Normal is the Watchword

Disclaimer

This story is based on JK Rowling's wonderful world and characters and I claim no ownership to any of it.. I'm just playing with them all for a bit…

Summary

Following the events of the end of 6th year, Hermione is once again emersed in the world she knew as a child, the Muggle world.

As her summer lengthens with no contact at all from the Wizarding world, and the undeniable feeling that she is being completely left out of something big, she begins to entertain the idea of returning once and for all to that from whence she came.

New friends, a new school and a new boyfriend begin to shape Hermione's decision however everything is thrown into complete chaos by the arrival of Harry, Ron and Ginny who have been sent to Hermione's to stay for the remainder of the summer.

Hermione spends most of her time debating between returning to the magical world and returning to the world she knew so well and has come to love again.

Chapter One: Wednesday July 15th

Hermione Granger was Bored.

Well, she was more lonely than bored, but loneliness led to boredom and all in all, she would much preferred to have been anywhere than where she currently was. Sitting at the long grand dining table in her parents home had once been a sign of being an adult of the family, now it just made her realise how lucky she had been to be a child and those thoughts made her long for the days when things were simple and all she had to worry about was TV shows and dinner time. She scowled unhappily into her breakfast plate and angrily stabbed a piece of bacon with her fork.

Once again her eyes drifted up to the window at the end of the room which overlooked the gardens and she sighed. She was half expecting that either Ron or Harry would eventually break the "No communication" rule and send her an owl, but so far no such luck. She often wondered why they hadn't sent her even the tiniest little note yet - they'd never needed to be pushed very hard to break the rules before, so why were they sticking to the one and only rule which she wished that they would disregard? It had occurred to her over the past few days of boredom, that perhaps they were in a place where they couldn't send owls. That made her angry, to think that they were both somewhere working on finding the horcruxes, but without letting her in on it. She reflected that there had definitely been something off at Bill and Fleur's wedding last week. She was sure that the two of them were hiding something from her. She just couldn't place what it could be.

Logically Hermione knew that Professor McGonagall had been correct when she'd advised them not to owl each other this summer. She'd agreed immediately when she'd realised what the professor was trying to tell the three of them. Harry had looked slightly startled and Ron completely bewildered when the old professor had asked the two of them to "Keep their owls at home" for a few months. Hermione smiled in memory at Ron's "But Professor" response. It was just like him to argue against common sense, and then not have any reason to back it all up, however she was beginning to think that he'd known exactly how boring it would be without even the thought of a letter on the horizon.

Of course he wouldn't even be noticing it, he had the largest family of anyone she'd ever met, and they were all moving into Headquarters in the first week of the holidays, so Ron wouldn't even be missing her. She sighed in resignation; it was the story of her life. Ron, the one person in the world who she wished would take a bit more notice of her, barely even knew she existed. They had been through so much together and she was pretty sure she had been fairly obvious about her feelings for him, but him, being the prat he was, had completely ignored it, or even worse, had not even noticed it. She was sure it was the latter actually, it had taken him until 4th year to even realise that she was a girl after all. Finishing her bacon with an angry crunch she reached for another bit from the platter in the middle of the table.

As she munched on the piece of bacon from her plate, she thought about the previous six weeks at home. Initially she'd relished the chance to sleep in each morning. She was absolutely sure that even though her bed at Hogwarts was comfortable, it never really felt as good as her own bed at home. Each morning she'd wake up and revel in the warmth and softness of her sheets and pillows regretting that she had to leave her lovely warm cocoon.

She'd spent days in the Theatre room watching the DVDs of movies she'd missed during the year and had even bought boxed sets of some of the Television shows she loved. She marvelled at how the wizarding world managed to survive on such limited entertainment. She loved listening to music, but the wizarding wireless surely wasn't enough to keep people entertained!

After exhausting her movies and TV shows, she'd spent days reorganising and listening to her CD collection. She loved so many types of music that her collection had finally topped the 200 CD mark, all alphabetised and organised by genre of course.

Finally after all of her catch-up activities had been completed she'd settled into the familiar rhythm of summer. Breakfast was generally served in the cool spacious Dinning room by the maid, Sophia, up until 9am, leaving her plenty of time to sleep in. After breakfast she would laze in the morning sun with one or another of her books or perhaps do some homework. Lunch was generally at about 1pm and she would be presented with mouth-watering salads, sandwiches or foccacias. She loved Hogwarts food of course, but Sophia's Foccacias were superb.

