5. Chapter:

Bonus Tracks

Hermione looked around the Great Hall in awe.

She still couldn't believe that it looked as if nothing had happened in here. She had heard from Harry and Ron how much Hogwarts was destroyed but by the time, she had returned, everything had been cleaned up already.

It had taken a week for her to wake up in St. Mungo's, completely exhausted from the poison.

Harry and Ron had been there and she had been happy to see them, even though she had wished for someone else.

They caught up and Hermione confirmed what she had said on the tapes, as well as what happened to them. He skipped a few things but they had still spent days catching up. Harry and Ron had told her about the war and Hermione had told them about what happened overseas.

And before she knew it, the summer had been over and they all had been invited to re-do their Seventh Year at Hogwarts.

It was the second week of September and it felt weird to be here. It's not like she had been the only one missing, Harry and Ron hadn't returned either and many others as well. Even Draco had not been there for their original Seventh Year.

Draco.

Hermione's glance wandered over to the Slytherin table, instantly spotting him on the end. He was sitting alone, his house mates were rather suspicious of him and there was a gap between him and any other students.

She hadn't had a chance to talk to him since they returned. After waking up in the hospital, Harry had told her that the Malfoys had to sit trials and that they all had been escorted away. They were pardoned in the end but it still didn't help that Hermione wasn't able to see him.

She had hoped that it would change at Hogwarts but her friends had kept her busy and somehow Draco avoided her because she was never able to catch him alone.

A dark voice inside of her told her that they were over. That she needed to move on.

That whatever they had was left behind in America.

The owls came in and Hermione tried to concentrate on her breakfast and not Draco but then a beautiful Eagle owl landed in front of her, a small parcel on her leg.

"What's that?" Ron asked with his mouth full and Hermione shrugged, taking off the parcel as she let the owl eat some of her bacon.

"I don't know," she mumbled as she started to unwrap the brown paper.

She froze when he realised what she had in her hand.

It was a cassette tape.

Mixtape for Hermione was written on both sides of the tape and Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her had snapped up and she stared at the Slytherin table as she saw that Draco held his head down, staring concentrated on his eggs.

"Excuse me," Hermione scrambled up, his friends looking at her confused as she hurried away from their table.

She knew that looks followed her as she walked over to the table on the far right of the Great Hall. She walked down the row until she reached him.

"You sent me this," she stated and Draco lifted his head to blink at her. She smiled gently.

"You made me a mixtape," she repeated, holding up the tape. "I can't believe it."

"Well, actually," Draco started, putting down his fork to turn towards her. He leant closer.

"It's empty."

"What?" Hermione frowned confused.

Draco looked sheepishly at her. "You never told me how to make one, so I had no idea how to put music on there. So it's actually just an empty tape but I hoped the the gesture counts."

She knew that everyone was now staring at them. The story about their little adventure hadn't made it to the press yet and Hermione preferred if it would stay this way but she knew that it was inevitable. It was published already that Draco had fought for their side in the end and that he wouldn't be punished but because the whole story had been revealed yet, many were still cautious when it came to him.

"Of course it does!" Hermione said as she let herself fall on the bench next to him. "I can't believe you even remember."

"Silly girl! Of course, I remember," he rolled his eyes.

"Everything", he then added with a serious voice and his grey eyes fell on hers. "Especially the things we talked about in the tent in Brazil."

"We talked about a lot of things in the tent," Hermione said. "We also did a lot of other things in there."

Draise raised his eyebrows as Hermione blushed.

"Thank you, Draco," she then said with a gentle voice. She leant over and then kissed him bravely on the lips. He was surprised but then he sighed and they parted from the sweet kiss.

She knew that everything was well then. She looked at him with loving eyes.

"Thank you for the mixtape."