It was after the war when Hermione found herself having a relaxing day at The Burrow. She and Ginny were laying on beach towels in shorts and bikini tops, tanning in the warm summer air by the pond.
"Ginny, I think this is exactly what I needed," Hermione said.
The war only ended three months ago. Hearts were broken, lives were lost, and wizardkind was healing. They were celebrating their loved ones and spending time with their families and friends who made it through. Enemies were fleeing or being captured. The imperiused were returning to their normal lives. All wasn't quite well, but it was getting there.
"I think we all did, Hermione," came Ginny's muffled response. She was laying on her back with her arms folded neatly under her head. She had thrown a towel over her face, and was humming softly.
"I wish Harry and Ron would go back with us," Hermione sighed. "But I'm proud of them for starting their training with Kingsley."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville along with a handful of other older students from Hogwarts, especially those that had been in Dumbledore's Army, had all been offered positions as Aurors from Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had been named Minister after the war. He felt that the young wizards had proven themselves as honest, trustworthy, and courageous (not to mention experienced) for their parts in fighting a battle as gruesome as they had.
Only Harry and Ron decided to accept the jobs. Hermione, of course, had known in her heart that the coming year could only be devoted to finishing her studies. Neville wanted to pursue a future in Herbology, while Ginny wished to find a career in quidditch, and Luna decided that she would be happiest studying magical creatures.
"I am too," Ginny said, pulling the towel off her face and replacing it under her head as a pillow. "I just don't know that I'll be able to stand being away from Harry until Christmas. We barely got any time together before you lot went off to kill evil wizards." She looked over to the hill where Harry and Ron were taking turns tossing cherry-sized apples to each other on their broomsticks. Harry caught Ginny's eye and winked at her. This earned an apple to the side of the head from Ron. Ginny and Hermione giggled.
"Very unsurprising about you earning Head Girl." They had received their letters earlier that morning. Hermione's owl delivered a rather bulky envelope. Upon opening it and dumping out its contents, she discovered the Head Girl badge.
"Yeah, well.. it's no quidditch team captain," Hermione smiled. Ginny had received a similarly shaped envelope. After the gasps of horror and fake gags from her brothers had subsided, she opened it to reveal the captain's badge.
"Fred and George were so scared for me," she laughed.
Hermione pulled a bug out of her hair, thinking of Rita Skeeter. "Yes, but getting team captain restored their faith in you."
"Yeah," said Ginny, laying back down to resume her sunbathing. "You excited for Diagon Alley later after Dad gets home?'
"Of course. I'm glad we can apparate there now that you've finally passed your test," Hermione giggled.
Ginny shot Hermione a look. She knew that Hemione's laughing came from remembering how Ginny failed her apparition test the first time around, as she had successfully reappeared in the designated spot to pass the test, but forgot to bring her eyebrows with her. Ron had spent the following two days making fun of her for making a similar mistake to one he made two years ago. He only relented when Ginny shoved her wand in his face, threatening him with her beloved bat bogey hex.
Hermione spoke again after a moment. "So who do you suppose is going to be Head Boy?"
"Well, we know from your letter that it will be another eighth year. Problem is, aside from Neville we don't know who will be returning. And he's already told us that he didn't get Head Boy. Let's go over all the suspects from your year."
"That means we can rule out Gryffindor, since only Neville is returning and everyone else are signing on as Aurors." Dean and Seamus were among those who were offered training positions and had accepted. So then we have Michael, Terry, and Anthony from Ravenclaw, Ernie, Justin, and Anthony from Ravenclaw, and from Sly–"
Ginny bursted out laughing. "As if! No WAY would any of them be returning to Hogwarts, much less get Head Boy."
Hermione laughed too. "Yeah, I suppose all of them were death eaters anyways. And the ones who weren't will probably be too ashamed to show their faces anyways. Still though…" She stared into the pond for a minute, watching a turtle struggling to climb up onto a log. "I guess we better count them too, just in case."
"I suppose so," said Ginny, wiping tears out of her eyes. "Oh, alright. You've got Crabbe and Goyle. Better get them out of the way, since the only chance they'd have as Head Boy was if they were the only boys in the whole castle to return, including Neville's toad."
"Crabbe died during that night at Hogwarts," Hermione said quietly.
"Oh…" Ginny was quiet for a few seconds. "I didn't know that."
Mentioning the death of an old classmate, even one with which they'd had a longstanding rivalry, brought up painful thoughts for both girls. It was a grim reminder that every single one of them was lucky to be alive, as they'd all been one wrong move, one miscalculated spell, one moment of hesitation away from not making it out of the battle.
"Well, anyway… we know it won't be Goyle then."
"Yeah," said Hermione, who had been lost in her own thoughts. "Well then that only leaves Blaise Zabini and the king of Slytherin himself, since Theodore Nott is sitting cozy in a cell in Azkaban." Hermione thought to herself for a moment before speaking again. There was something that she had been thinking about all summer that she had yet to mention to anyone. "Ginny, d'you remember when we'd told you how Malfoy didn't tell Bellatrix it was us when the snatchers brought us to Malfoy Manor?"
"Aye," said Ginny, eyes closed.
"And when he'd found us during the battle, it was really only because he just wanted his wand back from Harry."
"Hermione, where are you going with this?" asked Ginny, raising her head and looking at Hermione.
"I just find it strange. That's not like Malfoy at all. What if he's turned over a new leaf? And he did stay after the battle had ended and hung out in the great hall instead of fleeing with all the rest of the death eaters. His parents too, all they cared about was finding Malfoy alive."
"Hermione, are you forgetting the years of torture he put you through? Put all of us through? He had Voldemort camping out in his own drawing room. I don't care how hard core of a death eater you are, that man was a scary wizard. Draco Malfoy may have done whatever he did as a death eater, including becoming one, just because of the threat that man posed to him in his own home, but he still treated everyone he thought beneath him like actual rubbish for six years. Just because he didn't sell you out to Voldemort does not mean that that man has changed."
"Ginny, you're right. But I'm telling you something was different about him."
"He was just terrified, Hermione. Why are we even discussing this?"
"I just know that it's a possibility that he might return to Hogwarts this year, and if that does happen I'd like to believe that this last year of school is going to be as pleasant as it possibly could be given the fact that we've all just watched our closest friends and family being murdered right in front of us not three months ago."
"Okay," said Ginny in a small voice. "I suppose you have a point."
The girls laid back down, becoming lost in their own thoughts again. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping in the sun and watching Harry and Ron racing each other on their broomsticks. When Mr. Weasley arrived home from work, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley apparated into the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny had successfully apparated into the pub with her eyebrows, and everything else, intact. They shopped around all evening for their books and supplies and afterwards stopped in at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to explore the latest joke item's Fred and George had been working on post-war. When they returned home that night, the girls ate a hurried dinner before wishing everyone good night and turning in for the night.