AN: Here's another chapter. It's fairly mundane, but it's going to set up some things later on. Thank you all for reading! I really appreciate the support! And as I've said before, all errors are mine and same warnings as chapter 1.

Chapter 6

Blaise and Hermione loved it. There was a common area that had soft neutral coloured couches and a couple of desks off the the side. Bookshelves lined most of the room and held various texts, a few being muggle titles Hermione recognized. Their rooms were up a flight of stairs, with a large bathroom between them. Their names were on their door.

Hermione went directly to her room to see what had changed from the normal set up in the Gryffindor dorms. For starters, she wasn't used to seeing only one bed. Even this past summer she had shared a room with Ginny. The furniture in the room made the room cozy but not too crowded. There was even another desk in here in case she didn't want to work on her homework in the common area. Hogwarts really thought of everything.

Blaise knocked on the door.

"Sorry to bother, but do you take showers at night or in the morning?"

"Um in the morning, usually."

"Good. I typically bathe at night so we can use that as a bathroom schedule."

How did she not think to ask that first? She guessed there was a reason he was chosen for Head Boy.

"I'm going to turn in. Big day ahead. Night, Granger."

"Night, Zabini."

And with that, Hermione Granger was truly alone for the first time in a very long time. She was quick to cast locking charms and silencing charms so Blaise wouldn't hear her when she woke up in the night. She set out her books, not sure which classes she would have after breakfast tomorrow. Her bag was already packed otherwise. She decided to cast her extension charm and lightening charms to her bag and placed all of her books in the bag. That way she wouldn't have to return to retrieve her books.

Hermione quickly changed into her night clothes and curled up on the bed. The bed was larger than she was used to and made her feel small. Her loneliness was started to take hold. She grabbed a pillow and snuggled it for comfort. Thankfully she fell into a deep sleep fairly quickly.

All was fine until Hermione started screaming. As usual her nightmares were ever present, heightened by the fact no one else was around. She awoke shivering from the cold sweat that ran down her skin. Her throat was raw from the screaming. She had no idea how long she had screamed before finally being able to wake up.

She checked the time and decided to try to get some more sleep, but that didn't last long. The nightmares continued throughout the night. Never replaying the same scene, but the worst was always anything having to do with Malfoy Manor. They varied from night to night. Some had Bellatrix slicing her up with the knife. Others played on the Cruciatis Curse.

But morning always came. That was her saving grace. The darkness was always pushed away with the morning light. That kept her going.

That morning was as expected. Hermione showered, dressed, and grabbed her bag. Blaise was in the common area when she descended the stairs.

"I figured we could walk together."

"That sounds lovely. Thank you Blaise."

They walked down to the Great Hall in silence. Hopefully breakfast would be uneventful so Hermione could focus on her classes.

Ron, Harry, and Ginny were already seated as she walked up.

"So Hermione, how was it? How's the dorm? I'm so jealous you have your own room. I'm stuck with Lavender and Romilda."

"Yeah Mione. Tell us how it was sleeping in the same place as a snake."

Of course Ron wasn't going to be nice.

"The dorm is lovely. As for Blaise, he was nothing but a gentleman. We parted our separate ways rather quickly."

"Good. I'd rather my girlfriend wasn't tainted by the likes of them."

Ron was having a particularly bad morning. Hermione looked to Harry but only received a shrug in return. Ron must have already started drinking that morning. She guessed the castle was bringing back more memories. She'd have to talk to him though about finding another outlet besides drinking.

Schedules were past out quickly. Hermione had a full schedule lined up. She planned on taking 9 NEWTS. Harry and Ron were to start their morning off with a break while Hermione went to Ancient Runes. Defense was after that, then Advanced Potions. She ended her day with Charms.

Draco Malfoy was in every class. Most seats were taken by the time he came in so he simply say in the back, but Hermione was curious about him. Why was he taking so many NEWTS? Why was he almost late to every class?

Ron had caught her looking back during Charms and asked her if she was uncomfortable that the Death Eater scum was in the room. Hermione simply waved him off and told him to hush. But she couldn't help herself. She kept looking back.