Chapter 1

Hermione jumped out of bed excitedly. Today was the first day of classes of her seventh year. She did not even try to kid herself into believing that part of her excitement did not come from the fact that she knew she would see Draco, even if it was only at breakfast. He would be there today, even if he never ate breakfast again the rest of the year because today was the day that everyone would get their schedules. She showered and used a drying spell on her hair. Her excitement of the summer was finding a spell to smooth her usually bushy brown hair. After casting the spell she looked approvingly at herself in the mirror. She was definitely going to be turning more than one head that day.
Even though things were awfully dangerous within the wizarding world at this time, for the most part Hogwarts was still safe. Cornelius Fudge had made a huge mistake when he did not believe that Voldemort was back. This mistake had cost his life and the lives of many in the Ministry of Magic. The summer before Hermione's fifth year at Hogwarts there had been an attack at the Ministry. Mr. Weasley had made it out of the building, badly wounded, but alive. Percy had not been so lucky. His body had never been found and no one had seen what had happened, but there was the assumption that he had been murdered. After this attack the wizarding world was pretty much in shambles. When Hermione caught word of this, she was convinced that Hogwarts was going to be closed, but Dumbledore had insisted that a wizarding education is important for young witches and wizards and had kept Hogwarts open.
Hogwarts was now a safe haven for all those on the side of Dumbledore. There was the possibility that the Death Eaters had gotten into Hogwarts, though there had been no attacks. Harry had as held by tradition, gotten into a pair of situations with Voldemort. Shortly after the attack on the Ministry of Magic, Hermione and Harry had taken a trip to Durmstrang accompanied by Sirius who was no longer considered to be a murder after Peter Petigrew showed up at the Ministry of Magic the day of the attacks. There had been rumors that perhaps Percy Weasley was still alive and being held at Durmstrang, which was controlled by the Dark Lord.
Karkaroff had been the one that Voldemort had referred to as the coward. Of course he went and found him. He was warned that much worse things would happen to him if he were to continue to try to hide from him then to just come back. From that point on control Durmstrang was Voldemort's alone, and Karkaroff was put under a Cruciatus Curse. His screams were continual and the pain was almost unbearable; the curse was only removed when the Dark Lord believed that he was just minutes from death if he did not. When they arrived Durmstrang, the whole place was deserted. When they tried to leave, they discovered that the whole trip had been a trap set up by the Death Eaters to catch Harry and take him to Voldemort.
The Death Eaters were accompanied by dementors, who had joined Voldemort's side shortly after the attack on the Ministry of Magic. All of the prisoners in Azkaban that had been Death Eaters returned to the Dark Lord; those who were not were given the option, become Death Eaters or receive the Dementors Kiss. Most of them chose the former, thus increasing the Death Eaters numbers by many. Amazingly Sirius, Hermione, and Harry had been able to keep them all away long enough to get back to Buckbeak and get away.
That summer was also the time that it was discovered that Lucius Malfoy had put the Crabb's, the Goyle's, and numerous other families under a spell that made them do anything that he desired them to do and made them significantly less intelligent. Surprisingly for the Goyle family this curse seemed to have been wasted, Gregory had failed out of Hogwarts the end of fifth year by being the first wizard in Hogwarts history to fail to receive any OWL's. As it turns out though, Vincent Crabb had intelligence that rivaled Hermione's. Not only that, but he had been incredibly kind since the curse had been taken off of him. He continued to hang out with Draco, which helped support the idea that Hermione had developed in her fantasies that Draco was really on the same side in the war. In addition to this, the fact that Dumbledore had allowed him to continue his education at Hogwarts seemed to be significant enough to quell her fears in that respect.
She returned to her room and grabbed her Standard Book of Spells Grade 7 book and brought it down to the common room with her. She found that she had some extra time to read before Ron and Harry would be down to go to breakfast. She began to review the spells when a voice came from behind her saying, Goodness Hermione, you look incredible, even if you do have your head stuck in a book.
Hermione found herself blushing, Why thank you Harry, what are you doing down here so early? I am usually down here quite a while before you or Ron come down for breakfast. You are breaking tradition. She laughed good naturedly.
Well perhaps it is a break in tradition, Harry said sounding suddenly distant.
Is something wrong? Hermione was now very concerned.
I have been having the same nightmare for weeks, Harry replied sounding suddenly worn out, And in every dream Voldomort defeats me.
Hermione put her book down and walked over to hug the suddenly small looking young man. His green eyes seemed to be glistening with tears. His hair was as messy as ever and he looked as if he had not slept in weeks. Hermione scolded herself for not noticing that there was something wrong with Harry sooner. Her mind had been on Draco so much lately, she failed to even notice that her friend was obviously suffering. For the time being she put Draco out of her mind. Do you want to talk about it? They were suddenly interrupted by Ron walking sluggishly down from the boys dorms.
