Hermione stared at the piece of paper in front of her. She was currently sitting in her bedroom trying to think of a new song to write for her band. That's right; Hermione Christine Granger was in a band but one that specialized mostly in rock but did other genres as well. She was the lead vocals and guitar player. It was hard work but the results were so pleasing that when they first started they didn't want to give it up so she and three friends put together their band 'MADE'. Each letter in their band name stood for their own names; Mia (Hermione's nickname), Alex and Daniel (the troublesome duo as known in her neighbourhood) and Elizabeth even though her nickname was Lizzie; it just made the band name easier to work with.
Their band was known throughout their neighbourhood but they hadn't made it to the big city yet and this next concert could help them accomplish that dream. The four of them had been friends since nursery and had recently started living together. Although the others were muggles, they were aware of Hermione being a witch and though it added spunk to her personality. They had decided that since Hermione's parents had been killed earlier that summer, they should move in with her to help her get through their deaths.
All her friends were at the shops at the moment. They had asked her if she wanted to come along but she had just replied that she would be fine and needed to start writing another song for the upcoming concert. However, Hermione could do anything but think of new lyrics for the concert. Her head was filled with mindless rubbish and she needed to get rid of it, fast. She groaned and fell back onto her pillows in deep thought about her life. She thought about how her last year at Hogwarts was going to turn out. She was pretty sure no one was going to recognize her since she practically decided to have a make-over; bad choice on her part. Lizzie decided that she would be the one to help Hermione with her make-over. Non-stop shopping for three days running was not Hermione's nor the twin's idea of fun but the results had made her satisfied enough. Also at the start of the summer, she decided to take off the appearance charm had had on her since before her first year at Hogwarts. The truth was that Hermione didn't have shoulder length hazel hair that was like a bird's nest, or muddy brown eyes. She wasn't actually that short and she didn't not look attractive. Once the charm was off, her friends had smiled as they remembered this to be the Hermione that they used to know. She now had waist length dark brown (near black) hair that was straight until near the middle where it all curled into beautiful ringlets. Her eyes were now a shocking sapphire blue and her skin was a beautiful creamy colour that suited her well. She no longer stood at a small 5'5 but at 5'9 with quite long legs that showed off her height. All in all, she looked gorgeous and every time she was outside the house, the twins would get very protective of her as she had many onlookers. Also her entire wardrobe had changed and so did her opinion about make-up. She didn't wear much of it but enough to enhance her natural beauty.
Hermione thought about what was going to happen this year. Voldermort had been defeated by her best friend Harry Potter at the end of his sixth year but quite a few Death Eaters remained and the Aurors were still hunting them down. Death Eaters were the ones who had killed her parents earlier that summer and because she was of age, she fought them off from killing her and then once they were gone, she put numerous protection charms around her house and her friend's houses. There had been no more Death Eaters since that incident but Hermione was sure that they were going to strike again soon. Hermione desperately wanted to go over to the Burrow, where the Weasleys lived to make sure that they were okay but she knew better than to put both herself and their family in more danger. Hermione lay there thinking for a while longer until inspiration struck her from nowhere and she sat up and began to write furiously. After a few minutes she proof-read her work and smiled proudly down at the note pad.
That was one good song I just wrote there. She thought smugly.
She placed the note pad on her bedside table and made her way downstairs to watch some television and make some lunch. She made herself a sandwich and settled herself on the sofa before switching the TV onto the news channel.
Nothing new on…there's nothing ever new going on in the normal world. It sucks. She thought annoyed.
Just as the news finished she heard the front door open revealing a rather happy Lizzie with lots of shopping bags and a set of two disgruntled teenagers who looked like a couple of corpses. Hermione held in a laugh at the sight.
"Have fun?" At this, the twins exploded. After a couple of seconds Lizzie joined in, making Hermione regret asking the question and resulting in her having one large headache once she got them to shut up.
"So did you have fun while we were out?" Alex asked.
