Hermione felt a bit crowded in the small compartment. She was sitting between Harry and Ginny with Neville next to Harry. On the other side sat Ron, Luna, Dean, Seamus, and Parvati. At the moment Ron, Seamus, Harry, and Ginny were arguing about Quidditch.

"The Cannons can do it this year. I can feel it," Ron said. Harry laughed before replying.

"No one is going to beat the Falcons, especially not the way they've been playing in pre-season."

"I agree with Harry, mate," Seamus said in his Irish brogue.

"Well, you guys know that I am impartial to the Harpies," Ginny started. "But I actually believe the Catapults could make a run for the championship."

That statement got both Seamus and Ron riled up as they began arguing louder. Hermione met the eyes of Luna and saw that even she was irked as she rolled her eyes. Dean noticed this and reached over to hold her hand. Hermione saw Neville's eyes trained on Luna and Dean's intertwined hands. He sighed before turning to look out the window. She smiled sadly as the situation before she reached into her bag to pull out her new book on Vampires in Siberia. She had been dying to get it started and now seemed as perfect time as any because of the current conversation. As she started the first chapter, she heard Dean's voice break the argument.

"Mates," he said over the noise. "Can't we talk about something that interests all of us? Look, Hermione's taken her book out! You know we lose her as soon as that happens!"

They all laughed at the reality of the situation as Hermione sent Dean a playful glare. But soon she was laughing along with them, book forgotten for now. Once they calmed down, Harry apologized for the Quidditch talk.

"You better be sorry," Parvati said, looking up from the new issue of The Quibbler (the cover was plastered with images of Nargles, or so Luna said). "I'm not here to listen to you lot talk about Quidditch all year."

Hermione nodded along with her statement.

"I didn't think we would even be here at all," Ginny admitted. "I didn't think the school would be opening so soon."

"Well remember the repairs started right after the battle," Hermione reminded.

"But it'll be hard, won't it?" Luna said somberly, a break from her usual dreamy voice. "Everywhere I walk, I'll be thinking of someone I saw murdered in that exact same spot."

The compartment quieted down as they all took in the reality of the situation.

"I think it's best to remember," Harry sighed. "I don't think we should forget those things. We aren't going to ignore what was done and who was killed. We're going back to school because we need to move on with our lives. The only way to really honor those who were killed during the war is to ensure that we honor why they died. They died for a better world…A world that we are now getting ready to step into."

Hermione smiled sadly at Harry's words. She looked around the compartment noticing that everyone was letting his words sink in. She wondered if Harry knew that he would always be a leader to their group of friends. She would even go as far as the entirety of the Wizarding community. If he did know, then he probably hated the burden. But she knew that it was inevitable for everyone to look at Harry through times of distress. He was, for lack of a better term, the savior of the Wizarding World. He will always be held at a higher regard. She supposed Ron and she will be as well, but it would never be to the caliber of Harry.

"So I saw Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass as I was making my way over here," Seamus said breaking the somber silence. Hermione felt Harry stiffen next to her. She looked curiously at him but his blank gaze was trained on Seamus.

"So?" Ron snorted.

"Well, I didn't think the Slytherins were back," Seamus said. "I thought they wouldn't want to come back after everything."

"Wait," Harry said. "Greengrass? Are you sure?"

Ron sent him an odd look as Seamus nodded.

"I have to admit though," Seamus began, laughing lightly. "They were looking fit."

Ron snorted even louder. "You must be blowing your top, Finnegan."

"Hey, I know they're Slytherins mate but-"

Harry turned to Hermione and Ginny while Seamus and Ron carried on their conversation.

"I thought the Greengrasses were dead," he whispered.

Hermione shook her head. "It was never confirmed."

"Do you think they went into hiding?" Ginny asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Harry replied. "Malfoy might've done that one as well-"The rest of Harry's sentence was cut off by Ron's brash yell towards Seamus.

"They ARE bloody Slytherins," he said, red in the face. "You can't find them fit! Their kind killed Fred!"

Ron was now on his feet glaring down at Seamus who looked confused at the harsh reaction from his friend. Harry jumped up and pulled Ron back. Ginny also stood, glaring at Ron.

"Ron," Harry said, pushing his friend back. "Calm down."

