:: Chapter Twenty-One: Returning To Hogwarts ::

The pair were fast asleep at the stroke of six but the sunlight beamed through the shades waking anything in its path. Hermione arose from her spot curled up on the couch on top of Draco and smiled to herself. She nudged him softly and he stirred.

"Wake up." She said poking him in the ribs. He just rolled over and seemed to ignore her. Hermione stood up in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Draco Malfoy get up this instant or I will personally kill you."

"I'm up." He growled groggily. "Now what was so important that you had to wake me?"

"It's Christmas." She grinned. He just simply groaned placing one of the couch pillows over his head. "Seriously, you'd think that someone would enjoy Christmas Day."

"I'd be enjoying it if I slept through at least the next three hours of it."

"Just get up." She said leaving him alone in the living room. He sighed heavily before pulling the pillow off his head and getting up. When Hermione emerged she was dressed in a festive red sweater and she had a thin box that could be no more than thirty centimetres long and five centimetres in width. "This is for you. It belongs to you and I have no right to keep it any longer." She said handing him the box. He opened it slowly and gasped softly when the contents were revealed.

"Where did you find this?"

"Harry brought it home from the Manor, he doesn't know I kept it." She said softly.

"Thank you. Thank you very much." He said grabbing the ebony coloured wand and clutching it tightly. "My gift is going to seem stupid compared to this."

"Draco, you don't have to give my anything. The wand was yours in the first place, it was something I should have kept."

"It's Christmas. The season of giving, I'm giving." He handed her a small white box.

"Oh my God." She gasped. "You shouldn't have. You really, shouldn't have." She produced a diamond pendant necklace and examined it as if it were made of Filibuster's Fireworks and would explode any second. "I don't deserve this." She placed it carefully back in the box and was about to place the lid back on it when he stopped her.

"Stop being stubborn, Hermione. It's your turn to be spoiled, you've spent your whole life doing things for other people and receiving hardly anything in return, well this is your long overdue payment. It was truly the least I could do."

"It's beautiful, but you really shouldn't have."

"I wanted to. Now shut your mouth and accept it." He took the necklace from the box and hooked it around her neck.

"Thank you, very much."

The days before their return to Hogwarts flew by quickly and much to Hermione's dismay she had not heard anything from Harry on his counterfeit Dark Magic hunt.

"Ready to return to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked Draco as she gathered the last few things in her truck before they apparated to Hogsmeade.

"Not in particular." He leaned against his own trunk. "The thought of going back there is quite unnerving. Not to mention that several of our old classmates are going to be there."

"I don't see what the big deal is."

"Hermione, think about it. I'm going to use your analogy here, Snape and McGonagall." He cringed, which caused Hermione to giggle.

"Oh please, you are not Snape and I am not McGonagall."

"Well then what about everyone who thinks your dating Potter?"

"No one knows but the Weasleys, Lavender Brown and Professor Lupin and a few other people. And it's not like they would care."

"Well then what about that Weasley girl, doesn't she teach at Hogwarts too?"

"Her name is Ginny and yes she does. But she also happens to be one of my best friends and she respects my judgment. Not to mention she's been after Harry since she was eleven."

"Ewe." He said aloud.

"What?"

"I just imagined having to deal with Potter-Weasley offspring."

"Then maybe I shouldn't tell you." Hermione looked at him biting her lower lip nervously.

"What?"

"A rather nice second year will be attending your classes. She's the daughter of one of our classmates."

"What's her name? And who is this classmate?"

"Isabella. She's Neville Longbottom's daughter." Draco looked crestfallen.

"Is she as klutzy as he was?" He asked cautiously.

"More so, Neville married Luna Lovegood. Isabella is something else."

"Great." Draco said sarcastically.

"If it makes you feel any better it's only for an hour or two once a week."

"Even that may be too much to handle."

Soon they had apparated to Hogsmeade and took a carriage to the school. A familiar sight greeted them. Professor McGonagall stood at the door awaiting their arrival.

"Professor it's so nice to see you." Hermione said cheerfully as Draco and herself approached the old witch.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. It's nice to see you two as well." She stated trying to mask a look of curiosity on her weathered features.

"If you don't mind me asking Professor, but, why are you here?"

"It seems my granddaughter Angela couldn't handle being Headmistress any longer when a slot at the ministry opened up. No one wanted the job here so I volunteered. I'll be the new Headmistress from now on."

"It's nice to have you back Professor McGonagall." Hermione smiled.

"It's good to be back Miss Granger." The elder witch smiled and the two younger professors entered their new home for the rest of the school year.

"Hasn't changed at all has is?" Draco asked.

"Not a bit. Come on, I'll show you to your room." Hermione said leaving her trunk at the door, Draco followed suit. They entered a long corridor that Draco had never seen before and Hermione opened one of the doors on the left. This is the Head of House common rooms and there are the dormitory rooms." She said gesturing to the portraits of each of the house mascots. She entered the Gryffindor one by simply stating the password, Draco rummaged through his pockets until he found the spare piece of paper he had written the password on. He entered the room and a small gasp escaped his lips. Of course he had always thought that Snape had lived in the dungeons where the rest of the Slytherin house dwelled but there must have been a passageway of some sort. The room was completely adorned with green and silver with dark wooden furniture everywhere. It looked much like his old dorm room did, except for one big difference; he didn't have to share it with those two prats Crabbe and Goyle. There were two doors on the northeast side of the room and he walked over to them, the first one was the bathroom, which was fairly large, and the other led into a bright gold and scarlet room.

"Hello." He said leaning against the doorframe.

"Those doors are to be used in emergency only. They trust that since we are adults we won't do anything foolish on school grounds so those doors were placed there so that if someone in one of the other houses needed to contact you they wouldn't have to fight with the portrait."

"I see."

"Not planning on following the rules?" Hermione asked.

"Not at all. You know, I always thought that Snape lived in the dungeons, I never knew he had this big, comfortable room."

"He didn't. The previous Headmistress, Professor Warner had them put in."

"Clever girl."