Chapter One

Returning

Hermione Granger sighed as she looked around her parents' old house one last time. I'm... I'm not sure I should have sold it... she thought as she remembered all of the times she had shared with her family in this house. There's just too much, though. Too many memories, too much space. I need a fresh start.

Tears came to her eyes as she remembered all the memories that were held in this place. She would never forget them. Ever.

Her parents had died in the war, after being hunted by Death Eaters and killed mercilessly. She only hoped that it had been quick and painless, not drawn out like some of the murders were. Her parents were good people. Their only sin, in the eyes of the Death Eaters, was that they were muggles, and the parents of Hermione Granger. Hermione still couldn't figure out how they had managed to find her parents in Australia, where they were at the time they were killed. They weren't even under their real names! How could they find them? I thought.. I thought I had protected them.

Tears were streaming down her face now, but she furiously blinked them away. She knew her parents wouldn't want her to think of that on a day like this, the day she would finally return to Hogwarts. She glanced around one more time before walking to the doorway, stopping, and whispering, 'Bye Mum. Bye Dad. I love you.'

Draco Malfoy had been pacing around his penthouse for the last half hour, trying to make up his mind as to whether or not to return to his real home, where he had grown up. He needed to go back there. He knew that, but it was so hard. So hard. To visit the place where Voldemort had been, where the last few years of my life had been taken, where the most important person in the world to me had...

He stopped, blinked, and made up his mind in that instant. He had to go back, now, or he would crack. Draco needed to tie up those loose ends of his life before starting afresh.

His mind was concentrated on that place, and in a stomach-lurching instant, he was there. Malfoy Manor. He shivered as he looked up at the gates. They seemed to lean over on top of his tall frame, menacing and cold. He refused to be intimidated. Draco knew what he had to do.

His feet wove an automatic path through the estate grounds, forward, left, right, left, until he could no longer keep track of them. They were taking him to the Malfoy tombs, where his parents were... buried.

I have to accept this. I have to accept that Mum is dead. he thought. Tears already flowed. He hated crying. He had seen it on all of those people he had brought back to the Manor. It reminded him of them, and he hated that. Despised it. Today, though, he let the tears flow, knowing he couldn't stop them.

Finally, he saw the big white tombs looming ahead of him. He passed the resting places of many ancestors before finally reaching the joint tomb of his mother and father.

'Mum... I miss you so much. So much. I still don't... I know, you had your heart broken, but... God, I miss you. I love you so much. So much..' He trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Too many tears had dropped already, so he held them in as he dropped to his knees and conjured a bunch of roses and placed them in front of his mother's tomb.

He moved over to his father's half of the tomb, and his fists curled into balls. 'Father. You've done so much wrong. You controlled my life, you abused me, forced me to be someone I'm not. You even followed a maniac who preached killing and death as right. I should hate you, but.. I love you. I love you, Father. You're my dad, and no matter how bad you were, I still love you. I hate the things you did, but I wanted to tell you I forgive you. I forgive you for not being the dad I needed. I forgive you for the things you did. I just.. need some time. I'll show you though, Father. I'll live my life right, and even if "right" isn't the way you wanted me to live, I think you'd be proud of me. I love you.'

He considered for a moment before creating a statue of a serpent, very shiny and very Slytherin.

Draco lifted himself off his knees, stared at his parents' tomb for a moment before bowing his head slightly, turning on his heel and leaving. He was ready to return to Hogwarts.

On September 1st of each year, there would arrive a lot of very strange people at Kings Cross Station. These people were always dressed strangely, in cloaks and the like. Many of them carried owls- owls! Why on Earth would anybody carry an owl? Over the years, the station guard had learned to disregard these people, letting himself to be slightly bemused by them as they passed by.

What the guard didn't know was that the three people that had just walked past him were responsible for saving his life, along with all of his friends' and family's lives as well. These people were Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.

'... and we finally managed to get that doxy infestation out as well! We're working on the portrait of Mrs Black, but she seems to be warming to us.' Harry said optimistically, continuing his tales of the de-infestation of his and Ginny's new home, Grimmauld Place.

Hermione cocked an eyebrow. 'Mrs Black? Warming to people?'

Harry grinned. 'Well, she's stopped calling me a 'disgrace even to the race of filthy muggles' and moved to 'cankerous wart''

The three of them laughed, then Hermione asked, 'So, how's married life treating you?'

'Great! I love Gin so much, and...'

'AAH! STOP! NO! DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS!' said Ron urgently. His two companions burst out laughing.

'I'm disappointed that Gin didn't return to Hogwarts though.' frowned Hermione.

Ron and Harry groaned. 'Hermione! My sister is playing Quidditch for the Wimbledon Wasps! Playing. Quidditch. For a living!' Ron said, urging that clearly Quidditch was the best thing anyone could do ever.

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'But her education, Ron!'

Harry gave a short laugh, and when Hermione gave him a quizzical look, he said simply, 'That is the most Hermione-ish thing I've ever heard.'

Hermione laughed slightly too, but fell silent as they approached the entrance to the platform. She turned to Harry and Ron.

'Um, guys, have they blocked the press here?' Hermione questioned, hoping with all her might that the answer would be yes. The wavy- haired girl hated getting her picture taken.

To my dismay, Harry shook his head. 'McGonagall tried to prevent them from coming, but since the station is technically public property and the press all want to get pictures of the "Golden Trio"', he gestured with bunny ears, 'they couldn't be stopped. Sorry.' he replied.

Hermione took a deep breath. 'Well, we might as well get it over and done with then...'

As soon as they stepped onto the platform, lights were flashing everywhere.

'MISS GRANGER! MR WEASLEY! MR POTTER! OVER HERE!' came the calls from the reporters everywhere. The three friends ducked their heads and filed through the dense crowd, until they finally reached their destination- the train.

Each breathed a sigh of relief as they finally found a non-crowded carriage, and sat down, finally able to breathe and talk freely.

Harry sighed. 'These reporters! They're so annoying! They've been following me and Ginny around all holidays!'

'Harry, I know they're annoying you, but they're people too. They've got to make a living, and the whole wizarding world wants to catch a glimpse of you.' Hermione said softly.

'I know, but sometimes...' he replied.

Hermione patted him on the back. 'I know.'

'Hey, look what I taught Pig to do!' said Ron, off in another world as always. Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, zommed around his head twice before diving for Ron's hand, missing, and crashing into the seat. 'Pig!' Ron scolded.

Harry and Hermione cracked up laughing. This is going to be a good term, thought Hermione.