Usual disclaimer, I am not JK Rowling, these are my imaginings with her wonderful world and the characters who live in it. Thank you Rowling for giving us all so much inspiration.
"Hermione Granger and the Seventh Year"
a fanfic by Cerys Dewar
Chapter Three
Finally, the morning had come. Trunks were shrunk and sent off, and Hermione and Ginny prepared to floo into McGonagall's office. As Quidditch Captain and one of the returning senior students, the girls were not required to take the Hogwarts Express and had been offered an earlier arrival to settle in. New dormitories had been expanded into Hogwarts for the returning seniors and the seventh year students, where students of differing houses were to be allowed to be roommates. McGonagall wanted to eventually abolish the house system and sorting, and had begun with this change in accomodations.
The girls stepped into McGonagall's office, giggling a little over their clumsiness in the floo, and were greeted by the headmistress herself. McGonagall shook hands with Ginny and Hermione and told them where their new dorm was located. The older witch beamed at them both happily and sent them on their way, and the girls strolled down the corridors to their new dorms located in a new tower next door to Gryffindor tower. When they stepped into the dorm, they both gasped with surprise.
They stood in a beautiful sitting room with a small kitchenette off to the side, and Hermione could see the entrance to the bathroom and four bedrooms. All the furniture was in neutral tones and elegantly built, as were all of the carpets and curtains. The little kitchen hosted all the necessaries for tea and snacks, and when they looked into the bathroom they were delighted to find a large clawfoot bathtub and a shower. There was a vanity with four sinks and mirrors so no one would have to wait to get ready in the mornings. The modern fixtures pleased both girls immensely. There had never been showers at Hogwarts before and Ginny in particular was pleased to see she would now be able to shower after Quidditch. Ginny chuckled and gave Hermione a sideways glance.
"McGonagall has been busy. Dumbledore would never have designed anything so nice."
Hermione laughed also. Dumbledore's affection for antiques and his gaudy style had been the bane of some of the students existences, and she was happy to be in more adult surroundings. As they stood admiring everything, the door admitted Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang. All the girls exchanged hugs and admired their new dorm and exclaimed over the luxury of flooing in rather than taking the long train ride. They each chose a bedroom and for the next hour or so were happily engaged in making the small rooms 'home'. Girls walked in and out of eachother's rooms, admiring progress, exclaiming over changes in eachother (Luna was the same as ever, but Cho had gotten a rather magnificent tattoo of a red dragon spiralling around her arm and Hermione had calmed her hair down quite a lot, and Ginny had become the last word when it came to cosmetics and hair potions). Finally, a small bell rang in their sitting room, and the girls knew it was time to head down to the Great Hall for dinner and the Sorting.
The girls went to their house tables, and as Hermione and Ginny sat down they were greeted by the Gryffindor boys: Neville and Seamus had both elected to return for their final year. Seamus had not grown any taller, but he was certainly broader in the shoulders and looked like he could hold his own. There was still the same friendly twinkle in the young Irishman's eye, but he was a little more serious than he'd been before the war. Neville had grown slightly taller and exuded a confidence that revealed that he really was a handsome young man. Neville stood straighter and made eye contact and smiled less shyly too, and he beamed as he pulled Hermione and Ginny into a big hug. The girls also hugged Seamus before sitting down, and all through the Sorting the four happily whispered to eachother.
Once the new students were finished being sorted, the new professors were introduced: for Defense Against the Dark Arts, a tall man named Roland Shacklebolt, reportedly a cousin to Kingsley, and Divination was now being taught by Firenze, as Professor Trelawney had elected to retire after the war. The feast was then spread out as usual and every student tucked in happily, catching up between bites of the wonderful food. After the feast, Cho and Luna rejoined the girls and the young men offered to walk them back to their dorm. Talking and laughing and reminiscing, the walk seemed short, and once the girls stepped through their door they made tea and asked the house elves for some little cakes so they could continue catching up. Hermione curled up in the corner of a couch with a blanket wrapped around her, Ginny sat on the floor near the tea table, and Luna and Cho sat near the fireplace on another couch. They exclaimed about how handsome Neville had grown and teased Luna about their very brief romance, which hadn't worked out. Luna flushed a little and asked Cho if she was still seeing Oliver Wood, which she was, and all three girls teased Ginny just a little about dating Harry, especially once Hermione joked about how attached the two had become over the summer.
Finally, Ginny had talked about Harry enough, and she mischievously accio'd a bottle of Ice Dragon vodka and some fruit juice that she'd gotten from the kitchen elves earlier. Hermione had one drink quite happily, but soon enough Ginny and Cho were giggling and discussing their boyfriends' physiques and Luna was curled up like a cat in front of the fire, happily asleep after four drinks. Hermione rolled her eyes a little and told her two giggly roommates that she was going to the library to find something new to read, having exhausted her supply of schoolbooks already.
As Hermione walked to the library, she admired the thorough repair work that had been done to the castle. Everything was pretty much as it had originally been, but it was easy to see where the original building ended and the new began. McGonagall had made no effort to conceal the disparity, or the events that had taken place only four months ago. Hermione had already seen about 20 little plaques in random spots in the castle, commemorating those who had given their lives to save the students and the wizarding world itself.
In the corridor approaching the library, Hermione found one she hadn't seen yet but had known she would find. She gently touched the edges of the small plaque and released the breath she was holding in as she read the name Fred Weasley and the quote underneath, "Mischief Managed." Hermione's tears fell as she caressed the embossed letters and remembered her friend and his easy laugh and generous heart. She remembered his twin's hug only the night before and wished she could reach out to George and offer him some sort of comfort in return. Finally, tears dried on her face, she tiptoed softly into the library, inhaling the scent of parchment and ink and age.
Hermione tiptoed into the restricted section and selected a few older volumes and then turned to settle down at the table to read in peace. However, she wasn't alone. Seated directly across from her, staring up at her like a cornered animal, was Draco Malfoy.
