A/N: Thank you so much for reading. Any and all reviews I get are very helpful. I appreciate all your suggestions and your encouragement is invaluable.

Chapter 8:

The group was in the potions lab brewing potions they might need. Draco was doing an excellent job of helping everyone get the potions perfect. They all had learned more spells in a short space than anyone thought was possible, and have now decided having potions would be a help. They were only working on healing potions and stamina potions at the moment, but that was all they would need, hopefully. Harry was struggling a little bit, but with Draco's guidance, he managed to get it done flawlessly. "Very good everyone. Once I have checked your potion, if it is perfect, grab a set of vials and bottle it up. We each should carry several vials on our person, hopefully we won't need it, but we need to have it just in case we do." Draco said. Soon, everyone was bottling up their potions.

Two weeks had passed since Harry taught them all the basics. Harry was beginning to feel that their information was false, and nobody was coming to attack them. Who sends word that they're going to attack, and give the opponent time to prepare for it. They were sure to be outnumbered, but with all their training, they wouldn't be outmaneuvered. Harry sighed as they broke for lunch. "What's wrong, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know, I just feel like we're wasting our time doing this." He said. Ginny nodded in agreement as she looked back down at the letter she was writing. "You spend an awful lot of time writing this Sam guy, do you like him that much?"

"Yes, I do. I'm being careful not to mention anything that's happening here, but he's starting to suspect something. I'm afraid the owl will get intercepted and they will know just how well we're prepared, and bring more adversaries than we can handle, even with all our preparations." She said.

"I don't know why, but I'm getting the feeling that Sam and Derek really can't be trusted. Ginny, be careful what you do tell him." Draco said.

"Draco, I have known Sam and Derek for years. They have never been anything but trustworthy in all that time and I do trust them." Hermione said.

"Voldemort trusted Snape, too, and look where that got him." Harry said quietly. Hermione knew he was right. "But I don't think this should be contained to Sam and Derek. I think we should be like this with everyone. Remember what Moody always said?" He asked.

"Constant vigilance," Hermione and Ginny replied at the same time.

"Exactly. We have to be extremely careful with who we trust. We have to be careful with what new friendships we form, and if we do form new friendships with new people, be wary of them. We need to make sure they aren't waiting to hurt us." Harry said. Draco knew at that instant that Harry didn't completely trust him.

"So, you don't trust me?" Draco asked. Harry looked at Draco and regarded him seriously for a moment.

"Not completely, but you have to understand why. My mom and dad were betrayed by a close friend of theirs. We had a teacher, someone we should be able to trust, try to kill me. Well, two teachers actually. One tried to erase my memories. My best friend turned his back on me because I didn't approve of his abuse on his sister and ex-girlfriend. I have been betrayed again and again. Sometimes it isn't so bad, but others, it's horrible. I'm not sure I completely trust Hermione at this point. It's not just you. It's everybody right now. Constant vigilance. I've learned that the hard way and it's not a lesson I'm keen to repeat." Harry said. Hermione looked at her friend with saddened eyes. She didn't like that Harry couldn't trust anyone.

"I get it. I guess nobody thinks I'm actually trustworthy. I betray everyone I have ever cared about. Completely change who my friends are at a moment's notice. A person that my family has been against since before I met her has become the love of my life, and it's hard. I have to struggle with my teachings from time to time. I have to remember that it isn't repulsive that I care about her. I questioned my entire way of life. I'm not exactly popular with anybody right now, and I'm okay with that. I want you to be able to trust me, all of you, but I have to earn that, and I want to. I don't want anybody just trusting me for the hell of it." Draco said. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"This is stupid. How are we supposed to have a good defense against the attack that's headed our way if we don't trust each other? The way we've been learning depends wholly on our trust. If you can't trust anybody here, then you're better off leaving because that's going to get you killed!" Dean said. Everyone in the hall stared with their mouths hanging open. Hermione was the first to recover and, after looking around at everyone, burst into laughter. Dean realized what she saw and joined her. Everyone else didn't understand and their identical looks of shock turned to looks of confusion. That just made Hermione laugh even harder which caused Draco and Harry to chuckle. A chuckle turned into a giggle, and a giggle turned into full blown laughter. The laughter seemed contagious. Before long everyone in the hall was laughing, and most didn't know what was so funny. Right as Harry was beginning to calm down he heard a noise on the grounds. He stood up, a fierce look on his face and silenced everyone. The sound was many feet marching toward them. It was time. Harry was sure it was the enemy.

