Chapter 2

Hermione was not really aware much of what happened after that. All she knew was that McGonagall had shown up, and take her to the hospital wing leaving her in the care of Madam Pomfrey and the Auror who had followed her out of the room. McGonagall had taken Harry's wand from her, but had sat it beside the bed, and told her it would be there when she was ready to leave.

Hermione did not leave, not for two days, as Madam Pomfrey and the Auror whose name was Nymphadora Tonks kept an eye on her. Madam Pomfrey helped the best she could, consoling Hermione, and talking with her. Hermione's other friends stopped by, but they were in the same shock and denial as she was, and were in hardly a better place to help her through her grief. Amelia stopped by on the second day, before Hermione could decide if she wanted to leave or not. The end of year feast was tonight, and Hermione could not bring herself be with everyone. Even if she could function almost normally again.

"Miss Granger, you have my greatest sympathy for your lost. You and Mr. Weasley were closest to him," Miss Bones said, after Madam Pomfrey had stepped back to give them some privacy.

Hermione nodded and said rather tonelessly, "Thank you."

Miss Bones looked at her for a few moments studying her, before saying, "I need to speak with you about Harry's wand and things."

Hermione flinched, grabbing up the wand holding it tight to her chest. She did not want to be parted with it. Amelia just gave her a kind look, that was sad. Though it seemed to be missing the stern ness that Hermione was expecting.

"They are yours now," Miss Bones said, catching Hermione completely off guard by this.

"Wha-What do you mean mine!?" Hermione said, rather stunned.

"My investigation has uncovered quite a lot, and a quite a lot has happened since you ran off. Three Emergency trials have taken place, and I met with Sirius Black. As he is Harry's Godfather, he had finally say where Harry's stuff went. He said, you should have it as you were his closest most devoted friend," Miss Bones explained, "Which includes his wand as well."

"Normally we would need the wand as evidence, but as no real spells were cast with it. We felt it was best left with those who would appreciate it most. Again, I am sorry for your lost Hermione," Amelia said, catching Hermione off guard at this informal use of her name as she continued, "If you need anything just write or let my niece know. She speaks very highly of you and Harry, and is willing to help in any way she can."

Hermione nodded, muttering her thanks. Amelia lingered for a little bit but when it seemed Hermione was not going to say anything more, she got up and turned to go. Only to stop as Hermione spoke.

"What happens now?" Hermione asked a pained note in her voice.

"Now? Now I show Voldemort why I was made director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He will not get away with this, one way or the other I will take him down," Amelia said, with such conviction that Hermione realized this was personal.

"Who was it?" Hermione asked.

"My brother and his wife. Susan's mother and father," Amelia said her voice softening as she spoke, "So many people lost family to those lunatics."

"Susan, she is just like Harry," Hermione stated, "I never realized that."

"Yes, she is like Harry. She means the world to me, just like Harry did to you. For her sake, even if all other reasons should fade or be forgotten, I shall end Voldemort and his followers," Amelia said, turning back to look at Hermione for a few moments.

Hermione saw it there, the conviction and fire Harry's eyes so often held was he set his mind to something. And for the first time since his death, she felt something was slight right with the world. Amelia studied her for several more moments before nodded again and gave her a small smile.

"Thanks, it means a lot to hear that," Hermione said, weakly the barest hint of a smile on her face and the first one to grace it since she had first realized what was going on.

"You are welcome. Keeping move forward Miss Granger, we can only ever move forward one step at a time," Miss Bones said, giving Hermione a small smile before turning to go.

Hermione did not stop her, letting the elder witch go this time. She held onto Harry's wand, but no longer with the fear that letting it go would mean the end of her connection to Harry. It still gave her comfort, but she did not need it as much to keep her mind from breaking down.

