This fanfiction is a sequel to my first ever fic, Caught in His Net. If you haven't read that yet, I'd suggest checking it out, then come back here!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, sadly.

xxx

Hermione peered up the side of the tall building, squinting against the bright sun. Merlin Hall stood before her, and would soon be her new home. She had just arrived at the St. Augustine School for Advanced Magical Healing. She had finally finished her studies at Hogwarts, and soon she would finish her training and become a full healer.

Now that Harry had finally defeated Lord Voldemort, Hermione felt good about doing something seemingly normal. Of course, when you considered the prestige of St. Augustine's and the level of healing that she would be studying, it really wasn't so normal after all.

A pair of arms grabbed Hermione around the waist and cheek pressed against her neck.

"Hey, baby," she said with a smile.

Draco pressed his lips into her hair near her ear. "We made it," he whispered, sending chills down Hermione's back.

Hermione sighed happily. "After seven years of studying at Hogwarts, only 6 more months of training stand between us and our dream jobs."

Draco grabbed Hermione by the hips and spun her to face him. "It'll be nice to share a dormitory again. I've missed you these past few weeks."

"If you'd let me meet your Aunt, I could've stayed with you at her place," Hermione said with a smirk.

"No!" he said annoyed, "She's super annoying and you would not have had a good time. Besides, you needed to spend time with your parents before coming here. There won't be much time for visiting until we get out just before Christmas."

"I don't mind," Hermione purred, throwing her arms around his neck. "More time spent with my favorite things." She kissed him chastely on the mouth.

"What, me and books?" Draco retorted, yanking on a lock of her hair, which had grown long over their final year.

"You know me all too well, Draco Malfoy," she said, laughing. Draco wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her with a passion that was not on Hermione's list of approved public-displays-of-affection. She didn't mind too much at the moment, and just relaxed into the kiss, enjoying the love he conveyed to her. It reminded her of the night he'd kissed her at the ball.

"I knew it was you," Hermione said, her lips crashing against his once more. The music continued, but it seemed the dancers around them took no heed of the music. They stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the head Boy and the Head Girl - sworn enemies - kissing on the dance floor.

For the second time in a week, she felt the lips she was kissing be pulled away from her own rather roughly. She opened her eyes, lips still pursed comically, and watched as the scene played out in front of her.

This time, just like the last it had been Ron who'd pulled Draco off her, but this time it was Harry doing the attacking. Spells flew back and forth, some hitting their marks, some barely missing bystanders in the crowd. Everyone around them had backed up rapidly, making a round opening in the floor for their duel.

Even against both Harry and Ron, Draco was fighting splendidly. His casts were effortless, wand whipping back and forth both deflecting and sending new spells. Hermione stood still as a statue, not sure what she was supposed to do. She was actually a little hypnotized by the flashes of light being exchanged.

"STOP!" She yelled, as she jumped in-between Draco and her two best friends. She silently cast a shield charm, between the two sides, sufficiently putting an end to the duel. She heard some groans in the audience as students shuffled back to their dates, but Hermione was just glad no one had gotten hurt.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor each for attacking a student. Twenty points from Slytherin for fighting back. Are you all bloody stupid?" Her anger was getting the best of her now. "You could have hurt each other, or someone standing nearby! You better be glad McGonagall already left, or your butts would be in Dumbledore's office." Her lectured had been directed at all three of them, but when she finished and removed the shield charm between them and turned back to Draco, it was clear where her current loyalty lie.

"'Mione, what are you doing with that sorry sack?" Ron yelled, face open with shock.

"More than I'd ever do with you, Ronald," she said with a smirk, then let Draco lead her away to a quiet corner.

Hermione smiled to herself as she thought of that night. The boys had been so angry at her, but she didn't care. She was on cloud nine. It had taken a long time for Harry and Ron to get used to her dating Draco, but in the end it turned out to be for the best for all of them. Harry and Ron were happy to have someone to practice dueling against other than each other. All that work they did in the Room of Requirement had paid off in the final battle, and they had Draco to thank for getting them into shape.

