Title: The Snake That Healed The Bitten Otter
Sentence: Just once, he wanted to be the one people respected.
Quote: "I could be what you want, if you just let me."
Chapter One
It was nine o'clock in the morning on a sunny Monday. The birds outside chirped with abandon, and the only sounds in the house were the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the living room. Ginny Weasley was staying with Luna at the Lovegood house down the way, while Hermione Granger used her room to stay in before she left. Hermione sat at the Weasley's kitchen table clutching an official Hogwarts letter while Pigwidgeon sat on her shoulder, as if he was reading the letter with her. Her brown bushy hair blew slightly from the wind coming through the open window, as the warm July sun cast a ray into the house. She looked down at the letter in her hand, reading it over again. Hermione knit her brows as she thought about what was offered to her in red ink, stamped with the official Hogwarts seal. It had only been a little over two months since Voldemort's downfall. Two months since she last saw the smile of Fred Weasley. Two months since she was comforted by the reassurances of Remus and Tonks. Two months to heal. Had it been enough time?
'I suppose it doesn't matter.' Hermione thought to herself. It wasn't a matter if she was ready or not to go back to school. To fulfil her duties as Head Girl, as the letter stated. She had a duty. That was what she lived for. Her duties to learn, to help, to succeed, and the only way she could accomplish that was to go back to school. She had to ignore the bubbles of anxiety she could feel rippling through her chest. The dread that she felt just thinking about having to step foot in the castle again made her throat dry. She knew school was going to be different. The castle wasn't going to feel as comfortable as it used to. There would be no Dumbledore to roam the halls. She could already feel the melancholy atmosphere seeping through her bones. There were going to be frightened first years, and depressed 7th years, same as her. She knew she had to go back, but in what capacity?
A clatter of dishes behind her snapped Hermione out of her daze. She looked up from her letter to see Molly Weasley standing at the kitchen sink, haphazardly getting dishes from the cabinet above her. Her wand lay discarded on the armchair in the living room to the left of the kitchen. Molly's red hair was frazzled and somewhat matted, and there were holes she had yet to patch in her dress. Hermione looked at her best friend's mother and felt tears welling up in her eyes. No one was having a harder time dealing with the deaths they had endured than Molly Weasley. Throughout the war she was strong, because she had to be. She never faltered in her duties as a mother, wife, and witch, but now that the war was over, she could allow herself to cry, and grieve, and grieve she did. Most of the time, she still put on a brave face, for her children and her husband. But people could tell she was struggling. She used her wand less, her food seemed lacklustre, nothing new had been knitted, smiles seemed forced, and at night, heavy sobs carried through the thin walls of the Burrow.
Molly Weasley turned around to notice Hermione looking at her.
"Oh! My dear!" Molly exclaimed, brushing her hair away from her face. "I didn't see you there, Hermione. Would you like something to eat? I was just about to make breakfast for the boys. Ron and Harry are still sleeping but George and…and George is on his way here now."
"I would love to help you cook breakfast, Molly." Hermione said, as she got up and walked over to the sink. The clock that usually sat over the fireplace was sitting on the cabinet, the hands of the Weasley's no longer pointing to "Mortal Danger". Hermione glanced at the clock, and noticed an empty spot that used to hold the smiling face of Fred Weasley. She turned the clock down on its face on her way Molly.
"Oh no, dear, I could never. It's no trouble." She said with a weak smile, waving Hermione away.
"Nonsense, Molly." said Hermione. "Besides, I wanted your opinion on something."
"What's that, dear?" said Molly, as she began to crack eggs into a bowl, as Hermione began to chop sausages.
"I've received a letter." Hermione said. "McGonagall would like me to take up the position of Head Girl, since I'm going back to Hogwarts next week for my N.E.W.T.S. I'm wondering if I should accept. I have to write back by today."
Molly put down the whisk she was using to beat the eggs and turned Hermione toward her.
"Hermione, dear." She said with a soft smile. "That's completely up to you. I can understand your reservations, and you shouldn't feel a duty to take up this post. But you're a strong girl my dear, and if you feel up to it, then I think it would be wonderful."
Hermione smiled at the sweet woman's plump and worn face.
"Professor McGonagall would never think less of you if you chose to decline." Molly said. She placed a calloused and warm palm against the young girl's freckled face. Hermione pulled Mrs. Weasley into a hug and they both resumed making breakfast. Not long after, George apparated outside the front door and came in to greet his mother.
"Dad's at work, is he?" said George.
"Yes, dear." Said Molly, reaching up to place a kiss on her son's cheek.
"Damn, I was hoping to catch him before he went in." said George as he sat down at the table. "The shop's going to be opening again soon, and I could use a little bit of help."
"Well, I'm sure your father would love to." Said Molly, "I'm just not sure how much use he's going to be, with all the aftermath he has to deal with at work."
Molly shovelled the eggs on to a plate and set them on the table next to the sausages.
"His job is more difficult now, you know." She said softly.
