Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
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"Mama, Mama!"
The young woman turned at the frightened shout from behind her catching sight of her young daughter scampering towards her, curls bouncing and tears streaming. The woman bent down and scooped the small child into the safety of her arms.
"Oh my baby girl, what's wrong love?" Her daughter sniffed and buried her head in the warmth of her mother's shoulder. Jane smiled and shifted so she could gaze into her daughter's beautiful brown eyes. "What happened?"
The girl rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and hiccupped before launching into the story about how the two boys next door had taunted her and scared her with claims of the daemons that lived within the woods behind her house.
Jane smiled and carried her daughter to the swing hanging on the branch of an ancient oak swinging them back and forth slowly.
"Oh my girl, daemons are nothing to be afraid of." The toddler's eyes widened with a gasp and Jane smiled. "Oh yes love, they do exist but are in no way the horrible beasts those two made them out to be."
Jane paused and gazed into the woods. "Daemon's are beautiful creatures who hold incredible abilities. Often times a daemon will make the appearance of a beautiful human others may appear as an animal with unique characteristics." Her daughter stared wide-eyed and completely absorbed in the story.
Jane laughed and stood gripping her daughter's hand and leading her inside the house and up towards the attic. She reached into an old dusty trunk and retrieved a parcel cloaked in burlap. Unwrapping the blanket, a book was revealed to the curious young girl.
Jane ran her fingers over the spine of the book fondly the golden spirals a familiar feeling on her fingertips and handed it to her daughter.
"This will always be able to help you my girl. Any thing you need to know about daemons is in that book" Her daughter frowned at the book of stories and fables.
"But Mama, how will a book of fiction tell me about daemons?" Jane smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"You'll understand someday my dear Hermione"
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Hermione awoke with a gasp and sat up quickly the memory of the dream burned in her mind. She looked around the room slowly and was relieved to see its other occupants still asleep as she crawled out of bed silently. Her pale fingers rummaged through the worn burlap sack until they wrapped firmly around the golden-spiralled spine with triumph.
Hermione slowly pulled the book from its hiding place and grabbed a candle checking once more that no one in the tiny house had awakened. Silently manoeuvring through the house she approached the edge of the woods and placed her between the roots of a tree. Opening the cover, she lit the candle and proceeded to read.
Her brown eyes fluttered over the pages as they had done countless times in the past absorbing all of the knowledge however old it was and imbedding it into her mind. That is how her companions found her several hours later.
" Again with that book 'Mione?" the red head groaned as he messed his hair with a yawn. "You must have read it a thousand times already" As per usual Hermione turned her gaze to his partner in crime with a nod.
"Harry" he grinned and nodded back.
"Hermione" she glared at his half asleep companion. "And for your information Ronald what I read and when I read is entirely my business, just because you've never read a book from cover to cover in your life doesn't mean we all haven't." Ron rolled his eyes.
"C'mon 'Mione it's been eight years, don't you think it's time to let it go?" Harry glared and elbowed him in the stomach. "Ouch what did I do?"
Hermione's face went black as she recalled the day her parents were taken from her. Their house had caught on fire in the night and only Hermione survived thanks to her mother pushing her out the window. She had suffered mild burns, a broken wrist and a fractured ankle and had woken up in the Weasley's little cottage three days later with no family to speak of.
Immediately Arthur and Molly Weasley had taken her in like their own even though their tiny house was already bursting form their own six children plus Harry who had been adopted when he was a baby. Ron rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ah sorry 'Mione…. I didn't mean it like that I just meant…well…that you should get out more and ah, take a look at other things in life, other people" he blushed and suddenly found the grass very interesting. Hermione sighed and stood closing the book and smiling stiffly.
"No harm done Ronald, you're right I should take a look at the finer things in life." He grinned. "Let's go into town today and pick some stuff up for Molly"
Harry grinned and nodded but Ron shook his head vigorously. "Bad idea 'Mione. The town folk have um well they've developed opinions about you since the incident" Harry rolled his eyes.
"Honestly Ron, put your foot in your mouth again why don't you?" Hermione shrugged.
"If that's the way you feel Harry and I will go alone right Harry?" the raven-haired boy grinned and nodded, his green eyes sparkling. "Who knows, maybe Luna will be working" she winked as he turned crimson and started sputtering protests at her accusations.
Hermione laughed softly "Just let me get dressed and we can head out" Ron sputtered as she walked away and glared at his partner in crime.
"Thanks for that mate!" he hissed. "Make me look like an arse in front of the girl I want to marry why don't you?" Harry rolled his eyes.
"Trust me mate you don't need my help to look like an arse" He turned and headed for the house as Ron turned crimson and kicked a pebble storming back to the house embarrassed.
The trio emerged fifteen minutes later and began the long walk into town a comfortable silence resting between them. Approaching the bust streets Hermione stiffened, a habit she had developed whenever she was anywhere but home. Harry looked around anxiously although he tried in vain to conceal his excitement. Hermione laughed.
"Calm down Harry we'll see Luna before we leave" He blushed and pushed his glasses back up his nose.
"Shut up Hermione" Her grin widened as Ron rolled his eyes the whispers of the townsfolk hitting his ears harsher than his companions he walked faster and gripped Hermione's elbow.
"We should hurry up and get home" the brown eyed girl frowned and glared at him.
"Honestly Ronald if you're so uncomfortable being here you can go home and Harry and I can gladly continue to look around without you." She turned and continued down the street away from her companion's stunned face. Harry smiled apologetically at him before racing to catch up with his female companion.
