A/N: I wanted to say thank you. Thank you all for reading along with Hermione's adventures. Thank you for your reviews, which I cherish and read each and every one. Thank for your excitement and horror and cheers as the story goes up and down, which truly give me life. It's been a rough year for many of us, and writing New Blood and sharing it with you all has given me a happy place of refuge that I'm incredibly grateful for.
Thank you all so much for reading this year. :)
The Order of Merlin was solid gold, Hermione discovered. It had come with the box Fudge had pulled it from, which included a short, helpful guide. Hermione and her friends set about examining it the next day late in the afternoon – they had all slept in, kept up late at the Ministry party.
"This one is for very public events," Hermione said, holding up the large medal. "But there's also this mini one – it's a little ribbon with a gold coin you pin to your robes."
"Dumbledore was wearing one of those last night," Tracey said. "So that's for wearing to other events? Where the full thing would be ostentatious?"
"I guess," Hermione said. She squinted at the tiny parchment. "There's even an order in here of where to place them on your robes, if you have more than one."
"Makes sense," Blaise said, shrugging. "Dumbledore's got a First Class for defeating Grindelwald, but he's got a Second Class as well for the uses of Dragon's Blood or something."
Hermione made a mental note to earn a Second Class as soon as possible.
She wore the big, heavy medal to the Leaving Feast, allowing it to be passed around the table and handled by her classmates, all of whom were awed for her and excited. Draco exclaimed over it being solid gold, Theo remarked over the fact that the ribbon was green to honor Merlin's original house (Slytherin), and even Pansy said it didn't look completely terrible when she wore it with her more formal robes, making Hermione smirk.
When Slytherin won the House Cup (by a lead of over 400 points over Gryffindor), Hermione felt like it was almost an anti-climax, but there was applause and celebrating all the same. Jade found her and hugged her fiercely.
"I've got one more year here," she told her. "One more, and Slytherin will have won it all of my seven years here. We're so close. Make sure you help us earn it this next year too, you hear?"
Hermione laughed. "I'll do my best."
Class rankings came out Friday morning, and Hermione was delighted to see she was still in first. Draco was second, Theo third, Terry fourth, Anthony fifth, and Blaise sixth, the same as last year. The first upset came in seventh place – Susan Bones had managed to displace Mandy Brocklehurt, which made Hermione swell with pride. She knew the tinted glasses had been helping Susan, but for Susan to do this well…
Hermione couldn't help but smile.
With Susan pushing her out of seventh, Mandy Brocklehurst got eighth, and Tracey was pushed to ninth. Millicent managed to claim tenth again, swapping order with Michael Corner from Ravenclaw, to Hermione's surprise.
"Michael's had a rough go of it this year," Anthony admitted to Hermione quietly. "I'm not really sure what all's been going on with him, but he's been melancholy and moody for most of it."
"He's a pureblood," Hermione said with surprise. "Most of the students whose marks suffered this year were the Muggleborns, from the anxiety of it all."
Anthony shrugged helplessly.
"I'm trying," he said. "But he keeps pushing me away. I can only do so much, you know?"
He gave her a sad smile, and Hermione felt her heart go out to him.
"You're a good friend, Anthony," she told him, giving him an impromptu hug. "Selflessly helping another despite the heartbreak it might bring."
Anthony laughed, pulling back and giving her a wink.
"Not quite so selfless then, is it?" he said, grinning. "But I help where I can."
The rest of the day was spent packing up for the journey home. Hermione had three trunks to take with her, now – one marked Hermione Granger, one marked Hermione's Books – Property of Hermione Granger, and the last marked Basilisk Parts – Property of Hermione Granger. She'd laid as many jinxes over her trunks as she could to keep other people's hands off of them, and when she swung by the Kitchens to say good-bye to Tolly and the other elves, the elves assured her they would take her trunks to the train for her and to not worry about it at all.
It was a bittersweet feeling, to say good-bye to the House Elves. She felt like she'd made friends with them, kind of, and it would be a while before she got to see them again. She would miss their joy and sense of adventure and fun, as well as the Old Magic celebrations they taught her about. The Elves themselves seemed unbothered by it, though Tolly did wish her a good holiday. Hermione wondered if they experienced time different than students did.
Before she knew it, everyone was packing themselves into the Hogwarts Express, with students loudly running up and down the train corridor. Hermione managed to claim a compartment next door to the one with Millie, Daphne, Susan, and Hannah Abbot, and Luna, Blaise, and Tracey quickly joined Hermione inside. The four of them chatted about marks and who had gotten what. Luna had come in fifth in her class, which she seemed very pleased with.
The journey from Hogsmeade to King's Cross was a long one, and though conversation lagged at times, it was a comfortable lull.
"I feel almost like I'm leaving something incomplete," Hermione mused out loud, watching the scenery fly by. "School's over, but I don't even have an internship or anything lined up this summer. I was too busy wrapped up in all the rest of it to realize."
Blaise laughed.
"Trust Hermione to be upset that she doesn't have more work to do," he teased. "Practically no one does anything over the summer, you realize?"
"I know, but still," Hermione said, smiling. "I like keeping myself occupied."
"Well, we'll be plenty occupied this summer," Blaise said. He nodded to Luna. "Luna's father's agreed to let us do rituals on his land. Once we figure out a way to get Potter to join us, our coven can do ritual magic there whenever."
