Amortentia Number 9

Severus smiled kindly, and said softly, "How...how...nice to know...I will be remembered."

His lips pressed gently against hers, and he exhaled his last breath as he pulled away, the life leaving his normally beautiful onyx eyes. But the very last thought he had was: I love you, too, witch. Hermione closed Severus's eyes, and sobbed out her grief against his chest.

Draco found her there, ironically, and at first, she shrugged him off, but then she saw that he was grieving as well, she let him embrace her.

"Shhh..." Draco said softly against her hair. "It's alright, let it out."

She looked up at Draco, and said, sniffling, "I...I loved him. I loved him, and I didn't even know it until tonight."

Draco nodded. "He was my godfather, and I treated him so terribly, because of my father's pureblood obsession. And I...no, nevermind, you don't want to hear it. Forget I said anything, Hermione. I just..do you think if we get out of this war alive we could...be friends?"

Hope flared to life in Hermione's heart as she looked into the eyes of a wizard who had bullied her and her friends for most of her days at Hogwarts, and she saw only kindness and...something else there as well in his stormy gray eyes.

"Yes, Draco. I think we can be," Hermione said.

Draco grinned, and nodded his head. "Let's get out of this first before making any plans then, eh, Granger?"

That had been five years ago...Five long years of sleepless nights, nightmares beyond count. The muggles call the mental problem PTSD, and she initially went to therapy for it, but it didn't help that her husband Ron Weasley turned to alcohol and cheating a year into their marriage.

Now, with her marriage being dragged into divorce court, Hermione was delighted when one of the Hogwarts owls arrived at her home with the welcome letter to have the option of redoing her seventh year of school. Hermione wrote back enthusiatically that she would be delighted to attend.

Hermione walked through the great hall doors, and was dismayed to see so few students that she knew. But Draco Malfoy was sitting alone at the Slytherin table writing, on all things, a tablet. She shrugged her shoulders. Who cared about the old House rules? She sat down across from him and pulled out her smartphone to shoot her divorce lawyer a brief text about her attending school.

Draco looked up at her, and said, "You find out they took down the restrictions for electronic muggle stuff too, huh?"

Hermione grinned. "Yeah, I guess. But I'm surprised you own any of that stuff."

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well, I figured I should see what the fuss is all about. I still like using owls myself, but this works just as well."

Draco eyed Hermione's bridal set, and asked, "How are things going with Weasleby and you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "We're getting divorced, actually. After I caught Ron in our bed two months ago with a strange witch..."

Hermione began to tear up, and she wiped angrily at her eyes, shocked that Ron still had the power to hurt her, "..Well, I had had enough. I should have listened to my gut, to his sister Ginny. Hell, even Harry tried to talk me out of marrying Ron, but he seemed so nice, and...well, safe. You must think I'm really stupid, the mudblood finally geting what she deserves."

She expected Draco to just smirk and laugh at her, but he came around to her side of the bench and asked, "May I?"

Hermione nodded. At first, she felt weird being hugged by one of the biggest gits in school, but then she relaxed, and sobbed in Draco's arms. He didn't tell her to be quiet, or that she was being silly, he just held her close.

"Feel better?" He asked when Hermione was done crying.

"Yes, thank you. But...why are you being so nice to me, Malfoy, this isn't like you."

Draco grinned, the smirk never completely leaving his face. "Call it turning over a new leaf, alright? I too am getting a divorce from Astoria, so we've got that in common. I meant what I said the night Snape died that I want to be friends, Granger."

"I do too, but it's going to take some time," Hermione said, pulling away from him. She took off her rings, and put them on an empty metal plate. She took out her wand, and said, "Incendio."

Draco grinned, and tossed his gold wedding band in there as well. "That felt good. Is that wrong?"

Hermione shook her head. The fire melted the three rings, and when it died down, Headmistress Mc Gonagoll made the daily announcements, and said that everyone is to be sorted into a school House. Hermione was called up to the podium after the few first years that were there got sorted, and she felt just as nervous as the last time this was done.

The sorting hat debated among himself, and then finally said, "Slytherin!"

The Slytherin table cheered, but Hermione felt like her legs turned to jelly as she took her seat. Draco kept his old House, and sat next to her. Luna Lovegood became a Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom a Hufflepuff, and Parvarti Patil a Ravenclaw. Everyone but Luna seemed weirded out that she got resorted into Gryffindor's rival House.

When the feast was over, Draco showed her where the girl's dormitory was at. She discovered that unlike most of the common rooms, Slytherin students had not only their own bedroom, but bathroom as well. No wonder they felt so entitled.

Before going to bed, Hermione looked over her class schedule and put her time turner with her school things. She debated about destroying it, but since it was one of the few in existence after the battle at the ministry of magic her fifth year, she decided to keep it for nostalgic reasons.

She got into the huge four poster bed with the emerald green and silver bedding, and let the sound of the black lake soothe her to sleep. For the first time in five years, she had no bad dreams...