Chapter 1 /./ Returning to Our Lives

The war was over. Throughout our 6th year, we fought valiantly, and somewhere near the middle of summer, it happened. Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived-to-triumph, had killed Voldemort at last.

So, as usual, in September of our 7th year, we returned, once again, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was named Head Boy. A letter arrived by owl one day as I stood with my mother, observing the wreckage of what had once been my grandparents' home. It was the routine letter, but a small pin slipped out of the envelope and into my hand. It bore the insignia of the Slytherin house, with one small word in it, engraved in silver. Head Boy.

The train ride was normal. The platform was less crowded, and no one spoke. The silence hung over us eerily as we boarded the train to depart to Hogwarts for the last time. I passed Potter on the way to find an empty compartment. He simply nodded at me.

"Malfoy."

"Potter." He saluted me silently before moving on to find what I assumed were Granger and the Weaselys. We were no longer enemies, as we had fought side-by-side. You just couldn't stay enemies through some experiences. But we were not friends. No, we were nowhere near friends. I reached the last compartment and sighed. It had a single occupant. The only place close enough to empty. I had hoped, considering the decreased number of people on the train, that I would find a compartment to myself, alone in my thoughts.

My wishes were not to be granted. Not today.

Cautiously, I slid the compartment door open. The occupant, whose long black hair was shielding her face, did not look up."Umm... Everywhere else is full.." I said, my voice seeming odd breaking the silence. She looked up, and I met the brown eyes of Hermione Granger. She had dark bags under her eyes, which were behind glasses I had never seen before. She looked as though she hadn't slept in a month. Her skin was pale against the harsh black of her hair, and she was skinny. Skinny, I suppose, is not the correct word. Her clothes hung off her, and her face was skeletal. She looked as though she had not eaten in longer than she had not slept."Granger? Um..." It took me a moment to catch my breath, shake away the shock."D'you mind if I...?" I pointed at the seat, and she shook her head."Thank you."

I placed my trunk in the luggage compartment, trying my hardest to make as little noise as possible. As much as the silence disturbed me, the sudden interruption of noise was worse. I sat across from her, and observed her for a moment. She was writing in a journal, and her fingers were long and horribly thin. I imagined I could see the bones poking out.

Looking closer at what she was writing, I thought I could see something that said, "It is not as though anyone else is going to be coming here, Malfoy. Of course you can sit." But before I could verify that that was what I had seen, she had slammed the book shut, and began staring out the window. I looked at her for a moment longer. Her facial profile was sharp, thin. A light scar ran down her neck from her ear, and I wondered where it had come from. She tensed, as though she could feel my eyes on her. I looked away, not wanting to cause unrest. I looked out the window as well, to see only that it was raining like mad. I could barely see past the rain that streaked down the glass of the window, just a hint of green here and there. I sighed softly, pulling a book from my bag and starting to read.

We arrived to Hogwarts, and the rain had still not let up. Nor had the eerie silence that engulfed us all, but I assumed within a month- perhaps, even a week- everything would be back to normal. Once again, I sat with Granger in the only nearly empty carriage, and once again, she was silent. When we arrived at Hogwarts, I held a hand out to help her down, and she gave me a curious look, but took it.

She did not say thank you. I wondered what was wrong.

As I took my seat in the great Hall for the sorting, I surveyed the damage our side had taken, though many people had been pulled out of Hogwarts as a result of the war. I made a list in my head of all the people I could tell were missing, and all the ones whom I knew were dead.

1.Lucius Malfoy
2.Padma Patil
3.Pansy Parkinson

Okay, maybe I didn't know as many people as I thought. But there were numerous deserted seats. About 275 missing or dead people, and only from Gryffindor House. As I started counting the empty seats from Hufflepuff, something drew my attention back to the Gryffindor table.

"Don't sit here." Harry Potter was eyeing Hermione Granger with what could only be called hatred and contempt. She didn't say anything, just continued sitting down in the seat in front of him."I SAID, don't sit here." She ignored him, starting to pick at the food she had placed on her plate."GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU STUPID BITCH! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S DEAD! IF YOU HAD CARED ENOUGH TO FIGHT, THEN HE WOULDN'T BE DEAD!"

"Mr. Potter, that is quite enough."

"ARE YOU EVEN GOING TO DEFEND YOURSELF, MUDBLOOD? JUST SIT THERE AND SCRIBBLE IN YOUR BOOK BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT I SAID IS TRUE! Your cowardice KILLED RON!"

"Mr. POTTER!" Snape barked, and he looked down at him, fuming, from where he was standing over Hermione, screaming. She was writing furiously in her book, not looking up or acknowledging that either of them even existed. "Go to the Headmaster's office, and wait. We will be up there, along with your head of house, shortly." He went back to talk to Dumbledore.

"I'll accompany you, Harry," the smallest Weasley, Ginny, said, looking back once more at Hermione. She gave her a nasty glare, and whispered,"I hate you, stupid mudblood."

Note to self: Add Ron Weasley to list of known dead. And I had thought the word mudblood was long dead. And that Potter and the Weaslette were above using it.

Potter and the littlest Weasley left, and soon after students started flooding out of the hall and towards their dormitory with their prefects. I looked over to the Gryffindor table, to be met with the sight of Hermione Granger. She was staring at the wall, her notebook closed in her lap, and her face completely free from expression.

"Well, Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy. Congratulations, you are this year's Head Girl and Boy, respectively." His eyes twinkled."I will show you to your Head dormitory, but I daresay I must be quick, what with Mr. Potter eagerly awaiting my arrival in my office. Or, rather, in front of my office, as he has no idea what the password is." He chuckled softly for a moment, before motioning for us to follow him.

He led us up a few staircases, through numerous tapestries, and around so many corridors that I got confused. He laughed."From now on," he started, standing in front of a portrait of a girl sitting, looking out over a lake that reflected the full moon,"you will simply be able to think yourself here." I nodded, relieved."However, this is where I must leave you. You must pick a password, and then you have your Head dormitory. Good night."

Sensing that Granger was not going to speak, I said simply,"The password will be vineyard." She nodded, seemingly grateful as the portrait swung open. The girl had looked up, and I wanted to get a better view of her, as she had looked familiar, but I could see nothing. She had disappeared from the edge of the painting.

The common room was nothing short of spectacular. There were four couches surrounding a rather square table in the center of the room, two for Gryffindor and two for Slytherin. A fireplace sat near the corner, blazing magnificently with three black chairs surrounding it. On opposite sides, tapestries hung for our separate houses. They were gorgeous, and, as I could see no bedroom doors anywhere, I concluded that they led us to our separate bedrooms. My conclusion was proven correct as Hermione went straight to the Gryffindor tapestry and through a door that had "Head Girl" on a plaque. I had stood in the doorway to look around in awe, but she seemingly had no time for such subtleties. The tapestry fluttered as her door shut softly.

The Head Girl's newfound behavior startled me. And what had Potter been on about at the feast? His words came back to me clearly.

"Your cowardice KILLED RON!"

Oh, there was definitely something going on here. And I was determined to find out what it was.