Harry replied trying to give her a reassuring smile.
Time for breakfast, Ron said cheerfully, failing to notice that Harry did not look at all well and Hermione's looks of concern. I am starved.
Hermione found herself suddenly annoyed by Ron's lack of perceptiveness. What was wrong with that boy? Then she realized that she had pretty much done the same thing. She scanned her mind for any memories of Harry in the past few days and realized that up until this morning there probably was not anything overtly obvious about Harry's distress. She still should have noticed because he was her friend. She wondered how she was going to make it through the year with her mind constantly on Draco, making some attempt to start getting the grades she knew that she was capable of, trying to help keep Harry and Ron out of too much trouble, and keeping up with her duties as Head Girl. It was going to be insane.
A few weeks earlier she had received the letter telling her that she had been picked as head girl, and she was excited, yet somewhat disappointed. Draco was not head boy, and in all her dreams about being chosen as head girl, he had been chosen as head boy. Instead Vincent Crabb had been chosen as head boy. This was not really a surprising choice, since the curse that he had been under had been removed he had been a model student. He could frequently be found studying in the library, much like Hermione. Much of the time they could even be found studying together, as they realized that it helped them do even better in the classes and they enjoyed each others company. The past two years he had come in second in their class. They really were the obvious two choices for Head Boy and Head Girl: responsible, good students, and there was no question to where their loyalties lie. Some people had even theorized that the two of them would get together, but that was just not to be. Hermione still had very strong feelings for Draco, and though Vincent was a person that Hermione had begun to think of as a friend after all of their studying together in the library, she could not think of him as anything more. Hermione's logical side saw the fact that Draco's loyalty could be questioned, and that alone would be enough reason for him to not become Head Boy, but it had never stopped her from dreaming.
Harry and Ron ate breakfast while Hermione passed out the schedules. When Hermione looked at her own her face brightened up and all her worries were suddenly gone. Hermione, what are you smiling about, we have every class but Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherin's? Ron asked disdainfully. His face was red with anger over the fact that he was going to have to spend large portions of everyday with those stupid gits that continually try to ruin his life, especially Malfoy. Ron thought that perhaps the Slytherin's would be almost bearable if it was not for Malfoy and his stupid antics about Ron and his families financial situation. Since it had been discovered that Draco's father had put spells on people to force them to do his will, Draco had been more unbearable toward Ron than ever.
I was just thinking about how it was our last year and we decided to take almost everything together. Hermione said quickly covering. Arithmancy and Divination were the only classes they were not taking together. Hermione love Arithmancy, and there was no way that she was going to give it up her last year she could take it.
Well Ron on the bright side for today at least, Harry included, we have Care of Magical Creatures first.
Ron's face brightened significantly, Charlie said that there was going to be a surprise for us on our first day, do you have any bets on what that mean?
they all said in unison.
I bet Hagrid talked him into bringing Norbert. Hermione added with a smile. They finished their breakfast and headed up to the tower to get their books for the day.
Care of Magical Creatures was kind of a disappointment. Charlie had not made it in from Romania yet. Some suspected there may have been an attack on the dragon camps by the Death Eaters. Nothing was really beyond the Death Eaters abilities in recent years. They did not attack Hogwarts, but only because Dumbledore was there. During Care of Magical Creatures, the seventh years sat outside under the glistening sun and chatted. It had become apparent that Charlie was not going to be coming, but they had no desire to go back inside the castle when it was so beautiful outside.
Hermione was still curious to know what had happened in Harry's dream that had caused him so much distress. She did not dare bring it up around Ron though, it seemed that Harry did not want to tell Ron about whatever it was that this dream entailed. Instead the group theorized about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He had been at the beginning of the term feast and had seemed fairly normal. A balding wizard with brown hair where he had hair. He wore a normal, not too flashy robe. It seemed strange to them that even Snape seemed to like him, and Snape despised most people in the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. Finally the bell tolled to go to their next class, the suspense would be not much longer. The next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts Seventh Years, I am Professor Walden. This year we are going to discuss Cornish Pixies.
Cornish pixies? Semus Finnigan questioned. Why ever would we study Cornish Pixies for an entire year professor?
Why would we study Cornish Pixies at ALL? Draco spoke in his usual smooth all-knowing sarcastic tone.
