A/N: Heeeeeeyyyyyy, new story. Couldn't resist, sorry. Besides, I've been cut off from the Internet for a week now. I needed to do something, so no judgies! Now, I've had this idea for about three weeks, and I decided to finally start it before I lost the idea, or someone else had the same one, which you know, I actually kind of doubt, because this is a really pretty original idea. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Hermione Granger walked the halls of Hogwarts for what would be her final time. The 5'2" witch had accepted Professor McGonagall's invitation to repeat her seventh year and returned to Hogwarts. Harry and Ron had gone on to be Aurors, and she and Ron –while having kissed at the Final Battle – were just friends now, and he was happily dating Luna Lovegood. Hermione personally thought the two suited each other. Ron grounded Luna, and brought her back down to earth, while Luna calmed his temper in a way that Hermione had never been able to. Harry and Ginny were happily in love – sickeningly in love, actually – and Hermione, well Hermione hadn't found her special someone yet, but that didn't bother her in the least. She knew it would come when she least expected it, and besides, she was Head Girl! Going to the Head's dorms, Hermione stated the password, climbed through the portrait, ignored Draco Malfoy – who had made Head Boy – and his friend Blaise Zabini, and walked up the stairway to her bedroom. She entered, and grabbed her laptop from her closet. When she'd asked Professor McGonagall if she would be able to bring it along, the elder witch had looked at her blankly. The confusion had cleared when Hermione told her that Professor Dumbledore had cast a charm on it the previous year that allowed her Muggle electronics to work in the magically buffered castle. Hermione reentered the common room, and claimed an armchair in the far corner. Sitting down, she curled up and balanced the laptop on her legs. Opening the top, she selected the Skype app she wanted to use and looked up her cousin's username, seeing if she was available. She was. Hermione clicked it, and waited for her cousin to respond.

Feeling two pairs of eyes on her, Hermione looked up and met the gazes of Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini defiantly.

"Can I help you?" She snapped at the two.

"Um, Mina?" A female voice with an American accent sounded from the computer.

Hermione looked down. "Oh, Carmi, I'm sorry. I was talking to some imbeciles in my common room."

Carmi laughed. "No worries, Mina."

Carmichael Lei was Hermione Granger's younger cousin. She was fifteen, 5 feet even, had curly and wild brown hair with dark cherry lowlights down to the middle of her back, and had a small, heart-shaped face. Her nose was tiny, and turned up at the end, her mouth was naturally pouty, and her cinnamon eyes were always sparkling. With her petite features, people often described the girl as a 'pixie.' And with a mischievous nature to match her features, the title of pixie suited her.

"So", Hermione began impishly, "are you still a midget?"

"Mina!" Carmi wailed. "I'll have you know that in order to be a short person the maximum height is 4'10". Besides, you're taller than me!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "By two inches! Wait, you looked up the height? So at one point you must have thought you were going to be a midget forever."

Carmi glared at her cousin. "The correct terminology is 'short person'. And shut up."

Hermione happy danced in her seat. "Whoa!" She exclaimed, grabbing the laptop just before it fell.

"Ha ha", Carmi stuck her tongue out at her cousin.

"Whatever. I was right."

Carmi looked down and mumbled something. Hermione strained to understand her, and then fell out of the chair laughing. She twisted to avoid crushing the laptop, and landed flat on her back, with the computer falling on top of her stomach, and knocking the breath out of the wavy haired witch with sparkling hazel eyes.

"Oof", she grunted.

"YES!" Carmi shouted, jumping up and doing a rather poor imitation of a footballer's touch down dance. (American version of football here, people.) "Finally, I am not the first of us to fall out of her chair with laughter. Victory is mine", she crowed… and then promptly fell flat on her face.

Hermione burst out laughing. She laughed until her stomach hurt, and her laughter became silent, and tears ran down her face. Only her cousin would trip on thin air in the middle of a dance. As Hermione became more immersed in her conversation with her cousin, she remained where she had fallen on the floor. Her hair was spread in a chocolate wave around her, and a few stray curls fell into her face as she talked animatedly, and her eyes seemed to glow from a fire hidden deep within her.

As Blaise stared at her, he thought that he had never seen a sight more beautiful. He turned to look at Draco and found his friend staring at the screen of Granger's bloody Muggle device. Blaise followed his friend's line of sight, and was surprised to see the girl whom Hermione was talking with on the screen. She was pretty, Blaise thought, but she wasn't Hermione. For Blaise, no other girl could compare and ever satisfy because she would not be Hermione.

Draco looked at the girl on the screen – Carmi, Granger had called her – with concern and amusement. She'd fallen on her face, so he was concerned for her, and but then again, she'd fallen flat on her face. How was he not supposed to find amusement in that? Draco thought over his summer wearily. He'd found out he was a Veela. The prospect had terrified him – still terrified him at times, if he was being honest -, and moreover, he'd read about Veelas. If he/she did not find his/her mate or found his/her mate, but were not accepted by his/her eighteenth birthday, the Veela would die. Draco had had no idea where to start looking, but now, seeing the girl on the screen, he knew who his mate was. There were just two problems. One, she was a Muggle, and two, she was American. After the War, Draco had no problem with Muggleborns or Muggles, and he knew his mother didn't – not really, anyway – but his father was an entirely separate entity. Starting with the American bit, Draco thought it over. Honestly, he didn't give one crap about her ethnicity, but he could only imagine how that bit would go over with his family. He winced just thinking about it. Now, as far as the Muggle bit, how would he explain magic to her? He couldn't hide it from her; magic was in his blood – it was who he was.

Draco looked up from his thoughts when he realized Hermione was standing in front of him, hands on her hips, foot tapping.

Draco smirked. "Something I can help you with, Granger?" he drawled.

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is", Hermione bit out. "How about you tell me why you were staring at my cousin – not that she noticed -, and why you", she exclaimed, whirling on Blaise, "were staring at me? Hmm?" She said impatiently.

An hour later, Hermione stood in the Heads common room stunned. She summoned a beanbag chair from her room, and collapsed into it. She put her head in her hands hiding her face, and shook her head helplessly.

"I need my music", she muttered. "I need to think."

Hermione accio-ed her laptop from the other side of the room, and her headphones from her school bag which was just inside her bedroom. Putting her headphones her ears and plugging them into the side of the laptop, she looked up at Draco and Blaise's confused faces.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to walk up stairs for a short amount of time, only to come back down again to tell you my decision", Hermione said irritably. "Besides, I'm comfortable as am."

Hermione listened to her music for about forty-five minutes, before removing her headphones. She looked up for Blaise and Draco only to see the two immersed in a game of Wizard's Chess. Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Of course', she thought fondly. 'Wait, 'fondly'? Where did that come from? Oh shit.'

End of chapter! Tell me what you thought, I really am interested in your feedback. ;D

Love!