DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE, NEVER BEEN MINE. NOT MAKING A SINGLE KNUT.
"HERMIONE!" yelled a familiar voice, and Hermione whipped her head around the crowded platform searching for the source. A half second later, all she saw was black hair before she was slammed into, and she was trapped in a bear hug so tight she could barely wiggle.
Putting her down again and laughing, Harry stood back to get a good look at his best friend. He noticed her smile didn't quite reach her eyes as it used to, but he was in no place to judge; he'd been spending almost the last year with only house elves for company and trying not to think about anything that had to do with…well…anything. He'd been keeping busy trying to renovate his house, and he actually did a lot of it the muggle way. He did most of the cleaning and scrubbing using cleaners, sponges, and a lot of elbow grease. He tended to the front and back yard, pulling weeds and trying to make grass grow in his part of London. It was a lot of sweat, calluses, and aching muscles, but it did its job and took his mind off of anything that would make him feel bad.
"Harry! How've you been? It gets slightly depressing just staring at letters week after week, you know," Hermione laughed, and resumed trying to get her trunk onto the train. "You look so different!"
And he did, in a way. His latest (and probably last, since he was 18 now) growth spurt had brought him to just under 6 foot by mere centimeters. His hair was still black and messy, but he had gotten it cut finally when he could stand the sun beating down while out working in the yard any longer. Unfortunately, he had gotten so irritated that he cut it himself. When he went upstairs for a shower was when he realized just how ridiculous it looked and resigned himself to go to a proper barber. Now, instead of it being everywhere and shaggy, it was shorter so it hung down on his head in a neater way, and he especially liked how it plastered to his forehead when it was wet, and it was short enough for him to still see. He had lost the pale, sallow, unhealthy, pinched look he once had, and now was tan from the sun, and had muscles to prove the work he had been doing.
"Here; give me that. And if you wanted to visit, you only had to say so. You wouldn't believe how mad you can go after only talking to elves for almost a year," Harry said, and finished stuffing her trunk away and started on his own. "You have to go to the Head compartment first for a briefing and patrolling, right? I'll wait here; Ginny or Neville or Luna is bound to show up eventually. Who's Head Boy anyway? You never said in your letter," Harry asked.
"Oh, it's Draco, so it shouldn't be that bad. You ok?" she asked, for Harry had just dropped his trunk on his foot when she had said Draco, and was muttering obscenities under his breath.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Dammit, that hurt. So, you have to live with DRACO all year? Won't that be fun," he finished sarcastically, but it sounded a bit forced.
"Yep, and I'll expect you to be there to see me all the time. If not, I may go stark mad. I'm not sure how long after the battle that truce between him and us was supposed to last…" Hermione trailed off, after seeing the shuttered look in Harry's eyes the moment she said "battle" and knew she should change the subject. Instead, she forced on.
"Listen…Harry…how are you? I mean, REALLY? You look great, you do. But in your letters you never once mentioned ANYTHING about the battle or…or Ron," she hesitated on Ron's name, but continued anyway, even after Harry turned his head away. "I know how hard it was for ME to be shut away, practically alone, and forced to think about it even when I tried not to. And I know that however hard it was on me, it was probably worse for you."
Harry shook off the hand she had placed on his arm and finally turned to stare at her.
"I don't have any idea what you're babbling on about, Hermione. My year was fine; I worked on the house, talked to Dobby, and corresponded with you. Shit happens, Hermione. You live with it, and you keep living," Harry told her, eyes hard as stone.
"But-," Hermione started.
"No, Hermione. No BUTS. That's how it goes. I'm FINE. If you want to sit here and discuss FEELINGS the entire trip, you're going to need to find a new compartment. Better yet, go to the compartment you belong in," he told her. "Now, you might want to run along to your little meeting; your empathy might be of more use to the people who NEED it."
"Harry-," she tried again.
"GO, Hermione! Just fucking GO. Listen to me: I. Am. FINE. Ok?" Harry yelled, eyes narrowed in anger when finished.
Hermione had no words; she just turned around and walked back up the aisle to the Head compartment.
Harry lay down across the entire bench, put in his headphones, turned on his muggle Ipod, and closed his eyes to the rest of the world, magical or not.
