Here's the last story in the Baby on the Way? series. I hope you like it. I'm not going to be as cruel and heartless this time. Hermione may, possibly, get her wish. There will be bits and pieces of Hogwarts life tying in with the books. Reviews and ideas are welcome!
Hermione Jane Granger stepped off the train after the end of her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She glanced around the platform in search of her mother and father.
She rushed over to her parents, who were standing in a corner of the station. Amy and Jason Granger greeted their only daughter with a hug and kiss.
"How was school, dear?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"It was great Mum!" Hermione exclaimed. Her parents were glad to see her happy again. Ever since Ethan had died, she had been very secluded and depressed, not wanting to go out with her friends. It had really shaken her up when she found her brother dead in his crib.
"That's wonderful, dear," her father replied, beaming.
"I've made some friends too! Two of them are over there with their families. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are my best friends."
Her parents exchanged glances of pure joy. Hermione hadn't been this ecstatic since the beginning of the fifth grade, almost two years prior to this.
"Hermione, dear," her mother interrupted. "We have a surprise waiting for you at the house, so can you please hurry?"
"What kind of surprise?" she asked.
"You'll only get to see if you hurry up!" her father exclaimed, laughing.
The car ride home was filled with prompting from Hermione. She was eager to learn what her parents had in store for her.
"Is it…a puppy?" she asked.
"We're not saying, dear."
Her parents were only too happy when they reached the Granger household a mere ten minutes later.
"Now will you tell me?" she asked as they unloaded her trunk and other luggage out of the car.
"We're home, now, dear. You'll see when you get inside the house."
They followed their daughter up the steps and into the house. They both smiled in secret joy at what they new their child's reaction would be.
"Grandma, Grandpa, what are you doing here?" she exclaimed, immediately being wrapped up in bear hugs.
"We wanted to see you when you got home. And we wanted to be here when your parents gave you your surprise," her grandfather answered.
A little girl of around a year old toddled into the room. She could barely walk, and it was obvious that she was being taught.
"Mum, who's this? Whose baby is this? I wasn't gone long enough for you to get pregnant and have another child, was I?" she asked.
"No, dear, I wasn't pregnant. The doctors said that the chances of me having another child are even slimmer than before. This is Annisa. She's your new foster sister. Your father and I were lonely, and we knew how much you wanted a sibling, so we talked to the foster center and, after a lot of time, patience, and paperwork, we officially became foster parents," her mother explained.
"When social services find someone who wishes to adopt Annisa, they'll come and take her to her new home and we'll get another child. So it'll be like having a lot of siblings that don't live with us for very long," her father added.
"How long will we get to keep Annisa; or any of the foster children, for that matter?" Hermione asked.
"We don't know, dear. It depends on when social services finds them new, permanent homes. Our home, and other foster families' homes, is just temporary families and houses for the kids."
Hermione seemed pleased by this and walked up the stairs with Annisa tagging along behind her.
July came and Hermione received her Hogwarts letter. Her parents took her to Diagon Alley, leaving Annisa with Mrs. Granger's parents.
July went by quickly, and Hermione enjoyed teaching Annisa how to walk. It was something she had never been able to finish with her brother.
August was upon them before they knew it. Annisa turned two, and Hermione had finally taught her how to walk.
Two weeks before Hermione left for school, however, something unfortunate happened to them.
"Hello, Granger residence, Hermione speaking. May I please ask who is calling?" Hermione answered the phone.
"Yes, this is Anna Greene from the London branch of social services. Is either Jason or Amy Granger available?" the lady asked.
"Hold on one moment, please," she replied. She set down the phone and called her mother's name.
"Mum, someone's on the telephone for you!" she called.
"Coming, dear!" she heard faintly.
Her mother took the phone from her and walked back upstairs and locked her bedroom door. Hermione heard Annisa crying from upstairs, so she went to get her out of the crib. On her way to get her, she overheard her mother crying.
"Are you sure that this is the only way?" Amy sobbed from the other side of the door.
Silence followed.
"But isn't there a way that we could-" she stopped short.
More silence.
"Is this absolutely for real? They've been checked out, and they've got a good history?"
Another moment's silence followed this. She heard her mother sigh and hang up the phone. Hermione left and walked to Annisa's room. Annisa had been crying the whole time that Hermione was listening.
"Hey Annisa," she said, picking her up out of her crib. "How was your nap?" She didn't expect an answer, but she always talked to her anyways.
Annisa cooed and put her head on Hermione's shoulder. As they walked down the steps, Hermione noticed that her mother's door was still shut. She kept walking though.
