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

Hermione's POV

I'm finally out and back to my classes, but now I have quite a few assignments to work on. Not too many, since I was ahead, but I still have a handful to work on and I'd like to be able to get back to where I was.

I've spent most of my free time in the library or shut up in my room, working on my projects, much to my friends' chagrin.

"Hermione!" I snap my head up to look at who called me and I see that it was Ginny. The rest of my friends are packing up their things while Ginny has packed up my books and the school work that I didn't need.

"Is lunch over already?" I ask while slowly lowering my essay onto the table.

"Yes! I've been trying to get your attention and tell you that for the past few minutes. If you don't hurry up you'll be late for your next class and I don't care if you need to finish that essay right now, it won't matter if you miss the class altogether!" I spring up halfway through her rant and take my bag from her, carefully rolling up my runes homework and placing it in inside.

"Sorry Gin, thanks for getting my stuff for me."

"What are friends for? Besides I can't let the Head Girl be late to her class now can I?" She replies with a smirk, though I can sense a bit of guilt behind her expression. All of my friends have been like this since the incident on Sunday, especially Ginny and Draco.

I roll my eyes in response and try to ignore her underlying expression. Walking rather briskly, I head over to charms.

I enter the class just a few moments before Ron and Pansy come rushing in. Draco waves me over and I take a seat next to him.

"Please try to be more punctual next time." Says Professor Flitwick in his slightly squeaky voice as we sit. I don't know if he's talking about just Ron and Pansy, or myself as well, but I still blush a little.

"Today we will be starting on Elemental charms, just for review. Could someone name one for me?"

My hand is up before he finishes speaking and I can sense Draco smirking beside me.

"Ms. Granger?"

"Aguamenti, the water-making charm. It, along with it's opposite charm, can also be classified as conjuration spells; an advanced form of transfiguration." Draco stifles a laugh beside me.

"Thank you. You are of course correct. 5 points to Gryffindor." I feel happy inside and a strong sense of achievement. It's been a while since I've been that eager to answer a question. After the war I didn't have as much energy like I used to and I didn't always participate like I used to in class. Now however, I've been bored in the hospital wing and I'm trying to catch up on my classwork, causing me to gain a bit more of my previous hunger for learning. It's nice to answer questions like this again.

"Mr. Malfoy?" I turn to see that Draco is also answering with one of the other charms.

"Incendio conjures a jet or orange and red flames, usually used to set something on fire. It can be modified to be larger and more powerful in the form of Incendio Duo and Incendio Tria. There is also speculation that you could create a blue variation though the incantation is not widely known."

"Excellent Mr. Malfoy. You covered a lot of information there. 5 points to Slytherin." Malfoy grins and I roll my eyes. Of course he's trying to outdo me. Technically I do know the incantation for a blue variation of Incendio, but I'm not telling the whole class what it is.

Professor Flitwick continues picking one last student to answer with the wind charm. Technically it doesn't conjure air, but rather directs it towards a certain target. There's another one that conjures certain elements but it's extremely difficult and falls more under the transfiguration category as opposed to charms.

"Now that we've finished reviewing the charms, I'm going to assign an essay to investigate one interesting piece of information or a variation of any of the elemental charms. It doesn't have to connect to all of them but it can if you want. I just need one interesting thing and explain it as best you can. It should be 3 to 5 feet long, so choose your fact wisely, and it'll be due next week on Wednesday, April 29th. You have 8 days including today to work on it so please use your time wisely. If you need any additional help, feel free to talk to me now or during lunch."

We all start working as soon as he is done. I reach into my purse and pull out a sheaf of parchment, a pot of ink, and a quill.

As I'm getting my materials I hear someone drawl next to me. "Looks like someone is back to being Miss-Know-It-All." I look up and see Draco leaning back on his chair with his arms crossed with a cheeky grin on his face.

I know what I'm going to write my essay on; bluebell charms. It's the blue variant of incendio and since Draco doesn't know it I might be able to outdo him on this essay.

I stifle a laugh and smile at the paper I've pulled out. It's been a while since I've been this competitive but if I want to get valedictorian this year, I need to start working harder. Draco is tough competition and my level of work hasn't quite been up to scratch, so if I want to get ahead I need to put more effort into my assignments and tests.

"Yes I am, all that time in the hospital wing made me reevaluate certain things and let me reflect a bit on this year." I reply matter-of-factly. His smile becomes a little strained and I can see the light fade a bit in his eyes at my comment. He quickly looks away to get started on his own essay.

I title my paper with a temporary acronym so that Draco can't steal my idea or know what I'm doing, and because this is only my first draft. I'll probably have another two drafts before actually writing my good copy.

A few minutes have passed before I hear Draco pipe up quietly.

"Hermione, do you know what you're doing for the essay? Or rather, do you have a topic?"

"I do. Why do you ask?" I reply.

