Disclaimer: The Sorting Hat says…Rowling!

A/N: I mistakenly listed Mulciber as alive in the last chapter. He was actually killed by being thrown out the window by Grawp. This has been corrected.

Thanks to InquisitorCOC for their discussions regarding Corvinus. I wasn't as clear as I should have been about his innocence, and I've rewritten that section to fix this.


Chapter 3

1 September 1998

"Platform Nine and Three-Quarters," Hermione sighed.

"Hard to believe it's been three years," Dad said.

"It's been a long three years," she said. And of course, while it had been three years since the last time her parents saw her off here, it had been only a little over one year since she last stood in this spot. That had been the first time she'd killed a man, collapsing a wall on Robert Jugson.

Like everything else, the atmosphere here was different from what it was both before and during the war. With the war over and the optimism of a new school year, it was like a weight had lifted off the crowds on the platform. But at the same time…she saw an awful lot more crying children—not the majority, but a lot. She heard more than one child begging their parents not to make them go back.

She'd changed too, she thought. She wore her purple-trimmed, nanotube-lined robes rather than ordinary wool. She only carried a trunk as an affectation now. She could and did keep most of her things in her new enchanted handbag. Crookshanks padded along behind her on foot. It had taken him time to warm up to her again after she had "abandoned" him, but they seemed to be friends again.

"It's strange," Dad said. "For all that's happened, I think this is the most at-ease I've ever felt seeing you off like this, Hermione."

"I think so too," Mum agreed. "We always had something to worry about, even if it was just you entering the magical world in the first place."

"But now you know I can take care of myself?" she ventured.

Mum gave her a weak smile. "Maybe not exactly what I was thinking, but I pity anyone who crosses you. Be careful all the same, Hermione. And have fun. We love you."

"I love you." She hugged Mum and Dad and kissed them both on the cheek.

A little ways down, she saw the Weasleys seeing off Harry and Ginny. They had indeed decided to come back for their final year. And despite Molly's disapproval, Ron had not, though he had got his act together and started an internship in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He was also the new starting Keeper for the Chudley Cannons, but, as Fred and George teased him mercilessly, that wasn't much of an accomplishment. (Professional Quidditch in a society this small was only a part-time job unless you played for a national team, so he could make it work.)

George met her before she stepped onto the train. "You know, there's still time for you to back out if you want," he said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It won't be that long, George. We'll see each other on Hogsmeade weekends. Let me have one normal year at Hogwarts."

He pulled her into a hug. "Love, I would never take that away from you," he said. "Still, I was thinking. Since you technically hold the title of Professor, you might qualify for a professor's privileges—you know, like being able to come and go as you please outside of classes."

"And take points and give detentions?" she suggested. "No thanks. I did the commuter student thing, and I'll pass. Don't worry. The first visit will be here before you know it." She kissed him and stepped onto the train, Crookshanks hopping up after her. "I love you."

"I love you too. Good luck."

The train soon pulled away from King's Cross, and she was off to Hogwarts again.

Walking through the train to catch up with Harry and Ginny, she definitely noticed the change in the atmosphere here. A boy who was probably a fourth- or fifth-year came out of one of the compartments, took one looked at her, then gasped and darted back inside. Other students poked their heads out into the corridor and just stared at her. In one compartment, she heard crying, and she looked in and saw a little girl (or she seemed a little girl to Hermione) curled up in one corner, sobbing. Two other younger students were sitting in there, but they just looked very uncomfortable and at a loss as to what to do.

"Hello?" Hermione said.

The crying girl looked up, and her eyes grew very wide, and she couldn't seem to find her voice. She wasn't anyone Hermione recognised, but she certainly recognised Hermione.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"I…I…" the girl stammered.

Hermione sat down next to her, trying to look approachable. "What's you're name?" she asked.

"A-Annie," she said quietly. "Annie Rivers. I'm sorry. I just…I didn't want to come."

Hermione nodded and smiled. "Are you a first year, Annie?"

Annie shook her head: "No…Second year."