"It sounds like our enemy finally decided to visit us. We are ready. We have our potions we've been carrying around so we'd be prepared when they attack. We know our spells, and Dean's right. We have to trust one another. We don't know who we'll face out there, but we know each other. This is just like sparring, except its real. Our enemy wants to kill us, and to defend us and ours, we may have to kill them too. We are not them, we do not aim to kill. We only kill if its necessary. We take prisoners, but if any one tries to flee, we kill them. We cannot have this happen again. All right, everyone, let's go meet our enemy." Harry said. Everyone stood up simultaneously and walked out the door. They stood on the grounds, wands at the ready, waiting for the group walking toward them to begin. Harry nodded his head and said, "Now!" Everyone cast as strong a shield charm as they all could. Their initial spells wouldn't hit them at all. It was as Harry feared. They were grievously outnumbered. Suddenly, their formation broke and they all started to run toward the castle. Spells were flinging everywhere, they hit the shield, but bounced off. The charm held. Harry wanted the charm up as long as they could keep it up. The enemy would keep firing curses, and it would tire them out. In some cases, it was hitting them instead. Harry smirked until he saw him.

It was unmistakable. He felt a hand curl into his own and squeeze. He didn't have to look to know that Hermione saw him too. He heard a gasp from all of the Weasleys as they saw him. His flaming red hair stood out from the rest. He bore a look of determination on his face that none had ever seen before. Ronald Weasley was in his element. "Stop the attack!" He yelled. Harry raised an eyebrow. Was Ron showing remorse for what he'd done? "They have some sort of shield up. You're only tiring yourselves out, you dunderheads!" He said. Harry groaned. He hoped that Ron wouldn't be here, but he was. Not only was he here, he was leading them. "Is this all you got, Potter?" He asked.

"This is all I need. You may have us outnumbered, but we have you out smarted." Harry said. Draco wasn't sure what Harry was talking about, but neither was Ron.

"I did this! I got the remaining death eaters. I am their new leader. I have trained them and trained them. I told Pansy to warn you at your stupid dance and she did. She will be rewarded. Now you will die. NOW!" He screamed. They all cast expelliarmus at the same time. The shield quaked and fell. The battle was on. Harry and Hermione walked for Ron. Ron walked for them. He was blasting curses in every direction not caring who he hit. Harry and Hermione worked together in a way Ron had never seen. "So, let me guess. Your new boyfriend ditched you because you're a mudblood and now you're with Harry. You are such a whore." Ron said. Hermione ignored him. She couldn't give in to her anger. She couldn't lose focus. She bit her lip and continued firing curses.

It was a few more curses before Ron realized they were firing curses that complimented each other. The effects were horrible, but so far, Ron was able fight them all. Then Harry fired a curse that Ron had never heard of. Hermione fired its compliment and Ron crumpled to the ground. He wasn't dead, but he couldn't be revived either, at least not for a while. Satisfied, Harry and Hermione joined the rest of the battle.

Harry walked off to join Draco. He enjoyed fighting with Hermione, but he and Draco moved so much more fluidly. They seemed to know what the other was thinking and they fired the complimenting spells at the same time. This made the effect so much better. "Take care of Weasel?" Draco asked without looking up.

"Yes. He's out of the picture for now. Let's do this." Harry said. He fired spell after spell. Finally after three hours of fighting, the Death Eaters were tiring out. Thanks to their training, the Hogwarts Squad (as they took to calling themselves) was still going strong. They were able to bind most of them after they disarmed them.

"Okay, let's go!" Pansy shouted. The remaining opposition turned tail and ran. Harry and Draco erected an enormous barrier to stop them. They tried to climb over it, but their attempts were stopped. They were bound and thrown with the other prisoners.

"How many dead?" Harry asked, looking at Ron.

"Four." Hermione replied. It was amazing. Only four people died in this battle. This battle was about as bad as the final battle, but most managed to stay alive. "One auror died, the rest were death eaters." Hermione said. Harry sighed in relief. It could have been so much worse. Harry bound Ron in ropes before reviving him.

"What-?" Ron asked, groggily.

"Why would you do this?" Harry asked quietly. Ron looked around then shook his head.

"Harry? Why am I tied up? What happened?" He asked. Everyone turned to look at him.

Hermione asked. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"We just had potions class. Snape was a pain in the arse as usual. He took off 30 points for no reason." He said. Harry and Hermione raised an eyebrow. Kingsley came up and brought veritaserum and gave Ron a couple of drops. He wasn't going to be fooled so easily.