Hermione's afternoon's were generally her own. She was free to go to the shopping centre in Cheltenham, or walk to the local library or park. She could go out with friends if she wanted, or if she had any for that matter. Generally, however, her summer afternoons were spent the same way as her mornings were, in the shade (or if cool enough, the sun) with a book or some homework. She felt almost like a hermit, and she had to admit, that after the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts, she kind of liked that.

A sound of a shoe scuffing caused Hermione to turn towards the entry to the dining room. There in the doorway was Hermione's mother, Georgina, wrapped in her dressing gown with a steaming cup in her hands.

"Hey Mum" she said unhappily, absently spearing another piece of bacon.

"Morning" said her mother moving to sit on the opposite side of the large table. They sat in silence for a few minutes with Hermione staring out of the window, making a point of not noticing her mother staring at her. Finally her mother broke the silence.

"Darling, I've noticed you are spending a lot of time with your books this summer" she said causally.

"I always do Mum" said Hermione warily.

"Shouldn't you be out doing what normal almost-17 year olds do? Shopping? Gossipping? Going to the movies?" Her mum quizzed.

"I don't know. Should I?" Asked Hermione still trying to maintain a light conversational tone to her voice.

"Well we could go shopping.. You know.. For some new clothes" said Georgina looking pointedly at Hermione's favourite comfortable jeans and faded Blue knit top.

"I like what I wear mum" said Hermione calmly. She'd had this conversation every summer for the past 6 years.

"I know you do Honey, But wouldn't you like to have some new clothes? Some of those ¾ pants that everyone else is wearing? Some leather scuffs? I've been looking through the catalogues dear and there is some lovely clothes in there" she continued.

"We'll see mum" responded Hermione placing her cutlery neatly on her plate and standing from the table.

"What do you have in mind for today sweetheart?" her mother queried just as she went to walk out of the room.

"Nothing mum" replied Hermione pausing in the doorway. She was expecting to be collared to go shopping, or some such thing.

"Why don't we go to the St. James Academy Open day?" asked her mum watching Hermione anxiously. Hermione was surprised by the question, to say the least.

"But mum, I don't go to St. James Academy!"

"But you wanted to from the time you were a little girl, and all of your friends go there now.. why don't we go along? And I'm sure that Sandy and Jen would love to see you"

"Mum.. You know that I.. I just don't fit in with them anymore" responded Hermione. Sandy, Jen and Hermione (who was named Honey at a young age because her name was too hard to say) were inseparable when the three of them had attended St. Catherine's Primary School. She had missed Sandy and Jen when they'd gone their separate ways at the start of first year, however over the years since then their friendship had waned as they discovered they had less and less in common. Hermione felt like she couldn't talk to them any longer as they matured in the muggle world, and she in the wizarding one.

"Nonsense. You've been friends for over 10 years, I'm sure that you'll all click brilliantly".

"But Mum.. I'm.. I'm different from them now" responded Hermione agitatedly. She'd been through this 3 years ago when Sandy had invited Hermione to her sleep over party. Georgina couldn't understand why Hermione hadn't wanted to go.

"And why is that?" asked Georgina in a tone of voice that indicated she thought Hermione had gone mad.

"They go to School together, they know the same people! I don't know half of the people they talk about" said Hermione in response.

"But you could meet all of these friends of theirs today"

"All they care about is Music"

"And you don't?"

"and movies.."

"3 days in the theatre room"

"and.. and.. Boys!" explained Hermione.

"That's natural Hermione. You surely care about boys don't you?" responded Georgina with a knowing smile.

"No.. well.. Yes, but not as much as they do" she responded sheepishly.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Hermione. You just need to give them a chance, and if all else fails, you can always tell them about that boy you have your eye on.. Ron was it?"

"MUM!" exclaimed Hermione anxiously.

"Well its true sweetie. We'll leave at 10. I expect you to be ready"

Hermione walked sullenly behind her mother towards the grand school gates. St. James Academy had been her dream as a little girl – it was the most prestigious school in the area and her mother was forever raving about the girls and boys who attended the school. Hermione herself had stood in awe of the imposing brick pillars, which you passed through to gain entrance to the school, and she loved the great big south lawn with its water feature and gardens. She loved the grand staircases that ran up through the school buildings and the covered walkways that always reminded her of the pictures she'd seen of Oxford University - Another place she'd never get to go she thought bitterly.

