Author's Note: Hello, all my favorite people! This chapter is another shortish one. I probably should have made last chapter and this chapter 1 long chapter, but I really wanted to get something posted last Friday. As promised: New Year's Eve!

Chapter 27: Starting

Hermione did her best to concentrate on her lesson with Belby. She was looking forward to having tomorrow off, though she knew she'd end up having to brew all weekend to make up for it. She was learning a lot. She just rather wished she could skip ahead to learning the Wolfsbane potion now, but there was all sorts of base work Belby wanted from her first. He knew she could brew a potion, but he told her if she wanted to go into research, she needed to know a lot more than the hows. She needed the whys.

She was relieved to be out for the day and spent a couple of hours in the joke shop before heading home. The store was crowded and there was just too much going on to even seriously consider working on the mirror spell, though she assisted in the front for a little while.

Taking all of the food they'd prepared the day before out of the fridge, she set it out and began to heat it magically. She couldn't help but wonder why she'd insisted that Ginny come over tonight. She could have just as easily spent the evening with Draco, much as they had many other nights, and it would have been a perfectly enjoyable time together. What exactly was she hoping Ginny would do? Stop something from happening with Draco? Encourage something to happen with him? She shook her head. Sometimes there was no understanding her own mind.

At any rate, the evening was planned. Her friends should be over soon, and they'd all have a good time. She'd picked up a couple of board games, and if all else failed, they could watch a movie. It was going to be a nice evening, even if Draco didn't get off work 'til after ten.

In short order, Ginny, Neville, and Harry all arrived. Neville and Harry seemed particularly glad to see one another; it was the first time they'd seen each other since Ron's funeral. The four of them sat around the table, eating mashed potatoes and a roast, drinking wine, and generally feeling better about life than they had in a while. At the end of the meal, Neville banished the dishes to the sink. They still had hours until midnight.

"Well, what next?" Hermione asked. "I picked up a couple of board games. Or we could watch a movie. Or listen to music."

"What sort of games?" asked Harry.

Hermione fetched the two games she'd picked up and brought them out. She'd considered Ron's wizard chess set, but she wasn't sure she'd have the heart for that one. Not tonight. Beside, she wasn't very good at Chess anyway, and Ron's set knew that—they never listened to her. "Here we are. Scrabble—Scrabble is like a crossword puzzle. Everyone gets tiles with letters on them, and you have to make words with them. You get points for each of the letters you use; harder to use letters are worth more, and we see who has the most points at the end."

Neville laughed. "Hermione is going to win that one, no question. What's the other one?"

And that was how the ended up playing Monopoly. Hermione hadn't played it in a long, long time, and none of the others had ever played, but they felt that they at least had a decent shot at winning since Hermione's vocabulary wasn't going to be a major advantage in a game controlled by the dice.

They were still engrossed in the game several hours later when Draco knocked on the door. To his aggravation, he had to knock three times before anyone noticed and let him in. Hermione answered the door in her Weasley sweater and jeans, smiling at him. "You made it. You're just what I need. They've all ganged up on me." She called out to the others, "Draco's on my team."

Draco was stunned for a moment and made a survey of the scene. All of the former Gryffindors had apparently been crowded around the table around some sort of board with little plastic bits on it, and wads of paper around the edges. He watched as Hermione grabbed her chair from the desk and pulled it up to the table. The others all adjusted themselves to make room.

"What's this?" Draco asked, eying it all.

They gave him a quick rundown of the rules and the progress of the game. Most of the properties had been purchased already. Everyone had a stack of money in front of them.

Hermione's stack of paper money recovered a little while she and Draco played as a team. He'd managed to negotiate a trade with Ginny for one of her railroads, and by a stroke of luck they'd landed on the only unowned orange property, preventing Neville from making it a monopoly. Things were looking up.

By eleven thirty, everyone's energy was starting to flag. The game just seemed to go in circles. Make a pile of money on one turn while someone landed on your property, and then have to mortgage everything you owned two turns later when you landed on theirs. It didn't seem as though there was a reason for it to ever stop. The game could go on for days.

They all relocated to the living room, with snacks and drinks. It was nearly midnight. Ginny settled onto the couch with Neville and Harry, and Draco took the armchair. As a good hostess, Hermione pulled one of the kitchen chairs over for herself.

Ginny stifled a yawn. "I shouldn't be tired already. It's not as though I did much of anything today."

"Didn't they assign you homework to do over the break?" Hermione asked.

The redhead rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee. "Plenty of time left before break is over."

Hermione did her best to contain the scolding that would have come out of her mouth two years ago if Ron and Harry had said that to her. There was just no point. She changed the topic. "Well, we could all write down our resolutions for the new year. I know there's some things I want to do this year. If we write them down, we're that much more accountable for them." Without waiting to see whether her guests seemed particularly enthusiastic about the idea, Hermione fetched the paper and pens she'd set aside earlier and passed them out. As soon as she was done, Hermione began to scribble down her goals. There were quite a few of them.

