This is more a continuation of chapter 1. Thanks, and please review!
Did she do the right thing?
It was a question that would haunt her for a very long time. Hermione stared into the fire on the couch where he had sat a mere hour ago and remembered his dark eyes. They were strange eyes too. They changed colour.
She couldn't get the picture of him out of her mind. He had looked so angry, so betrayed, so blaming. He couldn't see her logic, then. He obviously did not have the same faith in Dumbledore as she had. Which was understandable.
Sometimes, she even wondered about Dumbledore's actions. But... he'd done the right thing this time, hadn't he? Malfoy was a Death Eater. All Death Eaters were evil. One less Death Eater in the war was a good thing, right?
But Malfoy had seemed so lost... so sad. He hadn't seemed happy about being a Death Eater. Perhaps he'd been forced to by his father. But it didn't matter, did it? Once you had that Dark Mark on your arm, you had to do what the Dark Lord told you to or you were dead. Malfoy was a menace to the world, and Dumbledore had just put him away so he wouldn't be able to do any harm.
Except, what was it like there? Never to feel happiness had to be painful, had to be terrible. Even being in a Dementor's presence had given Hermione nightmares.
She sat and stared for a long time. This would be her secret. She couldn't tell her friends... they would never understand. She could just imagine their triumphant faces, their eyes glinting with ignorance, celebrating the fact that they'd never have to put up with Malfoy again.
But they hadn't seen him the way she had. She'd seen so much in that half an hour that they were together. He had cried in her arms. How could she just leave that go? How could she just move on and forget about him, while he was sentenced to being sad forever?
She could only imagine the anger he felt at her, the anger he would experience in that cell for the rest of his life. he would blame her, that was certain. This was all her fault. If he ever got out, he would be forever vengeful. He would track her down, and he would not forgive her.
Hermione shivered, and suddenly felt very cold indeed.
The memory of putting Malfoy into Azkaban was no where near her mind. She couldn't believe she was graduating. She honestly couldn't believe that, after seven years of adventure, magic and growing up, she would never learn another spell in this school again. Never again would she listen to Snape's low voice again eagerly or take notes in History of Magic or transform another innate object into a monkey. It was a strange sensation, a mixture of happiness, sadness and pure excitement.
From Ron's expression, she could see he felt the exact same way. Ron had grown up a lot, she felt. Yet, as he grinned at her childishly, she realised he hadn't lost one of his good points. For this, she was glad.
Harry was a little more sombre. He had changed the most, out of all of them and no wonder, with all he'd been through. In sixth year, a battle had taken place outside the school and Neville Longbottom had been lost. Harry had been the only one present at the time and, therefore, according to Harry's self-harming logic, Harry had been the only way capable of saving his chubby friend, and had failed. Seventh year had erupted with mini-battles taking place all over Britain. Harry had become more and more quiet and pressure had been building on him. The newspapers were constantly calling out for their "hero." But it was blatantly obvious to Hermione, that Harry was not ready. She wondered, secretly of course, whether he ever would be.
He still turned and smiled at her though. Harry would always continue to fight. He was one of the bravest people she knew. She sometimes was in awe of him. She, having never suffered any major losses in her personal life, could never really understood the pain he suffered every day, but she knew how rough it must be, and how well Harry was dealing with it. She had never seen anyone die before. She hoped she never would.
Dumbledore was making a speech now. In it, he praised many, many people. He didn't mention Harry, Hermione or Ron by name, but everyone knew it was them he was talking about for various parts. Harry looked embarrassed by this and she felt her own face going red. Ron, however, was grinning proudly.
Where did they all go from here?
Harry was entering into years of intensive training. He would have to travel away from them for three years, to Albania. Lupin, along with Tonks and Mad Eye Moody, were going with him. He was going to learn many different breaches of magic and find self-fulfilment. Harry didn't look forward to it but, ever the hero, he knew it was his duty.
Ron was going to train to become an Auror. He felt it was his duty, while Harry was gone, to try and protect as many people as possible here in Britain. Hermione sometimes thought of him as a hero in his own right. Once she'd told Ron that; his ears had been red for more than an hour afterwards.
Where was she going? She was, of course, going to stay a member of the Order of Phoenix but she didn't want to be an Auror just yet. She was entering into the Ministry, much the same way Percy had. She would have to start off at the bottom but she, being Hermione Granger, expected to climb quite highly quite quickly. For now, she would be under Mr Weasley's wing. She would do nightly Auror training, however. She wanted to be ready, and be able to be useful, when things got very rough.
Hermione shook her head, to rid herself of her thoughts. It was one of her worst habits, according to Ron, thinking so far into the future that she forgot about the present.
Dumbledore had just finished his speech. McGonagall stood up and began reading out the names. Hermione couldn't breathe in anticipation. Almost unconsciously, she gripped on to Ron's hand and, with her other hand, Harry's shoulder.
When her name was called, she detached herself from that awkward position and received her graduation slip, along with her NEWT scores. She contained herself enough to shake hands with Dumbledore and McGonagall before rushing down and ripping the posh envelop open.
She nearly fainted from relief. Every single one of them were perfect. That hadn't happened since the year... the year Tom Riddle was in school. Nobody did that well... except her!
She flung herself into Ron's open arms and shouted with glee. Ron didn't ask how she did, he didn't need to. Harry picked up the slip of paper - she had dropped it in her excitement - and gave it to her, offering her a huge smile. She only hesitated for a split second before jumping at him as well. He accepted her hug with nearly as much enthusiasm as Ron.
She only stopped jumping around when she realised that the whole place had gone quiet. She wondered why, and then thought back on the name that had just been called: Draco Malfoy.
McGonagall looked flustered and Dumbledore placed a gentle hand on her arm to calm her. The whole audience hung in a united sober front, and Hermione bowed her head. For just one, one moment, she had forgotten about him, rotting away in there, when he should have been out here, receiving his outstanding results and smirking at them all, thinking he was better than them all...
McGonagall called out the next few names. When Harry's was called, the applause was ear-piercing. He smiled out at them all, but his eyes were tired. He received the piece of paper and shook all the teachers' hands before returning quietly to his friends. His smile didn't drop until he reached them. Hermione pulled him into another hug. His NEWT scores were above average, not perfect like hers, but close, considering the amount of extra study she did.
Ron's name was near the end. He got a big applause also. He almost skipped up, forgot to shake McGonagall's hand, and stumbled on his way back. He smiled and laughed the whole way along; a joker 'till the end. His NEWT scores were good. He had done a lot of work and had received enough -just barely - to become an Auror. He was ecstatic.
The celebrations carried on until morning. Hermione was uncertain herself. After all of her studying, she now seemed to have too much free time on her hands. For the last bit of her time in Hogwarts - they gave the seventh years a couple of days to prepare - she relaxed by the lake with Ron and Harry. Everything seemed so beautiful, when you knew you may never see it again.
Malfoy didn't get time to do this, she realised. He never got to say goodbye to any of his classmates, never got to appreciate the Hogwarts scenery for the last time, never got to finish his NEWTS and never got to graduate.
Questions had been asked about his where-a-bouts but the teachers were all decidedly vague and most of his friends already knew, and thought him a hero, a soldier having gone out for the cause. She'd heard Pansy whispering about it one day, and had nearly gotten sick.
Nobody would ever know about Hermione's involvement or Draco's upset at having joined the Death Eater's ranks.
But sometimes, even years later, Hermione had difficult looking at herself in the mirror.
Remember to review! Thanks for reading! What do you think so far? Malfoy will be in the next chapter, I think.