Hermione huffed,

'I can NOT believe he talked to me, let alone touch me!' she frowned as she traced her shoulder where Draco had laid his arm, 'He is the most annoying man I have ever had the indecency to meet!' She huffed again.

'I still can not understand why you had to pull me away from him, Hermione's MY girlfriend?' Ron said angrily, walking steadily towards their new dorm, not looking Harry in the eye.

Harry pushed a hand through his unkempt haired and fixed his glasses.

"If I hadn't, you would've murdered him. We have to LIVE with him remember? It's going to be hard enough because of…you know what…so let's just try and be civil.' Harry lectured, rubbing his elbow out of discomfort.

His friends stopped walking and stared at him. Luna stepped forward and put a hand on his forehead.

'Er, Luna? What are you doing?'

'Hush' Luna whispered.

They waited in silence for a moment.

'No fever…this is definitely a sane Harry.' Luna said.

They all giggled apart from Harry who turned a deep shade of red and proceeded to smack the little blonde's hand away.

'I am perfectly fine, thank you! I just want my last year to go a lot smoother than any of my others did.' Harry sighed.

'Yeah, maybe this year we all won't have an insane, soulless man trying to kill us.' Neville laughed, but was greeted by four pairs of eyes staring back at him. His smile dropped, 'Alright, just trying to lighten the mood.' he shrugged as Luna tiptoed to put a hand on his shoulder.

Faint voices came from behind them as Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Theo were slowly catching up with them. Ron bawled his fists again but Hermione held his wrist until he relaxed in her hand. Pansy flashed a smile at Hermione as the four Slytherins approached the rest of the group. Hermione couldn't help but think it was a genuine smile, and she grinned back weakly, not knowing whether this was a trick or not.

'Hello fellow roommates!' Theo grinned excitedly as an elbow connected with his stomach. 'Ouch?!' he groaned, doubled over.

'Sorry mate.' Blaise laughed and turned to the rest of the group, 'So are we going to just stand here all night, or are we actually going to go into our dorm?' He pushed past everyone and carried on walking towards the astronomy tower, the other three Slytherin's trailing behind him. Luna giggled as Theo slugged forward, still clutching his stomach.

'God, I hate the cheeky fuckers.' Ron growled as he watched the four walk out of earshot. The four of them laughed at his annoyance and started walking in the same direction as their roommates, the ginger trailing and sulking behind them.

Arriving at the painting of the little blue boy, Hermione whispered the password and the portrait swung open, revealing their new common room.

'Wow.' Their jaws fell open as they all gasped in unison.

The common room was larger than the house common rooms they were used to. 3 large, deep red sofas with charcoal cushions that were so welcoming, sat in front of a roaring, stoked fire. A fluffy, cream carpet sat in front of the stone fireplace and mahogany planks covered the floor. Bookshelves towered next to the furthest wall, touching the floor and ceiling. Hermione couldn't help but stare at the hundreds of books that graced the shelves, wondering how long it would take to read them all. A large wooden table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by 10 matching chairs. Cutlery, plates and glasses were already set up with dark green and mustard coloured napkins, settled neatly on top. The sloped ceiling were home to two navy chandeliers, and flickers of light from their candles danced around the room.

Hermione breathed in deeply, as if making a memory that she never wanted to forget.

'Are you really just going to stand there with your mouths open 'cause you look like idiots.' Draco snorted, walking into the room from one of the bedrooms.

Harry rolled his eyes as Ron leant over to peak into the room Draco had just come from.

'Hey! Your rooms huge!' He announced, annoyed.

Draco leant against the wall, 'Yeah well, we were here first so we got to decide rooms. Hermione you're in here with me, unless..' He glanced over to Luna and winked, 'You wanna join us too?'

Luna blushed whilst Hermione scoffed.

'God you make me sick,' the brunette huffed. 'I can not believe I have to share a dorm with you and your little group.'

Draco's smile dropped. He stood up straight and walked towards the small Gryffindor, his eyes locked on her. 'Do you really think I want to be here, wasting my last year with the golden trio and friends? It's like the fucking muppet show in here, everything is so happy in victory land. Just stay out of our way and we'll stay out of yours.' his grey eyes glinted from the flicker of the fire.