As she left later that day, Hermione went down to the Great Hall. It was the going away feast, though Hermione did not want to attend it. She still did, if only because she knew she had to, for Harry's sake. She saw that the normal colors had been replaced with black, which she realized was to mark the passing of Harry. She did not eat too much, or listen to closely as Dumbledore stood up and spoke about what was to face them. She knew too well what was coming, likely one of the few who knew all the details among the students of what they were facing. Tears poured slowly from her eyes as she listened to the small speech Professor Dumbledore gave in memory to Harry. She was however among the first to leave, as she could still not stand being around everyone.

As she left the hall however, she came face to face with Draco Malfoy who was laughing at something. Hermione turned, not wanting to deal with the idiot. But what he said next brought her up short before she had made it even three steps away.

"Scared Granger, don't have your famous friend anymore to protect you," Malfoy said, no doubt grinning nastily at her.

No one heard him outside her, as everyone else was still eating and talking about what Dumbledore had said. Or at least she was not aware of anyone watching them. Several sets of eyes had noticed her departure as well as that of Draco's. And only a fool would not have guessed what was about to come.

"I warned him. Remember? First year," Malfoy continued when Hermione, standing like a stone, did not respond, "I warned him what would happen if he was not careful about who he hung around with. People like Weasley, like you, and now he is dead."

Hermione breathed slowly feeling her temper rise. Last time Malfoy had gotten under her skin, she had punched him. This time, if he did not do what was smart and leave right now, she would make him regret each word he spoke. Her vengeance on those that tormented Harry would be just as great as those that as Amelia's own to Voldemort's forces.

"So, what are you going to do now Granger?" Malfoy asked, she could almost hear the smirk in his voice, "Run and hide, or just cry your eyes out again? I am sure…"

Malfoy was not able to finish speaking as Hermione turned, her wand in her fist. A spell of barely formed magic was sent flying out before Malfoy or those around him could even react. It hit the four of them, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson with such force they were thrown backward across the floor. With another flick of her wand, Hermione summoned each of their wands to her. They came to a stop floating about her as silence filled the Hall. Hermione might not have noticed, but everyone in the Hall had felt the power behind the first spell.

People rushed forward to see what was going on, while three other people were already near the entrance watching with worry. Cedric, Tonks, and Susan had all been keeping a close eye on Hermione when she left, knowing she was a powder keg that just needed a light. What they were not expecting was the sheer magical output that came from the first spell. And only Tonks understand the feeling of power Hermione was giving off.

"You are sure of what?" Hermione spat back her anger flaring as she looked at the four before her, "I have dealt with you lot for four years now. And I am done! Done with all of you!"

Malfoy, growled at her, "when my father…"

Hermione next spell cut him off as a cut appeared on his cheek, while the main bulk of the spell gouged out a trench into the floor besides him. Draco felt the pain, then blood on his cheek, before seeing the trench Hermione had cut with the one spell.

"I said I am done with you, Malfoy. Your house, is a joke. You. Are. A. Joke. Blood superoirity? The only thing your family has given you is money. Not power. Not skills, not anything. All you Slytherins are, are bullying gits, with little in the way of cunning or ambition! In fact," Hermione said turning and snatching one of the floating wands from the air and leveled it as the Slytherin hourglass, "Bombarda!"

The spell that came from the wand Hermione grabbed exploded outwards, the wand itself sending fragments in every direction. The hourglass that counted the house points for Slytherin detonated only a moment later, showering the Entrance Hall in emeralds. As everything settled, they saw Hermione still standing completely unharmed, a crater in the wall where the hourglass had once been.

"Well, that was unexpected," Hermione said, looking at the wand handle that remained in her hand, she rolled it between her thumb and for finger before tossing it off towards Malfoy, "I guess your wand is not strong enough to handle my magic. Maybe that is why you attack us so called Mudbloods, you fear us and the power we actually have."

Hermione grabbed a second wand from the air, and this time leveled it at Ravenclaws hourglass much to everyone's watching shock, "To be fair, Ravenclaw is no better at following their house design. They desire knowledge, but never learn. Each bit of information they gather, they store way but never use. Time in again they change their mind so fast, it is a wonder that they actually known anything. And wisdom, please, I seen smarter and wiser flubberworms. They never learn at all."

