Snow Storm - D.M , H.G

1. prologue

For Hermione Granger, the summer following the end of the war was the toughest one yet. After a couple of weeks letting things calm down, and enduring all of the grief the Weasley family was experiencing with the loss of Fred, amongst so many other friends, Hermione thought it appropriate to leave them to themselves. She had her own parents to think about. Now that they were safe, where would she find them?

Before Bill and Fleur's wedding, Hermione had tracked her mom and dad to the Gold Coast of Australia, exactly where she'd expected them to be, but the token she'd left with her parents for tracking them, a silver picture frame containing their wedding portrait, was no longer feeding her their location. She could only assume it was broken, because even if it had been lost or forgotten or sold it still would have given off a location of some sort. While she knew that this didn't translate to any reason to worry about her parents' well-being, she also now had no way of tracking them down. The only thing to do would be to go to Australia herself and see if she could locate them somehow, so, leaving Crookshanks in Ginny's care, that's just what Hermione did.

As it turned out, the Gold Coast was a lot larger than Hermione remembered from childhood holidays, and it wasn't as though Hermione could simply magic the muggles around her into compliance to gain the knowledge she was looking for. The war was over now, she couldn't just go around breaking laws whenever it suited her. She checked all the local business listings for dental practices by Wendell and Monica Wilkins, but to no avail. Perhaps they weren't practicing dentistry anymore? Perhaps they'd been taken in by an established practice?

In the evenings, when most of the town was shut down for the night, Hermione enjoyed the one thing that the coast had to offer than Britain did not; the white sandy beaches. It was there that Hermione made acquaintance with a few of the locals her age. The unlikely friendships served as a very welcome distraction for Hermione. She didn't mind it when they partook in the occasional recreational substance. In fact, she'd eventually accepted the invitation to try it, welcoming the escape.

When August was nearing its end Hermione received a sobering owl from Headmistress McGonagall, requesting that she return to school, as Head Girl no less. Hermione, astonished, decided that she may as well except. Wherever her parents were, she was no closer to finding them than she'd be after graduation a year from then. It was settled. Hermione would return to Hogwarts, golden skinned with new habits and all.

Draco Malfoy had never had such a dull summer. He'd never be able to live down the fact that he owed his freedom to Harry Potter of all people, who had single-handedly stood at his trial and seen his charges dropped. However it was by some horrid stroke of misfortune that the patriarch called luck, Lucius had evaded returning to prison by selling out their fellow Death Eaters. The Malfoy family was intact, but as divided as ever. Lucius was desperate for his family's forgiveness, which Narcissa seemed to want to give, despite her own hesitations. Draco, on the other hand, blamed his father for everything that'd ever gone wrong in his life, and was not so quick to forgive. On the contrary, his disdain for his father shone more prominently now than ever.

His eighteenth birthday, just days after being exonerated, passed with no hurrah, which seemed appropriate, as he no more felt like celebrating his existence than the world around him. He'd always enjoyed being the center of attention, until that attention had turned so very, very sour. His close mate Blaise, who'd been wise enough to remain neutral during the war, had come round to visit, which was a refreshing change of pace, but even then Draco found he wasn't good company. Guilt plagued him. The things he'd seen, the things he'd done... Even if he had been officially forgiven by the Ministry, he didn't know that he could forgive himself.

Draco spent his summer training his body for a fitness he didn't think his mind would ever again know. He worked out for hours each day, putting all of his energy and self loathing into his arms, legs, and cardio workouts. When he had used up all of that energy he would retreat to his bedroom, where he read fictional nonsense until sleep found him.

When he did sleep, it was not the restful sleep his body deserved after a day of vigorous activity. Instead, his mind burdened him with dreams, memories, of the wrongs he had done, the crimes he had committed, and the people he had hurt in the last two years of being a Death Eater.

So naturally, when Draco received word from McGonagall that he was being invited back to Hogwarts with the opportunity to finish his final year (which he'd abandoned halfway through, thanks to his responsibilities to the Dark Lord), Draco was beside himself. His initial reaction was to reject it altogether. What would Hogwarts want with him anyway? But the promise of the Head Boy position was an undeniable draw, and if it got him away from Malfoy Manor for the next ten months...

Over the summer all of the students who'd attended the 1997-1998 year at Hogwarts were invited to take their exams by post in order to progress to the following year. Fifth and seventh year students were invited to the Ministry to sit their O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams. Because of this, come September 1st Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were the only students of their year to return to Hogwarts. They would be merged into the new seventh year class below them, which created minimum disruption. Except, where would they sleep?