"My office is always open if you are in need of anything, the password is phoenix. Goodnight Ms. Granger," McGonagall walked away."

"Goodnight, Headmistress," Hermione replied

Hermione stepped through the portrait hole and looked around, she was surprised to see how nice her new common room was. Straight ahead she had a couple of recliners and a couch in front of a massive fireplace that had a merry fire, crackling away. She had a large desk in front of a window to her right, she could see across to a tower but wasn't sure which one it was. On her left, there was a spiral staircase that leads up to a small balcony sitting area above where her fireplace was. When she looked around she saw plenty of shelving for her books. She went through a small archway that had two doors the left one was a large bath complete with a large vanity. There were shelves and a full linen closet. She felt like royalty. She noticed a note pinned to a fluffy towel hanging on a hook. She took it off and read it.

'Don't forget to relax, this year, and enjoy your last year. -Headmistress McGonagall'

Hermione realized that the towel was actually a robe, upon further inspection, a Hogwarts robe. Her tub was huge! Around the size of a muggle hot tub. She inspected the knobs and realized that it was like the prefect's bath, perfumed waters, bubbles, soaking salts, she was in heaven. Hermione decided she would take a bath if she had time after she finished unpacking. The door to the right was her room, it was above where her desk was. She had a King-size bed with a canopy, everything was in Gryffindor colors, and she had a window seat with a thick cushion that Crookshanks was lounging on. By the seat, there was a stand for Hootie. The weirdest thing, Hermione found, was that there was a swing hanging from the ceiling. Hermione pulled herself up on it and tested it, she was surprised to find it a bit relaxing and could see herself reading there. Her trunk was against a side wall and Hermione went over to unpack. She remembered she had two presents to open. She set them on her bed and turned around. She was a responsible adult that would be turning nineteen, soon… Hermione waved her wand and all of her possessions put themselves away where they should be, including her books from her beaded bag. Hermione went out and peaked over the balcony to see that her bookbag, school books, parchment, ink, and quills were all on her desk.

Hermione decided to open Georges gift first. He had outdone himself with his research over the last month and gave her a box of completely new products. Some were the kind to get her out of classes or other 'unwanted obligations' some were daydream potions. George had even come up with potions for night dreams, it was obvious that they were all still having occasional nightmares, Hermione's dreams had only gotten better when she had started having Charlie by her side. She found a few more products that made her blush, they were aimed more for adults and only embarrassed her a bit because of who had given them to her. Some were to be paired with the daydream potions and some could be used whenever. There were some that would make the user dream about their crush/love in a very adult manner, some to intensify what you were feeling while having intercourse with your partner or yourself. Hermine pulled out a note and read it.

'I'm really hoping that none of this will embarrass you, we're all adults here. However, I have realized that life is too short to not be with the one you love, and I thought that I should dedicate a few products to promote that. I'm going to keep inventing things and sending them your way if you're okay with that. If you are I would love some feedback, I know you're the one person I can really count on, to be honest about them. If it's too weird just chuck the products and forget this ever happened. -George'

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. It really was rather funny to her but at the same time, it was sweet. George wasn't trying to be weird, he just needed honest reviews, so he could improve his products. She sorted through them and read instructions for a few before she decided to open Charlie's gift. It was a photo album that had all of the pictures from the first time they had slept together and unbeknownst to Hermione he had been able to get pictures from on their date. Pictures of them and the Eiffel Tower, while they were eating and even of them dancing. Hermione's favorite was one where she was reflected in all of the mirrors with Charlie standing behind her. The string lights and the background was blurred a bit and the picture was stunning. Flipping the page there were more photos from that night, from inside the hotel room. Hermione wanted to cry, this was the sweetest thing he could have done for her. Towards the end, Hermione ran into pictures from the first day they had met and the rest of that summer along with pictures from Bill and Fleur's wedding. There were newspaper clippings, probably every single one she had ever been in. If that didn't prove that Charlie had always been enamored with Hermione she didn't know what would.

Hermione finally drug herself away and went to relax in the tub. It was a quarter to ten and she didn't actually have to be at breakfast until eight. Hermione enjoyed the hot water with the fragrances and bubbles while she read one of her novels. When she finished it she was surprised to see that it was almost eleven. Hermione dried herself with magic and wrapped her new robe around her. She went to go find a pair of the sweats Charlie had bought her but when she opened a drawer she found his old quidditch jersey. Hermione pulled it on and found that it smelled like him and crawled into bed with a smile on her face. Hermione woke at seven the next morning with a smile on her face.

"Today is the first day of my future," she told herself.

