Hermione rolled her neck letting out a small moan of satisfaction as her bones cracked in the process. She had been sitting under the same tree, in the same spot for nearly three hours now as her merry group of friends flew around behind the Burrow. She glanced up and watched as her redheaded wizard genuinely smiled when Harry dove in front of a makeshift goalpost saving them another point scored by Ginny. "Straight luck!" Ginny roared as her feet finally touched down to the ground.

The curly haired witch slowly gathered her things and made her way towards her family. Harry had his arm lazily draped around Ginny's neck and Ron stared in her direction as if she was the only thing that mattered within the world, or at least his. This was peace and she relished in it.

Ron slithered a very sweaty arm around her back, causing her unruly hair to stick to him, but he didn't seem to notice. "Did you see Harry's save, Mione?" he beamed at the shaggy-haired wizard beside her, "I don't know what they're going to do this year without him. At least Mclaggen already graduated so that's one more pain you won't have to worry about Ginny." he snickered.

Without warning Ginny jumped from Harry's grasp and landed right in front of Ron swatting him in the shoulder causing them both to stop. "At least I won't have to deal with you, Ron! You wouldn't be able to keep up with the rest of us, serious players," She tossed her hair behind her shoulder, "and at least this year Hermione won't have to confund anyone for you." she taunted, hand on her hips which Hermoine was sure she'd copied from her.

Hermione couldn't help but look in his direction, despite the almost two years it had been since sixth year it was still a sore subject. Ron's ears had begun to turn red and he gripped her waist tighter than she would admit was comfortable. She could see an all-out Weasley war starting right in front of her. "Would you two just lay off?" Harry's familiar voice barked causing her to jump in the process. "I didn't live twice already just to be killed by my girlfriend and best mate by accident." he chuckled.

They continued down the path back to the Burrow and Hermione let out the breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. Leave it to Harry to diffuse the situation. Ron huffed and pushed past Ginny pulling her along with him. At least some things would never change. "He's going to use that against all of us, for the rest of his life you know." she joked. Ron was still huffing and his grip on her side hadn't diminished. "Ron..." she whispered but to no avail, "Ronald!" she roared and he stopped, letting her spin in front of him.

He merely looked at her and huffed, his ears were still red but she wasn't sure if it was because he was mad or if she had yelled at him. She smiled up at him and she noticed the corners of his mouth twitch. She took that as her cue and stepped closer to him, cupping his cheek with her hand. "Ronald Weasley, you may not be a chaser but you sure can be my keeper." She laid her head in the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around his torso. "I love you Ron..." she whispered.

His arms wrapped around her and felt him shaking. She chanced a look at his face and he was staring at her with a dumbfounded grin. "Hermione Granger, you're such a silly witch." She laughed, relieved that his anger had faded and buried her face into his chest, he gently kissed the top of her head. She closed her eyes relishing in the warmth of his arms.

"At least Hermione can tame the pygmy puff," Ginny yelled, speeding past the embracing couple. Just as soon as their little moment began it was over, Ron had ripped away from her and raced down the drive to catch up to his sister.

Harry walked up to her and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "We should savor this, you know?" he looked down at her, "One more month and both you and Ginny will be headed back to Hogwarts." It was a sobering thought, one that weighed heavily on her despite her apparent jovial attitude.

One more month before she dived right back into her studies.

One more month before she had to say goodbye to Harry, for the first time in over a year.

One more month before her new found relationship with Ron was put on hold.

Their first kiss was just a spark, a build-up of feelings that had been festering for six or so years. It felt right, wasn't forced, easy. Their relationship had been everything she had hoped for, pure and loving, he made her feel whole. He didn't push that they move forward, although she had to admit that the snogging sessions were nice. He was a constant reassurance that the war was over and she found solace being by his side.

"You both could just change your minds and return to Hogwarts with us." she mused, knowing that neither of them cared enough for their studies to accept her offer.

Harry chuckled and pulled her along towards the Burrow, "I don't think I'd know what to do with myself if there wasn't someone trying to kill me...I'd actually have to focus on something, like school work."

She clucked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, "Harry James Potter, education is very important, "she chided, "but to be honest schoolwork was never quite your forte or Rons. Auror training is going to keep you both quite busy. I'm not sure what you two are going to do without me keeping you on the right path." She grinned up at him.

He shook his head, "Come on Mione, we might as well make sure Ginny hasn't hexed Ron."

Oh, how she was going to miss these days.

Draco had a childish spark of hope that things would get better after the war. He, after all, did not have a tyrannical dictator living within his home anymore, nor did he have a swarm of death eaters invading his personal space. The manor itself looked quite a bit brighter than it had in years. That could also be because his mother managed to add three new houseguests into the fold.