Hermione felt like all of her breath had escaped her. She had never been this close to Draco Malfoy before and he was so uncomfortably near she could smell him; mint, beechwood, apple? She shook her head and frowned, looking into his eyes. She swore his expression softened as their gazes connected.

She took a step back as Ron pushed the blonde haired man away from her.

'You EVER come close to my girlfriend again and I promise you will not breathe one more fucking breath without a machine for the rest of your pathetic life.' Ron spat.

Draco laughed and pushed the ginger's shoulder, 'Alright, Weasel, you seriously want to do this?'

Both men held up their wands and started to circle each other, their friends watching in disbelief that this was happening.

'ENOUGH' Hermione shouted, taking both fighting men by surprise. 'This will not help our situation, we already have to live on top of each other and fighting will not make it any easier!'

All eyes seemed to be fixated on her as her breath quickened and her cheeks turned a deep shade of red in anger.

'You always seem to ruin everything! Off to bed, both of you. We all have classes tomorrow and need to get up early.' She turned around, breathless and folded her arms, waiting for the sound of footsteps and tutting to disappear as the onlookers and fighters shuffled off to their respective bedrooms.

Hermione felt a hand on her shoulder and she span around to see the faces of Luna and Pansy staring back at her. The Slytherin girl coughed awkwardly.

'Uh, so… since we're outnumbered by boys, we're in a room together. If you're uncomfortable with that, I can sleep on the couch…' Pansy motioned to the sofa as her words trailed off.

The Gryffindor smiled weakly, 'No, it's okay.'

'Don't worry, I made sure there are no creepy crawlies in our room, I'm sure we'd befriend them if there were.' Luna grinned.

Hermione laughed softly, 'As long as neither of you snore, I think we'll be fine.' she said a little more brightly, walking towards their room as the two other girls followed closely behind. Laughing together as the bushy haired Gryffindor opened their bedroom door, the three girls were greeted with their belongings sat on their beds and their pets rattling around in their cages.

'I can not wait to sleep, I feel like I've had all my energy drained out of me,' Pansy sighed, falling onto her bed, 'and then a train hit me and now I'm just in little pieces all over the tracks.'

The two girls stopped their unpacking and stared at her, a little worried. Luna was the first to break the silence,

'God, you're such a Slytherin.' She grinned and glanced over at Hermione who was silently giggling to herself. Pansy soon realised they were joking and they were all in fits of laughter, clutching their stomachs and wiping tears out of their eyes.

After they had calmed down, Hermione grabbed her wash bag and took a trip to the bathroom, whistling their school song to herself. She stepped into the cold bathroom, locking the door behind her and looked into the mirror above the porcelain sink. She looked tired, too tired, with dark bags under her eyes that were stained with concealer from the long day they had just been through. She breathed out, worried about whether her nightmares would visit her tonight and if they did, how scared her roommates will be. She brushed back her frizzy hair and stuffed it through a hair band into a scruffy ponytail. Scrubbing her make up off and brushing her teeth, she repacked her wash bag and left the bathroom. She turned the light off in their room, and got into her bed, shuffling right down under her duvet.

'Goodnight' Luna whispered and both girls answered sleepily, all of them wandering what trouble the new school year would bring.

—

'Hermione…HERMIONE'

'what? WHAT?' Hermione sat up, still half asleep. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned.

'Hermione!' A male voice shouted at her.

Her eyes snapped to where her name was coming from. Draco stood in front of her bed with the rest of her dorm-mates behind him. He looked furious, his arms crossed in front of him and an eyebrow raised.

'What, Malfoy?' She looked at him, bewildered but also annoyed at her sudden awakening.

'WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP?' Draco shouted at her.

'Oi, you said you'd wake her up nicely, you fucking imbecile.' Ron spat, pushing his way to the front of the group with Harry as they sat down on her bed. 'I'm sorry babe, I would've woken you up but the platinum prick was here first.' He stroked her hair as Harry patted her leg.

