360 Days Before

Ron and Harry had agreed to meet with Hermione a day later than she had wanted but she was willing to accept this compromise in order to find out what had actually happened on this mission. She had become a lot more strategic since the war. Previously she would have brashly come at the boys because she wanted information out of them, but now, thanks to life experiences, she was much more willing to wait for information.

Sitting in a quiet corner of one of the Diagon Alley Minks, Hermione sipped on a London fog while reading a book. Even though the agreed upon time was noon, there was no telling when the boys would arrive so it was necessary to bring entertainment. The scraping of a chair against the floor drew away Hermione's attention from her book. Sitting at her table, looking completely casual and at ease, was Draco Malfoy, in all his smug glory.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione growled. "We're in public. Aren't you scared people will start thinking you're a blood traitor now?"

Draco grabbed his chest in mock horror. "Granger, your words wound me. Aren't we both past those old matters of concern?"

"I don't know. Are we?"

Draco fixed her with a cold gaze. Gone was the careless nature that he had carried with him. In its place, a dark and looming presence sat before her, daring her to make a wrong move. It was truly like staring down a dragon. In a split second, Hermione realized just how terrifying an enemy Draco could be.

"So what brings you here?" Hermione asked to break the tension.

"Hmm… Many things I suppose. Not that I'll tell you," Draco shrugged. "I would be careful though, the streets aren't as safe anymore."

On that note, Draco got up and walked away. A crowd was forming in the store and he disappeared into it. Before Hermione could get up and ask him what he meant, he had disappeared into the mass of people. Letting out a growl of frustration, Hermione sank down in her chair. She had no idea what he was talking about and every exchange they had, always left her with more thoughts than she wanted in her head.

It took another five hours for Hermione to realize that her friends were not going to be there. Every time the door opened, she jumped up only to be disappointed when it was not who she was expecting. Drawing her cloak around her, Hermione packed up herself and stepped out of the coffee shop. She braced herself against the cold before carefully walking towards the apparition point. Draco's words about the streets not being as safe rang in her head. It felt as if something sinister were watching her.

359 Days Before

Hermione wasted no time trying to track the boys down. She forced Neville into joining the search under the threat of his manly bits being hexed off. He reluctantly followed her around, wincing every time she reached for her wand. Hermione was no longer strategizing, she was on the warpath. This witch was a force to be reckoned with. She could move the moon and stars if she wanted when she was determined.

"You're sure you haven't heard from them?" Hermione asked for the hundredth time that hour.

Neville nodded. "Positive. The last I heard of them was Ginny telling me they were home safe. She couldn't reach you so she needed to tell someone."

Hermione groaned in frustration. She had no idea where the boys had fled and she was panicking. Ron could have done something reckless. He was known for that and gods only knew what kind of mental state he was in. There had to be something seriously wrong when he ignored her presence in the fireplace. She was kicking herself. She should have run after them then and not waited. It was her fault this had happened.

Something in her clicked and she knew where to go. Without thinking, she grabbed Neville's hand and apparated them in front of St. Mungo's. She sprinted them towards the elevator and up to the floor where Molly Weasley was housed. Neville followed in silence, knowing that they were on the way to where they needed to be.

For the first time in memory, the door to Room 24 was closed. Hermione disregarded that and found herself face to face with Harry and Ron. She screamed and ran at them. Harry caught her in his arms and held her tightly. Hermione pounded at his chest with her fists. Her blows grew weaker with every sob.

"How could you? How could you? How could you?" Hermione cried. "You horrible boys."

Harry soothed her in the way that only he knew how. He noticed Neville in the doorway and motioned him to enter and shut the door. Ron paid no notice to the new guests, instead keeping his gaze focused in one place.

"I've been so worried," Hermione sobbed. "Where did you go? I waited for you yesterday. Where were you? What happened."

The questions hung in the air as silence swirled around them. The tension was palpable and could be felt especially thickly around Ron.

"I killed someone," Ron finally breathed out. "I ended somebody's life."

A gasp from Hermione was followed by her throwing herself at Ron. She clung to him as if he might disappear like mist in the morning. He pushed her off.
"Get off me Mione," Ron growled. "Don't you see how horrid I am. I killed someone! I ended their life! They're not breathing anymore because of me."

"Ron, mate, you know you had no choice," Harry said.

"Don't you start with me. I'm a killer. I'm no better than Death Eater scum. I'm probably the same as Malfoy."

Hermione was taken aback. In all the interactions she had with Malfoy these past months, she had many thoughts about him. Most of them involved cursing his presence. He was annoying, narcissistic, disrespectful, and knew no boundaries. A killer, however, was not something she saw him as. Sympathetic thoughts of Malfoy were replaced with irritation. He was still the enemy. He had been a Death Eater. There was no reason to believe he was anything else now. He also could have very well killed people and she would never know. Malfoy was dangerous.