XXX
Hours later, the Hogwarts Express pulled into the Hogwarts station. Hermione was walking the aisle, helping the first years, and reproaching the older students for lagging. She was almost to the end of the train when Harry came out of the compartment to her left.
"Hey, how come you never came back? I fell asleep waiting for you," he told her.
"Excuse me, but I believe you told me to "just fucking go" and so I just fucking went and spent the time in the Head compartment where I belong," she said in an offhand tone as she checked the remaining compartments. "I figured you needed your "Harry" time, so I stayed away."
"Ok, I get it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, but you were pissing me off...," Harry trailed off after seeing the look on Hermione's face. She just rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.
"You need to grab your trunk, Mister Potter, and please vacate the train," Hermione called over her shoulder. "Don't worry about mine; they were already moved to my correct compartment," she added before walking away.
XXX
"Are you going to at least ride with me in the same carriage, your Holy Headship?" Harry asked sarcastically. He had stubbornly stood around, shadowing Hermione while she rounded up all the second years and above to try and corral them into carriages. The first years had already been taken to the boats by Charlie Weasley, who had agreed to take over the position of Care of Magical Creatures. Finally, it was down to only a handful of students and carriages, and Harry was determined to make Hermione sit with him.
Hermione snorted in amusement at his tone, but finally agreed to get into a carriage with him. In it, Ginny and Neville had gotten in as well.
"Hey Gin; Nev. How have you guys been?" Harry asked in a bored tone.
"Yeah, how are you? I missed you both. There wasn't much to do being alone around my house, I'm afraid," Hermione laughed.
"I've been ok. Just taking care of Gran; she's getting on in her age but won't admit it. Other than that it's been boring," Neville told them.
"How about you Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking concerned at her friend's appearance. Ginny's red hair was hanging lank on her head, and she looked drawn in. Her skin looked as though she had been in a dark room the whole year, and her normally bright brown eyes looked empty.
"It's been ok. Mum's been a bit difficult, but Fred & George come by a lot to help out," Ginny explained. "It's been hard on her, losing Dad especially, and Percy. But I think the worst is Ron. She can't bear to hear his name, and had to make the twins clean out his room. She refused to do it up until two months ago, but Bill put his foot down and said it was unhealthy to keep it how it was. You still can't even say Ron-."
"So, Neville, how're you and Tabitha doing, huh?" Harry interrupted. He didn't give the slightest hint that he knew he just cut Ginny off, nor did he look at her.
Nonplussed, Neville started telling Harry about his (Hufflepuff) girlfriend and how she had finally come over to meet Gran, but she had taken the carriage right before theirs to catch up with friends. Harry laughed when needed to, but otherwise kept his eyes from Ginny's part of the carriage the entire way to school, and ignored her completely.
Hermione just shook her head and patted Ginny's hand. Ginny's face showed confusion, anger, and hurt but finally just settled back on dejected, and rode the rest of the carriage ride in silence.
This is shaping up to be a fun year already… Hermione thought. Her thoughts drifted to her newest letter; when she had gotten to the Head compartment, it was empty. Draco was already at the school apparently, so she had the whole area to herself. The Prefects shared the adjoining compartment. Her heart had plummeted when she saw the letter sitting on the seat. She set down Athena's cage as she picked up the letter, and sure enough it was to her in the same handwriting. She always felt as if she knew the handwriting, but she couldn't place it. The cryptic message was short, but freaked her out anyway:
Dearest Hermione,
Do enjoy the train ride. Commit it to memory, for it will be your last.
Always Yours,
Your Love
XXX
"Welcome, welcome, to each and every one of you!" Dumbledore exclaimed, rising to make his normal after dinner announcements. "This year will be hard for most of you; that is to be expected with so many lost friends and loved ones. However, every single person in this room has the ability to make it through. It will be difficult, especially with so many students this year, but we have excellent Prefects and a dynamic Head Student duo. Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy"- at the mention of his surname, Draco grimaced-"will you please raise your hands?"
Draco and Hermione both gave a little wave to the watchful eyes in the Great Hall. As they lowered their hands, Draco caught her eye for the first time that night and raised one eyebrow sardonically as he mouthed "DYNAMIC DUO? REALLY?"
Hermione quickly tried turning her laugh into a cough, and rolled her eyes at him, smiling.