"Bombarda!"

A second wand was destroyed as the second hourglass exploded, sending sapphire all over the floor, to mingle with the emeralds. Hermione did not care, or did not notice as several people within the crowd shifted guilty, while others were getting angry. Still, no one moved, as Hermione grabbed the third wand and leveled this time at Hufflepuff.

"Hufflepuffs, house of dedication, loyality and fairness. The house that should have been able to stand with Harry, a house that after second year should have known to ask him first before passing any judgement. But they were almost as bad as you so called Slytherins. Oh, they might be loyal, but only to themselves. And fair, what is fair about tormenting a fourteen-year-old student who did not want to compete to begin with? Sure, they supported him after the first task, but that was after he faced down a dragon!"

"Bombarda!"

Hermione had tossed away the third destroyed wand, and grabbed up the fourth, before the topazes that filled the Hufflepuff hourglass settled. Behind her many a Hufflepuff was looking very guilty and sadden, yet still no one spoke as Hermione leveled the final wand at the Gryffindor hourglass. The tension grew in the room, wondering if she would destroy the hourglass that belonged to her own house.

"Gryffindor." Hermione said, slowly the wand in her hand sparking already along its length, "I will give you this, you follow your house. But you never listen to reason, you are a bunch of idiots most of the time who charge forward regardless of the danger. Even if it meant getting burned, you would still not withdraw to save yourselves. Harry tried countless times to tell you he had not entered his name, but you instead chose to prop him up as you always do. Only caring for the fame he could bring the house, but never the person he was or what he needed."

"Bombarda!"

Rubies scattered across the floor, joining the other gems as Hermione tossed the fourth wand destroyed wand aside without a care saying, "I guess not one pureblood wand could stand me."

Hermione pulled a fifth wand out, feeling warmth travel up her arm as she did so. She did not think about it before she cast Bombarda one last time, blasting the Hogwarts's coat of arms from the wall above where each hourglass had stood. The wand did not explode, despite the fact that the spell was even more powerful than the previous ones had been. She had not realized she had grabbed Harry's wand, nor that a soft golden glow was coming from her body as she held it. She could not tell the feeling of power coming off of her had increased as she turned to look at the four people still on the floor. To these four, she had gone from a muggleborn child they could pick on, to the picture of their coming death.

"I am going to destroy Voldemort. If you get in my way, or try and stop me, I will destroy you. Let that cut remind you just what it means to mess with me," Hermione said, her voice even and level, yet under it was a tone that promised untold pain for anyone that dare cross her again.

Hermione then turned to go, noticing idlily for the first time that the entire school was now watching through the doors to the Great Hall. She did not care; they were not her problem anymore. Taking off at a walk, Hermione moved quickly upstairs leaving everyone behind feeling worse than they had been feeling when Dumbledore had given his speech.

The students slowly went back to their table and began to discuss what had happened. Though the general rumbling that normally filled the hall was clipped. It kept starting and fading as people talked then reflected on their own feelings and actions regarding their house as well as how they had acted towards Harry. Several of them felt downright terrible, as they realized they had indeed been no better than what they had thought filled Slytherin house. Only a few remained by the door still unable to process the scene that had happened in front of them all.

Cedric remained behind watching the four that were slowly picking themselves up. He was angry, not just at himself, but at his house. At the fact Hermione was right, about how his house had treated Harry like dirt. He knew, that Harry had not entered his name, he had seen his reaction during the meeting that had followed. Harry had even told him that he had not entered his name. Yet Cedric had not believed him till after the first task. To top it off, he had let Harry grab that stupid cup by himself, pulling his hand away at the last second, feeling Harry was meant to grab it. Hermione was right, things had to change, not only with his house, but with himself as well.

