[A/N: I am SO sorry for the late update. I know I posted saying I'd have it up lat week but I ended up losing my electricity for a few days with no way to charge my laptop. :/ Again, I'm sorry my lovlies. But I have written a longer chapter in hopes to make up for it.
Sincerely, Sophia White.]
Hermione awoke the next morning and immediately began packing a few last minute items, her emotions from last night flooding in to effect her today. When she finished she used a "Leviosa" charm to move her trunk to the front entrance hall then headed for the kitchen.
Sirius greeted her with a cup of coffee, the way he had found she liked it, and a bit overly cheerful tone, "Morning, 'Mione. Ready for your first day as a seventh year?"
She took the cup, eyeing him suspiciously, and asked, "Are you going to make fun of me?"
"Oh come on, you're just so young! I'm just playing. You know, some say I have a fun and free nature about me, like a dog," he smirked, winking at the girl.
"I am not even going to justify that with a response," she giggled.
"Ah, but you just did, darling," Sirius smiled at the girl and hurried off to the door when the bell went off.
When he returned to the kitchen he had his godson, her best friend, under his arm.
"What're you doing here, Harry?" she asked with a cheery tone, moving in for a hug.
"You're not the only one going back to school, silly," he smiled as he pulled from their embrace.
At this she tightened up, "who else is outside?"
"Oh you know, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Ginny... and Ron?" he ended it in a question in order to brace the impact and gauge her reaction at the same time. They had barely talked since she moved into Grimmauld Place and he wasn't sure how she was feeling on the situation.
"Oh, well I can take the Knight Bus to the station, thanks Harry," to this she turned to walk off.
But Harry held her firm, "come on. He's really sorry for being so insensitive and he wants to make it up to you."
"Fine, I'll ride with you, but I don't want him to make anything up to me. I want him to treat me a he did from second year to sixth year. Is that understood?"
"By me, yes. You might wanna tell him that though. In the car."
"I will," she assured him and went off to shrink her trunk in the hall.
She gave a teary goodbye to Sirius and promised to return a soon as possible before following Harry to the car.
Ginny and Molly gave very cheery hellos and Arthur nodded with a bright smile. But Ron looked sheepishly at her. Hermione nodded once with a solemn look on her face and climbed in.
The train ride to the school was painful. After Ron apologized, Hermione gratefully accepted it but informed him that she no longer wanted to be more-than-friends. This angered Ron, who ended up walking out of the compartment and not returning till they arrived, leaving the compartment with a thick tension the whole way.
Things at Hogwarts were obviously changing this year. With the majority of an entire year of students returning some changes had to be made. The 'Eighth Years' as they were deemed would be staying in a new tower erected for the situation. To accommodate all of the new and returning students there would be no 'double classes' this year, much to the enjoyment of some. But the most interesting of all the changes was that the Eighth Years were no longer held in a 'house'. When discussing the matter in their lengthy admittance letters Headmistress McGonagall mentioned her raised expectancy of good behavior in the older students, saying that considering what they had all just survived they should all be able to set aside petty house wars.
Upon their arrival Ron immediately started for the tower, leaving Harry, Hermione, and Ginny to walk and talk at a more leisurely pace. Though when they reached the tower Hermione immediately headed for her dorm to leave Harry and Ginny to part ways in private.
Hermione entered her room and felt immediate relief at seeing 2 of her 4 former roommates, Lavender and Parvati. Taking note that Fay Dunbar and her friend, Sarah were no longer with them.
Though she was happy to see her friends he also noticed how the war had changed them. Parvati had a long scar running down the side of her right cheek to her mid-throat and she didn't seem quite as bubbly. And Lavender... Her appearance truly reminded Hermione that not everything would be the same. Her already bushy cappuccino-colored curls looked harder to tame, her eyes held golden specs of color in them, and her overall stance just looked more feral. Hermione's first thought was that more than one werewolf would be in the Shrieking Shack this year. She was about to step forward and claim a bed when she was rudely shoved in by Pansy Parkinson and her friend Crystal Baggs, claiming that she was in their way. The three confused Gryffindors looked at the two disgusted Slytherins, trying to understand the situation.