Hermione went to her new vanity and sat down to do her hair and makeup. Nothing crazy, of course, but she had a couple of things she did as a ritual to keep her curls pretty instead of bushy. When she was done applying her products to her hair she started on her makeup. Hermione had found a foundation that matched her perfectly an did not break her out. After applying that she put on a little bronzer, blush, and highlighter. It was all very light, but Hermione wanted to make a good impression. She did warm tans and browns for her eyeshadow, a little eyeliner and was done. After brushing her teeth, Hermione went for breakfast. She would come back for her books after she received her schedule.

Hermione looked up at the Professor's table before taking a seat, no new faces were there, yet. Professor Slughorn was handing out the schedules for his students as was Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout. Headmistress McGonagall was taking care of Gryffindor, even if she was no longer the official head of house. While she ate the professor that could only be the new Transfiguration teacher, walked in and took her place. You couldn't tell that she was pregnant, yet, so Hermione figured that they would have her for at least half of the year.

"Ms. Granger, are you continuing with Transfiguration?" McGonagall asked when she reached her when Hermione nodded she continued to list off classes, "Charms, Defense, Ancient Runes, Herbology, Arithmancy, and Potions?" After a nod for each subject, she handed Hermione a schedule. "I hope to see you enjoying yourself some, this year," she reiterated to Hermione.

"I will, thank you."

Hermione laid her Schedule upside down and continued to eat. She was a bit afraid to look, she was ready to start learning and was excited to get to class but the fact that it was already Wednesday, Hermione was afraid her favorite classes would all be Monday and Tuesday. Really, that wasn't possible because she loved all of her classes, but she was just ready to go to all of them. 'Too bad all of the time turners were destroyed…' Hermione snorted to herself. When Hermione flipped the parchment over she was relieved to see her schedule, it was actually a really good one.

-1-2-3-Lunch-4-5-6

M- Double potions-Free- Double Herbology-Vale Bellum

T- Free- Double Transfiguration-Arithmancy- Herbology-Free

W- Potions—Arithmancy-Charms -Double Ancient Runes-Vale Bellum

T- Double Defense-Transfiguration- Double Charms-year

F- Defense-Free-Free-Free-Free-Vale Bellum

Hermione's only question was, what the heck was Vale Bellum. Hermione thought about it for a bit before realizing that it meant 'goodbye war.' The only thing she could logically think of was that it was some sort of coping class. Hermione watched as Ginny came flying into the great hall and stopped in front of McGonagall. She was handed a schedule after a moment and rushed over to Hermione to grab a quick breakfast.

"Why are you so late?" Hermione grinned at the ruffled girl.

"I was working on plans for the quidditch team and lost track of time. I came up with a few new moves and strategies. Now, I just have to hold tryouts and see what happens," Ginny rushed out. She was a Weasley and therefore was able to eat quickly but, thankfully, held her manners.

"Let me see your schedule," Hermione told her. "Most of our classes are together," Hermione told her in relief. "You don't have Arithmancy or Ancient runes and I don't have Care of Magical Creatures or Divination, though. Still, I'm glad we've got so much.

-1-2-3-Lunch-4-5-6

M- Double potions-Free- Double Herbology-Vale Bellum

T- Free- Double Transfiguration-Free- Herbology-Free

W- Potions—-Free-Charms -Free-Free-Vale Bellum

T- Double Defense-Transfiguration- Double Charms-Free

F- Defense- Double Care of Magical Creatures - Double Divination -Vale Bellum

"Me, too," Ginny agreed after she finished her last bite. "Come on, it looks like we have Potions with Slughorn, we better not disappoint him," Ginny laughed.

The dungeons were cool, but they weren't too cold, yet. Professor Slughorn was good about keeping fires lit on cold days. Hermione was thankful that today was a day he had a fire, being the first day of class they probably wouldn't be making a potion, therefore no extra warmth. Hermione and Ginny were two of the first in the class. Luna came in and joined them as they waited for the rest of the students.

"Our class is a bit bigger, this year, so we will have to be extra focused. I won't have quite as much one on one time with each of you, so we will have to be there for each other when we can. I'm putting you in groups of four at each table and I want you to remember that you are all partners for the year. If you need help, go to your partners, if they can't help, go to another group or come to me, always try to rely on each other, though," Slughorn told them.

Slughorn read off the groups he had and as they dwindled down Hermione knew what was coming. Malfoy was in their class along with Tracy Davis and three other Slytherins. Tracy was put into a group with a Hufflepuff a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor. Every Slytherin was being divided up one to a table. Not that that was really his objective, Hermione knew he was trying to mix the tables up as much as possible. There were only three Hufflepuffs in the class, Hanna Abbott was one of them. Five Slytherins meant one per table. Six Ravenclaws and six Gryffindors. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna were lucky to be together, but their last partner was Draco Malfoy.

