Hermione Granger didn't know what was better; the fact that she could finally relax after 6 years of fear and stress, or the fact that she was spending this time with her two best friends; Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They had been friends for 6 years, though they spent the majority of it saving the Wizarding World from a certain Dark Wizard.
The Final War had been terrible, worse than they could have imagined. It all happened at the end of their 6th year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her dreams were often plagued with images from The War, so many people had died. She couldn't even allow herself to think of the names. Every so often she saw a haunted look overcome Harry or Ron and she knew exactly where their thoughts were. She knew that she wore the same look at times.
She pushed these thoughts from her head, today was a special day, and it wouldn't do any good to think of such unpleasant things today.
She sighed, today was Harry's 17th birthday, and she had been in love with Harry since their 3rd year when they were saving Buckbeak and Sirius. She had always had feelings for him; but that certain day was the day she realized she loved him.
"No," she said firmly to herself, she had promised herself that she wouldn't think of that and she knew he would never feel the same way about her.
He was Harry Freaking Potter. The Boy Who Lived! The Chosen One! The one who defeated Voldemort! She was just his friend, she was just book smart, and she was nowhere near pretty. She sighed again. Harry had never shown any interest in her in any other way than friendship.
After she finished washing up, she blew her hair dry with her wand; she put on a red sweater that Harry had gotten her for last Christmas and a pair of plain jeans. After 10 minutes of struggling with her forever unruly hair she groaned in frustration, and in admitting the ultimate defeat, she pulled out the book of beauty spells Lavender and Parvati had gotten her for Christmas.
When she had opened it, she had sworn to never use it, but this was a desperate time, it called for desperate measures.
She roughly and anxiously flipped to the Hair section and flipped through the pages swiftly desperately searching. Brown eyes searched for the perfect spell for her freakishly bushy hair. When she finally found what she searched for, she read the instructions at least ten times before she stood in front of the mirror with closed eyes and inhaling deeply. Opening her eyes again, she stared at herself before she finally pointed her wand at her hair. She closed her eyes in concentration and repeated the incantation while thinking very hard of what she wanted it to do.
She slowly opened her eyes; her hair now fell in ringlets past her shoulders. She made a mental note to look at other spells in the book.
"Perfect," she smiled then ran to her bed and pulled Harry's gift out from underneath it.
Today would be perfect, and she was determined to make it so.
She slowly walked up the stairs to the boys' room. She had always loved staying with the Weasley's, she had always felt accepted by the entire family, well, except for that time in 4th year – she shoved that thought away.
She could smell Mrs. Weasley cooking; she couldn't quite place it though. She heard a shout of laughter from Fred and George, and a shriek from Mrs. Weasley. There was a creak on the stairs and then Ginny joined Fred and George's laughter.
She had been so relieved when they found a way to save Fred; he had almost been crushed by the stones of the castle wall when one of them collapsed on him. George hadn't been himself until Fred was out of St. Mungos.
She didn't even bother to knock on the door to Ron's room, she just walked right in.
To her surprise, they were both already awake. At the sound of the door creaking open they had whipped their heads towards it.
Upon seeing who it was, their jaws dropped. She felt her cheeks heat up at their expressions.
"Happy Birthday, Harry!"
Harry and Ron had been up for not even 10 minutes when they heard the door start to open. Both automatically turned towards the door, and in the doorway stood a brunette with the biggest smile Harry could remember seeing on her in a while. She was wearing a red sweater and jeans that fit her perfectly, and her hair fell in ringlets around her face making her even more beautiful than usual. His mouth went dry, if only he could get the courage to ask her out.
To be honest, he had liked her since the very beginning, it had been a big reason he wanted to save her from the troll. They had their moments throughout the years, but he knew he loved her one day in their 3rd year. She did the most amazing thing, something that would keep him loving her for a long time. She punched Draco Malfoy. She was the most wonderful person he had ever met.
He stopped is thoughts then, they were just friends, nothing more. She had never hinted she wanted more than that.
"Happy Birthday, Harry!" That snapped him out of his thoughts.
Then again, it was his 17th birthday; he could use magic outside of school now.
"Wow. Is that you, Hermione?" Ron asked, just as shocked as Harry,
"Oh, shut up. Of course it's me, who else could it possibly be?" Harry loved her sarcasm, he saw a gift in her hand, and he had an idea.
"Accio," He said, trying not to be obvious as he pointed his wand at her while making it appear as if he was pointing at the gift. A few seconds later she landed on Harry's lap. Shock and laughter clear in her eyes.
