The Winterscapes

The Winterscapes - Epilogue

Hermione's application for the Auror Training Academy was in. She would find out sometime in the early summer if they accepted her or not. Classes were over, the N.E.W.T.s were over...

Harry had recovered a few weeks before, just in time for his last Quidditch match. Despite the fact that he had lost, he seemed better than ever. He was light-hearted, told more jokes, and he winked at all the younger girls who giggled when he passed them in the halls. Hermione knew that some of his happiness was due to the fact that he knew what he was doing next, and it was something that he'd always wanted but wouldn't have dreamed of doing if he still had to worry about Voldemort. Harry was signed to play Quidditch with the Appleby Arrows. Ron was going to move in with Fred and George and help them run Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George were good at thinking up inventions and bringing them to life, but not so good at the business side of things. Ron told Hermione that he had plans to turn the Three W's, as he called it, into a very profitable establishment.

On her last full day as a student at Hogwarts, Hermione busied herself by packing her things and helping the younger Gryffindor girls find their lost hairbrushes, socks, and spellbooks, among other things, and fit all of it into their trunks. Gryffindor Tower was always a madhouse on the last day of the term. She wondered what it was like in the Serpent's Den, if the common room was full of noisy people saying goodbye and making plans to see each other over the summer.

Gryffindor had won the House Cup with six hundred and thirty points, so scarlet and gold banners hung in the Great Hall for the leaving feast. Slytherin was in second place with five hundred and ninety, Hufflepuff in third with five hundred and sixty, and Ravenclaw was last with five hundred points. Slytherin had almost pulled ahead after they had won the Quidditch cup, but Harry had earned so many points from Dumbledore for "strength, persistence, and self-sacrifice" after his stint in the Hospital Wing that Gryffindor maintained its lead. All things considered, it should have been a great year for Hermione.

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The students crowded on the grass around Hogsmeade Station. Hermione stood in the group of seventh year Gryffindors who were talking about their plans and promising to stay in touch. Lavender and Parvati in particular were sniffling and giving everyone hugs, which Neville seemed to enjoy. After their conversation turned to small talk while they waited for the train, Hermione slipped away from the main mass of students so she could take care of one last detail before she left school. Away from the crowd there were some younger students playing tag, a few older Ravenclaws looking on disapprovingly, and the group of hard, grownup-looking seventh year Slytherins. They were all either beautiful or huge and hulking. They were also all dressed in black or Slytherin colored clothes, and talking intently, while at the same time watching for the train so that they would know when they had to go inside the station. Hermione stood there and watched them for a minute, watched him. He was easy to spot in the group of them because of his pale, sunlit hair. He was talking to Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, but he fell out of the conversation when he caught her gaze. He walked over to her and didn't say anything, but waited for her to talk.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello," he echoed.

"So this is it. Goodbye, I mean."

"Yes, it is."

"We could have been friends, you know that, Malfoy?" Hermione said loudly over the noise. The Hogwarts Express was pulling into Hogsmeade Station.

Draco glanced over at the train. "No. We could never have been friends. Don't think anything else, Granger." Then he turned and followed the crowd of students heading into the station.

She was bewildered at his words as she watched him walk away, and let him, knowing it was for the best. Then she snapped out of it and went to find a seat on the train.

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Hermione boarded the train and found Ron and Harry, who had already claimed a compartment and were engrossed in a game of Exploding Snap. We could never have been friends.

What did that mean, exactly? she pondered. She'd developed feelings for Draco, and maybe even fancied him a bit, but those feelings were tempered by their budding friendship, which he had deliberately picked, crushed, and ground into the mud with his heel. She thought it had been because of his parents' influence and Voldemort, and felt sorry for him. But then he no longer had to join Voldemort, so what was the problem? The problem was that it wasn't Voldemort; it was Draco. And that hurt. It hurt, and it was embarrassing, and she didn't know why he hated her. Because I'm Muggle-born? But being Muggle-born, nothing she could say would change his mind, so she let him cut their ties.

It was for the best....

THE END

A/N: Fear not, readers! The story isn't over; it will continue in the as of yet unnamed sequel, with more action and dark things. If you want to be notified when it is up, leave a note on the review board with your email address (or make sure that you're receiving private owls) or drop me a line at [email protected].

If you like mystery romances and the Snape/Granger pairing, check out a fic I'm co-writing called Possession. It's on AstronomyTower under the author name The Weird Sisters, but only up to chapter one at the moment, so you might want to read it at http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1254458.

Thank you to all of you who have reviewed. I love hearing from you. Last but not least, a huge thank you to Aleathiel for beta reading and generally helping me out. She's writing a Draco/Hermione dark romance called The Price of Harry Potter that you would probably like. Check out her author page at AstronomyTower.

That's it. Stay tuned for more.

-Claire