April

Hogwarts was different. Where before the school had managed to keep up the pretense that the War maybe hadn't been quite so bad as all that before, now that façade was tearing at the seams. The open hostility towards the Slytherins in general, and Draco Malfoy in particular, became more blatant every day. Or maybe she had just not noticed before, living in the safe bubble of Healer training and her own private quarters to study. She couldn't wait to leave.

In theory, she could, of course, take her N.E.W.T.s with the Ministry. She was nineteen now, she didn't have to stay. But Hermione Granger was not a quitter, and she refused to run away, no matter how much she wanted to. She'd see this year through to the end, no matter what happened. She wanted that graduation ceremony. She deserved that graduation ceremony.

She turned a corner to take a shortcut through an abandoned and still mostly destroyed corridor to her own rooms in the West Tower and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her. A crowd of students from different Houses blocked the way. They were jeering and laughing and sending jinxes to… Was that Malfoy?

She'd ignored him, most of the time. He hadn't ended up in the Infirmary since she'd returned after Easter, and she hadn't taken her meals in the Great Hall all that often. She still had the Marauders' Map and used it to avoid running into him, although she didn't have to go through all that much trouble to do so. He seemed quite keen to avoid her, as well.

She'd drawn her wand before she knew what she was doing and pushed the students aside while she strode up to Draco, her eyes burning with fury.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she said, her voice quiet but still carrying in the suddenly silent corridor. She focused her attention on the main instigator, a Hufflepuff and the brother of Ernie MacMillan. Or was it his cousin? She didn't really know. She didn't care.

Nobody answered her. She turned around slowly, memorising the faces of each of the students.

"I've had enough of this shit. I will report you all to the Headmistress. I want some fucking peace and quiet for the rest of this year. Do whatever the bloody hell you want when I'm gone, but if one of you even so much as squeaks when I'm near, you'll regret the day you crossed my path. Ask Marietta Edgecombe what happens when you cross me. Am I making myself clear?"

Her magic flared with her anger, rattling the paintings on the walls. The younger students took a step back, and then another one. Most of them had never seen Hermione Granger do her worst, but they had heard stories. They sulked, grumbled and slunked away in small groups. When one of them muttered "Death Eater whore" as he walked past, she hit him with a bat bogey hex before he'd even finished speaking. They scattered quickly then.

Draco turned away, refusing to look at her.

"You shouldn't have done that."

"I'd rather not see you in the Infirmary."

She saw his lips twitch, and knowing that he'd almost smiled while she was still so angry, about their break-up, about the blatant bullying that went unpunished, about people unable to move on from the War, almost made her want to smack him. Again. It had been rather satisfying back in third year.

She stalked past him and disappeared in a secret stairwell that took her up to her own floor. She listened intently for footsteps, hoping he wouldn't follow her. Or maybe that he would. No - she didn't want to see him ever again. If only time would go faster. If only it was July already.


Interlude: Forms

She told herself when she was staring out the window of her bedroom that she was looking at the landscape. She loved how the mountains changed colour with the seasons, going from the dark greys and browns of winter to the bright yellows and fresh greens of spring.

She told herself that she wasn't looking at the lone figure flying around the Quidditch pitch in lazy circles, practicing elegant dives or fast turns, chasing a Snitch all on his own. She really wasn't. Her scar itched but she refused to scratch.

She forced herself to look at the stacks of parchments and books she had prepared for revision. N.E.W.T.s were coming up in May and she really needed good grades to get into the Healer programme of her choice. Madam Roseberry had given her a long list of credits and scores she'd need to get into the various programmes around the world.

Her eyes darted to the application forms she had been completing earlier: one for St. Mungo's, of course, and one for the Massachusetts Institute of Medicine and Healing, a world-renowned Healer training institute that combined Muggle and Magical methods. Her hand hovered over the application form for the Hopital Jeanne D'Arc in Paris. She hadn't started on that one yet. She had no reason to. And yet her hand hovered, indecisively, over that form, while her eyes went back to the flash of green and silver that zoomed around the pitch, almost of their own volition.

She didn't notice she had started crying until the tears dripped down on her revision notes and blotted the ink into unreadable splotches.


May

Hermione opened her eyes with difficulty. It was as if someone had spellotaped them shut. But as soon as the harsh white light hit her, she squeezed them shut again. Her head was pounding and everything hurt. Someone let go of her hand. She hadn't even noticed she'd been holding hands until she felt the cold emptiness that the removal left behind. By the time she opened her eyes again, she was alone in the Infirmary.

Madam Roseberry came bustling out of her office and immediately cast the diagnostics spell at her.

"What's wrong?" she'd wanted to ask, but all that she managed to do was croak unintelligibly.

