Title: Until you came
Rating: R for future sexual content/ mild language use
Disclaimer: I know I have to say that I own none of this, it all belongs to the perfect J.K. Rowling, whom I consider a Godess. If there is anything that you don't recognise, which is hardly anything, it's all mine. Now...on to the story!
AN.- By the way, just to let you know, this is my first time writing a fanfic, so be gentle with me and tell me how I'm doing.
Prologue:
"Hermione! Get down here. Dinner's ready."
"Okay mum! I'll be down in a bit," Hermione yelled back, turning back to the owl that was perched on her windowsill. She tied a parchment to its leg and then scratched the back of its head. "Okay Hedwig, have a safe trip back to Harry. Make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble now. And take a rest for a while, you hear?"
Hedwig just nodded her head as if she understood at what Hermione requested. She turned a bit, hooting, and then flew off into the black night. Hermione just smiled, closing her window in the process. She then exited her bedroom, skipping down the stairs, and heading into the dining room to find her mother already sitting down at the table.
"Sorry I kept you waiting mum, but I just finished sending an owl to Harry. He wasn't able to go over to the Weasley's this summer and he's been so lonely ever since Sirius' passing. I just still can't believe that two months ago that this all happened. It's been really hard on him. His uncle and aunt are just so cruel to him. They don't understand him." Hermione blinked away some unshed tears. She didn't want her mother seeing her in such a state. She put a small smile on her face. "At least it's almost the end of the summer," Hermione told her mother while she sat down across from her. She noticed that they were the only two sitting down for dinner. "Mum? Where are Michael and dad? Aren't they joining us?"
Her mother had a small smile plastered on her face. "No Hermione, they're not. Your uncle Henry invited them over to watch some football and basically feed them, so no. It's just you and me tonight, honey. Why don't we have a little lady's night out? It'll be fun, don't you think?"
Hermione felt herself grin. She hardly ever spent time with her mother, either because she was finishing some last part of her homework from school or else she was spending some quality time with her friends that she never had time to see anymore. But she was glad that her mother even acknowledged the fact that they needed some time for themselves. Her mother just winked and said that they would leave off somewhere after they ate their dinner.
After they were finished Hermione ran up to her bedroom to get changed into more appropriate clothing for going out. She finally decided on some black hip-huggers with a green peasant shirt trimmed with gold on the neckline and the cuffs of the sleeves. She placed a black choker on her neck and fixed her hair into two half braided ponytails with her bangs lining her face. She put on some strawberry lip-gloss, looking once in the mirror, smiling to herself.
She couldn't believe how much she changed over the last couple of years. Ever since fourth year when Madam Pomfrey fixed her teeth, she had been gaining more self-confidence and had experimented different things on herself. She tried different products that Lavender had given to her, supposed to make her hair straight, but just made it less bushy and put more body in it; having the curls really stand out.
She even challenged herself to try a different wardrobe. She started being brave enough to wear tighter clothing, rather than the baggy ones that she always wore. She had started growing a figure, curves showing in places they've never been before, and she was being noticed by almost the whole male population at school. But she was still quite self-conscience all the same.
She still didn't wear any make-up, which made all the guys go even wilder for her, thinking that she was all the more better because she went for the all-natural look. Harry and Ron definitely had noticed and always blushed when their eyes roamed over to a certain place on her body that they knew they didn't have the right to even glance at. She always laughed it off and told them that they needed to get used to her looking like this because that was the way she was staying. They laughed along with her but she could still see the faint pink color on their cheeks.
Harry and Ron had changed much in physical form also. They both had grown several inches and had grown into nice young men. Although you couldn't say that they matured from what they were, they did look very handsome at times.
She missed Harry and Ron tremendously. She had wanted to go visit them, but knew that it would be impossible because Ron had gone to Romania along with his family to go visit his brother Charlie, and Harry couldn't have any visitors at all, muggles nor wizards, which Hermione thought was just plain stupid. His uncle needed to lighten up.
As she was about to leave, she heard a tapping at her window. She turned to see an owl perched on the windowsill. She walked over and opened the window, the owl jumping in immediately. Hermione noticed a letter tied to the leg, noticing that it was from Hogwarts by the seal, which said:
Hermione E. Granger
Third window on the left side
1135 Elms St.
She untied it from the owl's leg, opened it up, and read the paper.
To Hermione Granger,
You have just been selected to be one of the Prefects for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry once again. Congratulations. You will be in charge of all of the annual activity that will be held in the school, along with your fellow prefects and professors of course, just as last year's. You are also expected to keep a positive and respective attitude towards each of your professors, needing to set the example for your fellow classmates....