She dodged their hands and swung her legs out of bed to sit on the edge. She looked up at the eight eyes staring at her, 'I'm sorry for the noise, but I'm fine, I'm fine!' She shook her head and closed her eyes.

'Okay, but next time she does this, can you just press a pillow to her face?' Draco rolled his eyes and looked at Pansy. The Slytherin responded with a light punch to his shoulder.

'Shut up.' Pansy whispered, slightly annoyed.

Draco feigned being hurt, clutching his shoulder and pretending to go weak at the knees. He laughed and straightened back up.

'Okay, but if we don't hurry up, we're going to be late and I swear if I get bollocked by Slughorn again because of you bastards then I'll slaughter the lot of you. We've already missed breakfast and I'm fucking starving.' Theo complained, rubbing his stomach and groaning. Blaise smacked the back of his head as they left the girls' room along with Draco, their laughs echoing around the dorm.

Harry and Ron were still sat on Hermione's bed. She turned her head to look at them.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Harry asked, biting his inner cheek and pushing his glasses up his nose.

'I am perfectly fine, now get out so we can get dressed.' She said quickly, standing up and rummaging through her bags.

The two boys stood up and started to quietly shuffle out of them room but not before Ron had slid his arms round the brunette's waist.

'Are you sure - '

'Ron, seriously! Not in front of the girls!' Hermione span round and pulled away, looking at her roommates.

Pansy and Luna were both fake vomiting together, glancing at the other and giggling every so often. Hermione stifled a laugh and shook her head.

'Ronald Weasley, I am great. Now please get out so I can change and make it to my first class on time!' She said sternly, pushing him and Harry out of her bedroom and slamming the door in their faces before they could ask any more questions.

Hermione leant against the door, closed her eyes and sighed out a deep breath, blowing her fringe out of her face. A giggle broke the silence and her eyes snapped open. Making eye contact with Luna, the two girls burst out laughing, pulling Pansy into the giggling fit too.

Hermione eventually slowed down her laughter and pulled her robes out of her bag, 'Okay, okay. Let's actually get ready for the day, I can not afford to be late on the first day.'

Pansy and Luna looked at each other across the room.

'Such a Gryffindor!' They both said, clutching their stomachs as they laughed in unison.

—

Hermione smoothed down her hair and clutched her books as she ran to her first lesson.

I knew I was going to be late! God I hate not being on time, it makes me feel so unorganised!

She shook her head and walked into Slughorn's classroom, closing the door behind her as quietly as she could manage. The professor cleared his throat and Hermione froze.

'Miss Granger, I'm glad you've decided to join us.'

She span around to meet her professor's eyes peeking over his glasses, briefly seeing Ron and Harry staring at her from across the room as she held her breath, 'I'm sorry Professor, I really am.'

He raised an eyebrow and eventually smiled, 'Well, since this is the first time this has happened, we'll let you off, just please don't make it a repeating situation.' He pulled out a piece of parchment form underneath a book, 'I've assigned partners already and yours seems to be…Ah, Mr Theodore Nott.' He nodded and motioned towards Theo sitting at the back of the classroom.

'Thank you, Professor.' She nodded and walked herself over to Theo's table. She placed her books on the tabletop and sat down, not making eye contact with the Slytherin boy she had as a partner. Taking her quill and ink out of her bag, she prepared to make notes on the parchment that Theo had passed to her.

'Hey.' Theo whispered as their potions professor rattled on, 'Hey!'

Hermione stopped writing and turned her head towards him, "Will you please be quiet, I am trying to understand what Professor Slughorn is saying.' She then looked the other way and leaned away from him slightly.

'Alright, Jesus Christ, I'll brew a potion to help shut my gob in a minute.' Theo hissed and rolled his eyes.

The Gryffindor placed down her quill and looked at him, 'What is so important that you feel the need to interrupt my education?'

Theo laughed, 'Honestly I wouldn't worry too much, Slughorn rambles on so much that half the lesson doesn't even make sense.'

A smile spread across the brunette's face.

'What I really wanted to ask you, is if you're alright?' Theo's smile dropped and he leant towards her slightly, ruffling his dark blonde hair.