'Surely the Headmistress wasn't mixing houses in rooms,' they all thought.
Every girl pulled out their admittance letters and checked their room assignment, and they all read Floor 3 Room 6.
With much trepidation the 5 girls each chose a bed and began unpacking with very little talking. Around 7:30 the girls made their way to the Great Hall to eat in their respective cliques.
Upon entrance Hermione first noticed that the Hall and all the tables seemed longer, but she brushed that off to obvious reasons. She caught Remus' eye and waved, while making her way to her friends at the Gryffindor table.
"I just don't know what to think," Harry sighed, "I don't think it's a trick, though, Ron."
"Maybe they really have changed. I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt," Ginny offered her thoughts on the subject.
"What's the topic?" Hermione asked, sitting across from everyone.
"How the Malfoy's have obviously tricked McGonagall!" Ron spat, obviously angered by the subject.
"Stop it, Ron," Harry gave him a warning look, "I agree with Ginny. Draco is our new roommate and he want to apologize to all of us for how he and his family have acted."
Hermione almost choked on the plate of food she had dug into, "what?!"
"Yeah, his father talked his way out of Azkaban and into a job here as Potions Professor and I know he put it in McGonagall's head to combine houses. It's the Imperius Curse or something!" Ron raised his voice, shooting a nasty look toward the senior Malfoy, who Hermione had failed to notice at the teacher's table.
Ginny kicked her brother under the table, "stop it, Ron, you're acting ridiculous. Maybe they really have changed. Just try talking to him; you'll see the real difference there. "
Hermione had instantly lost her appetite and proceeded to push her plate away, "I'm going to the library."
Everyone murmured their goodbyes as Hermione left and headed for the Grand Staircase, lost in thought. One thing her friends never talked about was when they were caught in the woods and taken to Malfoy Manor. When Bellatrix LeStrange turned her hand on the young witch and tortured her. And Lucius Malfoy to the side, making snide remarks of "knowing other ways to break her" and how he would request the Dark Lord let him keep her as a house elf for his family to do with as they see fit. Hermione was too scared to comprehend what he meant then, but as time passed she knew...
Unknown to our bright girl that man's son, a fellow Eighth Year with equally sharp and pale features as his father, Draco Malfoy was waiting in an empty classroom three doors down.
He heard the familiar sound of footsteps nearing his location, but it was her scent that let him know it was the one he was waiting for. When she had just passed the door he quickly swung out with the door and clapped a hand on her shoulder, causing Hermione to yelp in surprise.
"Sorry Grang-Hermione, I didn't mean to startle you," he quickly removed his hand knowing it wasn't welcome.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked, taking a surprised notice at how he used her first name for the first time he could remember.
"C-can I talk to you? In here?" he asked, his eyes shifting suspiciously.
"No, if you want to talk to me you can do it out here, in public," he said carefully, her thoughts from before still lingering and remembering that Draco was in the room that night, too.
"Look, it's really personal and I don't want a lot of people to know. Please, can we just go in there?" his eyes pleading.
That's when Hermione noticed his shifty eyes were more from nerves than suspicious activity. Though, still not completely comfortable with the idea she tried to compromise, "you can tell me in the common room or in a teacher's office with said teacher present."
"My fa-"he started.
To which Hermione promptly interrupted, "not including your father."
Draco, slightly annoyed, but still trying to be understanding, "okay, Lupin. I'll collect my father and meet you in Lupin's office?"
Hermione was a little confused, but still internally grateful that he chose the teacher she was closest too, and briefly wondered if he knew that fact. Besides that, she hadn't had a chance to go see Remus properly since she returned to the school. She nodded in compliance and Draco quickly turned to walk away. Hermione watched him go and noticed his once arrogant stride now looked more hunched and stalk-like. But she waved it off and returned to the Great Hall behind Draco to collect her at-home housemate.
"Hello Re-Professor Lupin," she smiled as she approached the Head Table.
"Hello Miss Granger, how may I help you?" he asked with a warm smile.