Susan had followed Hermione the first chance she got; she knew Hermione from her aunt that Hermione was not in a good place. Though she was not part of the Hufflepuffs that had tormented Harry up till the first task, neither had she told the others to back off. She had failed at being a Hufflepuff just as much as anyone else in their house. But she was not going to fail now, she was going to keep Hermione safe, even from herself.

Tonks was following not far behind Susan. In her short years of training to become an auror and being an auror she had seen a fair bit. Though in the last two days she had seen and heard a quite a bit more than she would have guessed. Hermione had used a rather uncommon ability that few could use or master. And most simply called Wizard's Aura. She had heard about it, and knew those like Dumbledore could control it. But she would never have thought to seen it in one so young.

Tonks was charged by Amelia to keep an eye on Hermione till she could be left alone. But also, to keep an eye on the school in general to see what was happening. Amelia was not happy with what she had found out over the last few days with three emergence trials taking place. And one of the biggest blind spots was Hogwarts itself, she needed to know what was going on, as Fudge had sure not told her about anything that had been going on, and Amelia was going to fix that. Needless to say, Tonks had a report to send in this afternoon.

A couple other students slowly left following behind these two, as Professor McGonagall finally reached the Hall where she could survey the damages. Hermione had been excessive to say the least, yet from what little she had seen of the girls temper, this was far from the worse that could happen. The damage could be repair, and even the wands replaced. The likely curses Hermione could have inflicted on the four who were cowering under her wrathful eyes, however might not have been removable.

"When you return to this school next year, we shall start with detentions," Professor McGonagall said as Malfoy picked up the remains of his wand.

"What about Granger!" Pansy Parkinson asked, unable to hold her tongue.

"Silence! Less you tongue get you into deeper trouble than it already did!" Professor McGonagall barked at the four before her, getting a small jump out of each of them that caused them all to stand a little straight.

"I will deal with her later. For that matter, you four, should be grateful she only damaged your wands after how you had acted. Now, you four are to remain in your dorm. At All Times! You will be allowed to leave only for meals. Should I find out you disobeyed me, I shall increase the amount of time you will spend in detention. Dismissed!" Professor McGonagall said, her own anger glinting in her eyes.

They fled her presents heading for the Slytherin Common room like death itself was upon them. Professor McGonagall breathed out slowly as she looked about the room, and with a wave of her wand the damages began to slowly become undone. The hourglasses refilled, and repaired themselves, while the crest above them rejoined knitting itself back together. Soon the Entrance Hall was as clean as it had ever been, though it did not feel right. McGonagall knew she would have to look into it later, but she was sure Hermione's magic was still lingering in the Hall. Emotions changed spells intents after all.

Hermione had gotten herself lost as she let her legs once again carry her where they would. She was not too worried about finding her way back to the core of the castle, as all you had to do was follow the stairs down to you reached the main passages that went through the school. For now though, she enjoyed the quiet that being alone brought. She came to a stop finally in an empty classroom she did not recognize where the windows stood open letting in the warm summer air.

She sat down by the window, as she wondered what would happen now. She had messed up acting like she had, she knew as much. But she honestly could not bring herself to care. And there was no way in the world anyone would make she would apologize to that bit of slime Malfoy for acting like she had. Malfoy and his band of idiots deserved what they had got, and much worse from all the years they bullied their way around the school. And if no one tried to stop them, she would, it was not stopping Voldemort, but that would follow as she was able.

Hermione's brooding was interrupted rather surprisingly by an unexpected source. Hedwig who had somehow found her, had come to land on her shoulder. Hermione was not sure how she knew it was Hedwig, having only felt the soft grip of Hedwig's feet on her shoulder. But Hermione knew it was Hedwig, come to give her comfort as she used to give Harry comfort when nothing else could calm him down. Hedwig felt weirdly weak though to Hermione, far from her normal perky self.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, carefully lifting Hedwig off her shoulder, and settling the owl down on her lap.