She frowned, slightly confused, 'What do you mean?'

'I know you have nightmares.'

Hermione was taken aback, her eyes widened in bewilderment, 'No - no, I don't know what you mean?'

'I have them too.' Theo whispered, avoiding eye contact. 'Anyway! Potions fucking sucks dick right?!'

'Mr Nott! Will you please mind your language? 20 points from Slytherin.' Their professor announced from across the room, narrowing his eyes at Hermione's partner.

'Sorry sir.' Theo called out, flashing a smile at Hermione.

Professor Slughorn tutted and turned back around to continue mixing his potion.

'Theo…' Hermione started.

'Don't Granger, just forget it, alright. Let's just go back to not talking to each other again.' Theo picked up his quill and started to write down notes.

She stared at him for a minute, wondering if she should push the conversation further, but eventually voted against it, dipping her quill into her ink.

'Can anyone tell me what ingredients are needed for an antidote to most common poisons?' Professor Slughorn turned around and asked the class. Many hands were raised slowly but Hermione's shot up first.

'Yes Miss Granger?'

Hermione smiled, 'Bezoar, mistletoe berries and unicorn horns.'

'Very good, Miss Granger, 10 points to Gryffindor.'

Her smile grew wider and she looked down to jot down notes onto her parchment as the Professor went into more detail on common poisons.

'psst, Hermione.' A voice from the next table whispered. She looked over and met the blue eyes of her boyfriend. She raised an eyebrow.

'Me and Harry are going to meet Hagrid after last lesson, are you coming?' The ginger questioned, his eyes sparkling.

Hermione rolled her eyes, 'Of course, is that even a question?'

Her boyfriend and best friend smiled at her.

'Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, are you taking notes?' Professor Slughorn asked from the front of the classroom.

'Yes Sir!' They answered in unison, putting their heads down to scribble down the ingredients previously listed by the potions teacher and giggling quietly.

Once the lesson had finished, the students poured out of the classroom and were rushing off to their next classes. Bumping into Neville and Luna, the golden trio waved them off and wished them luck in their next class, promising they'd see each other back in their dorm.

'So what did Wizard Nazi the third want?' Ron laughed, holding Hermione's hand as they strolled down the hallway to their next lesson.

'You mean Theo? Don't call him that!' The brunette exclaimed.

Harry laughed, 'I mean, he did fight on the other side, Mione. We can't help but remember that.'

'Even still!' Hermione bit her inside cheek, 'They're obviously here for a reason. You heard what Pansy said, they just want to get on with their lives.'

'Yeah, after they completely obliterated them!' Ron laughed again, looking over at Harry who was still laughing. 'Look Hermione, some people don't change. Just because they're here doesn't mean they've forgotten who they or their parents are. Bloody Malfoy would still probably call you Mudblood to your face.'

Hermione looked concerned, 'I don't know, would you really show your face at the school you tried to destroy if you didn't want to change?'

Ron and Harry pondered this thought for a second, before the latter broke the silence.

'Maybe they're up to something?' Harry asked, pushing his glasses further up his face, glancing over at Ron who was nodding in agreement.

'We can't be too careful, they may be plotting against us again.' The ginger said quietly.

Hermione huffed, 'God, you guys are arseholes. Pansy has genuinely been nice to me and Luna, she wasn't even there for the war against Voldemort!'

'Yeah but she's still a Slytherin and she's still Malfoy's friend. You need to be wary about her.'

'I share a bloody room with her!'

'All the more reason to keep an eye on the girl!'

'Oh my god, fine! Can we just get to defence please, these books are heavy.'

Ron took the books out of her hands and kissed her forehead, 'I love you, you stubborn witch.' he said, looking in her eyes.

Hermione smiled and started to walk off, her boyfriend following close behind.

'Alright, am I still under my cloak because CLEARLY I'm invisible to you guys?' Harry called after them, rolling his eyes and walking to catch up with his two best friends. 'You do realise I'm still here right?'

Hermione laughed, 'Yes Harry, how could we forget the precious boy who lived?' She said, ruffling his hair.

