Hermione stared out the window, watching the rolling countryside go by. She sighed. She had thought that once the war had ended everything would go back to the way it was, but that was naive. The wizarding world was still in chaos, people were trying to rebuild what had been destroyed, but it was a hard feat with such little hope or trust left. Hogwarts, however, was trying to set an example and had reopened its doors. All students were invited to come back to finish their education, although the student population had decreased significantly; many families did not want to part so soon after the war. Hermione was one of the few older students who had decided to come back to complete their 7th year. Proffesor McGonagall was now headmistress and Professor Slughorn had stayed on as Potions Master. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was still a mystery. Hopefully, it would be announced at the feast.

Harry and Ron had also decided to return, although Hermione suspected that Harry only returned because Ginny had. Hermione didn't quite know why Ron had returned. After Voldemort's defeat, he had thrived in the limelight; feeling, for the first time, like Harry's equal. So, she didn't know why he had decided to go back to a place where the media could not follow, where his actions would not be front page news. Secretly, she hoped that he had returned because she had, but she doubted it. They had shared a brief romance at the end of the war, but it had quickly fizzled out. Ron had told her that he thought they were better off friends, it wasn't her, it was him. It was so predictable of Ron to just use the old cliches. Didn't stop her loving him though.

A tremor ran through Hermione's body. Ron and Harry didn't realise how lucky they had been to escape the war with no physical side effects. Healers did not have great hope for her, not that she'd told anyone that. The cruciatus curse Bellatrix Lestrange had thrown at her time and again had done unspeakable damage. The obivous was the tremors that often shook her body, but her bones and muscles were also damaged – some beyond repair. She also had scars around her wrists from where she had been bound too tightly and she often rubbed them unconciously. One of the hardest things for her, though, were the dreams that still haunted her.

As soon as the war had finished Harry had thrown himself into his relationship with Ginny, and they were inseperable. He had confided in Hermione, telling her that as soon as Ginny had finished at Hogwarts he was going to propose, and was already looking at houses in Godric's Hollow that would be suitable. He was going to buy a ring, but changed his mind at the last moment, as he wanted Ginny to be able to choose her own ring. His complete devotion to her always made Hermione slightly jealous. Not because she wanted Harry for herself or anything like that, but because she wanted someone to feel that way about her. Anyways, when Hermione has once brought up the subject of nightmares Harry had laughed, saying that he didn't have any and that hers would pass in time. She had felt hurt at how he had just brushed it off, but she never brought it up again.

Ron was different. Their 'relationship', if you could call it that, had lasted only weeks. He loved the fame that came with being a war hero; he loved how famous he was, and how the press would follow him around. The more times he appeared on the front page, the happier he was. Hermione was the opposite. She was content to stay out of the spotlight. She wanted to keep her life private, and the injuries she had sustained. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't much more self-concious than she had been before. It was funny the way she had finally managed to tame her wild hair, and had grown into her body, but now was self-concious for very different reasons. Hermione and Ron's different attitudes broke them up, but they remained friends. She had tried to bring up her nightmares with him also, but his reaction had hurt her more than Harry's had. He had told her that she was just being dramatic, that it had hurt everyone and she shouldn't act like it only affected her. He had said she needed to stop looking for attention, and they never spoke of it again. So even though Harry and Ron were still Hermione's two best friends, they had been spending more time apart as she tried to rebuild herself.

And so, Hermione sat on the train which would take her back to Hogwarts; the only home she had. After everything that had happened, all of Hermione's caution and attempts at protection, her parents had been killed. In a very muggle fashion they had been killed in a car accident and there hadn't been a drunk driver or anything like that; no-one Hermione could blame. It had simply been an accident. Hermione quickly wiped at her eyes, feeling tears welling up, just as she heard the compartment door open.

"Guys, there's somebody already in here; if you could call her somebody. She's more like a nobody." Hermione heard the pretentious voice of Pansy Parkinson. Pansy Parkinson was, in Hermione's opinion, the definition of stunning. Pity that she was snobby, bitch, though. Hermione heard another voice, deeper so presumably a boy, ask who it was. Somebody else, however, just barged in and sat down.

"I don't care I want to sit down and everywhere else is full." Hermione found herself shocked. She hadn't turned her head to see who else was there, but the boy who had sat himself down had a voice that sounded like melted chocolate. Slowly, she turned her head. Platinum blonde hair and silvery, grey eyes met her line of vision. Draco Malfoy. He saw her and smirked, and at that precise moment, a tremor shook through her.