I believe that if you learn to defend yourself against Cornish Pixies, you will be able to defend yourself against most anything. We will not be immobilizing them, instead I am going to teach you different ways to ward them off. There will be regular hands on experiments. Perhaps towards the end of the year, if I feel that you have all done well with the pixies we will move on to dementors. As you all know they are part of the Dark Lords army, and quite different from Cornish Pixies, but the spells to ward them off are quite tricky, and only the most advanced wizards tend to be successful. So, if we get to that point great, if not, no major crisis. Professor Walden droned on in a similar manner for the whole time that class was in session. He introduced the class to the topic as if they had never encountered them before. Of course, Draco was quick to point out that they had all dealt with Cornish Pixies in second year, and they were ready for something much more advanced than that.

"That man is absolutely the most horrible Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ever." Ron lamented.
"I agree completely." Hermione struggled to keep her in control of her emotions. "I like school generally, but I cannot see how I can possibly get through a year with that git as a teacher."
"We can't even drop it, Defense Against the Dark Arts is required." Harry added.
"Well you possibly could contest it." Ron added thoughtfully. "I mean you are Harry Potter: Tri Wizard Cup Champion, Boy Who Lived to defeat the Dark Lord more times than anyone else. If there is anyone in the world who is not in need of a Defense Against the Dark Arts education it is you."
"No, if you two have to deal with this impossible git, it is my duty as your friend to see you through it." Harry decided.
"I am going to the library." Hermione quickly exclaimed and ran off. Harry and Ron glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Hermione was quite the bookworm, there was nothing that they could find wrong with her sudden need to hit the books after their last class on the first day of classes of their seventh year.
This time Hermione was not heading to the library to read up on any subject in particular. What Harry and Ron had failed to notice, was a particularly attractive blond boy with cloudy gray eyes that was also headed toward the library.
It was within tradition that Hermione would go to the library on the first day of school. To the passing observer it would even seem as if she were accomplishing something. In reality though it was just that she were unable to stare dreamily at Draco because he was in the Restricted Section, and because it would give away her secret if she were to do that. Instead Hermione basked in the fact that they were in the same room and worked on the paper that Professor Walden had assigned on Cornish Pixies.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. Hermione finished her paper on Cornish Pixies, continued to daydream about Draco, and for the most part went through a normal day at Hogwarts.
After dinner in the Great Hall she was stopped by Ron on their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Um, Hermione, Ron paused as if he did not know what he really wanted to say, and was just acting upon a whimsical idea. Can we talk?
Of course Ron, Hermione answered in her usual caring manner. He stared at her for a moment and then looked away. Ron, is something wrong? She asked him, her voice full of concern.
Um... um... He tried to find the words, but they were eluding him. What ever happened to us? He asked finally able to form a complete thought.
What do you mean what happened to us?' Her face showed confusion, her mind was racing full of dread of what he might be talking about.
I mean you and me fifth year. Everything seemed so perfect and then one fight and it is all over how can that be? What I am asking is... well... His bravery was slowly failing. He cursed at himself for being so timid. Hermione, you have not dated anyone since we dated, and I think that you feel the same way that I do, and I know you have been waiting for me to come and apologize for the whole mess, but Hermione it was fifth year...
she interrupted. He really was trying to rekindle there relationship. He thought that she had not dated since fifth year because of him. I have not been waiting to get you back. She blurted out before she could stop herself.
What...what do you mean? Ron questioned her. Hermione if you are going to turn me down I need a reason. His voice starting to build in anger. He had just put himself on the line and she was going to shoot him down. For what? So she could continue to study all of the time? The shock that she would say no was sinking in and he was going to find out why not.
Hermione knew that she had just blown the cover on her feelings for Draco. How was she going to hide this; there was no way that she could change the subject, and for all of the covering up she had been doing, she did not have a cover story. She was not prepared for this to happen. There is someone else that I am interested in now. She softly whispered. Her eyes were filling up with tears, for she knew that any minute he was going to demand to know who, and she was going to tell him. He would never forgive her, and she would lose one of her best friends. Soon Harry would find out, and then he would probably turn on her too. She probably deserved it; she told herself. To fall for the enemy is to throw everything away. Nothing makes sense in these situations.
I don't even want to know. Hermione if you do not want to go with me that is fine, but you have been giving me all of the signs that you wanted me back since fifth year, and when I finally act upon that you turn me down. Bloody hell Hermione, I never knew you were such a tease. Ron spat the words at her angrily and stormed off.
I am not a tease! She shouted at him as she chased after him. She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.
Just leave me alone; I cannot stand to look at you. He glared at her. You are just as bad as Malfoy. At that he stormed off down the hall and left her there in shock. Tears were streaming down her face. This is not at all how she expected it to go, though the end was still the same. Ron hated her and Harry would most likely team up with Ron against her, and it would become a battle of the sexes, with the exception that she would truly be alone. They were her best friends, and she really had no one else that she would feel comfortable confiding in. She was now completely alone.