"Yeah loads. I wrote a new song for the upcoming concert which we need to get rehearsing for and I also had a nice chocolate spread sandwich for lunch." Alex and Daniel made drooling faces at this.
"We didn't even get to have lunch! Lizzie wouldn't let us sit down let alone have lunch!" Daniel exclaimed furiously. Hermione felt sorry for him as she knew the horrible experience of shopping with Lizzie.
"I'll make you lunch. Give me two minutes."
A few minutes later, the four friends found themselves laughing at Hermione's jokes and Alex's bizarre commentary. They carried on until they heard a fainting banging noise coming from the kitchen window. Daniel got up and went to find out what it was. A few seconds later, back he came, swearing profusely whilst holding what looked like a fluffy brown ball, but Hermione knew it to be her best friend Ron Weasley's owl, Pig. Hermione laughed at Daniel's face and took the frantic owl from him to get the letter. She opened it and read it out loud.
Hermione,
Hey how are you doing? We haven't heard from you all summer and mum insisted I sent a letter soon otherwise you'd get the idea that we abandoned you. Anyway, I wanted to know if you would like to come over for the rest of the summer on Saturday. Harry is going to be here and so is the rest of my family…even Charlie, Bill and Fleur! So if you get bored with me and Harry, you can go and talk to one of them. Anyway, I would love to stay and chat but I have to sort out the gnomes in the garden. Just come along by floo on Saturday…but don't come at some stupid hour in the morning…I WON'T BE UP! See you soon!
Love Ron
Hermione finished reading the letter and looked up. Her three friends were looking at her with mouths wide open and their eyes the size of saucers.
"We have a problem." Alex said breaking the silence.
"What? What's the problem?" Hermione asked confused.
"The problem being that our concert is on Saturday in the evening. We don't mind you going after the concert but you can't go before. We need this concert!" Daniel said frustrated.
"Okay let me just think about this." Hermione put on a thoughtful expression before snapping her fingers and looking at the boys and Lizzie.
"Can I invite my friends to the concert? You know, give them those backstage passes or something? Surely there won't be a problem with that?" Hermione asked hoping that there would be no problem with her suggestion. The others looked at each other in doubt.
"You'd have to ask the owner of the stadium. He's the one who deals with the tickets. We don't have a say in it."
"Do you have his number?" Hermione asked frantically. They nodded and handed her a business card with an extremely long number on it. She grabbed the phone and dialled it. After about half an hour she finally got through and talked to the owner for a few minutes before coming to an end. She turned off the phone and smiled at her friends.
"I got my friends some backstage passes!" she exclaimed excitedly. She couldn't wait to tell her friends.
"That's great Mia! Don't you think you should go and tell your friends though?" Lizzie asked. Hermione nodded at the statement and hurried to her fireplace.
"I'll be back soon…I hope." Hermione was about to yell out her destination when Alex yelled,
"Don't get killed!" Hermione just gave him a withering look making him cower back behind his twin, before yelling out 'The Burrow!' And then she was gone.
Hermione fell out of the fireplace not as graciously as she had hoped but graciously enough to fall onto the sofa. She coughed a few times before sitting up and adjusting her vision to look at her surroundings. She smiled to herself; nothing had changed at the Burrow. Everything was in its exact place as before; the dishes were washing themselves, the wool was knitting itself and then she saw her favourite piece of furniture; the family clock. During the war, she and Harry had been added onto the clock as they were practically part of the family. She watched her face move from 'Hermione's House' to 'Home'.
Yep. Nothing's changed. She thought happily.
She stood up and walked into the kitchen expecting everyone to be eating lunch. She found the room empty and wondered where everyone was; until she heard joyful screaming coming from outside in the garden. She made a turn and started making her way to the back garden where she expected everyone would be having a picnic. Sure enough, she found everyone sitting happily on the lawn, watching Harry and Ron chase Ginny with a branch they found on the ground. She carefully made her way towards them and stopped a few yards away before making a coughing noise to get the attention of the family. They all turned at the sound and stared with mouths wide open. Harry, Ron and Ginny hadn't noticed until Ginny ran to Mrs. Weasley and asked for a drink.