"Oops, guess I overshot it a bit," he said, looking down at her, suddenly he knew what he wanted and it wasn't the present in her hands. His eyes strayed to her lips, and he saw the realization of what he was going to do hit in her eyes, so very slowly and softly, he pressed his lips to hers. It didn't last long, but it was very sweet.
"Oh bloody hell," interrupted Ron, "can you not do that now?"
Harry and Hermione just looked at each other and started laughing; it was full of relief and happiness.
Today is going to be perfect, thought Harry while watching Ron and Hermione get into a playful argument about the kiss.
Soon after Harry and Ron got ready for the day, they all headed downstairs, where Harry was met with a chorus of 'Happy Birthday's from Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Fred, and George.
"Thanks guys!" Harry said, he couldn't help smile,
"How was your day so far, Harry?" said Fred or was it George?
"First of all, its only 9 in the morning, second, absolutely wonderful," he smiled at Hermione.
"You know," said Ron, "Harry is pretty good with girls," this got everyone's attention while Harry and Hermione looked at each other, terrified.
"What are you talking about Ronald?" said Mrs. Weasley, her face full of curiosity.
"Uh, never mind," mumbled Ron, not wanting to tell the story in front of her.
"Oh Ronikins, please tell us what you were going to say," pleaded George.
"Oh yes, continue with the tale of Harry and his suave-ness," continued Fred, which lit a flame behind Ron's blue eyes; he was being embarrassed while trying to embarrass Harry.
"Well, Hermione came in our room and he was staring at her then he pretended to Accio a present she had for him but instead he was aiming at her and she fell in his lap and he kissed her." he said it all in one breath.
Everyone stared at Harry and Hermione, and then Mrs. Weasley broke the tension and pulled Harry into a hug.
"Congratulations," she whispered in his ear.
Today was going to be his best birthday ever, Harry could tell.
Draco Malfoy had to figure out a way to fulfill his father's last command to him, he hadn't thought of a single way to do it yet.
"Draco, there is one last thing I want you to do for me, get back at Harry Potter."
That was the last thing his father had said to him, his father, was in Azkaban, along with his mother, apparently word had gotten out that they had housed Voldemort for a year before The War.
Thankfully his father had been smart enough to send Draco off to their house in France.
"The Malfoy line must continue Draco!" his father had said to him, "That cannot be done if you are locked in Azkaban."
Oh yes the Malfoy Line, who could forget?
Frustrated he picked up The Daily Prophet, and started flipping through it at random, and then suddenly a picture caught his eye. It was a picture of Hermione Granger, she was standing on one side of Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley was on the other side.
It was taken not long after The War, Granger's arm was in a sling and she had multiple cuts on her face, Potter had burns and cuts on his face, and Weasley had a cast on his leg. None of them were smiling, and for a second, the Potter in the picture grabbed the girl's hand, only to drop it immediately.
He could tell Potter felt something more than friendship towards Granger and that was perfect.
He knew how to get back at Potter; he wasn't in Slytherin for nothing.
He went up to his parent's old room; he knew that what he needed was in there.
It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew it would break Potter, he knew it would destroy Potter, and that was what he had to do.
He had gone out of his way to stay out of his parents' room, but he was desperate.
Whenever Lucius and Narcissa talked about the necklaces they mentioned a black box with the Malfoy Crest on it in silver.
He decided to start with the closet, after a minute of trying to see if there was anything on the top shelf or behind the clothes he got frustrated. He grabbed all the clothes and threw them on the bed.
This is stupid, he thought, the damn box could be anywhere. Due to many Ministry of Magic searches of the Manor, there weren't many dark artifacts in the house. He completely cleared out the closet, and it still wasn't in there.
Suddenly he got an idea, he snapped his fingers twice and Ivy, one of his house elves, appeared before him,
"What can Ivy do for Master Malfoy today?" she said in her wheezy voice,
"I want you to find a black box with the Malfoy Crest in silver, now." His voice was a snarl by the last word.
"Yes, Master Malfoy." She disappeared again, and for a brief second Draco was confused, where had she gone?
She reappeared not long after, holding the box.
"Here, Master Malfoy," she handed him the box and left. He stood there, where had they been?
He opened the box and the necklaces were there, in perfect condition, lying on a green cloth.
He knew very little about how they worked, what he did know was what his parents had told him,
"She just couldn't stay away from me from the moment she put on that necklace," Lucius would say with a smirk,
"It only ever came off after I fell in love with him," Narcissa would laugh,
He knew this was his chance, his chance to get back at Potter, and this was the perfect plan.
A/N: So I know this looks like a Harry and Hermione, but trust me, it wont by the end. Also this is my first fanfic, so please review! Thanks!