And so the letter just basically explained the responsibilities she needed to fulfill. She scanned the rest of the letter to see if they put any information of who the other prefects were.
.... Already knowing that this question will pop into your head of which the other prefects are, we are not quite sure at the moment, but they will be picked before the school year begins. There is a list of the necessities and the school supplies that you will need in your sixth year. Congratulations and hope to see you soon.
Deputy Headmistress of the Disciplinary office,
Professor M. McGonagall
Hermione was mildly confused, but that went away in a flash and was replaced with sheer excitement. She clutched the letter to her chest and let out a small squeal. The owl jumped at this, obviously asleep while she was occupied with the letter. She quickly apologized and walked over to her desk, picking up a small bowl, filling it up with water from the water bottle she left there in the afternoon, and walked back over to the dozing owl.
She placed it down quietly and smiled when the owl opened one eye to peek at her. "I'm sorry little one, I promise it won't happen again. Here, I left some water here for you. You can stay and rest for the night and then leave in the morning, okay?" The owl just pricked at her finger in response.
Hermione smiled. She closed her window and then scratched the back of the owl's head, getting a hoot. She let out a small chuckle when she heard her mother's voice from downstairs. "Hermione? Are you done getting ready yet? The show is going to start in about twenty minutes, and I don't want us to be late. What is it that you're doing up there?" Hermione could tell that her mother was very anxious to leave already.
Hermione gave the owl one last scratch and then left her bedroom. She practically ran down the stairs and into her mother's arms and giggled. "Mum! Oh you wouldn't believe it! One of my professors from school had just sent me an owl with a letter saying that I'm a prefect again for this coming year. I'm so happy! I just want to burst with excitement." She started giggling again.
Her mother just held her and started laughing. "Hermione, that is great news! I'm so proud of you. You deserve it, you really do. Now isn't this just something to actually add to our list to celebrate tonight?" She grinned at her daughter.
Hermione just couldn't keep the smile off her face. She pulled away from her mother and then went into the linen closet to retrieve her black leather jacket. "Shall we go now mum? I do recall you saying that a movie was about to be starting soon." Her mother just shook her head and smiled. They walked out the door and climbed into their car, heading out to the movie theatre.
'What was his name again.... Oh yeah! Orlando Bloom! That was it, oh wow, I can't believe how sexy he is, but he really did play a sissy though.' Hermione thought while she took her jacket off and went to go hang it in the closet. She went to go sit down on the couch in the living room and heaved out a sigh as her mother went into the kitchen to go check the messages on the telephone.
Hermione wondered what Ron and Harry were doing at the moment. Harry was most likely cleaning something or being yelled at by his uncle or aunt, or either being bullied by his cousin Dudley, as usual. Ron was probably having fun, being able to travel around the world, going along with his brother Charlie, wherever adventure bid them go.
Her mother coming back in the room with a frown crossing her face interrupted her thoughts. "What's the matter mum? Did we get any new, disturbing messages?" Hermione asked with a smirk.
Her mother's frown just creased in deeper. "No, nothing of that sort. It's just that I don't understand about your father. He's not here and he hasn't even called to tell us that he was going to be late. I'm just worried is all."
"Well, do you want to call uncle Henry's house just to see if dad left or anything? You know they wouldn't stay too long, seeing that Michael has an interview in the morning."
Her mother smiled at that. "Yes, I know. But the thing is, even if we wanted to call your uncle, we can't because he came by earlier telling us that his phone was disconnected. So there's no way of contacting them."
Hermione thought about it a while. "Well, do you want to go over to uncle Henry's house? Just to see maybe if Dad and Michael decided to stay a little longer? I wouldn't mind driving over there, mind you, only if you would let me."
At the last remark, her mother started laughing. "No honey, I think maybe we should just let them be and go off to bed. I guess we could speak with them in the morning. Come along now."
Hermione sighed and quickly got up from the couch, regretting doing so at once because she just got a long head rush. Once she recovered from that she walked up the stairs very slowly, feeling very exhausted from the night. She went into her bedroom and changed into some pajamas, black tank top with a silver shooting star and matching cotton pants with little silver stars. She walked out of her room and into the restroom down the hall.
After doing her nightly necessities she went back into her room and turned her stereo on, but not too loudly, not wanting to wake the sleeping owl right next to her window. After finding that there weren't any good songs on she turned it off and sat down on her bed. She reached over and retrieved her bag from the floor, pulling out her most favorite book; Hogwarts: A History. She just couldn't get enough of it.
