A/N- I wrote this a long time ago, I just never got around to posting it. But this is almost an apology to all the Draco fans, for what I've done to him in my Ariana series. He's a nice person in this one, I promise. Anyway, on with the show. Don't forget to review and tell me if you liked it. More to come.


Hermione scanned Diagon Alley for signs of her friends. No Ron, no Harry. She was the first to arrive. She had left her parents in the Leaky Cauldron to go find her friends. She turned to go back to the Leaky Cauldron, thinking they may be there waiting, when she crashed into someone behind her, knocking her down.


"Oh, sorry Hermione." Malfoy mumbled, helping her up. "My fault."


He walked away without another word. Hermione stood there, stunned. Had that just happened, or had she fallen into a parallel universe? Had Malfoy actually apologized? And helped her up? She didn't have time to ponder this however, as she heard two familiar voices calling her name.


"Ron! Harry!" she cried, running over to them and throwing her arms around them.


"Been here long?" Harry asked, fixing his glasses, which hermione had almost knocked off.


"Not too long. Hello Sirius." she smiled.


"Hello Hermione."


Sirius had greatly changed. He was much happier for one thing. He had received a full pardon two years ago. Aurors had captured a group of Death Eaters, hoping they knew where he was hiding. Under a truth potion, they not only told them that they didn't know, but that Sirius had never been a part of them. His "conviction" was overturned immediately. Harry had been ecstatic when he heard the news that he could leave the Dursley's forever (Almost as happy as the Dursley's were). Sirius had even been made an Auror, and helped track down Voldemort. Harry had been living with Sirius since the summer of his fifth year. His adoption papers had been signed by the time sixth year started.


"Where are your parents Ron?" Hermione asked.


"Well, we arrived by Floo powder at the Leaky Cauldron, and Dad kinda saw your parents and started asking them about Muggle stuff like he always does. Last I saw, Mom was trying to rescue them. He still won't let the Ministry promote him, but at least they gave him a huge raise."


"Been to Gringotts yet?" Harry asked.


"Nope. Let's go."


"I'll meet you later. Something tells me I should go help Mrs. Weasley rescue the Granger's." Sirius laughed.


Minutes later, they were speeding down the tracks beneath Gringotts to their vaults. As they rounded a corner, they were thrown to one side, nearly crushing Harry. Hermione ended up practically in his lap, which Ron found enormously funny. She and Harry were still very good friends, despite breaking up in the middle of last year. Both had their reasons. Hermione had noticed how her dating Harry had strained her friendship with Ron. Harry had realized he still had feelings for Cho Chang It was a mutual decision, but they had still stayed very good friends. The cart screeched to a sudden halt in front of Harry's vault.


"You don't have to stay in the cart you know. You are allowed in here." Harry called. Sighing, Ron and Hermione climbed out of the cart and watched Harry piling Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts into a bag.


"Hey, look at this." he called, picking up a large heart shaped ruby from the floor.


"Oh, wow." Hermione gasped, peering over Harry's shoulder.


"Cool." Was all Ron had to say.


"I've never seen this in here before. I guess it must have belonged to my parents."


"Duh. Why else would it be in your vault?" Ron asked.


"You know, I think I'll take this out also. Maybe Sirius'll know something about it."


It was another normal day of shopping in Diagon Alley. They bought quills, parchment, potion ingredients, and headed to Flourish and Blotts for their books. Hermione was scanning a shelf for the book Lupin had told them to get for Defense Against the Dark Arts, when she saw Malfoy walking past the window. The first thing Hermione noticed was that he was alone. The second was that he wasn't acting like Malfoy. He walked slowly, his head hung low, staring at the sidewalk as he walked. He looked so sad and lonely that Hermione almost felt sorry for him. But then, her attention was called back to the store, where Ron and Harry were laughing and digging through a pile of Gilderoy Lockhart books, finally pulling Neville from the pile. He had somehow managed to knock over an entire display of the books, on sale for a three Knuts each (Harry thought they were heavily overpriced).


Hermione had to admit, everyone was much happier these days. Especially now that they didn't have to worry about Voldemort anymore. He had been killed by a large group of aurors in a struggle. This time, they knew he was dead. They had the body to prove it. The last of the Death Eaters had just recently been rounded up. Sirius had just finished his last raid on a Death Eater hideout. The name Malfoy had been among the names of those arrested. Come to think of it, why had she seen Malfoy at all? Wouldn't he have been with his parents in Azkaban? She decided she didn't really care, and pushed him from her mind.