"You're nothing like that!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'm sure you saved many lives in that battle!"

Ron looked at her harshly. "How can you say that when so many aurors are dead from that attack? Do you know how many civilians were lost?"

Ron pushed Hermione off and stormed out of the room. Harry gave a remorseful look and rushed after him. There was no telling what Ron might do in that state. Neville came up to Hermione and put a hand on her shoulder. It was then that they realized just where they were.

Molly Weasley was sat up in bed just as usual. She was dressed in pink blouse that had faded with age. Hermione was wracked with guilt over the fact that she had not been to visit in months. She wondered how long it had been since anyone had come to Molly Weasley. A thin layer of dust was on several surfaces in the room. Looking closely Hermione noticed something different about the older woman. A single tear was running down her cheek. It was the first time Molly had done anything but stare blankly. Hermione quickly wiped away the tear before stepping back again.

A deep sadness welled up inside her and a sob escaped. This sob was followed by another and then another until Hermione was wailing. She crumpled to the floor, taking Neville down with her. He held her tightly in the quiet room as she cried. She cried for Molly, for her friends, for herself, for the wizarding world, and even a bit for Malfoy who might not have anyone in this world.

349 Days Before

Neville had apparated Hermione back to her flat after the incident with Ron in Molly's room. He had put her to bed while he busied himself around the kitchen, making a soup that would be comforting. He quickly apparated home and back to get a calming potion he had developed on his own, using plants that he knew were effective. He placed it in Hermione's bowl of soup and waited until the effects put her to sleep.

Since that day, Neville had temporarily moved in with Hermione. She was quiet and preferred to be left alone most of the time. The incident with Ron had hurt her something fierce and Neville was not totally sure what to do. He apparated home every couple days to water plants and make sure everything with his nan was fine before going back to the place he was most needed.

In the wake of exams, Hermione's flat had fallen into disarray so cleaning gave Neville something to do during the long days he was there. When he wasn't force feeding Hermione, shoving her into the bathroom to take a shower, or reading one of the many books in the flat, Neville found himself tidying up. He had, with permission, been staying in the guest bedroom. It was, however, more of a storage closet for Hermione's books that just happened to also have a bed.

338 Days Before

Hermione had sent Neville back home several days ago and had reclaimed her flat. She had been furiously trying to contact Ron and Harry with no success. Ginny had not heard from them and Arthur Weasley was also in the dark. It was as if they had just vanished. Hermione knew the idea of that was silly because people do not just simply disappear into thin air.

Classes were back in session so it provided a welcome distraction from her never ending thoughts She kept coming up with scenarios in which the boys were dead or kidnapped. In the kidnapping ones, they were constantly being tortured in the most brutal ways. She knew that it was not healthy to keep thinking about it but she had little choice when left with all the free time that she had.

Deciding that she needed some air, Hermione took herself to Diagon Alley since it was closer than Hogsmeade. The street was bustling with people on the weekend and she found herself caught up in the crowd. The Weasley's joke shop was filled with children that looked like they ranged from toddler age to almost ready for Hogwarts. Ollivander's had a sign advertising a new type of wand polish while several shops nearby also had promotions. Hermione paid no mind to those as she made her way to Mink.

The coffee shop was empty except for one blond head seated at the far back. Hermione ordered a London fog and made her way to Malfoy's table. He was reading the Daily Prophet, pouring over quidditch scores.

Hermione plopped herself down at the table. "You boys, you only want quidditch."

"Granger, Granger, Granger, I wouldn't expect a simple minded woman to understand something as complicated as quidditch."

"A simple minded woman? How dare you!"

"I did dare and I still do. I called you simple minded. What are you going to do about it."

Hermione saw red. She had been called a lot of names by the albino ferret but simple minded had never been one of them. Before she could react, however, she noticed the humor in Malfoy's eyes. He was simply goading her. Two could play at that game.

"I guess quidditch might not be my forte, Malfoy, but I don't suppose simple minded rodents would understand the intricacies of wizarding law," Hermione said. "There's a fascinating article about a case that's in its sixth week because people like yourself are on the jury."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I think that I am more than capable."

"Oh yeah? Prove it?"

"How do you want me to "prove it" when I don't know anything about the case?"

"I don't care. You figure it out."

The two bickered like school children over a case that had no significance to either of them. To an outsider, their words would have sounded cruel and harsh but the two knew that it was not the case. For the first time, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were having as close to a civil conversation as either of them had ever had.

330 Days Before

Hermione was sitting in her favourite squashy armchair in her room, relaxing, when she thought back to her eights year. It had been so nice at the time. Everything fit as it was supposed to back then. Her tests had been much easier and the reading material made sense. She saw her friends regularly because it was mandatory to come back. In many ways, at the moment, it felt like her support network was slowly disappearing.

