"What did you that for?" Ron asked Hermione as he watched his best friend and little sister walk away.
"They need time alone, Ron," she said.
"Mione, how naïve are you? They're going to go off and have a shag! That's blood fantastic, don't you think?" She wasn't paying much attention to him though. She was currently waving to Luna Lovegood and said,
"Honestly, Ron! That's not all they do, you know! And even if it was, they love each other! Don't you think it's romantic?"
"What is?" replied Ron.
"Think about it, would you? First, Gin has a crush on the 'boy-who-lived' and she's just his best friends sister, then their friends, and now their lovers." She sighed. Rolling his eyes, Ron said,
"Sure, whatever, Mione." She slapped him upside the head.
"I see you two haven't changed much." Said a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Justin Flinch-Fetchley.
"Justin? Wow! It's so good to see you!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Yeah, mate. Haven't seen you since our graduation," agreed Ron. Justin nodded as he pulled away from the hug Hermione had wrapped him in and shook Ron's hand. "What've you been up to?"
"I took a job at Gringotts. They have me stationed in Switzerland, at their branch. What about you – oh wait! I forgot, Hermione can't say, right? One of those jobs," Justin said.
"Yeah, drives me absolutely mad too! She won't even say anything that it has to do with! We're guessing it's something real dangerous," commented Ron.
"It most certainly isn't!" Hermione said, putting her hand to her heart in a scandalized fashion, "If you must know, I can't tell you because I was sworn to secrecy the day I was accepted. And you know what 'sworn to secrecy' means n the wizarding world. You tell, you're dead."
"You should still be able to – "
"Anyways," Justin cut in before Hermione and Ron could have another row, "what are you doing, Ron? And Harry for that matter."
"Well, Harry got a letter from the manager of the Montrose Magpies just a week after graduation! Blood fantastic, I said! They wanted him to be their starting seeker! That's sure something! They're the most successful team in the league! I mean, they've won over – "
"Yes, Ron. We know! I've heard it at least one hundred times!" Hermione said in a bored voice. Then she turned to Justin, "He chose not to take the position after he got the letter from the Ministry, Department of Magical Law Enforcement to be exact. They wanted him to be an Auror!"
"Of course they did, Hermione! He is the one who defeated Voldemort, is he not? I got a letter too, all three of us did. But Mione had already chosen her career, I suppose. Anyways, we had to go through all these tests - it was awful! They tested us on our perseverance and strength, plus our ability to react under pressure and surprising situations – "
"How'd they do that?" Justin cut in again, this time because of interest. Ron looked pleased to tell anyhow.
"They put us in this room, you see, and the walls are made see things that aren't there, right? And things just keep popping up at you…it's crazy! Someone – Tonks actually – told me they watch us and use a point system to determine whether you're worthy of being a Auror."
"And you are?" Justin remarked with a smirk,
"Of course!" Ron replied in a 'what-else-would-I-be' voice. "We started training a week after we got the results. It's pretty tough. Harry and I are partners! Imagine that, aye?"
"Yeah, Justin, imagine that! They're only connected at the hip and everyone knows it!" Their friend laughed Hermione's sarcasm and Ron pushed her slightly. She almost lost her balance.
"Would you stop doing that? You're at lot stronger than you think." Justin laughed.
"Okay, maybe you two have changed a bit," he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ron.
"It's means that before, you pushing Hermione would have set her off and you'd have gotten in a huge row," said Draco as he walked up next to him. Hermione looked offended and before Ron could say anything Draco was saying, "I just came over to tell you that the party is supposed to start in a few minutes."
"Okay, we'll be there in a second," Hermione said.
"Oh, speak for yourself, Mione. I'm going in now," Ron replied to his other best friend, "Let's go, mates," he gestured to the other two men to follow him.
"So, Draco, haven't seen you since the end of the war. What've you been up to?" asked Justin.
"Ah, I've been asked to join Pride of Portree. Who would've thought! Between you and me, I wasn't really a very good seeker," Draco answered as they started walking towards the castle.
"Malfoy, that's no secret. I knew that from the first game you played," Ron said.
"Hey! I resent that. Anyways, my first practice is in a couple months. Their last seeker's going on maternity leave or something. She's not coming back, that's all I know."
"Very cool. So, this means you can get me tickets," Justin commented. Hermione huffed. All boys are the same, none can resist quidditch…or food, she thought.
"Not necessarily Flinch-Fetchley. Don't get your hopes up." She rolled her eyes. No matter how much Draco changed, he was still arrogant sometimes. Hermione sighed and followed after the three boys who were now discussing Justin's career. She slid into place between Ron and Draco. The Malfoy put his arm around her shoulders.
"And you've heard about our Hermy, here. Can't even say what she does! So important…. top secret. I always knew she'd do something important like that." She blushed.
