Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignment): Triwizard Tournament 5

(See below for explanation of prompts)

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): Ancient Runes

Prompt: Write about Hermione Granger

Word Count: 1,545 (ish)

Hermione

After the war Ron and I moved in together. Everyone assumed that we would, and so we did. We fell into the roles of 'companions to the saviour of the world' and for a long time that was enough for both of us. Once Harry and Ron had rounded up the last of the Death Eaters and I had helped Kingsley restore the Ministry we were done. There was no need for us to ever work again. We were retired before the age of twenty.

Of course, that wasn't enough for me, so I stayed on at the Ministry. I worked hard there, but I always came home at the end of the day happy and satisfied.

Ron and I acted out our 'happily-ever-after' for almost four years. We never married though, a fact which continually seemed to disappoint everyone but me. There were always reasons why it was a bad time-we were too young, we didn't want to atract media attention, I wanted to complete my training first. Eventually we found our rut and we settled into it.

Ron wanted to become a professional Quidditch player but he didn't have the drive. I think it always irritated him that I was the one who earned the money, that I spent the day working and not at his beck and call.

After a couple of years the ministry job stopped being fulfilling. I realised that my career wasn't going anywhere and that I began to realise how ineffective and in some ways, corrupted, the ministry was.

I switched career paths, deciding to train as a healer in hopes that the job would be more fulfilling. My training was rigorous- hours of practice spells during the day and studying in the evening. When I completed my training I worked as many shifts as I could, meaning I was often catching up on sleep when Ron wanted to go out. We hardly spoke to each other and never went anywhere as a couple.

Ron

When Hermione agreed to move in with me I thought that all of my dreams had come true. I didn't realise that she would hold back on so much in our relationship, that eventually our rush to be together would drive us apart.

I know that what I did was unacceptable. I know it was dishonorable and that Hermione deserved better. I just didn't want to disappoint everyone. Mum was so proud of us that I couldn't let her down, I couldn't leave Hermione. But after she got the job as a healer I felt... inferior. She was hardly around, I felt like she didn't have time for me anymore, that I was holding her back.

I decided I needed a job, that it wasn't too late for me to make it as a quidditch pro. I tried out for all the big teams, and I even qualified a few times, but I never kept it up. I was lazy and unambitious. Every time I got close I slipped, gave up on my dream.

Lavender made me feel good about myself. She thought i was great and I needed the ego boost. It was so easy to just forget about Hermione when it was Lavender's lips crushing mine, Lavender's arms around me, Lavender's eyes that promised me everything I couldn't have.

Draco

For a long time I thought it would be better if I were dead. I knew it would have been better if I had never been born, but eventually I realised that being dead wouldn't help anything. If my life could be used to repair even a fraction of the damage I had caused it would be worth the suffering.

I went through a time where I changed my life around. I picked myself up and stopped thinking of myself as a criminal. I was filled with the idea that helping people would be my salvation, that I could do something for the greater good, contribute towards happiness and the end of suffering.

I sold Malfoy Manor and used most of my inheritance to help rebuild Hogwarts and the Ministry. I was adamant that my help be anonymous, something which annoyed my mother but which I am sure was the right thing to do.

Even that wasn't enough. I had almost a lifetime of sins to repair and my fortune could not begin to repay that debt. I trained as a healer, believing that if I could heal others, some small part of my soul could be healed too. At first the job felt more like a chore but it didn't take me long to realise that it was where I belonged.

Hermione

When I started working at St Mungo's the nightmares returned. I would wake up in Hogwarts again, watching my friends die before me. Being constantly surrounded by hurt and dying people brought back memories that I had spent years repressing.

During that time I tried to hide it from Ron. I suppose I didn't want him to see my weakness. I needed to be a rock, and my secret was that every night I turned into sand.

I started working later and later, staying at the hospital overnight to keep my secret safe. I slept in the on call rooms (barely necessary in a wizarding hospital but there nonetheless).

I think, in the first year I worked at St Mungo's only two people found out that I didn't go home at night. The first was my ward manager, who assumed I simply loved the job and couldn't bear to leave before I had completed every last piece of paperwork, and the other was Draco Malfoy.

Draco started working at St Mungo's around the same time I did. Initially we stayed well clear of each other. I knew he had changed but I wasn't sure if I could talk to him without punching him, screaming, or crying. When he found me one night, lost once again in my nightly torment he coaxed me awake and refused to leave.

After that I could trust him to wake me up whenever they got too bad. He was always there and I came to rely on him in a way I couldn't rely on anyone else. I never felt guilty when I was with him, we were just friends, but his company was relaxing in a way Ron wasn't.

Draco

I was the first person she came to when she found out. Looking back, I suppose it was impressive that she managed to apparate to my flat, a location she had visited only once before, in the state she was in. Through her sobbing I managed to work out that she had caught Weaselbee in a rather compromising position with some girl from school. My first instinct was to apparate to hers and give him the broken nose he deserved but fortunately I calmed down enough to realise that that would probably not help matters.

I let her cry, and when she was done crying I stopped her from going to kill Weaselbee in a fit of rage. (Not that I was against the actual killing of the man but because I preferred that she didn't get locked away in Azkaban.) I made her hot chocolate, set her up on the bed in the spare room, and sat beside her until she eventually drifted off to sleep.

During the time that came after her discovery I looked after her. I made sure she ate three meals a day, kept her updated with what was going on at work and tried to convince her to see her old friends. I couldn't bear to see her devastated, forlorn figure greet me sadly every morning and I suppose I simply bullied her into recovery.

Hermione

After I got over my anger I started to feel stupid, as though he had humiliated me. I couldn't bear to see Harry or Ginny or any of the Weasley family. I hardly left the house, terrified the journalists would be waiting to capture my shame. In some twisted corner of my brain I thought that perhaps they had all known all along, that the whole time they had been laughing at me.

Finally, Draco convinced me to see them, just a few at a time. I realised that while I had been isolating myself they had all been showing Ron exactly what they thought of his decisions. Their love helped me as much as Draco's did, and now I realise that Ron and I were never a perfect fit, and that we are both happier now.

I thought I would hate him and be glad that his family had driven him away but I found that I didn't have it in me to simply curse him to the lonely life he deserved. I urged Molly to accept both him and Lavender, and although I am sure we will never have the friendship we used to have back, I wish him the very best and know that he feels the same way towards me.

Explanation of Prompts:

Fear due to past experiences, Secrets brought to light

(Nightmares) (Affair)

Reflection, Epiphany, Fulfilling life, Take action

(Post-War Draco)

Skipping steps to achieve goal, Time you lose focus

(Ron- applying for Quidditch teams)

Negativity overwhelming, Disillusionment in work/relationship etc

(Hermione's change of career)

Balance and Tranquility

(Ending)