Oh. Of course, she should have thought of that. For the second years, their only memories of Hogwarts were as a place of terror. Come to think of it, she remembered an Oliver Rivers dying in the battle. A Hufflepuff in her year. "Ah. I'm sorry," she said. "I can't imagine what it was like there last year. Most of what I've heard was from Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, and it sounded bad."

Annie sniffed and nodded, but didn't say anything.

"All I can tell you is, I remember what Hogwarts was like when it was peaceful, and it was nothing like what I saw there back in May. It was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. It was all full of joy and wonder and…well, magic, and the worst thing we had to worry about was losing house points—and I was more uptight about that than anyone."

"Y-you?" Annie said. "But didn't you…Dumbledore's Army? And breaking into the Ministry, and—"

Hermione chuckled. "Yes and yes. I changed a lot over the years. I learnt it's always good to have a healthy scepticism of authority. But anyway, the Death Eaters are gone, and Professor McGonagall is in charge now. It's going to be different this year, like the old days."

Annie brightened a little bit, but she still asked, "But what about Professor Crouch—er, Barty Crouch? What if he comes back?"

"Then he'll have to get through me," Hermione said, trying to sound like she was sure how that fight would go, and Annie smiled. "What house are you in?" she asked.

"Ravenclaw."

"Good. Luna Lovegood's going to be back this year, so you can talk to her if you have any trouble."

Annie felt better after that, and Hermione got up and moved on, but it wasn't long before she heard more trouble. It wasn't a crying child this time. Instead, it was a scrawny young boy being surrounded by three others, two of whom looked older, taunting him.

"You shouldn't've come."

"How'd you even get here? You Imperius somebody?"

"Go home, snake!"

"Excuse me," Hermione stepped in, making all the boys stop and stare. "Is there a problem here?" she asked in low tones.

The oldest of the boys almost seemed to smile. He turned to face her and said, "Granger! Good, you're here. This Death Eater scum isn't supposed to be here. We need to get rid of him."

Hermione looked over at the younger boy. He was pressed against the wall, and he flinched when her eyes met his. His eyes were very wide, and she could see the fear in them when he recognised her. He looked almost like a cornered animal. She frowned. "Doesn't he look a little young to be a Death Eater?" she asked.

"He's one of them," the other older boy said. "That's Corvinus Mulciber."

Ouch, she thought. A name like that…But still, he was what? Twelve, thirteen last year? "I'm pretty sure he never came up on the list," she said. "What did he do?"

"Well…" he was brought up short. "He was teacher's pet for the Carrows and everything."

Hermione looked back at Corvinus briefly. He shook his head frantically in denial. She didn't fully believe him. God, he's terrified of me. Though she suspected the bullies were also exaggerating.

"I didn't do anything," Corvinus said. His voice was cracking.

"Yeah, you did!" the youngest of the bullies said. Hermione wished she knew any of their names so she could do something more about it. Merlin, she'd been out of the loop so long…

"N-no," Corvinus said. "The Carrows were only nice to me because of my dad. I didn't do anything!"

"I saw you laughing when they tortured Neville—and the Dumbledore's Army people!"

Hermione winced. She'd have to delicately ask Neville about that when she could. "That's distasteful, but not technically illegal," she said. "We dealt with students who were collaborating with the Carrows and Crouch, but we have other ways of handling the children of Death Eaters. What I meant was, did he inform on people? Try to get people in trouble?"

Corvinus shook his head again, and she believed him better this time. "Well…no. Not really," the other boy admitted.

"Does it matter?" the oldest bully said. "His dad was one of the ones Imperiusing everybody. His kind don't belong at Hogwarts."

Hermione's face turned hard. "Really? I've heard those words before," she said. "Only, I was on the receiving end last time."

"Yeah, from people like him."

"That's enough. Corvinus, hold out your arm."

The younger boy understood and held out a trembling left arm. It was bare.

"There you go. He's not a Death Eater," she said. "And it sounds like he wasn't a collaborator either."

"He still believes all that crap!"

