A/N This is not a song fic. HOWEVER, I am a music person, and the inspiration for this whole fanfic was based on the song Far Behind by Candlebox. I have always, always loved that song. One day while trying to put myself into a red wine induced coma I started thinking about this story. It was suppose to be a Dramione, but let me tell you it took some turns. This is where you will see differences in book Hermione and my Hermione. She is a bit annoying in her Eighth Year, and in later chapters you will learn why. She is a different person than canon because in this fic she had different experiences. One of those experiences is her friendship with Sirius Black. He accepted her wholeheartedly, and brought music into her life. Throughout the story she will use music to express herself. There's less than 10 songs total.

In this chapter, it will be the first song used. I don't particularly like Metallica, however their Black album is iconic! So look the song up and play it obnoxiously loud. 90's music was meant to be played loud, if your ears aren't bleeding it's not loud enough. I included copyright information so James Hetfield doesn't swoop in and sue this site for infringement. I'm still a little bitter over my Napster account.

Unforgiven by Metallica

Songwriters: Lars Ulrich / James Hetfield / Kirk Hammett / Vivian Wilson FernandesThe Unforgiven lyrics Reservoir 416, Creeping Death Music

Chapter 9 – Never Free, Never Me

31 March 2010

Draco's Townhouse

London

Draco Malfoy

It is almost five in the evening and I have been I'm pacing waiting for Theo to arrive. I can't process the information I learned today now that there's a possibility of finding Granger. Merlin, I just want to talk to her. I never wanted to treat her bad, but I did it anyway. I was left with an impossible choice. FUUUUCK!!!

" You always say you are given impossible choices, but you have a choice and I'm standing in front of you begging you to choose me! You don't have to do this Draco. You don't have to marry her to make your parents happy. You said you loved ME! Why would you ever turn your back on what we have, to fulfill a duty you don't even want?"

The contract would have forfeited all Malfoy assets if I didn't fulfill the contract my father made with Hyperion Greengrass. My mother would have lost everything. If the contract was broken by either Head of the House it would have been a mere million galleons pay off. I begged my father to end it. My mother told him I'd been seen with a mudblood, so he refused. I tried to talk to Hyperion Greengrass and he told me to feel free to break the contract myself, he it would be his pleasure to take all of the Malfoy assets. Greedy bastard!

I asked Hermione to give me some time, but two weeks later no one knew where she was. The end of August was the last of the Death Eater trials. All of the Death Eaters were given a maximum sentence of two years in Azkaban.

Kingsley Shackelbolt banned dementors from Azkaban after the war. They hired guards whom worked in two week shifts. In October of '99, guards went to Azkaban to begin their two week shift and found everyone dead. They had been dead for more than a week.

A man by the name of Thaddeus Hitchens left a note, had used an unknown deadly poison to kill everyone. The prisoners and guards alike were all found dead. Hitchens is a descendant of the Blacks. Phineas Nigellus Black's younger sister Isis married a muggle and moved to Ireland. Bellatrix Lestrange made it her mission to kill the descendants of the Blood-Traitors. Thaddeus was in his first year of wizarding school when his parents and younger siblings were killed in 1981.

In early 1998, Bellatrix took it upon herself to kill Thaddeus Hitchens' wife and two small children while he was at work. When the war was over he applied for a job at Azkaban. The Ministry was desperate to fill the positions, and must have rushed the hiring process. Thaddeus went into work to begin his two week shift and never came out. He left a note, but DMLE harassed Purebloods for months afterwards because Hitchens was rather bad at potions.

They finally resolved the case as a murder/suicide in March of 2000. When I received my inheritance and became Head of House, I went to Gringott's to make a withdrawal and arrived at the Greengrass' with one million galleons. By then, it was too late. Granger was gone, and not even Potter knew where she was.

I never married which has caused serious contention with my mother and I. She has tried to set me up with every pureblood she knows. I have dated over the years, but the women were lacking. They never had any depth to themselves. They all wanted the name and the money. They weren't at all interested in who I was really. I was unable to care about any of them.

After a while, I hear Theo floo in while I'm still pacing. He enters the parlor and asks, "What the fuck is wrong with you Drake? You look a fright. So what do you need help with?"

