Classes ended and she headed toward the Great Hall, exhausted from Double Transfiguration. "Nope," said Ron. He and Harry bracketed her; she glanced back at Draco, but he shrugged.

"I need to eat," she argued.

"Oh, you will," Harry assured her. "I'd never deny you a meal. You missed too many meals studying as it is."

Hermione rolled her eyes at that but allowed the boys to guide her upstairs until they reached the seventh floor of the castle. Her already tired limbs protested. She was ready for a break.

They passed halfway through a corridor, then the boys spun her around and they walked past a bit of wall again. Harry twirled her and she had to laugh at their antics, and then Ron and he wrapped her arms through theirs and strode back the opposite way again. She was ready to bite off their heads when all of them (at some point Neville and a few others had joined) gestured toward a door that she was absolutely certain had not existed a second before.

"Go on," Draco encouraged her, and she knew he was a part of whatever this was. She peered at them all in suspicion, lips pursed but turned the knob, so the door swung inward.

"Happy birthday, Hermione!"

Arms tossed around her as she stared at a room bedecked in scarlet and gold and lions and even other cats. There were balloons and confetti rotated from the ceiling to the floor in a continuous stream.

Tables near the walls held all of her favorite treats, drinks— wine, really? — and a cake that was tall enough it had to use magic to keep aloft. And there was another table stacked with presents.

She stood in the doorway, tears cooling on the verge of falling down her cheeks, and stared at what was clearly her surprise birthday party, until Ron asked, "Hermione? Is— do you not like it?" in the sweetest, most insecure tone she'd ever heard.

She burst out crying and threw her arms around him. "It's— oh, it's beautiful! I've never been so happy," she sobbed against his chest.

"What's she saying?" asked Harry.

"Dunno," said Ron. "I can't tell through the crying."

Hermione took a breath to calm herself and slapped his chest gently as she backed away. "I said 'I've never been so happy.'" She wiped away her tears, but they kept coming.

Draco let her to a plush red couch she nearly sank into, sitting beside her. "Is it too much?" His sharp features pinched nervously together.

"No," she shook her head and laughed. "It's amazing. How did you do all this without me realizing? And what— what is this place?"

Harry sat on the back of the couch with his legs dangling beside her. "We have our ways." The scoundrel winked at her. "And this is the Room of Requirement."

"The what?"

He grinned. "We'll talk about it later, I promise. Right now, we have a birthday to celebrate."

Music started up and someone popped a bottle of sparkling wine to hand her a glass. When she tried to protest that it was against the rules and she was a prefect for Merlin's sake, Draco took her hand and said quite firmly, "Hermione, it is your seventeenth birthday. If ever there was a day for you to disregard the rules, this would be it."

Well, she couldn't argue with that logic.

Thus, her party began.

It was a whirlwind, in truth. The boys handed her glasses slowly enough that she never got drunk. That had the taste of Draco to it, because the other two were far too negligent to think that far. They had a cake-cutting ceremony complete with making her blow out seventeen candles, each a different color or shade. Her lungs burned from effort and laughter.

It was chocolate, so chocolatey it was almost too much, but it was also perfect. There was a chocolate fountain, and she watched as Ginny dared half the party members to dip something into it that definitely did not belong. The first was Dean with a carrot, and it devolved from there.

"I'm not eating a sock," Ron told his sister and the surrounding partygoers burst into giggles.

"Why not?" Ginny had her hands on her hips as she stared up at him with a fierceness that matched her mother. "Seamus ate a birthday candle."

Ron rolled his eyes. "That's b'cause Seamus's barmy."

"Oi!" complained said eater-of-candle, but Dean nudged him and assured him he was, indeed, barmy, and he grinned.

"Weasleys: they're all ridiculous." Harry set his head on her shoulder. "You'll need to open your presents at some point tonight."

"I know. I'm just— it's a lot." Her gaze darted to the gift laden table.

"A lot of people wanted to help you celebrate."

She frowned. "I only have four or five friends."

"Not nearly," he disagreed. "You have a dozen, at least. Lookit how many showed up to the party."

"They all wanted an excuse to party," she said dryly.

Harry was emphatic as he said, "Not so. A ton of people wanted to come, but we limited it because I didn't want to let too many people in on the Room. We only invited people who wanted to help."

She faced him. "Everyone here helped set this up?"

"Sure." He nodded. "Well, Michael Corner is Gin's boyfriend, so she insisted he come, too, but he helped with decorating anyway."

"That's so sweet." Her chest warmed as she gazed at everyone in turn. They were all her classmates, this mix of three of the four houses, and Hermione knew she'd annoyed every one of them at least once, but they were here. Katie Bell, a seventh year, had even joined, and there was a Ravenclaw girl it took a second for her to recognize. "Is that Luna Lovegood?"

"Yeah. Apparently, she and Gin are kind of friends, and Neville also vouched for her."

"I don't know that I've ever talked to her," Hermione mused. "Why would she volunteer to help?"

He shrugged and chuckled. "She said she wanted to help with the Nargles, didn't want them to ruin your party."

"What's a Nargle?" She had never heard the word.

"I haven't the faintest," Harry replied.