She gave the bully a look that made him shut up fast. "Maybe he does," she said. "But that's only because he was brought up with it. If you've never been taught anything else, it's very hard to break out of it even if you want to, but he's not too old to learn a new way of thinking, or else he already wouldn't be here." She fixed her gaze on Corvinus, then. "Corvinus, don't listen to them," she told him. "I may not agree with your views—I probably don't, in fact—but you aren't responsible for what your father did, and if you're willing to rethink what you've been taught in the past, you have as much right to attend Hogwarts as I do."

Corvinus stared at her in seeming disbelief, but the bullies hissed indignantly. "Why the hell are you sticking up for him?" the middle one demanded. "His dad would've killed you soon as look at you!"

Hermione turned slowly to look at the three bullies, crossing her arms to hide the fact that she was fingering her wand just in case. Her expression made all three of them flinch. At least it was good for that much. "Why?" she said, then she quoted rapid-fire: "What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die." She looked from one boy to the next. "You can't understand what the Reconciliation Committee is trying to do if you don't understand that. Come on, Corvinus, you can come to my compartment."

She didn't have a compartment per se, but she walked back to where Annie had been sitting. Corvinus hesitated, then hurried after her. When they reached the compartment, Annie's eyes widened, and she stared at him worriedly.

"He's okay, Annie. I'll vouch for him," Hermione said, and she relaxed.

A few minutes later a small boy came in, dragging a heavy trunk behind him. "Hi," he said cheerfully. "Can I sit here?"

"Sure," Hermione said. "Here, let me help you with that." She drew her wand and levitated the trunk that was worryingly weighing him down up to an overhead compartment.

"Whoa! Cool!" he said. "I'm Zeke."

"Hermione," she replied, shaking his hand.

Zeke sat down in the remaining empty seat, looking around at everything with wide eyes. "This place is amazing, isn't it?"

Hermione stared at him. There was only one kind of person who would say that. "You're a muggle-born first year, aren't you?"

"Yeah! How did you know? Can you read minds?"

The tension broke, and she laughed. "No, it's because I was one once. I'd know that look anywhere. Come to think of it, shouldn't you have been one of the kids we relocated last year?"

"Uh huh. That was you? It was weird. Nothing really happened besides the two wizards coming to help us move, though. Mum and Dad were really worried, but it was kinda like a holiday."

Hermione resisted the urge to smack her forehead. The other kids in the compartment looked varying degrees of resentful. Annie said, "It wasn't for us."

Zeke's face fell. "Oh…er, sorry?"

Hermione sighed. "It's alright, Zeke. Did the person from Hogwarts tell you about the war?"

"Erm, yeah, but I don't know that much."

"Lucky you," Annie muttered, then a little louder: "Hermione was out there fighting, you know. She helped take down You-Know-Who himself!"

Zeke stared at her with wide eyes. Hermione rolled her own eyes and said, "Not how I would've introduced myself, but yes."

"Wow! What was that like?" he asked. Kids. She hesitated in answering. Maybe she could steer him onto safer topics?


"Bellatrix was chasing me through the greenhouses," Hermione said. "I just slipped past her and managed to shatter all the glass in Greenhouse One with her inside it, but she shielded against it. But then, right in the middle of the fight…a giant tentacle reach high up over the curtain wall and crashed down onto Greenhouse Four!" The kids gasped. "That was when I saw the…" She stopped and looked at Zeke, who still looked enthralled. "In retrospect, this probably wasn't the best story to tell to someone who's going to be riding a boat across the Lake in a few hours."

"Scaring the firsties already, Hermione?" a familiar voice came from the door, and she saw Ginny grinning in the doorway.

"Hi, Ginny. And no, I didn't mean to. Zeke here just wanted to know about the Giant Squid." And somehow got her talking about the battle, too. She turned back to the boy. "And for your information, that was the only time I've ever seen the Giant Squid angry, and that was only because of the ritual. Normally, even if you fall in the Lake, it'll just lift you back into the boat if it does anything."

"Neat!" Zeke said.

