A/N: The Harry Potter Universe belongs to JK Rowling. I borrowed the characters and settings to write a little non-canon fiction. English is my second language so heads up for grammar and phrasing, also this is the first time I ever write a fanfiction so... I do not know yet if this is for me but I wanted to try. With this little prose I want to explore the concept of trauma in fiction. How are the characters experiencing trauma, and why? How is it linked to the places they visit? Have fun reading (also, a change I made from the canon: ron and hermione are not together. Don't know if anything comes from that but for the first part I did not want to have to write the romance between the two)!

A space to regrow

The night sky was cloudy and the crescent moon was barely visible. A light, cold breeze ruffled the leaves of the old trees and made the night whisper faint magical poems. Above the dark lake stood the old castle, soft orange light emerging from the windows, making it the only drop of colour in the dark scenery of the night.

A young woman stood at the edge of the lake and looked up to the glowing castle. She was back. Her face was hard, as she was emerged in her own thoughts and memories about this magical place. She was early. Soon hordes of children would arrive at the nearby train station to embark on the castle. Said castle was just months ago the scene of one of the biggest battles of her worlds history. A battle that has changed everything and sealed the fate of all its participants.

The battle of Hogwarts.

She remembered how disastrous it was. The broken walls, destroyed bridge, the lives that were lost, the tragedies, the pain, the suffering, and ultimately the great victory. All of that, lay before her. All of that happened at this castle, the school where she had learned everything about the wizarding world. The place where she almost lost everything.

Here she was again. Trying to shake all the haunting memories and focus on the good ones. Here she was again in order to finish her education. It was about more than just finishing school, it was about reclaiming her spot in this world. She belonged here, she saved this place, and she was a witch and not a "mudblood".

She deserved to study here.

The distant sound of a train arriving brought her mind back to the present. It was the Hogwarts express. The one train all the students of Hogwarts took, to get to the school. All but her this year. She had come to Hogsmeade a month before the start of the semester. One of her best friends, Ron Weasly, and his brother George ran a joke-shop in the town and she lived with them for a while. There really wasn't anywhere else she could go. Her parents never got their memory of her back and she didn't have any other connections to the muggle world anymore. Same as in the wizarding world. She only had her best friends, so she went to them.

Now she was at the Lake and hat to quickly hurry to the carriages that would take her up to the castle. She could see the beasts that were pulling said carriages from afar. Not so long ago, she was unable to see them. Thestrals could only be seen by the ones who saw death, and since last year she had experienced quite a lot of deaths.

She got on the carriage and pulled the hood of her robe above her head and in her face, so the other students who got on the carriage with her would not immediately recognize her.

That was a hopeless endeavour. Everybody would notice her. She was Hermione Granger, part of the golden trio that was responsible for the final defeat of Lord Voldemort. No more explanation needed. She had resigned from her prefect duties, declined the position of head girl, and didn't take the train to school – all because she did not want to be recognized. For a way too long time, she had been hunted, watched, and questioned about all of the bad memories she wished to forget. This last school year should be her first school year without an adventure. She had enough of it for now. Be normal, no unnecessary attention please. As if that would ever be possible for Hermione Granger…

…

He had travelled to Hogsmeade via the floo network and then hiked up to the castle. He was sweaty and exhausted, when he arrived and had to excuse himself from the feast in order to shower. His house teacher was able to save some food for him, that he then ate in the common room. Alone, before all the other students from his house would return.

He was still unsure, if it was a good idea to return and finish his last year at Hogwarts but his mother had begged him to do it and she had already suffered so much over the last year, he did not want her to worry about him not having a proper education.

So he went back. Back to the place, where he threw his live away two years before. He could not count all the terrible mistakes he had made in this castle on one hand. Simply too many… Why was it, that his mother wanted him to return to the place where he got so lost, to find his way again? At this point all possible morals where completely out of the window, no more right or wrong, he knew nothing. Had to start over completely, and of all places it had to be here.

The only hope he had, was that nobody else had returned to finish the last year. He could not possibly imagine what he would do if he were confronted or questioned… He has always been a leader, the person who tells everybody how it is, sure of himself, and convinced of his cause. But now, all of that was lost. He was lost. He realised that he had been on the wrong path all this time and now what?

What does Draco Malfoy do now? Go back to school and act like nothing happened? Like his father wasn't locked up in Askaban? Like he didn't go about his days in the past, calling the muggleborn students names? Like he didn't plot on killing the former headmaster? Like he didn't bear the dark mark on his arm?

Lost. But at least back on the face of the world. Not in hiding and not in denial. He at least knew he was lost and had been on the wrong path for years. At least so much. If the world could forgive him, he could maybe start over. He had to be optimistic.

…

The potions classroom was still empty. The professor was still in the back and collecting the ingredients for the potion they would brew today. He had selected an easy giggle potion. Normally not something that seventh years would still be working on, but he wanted to start the year of on a light note. The student body was well aware of the events of last year, quite a few of them had actually fought in the war. It would be hard to re-establish a normal school routine and so he wanted to make them do something silly. The war was over, let's learn again and have fun with some magic!

Hermione arrived early and took her seat in the last row. She was immediately overwhelmed with melancholic nostalgia, when she entered the room. This used to be professor Snapes classroom. But he was dead now. Cut and dry. He had been killed by Voldemort. This used to be his room, but it is not anymore… But Hermione was here again, about to start the first lesion of her last year. "This is happening now." She told herself in order to not get lost in the haunting memories again. "Focus on the future, you cannot change the past"

Footsteps, someone else entered the classroom. It was still early for the other students to arrive. Hermione looked to the side, to see who was coming in and audibly grasped for air when she realized who it was. Draco Malfoy was standing at a desk also in the last row but in the very corner of the room. He looked just as shocked as she was. He quickly turned his head, and sat down. He was slouching in his chair as if he tried to squeeze his back into the ground with his bad posture. He never had a problem with that before, so it was obvious that this man was trying to disappear. Sink into the floor.