"Avada Kadavra! Avada Kedavra! Crucio!" All I could hear, everywhere I turned.. Flashes of green light narrowly missing me as I saw people that I loved die before my eyes. Suddenly the yells turned into laughter, merciless laughter as Bellatrix Lestrange towered over me, green light illuminating a sharp, crazed grin…
"Hermione! Hermione! Wake up!" My eyes opened in a flash and the raven black hair of Parvati Patel tickled me hair as I shook myself into sense. I stretched and yawned.
"What time is it? I couldn't have slept in.
"It's eight bloody thirty and we've got potions in 5 minutes!"
Oh crap. I leaped out of bed, pulled on my robes plus random pair of shoes and raced out of Gryffindor tower, Parvati close behind. At last we reached the dungeons, running into Slughorn at the entrance.
"Ah! There you two are! Hurry up - I do not tolerate lateness even if it is the first day back!" Today was September 2nd, exactly 1 year after the war, five months after Voldemort died. "It's hardly a reward for defeating him," Ron had complained, that we have to take seventh year again." I hadn't been too bothered myself.
"Miss Patel, you sit there next to Mr Finnigan and Miss Granger, over there by Mr Malfoy if you please."
What?
No!
I was about to protest, but Slughorn gave me a stern look and I reluctantly sat down at my allocated seat. Today was hardly going well for me. I tried to sit as far away from Malfoy as possible. He didn't say a word to me the entire lesson, which was a first. I was expecting a few snarky comments about how disgusted he was to be sittiing next to a mudblood, but all that came was silence. Of course, I thought with a smile, the war changed all of us, Come to think about it, Malfoy had been quite quiet since the war; he hadn't talked to anyone since, not even the Slytherins. Blaise Zabini was the only one who had been able to maintain a conversation of more than thirty seconds with him.
The rest of the lesson droned on, with most of us knowing it already. I had learnt all of the set books of by heart again as part of my summer to stop me from thinking about the war and Voldemort and Bellatrix, but still those wild faces kept entering my head, at night… I shoved the thought about Bellatrix out of my head and started to take notes on what Slughorn said.
Before I knew it, the lesson was over and I hurried out of class. As I walked towards the Great Hall, I collided with someone and my books dropped all around me. I sighed with annoyance but looked at the person properly. She was a scared looking first year. Out of habit, I gave her a 'don't worry' smile.
As soon as she saw my face she went red and started speaking all at once; "Oh my gosh, you're Hermione Granger! I know all about you of course, you're so famous you know! I heard you and Ron get together: you two are so cute! Oh - by the way - my name is Katie - you are my idol!" she let out a huge breath and looked up at me eagerly.
I looked at her dumbfounded, blushing at the part about Ron. "Erm thanks, I'll see you around I guess," was all I could think of. She looked at me, appearing a little disappointed but content none the less and skipped away.
I started collecting my parchment, feeling a bit nauseated when a pair of hands gathered it for me and handed it over.
" You've got yourself a fan Granger," said the familiar lilting face of the person as he turned to face me. "There's some ink on your cheek by the way." He retrieved a tissue from his pocket and dabbed my cheek a little with it. I stared blankly as he walked away, the frame of Draco Malfoy barely visible now as he walked around the corner.