"As you can see, we have a new professor here this year. Please join me in welcoming Professor Charlie Weasley, who has taken time away from his workings with dragons to take over the spot of Care of Magical Creatures, and Professor Austin Moddell has kindly taken over Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dumbledore said as he led the Hall into applause. "Now off to bed. Tomorrow is a new day for the new future. Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, a minute?" he added.
"Go on, Harry. I'll see you in the morning. He needs to show us where we'll be sleeping," Hermione told Harry.
"Yes, Granger. Let's hope it's big enough to shelf all of those books you insist on bringing everywhere…" Draco drawled, as he came up behind her.
Hermione just smirked and said, "It's going to have to be big enough if your ego needs to be housed, Draco." At the use of his first name, an unspoken truce seemed to pass between them. Draco hadn't been sure what how Hermione was going to act towards him.
"Excellent. Well, sorry Potter, looks like Hermione will be bunking with me for the year. Don't worry about me stealing her, though; she's not my type. So your girlfriend's virtue will stay safe," Draco scoffed.
Hermione just rolled her eyes, and gave Harry a hug and a little push. "I promise I'll see you in the morning at breakfast."
"Ah, Harry! Best be running along. I wouldn't want you to be caught after curfew on your first night back. The password for Gryffindor is 'Balderdash,'" Dumbledore directed at Harry as he came up on the trio. Harry just waved and walked away.
"Now, let's show you two where you'll be staying, shall we?" Dumbledore set off.
They wound up somewhere on the 3rd floor. It was a plain corridor that they had probably passed hundreds of times throughout their years at Hogwarts and never noticed.
The entrance was guarded by a gargoyle statue of a Greek Chimera. Hermione couldn't believe she had never noticed it before, and the look Draco was giving her, he was thinking the same.
Dumbledore chuckled at their facial expressions. "Don't worry, you're not insane. This statue changes every year depending on who the Head Girl and Boy are. If they're both from the same house, the gargoyle has a relatively easy job and turns into that House's mascot. However, when two houses mix, it blends the animals together, occasionally having to create its own hybrid. Apparently, a chimera was the most reasonable solution it could come up with."
"I think it's pretty awesome, actually. I'm just not sure I like the snakes coming out of the lion's back end like that…it sets a bad precedent," Draco murmured.
"Now, the password is Flaming Earwigs. Don't blame me; I lost a bet. I wanted it to be something more dramatic like Golden Serpent or something along those lines, but alas, you win some, you lose some. Now, through this way, you'll see it enters into your commons area," Dumbledore showed them.
Hermione's jaw dropped open, and next to her she could feel Draco's surprise too. The room was incredible. The fireplace was huge, and had a fire already burning. The commons area was open, and light. They were both privately relieved to find that their house colors weren't predominant, and were only underlining crimson and silvers across the room. The floor plan was a standard split, with one room on either side of the commons area, with both students belongings already brought up. Both rooms had their own bathroom, thankfully.
"One more thing before I leave you: I need to explain the door," Dumbledore said, as he strolled across the length of the commons room. Directly across from the gargoyle entrance was a plain wooden door, which Dumbledore stopped in front of. "This door leads to every House common room. You will remember being showed it when you became Prefects; however, it is different on this side. While on the Prefect side, Prefect needs only to knock on the door and state their name, the Head Boy and/or Girl doesn't need to knock. If either one of you need to get to a common room, simply say the House name, and open the door. An alarm of sorts will sound if anything drastic happens in a common room, such as a fight or riot, and you will be able to hear it no matter where you are in this room."
Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Ok, then. I believe that's it. If you have any questions, you know where my office is. If any case arises where I need to speak with you right away, I will use the floo. However, please don't use it to get from place to place all over school. You really should have very little need for a floo network. Good night!" And with that, Dumbledore left through the gargoyle.
For a moment, Draco and Hermione stared around at everything but one another. Finally, Draco broke the silence by bidding Hermione a good night, and proceeded to his room to the left.
When Hermione got done brushing her teeth, she went in her room and saw Athena already sleeping on her perch. Suddenly feeling the weight of exhaustion, Hermione jumped into bed and snuggled into the covers. Her last thought before succumbing to sleep was of the mysterious letters, and pushing it out of her mind. She was home.