Hermione and her mother walked up the covered walkway towards the grand school entrance feeling completely out of place. She had already recognised a number of her primary school classmates and she was dreading the coming meeting with Sandy and Jen. It wasn't that she didn't like the girls, in fact she was actually looking forward to seeing them again, but as she'd told her mother, she didn't really fit with them any more. They were Cool, and Hermione knew that she was about as far from cool as anyone was ever likely to get. She desperately wanted to get this over with so she could go home, change back into her comfy jeans and become boring old Hermione again.

"Honey? Is that you?" exclaimed a giggly voice from just ahead. Hermione looked up to see Jen and Sandy standing just ahead of her Mother.

"Hi guys" said Hermione, pushing a curl out of her face and suddenly feeling inferior. The girls were both dressed in the burgundy and blue uniform of St. James Academy, and even in the conformist clothing of school uniform, they still managed to make Hermione feel like they were trendier than herself. Sandy had short blonde hair swept to one side of her head and clipped with a bright turquoise clip, while Jen had straight chestnut hair which was worn in a messy bun at the back of her head. Hermione tentatively touched her unruly curls before forcing a broad smile onto her face.

"How's that boarding school of yours going?" asked Sandy as she linked her arm through Hermione's left arm and Jen linked her arm through Hermione's right before steering her determinedly away from her mother.

"Fine" said Hermione with another forced smile. The girls, as well as most of her other primary school friends, thought she went to Bainbridge College in Scotland. Bainbridge was a school of academic excellence and no one had questioned her when she'd announced she'd won a scholarship to the school and would be going away to board. Hermione had even managed to field most of the questions about the school when she'd arrived home each summer, when she was younger, she'd wanted to go that school almost as she'd wanted to go to St. James Academy.

"Tell us about it?" asked Jen

"Nah, my school's boring. Tell me about what's going on here" responded Hermione quickly, not feeling in the mood to invent a school life for herself.

"Oh! Well you know that I made the debate team?" asked Sandy giving Jen a mischievous grin. Hermione looked between them and understood suddenly that there was obviously some competition between the girls.

"And I became prefect" said Jen, also giving Sandy a grin.

"You did? Congratulations!" responded Hermione, suitably impressed that one of her primary School friends was actually a prefect at St. James Academy.

"And Chapel won the house hockey competition" said Sandy jubilantly referring to her house of Chapel. Unlike the Hogwarts houses, students were sorted into houses randomly. Hermione shared a grin with Sandy as she had been allocated to Chapel when she'd applied to the school all those years ago.

"And Dixon won the dramatic arts festival" countered Jen.

"And I competed in interschool Tennis with King Charles Academy" said Sandy happily naming the local boys academy. Even though St. James Academy was an expensive and prestigious school, King Charles academy was still viewed with some awe by the students. King Charles had students such as the Princes of England.

"And I led the Tenors in the Kensington Eisteddfod" said Jen quickly again

"And I was captain of the Chapel netball team" responded Sandy

"a lot of good it did them!" exclaimed Jen laughing.

"We still beat Dixon. Even if Spencer was a better team"

"Wow! You guys are busy" said Hermione almost in awe. She thought of the few things she participated in at Hogwarts and rather sadly decided that she hadn't done all that much in the way of school activities.

"Yep! And we're both organising the Summer dance on the day before school starts back. You should come!" exclaimed sandy.

"Yes!"

"No" responded Hermione.

"And Why may I ask not?" asked Jen.

"Its your school. I can't just show up"

"Oh don't worry about that. You can go as someone's date. We'll organise everything" explained Sandy. Hermione still felt dubious but she figured she still had almost six weeks to get out of it.. so she kept her silence.

"Why don't you come along to Justine's party this Saturday night and we'll let you pick someone to take you?"

"Justine? As in Justine Lancaster?" asked Hermione in disbelief.

"Yeah" responded Sandy happily.

"I'd love to catch up with her" said Hermione slightly wistfully.

"Well come on Saturday then. The whole gang's going to be there".

"Who else?" asked Hermione, interested in spite of herself.

"Janelle, Katie, Tim, David, Sean, Mathew, Chloe, Samantha and Brent" said Jen listing off primary school friends of Hermione's.

"what about Damien?" asked Hermione.

"We don't speak to him anymore" said Sandy stiffly.

"He fell in with a.. bad crowd..got kicked out of St. James Academy".

"Bad crowd?" asked Hermione.

"He was dealing Hermione" Hermione almost asked dealing what.. and then she realised. In some aspects (apart from the evil wizard world domination one) Hogwarts was a rather sheltered place.

"oh".

"so yeah, we don't talk to him anymore. JH sided with him too.. so we barely communicate anymore".

"But you and JH were…" said Hermione astonished.

"Yeah. I know. Stupid me" said Sandy.