"Aw, look at the little mudblood, trembling at the sight of her betters," Malfoy's smirk grew as Pansy and the other boy snickered. Hermione looked further and saw that the other boy was Blaise Zabini. "What, mudblood, nothing to say? Are you finally learning your place?" Malfoy continued smirk but he recognised how the girl in front of him had changed. She looked older, more mature, but there was more to it than that. The fight had gone out of her eyes, they used to light up with this fire when she got angry; when he baited her. It was gone now, and Malfoy noted it with an odd sense of sadness. Hermione had met his gaze but after he turned away she stood up to leave. Self-conciously, Hermione wrapped her arms around herself but as she turned to walk away, yet another tremor overtook her and she fell-right into the waiting arms of Malfoy. He caught her and she was surprised that he didn't just let her fall, or drop her. But he didn't do either of those things, in fact, he even held on a little too long. Thrown even more off-balance by the way Malfoy was looking at her, Hermione quickly regained her composure and ran out the compartment.

"Stupid little mudblood! Can't even stand up!" Pansy taunted, and her jeers rang in Hermione's ears as she made her way through the train.

It didn't take long for Hermione to find Harry and Ron, and she also found Ginny in the same compartment. Harry and Ginny were sitting close to each other holding hands and occasionally whispering in each other's ears. Ron was sitting opposite them and he and Harry were talking about Quidditch. It appeared that some of the major teams were restarting, and every Quidditch fan from around the world was paying attention. Upon Hermione's entry they all looked up. She received an easy smile and hello from Harry, and a hello from Ron. Ginny merely gave her a half-hearted wave, but she tried not to let it bother her.

Despite what many people believed, Hermione and Ginny had never been close friends. It was more, they tolerated each other. One a fiery redhead and the other a sensible brunette, they often clashed and Hermione had often had a suspicion that Ginny was jealous of her. Ginny had always had a crush on Harry and even though Hermione didn't feel that way about him, she was one of his best friends. As irrational as Ginny's jealous over Hermione and Harry's relationship was, Hermione could, in a way, understand the jealousy over Hermione's relationship with Ron. Once again, she was one of Ron's best friends and when Ginny was around she was made to feel like the dorky sister who was too young to join; just like she had been too young to go to Hogwarts with her brothers and Harry Potter that first year. Despite Hermione being able to understand it, she knew that it was unfair on her; those things weren't her fault. So Hermione had come to terms with the way that she was never going to be able to be friends with Ginny Weasley.

As Hermione sat down she looked at the two boys in the compartment. They were so different to when she had first met them. They had been eleven years old; so innocent. So much had changed. They had seen too much, done too much. Harry was not that little boy anymore. He had grown, definitely, and was one of the tallest boys Hermione knew. And there was a different look in his eyes; he had seen horrible things and done horrible things. Nothing could ever change that. Hermione was and had always been his confidante. He told her things that he couldn't tell anyone else, not even Ron. When they had been recovering from the war, he told her how all he had ever wanted was to be normal, and more importantly, how he had only just accepted the deaths of his parents. He said that, childishly, he had hoped that once Voldemort had been defeated his parents would come back to him. Fate would bring them back as a reward for doing everything he had. Harry had cried in Hermione's arms and whispered his grief; whispered how much he missed the parents he had never known. No matter what, Hermione knew they would always be best friends, siblings.

Ron had also changed. He had always been tall, and was still taller than Harry, but while Harry had filled out, Ron was still skinny, gangly. However, he had lost some of his freckles and his hair was no longer such a vibrant red. In short, he had become quite attractive. The bad side of it was, though, that he was no longer the happy, easy going boy Hermione had first befriended. He didn't like to think of the war, so many bad things had happened, so he just didn't think about it. His ego had inflated to ten times its size and because he was always in the papers, he had become a bit of a womaniser. They weren't as close as they used to be and, failed relationship aside, Hermione didn't really know why that was. The train was slowing to a stop and as Hermione began to move she suffered another tremor. Harry gave a sympathetic but encouraging smile, which she returned, but Ron and Ginny gave her nothing more than exasperated glances. She didn't want a lot of attention, but she would've appreciated a little bit more.

The group made their way off the train and through to the carriages but were separated in the crowd. Hermione found herself alone, especially since she walked slower and much more cautiously now. She made her way over to the last carriage, but as she stepped up another tremor hit her. She cursed the timing as she fell back, expecting to land on the hard, dirty ground. However, a pair of warm, strong arms caught her instead. Once again, she found herself staring into Draco Malfoy's eyes after he had caught her. He helped her into the carriage and followed her in, without saying a word. Hermione attempted to mumble a thankyou but nothing came out. Maybe, just maybe, Draco Malfoy had changed too.