"Ginny, this is Zeke, Annie, and Corvinus," she introduced the kids. "And this is…" She smiled. "Ginny Potter."

That made Annie and Zeke very excited and they practically mobbed Ginny. She took it in stride though, laughing as they peppered her with questions, a couple of them unintentionally too personal from Annie. She wound up signing a couple autographs where Hermione hadn't had to, or at least hadn't had to first, which was very gratifying.

"You kids behave yourselves," Ginny said as she left. "Hermione's a professor now, you know."

Hermione groaned. "Not what that means, Ginny!" she called after her.

"You're a teacher?" Zeke said in surprise. "What do you teach?"

"I'm not a teacher, Zeke. I hold the title 'Professor' because I have a degree in arithmancy. It's like a wizard university thing. But it's not the same 'Professor' as the teachers."

"Why'd you come back, then?"

"Because I never finished my classes. I was kind of busy last year. By rights, I shouldn't have the degree yet either, but they insisted." She chuckled: "If George were the one telling the story, he'd say Tinworth told me, 'Here's your Doctor of Wizardry; please don't curse me!'"

All three of the kids laughed at that. She made sure to explain it a little more clearly so they wouldn't be confused later. (Zeke had lots of questions.) By them, it seemed like they were pretty well settled in, though, so Hermione got up to find her other friends. The train ride had been weird at the start, but it seemed pretty normal now.


Hermione paused in the Entrance Hall, admiring the new display case. In some ways, it was the crown jewel of the rebuilt Hogwarts. For the first time in centuries, the legendary artifacts had been reunited for all to see: the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, the Chalice of Helga Hufflepuff, the Locket of Salazar Slytherin, and, temporarily, the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.

Here, carefully protected under heavy wards, students could see and learn about the great artifacts for themselves—though granted, they still didn't know what the Chalice and the Locket were supposed to do. The Gryffindors would have to be educated about the Sword, since it had a habit of disappearing and reappearing to a "worthy Gryffindor" in time of need. They wanted to try to avoid it becoming lost again.

And as for the Diadem? That wouldn't be stay here all that long. Hermione was the keeper of the Diadem, with the blessing of Helena Ravenclaw, because she was the only one who could actually use it. She was working on making a visually identical replica that could sit in the case while she was holding the original.

Many other students stopped to admire the artifacts as they entered. Many of them hadn't even known they were returning to Hogwarts. And Professor Flitwick would tell the first-years about them when he brought them to the Sorting. But for Hermione, she walked on and took her seat quietly in the Great Hall. Her purple-trimmed robes stood out, but other than that, she was doing her best to blend in with the crowd.

It wasn't long before Professor Flitwick brought in the new first-years. She almost couldn't believe how young they looked. The difference she felt from when she had stood in that line was incredible. There were a lot of them, too, in part because there were a half-dozen extra muggle-born first-years who were supposed to start last year, but hadn't been able to.

They stood in stark contrast to her own class which was tiny. Her class was now merged with the class below, of course, but that didn't make much difference as there were only three returning students from the Class of 1998. Everyone who had attended last year had sat their N.E.W.T.s or otherwise and hadn't wanted to return, and of the muggle-born and muggle-raised students who were excluded, only three of them had survived and were able to return: herself, Harry, and Dean. (Justin was still trying to heal his hands, and Sally-Anne just didn't want to come back.) And they were balanced by the five muggle-borns in the class below who (if they had survived) were now held back to sixth year. Then, there were the deaths among the then-sixth-year class in the battle and the two Slytherins who had been expelled, and the final tally of the Class of 1999 was only twenty-four, the smallest in living memory.

Hermione waited and applauded politely as the first-years were Sorted. Zeke went to Hufflepuff. Then, as their line cleared out, Professor Flitwick made an announcement: "By Hogwarts bylaws, any students who temporarily left Hogwarts and were enrolled in a different program in the meantime are to be re-Sorted. We have four such students here this year."

