Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
525,600 Minutes
I Forget How to Begin It
Hermione hid in her room the rest of the evening after McGonagall's revelation. A tray appeared with her dinner and she flipped through her old notes for Ancient Runes while she ate steak with mashed potatoes and peas.
Every time she thought she heard the portrait in the common room swing open she froze until she felt certain that whatever she'd heard wasn't a warning of Draco's return. She was grateful for the Sorting and the announcements dragging the feast on.
Hermione was also grateful that her room connected with a private bathroom so there would be no chance of running into Draco until breakfast the next morning.
She had already planned to make a mad dash from the room and then find Ginny as soon as possible.
When she returned from the bathroom, after washing her hands, what was left of her dinner had disappeared and instead a bowl of pudding awaited her. Already feeling full, she ignored it and crawled under the covers on her bed, trying to appreciate the solitude.
Hermione was so used to falling asleep to the sound of Parvati and Lavender whispering to each other with an occasional giggle that the quiet made her lonely.
0o0
The next morning she woke up long before she had to, when the sun had barely risen and checked her schedule for the day; Ancient Runes, double lessons in Charms, lunch and then a double lesson in Herbology.
It was a good Monday and she would get to finish the day outside. The weather was still quite nice for the season. Once she had showered and dressed, she packed what she would need for her lessons and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Her heart was pounding in her chest when she tiptoed through the common room and out the portrait. In fact her pulse didn't settle until she had rounded two corners.
Inside the Great Hall there were only a few students per table, most of them sat wide spread apart and flipped through books or scribbled notes, forgetting their breakfast. Hermione hesitated before sitting down at the Gryffindor table, near a boy staring intensely at a piece of parchment in front of him.
She recognized him from George's shop, the day she had gone to buy her school things. He looked just as nervous as any other first year student.
"Do you need some help?" she asked kindly while pouring a bit of sugar on her porridge.
The boy jumped at her voice, quickly looking up with wide eyes. He had black hair and reminded her a little of Harry at that age.
"Yes please." He had a slight lisp "I don't know how to get to my first class."
He shoved the parchment he had been staring at to Hermione who saw his first class was Transfiguration "Oh this one's not too hard to find." Hermione comforted him before explaining how to get to the classroom.
"Just be careful on the stairs." She reminded him.
"Thanks so much! I'm Lewis." He held out his hand for her to shake "Pleased to meet you, Lewis. I'm Hermione."
Once she let go of his hand he packed his things and rushed off to make sure he got to class on time.
Hermione smiled to herself while finishing her porridge. It was a comfort to see how excited this young child was in spite of everything. It gave her some hope.
To be sure she didn't miss her own class Hermione had to leave for Ancient Runes before Ginny had come down for breakfast. It was too bad: she would've liked to talk to her about the whole Draco situation.
Even with everything that was different, or missing, at Hogwarts, being back in class made Hermione feel properly at home. She shared the class with the few seventh year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students that had chosen it and she was by far the best. It was almost easy after all the time she had spent translating Dumbledore's copy of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'.
Luna was in the class and Hermione shared a desk with her, occasionally answering a question from her or lending her some ink. She wanted to ask how she and her father were doing, but it wasn't the time or the place.
Luckily once they received their assignment and the lesson ended, they could walk to Charms together, a class they also shared.
"Why weren't you here at the reopening? Father and I looked for you." Luna asked, seeming as removed from the world as ever with a far-off look in her eyes.
Hermione pretended to struggle with her saddlebag "Oh, I had something else to do that day already."
"I see." Luna sighed "It was terribly sad, but I am still glad I went. I cried most of the afternoon."
Her raw unapologetic honesty still shocked Hermione sometimes, but she learned to appreciate it more and more.
They were almost at the Charms classroom when Luna turned to look at her with a presence that was eerie for her "Have you gone to see the Monument yet?"
"Uh, no, not yet." Hermione had a feeling that Luna already somehow knew that.
"You should, you know."
Hermione spotted Ginny by the door and said goodbye to Luna, to catch her before class began "I have to talk to you at lunch." She insisted and Ginny nodded, looking intrigued.
Professor Flitwick made such a fuss over the school being back to order, and seeing Hermione again, that her cheeks stained red and she begged for the lesson to start.
All of her theoretical knowledge was still there, but it was a long time since she'd had to use anything but spells to either attack or defend. Anything else felt a little unnatural and she didn't master the Gemini spell as well as she would like.
It made a duplicate of anything you cast it on. The quality of the copy depended on the skill of the caster.
By the end of the two lessons she managed to make a copy of her Charms textbook, but unfortunately it was only the cover that looked perfect. The book had nothing written in it.
"Very good work Miss Granger." Professor Flitwick praised her while walking around in the classroom.
"Study up on the Gemini spell as we will be working on it for this week." He called out to his students and then sent them off to lunch.
Hermione and Ginny had only just sat down when Ginny asked what she needed to talk about. They were a little close to Siobhan O'Hare, one of the girls in Ginny's year, but Hermione told her anyway "Draco Malfoy is my roommate!"
Ginny choked a little on her roastbeef sandwich "What?"
