AN: I am in a good mood today. I know, such a change. Every time I got a notification that someone had favorited or followed and all the views I'd gotten on the first chapter has brightened it up a little bit more. This chapter is about 500-ish words shorter than the first one, but the next one will be longer, so I'm just going to get this one out first. These first two chapters are not my best work but actually making it better is a lot of work. Same drill as with the last chapter. Please say something if I have any grammar errors, you have any questions, or you have any ideas for this story, and I'll address the questions for Chapter 2 in the AN for chapter three. If you have a question for Chapter 1, I'll either PM you with the answer or I'll just answer it in the Chapter 3 An... don't know yet. Please, please, please comment/review, I would love to read them. You all reading my story is the greatest and most amazing thing going on in my life.

U_U

~~AlicornEagle11

Hermione surveyed the platform with distaste.

She had chosen to apparate to Platform 9 3/4 for ease. Dressed in a strapless black crop top, jean shorts, black tights, a black leather jacket, black thigh-high leather boots, a beaded black lace choker, and black dangle earrings shaped like vertical infinity signs, she had miniaturized her trunk and stuck it in her jacket pocket before leaving her apartment. It was so much easier.

After the war and everything, a lot of things had changed. Her fear of heights increased drastically, flying on a thestral and a dragon. She learned to hate crowds. Like this one. Pushing her way through, not giving a damn what anyone else thought, she got on the train and found an empty compartment in the very back. She hoped that here she wouldn't be bothered.

She jinxed herself.

It wasn't five minutes later that someone slid open the compartment door. And not just anyone... Draco fucking Malfoy.

Of course it was.

"Oh, hey... Granger?"

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked tiredly.

"Well, I was looking to see if Greg was around somewhere... but I found you instead. The missing Golden Girl. You know, Weasley, Weaslette, and Potter are looking for you."

"Well, shit."

If he was suprised by her choice in language, he didn't show it.

"Want a place to hide?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. What game was he playing? After a moment's hesitation, she agreed and he led her down the train to a compartment a few from hers. Inside were four Slytherins, two on one seat and two on the other: Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini.

"Oh, Draco, where were you?" asked Parkinson. "And who's that?"

He grinned. "Granger."

All of their jaws dropped, except for Greengrass, who managed to keep her composure.

"I need a place to hide," she told them with a careless tone. "Can't have Harry, Ron, and Ginny finding me."

"Trouble in paradise?" Zabini wondered. She snorted.

"Was it ever paradise to begin with?"

She sat herself between Greengrass and the window, and Malfoy sat opposite her. She gazed out the window as the scenery rolled by.

"So, Granger, where've you been for the past few months? You were missing and it was all over the headlines."

"Oh, mainly just hung around in the muggle world where no one knew me. Got an apartment, made a few style changes, relaxed. I didn't have the newspapers all over me or people vying for my attention, it was nice and simple.

"Sounds nice," murmured Greengrass.

"If the Ministry hadn't made the requirement for us to finish schooling I probably would've stayed there forever. The muggle world isn't new to me and I could easily turn galleons into pounds and transfer it to a muggle bank. The funds we got from the war are enough to last plenty lifetimes."

"Why didn't you tell Potter and Weasley what you were up to instead of letting them throw a fit?" Parkinson asked her, frowning slightly.

"Because they deserved it. They treat me terribly after I do nothing and expect me to be there for them when they need me. I never had friends before them, so I thought it was okay and perfect, but it wasn't. And if I did, Ron would probably expect a relationship and I wouldn't be able to say no. The person I used to be... I never really wanted to be that person. Maybe being who I want will come with all sorts of benefits to reap."

She didn't know why she was pouring her heart out to them, or why they were alright with it and hadn't yet made any snide comments toward her. But she didn't have enough time to think over it before the compartment door was shoved open. In the doorway stood Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

Hermione turned back to the window and the Slytherins carefully adjusted their positions so those three wouldn't see her.

"Let's go, Harry. I doubt Hermione would be here with this scum," said Ron.

"Oh, we wouldn't want anything to do with her. Imagine that," Pansy sneered.

Ginny narrowed her eyes but said nothing, and the door was slammed closed. Hermione let out a sigh.

"Oh, I just fucking can't wait until they realize I was here all along. They're thick, but not that thick. That'll be a fun confrontation, won't it?"

"I don't envy you, Granger," snickered Parkinson.

"I don't envy me either."

"You can always stay with us whenever you can," Greengrass suggested. "We'll hide you. It's not like we have anything better to do."

"True that," chuckled Nott.

"You're Slytherins. There's no way you'd offer that without wanting something in return. So, what do you want in return for that?"

Zabini surveyed her for a moment before speaking. "You may be right in your idea of Slytherins, but would it be so wrong that we actually enjoy you're company? Besides," he looked her up and down, "you're a sight for sore eyes."

Greengrass leaned forward and playfully smacked him on the shoulder.

"That may be so, Zabini, but I highly doubt that's it. There's something you gain from me hanging around with you guys. Just tell me upfront, without deceit or lies, what it is you get from this?"

"A better reputation. They can't put you down, not after being a war heroine. So you choosing to hang around with us and have some sort of friendship will do plenty for how people think of us," explained Malfoy. "And you can start by calling us by our first names. I know you know them."

"Do I?"

"I'm sorry, Granger, but you are incapable of playing dumb, and lying is not your strong suit," Nott interjected smoothly.

"Well, if I'm to call you Pansy and Daphne, Blaise, Theodore and Draco, I suppose you absolutely just must call me Hermione."

"Call me Theo, instead. Theodore is far too formal. I don't give a flying fuck about formality, Hermione."

"Well, Theo, I don't give a flying fuck about formality, either. If I did, I wouldn't be wearing anything that I'm wearing. We can just all be happily informal together."

"Ahem. I would like to interject that I do care about politeness and formality so much that I am obsessed with the color pink and cats, so much that I allowed Minerva McGonagall to best me in a duel of words because she could turn into one. Now, how much sugar would you like in your tea?" mocked Daphne.

"Oh, twenty cubes, because if I make my tea sweet enough, it'll actually make me seem sweet as I wear the most gaudy outfits of all time," Pansy added. They all laughed at that, chatting and laughing throughout the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts, all content to be stuck in that moment and not having to worry about what was coming next.