Disclaimer: I'll say this once, and we'll all know it...right? All right, I own no one but Domina Lumine, Nicholas Servus, and any other special guests on this show... oh, wait. Wrong thing.

Let's try this again. If it even sounds faintly JK-ish, it's not mine. I swear, really, I mean it...

This is my first fanfic. Please be constructive, and let me know what needs work. In English...review, and maybe I'll send you a wonderful bribe- I mean, prize.

-Keri

Immortal Blessings

Chapter 1: Tomorrow Can't Come Fast Enough

Hermione Granger's trunk was packed. This was no surprise; she had, after all, bought her seventh year supplies within hours of receiving her book list. However, she had spent the last month double- and triple-checking it "just to be sure I haven't forgotten anything." She laughed softly to herself as she realized she was doing this yet again, and went to her bathroom to brush her teeth.

Her level of excitement over the coming school year would have probably driven her parents to the point of insanity, had this not been her routine every summer since the day her acceptance letter had arrived by owl. The fact that she had been made Head Girl didn't hurt either.

One thing had definitely been unlike the other summers: Hermione herself. As she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she realized that her mother's constant predictions of "You'll grow into a lovely young woman, dear" had finally come true. After all, her hair was finally under at least some sort of control. Rather than being the bushy mane of the last six years, it tumbled halfway down her back in soft chocolate curls with golden highlights sprinkled throughout. the rest of her had fared just as well, with curves in all the right places and legs that seemed to stretch for miles. It was the same old Hermione, but she was now as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside.

Any guy would have looked at her and thought she was an absolute knockout. However, Hermione -who seemed to know everything about everyone except herself- was almost entirely naive to this discovery. The space in her mind was currently taken up by just about everything else- books, studies (she'd only gone through the first 350 pages in the Transfiguration textbook and didn't feel as if she had prepared enough for the class yet), friends...

She missed Harry and Ron like nothing else. They had been through so much together, and she hadn't seen them since that fateful day in sixth year, where the three had joined together with the most unlikely of allies to defeat Voldemort. She had no idea how they were dealing with the aftermath- all known Death Eaters had been immediately sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss (the Ministry had become fearful of another mass breakout), but Voldemort's following was widespread. No one knew just how many people he had managed to lure into his group.

Hermione had promised to herself that she would check on them often to see them, but all of her plans to visit them- and, as a result, to see Ginny (who had become one of her best friends)- had been dashed when her parents announced a surprise vacation to New York to visit her cousins. Not to say she hadn't enjoyed the visit, but she simply missed everyone she was accustomed to seeing and was worried sick about them. she made sure to write to them often, though.

Through constant letters to the boys from Hermione over the summer, she had discovered that neither had been chosen to be Head Boy. Although she hated to admit it, it hadn't come as a surprise to her. The two simply didn't have the marks for it, and they had spent the last six years copying off her anyway. And no one could forget how they had probably broken more school rules than there were in existence, if that was possible.

However, Hermione had absolutely no idea as to who had been given the coveted position. It's probably a Ravenclaw or someone like that, Hermione thought to herself as she left the bathroom and walked back into her bedroom.

A mere twelve hours separated her from their reunion at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters the next day. Her arrival at the platform would begin her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. The danger was gone from her life. She was Head Girl. Nothing could have been better for her.

"Tomorrow can't come fast enough," Hermione said to herself as she turned out the light by her bed and entered the realm of her dreams.

That very night, it was obvious to anyone looking through the window of the new Malfoy Manor that Draco Malfoy was, for the first time in his life, somewhat happy.

Most people can say they love their parents and look up to them; their parents are role models for them. Draco, however, was one of those exceptions- one of those people who had "drawn the short end of the stick." That had been the case for him, for almost his entire life.

Everything changed over the summer after his fifth year, when his father was sent to Azkaban after being caught in the Department of Mysteries the night of Sirius Black's death. Draco's mother- who had never really been a strong person, nor one with much free will- had committed herself to Voldemort even more in an attempt to make up for her incarcerated husband, until the Dark Lord had killed her after she had failed to successfully torture and murder a Muggle family.

Meanwhile, his father's influence in the Ministry was now nonexistent. Lucius Malfoy had been effectively blacklisted, and he had no one to turn to but the man he had devoted his life to. However, Lucius no longer had anything to offer the Dark Lord, save for a deep-seated hatred of Muggles and quite a bit of experience in the Dark Arts.