Ron glared and shoved his hands in his pockets before storming after them much to his reluctance. Harry's emerald eyes widened in glee as Luna Lovegood's Spell Shop came into view. Hermione laughed and nudged him.
"Try to control yourself and not embarrass me" He glared playfully at her and stuck his tongue out as they entered the dusty and musky smelling shop. Hermione loved this shop the ancient feeling it held struck something within her and the smell reminded her of fresh earth a scent that reminded her of home.
Behind the counter perched a small woman with long blonde hair reading a book about mythical creatures. She looked over the top of the book and grinned. "Customers!" She jumped off her tall stool and walked around the counter with a smile. "Hello friends"
Hermione smiled and hugged the small woman. "Hey there Luna how's everything?" Luna shrugged.
"Pretty good, the Cornish pixies still like to tie my shoes together and pull my hair at night but that's alright I don't mind." She looked around until her gaze fell on a pair of piercing green eyes and her smile widened. "Hello Harry" He blushed and smiled back.
"Hey Luna" She smiled and nodded to Ron who avoided eye contact with her and wrinkled his nose at the smell of the shop. Hermione approached Luna's large selection of books and ran her eyes over the many titles as Harry began a casual conversation with Luna about the Cornish pixies.
Luna noticed Hermione's disappointed face and skipped behind the counter disappearing behind a tattered curtain for a moment before emerging with a large black book. "I think this is what you're looking for Hermione"
She looked over and noticed the book grinning at the silver letters scripted across the cover. Daemons: Fact or Fiction? Immediately Hermione dug into her money pouch and pulled out some gold coins. "How much Luna?" the blonde shook her head.
"Don't worry about it, anything to help a fellow believer" Hermione shook her head and placed three gold coins on the counter.
"No I'm paying for it and don't you dare argue! Now then we've got to be getting back home for lunch, Luna would you like to join us?" Luna smiled.
"That sounds splendid" She skipped back around the counter after placing the coins into a colourful money pouch of her own and placing a "Closed" sign in the window. Harry blushed again and slid his glasses back up his nose again before rushing out after her.
Ron grumbled. "Why do we have to invite Loony Lovegood to lunch?" Hermione glared and smacked his arm.
"Ronald! How dare you say that! Luna is a dear friend to both Harry and I and you have no right to call her names" She stormed off as Ron followed her his morning fully ruined.
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The next few days were filled with tension as Harry spent more and more time helping around in Luna's shop. The twins in particular were more prone to pull pranks this week especially on "ikkle Ronnikins" as they called him.
"He's just so fun to tease" Fred grinned.
"And torment" George agreed as a loud yell was heard from upstairs as Ron came in contact with the large rubber spider the twins and placed beside him on his pillow. Hermione grinned and tried to contain her laughter as she continued to jot down notes with her quill and parchment.
The next week was spent with even more tension as Hermione stayed locked in her room refusing to speak with Ron after he had blown up at her for spending so much time reading about creatures that didn't exist.
Molly frowned as Arthur read the paper. "I'm worried Arthur, it's not like Hermione to fully shut herself into her room like this" Arthur shrugged.
"She'll be fine Molly just give her some time" Molly hesitated before nodding and continuing to scrub the dishes. Ron emerged from upstairs dejected as his attempts to retrieve Hermione from her room to apologize failed yet again.
"She won't even talk to me anymore" He sat and placed his head in his hands. "How am I supposed to propose if she wont even say two words to me?" Molly smiled at her youngest.
"Why don't you get Harry to talk to her love? That might work" Ron scoffed.
"Yeah if he wasn't in town every waking minute with Loony Lovegood" Just then footsteps were heard from the stairs as Hermione walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning I'm going to a walk" Ron jumped up knocking his chair over in the process.
"I'll go with you" Hermione frowned but made no protests as she left the house and headed for the Forbidden Forest Ron tagging at her heels like a lost puppy until they sat on a fallen tree. The silence was suffocating him Ron gripped the fabric of his pants tightly as his face began to match his hair. Finally he could take no more.
"Why won't you talk to me? I told you I was sorry! Isn't that enough? God Hermione you're driving me barking mad! Don't you see? Can't you tell?" He stood and began pacing in front of the tree. Hermione swallowed.
"Ronald what on earth is the matter with you?" He froze and turned to look at her.
"I'll tell you what's wrong! I'm very tired of you spending more time reading about ridiculous creatures and fairytale nonsense than you do with me! I'm tired of being put in the background! And I'm extremely tired of you ignoring me when I try to tell you something!" Hermione's eyes widened.
"And what is it you'd like to tell me Ronald?" He groaned.
"That I'm bloody well in love with you Hermione Granger and I want you to marry me!"
The silence became deafening
Hermione paled as she searched for words that wouldn't form. She stood then and began to slowly back up into the forest. Ron froze and stared at her in expectation.
Hermione slowly shook her head at him. "I'm sorry Ronald"
She turned and fled ignoring Ron's cries for her to come back. She ran ignoring the braches that scratched her face and arms, ignoring the way her dress caught on some thorns as it tore, ignoring everything but her blood in her ears and the voice in her head telling her one thing.
Run
Tears cascaded from her deep brown eyes as she scrambled through the forest Ron's voice becoming more and more distant. 'Oh Ronald' she thought 'Why, why did you have to make this complicated?'
The night slowly approached and still her tired legs moved her through the maze of the forest. Hunger nagged at her stomach and fatigue at her limbs and yet she pressed on determined to get as far as possible from the Weasley's. And then she wept for the loss of her life, her family, and her friends. 'I'm sorry'
And with one last heaving sob; her body gave out as she collapsed on the forest floor.
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That's the first chapter let me know what you think.
-Raelin.