DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any other of J.K. Rowling's characters.
Author's note: I hope you enjoy reading my story and please, leave a review. They always make me feel good. J I will update once a week, usually every Friday night. Thank you Kris for beta-reading, your are a fantastic beta and I don't know what I would do without you.
All kinds of comments and criticism are welcome.
This story is being written for a Writing Challenge on Fawke's Ashes. You can find the criteria I have to match right here:
Summer Holiday Challenge
Write a fic of the trio's ( or - any additional characters you wish) Summer holiday. It can be the Summer holiday after OoTP or a later one.
You must include at least 3 of the following things...
- a character gets sunburn
- two characters kiss
- a game of some sort is played
- a character says "I wouldn't be seen dead in a bunny suit! Least of all pink!"
- two or more characters have a fist fight
- a character cries
- a character gets a cold
- a character says "Stop doing that, I might catch something."
- a party
A Summer's Tale
Chapter 1
Much Ado about Nothing?
Hermione couldn't believe that only a month before she had debarked from the Hogwarts Express for the very last time as a student. NEWTs had long since passed and she had been anxiously waiting for the exam results to arrive, ever since she got home to her parents.
Today was the day. She had known from the very moment that she opened her eyes in bed that today the results would finally arrive, and there they were.
A brown Barn Owl had dropped them graciously on her desk and swooped back out of the open window, without even waiting for a treat.
The brown envelop lay there innocently, only waiting for her to open it. Hermione knew that her results would probably be good, but good was not good enough. Hermione Granger never was satisfied with only being good. She had to be the best. Her fingers trembled and she could feel nervousness sweep over her body in tiny, but rapid waves that sent jolts down her spin and made her stomach churn.
Carefully, with bated breath, she tore at the wax that sealed the envelope. It broke easily and just as carefully as before, she unfolded the letter.
A grin spread on her face. Passed, she knew she had passed, failing was out of the question. And then, her grin broadened.
"Top of the year," she whispered, then screamed "Top of the year! Mum, Dad! I made it! I am top of my class! Mum!"Hell seemed to break loose in the Granger Household that day in early August. As soon as Hermione had read the results, she had stormed down the stairs and straight into her parents' dentist rooms, regardless that they were actually treating patients at that moment. However, sometimes there are more important things in life than caries and teeth, and Mrs. Granger as well as her husband stopped being dentists for that day and instead celebrated their daughter's success.
Later that day, after all Grandparents and uncles and aunts had been phoned and told that Hermione had finally gotten her exam results and had now officially left this "posh school for specially gifted children somewhere up in the north where you can't really go and visit," the Grangers sat down to have tea.
"Well, Hermione," her father said and put down his wineglass. He had opened a very special bottle of red wine to celebrate the occasion. "We haven't really talked about this yet, darling, but, do you already have thought about your plans after Hogwarts?"
"Oh, of course, Daddy, you see, there are millions of possibilities. I could apply for a job at the Ministry of Magic or try and pass the entrance exam for Aurors-" Hermione said, excitement clearly audible in her voice.
"Well, darling, sure," her mother interrupted her and shot a knowing glance at her husband. Putting her hand on her daughter's arm to calm her down a little, she cautiously continued, "Hermione, your father and I have been talking about your future, too, and we thought, well, we thought, why don't you try and go for a normal career?"
"A normal career?" Hermione repeated slowly, deliberately emphasizing the word normal. "I can understand if you don't want me to become an Auror, Mum, but a job at the Ministry is perfectly normal and safe, I guarantee you."
"No, Hermione, when your mother said normal, she meant something, well, something non-magic."
"Pardon?"
Her mother was now fidgeting in her seat nervously. She was still patting Hermione's arm and gave her a tentative smile. "You see, we thought you might want to go to college. Or if not college, maybe you'd like to start working in an office or for a newspaper or something. As you said, there are countless of opportunities."
"Hermione, you're a sensible young woman. You're nearly eighteen and it's about time you start thinking about your future, you can't honestly believe that you can earn a living being a witch." Mr. Granger added, perhaps sounding a little harsher then he actually intended to.
Hermione couldn't believe what she had just heard her parents say. She was speechless. Hadn't her parents always been there for her? They had even come to Diagon Alley and seen what the Wizarding World was like.
"So you suggest I give up being a witch?" she asked slowly.
"No, no, darling, you misunderstood us entirely," her mother said with a little laugh. "No, you can still perform your magic round the house, if you want to, some of these household spells come in really handy-"
"But you don't want me to get a wizarding job? Or go to a wizarding university?" Hermione finished the sentence for her mother.
