A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am a bit nervous for this chapter, so I will be curious to hear what you think of it. You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.

Please let me know what you thought of chapter nineteen and be on the lookout for chapter twenty soon!

June 1968

Exams creeped forward with the kind of surety that they did every year, but for once, Hermione did not find herself looking forward to them. Instead of being thrilled to confirm that she had gone above and beyond in her studies the year prior, Hermione could only see them as a somewhat concrete marker that her relationship with Rodolphus would be dwindling to a close.

Sixth year exams were held prior to the NEWTs and the OWLS, with the other classes end of year exams, and everyone was too stressed to spend much time socializing. Hermione decided that she wanted to make the best possible life here for herself, especially considering she would be left in this time at least for the length of the summer. On the off chance that Dumbledore was not able to sort things out for her with the aid of the Ministry, Hermione was not going to short changed herself by pretending to be less intelligent than she really was.

Her visits with Rodolphus were few and far between, seeing as she'd barely had time to even talk to her own roommates, let alone find time to sneak away with the seventh year Slytherin. Then, once her exams were completed, it was time for Rodolphus to take his NEWTs and Hermione found him to be unreachable during that time. Not that she blamed him. He obviously had a lot to focus on, but she was confident that he had done his best with his recitation, so she was hopeful that he would have a good exam.

Before she even realized it, her sixth year at Hogwarts had come to a close and she found herself desperately trying to pack up her trunk for the trip back on the Hogwarts Express. It was hard to remember that it would not be her two parents waiting to collect her at Kings Cross station, but instead Cedrella Weasley. It hurt, but she knew that it was something she would have to face.

What hurt even more, she was embarrassed to admit, was that Rodolphus had not made time to come and wish her goodbye for the summer, to sneak one last snog in, and at least promise that he would keep in touch, even if he didn't end up following through. There would be no more study sessions peppered with kisses in the library, or lazy afternoons by the Black Lake now that Rodolphus would be leaving school for good.

Her stomach sunk when she remembered their meeting just two weeks prior, after the Quidditch cup game and when he'd confessed how much he would miss her. She still remembered the taste of firewhiskey on his lips and the way that he'd touched her, pressing her to want him much more than she ever had. What if that had been his way of saying goodbye? Of trying to sever the ties between them? Had he been trying to make one last memory for her to linger on? To give her that much?

Knowing that there was still a chance that she might see him on the train, she skipped down towards Hogsmeade with the stream of other students, promising Elna, Lottie and Fawn that she would secure an empty compartment for them on the train.

There were not many people on board yet, so she was able to find one of the nicer carriages to leave her trunk in, before leaving to wander up and down the halls. It felt a little embarrassing to admit that she was looking for Rodolphus, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to let him go so easily. She smiled a little at the change in her attitude, thinking of the way that she had done her best to avoid him at the beginning of the school year.

Just as she was about to make it to the end of the train, thinking that she might as well give up, she spied Rodolphus inside a compartment, laughing away with Flint and Pucey. The three boys looked to be having an amazing time with one another, probably all thrilled to be done with their NEWTs after seven years of preparation.

Hermione stood there, biting her lip and wondering if she should knock on the door. Had Rodolphus told his friends anything about her, she wondered? Just as she was about to chicken out, she watched as Rodolphus's eyes flickered to her form, lingering on her for a moment, before returning to his conversation, making no effort to get up and speak with her. Feeling a bit crushed, Hermione turned at headed back towards her compartment, determined not to cry on the train.

Wanting nothing more than to hide away in her compartment for a few minutes to herself, Hermione practically wrenched the sliding door open in her haste to get inside, and she didn't notice the other occupant of the compartment until she'd sat down.

"Hello, Hermione," Bellatrix said with a grin, looking up from inspecting her finger nails in disdain.

Too upset to worry about offending the other witch, Hermione made a small noise of frustration, too annoyed to worry about walking on eggshells around the volatile witch. "What do you want, Bellatrix?" she demanded, sitting down in the seat across from her.

"Can't I just want to say goodbye to my friend for the summer?" Bellatrix asked in a mocking voice, teasing her.

"We aren't friends," Hermione said with a bit more vitriol than necessary, but wanting to make it clear to her for once.

Bellatrix gave her a hurt look. "Oh, don't be like that," she sneered. "I just wanted to check on you, because, well, I thought that we had all decided that you and Rodolphus were going to go for each other and have a wonderful relationship, making each other very happy, but it seems to me that the two of you are still sneaking around for snogs in corridors and broom closets when you should be shouting from the rooftops that you will accept no other. So...what gives?"

