Summary: When Malfoy and Zabini saves Hermione from Greyback during the final battle, she's forever grateful. One year later, everyone is going back for their final year at Hogwarts. How will things play out?

A/N: Hey, everyone, I haven't done a Harry Potter fic before so, I don't know how this is going to turn out… Anyway, I'm changing Hermione's style to a little bit more punk but, her attitude will stay the same, for the most part. Also, they are returning a year later because Hogwarts doesn't repair its self. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter :'(

Now, lets start the story!

"NO!" shrieked Hermione, and with a deafening blast from her wand, Fenrir Greyback was thrown backward from the feebly stirring body of Lavender Brown. He hit the marble banisters and was struggling to his feet.

"Harry! We have to help her!" With a quick glance behind her, Hermione saw that the boys were already on the other side of the hall. She ran forward and got to her knees next to Lavender. She checked her pulse and was relieved to at least feel the feeble pounding of her vein. She glanced up at Greyback, who was only 100 feet away, almost to his feet. She got up and stood in between Lavender and Greyback, preparing herself to fight. When he was finally to his feet, he looked up and snarled. She raised her wand, trying to think of a strong enough spell to keep him down for a couple of minutes. Her hand was shaking and Greyback could practically smell her fear. He started walking closer, when a beam of red light from over her shoulder hit him square in his chest. She spun quickly to see Malfoy and an olive colored skin slytherin, they both had their wands raised and Malfoy was wearing his trademark smirk.

"Well, are you just going to stand there? That spell wasn't very powerful." Malfoy asked sneering at her.

"I can't leave her here!" She yelled, pointing to Lavender. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine, i'll grab her." He said bending down to pick Lavender up. He started walking towards the Great Hall, dodging hexes and curses. She started following him stunning two death eaters on the way and dodging at least ten hexes.

"Traitor!" Someone hissed. A death eater, who's mask had been knocked off, blocked the entrance. He was at least 6 feet tall and she could tell he was powerful. Hermione panicked. Before she could stop herself from saying it the incantation flew out of her mouth.

"Sectumspectra!" The death eater didn't think she would be the one to attack so he didn't have time to dodge the curse. She started wide-eyed as the death eater fell face first on the floor, huge gashes covered the front side of his body.

"Damn, Granger, who knew you had it in you?" Malfoy mumbled. She shook her head. Why did I do that?, she asked herself.

"I-I didn't mean too, I-I…" She trailed off not knowing what to say. She had used dark magic. That technically made her a dark witch. What if she went to Azkaban or something? She knew she was being absurd. They wouldn't send her to Azkaban when it was used as self-defense. She tried shaking the thought but, it seemed to be embedded into her brain.

She felt someone pulling her into the Great Hall where Malfoy laid Lavenders body with the others. He then went to find Poppy. She could vaguely feel someone shaking her.

"Should we slap her?" Someone she didn't recognize said, shaking her again. She realized her eyes were closed and quickly opened them. When she did, it looked like she was gazing into pools of honey. She blinked a couple of times and stood quickly. This wasn't the time to concern herself with that. She couldn't fall apart now, Harry needed her.

"Um, not to be rude but, who is this?" She asked pointing to the boy with the honey eyes, who was looking at her curiously. She looked at Malfoy, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin." Hermione rolled her eyes at the obvious knowledge. "Now if you don't mind I need to find my parents." He ran out of the hall leaving her and Blaise alone. She bit her lip and looked up at him.

"I need to find Harry and Ro-"She was cut off mid-sentence by Ron barging through the doors. Upon spotting her, he ran over to them.

"Hermione, Snape's dead. I don't know where Harry went, he was just bloody gone." He said, looking over at Blaise in curiosity. All of a sudden, Voldemort's voice began echoing all over the castle.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured."

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time I will enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, women and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour." The chilling voice ended.

Hermione sat back down.

"Well, what do we do? We don't know where Harry is and that's assuming he hasn't already gone to Voldemort." She sighed and dropped her head in her hands. She heard someone sit down.

