A/N: Harry Potter and all the characters associated with them belong to the lovely and talented J.K. Rowling. I am just borrowing her creations to play with to tell my own story. Thanks for reading my story.

Chapter 1: Starting a New Year

Twisting around, Draco looked around the platform. Where were they? It was their final year at Hogwarts. Well, technically it was their second final year at Hogwarts. The war had spoiled their first. Potter, Weasel, and Granger had hunted Horcruxes while on the run. Draco had spent the year playing spy for the Order. However, the war was over, and they were free to be teenagers again, a laughable thought. Too much had happened for them ever to be typical teenagers. The war haunted them all; Draco routinely relived the evening he'd been forced to watch Bellatrix torture Hermione in the ballroom of the Manor.

However, despite all that, the teenagers were looking forward to trying to a normal Voldemort free school year. The Battle of Hogwarts had ensured they were all considered war heroes. Even Draco was considered one, thanks to the Golden Trio, who had been vocal about the part Draco played in helping them win the war. They had been so vocal that the Golden Trio was now called the Golden Quartet. Draco wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it all. He wasn't sure if he considered himself a hero. He'd spent around two years fighting for the light, whereas the trio had spent seven.

He didn't really have any issues with the trio anymore. They had all become good friends over the last two years. After all, Draco was no fool, Hermione saved his life when she convinced him to ask Dumbledore for help after stumbling upon him having a nervous breakdown in the Prefect bathroom at the start of sixth year. At first, they had barely been able to work together- five years of animosity and bullying wasn't something that disappeared overnight. However, Dumbledore, the old fool had forced them to work together until they learned to move past their differences.

Ah, there they were. Grabbing his trunk, Draco headed towards the group which had just come through the barrier of Platform 9 3/4. "Draco, my dear! So good to see you." Mrs. Weasley said enthusiastically, as she enveloped him in a hug.

It took every ounce of will, Draco had not to pull away from the embrace. Even after spending the past two years around Mrs. Weasley and the Order, he still had a hard time with how freely they all showed affection. Physical affection wasn't something he had grown up with. Narcissa Malfoy loved her only son, but she was naturally reserved and not given to overt displays of affection. Lucius Malfoy was a different story. He doled out physical 'affection' in the forms of slaps and kicks to those who displeased him, and Draco had all too frequently disappointed his father. If they were to meet now, Lucius would as soon kill him for betraying Voldemort and bringing shame to the Malfoy name as give his son a hug or kiss. Draco gave a small internal sigh of relief, as Mrs. Weasley let go of him.

"Weasel, Potter, Weaslette." He said, nodding to Ron, Harry, and Ginny, who was holding hands with Harry.

The three responded with, "Malfoy."

"Where is Granger?" He hadn't noticed she was missing at first; since the entire Weasley family had come to see the teenagers off for their last year at Hogwarts.

Wrinkling her nose, Mrs. Weasley said, "Don't you kids think it's silly to still refer to each other by your last names? I mean given everything that has happened in the last two years?"

"Mum, it's a habit. It'd be weird to call the ferret, Draco." Ron said before turning towards Draco and saying, "What do you mean where is Hermione? She isn't here yet?"

"Do you think I would be asking if she was?" Draco quipped back in annoyance, though he did manage to resist rolling his eyes. Among the Golden Trio, Draco and Ron had the rockiest friendship. They had been the last to move into the arena of friends, and it was a still a begrudging friendship. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco had saved Percy from a killing curse, causing Ron to admit, grudgingly, that maybe Draco was for real. Before the battle, Ron had tolerated Draco because no one had given him a choice in the matter. He had been confident Draco was only pretending to spy for the Order and would betray them the first time things got hard. The Weasel's instances on the matter had destroyed the fledgling romantic relationship between him and Granger, something Draco appreciated. Not that he was interested in Granger that way, but she was much too intelligent to be wasted on the Weasel.

However, before he and the Weasel could start bickering, one Hermione Granger came sashaying through the barrier. "What are you all doing?" she asked, approaching the group, "Come on guys! The train will leave without us if we don't get going!" Sure enough, the Hogwarts Express gave a shrill screech, signaling its impending departure. All over the platform, there was a flurry of activity as students grabbed their trunks, said their final goodbyes to family, and rushed onto the train.

As the Hogwarts Express sped along, the teenagers lounged about comparing notes from the last few weeks. They were all very careful to avoid any reference to the Battle of Hogwarts which had happened the previous May. None of them wanted to talk about the horrors of the war. They didn't want to admit to suffering nightmares and flashbacks. They didn't want to talk about any of the hardships experienced last year.

"It'll be nice to have a normal year finally," Hermione said, as she unwrapped a cauldron cake, Draco had tossed her. "I mean... no Voldemort trying to kill us this year. Think of all the time; we'll have to devote to studying for our NEWTs."

Everyone groaned. Ginny tossed a paper ball at her and said, "Hermione, we aren't even back yet. It is officially too early to be thinking about studying! I refuse to let you spend the entire year in the library or with your nose in a book studying. You are going to have fun!"

"I am guessing Harry, and you worked things out?" Hermione asked Ginny, who was cuddling with Harry across the compartment. Ron made a disgusted look as Ginny said, "Oh yes. Things are going great between us. We are back together and moving forward."

Draco couldn't stop the grin spreading across his face, as he watched Ron squirm, while his baby sister gushed about his best mate. He liked watching the Weasel be uncomfortable. It was a million times better than watching him give Granger wistful looks. "What about you Draco? I know the manor was still overrun by the ministry cleaning crews, so what did you do this summer?" Harry asked, nicely diverting attention away from the fact that he had broken up with Ginny at the end of his sixth year for what she dubbed a stupid-noble reason.

"Uh, it was non-eventful. I had intended to go to our home on the French Rivera, but Mother was concerned for my safety. She was afraid that since there are still Death Eaters on the loose, it would be dangerous for me to be on my own. So, I spent the summer at Andromeda's with Mother. It was nice for Mother to get the chance to work on repairing her relationship with her sister."

Harry nodded, "Andromeda must have liked that. I know losing Ted and Tonk's.." He trailed off; there didn't seem to be an adequate word to describe how painful it was. "Hermione, how about you? How did things go with your parents? Were you able to restore their memories?" Harry asked in a rush. Ginny pipped up in a playfully teasing tone, "You were a terrible correspondent this summer."

Draco felt Hermione, who was sitting next to him, stiffen for a moment, before she said, "Oh, I am sorry about that. Things were just so crazy in Australia. You know with finding mum and dad, restoring their memories, and well everything." She waved her hand distractedly in the air before saying, "I was just busy with them. Oh, we should get changed into our robes. We'll be here soon."

Draco frowned, what is Granger hiding? He looked around to see if anyone else had caught Granger's avoidance of answering the question, but everyone else seemed oblivious to the weirdness of her behavior.

After changing into their robes, the teenagers settled down to await their final arrival at Hogwarts. They spent the remaining time gossiping and eating treats from the trolley. The train was only a few minutes away from the Hogsmeade station when Ron noticed something missing from Hermione's uniform. "Mione, where's your Head Girl badge?" he managed to ask around a mouthful of Bertie Bott every flavor beans.

"There aren't heads this year. I received a letter from McGonagall informing me that due to circumstances outside of her control there wouldn't be heads this year. However, if there were, I would have been Head Girl. I am assuming since there are two seventh year classes this year, that the logistics just didn't work out."