Draco stared at his paper. What did he want to do this year? He glanced around the room and then back down at his paper before writing down the first one. Slowly, a handful of other thoughts came to him and he put them to the paper too. He was unaware that Ginny had scribbled down the first thing to come to her mind, and gotten up to refill her coffee. On her way back, she stopped to read over his shoulder. As he became aware of her, just a few inches from her, he looked up into her grinning face, and he went paler and he covered his sheet with his hand. "You're not supposed to read that," he hissed.

The redhead was still grinning, and started to open her mouth, but no one will ever know what she was about to say.

Hermione had looked up, hearing Draco's hiss. "I had kind of thought we might gather them all up and read them aloud. So that we could help each other with our goals this year. Doesn't anyone else want to do that?" She wondered what Draco could have written that would put such a horrified look on his face. It wasn't comforting.

Draco folded up his piece of paper. "I have a better idea. Why don't we not read them? We could seal them all up, and check back in a year to see if we've done it."

"We'll reach them better if we can help each other, don't you think? Harry? Neville? Ginny?"

"Oh, I think we should read them," Ginny piped up. "I'll go first." She moved back around to the other side of the couch and picked up her page. "Goal 1: Finish Hogwarts. Goal 2: Join the Holyhead Harpies."

Hermione looked at her friend. "Those sound like good goals. Who wants to go next?"

Neville volunteered. His goals were to pass his Herbology NEWT, successfully crossbreed a hibiscus and vibrating sugarplum, and to get asked to stay on at Hogwarts for another year assisting Professor Sprout.

"Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry was a little more reluctant to share his list, but he did so. He wanted to be able to take care of Teddy on his own for a weekend and not have anything go wrong. He wanted to be able to talk to Dudley for an afternoon without it getting awkward. He wanted to make it through a week without worrying about the past, and be able to face the future.

The room was quiet after he'd finished. Harry fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat when he'd finished his list. "Hermione? Your turn."

Hermione pulled out her list. "It's rather long, I'm afraid." She began to read.

"1. I'd like to make it through an entire month without crying.

2. I want to make excellent progress in my apprenticeship, and begin giving out the Wolfsbane potion for free within the next six months.

3. I will make concrete plans for how I'm going to help wizards and witches with lycanthropy find a better life.

4. I want to pass my Transfiguration and Charms NEWTS.

5. I want to find a way to come to terms with the way my parents are now.

6. I want to spend time with all the people I care about.

7. I want to take a trip somewhere, just for fun, just to see somewhere new."

Hermione set down her list and looked up. "Draco, your turn."

Draco looked out at the room. He unfolded his paper, but kept it angled in such a way that no one else could read it. He began to read, skipping the first line he'd written. "I want a job with decent work hours during the rest of my sentence. I need to figure out what I want to do when I get my magic back, and where I'm going to go. I want to write something that's not total rubbish." He folded the paper up and put it in his pocket. He did his best to sound embarrassed about the last one on the list, as though that was what Ginny had seen earlier and made a fuss about. He gave her a glare from across the room.

Ginny simply stared at him as though she were trying to decide whether or not to open her mouth. Fortunately or unfortunately, Hermione looked at the clock. "It's just a few minutes until midnight." She got up and turned the television on, flipping to a channel with a live feed and sat down on the arm of Draco's chair. There was a crowd of people gathered on the streets on the telly, looking cold but cheerful. They let the station play for a couple of minutes, and then the reporter began a countdown. The young adults gathered in the room joined the countdown.

"Ten…nine…eight…seven…"

Hermione's tongue darted out to touch her bottom lip without realizing it. She was sitting very close to Draco. She did tell him that a kiss at midnight on New Year's was traditional. Surely kissing him in a few seconds wouldn't be any different from kissing under George's mistletoe last week? It didn't have to mean anything. It was just going to happen.

"Six…five…four…three…"

Draco's eyes darted to Hermione. She was siting close to him, perched on the arm of his chair, her calf touching his knee. Ordinarily, he wouldn't think too much of it—they sat near one another all the time, but Hermione had said there were certain traditions on this night.

"Two…one…Happy New Year!"

A number of the couples on telly kissed, as the people around them shouted a greeting to the New Year. On the couch, in quick succession, Ginny kissed both Neville and Harry on the cheek. Hermione didn't notice. Draco didn't notice. As rounds of "Happy New Year" rolled through the televised crowd, Hermione had leaned down and kissed Draco on the mouth. Her position was better than it had been a week ago, though she had to rest a hand on his shoulder to keep herself from falling over. It didn't last long, but Hermione's face was slightly flushed when they pulled apart. Lips moved against lips, mouths slightly open. "Happy New Year," she said quietly, pulling herself away and sitting back up, perched on the arm of his chair as though nothing unusual had occurred.

"Happy New Year," he echoed.

Hermione saw the others looking at her and bristled. "Kissing at midnight is a New Year's Eve tradition among Muggles. Look at everyone on the telly—some of them are still going at it."

Neville gave a wry smile. "All Harry and I got were kisses on the cheeks. Guess we sat in the wrong seat, huh, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "I'll stay over here. Kissing Hermione would be like…kissing my sister. If I had a sister."

"Gee, thanks. Love you too, brother," Hermione said, utter dryness in her voice, despite the amused smile playing at her lips.

