Chapter 30 - Year 5, part 1

September 1st, 1995

"Shiiiiiny." Harry sang after whistling. "Looking good there, Prefect."

"It does look pretty good, I think." She said proudly, using her hand to remove lint, dust or whatever could be found on her newly pinned badge. She wanted it to be clean and pretty.

"Did you show it to William yet?" Daniel asked, as he petted Crookshanks.

"No, she didn't need to, he came barrelling into the room with the letter shouting about hers being heavier than normal. It was hilarious." Harry chuckled. "I swear, that guy is almost a third parent when there's a competition for pride."

"He is really proud - though, I think a part of it is happiness over being done with the chore himself." Hermione sighed as she sat down beside Neville, who pinned on his own badge. "But I'm not sure it would be ideal for him to be Prefect this year, even if he could. Can you imagine doing rounds at night while studying for NEWTs? I certainly couldn't."

"Oh, yes you could. And you'd get all O's while at it." Daniel deadpanned as Crookshanks jumped to the seat between him and Harry, where he nestled as far down into the cushion as possible, while purring loudly.

Hermione simply shook her head with a small smile. She was so happy that hers and Daniel's friendship were back to what it used to be, but his confidence in her abilities could sometimes be a bit overwhelming.

It wasn't like she was some sort of perfect creature that simply did everything right without fault.

Sometimes she wondered if she should even have been made Prefect at all. But then again; she knew that a lot of the younger students looked up to her because of her good grades and good behaviour.

So, she did it.

Also, thinking back on how Wills had almost killed her for just voicing her thoughts, maybe it would just be safer to accept and see where it would take her.

…

"First year's this way please!" She and Neville echoed, waving at the small kids at the end of the table. Had they been so small, too?

It seemed like a lifetime ago that they started their own time at the magical school.

She and Neville herded the children off through the school, telling them all about the tricky stairs, about how to get to their classes and when, about who to ask for direction and who not to ask - Peeves chose that particular moment to show himself and make an example, as he stole a hat from one of the newcomers and flew 5 floors up before planting it on the corner of a picture. They talked about the different houses and where their common rooms were situated, about teachers, pranksters, fun and games.

Getting through the portrait with the Fat Lady was always a bit of a game in itself considering what kinds of moods she would sometimes be in, but they made it through. The looks on the faces of the kids was worth it all.

From the common room, they split up. Neville took the boys and she took the girls.

Hermione made her way up the tower and into what would be the dormitory for the girls. Here, they each found their trunks and what would be their beds. "Now, there are some ground rules. There will be a list of all the rules in your dresser, so I will only mention some of the important ones." Hermione started as she sat down in a chair in the middle of the room. "You cannot go visit the boys in their dorms, and they cannot visit you - the stairs will turn into a slide, so it is simply impossible. From 10 o'clock and until 6 in the morning, you are not allowed to be out of Gryffindor tower - unless in case of an emergency, of course. Whether you sleep or not is on you, but the curfew is very strict at 10 o'clock. And lastly," She said as she stood and fanned a hand down her skirt to remove any wrinkles. "If you have any questions, need support or help with anything… School, personal, or awkward, feel free to reach out to me, our head of house, Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital wing or any other part of the school faculty. We will gladly assist you. Now unless there's any questions, I'll let you get to it." She waited a moment, and when it was obvious that no questions had formed, she left them and went to her own dorm where Parvati and Lavender were already fully gossiping.

What even was the meaning of a summer holiday, if you would have nothing to talk about when you'd meet up again?

…

September 2nd, 1995

"I can't believe that pink toad has the audacity to show up here, pretending like she owns the entire school." Harry sneered towards the faculty table as the group of friends sat down.

"I never understood why you hate her so much, Harry. What happened?" She inquired while piling fruits onto her porridge.

Harry bit off a large piece of bacon before answering her. "She was at my trial back in July. I never heard anything more about it once I left the courtroom, but I guess Em figured out what to do. Sirius was so angry that entire week, it was unbearable."

"No wonder you wanted to play quidditch so badly." She answered, thinking back on that day where Harry had scared her out of her mind while she was having Theo over. Bloody idiot.

Looking over towards the Slytherin table, she noticed that Daphne, Theo and Draco were once again sitting together, chatting happily. Their issues must have solved themselves once he broke things off with Pansy.

She couldn't imagine how much had happened during the summer. On the one hand, it was like nothing had happened at all, but then on the other hand it was like she had barely had time to breathe.

You.

I'm in love with you, Hermione.

I'm in love with you too, you abnormally large idiot.

