To those of you who may be confused, Dumbledore is still alive. Also, Harry and Ginny have just come back from their honeymoon…just three weeks ago, or so.
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns it all.
Saturday, August 20 dawned with a blazing sun. The teachers still at the school were up early, setting up chairs and conjuring tables. Then, at exactly nine o'clock, young men and women started appearing with a resounding CRACK in various spots in Hogsmeade. The gates swung open to admit them as they trailed in. By nine-thirty there was a large group of people gathered in the Great Hall. Many excited voices could be heard as people greeted old friends. Suddenly the doors swung open again, and the one person whose name had been on everybody's lips walked in.
But he wasn't alone.
He came in first, messy black hair and emerald green eyes exactly the same as his old classmates remembered him. He had his arm around a pretty, petite redhead who was known for her fiery temper. Both had huge beams on their faces. Walking beside him, smiles just as wide, were the two people who had stuck with him for the whole time; a tall, lanky redheaded boy and a shorter girl with slightly bushy brown hair and chocolate eyes. (Three guesses as to whom I'm talking about…) The girl was holding hands with the tall redhead.
They walked together, talking. Their eyes were merry, but when the people who really knew them looked at the four, they saw the pain in them that would haunt them forever.
Old friends rushed to greet them.
"Harry!" Dean Thomas yelled, pumping the hand of his old friend. "Good to see you mate!"
Dean had dated Ginny for a little while six years ago, and for some reason Harry had been unnaturally cold towards him the whole time. After Harry had started dating Ginny, however, he apologized and the two were now very good friends. None of them seemed at all uncomfortable when Dean gave Ginny a friendly hug and congratulated her on her and Harry's marriage, especially due to the fact that the couple had attended Dean and Lavender's engagement party two weeks ago. Harry and Dean began to talk about (guess what?) Quidditch, and Ginny and Lavender were thrust into conversation.
"He's always talking about Quidditch," Lavender said quietly to Ginny, who rolled her eyes and agreed.
"I know what you mean. Even on our honeymoon, Harry wanted to go to a game!"
"Ooh, how was it? The honeymoon, I mean…I didn't get a chance to ask you about it at the party…"
Ginny sighed happily. "Apart from the Quidditch thing, it was wonderful…Harry can be quite the romantic if he wants to be…"
Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were immediately descended upon by Justin Finch-Fletchely (A/N: not sure of spelling, correct me plz?) and Hannah Abbot. The two of them were, apparently, engaged. Hermione and Hannah talked for a good twenty minutes before their husbands/fiancées dragged them away, saying that it was not humanly possible to talk that much.
As they walked away through the crowd, Ron caught sight of his sister chatting with Lavender, and immediately headed in the opposite direction, pulling Hermione with him—he neither wanted to see her or have his wife see her. Hermione had been incredibly incensed when he and Lavender had been dating. Admittedly this had helped him admit to how he felt about Hermione, but the girls still had a rift between them.
Ron pulled Hermione away from the crowds, over to the snack table. Hermione was about to inquire as to his strange behavior, but upon hearing a familiar voice behind her was distracted.
"Luna!" Hermione cried. "It's so good to see you!"
"It's great to see you, too!" The two excited women hugged.
"It's been so long!" Luna exclaimed.
Ron and Neville, Luna's husband, exchanged a sarcastic eye roll, before shaking hands.
"…I just talked with Demelza…"
"Oh, how's she doing? I heard that…"
Draco pushed his way through the crowd, looking for the food table. He planned to avoid everybody. To help him remain unrecognized, he'd donned a set of black, billowy robes, with the hood pulled over his head. He walked as swiftly as he could, considering the volume of people. Suddenly, he heard a voice that he knew well.
"…I heard that she's gotten engaged…"
Draco looked around for the source of the voice. Sure enough, standing right next to the snack table was Hermione Granger, talking to Luna. Hermione Granger…that name didn't sound right anymore…with a jolt he remembered everything he'd read. She's Hermione Weasley now. He somehow found himself, once again, wishing he could be right there, putting his arm around her, like the Weasel was doing…
Suddenly, Ron and Hermione seemed to be saying their goodbyes to the Longbottoms, and headed right towards him, laughing together. They obviously did not recognize him, but on instinct he whipped out his wand. In his hurry he dropped it, and bent to pick it up. By this time Ron and Hermione looked frightened at having somebody suddenly turn a wand on them. But as Draco straightened up again, gripping his wand tightly as if he might drop it again, his hood fell back, and Hermione gasped.
