Description: After the war of Hogwarts has been won, the golden trio return to school for their 7th year. The castle is reconstructed and classes are started up again. With Voldemort dead, shouldn't Hogwarts be safe? What happens when all the students return to school, and danger returns to Hogwarts? Who's causing it? Will the golden trio succeed as always? Or will their be new hero?
Chapter 1: Return To Hogwarts
The scenery of the train ride back to her second home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry put her mind to ease. It'd been a year since she'd rode the Hogwarts Express and half a year since she'd last seen the school since the battle, and in that time half of the school had been destroyed. It took the professors a few months to get everything back into order again. After rebuilding the school back into living condition, they secured the school with the most powerful charms and spells that any wizard could imagine.
The school also had new guardians. Madame Maxine was now going to be permanently living on the premisses of Hogwarts, so she felt that it was also her duty to help the schools security measures. Twelve of Madame Maxine's close (giant) cousins patrolled the grounds. Six during the day and six at night. Hagrid and Maxine had trained them over the past few months. Headmistress McGonagall had been weary of the idea, but when she saw that the giants were harmless unless harm came their way, everyone would be fine.
There were a few other changes, like one being the secret passageways. For the safety of Hogwarts, Harry gave McGonagall the Maruanders Map that had been made by the legendary Moony, Wormail, Padfoot, and Prongs so that all of the castle's secret passageways would be closed. Hermione could remember the times that map came into handy all thanks to Fred and George Weasley, but for all she knew, the map didn't exist anymore. It could have been burned to thousands of tiny pieces. After McGonagall and the Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt and his whole team of Aurors did a detailed walk through of the castle, everyone found it fit and ready to be reopened to it's new and returning students.
Nose buried into her battered copy of Seventh Year's Charms, Hermione peaked over the pages to look at her two best friends. Well, not only them, but their girlfriends as well. Over the summer, their first summer of normality, Harry and Ron had came across their other halves. Not as if would be hard for them now, since they were two-thirds of the Golden Trio, especially Harry. Harry Potter, the boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
In one corner of the cart was Ron and Luna. Who could have seen that coming? They were both snuggled up reading the latest edition of The Quibbler that was focused on a new species of Mandrakes that supposedly sprouted different types of flowers from their stomachs when they found there lifetime mate.
In the other corner was the celebrity "Golden Couple", Harry and Ginny. Celebrity meaning that since the war ended, Wizard Journalists worshiped their relationship. They followed their every movement. Sometimes Hermione wondered if Ginny wasn't just with him for the fame, because everyone knew she did love attention. But then again, she knew deep down that Ginny really did love Harry, so maybe for everyone's sake, they'd have their happily ever after.
Ginny sat in Harry's lap, her fingers twirled through his hair as she whispered into his ear. Hermione didn't know what Ginny had told him, but by the uncomfortable stirs and faces of painful pleasure explained it all.
One of the newest daily topics in the Daily Prophet was who was Hermione Granger's mystery wizard. Truth is, there was no mystery wizard for her, not as much as she or the press could have wished it to be true. She sometimes wondered if there would every be someone who could love her for her, not for being associated with most famous youngest wizard of her time.
She enrolled back into Hogwarts to finish her schooling and hopefully earn a job at the Ministry of Magic. She was sure that if she was to go apply at the very second that she would immediately be given a job, just like her two best friends, but she didn't want that. She didn't want to be given a job just because she was part of the Golden Trio. She wanted her knowledge and her strive to succeed to be noticed more than anything.
A cart's door squeaked open which caught her attention, and at the door stood the old witch who pushed the sweet trolley. "Would either of you dears like sweets from the trolley?" She asked sweetly.
Hermione rose her hand and stood up. "Yes, please. A cauldron cake and a pumpkin juice." She placed a silver sickle into the palm of the plump witch and told her to keep the change. While the others stood to order their goods, she took a long swig of the juice and sighed in relief. Mm, the taste of the pumpkin juice refreshed her dry throat. Ron and Harry bought handfuls of treats and sat back down to share them with their lovers.