"Mum what's wrong?" Ginny asked worriedly. She looked at where her mother was looking and gasped.
"Hermione?" she whispered barely audibly. Hermione simply nodded at the statement. Ginny screamed loudly, snapping everyone out of their reverie. She ran up to Hermione and hugged her tightly.
"Oh my goodness! Look at you! You finally took off the charm! I'm so pleased you did; you look so much better in your natural form. You look gorgeous." Ginny rambled until Hermione stopped her by saying a simple 'shut up'. Then Mrs. Weasley came up to them and gasped.
"Hermione? Is that really you?" Hermione just nodded in response. She squealed and hugged her tightly in one of her infamous hugs whilst shouting to the rest of the family that she was there. They all came up to her and smiled.
"Hey everyone." Hermione said smiling happily at them.
"Hermione, you look beautiful. What happened?" Ginny and Mrs. Weasley glared at Fred for the statement.
"Its okay…I know what he meant. This has always been my real form…I just didn't like it at school but I decided this year its time to change. So I took off the charm. You like?" she asked playfully. Fred and George both responded with just a nod and made drooling faces.
"Looks like Ron is going to have some competition this year; the boys at Hogwarts won't be able to keep their hands off our Hermione!" George said dramatically. Ron's ears turned beet red and he shot a death glare at George for the uncalled for statement. Hermione shook her head. She didn't have any feelings for Ron anymore. She couldn't risk losing anyone else too close to her like her parents. She drew in a long breath to calm herself; she couldn't think about her parents now. It wasn't the time or the place to become a drama queen.
"Hermione…are you okay? You've gone a bit pale." Harry asked worriedly, looking at his best friend with concern. Hermione put on her best smile and looked innocently up at Harry, who had, yet again, grown over the summer.
"I'm fine…really. You don't need to worry about me."
They caught up on everyone's summer, however when it came to Hermione's turn, she didn't know what to say. She didn't really want to say that her parents had been killed at the start of the summer…it was a kind of turn off in the conversation. As if by magic (alright enough with the eye rolling! I know its magic!) they heard a loud crack from behind Hermione and quickly turned around to find the second eldest Weasley son standing there in all his glory.
"Hi everyone! What you up to?" Charlie Weasley asked, his mischievous eyes sparkling with mirth.
"Don't you 'hey everyone' me Charlie Arthur Weasley! You went missing for three months in Romania and you had better have a damn good explanation for why I got a letter saying that they presumed you DEAD!" Mrs. Weasley screamed at him whilst hugging him tightly.
Charlie awkwardly patted his mother's head whilst whispering soothing words into her ear. Hermione remembered her mother doing that after she had told her parents everything that was going on at Hogwarts and in her world. They had been worried sick but she was glad that they were at least out of harms way now. She cleared her throat and everyone looked at her. Before she could speak however, Charlie interrupted her.
"I don't mean to be rude Miss but I've never seen you before. I'm Charlie Weasley as I'm sure you gathered. May I ask what your name is Miss?" Charlie asked politely letting go of his mother and kissing Hermione's hand very lightly. Hermione was not fazed by this action and instead smiled sweetly up to him.
"My name is Hermione Granger. Best friend of one Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. You may or may not remember me, but we met briefly last year at Bill and Fleur's wedding." Hermione said still smiling up at him. Charlie was taken aback by this response and took this as a chance to look over her. She did have some of the Hermione he knew in her but she didn't look anything like the old Hermione Granger he had grown to know last year. This woman was simply outstanding. She looked so elegant and graceful. However, when his eyes met hers he saw that she was the girl he remembered…shy and polite with an impossible temper. But there was something else behind the sapphire eyes that shone with happiness…she had suffered too much in the past year and that was weighing down on her. Behind her eyes, she was just a small, fragile child who had lost everything that she had once had and had seen her world crumple and shatter into a million tiny pieces in seconds before her eyes. And that is how Charlie Weasley became involved in Hermione Granger's life history.