Again her thoughts were interrupted by her mother coming in and sitting next to her. "What's wrong mum? You still worried about dad, aren't you?"
Her mother nodded. "Maybe just a little. I mean...who wouldn't be? Your father has never done this before, being late and all. He would call or something. I.... I don't know, I just have this weird feeling."
Hermione frowned at this. "What do you mean weird feeling mum? That's very unusual, especially from you."
Her mother had an odd look etched in the corner of her eyes, as if she were seeing something, but it went away as quickly as it came. She planted a smile on her face instead. "Oh nothing, just never mind. Ignore me. I'm just speaking nonsense. We'll talk more in the morning." She gave Hermione a kiss on the forehead and then left the room, closing the door behind her.
Hermione wasn't sure what was going on with her mother, but she couldn't do anything about it. At least she thought she couldn't. She just passed it as one of her mother's moods. She climbed into her bed, snuggling herself in, and started reading. A few minutes later, all she could remember was her book falling to the floor and her head meeting with the pillow.
BRIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!!!
She woke up with a start as her alarm clock went off right next to her ear. She brought up her hand and tossed it off to the floor. She tried dozing off again, but to no avail. She groaned to herself, pushing up onto her hands and knees. She climbed out of bed and stood up straight, stretching and yawning. She glanced around and found that the owl had left, seeing that it was nowhere in sight.
Pulling on some slippers and yawning one last time, she tiptoed her way down the stairs, not wanting to wake the rest of the house, and slipped her way into the living room. She grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned the television on, changing the channel to Mtv. She sat down on the couch, but once she did the telephone started to ring. She muttered under her breath while getting up, walking into the kitchen to answer the call.
"Hello? No, she's asleep at the moment; may I ask who's calling? This is her daughter.... What?" Hermione just listened as the person on the other line kept talking, but she was hardly listening. She hung up the phone quickly and made her way up to her parent's bedroom.
It couldn't be true, it just couldn't be. She had to find out though, that was the bottom line. As she closed in on her parent's bedroom door, she paused, not sure what to do if she found out that it was true. She opened the door slowly, quietly. Once she looked inside, she knew at once that her father and brother didn't come home last night because they had been caught in a very severe car accident.
Then a man in a white coat, that looked to be in his mid-thirties, stepped into the room. Hermione and her mother both jumped up immediately when they saw him walking towards them.
"Katherine Granger?" the man asked.
"Yes, that's me." She started wringing her hands together.
"I'm Dr. Phillips. If you wouldn't mind, I would suggest we go into a more private area. For the things we will be discussing."
Once the doctor had said those words, Hermione knew that all they were to be hearing were really bad news, and she wasn't sure if she was up to hearing it. She followed her mother and the doctor down the hall and into an office, apparently his. They both sat down across from him, waiting for him to drop the bomb on them. And then it began.
"Well Mrs. Granger, I'm really sorry to inform you on this, but I have no choice." He heaved out a sigh. "Mrs. Granger, you know that your husband and your son were caught in an accident last night, I'm sure?" She nodded. "Well, your son is in a very critical condition. He's in a coma. I'm not sure when he'll wake, if he wakes at all. But we are positive that he'll live."
Mrs. Granger closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer under her breath.
Hermione couldn't keep quiet though. "What about my father Dr. Phillips? How is he? What sort of condition is he in?" Her mother opened her eyes and looked directly at the man across the desk, waiting for an answer. He looked straight in her eyes.
"I'm very sorry to say this, but... Mrs. Granger, your husband didn't survive the ordeal. He was dead at the scene."
It stayed very quiet in that office for a short time until a low wail escaped from Mrs. Granger's throat. She brought her hands up to her mouth, trying her best to hold back the sob that was threatening to surface. It wasn't working. She fell out of her chair, onto the floor and cried her heart out. Hermione knelt down beside her mother and held her in her arms, rocking back and forth, as tears poured down her own face.
Hermione didn't know what to think. All she knew was that her father was gone, her brother in a coma, not even knowing if he was going to live, and that nothing was going to be the same in her life anymore.
AN.- So how was that? I know it wasn't a chapter, but I just wanted you to get the feel of what Hermione is going through before we get into the real deal. It's sad, yes, but someone has to tell this story. Well please review and tell me what you think. I accept critisism also, its what makes you a better writer. So remember, R&R!