"Come on, Granger, where's the Gryffindor courage? There's still time for Potter." She looked up and saw Blaise sitting next to her. She nodded her head. She was determined to stay calm, for Harry.

"Your right, there's not much we can do right now, it's up to Harry." She said smiling at him. He smiled back.

"Alright, what's happening here? Hermione, who is he?" Ron said jerking his head towards Blaise. Hermione was about to answer when she was cut off.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not sitting right here, Weasley." He said, narrowing his eyes and standing up. Ron turned a little red out of anger, which was Hermione's cue to intervene. She stood up putting a hand on each of their chests.

"Seriously, guys? We are in the middle of fighting a war and you guys are fighting amongst yourselves? Ron, calm down. By the way, this is Blaise Zabini, one of Malfoy's friends." She said sitting back down.

"Malfoy?! You've got to be bloody kidding! Hermione, he's a bloody death eater!" Ron said turning red again. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. She immediately yanked her arm back and scooted back over, accidentally bumping against Blaise's chest.

" Before you do anything rash, let me say that they saved me from Greyback. Where the bloody hell were you?" She shouted, crossing her arms. "Oh, yeah that's right; you just bloody left me standing in the middle of a hall full of fighting death eaters! And just because Malfoy is thought to be a Death Eater doesn't mean that Blaise is one too." She huffed and closed her eyes, counting to ten before opening them. She realized she was still leaning on Blaise and scooted away.

She stood up again and decided that she should see if there was anything she could do to help the injured. She found Poppy, who taught her the awakening spell, for anyone who had been stunned.

She had awakened about 10 people, trying not to look at the people who didn't move. When she felt someone behind her, she thought it was Ron to apologize.

"Look, Ron-"she stopped talking when she looked up. "Oh, sorry, I thought you were Ron" She said chuckling.

"That's ok. Can I help?" Blaise said, sticking his hands in his pockets and producing his wand. She was slightly surprised but nodded. She taught him the wand movements and the incantation. He caught on pretty quickly and they soon had half the hall done. They stayed close to each other, talking about their family and how Blaise is Italian and is fluent is speaking his native language. She was about to ask why he was being so nice to her when Draco came through the doors. He ran his hand through his hair. When he spotted them, he came over and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you guys doing?" He asked, trying to refrain from calling Granger 'mudblood'. Old habits die hard.

"We are trying to awaken the people who were stunned. It's taking more time than we thought. The hour will be over in about 2 minutes." Hermione answered looking at her watch. She immediately started worrying. What if Harry had gone to Voldemort and given himself in? What if he was dead right now and she would never be able to see him again? She tried pulling herself together for the 3rd time that night. Falling apart won't help anyone, she chastised herself.

"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him." Voldemort's voice, once again, echoed around them. Hermione's body shook with sobs; she felt someone's arms around her waist, trying to calm her. The person smelt like spice and musk and she felt oddly comforted.

"We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together." Hermione pulled away from arms, looking into Blaise's eyes, again. She smiled a watery smile and started walking. She felt someone grab her hand.

"Where are you going?" Blaise asked.

"I am going outside; I need to see for myself." She said. Blaise looked at Malfoy who nodded. They started walking when Hermione noticed Blaise was still holding her hand. She gently took her hand back and looked around for Ron. When she didn't see him she assumed he was already outside. She turned back around and followed Malfoy and Blaise.

She almost laughed at the irony of the situation. She was in Hogwarts during the Final Battle following Malfoy who was actually being nice to her. She didn't know if Blaise's family had ties with Death Eaters or not but, she made a mental note to ask him sometimes soon.

When they got outside, half of the fighters were already out there. She heard McGonagall scream and then everyone was shouting. She was numb. Harry couldn't be dead, he had to save them! She put a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. She saw Neville step towards the line of Death Eaters. It's like everything was fast forwarding from then on. She knew Blaise and Malfoy felt uncomfortable when everyone around them was screaming "Dumbledore's Army". She watched in amazement as Neville produced the Gryffindor sword and chopped off Nagini's head. Within a second, wands were drawn and curses were flying. She felt someone grab her wrist and narrowly avoided a stunning curse.

