Hermione's POV

This summer was weird. That was the only word I could seem to use to describe it. I had still yet wrapped my head around the fact that Y/N was alive and that he was probably undergoing some Dark Arts training camp personally taught by Lord Voldemort himself. I knew he wasn't a bad guy but I had this feeling that being around sinister and cruel people such as Voldemort would bring out a side of Y/N that none of us had really seen before. I knew he could get angry at times but most of the time he was able to control himself so no one had ever really seen him snap.

"Erm...Hermione dear, I got a letter from those friends of yours." my father, Wendell, told me from downstairs.

Making my way downstairs I saw my dad holding an envelope with an alarming amount of stamps on them. My mother, Monica, was standing next to my dad.

I laughed. "They haven't really gotten the hang of Muggle mail yet. What did they say?"

My dad opened the letter and scanned it, his eyes moving quickly. "They're asking if you want to stay at their house until school starts again."

My eyes lit up. "Am I allowed to go?"

My mother seemed like she was thinking. "Well, it would be safer at their house right? I mean, did you hear about those bridge attacks in London?"

The attacks that were caused by the Death Eaters which meant that Y/N could've been part of it. "I've heard about them..."

"Maybe it'll be safer with your magic friends." my father commented.

That night, I hastily packed all my stuff as I was going to be collected early next morning by Mr Weasley. The next morning, Mr Weasley arrived via our fireplace to come collect me. This wasn't unusual to my parents since they had collected me via the Floo Network before. I said goodbye to both my parents, told them to stay as safe as possible. With a final hug my house dissolved into nothingness and I arrived at the Burrow.

Mrs Weasley greeted me happily before I went up to Ginny's room and spoke to her.

"Did you get made Prefect Gin?" I asked the girl.

She sat on her bed and shook her head. "Nah, but I think that's a good thing, I don't think I can handle the pressure that comes with being a Prefect. How'd you do it?"

"It wasn't that hard," I shrugged, "I guess the only hard part was having to do it with Ron."

Ginny let out a laugh. "Could've been Y/N..."

She trailed off and we both went silent. It's been over a year since he supposedly died but knowing that he was still here, still waiting for me gave me hope. Suddenly every time someone mentioned his name I wouldn't feel this endless feeling of sadness, instead I would feel hope that he would stick with his promise and that when all of this was over, we could try and return to what things were before.

But life wasn't that simple. I knew that, I just hoped that me and him could have a storybook ending, like a fairytale, but we were far from a fairytale. I wasn't the princess and he wasn't the prince.

Realising that there was a silence between me and Ginny, I decided to say something. "Yeah...anyways, how's things with you and Dean?"

The two had gotten together during Dean's fifth year and Ginny's fourth after Ginny's relationship with Michael Corner.

Ginny shrugged. "He's not Harry but he's nice."

It was initially my idea to get Ginny to date other people, to get herself over Harry and I was pretty sure it was working. She was now able to be in the same room as Harry without freaking out.

"Oi! You two!" I heard Ron call out from his room. "Have you seen Harry?"

We poked our heads out Ginny's room and looked up to Ron. "Harry's here?" I asked.

"According to mum Hedwig's cage is downstairs, which means Harry's here somewhere." said Ron.

It wasn't long until all of us found Harry and dragged him into Ron's room, where we greeted him.

"All right?" said Ron.

"Never been better," said Harry, "you?"

"Not bad. Were the Muggles all right? Did they treat you okay?"

"Same as usual," said Harry, "they didn't talk to me much, but I like it better that way. How're you, Hermione?"

He looked at me with a glance, almost as if he was asking me about Y/N as well.

"Oh, I'm fine...everything's fine." I said. I think Harry expected maybe more information about Y/N but I had to disappoint him, I hadn't spoken to him since the end of my fifth year.

Harry continued and told us about his adventures with Dumbledore, telling us about a new teacher, his name was Horace Slughorn.

"Is he a good teacher?" I asked, worried for my education.

Harry shrugged. "Can't be worse than Umbridge."

"I know someone who's worse than Umbridge," said a voice from the doorway. Ginny had arrived, looking quite irritated, "hi, Harry."

"What's up with you?" Ron asked.

"It's her," said Ginny, plonking herself down on the bed Harry would be sleeping in, "she's driving me mad."

She meant Fleur, she had recently came and was staying at the Burrow, due to the fact that she and Bill were now together.

"What's she done now?" I asked.

