Lena2244: we'll see what happens! This is just starting :P

SweetSwizzle614: Thank you!

Chapter Two

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Although three months had passed, Hermione still had nightmares about the Battle of Hogwarts.

Hearing Fred's scream, coming across Tonks and Lupin's bodies as she fled down the corridors with Ron while they dodged Death Eaters' curses...

She knew the war would haunt her forever. Though without a doubt the worst thing had been when they all came out into the front courtyard of the castle, summoned by Voldemort, and she saw the motionless body of her best friend in Hagrid's arms.

At that moment she felt that her life was meaningless.

Hermione could no longer fight without Harry. Over the years they had faced so many things together... and if he was gone she could find no reason to continue fighting for a better world.

She had never been so relieved as when she had seen him move and jump off Hagrid's embrace, falling to the ground and running as Death Eaters and Voldemort himself attacked him. What happened next was a blur in her memory, full of screams and movement, until the body of the most feared wizard had collapsed before everyone's eyes.

And it was all over... Though it would never really end. Hermione found it impossible to overcome so much suffering and pain even with time.

Gradually, life returned to normal. She was able to give her parents their memories back and they promised to return to England, even though the summer was over and they were still in Australia.

Hermione knew that she wanted to return to Hogwarts to finish her studies. The Headmistress and the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had passed a decree that all students must return to the school to complete their compulsory studies. During Voldemort's regime, the education there had left much to be desired and the exams had been suspended after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Hermione would be in the same year as Ginny and Luna, and she would use the time to think about what she wanted to do with her life.

Ron and Harry didn't want to go back. They had got an official permit signed by the Ministry and decided to go into the working world. Harry had been offered a job as an Auror a couple of weeks after defeating Voldemort, which he accepted without hesitation.

Ron chose to join his brother George and run the Diagon Alley shop with him now that Fred was gone.

The Weasley family had not been the same since one of the twins lost his life. They talked a lot less and had withdrawn into themselves trying to come to terms with what had happened.

Hermione had been on the verge of taking a step further in her relationship with Ron. After Voldemort's defeat, she devoted herself to comforting him and giving him her unconditional support, and she realised that what she felt for him was not love. She still remembered Harry's complaints when he saw them kissing just before the battle, but that was all in the past now.

She and Ron were better off as friends, as they had both accepted.

So the first of September arrived and Hermione found herself on the Hogwarts Express, her Gryffindor uniform in place, with Ginny sitting next to her reading The Daily Prophet.

It was going to be strange being at school without her two best friends, but she had no choice. Most of the students had had disastrous grades the year before because of the classes taught by the Carrow brothers and were glad to have the option of trying again.

Neville was also sitting opposite Hermione in the same compartment, as was Luna. They had all seen the students from the other houses getting on the train and what they had found less amusing was running into the Slytherins, especially Malfoy.

His mother had shown up at the Great Hall after Voldemort's death, approaching Harry to congratulate him. The woman admitted that she had made a mistake and apologised to the three of them, leaving them open-mouthed. Narcissa also regretted her family's behaviour, and Hermione had to hold onto Ron's shoulder to keep from falling to the ground when she saw Harry hug her and thank her for saving him.

Lucius didn't move closer, he simply bowed his head in their direction and after that the couple left to return to their manor. Soon after Hermione found out that Malfoy was there in a coma induced by elven magic. Apparently, he had been badly injured in the battle and had needed a long time to recover from his injuries.

During his trials everyone found out that his family had been under threat for two years, living under Voldemort's orders and having to offer his own son to carry out whatever tasks he saw fit in exchange for their lives.

Malfoy had let Death Eaters into Hogwarts during his sixth year, Katie Bell and Ron had almost died because of him... and all so that he could kill Dumbledore, a mission Voldemort had demanded of him and something he was unable to do.

Harry saw him lowering his wand when he had the great wizard unarmed in front of him. It was Snape who had ended his life and it had all been planned by Dumbledore himself, who knew he had little time left.

And, during the previous year, although Hermione hadn't been in the castle, she knew that Malfoy hadn't been particularly harsh on the rest of the Hogwarts students.

He used the Cruciatus Curse on first and second-year students when Professor Carrow demanded it but, as Neville had told them, Malfoy's face darkened every time he had to do that as if he didn't enjoy it. Besides, he had not raised his wand against any of the members of the Order of the Phoenix during the last battle, neither he nor his parents. They had only used them to defend themselves, and for all those reasons they had been spared from spending the rest of their lives locked up in Azkaban.

