To Hermione's absolute surprise, not a lot changed after her friends found her kissing Draco. She'd expected the news to spread like wildfire through Hogwarts, but none of that happened. She should have known too; not even Ron would reveal something like that to the castle. She was thankful that, despite his anger, he seemed to care about her enough not to share her secrets. However the other secret, her problems after the battle, were currently the most talked about thing in the great hall. In some of the conversations people seemed to pity her, a fact that always made Hermione scowl. In others she could tell that they'd been through the same thing. However it was the rare conversations where people stated that she deserved it that left her confused. She couldn't think of why anyone would deserve the nightmares she had or anything similar. They were awful.

She tried not to let the words bother her too much, as there was probably nothing she could do about them. And if people wanted to think that about her then that was their problem; what mattered was the fact that there were others trying to help her get back to a normal state. That was what she really needed; something normal.

But normal wasn't going to come at the present time. Especially not with the feast that night and the somber mood that had already taken over the castle. It was far worse than when they'd all returned, as not even coming back to the place where the battle took place could be worse than the one year anniversary. Hermione couldn't help but feel dread filling her stomach at the thought of going to dinner that night; she didn't want to see the looks on people's face. It was going to be completely awful and she wasn't sure she could handle it.

She was currently hiding out in a corner of the library, praying that she could studying for the exams in peace. That was one thing she really wanted at the moment; a little peace so she could study. Her friends, with the exception of Ron and Luna, had hardly left her alone as of late unless she was in her own common room. And usually, at that point, she was doing something with Draco because now that they knew Hannah and Terry knew there was something going on, they didn't feel they had to be quite as careful. The only time she actually had alone was in the middle of the night and those were not times she could actually enjoy.

Hermione had snuck away after lunch, after claiming that she needed to use the restroom and that she didn't actually need Ginny to come with her. It was a little ridiculous; sure bad things had happened in the bathrooms at Hogwarts before but there was no Voldemort trying to kill them all this year. The only reason Ginny had wanted to come along was because no one wanted her to be alone. And honestly, Hermione was frustrated that her friends were only just now paying attention to what was going on with her. If they'd noticed earlier than their reactions would be different and they wouldn't be as overprotective as they were now.

Of course, being in the library wasn't really the best place for her to hide. It had always been her favorite spot in Hogwarts and her friends knew that, so when she heard the hushed voices a few isles away she wasn't too surprised. She'd been reading over her Potions notes at the moment so at least she'd gotten something done. Knowing that she only had a few more precious seconds of solitude, Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She wanted to remember what this was like, so she could enter the peace in her mind when everything turned awful that night. "Finally! Do you know how long we've been looking for you? Why would you just run off like that?" Harry scolded, kneeling next to her and gathering up her notes. "Hermione you can't do this to running off thing; it's-"

"You know, Harry, last time I checked you were not my father," she muttered angrily, standing up and grabbing her papers from his hands. "I wanted to study and none of you are going to do that with me, are you?"

"You're the only one who still thinks studying is necessary," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Hermione you've studied for how long? You're a genius, you don't need to work yourself so hard,"

"I am not a-"

"If you're not then no one is," Harry added, smiling. "Come on, why don't we go to the Gryffindor common room? It'll be nice to spend some time together,"

Hermione was incredibly tempted to tell them that spending time together was all they ever did anymore and she didn't need to invade on their time as a couple, but she knew that would result in an argument and arguing with Harry was one of her least favorite things to do. "All right," she said finally, holding back a sigh as she walked with her two friends out of the library. She frowned as she looked back before the doors closed behind them and Hermione was led away from the library. She followed Harry and Ginny to the Gryffindor common room where they settled into chairs by the fire. Hermione knew that the spot used to be her absolute favorite in the common room, though that had certainly changed in the last year. Her new favorite spot in a common room was in front of the sofa in the Delegate's common room. That was where she now usually sat with Draco so it held some of her favorite new memories. And-

"You know you make it really obvious when you're thinking about him," Harry whispered.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking at him and Ginny. Ginny was no longer paying them much attention; she was talking with Neville who Hermione hadn't even noticed sit down.

"I mean maybe I'm wrong, but you smiled a little and I think you tend to do that when you're thinking about him. Malfoy, that is,"

"Harry I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be focused on you and everyone else, and-"

"I never said it was a problem. I was just stating that you're really obvious when you're thinking about him. Maybe you should go find him and-"

"No, I should be here with you. He's busy, anyway,"

"With what?"

"Well Professor McGonagall wants all of us, Hannah, Terry, Draco, and I, to make a speech tonight at the feast. For the battle, you know? I finished writing mine once she told us but Draco's put his off. I think... Well he doesn't think anyone will want to listen to what he has to say so he hasn't tried very hard with it,"

"Why would he think that?"

"Has anyone given him any reason not to?"

"You have," he pointed out.

"Besides me?" The silence that followed gave Hermione her answer. "Exactly. I don't blame anyone, Harry, he did some things that were absolutely awful but..."

"I know what you want, Hermione and I understand why. But it's going to take everyone else some time. Not everyone can forgive as easily as you can,"

She nodded and fell silent, turning to look at the roaring fire. She knew that Harry was right and she just had to be patient for others to see things the way she did, but Hermione Granger had never been the most patient person in the world and she was irritated that it was taking everyone so long. For a while her friends allowed her to sit lost in her own thoughts, though after a while they engaged her in conversation that lasted far longer than Hermione should have let it.