Hermione sighed. She could do this. She had watched his trial and she had watched Harry vouch for him and his mother Narcissa. Draco might have been branded as a death eater and he might have been a cruel, snot-nosed, spoiled brat, but he wasn't a death eater. He was really only trying to save his parents. Mainly his mother, his father had been too far gone for quite a while. Then towards the end of the war, his father had a change of heart and realized that everything was worse off with Voldemort in power. Lucius was sentenced to Azkaban, anyway, it took him to long to see the error of his ways and he had not tried to correct anything. Narcissa had a permanent trace put on her. Anything dodgy and the Ministry would not only know what she did but where she was the second it happened. Malfoy had been given the same fate, his trace would never fall off either. Hermione had been surprised to see him come back to school, she didn't think it was in his sentence, so it was something that he had decided to do. Harry had told her about how Narcissa had saved his life and, in turn, the whole wizarding world. He couldn't let that go to waste and because of that Narcissa and her son were free, just monitored.

Malfoy didn't say anything throughout the whole lesson, Slughorn asked questions to review where they were all at. They were told to write the answers down and at the end, they went over all of them. Hermione made a perfect score, she had studied potions like crazy over the last year and even learned how to brew a few that were past NEWT level that they had really needed. When Slughorn asked someone from each table to bring the reviews up Hermione stood up and gathered them. Ginny had missed a few but did quite well, same with Luna. What surprised her was when she snuck a peek at Malfoy's paper. It was on top, so she wasn't snooping she told herself. He, like her, had not missed a single one. After returning to her seat, Hermione sat down and waited to see what was next.

"I will go over these and find a place to begin, I will see you for double potions on Monday, class dismissed," Slughorn told them.

"I have a free period," Ginny told her.

"I have Arithmancy, but I'll see you in Charms, later," Hermione told her.

Hermione's classes all started off with knowledge checks and were actually pretty easy for Hermione. Arithmancy had been one of Hermione's favorite classes and still was. Charms had been fun they went over everything they had learned from their first year until the end of their sixth year and then Professor Flitwick also had them try random charms, some that they would learn this year. Over the year on the run, Hermione had spent so much time working with runes that Ancient Runes was something she could read almost as well as Latin. Definitely not as well as English but she was doing well. By the end of the day, she was actually relaxed and confident that this year was going to be amazing. The last class she had was Vale Bellum and that was something she had learned would be with only the returning students for her.

Hermione entered the classroom on the sixth floor a bit nervously, she didn't know what to expect. There weren't any desks just comfy chairs, bean bags, and lounges. She walked in and sat on a chaise lounge while she waited. Neville, Parvati, Padma, and Seamus walked in together, soon followed by Lisa Turpin and Hannah Abbot. Tracy Davis walked in by herself and sat down alone. Hermione kind of felt a pang, she didn't know anything about this girl and she seemed to be feeling a bit lonely. Justin Finch-Fletchly and Susan Bones came in together, talking of classes they shared. Hermione looked around and noticed that only Malfoy was not here. Looking around some more she wondered who the Professor would be. Draco came in and sat down right on time. He didn't look at anyone or talk to anyone. He was just there.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," a young woman walked in. "I was a bit lost for a moment, but I will be here on time from now on. So, the first thing you probably want to be answered is, what is this class, I'm sure. Well, in case you didn't know in Latin Vale Bellum means goodbye war. We are trying to say goodbye to the war and to move on, but it isn't an easy thing to do. The younger students might not have too much trouble, but I know a lot of you were directly connected to the war or personally in the war. It's not an easy thing to just get over. Hogwarts has brought in thirty people from outside the country to meet with you all three times a week. Sometimes we may end up with another group but for the most part, this is going to be our safe space. If you need anything you can come to me, I will be here for the rest of the year. You can owl me, I'm staying in Hogsmeade so I'm just a few minutes away. I will either be here or at home for the most part because I am pregnant and cannot apparate at the moment. I will be returning after I have my baby, though, so you won't be losing me in the middle of this, you'll just have to share a bit."

"So, when are the Professors meeting for their group?" Hermione asked.

"Excuse me?" the young lady asked looking where the voice came from.

"You said there are thirty of you. One per house per year is twenty-eight and one for us is obviously twenty-nine. The Professors have a group, too. As a co-head girl, I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that the castle has someone monitoring it while they are all busy. This is a normal class time, so they can't all be meeting at the same time as us." Hermione said.

"You are correct, they do have a group, however, they will be meeting after curfew on the nights that they meet so there will already be prefect rounds. What is your name, by the way?"

"Granger."

"No, I mean your first name," she said.

