After a War ((Old Copy))

Chapter 9 Book 2

The Wanderers

Friday morning, before the sun is up, as usual:

They hadn't gotten back until the entire school had gone to sleep. McGonagall just happened to be roaming the halls when they returned though so, the four of them had detention with her later that day. Hermione remembered her last detention and smiled as she walked into the Slytherin common room.

"Beyond morning Hermione." Draco greeted from the couch.

"Cant sleep again?" Hermione asked softly.

"Not even a hi? Well, must be a weird day. And yes, sleep is rare." Draco said. She sat by him.

"We're going to have to talk about this. These nightmares." Hermione said. He scowled.

"I'm fine, I don't like sleep." Draco said.

"Draco, I'm just going to play pretend for a moment." Hermione started.

"Oh merlin." Draco mumbled, he ran his hands over his face and looked at the ceiling.

"That, we are however many years in the future, after Hogwarts, we're married, and you cant sleep at night. How am I supposed to sleep if my husband cant sleep?" Hermione asked. He stood up quickly.

"Merlin, Salazar, bloody Dumbledore, Granger, I don't think that far in the future, and I don't want to." Draco said as he disappeared. Hermione stood up and stared at the boys dorm room door as it shut quietly.

"Well, I finally broke him." Hermione walked over to the girls dorm door. "Its safe to come out now." She mumbled. The door opened and Maya, Pansy, Ginny, and Luna emerged.

"How'd you know he'd be out here this early?" Ginny asked, clearly she didn't hear the conversation, that wasn't a bad thing, Hermione was feeling sick herself. She brought up marriage. It wouldn't be a bad thing... Hermione shook the thought from her head, she wasn't going to get married... Yet.

"He's always up this early, he doesn't sleep." Hermione said.

"Why are we here anyway?" Pansy asked sleepily. Hermione had never woken her friends up this early but she wanted to today.

"Its Friday! Lets skip todays classes and go to the woods!" Hermione said. "I meant to say Hogsmead, sorry, I don't know why I said the woods." She added when Pansy and Maya looked at Luna and Ginny.

"Where's Hermione? What have you done with her?" Luna asked.

"Luna, its me, I'm bored and I want to get out of detention." Hermione said. The four girls in front of her narrowed their eyes.

"As long as I can bring George I'm good." Maya said.

"Can I bring Harry?" Ginny asked.

"And Neville?" Luna asked.

"I don't have a boyfriend but I'm sure Blaise wouldn't mind going." Pansy said.

"No, only girls, I spent too much time with boys yesterday." Hermione said. Pansy smiled.

"Not even Draco can come?" Ginny asked slyly.

"He never said he wanted to go. He may not speak to me today." Hermione mumbled, embarrassedly.

"Why?" Maya asked.

"I may have made both of us uncomfortable to get him to go back to his room." Hermione said.

"How?" All four of her friends asked at the same time.

"I brought up marriage." Hermione said. Her friends whispered amongst themselves.

"That's beyond anything he would ever want to hear. He's been afraid of Marriage for as long as iv known him." Pansy said.

"Should I apologize to him? I didn't know." Hermione said quickly. Pansy shrugged.

"I don't want a girls day." Maya said. "Spend time with your boyfriend, I don't care if you did yesterday, go again today." Maya added. Hermione nodded and knocked on the boys dorm door. Ginny, Pansy, and Luna walked by behind her.

"I still want a girls day, with or without Maya and Hermione." Pansy said.

"Hogsmead then?" Ginny asked.

"Hogsmead." Luna confirmed. The door creaked open slowly. It wasn't Draco that answered though.

"Hello Blaise, Theo, Marcus." Hermione greeted as she was invited in.

"What did you do to Draco?" Blaise asked angrily.

"He came in and locked himself in the bathroom, he wont come out or say anything to us." Theo said.

"I may have said something he didn't like too much." Hermione said. The bathroom door opened a sliver, Hermione couldn't see Draco but his voice was clear.

"Its not that I didn't like the idea, for your information." Draco said, the door shut again and the sound of a lock latching broke the silence in the room.

"What was this 'idea'?" Blaise asked.

"Something about Marriage." Hermione mumbled. Theo dropped the broom he had been polishing, Marcus spilled tea on a book and was now trying to save the book and Blaise stood with his mouth open. Hermione took a step forward, closed Blaise's mouth and took a step back. She wanted to break the silence but she was afraid if she said anything, one of the boys would feint.

"Marriage?" Theo asked. "Don't you know Draco's problem with Marriage?" Hermione opened her mouth to respond but the bathroom door opened again.

"Shh! Theo, I don't want her to know that. She was talking about it, don't ruin her hopes." Draco said. "It might happen." He added before shutting the door again. Hermione smiled and turned red. Blaise stepped closer to her.

"His father told him anyone he married that didn't have his approval would die, so he's always been cautious about his choice in marrying, though I cant say he's brought it up many times in these past few weeks." Blaise whispered to her quietly.

"I heard that Zabini!" Draco said as he emerged from the bathroom. Blaise backed up from Hermione and put his hands up.

"Sorry, just telling her the truth." Blaise mumbled. Draco walked to Hermione.

"You'll be fine, my father cant do anything to you now, and id love to marry you one day. One day, nowhere near now." Draco said. Hermione turned from red to dark red.

"I didn't doubt that, I was only trying to get you to come back in here, I didn't know it would cause this entire thing about marriage." Hermione said. Theo groaned and threw two bags that landed by Blaise and Marcus. The two with the bags laughed.

"What was that?" Draco asked.

"They made a bet, I was saying Hermione brought up the Marriage subject because she wanted to get married now, or soon at least, Blaise and Marcus said she was only doing it to mess with you." Theo grumbled.

"I would never. I may be a Slytherin now but I'm not getting married until after Hogwarts, way after Hogwarts." Hermione said.

"Being Slytherin doesn't effect when you get married." Marcus said.

"Really? Because I know quite a few people who are planning weddings the day they finish school. They'd be married already if McGonagall didn't have rules." Hermione said. She looked up at Draco. "Want to go to the woods?" She whispered to him.

"Ohh, whispering, that's always good." Theo mumbled.

"Shut it Theo." Draco growled. Blaise and Theo chuckled. He looked down at Hermione. "Id love to." He said softly.

"Love to what?" Blaise asked loudly as the two left the room.

"Go for a walk." Hermione said. The door shut behind them and she smiled when Draco grabbed her hand.