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" Ginny yelled. Her eyes shining with tears of anger as she glared at her brother. Ron looked taken aback at the sight of Ginny yelling at him. Hermione was as well. She was known for her fiery temper but she hadn't lashed out at her family much since the war. In fact, they all grew closer since the death of Fred. Hermione saw Parvati close The Quibbler and sat up straighter to take in the drama. Everyone's eyes in the compartment were trained on the youngest Weasleys.

"Gin, don't tell me you're on his side," Ron started. "The Slytherins are evil! Fred-they…"

"Don't you dare Ronald," Ginny seethed, her voice low and quivering. "It was thinking like this that started the war. I am sick of you and mom using Fred as a reason to fuel your hatred."

"Mom is right!" Ron yelled back. "She knows what their side did to Fred."

"Mom doesn't know how to heal from losing her son!" Ginny shot as she took a step towards Ron. "She needs therapy. George and Bill are going convince her to go. You, yourself, said that therapy helped!"

"That still doesn't make a difference!" Ron said as his face got redder. "Their side still did it!"

"The world is not black and white!" Ginny responded heatedly. "There are shades of gray in between. Don't judge the Slytherins for the things that their parents did!"

"Ginny…"Harry warned sensing where the conversation was headed.

"No Harry!" Ginny yelled turning to face her ex; her voice now breaking with the tears flowing freely. "I am sick of him. I am sick of his attitude. And I am sick of him bringing up Fred whenever convenient for him to hate the Slytherins. He needs to know."

Hermione stood up behind Ginny; she grabbed her hand in support and turned to Harry. "She's right."

Harry looked at the two girls who he cared so deeply for in front of him. They stood hand in hand, waiting for him to make a decision. He knew that there was no point in fighting them. They would win in the end anyway. They always did. Finally, he nodded.

"Do you want us to leave?" Luna offered. Parvati shot her a glare, not wanting to miss out on the drama.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I want you all to stay. I think this will help with the hostility and tension the war has created."

Harry made them all sit back down. It took a lot more to get Ron to sit.

"What's going on?" he asked. "What's wrong with the three of you?"

"We are going to tell you, just sit down," Harry said seriously. Ron wasn't happy with his best friend's response and sat down angrily.

"First, nothing's wrong," Harry started. "There are just some things that happened during the war that no one knows about. We want to share that with you."

Hermione looked around the compartment. She trusted everyone in here, even Parvati. She knew the only person Partvati would gossip to now was her sister, Padma, but Padma would never engage in telling anyone else.

"You guys have been keeping things from me?" Ron said his voice now soft and laced with hurt. "And how the hell does Ginny know?"

"No Ron," Hermione said. "We have not been keeping anything from you. There was just never a good time to share it. Ginny only knows because I told her. I broke down the night after the battle and told her everything we went through."

Ron nodded, satisfied with her answer. "Fine, go on then."

Harry looked at Hermione unsure where to start. She gave him an encouraging smile. He returned it before turning back to their friends.

"Okay, so what we are about to tell you was discovered completely on accident. We think that Kingsley is the only Order member who knows. Actually, McGonagall might know as well. We don't want you guys telling anyone else. We're only telling you so we can help put an end to the hostility. We should be the ones to show the younger years that the war has changed for the better."

Harry paused as they all nodded in understanding. Ron leaned forward putting his forearms on his knees, ready to listen intently. If therapy had helped anything, it was that Ron now better at listening.

"So it started the night before Bill and Fleur's wedding. Hermione and I had gone to Grimmauld Place so we can search the library for some Dark Arts books. We asked you to come, Ron, remember? But you said you'll keep watch?" Ron nodded, remembering the night.

"Well Hermione and I had gone, and while we were there we heard someone apparate into the house. Although we knew it was an Order member, we still got under the invisibility cloak since they were all so against us leaving. Anyway, Kingsley had walked in and right after we heard two more pops. It was Tonks and Malfoy."

Ron narrowed his eyes in confusion as Luna and Parvati gasped. Dean, Seamus, and Neville all had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Basically," Hermione continued for Harry. "It was a meeting. Kingsley asked for information, Draco responded. The Order, or rather, Kingsley, Tonks, and Remus were corresponding with Draco, Blaise, Pansy, and Theo. They were spies for the Order."

"If that's true, then why didn't the whole Order know?" Ron asked, skeptical.

"Kingsley had said that the Order and some of its members would not have responded well to them showing up and claiming to have switched sides," Harry answered.

Ginny snorted and glared at her brother. Her tears were now gone, but she was still mad as hell, "I wonder why they would think that."

