Summary: When Hermione's life is turned upside down by a discovery made after her 19th birthday, she heads to the one place where she can feel safe- Harry's. After some deep reflection, she decides that perhaps the best way of getting over her personal problems is to start anew. OC characters will be present, but will play a very minor roll. AU where the Epilogue didn't happen, and Voldermort's defeat played out as in JKR's novel.
Disclaimer: I make no fortune, nor fame by the writing of this work. All belongs to JKR and her wonderful imagination that started it all.
A/N: While this is not my first story, it has been one that has been niggling in the back of my mind recently. I hope you enjoy it, and onto it.
Chapter 1: The After Affects
All that could be heard vibrating about the house was the sole slamming of a door, the front door to be exact. The brunette stalked to the garage, threw her shrunken trunk into the boot of a mint condition forest green 1962 Jag, E-type. She climbed into the drivers seat, and threw the car into reverse. Taking the driveway at a speed unlikely to keep her safe, she flew out onto the road and drove. She went nowhere in particular; there was nowhere she wanted to go. She drove until the gas gauge told her that the car was out of petrol. She pulled into the nearest station and threw three words at the attending; "Fill 'er up". She sat back, seething at the news that had ruined her life; at 19; a survivor of a war that had taken many of her close friends; news that could do this was truly horrific. Her mood was so foul that she didn't hear the attending telling her that her tank was full. She pulled out her VISA© and handed it sullenly to the boy, his eyebrows lifted; but he didn't say a word. A few minutes later she was on the road again, now heading for the one place she knew she could seethe without questions being asked.
She pulled into the parking lot, turned off the car, and proceeded into the dark and dirty little bar. The sign above the door read 'The Leaky Cauldron". She moved silently into the dark depths of the pub she had frequented often in her youth, she skulked to a corner table and threw an order at the bar tender, "Firewhiskey". The man placed an old bottle in front of her, along with a dirty glass. She used her wand to clean the vile thing and poured herself a hefty drink. This process continued until the bottle was half gone, and the woman who had been consuming it was rather pissed. She threw several galleons onto the dirty table, took up the bottle and left the pub, no longer in the mood to be around the nameless people and the inquiring faces. She returned to her car and once again tore out onto the road, this trip was short, consisting of only a few turns and twists in the road. She parked the car with disregard to how it would look pulling into a driveway of a house that in fact did not exist to the Muggles living in the area, and pulled her trunk from the boot of the forest green car. She looked up at the grandiose mansion sitting in plain site to someone who knew the secret, and with a sign and the bottle in her hand, she walked to the door and lifted a new looking doorknocker, in the shape of a lion.
'Typical' she thought with a somewhat dim smirk, as she waited for the door to open.
Slowly the dark coloured front door opened, revealing the one person who would know what she was feeling, her best friend, and her confident.
"Hermione? Is that you?" the Boy-Who-Lived asked,
Nodding, she entered the house and threw herself into the arms of the man she'd come to love as a brother, and burst into angry sobs that wracked her body.
The door closed to the house simply known as 'The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix" drowning out the sobs of one Hermione Granger.