"What is your name?" Harry asked.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley." He replied.

"How old are you?"

"17. I turn 18 in March."

"What happened here?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. It looks like a battle happened, but if You-Know-Who came here, I'd know, wouldn't I?"

"Ron, Voldemort is dead. I killed him." Harry said. Ron paled. Hermione fished a potion out of her pocket and gave it to him.

"This is a truth potion. It isn't veritaserum. I think you've taken an antidote, or prepared yourself in some way. Ronald Wealsey doesn't pale. His ears turn red. You have to tell the truth, and there is no antidote. Also, it is stronger than veritaserum." She said.

"Who are you?"

"Ronald Bilius Weasley."

"Why would you do this?" She asked.

"Because the world needs to be rid of filthy mudbloods." Ron replied. He was angry. He anticipated the use of veritaserum and took steps to make it not affect him. "You need to die, Granger, you and all your kind. Oh Draco?" He said. Draco glared at him. "Your father told me to tell you, that you are nothing but a mudblood lover. He said to tell you that you will die when he finishes with you, and your mudblood girlfriend would wish she could die. He's even thinking about fucking her. He's not sure, because it may be humiliating for her, he doesn't want his dick in anything so filthy. He's afraid he might catch something." Ron said.

"Where is Lucius?" Draco asked, ignoring the taunt.

"He's coming, we were only his army. He won't be happy that you took us down, but either way, he's here." Ron said. At that moment, the gate swung open and in strolled Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Right behind them was Bellatrix. Harry rolled his eyes.

"At fifteen I beat you and 6 of your buddies. You are crazy if you think you can beat me. We beat your death eater army, taken down your second in command. We are stronger than you could ever dream. If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you get. We aren't even the slightest bit tired." Harry said. Lucius laughed softly.

"You think that was my army? Oh, Potter you are…" Lucius was cut off as 20 wandless Avada Kedavra's went his way. Harry stared in alarm. Kingsley was leading the aurors. They weren't waiting to hear what he had to say, they were going for the kill. Lucius managed to dodge his, but the rest hit their targets. Lucius stood alone. "Well played, Shaklebolt. But you have underestimated me. You have taken my army, but I have a spy on your side. Draco." Lucius said. Draco paled. He knew what Lucius was saying. He wanted Draco dead, and if they ever doubted his loyalty to them, they would kill him.

"You are a liar! Avada Kedavra!" Hermione shouted out. She was so angry, she didn't even go for her wand. She killed him wandlessly and just like that, it was truly over. Hermione was still radiating in anger. She heard the anguished cry of Ron as his master was dead. Hermione turned her merciless eyes on him. "You better shut up. My magic might accidently flair out. I'm having a hard time controlling it right now." She said. Draco was a bit surprised that she wasn't threatening him. Instead she was warning him. Kingsley walked up to them.

"Hermione, I feel we owe you our lives. I'm sure he had something dangerous up his sleeve that would have blasted us to pieces. I also wanted to speak to you about your wandless magic. How long have you been able to do that?" He asked.

"It started this summer. We ran into the Weasleys and Ron started acting like he owned me. He acted like I was being bewitched by Draco because we were together. He grabbed my arm, and I burned his hand with wandless magic." Hermione said.

"She was controlling it too. I was touching her at the same time trying to get her to walk away and I didn't feel a thing." Draco added. Until that moment, Hermione forgot Draco was standing there. She turned to him and threw her arms around him. "I was so scared! All I could think of was what I would do if you died. I'm not sure I could handle it. I'm so sorry, Draco! I'm sorry!" She sobbed. Draco soothed her and ran his hand through her hair until she hiccupped to a stop. He pulled her gently away far enough to see her face. He kissed her forehead.

"Hermione Jean Granger, I want you to listen and listen good. You did what you had to do to save us. You are every bit the Gryffindor. I am proud to call you my girlfriend. Once again you have shown just how powerful you were. The amount of willpower it takes to perform that spell with a wand is tremendous, let alone to perform it without a wand. Not only that, once again you focused it to your victim and made sure you hit him only. The power radiating off of you was actually scary. And truth be told, I am glad he is dead. Now I don't have to worry about him hunting me down and killing me later. I also don't have to worry about him raping you. My father doesn't threat idly. If he really said that to Weaselby, then he meant it. And I assume he did, since he was under the influence of your truth potion." Draco said. Hermione blushed.