"Hermione."

"So the first thing we are going to do is to stand up. We will introduce ourselves and tell everyone something interesting about ourselves and then sit down. I'll start. I am Amy and I love to dance, sew and sing. Who's next?" She asked sitting down...

"I'm Neville, I used to believe that I didn't belong in Gryffindor but, in the last few years, I have come to find out I'm not cowardly like I used to think I was. I learned that I am worth something," He sat down.

"Very good, Neville, I think a lot of us doubt things about ourselves. I'm glad you were able to rise up and find yourself it's great to meet you."

Hermione took an instant liking to Amy at the moment, she was a genuine person. Hermione may have looked into her mind for a second to find that out.

"I am Parvati, I am honestly really glad to be back, I like to cook and to bake especially Christmas style desserts."

"I'm Patil," Her sister said before anyone else could say anything, "I agree with my sister, I am glad to be here, again. I want to work in the ministry doing something for children. "

"It's good to hear that, Patil, kids are amazing, and I look forward to seeing what all you can make Parvati." Amy was beaming as the twins took their seats.

"I'm Tracy Davis, I am in the process of becoming a healer and I want to specialize in all things related to pregnancy," She sat down quickly, flushing."

"That is amazing, my Healer always talks about how much he loves his position, I hope you will feel the same way," Amy told her.

Lisa wanted to work in magical law by becoming a wedding official. Justin had just received confirmation of a position to be a researcher for St. Mungo. Susan could play music by ear and the flute was her favorite to play.

"I'm Hannah and I think that it's interesting to get this far in school and still have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life," She laughed a bit nervously as she took her seat.

"Honestly, I didn't realize what I wanted out of life until I was over twenty," Amy told her. "Sometimes it takes a bit but when it hits you it will hit you hard."

Hermione and Draco were the only ones still standing. Hermione opened her mouth, but Malfoy beat her to it.

"I'm Draco, I honestly have a lot that I want to say but I don't think anyone cares or would believe me…" He trailed off awkwardly.

"I care," Hermione told him quietly.

"I believe Hermione spoke for all of us, we are all here for each other, this year and hopefully for longer," Amy encouraged him.

"I just want to say to everyone that I'm sorry, I was raised up in a way that I believed I was superior to everyone around me. As I got older I realized that I was raised up in a way that I shouldn't have been, but I was too scared to change anything. I just kept playing follow the wizard until I got in too deep and, at that point, I couldn't stop because lives were at stake. I didn't know what to do but I secretly hoped that Voldemort would be killed every day. That life would go back to the way it should be. I learned a lot of lessons in the last few years, but I think the biggest lesson I learned was that you should never idolize someone too much. I idolized my father and therefore his idol until everything was ruined. I can never take back who I was, but I have vowed to become a far better person than I was. I'm extremely grateful to have the chance to come back this year and finish school and then go on to do something worthwhile," Draco was looking at his shoes, darting glances around while he spoke and then quickly sat down when he was finished.

"I'm Hermione, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Malfoy… If it wasn't for Draco. Neither would Ron, Harry, or probably any of you. You see, Harry, Ron, and I were on the run, all last year, and at one point we were captured by Snatchers," Hermione took a gulping breath. She had never talked so freely of her time on the run, especially around so many people she only kind of knew. "I hit Harry with a stinging hex to try to disguise him. Some of Voldemort's followers were trying to get Draco to confirm it was us so that they could call him and kill us. Draco refused. He acted like he couldn't recognize us and bought us the time we needed to not only escape but to rescue a few other prisoners. Dobby, He was the Malfoy's house elf for a long time, actually was the only reason we were able to get out of the wards. Elf magic is more powerful than ours. Then, When Voldemort hit Harry with the killing curse, for the second time in his life, Narcissa, Draco's mum, lied and told Voldemort that Harry was dead. Those two acts of bravery and courage changed the whole outcome of the war," Hermione told the group. "Draco may actually have a bit of Gryffindor in him, after all," Hermione joked while she took her seat.

"I don't really know what I could say to encourage you two, I think you encouraged us. Thank you for opening up like that. For showing us that we can work together, and we can also become more than who we are, today," Amy told them. "I think that's a good start for us and I will see you all Friday. I would like for you to all think of what was said here, today. Also, nothing said in here leaves this room."

*Important!*

Charlie would be the perfect DADA teacher, except for the part when Hermione would call it quits because dating a teacher would be against the f****** rules! - Black Banshee

Okay, for everyone who has said that they think that Charlie will STILL be the teacher, how does this one review affect your thoughts. I feel like Hermione is a stickler and wants to follow rules word for word so I want to know what ya'lls thoughts are. Thanks in advance.