I stop pacing and look at him. "I need to search Ophelia's offices at DG Potions and Dagworth-Granger Manor. I need to search if she has Granger's current location."

Theo looks shocked, "What the fuck, mate? You can't! You can not possibly think reaching out to Granger will in anyway be good to your mental health. No! I won't let you, I need my friend not to be drowning himself in a bottle of firewhiskey for another two years. Don't do this!"

I sigh, "Theo this is bigger than all of that. We need to get Phea's journals. I can't explain it. Phea jinxed it so I can't talk about it, but it's important."

Theo sits on the sofa in defeat. "Well fuck, where do you want to start?"

This is why Theo is such a good friend, he accepts minimal explanations. "Let's start with DG Potions."

We floo to DG Potions building and go to her old office. There are three walls full of file cabinets we can't access. We search her desk and find nothing about Granger. Then I call Hester, Ophelia's elf, not sure if she'll answer. After a few seconds she pops in.

"Master Draco calls, Hester, sir?"

"Yes can you apparate us to Dagworth-Granger Manor please, Hester?"

"Mistress told Hester to listen to Master Draco always. Hester is free elf. Hester can do as Hester pleases. Hester has galleons to keep Hester for life. Hester still takes care of Mistress' properties. I'll take you and your friend now, Master Draco." She grabs both our hands and disapparated us to Dagworth-Granger Manor.

Theo and I search her study and in the bottom drawer in the back is a stack of magazine and newspaper clippings.

Headlines such as:

"Enchantex is Revolutionizing the Magical World"

"Enchantex Debuts new Material for Witches' Formal Wear"

"World Wide Witches? Enchantex has done it again"

"Portkeys are no more. Enchantex Phones are now making traveling more convenient than ever."

"Pensive television: Enchantex makes it possible"

"Enchantex: Revolutionizing Herbology into the 21st Century"

"Enchantex: a Combination of Enchantress and Technology or Statute of Secrecy Violation?"

"Mia Granger C.E.O., and Co-founder for Enchantex gives exclusive interview."

Mia Granger! Is that why I could never find her, she changed her name? Merlin! "Theo have you heard of Enchantex?"

Theo looks up and says, "Ummm, I think, ummm, yes, a couple of years ago one of my reporters had vacationed in America and told me about a company was changing the wizarding world. They were in all the magical papers there. He asked to do a story, so I sent him to America. He came back with no story. He told me the company refused to be interviewed by British publications. None of their products would never be sold in our country. I didn't think much about it at the time. Why?

I hand him a clipping, "Mia Granger C.E.O. of Enchantex makes Worlds Collide." There she is in a moving picture smiling and looking like a goddess.

"Merlin's fucking ballsack! This is her. This article is. Wow! This is amazing. I don't know what any of this means. This article looks like it's written in English, but I don't understand any of these words. What is the internet? What is a mobile device? Remember we are all stupid, I wrote the article myself!"

I roll my eyes. I bend down to continue search the drawer. I set all of the articles on top of the desk and in the back of the drawer is an small ornate chest. I pull it out and open it, and on top is a letter that says "Draco"

The chest is filled with vials that look like memories for a pensive. So I take out the letter and it reads:

My Dearest Draco,

I have tried for many years to get our girl home. I knew what she meant to you, and I hate that you had to lose her. I understand what brought you here to search my desk. I would apologize, but I had my reasons. I hope you know I love you, but I love her more. I did everything within my power to bring her home. Draco take these memories and show her. Let her see how she was so unconditionally loved. She needs to know she was never a weapon. I wanted her to have a full education. All of the vials are labeled with dates. I chose the memories she needs to know.

Bring our girl home.

Love,

Ophelia

I see two address on the note. Then every memory seems to be coming into play. What I need to know is how my formidable godmother, the very one whom bitched about my posture and manners all my life, was able to accomplish what Lord Voldemort, Grindlewald, and Dumbledore couldn't do. She changed everything. She didn't do the things she has done because she wanted power. She didn't want to annihilate and entire group of people. She didn't do anything out of hate. No she did it out of love. She didn't take a single action without knowing what she was doing. She did it to bring us together, to destroy hate….and she succeeded.