"I'm sorry Sandy" Hermione said.

"don't worry. I'm better off with out him. Anyways.. there's always Daniel" said Sandy with a twinkle in her eye.

"Daniel?"

"Daniel Coppen"

"Tell!" exclaimed Jen also enthralled.

"Tall, dark hair, dreamy green eyes" said sandy wistfully.

"He sounds like Harry" said Hermione.

"Harry? Is he your boyfriend?" asked Sandy suddenly interested.

"No" responded Hermione automatically.

"ahh. Do you have a boyfriend?" asked Jen intently.

"Not right now" said Hermione edgily "You?"

"Not right now" responded Jen smiling.

"Me either" said Sandy "But I have my eye on one!"

"Me too" said Jen exuberantly. They both looked at Hermione quickly.

"Uh.. me three?" asked Hermione.

"Good girl" said Jen patting Hermione on the hand as they entered the main school building.

Jen and Sandy led Hermione through the halls of their school confidently. They stopped often to introduce Hermione to their friends and teachers. Hermione was amazed at how many people approached them to ask who the girl they were escorting around was.

Hermione unconsciously kept smoothing her hair over her shoulders trying to make the unruly locks sit flat. She had never felt concerned about her appearance before, At Hogwarts she was Bushy haired bookworm Hermione and it really wouldn't matter if she transformed over night, she'd still be bushy haired bookworm Hermione to most people. Here though, she was beginning to feel self-conscious, like perhaps she should have spent some more time tying her hair into a knot at the back of her head like Jen.

Sandy and Jen took Hermione past the Computer Lab, maths classrooms, the economics centre and the art and music school and then they'd excitedly dragged her down to the quad for lunch. Armed with salad sandwiches and a bottle of water each they'd found a spot in the sun and then proceeded to "People watch" as Jen called it.

Over the course of the hour or so that they'd sat in the quad, the three of them had been visited by many of Jen and Sandy's friends. Hermione felt rather flattered at the number of people who seemed genuinely interested in her, and she was also mildly flustered when two boys had managed to squeeze themselves in on either side of her in the growing circle.

After a lot of laughter and fun, an impromptu Frisbee game began near the group and they all joined in energetically. Hermione laughed hysterically as Jen and Sandy sat rubbing their foreheads together after running into each other trying to catch the Frisbee, and then again when Sandy's crush Daniel arrived on the scene and Sandy was so shocked she hadn't seen the Frisbee coming her way. By the time she collapsed on the ground again, Hermione felt happier than she had in years. For the first time since leaving to go to Hogwarts she was a regular normal teenager. She wasn't prefect Hermione or perfectionist Hermione or bookworm Hermione or any of the hundreds of other things she'd been named over the past six years. She was for the first time in a long time, Just Hermione.

After lunchtime, Hermione had been to visit the huge library which the school prided itself on, she'd watched the house swimming teams compete in a small swimming carnival, she'd watched two of the house teams play hockey against each other and she'd visited a chemistry demonstration and history lecture. Sandy and Jen had waited patiently while Hermione had explored the Geography, history and Law classrooms before they ended up back at the front gates where friends once again surrounded them as they all passed by to leave the school. Hermione felt a small thrill each time one of her primary school friends, or even one of the people she'd only just met sort her out to say goodbye and mentioned that they would hope to see her again.

"Hermione. Its time to go" said her Mum suddenly appearing amongst the crowd of teenagers.

"Already?"

"its 20 past four" her mum responded.

"Time flies" said Hermione a little wistfully.

"You can catch up with your friends again soon" responded her Mum looking in surprise as another person patted Hermione on the shoulder and called a farewell. Reluctantly Hermione turned to Sandy and Jen and gave then each quick hugs.

"Well I'd better go guys" said Hermione slightly unhappy that the day was coming to an end.

"We'll see you Saturday though right?" asked Sandy and a tall blonde boy who Hermione couldn't remember the name of joined in "Yes! Say you'll come Saturday". Hermione smiled a genuinely happy smile and nodded her head "Yes, I'll be there. Just let me know where and when".

Sandy nodded and waved her mobile towards Hermione. Hermione nodded suddenly. Of course, you couldn't just send an owl to someone in the muggle world, they'd need to know how to get in contact with her. She quickly fished the mobile her mum had given her last year from her bag and entered Sandy's number. Jen appeared next to Hermione and also reeled off her number quickly. Hermione gave them her number in return and then after a final round of hugs followed her mother out the gates of a place that might just have been her school.

