortured.

As they finally made their way to Bella, she watched her nephew for a moment. "Having fun?" she asked.

"Just prepping her for you Aunt Bella. She seemed to have a nasty little mouth on her, had to fill it," Draco spat towards Hermione. He had to play the part of a horrible Death Eater now, and he hated it.

"Good boy, now toss her down here so I can have my turn. It seems as though she took something of mine, and I want to know how," Bella said her voice getting more and more manic as she spoke.

Draco nodded, and his eyes looked over at Hermione showing his remorse for a moment before he tossed her down to the floor at Bella's feet heavily.

"Potter's plaything. No wonder he keeps you around, probably to use up and spit back out," Bellatrix spat before she moved toward Hermione. The pain Hermione felt right away made her scream, tears running down her face, and her body shook. But she did feel the pendant help. It soothed her insides, giving her hope that the pain would go away and she would be able to survive.

Her eyes locked on Draco's, even though he looked indifferent again, but she knew she had to survive.

The part that neither of the teens were expecting was the dagger. The moment the blood started to flow, Draco and Hermione both were not sure she would survive it. When Harry broke free of the dungeon's and got her out to safety, he was thrilled but also worried that maybe, just maybe, it was too much for her and she would still die.

END FLASHBACK

"Well after you spoke at my hearing, the Wizengamot deliberated and my sentence was lessened to house arrest and I was required to finish school. Thankfully here I get to follow school rules that McGonagall sets rather than the house arrest, so at least I should be able to go to Hogsmeade when I want. According to her letter we don't have a curfew, and we are allowed where we want really" he said and looked at her. "Besides the whole school hating my guts, I am alright."

"I don't hate you" Hermione told him. "If I did I would have helped put you in Azkaban like your father, rather than fight tooth and nail to get you a lesser sentence.I even helped get your vaults reinstated" she pointed out.

"None of us hate you" Neville added. Dean and Seamus stayed quiet, but they nodded in agreement.

Ginny agreed as well. "I don't hate you, granted I never agreed with what you used to say or how you acted, but I don't hate as long as you can prove to me that you have actually changed, then there will be no problem" she said looking at Blaise. She didn't make the dark-skinned boy take his arm off her She was oddly comforted with his closeness.

"You all do realize that you will be marking your deathbeds by being seen with us," Theo said, his gaze landing on Neville.

"The war didn't kill us, no student there will try… especially not with Mione," Ginny said then cringed. "Sorry…"

"Sorry?" Draco asked.

"I don't like being called 'Mione. Ronald called me that all the time even though I told him many times I hated it. My name is Hermione. The only nickname I ever reacted to that I don't mind is Mia. My grandmother used to call me that, then my dad…" she trailed off and sighed letting her head lean back and hit the bench as she closed her eyes.

"Were your parents killed in the war?" Blaise asked.

"Not as fast as they would of but I tried to save them. I erased their minds, knowing I might not be able to reverse it and sent them to live in Australia," Hermione explained refusing to open her eyes and see the curious gazes of her classmates. If she could help it, she would rather not think about it all. Her hand moved back to the pendant and began to fiddle with it. "Got word from Kingsley last week when he went to go check on them. It seems as though Snakeface and his minions tracked them down. The house still had blood everywhere, their bodies seemed to be preserved. He probably wanted to use them as a tool against me at some point, but was never able to. Now they are both dead, and they died not knowing that they had a daughter. Maybe, in the end, it was better, but now I will never know, if it truly was better for them to never know I existed. Maybe it would've been better if they knew I was alive, but then maybe their death would of been worse." she rambled for a moment.

Everyone just watched her; she didn't talk about her parents much, no one knew they were dead until that point. Not even Ginny.

Hermione snapped her eyes open when she heard her name being called, but her name sounded odd coming from the man who said it. "Hermione," Draco said and gently shook her. "What is going on with you? You are completely zoned out."

"Sorry, just a lot has happened over the summer." She said and looked at everyone was trying to not stare at her or Draco for that matter.

"Wait, you called me by my first name…" She said trailing off looking at Draco. She was a bit shocked since she wasn't used to her name rolling off his tongue.

"I thought maybe it was time that we finally moved past, well our past. It is a new start after what happened I thought it might be best," he explained.

"Well I agree, Draco," she said drawing out his name.. His name rolled off her tongue like icing being licked off a cupcake The right amount of sweet, and silky that made her want more, and made him shiver.

"I wonder what will happen when we get to school," Neville mused.

"Well, Professor McGonagall is going to shake up the rules for eighth-years, and those of us who were dealing with the war the most," Ginny said. "I was appointed Head Girl and s told me that we should prepare for a lot to change. Though as Draco said, no curfew, Hogsmeade when we want, new sleeping arrangements, and some other things she is changing around."

"I am happy for you Gin!" Hermione exclaimed and smiled at her friend.

"Come on , we all should change into robes," Theo suggested.

"This year is going to be one hell of a year," Draco muttered as he stood and walked out of the compartment to get changed.

A/N: Well lets hope this Chapter captures you and makes you want to read more!

Please remember Hermione may be a rock but even the strongest stone breaks, she will always be strong, but right now she is finding herself, without her two best friends.

Please give it up for my wonderful Alpha/Beta : AlexandraO