"Speaking of that, how in the bloody hell did you create a truth potion that has no antidote?" Kingsley asked.

"Well, I was fooling around with veritaserum. I was testing it to see how I could modify it. I found that this way is much stronger than the traditional way and there is no antidote because I didn't create one. I'm sure an antidote can be found, but I know the antidote to veritaserum doesn't work. I tried it. I thought it's probably best if I didn't create an antidote. The difference is veritaserum doesn't force you to speak. If you have enough willpower you can keep your mouth shut. With this, you can't. It forces you to tell the truth. It makes it impossible not to say anything." Hermione said.

"How did you come up with that?" Slughorn asked.

"I was just experimenting." She said with a shrug. She gave Slughorn a vial of the potion to dissect and figure out. In the meantime, Hermione slumped to the ground. She was exhausted. In a couple of minutes, she slipped into unconsciousness. Draco started worrying.

"Don't worry, Mr. Malfoy. She used a lot of energy today and she is exhausted. But do not worry. She'll be fine. She just needs rest. Would you like to carry her to the hospital wing for me?" Madame Pomphrey asked. Draco nodded his head and picked her up. He didn't take his eyes off of Hermione for any reason. Harry walked with them to help Draco make it to the hospital wing.

Once there, Draco laid Hermione down on one of the beds. He slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. He put his head in his hands and let go. He began to cry. Harry looked away in embarrassment. "Harry." Draco said, thickly. Harry looked at him. "Thank you for everything. I still don't understand why you so readily believed Ron when he told you what happened. Hermione was incredibly hurt. I really don't believe he hit you too."

"No, I wouldn't have taken it. I didn't believe him, but Ginny begged me not to press it. She said we'd get in touch with Hermione somehow and ask her what really happened. She was so scared, I couldn't put her in danger. Just because we aren't together anymore doesn't mean I don't care about her. She was scared enough that I was scared for her, but I didn't know why and she wouldn't tell me. I'm still not sure how Hermione figured it out."

"I think she could see the haze around Ginny's face from her glamour charm. I'm not sure just how powerful she is." Draco said. Harry and Draco fell into a companionable silence. A few minutes later, the door opened and Ginny came running in with the rest of the Weasley clan behind her. All except Ron. Ginny had tears down her face as she threw herself at Draco and Harry. She looked at Hermione with sisterly love before breaking down in her friends' arms. "What happened after we left?" Draco asked.

"Ron…Ron…" George said. He turned and grimaced. Harry looked at the faces of all the Weasley's and felt a sense of dread filling him.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Harry asked, in a voice barely above a whisper. Molly nodded and burst into fresh tears. Arthur hugged her to him and rubbed her back, soothing her. Harry fell back against the wall, numb. He felt like he was going to be sick. Ron was his first friend. Ron may have gone astray, but he was still well loved. His bad choices didn't change that. Draco didn't have the same feeling, but he knew Hermione would. He turned his head away from the family and focused wholly on his girlfriend. He wanted her to wake up. He wanted her to look at him and tell him everything was going to be okay.

Madame Pomfrey walked in and shooed them away from Hermione's bed. Draco refused to move and she just rolled her eyes. "Just as I thought." She said, with a smile. "She is perfectly fine. She needs her sleep. She needs a lot of sleep and will probably be asleep for a few days. You need sleep too." She said. With that, she moved a bed over to Hermione's. Draco smiled gratefully, climbed onto it, and closed his eyes.

"Draco." He opened his eyes a crack to see the oldest Weasley child speaking to him. "I feel that it is solely due to you, Harry, and Hermione that we are even still alive. I feel if you three hadn't taught us what you know and hadn't been here at all, we would all be dead. I miss Ron. I miss Ron the way he used to be. I don't know who this is that claims he was my brother, but that is not the brother I remember. We suffered a great loss when Fred died. I now have lost 2 brothers, but it could have been a whole lot worse than that. Harry and Hermione have been honorary members of our family for 7 years now. I am glad that I can now name you as a brother as well. Our family has suffered great loss, but it has also gained more than we have lost. For that, I will ever be grateful for you. We'll go now and let you rest. But we will be back to check on you later." Bill said. Draco nodded and hid his face. Harry way quite sure Draco had started crying. Harry walked out with the Weasley family. Draco held Hermione and went to sleep.

Three days later Harry and Hermione were trying to get Draco out of bed. "I don't wanna!" Draco whined. Harry rolled his eyes while Hermione smiled slightly.