Hermione and her mother walked in silence for a while before Georgina spoke again.

"Did you have fun Sweetie?"

Hermione thought about the question properly before she answered. "Yes Mum. It really was fun. I.. I sometimes feel like.. like If only I'd never.. left.. " she left it hanging.

"I know Hermione. Sometimes the smallest decisions can affect our whole lives" she said philosophically, then changing topics she started again "You seemed to make a lot of friends there"

"Yeah. They were lovely people" responded Hermione smiling at the memory of some of the people she'd met. "I could make good friends with some of them. There was this one guy Scott who wants to do Political Journalism like I used to want to. He wants to go to Oxford. If only I could have chatted to him properly!"

"That's good dear" said Georgina and then she walked on in silence for a little while. Hermione was busy replaying her day in her mind and savouring every moment of it when her mother spoke again.

"Your father and I think it might be a good idea for you to consider St. James Academy as an option for your next school year sweetie" she said warily, obviously expecting a negative reaction.

Hermione stopped dead on the footpath.

"What! No!" Hermione whispered. Georgina turned around to look at her daughter.

"You tricked me!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Don't make a scene Hermione" said Georgina quickly looking around and pulling Hermione the remaining few steps to the car. Hermione reluctantly opened the car door and climbed in. She remained silent until the car was on the main road towards their home before she exploded again.

"You can't expect me to leave Hogwarts! You just can't! I can't believe you tricked me like that! You made me go to that stupid thing! You wanted me to go and have fun so you could convince me to go to St, James next year!"

"Honey, Calm down. Didn't you have fun? Didn't you meet new friends?" asked Her mum Focussing all of her attention on one of her nails so she didn't have to face her daughter.

"No! Not like the friends I have! You can't expect me to just up and leave Harry and Ron! Not with everything that I've been through there!" She exclaimed

"AND! I'd be years behind in a normal school! How on earth could I catch up in time to sit my exams at the end of the year! And I'd have to give up magic! I can't NOT sit my NEWTS!"

"Nonsense, you don't have to give up magic, from what you've told me Ron's Brothers didn't sit their NEWTS and they still do magic"

"That's not the point mum! To not learn all I could about it!" responded Hermione

"You can still learn about it, read your books. I'm sure you can sit your magic exams when you are ready"

"When I'm ready! If I go to Hogwarts, I'll be ready at the end of the year!" she exclaimed.

"No reason you can't still be. You've always been a bright girl. Do you muggle work during the school day and learn your magic at night. Heaven knows you spend enough time reading"

"There is no way I can catch up on enough to pass my 7th year at a muggle school!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Yes there is. You've been reading history books since you were a girl, you love politics, you've still been keeping up with so many of your subjects through your books, all you'll need to brush up on is your maths and science"

"Only maths and science! There is NO WAY I can learn 6 years worth of those subjects in 6 weeks".

"Surely you can Hermione. Your father will help you". Hermione sighed. There was no reasoning with her mother when she had her mind set on something.

"Well,. what about Ron? How could I leave him? And Harry? Harry needs me!" said Hermione angrily.

"Hermione Dear, Your father and I just want you to consider it as an option. Please just think about it. Hogwarts appears to be becoming… unsafe.. and I'd prefer to have you close to home in times like… those.. You go away each year and we don't hear anything from you for months on end, you don't know how much that worries us! And then you come home this year as closed up as a clam! You've told us nothing about what has happened at that school, but I can tell that you are extremely worried about something. Something is different and you'll not tell us what. You haven't received a single Owl from your friends all summer which is strange enough on its own, but then there are the times when you don't think anyone is watching and you look like you are about to cry. You think we don't notice these things! But we're your parents Hermione! We notice everything and we believe that you would be safer here and we could keep an eye on you. Please just think about it?"

"Mum…" Hermione whined not really ready to give any plausibility to her Mothers rant, but it had come as a surprise that her Mother had noticed how upset she was, she thought she'd kept that fairly well hidden.

"Hermione. Just think about it. We don't expect an answer until the end of summer" said Georgina, as George their driver pulled the car into the driveway.

"I'll not change my mind. I'm going to go back to Hogwarts in September" replied Hermione firmly.

"Its up to you" responded her mother Opening the door and leaving the car.

"I just.. can't" whispered Hermione sitting morosely in the back seat of her Family's empty car.

A/N: Hello All. This story is mainly just going to be fluffy and fun, a bit of respite from all of the heavy and dark stuff that I seem to be coming across.. I haven't written or posted anything for a long long time so any feedback is appreciated (in other words, please review) . Mel.