"Take out your wand, Granger! Don't get out of my sight!" Blaise said, talking in her ear. She took out her wand and stunned a death eater. She saw Blaise smile. She stayed by his side but, she couldn't see Draco anymore. When she saw Luna and Ginny trying to fight Bellatrix, she immediately ran over to help. Soon, they were all shooting hexes and dodging. She heard Hagrid yelling that Harry was gone. And she felt a brief shimmer of hope. That ended when Bellatrix pointed her wand at her.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego" She snapped her head to the side to see Blaise standing there his wand pointed between Bellatrix and Hermione. Blaise had saved her life. (I don't know if Protego works with the killing curse but, you will just have to bare with me )

Bellatrix looked murderous and Hermione was suddenly afraid for Blaise.

"Get out of my way girls, this bitch is mine!" Mrs. Weasley said, pushing the girls aside. With a flick of her wand they started dueling. Hermione threw her arms around Blaise's neck.

"That's the second time you saved my life tonight. Thank you." She suddenly remembered where she was, in the middle of a war, and dropped her arms. Blaise just smirked at her.

"Actually, Draco was the one who stunned Greyback. But, your welcome." He said chuckling.

"Draco?" She whispered. Who would have thought? She asked herself. Draco saved a muggle-born.

She heard Mrs. Weasley say the killing curse and looked back in time to see Bellatrix fall to the ground. She heard Voldemort scream as he lost one of his best fighters. She grabbed Blaise's hand and pulled him back inside the castle, only having to stun one death eater along the way. When they got back into the Great Hall she saw almost all of the dead people's bodies gone. There were 3 of the house tables back but on one side of the hall more bodies were laying on the floor. She saw Draco sitting with his family. She walked up to him, ignoring his parents, not knowing how they were going to react to her.

"Do you know if Harry is alive? Have you seen him?" She asked still holding Blaise's hand, which didn't go unnoticed by Draco. But it wasn't Draco who answered.

"Last time I saw Harry he was alive, I imagine him to still be." Draco's mother said. Looking up at Hermione and Blaise curiously. Hermione became very aware that she was still holding his hand and dropped it, causing Draco to smirk. She just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh, very mature, Granger." He said which caused everyone to laugh a little. She heard Harry's voice, he sounded like he was outside the doors. She ran back to the front of the hall and threw the doors open, which was difficult, since they were so big. She saw Harry and Voldemort circling each other and almost cried with relief. Harry was still alive, he could save them! She was close enough to hear them talking about how Snape was never on Voldemort's side because he loved Harry's mom. What she heard next though, she could barely hold back a chuckle. Draco Malfoy was the true master of the Elder Wand. She turned around and saw that Draco was standing with his parents, a look of complete shock on his face. She turned back around in time to see Harry and Voldemort yell a hex and curse respectively. She held her breath and watch in absolute amazement as Voldemort practically killed himself. She ran toward Harry about a minute after Voldemort fell and threw her arms around his neck. He laughed.

"You did it, Harry! You defeated Voldemort!" She could see him blushing so she stepped back and laughed.

"It's finally over." He said but, she had a feeling that he was talking more to himself. She saw the rest of the school coming over to congratulate him so she stepped back over to Blaise. Harry raised her eyebrows at her and she just shrugged. She saw Blaise talking with Malfoy but, they looked up when she came over. She looked at Draco.

"I wanted to, um, thank you for saving me from Greyback earlier." She said, managing to maintain eye contact. He smirked at her.

"I guess I have to, um, thank you too, for the death eater thing." He obviously wasn't good at thanking people. She chuckled and he glared at her. What he did next completely surprised her. He hugged her. Draco Malfoy hugged her, Hermione Granger, a mudblood.

"It doesn't make you evil, you know." He whispered and smiled reassuringly at her. She found herself smiling back. She looked up to gauge the reaction of his parents and found that they were simply smiling down at Draco.