A particular memory stood out to her. It was the time that she an Malfoy had gotten locked into a classroom together overnight. Hogwarts had put in place a new policy that meant all doors leading into parts of the school locked automatically. Portraits would not swing and allow anyone into the dormitories, and classrooms locked tight. It was a safety measure to deal with the threat of any potential Death Eaters or Voldemort sympathizers that may try to attack the school.

That night, both she and Malfoy had been working on some kind of assignment. Each one was doing separate work for different classes. If Hermione recalled correctly, she had been doing something for muggle studies. She found working in a classroom was better for getting the creative juices flowing. It also got Ron and Harry out of her hair but she would never publicly admit to that.

The two, sitting as far as possible from each other, had lost track of time. It was getting late but neither had any idea of just how late. It was only when the door to the classroom clicked shut, signalling that it was locked, did either of them look up from their work. Hermione had a look of terror on her face while Draco looked annoyed that this was an inconvenience he was going to have to deal with. There was no way to get the door unlocked either so alerting a professor would be pointless. The doors were charmed to stay locked until the following morning.

The first few hours passed with the two pretending that the other did not exist. Hermione was the first to break the silence.

"This is ridiculous!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Can you be quiet?" Draco growled. "I want to survive this night with as little annoyance as possible and right now I'm very annoyed."

Hermione packed herself up and marched over to Draco's table. She dropped all her books and parchment down and planted herself in the seat next to the blond.

"Malfoy, we've known each other since we were eleven," Hermione said. "Don't you think we should at least be civil in the post-war world."

"Not particularly," Draco drawled.

"Fine. Have it your way. I'm not moving from here."

Draco groaned but went back to his work. It was impossible not to notice how close Hermione was. He couldn't stand the witch but he was not about to let her have the satisfaction of knowing how much he hated her. He tried to muster up some of that hatred that he had buried deep in his soul and came up with nothing. He felt nothing except tiredness. He was tired. It was exhausting maintaining the ideals that his father had raised him with.

"Okay, Granger," Draco began. "Let me hear the terms of your little truce."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "We don't have to be friends or anything like that. We don't even have to say hello in the hallways. I just want us to stop hurling insults at each other."

"I think that's doable."

325 Days Before

It had been eighteen days since Hermione had sat down at Malfoy's table in Mink. In the time between, they had met up with each other four more times. In each case, one would be sitting alone while the other would appear and try to rile up their rival. It was easy enough to do. Both of them had enough pride and ego for a room of people.

Hermione was the one sitting at the table and noted that the coffee shop was due to close soon. She was hoping that Malfoy would make an appearance because she had questions for him. The Death Eater trials were beginning soon, and Hermione wanted to know if he would be attending. Her criminal law course was going to be taking a field trip of sorts for a week's worth of trials. They would be in the courts for six hours each day, in order to watch how the legal proceedings went. There had been talk about using American execution methods just for Death Eaters. Hermione has recoiled in disgust when she heard that.

The bell over the doorway tinkled and Hemione smiled at the person that entered. Malfoy had finally arrived. He made a beeline for the order counter so Hermione had a chance to wipe the smile off her face. She would never dare admit that she was beginning to enjoy their meetings.

They never mentioned their school years, and they had an unwritten agreement to keep politics off the table. These meetings were purely mental stimulation for both of them. Despite the fact that they knew each other from their past lives, there was a degree of anonymity in these meetings. Neither knew the other in any intimate way like their friends did, so they could be whoever they wanted to.

By the time Malfoy brought his mug of tea over, Hermione had been ready to go see if everything was alright.

"What did you order that took so long?" Hermione teased.

"Why do you care?" Malfoy replied with good humor.

"Did you order every tea in the shop?"

"Well you see, I can't just let a cute witch think I'm not interested, when I very clearly like her arse."

Hermione made a face. "I really did not need to know that!"

"Jealous?" Draco asked.

"You wish."

They bantered with each other; the trials completely gone from Hermione's mind. It was only when they heard a camera click that they came back down to Earth. A hooded person had come into the coffee shop to snap a picture of the two of them sitting and laughing together. Reality set in for the both of them. They were not supposed to spend time together.

Before either could react, the hooded person apparated away. Malfoy cleared his throat as if that could dispel the tension that had appeared between them.

"So," Malfoy said.

"So," Hermione echoed.

"I guess we shouldn't meet up anymore."

"I suppose not."

Malfoy collected his things. "I'll go first. See you around, Granger."

"Bye, Malfoy," Hermione said sombrely.

She watched as he brought the ceramic mug to the counter and left the coffee shop. For the first time in a long time, she had something to look forward to, and it had been so easily snatched away. Hermione had no idea why spending time with Malfoy had become so enjoyable, but during those hours they would spend together, it felt like reality had been paused for a little while. Enemies could be civil even if they were not friends.