'Yeah well, this interaction is making me not want to live.'

Ron snorted and clapped a hand over his mouth, laughing so hard his cheeks were bright red. Hermione slapped his shoulder, 'Come on, we're the first students Professor Williamson has to teach so we can not afford to be late.'

'I get that he was the first Auror to see Voldemort, but I don't understand why he's now teaching defence?' Harry scratched his head.

Hermione shrugged, 'I don't know, but maybe we'll learn something important from him. I, for once, am excited' She smiled as the trio approached the classroom.

'Of course you'd be excited, Granger. You're literally the only person I know that gets wet over learning something new.' A voice scoffed from behind them.

The heavy eyerolls that came from the three Gryffindors were almost audible as they turned round to see Draco laughing at them, along with Pansy, Theo and Blaise standing behind him.

'It's already shit that we live with you, but we have to share classes with you lot too?' Ron groaned, putting an arm around Hermione and leaning against her. Draco's lip twitched slightly as his face contorted into a sneer.

'Honestly Weasel, you really think I enjoy sharing anything with you?' His eyes narrowed.

'Hermione shares a room with Pansy, and I share a bathroom with Blaise?' Ron teased.

'What about Theo?' Draco jokingly asked.

'Who?'

'Me!' Theo stepped forward.

'Sorry, I almost forgot you existed.' Ron looked at him, deadpan.

Hermione frowned, looked at him and threw her boyfriend's arm off of her shoulder, 'Ronald Weasley you are being an absolute cow!' She grabbed her books out of his arm, flipped her hair and walked into the classroom. Pansy soon followed, shoving Draco out of her way and muttering under her breath about being civil.

'The fuck's wrong with them?' Ron and Draco said at the same time, talking to their own friends. Their heads snapped to look at each other as they realised what had happened.

'No no, don't do that. Ever.' Draco looked at the ginger, wide eyed.

'For the first time, I actually agree with you there Malfoy.' Ron said, feeling nauseous.

'Stop that too!' Draco shouted, looking confused. He straightened his cloak sleeve and walked into the awaiting classroom, beckoning his friends to come with him.

'Well, that was…odd.' Harry said, looking at his friend.

'Shut up, Harry.' Ron shook his head, following the Slytherin's into the room.

'You can't tell the boy who lived to shut up!' Harry announced, stomping to sit next to the fellow Gryffindor.

'Then die.' Blaise whispered to Draco across the room, getting a loud laugh in reply.

'Take your seats please!' Professor Williamson waved his wand, lighting the candles around the classroom and walk briskly to his desk. An ocean of footsteps echoed around the room, along with shuffling and groaning. Hermione and Pansy sat towards the front, Harry and Ron sat behind them, not daring to push their friend any further. Draco, Blaise and Theo sat towards the back in order to look like they didn't care, yet the platinum haired man couldn't rip his eyes away from their new professor.

'Yes, yes, thank you everybody.' Their professor rubbed his hands together and shushed the class. 'I am your new defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Williamson. I am a retired Auror and I worked for the ministry up until You-Know-Who's return.'

He walked to his desk and slipped a book out of his briefcase, dusting off the cover.

'I presume you've all brought your books with you?'

All the students scrambled to get their books out of their bags, along with parchment, ink and their own quills.

'So, after previous events that have occurred at this school, you may be thinking that because you took part in the war, what else is there to learn about defence when you defended the school from the dark arts?' He looked over specifically at Harry, Ron and Hermione. 'I'm not here to tell you what you should or should not be learning, I'm here to help you with your studies. You tell me the topic you want to study, I'll give you the needed facts and facilities to further your education in the matter. So, who wants to kick this off, then?' Professor Williamson scanned the room.

Hermione frowned at the lack of structure concerning the planning of this class, whereas Harry and Ron just didn't have a clue. There were a few murmurs amongst the students before Draco slowly lifted his hand.

'Ah, Mr Malfoy, what topic can I help further your knowledge on today?' Professor Williamson looked at him over his glasses and smiled.

Draco swallowed, 'Sir, I was wondering if you could tell us about Necromancy?'