A Summer Without Harry Potter

By harrypotter2010

The Invitation

"Hermione, honey time to wake up," her mother called from the other side of the door. It was the first day of summer holiday and this year Hermione had decided that she no longer enjoyed summer holiday. Over the past four years she had become friends with two nice boys from school. The only problem was that she went away to a magical school called Hogwarts. Hogwarts was Hermione's favorite place to be. She had friends there and she had found acceptance by most, not all, of the students.

The students from Hogwarts came from all parts of the United Kingdom. Most of the time they lived together at Hogwarts, a boarding school in the middle of nowhere. During the summer all the students went home to be with their parents. Those who were born with magical parents were more likely to see others, but Hermione was not so lucky. Hermione was born to non-magic parents or muggles, as they are referred to.

When she had left school the day before she knew that life was about to become very different, but how different, she did not know. Hermione had planned a quiet summer writing her friends, catching up with her old friends from her old school, and making sure she was up to date on what was going on in the wizarding world. The most evil, most powerful wizard in the world had returned. His name was Lord Voldemort and most wizards even feared saying his name.

People might find it quite interesting that Hermione was not one of them. In fact she was not scared of Voldemort at all. Her best friend, Harry Potter, had been the one who had defeated Lord Voldemort the first time and as the years had progressed, he had defeated Lord Voldemort two other times.

On a lighter note, Hermione got out of bed and went down to breakfast. Her mother had prepared one of her favorite breakfasts: green eggs and ham. This was one of Hermione's favorite foods because it was based off of her favorite book as a child. As she sat down to enjoy her breakfast a giant bird flew into the window. Hermione did not mind, she merely patted it on the head and took the letter it was carrying out of it's beak. She gave it a bite of eggs, and the owl flew off with out another movement.

Hermione looked down at the letter and recognized the scribbled name as the handwriting of her other best fiend, Ronald Weasley, Ron for short. Quickly she ripped it open. It read:

Dear Hermione,

Hi. How are you? I'm doing ok. Except that for the giant row going on at my house, everyone is fine here. In a week my family, not including Percy, and I are going to stay with Serious. I was wondering if you would like to come along so that you wouldn't be in the dark about what is going on. Dumbledore has already told me that I couldn't invite Harry, but he said that it was ok for you to come. Dad said that if you wanted to come we would pick you up tomorrow by broom. Don't worry Ginny said that you could borrow hers for the trip. I hope you can come. Send an owl back ASAP.

Hope to see you soon,

Ron

Hermione stared at the letter. What was she going to say to her parents? They wanted to spend time with her, but she wanted to go with Ron and his family.

She heard her mom coming back and hid the letter under the table. She wanted to give it a little thought before tell her mom about it. She did not know if it was such a great idea to go away right when she got the time to see her family. She knew that if she went she would not be back until winter holiday and that was a long time to be away from her parents. That was two months longer than the normal autumn term.

Dear Ron,

I'm not so sure that it's ok with me that Harry is left in the dark about all of this. He is our best friend and he deserves to be let in on everything that's going on more than I do. I don't know if I want to come yet because I have barely spent any time with my parents. Because of the Yule Ball I haven't been home since last summer and they wanted to spent time with me. As much as I want to come, I am not really sure if I want to leave just yet. Thank you for the offer and I will let you know if I change my mind.

Keep in touch,

Hermione

Hermione, sitting on her bed, looked down at her letter. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon and she was trying to make a decision about Ron's invitation. She knew it was what her parents would have wanted but her heart was calling her to go and be with Ron and his family.

"Arrrrg," she screamed in to her pillow. Why does life have to be so difficult? Why can't I please everybody?

There was a knock at her door. She looked around. "Who is it?" she yelled at the door.

"It's Dad," the voice from the door yelled back, "Can I come in?"

Hermione looked around. She needed a place to hide her letters. Then she saw it, her school trunk, what better place to store a letter than a place where her father would never look.

"Just a second, " she said hurriedly to the door, rushing to stuff her and Ron's letters into the trunk.

"Come in," she said.

"Hey honey, what are you up to?"

"Nothing."

"Have you made any plans for this week yet?" her dad asked.

"No, why?"

"Just curious. You seemed a little sad to be home this time and I didn't know if you had made plans to see your friends yet."

"No."

"Are you sure you're not up to anything?" her dad asked quizzically.

Hermione glanced quickly at the trunk.

Her father must have seen her because he walked over to it and took out two pieces of parchment that had been sticking out. "Are you really going to abandon your friends to hang out with your mother and me?" her father asked.

Hermione thought about it all that afternoon. Her father seemed ok with the fact that she may decide to go. Her mother understood, but she still wanted to spend some more time with her daughter.

Now, Hemione sat at the edge of her bed looking at the half-unpacked trunk in front of her. She had had only two days with her parents. Yet she found herself wanting to go and be with Ron. She had told her parents that she had decided to go, but she had not sent a letter back to Ron just incase she should change her mind at the last minute.

Sighing, she picked up the books all over her bed and began to re-pack them. While she was packing she came across a piece of paper that had fallen from her potions book. She picked it up and opened it.

Dear Hermione, It read:

I am writing this to you in hopes that you find it soon. Hopefully when I am not around. I just wanted to tell you that you looked amazing at the Yule Ball last night and that sitting in classes with you will never be the same for me again. I think that you are the most amazing person I have ever met and that you deserve better then Victor Crum.

The letter ended just like that. No your secret admirer, no just joking, not a singal way to know who had sent this letter to Hermione.

Hermione was shocked. Who had written this? Did they write it as a joke or were they serious?

At that moment there was a tap on the window. Hemione went to it and opened it to let the little owl inside.

It flew around the room excitedly. Hemione had to chase it around the room to take the letter off its leg.

When she finally got the letter and opened it she discovered that it was a letter from Ron. It told her that he needed an answer sent back with his owl, Pig, as soon as possible.

Knowing what to do Hermione attached the letter she had written earlier to his leg and sent him off into the night.