"I know." said George.
About five minutes later, heavy footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, and Ron Weasley's long nose rounded the corner. The tall red headed boy's sleepy eyes had dark, heavy bags underneath them.
"Wass for breakfast?" Ron yawned. He stretched his arms out and walked over to the kitchen table. "Mmmm sausages." He said as he reached to pick up one.
"Ah ah ah!" said Molly as she slapped Ron's hand away. "Go wake up Harry, and wash your hands before you touch the food, young man."
"Yes, mum." Ron grumbled as he left the room.
"He's starting his Auror training today, isn't he?" said Hermione, as she pushed her eggs around her plate. Molly's face turned into one of concern as she pursed her lips and nodded her head. Molly had expressed some disdain for the fact that Harry and Ron chose not to finish out their last year at Hogwarts. She suggested they take some time away from fighting since their jobs as Aurors were to round up the remaining Death Eaters that had fled after the battle, but Harry and Ron felt like school would have been a waste of time.
"We're already about to start the careers we were going to school for anyway!" said Ron, when his mother expressed her concerns. Molly wasn't happy about it, but they had made up their minds.
After breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went out to the gardens to talk, before the boys were to leave for their training, while George stayed in to help his mother with the dishes.
"So you're really going back to school then?" said Ron, looking down at the grass as the three of them sat in a circle on the ground near the squash. Hermione and Ron put their relationship on hold after what transpired during the battle, and there was still sorrowful tension between them.
"Yes," she said. "I wasn't ever going to be an Auror. I need my N.E.W.T.S to be able to obtain a position within Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I never gave up on S.P.E.W. you know." She stared at the top of his ginger head, looking at the way the sun reflected off the locks, making his head look like it was on fire. Usually when she saw him like that, her chest tightened and she wanted to hold him, but now…
"Wouldn't they just give you a position there?" said Harry, shaking Hermione away from her thoughts. "You know, given…well everything?"
"I wouldn't feel like I accomplished it on my own." Hermione said.
"Always were the overachiever." Said Ron with a weak laugh. Harry put his arm around Hermione and gave her shoulders a quick squeeze.
"You'll do great. You always do." Harry said.
"They want me to be Head Girl." Silence followed her words for a moment.
"Well, that's no surprise." Said Ron, leaning back on his elbows. "You'll be the oldest one in your grade. Only makes sense they'd choose you."
"Because I'll be older than everybody?" Hermione said with a frown.
"No, well…I mean that's part of it, yeah. But I mean you're smart…and you know. McGonagall trusts you." Said Ron, fumbling to rectify the blunder.
"I suppose so." Said Hermione.
"You know, Malfoy is going back too." Said Harry, looking out into the garden right as one of the gnomes popped out of one hole, then ran and tripped into another, still cackling madly on its way down.
"Really?" said Ron. "Foul git doesn't have anything better to do with his time and freedom?"
"It was a condition of his freedom." Harry said. "He was to be convicted as a Death Eater, but when I testified that he should be given leniency, they made it a condition that he go back and finish out the school year he missed staying at the Manor."
At the mention of Malfoy Manor, Hermione's arm twitched and her mouth turned into a grimace. Bellatrix's mad screams rang in her ears, and she got a bit dizzy. She held her scarred arm and looked away from her friends as she tried to block out the noise. Harry noticed the slight change in her demeanour.
"I'm sure he won't bother you." He said to Hermione, as some of her bushy hair blew across her face. "He wouldn't want to instigate anything."
"We'll see." She said as the screams subsided. "I'm not sure I trust him as much as you do."
"I don't trust him." Said Harry, standing up to brush the dirt off his pants. "But I don't hate him. I saw what he went through, what Voldemort tried to make him do, and I pity him."
Ron stood up as well, and held out his hand for Hermione. She took it and dusted off her knees as she got up.
"Well, I can't say I feel bad for the bloke, honestly." Said Ron, shaking his head. "But I agree with Harry, I'm sure he'll probably leave you alone. It's going to be like he's not even there."
The trio could hear the clock chime for 10 o'clock in the morning coming from the house.
"We'd better be off. Shacklebolt is waiting." Said Harry, pulling Hermione into a hug. "Write to us every week okay?"
"Of course." She said, chuckling. "Do try to be safe. The both of you?"
"Always." Said Ron, as he hugged Hermione tentatively as well.
As Ron let go, Hermione watched as the both of them waved a final goodbye and apparated on the spot, off to the Ministry of Magic. Hermione brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, looked toward the Burrow, and thought about the year that was to come. She sighed as she pulled out a piece of parchment from the small bag around her wrist, and a quill.
"Dear Professor McGonagall," she started. "I would be more than happy to accept the post of Head Girl, for my final year at Hogwarts. Please advise of what steps I will need to take on September 1st, and what preparations I will need to make. Thank you, and best wishes, Hermione Granger." She folded up the paper into an envelope and set off to find Pigwidgeon. Hopefully the tiny owl would be up for the long journey.