Hello! I tried to make this chapter longer. This is my first Fanfic and I'm just getting into the swing of things so bear with me ! Thanks to everyone who's been reading !
~All of this wonderful world belongs to JK Rowling
At long last, it was finally here. The moment Hermione had been waiting for. As she looked at the gleaming Hogwarts express, Hermione couldn't help grinning. She was going home. Feeling a hand on her arm she looked up to see Harry looking down at her with a gentle smile. She knew that he realized just how much going back to Hogwarts meant to her.
"Shall we board?" he asked her.
"Yes let's," she smiled back.
Sitting next to Ron in their compartment, Hermione did her best to avoid eye contact with him as they sat across from Harry and Ginny who were snuggling and chatting intimately. Hermione and Ron had tried dating after their impulsive kiss in the chamber of secrets, but Hermione had soon broken it off. They had simply waited too long. It was too late to break out of their sibling-like relationship. They were slowly patching things up, but things were still awkward sometimes, such as now as they watched the happy couple in front of them. Harry and Ginny were stronger than ever, now that their relationship was no longer under the strains of the war. Hermione could not have been happier for her friend. After years of strife, Harry deserved this shot at happiness.
At long last, Hermione spotted the familiar towers and turrets of Hogwarts in the distance. "We're almost there !" she exclaimed.
As they stepped off the platform she saw familiar faces popping up. It seemed that Neville, Luna, Dean and Seamus had all decided to come back. Several of the Slytherins had as well, including the annoying Pansy Parkinson, quiet Daphne Greengrass, and brooding Blaise Zabini. Hermione couldn't help looking around to see if another certain Slytherin had indeed come back. Before she could spot him however, she was pulled away by an excited Ginny Weasley to join a carriage with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Luna.
"Neville! Luna! It's so nice to see you both!" Hermione said as she hugged them both warmly.
"A lot more people can see the Thestrals this trip eh?" Neville observed sadly.
They all sat in silence for a moment, remembering friends who weren't making the journey to the castle this year.
"A lot of Slytherins came back didn't they?" Ron asked to break the silence.
"I guess even Slytherins don't like to be lonely," Luna said in her dreamy way.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"Well practically all of their parents have been locked up in Azkaban," Ginny said. "I wonder if they've changed at all now that the war is over and all is said and done."
"Well they're still bloody Slytherins." Ron grimaced. "You wouldn't catching me talking to them, Voldemort or not."
The rest of the ride past uneventfully. It wasn't until the sorting ceremony that anything unusual occurred. The hat's song was typical, outlining the four houses and their traits for the rather large group of nervous first years, Hermione observed happily. The last message of the hat's song however, was somewhat different.
Now the war's been won and evil's dead
Yet there's work to do and breaks to mend
There's now a chance for enemies to become friends
We must forgive, we must forget
Or the dark may triumph yet.
Silence greeted the hat's statement, and Hermione couldn't help glancing at the Slytherin table. She spotted that white blonde hair-Malfoy had indeed returned! As if he could sense her gaze, he looked up, and when he saw her looking at him, sneered. Hermione looked down quickly, blood rushing to her face. Clearly she had imagined that things might be different. He was still the same, still hated her. What was she thinking? Just because he wasn't out to get her now didn't mean that he didn't hate her and her non-pure blood. She felt Ron nudge her-the sorting had finished and Headmistress McGonnagal was speaking.
"...Forbidden Forrest is still off limits. Finally, would all of the new and old seventh years please stay after the feast for a brief meeting. Thank you, and enjoy."
And with that, the sparkling gold plates and goblets became loaded with food and drink.
"I wonder what that could be about," Ron mumbled with his mouth full of steak and kidney pie. Hermione wrinkled her nose. Some things never changed.
"I dunno, guess we'll find out." Harry said.
At long last, the food was gone and the hall cleared of all except the seventh years and Professor McGonnagal.
"You must all be wondering why I have kept you, so I will make you wait no longer. This year I will be teaching you all a new course called Adjustments. This course deals not with magic but with something far more important. It seems that despite the war being over, some issues remain. This course is designed to remedy those issues. By the end of the year, I expect this group to have finally achieved house unity and healthy muggleborn-pure blood relations. There is absolutely no need for any of this nonsense to remain. We are all wizards and witches, all equals, and all survivors," McGonnagal added softly. "And I mean all of you!" she added in her normal stern matter, glaring at the Griffyndors and Slytherins who were sizing each other up in a rather unfriendly manner. "I except to see you all in my classroom strait away after lunch tomorrow. Dismissed!"
"Adjustments!?" Ron exclaimed later on in the common room. "Why do we all have to go? The only ones who need adjusting are those blasted Slytherins?"
Hermione looked at Ginny who rolled her eyes. Ron could be brave and noble, but he was equally thick. Privately, Hermione absolutely agreed with McGonnagal, and she'd do anything she could to help make this class a success. She knew that it was bound to be difficult. Indeed, perhaps for the first time, Hermione Granger would be in a class that wouldn't be easy for her to ace. She knew that she would have more than a few nasty comments thrown her way by the Slytherins. As she curled up in bed later that night, Hermione couldn't help but wonder if Malfoy would be one of the Slytherins who would insult her.