Four? Hermione thought. She didn't know there were any others. There certainly weren't in her year, but the other three turned out to be muggle-borns who had managed to get out and spend a year at Beauxbatons rather than just going into hiding. Naturally, Flitwick called on her last. She rose from the Gryffindor Table with and approached the stool. So much for blending in, she thought. At least he didn't use her new title. "Well, I knew this was coming," she said so the Hall could hear. "I don't suppose we can just skip this bit?"

"Rules are rules, Miss Granger," the Hat said aloud. "You're a troublesome one. Not in three hundred years have I had to Sort a student three times."

"Then why don't you just keep it simple and put me back in Gryffindor, Mr. Hat?" she asked.

"Oh, no you don't," the Hat said. "I let you slide on your second opportunity. I will not let you squander a third."

"Squander?" her indignation broke through. "Do you know what I've done with Gryffindor? I am Lady Archimedes, Slayer of Dementors!"

"Then you have learnt everything Gryffindor has to offer you, and it from you. It's time for you to make a change."

The students watched in rapt attention. They'd never seen a Sorting play out publicly before, but Hermione wasn't making a move to sit down.

"You just want to try to put me in Slytherin again, don't you?" she demanded.

The Hat seemed to smile: "You can't deny you bear the strongest traits of the House of the Cunning."

There was immediately a buzzing of whispers as the Slytherins reacted to that. A couple of them yelped in fear.

"I don't think the rest of the house would appreciate that," she said.

"You could do a lot of good towards uniting the Houses of Hogwarts," it offered.

"And I still intend to work toward that, but I don't need the drama. I'm just here to learn this year, Mr. Hat. I want to have a nice, normal year and just be a teenager for once while I still can."

"Hmph. Nonetheless, I will not allow you to go back to Gryffindor."

"Fine. Put me in Ravenclaw, then. It'll be fun rooming with Luna." Really, it would be better that way. Her roommates were all gone. She would have been rooming with Ginny, but she would be sharing private quarters with Harry now, so it would be good to still have a friend to room with.

"Very well. Ravenclaw," the Hat grumbled. "But mark my words, Hermione Jean Granger. If you somehow manage to appear before me a fourth time, I'm putting you in Slytherin, and damn the consequences!"

Hermione smiled and waved to Harry and Ginny before walking off to the Ravenclaw Table, charming her robes from purple-trimmed to blue along the way. She sat down next to Luna who looked very pleased. A few seats away, Luna's roommates glanced at each other nervously. Even during the height of the war, she knew, they'd never really got alone.

A moment later, Professor McGonagall rose from the Head's seat and addressed the school. "Well, that was…unusual," she began. "Good evening, and welcome to Hogwarts. I am Headmistress Minerva McGonagall." She was interrupted by cheers. Hermione supposed those words would be very good to hear for most of the school after Snape's tenure. "Yes, thank you," she went on. "I know Professor Dumbledore always liked to give the announcements after the Welcome Feast, but I feel it is more important to get them out of the way first when everyone is still alert, so I ask for your patience a little while longer.

"My first announcement, most of you already know, but I repeat it now for the sake of the new students. Hogwarts suffered greatly in the recent war. The final battle against Lord Voldemort took place here, and many brave students, teachers, and citizens gave their lives to restore peace and freedom to Britain. They will be dearly missed. The castle itself was not spared, and even now, the repairs are ongoing. The dormitories, adequate classroom space, and the infirmary are fully operational again, but large parts of the castle remain closed. I ask everyone to stay out of those areas, as the structure may be unsafe. Also, until the Astronomy Tower is rebuilt, Astronomy classes will be held on the grounds at Professor Sinistra's discretion.

"I know many of you will still be hurting, but I assure you, together, we will recover. If any of you feel you need additional help or just someone to talk to, the doors of the Heads of House and Madam Pomfrey will be open to you, and we will be able to call on additional counselling if it is called for."

Hermione frowned. It was better than nothing, but psychology and counselling in the magical world were a long way behind the muggle world. She hoped there wouldn't be too many problems with it.