It was almost like he had heard what her mind had echoed from their previous phone conversation, because his head turned all the while he continued his conversation, and he looked her dead in the eye. And he smiled.

It wasn't big, pretentious or anything remotely obvious.

But she noticed the crinkle by his eyes, the lift of his lip and the way he looked at her.

Oh, Merlin, the way he looked at her.

But she couldn't return it quite as warmly, not right now, so she did the next best thing… She took a bite of her porridge, and choked on it.

Quite, literally, choked. It went directly down the wrong pipe, and she started coughing violently until Ginny hammered her on the back while Harry handed her a glass of water. "You need to stop looking at him so much, if it means we'll have to save your sorry arse every damn time." Harry whispered and the surrounding people laughed along with him.

Well, she couldn't fault him for thinking that and just drank her water, feeling her windpipe clear again. When she chanced another look at the Slytherins after that, Draco was just shrugging casually while Theo - with a wide smile - motioned in the general direction of… her.

Her insides were doing a happy dance that she didn't even want to try to contain.

…

It was so strange, arriving at school on a Friday. They had received their time tables on the first morning as per usual and would therefore have two entire days to get used to being around the same people again, the routines, the food and the general atmosphere of the school, before classes started on Monday morning.

She and Neville had their first meeting with the head boy and girl, and the other Prefects where they had built a schedule for patrol rounds. The schedules included weekends as well, which culminated in Hermione spending the first Saturday evening walking around the school with a Hufflepuff.

Ernie Macmillan.

Apparently, he wasn't as much of an idiot as Hermione had believed him to be. He was quite studious, thought very highly of those he considered friends and was, surprisingly, very much on Harry's side. There was also the side of things where he was a Hufflepuff, and had had the 'pleasure' of having known her brother since arriving at Hogwarts, William being a Prefect and all.

She may have been a bit coloured by how she viewed her brother, but really, wasn't it her birthright to hate him one instant and then miss him the next? That was just how it was.

She and Ernie walked the two upper floors tonight, and it was with obvious relief that she went to bed that night without having had any kind of encounters.

…

September 4th, 1995

When she woke up that morning, she had every intention of relaxing, reading, eating and simply being - with her friends. They knew school started tomorrow, so when the hassle of everyday life came rushing back, they wanted to be prepared in whatever aspect that they could.

That all changed when she arrived for breakfast with Ginny.

"You've got to be kidding me." She gasped and stopped dead in her tracks, just inside the large doors to the Great Hall.

Right there, sat Albus fucking Dumbledore. His usual robes, his usual long, white beard, his usual half-moon spectacles. His usual flair of doing whatever the fuck he wanted and what he thought was best.

For the greater good.

It was a line she had heard so many times, she had lost count.

He had still come for Order meetings at Grimmauld place, though not as frequently as others. To her, it looked more like a 'I'll show if I want to'-kind of thing. She wasn't here for it.

She hadn't heard of whether or not he had been punished for what he had been the cause of. If he had done prison time or community service. He hadn't apologized to anyone she knew of, that was for sure. She and her friends were like a tightly knitted family - if something happened, everyone would know, and it would be spreading like a wildfire during a drought.

"What is he doing here?" Ginny whispered back as she grabbed Hermione by the arm and dragged her to sit down at their table. Here, many others like her were staring at the faculty table.

"Heard he asked to take back his position. Asked." Natacha, Ginny's friend said to no one in particular, "They must be right desperate if they're just going to take him back after that chaos he made."

No one answered her, but from her peripheral vision, Hermione could see several silent nods.

Soon enough, food was being sent back and forth in front of her, but she couldn't take any of it. The blood sausage reminded her of the darkness in the lake. The porridge, of the feeling of seaweed against her legs. The forks, of tritons being pointed at Harry as he fought for all of them.

"I'll meet you in class." She muttered and stood on shaky legs. Grabbing her bag, she turned and came face to face with William. He said nothing, but he reached out, grabbed her by the shoulder, and hauled her into a bear hug like no other.

His arms wrapped around her shoulders - her arms around his waist. And then he just held her, right there in the middle of the Great Hall while students did what they needed to on a regular Monday morning.

He held her until there was no more Black Lake, until there was no more seaweed, no more darkness and no more death to chase away. When her grip started to loosen a bit on his robes, he stepped back, grabbed her bag and flung it over his shoulder with his own, while his other arm went around her shoulders. "What are you having now, Nene?"

"History of Magic." She sighed as she leaned further into him, her arm snaking around his waist. Starting a Monday morning out with Professor Binns was going to be rough, but maybe a snooze would do her some good.

