AN: Chapter 2, as promised. To those of you who didn't like me killing off Ginny, I apologize. I honestly didn't see any other way for her to fit into the story.

Enjoy :)

XXX

May 2nd, 2008.

"Harry James Potter, we are going to be late if you do not get over here NOW" Hermione yelled into the floo, not for the first time that evening. Moments later, she heard him apparate on the porch.

"Sorry, I got caught up organizing the pictures from my hunting trip. I got some great shots of a sphinx I saw in Egypt."

"Harry, you have all week to work on your portfolio before you have to present it to the Daily Prophet. Tonight however, you are expected to appear at the anniversary celebration. I hope you fed enough on your trip, I can't get any more blood replenishing potions for another week and I only have one left."

"Relax Hermione. We've been doing this for five years now. Nothing is going to go wrong. I am completely in control of myself. Do you know who Ron is bringing as his date tonight?"

"Last he told me, it was Lavender." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, he can do better than her. We need to leave now if we want to make it on time."

Harry laughed at Hermione and offered her his arm. Despite the sham, and even after all this time, Hermione still didn't like Lavender Brown.

"There's no need to get jealous. He only does it to convince the press that he's just a playboy since the divorce. He still loves you."

"Let's just go Harry." Still chuckling, Harry spun and apparated away.

They arrived at the gate outside Hogwarts. It was still early evening, which meant that the sun was still visible. Harry hissed.

"Ug, I hate the way that feels. It makes me all itchy. Let's hurry up and get inside." The two of them walked up the drive towards the castle, arm in arm.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger. Welcome to the tenth anniversary celebration of the end of the war. Inside you will find that tables have been assigned this year, yours is up by the front. Do enjoy the celebration." Minerva McGonagall greeted them at the door, before waving them inside.

When they entered the Great Hall, Harry saw that they had left the overall decorations the same, simply switching out the house tables for hundreds of smaller ones. The staff table remained where it had always been, but the staff were to be seen sitting at the smaller tables around the room while various ministry members and other important persons sat in their usual places. Despite the atmosphere and the fact that everyone else was wearing their formal robes as well, Harry still felt as if he had overdressed for the occasion, even if he was only wearing plain black dress robes.

"Potter. You and Granger are sharing our table." The drawling voice drew Harry away from his inspection of the Great Hall as he crossed the room. Looking towards the voice, he saw the towering frame of Draco Malfoy standing only a few feet away. He was wearing navy blue robes with fine silver detailing that reminded Harry of constellations he thought he had seen on his hunting trips.

"Is something fascinating Potter?" Draco asked as he realized that Harry had either not been paying attention to his greeting or had gotten distracted before he could respond.

"Yes actually. I'm trying to figure out which country I was in when I've seen the constellations that are on your robes. I'm pretty sure they were southern."

"Harry!"

"I'm surprised you know anything about the stars, Potter." Draco arched his brow before turning and resuming his seat next to a woman in emerald robes with dark brown hair. Harry and Hermione followed. Harry barely heard Hermione's warning to behave as his attention was once again fixated on Malfoy. He wasn't taking in anything new about him, he was still Malfoy and nothing about him had really changed since Hogwarts but Harry was unable to look away.

Hermione jerked his arm, startling him out of fixation.

"Honestly, what is with you tonight?" Hermione hissed as she pushed Harry into his seat. "It's like you haven't been around humans before."

"I'm fine Hermione. I just find him slightly distracting." Harry whispered back. "I'm not going to do anything weird."

"Well, you better behave."

Harry looked around the table to see who else was there. Besides Malfoy and his date, there were three other couples. To his right sat Blaise and Pansy, followed by Dean and Seamus. On his left was Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott. Draco was almost directly across the table from him. Harry grinned, he would be able to watch him throughout the night.

"So, I must admit Granger, I thought I would see you here with the Weasel instead of Potter. Last I heard, the two of you had just gotten married."

"Have you been living under a rock Malfoy?" Seamus jumped into the conversation. "Hermione and Harry have been together for the last four years."

"Under a rock? No, Finnegan I have been in France with Mother since the end of the war. We don't often return to London so our information comes in second hand. Not that I find the personal lives of the Golden Trio worth keeping up on."

"Then why bring it up?"

"It is called making conversation, Finnegan. It is going to be a long night, and I do not wish to spend it in total silence."

"When do you go on your next trip Harry? Ernie and I loved your last series on sunsets." Hannah changed the topic of discussion, forcing Harry to take his eyes off Draco to look at her.

"I actually just got back from one last night. The photos should run in the prophet sometime next week. My focus themed on creatures classified as highly dangerous. My favorite is of a sphynx I saw in Egypt. It had carved out a cave in one of the pyramids to use as a shelter during the lightning storm they had last week. It was incredible."

"You are into photography now? What happened to being an auror?" Malfoy interjected. Harry glanced over at Hermione who nodded slightly.

"I gave up being an auror after Ginny died. I could have kept working, but I worked too many daylight hours and that aggravated my skin condition, so I left in order to find something else. Eventually I got bored just sitting at home so I started to travel. After I got home from my first trip and showed my photographs to Ron and Hermione, they suggested I start a photojournalism column with the Prophet. I've done about one every month since then."