Before Ron could respond, Seamus spoke up. "But how do we know that they were actually on our side?"

Harry looked at Hermione signaling for her to answer. She took a deep breath and began:

"Well, when we were taken to Malfoy Manor, something happened," she said softly. She had only ever talked to Ginny and Harry about that night and it was still incredibly difficult to do so. "Bellatrix wanted to question me about the sword. When the first Crucio hit, I fell back painfully. I felt like a thousand knives were all stabbing me. It was the worst pain of my life. But then I felt a new wave of magic wash over me."

She got up to walk around the compartment as she continued talking just so she could have something to do that distracted her.

"The way that I was angled on the floor, I was directly facing Draco. He was gripping the back of a chair. He had his wand in his hand and I instantly knew that he had cast a spell nonverbally to protect me. We made eye contact and I felt him penetrate my mind. My walls were down. I was incredibly drained from the spell so I couldn't fight it. But he told me to act. He said I needed to act like I was still feeling everything. He left my mind quickly and I did what he said."

When Hermione finished, no one in the compartment moved. She wondered if anyone was still breathing. Ron's mouth was hanging open.

"Bloody hell" he breathed.

"You're a damn good actor, Hermione," Dean said, looking shaken. He was in the Malfoy dungeon that day.

Hermione smiled sadly, "Yes, well it was still a horrible experience. Draco made it tolerable. The scars may still be there, but the pain was gone."

"The point is," Harry continued taking a seat in Hermione's abandoned one. "We know that they were on our side. They've shown it and we've seen it. They don't need nor deserve the hatred that they receive." He was solely looking at Ron. Ron nodded and swallowed loudly.

"Bloody hell mate, you should have told me," he said. "I mean, I understand why you didn't, but I feel terrible. The things they must have gone through."

Harry nodded, but stayed silent. Hermione could tell that his mind was preoccupied. She knew that she would have to ask him if something was bothering him later.

"I can't say that I will automatically be friendly to them, especially Malfoy," Ron continued. "But I can make sure that no one gives them a hard time."

"Well, they can take care of themselves clearly," Harry responded. "We don't need to protect them. We, ourselves, just need to stop perpetuating the hate."

Ron nodded in understanding. "It's just hard." He whispered, his voice cracking a little. "Recovering, all of it. It's hard."

Ginny stood and made her way to her older brother. She engulfed him in a hug as soon as she was close enough.

"We never said that wasn't hard," she said, her voice set in a comforting tone. "We just don't want to make it harder on other people."

Ron nodded as he returned her hug. Hermione knew how hard it has been for Ron in the aftermath of the war. He and George had taken therapy classes at St. Mungo's to help deal with it all. As Ginny said, they were currently all trying to get to start attending them too.

There were a couple moments of silence as Ginny made her way back to her seat. Luna cleared her throat and started humming a song that sounded vaguely like the Hogwarts school song. All eyes turned to her, but she just kept humming louder and louder. Hermione was the first to break, her laughter filling the quiet compartment. Parvati soon followed. One by one, they all broke the tense feeling of the compartment, engulfed in bouts of laughter.

The compartment was bustling with different conversations by the time the train slowed to a stop. Hermione gathered all of her belongings as she followed Ginny out of the train. After saying hello to Hagrid, they all made their way to the carriages. Once they were seated, Ginny turned to Hermione.

"Do you think it will be this way all year?" she asked. Hermione looked at her confused. Ginny nodded her head in the direction of the crowd of students making their way to their carriages. Many of them were gawking at the carriage filled with Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Ron. Harry squirmed in his seat, uncomfortable with all the looks. Ron just kept his gaze down, the conversation from the compartment obviously still in his head. Hermione turned back to Ginny and shrugged.

"I really hope it doesn't stay this way," she whispered.

"Do you want me to tell them to fuck off? It would definitely scare them enough to stop for the next couple of days."

"Ginny!" Hermione gasped while holding in her laughter. "No! They are just children."

Ginny shrugged as if to say don't-say-I-didn't-ask and leaned back in her seat. Hermione, still quietly laughing at her best friend's antics started looking through the crowd of students. Many of them seemed extremely young and innocent. But she was able to find the occasional student who looked like she did, like they had been through a war.

