I Thought You Were A Dementor (rewrite)

Chapter 1 - Replenishing

Chapter 1

Hermione Granger stood in her Gryffindor dormitory, admiring the view from the narrow window. The sun was setting across the vast grounds of Hogwarts; golden rays washing the world in a gentle glow. It was her tradition to watch the last dregs of the sunshine leak off of the sky on her first day back at Hogwarts but this was the last time she would gaze at this breathtaking scene before the chaos of the year unfurled, her last year of knowing that she had some stability, a place to go.

Lavender was asleep on the bed beside Hermione's, her blonde ringlets unruly and tangled as she fidgeted noisily. Hermione clenched her jaw with frustration; it always took her a few weeks to adjust to the deep rumbling sound of her roommates snoring and the occasional grunts. As for now, Hermione was tempted to suffocate her roommate with a pillow; the room echoing with the sound of slumber was beginning to give her a headache.

The next morning Hermione overslept, rushing down to breakfast with only a few minutes to spare. Of course Hermione's definition of oversleeping was waking up at the same time as the rest of Hogwarts, maybe even a few minutes before the rest of the students had even thought about opening their eyes. "Morning frizz ball." Harry greeted her with a cheery smile. Hermione rolled her eyes, self consciously flattening out her hair as she slipped into the seat beside Ron.

"Sausages are nice." Ron grunted, his mouth full and a trickle of grease dripping down his chin.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ronald." Hermione scolded, shooting him a look of disgust before she picked a few sausages up for herself, they smelt mouth wateringly delicious and she could not resist the school's food; it was like fine dining all day every day in Hermione's mind.

"Our plans for the final year are to not get killed but have fun messing with Malfoy." Harry whispered, rubbing his hands gleefully together whilst Ginny and Ron nodded mischievously by his side.

"Hasn't he gone through enough? He doesn't need you making his life worse." Hermione snapped, glancing over to the Slytherin table where the familiar blond was slumping over an empty plate, sipping his goblet of pumpkin juice and staring vacantly into the distance.

"But he has been torturing us! And I'd like to remind you his demonic father has nearly killed us several times and was buddies with Voldemort!" Ron said indignantly. He had a point... but the war was won, it was childish to ignite the old feud between them.

"I will not be a part of it." Hermione declared, turning her nose up at the idea. Was it really impossible to have a 'normal' year at Hogwarts? She really didn't need her exams being cancelled because of another war breaking out among the ruins of the settled past.

"'Mione, you are already included in the plans! You'll change your mind when you see the diagrams!" Ginny inveigled, elbowing Ron who was grinning as he noisily chomped on his breakfast.

"Harry, don't forget what his mother did for you. He isn't that much of a bad person; I don't see why you can't leave him alone." Hermione reasoned but attempting to change the minds of her three most stubborn friends was not so easily done.

"Anyways, I found out that our potions class will be mixed in with the Slytherin's..." Neville swiftly changed the subject as he joined them, nodding to Hermione with a small, shy smile before facing the others.