Dark and White

Hermione lay in her crisp white bed, watching her ceiling. It was only about 8:30 in the evening and the sun had hardly set, but Hermione was having "one of those days", as she called them. When she had a day like this she had many remedies. One of these was lying in bed and watching the lights from the cars outside move along her ceiling. This had amused her since she was a little child. Now it helped her think.

After the war, Hermione had started to suffer from severe depression. She didn't necessarily know why it started, since she hadn't lost anyone she deeply loved in the war. Harry had lived, Ron had lived. Hell, Draco was alive and she could actually say she was glad for that. But, for some reason, the war had really affected her emotionally. She really felt for the people who had lost their loved ones. She really felt for the people who had lost their lives, really. Merlin knows she wanted to be alive. Or at least she used to love being alive... until recently.

The war had started the November after Hermione's graduation. All the students of her year were trying to get settled into their new schools, new jobs, and new lives. Then it had erupted like an unpredicted volcano, and no one could get away from it. They had to accept it and fight it, just like they had all prepared to do their whole lives. Yet, Hermione found when it actually started that she just was not as prepared as she would like to have been.

She fought for the Order of the Phoenix, of course. She, with the help of Draco Malfoy, (close your mouth, you're drooling) created portkeys, helped predict the locations of Death Eaters, etc. etc. Until that night when Harry defeated Voldemort, she worked mercilessly. When it was all over, she plopped herself in her room at her parent's house and did not leave that room for two months.

Two months may seem to go on endlessly for some, but Hermione did not really know what was going on outside of that room. Inside, things basically stood still. She did not push people out of her life, though. Harry and Ron came to visit her all the time. Ginny would come to tell her the latest gossip and bring her goodies she used to love. Unfortunately, she had a hard time listening to anything they had to say. She would politely nod when it was needed, or laugh when they laughed, but nothing ever reached her beautiful brown eyes. Therefore, her friends knew they were not helping. It was not until none other than Draco Malfoy paid her a visit that Hermione left her room.

Flashback

It was a beautiful sunny day. The sun was even coming through the thick cream curtains Hermione had put up. She had been sipping some coffee and reading her old Hogwarts: A History book. She heard a knock on her door. It was only about 10:30 in the morning, and she was not even dressed. She was not used to having visitors this early. She walked over to her door and was about to open it when the knob turned and Draco Malfoy walked in. Hermione gasped and looked down at her pajamas.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, smirking, nodding at her coffee mug and her overturned book.

"I'm sure you are," Hermione said sarcastically. "Let me go change," she said quickly, and she ran into her bathroom. Not two minutes later she was out of the bathroom, standing with her hands on her hips. "To whom do I owe this great privilege?" she griped.

"Come, come, Hermione. I only came out of the goodness of my heart," Draco said with his usual drawl.

"Bull," she said accusingly, yet jokingly. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"What happened to 'Draco'? I liked that much better," he said with his usual smirk. With that, Hermione gave up. She sat back down on her bed and picked up her coffee once again.

"Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. I'm sorry if my room is not ritzy enough for you," she said teasingly. The twinkle in her tone almost made it to her eyes. Hermione could feel a familiar warmness starting to come back, perhaps because of the obvious worry in her new friend's eyes. Thoughts of Ron and Harry looking the same way, yet not getting the same response, shot through her mind, but she soon threw them back out.

"Hermione, I know how long you have been in this room. I'll admit, it is a nice room, but it isn't good enough for you for two months." Hermione gawked at him.

"Since when was I 'Hermione'? And, since when was anything not good enough for me?" she asked, laughing. Draco looked down at the floor, sadly.

"I'm serious, you know." That got her attention.

"You're the first person that has actually tried. Everyone else just pretends like it is normal for a person to sit in one room for days."

"Try months." Draco added.

"You're right. It has been too long. However, if no one was trying to get me out, I was not going to try either. I needed time to stop thinking so much, working so much, moving so much, and just sit. Unfortunately, I've had plenty of time to think. Thinking is always what gets me in trouble. Over-analyzing and such..." she stopped and got quiet. Draco's worrisome look returned.

"Want to go outside for a bit?" he asked slowly. Hermione picked her head up and looked at him for a minute. Then she slowly smiled.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

The two of them went into Hermione's back garden. Hermione's mother was so surprised to see her out of the room that she looked dazed. Draco looked very proud of himself. They talked for a little while about what had been going on while Hermione was inside her room, but after about an hour Draco stopped.

"Hermione, I have to go," he looked at her. She stopped smiling and looked away. He was afraid if he left she would go back in her room and she would never leave again. He hated what she was doing to herself, even if she was Hermione Granger, his old enemy. She was a friend of his now, and for once he really didn't want her to be troubled anymore.

"You called me Hermione again," she said softly.

"It'll never happen again," he replied jokingly, as he opened her back door. When she heard the door open she looked up at him. "I'll see you soon." And with that, she watched sadly as he winked and walked into her house, to the front door, and out into the world again.