Disclaimer: It's all J.K.'s.
A/N: I re- posted this chapter because I thought that the last one didn't go as in depth into the characters as I wanted. So please don't kill me, I'm sure this version is better than the last one.
All thanks to my beta darkmosmordreheart- read her stuff!!!
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Hermione was freezing. She was sitting in the Gryffindor Common room and she was cold. It didn't matter that it was the last day of school before Graduation, or that she had the fire going right in front of her, or that she had a blanket wrapped around her, she was cold. And she couldn't get warm. So when Harry ran through the portrait on his way to his dorm, she called him to her, over his protestations, and said "Put a warming charm on me. Please. I know you're busy, but I'm really cold." It was annoying, but there was no helping it.
When two spells hit you with their combined power, through two Protego's and a ward, something was bound to go wrong. In her case, it had left her with sudden unexpected bouts of being friggin' cold, and the inability to experience a hangover. The latter was not an unwelcome happening, but if she could have gotten away with neither of them, she would have been happy. If anyone knew what the spells were, maybe they could reverse it, but as it was… Warming charms were the best at keeping the cold at bay when it hit, but Hermione was the worst in the class at casting them. So she'd trained Draco and Harry to cast them for her. It was annoying for the two boys, but they would really do anything Hermione asked of them, so they didn't complain. Much.
Harry huffed, but pulled his wand out anyway and cast the strongest warming charm he'd ever learned (and he knew a lot of them, having been friends with Hermione for a long time, after all), said, "I'm running, late, Draco's waiting, we're going to Hogsmeade, see you later." After that he ran off, feeling that his duty to inform Hermione of his every move was fulfilled, and disappeared into his dorm, reappearing a few minutes later with a bag and a book. "Later, 'Mione," and vaulted back out the doorway.
Hermione just sighed and shook her head. Harry was always in a hurry these days, either playing Quidditch, or going out with Draco. Since the defeat of the Dark Lord a year earlier, they had been almost inseparable. It was cute, but sometimes they were disgustingly sweet and unnecessarily sappy. But almost everyone was happy for them. They both deserved a chance at a Happy Ever After.
Hermione went back to reading her book. It was called "The Curative and Restorative Powers of Belladonna and Hemlock", and she'd received it in the mail that morning. She didn't know who had sent it to her, but she would ever be grateful. It was the funniest stupid thing she'd ever read. Written in 1056 A.D. by Imiss Ledya, it was a Medieval Treatise on how the two most poisonous plants known to man (either Wizarding or Muggle) could heal most of the diseases and pains of the human body. It was a juvenile and not- well- researched novel, but it was a very rare tome. There were only 12 copies still in existence, and only 4 of them were in England. So Hermione had no idea how she had been chosen to be the recipient of this rare item, but she wasn't complaining.
She was still reading it when Harry and Draco came back into the Common room three hours later. She had just gotten up to the section that dealt with feminine problems, and was currently reading the part dedicated to the relief of menstrual cramps. There was a vague warning; a 'too much belladonna will result in death' sort of thing, but the entire concoction will kill its victim anyway, just very slowly, and after eliminating the cramps. Because the first thing belladonna does is kill the nerve endings. When Harry and Draco came into the room, she was laughing so hard the tears were running down her face. The boys looked at each other and shrugged before Draco noticed the title of the book. "Hey," he asked "Where'd you get that?"
Hermione stopped laughing long enough to wipe the tears from her face before answering him. "Oh, I don't know, I got it in the mail this morning." The book was lying open on her lap while she laughed, so Draco took the opportunity to reach over and snag it from her. He flipped through it, noting the part where she had been reading, and a smile broke out on his face. "You got up to the 'relief of menstrual cramps' part, didn't you?" Hermione nodded, before she caught his words and asked, "How do you know what's in the book?" Draco smiled. "My father owns two of them. At least, he did." Hermione's mouth was hanging open in shock. "These books are expensive," she said, "I doubt even a Malfoy could afford two of them."
"See, that's where you're mistaken, Ms. Granger. He didn't buy them, they're family heirlooms. They've been in the family for generations." He noticed that Hermione was giving him the I keep forgetting that you're a Malfoy look that so many who'd gotten to know him had perfected. Then Hermione caught on to the rest of his sentence. "What do you mean 'he had two of them'?" Draco smirked, and flipped to the back page, where an inscription had been added. "To Ms. Granger," he read, "I saw this book in my library and thought that you would enjoy it. Read it in good health." Draco held the book down so that it was level with Hermione's face and pointed to the words, "That's my fathers' handwriting. I would recognize it anywhere."