"I know I've sent you a few of them, Draco, even I'm impressed by them. Every one of them shows a different aspect of magical, muggle or natural life at night from all around the world. The series on spells was my favorite" Pansy piped in.

"Perhaps, although it is more likely that I passed them over to my mother without bothering to look at the name underneath. Seeing how much one life has changed, I find myself now interested in what has happened to the other two thirds. Relationship standings aside as I think I have that figured out now," Draco once again turned the conversation around.

"Very well. I have been the head of the Department for Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures for the last five years. I have never gone on one of Harry's trips as it gives me a chance to focus on the new legislation coming through the department, and he tells me that I would be a distraction to him and his subjects. Which is probably true because he gets a lot closer to many dangerous creatures than should be considered safe, and while I doubt that he does anything that he shouldn't, his ability to stand on the line without crossing it would make me uncomfortable." Harry couldn't help but grin at that.

"Ron on the other hand, is still working at the joke shop with George. Since our divorce, he doesn't seem too intent on settling down. Despite the divorce and me dating Harry, we are all still very close." Hermione recited the agreed upon cover story. It had been so long since everything had happened that it seemed to be almost second nature.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?" McGonagall spoke from in front of the staff table. "It has been ten years since the fall of Voldemort, and in that time our community has rebuilt and gotten stronger in the hopes that this will never happen again." She continued speaking but Harry had stopped paying attention, his focus once again on Draco.

It wasn't until Hermione elbowed him that he realized the speeches were over and food had been served. Conversation around the table began again, but it was stilted since everyone was busy enjoying the food. Harry ate slowly, hating the way the food tasted but thankful that Hermione had discovered a spell which vanished it before it reached his stomach. He didn't really fancy getting sick and losing his self-control again.

"Harry, are you all right? You look really pale." Ernie asked.

"I can't be any paler than usual seeing how I am rarely outside during the daylight." Harry answered with a smirk, grateful that he was at least paying attention this time. It was one thing for Hermione to catch him staring at Malfoy since she knew what he was, but he didn't want anyone else to notice. "It's probably just the candle light, making it obvious."

"I don't see how the lighting is supposed to make you look any better, Potter" Malfoy sneered.

"Be nice Draco," Pansy admonished. "Besides, I think Ernie is right. Potter does look a bit paler than he did earlier."

Harry didn't know what to say, he just started at her, but it didn't seem to matter as everyone else was staring too. Clearly nobody at the table, even Malfoy, had ever heard her dismiss him and be nice to Harry in the same breath. Hermione was the first to recover.

"She might be right, Harry. Besides, you did just get home from a trip this morning and that tends to leave you out of sorts. Once dinner is over, I'll go check that we're not needed for anything important and then we can go home."

Harry nodded, and returned to watching Malfoy while pretending to eat. Slowly, everyone else at the table resumed eating their dinner. Once the meal had finished, Headmistress McGonagall stood at the head of the Great Hall.

"If you would all please stand, I will clear the tables so that the party may begin." She paused while everyone stood, and with a wave of her wand half of the dining tables became standing cocktail tables, while the others simply vanished, leaving a stage and dance floor behind. "Enjoy yourselves."

"Harry, I'm going to talk to Professor McGonagall. Don't wander too far, I'll be right back."

"Yeah, alright Hermione" he assured her.

"And leave him alone," she hissed at him. "Honestly, it's like you never hunted at all this trip. Clearly, I'm going to have to bring you a drink before we leave."

"A drink? What do you mean?" He turned around to tell her that it wasn't necessary, but she had already gone. He shrugged and went to wait for her by one of the cocktail tables. On his way, he passed by Malfoy. On a whim, he changed direction and chose a table that allowed him to be nearer to Malfoy than the one he originally planned. He wasn't close enough to be able to hear them without using his legilimency, but he didn't want to hear what Malfoy had to say anyways.

"Care to explain why you've been staring at me all evening, Potter?" Harry started. Even though he had been watching him, he hadn't noticed Malfoy walking towards him. "Your remark about the constellations may have worked the first time, but now I want a proper answer."

"Right, sorry. I don't really know why. I can't help it I suppose" Harry shrugged in reply.

"There you are Harry, I thought I told you not to wander. Oh, hello again Malfoy." Hermione handed Harry a glass, unknowingly saving him from what was probably the worst comment Harry could have made. "Here, I brought you something to drink before we leave. I added some of your usual potion to the punch. Drink it SLOWLY. I've seen you drink when you're thirsty." She hissed the last part so that only Harry could hear her.

"I've told you Hermione, I don't need it, and I'm fine."

"Is that some sort of health potion? I can't say that I recognize it."

"You don't have to recognize it, Malfoy." Harry said as he drained his glass, more to keep him from figuring out what it really was than out of actual thirst. "All that matters is that it works, even if I don't think it's necessary."

"As a potions master, I know all of the potions and their variations. I don't know that one."

"As I said Malfoy, you don't have to know what it is."

"We really should be going Harry," Hermione interjected. "Goodbye Malfoy." With that she took Harry by the arm and together they left the Great Hall.

AN: And we have contact!

I've apologized before, but I'm doing it again because I feel bad. I may not be able to update this story frequently in the next month or so as I have my thesis due and my writing ability will be otherwise occupied. On the rare occasion that my mental functioning and spare moments coincide, I will do what I can to give you some more.

Thanks for reading XXX