Lucius Malfoy had been serving a five-year sentence since August, very little for all he had done as a Death Eater, and both Malfoy and his mother were left free. Harry, Ron and Hermione had turned up at his trial to testify on his behalf, explaining that he hadn't given them away when they were trapped in his manor. That same afternoon Harry also went to Narcissa's trial to plead for her release.

They were not even locked up for two days. Both of them were allowed to return to their gigantic and gloomy mansion quite soon.

Hermione looked away from Ginny, who was frowning in thought.

"Anything interesting?"

Ginny shrugged.

"Not much," she replied with a snort, spreading the newspaper across her lap. "They still haven't found the murderers who've been killing Muggles in the forests of Wiltshire and Hampshire all summer, though they haven't found any more victims for a week now. They probably left for another place."

Hermione looked down, swallowing as she saw the tally of the number of victims.

Twenty-six. And almost all of them were women.

"Do they still think they're dark wizards?"

Almost all of the bodies found had neck wounds or had lost a lot of blood, which pointed to dark magic rituals. And there were still plenty of Death Eaters on the loose in the country.

Ginny nodded grimly.

"Several of the victims were still petrified, though there is another theory," she pointed to the interview on the next page, holding the paper out to Hermione so she could read it. "The head of the Aurors suspects they might be vampires."

She read it with a knot in her stomach. She'd thought that from the beginning, too.

Neville distracted them with a story about his grandmother and The Prophet was forgotten at the foot of the seat.

Hermione was lost in thought, staring at the raindrops falling through the compartment window until the train stopped in Hogsmeade. She walked out into the station with her three friends and they made their way to the carriages waiting for them on the main street.

The first-year students followed a very smiling Hagrid, who hugged Hermione as soon as he saw her, towards the boats to cross the lake. She smiled at her half-giant friend. He was the Care of Magical Creatures teacher again and she was very happy for him. After that, she ran to the carriage where her friends were already seated.

Hermione held her breath when she saw the thestrals at the front. Something icy ran down her spine, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. It was a horrible reminder that she had seen several people die that year. She sighed and shook her head, walking in and sitting down next to Luna.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the castle, which looked as if it hadn't suffered a cruel and bloody battle only four months earlier. It was completely rebuilt, they had even replanted the trees that had burned in the Forbidden Forest.

Luna said goodbye to them, kissing them all on the cheek, and headed towards the Ravenclaw table. Hermione turned to walk towards the Gryffindor table when her shoulder bumped into something. She staggered and someone grabbed her right arm tightly, keeping her from falling to the floor.

"Sorry," she muttered, pushing her curls away from her face and looking up.

All the blood drained from her face as she met those icy eyes staring down back at her.

She hadn't seen them since their gazes met during his trial. Malfoy was so close she could even feel his minty breath on her face. She thought she saw a flash of scarlet in his grey irises, but it was so quick she thought she had imagined it.

"Watch where you're going, Granger," he snarled, releasing her arm and giving her a look of contempt.

She stepped away as if she had been slapped and Malfoy walked past her with Theo and Blaise following in his footsteps. Hermione stared at him for a moment, trying to understand what she had seen.

His eyes had never looked so bright and his skin was even paler. How was that possible? The dark circles that were always under his eyes were gone and his platinum blond hair looked softer and thicker than before.

She blinked several times, confused, and sat down next to Ginny, who was also staring at Draco Malfoy.

"He's different, isn't he?" the redhead asked, giving her a sidelong glance.

Hermione nodded.

"I don't know what it is... but there's something odd about him. He doesn't seem his usual self," she replied with a frown.

Malfoy had just sat down at the Slytherin table. His grey eyes found hers again and she looked away instantly, averting her gaze to Neville who was also at her side.

"Yes, he's changed a lot. Malfoy looks like he's even grown up a bit," he murmured as he poured pumpkin juice into his friends' cups.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who notices. I thought I was going mad," Hermione commented, letting out a nervous giggle.

Parvati, who was across from Neville and listening in on the conversation, leaned over to them.

"I hate to admit it, but he looks a lot more handsome than he did before."

Hermione and Ginny both furrowed their brows at the same time, glancing back at the Slytherin table for a second.

Was he using a glamour spell on himself?