Hermione stared in shock at the writing in front of her. Draco and Harry smirked to each other, imagining what she was thinking. What they didn't expect was for her to whip her head around and say in an accusing voice "Your father wrote in this book? Doesn't he know how priceless it is?" The boys just looked at each other before bursting out in laughter. Her reaction was not what they had been expecting (something more along the lines of 'does your father have a crush on me?' was what they had been waiting for), but this was what they should have expected. This was Hermione. And, after all, a leopard does not easily change her spots.
The boys went up to hand out in Harry's room for the last hour before dinner, and Hermione went back to her book.
An hour or so later, the three of them went down to dinner, where Hermione was immediately accosted by Ron. "Hi there, Hermione. What's up with you today?" Draco and Harry closed ranks around Hermione, trying to brush him off, but Ron was persistent. "What? Why can't I talk to my friend?" Harry, who was very protective of Hermione, growled "Because you're not her friend. Get out of here before I rip your throat out." Ron backed away, hands raised in what he thought was a playful gesture. "Alright, alright. No need to get fussy." He turned away, and the rest of the students in the Great Hall went back to pretending they hadn't heard the conversation.
Draco herded Hermione to their spot at Gryffindor table (today was Gryffindor's day, they switched to Slytherin every other day), and sat her down, glaring around the room in warning before taking his place next to her.
"He doesn't learn, does he?" Ginny asked as she took her place across from Draco. Harry plopped down next to Hermione on the other side and reached for the food that had just appeared. "He's a git, an asshole, and a bastard who deserves to die." He said before shoving his mouth full of the yams he had grabbed. Hermione was quiet, trying to get over the encounter. She was still shaking when she reached across Harry for the buttered corn. The others politely didn't notice her shaking, instead continuing their conversation. "Why did Dumbledore allow him to stay?" Ginny asked. "You mean you don't know?" Draco replied, before he remembered. "Right, you weren't with us when he explained. Harry, will you do the honors?"
The brunette took a last mouthful before putting down his fork. Swallowing, he said "Dumbledore said that because nothing actually happened and because nothing could be proved, that they would have to keep him in the school because they had no grounds to kick him out. And because there were only two months left at that point." Hermione just ate steadily while they talked. She'd (kind of) gotten used to them discussing this while they pretended she wasn't there, but she never actually had an active participation in their discussions. Ginny nodded, but looked ready to murder someone. Her next words confirmed this thought. "I never thought I would want to be the one to wring my brother's neck, but lately," she trailed off as everyone at their section of the table nodded in agreement.
"And what's the worst thing about it is that my, well, his parents support him entirely. It's enough to make me sick. At least he got his Prefect's badge stripped from his record, and enough demerits to make Tom Riddle look like a good person." Ginny was about to continue when Hermione, tired of the conversation, shot her a pleading glance. Ginny backed down and looked at the other meaningfully. They understood, and changed the topic to their upcoming Graduation.
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The next morning dawned bright and early, and the Gryffindor Common room was full to the brim with students in their finery and Professor McGonagall in her best teaching robes. They were eventually herded down to the Great Hall where their parents and Guardians were, and sat at their House tables, Draco and Harry giving each other meaningful glances as they parted. The students sat down and the murmur of conversation stopped when Dumbledore rose to speak to the crowd.
Dumbledore smiled sown upon his students before starting. "My dear children, it is so good to see all of you here today, alive and well." The crowd murmured- some of them almost hadn't made it through the war. He continued after quelling the conversations. "We have been through great trials as a group, but we have come out on top. We have had to make friends, and loose them. We have gone through so much more than any year previous, and I am glad to say that I was here with you, just to watch old rivalries be overcome-" he stopped for a moment as the entire student body turned to look at Harry and Draco, but continued shortly- "and walls be torn down, hopefully never to be resurrected. I am so proud of all of you, and you all deserve recognition. But I will not cloud this time of celebration with the clumsy words of an old man, but-" Dumbledore was drowned out by the cries and catcalls of the students, each of them a reaction to his statement of being an old man, but he just silenced them with a look- "but, I want to wish all of you long, happy, fruitful lives. Go now, Graduates of Hogwarts, and live the rest of your lives."