She put one of Annisa's video cassettes in the VCR and sat her down on the couch. Hermione started to cook supper so that it was ready when her father came home from work.
Supper was halfway ready when her father walked through the front door.
"I'm home!" he called like he did every day for Annisa's purpose.
Just like she did every day, she ran to the front door and Hermione's father picked her up and swung her around. Hermione joined them in the hallway and gave her father a hug.
"Any news today?" he asked, still smiling.
"I don't know. Mum's been locked up in her room for a couple of hours now. She got a phone call and then started crying."
"Oh dear," her father muttered under his breath. He handed Annisa to Hermione and ran up the steps. She heard him knock at the door and decided not to eavesdrop this time. She returned Annisa to the couch in front of her video and went to finish supper.
Hermione had just finished supper and began setting the table when her parents came down the stairs. Her mother's face was tear-streaked and her voice was slightly shaky when she spoke.
"This dinner looks lovely Hermione," her mother said softly.
"Thank you, Mum," she replied brightly, trying to make it seem like she didn't know anything was wrong.
Her parents sat down at the table as Hermione filled their glasses with water and Annisa's spill-proof cup with milk. She sat down across from Annisa in her normal seat.
Mr. Granger cleared his throat and looked at his wife. She sighed and started to speak.
"I have some unfortunate news. Annisa won't understand what's going on, but you will Hermione. The lady who called earlier was from social services. They've found a family to adopt Annisa and we're to meet them on Saturday with all of her belongings," she said.
Tears returned to her mother's eyes and Hermione stared down at her plate. She couldn't believe it. She finally had a sibling who didn't die and now she's being taken away. Hermione ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
"Hermione dear?" her mother asked. "Are you okay?"
"I just got told that my sister is being taken away from me. I'm perfectly okay, Mum," she said a little more sarcastically than she had meant to.
"We told you that this would happen, dear. We've had her for a few months. We warned you that she could be taken away from us at any moment. It just had to happen while you were still here. I'm sorry, honey. We'll get a new one soon. Maybe this one will be an infant. Infants don't get taken away until they're at least a year old through this particular social service department."
Saturday came and the Granger family loaded into their car. Hermione stared out the window during the long ride to the social services building.
A couple with a child who looked to be about 3 years old stood beside a van. Her parents got out of the car and Hermione followed, removing Annisa from the booster seat.
"Are you the McDaniels?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Yes, we are. Are you the Grangers and is this Annisa?" the women, who Hermione assumed to be Mrs. McDaniels, asked.
"Yes. I'm Jason; this is my wife Amy and our daughter Hermione. We were devastated to receive the call but we know that you'll be a good family for Annisa. Hermione fell in love with her when she returned from school in June and has since taught her to walk."
"Returned from school? Does your daughter go to boarding school?" Mr. McDaniels asked.
"Yes, our daughter is very intelligent. Her school is very hard to be accepted into, and if you aren't accepted before you turn 11 there's no chance to be accepted," her mother said proudly.
"That's quite an accomplishment, young lady. How old are you?" he asked Hermione.
"I'm eleven," Hermione said shyly.
"Well, you're a very lucky child."
"Hermione loves Annisa. She's had a very tough time with siblings," Mr. Granger replied.
"Jealousy?"
"No, she's had 4 siblings in her lifetime, one of which died of SIDS before she was born. Her two sisters passed only a matter of days after they were born and Hermione found her brother dead in his crib. He had died of SIDS at only about 6 months old."
"I'm sorry to hear that. You guys have had a tough time. I understand why you got attached to her. We'll be sure to give her a good home. This is Kalynn. She's been asking for a younger sister since the day she could talk. She was our miracle baby. We can't have any more children so we told her we'd adopt one for her. Annisa is perfect."
Mrs. McDaniels took Annisa from her and Hermione went to get the booster seat. She heard Kalynn talking to Annisa.
"Hi I'm Kalynn! I'm your new big sister! You get to come home and live with me. I'm going to brush your hair and do your make up and paint your nails and put you in some of my dresses and we can play house together!" she said enthusiastically. She heard Annisa crying for her parents.
Hermione came back with the car seat and handed it to the McDaniels'.
As they loaded her in the van, Annisa yelled, "Mummy! Daddy!" in between sobs. "Mione!" she sobbed.
Everyone stopped. These were her first words and they were to her foster family.
"Annisa!" Hermione cried.
The McDaniels drove off and Hermione cried even harder. They got in their car and left.
End of chapter 1. I wanted to make it longer because I'm only going to make it 10 chapters. So it'll be like 1 chapter per year of school and then a few in between for a few summers. I hope you like it so far. Reviews help oh so much!