Granger has to know who her grandmother was. Merlin, it all makes sense. Hermione was never a weapon, she was the goal.

2 September 1998, 12:17 a.m.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy

Hogsmeade, Scotland

Eight Year Common Room

Draco

Today was the first day back at Hogwarts for Eighth Year. I can't believe they are requiring this. School is mandated for all in our year to return. There is new table in the Great Hall for all eighth years. It was pointless, Slytherins were at the end in the back, then a gigantic empty portion, and waaay down in the front was everyone else. How do you reconcile what you were forced to do? Are we going to be isolated all year? Fucking great!

GRRRR….I'm never going to get to sleep. I decide to read, so I grab a book and go downstairs to the common room. I take a seat on the right side of sofa near the fireplace and I look to the left and Granger is sitting in a chair staring at me with her mouth hanging open. I smirk at her. I know, I look good! I always do. Hmm…that is not a look of a girl who wants me. She looks flabbergasted. Then I realize what I'm wearing and I'm wearing the undershirt with Metallica written across the chest and the short trousers Phea got me.

Granger is still staring and I clear my throat, and say, "Alright, Granger?"

She jumps up and grabs her wand, stands up and quickly says, "No I'm sorry, I thought everyone was asleep, I can leave I don't want a fight."

I chuckle. Fuck, I was so mean to her. I owe her the biggest apology of all. Merlin, she's standing there in a hooded sweater that says "Cambridge Alumni" that is huge on her and hangs mid-thigh. She has the hood over her head. The sweater is about mid-thigh and it looks like she has no trousers on. FUUUUUUCK!!! She is standing there shaking and I say, "No, please stay."

She stands there a minute, scrunching her whole face and her lips are pursed together and off to the side like she's really confused, thinking really hard, or making a life altering decision. Finally, she sits down and curls into her self as if she is trying to be invisible. She starts reading one book while two more are levitating in front of her. She did this after putting the wand away in her front pocket and not saying a word. Nonverbal? Merlin! I can't believe it! I knew she was smart, but she is powerful!

It made me think of Phea and a story she told me over the summer. In the middle ages, the concept of romantic love became popular. Before that time all marriages were a little more than business transactions for men in both magical and muggle worlds. Once the rise of people marrying for love was popularized, muggle-borns increased in frequency of occurrence. It had to be a true love, a pure love, that could create muggle-borns. She said there are all types of love, selfish love, lustful love, but pure love is magical. She said every soul is magical. The very fact we hold a soul is magic. It takes the most powerful love to create a magical person. She said many people thought the rise of muggle-borns was unnatural. It couldn't be trusted because magical families have centuries of history, and know what their family magic is. Muggle-borns were an outlier purebloods never accounted for. They feared them. It's not fear that makes nothing into everything, it's love.

What if Phea was right? I thought she was giving me an affirmation to get me to think. She did it all the time during the summer. She did make me think. She also forced me to have fun. She asked me to contact Theo. I even took Theo to a couple amusement parks. He cried like a baby for the first hour we ever visited one. Theo is sensitive, but we had a great time after he calmed down. What if she was right?

I then hear Granger say barely above a whisper, "Do you even know who they are?

I scoot down to the other side of the couch, and I say, "Could you repeat that, please, I could barely here you?" I look back down at my book I'm not reading.

She lifts her chin and in a clear voice, she repeats, "Do you even know who they are?"

I look back up from my book, and ask, "Who, whom are, Granger?"

She huffs and says, "Metallica, Do you know what Metallica even is?"

I look at my shirt and I guess I never asked. It was just comfortable and I received compliments in muggle places for it. I say, "No. A friend purchased it for me."

She scrunches her face again. It is really cute. When did I start finding Granger, CUTE ? Fuck! Why did I think that? Then she softens her face slowly, and shrugs her shoulders and continues reading.

After a few minutes she stretches her legs over the arm of the chair and I see her socks. They are bright pink with pygmy puffs all over them. I look up and on the cover of one of her books is written, " Physics."

What the hell is physics? Why would she be studying that? So I ask, "What is 'Physics', Granger?"

She looks apprehensive, and then she raises her chin and says, "Physics is the study of…." She stops and scrunches up her face again, and after what seems to be too long to be considered polite, she says, "It's Science."