"So Hermione, how was your summer?" Harry asked. It'd been the first time since any of them had spoken to her since the greeting on Platform 9 ¾'s.
"It was okay, I suppose. I spent most of it at St. Mungos with my parents. The Medi's are still trying to restore part of their memories. They're halfway there, I think. They know that I'm their daughter and all, but in their memories the remember me being seven years old, so they obviously have ten more years of memory to regain," She said with a sigh.
"Bloody hell, Hermione. That Memory Charm must have been really strong if they're still not able to regain their memories," said Ron.
She wanted to say something smart, but she just shook her head. "I thought it would be the last time I would ever see them. If I would have known what I did now, I would have never done it. I would have put them into hiding. Merlin, if the situation was different and they were fully aware of what was going on, I probably would have never returned to the Wizarding World at all." The four of them stared at her for a few seconds as if the idea had been ridiculous, but they finally shrugged and began talking within each other.
Hermione found an empty cart on the train and changed quickly into her robes minutes before it finally came to a stop. She tossed her bag over her shoulder and stepped off the train. After a brief conversation and a bear hug from Hagrid, she stepped into one of the Threstral's carriages, and sighed thankfully that it was empty.
"Come on, Harry, Ron," she whispered quietly, hoping they were the ones to join her. Her heart jumped in relief when she saw someone stepping onto the carriage, but it was the last person she'd ever thought it'd be, and the last person she'd ever want it to be: Draco Malfoy.
"Well, well, Granger. Looks like you've returned after all," He said with a smirk as he sat down onto the seat opposite of her. Oh for the love of Merlin. "I thought that the Golden Trio would be getting special treatment from the Ministry after the war. Looks like they're not counting you of one of the heroes, or Golden Couples at that."
She scoffed. "First of all, I don't need to any special treatment, Malfoy. I prefer to be treated like any other, mind you, and we both know what part of the war involved Ron, Harry and myself, and even what part included you. Secondly, I don't have a significant other because I haven't found anyone who's worthy of my time. Time is very delicate to me. And thirdly, you seem to be doing well with your fame. It's obviously not going as well as it is with us."
Ha, she got him there. The Malfoy family was bashed daily in the Daily Prophet. Not only did his family lose almost everything they had, Draco's parents were in Azkaban and he was under the care of the Ministry since he didn't have family that would willingly take him in.
Finally, one routine that made things feel a little more like home, pissing off Malfoy. "You're just mad that no one makes time for you anymore. What does anyone need you for now? Potter and Weasley don't have to argue over who's to s hag you first since they've got their own lads, so you don't fall onto anyone's list. I, on the other hand, have a list of witches who need me.
She shook her head. Is that all anyone one thought of these days, shagging? Sure, sometimes it passed through her mind, but it wasn't as if she even had experience to actually fully think about it. She sometimes wish she "Stop, Hermione stop," she mentally scolded herself. There was no use in mentally torturing her conscious.
"I don't need anyone to shag, Malfoy. Whenever the time comes, the right person will come along who I will shag, and it'll be the best shagging any of you have ever had. So if you'll excuse me, the carriage has stopped, and I'd like to catch up with my friends. I've wasted enough time being in your presence." She didn't even realize the Thestrals already came to a stop, but to her relief once she stepped out of the carriage she noticed that a few were still unloading. Hopefully she could catch up with the others.
All of the students were joined in the Great Hall and enjoying the feast. It was nice to be back at Hogwarts again. There had been some minor changes to the castle and to some of the schools rules. One of the biggest changes was the atmosphere of the school. Fear didn't run through the castles corridors as they had before. Everyone was smiling and laughing. She hadn't seen the other students that happy since the start of her fourth year, before the Triwizard Tournament had begun. There was also a change in staff. Obviously Professor McGonagall was now taking Dumbledore's position as Headmistress, but there was also a new teacher for Defense against the Dark Arts. His name was Professor Dawson. He used to be an Auror for the Ministry of Magic.
