Back Again

Changes

Hermione could now say that she had skipped out on not one, but two start-of-term feasts at Hogwarts. It wasn't that the food wasn't good anymore, it was as delicious as it always was. Many things in the Great Hall had changed though.

For one, students were not limited to sitting only with those of their Houses. Inter-House Unity seemed to be something the staff at Hogwarts was very keen on promoting now. Even the first year students were allowed to choose which table they sat at after the Sorting. Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves not only accompanied by Ginny and Neville, but also by Luna Lovegood and many other D.A. members from other Houses. The Slytherins however, seemed to want to keep to themselves, and inhabited their old table, though none of them seemed very talkative.

Hermione did not touch her food because of house-elves this time. She found that despite eating very little earlier on in the day, she had lost her appetite upon facing a certain pale haired boy with a pointed face.

Malfoy sat a table away, facing Hermione directly. Neither he nor she meant to have a clear view of the other, but to Hermione's immense displeasure, that was what happened. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all surprised though to see that Malfoy had chosen to sit away from his fellow Slytherins. They noticed that Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Malfoy's old crony Goyle kept shooting him furtive glances.

"What do you supposed that's all about... Malfoy sitting away from his friends?" Ron wondered aloud in between shoveling bites of food into his mouth. Hermione didn't express her disgust at Ron's manners as she would have done in previous years, she simply shuddered and looked away. Unlike Ron, Harry politely chewed through his bite of shepherd's pie before responding.

"I'm not sure... like I said before, perhaps he's trying to, er, change his ways?" He shot a nervous glance at Hermione, who looked unconvinced.

"Probably not," she declared in a firm tone, absentmindedly running her fingers along the place on her arm where a certain word was once carved. Thankfully it had disappeared along with the witch who had made it. She closed her eyes, willing herself to keep her mind in the present, to not go back to the dark places it so often went.

When she opened her eyes again she stared straight ahead, her eyes again meeting Malfoy's. She stood up abruptly, stumbling in the process. Ron reached out to steady her, but she quickly batted his arm away.

"I'm fine, really I am," Hermione said hurriedly, finding her balance at last. "I've just got to use the lavatory, and I'm sorry Ron but I don't think you'll be allowed in." At that she stalked away, leaving Ron and Harry in surprise. Ron faced Harry.

"Didn't seem to have a problem bringing us to the girls lavatory in our second year eh?" Ron joked. Harry managed a small smile, and Ron quickly became serious again. They were attempting to experience Hogwarts as they always had before, but of course it was different this time. There was no joyful Colin Creevy joking around with his younger brother Dennis. Dennis sat surrounded by his friends, looking happy enough, but there was pain clear in his eyes. Parvati Patil sat with her twin Padma at the usual Ravenclaw table, Lavender Brown nowhere in sight.

Out in the entrance hall, Hermione stopped abruptly, her eyes filling with tears. Nothing was the same anymore. She felt damaged, nothing like the person she was at Hogwarts in previous years. She truly admired Professor McGonagall, but the sight of her at the head of the staff table rather than Dumbledore was a sad sight to her. She sometimes couldn't believe he was really gone.

Deciding that she would rather not cry so publicly in the hall even though alone, Hermione started to walk randomly around the castle, attempting to calm herself in the process. It looked good as new, no one would have guessed a battle had occurred right in its midst. Eventually finding herself on the second floor, Hermione heard a loud splash come from a certain girls bathroom. She then heard voices. Another thing the war had not taken from Hermione, curiosity. As anxious as she was these days, she followed the noises anyways.

Hermione couldn't think of anyone who would want to willingly speak to Moaning Myrtle. As she edged closer to the bathroom she heard a much deeper voice than any girls'.

"Myrtle I'm not sure what to do."

Hermione gasped but quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. She knew that voice. What was Malfoy doing speaking to Moaning Myrtle? Myrtle's high voice sounded out.

"Oh Draco," she began in a comforting tone. "It's only your first day back, don't you worry my pale faced Prince." Her voice rang lovingly, quite different from how Hermione had remembered it.

"It's so hard. Merlin, everything is always so hard." Malfoy continued, not sounding at all like his usual harsh self. "Everyone's treating me like I'm still serving the Dark Lord. I'm doing everything I can, I'm not speaking to the people I used to, I'm not causing any trouble..." Hermione heard a fist slam on a surface.

"What can I do?" Malfoy's voice sounded with anger, and it cracked on the last word. "You should've seen the way-" He was interrupted abruptly. Hermione was speechless at how broken he seemed to sound.

"Shh, Draco it's okay..." Myrtle crooned softly. "They'll all discover who you are in time. And if you find that no one will accept you here, well, you could always..." There was a pause while Myrtle seemed to be gathering courage to say her next words. "Well I've never said this to anyone before, but you could perhaps come and share my toilet with me." She let out a high-pitched giggle.

Before Hermione could stop herself she snickered out loud. She had remembered Harry and Ron relaying to her the time that Myrtle had offered to share her toilet with Harry. Hermione quickly turned on her heel to run, but before she could take more than a few steps a voice sounded from behind her.

"Been eavesdropping Granger?"