Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.


Draco's POV

I look around at all of the students gathered here in one of the bigger classrooms before turning back to look at Headmistress McGonagall as she stands at the front. The regular desks and benches have been switched out for chairs and Hermione is just four seats away from me, chatting with Ginny. I wish I was closer to her. It's funny, I feel like I'm becoming like Potter now. I'm stalking someone now and trying to figure out that person's every move. I'm over analyzing everything that person is doing. That person being Hermione.

She's been spending quite a lot of time with Pansy, something I didn't think would happen, ever. I think they must be going crazy. Pansy is actually the happiest I've seen her in a long time, and I guess I have Hermione and Ron to thank for that. She's become quite comfortable with our group of friends and has opened up more than I've seen her do before. Even if I'm not interested in her, it doesn't mean I don't care about the well-being and happiness of one of my oldest friends. She's finally found people she can fun with and not have to worry about her public image or the things she's doing being used for blackmail when we're older. In Slytherin it's very common for people who don't like each other to gather blackmail material and use it later when we're older and socialites. Which means you can't quite let yourself go otherwise you expose yourself to them.

"Excuse me students! May I PLEASE have your attention!." Says, or rather shouts, McGonagall. "Now I'm sorry this is happening rather late into the academic year, but we've needed a lot of time to prepare after the… incident last year. A lot of employers are still getting back on their feet and the wizarding world is still in a bit of a state despite what it feels like in Hogwarts and how far we've come here.

Anyway, today we will be going over the different things you can do once you graduate. You should already have a career or destination in mind already as we covered this briefly in your fifth year and had to choose your courses accordingly this year. However I would like to inform all of you that since muggle studies was made mandatory and that most of you had a course replaced with it, all of your potential employers or professors have agreed to let you apply for what you want to do while missing up to one prerequisite. This is as long as all of your NEWTs are Acceptable or higher, though some of the more prestigious job positions and post-secondary programs may require a minimum of Exceeds Expectations for all of your classes."

I hear a number of students around me breathe sighs of relief. The most notable, and possibly the loudest, one coming from Hermione. I resist the urge to smirk. Thankfully this wasn't an issue for me, to be quite honest I didn't even think about it.

"Now that we have that sorted out, it's time to move onto the focus of today's gathering: the career fair." A couple students groan, while others laugh nervously. Still, some of the students just aren't listening and are chatting instead. Since I'm Head Boy, I get up and tell them off for it and remove 5 house points for each student. This is important for everyone's futures and I refuse to have those opportunities hindered by people who can't be bothered to stop talking for less than 15 minutes.

"Most of you I'm sure already have a rough idea of what you want to do. However, today will give you a better look into your future careers and maybe find out about others that you didn't know. Without further ado, you may now go down to the Great Hall where possible employers have set up booths for you to explore."

Everyone around me suddenly stands up and hurrying to the hall. I hang back a bit and wait for most of the students to leave before heading down myself. I don't want to get stuck in the mess that would have formed at the entrance to the hall and I also want to make sure that there aren't any stragglers or people trying to sneak off.

When I get there everyone is spread out among the different booths, though some of them have more people than others. Booths like the ones for the Aurors and Healers seems to be the busiest, while booths about private sector careers like Potioneering seem to be rather quite.

I start to head over to the Potioneering booth when I see a booth on the integration of muggle technology into wizarding society. Not much of a career per say, but it seems like they're trying to advertise the business potential in such a venture. A good idea since I know a lot of the Slytherins in my year are in charge of some rather large businesses and companies while their parents are in Azkaban.

I walk up to it and since it's a little crowded, I pick up one of the pamphlets they have there. I'm about to open it when one of wizards there notices me and starts to speak to me.

"Hello there, my name is Dennis Farnon but you can call me Denny." He's a younger man, about 25 or 30 I'd say, and he sounds like he has a bit of a Scottish background based on his accent but it isn't very thick. He extends a hand to shake and I grasp it firmly as I respond.

"Nice to meet you Dennis, I'm Draco Malfoy." His eyes widen a bit at my name and I can see he's heard of me. Or at least of my family name. We were quite popular in the news this summer and not always for the best stories. "Don't worry, I won't bite."

"Uh… no I'm not worried about that." He then shakes himself and he's back to how he was before. "Sorry. So what makes you interested in this booth?"

"Well, my g-... friend, got me interested in muggle technology a little while back and I've come to like it quite a bit. I'm in charge of my family's company so I was wondering if it would be worth investing in it's integration into the wizarding world." I say. He smiles and suddenly becomes much more animated.

