After a War ((Old Copy))

Chapter 2 Book 1

After A War

Hermione sat on the bed in her rented room. What was Draco doing? Not that she cared, she still didn't care, right? Was he getting Ron and Harry? She should tell them about the sorting hat. She looked at her arm again and brushed her fingers along the word. It had become a habit that she didn't even try to break. That witch still haunted her dreams, some times Harry and Ron were there too, getting tortured along with her. Some times it a Lucius or Draco himself that did the torturing, once Voldemort had tortured her and she always tried to forget it. None were as bad a Bellatrix herself though. She told her horrible things, things she couldn't forget if she used magic. A tear from her eye fell as she remembered the words. She promised herself she wouldn't cry over it again but she had broken that promise so many times that she didn't even care anymore.

"That war didn't break me, it made me stronger." She mumbled to herself. She tried to believe it but something always proved her wrong. How could she go back to Hogwarts? Even if she was put back in Gryffindor, and all her friends got back in, would she ever feel normal again? How could she be normal? She was a witch, witches weren't normal. Muggles were. They could live life without worry of curses being cast on them or a spell going wrong and hurting someone. She looked at her suitcase against the wall. Muggles didn't have to make their parents forget them so they would be safe. She missed her parents so much. She had tried to give them back their memories but it didn't work. She let tears fall from her eyes and the room fill with the sound of sadness. The air felt like water and breathing almost wasn't possible. It felt like the world wrapped its hands around her neck and wouldn't let go. She buried her face in her bent knees and tried to make herself stop crying. A hand was on her right shoulder, then another on her left. She looked up and her favorite people in the world sat beside her. She grabbed both of them at once and hugged them for as long as they would let her.

"Blimey 'Mione! I'm trying to breathe!" Ron said after she started to squeeze them harder.

"Sorry." She blurted out before letting go of the two. They both rubbed their necks and smiled at her.

"Miss us much?" Harry asked. Hermione laughed and nodded, then she remembered what McGonagall said.

"I went to Hogwarts." She blurted out before thinking.

"What'd ya do?" Ron asked. It wasn't the question she expected, she thought there might be a 'why?' or 'you left us to go there?' She tried to find the words she wanted.

"McGonagall said that we have to go through the sorting hat again. We could end up in different houses." Hermione said. It came out wrong, it was supposed to answer the question and tell them about the sorting hat.

"Are you telling me, Granger could be Slytherin, Weasley could be Hufflepuff, Potter could be Ravenclaw, and I could be Gryffindor?" Draco asked, everyone shivered at the thought. He stood in the doorway again, staring at her arm with the scar. She pulled her sleeve over the scar, without taking her eyes off his, and looked at her friends.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm telling you." Hermione said after everyone imagined it for a bit.

"Or we could all just return to where we belong?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded. He walked into the room and leaned against the wall.

"Bloody hell, its like being a first year again." Ron said. Harry looked at the ceiling, probably remembering their first year. Hermione looked around. It seemed like something always happened at Hogwarts for them, not much for everyone else but for them. She knew from the start that things would be different with the all-so-famous Harry Potter going to Hogwarts but, now that she looked back at everything, it seemed like not only did he change the school, he changed the world. Hermione shivered at the thought of the entire world bending because of one person.