"We are the only two students returning to take our N.E. and so now we share a dorm." Hermione explained, taking a large drink of pumpkin juice.
"How did he react when he saw you?" - There was no denying it, Ginny loved gossip.
"I haven't actually seen him yet, I hid in my room all last night and he's not in any of my classes until tomorrow." she admitted.
Shaking her head Ginny chuckled "Will it be that bad to see him? His mother did save Harry in the Forbidden Forest."
"To save her own son," Hermione reminded her "but that's the thing, I don't know how to react when I see him. He's certainly not my friend, but I don't know if I hate him anymore. I honestly don't have the energy."
They continued to eat in thoughtful silence, until someone tugged on Hermione's sleeve "I'm sorry, but can you tell me how to get to the Quidditch Pitch?"
It was Lewis again. His afternoon class was a Flying lesson.
"Sure," Hermione started "you just go out through the West entrance and down the hill,"
"Just walk with us kid, we're going that way to our Herbology class." Ginny interrupted.
"Really?" Lewis looked impressed to be guided by two students so much older than himself.
"Of course. And you better do well in that Lesson, I'm captain of Gryffindor's Quidditch team and we're going to need some new talent." Ginny pointed to a badge on her robes that Hermione hadn't noticed.
"Merlin! Congratulations Ginny, I didn't even know." she gave her hand a squeeze.
Ginny smiled "I only just found out a few days before coming here, while I was at the Burrow. I'm going to write Harry about it tonight."
"That's great." Hermione mumbled with her mouth full of food, swallowing quickly.
"What's the rush?" Ginny wondered. Lewis had sat down next to them, patiently waiting.
Hermione grabbed her bag and stood up "I have to have time to get to Herbology."
"It's in Greenhouse One, it will only take five minutes to get there."
Looking down at her shoes Hermione whispered "I'm going through the North entrance, it'll take a little longer."
Realization dawned on Ginny's face "You don't want to pass the Memorial."
Hermione rushed out of the Great Hall.
It did take her a little longer to get to the Greenhouse, but she didn't mind the walk. It was nice to have a little time alone to clear her head and thank her lucky stars she'd successfully avoided Draco the entire day.
Once she got to the Greenhouse everyone were finding a place to stand and Hermione headed towards where Ginny stood, putting her gloves on, but she demonstratively paired up with Siobhan.
Hermione spent the two lessons trying to get very rare and useful seeds out of the 'mouth' of flesh eating plant with a Hufflepuff boy she didn't recognize. Once the lessons ended he wanted to shake her hand on a job well done, but instead he squeezed right where the plant had managed to sink its teeth through her gloves.
Outside Greenhouse One she sat down on a spot in the sun while everyone else returned to the castle. From longer down the path third year students were returning from their first Care of Magical Creatures class and Hermione decided to go down and visit Hagrid.
"Hermione, I've missed yer!" he shouted while giving her a bone crushing hug. She didn't mind though, it was so nice to be held and feel small and protected.
She accepted his offer for tea, but politely denied cake "I've missed you too, Hagrid."
For a long while they just sat and chatted, catching up and filling each other in on what they each heard in letters from Harry and Ron.
"Those lads will make fine aurors!" Hagrid declared and Hermione agreed, before falling silent. Hagrid noticed and lifted her chin with his finger "Are yer sad without 'em here?"
Hermione couldn't bear to tell him she was sad all the time. Just as she was about to drag out her answer someone tapped on the window and Hermione recognized Buckbeak.
"Ah," Hagrid grumbled "he'll be wanting his ferrets."
Hermione asked to feed him and Hagrid let her. She didn't even have to bow to Buckbeak; it was as if he remembered her from their adventure in her third year at Hogwarts. He even let her pet her after he'd had his dinner. Once he was satisfied he squeaked and took off again, showing off his impressive strength in flight.
Hagrid clapped Hermione's shoulder so her knees buckled "What do yer say we go get some dinner too?"
"I'll just return to my dorm, I don't really have an appetite." Hermione said and began gathering her things. Hagrid got that concerned look in his eyes again and she smiled to assure him that she was alright.
"Madam Pomfrey brought me soup yesterday when I had a spot of cold, let's stay and eat here." he suggested and Hermione gratefully accepted. To ease things along she cast a spell to get a fire going so they could reheat what was left in the pot.
The roaring fire and the warm soup made Hermione feel more relaxed than she'd been all day and even though Hagrid served some of his homemade bread with the soup, she enjoyed the meal.
By the time she said goodnight and headed back towards the castle it had been dark for a while. Still the took the long way back, there were some things she weren't ready to be reminded of yet at the Memorial.
By the time she reached the portrait and told the password her legs and mind were exhausted. All she wanted was to change into her pajamas and go to sleep.
"Hello Granger."
A/N: See, this time it was only a week between updates. Goal reached. I hope you don't feel I've dragged it on for too long before introducing our dear Draco. Patience grasshoppers! I would really appreciate some feedback, so I hope you'll leave a review with your thoughts! Till next Sunday, dear readers.
X X X LolaCherryColaGirl