She drank some water when prompted and waited patiently until the Healer had finished before trying again.

"What happened?"

Madam Roseberry stroked her cheek, an uncharacteristically kind gesture of a woman who was not normally overly familiar with anyone.

"You were hit by two curses at the same time. You threw up a protective shield but the curses connected and the combined strength shattered your shield. You blacked out, luckily."

Hermione swallowed and winced, her throat raspy and aching.

"That's not really an answer."

Madam Roseberry smiled. "No, it wasn't. The curses combined into a curse that made your body boil from the inside. You were quite lucky I was there immediately to stop the progress of the curse. Your lungs had almost burst and you were bloating from the heat the spell had generated."

"I should have died," said Hermione, her tone detached yet slightly curious.

"Yes. But thanks to our quick actions, you didn't."

"Thank you."

Madam Roseberry only shook her head.

"You still need to rest, Hermione. Try to get some more sleep." She refilled Hermione's glass and placed some vials with pain relief potions on her bedside table as she spoke. Then she turned around to leave, but a panicked exclamation stopped her.

"Wait! What day is it? How long have I been out? What about N.E.W.T.s?"

Madam Roseberry couldn't help but laugh softly.

"Don't worry. You've only been out three days. You'll be up and about again in time to take your exams."

Hermione nodded, thoughtfully.

"Someone was here when I woke up."

"Yes."

"You're not going to tell me who it was?"

"Do I really have to, Hermione? Are you sure you don't already know?"

And with that, the Healer disappeared into her office again.

When she woke up again, it was the middle of the night and Draco Malfoy was slouched in a chair beside her bed, asleep, his fingers curled around hers. She studied him without moving. She'd jumped in front of those curses for him, even though he'd treated her like dirt, tossed her aside like a broken wand. And yet here he was. Here she was, in the Infirmary, recovering from a curse that had been meant for him. She could feel the tears sliding down her cheeks and tried to wipe them away without waking him, but he must have sensed something, because his fingers momentarily tightened around hers before he sat up, blinked sleepily and sent her a smile that really shouldn't have sent her heart racing.

"Hey."

She didn't smile back.

"What are you doing here?"

His smile faltered and his hand let go of hers. She instantly felt cold again.

"Just making sure you're safe."

She norted. "Fine guard you are, falling asleep on the job."

He shrugged, looking sullen now. "I put up wards. I would have woken up before anyone even reached the door."

She was too confused, too hurt still, to understand. She turned the pain into anger. It was easier.

"I thought I said I didn't want to see you in the infirmary again." She flinched at the harsh tone of her words but didn't take them back. She watched as he sat back, stunned, a mix of emotions she didn't want to acknowledge crossing his face. Then he nodded and rose from his seat.

"Fine."

He walked slowly towards the door, as if hoping she'd call out after him and she had to bite her tongue to refrain from doing so. She wouldn't fall for him again. She didn't care.

Madam Roseberry discharged her a few days later, two weeks before N.E.W.T.s started. Hermione hadn't seen Draco again. When she left the infirmary, there was a chair standing next to the door. She looked at it in confusion, and then turned back to ask Madam Roseberry what it was for. There had never been a chair in that corridor before.

"Oh, lass. He sat in that chair every night you were here."

She almost regretted sending him away.


Interlude: N.E.W.T.s

Hermione was a mess during the last weeks of N.E.W.T prep. She ran from one class to another, frantically going over her notes and re-reading her textbooks until well into the morning. He had left a stack of notes on the desk in her room that covered the classes she had missed when she was in the hospital, and she ignored the way it made her heart flutter in her chest. She didn't have time for feelings now.

When Draco sat down at her table in the library, she didn't ask him to leave. They didn't talk about anything but their classes, and Hermione felt like they were almost back on the same footing as they had been before the Christmas holidays. It was familiar and comforting in the chaos that was exam prep at Hogwarts.

And then N.E.W.T.s were upon them, too soon and yet not over soon enough. She plowed through one day after another, one exam after another, on too little sleep and too much Pepper-up potion to be entirely healthy.

When it was over, finally, blissfully over, she slept through the weekend, doors locked, Floo disconnected and the strongest wards she had been able to conjure protecting her from interruptions. She'd never know how many times he'd knocked on her door.


June

"We need to talk."

Hermione sighed, placed the bookmark between the pages of her book, closed it and carefully placed it back in her bag. Only then she looked up at Draco, squinting against the sun.

"That sounds ominous. Whenever a guy says that in those silly TV shows it means he wants to break up with their girlfriend. But we've already broken up, so I'm not sure what else you want."

She hadn't meant to sound catty.

