Chapter 1

A/N: This fic was inspired by Camnz - Graduation Night and also Crazy Rich Asian - Mahjong Scene (but not a CRA fic, I loved that scene so much so I created my own narrative). Originally the fic was meant to be light-hearted but I changed my mind, probably will be angsty instead.

All characters belong to JK Rowling.

Hermione stared at the red rose in front of her. She smiled and swished her wand. The red rose became a goblet. She smiled. Using magic openly, she probably would miss that the most. Decision had been made and she had had no regrets. With another swish, the goblet changed into a quill. Of all the possible magic she could perform now, she chose to do random transfigurations. She smiled. She knew her time in Hogwarts was running out. It was ten o'clock in the morning and in two hours' time, the carriage to Hogsmeade station would start bringing all the students for their train ride back home for their summer holiday. That was not for her, she just completed her eighth year and she would be going back to an empty house.

Hermione looked up and stared at the sunlight. The war seemed so long ago even though they just celebrated the first anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts. It had only been two years when she inadvertently made herself an orphan. Her parents were gone, forever. She took comfort in the fact they were alive in Australia. She wiped the solitary tear that made its way out from her eyes. The pain when she found her parents and tried to reverse the memory charm. Failed. The pain when she asked McGonagall and Flitwick to help her. They failed too. Her last attempt was when she abused her "War Heroine" title and demanded the best healer to help her. Failed.

Sometimes, she wished she was a little bit more reckless, a little bit more careless. If only she did not perfect the memory charm, reversing it was possible. No, she had to study it intently before she joined Harry. She just had to make it perfect, like every other homework she did. She stared at the quill and swish it again, this time it became a lone ballet slipper.

"Granger, what in Merlin's beard are you doing here? Carriage is leaving in two hours' time! You should be packing your hundred books and whatnot." Hermione stared at the ballet slipper; it was the voice that she hated. For six years she heard the insulting nuance in the sneer. For one year she did not hear the sneer at all. For another year, the sneer had a playful nuance, or at least that was what she thought. The voice continued sneering about her mucking around. She continued to ignore the voice. After a few minutes, Draco Malfoy realised that the girl he was talking with did not respond to his jibes. Instead, she had been transfiguring random items in front of her. It was a shoe when he first saw her and now it was an empty vial.

"What are you doing?" asked Draco. Hermione finally looked up; her brown eyes were boring through his.

"Doing something that I will miss when I leave Hogwarts." She answered so lightly and yet so loaded.

"You scared you can't transfigure random objects when you leave school? Merlin, I thought you are smarter than that," snorted Draco. Hermione gave a sad smile. His heart gave a weird tiny jerk seeing the sad smile.

"No, I don't think I can use magic freely once I leave school."

"Why not? Are you going to stay in a muggle area?" He asked curiously. Truth be told, he did not know what was her plan after graduation. Her two best friends had already started their Auror training. When he came back to school for eight-year, he thought it would be the worst time of his life. His family barely escaped Azkaban. Harry Potter testified for him and his mother. His father gave a generous donation towards the Wizengamot and promised to help round up all the Death Eaters. The Ministry then decided that he should go back to school to complete his education to show his repentance.

When he first entered Platform 9¾, he thought he would be friendless, nobody would want to spend time with an ex Death Eater. His mood improved when he saw a few of his Slytherin friends. Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass came back with a pristine record. They had no relation to Voldemort. They came back simply because their NEWT were horrible thanks to the teachings of Carrow siblings. Pansy Parkinson came back with her head down, while she was not openly affiliated with Voldemort, she did try to gave Harry Potter up to Voldemort. Theodore Nott and himself tried to make themselves inconspicuous. Their families were openly, and proudly at one point in time, supporting Voldemort.

During the welcome feast, the mood was rather sombre. It was the first time all of them gathered after all the deaths that happened in the school ground. During the headmistress speech, Draco looked around and saw Hermione, together with Ginny, sitting together. They were listening to McGonagall's speech, holding their tears, holding each other's hands. It hit him then. Coming back was hard for him because he did not want to be hated. Coming back was hard for them because they lost the people they loved in this very place. He knew Ginny lost her brother in the battle. Draco lost Crabbe and his aunt but truth be told, he was sadder about Crabbe. Between her imprisonment in Azkaban and her obsession with Voldemort, he barely knew her.

"I am planning to go to Cambridge." Draco was brought back to the present hearing her answer.

"You are moving? That's kind of far from Diagon Alley."

"No, I am going to take a muggle examination next week and with my good results, I will enter the University of Cambridge. It is one of the most prestigious higher institutions in the muggle world."

"What? Why? Are you leaving the wizarding world?" Draco did not realise he stood up as soon as he heard her plan. Was that why she was saying goodbye to everyone since last week? Personal goodbye? Because she was leaving her world, his world, their world.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" asked Hermione sneeringly as she looked up to him. Draco was dumbfounded.

"Drop the act, Malfoy. I am sorry, I guess, I may not be permanently in your world but you will still have to see my face from time to time. I will probably still visit Diagon Alley every other weekend; the Ministry will want a Golden Trio reunion once in a while. You just have to accept that small doses of me, this mudblood." Hermione stood up herself, and each word she said was dripping with acid. She was not apologetic, far from it.

Hermione was looking at her list, people to say goodbye to. School would be over in one-week and it felt like there was not enough time to say her farewell. She started from the easy ones, her teachers. Well turned out, they were quite hard to say goodbye to. Slughorn, Sprout, Babbling and Vector were manageable. McGonagall, though, was crying for one hour as they said their farewell. Flitwick was another hour. They were both one of the hardest as they carried an ounce of guilt from not being able to help her with her parents. But Hermione tried her best to alleviate the guilt.