Suddenly, she spotted that familiar blonde hair, which recently has been making her stomach do somersaults whenever she thought of it. He was with his group of friends as they made their way to an empty carriage. She watched as he helped Pansy up and then heaved himself up after. Hermione found herself taking in all of his features. His skin looked a lot healthier than the last time she saw him in the Ministry at the start of summer. It was still pale but Hermione found no fault in that. He had his hair styled messily, as if he just rolled out of bed. It was still short, but no longer gelled back. She liked this change. She also noticed that he looked a little more muscular than the last time she saw him. She wondered if he had started playing Quidditch during the summer as Ron, Harry, and Ginny had done.

Her gaze slowly moved across his features until she reached those stormy gray eyes. She was shocked to see that he was staring straight back at her. She hoped her shock did not show. She didn't look away. His gaze was intimate yet intense. It was like they were both having internal struggles about what they were currently doing. Hermione did not want to be the first to look away but then she felt Harry stiffen suddenly next to her. Nervous, that he might have seen her and Malfoy, she quickly turned to look at him only to find his gaze on the same carriage she had just been looking at. She could not figure out why he had reacted the way he did. She looked at her best friend with scrutiny before daring another look into the carriage again. Draco was now deep in conversation with Zabini. Before she could stare any more, her carriage started moving.

"Creepy looking things aren't they?" Ron said somberly as he gazed at the Thestrals pulling their carriage

"Yes," Hermione answered.

"Was this a good idea?" Ron questioned looking at his two best friends and his sister. "Coming back….was it a good idea?"

Hermione leaned over and grabbed his hand. "It will be okay, Ron. This is for the best. It will be hard, but no one is denying that. It is expected."

Ron nodded as he let go of her hand and leaned back. Just as he did, the castle came into sight. Hermione was captivated by the beautiful structure. It was fully rebuilt. There also seemed to be a strong magical aura resonating around it. She felt tears prickled her eyes as she watched it. Her last memory of the castle was seeing it in flames

"It looks incredible," Harry said his voice thick.

"I can't believe how much they were able to do," Ron replied.

Hermione listened to her friends speak of the castle as the approached. She remembered reading in the Daily Prophet that there were many donations made to rebuilding of the castle. But it was still amazing to her how much was able to get done in such a short period of time. The conversation halted as the carriage slowed to a stop. Hermione followed her friends as they made their way to the Great Hall.

Every so often a memory of the war would hit Hermione, but she pushed it from her mind. She noticed that Harry had his eyes down casted, Ron seemed to be holding his breath, and Ginny had fresh tears threatening to fall. Hermione held Ginny's hand and gave it a squeeze. Ginny turned and sent a smile.

"Talk to them," she whispered. "I'll be okay. I'll save you guys a seat."

Hermione nodded as she watched Ginny follow the crowd. She then grasped both of her best friends' hands and pulled them into an empty corridor. She ignored their surprised looks.

"Look you two," Hermione start, her voice firm but gentle. "I know this is hard. I know we're all still recovering, but we can do this. We have each other."

She looked as their expressions changed from shock to doubt. She grabbed their hands again and continued,

"Yes, everywhere we go we will be reminded of something that happened that day. I know that I can't walk through the 7th floor corridor without thinking of Fred. Or walk through the Great Hall without thinking of Remus and Tonks lying there. And I definitely will be thinking of Lavender every time I pass the Charms classroom. But, I want you guys to remember that we spent the previous six years in these hallways making great memories.

I read once that it takes 5 good memories to outdo one bad one. We have 6 years of memories to outdo one bad night. So instead of thinking about memories from that night, we should think about Fred and George's fireworks display in the courtyard or Remus and Tonks declaring their love for each other in the hospital wing. Hell, Ron, think about all the places you and Lavender snogged!"

She smiled as she finally got them to laugh.

"We can do this, we have each other." She finished.

Ron leaned against the wall and nodded in agreement as Harry pulled Hermione into a hug.

"You're right, as always," he said. "We can definitely do this."

"I know we can," Hermione responded ending the hug. "Now let's go. I don't want to miss the sorting ceremony. The boys nodded and followed her into the Great Hall. Hermione halted her steps as she moved through the Hall. It looked magnificent. The floating candles were sleeker and straight, the bewitched sky seemed to cover more of the ceiling. The walls were lined with portraits of famous Hogwarts alumni. It was not much change but just enough to make a difference. Ginny waved the Trio over and as they slid into their seats, they knew they were ready to take this year on.