"Ah, smart man. Yes, it seems as though muggle technology has taken the wizarding world by storm. Lots of witches and wizards are seeing the appeal of it and people have been working around the clock to find a way for magic to not interfere with tech. All the tech here has been modified from the originals so that the stuff wouldn't glitch or explode or anything nasty like that."

"Wow okay, it sounds a little dangerous but I think that based on what you've told me and what I've seen here at Hogwarts it's has a lot of potential right now. Which are the current big sellers?" I ask.

"At the moment WizTech is the biggest company, however I'd recommend investing in Cloakding. They're a smaller company and aren't the biggest at the moment but they are much more accurate with their work and have better quality products so chances of a lawsuit and other nasty stuff aren't as likely."

"Okay got it. Thanks for the advice Dennis."

"You're welcome Draco. Here's a pamphlet with more information so you don't have to remember everything I just said to you. And it was a pleasure." He says to me while handing me the pamphlet.

I put the pamphlet into my bag and then continue on towards the Potioneering booth once again. I'm only a few tables away when McGonagall comes over to me.

"Mr. Malfoy, might I have a word with you?" She says.

"Sure Headmistress." I say as she pulls me over to the side.

"I'll get straight to the point. I've been reviewing what you did for Muggle Studies with Ms. Granger and I just want you to know that you did a very good job for someone who was suddenly given that responsibility. Professor Lorund has been hired temporarily for the rest of the year and the year after that however I do not think that I will be renewing his contract. He doesn't seem to connect with the students and just follows the curriculum. You on the other hand did lots of hands on activities and had energy and passion."

"Thank you for the compliments Headmistress, but where exactly is this going?" I'm pretty sure I know where she's directing the conversation but I want to hear it straight from her.

"I want to offer you the position of Muggle Studies professor when Professor Lorund's contract runs out. I think you'd do well in the position and you've proved that you are capable of doing it. I do understand however that you do have a life of your own and that you are still quite young. There are things to do and opportunities that are still available. So I'm offering you the position but the choice is, and always will be, yours. If you decide further into the future that you would like to take me up on my offer, the job is yours, just send me an owl."

"Wow, I don't know what to say. I did enjoy teaching, but I may have to give you my answer later on. I'm still not quite sure what I want to do yet so I'll have to get back to you on that. Your offer is quite intriguing though, I will be considering it."

"That is all I ask Mr. Malfoy. I'll let you explore the rest of the fair now, good luck." She then smiles at me before leaving to go wander again.

I leave the corner we were in and finally reach the potioneering booth and take a look at the requirements for the program to make sure I have the right courses. I do. I really should as well since Snape helped me get the right ones as well as other helpful ones since he got his degree in Potioneering too.

The program is 5 years long followed by an optional specialization degree that adds another 4 years of research and studying. A total of 9 years that could be wasted if things don't work out. But if it works out, it could have so many benefits and be very useful. However if I took the Muggle Studies professorship, I can always work on my potioneering degree on the side for a longer period of time. Probably about 15 years.

Then there's the question of whether I should be looking to take over the family business when I graduate since that's what most Malfoys do when they are of age. My father taught me some of it when I was younger, but stopped when Voldemort came back because his priorities shifted. Maybe they've shifted yet again and I can continue learning about it. It would probably make the most amount of money and be a lot less time consuming from an education point of view. Most business degrees in the wizarding world are 3-4 years. But it could also be a little lonely and cold. I know many of the businessmen in the family are very ruthless and bitter and I'm not sure if I want to become like them.

Perhaps I can take the professorship, do my potioneering degree on the side, get tutored by my father for business and then when he gets too old take over the business. The nice thing is that my father still has about 30 years or more left in him if things go smoothly so I have quite a lot of time to do everything else. I just hope this doesn't become too ambitious and crazy. Which it probably is. Hermione must be rubbing off on me.

"Hey Draco, what are you thinking about doing after Hogwarts?" Says Hermione who just appeared right next to me. I laugh a little because her timing was perfect.

"Oh hello Hermione. You know, to be honest, I'm not all that sure. I have an idea of what I want to do but I need some more time to think about it."

"Yeah I'm in the same boat. It's so hard to choose something that you'll probably have to do for the rest of your life. Like what if you make the wrong choice or it isn't what you expected it to be? Especially since a lot of my choices require lots of extra schooling and I wouldn't be able to just pick up another career if one doesn't work."