Andromeda had been nowhere near as annoying as he had thought she would have been. For the most part, she let him be, and as far as he knew she hadn't tried to murder him in his sleep. He still felt that she blamed him for the loss of her entire family but the pair hadn't had a moment alone since she arrived at the manor. In fact, most of her time was consumed by her grandson.

The orphan child that had belonged to an estranged aunt and an old Hogwarts professor who just so happened to be a werewolf. He was a peculiar child, a metamorphmagi, as he had come to know that he had inherited from his late mother. Every time Draco came around him his bright blue hair would turn his exact shade of pale blond. For a child he was bearable, rarely cried, but Draco had never really fancied children in the first place.

Neither of them had been a burden upon the house as he thought they would have been, but he figured their presence was more for his mother's sake than anyone else's. Since the war, Narcissa had been, dare he say, insufferable. If anyone had taken anything from Mad-Eye it was his use of "constant vigilance," and his mother made it her mission to remain ten feet from her only son since He Who Must Not Be Named had fallen. His father was a ghost, stopping in at meals and every once in a while he'd stay around and chat to Andromeda but the lack of communication between his mother and father was apparent to anyone that had eyes.

His parent's marriage had suffered quite a bit after the war. They wouldn't split up, that was for undignified couples who hadn't been bound by pureblood tradition, but it was strained. His mother no longer looked at her husband adoringly and Lucius sulked around the house happy enough not to be sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban but not quite out of the doghouse enough to try and make amends with his wife and son.

Luckily enough for them, Harry Potter of all people took up for them during the trials. Letting the world know that Narcissa Malfoy told the darkest wizard of our time that the boy who lived had died. The Slytherin prat who had been his arch nemesis throughout their years at Hogwarts didn't rat them out when they had been taken to Malfoy Manor all those months back, that he was a coward that couldn't kill Dumbledore that night on the Astronomy tower. Draco was appreciative to say the least that none of them had wound up in Azkaban but the fallout had more or less been the same.

They were sentenced to house arrest. His mother for a year, which she didn't seem to mind. His father, however, was stuck at the manor for the remainder of the year or until the smaller trials were over with whichever came first. Draco didn't hold out much hope that his father wouldn't be sent to Azkaban but with the dementors now banished it wouldn't be as bad if he had to spend the remainder of his time in the jail. He was miserable either way. His wife wouldn't touch him, his son no longer respected him and much of his fortune had dwindled down to nothing due to reparations. His mother had become the sole owner of Malfoy Manor. Draco himself had been ordered to stay at the manor until the start of term with the exception of traveling to Diagon for his school supplies. Oh yes, they were forcing him to finish out his seventh year since some complications arose during his sixth and he didn't bother to finish.

Luckily for him, he wasn't the only one being forced back to school, children of known death eaters were given the option to either return or be placed on house arrest until all the trials and investigations had ended which could have been years. If they managed to stay in good standing at Hogwarts they were free to live out their lives as they pleased. The Ministry had taken many precautions since Shacklebolt came into office. They had figured if someone as young as him could be sworn into the ranks of Death Eaters it was quite possible that others had too. He had to scoff at the idea, none of them had been that stupid.

He looked down at the wretched mark that even while fading, shone brightly against his ivory skin and instantly felt bile gather in his throat. He had been ignorant when he had chosen to be branded. Another childish inkling that the Dark Lord would somehow forgive his family for his father's mistakes, convinced even then that his father hadn't been completely wrong about blood purity and how muggle borns had no place within wizarding society.

"Oi," Draco turned his head just in time to catch the broom that had been thrown at his face, "Good to see that your seeker reflexes haven't diminished since your little escapade," Theo chuckled as Draco's thoughts were brought back to the present, "Care to humor me?"

Their final house guest had shown up in their living room two days after the war and had yet to leave. Not that Draco was complaining. A kindred soul of sorts was quite welcome in this new disarray. Theo wouldn't say it out loud but he had no interest in returning to his own deserted house. His father had been killed during the war and his mother had passed when he was a child. Neither thing was going to be a topic of discussion.

Theo was one of the rare many people that Draco deemed as an equal. It wasn't the blood status, although that was in his favor at the beginning of their friendship, he kept up with Draco. He knew when to talk when to observe, the right amount of push and pull. Theo wasn't a follower but his friend. One of the only people that could sympathize with Draco's poor decisions.

"Even on my worst days I can still outfly you, Nott." he smirked at the dark haired man leaning on his door frame.

The lanky slytherin arched a brow, "Is that a promise?" He smiled, turning on his heel waiting for Draco to follow.