"Oh, I was just wondering if we could discuss ideas but it sounds like you're okay." He says, sounds a little disappointed

"Having trouble?"

"Just a bit. I mean I could write about Fiendfyre since I know quite a bit about it, but it might be a little dark."

"Okay. Well I think that would be fine. We all know you have a… history, but most of the Hogwarts population is alright with you now. Besides, I'll vouch for you if you ever get arrested or they get upset with you."

"That makes me feel so much better." He replies while rolling his eyes, but I can see a bit of humour on his face again.

We go back to our essays for a bit, the scritch-scratching of the quills on parchment filling the room. I get about 2 feet of parchment written before the period ends and everyone starts packing up. I roll up my essay and add it to my growing pile of said items in my purse.

Draco is still packing up his stuff so I wait for him.

"Surely you can pack up faster than that, we'll be late Defense Against the Dark Arts!" I say admonishingly, but with a teasing smile on my face.

"I can, but we do still have time." He replies while carefully closing his ink pot and placing it in his bag.

He slings it over his shoulder and we both head to our next class.

Professor Lerwick is standing at the front of the class when we enter and take our seats. I look at the board and see that today we are learning how to perform a patronus charm. It's technically not a part of the curriculum but many of us can do it from Dumbledore's Army in fifth year.

"Attention class, today we will be learning how to perform the Patronus charm." The class starts murmuring and I hear lots of 'ooh's and 'ah's.

"Now it is my understanding that some of you know how to cast it, but it would be good for you to brush up on it. After the war we had, it may be harder to cast it now so I'd like everyone try it. For those of you who haven't cast it before, it does take time to learn so we will be spending today, tomorrow, and Friday working on it. Now can anyone tell me what the purpose of the Patronus charm is?"

This time Draco beats me for answering the question.

"Yes Mr. Malfoy?"

"The are several uses of the Patronus charm. One is to defend against Dementors and Lethifolds as it is the only charm or spell that works. Another is to send messages to others without need for an owl or other courier system. It can also be used to make people feel less lonely and to cheer them up, almost like having a pet if you can perform a corporeal one."

"Thank you. Now can the students who have already performed the patronus charm before raise their hands." I raise my hand and look around to see who else has. I didn't always pay attention to what the others did during our meetings since there were a few spells that I struggled with at first, like the Patronus charm.

I see Ron, Dean, Neville, Anthony, Michael, Padma, Terry, Ernie, and Hannah all raise their hands. The leaves the Slytherins and Zacharias. I forgot how many of us joined in fifth year. Zacharias also joined at first, but he deserted later on and never learnt the Patronus charm.

The students who haven't learnt it yet are all looking really awkward and some of them are blushing a bit in embarrassment. Professor Lerwick on the other hand looks very surprised at the number of students who can do the charm.

"I didn't expect that many of you have learnt it already but it's alright. Now I wanted you all to brush up on your patronus skills partially because it's very good for you mental health after the war. The process of performing the charm involves thinking of your happiest memory and using it to fuel the spell. It's a good exercise in thinking positively as well as the fact that you can learn what makes you truly happy. Once you've performed the charm as well, when it's still being sustained it can help you stay happier and make you feel more comfortable. I find it very relaxing to cast a patronus charm while I'm working on some more tedious work, late at night.

Now since some of you don't know what your happiest memory could be, I would like you all to spend a few minutes with a partner discussing things that have made you smile, things you really like, and your favourite memories. If possible, talk to a close friend since you'll probably know each other better and can discuss more in depth memories."

I turn to Draco and he turns to me. It seems like we've both decided to partner up. I'm a little curious to find out what Draco's patronus will be. We tried to work on it near the beginning of the year but it didn't quite work. We ran out of time and never had a chance to pick it up again.

"So do you have any ideas about a memory for your patronus?" I ask Draco.

"I'm not sure. The last time we did this my memory wasn't strong enough and that was one of the strongest I have. I'm not quite sure what to do with it." He laughs bitterly. "It's kind of hard to find a good memory when almost all of your life was shrouded in misery and discontentment. I have very few happy memories."

I feel a need to comfort him but I'm quite sure how.

"Draco, your life may not be the most pleasant, your childhood may not have been the most conducive to happy memories, but don't tell me that you haven't enjoyed yourself this year? Surely at some point, something really made you enjoy yourself and have fun."

He smiles a bit, with mirth this time instead of bitterness. "Yeah I guess I have."

"Good. Why don't you tell me about your best memories from this year. From there we can make a short list and try to cast it based on those." He nods and I let him take a moment to think. While he's doing that I pull out some parchment to jot down his memories.

