The Cover Up

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of the Harry Potter universe and I am grateful to be able to borrow them for a short time.

Reviews are a writer's coffee: they keep us going as long as we get some. *hint*

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Hermione was walking through the halls of the nearly deserted Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. She was lost in her thoughts of what had happened and wondering what was going to happen during the coming year. It was still five days before school was scheduled to start and there were already a few students in residence. Those that were there had been invited by the new Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. They were last year's 7th years and the surviving members of last year's battle, although not everyone that was invited to return to school returned. In fact, due to the abysmal previous year, every student, 1st – 7th years, was behind in their studies. The plan, as had been explained to her by Professor McGonagall during their meeting, was to adjust all the schedules so the returning students would be able to catch up on the missed work in certain classes, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts or Muggle Studies.

She had been in Australia watching over her family when she received a letter from Hogwarts letting her know she could return to school to finish her education. It also contained the invitation to arrive early. As Death Eaters were still at large and they were still a threat to the wizarding world, she decided not to remove the charm she had placed on her parents more than a year before.

Thinking about her options, she decided to accept the invitation and arrived at Hogwarts two weeks before the start of the term. Every day she just wandered the halls and grounds, lost in memories but occasionally talking with the other students or teachers she encountered. Even the library, her usual solace, couldn't hold her attention for very long due to her restlessness.

It was during one of these aimless wanderings that she saw someone sitting in the library looking almost as lost as she felt. She didn't expect to see him of all people in the library. Well, she hadn't expected him to return to school. Why would he? After all he was… She stopped that thought in its tracks. She was about to think of him in terms of the boy he was before the war. But she wasn't the same person she was before the war, why would he be? What did he have left after all? His father was in Azkaban and his mother was under house arrest. Even he had spent some time in Azkaban before the truth was revealed. She noticed he was rubbing his left arm absently while looking out the window at nothing. He didn't look like he wanted company so she passed by leaving him to his thoughts.

The next day she passed by the library again and saw him still sitting there. She couldn't tell if he had moved at all. She was bored and decided to try and break both of them out of their apparent funk. She approached him quietly, "Malfoy".

He looked up at her, "Granger? You came back?" He was truly surprised that she was there.

"Yea. You too."

"I thought they would have offered you any job you wanted anywhere you wanted it." Draco commented.

She shrugged by way of an answer. "What about you?"

He shrugged not really wanting to talk about his future either. "You alone? Are Scarhead and the Weasel coming back too?" He sneered.

She sat down and looked at him. "Let's be civil ok? I don't want to start off this year like all the other years we've been here." Even to her own ears she sounded tired. Tired of what she wasn't sure.

He was about to make a snide, cutting retort but gave a pause to consider her words and how she delivered them. He tried to read something in her eyes, but he didn't know her at all and so was unable to. Finally he just couldn't be bothered to put that much effort into antagonizing her. He nodded his head in agreement. "But I don't guarantee anything. Old habits and all. So are they?"

She smiled a small smile, "No, they aren't coming back. They accepted jobs as Apprentice Aurors."

"Apprentice? I would have thought they would be running the department by now, the war-hero-boy-who-lived with his permanent boyfriend and all that rot."

She stared at him, "Really? Boyfriend? That was weak."

"Hey, I'm trying here." He defended.

She shook her head and got back on topic, "Just because you stopped a madman doesn't mean you know the law. They can do the spells and the investigations, now they have to learn to do them within the law. We broke a few of those last year." She smiled at the memories. "They aren't even in the same department. Harry's working in the department that's trying to review and change all the laws that Riddle had put in place and Ron is working in the fraud department."

"Fraud? Does he have the mental capability to…" he was cut off.

"Malfoy!"

"Oh, right. I did warn you, old habits and all. So fraud?"

"Yea, like contracts that magically change after a muggle has signed it, selling fake gold items to muggles, fake charms and love potions, stuff like that. It's similar to what his dad was doing before the war. They both love muggle objects." She smiled, "I remember trying to explain a telephone to them."

"Figures, muggle-lovers. A what?" He asked.

She was about to chastise him about his reference to the Weasley's but realized that what he said was true even if the tone he delivered it in wasn't the nicest. They loved muggle stuff plain and simple but that didn't stop her from shooting him a glare. Her glare had the same effect on him that all her glares previously did, i.e nothing at all. She explained her reference, "it's a muggle way to communicate over long distances."

Draco chuckled accepting her explanation. "Anybody else coming back that you know about?" He asked more to make conversation than actually caring.

"A few but not many. Luna Lovegood isn't coming back, she's working with Mr. Ollivander. If anybody could figure out wand-lore it would be Luna."

"I can see that. She always did have an…odd…way of looking at things and being a Ravenclaw you know she's smart enough to figure it out."

Hermione was surprised he knew Luna or about her then remembered that she had been kept prisoner at Malfoy Manor during the war. Not wanting to bring up such a difficult time in their lives, she moved on, "Neville's not coming back either. He's working at a medical research facility trying to increase the effectiveness of the herbs & plants used to make healing potions. He and Luna are getting married next year. Ginny Weasley's coming back, though. She wants to be a journalist; put Rita Skeeter to shame." She smiled at that thought, she really hated Skeeter. "She and Harry are getting married after she graduates." She waited for him to make any comments but nothing came out. She looked at him and saw he was lost in thought. "Malfoy?" He looked up at her, "What about your friends? Any of them coming back?"

He chuckled without any joy in it. "I don't have 'friends' Granger. I had bodyguards, leaches & parasites. But no, I don't think any of them are coming back."

"I'm sorry," was all she could think to say. She heard the loneliness in his voice just as she figured he heard it in hers. She also noticed his use of the past tense 'had' when describing the people he used to hang out with.

She got up to leave, "See you around Malfoy."

"Yea, bye Granger."

A/N: Hi all. I wasn't going to post any part of this story until I had it completed but I've run into a big old case of writer's block on MMA. Don't despair. I'm fighting my way through it but I needed a break from it. I had an ending all ready and then decided it was junk. So I junked it and with some help from a very good friend, I think I've found a good ending. But after fighting with it for so long, I needed a break and to post something different. These posts will be sporadic at best. I make no promises save one: I will finish this one and I will finish MMA. PROMISE!

For some great stories from amazing authors, check out . It's new and tons of fun. On that site, my pen name is The Sheriff. Hope to see you there.