Hedwig gave her a doleful look, as if to say, 'Do you think I am any better than you?"

Hermione sighed and rubbed Hedwig's back, feeling the owl tremble under her fingers. Hermione could tell, though how she did not know, that Hedwig was not doing so great. She becoming weaker at an alarming rate. And it seemed to have taken all Hedwig's strength just to reach Hermione from the Owlery. Hermione wished she knew how she simply knew this, but more so how to help her. She did not want to lose another friend, even if it was only Harry's pet.

Hermione closed her eyes and kept lightly petting Hedwig, trying to comfort her. As she did though, Hermione felt something. She was not sure what it was at first, but as she poked at the something again, realization came to her. As she was not feeling a physical object but something within Hedwig that was much more unique. Hermione could feel the tangled traces of Harry and Hedwig's magic moving around within Hedwig's body. Hermione's mind began to race slowly faster, as new understandings began fill her. These bits of magic were the last links of a familiar bond with Harry. And normally most animals bonded with their owners passed away within only a day or two of their owners dying. Yet Hedwig was somehow still alive, at least for now, meaning the bond had either not fully formed, or Harry's magic was a lot more potent that Hermione had ever thought.

This gave Hermione a starting point on what she had to do to save Hedwig. Reforge a bond, but with herself. She was not sure how though, bonds like this could take time to form. They were based on just as much trust and understand as they were of magic. This made them rare, and they could not be forced through. Still though she had to try something to save Hedwig, she could not do nothing.

Watching and feeling the flicker of Harry's magic, it reminded her of a small ember in an empty hearth. An idea lit in her mind at that moment, Hermione only hoped it would work. Very careful as to not stress the already weakened Hedwig, Hermione carefully reached out and touched Harry's and Hedwig's magic with what she was sure her own magic. It glowed slightly warmer for a moment, but it was clear she had to give it more than just a light touch from her magic. Hermione carefully fed the flickers with her own power, hoping that like a camp fire given fresh tinder, they would roar into life again.

They did not roar into life. But the small piece of magic began to pulse quickly, feeling less like a slowing heart, and more like a slow and steady drum beat. Hermione kept feeding the magic, feeling the power grow within Hedwig. She could feel the owl's strength returning, which lead Hermione to give her a little more magic. Only for the magic to suddenly latch onto Hermione. Hermione pulled back her magic as she would her hand, or tried to as Hedwig's and more so Harry's magic gripped her own tighter than ever.

Hermione began to worry she had done something wrong, when what was Harry's magic suddenly burst into what felt like warm flames. The shock of it all caused Hermione to open her eyes, yet she could still feel the magic of both Hedwig and Harry holding tight to her own. She then realized that soft golden light was moving about the room, about her, wrapping over her body in an intricate pattern she was not able to follow. Before she could even begin to think how to respond to this, the light flared brightly, then vanished. Along with it went most of Hermione's sense of magic.

It took Hermione several moments to recover as it felt as if all her senses had suddenly dimmed. She tried to reach out and feel for the magic again. It took several moments for her to find it again. It was still there, but her ability to sense it faded drastically. Yet, with the limited sense she did have, she could feel Harry's and Hedwig's magic pulsing strongly once more, she could also sense her own now mingling slowly with theirs, tying itself into a complex pattern she could never hope to understand. Yet, Hermione knew, she had done it. Hedwig was saved and bonded to herself.

"It looks like we were both lucky," Hermione said, lightly rubbing a few fingers over Hedwig's head.

Hedwig gave lightly nibbled Hermione's finger, and hopped easy up onto Hermione's shoulder. Hermione realized that Hedwig was happy and content with Hermione. Thankfully, Hermione could guess how she knew this, the bond allowed her to know what Hedwig was thinking as well as her general mood. Hermione could also feel from her, sadness at what she viewed as Harry's disappearance. Hermione was not sure if this was how Hedwig was viewing Harry's death, or if she had not come to understand yet he was dead.