At the traditional farewell words, the students stood as one and shouted out the last thing they would say as students of Hogwarts "So long, farewell, and May God Bless this school!" Then it was chaos. Students swarmed each other, parents, guardians, brothers, sisters and strangers. No one was safe from all the well wishing. Hermione found her mother standing with Fred and George (who she was living with), and ran over to hug her. "Hi, mom! I didn't think you would be able to make it! C'mon, I want you to meet Draco." With that she dragged her mother over to where Draco, Harry, Sirius, Remus, Lucius, and Ginny were standing.
When the introductions were over, they all left the school to go out to eat. They'd made the plans ages ago, and the graduates were beyond ecstatic upon being released forever from Hogwarts. The eight of them had made reservations at some swanky place in Diagon Alley that the Malfoy's frequented. The conversation was eclectic, varying from how Hermione's mother came to live with Fred and George (they had offered to give her a room at their place because they secretly thought that as a Muggle she would have great ideas for their joke shop. They were right), to how Dumbledore might retire as Headmaster in a couple of years. Almost everyone scoffed at this ludicrous idea, but many privately believed it. He was getting old, after all, and the strain of the battle had been hard on him.
They were there for about four hours, just talking like the friends they were. They all had a good time, and at the end Sirius, Harry, and Lucius were fighting over the bill. Well, not in Lucius' case. He was very persuasively and calmly telling the manager that if he didn't put the tab on the Malfoy account, he would tell the entire Wizarding World that the Smoking Dragon was the worst eatery in the world. This was all in the calmest, most self assured voice that anyone could muster up. Needless to say, the Malfoy's footed the bill and everyone went to their respective homes, after agreeing that they would get together again sometime. It was hard to tell if Lucius had had a good time, but as he hadn't dragged Draco away in disgust, and had in fact forced them to let him pay the bill, everyone figured he wasn't totally repulsed by them.
Ms. Jane Granger walked to her place (above Weasleys Wizard Wheezes) after saying good bye to Hermione. She was tense and silent, thinking about how Hermione's father should have been there. He had been killed by Voldemorts henchmen in the early stages of the war on the off chance that it would get Harry to make a stupid decision. It had almost worked, but his friends and family had held him back. So Hermione didn't argue when her mother left almost without a word to her when she went to go home. She didn't know that someone would be waiting for her mother to comfort her when she got there.
Hermione had made plans to live with the Sirius, Remus, and Harry at Number 12 Grimmauld Place for a week or so after graduation, just so she could get settled into the life of a free, Wizarding adult, and so that she could look for a job in comfort. She didn't really want to go live with her mother, and her mother really didn't want her daughter in the same house as her for any extended period of time. It wasn't that Jane didn't want her daughter near her; it was just that Hermione looked too much like her father for Jane's comfort. And Jane wanted to be able to pursue her new- found feelings for the new man in her life without the distraction of a teenage daughter.
And Harry would be living with Sirius and Hermione and Remus while he and Draco decided what they were going to do with their relationship. This didn't bother Hermione in the least, because Draco and Harry had always been there for her, and she wanted them around whenever she got the chance. Even if it was only one at a time.
When they got to 12 Grimmauld Place, Hermione was settled into her room by Remus while Harry and Sirius had a 'talk' down in the kitchen. While Hermione wasn't supposed to know what they were talking about, she had the very informed opinion that it would be about Harry and Draco and Sirius and Remus' relationships. Specifically, the limits of what was going to take place behind closed doors. She heard the shout of laughter from the kitchen and raised her eyebrow at Remus. He flushed and said, "Well, they're supposed to be having a serious talk."
When Hermione was settled, she wandered down to the kitchen, where the conversation was apparently finished. They talked and laughed, and were starting to make dinner (because they had given Kreacher the day off in celebration) when Dumbledore's voice came from the fireplace. "Hello?" When they answered, he continued. "I don't mean to be intrusive, but do you mind if I call a last meeting of the Order for tomorrow, to meet at your house? It will just be secretarial stuff, nothing more. I'll try to keep it as short as I can."
They all agreed that it would be great to have Ginny, Fred, George, Tonks, Snape, Lucius, Neville, and Luna there with them for a bit. They very carefully didn't mention Molly, Arthur, or Ron. It was still a touchy subject that they were still considered members of the Order. Dumbledore's reasoning was that they had fought against Voldemort in the War, so they should be allowed to participate in the meetings. So with that (almost) settled, they continued planning their meal, not giving tomorrow any more thought than what to feed everyone, and where they were going to put them.
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A/N: Please don't kill me, I like my life… and chapter 2 will be up shortly!! Promise!
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