112Note: I had uploaded this story twice before, but I took them both down because I kept getting too busy with university and life to properly continue the story. So here's to my third attempt to finish the story. I will try to update as much as possible.
None of the characters belong to me, only some changes in personality might have changed. I also read a lot of fanfic, so if there's some elements of my story that resembles another, just keep that in mind. I do not have any intent to plagiarise anyone's work, it might just be similar.
Also, I have a few celebrities I imaged as the characters when I was writing this, but please imagine whoever you wish for the characters. If I didn't mention them, you can assume I used the actors from the HP movies.
Hermione - Emma Watson
Draco - Tom Felton
Harry - Daniel Radcliffe
Ginny - Sophie Turner
Ron - Rupert Grint
Blaise - Han Hyun Min
Luna - Evanna Lynch
Hannah - Olivia Holt
Theo - Daniel Sherman
Astoria - Dianna Agron
Daphne - Leighton Meester
Pansy - Megan Fox
Chapter 1
Draco Lucius Malfoy was a nervous wreck, but he obviously did not let it show. He had his usual mask plastered on, a well-rehearsed combination of annoyance and boredom. He wondered how his mother had convinced him to return for his seventh year, but it had ultimately been for the business. With his father out of the picture, he needed to take over the Malfoy business, what sort of business exactly, he was not too sure of himself. Taking his NEWTS would be helpful in the long run, or so his mother said. He lazily pushed his way onto the train and settled into an empty compartment.
After the war, Draco and his mother had been pardoned by the new minister, Kingsley Shaklebolt, the things they had done during the war to help Harry was enough to get a pardon. His father on the other hand, was not as lucky. While him and his mother only had their wands confiscated until the ministry deemed them safe enough to return to, his father got a one way ticket to Azkaban and a lovely kiss from someone special. Draco only got his wand back the day before he left for Hogwarts, his mother still had to live wand-free for another two years. It was a given that he would need to report back to the Ministry every week and have his wand checked, but it was better than not having his wand with him. He knew that a life temporarily without magic was better than a life in Azkaban, so he was grateful when Potter and Granger had spoken for him during his and his mother's trials. It didn't mean that they were friends, Merlin forbid.
The train had taken off just as he closed the compartment door, hoping he would not have to share it with anyone else. He decided against getting too comfortable just yet, he had a feeling that a few pesky Gryffindors might think it brave to bother a Slytherin and former Death Eater. So, he just took out a book to read instead, a muggle book, A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Just because he was a pureblood it did not mean he could not appreciate muggle literature; literature and music were probably the few things he thought muggles managed to do correctly. It was a book he had not yet read but it had been highly recommended by the shopkeeper.
Just as he was about to begin reading, the compartment door slid open. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a brown and black mass entering.
"Get out." he growled without fully looking up from his book.
"Good morning to you too, Malfoy." A familiar female voice said.
Realizing who his new compartment companion was, he let out a sigh, "What do you want, Granger?"
"Nothing really, just that all the other compartments are full, and yours is the only one without more than four people in it." She said as she placed her trunk under the seat opposite his.
"You can't be serious." He didn't have to think much to see where this was going, or rather, already went.
"Oh, suck it up Malfoy, it's just for a few hours. I'm sure you'll survive just fine." She huffed as she sat down.
"Why don't you go find wonder boy and the weasel? I'm sure they would be more than happy to let you squeeze in with them," he asked, noticing that dumb and dumber were not with her.
"Harry and Ron aren't on the train, for your information, they'll be arriving tomorrow."
He was honestly surprised that they decided to come back, he thought that they would have just gone straight to the Auror department, but he supposed that even Aurors needed to get their NEWTS too. "Whatever, just don't expect small talk." He gave up.
"Wouldn't dream of it." And with that, she was dead to the world, lost in one of her many books, he followed soon after.
The train ride felt at least two times longer than it usually was, Granger being in the same compartment didn't exactly help pass the time. But alas, he was just trying to get through the year with no problems, for once he hoping it would be a boring year.
When the train finally rolled to a stop, he practically jumped out of his seat. Granger was still at it with one of her books, he ignored her and grabbed his trunk and headed off the train.