They lugged their supplies back to the Leaky Cauldron, where the Weasley's, Grangers, and Sirius were waiting for them. They sat talking at a table for a while, talking about their summer, even though they each knew what the others had done, from the hundreds of owls they had sent to one another.


"I can't believe its our last year already." Ron sighed.


"Look at it this way Ron, last year of Divination." Harry pointed out.


"Amen to that." Ron said, raising his butterbeer in a toast.


"Well, if you two had taken something sensible, like-" Hermione began.


"Arithmancy, we know." Ron interrupted.


"You only tell us this at the start of every year." Harry smiled. Hermione stuck her tongue out at the two of them.


"You ready Harry? We should get going." Sirius called from another table.


"Yeah. See you both in two weeks." he said, walking to the fireplace and grabbing some Floo powder. He waved good-bye one last time before disappearing into the fire, soon followed by the Weasley family.


Two weeks, Hermione sighed, as she left with her parents. Then their last year together, and then, who knew if she would ever see them again. Now you're just being silly, she told herself. Your friendship is too important to end just because you're leaving Hogwarts.

*******

Two weeks flew by as if they were two hours. In no time at all, Hermione was meeting Ron and Harry on Platform 9 ¾. They loaded their trunks onto the train, met Neville, and climbed onto the train with the rest of the students. As they walked down the corridor, looking in the open doors for an empty compartment, they saw Malfoy, sitting alone, staring out the window at nothing in particular. Ron couldn't resist.


"Hey Malfoy, how come your two cronies aren't here? Were they too stupid to find the train?"


"No thanks." Malfoy replied absentmindedly. He didn't seem to notice who had spoken, or even that someone had spoken at all. He never once looked from the window.


Ron would have replied, if Hermione and Harry hadn't pushed him along the corridor. The crowd gathering behind them was growing unruly at not being able to get past. The four of them found an empty compartment and sat down to talk about their summers. Harry entertained them by telling them about his trip with Sirius to visit Lupin, and how Sirius had switched Lupin's wand with one of Fred and George's fake wands. Lupin, not noticing the difference, had accidentally removed his hair, instead of casting a combing charm on it as he had intended, much to Sirius' amusement.


"Wonder what's wrong with Malfoy?" Hermione wondered aloud. "He usually never misses a chance to bug us."


"What do you care Hermione?" Ron replied. "I say enjoy it while it lasts."


"I care, Ron, because I don't like to see anyone so obviously upset." Hermione shot back. "Even if he a stuck up Slytherin bas-"


"Anyway." Harry interrupted. "What do you think Lupin will make us do first this year?"


They turned their discussion to what they thought they might cover in their classes this year. Lupin had been reinstated as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in their fifth year, much to Snape's dismay. He had become even more evil towards them, not only because he was again denied the Dark Arts job, but because Lupin had beaten him for a second time. After hours of non stop talking, they finally arrived at Hogwarts.


They had to fight to get off of the train. The four of them pushed their way into the corridor, along with the rest of the school. As they passed Malfoy's compartment, Harry noticed he was still staring out the window, unaware they had arrived.


"Malfoy." Harry called, waving his hand in front of Malfoy's eyes. "Earth to Malfoy."


"Huh?" he replied, noticing Harry for the first time.


"Thought you might want to know that we've arrived."


"Oh, yeah, thanks Harry."


"Harry, if you don't hurry we'll miss the Sorting." Ron bellowed over the crowd.


"That'll be pretty hard to do considering the first years haven't even left yet." he called back.

**********

The Sorting Feast was certainly memorable. Eight new Gryffindors later, they were piling their plates with food. Everyone was eating and talking. Everyone, that is, except for one person.


"Look at Malfoy." Harry pointed out, trying not to laugh. "He's all by himself."


Indeed, he was. He sat at the end of the table, well away from any other Slytherins, absentmindedly pushing food around his plate, not eating a bite.


"Yeah, didn't you hear? Crabbe and Goyle are gone." Seamus piped up.


"What?" Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny exclaimed in unison.


"Yeah. Both their families are on the run from the Aurors. They just up and left. And of course, Malfoy's got no other friends."


"Kinda almost makes you feel sorry for him." Ron smirked.


"Almost." everyone said in unison.


They climbed the stairs wearily to the Common Room, where they sat talking for several more hours. It was exactly how Hermione remembered it. Even the scorch marks from Fred and George's graduation prank were still there. Finally, completely exhausted, they made their way to the dormitories. Before falling asleep, Harry pulled the ruby from his trunk and laid it on his nightstand. He was asleep within minutes, despite Seamus' snoring, and the pillow fight between Ron and Dean.