After all the first years were sorted by the sorting hat, and all of the students were departing to their towers, the seventh years were told to stay behind.
"Seventh years, there is going to be a slight change to your sleeping accommodations this year. Your new dormitories will now be in the new Seventh Year wing, which is a new wing we have built that is located on the sixth floor. There are thirty-seven rooms in the new wing. The dormitories are still separated by gender, and you have the option of sharing a dorm with one of your fellow classmates or having a dormitory of your own."
All of the students broke into a cheerful chatter, and after a few claps of McGonagall's hands, she regained everyone's attention. "If you could please contain your emotions, I would like to inform you of a few new things that will be changing for you all this year. Since the first of September has fallen on a Saturday, everyone will be begin their first day of classes on the third, which will be Monday morning. Starting Monday night, I will be electing randomly two witches and two wizards to patrol the castle throughout the night while the others are resting. Every night will be a group of students, and if I see that while paired in groups everyone gets along, I will make a schedule of your patrolling. This will be a new form of security for Hogwarts. Even though a group of you will be patrolling throughout the night, there will also be two professors on call that will watch you as well. You will be receiving a hand full of challenges throughout the year, so beware and fight hard. This will help me determine who is worthy for a position at the Ministry of Magic, and who is not."
"On Friday night, after dinner is served, I will be electing the new Head Boy and Girl. I will owl a few of you each day throughout the week for an interview in my office to see which two candidates exceed my exceptions. Now before I send you on your way, will there be any questions?"
A few hands were raised and many questions were asked. After about fifteen minutes of obvious questions, everyone was sent to explore the wing that had been recently built. The wing wasn't very different from the Gryffindor Common Room which was the only one she knew, except that the Common Room was three times larger than the one she'd always known, and on each wall of the room was a fireplace, which equaled four in total.
Each fireplace was lit, but thankfully with fake flames. If they would have been real flame, the lot of them would die from a heat stroke. Each fireplace flickered a certain color, representing it's house: Red for Gryffindor, Yellow for Hufflepuff, Blue for Ravenclaw, and Green for Slytherin. The Common Room also had two pool tables and a pair of tables that had been set up for Wizard Chest. Other than that, the room was full of arm chairs and love seats. The furniture's upholstery depended on what color flames the furniture was in front of.
After unpacking her trunk, she put all of her clothes into her closet and chest of drawers. The room felt as if it'd been built just for Hermione. There was a desk with a collection of quills and inkwells and an extra large bookcase right beside it, w here she immediately put her books.. There was not doubt that she'd be spending most of my nights taking notes there.
Hermione walked back down to the Common Room to spend a little bit of time with Harry and the others, and some of the other seventh years. The bad thing about coming back this year to Hogwarts was that most of the students who were in her year had already graduated. Some had came back to study one more year, a rare few. Neville and Luna had been one of the rare few.
"Are you going to be taking Herbology this year, Hermonie? Neville asked her quietly.
"Yes I will be Neville, but not until after Christmas break. I already have a few extra classes this year so I decided to wait until then. We should have a few classes together. If you need any help with anything, you know I can help you with any free time that I have," she assured him with a smile.
He nodded happily. "Sure thing, Hermione. I'll defiantly need help with Charms and Potions. I'm glad that you've still remained my friend throughout everything that has happened."
Aw, Neville. "We're always going to be here for you, Neville. Anytime that you need anything, you know you can tell us." He nodded with a smile, and after a hug goodbye he wished them all goodnight and retreated to his dormitory.
"Seems like Neville is one of the only ones who all this fame hasn't affected," Harry said shaking his head.
"You know Harry, he isn't the only one. I don't consider the war fame worthy. I mean sure, we went out of our ways to kill Voldemort. We succeeded. Well, you succeeded. The curse rebounded and killed him, and you became our hero, but it isn't nothing to boast over. Because once everything has died down, the media will just bash you later on."
