And so the lion fell in love with the snake.

And so the world ticks on ...

Authors note I do not claim to own any characters etc. of the Harry Potter Universe - this is just fanfiction and an interpretation. I'm still new at writing and using this app so any criticisms would be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy it!!!!

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Everything was the same. Each stone, each brick, and each lingering memory matched so perfectly to the view in front of the young girl's eyes that she could nearly believe nothing had changed - nearly, but not quite.

The whole room felt tainted, misplaced and so wrong. As Hermione stood in front of the familiar wooden carved doors that she knew opened into the Great Hall, her stomach fluttered with nervous butterflies, overdosed on sugars and the sweetness of air as they tumbled and turned inside of her. It was almost amusing the fact she could liken something inside her to an organism so beautiful. For a second, Hermione felt as if she was back in the same first year, so enthralled by the hidden magical world around her, helpless but to stare with wide doe eyes, taking everything in. So much had changed since then but she was still, somehow, the same, just as curious and Gryffindor as ever.

The doors concaved upon themselves, spreading their majestic wings and permitting the familiar students to enter into its warm embrace. The chairs and tables were in the exact positions as all the years prior. The same seats she, Ron, Harry, and Ginny would sit and jest around. The tables where she would scold her beloved ginger for his improper manners and pig-like ways of eating. Hermione fondly remembered all of the events that had transpired in the hall, from the entrance of the Beauxbatons and Durmstang to the way the Goblet churned out its unsuspecting victors, how Umbridge had stood at the front and addressed all of the students with such bigotry she nearly snorted, the way Dumbledore would always somehow manage to inspire the magical imagination inside Hermione's curious little head once magical quote at a time. Hermione remembered every meal, every piece of chitter-chatter, and every single glare passed towards the Slytherin table, one snake in particular. That was before the war and before everything had soured.

The hall was adorned with the exact same floating candles that inspired so much awe in her as a child. The great expanses of sky hiding behind them, once looking so unbelievably beautiful and ambient - now mockingly foreboding.

It's not real the ceiling, it's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History.

If only she was the same girl now, maybe she still was, hidden behind layers and layers of experience and age. The witch longed for her intricate time-turner back, the deepest parts of her wanted to just spin the small golden strands and go right back to the beginning - save herself all of her own pain and torment.

"You really are an annoying git you know Malfoy." Blaise teased with a playful, yet still annoyingly painful jab at the subject's arm.

"Oh leave off Zabini, considering how big an arse you always act, it's a surprise you don't have a better one." Pansy jabbed, perfectly capable at keeping up with the boy's antics. With a false wounded expression, Blaise raised his hand to his chest, playfully stumbling back a few steps as if wounded, the action causing a rather loud snort from Pansy as she smirked in victory. Blaise, never one to lose too easily, quickly winked at his friend before raising an eyebrow "And how long have you been staring at my delicious arse Pans?"

"Oh come off it Zabini, we both know it's getting rather large - hard to ignore. Maybe you should lay off the desert tonight, right Draco?" Pansy snarkily replied, letting a moment or two of silence pass before turning to the Malfoy heir. "Draco?"