"Now, since there have been so many changes in staffing, I would like to reintroduce the entire teaching staff to you so everyone is familiar with them," McGonagall continued. "Professors, please stand as I call your names…Professor Flitwick remains as Charms Master…Professor Sinistra as Astronomy Professor…and Professor Binns as History Professor."

There were some groans from the students. Binns really needed to be replaced, but McGonagall had enough on her hands as it was. They were lucky they'd reopened with a full staff at all, which was itself a good deal smaller than muggle schools would tolerate.

"Additionally, Professor Hagrid will be resuming his duties as Care of Magical Creatures Professor, although I'm afraid our stock of animals is rather limited at the moment."

There was some applause for Hagrid, especially from Gryffindor as he stood towering over the High Table. Hermione didn't have all the details, but from what she had heard, Professor Grubbly-Plank had never really wanted to be a full-time teacher and had turned in her resignation over the summer, saying, "Let me out of this madhouse!"

"I would also like to thank Professor Tinworth for taking a one-year contract to continue as Professor of Arithmancy."

That had been a surprise. Tinworth had only agreed to a temporary post to finish Septima's term last year as a personal favour. Hermione hadn't expected him to take a contract of any length.

"My own former post of Transfiguration Professor will be filled by Madam Sisenna, the editor of Transfiguration Today, also on a one-year contract."

Hermione choked a little. Madam Sisenna, too? She had a feeling McGonagall had guilted her into serving the same way she had Tinworth: to make up for the injustice of passing Hermione over for the Gamp Prize under pressure from Umbridge. It certainly seemed effective.

"Next, Patricia Rakepick has also agreed to join us on a one-year contract as Professor of Ancient Runes. Professor Rakepick was the Head Curse-Breaker at Gringotts for several years before going freelance, and she took a temporary staffing position at Hogwarts once before in 1987…And for the first time in many years, on a two-year contract, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor will be…" McGonagall sighed. "Sirius Black."

Sirius leapt to his feet and waved his hands in the air as if to his adoring fans. No one really responded in kind until someone wolf-whistled at him—someone Hermione was fairly certain was Ginny—and the Hall broke into laughter and cheers.

If they'd had a hard time finding people qualified to fill Ministry jobs, they had an even harder time with the Defence Professorship. Voldemort's curse on the post had probably broken with his death, but no one wanted to be the one to test it. Hestia Jones had been willing to take the job two years ago, but that was under pressure from Dumbledore, and she didn't want to press her luck. Any other year, Remus probably would have done it, but he didn't want to take the risk with a baby at home. So in the end, the only qualified person who volunteered was Sirius.

That was probably a bad sign.

McGonagall still looked annoyed when she took control again: "All of these posts will be filled with permanent appointees in the next year or two, but we also have three new permanent hires this year." With so many positions open, She'd had to accept a lot of temporary posts. Sirius probably would have stayed only one year too, until Harry graduated, except that he had to stay a second year to prove it could be done. "I am pleased to announce that Daisy Hookum, author of My Life as a Muggle, will be joining us as Professor of Muggle Studies. And I should think that someone with real experience in the muggle world ought to be able to clear away all the propaganda that was spewed out by our previous 'Professor'."

"Hear! Hear!" someone shouted. Considering the previous Muggle Studies Professor had been hanged, the one before that had been a pureblood with no experience with muggles, and the one before that had run off and got himself possessed by Voldemort, this was a refreshing change.

"Professor Hookum's husband, Tilden Toots, has graciously agreed to leave his show on the Wizarding Wireless to serve as Herbology Professor. And finally, we welcome the esteemed Potioneer Regulus Moonshine as Potions Master."

"Oh, God," Hermione muttered. "Moonshine?"

"As for Heads of House, Professor Flitwick remains Head of Ravenclaw. Professor Sinistra will be Head of Gryffindor. Professor Hookum will be Head of Hufflepuff. And Professor Toots will be Head of Slytherin."