"Definitely. What are you thinking of doing? I mean, what's your shortlist?" I ask her.

"Well I think that I'd like to do something involving some sort or risk. Being an Unspeakable interests me. Though we don't know a lot about what they do, they require almost every NEWT level course and you must have good marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts so I think that it could be quite interesting. Auror is another cool job but I'm not sure. While the war was a bit much, I did kind of like being able to help people on the front lines. I'm definitely capable of it so there isn't that much reason to not. But I'm also afraid of freezing up or panicking while doing it. I was also thinking of doing curse breaking. One of the Weasleys does it and I know he likes it quite a bit. I can even try and campaign a bit more for the rights of magical creatures since there is a lot of dealing them in that particular career. What about you?"

"Wow all three of those sound like good choices, I can see why choosing is hard. For me I've narrowed down my choices to getting a specialized degree in potioneering, following in my father's footsteps and running my family's company,... or accepting Headmistress McGonagall's offer of a Muggle Studies professorship. I really don't know what to choose. I think I've found a way to do all of them but it seems a little ambitious and complicated. Also, I mean what if I decide later on that I don't want to do one of them? I don't want to waste years of my life on something that I won't like later on."

"That's very true. I wish we didn't have to make these choices now. Can't we wait till we're older? I really don't want to leave Hogwarts and start working just yet." She says.

We both start to say something at the same time, stop at the same time, and then blush at the same time.

"You go first." I say.

"Ah, ever the gentleman. But no, you go first. I'm pretty sure I cut you off."

"No I definitely cut you off." I say.

"Fine I'll go first, but only because I know we'll just spend the whole afternoon bickering if I don't. So McGonagall offered you a professorship?! That's amazing! You totally deserve it though, you were amazing when we were teaching, so much more engaging than I was. I was so boring and just taught them facts. You knew how to make it interesting."

"Thanks. But it probably also had something to do with the fact that I'm a pureblood so I'm not used to the stuff like you are. For you it's ordinary. For me, it's amazing and really foreign. My natural curiosity helps make it more interesting. I'm sure if I taught the same thing in 5 years it wouldn't be nearly as interesting."

"I disagree. But I also know that once you have an opinion you don't usually change it so I'll leave you alone. Now what were you going to say before I interrupted you?" I give her a disapproving look before answering.

"You mean before I interrupted you."

"You just proved my point." I glare at her but continue.

"Sure. I'm not quite sure if I can remember… what were we talking about?"

"We were talking about not wanting to choose our careers and not growing up." She reminds me.

"That's right! I was going to say, thankfully we still have another two weeks before our applications are due. On the other hand, it's only two more weeks before the applications are due."

She groans. "Don't remind me. I've had that date noted in my calendar since fourth year. It's probably the date I've dreaded the most."

"Wow, don't you think that's a little excessive? Also how have you not chosen your career if you've had that much time to decide?" I say to her.

"I had way too much time to think and I didn't want to think about it that much. I can also be extremely indecisive. I don't think you know just how bad I can be."

"If that's not an accurate representation of indecision then I don't know what is." I say with a smirk.

She swats at my arm in defense and I cry out in pain as a joke.

"Stop being so annoying you little slimy ferret."

"I'm hurt, I thought we were on a first name basis, not teasing each other with annoying nicknames."

"Oh we are, but you'll always be the amazing bouncing ferret in my heart." She says with a sickly sweet smile.

I pout and huff, stewing a little bit.

"Stop being so immature. Your pride could do with some beating, it hasn't had any in a while. I must be going soft. Better catch up for the past few months."

"Oh really now? I seem to recall a certain someone here having very large beaver teeth before I helped." I say, grinning wickedly at her.

"You helping? My goodness, the world has definitely gone mad. I don't recall you helping Draco, I only remember you casting a hex to make them bigger."

"Oh good, back to first names. But if I hadn't hexed your teeth, you wouldn't have been able to make them smaller later on."

"Fine. But you were still the one who cast the hex."

"I never denied it."

We continue bickering and chatting till the fair is done and completely avoid talking about the future.

Once it's over, we all get dismissed early to go get ready before dinner.

Hermione and I walk up to our dorm, still chatting away and I just feel really happy. We haven't talked like this in ages. We haven't talked like this since a few months ago. It's almost like trying to start a relationship put a strain on what we had. This comes so much more naturally. The playful banter, the jokes and teasing, it's just so much more fun and happier.

