Mudblood & Me | Completed

Epilogue - Return to Hogwarts

Hermione's POV

It didn't feel real standing on Platform 9 and 3/4 again, I felt like I was having some kind of weird dream. Partly because I had been on this platform in a recurring dream I had dreamt every night for the past 3 weeks, though whether it was a dream or nightmare I didn't know, sometimes it ended badly and I would wake up sweating and writhing in bed, Draco's concerned face looking over me. That had only happened during the first week, after that he adjusted and slept through it, I wasn't sure which outcome I preferred. Sometimes it felt nice for him to wrap me in his arms and hold me against his chest, I felt warm and safe but sometimes that felt suffocating like I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move and it felt worse than the nightmare I had awoken from.

Sometimes it would end positively but almost always it would feature Ron which would ensure I would wake up with tears streaking down my face and soaking into the pillow. It wasn't just in my dreams I saw Ron though, I almost felt as if he was really haunting me, I knew ghosts were real, after all there were plenty at Hogwarts. But nobody else ever saw him and I never saw him clearly and he never looked like a ghost, he looked alive. I would see him in the corner of my eye and I would twist around to tell him some joke then I would realise he wasn't there. It had got better recently though, now I rarely thought that I could see him.

There was nowhere I could escape from the memories of him though, I either stayed at the Burrow. The Burrow was obviously his family home, I had spent many summers there with him and Harry and his picture seemed to be everywhere I turned so I didn't even need to imagine seeing him. Hogwarts would be the same as well, 6 years spent together there, going to lessons, sat in the common room, eating dinner in the Great Hall and going down to Hagrid's together. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to face all the memories there, but I wanted to graduate, to get my N.E.W.T.s so I could carry on with my life. Returning to Hogwarts meant I had to leave Willow behind though, which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because every time I looked at her, I saw the father she had lost and a curse because she was one of the things that had kept me going, she was my daughter and I loved her. I would miss her a lot but I would be able to see her during the holidays and she would be in good hands with Mrs Weasley.

I had got so lost in my thoughts about Ron and Willow, I hadn't noticed that Draco had approached me and was saying my name. Draco had spent most of the summer with me at the Burrow but he also occasionally went back to Malfoy Manor to see his mother. His father refused to speak to him and whenever Draco came he would disappear and not return until after he left but his mother was always pleased to see him. Lucius' temper had been getting worse and worse so she was grateful for the time away from him and also a chance to see her only son. He had spent the past couple days with his mother to say goodbye before the new school year started so we had agreed to meet on the platform. I had arrived with Ginny and Harry but I had wandered off on my own because I needed some space to think. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and turned to pay attention to Draco.

"Hermione! Are you even paying attention?" Draco said. Draco looked cool, calm and collected as he always did, especially as he was back in his black suit, but I knew that he was also on edge, he was just skilled at hiding it. Draco had stayed at Hogwarts for a while longer than I had last year but he had also eventually left so he had decided to just redo the whole year like Harry, Ginny and I were doing.

Even though Ginny was a year below us and she had missed the majority of the school year like we had, she was joining our year, she had needed something to keep her busy over the summer so she caught up on a large portion of the theory she had missed. So she was prepared to be in our year. There was a lot of practical lessons she still needed to cover though so she would have a very busy final year.