Total Eclipse

To everyone who reviewed: Thank you so much for all the kind words! Lemme tell ya, it's a good feeling, especially when working with a new genre of fics!

I don't own the characters, I'm simply playing with them until "Mum" (J. K. Rowling) calls them in for dinner. ;)



Chapter Two




She had been carefully monitoring a new potion that would allow any pregnant witch the opportunity to completely bypass the accompanying "morning sickness", when she'd heard the familiar tap-tap-tap on her window. Making sure that the potion would not boil over, Hermione Granger made her way to the window and the familiar owl of Minerva McGonagall. Surprised to be receiving mail this early in the week, she opened the window to allow the gray and black owl entrance into her personal lab. She reached out stroking the owl, who went by the name of Gandolff, before removing the letter attached to his leg.

She opened the letter and absently fed Gandolff a treat from the bag she kept on her desk under the window. Quickly scanning the missive, Hermione couldn't help the small smile that found it's way to her lips. It had been at least three years since she had seen her old Professor and Headmistress, the last time being at a charity fund raiser for Orphans of the War. It had been a particularly trying event for Hermione, as there were so many of her peer's siblings amongst said orphans.

It seemed that Minerva had a proposition she would like to speak to Hermione about. Reading the date and time of the proposed meeting, Hermione did a quick mental scan of her itinerary and found that she would be able to make it. Sitting down at her desk, she quickly wrote out a reply confirming the appointment, concluding that she would be glad to see her old professor once again.

Tying the letter to Gandolff's leg, she sent him off once more, her mind already back on the potion that was happily boiling on the table.


~o0o~

A week later Hermione found herself outside the grounds of Hogwarts, a feeling of nostalgia and sadness echoing through her memory. It had been here, five years ago that the final battle had begun. Flashes of memory played before her eyes as she remembered the bloody battle that eventually made it's way to the Shrieking Shack. In her mind's eye, Hermione could see the countless bodies that lay on the ground, Order members and Death Eaters alike. She had lost count of how many people she had personally killed with the Avada Kedavra. Her mind and emotions had been frozen, until all that was left was the instinctual self preservation and the preservation of her dearest friends.

Closing her eyes, she could still see the final moments of that battle. A misfired curse had engulfed the oldest building in Britain with flames and the night sky had glowed blood red. She had stood finally facing Voldemort alongside Harry, Ron, Minerva, Arthur Weasley, Ginny Weasley and surprisingly, Draco Malfoy. As all seven of them shouted the killing curse at the snake-like creature, a wild scream ripped through the night sky. It was a sound that, for years afterward had haunted every one of Hermione's nightmare's. It hadn't come from Voldemort alone. He had been decimated, blown and vanquished into oblivion. But what the order was not aware of was that, although Harry had found and destroyed what he thought to be all of the Horcruxes, there had been one remaining...Harry himself.

The scream brought forth from her best friend's throat had spurned everyone wildly into action. As Harry lay writhing on the ground in agony, his life's blood seeping from him, all they could do was look on in horror. Hermione had made her way to him, dropping beside the deathly cold body and crying out for him not to leave. Strong hands had pried her away from him and before anyone could stop him, Draco Malfoy had placed his hands upon Harry. Using the wandless magic he had been reared learning, Draco transferred all of Harry's pain into his own body before it could kill the raven haired hero. It had taken no more than a moment, but one that seemed to last several lifetimes.

Draco had spent the next four months in St. Mungo's, recovering from his almost debilitating injuries.

Hermione's gaze focused once again on the present and the gates of Hogwart's. Slowly she made her way towards the school, recounting those four months. She had come to know much more than she ever thought possible about Draco Malfoy in those four months. He had unknowingly changed her life.

She passed through the hallways she remembered so lovingly and a small smile found it's way to her lips. Her mind now crowded with happier memories, she made her way towards the Headmistress' office, giving the password she knew had never changed.

"Lemon sherbert."

Her old professor looked up from her desk and an enormous smile lit her features. "Hermione! It's so lovely to see you, my dear!" Hurrying around the desk, the older woman engulfed Hermione in a huge hug. Hermione laughed, returning the embrace.

"It's good to see you too, Minerva," she answered, having become close enough to the older witch to be on a first name basis. "I was so happy to receive your owl the other day!" Taking the seat that was offered, Hermione sank into the cushions of the overstuffed armchair and made herself comfortable. "And I must admit, your "proposition" has me intrigued!"

The Headmistress smiled at her former student with a twinkle in her eye that would have rivaled Albus Dumbledore's. "Ah yes, well, you may not be so intrigued after you find out who it entails working with, my dear."

Hermione frowned, looking at her former professor curiously. "Really? And who might that be?"

At that moment the stairwell began to turn, signaling the approach of another person. Instinctively, Hermione knew it would be the other person involved in whatever it was Minerva had in mind. As the tall, blonde man entered the room, all the air in her lungs left her with a loud whoosh, and memories flashed through her once again, like a movie on fast forward. Not knowing what else to say, she said the first thing that came to mind.

"Malfoy."

"Granger."




~o0o~


Author's Note: I had a reader email me with a question and decided to answer it here.
I chose the name "Brandy O'Kelley" for the little girl in the first chapter for one reason and one reason alone: it's my maiden name. ;)