"And I have plans for us that will keep us busy," Tracey said, tossing her hair. She grinned at them, an ambitious gleam to her eye. "We are going to get Hermione moving up in the world."
Hermione laughed.
"I just got 1st in the class and was awarded an Order of Merlin," she said. "Isn't that enough?"
Tracey scoffed.
"Maybe for now, but we need to get you a more permanent established power base," Tracey said firmly. "And I have a plan of how to do it!"
She went to her trunk, digging and muttering about a large scroll, and Hermione turned to Blaise.
"'A large power base'?" she asked Blaise, raising her eyebrows. "To do what with?"
Blaise's eyes danced.
"Anything you want?" he offered with a grin.
"I'm not a politician," Hermione objected. "Not yet, at least. And I'm thirteen. What on earth would I need a power base for?"
Blaise looked at her for a long moment in confusion, before realization seemed to spark in his eyes.
"Hermione…"
Blaise's eyes held hers, something deep in them, making them darken, and Hermione found her breath caught in her throat. Blaise had a way of doing that, of switching on a quiet intensity that made her heart skip a beat, seemingly at a moment's notice. He brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear, and Hermione shivered.
"Love, you're going to change the world," he murmured, his eyes holding hers. "Prophecy or not, you know you're going to change everything – and you've already started. Call us 'followers' or 'friends' or whatever you like, but we're the first ones to support you and help you change the world."
"'Those who answer her call'," Luna said, and Hermione glanced over to see she was smiling. Hermione's heart swelled in her chest, though it still felt odd for her to think about, to treat Luna's prophecy from all those years ago as entirely true.
"To help her 'rise and triumph over them all'," Tracey declared, sitting back down decisively with a large scroll in her hand. "And I have a plan of how to start!"
Tracey's excitement broke the tension, and Hermione laughed. "Let's see it, then."
Tracey unrolled her scroll and spelled it in front of the window. There was what appeared to be a diagram of the UK on it, as well as many drawings of stick figures and paragraphs scattered around, but Hermione's eyes stuck on the heading.
Plan to get Hermione on the Wizengamot
"The Wizengamot?" Hermione said, incredulously. "I mean, sure, someday, but aren't we starting a little early?"
"Ah ah ah, that's where you're wrong." Tracey grinned, her eyes glinting. "Remember Gabriel Truman, the Youth Representative? He's starting his 7th year in September. He turns 17 this August."
"And then he'll be ineligible," Blaise realized. He started to smirk. "Meaning there will be an election for a new Youth Rep."
"Exactly," Tracey said, grinning deviously. "And that is how we'll get Hermione into the Wizengamot. For a few years, at least."
Hermione looked over Tracey's plans. She had dates sketched out, ideas of articles to lean towards in the press, as well as potential platform points. From the look of it, Tracey expected there would be a full election, which Hermione wasn't sure she expected, but Tracey seemed fully prepared to run a campaign and face it head on. Hermione would have never imagined such a thing – she didn't know a Youth election was a thing, even – and from what she could understand, Tracey's detailed plans seemed well thought out and actually feasible to boot.
"This is brilliant," Hermione said, looking up at Tracey. "A bit mad maybe, but brilliant. Well done, Tracey. Well done."
"Thanks!" Tracey beamed at her, and Hermione couldn't help but grin back.
"We'll be starting with an advantage," Blaise said. "It's not many teens who get multi-page displays in the Prophet for help with name recognition, but this election business will definitely keep us all busy for at least half the summer."
Hermione laughed. "Good. I like staying busy."
"Oh, you'll be very busy this summer," Luna told her, her blue eyes wide and sparkling. "With our coven and with the election, but also with court trials and community service, too."
"The trial," Tracey breathed, her eyes going wide. "With Rhamnaceae. I forgot. That's in what, a week?"
"Just over," Luna said mildly. "It's set to start June 28th."
"You said 'court trials'," Hermione said sharply, emphasizing as her eyes narrowed on Luna. "That's plural. That means more than one."
"Did I?" Luna said, smiling.
Hermione groaned. "You're not going to tell me anything, are you?"
"I don't know what you'd want me to tell you or what you think I know," Luna said, shrugging. Her eyes danced. "But I suspect you'll be getting experience with multiple legal systems this summer one way or another."
"There's only one legal system in the Wizarding World," Tracey said, frowning.
"Is there?" Luna asked ambiguously.
"Unless there's an International Matter, yes," Tracey said stubbornly. She looked at Hermione. "You're not going to get in trouble with the International Confederacy of Wizards, are you?" She paused. "Oh! Or the muggles, I guess. Are you going to get in trouble with the muggles, Hermione?"
Hermione threw her hands up. "How would I know? I'm not the Seer."
They all turned to look at Luna, who was absently playing with the new necklace she wore, a lovely powder-blue butterfly pendant.
"I think it's going to be a wonderful summer," she said, smiling. Her eyes met Hermione's, dancing with light. "An absolutely wonderful summer."
Faced with Luna's pure happiness, Hermione couldn't help but chuckle. She looked around at her friends, all of them somewhat bemused, and a slow smile spread across her face.
"A wonderful summer for all of us," she insisted, looking at them all. "And if it's not a great one, then we'll make it one."
Her friends laughed, and Hermione smiled, her eyes sparkling.
"I can't wait for it to start."