"Malfoy!" Another familiar voice caught his attention, he had hoped there would be a few friendly faces this year. Just as Draco turned to locate where his friend was, Blaise Zabini crashed into him and swung his arm around his neck. "I didn't see you on the train, where were you?"
"I was stuck in the same compartment as Granger, don't ask, I don't want to relive it." He held out a hand and stopped his friend before he was bombarded with questions. "Your mother forced you back here too?"
"What do you think? If it weren't for her, I would be baking in the Bahamas right now." His dark-skinned friend replied him. "But you know how my mother is with education. 'You must study hard or you won't get anywhere in life.' You can take the witch out of Korea, but you can't take the Korea out of the witch." He imitated his mother and sighed.
"How much more do you want to bake yourself? Anymore baking, and you'd burn, oh wait, that's me." The two Slytherins laughed as they headed for the carriages.
The laughter and talking from the other students had died down by the time they reached the carriages, the anxious low mummers was probably due to do with the fact that a most of them could now see what was pulling the carriages, including Draco and Blaise. Most students had been blissfully ignorant to their existence before this.
"Shit, they're proper terrifying, aren't they?" Blaise remarked, a sad reminder that so many of them could see the Thestrals now.
"Yeah, terrifying." Draco replied half-heartedly, not taking his eyes off the creatures that he found oddly beautiful, in their own sad way.
He hopped into a carriage that had two other students in it, both Slytherins and none of them gave Draco a second glance. Draco preferred if everyone was like them, and just ignore him. Merlin knows how many gawks and hateful glares he's gotten over the span of the last six months.
"I can't wait until this year is over." Draco said as he leaned his head back against the cool metal of the carriage and closed his eyes and tried to picture how his ideal year would go. It would involve him not getting into any fights, both physical and verbal, and people avoiding him as much as humanly possible. However simple that wish was, it still seemed highly unlikely going off his track record. He was still slightly hopeful for a "peaceful" year and had hoped for the best. Who knows? This year could surprise all of them.
Her train ride was a quiet and unusual one. She liked the silence, she could finally get started on her ever-growing pile of to-be-read books. Other than the brief interaction with Malfoy, neither of them had spoken to the other, and she was perfectly fine with that. She would have preferred if he had at least tried to be a little more pleasant, but she supposed this conversation was civil enough.
As soon as the train had reached the station, Draco jumped out of his seat which gave her small fright. She knew there was going to be a long line of students waiting for the carriages, so she decided to give it a few more moments before she finally packed up her things and joined the rest of the students outside. She also knew that a lot more students would be able to see the Thestrals now, her included.
"Do you think they know that more people can see them now?" A voice directly behind her said and she let out a scream. A head of long auburn hair fell over her shoulders, which could only mean that Ginny Weasley had found her. Hermione let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Merlin's beard Gin, don't do that to me. I nearly hexed you!" Hermione slapped the red heads arm slightly. Ginny just stuck her tongue out at her and helped her to her feet.
"I didn't see you on the train, why didn't you come find us?" Ginny asked.
"I couldn't find any of you, the train was more packed than I expected. I ended up sharing a compartment with Malfoy."
"Malfoy?!" Ginny said a little too loudly for Hermione's liking. She gave Ginny a pained look. "But damn 'Mione, Malfoy. He actually let you stay?"
"I know, I was surprised too. I thought he was going to hex me out. But we didn't speak much, I even got to finish two books." Hermione added with a proud look on her face. She hadn't read anything that fast in months. Hermione and the most of the remaining upper year students and their families had volunteered to help rebuild Hogwarts after the War had ended, she even helped clean up and repair the Burrow. All that hard work left her little time to properly immerse herself in a book.
"Well, I'm famished, I wonder what they prepared for us." Ginny dragged her friend into an empty carriage, they were one of the last students to leave, which meant they got a whole carriage to themselves.
"I wonder who McGonagall will choose as Head Boy and Girl." Hermione thought.
"You know you're definitely going to be Head Girl," the ginger winked at her, "but I really don't know who Head Boy could be. Maybe Neville or maybe even Ernie."