"Well there was that time when you taught me how to use a computer, getting my own phone, the night I took you up to the astronomy tower and we had a picnic, the time when I woke up in the Hospital wing and tried to go over to you and fell on my face, relaxing with you in front of a movie and eating pastries, playing Monopoly, our makeshift Christmas dinner, the snowball fights we had, the New Years celebration, our date at the end of Winter break, flying on my broom after not being able to for almost a year, finding out that my father was proud of me, talking with Ron about what you guys were up to in our earlier school years, and chatting with you about careers during the career fair."

I struggle to keep up with him as he goes through all of this. I jot things down as fast as possible and my notes are quite messy for me.

"I think I got everything. You have a good list here. It covers a lot. There are a few minutes left of class today so I think maybe we should narrow this down and next class we can work on casting." I say as I finish scrawling down the last memory he mentioned.

"Okay. Can I see the list?" He asks.

"Sure." I pass it to him and I see his face go from neutral to complete shock.

"Are you sure you wrote this?" He practically demands. "I can just about read it. This isn't right. Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"

"Oh come on, I can't even let my handwriting slip in front of you guys? Yes, my handwriting can be messy. I just don't usually let people see that." I glare at him and he just snickers. When he eventually calms down a bit, he turns back to the list.

"I think I can understand it. Okay. Let's see… well I can probably cut things that are more materialistic, like playing Monopoly and getting a phone. I'll have to think a little bit harder about the rest. When I've picked one I'll let you know."

"Alright then. I'm gonna work on picking one for myself. I have one already but it isn't as strong as it could be."

"What is it?"

I'm surprised. I didn't think that he'd ask me what my memory was. I'm a little embarrassed by it but I tell him anyway.

"Finding out that I was a witch and that I'd get to go to Hogwarts. That was a really happy experience for me and I don't think it'll ever lose it's meaning, but since then I've made better memories and been happier than that. There was a time back in fifth year during a DA meeting when we were working on the Reductor curse. We had partnered up while practising it and I was with Neville. He cast one and accidentally missed the target, almost hitting me but I ducked in time. Instead it hit our pile of pillows and feathers went everywhere. All of us were covered in feathers and we spent a very long time trying to clean ourselves up so we wouldn't get caught by your Inquisitorial Squad."

Draco laughs a little bit and I continue.

"This year especially I've had lots of fun. Teaching the class was a nice experience, organizing the balls were stressful but I enjoyed it, and hanging out with everyone has been amazing. While I wish Harry was here as well, I love the fact that I can just hang out with the lot of you."

I look at him and he smiles, the corners of his mouth lifting up and crinkelling his face a bit. "I agree. Especially since I never really had friends to hang out with when I was younger. You guys have really accepted us Slytherins and it's so strange to have the dynamic that we do."

We go back to working on our lists, Draco narrowing his down and me trying to fill it up. I've just finished writing a fourth one when Professor Lerwick gets our attention again.

"Students, there is about another 5 minutes till the end of class. If you haven't chosen your top three memories already, try to have them picked for tomorrow. You should also be trying to get your applications for your post-secondary pathway completed. They're due in about two weeks and we want to make sure that everyone is comfortable with it and that they're ready for it." Her calm and collected voice gets much more serious near the end of her tirade. We all nod and he turns back to his desk to sit down.

I carefully place my list inside my charms binder and then put away my spare stationary.

I look up and see that most of the class is milling about and chatting before we get dismissed. Professor Lerwick has sat back down and appears to be marking some assignments. Draco is putting his work away with a neutral expression.

"Draco…" I begin.

"Yes?" He replies, looking up from his bag.

"You know that I don't blame you for what happened right? I don't blame any of you. It was my choice to fly with you guys, you didn't force me to do anything." I can see guilt flood his expression and I almost regret bringing this up but I have to clear the air between us. "It was out of your control. I panicked and lost my bearings. You tried your best to save me but there wasn't enough time. Yes, Ron cast the charm to soften my fall, but he also didn't notice till later. You were the first to notice and the first to look out for me. So don't look at me with a guilty expression every time, I'm fine now and the past can't be changed."

He looks like he has something to add but I cut him off first. "Stop, let me put it to you this way. Remember when you got almost crippled this year? Remember how I blamed myself for that and the attack from Ron later on? Remember how upset you were that I felt guilty? Well this is the same situation but reversed."

"I guess." He replies but he still looks unconvinced. I sigh and give him a hard stare.

"Look, I don't blame you but I'm not wasting any more energy on this now. When you're ready to, move on." My gaze softens and I smile at him. He looks at me reluctantly and offers a weak smile in return.

"You guys can leave now!" Calls out Professor Lerwick and I get up.

"Now come on, let's go drop our bags off and get some food, I don't know about you but I'm starving." Draco appears a bit surprised as I grab his hand and lead us out of the classroom and into the hall. Unbeknownst to me, we both wear identical grins.

Author's Note: Thank you all for keeping up with this. I really like to hear feedback from you guys so please review. Have a great week, till next time.