A tiny drabble for the Hufflepuff Prompts of the Day on the Hogwarts Online forum:

22nd January: "Quills and parchment."

23rd January: "Starless sky."

(excruciating)

Endlessly, she spoke within her own head, repeating words over and over, all they would have to do, ideas, arguments and theories, facts. Words had always reassured her. She selected her books carefully, wincing a little as she put most aside. This was a farewell – leaving her past behind, moving on to new fights.

Staring down at her things on the bed, she bit her lip hard. School. It had been days of achievements, days of hard work and its rewards – everything had been easy back then. Work hard and you shall be successful. She had brewed life and death, turned small creatures into different species, learned to protect herself in a fight, discovered the history of her world and classified the wide, ever-changing night sky with countless cards, but nothing she had ever learnt would bring the dead back to their loved ones, put a light to her future and wipe the word Mudblood from the face of the earth to where it could never stain her again.

She reached down, caressing the rolls of parchment, savouring the smooth, yet rough grain with a sharp, bitter pang of nostalgia.

(write and write, fill the emptiness with your keen intellect and your knowledge, find answers and you'll make the world right again. Truths lay so close back then, one only had to reach)

Warmth. Safety. Reassurance.

Childhood.

But her world was at war, her friends' lives were at stake, and Hermione Jean Granger turned away, biting back her tears – ready to face helplessness and anguish, to stare her fears in the eye, and fight.

Quills and parchment spoke their goodbyes in hushed whispers, and very softly she shut the door.

A starless sky welcomed her as she stepped out. Inside she was alone. Inside she was empty.

Nothing would ever be the same.