She goes back to her book, but, "Why are you studying muggle science at a magical school?"

She rolls her eyes, and huffs, then says, "I am taking my A-Levels in November."

I'm confused, "What are A-Levels?"

She scrunches up her face again, and authoritatively says "The A-levels are muggles tests one would take to determine the qualifications in certain courses to determine if a student may attend university."

I smirk, "Is the Gryffindor Princess going to abandon us now that she's won the war?"

She glares at me, like she wants to vanish me and says very sternly, "Don't call me that! And…," Her face changes completely and I see her fighting with herself, and she looks at me with unshed tears, and finishes, "I don't know."

She goes back to reading her book. I pretend to go back to mine. I don't understand what could have happened to her that she would go back to the muggle world. Didn't the insufferable know-it-all fight to stay in the wizarding world and now she doesn't know if she wants to abandon it?

I noticed her in the Great Hall earlier during the Sorting Ceremony. She was sitting with her friends. There was just something different about her. She wasn't correcting everyone, she wasn't really talking at all. It looked like she was trying to make herself small or smaller than she already is. There was a couple of seconds that she turned her head from her friends and caught my eye and frowned. It wasn't pity in her eyes, no it was loss. What happened to Hermione Granger?

This is the strangest interaction I have ever had with her. In sixth year, if I found Theo studying at her table. I mocked her for copying off Purebloods. Sometimes I'd say something about her hair, but never called her a mudblood at least not that year, and not to her face. She avoided me. I once tried to sit at the table and she made excuses and left immediately. It wasn't as if I wouldn't have to explain to my father why sitting I was at the same table as her. I would never hurt her. The only time, I ever 'hurt' her was when she jumped in front of a jinx meant for Potter. Fuck, she was the one that broke my nose in third year!

I feel her staring at me again so I look up, and she asks, "C-can I show you something?"

Now we're talking! I said, "Yes, I suppose."

She hops up from her chair and grabs her books, and says, "I'll be right back."

She disappears up the stairs. I look back at my book, and just realized I grabbed my Ancient Runes book. I look at it, and try to read. A few minutes later she comes back down wearing purple sleeping trousers and the same oversized sweater. She has in one hand a bottle, and in the other hand a large box thing. It's all black and is about a foot and a half long, split in three sections. The ends are identical, but the middle section has dials and buttons. She comes over and sets the black box on the floor, and then tosses the bottle in her chair. She then moves the tea table closer to us, and sets the black box on it. She then skips or half runs over to the kitchenette, and grabs 4 glasses and a bottle of juice. She comes back and sets them all on the tea table. She then grabs her wand and starts casting silencing charms around the room.

She finally sits down and grabs the grabs the bottle of 'Vodka' from the her chair and proceeds to pour orange juice in two glasses and the vodka in the other two. She slides one of each to me and places two in front of her. Then she drinks all the vodka and takes a sip of orange juice. I realize this must be alcohol because she is making the same face Theo does every time he drinks Firewhiskey. She then pours more vodka for herself.

Then she looks at me and takes a six inches black case from her pocket. She sighs, and says, "You don't have to drink that, but it's all I had. I couldn't in good conscience let you continue wearing that shirt without knowing what Metallica is."

She explains, "Summer after third year I had a tutor that loved muggle music. He had serious attention issues. Ha Ha Ha. He would take too many breaks so he could listen to something new. He taught me to ball room dance to the oddest music. He played me Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, Guns N Roses, Alice in Chains, honestly the list is quite extensive." She smiles the saddest smile I've ever seen.

"Well, when he…died his best friend made sure I had this CD player as well as his whole collection. It's one of the most precious things I own. The discovery of this CD changed both of our lives. Metallica is a band from America. Sir…my tutor discovered this CD one day when we escaped…or, I'm sorry, traveled to Muggle London for a few hours. We went to a CD store and they were playing a song in the background. My tutor fell in love with the song, he asked the clerk what it was, and my tutor bought this CD."

She holds out this black thin box and says, "This is Metallica's Black Album. Metallica is a popular Metal band from America. This album was their fifth album and it went mainstream when it was released in 1991, that means it is played a lot on the radio. I'm sorry. It was just very popular in the muggle world. This Album debuted number one in ten different countries including the UK. Is was HUGE!"

