Hello readers! So I am brand new to writing FanFiction even though I have read it for a while. This is just a short story about Hermione departure from home at the beginning of Book 7. It'll probably be 2 chapters, the second being her arrival at the Burrow, her meeting with Ron and discussion of the situation.
Reviews are always welcome, I know there a pain sometime but even word or two is really appreciated, particularly constructive criticism :)
Disclaimer: Obviously I am not JK Rowling, and I do not own any of her amazing characters.
Enjoy!
She woke that morning with a familiar feeling in her stomach. It was a feeling that had taken residency in her body the last few years, heightening in moments of panic, anxiety and of course, those dreaded moments of fear.
Now that Dumbledore had died Hermione suffered a sensation akin to a choker tied tightly around her neck. In moments of terror it seemed as though its notch had caught onto something sharp, tightening so that only after many alarmed grasps at her neck and forced breaths she could pull herself back to reality. Often once she returned to reality she would curse her own stupidity. 'There is a war to be fought Hermione', she chided herself, 'pull yourself together'.
'Isn't war why all this is happening?' she reminded herself bitterly as she rose slowly from her bed. Hermione looked around and let out a deep sigh. Her room, once filled with the sentimental tokens of her almost eighteen years on earth, had vanished into a bare skeleton of a room, its only occupants her bed and a couple of neatly stacked boxes in the corner.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted her trunk. Crookshanks was perched on top of the trunk with what appeared to Hermione to reassemble a sympathetic face. "Hermione dear, time to get up!" Mr. Granger called from the bottom of the stairs. At the sound of his voice Hermione froze. She felt her brain catch up with her body as she registered the reason her belongings had been packed in the dead of the night. Hermione recalled why she had owled Mad Eye yesterday evening to confirm his protection of her travelling for when she left her home and travelled to the Burrow.
With a shake of her head Hermione stood up, thanking her own forward thinking as she was dressed and got ready to walk straight downstairs to do what had to be done. Her heart thundered in her chest as she left her room and walked to the banister of the staircase. Crookshanks, who had followed her, wandered up to her and rubbed her head along her leg encouragingly. Hermione looked at her pet and set herself into a determined mode. "I've practiced this charm God knows how many times, I can do this" she told herself quietly, "I will do this. I will help Harry and the others win this war and then I will return to them".
As Hermione took one last glance at her parents she was surprised to realise how oddly disconnected she felt to the scene. It took three attempts of obliviate to successfully charm them, but thankfully they had been in a stupefied state before she attempted the spell, quite like to the state they were in now. In a few hours Mr. and Mrs. Granger would wake up with completely different identities, no children and a strong desire to move to Australia.
Hermione unconsciously rubbed a tear from her eye as she moved up the stairs, the image of her mother and father's innocently bemused faces stark in her mind's eye. As she lifted her wand to them she apologized and promised that she'd see them soon. A knock on the door brought Hermione back to reality. After grabbing Crookshanks and levitating her trunk down the stairs she opened the door to greet an oddly subdued Mad Eye Moody.
"Morning Granger" Mad Eye said warmly. Hermione had to smile, wondering to herself who had warned the Auror of the sensitive state she may have been in.
"Hello Mad Eye. I've everything packed up to go so we don't need to stick around"; Hermione noted the desperate tone in her voice and tried to shake it. She was relieved she had now completed what she thought would be the most difficult part of her day, the performance of the charm, but that did not mean she wanted to hang around and admire her handiwork. In fact, all Hermione wanted was to be away from this place she once called home. The two people in the kitchen of this house did not have children, and for the time being at least, they were not Hermione's home.
Mad Eye regarded Hermione wearily before moving past her and toward the kitchen to where her parents sat. "I'm sorry Weasley or Potter couldn't come to collect you" Mad Eye called as he walked into the kitchen; "for security reasons it just wasn't possible".
Hermione took a deep breath to steady herself. After forcing herself to remember that very soon she would be in the Burrow she entered the kitchen after him. Mad Eye was leaning against the Kitchen counter regarding her parents with his good eye. His other (eye) spiraled in its socket until it landed on Hermione, twitching slightly as it focused on her.
"Did it take long?" he asked quietly. Hermione cleared her throat once again. "Three attempts, I did a lot of research of the symptoms those charmed successfully show under the Obliviate charm, and my par-...they seem to display six of the seven". "Aye Granger" Moody nodded, "Well it seems like you have done a good job". They moved back to the hall, Hermione glancing at her parents one last time before closing the kitchen door.
Mad Eye had grabbed her trunk and opened the front door. He paused, closed the door again and looked at her. "You remember what we agreed upon last night?" Hermione nodded a lot more confidently than she felt. "Right so, we'll walk straight outta the house down to the end of the road. Once we're there we'll enter the small alley beside the last house on the left, check the coast is clear, and disaparate to the Burrow. We should end up on the tall hill closest to the house. That clear?" "Yes Sir" Hermione replied, grabbing Crookshanks and her small beaded purse. "Alright then, better be off" with that Moody opened the front door and walked straight out down the road.
Hermione was thankful, as his fast pace gave her no time to pause and mourn the home she grew up in and now had no choice but to move on from.