Merlin I miss this. The best part is that we can tease each other but it isn't offensive. We both know each other's limits and we both know that it's all well intentioned, even if we haven't said that.

I'm pretty sure Hermione would agree, we're both just so much freer and there's no pressure to be romantic or whatever.

"Hey Hermione, perhaps it was a good idea to take a break. Maybe we needed a bit of time to recollect our thoughts and figure out what happened. It's nice to have a conversation like this."

"Yeah I know right? This is just carefree. I'm glad we're here again. Maybe we can try the relationship thing again a little later, but for now I think it would be nice to just work on being best friends again."

"It's a deal." I hold my hand out for her to shake and she takes it firmly. We both stare at each other really seriously for a few moments and then burst out laughing.

"What was that? It felt like I was closing a business deal!" Exclaims Hermione.

Snickering into my hand I reply, "That was what I was thinking of when I extended my hand to you. It just seemed like a funny thing to do."

"Well as much fun as this has been, we should probably head down for dinner before our friends start freaking out, or worse, Ron eats everything there and we don't get anything." She says.

"That's true." I say as I roll my eyes. "Let's go. I'm really craving some shepherd's pie right about now."

"At least Ron doesn't eat much of that. He does however eat a lot of the rotisserie chicken which I would really like to get a piece of."

"Oh well, not my problem." She then shoves me towards the portrait hole.

"It will be your problem if you don't hurry up! Now get out!"

"You don't have to be so violent you know. What if you just asked politely?"

"Draco, sweetie… would you please get out of the portrait now so I can eat my dinner!"

"You and I have very different definitions of 'asking nicely'."

We quickly walk down to the Great Hall, but Hermione keeps pestering me to walk faster. I just walk as slowly as possible while she pulls me along. I have to refrain from making a sarcastic comment about her messing up my hair and robes. She'd probably just shoot back with something about her hair being messier because of me. Which is probably true.

When we eventually get down to the Great Hall, I see that the Rotisserie chicken still has plenty of pieces left and I breathe a sigh of relief. While I wanted to annoy her, I had hoped that Ron wouldn't finish off all of it otherwise Hermione would probably come very close to actually killing me.

We take our seats and we all chat about the fair.

"So did you guys think of the fair?" Asks Ron.

"Well I thought that it was pretty good, though I don't think that I'll be choosing anything that was advertised there. I was planning on asking Newt Scamander if he would be able to teach me more about magizoology. He's the absolute best and I'm sure he'd love to help me find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack." Replies Luna with a very wistful expression.

I smile at her innocence and complete devotion to her dreams not matter how absurd.

"That sounds wonderful Luna!" Says Ginny.

Neville speaks up next and looks a little embarrassed. "Well.. um… Headmistress McGonagall offered me the chance to be a teaching assistant to Professor Sprout and then when she eventually retires, I'll take over as Professor."

"Wow, that's amazing Neville! I got asked by McGonagall as well to take over Muggle Studies." I say. Neville breathes out a sigh of relief.

"Oh good. I was worried that I'd be the only one offered a teaching position and that you'd all be offended. I'm glad I'm not the only one."

"Yeah, looks like we're in the same boat. Do you think you're going to accept?" I ask him.

"I'm not quite sure yet, I'd like to do some personal research on herbology before, but I guess practical lessons with Professor Sprout out of the classroom could be quite interesting and promising. I still have two weeks to decide at the minimum. She said I can take her up on the offer later if I want some more time to myself first."

"Yeah I still need to make up my mind as well."

"Wait you guys got professorships? That's amazing!" Exclaims Ginny.

"Yes Weaselette. We did. Or were you not listening to the entire conversation where we explained everything to you guys?"

"No need to be snarky ferret face. And here I thought I'd try to congratulate you two. Fine. Neville good job on the professorship. If Mr. I'm-Too-Amazing decides to get off his high horse can you tell him that's great? Thanks." She sasses back.

"Are all of you Gryffindors like this?" I ask. "Hermione and I had a fight involving name calling just now."

"Oh no, not all of us. I don't do that." Replies Neville.

"Yes, because you're not hot-tempered like the rest of them." Cuts in Blaise while cleaning his nails in a rather posh manner. The rest of us laugh at his behaviour and comment.

"Okay, well how about the rest of you?" Asks Hermione.

"Well I'm going to try to try out for the Holyhead Harpies. They're doing a try out at the beginning of summer to fill two spots that just opened up when their seeker and one of their chasers quit earlier this year." Replies Ginny

"I'm sure you'll get in with ease." Says Hermione.