"Stop it Draco. And don't call me Hermy," she shuddered dramatically, "I always hated that nickname."
"You let Harry call you it," Draco said with a pout. Hermione grinned.
"Well, Harry is Harry, isn't he?" Ron patted her on the head.
"I'm so proud Mione! You know who you're friends are," he said. They all laughed. Very funny Ronald!
"Anyways," Justin looked behind him, "Oh look, there's Harry and Ginny. She sure looked beautiful up on that stage today, didn't she?" Ron hit him upside the head, "Sorry, mate." But once Justin had said Ginny's name, Hermione had taken off running.
"Ginny!" she squealed. When the two girls met up they embraced in a huge hug. "I am so proud of you, Gin. You really deserved this." The two girls were too caught up in themselves to notice Draco who was frolicking to them in a mockery of Hermione.
"Harry!" he said in a high pitched voice and launched himself at his friend. Harry, who had always had fast reflexes, caught him. "I'm so glad you caught my!" Draco continued, still in the high pitched voice, "because if you hadn't, I would've fallen on my fine arse!" Everyone laughed when Harry let go and Draco did fall.
"Yeah, now you just fell on your arse, not a fine arse," he remarked.
"How would you know, Potter?" the man said as he stood up and rubbed the part he had landed on.
"Yeah, Harry, as far as I knew, the only person you've seen naked is me," said Ginny. Ron made a face.
"Please save me the details! I've already got plenty of bad images of you two," he said.
"Fine, Ron. Let's go. My graduation party is already started." Harry put his arm around her waist. The group walked towards the main doors of Hogwarts. Someone – probably Flitwick – had decorated Hogwarts grounds with tons of flowers, and even more balloons. There was also a few banners that kept changing their caption.
Draco threw his arm around Hermione's shoulders.
"Hey," he said simply.
"Hi. What's with you today? You're in an extremely good mood," she looked at him skeptically, "what do you want?" He looked put out.
"Can't I just say 'hi,' like a friend?"
"Okay…sure," but she didn't sound convinced.
"Hey, guys, I see some people over there. I'll see you later. Hermione and Ginny, save me a dance, yeah?" The girls nodded, and Justin walked off. Ron opened the doors and bowed dramatically. The other two boys rolled their eyes but Hermione waited for him. She gave him a big hug and he lifted her off the ground.
"it seems like just yesterday we were walking through these doors in our first year," she remarked when he lead her to the Great Hall.
"Yeah, Mione." She sighed. We've all changed so much. Justin's right, look at Ron and I. Ever since Harry and Gin started dating we've been getting along. Now it seems like it's always those two, the Ron, Draco, and I.
"Hey! Hermione, are you coming in?" she heard Draco's voice say. She nodded. "Well then, you wanna dance? I promise no funny business." She smiled and took his outstretched hand. It was sort of a joke between her and Draco that he had a crush on her. Of course, it wasn't true, but people had accused them of dating during the war once word got out that Draco was a good guy (Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy: Another Love triangle? Harry Potter and one, Hermione Granger have been through rocky times in their relationship before, with her scandalous behavior with Viktor Krum in their fourth year at Hogwarts. Now let's add Potter's nemesis of more than six years, Draco Malfoy…). Hermione shook her head inwardly as she thought about that stupid article.
"Thanks, Malfoy," she giggled at his face and shrugged, "I thought it could be like old times, when we hated each other. Besides, we still call each other by our last names all the time. It's just more affectionate now." He rolled his eyes.
"Well, shall we, Granger?" he asked seriously. She nodded once again.
"We shall." Draco opened the door wider and they walked in. Hermione gasped.
A/N: Okay, her gasp isn't a big deal. The Great Hall just looks good, I suppose. I'm not good at explaining things like that in loads of detail. I'll say some things about it in the next chapter, through Harry's eyes.
If you haven't noticed each chapter will be in someone's perspective. Do you want me to tell you whose it's in? Let me know, okay? The last one was obviously done in Ginny's.
It's gonna be a few chapters before the quartet decides to move to Seattle. I thought about having Draco go with them too, since they're supposed to be really good friends now, but I figured, nah, he won't be there anyways, what with quidditch and such.
Well, I hope you like the chapter, it was kind of short I think and the next one will hopefully make up for it's lack of words, it's not that exciting either I must admit. *smiles sheepishly* The exciting parts will come eventually…I hope. Hehe. Just kidding.
Anyways, the next post should be up within a week.
REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!
Thanks to all the people who reviewed chapter one: The Last Weasley-
Oobergoober- Yeah, I only fixed a few spelling errors and things like that. I agree, no one has been posting more of their stories, but I promise that the next one will be up in at least a week because I already have it written and everything!