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.