Hagrid took the most time, half a day to make him stop crying. She had to come back the next day to stop Hagrid's crying again. She also made time for other teachers, Sinastra, Binns (he thanked Ms. Germaine Harenger but she politely accepted it) and even Trelawney (she apologized for third-year and they both awkwardly said their goodbye). She did not say her goodbye to the new Defence Against Dark Arts and Muggle Studies teachers. It felt rather impersonal since she only knew them for a year.

Ginny was asking why was she doing this. Hermione hid her true intentions and simply said it was weirder for her if she did not do this. They went a war together after all.

At that time, Hermione had not made up her mind. In memory of her parents, she was considering to attend Cambridge. Cambridge was her parents' dream school for her since young. When she went to Hogwarts, she knew her parents had accepted that their daughter would never attend Cambridge. For the longest time, Hermione forgot about this until recently, when she was cleaning up her childhood home after the war. She saw her drawing as a child, with a badly drawn Cambridge in the background.

For the entire eighth year, Hermione tried to study some A-Level subjects whenever she had the time. It was a nagging thought. If she was to attend Cambridge, she would need to take A-Level immediately when she came back to London. She was not sure how well she would do for the examination. The personal goodbye was meant to be a contingency plan. If she was to attend Cambridge, she would have limited time to spend with these people in the future and if she chose not to attend, there was no harm done.

She looked at her list and saw one name that she was not sure if she should say her goodbye to: Neville, Ginny, Luna, Daphne, these names were not on her list. They were people she intended to meet again after graduation. Blaise and Theo were on the list but she already said her goodbye to them. She saw Pansy's name, crossed out. They did not have the best relationship but they were Potions partner and they survived. Hermione said a short goodbye to her. She saw the name below Pansy's: Draco Malfoy. She was not sure if she wanted to meet him again after graduation. Her heart was saying yes, her brain was saying no. Once they graduated, it did not look like they have any reason to meet up.

Hermione was walking towards Potions classroom, knowing that was where her fellow Slytherin eighth years hung out. She was about to enter when she heard the conversation. The conversation that made up her mind to take her A-Level.

"It was bloody weird, that Granger just came to me and said some sort of goodbye. Does she think we are like friends or something? Just because we became partners in this sodding class?" Pansy was whining.

"She said goodbye to you?" asked Draco incredulously.

"Yeah, did she not say goodbye to you?"

"No, she did not." Hermione sensed anger in his tone. She was feeling slightly guilty then although his next words washed that off, replacing it with her own fury.

"Might as well, I never like her anyway." She heard him answer flippantly.

"What? I thought both of you have mended your relationship? Isn't she your friend, Draco?" Daphne asked in a shocked tone.

"Friend? Merlin, Daphne, do you really think mudbloods can be my friend?"

"DRACO!" Daphne, Blaise and Theo shouted at him. Hermione did not realise her tears were falling down as she ran away from the classroom. As she walked back towards her dorm, she set the list of names on fire. She had said goodbye to everyone, that one uncrossed name did not deserve it. After giving her password to the Fat Lady, with the painting asking if she was alright, Hermione marched to her room. She took out the A-Level application form that she hid deep inside her trunk and started filling it up. Once done, she walked to McGonagall's office, requesting her assistance in getting it mailed.

"Oh, Miss Granger, I was hoping you would not choose this route." Minerva McGonagall said her words with so much sorrow.

Draco froze at Hermione's last word. A word that he had not used to call her for a long time. A word he had not used to associate her for a long time. A word… that he used to call her when he was angry at her recently.

"Lily Potter, a mudblood, gave up her life to ensure her son's safety. In return, her son was able to defeat Voldemort, the monster who was destroying your family, no, everyone's family." She stared at him, choking back tears.

"While you were at home last year, living in terror, I was with Harry, travelling all over the country finding horcrux to destroy to defeat Voldemort. I, a mudblood, was fighting a war in a world whereby a persistent group of people thinks I do not belong here and yet I was fighting for their freedom." Hermione took a sharp intake of breath, looking at how uncomfortable Draco was at those memories.

"I am not leaving because I think I don't belong in this world - because for the first time in my life I know I do, there is no need for me to stay here just to prove I belong. I fought for all your freedom and this time, I will walk away from the wizarding world and pursue my own dream."

Hermione held her wand tighter. She saw the empty vial that she transfigured. With another swish, the vial became what it originally was, Cambridge prospectus for new students. Draco looked down at the foreign booklet. She slowly took the booklet and put it inside her bag. After she submitted her A-Level application last week, she started reading about the courses that Cambridge offer. She was waiting for the regret to come but it never came. Her words when she told him that she wanted to pursue her dream rang true. Cambridge might not be her original dream but it was a start.

She remembered she told Ginny first and her best friend cried. Next was an owl to Harry and Ron each. Both sent her back a howler. She cried hearing the howler because she knew her best friends did not want to let her go. The last person she told before Draco was Daphne. Her surprising new friend during her return for eight-year. Daphne was too shocked and asked if something had happened. Hermione shook her head then. She said she just wanted to enjoy being a normal muggle after fighting a war.

Hermione was walking away before she stopped. Without turning her head, she said what felt like her last words to him, "One day, Draco, when you enjoy your peaceful morning, with nobody to threaten your family, together with all your pure-blood fanatics, just remember that peace was because of us, filthy, disgusting, mudbloods."

Draco stood there, staring at her silhouette walking away from him. She was there at the Potions classroom; he knew she heard him.