Hermione tried to feel the core of Harry's magic within Hedwig again. She wanted to know more about it, why it seemed to be lingering around so long. If it was being kept alive by her magic, or if it was slowly fading as it had been before. But Hermione could not quite touch it as she had before, she only had a general sense of it. Which honestly only told her that Hedwig was safe for the moment. It frustrated her, but she knew that sooner or later she would be able to look at again, it would just take time and patients.

"Hermione?"

Hermione looked up distracted from her search and saw Susan standing by the door, along with Tonks. She could not remember when they arrived, but then again, she had not been paying attention to much since Hedwig had shown up. She then heard noise outside as another two people showed, neither of which she had expected to see. Luna Lovegood, who was a friend of Ginny. And Daphne Greengrass a Slytherin girl who was in Harry and her year.

"I… what are you four doing here?" Hermione asked, slightly taken aback by the sight of all four of them, though mostly the last two.

"I was told to keep an eye on you," Tonks answered with a small shrug.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay. You worried a lot of us with what you did down there," Susan explained, "You are right, we been lousy at being the houses we were supposed to. I owe it to my aunt, as well as Harry to fix that. Or at least my part to try and fix it."

"Your Amelia Bones's niece," Hermione said, thoughtfully.

"That I am," Susan said with a small smile.

Hermione then looked at the other two, Daphne Greengrass and Luna Lovegood. Daphne did not look to happy about being shoved in, by what must have been Luna. While Luna looked a little bit like she had entered quite by accident, yet Hermione was sure she had come in here on purpose.

Luna smiled when she noticed Hermione looking at her, saying as if it was the most obvious thing, "I just came to see what light show you would put on next. It has been quite a while since we saw a show quite like that. I figured you could use some help with the next one."

Hermione blinked a little surprised by this. As she was not sure if Luna meant the spells she had actually cast, or the way she had dealt with Draco and his gang. Though even if Luna could not help her for the moment she did not see any reason why she could not at least hang around. Ginny seemed to always speak kindly of her, though based on the odd grins Ginny got when speaking of Luna, Hermione now had an idea where they came from.

"What of you Miss Greengrass, what could you want from me?" Hermione asked, though not unkindly, "It is not often a Slytherin follows a Gryffindor around without good reason."

Dalphne give Hermione the barest hints of a smile. She was the Ice Queen of Slytherin, most people said no one, not even Malfoy could get a rise or reaction out of her. Hermione wondered what she was hiding, as unlike most of the other Slytherins Daphne and her friend often set themselves apart from the main group. They were one of the very few who had not worn a 'Potter Stinks' badge.

"Very smart of you," Greengrass said evenly without a hint of concern or worry from the looks the other three were regarding her with, "I do want something. The same thing you want, actually."

"What is it you think I want?" Hermione asked, interested to see what Greengrass thought she wanted.

"Granger, that is obvious. The end of Pureblood rule. The downfall of Voldemort. To bring wizarding kind from the dark ages," Greengrass answered simply, "You are not the only one who dislikes the traditions we were all raised on. Yet up till now, I never saw someone I knew I could stand behind. And someone who would give me a chance."

"You think I can?" Hermione asked, rather taken aback by this forthrightness.

"Yes, I think you can. You have the brains, and after what happened. You have the drive to see it come to pass," Greengrass said, with such certainty that shocked Hermione into silence for several seconds.

"What do you get out of it?" Hermione finally asked.

"Freedom," Greengrass said, as the first real emotion filled her eyes for the briefest of seconds, "I want to be free to make my own choices. I want my sister to be free to find a man she loves, not someone picked by my father to help his own power. You help me change this world, so we can be free. I will give you anything and everything I am. And after today, I know we have a chance."

"Thank you," Hermione said feeling herself smiling at this.

