Hey everyone, thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows, they were really heart warming. It should get interesting now. And thanks again to ISolemnlySwearThatImUpToNoG00d for letting me steal his idea. Also, I've added a small piece to chapter one, regarding the first years of other Houses, thanks to a review i got..
When Hermione's eyes finally fluttered open, she held back a gasp of pain and relief. However hard her life was, it was always better than her dreams, where she couldn't control what she saw or remembered. She briefly noticed that she had gotten tangled in her covers - sign that she had once again moved around trying to get away from the terrible images – before glancing at the watch her parents had given her for her fifteenth birthday. It was only 5:30. She had an hour and a half to kill before breakfast was available.
Reluctantly, she untangled herself from the sheets, gathered some clothes, and made her way to the bathroom. She slowly undressed herself, avoiding glancing at the scar that Bellatrix had given her the year before, and stepped into the small cubicle. If there was one thing she missed about being a prefect, it was the bathroom. The bathtub was the size of a swimming pool and there were many taps that spewed fragranced water and it never failed to soothe her aching limbs. She scrubbed herself quickly and by the time she was dressed and back in the dormitory, it was 6 am.
Sighing, she left her sleeping dorm mates, grabbed the nearest book, and made her way to the common room, where she found Dennis Creevey moaning in his sleep in the loveseat. She summoned a blanket for the boy and proceeded to stroke his hair, knowing that that was the only thing that could calm her down when she had nightmares. Sure enough, soon he was fast asleep, lightly snoring while Hermione made her way to her once-favourite chair and read her book. ItI seemed no time at all had passed when Ginny came down, her fiery red hair ruffled and her eyes squinted.
"Morning" she yawned.
"Hi Ginny. Sleep well?"
"Not a chance. I haven't slept well since the battle. But some people have it worse, so I don't complain."
"Ginny... just because others have problems doesn't mean yours don't count. You've been holding yourself back, not letting yourself grieve and trying to comfort others instead. What happened happened. There's nothing we can do about that. We need to move on but to do that we have to face it."
"It's fine, Hermione. I'm fine. Can we please change the subject?"
"Sure. Who are you going eat with today?"
"Luna and maybe Hannah Abbott, I heard she's still here. They'll probably bring some friends along too. Speaking of which, I'm starving, I'm going to get going."
"OK, see you later... I'll just finish this chapter, I'll be down in 10 minutes."
After making sure her hair lay flat, Ginny made her way out of the hole in the wall and past the portrait, while Hermione stayed. Unable to read however, the bushy haired girl sighed and followed merely five minutes later, making her way down the corridors slowly. When a number of students all greeted her and looked at her with adoration, she decided to take the long way. Yes, she was one third of the "Golden Trio", but that wasn't a good thing. It meant people looked up to her, people came to her, congratulating her. She hadn't done anything. She had made just the same amount of sacrifices as everyone else. She didn't deserve glory. No one did. Everyone was a soldier when they were barely old enough to leave school, leaving them scarred emotionally and physically. These were times to celebrate a collective victory, or mourn personal sacrifices. No single person deserved any glory or fame.
It was these thoughts that rushed through her bitter mind as she trudged along the deserted passageway, when she heard sniffling up ahead. Someone was crying. Slowly, Hermione crept towards the sound and seconds later, a small girl, maybe a second or third year, was discovered, arms wrapped around her legs and face in her knees.
"Are you OK?" Hermione asked hesitantly, before scolding herself. Of course she wasn't OK, that much was pretty obvious. The girl jumped at the sound of her voice and showed her face, along with a Slytherin coloured tie.
"Yes, I'm – I'm fine." She sniffled, wiping her tears away.
"No you're not. But it's OK to not be OK. These are difficult times, everyone has nightmares, everyone cries, everyone remembers. That's fine. That's part of being human." Hermione sat next to the girl while she spoke.
"Even you?"
"Yes even me. I'm no different from anyone else. I fought, like many others, I lost people, like pretty much everyone here... did you lose someone?"
"No but my sister, Daphne, she snuck back in after Filch escorted us all out. She wanted to fight for the school. I followed her, begged her to come back but she didn't. And I saw. I saw everything. I was there, just there, when your friend, one of the Weasley twins was... when he was..."
She doubled up crying and Hermione took her in her arms, shushing and awkwardly trying to comfort her.
"It's Astoria, right? Astoria Greengrass? You're in third year." The girl nodded. "Well, Astoria, I think a bit of breakfast would do you good. You can sit with me and invite your sister or some friends over if you like."
The eldest helped the youngest up, wiped her tears away and smiled, before they made their way down to the Great Hall, where they were joined by Daphne Greengrass, and all three sat next to Ginny, Luna and Hannah. Before long, Astoria was laughing along with the rest of the table and a twinkle in her eye had returned. Hermione guessed that that twinkled had disappeared during the war. Seeing that little girl laugh and joke with a member of every other House made Hermione hope. For the first , she could see a future that wasn't riddled with sorrow and didn't stink of firewhiskey. They would make it. If they stuck together and helped each other.