She could tell that the truth bothered him, but she understood his situation as well. Growing up having nothing, being accused of almost everything and finally defeating the person that took away everyone that he ever loved. He's the only one who really even deserved it.
"I don't try to take it as fame to be honest." His cheeks were red. Hermoine could see embarrassment rising into his cheeks, and a few tears under those circled spectacles. "I take it as honor. I risked my life for the Wizarding World, and I won that title. I did what anyone else would have done, or at least that I think they would have done."
"You did what you had to mate, that's all that matters," interrupted Ron. He was right. There was no need to argue over all this. They were all friends; they had been since their first year of Hogwarts. They were just letting it get to all of their heads.
"I think I'm going to retreat for the night everyone. I hope you u guys all have a good night. I'll see you guys in class tomorrow," Hermione smiled weakly before giving them all a brief hug and walked up to her dormitory
After changing into her favorite emerald gown, brushing her teeth and pulling up her curls into a bun, she climbed into the familiar four poster bed and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
She still had nightmares on a nightly bases, but they were never the same. They sometimes reminded her of repeating episodes that sometimes aired on Muggle teles. The words Avada Kedavra echoing in the Voldemort's voice and the familiar flashes of green playing undeneath her terrified eyelids.
Seeing classmates fall to the ground, or members that she had considered family: Remus, Tonks, Fred., and if it wasn't that, it was red flashes of the Cruicatus Curse torturing peoples who's lives were already going to be scarred forever. Then it was the after math of the dead bodies, her previous classmates, old friends, and lastly Voldemort. Then after Hermione would wake, she would wake up realize that it had all passed. That everyone was free. Free from the fear that they all had feared for so long, or so they thought.
A few days had passed since the students had started their new year at Hogwarts and every since their arrival it'd been pouring rain. The castle had been dark and gloomy for days. Heavy rain and thunder sounded throughout the lonesome corridors. Most of the students were spending the rest of their afternoons in the library or their Common Rooms.
Hermione on the other had was spending her Friday evening in the cold Slytherin dungeons studying for a Potions exam all of the seventh years would be having the following Monday. She wasn't the only person in the dungeons, thankfully; there were two younger boys, fourth years she assumed, because they were standing over a cauldron of what she recognized immediately to be Pepper up Potion, and she remembered that she'd made the potion in her third year when Professor Snape was teaching potions. Slughorn had ordered her class to make a Hate Potion and to find the right ingredients to convert it into a Calming Potion.
She'd made both Calming and Hate potions multiple times throughout the years as practice, but converting one into another was something she'd yet accomplished, so she was studying extra hard to make sure she wouldn't fail.
"I wonder if adding Lovage herbs will help," Hermione thought aloud. After finding the herbs in one of Slughorn's storage cabinets, she took two Lovage leafs from the jar and crumbled them between her fingers, then sprinkled the remains into the cauldron. She stirred the concoction for a couple of minutes and the mixtures finally began to change colors; from a gloomy gray to a cloudy pastel blue.
"Yes, I've got it!" She squealed loudly, causing the boys who were filling their vials with their finished potions to spill half of the brew onto the dungeon floor. She smiled weakly and muttered a charm under her breath to clean up the mess, and then started filling her own vials.
After putting her things away, She apologized to the boys left the room. The dungeon was damp from the couple days of constant rain. It was also darker than usual, and she noticed that some of the fire lamps were out. Every light that she came across, she whispered a spell to relight them. "That's better," she thought rounding the corner heading to her destination of the Entrance Hall.
Students made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner, so Hermione took sat on one of the benches against the wall to wait for Harry and Ron since they were usually the last ones to attend dinner. Fifteen minutes passed and she didn't see either of them, so she decided she'd eat alone, or at least until they joined her.
Eating alone had become more of a daily routine for her now. She had been for the past couple days. She rarely seen either of them anymore. She hated to admit it, especially agreeing with someone like Malfoy, but he was right the day of the carriage ride. They no longer needed her.. They were grown up now. The war was won and they could move on with their lives.