Greengrass gave her a small smile, it was just barely there for a second. A blink and you miss it moment, but Hermione had seen it. She felt a bit of panic in her, that she was not ready to lead these people into a new future. But a soothing feeling from Hedwig chased the feeling away, causing Hermione to glance at Hedwig with a little bit of confused wonder. Was that normal for a familiar bond?

"If I may," Greengrass said drawing Hermione's attention back to herself, "I am truly sorry for your lose. Harry did not deserve this, and it angers me that he fell when he did. That he got treated like he did. That Draco gets away with everything he does. Like you, I saw in Harry the change coming to our world I hoped for. I knew to well what Weasley thought of me or at least of my house, and often Harry seemed to reflect it. And I did not take my chance to try and prove I could help him, even if he did not trust me. I did not want to risk my friendship being rejected; I see that to be my greatest mistake. My fear of rebuttal clouded of my ambition and hopes, so now I am taking a page out of the Gryffindor book. Charge forward, apologize once the chaos has been caused."

"Very Slytherin of you to speak of power and friendship as if they are the same thing," Hermione said, chuckling a little bit.

"Or perhaps in Slytherin, you'll make your real friends, those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends," Greengrass said, repeating a line Hermione realized was once sang by the Sorting Hat in their first year, "There is a power in friendship. In kindness. In wanting to do the right thing. Even if we have selfish motives behind wanting them sometimes. So, will you give me a chance Hermione?"

Hermione smiled as she got up, and walked over to Greengrass who stood stock still, as if ready for the worse. Hermione studied her, and realized that though she was not certain about it. Greengrass was willing to turn over a new leaf. Even if Hermione rejected the hand of friendship today, out of lack of trust. Greengrass would still try and help her when and how she could. There was also the small matter about her, and her sister, that Hermione felt, much like Amelia towards Voldemort, would keep her pushing forward. She had been given this chance, and literal push by Luna.

"Daphne," Hermione said, seeing Daphne's eyes light up at the use of her first name, "I cannot say I trust a Slytherin, anymore than the next Gryffindor does. But I think we can try and be friends, and if what you said was true about you and your sister. I will gladly help you out the best I can, promise."

"Thank you," Daphne said, and an actually smile broke out across her face as she hugged Hermione.

Hermione stiffened in surprise then returned the hug. She was not sure how it had happened, but she had gained some new friends it seemed. They never would replace Harry, nothing would, but seeing the hope in Daphne's smile, made Hermione realized something. Harry's death, would not be meaningless, something would come of it. She was not sure what that would be, but the world was going to see some changes unlike anything they had ever seen before.

They spent several more hours up in that room. Hermione getting to learn about each of the girls, and they, in turn about her. It was such an odd experience for Hermione in many ways. She had so few friends growing up. Even after getting to Hogwarts her only real friends had been Harry and Ron. She had never really had any girl she was friends with, those in her own dorm she knew but she was not friends with. Even Ginny who she knew for over two years now had only recently become close enough to be considered a friend. Now however, she was attempting to make friends with four new girls, three of which she was meeting really for the first time.

Luna, turned out to be the one Hermione was most conflicted on. In any other time or place, Hermione was sure Luna would have driven her up the wall, and only Harry or Ron would have been able to keep Hermione sane. Luna along with her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, owned and published the Quibbler. A print that was filled with so many spoof articles Hermione had come to regard as worse then gossip. They believed so many wild and crazy rumors and ideas, that had no bases in fact.

But now meeting Luna, and having talked with her for a short while, Hermione was not so sure about that view anymore. Admittedly Hermione had a fresh view of the world, so that might have helped, but now she wondered about the articles thanks to Luna's ability to seemingly double speak. Luna often said one thing, but at the same time could mean or refer to something else entirely. So many things held a veiled subject within them, and only a few times did Luna say what she really seemed to mean. Hermione was curious about the reason behind it, a few guesses came across her thoughts as they talked, but nothing for sure.