"It's the way she talks to me! You'd think I was about three!" Ginny complained.

"I know," I said, dropping my voice, "she's so full of herself."

Ron spoke angrily. "Can't you two lay off her for five seconds?"

"Oh, that's right, defend her," snapped Ginny, "we all know you can't get enough of her."

Harry, looking quite confused, opened his mouth to say something but then the door burst open and in walked Fleur Delacour, I rolled my eyes slightly. Ever since that time during the Quidditch World Cup when I saw Y/N acting crazy over the Veelas the Bulgarian team brought, I had a dislike towards anyone and even though she was only part Veela, I still held a certain dislike to her.

"'Arry," Fleur said in a throaty voice, "eet 'as been too long!"

As she swept over the threshold toward him, Mrs Weasley was revealed, bobbing along in her wake, looking rather cross. "There was no need to bring up the tray, I was just about to do it myself!"

The tray was filled with food, food that Mrs Weasley presumably made for Harry to eat.

"Eet was no trouble," said Fleur, setting the tray across Harry's knees and then swooping to kiss him on each cheek, "I 'ave been longing to see you. You remember my seester, Gabrielle? She never stops talking about 'Arry Potter. She will be delighted to see you again."

"Oh...is she here too?" Harry croaked.

"No, no, silly boy," said Fleur with a tinkling laugh, "I mean next summer, when we...but do you not know?"

Her great blue eyes widened and she looked reproachfully at Mrs Weasley, who said. "We hadn't got around to telling him yet."

Fleur turned back to Harry. "Bill and I are going to be married!"

"Oh," said Harry blankly, "wow, er...congratulations!"

Fleur swooped down upon him and kissed him again, as I made eye contact with Ginny and we both rolled our eyes.

"Bill is very busy at ze moment, working very 'ard, and I only work part-time at Gringotts for my Eenglish, so he brought me 'ere for a few days to get to know 'is family properly. I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens! Well...enjoy your breakfast, 'Arry!"

With these words she turned gracefully and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Mrs Weasley made a weird noise after she left.

"Mum hates her," said Ginny quietly.

"I do not hate her!" said Mrs Weasley in a cross whisper. "I just think they've hurried into this engagement, that's all!"

"They've known each other a year," said Ron, who looked oddly groggy and was staring at the closed door.

"Well, that's not very long! I know why it's happened, of course. It's all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they're rushing all sorts of decisions they'd normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left, right, and center!"

"Including you and Dad," said Ginny slyly.

"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?" said Mrs Weasley. "Whereas Bill and Fleur...well...what have they really got in common? He's a hardworking, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's..."

"A cow," said Ginny, nodding, "but Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour, I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."

"Stop calling her that, Ginny," said Mrs Weasley sharply, as me and Harry laughed, "well, I'd better get on...eat your eggs while they're warm, Harry."

Looking careworn, she left the room. Ron still seemed slightly punch-drunk; he was shaking his head experimentally like a dog trying to rid its ears of water.

"Don't you get used to her if she's staying in the same house?" Harry asked.

"Well, you do," said Ron, "but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then..."

"It's pathetic," I said furiously.

"You don't really want her around forever?" Ginny asked Ron incredulously. When he merely shrugged, she said. "Well, Mum's going to put a stop to it if she can, I bet you anything."

"How's she going to manage that?" asked Harry.

"She keeps trying to get Tonks round for dinner. I think she's hoping Bill will fall for Tonks instead. I hope he does, I'd much rather have her in the family."

"Yeah, that'll work," said Ron sarcastically, "listen, no bloke in his right mind's going to fancy Tonks when Fleur's around. I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn't doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but..."

"She's a damn sight nicer than Phlegm!" said Ginny.

"And she's more intelligent, she's an Auror!" I added.

"Fleur's not stupid, she was good enough to enter the Triwizard Tournament," said Harry.

"Not you as well!" I said bitterly.

"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says ' 'Any,' do you?" asked Ginny scornfully.

"No!" Harry said, defending himself. Looking away, he tried to change the subject. "Anyways, what's going on in the Wizarding World? I haven't read the Prophet in ages."

I sighed. "Just the usual...Muggle attacks, disappearances, all that."

Ron scoffed. "His lot are getting too comfortable aren't they." he was referring to the Death Eaters.

Harry looked at me and I could immediately understand what he was trying to ask me. It was the same question I had been asking myself all summer.

Was Y/N part of the attacks?