Chapter Text
Hermione, Harry, and Ron disembarked the Hogwarts Express for the final time together and boarded a carriage pulled by thestrals. They trundled along the dirt road before rising above the lake, gliding up and up and up towards the castle. Rain hammered the canvas top of the carriage, drowning out sound of the creaking wheels and axels and blurring the view out the windows. Luna, Ginny, and Neville sat on the bench across from them, discussing the various rumors about who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would be, and if they even needed the course at this point. They were unaware of the conversation happening across the carriage due to a discrete muffliato charm from Harry.
“And you’re sure he was with Andromeda and Ted?” Harry asked Hermione once more.
“That’s what he said in his paper,” Hermione replied.
“But we can’t be sure… I’ll send Hedwig in the morning to confirm his story,” Harry looked resolute in his plan, “Then, we’ll have Tonks go round and make sure her parents aren’t under the Imperious Curse or anything...” He trailed off in thought.
“Harry. I believe him, what reason does he have to lie at this point,” she was running out of ways to tell them.
————
Ron and Harry had returned to the train compartment in their robes and found Hermione leafing through a sheaf of Muggle paper with printed words on it. A flurry of questions followed: what is she reading, why is the paper so perfectly square and white (from Ron), did she type it on a computer herself (from Harry). And, when she explained that it was Draco’s Muggle Household Exchange Program final paper, where is that slimy git?, What is he playing at?, What happened?, Are you okay?, Do you need us to hurt him?, Do you want us to kill him?
Hermione had her friends back, that was for sure. But she felt that they still did not understand what she was trying to say to them… Yes, Draco left her. No, she didn’t want him to go. But equally, she left him. There was sliver of opportunity for the two of them to be together, if Hermione could just find him and tell him she wanted to take the hard path forward with him.
At some point in their journey they had ridden into rain. Black clouds hung low in the sky and deposited heavy, cold drops over the mountains as they pulled into Hogsmeade. The hordes of eager students climbed into horseless carriages and oarless boats in a sea of billowing black uniforms trying to keep from the driving rain. Through the chaos of trying to find an empty carriage, Hermione remained on objective: find Draco. She knew it was statistically likely, seeing as he was on the train, but knowing he was so close made him feel so much further away. She ambled through the crowd hoping her eyes would land on a flash of his hair, the cut of his jaw, that she would hear his voice among the rumble, or that she would feel his hand slip into hers… Ginny all but pulled her through the open carriage door as she walked past, beckoning her brother to climb in after her so they could shut the damn door. The six friends sat half-drowned, robes steaming from their body heat.
“I’ll send Hedwig in the morning to confirm Malfoy’s story,” Harry reiterated.
“Actually, can I borrow Hedwig now?” Hermione reached into the satchel at her side and pulled out a scrap of parchment and a glitter gel pen from a set her mother bought her years ago for Christmas.
“Now, as in, right now?” Harry gestured to the downpour outside the window.
“Yes, it’s important,” Hermione scrawled her message on the paper.
~~~
Narcissa,
Draco was on the train. He was with your sister, Andromeda. He is safe. If When I see him again I will make him write you.
H. Granger
~~~
Hermione reached into Hedwig’s cage that took up most of the floor space between the benches, pulled the owl out, tied the message to her leg, and cracked the carriage door.
“Thank you, Hedwig. I’ll make it up to you when you return.”
Hedwig gave Hermione’s hand an angry nibble before flying into the storm.
“What’d you do that for?” Ginny asked after Hermione, “She’s going to hate you for that.”
Harry undid the muffliato, “She said it was important. And I trust her.”
Hermione and Harry shared a look of understanding, then a smile.
The carriage crash-landed on the slick lawn in the clock tower courtyard. It was pitch dark now, and waterproof flames lit the pathway into Hogwarts. Hermione covered her head with her satchel and made a break for the door.
“Are you a witch, or what?” Ron said, striding next to her, completely dry again, “Impervious.”
“Oh. Right,” Hermione said, embarrassed, “Sometimes I forget I can just—” she gesticulated her hand. She and Ron walked slowly through the doors as students of all ages rushed past them, running towards the Welcome Feast.
“I’m sorry if I, you know, made things weird between us,” Ron said sheepishly, “When we, you know, in the Chamber…”
“Ronald, please,” Hermione scoffed, “Let’s just leave that behind us.”
“Oh, so, you want leave all that…” he exhaled with a low whistle, “Right then. Friends it is.”
He stuck his hand out to her, and she shook it. Knowing she had her friends back made her truly feel like she had arrived home.
The Great Hall never looked so beautiful. The inky sky was the perfect backdrop for the thousands of twinkling candles. The din in the room was enormous, the mood was as close to electric as a magical place could feel. Friends reconnected with friends. Second Years took their places at their House tables for the first time. The professors at the head table looked bubbly, already pouring wine into their goblets and greeting their the pupils. There were a few whoops and hollers as Harry walked into the hall with his arm around Ginny, the giant doors closing behind them. Then, Dumbledore took his place at the podium and a reverent silence fell over the young witches and wizards. The few that remained in the aisles scuttled into empty seats. Hermione stayed standing, her view finally unobstructed.
She scanned the Slytherin table, her eyes moved over the sea of black and emerald and silver, where was he? Daphne caught her eye and gave her a quick smile, a raise of her hand, which Hermione returned. Dumbledore cleared his throat. Hermione snapped back into herself. She was standing alone in the center of the Great Hall. She offered a hasty excuse me as she rounded the Gryffindor table to sit where the Slytherin table would be in her full view the entire night.