"Tell us, Draco, how did you save her life?" His father asked him. Draco smirked and launched into a, most likely exaggerated, story of what they had been doing during the battle. She flinched when he told his parents about the curse she had used on the death eater.

"He's right, you know. It doesn't make you evil." She shivered when she felt Blaise's breath next to her ear. She smiled at him and nodded, trying to believe that. She felt his arms wrap around her waist. She saw Harry walking over and only left his arms when he was closer.

"Hey, Harry." She said. He looked a little uncomfortable and she noticed that Draco and his parents were watching them.

"Hey, Hermione." He said pulling her into a hug. She noticed that he was very skinny and must be exhausted. "So, who is everyone?" He asked nodding towards the little gathering.

"Oh, right, sorry. This is Blaise Zabini; you already know Draco and those are his parents." Blaise stepped forward and shook his hand; Hermione couldn't help but notice the way his muscles flexed. He caught her staring and winked. She blushed a bright red.

"I'm Narcissa Malfoy and this is Luius, but I think you already know that. I wanted to thank you for finally defeating the Dark Lord, and I wanted to apologize for anything hurtful our family has done to you or your friends. I know that apologizing doesn't help anything but, I thought you should know that we are sorry." She said nodding at Hermione near the end. Harry was stunned but wasn't quite sure he could trust them completely. When she saw Ron walking over to them she stiffened. She looked at Harry, then Hermione and the rest of them. He sneered before walking over to them. This should be good, she thought to herself.

"Congratulations, Harry, I always knew you could do it." He said clapping his best mate on the back. She felt Blaise wrap his arms around her waist and almost pushed them away. Almost.

"Hello, Ron." She said. He just nodded in her direction.

"Did you guys have a row or something?" Harry asked them.

"No, Ronald is being stupid and immature. Grow up, Ron." She said rolling her eyes. She heard Draco snort.

"That's bloody rich coming from a girl who snogs someone one minute and then in a couple hours is practically shagging another person. God I knew I couldn't trust a mudblood." He said sneering. Hermione gasped her hand flying to her mouth. Within seconds, she was half way behind Blaise who standing beside Malfoy, both had their wands drawn.

"Take. It. Back." Blaise snarled.

"Now." Draco added.

"Oh, right because you never called her that, Malfoy." Ron retorted. Draco lowered his wand and almost turned around before he spun quickly and punched Ron right in the jaw. Even Draco's father smirked.

At that point McGonagall came around the corner, taking in the scene before her. Ron was on the ground rubbing his jaw. Mr. Zabini was standing protectively in front of Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy was rubbing his hands.

"I don't even want to know what happened." She muttered. "I've come to tell the students that the professors will need a year to fix Hogwarts and re-stock the classrooms. You will be staying with your families for a year and then you will return here. The Hogwarts Express is waiting as are the carriages." She finished, looking around at everyone.

"How many Death Eaters are left out there?" Hermione asked, moving to stand on the other side of Blaise.

"Well, we believe that we have them all but, we can't be certain. By the way, Mr. Malfoy, you have been cleared of all charges, Dumbledore's portrait told us where the late Headmaster had left a letter regarding you specifically. We can talk about it later. You will however have your wand confiscated for a month." She said looking at Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, who were smiling at her.

"Thank you, Minerva." Luius said. She nodded, took a look at Ron who had gotten up and told him to go find Poppy and make sure he was ok. He nodded and after glaring at Malfoy, he hurried to the Great Hall.

As Blaise's arm slipped around her waist, she couldn't help but think how much she couldn't wait for the next school year.

Alright, that chapter was longer than I expected it to be, lol. Anyway, let me know if you like it. I know it was kind of rushed but, I had to get through the Final Battle part since, it was important to the story. I know Draco's parents wouldn't normally be so accepting of Hermione but, I am writing them to fit my story not the other way around and Ron is going to stay a prat. So if you have any other questions you can put them into a review.  R&R!!!!