He slumped, running his hand over his face and through his hair with rigid, sharp movements that betrayed how tense he was.

He kneeled down beside her, sitting back on his heels and bit his lip, searching her face for a sign of… she didn't know what. Now she didn't have to squint up into the sunlight any more, she could see the dark shadows under his eyes and the worry lines on his forehead.

"I'm so sorry." The pain and desperation in his voice gave her hope she didn't want.

"What for?"

He sighed and tilted his head to the side as he looked at her. Their eyes met and she couldn't look away.

"I'm sorry I was such a prick. I'm sorry I called you that foul name. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I pushed you away. I'm sorry I gave up on us. I'm sorry I'm such a coward. I'm sorry you got hit by those curses. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm so, so sorry, Hermione. For everything."

She held her breath as he spoke and released it with a hiss when he finished.

"It's easy to say you're sorry."

He scoffed. "Not really, actually. The more you mean it, the harder it can be to say the words."

She smiled and looked down, her hand toying with the grass underneath.

When the silence became unbearable, he shifted to sit across from her and opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

"I know you're sorry. I've known since I woke up in the Infirmary and saw you there, sleeping in that uncomfortable chair."

He shook his head with an incredulous look.

"Then why didn't you say something sooner? Is it…" He hesitated, his fists clenching in the grass. "You can't forgive me, can you? That's why you've been ignoring me. I'm sorry, I should go. I didn't mean… I didn't expect… I'm sorry. I won't bother you again."

He made to get up, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"I just needed some time, Draco. And I thought you'd understand, with N.E.W.T.s coming up, I couldn't afford to… to get too emotional. I wanted to wait until after the exams to deal with our..." She gestured between them, searching for the right word.

"Mess?" he suggested, and she nodded with a laugh.

"I thought you understood that I'd mostly forgiven you when we studied together."

"I knocked on your door after the exams but you never answered."

"I slept. I put up wards so I wouldn't be disturbed. I was going to look for you later, but you found me first."

He nodded, his shoulders less tense than they had been before.

"You said I'm mostly forgiven."

She nodded.

"So not entirely?"

She took a deep breath and bit her lip before answering, an apologetic look on her face.

"Not entirely," she said.

"So where does that leave us, then?"

Her hand slid down his arm and intertwined with his.

"Give it some time. We need to learn to trust each other again."

He couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he squeezed her hand in response. She didn't pull away.


Grand Finale: Graduation

Hermione put on her Hogwarts robes for the last time. She placed the hat on her head, securing it in her hair with some bobby pins. Any spells always made her hair more unmanageable so she had to do it the Muggle way.

She turned around when she heard the knock on her door and saw Draco leaning against the doorframe. She smiled at him.

"Fetching," he said, an edge of mockery to his tone. "Ready for your grand speech?"

She walked over and bumped her fist into his shoulder.

"Don't remind me. They'll hate me for what I'm going to say."

Draco laughed and offered his arm, which she accepted.

"I can't wait to see McGonagall's face when you hit her with that Muggle quote."

"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept," she declaimed in a dramatic voice. Then she shrugged. "Nobody listened when I told them to move on from the War and not let it poison the present even more than it already has. They'll have no choice but to listen now."

Draco helped her jump over a disappearing step and they finally reached the entrance hall, where they headed towards the door. As the oldest students at Hogwarts - and Hermione being the one to give the Graduation speech - they would lead the other graduates out onto the great lawn, where the ceremony would be held.

"You know they'll forget as soon as you're finished, don't you?"

"Oh, I know. But that doesn't mean I can't have some fun shaming them all."

He looked at her with bright silver eyes and a mischievous smile.

"You're more Slytherin than I thought."

She smiled back.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was meant to be."

They waited for the doors to open, impatient now to get it over with and get started on the next chapter in life.

"So are you really moving to France?"

He stiffened and looked away.

"It still seems like a prudent choice. The Ministry has already given their permission. I will leave in August."

The doors opened and they began their procession, over the courtyard through to the Great Lawn where a massive tent had been put up to provide some shade - or cover against the rain - to the parents and teachers who attended. Hermione pasted an icy smile on her face when they reached the back rows and she saw the incredulous and rude stares of those who recognised Draco. She entwined their arms even closer and dared anyone to comment. Right before they reached the front rows, where they would be sitting, she leaned over to him and whispered in his ear: "I've been accepted at Jeanne D'Arc in Paris. So maybe we'll see each other there."

Draco stared at her, eyes wide, smile even wider, all through the graduation ceremony. He hadn't felt this happy in a long time.


AN - I hope this makes up for the drama of the last chapter? Let me know what you think! Thanks so much for all the follows, favourites and reviews.