"You!" Hermione screeched, obviously very startled.
"I never thought you'd show your face," Ron snarled, his hand plunged into his robes for his wand. Hermione, however, grabbed it and drew it out.
"No." Ron stared at her, as did Draco.
"No?" Ron repeated. By now a large crowd had gathered. Some had taken out their wands as well.
"Give him a chance to tell us why he came," Hermione spat at him. Draco flinched—for some reason her harsh words hurt a thousand times more than Ron's did. "Then you can hex him."
"All right," Ron agreed. "So, Malfoy, why are you here?"
"Uh…uh…I don't really know," Draco said truthfully, every fiber of his being now urging him to curse Ron into next week.
"There. You see? He can't even give an answer—"
"What the bloody hell is going on here?"
All heads turned towards Harry, who had fought his way through the crowd and was now standing, observing the scene: Draco, his hand clenching his wand inside his pocket; Ron, who had an expression of disgust and anger mixed together; and Hermione, who looked rather frightened but wore an expression of disgust as well. Ginny was hovering behind Harry, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Harry, what…I can't see…"
"It's okay, Gin…" Harry said to her, but she nevertheless managed to squeeze through. When her eyes found the scene, her reaction was almost identical to Hermione's.
"You!"
"Okay, I think we've all waited long enough," Ron growled. "Malfoy, pr—what the bloody hell?"
Draco seemed to be staring at Hermione. His eyes had glazed slightly. Hermione turned beet red and whipped out her wand as well. Ron, however, flew off the handle completely.
"BLOODY PRICK! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL D'YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
Draco came to his senses and leveled himself up. By now most of the crowd had their wands drawn on him. At the exact same time, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Justin and Hannah all shot curses at him. He was blasted off his feet and flew over the snack table, landing hard on the ground. Ron made to run after him, but Hermione held him back.
"Ron, relax…he's not worth it…" Despite her weary tone, it was obvious that she, like all the others, had received immense satisfaction from cursing Draco.
"What is going on here?" The unmistakable voice of Albus Dumbledore rang out behind the tightly packed crowd. People cleared a pathway for him as he strode towards the center of attention.
"What happened here?" he asked sternly. Ron spoke up first, his face bright red.
"Headmaster, he…Malfoy was…"
"Being a prat, like usual," Harry offered.
"He drew his wand on Ron and I, Headmaster…" Hermione added.
"Plus, it felt really good to curse him again after all these years…" Ginny put in. Harry laughed and smiled at her.
"Ah, I see." Dumbledore's voice was stern, but his eyes twinkled with amusement. He walked over to the crumpled young man and bent over him. Straightening up after a few moments, he raised his wand and out shot a silvery phoenix.
"Go to Madame Pomfrey," he instructed the phoenix. "Tell her to ready a bed for an injured former student." As the bird flew off out the open doors, he turned to the crowd.
"Could somebody please levitate Mr Malfoy to the Hospital Wing?" he asked kindly. Hannah reluctantly agreed.
"Ah, thank you, Miss Abbot…oh, please pardon me, soon-to-be Mrs Finch-Fletchely?" Hannah blushed and nodded before waving her wand. Draco's limp body floated into the air and she guided it away.
"Um, Headmaster, we can explain—you see, Malfoy was—"
"There is no need for an explanation, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said, that familiar twinkle back behind his half-moon spectacles. "I can let it pass this time. And," he added to the crowd in general, "please call me Albus from now on. Since you are no longer students, I see no need for you to call me 'Headmaster'."
There was a general murmur of assent from the now-happy crowd. The tightly packed group thinned out slowly. Ron pulled Hermione aside, into the Entrance Hall.
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry for acting like that…I mean, I shouldn't have…" Ron's stammers were cut off as Hermione placed a finger on his lips.
"It's okay," she said, smiling. "You've always been protective of me. I'm glad you are."
Ron smiled at her, then swept her into a kiss. They stood there, unaware of anybody else, in one of the many moments meant only for them.
Feather finger-I know it's you! You were probably too lazy to log in…I do that sometimes too.
Mrs.Ginny Weasley-Potter-One million thanks!
Troubled Tazzy-I don't like Draco/Hermione, not at all, but I thought I might throw in a little drama to shake things up! Thank you for your comments.