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"Rowena Ravenclaw's dress robes," Hermione whispered reverently.
"Nice," Ron murmured, glancing furtively down the hall at the broom display.
"Just imagine the events she must have attended… the dignitaries she must have met… She helped built the Hogwarts library from scratch. All those books… all that knowledge…."
"Those books are probably still in the library somewhere," Ron offered helpfully.
Hermione's face fell. "If they survived the fire."
"Didn't most of the books have protective spells on them?"
"Most of them did, but not the shelving. It's going to take years to sort through everything and assess the damage. Madame Pince had help clearing the library and she's made a good start on the reconstruction, but..."
Ron smiled. "I'm sure you'll be right in the thick of it until everything is set to rights."
"Head-I mean Professor McGonagall was putting together a task force to help with the project, but now that she's resigning it's unclear just how that will proceed."
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Ron replied with a scowl.
"Can you see what's on display here?" a familiar voice superciliously drawled.
"No, I can't. Someone is in the way," a second, younger voice complained in a similar tone.
Ron and Hermione turned to find Lucius and Draco Malfoy standing directly behind them. "Ahh… It's the Weasel… and Granger," Draco cried out in mock surprise.
"I thought you were under house arrest!" Ron hissed.
"The judge lifted the order today, just in time for us to attend the opening. After all, it would be tragic for the former head of the Hogwarts Board not to attend such an historic event," Lucius purred
"You bribed him, didn't you?" Ron accused a little too loudly, drawing more than a few curious glances.
"I'm wounded that you would even consider such a thing," Lucius responded, brushing something invisible from his lapel. "Our decision to lay down our wands and walk away from the final battle was enough to convince the judge that we had not earned a place in Azkaban."
Ron snorted. "Lay down your wands, my eye! You got what you wanted, then deserted your allies."
"Ron, please calm down," Hermione whispered as a tense silence suddenly descended on the room. "People are staring."
"I can almost understand letting Snape go, but these monsters?" Ron hissed.
"Snape was exonerated?" Lucius' taunting smirk was replaced by genuine confusion.
"He was a double agent," Hermione replied. "He was working for Dumbledore the entire time."
"How convenient," Lucius responded, his eyes hardening. "At least he died with his good name intact."
"Have you been living in a hole? Snape's alive!" Ron snapped.
"News from the outside world doesn't tend to reach people under house arrest, Mr. Weasley. But thank you for your concern. We've been living quite comfortably, actually, despite our lack of news," Lucius replied bitingly.
"Severus Snape is alive?" Draco asked, dropping the haughty facade.
"No thanks to either of you," Hermione replied.
The muscles in Lucius's jaw tightened as his voice lowered. "Don't even pretend to think you know what happened there."
"Hermione saved Snape. The Healers say it's a medical miracle." Pride oozed from Ron's voice.
"You did this, Granger?" Draco struggled to process that information.
"I only did what any normal, compassionate person would have done… if they'd bothered."
"Where is he?" Draco asked with genuine concern.
"He's at St. Mungo's," Hermione replied.
"Ron? Hermione?" Ginny's arrival broke the tension. Murmurs once again filled the room as the crowd turned its attention to more interesting matters.
"Hi, Ginny!" Hermione smiled.
"Have you seen Harry? He was supposed to meet me here."
"No," Hermione replied before turning to Ron.
"Sorry, Sis," Ron answered. "I don't know any more than you do."
"I saw Potter with Lovegood earlier," Draco remarked nonchalantly, examining his fingernails.
"How much earlier?" Ginny whirled to face him.
"This afternoon in the courthouse."
Ginny sighed. "That doesn't help much. I knew he was supposed to take a meeting with her around noon. But now he's supposed to be here."
"Ginevra, has it ever occurred to you that Potter just may not be that interested in attending this event with you?" Draco asked.
Ginny shot Draco an expression that would have made a less confident man shrink. "I prefer to be called Ginny. And attending this event was Harry's idea."