The Slytherin girl had picked just about the worst possible time to have this conversation with Hermione, who was feeling rather like she'd just had her heart crushed by the other witch's fiance. "I think you might have the wrong impression of what's going on between me and Rodolphus, Bellatrix," Hermione said, trying to keep her voice as devoid of emotion as possible, not wanting to do something embarrassing like break down and cry in front of Bellatrix Black! "Perhaps Rodolphus just saw me as one last fling before doing what your families both want - marrying you."

"Oh, nonsense," Bellatrix said, completely dismissing Hermione's words out of hand. "Anyone with eyes can see how Rodolphus obviously feels about you." Her dark, calculating eyes run up and down the length of Hermione's seated form once or twice while she thought about her next words. "You'll just have to try harder, this summer."

An involuntary whine left Hermione's throat at the suggestion of summer. "I don't know if he will have time for me, Bellatrix," she insisted, not seeing any point in getting her hopes up.

"Of course you will. Rodolphus won't be able to keep away, not now that he can have you all to himself, away from the prying eyes of professors," Bellatrix countered, smirking at the way Hermione squirmed in her seat. "But you mustn't give in too easily, Hermione. You are a prize to be won, and you shouldn't let Rodolphus hide you away to grow dusty on a shelf. You should insist that he take you out and show you off. You've certainly got the looks to make a splash in society."

"He would never do that," Hermione insisted feeling a hard lump grow in her throat while she tried not to cry, remembering their conversation about his father. "He wouldn't want to disappoint his father."

Bellatrix did not seem to realize how much the conversation was upsetting Hermione and stood up happily. "I have faith in you, Hermione," she said with one last smirk. "By the end of summer, you will have Rodolphus eating out of your palm, and even Edmund Lestrange won't be able to convince him to give you up. See you next term," she bid Hermione, before leaving her alone once again.

She was barely able to compose herself before her solitude was broken by her roommates spilling in. If they noticed that Hermione seemed a bit more down than usual, they did not comment on it, perhaps too excited with their own plans to ask about why a poor orphan girl was sad to be returning to someone who was decidedly not her family.

When they arrived at the station, she gave each of the three witches tight, warm hugs with the promise to write one another over the summer. Grabbing her trunk, she found Georgie and Arthur easily enough, and made her way to the platform with them, where Cedrella was waiting.

Arthur was pulled off to one side, giving his girlfriend, Molly Prewett a very intense kiss that had Hermione blushing to the roots of her hair. Even though she was glad that they were together, finally, she did not need to see evidence of their relationship, especially when she remembered them as their older counterparts.

Cedrella seemed to be thoroughly disappointed with her son's behavior as well, huffing and tapping her foot while she waited for them to finish their goodbyes. Rolling her eyes, she turned to look at Hermione, noticing her sad demeanor immediately. "Bunny, what's wrong?" she asked, wrapping an arm around Hermione's shoulders, giving her a little side hug. "You look like you could just burst into tears at any moment."

Hermione swallowed, blinking back the tears that were prickling at the back of her eyes again. "It's nothing..." Hermione said, trailing off with a frown. "Just the realization that it's nearly been a whole year since..."

She did not need to add any more and let Cedrella's mind fill in the blanks on her tragic past. "Well, if you ever need to talk about it, Bunny, you know that I am here for you," she promised, before turning her attention to Georgie to interrogate him about how his OWLs had gone.

Feeling as much as an outsider as she had the whole time that she had been living in the past, Hermione let her eyes wander over the crowd to see her classmates reuniting with family. The three Black sisters had been collected by a stern looking blond man, who alternated between scowling at Bellatrix and smiling indulgently at the ever perfect princess Narcissa. Andromeda stood to the side, largely forgotten and ignored as she made bedroom eyes at Ted Tonks across the way, who was chattering away to his smiling parents.

Then, unwillingly, she found Rodolphus, grinning down at Rabastan, who had survived his first year at Hogwarts, stopping to ruffle his hair every now and again, an action that the younger boy found thoroughly objectionable. Rabastan slipped out from under his older brother's shoulder, running over to a handsome man, who could be none other than their father - Edmund, as Bellatrix had called him.

It was painful to see the way that he dismissed Rabastan's eager recounting of his year, listening with disinterest. Instead, his eyes fell to Rodolphus instead, giving him a pleased look, welcoming him now that he would be useful. Hermione felt a stab of pain in her heart when she realized that this was the man, this was the family, that had been chosen in favor of her.

Perhaps feeling her eyes on him, Rodolphus turned at saw her, his blue eyes once again lingering on her, filled with a promise that Hermione wasn't sure he could keep.

"Ready to go, Bunny?" Cedrella asked with an overdone cheerful voice, perhaps trying to inject some happiness into Hermione's summer. "We better get back...I've had the house elves organize quite the feast for the return of you three, and I am sure that Septimus is just dying to know how your exams went."

Rodolphus was still watching her when they apparated away.