"My tutor just really related to a song, number 4 to be exact. We talked about our upbringing, how war effected him. We discussed the meaning of what this song means to both of us. When he d-died it took a piece with me. I'm sorry. He was such a good friend to me. This song held so much meaning to the both of us. I'm sorry if I'm overstepping. I'm sorry, I think it would resonate something inside you, as well. I'm sorry. I know I don't know you and I guess I could be wrong, but if you hate it, you need to stop wearing that shirt. I'm sorry, it's almost inappropriate." There's her bossy little self.

She clears her throat, and starts to do things such as taking a shiny object from the little box, then she is messing with the giant case and placing the shiny thing inside, then looks at me and says, "I'm sorry. This will be loud. It is the only appropriate way to experience this song."

Loud, that explains the silencing charms. I only understood some of what she said. She's acting really nervous. Aren't Gryffindors suppose to be brave?

She pushes on a button, then another, and a third many times. Then she presses another button three times and says," Get ready."

I lean forward and place my elbows on my knees and entwine my fingers. A melody starts and its beautiful and dark. I take a deep breath in and it feels like the cleanest most crisp breath I've ever taken. The tune is amazing I feel it in my bones and it sends chills down my spine. Then the drums start. I feel it in my chest and it's as if my heart sped up to keep time with the beat. I feel this song in every part of my body. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up and I feel goose pimples on my skin.

Then the powerful voice is singing. I'm so enthralled with the tune, that I've not listened to the lyrics. I start to listen to some of the lyrics. They are sorrowful, emotional, poetic. I've never had such a physical reaction to a song before. I am overwhelmed this girl I was horrible to wants to share something so personal with me. I feel exposed while experiencing this and I bend my elbows and place my palms over my eyes. I just absorb it all.

When the song is over I don't look up I was sitting still trying to gain my composure.

I hear Granger shuffling around, and she started speaking, "I-I'm so sorry Malfoy. I was wrong, I just, I'm sorry, I'll go to my room now. I'm sorry."

I don't look up I just say, "Again."

"O-okay," and I hear it begin again.

This time I really listen to the lyrics. I can't believe how close they are to my life. How is that possible? Are these Americans wizards? There's a line that says, "Never free, never me." The me I is emphasized with an anger in his voice that expresses everything I have felt, and I understand that anger. I have felt that way my whole life. I was never once free from expectations, I was never free from the lies I was told. I was never me. I was never Draco. Then I notice another line and it says, "You labeled me, I'll label you." " Filthy little mudblood", "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach". I can't believe she would share this with me. I can't understand how something as simple as a six minute song can shake me to my core.

When the song ends, I look at her and say, "Again, please." She smiles the most beautiful smile I have ever witnessed from her and she pushes a button. I lean over and take the clear liquid and drink it all down in one go. It's the nastiest shite I have ever tasted. Then I drink the orange juice and it's not so bad. I look at her and gesture to ask for more, and she nods her head. I fill up the vodka again.

I look over at her again and she's leaning back in the chair. Her eyes are closed and she's moving to the music. It's like this song is part of her. It is confusing, how something so dark and beautiful could mean so much to a girl who is so rigid and good? I realize I never knew anything about her, but I want to know everything about her. I put my head back down to place in my palms.

"New blood joins this Earth and quickly he's subdued.

Through constant pained disgrace, the young boy learns their rules.

With time the child draws in this whipping boy done wrong.

Deprived of all his thoughts, the young man struggles on and on.

He's known, ooh, a vow unto his own that never from this day, his will they'll take away." (Copyright "The Unforgiven" by Metallica from the album Metallica 1991) Merlin! How can this song be muggle? It's powerful and every lyric is about…it's about my life! How is this possible?

Then it's over, and I look up and say, "Again." She giggles and starts it again. Granger giggles? It's sweet, innocent, and it makes me wonder how innocent she really is. I watched her during the final battle a couple of times and she destroyed three death eaters, and carried on like she just squashed an insect to get it out of her way.

" They dedicate their lives to running all of his.

