Hermione woke up covered in a cold sweat. She rolled over in her bed and closed her eyes again. Her eyelids flipped open when she remembered what she had just dreamt. Ginny was having the baby! Oh yeah, it was just a dream. But then her brows creased as she remembered the very strange finish to her dream. Malfoy? Hermione snuggled into her blankets a bit more. She hadn't thought about him in years, and now she was dreaming about him? My subconscious must be working overtime, she thought. But on what?
As she got ready for work, Hermione thought back to the war.
After the battle of Hogwarts, all was in chaos. Luckily, Kingsley Shacklebolt took the helm at the Ministry, and everyone was in shock. They voted him interim Minister of Magic, (a role which he was later voted into permanently). Kingsley had quickly gathered his troops, directing people every which way. He had immediately met with Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione herself.
Directly, Harry had stood up, and with his traditional brevity, announced that he was done with sacrificing his life for others. He would advise on certain matters but would not be taking an active role with anything in the near future. Hermione had known it was coming, as he had been so selfless the entire war. He had nearly lost himself, and needed time to figure things out. His whole life had basically revolved around Voldemort, and now that the villain was gone, what did Harry have lft? Of course he had her, the Weasleys, and half of the wizarding world, but he just couldn't stand it.
Kingsley had not skipped a beat, and told him that was his prerogative, but asked him to stay for the rest of the meeting, and to come to him if he ever needed anything.
It was decided that a special task force of aurors would be created to flush out the remaining death eaters, headed by Ronald Weasley. It would be considered his Auror training, and Ron had seen a promising career stretch in front of him. He jumped at the chance.
A separate judicial force would be created to examine all the facts and press charges, and Hermione would complete that task along with a handpicked delegation of impartial people.
When she had volunteered for the task, she had also asked what had been decided about finishing her education.
Kingsley had told them that he hadn't presumed to interject himself into Hogwarts business, but that he had already met with Minerva McGonagall about it. He told them to expect an owl with more information, but that students could choose to repeat the last year of school, drop out, or they could take their exams and move forward a year. Hermione had immediately decided to take her exams while Harry and Ron both blew them off with their normal apathy.
The rest of the meeting was a blur, and after Hermione had directly begun to study for her N.E.W.T.s. She did well but wished for extra time on the essay portions.
A small graduation ceremony was planned as a morale booster for those who took their exams. In the end there were only eight of them graduating. Hermione, Lisa Turpin, Blaise Zabini, Ernie Macmillan, Padma Patil, Hannah Abbott, Terry Boot, and Draco Malfoy.
The graduates were invited to a ceremony in the Great Hall. No family was invited, as per normal Hogwarts rules. Hermione's parents would not have been invited even had they not been Obliviated, as they were muggles and thus could not even see the castle.
All the tables had been removed and the teachers looked proudly down at the graduates as they filed in alphabetically. A short ceremony was given, and the sorting hat was placed on the same stool as when they were sorted in their first year. One by one, each of them were given the option to put it on once more. Hermione took her turn after Terry Boot, but the hat didn't give her anything useful. She had hoped for affirmation on her career, or maybe a useful item like the time Harry had pulled the sword of Gryffindor from it.
Instead that hat told her "Do you know why I put you in Gryffindor? No? You will, and when you need direction, help will always be found at Hogwarts, if you only remember to ask." She had been angry. Did she not need its direction now? It sounded like something Dumbledore would have spouted off when he was trying to be cryptic about something he could have just told Harry
She had ripped it off, her face flushed. She had come back to her senses when it was Draco Malfoy's turn.
It was the first time she'd seen Malfoy since that battle, and he looked a little better than he had then. His cheeks were losing some of the unhealthy, sallow look of a man under stress, and put on a little weight. He had, however, lost a lot of the pompous aristocracy that he once had possessed. Malfoy stood quietly, as though he didn't want to be noticed. Hermione assumed that he and his family were going through a hard time as they were certainly under investigation about their activities as Death Eaters.
As he walked toward the hat, she saw his gait was no longer purposeful, but almost reticent. The tall blonde sat under the hat for nearly a full minute.
The ceremony quickly finished, and the teachers all shot a myriad rainbow of sparks into the enchanted ceiling. It was bittersweet leaving the castle, where she had learned so much about her new world and herself.
.
Hermione shook herself mentally, looking at the clock. She was going to be late for work! Since there had not been any Death Eaters brought in for a long while, she had picked up a job as a filing clerk in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, learning the ropes so that she could make some reforms in the far off future.
She apparated to work and had a perfectly normal day, her strange dream forgotten.
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Okay guys! So now we've seen what happened after the battle of Hogwarts, and that was a lot of info to digest! We will be getting into the moving part of the story, and you'll get to see Draco next chapter!
Also, this is not a Ron bashing fic. I don't have any great love or hate for the sweet dunderhead, but he and Hermione do not go together in my brain, lol.
Lastly, there won't be an update tomorrow as I have a million things to do and no time to write. Please don't hate me! See you again on Thursday. ; )
Please let me know what you think. Love you all. XOXO