Slytherin looked scandalised. A Herbology teacher named "Toots" was their new head? They'd surely expected the Potions Master—not just because of Snape, but because Potions naturally lent itself to more of a Slytherin personality. "Moonshine" wouldn't have been much better, but at least Regulus was a proper Slytherin given name. (Of course, as Headship was based on what house they had been in school, McGonagall probably didn't have a choice in the matter.)

"You will notice one omission from this list," McGonagall went on. "After consulting with the Board of Governors, Divination class will no longer be offered at Hogwarts. This is not a new development; it is a move we have been considering from before the end of the first war. For those students who do have the Sight, Hogwarts will help to arrange an apprenticeship or an independent study. We are not offering any additional classes to replace Divination this year. We are investigating the possibility, but we have not had time to come to a decision.

"And my final announcement for the evening…" A wry smile came over her face. "Quidditch tryouts will be held starting Saturday. Tuck in." She didn't even have time to sit down before the cheers started.

Hermione relaxed into the feast as copious food appeared on the table. It would be good to have Quidditch back, even though she wasn't much of a fan herself. A return to normalcy was important. She looked around the table at her new house-mates. "So how have you been, Luna?" she asked.

Luna turned to her. She looked tired, and her eyes didn't look as bright as they used to, but she answered, "It hasn't been too bad, Hermione. Neville's been helping me a lot."

She nodded. Luna had lost her father in the battle, and she was all alone now, family-wise, though she had plenty of friends. She and Neville had been very close over the summer, especially since he had also lost his grandmother, but Hermione was still worried for her. It was hard to tell with the robes, but she might have lost some weight over the summer, and she'd been known to miss meals at times before. She had a healthy enough portion on her plate now, but she ate slowly.

After a little while, Hermione leaned close to her and whispered, "Have you been eating enough, Luna?"

Luna paused and looked up at her. "Not at first, I suppose," she said softly, "but I've been getting better. What about you?"

Hermione blushed. She knew she wasn't exactly one to talk. She absolutely did miss meals when she was engrossed in her projects with the diadem, and she'd lost a bit of weight herself last spring. "I'm doing fine most of the time," she said.

"Perhaps we should remind each other to come to meals, then," Luna suggested. "I know I can get distracted, too."

Hermione blushed harder. Leave it to Luna to say the uncomfortable truths. It was help she didn't want to admit she needed, but she nodded. She noticed Latisha Randle and Morgana Dempster, Luna's two remaining roommates, staring at them, though she doubted they could hear. When she looked at them, they flinched and quickly looked away. She rolled her eyes. From what she'd gathered from Luna, Morgana had never been that bad, and Latisha had grown up a lot in the past year. They'd both been in the D.A., certainly. They just didn't have much tolerance for Luna's weirdness.

Those two weren't the only ones flinching from her gaze, though. Across the Hall, half a dozen Slytherins were watching her warily as if waiting for her to strike.

"This is so awkward," she said to no one in particular.

"What do you mean?" said Morgana.

"I feel like half the student body are afraid of me…and so is Professor Sinistra. Of course, I did kind of help knock down her tower."

"Can you blame them?" Morgana said. "A lot of us saw it come down, not to mention the Giant Squid attack."

"I know, but a lot of that was a fluke," Hermione insisted. "People don't need to look at me like I'm the next Dark Lady—or the next Dumbledore."

"It's just new to them," Luna said. "I'm sure they'll get use to it if you make an effort appear exceptionally ordinary."

Hermione smacked her forehead. "That's a hopeless cause," she mumbled.

"Oh well," Luna said cheerfully. "My mum always said being normal was overrated."

She chuckled a little: "I'll bet she did, Luna."

The feast concluded more or less pleasantly, with some discussion of the war, but mostly small talk about what the new teachers would be like and who would win the Quidditch Cup this year. It was really starting to feel back to normal, even if Hermione didn't qualify as such. Finally, Professor McGonagall let them go with one final announcement: "I was considering singing the school song for old times' sake, but I decided to ask Professor Flitwick to compose a proper tune for it first. As most of you have never heard it sung before, you should count yourselves lucky." There were some laughs from the older students. "Now, off to bed with you."