"Maybe." Hermione chewed the insides of her cheek, still thinking of possible candidates. But in the back of her mind, she thought of one other possible student that the title of Head Boy could go to, and she hoped she wasn't right.
When they were planning out the restoration they had tried to change as little of the overall aesthetic Hogwarts naturally had, some changes had to be made. Hermione knew more than anyone else that Hogwarts was different. Aside from the giant mural in front of the Great Hall that had all the names of the fallen from the battle, the second biggest change had been the Great Hall, where there once used to be four long benches for each house, it was replaced by dozens of smaller round tables that each had four chairs. Each chair then corresponded with the four house colours, red, blue, green and yellow.
As most of the students didn't know what to do, they all stood around the edges of the hall. The front of the hall had not changed, the long table where the professors sat was still positioned there along with the elaborate gold podium in the center. Behind the long table, the large stained-glass window that had been shattered during the battle, had been redone with a beautiful picture of all magical creatures, humans, and animals existing in harmony with one another. As with most things in the magical world, the window moved, and it was beautiful watching the different multi-coloured beings interact with one another.
It was only natural that Professor McGonagall been elected headmaster, and she was now sitting in the middle of the professors table. She was watching all the students make their way into the hall, and when the last student had found a spot along the walls of the Great Hall, and the massive doors closed, only then did she move to stand at the podium.
"Good evening students, and welcome back to Hogwarts," She greeted with a smile. "I'll first address the most obvious confusion that everyone seems to be having, seating arrangements. Each table will now only seat four students, as you can obviously tell, but each table must have one student per house before any meal can be served. Don't worry, this will only be the case during meal times. During any other time of day, the tables will revert to the long tables you are all accustomed to. Now before you take your seats, we shall begin the sorting ceremony."
The ceremony did not last as long as Hermione had expected, there were probably around 20 new students, half the amount compared to when Hermione had been a first year. Once they were sorted, the first years continued to stay huddled together in one corner of the hall.
"Now that the ceremony has finished, everyone can take a seat."
And with that all done, the students began to move and fill up the tables. Hermione found a table that had a Ravenclaw boy she had never seen before and a girl from Slytherin she vaguely recognized, but could not quite place her. Shortly after, a boy from Hufflepuff joined them and bread and butter appeared in the center of the table.
"I guess we can start eating," The Slytherin girl said as she reached forward for a piece of bread. "I'm Astoria by the way, Astoria Greengrass."
Greengrass, that's why she looked familiar, Hermione knew of her sister Daphne.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Sean Adley," The Hufflepuff boy said. "What year are you in?"
"Sixth. How about you?" Astoria replied. Hermione was surprised at just how nice this Slytherin girl was, considering she had the misfortune of having encountered Daphne's rage more than once.
"Fifth year," Sean replied. "Kind of nervous for my O.W.L.s, even if the year had just started."
"Oh don't be," Hermione said, wanting to get involved in the conversation, "they aren't as hard as everyone thinks they are."
"That's easy for you to say, you're Hermione Granger." The Ravenclaw boy chimed in with admiration. "I don't even know how I got into Ravenclaw, I'm shit at my studies and I have no clue what I'm going to do for my O.W.L.s."
"Well, I had to start from somewhere didn't I?" Hermione just replied. "Memorizing isn't useful, you need to actually understand what you're reading. And you're smarter than you give yourself credit for, you really need to start thinking positively."
"Do you have any tips for a worried student like me?" Sean asked, bread crumbs flying from his mouth.
"Simple, read and put what you think you know to practical use. Keep repeating until you actually understand it. And if you keep failing, just ask a professor or an upper year student for help, there's no harm in asking for help." Hermione simply said.
"That's actually good advice, I'm going to steal that for myse-" Astoria's attention was cut off by the sound of a student yelling.
"I WILL NOT BE SITTING WITH SUCH FILTH!" A boy bellowed. Hermione turned to face the source of the yelling. The disruption had come from an older boy, either a sixth year, from Slytherin. At the table Professor Flitwick was trying to get the student to sit with Dennis Creevey, Luna and Hannah. His anger seemed to be aimed at a nervous looking Dennis.