Susan had probably the most normal life outside Hermione's own. She had been raised by her aunt only a year after she was born. Her home life was as much as like any other normal magical child could be, if a little lonely at times. As her aunt took over the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she had to spend a lot of time away from home. Susan as such had spent a lot of time with her friends growing up and did not like leaving them alone. It was not till recently with their changed attitude over their fourth year did she come to wonder if her loyalty to them was a little misplaced. Hermione hoped she would prove herself worth of that loyalty.

Daphne was yet another odd one. She had made up the Ice queen persona for others to see, not because she did not have feelings, as indeed the others quickly noted. Rather it was because her father pushed the prefect ideal of what a pureblood and Slytherins should be should be, and how they should act. Daphne along with her sister were trained along to these exacting standards. They were never allowed to be themselves, live their own lives or have fun till they were in Hogwarts. Hermione, and before her Harry offered the first real chance of escaping. Hermione nor Harry conformed to the model everyone had expected, nor where they likely to conform to any standards set upon them. If they thought something was wrong, they would change or fix it, regardless of the people and traditions involved.

Tonk's talked the least, but Susan it seemed had met her back in their first year. Tonks had been doing her NEWT studies then, and had been to busy studying to become an Auror, to try and meet Harry. She knew a lot of the people at play in the Ministry of Magic. She was a relatively low ranked Auror, and had only come along originally because her and Kingsley Shacklebolt, the other Auror who had come, had been having a meeting with Amelia at the time. Tonks, whether on purpose or accident, let slip that she was Amelia's current go to for information, as thanks to her Metamorphmagus powers, she could learn a lot of stuff without ever anyone ever realize who was listening in on or talking to them.

It was nearly supper time before the finally left the room. They did not say anything, but they all planned on meeting up on the train on the ride home. Hermione never would have mentioned it, but it felt nice being able to just talk with other girls her ages for once, even if the subject had never really strayed into things normal girls her ages talked about. She felt oddly at ease, even when talking about Harry, something she had thought would be a lot harder to do than it had been. Hermione and Tonks were the last to leave, though Tonks hung back a fair bit. Just enough to rush in if need be or if wanted call forward to chat, but also enough space to give Hermione time to be by herself and think if she wanted to.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Hermione asked quietly as she made her way down through the school, then answered, "A right mess is what I got myself into."

Hermione wished she could talk to Harry, he was much better about dealing with stuff like this. She was not, and she had to figure out how to react to it now. She felt the pain pull at her heart again, and she felt the beginning of the tears flow again. She took a few breaths and carefully wiped the tears away. The pain was still too fresh, she had been okay talking with the girls but now, almost alone it was unbearable again. They only distracted her from it for a couple of hours.

She felt a soothing feeling reach her. It did not remove the pain, but instead put a feeling of dullness over it that she had not expected, muting it enough to make it bearable. Along with it came a feeling of comfort, of companionship that she was not alone. Others were with her. It was Hedwig's comfort, the only one she could give it. But what again confused Hermione was the last feeling came with the same feeling she had felt before, as well as the magic she had sensed. That he was not gone, not yet.

"I wish you could talk, explain to me what I am feeling," Hermione sighed quietly.

'I can talk.'

( To all my readers, here is where i will hold for the moment. I have upto chapter 10 written, with several secondary parts for later chapters ready to go. However, i will not be posting them till i am a little farther along. I want to be to chapter 15, and one more time proof reading this before i really get involved with hard uploading it.

I do have several ideas for this, and plots i want to use. Each segment, will be roughly 5 chapters long. And you shall see what i mean by segment as the chapters continue. But if you have ideas, please let me know. I am going to try and play this close to the book, as with all my normal fanfictions, but we shall obviously see changes thanks to the events that have happened. Rolls change, and people change after they lose a close friend. Hermione has a lot to learn, before she comes to peace with what happened. But with this cliff hanger... Well it shall be a fun wild ride i hope.

Leave your thoughts and comments as always in the reviews.)