She smiled at her Draco, but dropped her arms so they could walk while holding hands. They made their way over to the main hall where they would do their class work and spied the sign in table out front. Walking up, they waited in line for a few minutes. Then, they were next.

"Hello, and welcome to St. Augustine's!" the chirpy blonde girl said as the approached the table. "My name's Cheryl, and I'm a resident advisor. This is my colleague, Darla. We both work at St. Mungo's when we're not teaching here!"

Darla raised a pierced eyebrow just a millimeter at Cheryl's mood, then said, "Find your name on the roster, and press your wand tip to the spot beside it. That will record your wand's unique magical signature, both as a registration of sorts, and so that your professors can tell your work from your classmates'." Darla looked slightly bored sitting at the registration table, but from the gothic look of her outfit, she found most things a little boring.

Hermione and Draco both mark the pages in turn, and then followed the flow of students into the hall. They came to a large hall with rows of tables and chairs staggered by height levels up towards the ceiling. Hermione led Draco to a table on the second level before he had a chance to go higher. She didn't do well with heights, and didn't want to faint or throw up on their first day.

Hermione carefully gripped Draco's hand under the table. The way the room was set up, even the second level seemed high.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "If you fall, I'll catch you, like that time on the Quidditch pitch."

Hermione shuddered as she remembered that day.

She was sitting on the bleachers by the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, watching as Harry Ron and Draco zoomed around, being generally belligerent. It was a month until their final exams, but Hermione was prepared for all her tests already, so she let the boys convince her to come outside for a little while.

She'd ended up just sitting on the bleachers, reading her Arithmancy book and looking up every few minutes to make sure Harry and Ron hadn't killed Draco and that there were no broken bones to be seen.

They seemed to be playing some weird form of keep away. Harry and Draco were passing the quaffle back and forth, ignoring Ron, but every few minutes they would dive bomb Ron and try to knock him off his broom. Hermione giggled good naturedly at the boys. She was glad they'd all managed to get along for her sake. They still fought fiercely at times, but it always ended in laughter.

Hermione looked back down at her book, and wasn't paying attention when Ron got knocked off his Cleansweep Seven. He had only been a few feet from the ground, but his ornery broom was not done causing mayhem. Before Hermione realized what was going on, Ron's broom had zoomed up under her arms and flown her away from the safety of the bleachers. Gripping the broom in her armpits, Hermione tried to hold on for dear life, screaming all the while.

Her arms were not so strong, so she slipped into a more comfortable grip, which meant hanging from her hands on a speeding broom. She didn't know the first thing about how to guide this broom, how to steer it, or even how to get it to be below her rather than above her. She just screamed bloody murder and hoped that her shoulders would hold out.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled from below her. She could see that he was matching the movements of Ron's broom perfectly, staying positioned underneath her. He pointed over above his head and to the left, saying, "Brace yourself!"

Hermione looked where he was pointing and saw Harry, lining up a shot at the broom with his wand. "Arresto locomotum!" The broom stood stock still, then dropped since it could no longer move.

Hermione fell a few feet with the broom, then came to her sense and threw it away from her body. She felt herself dropping fast, and tried to pull out her wand to stop her movement. Then suddenly, she was scooped up by something. She didn't realize her eyes were screwed shut in fear until she opened them, and saw Draco there, cradling her on his broom.

She threw her arms around his neck, saying, "My hero!" She didn't let go until they were safely back on solid ground.

Hermione smiled at the memory, though it always made her a little nauseous to think about. That was the day she realized she wholeheartedly trusted Draco with her life. It had taken her a long time to get to that point. After all, the transition from sworn enemy to lover is completely crazy, and the farthest thing from easy. Still, they'd made it through, and here they were, working their way to their future, where they would work side by side. Hermione couldn't wait.