All Is Fair

"In love and War"

All characters belong to J.K. Rowling, I did not own those characters or the original story/plot.

Three days to go until the Great Hall would erupt with cheers and laughter from students once again. Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. The Slytherin table, which was a few tables over, was empty apart from the familiar blonde haired boy, Draco. He looked over in Hermione's direction and she smiled at him, he smiled back. Her attention turned the the red head and black haired boy walking into the Great Hall together, chatting each others ears off. Harry and Ginny sat down in front of Hermione, blocking Draco from sight. It was only then did Hermione realise how alone she truly felt. She knew Draco felt the same, alone, and that's why they seemed to have drifted towards each other. Even with her friends Harry and Ginny right in front of her, she felt alone, because she wasn't truly apart of their conversation, she wasn't apart of anyone's.

"She seems lost in thought again," Ginny stated as Hermione snapped back to reality.

"Sorry guys, what were you saying?"

"Looked like you were staring in, Malfoy's, direction. Sure you don't have a crush?" Ginny joked.

"Hermione and Malfoy, yeah right," Harry scoffed.

Hermione shook her head a little as she watched Draco get up and leave the Great Hall.

"So, what's the plan for today, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Hermione looked at her, slightly startled for a moment, then replied, "I thought I would go into Hogsmeade and grab some extra books that will work as secondary readings for the rest of the semester, and reorganise my plan to finish off this year."

"Well, that sounds like complete and utter fun," Harry said sarcastically.

"You should come hang out with us today. We're going to head to The Three Broomsticks and explore Hogwarts one last time," Ginny smiled.

"We never really got to explore Hogwarts now did we. We were always in some battle or another," Harry stated.

"I'm not sure guys. I know that McGonagall will be appointing a Head Boy and Head Girl for the rest of the year, along with sorting out the prefects today and tomorrow in order to try and reorganise the school, I want to make sure I'm around to be as helpful as I can be. That is if she does go ahead with appointing them, I'm sure she will but she doesn't seem so sure of her decisions right now."

"That doesn't mean you have to sit around and just wait," Harry looked at her, "if she does appoint a head girl it'll be you, there's no doubt about it, and she would just to try and make it look like there's order but I'm not entirely sure it's the most important thing in the world."

"Hermione," Ginny started, "I know we all want things to go back to normal, but right now, shouldn't we all just be happy we're here, and just, I don't know, live a little."

Hermione smiled at them, "okay, I'm sure it won't hurt to live a little."

Harry and Ginny grinned back at her. They sat at the Great Hall a little longer. Ginny and Harry held hands, leaning into each other in such an adorable way that Hermione couldn't help but think of Ron for a moment. She had no idea what to do about that whole situation. She shook the thoughts from her head. Three days and she'll sort it out, for now she'd try not to think about it, which was incredibly difficult for her to do.

They all exited the Great Hall and headed towards The Three Broomsticks. Hermione wondered if people in Hogsmeade thought that all Hogwarts students were alcoholics or something ridiculous since it was the only place any of them would hang out as soon as they were able to leave Hogwarts without express permission. The Three Broomsticks was the closest place to them that wasn't Hogwarts, so everyone just ended up there. Hermione laughed at the thought. Harry and Ginny held hands as they walked through Hogsmeade, Hermione trailing behind them. They reached The Three Broomsticks. Harry opened the door for Ginny and Hermione. They all placed their coats on the coat rack before finding a booth to sit at. Harry went and got them three butter beers as they made themselves comfortable in their usual sits.

"It's so nice to get outside of Hogwarts sometimes," Ginny sighed, "even if it is to go to a dusty old bar."

Hermione laughed.

Harry quickly returned with their drinks. Harry and Ginny continued talking about some muggle show Harry had recently found out about, which peaked Ginny's interest. Living in a household with a muggle obsessed father made these things of some interest to the Weasley family, and Harry was happy to talk about it after he had gotten used to how the wizarding world didn't have a clue about anything to do with muggles. Hermione hadn't seen a single muggle show or movie in a long time. She missed watching her favourite movies at home with her parents. She missed her home. She missed her parents.

Hermione saw Pansy Parkinson out of the corner of her eye. She saw her walk out of a dark corner. Her hair was a mess, her clothes a little torn and put on askew. Hermione noted that that was very abnormal for the young witch who always made sure everything seem terribly perfect when it came to her appearance. Pansy saw Hermione and frowned at her for a moment. Hermione had no idea why Pansy would look so annoyed at her, but she put it down to high school rivalries in general. They never liked each other anyway. Pansy ran her hands through her messy hair almost triumphantly and turned as someone walked up towards her. The familiar blonde, Draco Malfoy. Hermione wasn't all too surprised. His clothes were less askew than hers were, but they didn't look as crisp as usual. Draco placed his hand under Pansy's chin and pulled her closer towards him in order to almost whisper something in her ear. He did it in such a similar way to when he had touched Hermione's face. Hermione saw Pansy turn a little pink, and she smirked, locking eyes with Hermione for a second, which took the smart witch by surprise. Pansy kissed Draco's lips lightly, which he didn't seem to reciprocate, before leaving the pub. Draco ran his hands through his hair before walking back to the dark corner where he remained out of site.

Hermione frowned at her butter beer for a moment. This was ridiculous, she thought. It seemed about right, Draco and Pansy, it was none of her concern anyway. She knew he didn't treat her as an equal partner in a relationship, which made her feel slight sorrow for Pansy. Her frown deepened. Why had Pansy been looking at her like that? Like she had beaten her at a game, or something ridiculous. And why- Hermione stopped her own thoughts when she had reached up to touch her jaw. Why did she feel like a tiny piece of her had been chipped away?

"Hermione seems really out of it today," Ginny whispered to Harry.

"Yeah, I'm a little worried. She's been like that for a little while now."

"Do you think it's to do with Ron?"

"No, it's not that. Hermione's mind is preoccupied with a hundred little things, Ron might be one of them but, I feel like it's something more. I just can't figure out what."

"What do we do?"

"I wish I knew, Ginny."

Hermione thought that maybe she felt strange because she'd come to realise that Draco was a bit of a better person than he had thought he was. After everything, she never thought she could let go, she never thought she could forgive, though she knew she couldn't forget. She thought he was a better person, yes, she thought he would be better than being petty with pansy. Hermione's hand went straight to her arm as she remembered the war, she remembered Draco's family. She remembered how ridiculous this all was. It almost made her angry.

Harry and Ginny's whispers suddenly rang in Hermione's mind once she had noticed what they had said. They were worried about her. Hermione was worried about herself too. She felt as though everything was crumbling after the war had ended, when in reality, they were all supposed to be rebuilding. Just thinking about how she felt like she was falling apart when nothing was remotely wrong, when everything had almost gone back to normal, when no one was in trouble, when there was no danger, made Hermione so angry. She was so enraged by how own petty feelings, because she knew that she shouldn't be feeling this way, that everything should be different now. She couldn't let herself go, she couldn't let herself just be her. She didn't know why. And she didn't know how, Draco Malfoy had triggered this ridiculousness.