Dumbledore gave his opening remarks about good conquering evil, light being found in the dark. He waxed poetic about unlikely heroes and even more unlikely friends. Hermione was only half listening. He had to be here. Dumbledore clapped his hands twice and the doors creaked back open. Professor McGonagall led the wide-eyed First Years up the center of the hall. Their hungry eyes taking in every magical detail, mouths agape. There, among them, was a boy who lived on Hampstead Heath, just a few houses up the road from Hermione. She had passed him on the pavement half a dozen times that summer alone. What were the odds? The last of the First Years filtered through the doors and as they started to close, Hermione spared a glance through the diminishing gap. There in the hall beyond, Draco Malfoy was standing against the staircase. The doors closed with a mighty thunk. The sorting hat started to sing.
Long ago I was first sewn
To assist the founders
Of the greatest school ever known
Let me tell you their backgrounders…
But Hermione was not listening. She was walking, robes billowing up around her, walking so fast it was almost a run. She did not care that every eye in the Great Hall had turned to her, the sound of her shoes on the flagstones echoing to the rafters. The sorting hat gave an annoyed ahem before continuing his tune. As she reached the doors, solid oak, wrought iron fittings, thirty feet tall, she used all of the strength left in her heart to push them open them. The door on the right creaked open and she slipped through, carefully closing it behind her. Draco stood at the base of the grand staircase, drumming his fingers on the banister.
“There you are,” Draco broke from his stance and closed the distance between them. Hermione balked.
“Here I am? I’m the one who has been looking for you for almost a month now. Do you know how worried I’ve been? How worried sick your mother is? And you’re just— here,” Hermione gestured to Draco, a stew of emotions bubbling inside her.
“I’m here.”
“So why aren’t you in there,” she pointed to the giant doors behind them.
“I’m afraid to go in without talking to you first. Just like I was afraid to ride the train. I need to talk to you.”
“But you were on the train. You gave me your paper,” Hermione reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out the stapled pages, “Take it back, you need to turn it in tomorrow or else we both fail. I hope you printed another copy in case I lost this one.”
“Hufflepuff!” They heard the sorting hat shout on the other side of the door, answered by muffled yells and claps.
A smile passed over Draco’s face as he tucked the pages in his robe pocket, “I printed an extra. But I knew you would make sure you gave it back to me. I had to talk to you in private before I sw anyone else but I wasn’t sure when Potter and Weasley were coming back to your compartment on the train.”
“Ravenclaw!” More applause and excited chatter.
“Draco, you’re so dense,” Hermione felt a weight lift off her chest, “You did’t have to leave your paper with me to get me to talk to you again. I was looking for you all over London for weeks. I’ve been looking for you all day, too. I checked the train twice but I couldn’t find you anywhere. You weren’t on the Platform or—”
“I apparated onto the train from Hogsmeade… and then apparated back to Hogsmeade and took a carriage before the train even arrived.”
“Why?” Hermione couldn’t wrap her head around the lengths Draco went to be invisible.
“Slytherin!” As another student was sorted. There were polite claps from one side of the hall.
“I didn’t know if I would have the courage to approach you, surrounded by your friends. I didn’t have anyone to sit with. I didn’t know what to say if I even had the courage to talk to you on the train, or all year for that matter. Plus you know I prefer the bus. I took the Floo Network from Aunt Dromeda’s house to the Three Broomsticks and concentrated on the third train car, fourth compartment and there you were, as always.”
“You could have gotten yourself killed pulling a stunt like that,” Hermione was impressed, but tried to hide it in case he ever thought it was a good idea to try it again.
“Gryffindor!” The hat roared, answered by whistles and fists banging the tables.
“Well, I knew you would be there. And as luck had it Potter and Weasley were gone, so I passed you my paper and,” he made a popping gesture with his hand, “before anyone else saw us together. In case there was still a chance of keeping our fling a secret like you wanted.”
Hermione noted the silver ring missing from his finger.
“You could have written to me. Or your mother. She’s worried sick, you know. I’ve already sent Harry’s owl to her to let her know I saw you.”
Draco blanched, “You… spoke with my mother?”
“At Madame Malkins. She thought I was hiding you from her. She saw the scrapbook.”
“Merlin’s beard… Was she mad?”
“That you hadn’t come home or told her where you were, yes. I think maybe she has come to terms with the fact that you lived with my family all summer. She said you looked happy for the first time in a long time.”
“I was happy, Hermione. I was so happy I convinced myself I didn’t deserve it,” he reached his hand towards hers, gently grazing the back of her hand before pulling away, “And then I fucked it all up.”
The hat sorted another student into Ravenclaw. The next into Slytherin. They stood in their pocket of silence in the limestone-clad hall. Hermione grabbed his hand. Draco’s pulse quickened.
“I talked to Ron and Harry. They’re okay with us. Ginny’s thrilled, actually. And most importantly… I want you. Not just for the summer. For as long as you’ll have me, if you even want that—”
“Of course I want you, haven’t you heard everything I said, in the essay I mean?”
Hermione thought back to the typed words on the Muggle A4.
“Draco, I really don’t think this is going to be as hard as we made it out to be,” she squeezed his hand, “We can build the world we want to live in. We can choose how we want to live.We just have to stop getting in our own ways.”
“Will you help me do that? I don’t know what comes next and I’m afraid to face it alone.”
“I don’t know what comes next either, but I’ll be there with you.”
He took her face in his hands and kissed her, as she had kissed him the morning of her Astronomy coursework. Soft, but with depth. Full of a thousand I’m sorries and even more I forgive yous. Hermione’s heart swelled. The doors to the Great Hall flung open, hitting the frame so hard they splintered. They didn’t break away, locked in a kiss they had both waited for for longer than either cared to admit.
Every witch and wizard in all of Hogwarts saw them, and they did not care.
Finite Incantatem.