He tries to please them all, the bitter man he is.

Throughout his life the same, he's battled constantly.

This fight he cannot win, a tired man they see no longer cares.

The old man then prepares to die regretfully.

That old man here is me, yeah." (Copyright "The Unforgiven" by Metallica from the album Metallica 1991)

I remember the time just after my trial how bitter and angry I felt. How completely infuriated and bitter I had been for two years. Then remember the young Phea sitting in front of me with tears in her eyes when she said " Please, Draco I….I can't lose another godson to cowardice and fear. I don't want you to continue down this road you are on. Let me help you. Allow me…please…please let me show you how powerful love can be." FUCK! She didn't want hate to consume me. She didn't want me to become bitter like my father or my grandfather. The song hits me with new meaning.

"You labeled me, I'll label you," and I look up at, Granger, and her face is filled with emotion I can't quite put a name to. She's pensive and sad. I think of all the terrible things I said to this young and innocent girl because it was expected of me from my father. My father told me muggles' blood was actually made of mud. How can I ever be forgiven for all things I did to this girl, the same young woman sitting within an arm's reach away from me currently? How could she ever forgive me for standing by and watching her bleed and doing nothing to help her. When her blood was no different than mine. Fuck! I'm the unforgiven.

The song ends and quietly I say, "Never free, never me so I done the unforgiven." I say.

She grins and says, "The lyrics are actually 'so I dub thee unforgiven'." She gets the case out of her sweater pocket in the front and she grabs a booklet from it. She hands it to me and points out the lyrics to the song that says The Unforgiven. I'm reading the lyrics of the song and reading lyrics to others and I realize it's poetry. It's not about me. It's someone who was born into a life they didn't ask for.

Hermione is fidgeting, and she drinks another glass of vodka and she says, "I'm sorry….Fuck it. I wanted to share this song with you, and I never thought I would have a chance. This song though, it has meaning to me personally. After the war, it made me think of you. After the war, I was miserable for…I'm sorry. I'll just say I wasn't in a positive place emotionally. I wasn't going to do it, speak at you trial that is. I held so much anger towards Death Eaters, the Order, and Albus Dumbledore. Harry asked me to witness at your trial. I said no, but he asked me to think about it. I was listening to this song on repeat, like we have done tonight. I was thinking about my tutor he-he was a pureblood. His mother was a special kind of evil. She wanted him to reform to the pureblood beliefs, beliefs, he did believe at some early time in his life, to a degree. His friends changed him, and made him open his eyes. He-He spent a long time suffering for a single mistake. He was so bitter on the inside for it. That night I was deciding if I should speak at your trial or not. I had an epiphany. They, the adults, made us all pawns in a belief system none of us had anything to do with. I don't expect us to be friends, or to change a lifetime of beliefs for you. I just wanted you to see….I'm sorry. I guess I wanted you to see a piece of the person you treated like a sub-human for years fighting for you to be given a second chance. When….when you didn't even try to fight for me. I know it isn't fair to you, but I did dub you the Unforgiven. The closer it became time for your trial, the more I thought about how we could get you a full pardon. It was only about a week's time total, really. While I was trying to figure out what to say to the Wizengamot, I realized we were both used as weapons. We both took vows we believed in, you with Voldemort, me when I was initiated into the Order of the Phoenix. I was given tutors by the Order to be turned into a weapon. You were given the impossible tasks of killing Dumbledore. Absolutely none of that may have happened if we weren't indoctrinated to believe a certain way. You deserve a second chance just as much as Harry or I. Harry and I could have done the same as you if we were taught, as toddlers, to hate. I don't need or desire an apology. You are forgiven, because no one whom came out of this alive, was innocent. I-I broke so many laws. How are my justifications for what I did any better than the crimes others committed? I'm so sorry if what I shared with you made you feel bad, or caused you to hate me more than you do. I wanted you to know what you were wearing. I thought you deserved the pleasure it is to know that song. Why my complete shock caused me to openly stare at you. I'm sorry for that, by the way. My tutor would have never forgave me if I didn't say something. I'm sorry."

