Chapter 1
It had been seven months since the battle of Hogwarts,
The castle had been rebuilt from it's sorry and crumbled state but nobody could repair or take away the memories of all of the lives lost. Hermione Granger woke with a start as an owl tapped at her window, talons scratching and the owl itself screeching, she bolted to the window and opened it, allowing the bird to land and ruffle its feathers. She slowly untied the scroll that was carefully tied to the owls leg, her hands quivering and shaking as thoughts raced through her mind.
Dear Miss Granger,
Please accept our invitation to return to Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry in order to repeat your seventh year. The supply list will be exactly the same as the letter sent to you last year. If you so choose to return we would also like you to take on the role of Prefect as your organization and bravery helped many get through the war. Enclosed is a Prefect pin badge.
We hope to see you return.
Headmistress- Minerva McGonagall.
Hermione blinked and rubbed her eyes, she wasn't entirely sure if she could return to the place where she had lost so many that she had held close to her heart, unsure if she could walk through the corridors and hallways without seeing the carnage that had ensued the year before. She took a deep breath and paced around her room. Just as she had placed the letter down and held the prefect badge between her fingers another screech came through the window and a smaller tawny owl landed on her bed post. She walked over to it and again unravelled the string that held the parchment to the owls leg. She carefully opened the parchment half expecting there to be a message from Harry or Ron asking if she had received a letter, however her stomach dropped as she noticed the green wax with a serpent embedded within it at the bottom of the parchment.
Granger, I know it may come as a shock, me writing to you after all that has happened. I will also be returning to Hogwarts after speaking to both the ministry and McGonagall, they gave me a chance based on the information they had, that I threw Potter a wand and that I was hesitating to join my mother and father on the other side of the courtyard during the battle. I need you to know that I never truly meant any of it, I had no choice. My family would have lost their lives and so would I if I had not have followed the orders given. I hope you can give me a chance to prove I mean no harm or ill will. Since the war I have realized that we all bleed the same, I would very much like you to meet me for lunch on the train, we have much to discuss and get through if we are to share quarters as Prefects.
I will understand if you choose to burn or crumple this letter and would not blame you for reacting that way, however if you choose to meet me I will be in the second Slytherin train car, it is a private carriage where we can discuss everything. Carriage 2b.
Yours with sadness and apologies- Draco Lucius Malfoy.
A flash of anger coursed through the beautiful witches veins before she had a stab of empathy. She knew that Malfoy had been raised that way and with his father being within Voldemort's inner circle she was sure that he was right, that he would have been killed or lost his family if he had not gone through with the orders. She sighed as she ran her fingers through her curls and headed to her wardrobe to choose what to wear for a trip to Diagon Alley. She hadn't set foot there since it had all been rebuilt. Her mind drifted to thoughts of the last time she had been there. Out of the wardrobe she pulled a pair of skinny jeans and a blue hoodie, simple but snug to wear on her trip, as she pulled her jeans up along her long and slender legs she had a sudden rush of excitement, how could she have ever hesitated at the idea of returning to the one place she could call home. Grabbing her bag she headed out of her house into the back garden and turned once and with an audible pop and a sudden nauseating pull she apparated into the alleyway behind the Leaky Cauldron, tapping the brick wall absent mindedly she waited as the wall separated leading her into the wizarding world once more and leaving muggle London behind her, if only for a short time she knew she would again feel free.
There was so much to buy do and pack before the train left Kings Cross station the following day, with the dark lord gone she wondered if the trio would have their first uneventful year at Hogwarts.