Hermione clicked her tongue at the stupid thought. The stuck-up Malfoy wouldn't stoop to such a ruse to attract girls' attention. Besides, after everything his family had done, only the Slytherin students would still be interested in him.

"I'd rather not talk about him anymore. No matter how handsome he is, he'll always disgust me... After all, he was a Death Eater and I nearly died because of his father," Ginny added in a low voice.

Parvati and Neville nodded, changing the subject. The four of them chatted about the new teachers they would have and commented on how strange it was going to be back at school as if nothing had happened.

After dinner Ginny and Hermione stood up, leaving the Great Hall with Parvati. Luna joined them and walked with them until their paths diverged. Many stairs later they stopped in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

"What's the password?" Parvati asked, looking around for a classmate who already knew it.

"Animagus."

The three of them turned at the sound of the voice and saw Professor McGonagall behind them. The witch smiled in their direction as the portrait opened, entering the common room behind them. The rest of the Gryffindor members were already gathered there and they all fell silent at the sight of her.

"I won't keep you long, I'm just here to appoint this year's Prefects. Since our best student is back, I think she should be Prefect again."

McGonagall turned around and fixed her dark eyes on Hermione, who swallowed hard. After all she'd been through she didn't feel like being a prefect, but it was hard to say no to that confident look on her face.

"And, in my opinion, the best person to accompany Miss Granger is Mr Longbottom. But if they won't accept, I'm willing to choose others."

Neville and Hermione exchanged a glance and sighed together.

"All right, Professor," Neville murmured with a small smile.

She smiled back, very pleased, and gave Hermione a little hug.

"Welcome home," she whispered in her ear.

Hermione smiled and watched the figure of the new Headmistress as she stepped through the portrait hole. She and Neville agreed to start patrolling after the first meeting with the prefects of the other houses, which would take place the next morning and would be where they would all agree on the rules to be followed that year.

Soon after she, Ginny and Parvati went upstairs to the dormitory that the three of them would share for their final year at Hogwarts. They sorted out the beds and Hermione got the one next to the window.

After chatting animatedly as they placed their personal belongings on the shelves and divided up the bathroom drawers, it was time to try and get some rest, although Ginny and Hermione had been having trouble falling asleep since the Battle of Hogwarts.

Hermione saw her friend pull a small vial out of her trunk, filled with purple liquid. She caught her gaze and walked over to the edge of her bed, sitting down next to her.

"Do you want some, Hermione?" she asked, taking a swig from the flask and sighing with her eyes closed.

Her gaze drifted for a moment to Ginny's trembling fingers around the glass vial.

"It's a Dreamless potion, right?"

Ginny nodded.

"No. Thank you, though," Hermione added quietly.

Her friend shrugged and got up, climbing into her bed and turning off the lights with a flick of her wand. Hermione sighed, glancing at the red canopy around her, and stared at the stars through the window until she fell asleep.

Draco loosened his green and silver tie, unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt. He averted his gaze to the mirror, running his hand down the right side of his throat.

There was no trace of the huge scar.

"I've been telling you all day, Draco, and you've seen that the others have noticed it too. You have something different, though I still don't know what it is."

He rolled his eyes at the sound of Theo's voice. Blaise was in the room as well, ignoring them as he changed his clothes.

"Leave me alone. I've been asked the same question about twenty times tonight and I'm sick of it. If you all see me differently, you've got a fucking problem," he snorted and shot Theo a warning look, tossing his tie at the foot of his bed. "If you two start dreaming about me, I'm changing rooms," he snarled, flopping back onto the mattress.

Theo and Blaise huffed in annoyance.

"Don't be ridiculous, for fuck's sake," Blaise protested, closing his four-poster bed furiously.

"The two of you are the ones who won't stop talking rubbish," Draco hissed, resting his head on his hands.

Theo appeared at his side. He looked him up and down and twisted his lips, shaking his head.

"You're not fooling me. You can deny it all you want, but I know something's happened to you," he said, turning off the lights before laying on his own bed.

Draco turned his back to him and grumbled angrily. He thought it wouldn't be that obvious, but the whole castle had noticed that his body had changed. It was subtle... though enough so that most of them had looked at him strangely.

And Theo knew him all too well. He had tried to visit him over the summer, but Draco had refused.

He didn't want to see anyone until he was sure he had his urges under control.

Draco sighed and closed his eyes, thinking about what he could do to avoid them all.

So much attention wasn't doing him any good.