Hermione's eyes flickered to the other side of the table where Draco was talking closely to his father, "I have an odd request," she started, tearing her eye from the other two men as Lucius turned his eyes her way, "a student I'm uncomfortable with asked to speak to me in private."
"Yes," he encouraged her, glancing at the Malfoy men himself before returning his blue eyes to his friend and student with concern.
"And would you mind sitting in your office with us while we talk? I'm unsure why, but he's bringing his father," she finished her request.
"Well of course, right now?" he placed his knife and fork on his plate and looked at the two men on the other side of the table. Lucius stood and Remus followed.
Draco silently thanked the Gods that dinner was almost over so the Great Hall was nearly empty and everyone left was too preoccupied with their dinner to notice this strange assortment of people leaving almost as a group.
When the four of them had settled down into Professor Lupin's office; the Malfoy men on a quaint rich brown loveseat while Remus and Hermione took the matching chairs across from them, silence filled the air.
Remus stepped up to the plate, "well I personally feel the least knowledgeable of the situation. But it is, to my understanding, that Draco," he addressed the younger Malfoy," you had something you wanted say to Miss Granger?"
Draco looked from his hands, to Lupin, then Hermione, his father, and back down to his hands, "Um… I- I," he looked at his father again, then back to his hands. "I-I can't.."
And he broke.
Hermione watched as the Slytherin King himself, Draco Malfoy, broke down into the most true and sorrowful sob she had ever witnessed. And from a boy who had always prided himself on his arrogance, and money, and blood status. It was truly a revelation.
Lucius immediately pulled his son into his chest and began stroking his son's hair, whispering that everything would be okay.
"Maybe it's best you show them. It's okay," he coaxed Draco from his frame.
Hermione looked at Remus confused and blushing as Draco pulled his shirt off, over his head, and held it protectively to his chest. Upon looking Hermione could still see the scars from Harry's "Sectum Sempra" spell from 6th year. She winced, but he turned so the view was hidden. But what replaced it was worse. Long claw marks stretched from his side to mid-back and a large snout-shaped bite mark ran from his from his shoulder blade up and over his left shoulder. Hermione and Remus both audibly gaped, immediately recognizing the werewolf bite. Remus stood and moved closer, "May I?" he asked Draco, motioning to his shoulder.
Draco nodded and Remus began to inspect the bite marks closer.
"What happened?" he asked softly.
"Greyback," he replied, his tone hollow and mournful.
"It was my fault," Lucius spoke up from his seat, his eyes cast down to the floor, "he bit Draco because of me. It was to humiliate me. Because I treated him as an inferior. But he didn't humiliate me. I love my son all the same. But Remus, I know you will know what to do."
Hermione at in her chair, jaw open and just trying to process all of this information. Remus immediately took hold of the scene with an authoritative tone to look like he knew the solution. Maybe this would help their optimism of the situation too, to know he has a plan.
"Lucius, since you are the Potions Master I'm going to teach you the Wolfsbane Potion. Until then, I will continue to make it. Draco," his tone grew softer and slightly more understanding than demanding, "I have a secret passage from Hogwarts to the Shrieking Shack, that is where I go when I transform. You will accompany me there every full moon. Is this understood by you both?"
They nodded with small smiles on their sharp faces.
"Thank you, Remus. The whole situation is really what made us look at our decisions," he curtly nodded and ushered a now fully-clothed Draco to the door.
"Hey Draco!" Hermione called, finally finding her voice and ability to move, she sprung for the closing door.
"Yes?" he asked, waiting on the other side.
She looked at Lucius and almost lost her nerve. A stream of memories flooded her thoughts. Terrified, she tried desperately to push them back, and she succeeded, "why were you going to tell me?"
"Because I knew you would understand. You care about creatures and beasts, like myself, no matter how terrifying. And I knew you would have the plan. But I also wanted to apologize for calling you a Mudblood, and treating you like I did. I hope you can forgive me in time," he finished.
"Forgive all of us," Lucius eyed her knowingly.
This made Hermione's mind blank and she nodded once before slinking back into her friend and Professor's office.