She is leaning in her chair with her elbows on her knees and she has tears in her eyes. Her face is less than a foot from mine. I see her for what seems to be the first time. She's so fucking beautiful, and I look into her eyes full of tears and anguish. They are gold, honey and all the shades of brown. In that moment, I know I'll do anything and everything to never see that look in her eyes again.

My heart is pounding in my chest and my hands are shaking slightly. How could I ever hate someone who despite our past looked above it and shared something she used as a tool to help me get a pardon? How could this swotty, know-it-all, who always gave me just as good as she got, tell me I deserve a second chance? I don't know anyone that is capable of that much compassion.

I say, "Her-Hermione Granger. Thank you. Thank you for sharing something that meant so much to you with me. It was a bit disconcerting how someone was able to write a song about my life. I completely thought the song was about me. Merlin, I was terrible to you. I wanted to apologize to you when I first saw you in here, I just didn't know how to even begin. I still don't. Granger I am so incredibly sorry for how I treated you in the past. I have no justification for my actions. It was wrong and I apologize."

She is looking at me searching for something, and then she smiles and says, "That's the beautiful thing about music every song can hold a different meaning to a different person based on their moods. This song is actually about a boy who was raised in a strict religious home. The first time I heard it I thought it was about myself as well. I have hundreds of CDs that fit every mood. I'm glad I was able to share this song with you."

I look down and I feel her hand on my wrist and look up and she asks, "Would you like to hear the whole CD?"

I smile back, "I would like nothing more."

She smiles again and pours more vodka in our glasses and I raise mine and she raises her and clinks it, then we both drink. Then she starts with the first song, and continues playing me song after song of the best band I ever heard.

We spent all night listening to that CD. Sometimes we would look at the lyrics and play the song again. We told a couple of silly stories of our friends. Mostly we just shared how the songs made us feel. It was strange and personal, but more fun than I thought I could have with this woman that was so much more than I could ever dream she could be.

Before I knew it, she casts a tempest and it was 5:27 in the morning. She says, "Oh everyone is going to get up soon. We need to clear the vodka evidence." She got all the glasses and went to the kitchenette to clean up. I vanished the vodka bottle. She grabbed her CD player and said, "I'll be right back."

A couple of minutes later she came back down with four vials. She handed me the first one and said, "This is sober-up potion." She took hers, and handed me a second potion and said, "This is a potion to give your body a full night's sleep. You will be perfect in one hour for the rest of the day." I take the potion, because I'm familiar with it.

"Granger, why, how do you know Snape's potion?"

She smirks at me and says, "Snape was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix." She turns around and says, "See you at breakfast."

I'm standing there with my mouth hanging open. How did I not know that about my godfather? Was it common knowledge? Wait, I think I remember, it was mentioned at my trial, but I was too angry to pay any attention. She almost had me in shock. I wonder if she will act like she doesn't know me later today. I wonder if this was just a one-off opportunity.

A couple hours later I waiting in the common room to walk with all the Slytherins to the Great Hall. When we get there, I look at the Eighth Year table and in the middle of the table, not at the end the Slytherins sat last night, and not near all the other eighth years, but the middle, sits Hermione Granger. I say, "Come on." The Slytherins follow me. Daphne takes a seat across from Granger. I sit by Daphne, and Theo takes a seat by Granger, but across from me. Blaise is sitting by me and Pansy is across from him. Potter comes in and sits by Hermione. No one reacts to the sitting arrangements.

Theo puts his arm around Hermione and pulls her in to himself, kisses her temple, and says, "It's good to see you, kid." She laughs and pushes him away.

Daphne starts asking about classes and we all join in the conversation, even Potter. It's quite a pleasant breakfast.

Then Hermione, stands up and is staring at The Daily Prophet, and almost yells, "That horrid little cunt!"

Potter leans over and reads where she is pointing. I ask, "What happened?"

Potter says, "It states in the Public Records section of the paper that Rita Skeeter registered as a animangus yesterday."

Theo says, "So what does that mean?"

Hermione who is shaking with fury says, "That bitch just declared war!"

Later that night, after everyone goes to bed, Granger and I were the only ones left in the Common Room. She looks at me, disillusions the CD player and a stack of CDs. She then sticks her whole arm into a beaded bag and pulls out a bottle of vodka. We both look at each other and smile.