"Don't you want breakfast?" Hermione asked, persuasively.

"Not if it means getting out of bed." Draco said, stubbornly.

"Come on, Malfoy!" Harry said. Draco pulled the covers of his head at the sound of his last name.

"Back to last names are we, Potter?" Draco said.

"When you're keeping me from my breakfast, yes." Harry replied. Draco snorted and pulled the covers back over his head.

"Draco Abraxius Malfoy! Do you want me to douse you with water?" She asked. Draco pulled the covers down and shook his head, his eyes wide. Harry was strongly reminded of a young child and stifled the desire to laugh. Draco pouted but got out of bed and changed his clothes. He shortly joined Harry and Hermione and they all walked down to the Great Hall.

They sat down at the table amidst their friends and filled their plates up. A few minutes later Kingsley and Professor McGonagall stood up to make an announcement. "We have sent owls out and are reopening the school. We will resume classes next week. For now, you students who wish to attend this year, have a leg up on the rest." Professor McGonagall said.

"I am allowing any who wish to take the entrance exam to enter auror training without finishing their N.E.W.T.S. You only get the one chance, though." Kingsley said, his eyes on Harry. Harry knew he would take it, as much as he knew Hermione would stay at school. He was sure Hermione would stay at school and Draco would stay to be with her. Before Harry could form another thought, Professor McGonagall was requesting a word with Harry, Hermione, and Draco.

"I have talked to the board of Governors, and they all agree. In light of the recent events, you are all offered positions to teach here at Hogwarts. This is an honor that has never been given to someone as young as you three. Harry, they want you to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, Draco, they want you to teach Potions, and Hermione, Madame Pince is wanting to retire. We thought you would be a perfect replacement for her." Draco saw Hermione's eyes light up when she heard that. Draco didn't know what Harry was going to take, but he knew that Hermione would take the position. She loved the Library here.

"My entire life has been based around stopping Dark Magic and the wizards who use it. I'm not sure I can do anything else. I really appreciate the offer, but I think I want to become an auror." Harry said.

"You always have a job here, should you wish to take it later, Harry." She said, a bit sadly.

"Professor, I…" Hermione started. She looked at Draco, helplessly. She was afraid she'd have to choose between the school and the love of her life. She wasn't sure she could do it.

"I would love to teach potions, Professor." Draco said. Hermione felt her eyes light up again and she threw her arms around him and squealed.

"I assume this means you'll be taking the job as well, Hermione?" She asked.

"Yes, thank you so much. I have a library. My very own library! Oh!" She squealed, than ran off to the library. Harry and Draco chuckled a moment, before Draco walked off with Professor McGonagall to discuss his position for the next year.

"Harry, I couldn't help overhearing, and I thought I might speak to you." Remus Lupin said. Harry smiled and nodded slightly and waited for the older man to continue. "I am by no means trying to tell you what to do, but I don't think you should jump so readily into Kingsley's offer."

"It's safest. I feel like I've been living my life with so much risk lately, I don't want to risk it anymore."

"Aurors have a very dangerous job. In fact, Aurors do pretty much what you've been doing already. Don't you want to do something different?"

"Yes and no. I don't know what to do. Hogwarts is my home. It's the only home I've ever known. I would love the opportunity to stay here, but at the same time, I want to branch out. I want to experience the world. I have enough experience in fighting the Dark Arts to be able to do a good job teaching, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to do it. Both of the options before me are safe options. I'm not really sure I want either one."

"Maybe you ought to take a year and not do anything. Get a small flat and enjoy your life for a year, then make a serious choice about your career. I'm quite sure Kingsley will give you the position in a year if you still choose to pursue that." Remus said. Harry considered carefully what Remus told him. He didn't want to be an auror, but he felt he needed time to be a kid. Then it hit him. He still had a year of Hogwarts left. Harry thanked Remus and ran after Professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" He called, once he caught up. She turned and waited for him to continue.

"I don't know if I want to teach. Don't put me down as a no just yet. I'll make my decision after I finish this year. I want this year to be my age. I don't want to think about the future for a while." He said.

"I think that very wise, Mr. Potter." She said, in approval. Harry blushed a bit and stopped. She awarded him with one of her rare smiles before walking off, leaving Harry dumfounded.

A/N: thank you for reading! I am very pleased you have chosen to follow this story. I am not sure how much longer it will go. It may end after the next chapter or it may continue through their school year and possibly into the beginning of their jobs. Please give me your advice. I want your opinion about it.