The hard thing to accept was that once they were gone and enjoying their new lives, she knew their friendship would come to an end, and she would have to face her worst fear: being alone. Jealousy and sadness fled through her body. She felt a knot form in her throat, and tears puddled in her eyes.
She stood with the Great Hall's door slightly open, and stared at her friends who were already at the Gryffindor table. They must've arrived before she'd left the dungeons. No one noticed her, not even the other students. She let the door slam close and she took off running as fast as she could out of the castle.
Her boots sloshed against the muddy grounds, her skirt and tights were covered in chunks of the nasty earth. She fell against a maple tree that was beside the Black Lake, slid down onto the wet ground. She grabbed her satchel into her arms buried her face into the fabric and allowed the unwelcome tears to fall, and oh did the fall.
All her memories of this place, the good and the bad with her two mates, her brothers, played like a slide show through her head. Instead of memories warming her, she felt as if she was being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse. After what felt like forever, the tears finally stopped. Her eyes felt like sandpaper, and her head felt as if it'd been trampled by the hooves of a Hippogriff.
"You are pathetic, Hermione. Pathetic." She looked down at her shaking hands that were covered in mud and were freezing from the rain. Her whole body was drenched. She didn't know how long she'd been out there, but the moon had already came out and the rain was starting to fall in thicker sheets of rain.
Hermione cupped her hands together and collected a hand full of water and splashed it over her face, wiping away the dirt with the end of her sleeve.
"Granger!" A voice called from the other side of a lake. She stood up and looked around to see a blond figure walking inside the castle's gates, which was of course Malfoy. He was the only one who called her Granger.
"He must be coming back from Hogsmeade, but what does he want with me?" She thought aloud.
After a few seconds of digging around in her satchel for a hair clip, she twirled her hair up onto her hair and clipped the knot in place. She looked down at her uniform and sighed in disbelief. If she had to wash those garments Muggle style, there would be no way of saving the material- it was absolutely disgusting. Before Malfoy could get any closer she took off quickly towards the other side of the grounds to the castle's doors.
"Granger I know that's you. Don't you walk away from me. I need to talk to you," he shouted. Hermione started walking faster, but she was barely half way there when he caught up to her and grabbed her by the forearm and turned her around to face him.
"Leave me alone Malfoy," she yelled angrily at him, trying to pull away from his grasp. Of fall times for him to bother me, now wasn't the time. His hand was hot against Hermione's freezing skin. He'd used a charm that formed an invisible barrier around his body that kept him dry. Why hadn't she thought of that?
"Well look here. I could defiantly call you a Mudblood now," he laughed hotly.
"Shut it you filthy slug, or I'll curse you like there is no tomorrow. I'm not in the mood for childs play."
Draco's laughter sobered quickly. "Whatever Granger. I'm only her because I have to be. McGonagall has been looking for you almost four hours now. She sent me to waste my time in Hogsmeade looking for you. I've not the slightest idea, nor do I bloody care, but she wants to talk to the both of us."
"The both of us? You and I? What could she possibly want that has to do with the both of us together?" This was absurd. McGonagall knew how much Hermoine despised Malfoy, hell even she hated him.
"Look Granger, I could care less. All I want is to get this shit over with, I have matters to attend. So if you can go change, or if you want to go looking like the true Mudblood that you are we can get this over with right now. I don't have time to be spending with a twit like you." Malfoy finally let go of my arm and made his way towards the castle.
"I could careless about what you have to do. I'll meet you there when I'm ready," she called at him angerily and stormed off into the castle, heading to the Seventh Year wing to shower.
Twenty minutes later, after she was mud free and squeaky clean, she changed into a maroon thermal and a pair of silk silver sweats, casted a drying spell onto her hair, and made her way to meet McGonagall and Malfoy. When she walked into the office she was surprised that Malfoy was already there, sitting in one of the arm chairs, his fingers drumming against his knee. What an arse.