At the sound of the commotion, Headmaster McGonagall had stepped away from the podium and moved towards the Slytherin boy. She said something to Professor Flitwick and he walked back to the professors table, thankful to be relieved from the situation.
"What is the problem here Mr. Avery?" She asked calmly.
"The problem here is that I should not have to sit and dine with blood traitors and mudbloods." The boy spat out, still eyeing Dennis. Hermione slowly moved her arm to cover the scar of the slur that Bellatrix had so kindly given her. It was a subconscious move, despite the war having ended, she still felt like her heritage could get her killed, and this boy was not making her worries go away.
"Mr. Avery, if you do not wish to comply with the new rules that were put in place to cease the ridiculous thought that one's blood really matters, you may go to another school where they allow such childish and immature behaviour and ideology. But since you are currently a student under my roof, I suggest you put your prejudices aside and take a seat unless you do not wish to eat, which would not bother me one bit." And with that, the headmaster turned and headed back to the front of the hall. By the time she made it back to the front of the hall, the boy still hadn't moved, he just stood and stared daggers at everyone.
"Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering why the tables have been changed so drastically." There was a short moment where mummers of guesses and theories from the students had erupted, but quickly died once the headmistress continued. "As we here at Hogwarts value education and learning from past experiences, we will be doing everything in our power to reduce and correct any misinformation or tension between houses. The war had devastated too many lives for no changes to be made. And as a precaution for any future conflict, we want all students to be able to talk and understand their peers from different houses and backgrounds. I would encourage everyone to get to know one another, it'll make meal time more pleasant, and maybe you'll even make a friend or two."
Even though Hermione had been a part of the restoration, she didn't know about this part of the plan. It was a brilliant one, however, getting some students to cooperate would proove to be a whole other hurdle.
"Now, enough formalities, we shall begin the sorting ceremony and after, the feast begin." McGonagall announced, and each table filled with food. The Avery boy, who was still standing, looked at the tempting food and Hermione could tell he was contemplating sitting down just for the food, but he resisted and just continued to stand.
"It's a shame that he is sticking by whatever garbage his parents drilled into his head, the beef is absolutely delicious!" Astoria exclaimed. Hermione looked at the Slytherin girl, surprised that she was so open minded, considering she had probably grown up hearing the same things as he had.
"Do you believe in any of that Pureblood supremacy bullshit?" The Ravenclaw boy had asked, he still had not introduced himself.
"Not anymore, thankfully. Having made more than just Pureblood friends taught me as much. Sure, I was as prejudiced as any other Pureblood Slytherin child when I first arrived, but my first friends was a halfblood and a muggleborn. They slowly broke every stereotype and prejudice I had over the years." She replied, taking a bite of the mashed potatoes that she had piled onto her plate.
The rest of the meal had gone by rather smoothly, Hermione had learnt that the Ravenclaw boy's name was Charles Rodney and he was a muggleborn like herself. Astoria and Sean, being purebloods, had asked them questions about the muggle world, even though they had friends that were muggleborns, they hadn't had many chances to learn much about the world outside of magic.
"Well, for one, I know that writing with inkwells and quills is stupid. Why can't we just use pencils like any other school in this century?" Charles brought up. "It's not like the magical world has never heard of graphite! They have haven't they?"
Hermione chuckled, she had been wondering the same thing for years, but never really questioned it. Her mind had been filled with memorizations of whatever subjects she had picked, how to defeat Voldemort or whatever stupid thing Harry and Ron were up to whenever she wasn't around. It was a shame that they didn't get a chance to further discuss the topic as McGonagall was standing in front of the podium once again.
"I hope everyone enjoyed their meal, and I am sure everyone is eager to get to bed but I have one last announcement to make. The professors and myself have discussed all the possible candidates for which students shall be the head prefects for this year, and we have decided to nominate Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy for the positions. If these two students could meet me before going to your dorms, I shall be waiting by the doors." Headmaster McGonagall announced, "Now, if the upper year students could lead the first years to their dorms, that would be all for announcements tonight, take your time finishing dinner. Welcome back students."
No one spoke for a few seconds, before the whole hall erupted in animated murmuring.