Hermione left about a half hour before the feast to go and change into something a little nicer than her current outfit. She didn't need to wear something fancy but it was a memorial for those that had died so she knew that she had to look a little nicer than she usually did. But only having half an hour before the feast started did mean that Hannah wouldn't force herself upon Hermione's hair like she had at her party, so that was always a plus. Hermione very rarely did anything to her hair, the main exception had been at the Yule Ball, and she absolutely despised having others do it.

Soon enough there were only about ten minutes until the feast started and Hermione knew that she would have to go down to the great hall. The only thing she didn't want to do was go down there alone but it seemed like that would be her fate. With a sigh Hermione walked into the common room, a seemingly permanent frown on her face, only to find the other three waiting for her. Terry and Hannah both looked sad, as Hermione expected she did as well, though Draco mostly looked bored. His eyes met hers for a second before he turned and looked at the door. It became rather obvious that he wanted to be done with the day. "We thought we'd walk down together," Hannah said slowly. "You know, for support. No one should be alone today,"

"Draco-"

"They forced me," he muttered, answering her unasked question. "Otherwise I might have skipped,"

"He's worried about his speech," Terry said, rolling his eyes. "You should have seen him in here working on it earlier. The sheer amount of parchment that got thrown into the fire would have lasted anyone else about a month of notes. In every class,"

Draco's face went a light shade of pink and he glared at Terry. "Do you have to mention everything to her?" he whispered.

Terry shrugged. "Maybe I do, Malfoy. I'm sure you've told her plenty about-"

"Can't you two just be civil for one night? Especially tonight?" Hannah pleaded. "You would think that, knowing what tonight is and how some people in this room have been effected by it, you two could manage some level of-"

"Hannah calm down," Terry said, taking a step toward her.

"No I'm absolutely sick of you two acting like children!"

"Hannah what's-"

"I just want this night to be perfect! I want everyone who's died to be recognized correctly and in a way they deserve!"

"Abbott you do realize that with your planning it will go off perfectly, right?" Draco said suddenly, surprising everyone in the room so much that they turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. "The only thing that will mess it up is my speech so if you could just-"

Hannah stared at him, her mouth hanging open, and for a moment Hermione thought she was going to run over and hug him. But she didn't, she just flashed him a brilliant smile before shaking her head. "Thank you for saying that. But there's no way you're getting out of that speech. If you don't make one then the Slytherins feel left out. We were chosen to represent the houses and make them seem unified. If we leave you out what will everyone think? Anyway, we should go,"

The four left the room and walked slowly to the great hall. Hannah and Terry talked the entire way down and Hermione walked with Draco by her side. She wanted to grasp his hand just so she would feel better but Hermione knew he wouldn't feel comfortable with that. There were a lot of people walking toward the great hall with somber looks on their faces but someone would notice. He was already irritated that her friends knew, even if he hadn't said the words, and she didn't want to upset him.

When they arrived at the great hall and walked through the large doors, Hermione immediately stopped and let the person behind her run into her. There were enlarged pictures of everyone that had died for Hogwarts lining the walls and she'd quickly caught sight of Fred, Remus, and Tonks and a wave of sadness had washed over her. At the front of the hall there were pictures of the rest of the fighters, though those pictures were much smaller and Hermione only really knew what they were because she could see Harry's face with them. Hers was probably somewhere in there as well yet Hermione refused to look for it. She didn't want to see anything about herself from that day.

Draco brushed his fingers against hers quickly and glanced at her, frowning. "Are you okay?" he whispered.

Hermione could only nod before they were separated and she went to sit at the Gryffindor table.

Professor McGonagall spoke first, saying the name of each and every person that had died in the battle and saying everything that actually needed to be said. After that, they ate though Hermione and her friends were completely distracted by looking at all of the pictures. Remus and Tonks' picture was together, as they were a married couple, though that made it very hard to look away. Hermione didn't even eat half of her plate because she kept glancing up before the dessert appeared. She wasn't even that hungry so she just avoided eating for the remainder of the meal. Maybe it was just the fact that she remembered exactly where she'd been a year earlier that made her lose her appetite, or maybe it was something else, but Hermione didn't care enough to figure it out.

Terry and Hannah said very similar things in their speeches and Hermione began to wonder if they'd written them together. It wouldn't surprise her; they'd grown very close since the beginning of the year. And that was, of course, something Hermione was happy about. If it hadn't been for McGonagall's delegate program then they probably wouldn't have talked to each other any more than they'd been in the past. The same would have been true for her and Draco, which made Hermione frown as she realized that. She quite liked Malfoy now and she was glad that had happened.

Her own speech was shorter than theirs, as Hermione didn't want to spend much time speaking in front of the entirety of Hogwarts. She spoke of working together, of accepting one another, and letting go of the past but she could tell that many people weren't really listening to her. She finished quickly and practically ran back to her seat next to Neville. He gave her a sad smile and patted her shoulder. "It was great, Hermione," he said. Her other friends, with the exception of Ron, smiled at her as well and quickly looked up to the front of the room as Draco took his place, scowling at everyone in the hall. His speech consisted of a very angry voice and asking everyone to leave the younger Slytherins alone because they had nothing to do with anything. His speech was the shortest of all.

Hermione didn't go back to her own common room that night, which she whispered as an explanation to Draco as they left the great hall. For the first time that year she spent the night in the Gryffindor common room. Ginny had spent most of the feast in tears as the picture of Fred had been making silly faces at her and Ron all night and it was too much for her to handle. Harry had been more upset about seeing Remus than Hermione had realized. They'd all needed each other that night, and nothing would change that.