"I'm so sorry." Harry rushed breathlessly into the room. "I'm so sorry I'm late. Work ran long tonight."
"No problem," Ginny replied with a triumphant smirk in Draco's direction. The smirk died on her lips when she spotted the blonde behind her boyfriend. "Luna?"
Harry deflected Ginny's wrath. "I'm sorry to spring this on you, Ginny, but we filed the paperwork for Xenophilius' release today. I thought Luna could use something to take her mind off of it. Would you mind terribly if she joined us?"
"I could hunt buzzardflies instead if you'd prefer. It's a lovely night to catch them and I'd hate to intrude," Luna trilled.
Draco leaned in close to whisper in Ginny's ear, "Getting a little crowded in here, don't you think?"
Ginny threw him an elbow, knocking Draco off-balance. Lucius steadied him with a shrewd, calculating look as Ginny summoned the grace to reply, "We'd love to have you, Luna."
"Come along, Draco," Lucius interjected with a bored tone. "I understand there's a collection of Quidditch brooms down the hall."
The Malfoys glided to the next exhibit as Harry shook his head. "I can't believe they spent so little time in house arrest."
"Money talks, Harry," Ron muttered.
"Actually, the judge said he was swayed by their change of heart and expressed hopes that they could still be productive citizens."
"I'm not holding my breath."
"Minerva, surely yeh can see dat yeh've been good fer da school. Yeh can't quit now!"
"It's for the best, Hagrid. You'll just have to trust me on this."
"But…but who's goin' to run Hogwarts?"
"You'll see tomorrow," Minerva reassured him. "There will be an article about it in the morning paper. It should be quite good. I've already had a chance to preview it."
"Who wrote it?"
Minerva smiled cryptically. "Read the paper."
Hagrid shook his head. "I jus' hope whoever he or she is can bring stability to the school. We've had three, now four, Headmasters in de las' two years. Speakin' o' which, how is Professor Snape?"
Minerva smiled. "Just read the paper, Hagrid. Ahh… Lucius and Draco Malfoy!"
Minerva strode off to greet the former board member. Hagrid's eyes grew wide as an idea occurred to him, but he dismissed it with a shake of his head. "Nah, it couldn' be..."
"I'm sorry for going off on the Malfoys like that."
Hermione caressed his cheek and whispered, "It's all right, Ron. You lost your temper, but you recovered. Malfoys aside, I had a lovely evening."
"Good," Ron grinned.
The warm night breeze blew Hermione's cotton dress about her legs as she studied Ron's features. The moonlight was kind to him. He may not be the dark man in her dreams, but in the moonlight he was certainly a man, not a boy.
"Hermione, you look beautiful tonight."
"Thank you."
Ron leaned in to press his lips against hers. She returned the kiss ever so softly at first, then allowed it to intensify in response to Ron's urgency. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming desire, a need to touch and to be touched.
"Granger!"
Hermione practically jumped out of her skin. "What on earth do you want, Draco?" she snapped breathlessly.
"Can't you see we're busy?" Ron growled.
"Pardon the interruption, " Draco smirked unrepentantly, "but I forgot to ask…"
"What?" Hermione snapped, beyond irritated.
"What room is Snape in at St. Mungo's?"
The mood was well and truly broken. "Room 494."
"Can he talk?"
"As well as ever, if you can get him to grant you an audience," Hermione ghosted a smile.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I suppose you can go back to practicing making those Weasley babies, now."
Hermione grimaced while Ron fumed. "That guy is such an arse."
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Hermione sighed before turning to Ron. The moment had faded, but maybe it would return another night.
"So… what should we do now?" Ron asked suggestively.
"I really think I need to go home, Ron. I'm tired."
"I'll Apparate you to your door," Ron offered tightly, silently vowing to take his revenge on Malfoy, if it was the last thing he managed to do.