"Sorry I'm late Professor McGongall, I needed to take a quick shower before coming. Malfoy said that you needed to talk to us about something?" Hermione said nervously.
"Correct. Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, I've elected the two of you to be tonight's patrolmen. It's a new security measure we've taken to ensure everyones safety throughout the castle. Neither of you will be attending classes tomorrow since you'll be spending the night patrolling the castle. In front of me I have two vials of potion for each of you. It's a potion to keep you awake for exactly eight hours. It'll give you the sufficient amount of energy to make it through the night until your shift ends, which will be at eight in the morning. After your shift has ended, you must go to sleep immediately or you could end up fainting from exhaustion. Do either of you have any questions?"
Hermione immediately rose her hand and Professor McGonagall nodded her head signaling me to continue. She saw Malfoy's eyes roll from the corner of her own, and she gave a satifsyed smug. She loved annoying him.
"Professor, will we be patrolling the whole night together? Or will each of us be patrolling different parts of the castle?" She prayed to Merlin that she wouldn't have to spend eight hours with Malfoy, because if she did she was willing to commit suicide now.
"Good question Granger. I want you to patrol together until two o'clock, afterward you'll both split sides of the castle. At half after five, you'll switch sides and continue patrolling until eight o'clock. I want the two of you to meet me in the Entrance Hall at midnight so that I can give you your potions. Now if there aren't anymore questions, you may go. "
She thanked the Professor for her time and walked quickly out of her office. How could this have happened? The both of them? Granger and Malfoy? That was death wish waiting to happen. She would have to keep herself under control, keep my cool. Yeah right, within two seconds of being by his side both of them would be trying to rip each others head off.
"Hey, Granger!" Malfoy called from behind. His footsteps turned into a quick sprint and he was in front of her within seconds, walking backwards so that they were facing each other. "This is how things are going to be. You're not going to talk to me and I'm defiantly not going to talk to you. If you come across something while your with me, you best hope to save your own arse, because I'm not going to be covering you. You also must be at least fifteen feet away from me, I don't want go get any disease you Mudbloods so often carry."
She scoffed. "Shrug off, Malfoy. I don't need your protection. As a matter of fact, I think during the battle not only Harry, but I saved your ferret arse multiple times because you were incapable of doing so yourself. So if you'd excuse me, I have things to do before I have to spend tonight with a worthless piece of trash like yourself."
She pushed him aside and walked quickly down the hall before he could try to catch up with her again. Hmph, who did that boy think he was, trying to intimidate her?Ha, he made her laugh. Once she got to the wing's portrait she whispered the password "The four reunited" and stepped through the portrait and took off to her room. This was going to be a very long night.
Authors Note:
Hey guys, this story probably looks very familiar which it is. I had it up a couple weeks ago. I took it down because for one I wanted to put the chapters together so that I could have longer chapters, and two because I realized I had a lot of mistakes, not only grammar wise, which I'm sure there is still quite a few, but also with the differences I've made in my story I'd forgotten a lot of detail and such. I'm working on the third now, so it should be up in a day or so. I know there are a lot of Dramione stories, hopefully this one will be a little different from what you've read. I sometimes get out of character, the only character I'm good at staying in is Harry's so bare with me. I'm thinking about doing a Harmione or a Harry/Ginny fic, or maybe even a Ginny/Draco or Cedric/Ginny or Hermione, but it might be a couple of weeks. I want to read some of their ships to see how everyone likes them. So I'm finally back for a while, I hope my writing has gotten better at least. It's been four years that I've been on this site, almost five!
FLAMES AND REVIEWS ARE MY MOTIVATION, SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS OR EVEN WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING HAPPEN IN THE STORY, WEITHER ITS A DEATH/PAIRING OR EVEN A LEMON LET ME KNOW. THERE WILL BE LEMONS, YUM! TO COME IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
So tootles for now my fellow Potterheads, I'll update very soon :)
.:: /Green Eyed Shadow\\ ::.