The Curse of Swan Lake

Chapter One

"Can you believe it? After being hunted for almost a year, we're finally returning", said Harry with a sigh of relief. "No Voldemort, no sleeping in tents, no bloody mushroom stews-"

I arched my eyebrow at him.

"I mean, your mushroom stew was not that bad", Harry corrected himself hastily. "But after a few weeks, the taste becomes...intense."

I smiled slightly at Harry's obvious embarrassment and rolled my eyes.
"It's fine, Harry. I get it. I'm not the best cook."

Carefully, I smoothened the parchment in my hand. It contained my timetable for my seventh year. Of course, I had taken as many courses as possible (and did not even bother to glance at Divination), but to my disappointment I could not take all.
If I wanted to excel, I needed to study as much as my schedule allowed. The only problem was, I could no longer study at night. Not since my nineteenth birthday.

"Hello? Earth to Hermione?"
Harry waved his hand in front of my nose, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, what was that?", I asked and absentmindedly stowed my timetable away in my bag.

"Ron already left for breakfast", said Harry, "he's meeting Lavender in the hall. I thought you would appreciate it if I would not let you get exposed to their exchange of saliva."

I smirked.
"Why, thank you", I said gratefully and rose from the couch that was in the center of the common room. "Shall we?"

Ron and I didn't work out. It didn't take me long to realize that. He hated books, I hated brooms. He loved staying up at night to discuss Quidditch, I loved reading about...well, anything. Ron enjoyed to lie in bed in the morning, while I occasionally took strolls outside before the sun rose.

Do I have to spell it out for you? Ron and I weren't a good match.
Which was fine. We were still friends. I didn't really appreciate seeing him and Lavender swallow each other's tongues every day, but hey, everyone has to make sacrifices.

Harry and Ginny got together. That was not a big surprise at all. That only left me as the only member of our golden trio without a boyfriend, but I wasn't really in a rush.
The boyfriend I actually needed didn't exist.

How did I know that?

Because I didn't believe in true love.

****

Harry and I took our places at the Gryffindor table beside Ron and Lavender. The two of them had, thankfully, started eating, which meant their morning ritual of saliva exchange was over.

I made myself a toast with cranberry jam and let my eyes wander through the hall as I ate it. The divisions between the houses had mostly dissolved after the war. The Slytherins still pretty much kept to themselves, but the hatred between them and the Gryffindors had been broken down to a slight discomfort. Part of the reason was because the ringleaders of Slytherin, who had promoted the hatred against muggleborns, had all been sent to Azkaban after the war for murdering their fellow students.

To my (only slight) surprise, and also relief, I spotted Draco Malfoy along the seventh years. He never was a true Death Eater, I had known that since year five. Had Voldemort actually used his miniature brain to think, he would have realized that too.

My eyes moved along to the Head Table. Professor McGonagall was Headmistress now and she was doing an extremely great job. Professor Snape had become the Deputy Headmaster, despite his protests. But according to the school board, Professor Snape needed to be reintroduced to the public as a non-Death Eater. And making him the Deputy Headmaster was apparently the right way to do this.