Staring out the window of her empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione had known that this past summer would change everything. Her 22-year old cousin Jessie had come to visit and, upon seeing Hermione's appearance, declared that she would be giving Hermione a makeover. She had straightened Hermione's hair to smooth waves, gotten her a whole new wardrobe, and taught her how to put on make-up. To show off her new look, Hermione had decided to wear her favorite clothes that worked best to her advantage. She had on a tight crimson v-neck with three-quarter length sleeves, a denim skirt that stopped just above her knees, and black sandals.
On a sadder note, her relationship with Ron had ended quite abruptly and not the way most dating ended. They had begun dating just after Christmas in 6th year and had continued dating into the summer. Then Fate decided to rear its evil head again and shatter Hermione's world once more.
flashback
The Final Battle began and the trio of friends was swept into the center of the fight before Dumbledore and the rest of the Order could get them out of the way. Ron and Hermione fought close to one another, as Ron, ever the over-protective one, refused to be more than 5 feet away from Hermione. His gallantry was his demise. The Death Eater Hermione was fighting sent such a powerful spell at her that she fell to the ground, too weak to get up. Ron saw this and as the Death Eater shouted the Killing Curse at Hermione, Ron jumped in front of her and was hit instead.
end of flashback
Hermione cried as she remembered the month after the battle. Ron was dead. She couldn't have been sadder if her own parents had been killed. The only thing that kept her from completely spiraling downwards was the fact that Harry was alive and there for her. She knew he had taken it as badly as she had, but he still managed to be strong for her, to be her shoulder to cry on. But Harry had also finally dealt with his own demons during the battle. He had gone looking for Lord Voldemort and had finally gotten vengeance for his parents and Sirius, by killing Bellatrix Lestrange. The rest of the order had miraculously lived with only minor cuts and scrapes to tend to. The worst of the injuries was to poor Remus. He had been fighting one Death Eater and another had come behind him and muttered a curse which broken all of the bones in both of his legs.
Finally coming back to school, Hermione was in much better spirits. Hermione was coming from spending a month at the Burrow with Harry reconciling. I'm as happy as I'm ever going to be from now on, Hermione thought to herself. Hermione tried to get her mind off of the summer. She mentally began to go through the list of things to do she had made herself this morning. Pack my trunk… check. Get myself ready… check. Get on the train… check. Go to the Head compartment… Now that experience had been strange. Hermione had made her way down to the Heads Compartment, only to find it empty. There had been a letter addressed Head Girl and that was all. She had opened it to find a letter telling Hermione about her duties, to go back to her compartment and she would meet the Head Boy in their special carriage from the station to school. Hermione couldn't help but wonder who the Head Boy was. She was going to be living with this person for the next year.
Thinking and remembering was becoming too much for Hermione to handle, especially thinking about the past. Luckily, over the summer, Hermione had found a foolproof way of dealing with stress and just life in general. She had become aware of a talent for music. Singing, to be specific. She had started singing at the beginning of the summer and all of her friends had told her half-jokingly, half-seriously that she should get a record deal. So naturally since she wouldn't embarrass herself in front of people, singing had become her emotional relief. Hermione popped a CD of music she sang along with into her CD player hooked up a pair of mini speakers instead of headphones, stood up in her empty compartment, and began to sing.
Summer had not been kind to Draco. He had turned to Dumbledore and the Order after finding out what had happened at the end of his 5th year. While Draco had volunteered to spy on his father for the Order, Dumbledore had felt that it was too dangerous for him to attempt. Draco had then grudgingly agreed not to risk his life as a spy. Dumbledore had instead chosen to have Draco work with Potter in secret and teach Harry how to defend himself against the little known Dark Arts spells Lucius, Voldemort and the Death Eaters would surely use. While never going as far as to use the word friends, Draco and Harry called it a truce, if only for the fact they had to work together six to seven hours a week.
During the Final Battle, Draco had come face-to-face with his father. As expected, Lucius hurled insults and dark spells. Surprisingly, Lucius even attempted to use Avada Kedravra on his own son. Draco managed to dodge them and everyday since he thanked Merlin for his Seeker reflexes. Before Draco could try to kill his father, Tonks jumped in and pushed him out of the way, telling him to leave it to her. Draco left, still unsure if the chance had come that he would have had the strength to kill.
When the Final Battle was over, Draco found that his father had been killed in his duel with Tonks and Voldemort was finally gone for good. His mother had gone off her rocker when she found that her husband was dead and her son was a fighter for good. She had locked herself up in her for the past two months. Draco personally thought she wouldn't live through the school year the way she was going. But he had hope, something Harry had taught him, hope that his mother could learn to live in this new world that they had created. A world where she was free to live life however she wanted.
Jerking him out of his daze he heard, "What's wrong, Drakie-poo? Do you need something?" Merlin, Parkinslut wouldn't leave him alone. Going out with her over the summer had been a huge mistake. Draco replied simply, "Yes, actually I do need something Parkinson. I need to break up with you. In fact, I'm going to do it now. Parkinson, we're through and stay away from me from now on." Draco got up and stalked out of their compartment. He could hear her sobbing all the way at the end of the car.
Draco walked up and down the train the front half of the train, checking the compartments. He was, after all, Head Boy. He had duties to fulfill. The front part of the train was relatively quiet, now for the back. Draco got to the empty last car at the back of the train when he heard music and something else. It was almost familiar and tugged at his subconscious. He finally realized what he heard was a voice, a girl's voice. Whoever she was, she was singing. She sounded like an angel singing. He had to find out who she was. Draco followed the voice further down the train past a half dozen or so empty compartments.
The song sounded familiar, too. Draco knew it was probably Muggle music. Lately, the trend was to listen to Muggle music and Draco had to admit that it was good. A couple of nights over the summer, he and some friends had snuck out to go clubbing. The worst night was the night where he and some friends had found themselves drunk and in a club that doubled as a karaoke bar. Since he had always had some talent for singing, his friends shoved him on the stage and refused to let him off until he sang. Finally, Draco had caved and sang a song or two. Luckily, all of his friends were so slobbering drunk that Draco was the only one who remembered.
Pulling his mind back to the present, Draco had finally come to the compartment. Somehow, he had a strange sort of déjà vu or intuition thing happening. Draco had a feeling that what would happen next would change his destiny, and the girl's forever.
A/N: Keep in mind this is my first fanfic. This entire story is influenced by books, movies, or other fanfics I know of. Also, this story is related to my own life. So, for those of my friends who read fanfic, you should be able to find details about my life I haven't revealed to you through my story.
Signed,
Contesse Nicole de Lancret