"What happens next?" asked Neville.

"Well, everyone's welcome to stay as long as you'd like, though I can't imagine I'll be up much longer. It's been quite a day. In a broader context…it's now the first day of the year. We've got a whole year to work on our goals and make this year a better year than last year." She reached toward the coffee table and picked up her wine glass. "A toast to a better year?"

"It has to be a better year," Harry agreed, picking up his own glass. In turn, each of the others raised their glass or coffee mug, and they all sipped to a better year.

It was hard to imagine a worse year than the last one. This year had to be better, for all of them.

Ginny began to gather up the dishes and cups when everyone had finished and motioned Hermione to stay seated. She'd done enough work this evening. Draco helped gather things up and followed her into the kitchen.

"Don't say a word," Draco told her quietly.

"Or what?" the redhead asked, smirking.

Merlin, it's so much harder to threaten someone when they know you don't have any magic and you aren't going to hit a girl, he thought. He darted a look over his shoulder to make sure Hermione was still talking to her friends in the living room. "You told me not to hurt her. I want to ask her out. You obviously read that. I don't want to do this in front of you lot." He took a deep breath. "Hermione deserves wine and roses and an elegant setting and—"

"—and if you've gotten to know Hermione at all in the last six months, or even the last 7 years, you'd know she tends to get a lot less than she deserves. I think she'd rather have you prepare dinner for her at your flat than go out to a fancy restaurant. Think about it." She looked at the blonde, noting a little pink in his cheeks. Whether from the kiss or his emotions, she wasn't sure, but he was certainly worked up. "If you care about her, don't wait too long. I meant what I said about not hurting her. I will come after you if you do. But I've seen the way she looks at you. I don't think you run much risk of her turning you down." She turned her back on him and left the kitchen, going cheerfully back into the living room. "Dishes are in the sink, waiting for morning."

Unable to do much else, Draco followed her back out. He saw that Hermione was sitting in her own chair again, and had left the armchair vacant for him.

"I guess I'll Floo home," Harry said.

"Me too," Neville agreed.

"You're both welcome back anytime," Hermione said, getting up to hug them goodbye and see them off. Ginny joined her in saying goodbye to the boys and picked up her overnight bag to take into Hermione's bedroom. She was staying the night. She gave Draco a wave and shut the door behind her.

Within a few minutes, Neville and Harry had both disappeared into the fire, and Draco and Hermione were alone.

"Well, I guess that's the end of the party," Hermione said, looking around. There wasn't much to clean up. She could take care of the dishes with a little magic in no time in the morning. Monopoly was still spread out on the table though. She approached the table and began packing it all away, the game victorless.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it? You didn't need to go hide over at my flat." He approached the table and helped her began to pack the game away.

"No, I didn't. I'm glad the party wasn't much bigger. It would have been nice to see Luna, but she hates leaving her dad alone on any holidays. She's all he has." She carefully put all of the bills into color sorted stacks, and all of the plastic houses into a bag. She looked at him. "What did you think of your first Muggle New Year's Eve?"

"It was…nice," he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I should hope it was better than nice," she said archly.

"Well, I did miss most of the party since I had to work."

Hermione conceded, putting the lid on the box. "True. But I imagine you were here for all the best parts. You eat my cooking all the time. And there's plenty of leftovers in the fridge if you want some." She looked at him. "Are you ready for a better year?"

"It has to be a better year. Can't be much worse, can it?" he asked.

"Things can always get worse. But some tragedies you don't have to live through more than once," she said quietly. "One of life's mercies."

He looked at her. She'd been alive and vibrant a minute ago, bantering with him, an echo of a similar conversation not that many days before. And she seemed to sink down inside herself now. "I will make sure this is a better year. For both of us."

"How?"

"I don't know yet. But I will. That is my resolution."

Hermione a smiled and hugged him with one arm, the board game awkwardly clutched in the other one. "Thank you. I'll try and make this a better year for you too."

"You already have. Good night, Hermione." He said, pulling away from her slowly, and heading to the door.

"Good night, Draco." She watched him go, and warded the door behind him. She took a deep breath and let it out again. A better year. It had to be. It was hard to imagine a worse one. She turned around and went to her bedroom, where Ginny was pretending to already be asleep. Hermione might have believed it if she hadn't seen the Extendable ear sticking out from under the pillow, which she had no doubt her friend had been using only a moment before.

Draco went back to his flat. It felt empty. The puzzle he and Hermione had done when he was sick hung on the wall, but little else. He couldn't help feeling there should be pictures or…some sign of life in here. He licked his lips. Hermione had chosen to kiss him this time, even if it was just "for the holiday tradition." It was something. Maybe the Weaslette was right, and there was nothing to lose by asking her out.

But not tonight. Tonight, he needed to sleep.

Author's Note: Sorry Harry/Ginny shippers if you were hoping for a real kiss between them tonight. Harry said he wanted his space; Ginny's giving it to him. I would have liked to include Luna in this chapter, but I think she's still very sensitive of her dad, and I imagine he doesn't like letting her out of his sight more than he has to after the kidnapping.