Voldemort quickly realized that his connection to the Ministry of Magic's activities was gone, and had no more use for Lucius. He was quickly relegated to the lower-level Death Eaters, no more than a common follower.

Common followers were the first to go once Voldemort had been killed. They were simply the easiest to eliminate, by the fighters for the Light, fellow Death Eaters, and even Voldemort himself, when he saw it fit to do so.

Draco had never turned to the world of darkness. He saw what it had done to his parents in the end. Instead of getting the Dark Mark- the only thing his father had ever seen him as being good for- Draco ran to Albus Dumbledore and joined the Order of the Phoenix in the middle of his sixth year. Other Malfoy relatives had left him quite a bit of money to live off of, and once his parents were gone, Draco had enough to last him for the rest of his life. He was, however, still set on becoming Hogwarts' next potions professor, as Severus Snape was planning to retire in five years and was convinced that "that was barely enough time to train a new professor in the subtleties of potion-making." His appointment to the Head Boy position had greatly surprised him, even though he knew that Dumbledore was assured of his transition to the side of good. It was a new thing for him to be happy for something that he had deserved, rather than feeling as if it was unimportant to those who mattered.

He was in his own house now- a Malfoy Manor without the ominous sense of foreboding terror that had come with the previous house. He was far from prying eyes, yet known to those who were important to him. He gave a warm thanks to the three house-elves who had just finished packing his trunk, who proceeded to leave him alone to his musings.

The years of abuse were finally over. The next day would be the start of a new... a new everything- a way for him to erase what he had done to others and show them that Draco Malfoy was nothing like his father.

I will never end up like him, were the last words that ran through Draco's head before he drifted off to sleep.

Miles away from both Draco and Hermione, a discussion was taking place. this would- unbeknownst to them- take their lives in a completely different course than they had ever imagined.

"I believe we have gone on long enough," announced the disembodied voice in the corner; a female, yet one who spoke with a definite sense of power and authority. It was evident that this was not a person one would ever want to find themselves in the way of.

A second voice, just as powerful, yet with the shy, timid undertones unmistakably used by a man when speaking to his superior, started to object to this statement. "They seem....unprepared, Miss... perhaps it would be best for us all if they had some more time to complete their studies, to get their lives on course- "

"I believe they have gone on long enough, my friend. They cannot continue on this path. As intelligent and powerful as they both are, they are entirely ignorant to their true selves. This will quickly become a hindrance to them. They must be told who they are, and they have to be trained to handle it. I have already begun the preparations for them."

"I understand, but I worry for- " the voice of Nicholas Servus was again cut off by that of his friend and ruler.

"Nicholas, I have known you nearly my whole life. We have been through centuries of wars together, you know the disasters that have occurred when people have waited..." the voice trailed off; it seemed as if she had just recalled painful, forgotten memories.

The following silence was nearly deafening.

She broke it cautiously, but with the same sense of power as before. "I know what you fear, but you have foretold the same events as I have imagined. We both realize that if we delay any more than we already have, we will surely fail, and the world of the Light will collapse from under our feet. We are powerless to change what is to come, and we will have to do whatever is necessary.

"Although I greatly value your opinion, and as much as I treat it as if it were my own, I must still ask you not to question my authority on the matter again."

Domina Lumine- true to her name, the brightest master- stood up, effectively ending the discussion. "They shall be the ones to save us all, so they will be told. They must know that they are both Immortals."

AN:

and chapter one is up. (as if you haven't noticed...) I'm working on the next one, but I'm taking 5 ap classes at school. those familiar with this torture fondly refer to it as "ap suicide."

i like saying "i have a shitload of homework" more. it works just as well. for example, i didn't get to bed until 3 in the morning last night, and i have to be up by 5...

i'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible. i know draco's slightly OOC at the moment, but believe me, i'm working my way back to the draco we all know, love and secretly have tattoos of on our...well, that's a whole other story.

draco: "wow, i never thought you'd actually do that for me. and i thought that you were just kidding when you said you planned on that."

keri: "don't flatter yourself that much, my dear... you never know what i could write about you..."

draco: "but you like me too much, and you don't have anything on me to tell them anywa- wait, you'd never say that, right?"

keri: (hums to self) (walks away from the computer)

draco: "no, don't leave me here!"

draco: "hello?!"

draco: "why aren't you saying anything?! fine! tell them i still sleep with my teddy bear, for all i care! just don't tell them that i..." (cries)

until i get the chance to breathe again, i wish you all a happy...something.

-keri