"I suppose I should go, er, say hello?" Harry tagged along on the way to the pale blonde. She looked like she could be related to Draco, with wide blue eyes and light hair. "Hello, Luna."

The girl smiled dreamily. "Oh, hello, Hermione. Are you having a good birthday?"

"Yes. It's the best," she admitted.

"That's good. Seventeenth birthdays are important. It means you'll need to watch out for centaurs in the Forbidden Forest."

Hermione puzzled through that statement. "Er, why?"

"Why?" Luna's nose scrunched in thought. "Well, they wouldn't fight a child on their lands."

"Why would I go to the Forbidden Forest, though?" she wondered.

The blonde hummed. "I don't know, but there's always a chance. It's right… there." Luna pointed to a spot beside Hermione's forehead.

She had no idea how to take that statement, but Harry rescued her by steering her toward the gift table.

Hermione groaned. "But, Harry," she protested.

Her friend was having none of it; moreover, Draco grabbed a hand to tug her along.

"Oi, presents!" Ron called over the din, and conversations settled in favor of watching Hermione.

Draco handed her each gift in turn. The Potters' gift came in an envelope. She opened it to find a letter stating that they'd opened a vault at Gringotts for her. Goblins didn't care if wizards said she wasn't her own person; she was a witch to them. They'd also deposited fifty galleons for her.

Narcissa had a letter and an assurance for her that they would have a special day together when this mess was over. She had also sent a polished, golden watch with delicate filigree decoration; it was the traditional seventeenth birthday gift.

Ron had picked out an assortment of sweets from Honeydukes. It must have contained nearly every type of chocolate the store offered, as well as a few must-haves, like sugar quills.

"The whole family pitched in a little, that's why there's so much," he said sheepishly, but Hermione didn't see. She was focused on one particular sweet, and her vision shimmered when she pulled out a packet.

Toothflossing Stringmints. "You remembered." Only the boys knew what this candy meant to her.

It had stemmed from an offhand comment.

"I wonder what my parents would think of those."

Ron frowned. "What, candy tooth floss? Do muggles not have floss?"

She laughed and shook her head as they headed for the snowy street. "Of course, they have floss, Ron."

"Well, why, then?" asked Harry.

Draco knew; he knew practically everything about her, to include her earliest memories. She'd confided those long before they came to Hogwarts.

"My parents, they were dentists," she murmured after a moment.

The little group halted, and Ron looked confused. "They were what?"

"Healers for teeth," she explained. She'd had to do the same for Draco when they were little.

"It's pretty respectable among muggles," Harry added sagely. His mother was muggleborn, so he wasn't as sheltered from her former culture.

"Oh."

"Thank you," She squeezed his hand, then beamed at Ginny, "And you. I know you helped him pick some of this out."

The redhead grinned.

Neville had given her a book on magical botany which she promised she would read soon. He'd assure her he had more on the subject if she was interested. Her dormmates gave her a silk scarf, makeup, and a brush meant for curls like hers. Harry murmured, "I'll give you mine soon," to which she nodded.

Sirius Black, of all people, had sent her a lovely little mirror; Harry's eyes lit up when he saw it, but he said nothing.

And then she was faced with Draco's gift, wrapped in black paper with elegant gold pinstriping. From him, she received her journal, the one that was connected to Tom's.

"I didn't read it," he assured her as she held it to her chest. "I remember you wrote in it every night, and thought Father wouldn't— well, I wanted to keep it safe."

"Draco." She wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you."

How had she been blessed with such friends?

At about ten, Hermione realized she had told Tom she'd meet him. Her eyes rounded and she started making her excuses to her friends, who were disappointed, but only a little.

She didn't like the suspicious gleam in Draco's silver eyes, though he told her he'd make sure everything got to her dorm intact.

Harry walked her to the door. When he stepped out with her, she turned toward him in confusion.

"I won't ask where you're going," he prefaced, "but you need to be careful, Hermione."

"Careful? I'll just tell anyone who catches me that I'm on patrol."

He grimaced. "Not about that; about— about where you're going. What you're doing." She started to speak, but he kept on. "I know you're smart, and now an adult, but I care about you."

"I know you do."

He fiddled in his satchel and pulled out a mirror identical to the one Sirius gave her. "This and the one you have are two-way mirrors. They're connected. Wherever you are, as long as you have that mirror—" which he also produced, handing it to her solemnly— "we'll be able to talk."

"Why did Sirius give me one?" she asked as she took it in soft hands.

"He and my dad used them to talk during summers. You know, since his mum is a right bitch."

"Harry!"

Harry grinned. "Anyway. I want you to keep it on you at all times. I'll have mine, too."

She hugged her friend and said as he held her, "I will."

Harry was reluctant to let her go.

Notes:

Monthly announcement post which includes info on my life, health, commissions, sales, posting schedule, etc: freya-fallen/724468686939996160/august-announcements?source=share

We have one more Hermione birthday chapter!

Thanks for hanging in there another month. The monthly schedule allows me to write enough ahead of all the fics that are updating currently and work on my personal projects, that which makes me money and lets me live, and lets me work on my health, without stressing too much.

Once I finish writing TTV completely, I may go back to a weekly schedule, but even editing this thing is beastly sometimes. Anyway, TTFN.