"I second that." Adds Pansy. We all turn to her in surprise. "What? Just because I don't talk about it all the time and I don't play it doesn't mean I don't know anything about it or who's good. Remember that I've been friends with Draco and Blaise for ages, I go to all of the matches at school and at home with my family, and I'm currently dating Ron over here. Kind of hard for me to not pick up anything."

"So you were playing dumb at the last game! I knew it!" Ron practically shouts. Pansy then blushes scarlet and gives a nervous smile.

"Oops."

We all laugh at her and she just takes some pudding and ignores us.

"Well I thought that the business courses looked interesting." Says Blaise looking quite uninterested.

"Oh Blaise cut the act. It's like you're trying to blow us all off!" I say.

"Fine, but it's so nice to just sit back while all of you bicker."

"We aren- oh… I see what you did there Zabini." I glare at him in defeat.

"Just stew there why don't you, I feel a little cold and hungry right now, it would definitely hit the spot right now."

I swear everyone just knows how to be funny today. It's really weird. Maybe the job fair just made everyone really witty? Oh well.

"Pansy what are you thinking of doing?" Asks Hermione.

"Well actually I was thinking interior decorating. I just really like it."

"Oh bloody hell. She's good at it too! You should see what she did to the Slytherin dungeons this year, it's actually nice and cozy down there! I mean when we went down there during second year it was kind of muggy, but now it's really nice. Like five star hotel quality." Says Ron while shoving a piece of chicken into his mouth.

"Well I think it's great, Slytherins do deserve the best." Pansy replies primly.

"We really do, don't you agree Draco?" Blaise looks at me expectantly.

I smirk. "Of course we do."

"Hermione what are you going to do?" Asks Ron.

"Well I think I'm going to do either curse breaking or being an Unspeakable. I had a chat with one today and they don't have many requirements but you do have to be willing to not tell anyone about your work. Curse breaking is also really cool and you get to do a lot of history, rune reading, and spell casting. It's pretty interesting based on what Bill has told me. I could also campaign for the rights of magical creatures."

"That totally sounds like you 'Mione." Says Ron. I stiffen a bit when he calls her this, but I try to let it go since I know they aren't a romantically involved anymore and he's dating Pansy.

"Thanks. But you're the only one who hasn't said what they're going to do."

"Yeah. It's a bit complicated for me though. Since I've been to Azkaban and all of that. I spoke to Harry about it and he said if I want to get back on the force I'll have to start from the beginning again and go through training. I don't think I want to be an Auror anymore though. It's not quite what I thought it would be. I might try my hand at quidditch but I know I'm not that good. George though may need some help with the business. To be honest I have no idea."

"It's alright Ron. I'm sure you'll figure it out." Says Luna very kindly. He smiles at her in thanks and then we all fall into a bit of a silent period.

Dinner soon ends and we're all about to head our separate ways when Ginny gets our attention.

"Guys don't forget about our Quidditch game tomorrow! We have the pitch booked for noon till 3 so don't be late."

We all nod in confirmation and then disperse. Hermione and I walk up the familiar path to our dorms once again. Once we're in the room we just kind of crash on the couch not really wanting to do our homework since none of our assignments are due tomorrow. Well they better not be since it's a Saturday.

"Thank you Draco."

"What for?" I ask.

"For everything. I don't think I've said it enough times before. But I just want to say thank you for everything. For changing into the person you are now, for being patient, for being funny, for being nice, for being tolerant of my friends, for being my friend, for being there… I could go on. But thank you." She's lying on the couch, looking up at the ceiling, with tears in her eyes.

I smile and get up to go over to her. I sit next to her and hold her hand on her shoulder.

"You've said it plenty of time Hermione. And thank you for helping me become this person. I couldn't have done it without you."

I then grab a tissue and pass it to her. She takes it with a smile and wipes her eyes.

"Thank you."


Author's Note: Hi guys, thanks again for sticking with this fic. I really liked the banter in this chapter and it was really fun to write it. Hopefully I'll be able to increase the amount of humour in this story. What do you guys think of the story so far? Please review and give feedback, positive or negative, it all helps. Thanks for reading, I hope that you all have a good week. Till next time.

Also I know in the last chapter I said that chapter 51 takes place one week after 50, but I didn't specify exactly when that was. All 3 chapters take place in April of 2020. I have created a calendar of when these events take place and the link is in my profile.