"Great, I'll take you."

…

It wasn't that she had been that surprised by Draco's note… It was just that she had been so focused on her potion that she hadn't expected to suddenly have someone brush against her to put a note in front of her. But, evidently, her reaction of pushing herself out of the way and into Daniel had been a bit much - if the look on his face had been anything to go by when she apologized.

"Sorry." She muttered, and stirred her potion twice anti-clockwise before adding the fig-juice. knowing that she had a couple of minutes before anything had to be added, she looked at the note.

"Are you alright?"

Apparently not. She thought bitterly, before writing a reply.

"It's a long story. Astronomy-tower after dinner?" She knew she could have just made him ask Theo or Daphne, since they had already learned what had been going on, but she needed an excuse to see him. She'd missed him, and they evidently had some stuff to talk through. Also, writing it all in parchment and then trying to hand it to him without it looking like she was handing him a damn novel would be next to impossible.

When they got ready to leave for class, she made sure to catch his eye. She lifted her hand with the small note, scratched her ear so that he would see it, and then he nodded.

Great.

They somehow managed to exit side-by-side and she handed him the note in a moment that might have just been 'I'm moving my robe because it's in the way'. The motion also made her hand graze his, sending shivers and warmth through her entire body. She was so happy for Daphne and Theo walking directly behind them with Harry in front, because she was certain it was visible on her face.

He read it instantly and whispered. "Can't, occlumency-lesson. Tomorrow?"

Right, he had occlumency every Monday evening. She had forgotten that one.

"Sure." She breathed, hoping for once in her life that he would be able to hear her beating heart so that he knew how it made her feel to be able to see him. To talk to him! It had been too long…

Suddenly the entire line of students came to a screeching stop, with lots of mutterings and yellings of 'What's going on?!' and 'Can you move already?! I'm starving!'. Soon enough the students began walking again, but they seemed to have been forced down another corridor for whatever reason. In this particular hallway, there were a few suits of armour positioned in such a way that it made it impossible for them to walk casually as they had up until this point, seeing as their line of walking would be narrowed in marginally.

When the armour came too close, Hermione tried her luck… She took a step to the left, barely lining her entire body up against Draco's and grabbed his hand. She had meant for it to simply be putting her hand in his, and then holding it there for as long as possible. But she had barely clasped his right hand, before he let go, and instead, delicately intertwined his fingers with hers.

Then she heard him let go of a shaky breath - and she let go of hers.

They didn't talk after that, but simply walked the small distance that it took for them to reach the last corner before the staircase. Stepping around the corner, she gave his hand one last squeeze before sliding her hand out of his, suddenly feeling the coldness of the dungeon against her warmed hand. Then she took that small step away from him, and it was like everything was back to normal. Their tiny bubble of comfort, burst.

After having ascended the stairs into the Welcoming Hall, the class split right back up into their respective houses - including she and Draco.

"Eww, Malfoy. I can't believe you were forced to walk with muddy." Zabini yelled from behind her. She was pretty sure it was Ron she heard laughing loudly up ahead.

"At least she smells better than you, you wanker." Draco called back. She knew his comment for what it was, and chose to take it as a compliment.

She smelled good?

She didn't use much perfume, and her shampoo wasn't overly fragrant, but apparently, she had done something right that morning. And maybe it was because she was riding high on endorphins and adrenaline from her short, physical encounter with Draco, but she chose to turn as she was walking, and shouted back to Zabini; "You're free to come use my perfume, Zabini! Maybe it'll do you some good!"

"Fuck you, mudblood!" He shouted, and she heard him stomping somewhere behind her, though she didn't turn to acknowledge it. Instead, she called back as she entered the Great Hall for lunch; "No, thank you, I'll let someone competent do that!" And then she turned towards the Gryffindor table where she sat down next to her gaping friends.

They didn't say anything - but they gawked. Openly.

She managed to eat all of half a sandwich before she couldn't take it anymore. "All right, out with it. I'm ready."

She had barely finished the sentence before she was assaulted with a cascade of questions, exclamations, wondering and inquiries, ranging everywhere from 'Merlin!' to 'look at Zabini's face - no look at Draco's!' to Ginny's whispered 'are you…? I mean, have you…?', and everything in between.

She simply shook her head as casually as she could, before whispering back to the redhead, "I'm waiting for someone… Competent.", all the while completely ignoring her other friend's outburst.

"Hermione!" Harry called exasperated at being ignored.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist Harry - I was just taking the piss." She said in a laugh and went in for another bite of her sandwich.