"Hermoine, look, don't you think your grandparents start to wonder sometimes what you're doing? In the past seven years you hardly paid them a visit, you hardly even were at home! For heaven's sake, don't you think that they ask us what's the matter with you? They can't send you letters since they can't very well owl you. It wasn't even possible to give you a phone call up there in this bloody boarding school! I'm sure the whole family would be delighted to hear that you're a witch! They'd all think we'd gone crazy! Oh, right a witch, that's-"
Hermione didn't bother to listen to the rest of her father's words. She had gotten up from the table and had run upstairs, locking herself in her room. Tears threatened to fall, but she blinked them away. No, she wouldn't cry. Hurriedly, she grabbed her backpack and stuffed some of her books and cloths in it. She couldn't stay here in her parents' house another minute. She needed to get away this instant, she had to talk to someone, someone who would understand her. Outside, she could hear her mother come upstairs, already, she knocked at her door and called her name.
Clutching her wand and her bag tightly, Hermione said "The Burrow", and with a loud pop, she apparated away.
"I told you, Ron, you stayed outside too long," Mrs Weasley said and applied some after-sun-potion on her youngest son's face.
"But, Mum, it's not even warm outside. I honestly didn't think I'd get sunburnt," he wailed. "Ouch, that hurt, can't you be a bit more careful! Ouch!"
"Ouch," echoed Ginny her brother. She was playing a lively game of Exploding Snap with Fred and George and the three of them were enthusiastically filling the small room with smoke, booms and bangs. The twins had developed a new set of cards where from time to time the cards of one player would explode without reason, setting a little hex free at the same time and right now Ginny was their guinea pig. Already, she sported some nasty red spots and green whiskers. Her mother frowned looking at her, but turned her attention back to Ron.
"Yeah, Ronnikins, you look like a lobster!" laughed George and played another card which, again, exploded right in Ginny's face and turned her whiskers pink.
"Oh, Ron, you might have finished school, but you're certainly not yet grown-up and neither are your siblings," she sighed, "A grown-up would have known that you can get sunburnt even though there-"
Unfortunately, Mrs. Weasley's speech was interrupted by someone apparating directly into the middle of her living room.
"Hermione!" Ron shouted and got up from the sofa, nearly knocking the potion-bottle out of his mother's hands. "What are you doing here?"
Without waiting a second, Hermione threw herself into her friend's arms. "I got my exam-results today and-"
"Wait, don't tell me you failed, you're looking so solemn, I might really believe it," joked Ron and gave her a hug.
"No, I'm top of the class-"
"See, I knew it. Why didn't you owl us the results?"
"Hermione, top of the class, that's fantastic! Your parents must be awfully proud." Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "Ron, I'm sure your results will be here soon, too, then!"
Ron paled a little despite his sunburn, but Ginny, being still a year and this summer holiday away from the NEWTs exams, squealed "Congratulations!" and played a card with a particularly nasty leg-locker hex which this time hit Fred for a change.
"Thank you, " Hermione replied weakly and sat down on the sofa.
"What's the matter, Hermione? You don't look the least bit happy. What happened?" Ron asked, as his mother bustled out of the room to put the potion away.
"I…kind of had a fight with my parents. Not really a fight, but, oh Ron, it was awful. Do you think I can stay with your family for a while?"
"No problem, I'm sure Mum won't have anything against it. You can stay with Ginny as usually." Ron sat down next to his friend and put his arm around her.
"Yeah, you can always have the second bed in my room, Hermione, no problem at all," Ginny assured her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Ron, "or would you like to go somewhere else, so that it's only the two of us?"
Hermione ignored the catcalls coming from the twins and shook her head.
"It's all right, we can stay here. You see, I really thought my parents would be happy for me, Ron, they really seemed happy and we celebrated and everything…and then…then my father started talking about me getting a job and I said I wanted to work for the Ministry or be an Auror…and well, they said I should stop being a witch!"
"You can't just stop being a witch, you're born a witch!" Fred laughed. "Muggles, they really think one could stop being a wizard."
Ron shook his head. "Really, Hermione, you shouldn't take their words too seriously. Fred's right. Your parent's are Muggles, you can't expect them to understand magic."
"What does that mean, Ronald Weasley?" Hermione asked.
Ron was fidgeting in his seat uncomfortably. Hermione's tone told him was walking on glass right now and if he wasn't careful, he would have to suffer from the consequences.
"Come on, they don't know anything about magic, it's only natural for them to keep their daughter down to their level of ability."
"Down to their level of ability? Has Malfoy hit you on the head with the Quaffel too often?"
Oh, too late. Ron had practically seen it coming, but hadn't been able to stop it. Not that these verbal fights was new to him, quarrels between Hermione and him happened on a nearly daily basis, but this time, he felt he was right for once. After all, he hadn't said and meant anything in the way Hermione interpreted it. However, he was good natured enough to try and explain his words to his friend.
"No, Hermione, you got me wrong, I didn't mean it like that, it's just that they're Muggles and-"
"Muggles! Ron, I thought you should know better than that! It doesn't make a difference whether one is born a wizard or a Muggle!" Hermione screeched. Had everyone around her gone mad?
Ginny, Fred and George had stopped to play cards and were looking at her.
"Hermione, calm down, it's just that Muggles-"
"No, Ron, I don't think I want to hear that any longer." Abruptly, Hermione got up and before Ron or anybody else could stop her, she had again apparated away.
Lucius Malfoy was pacing restlessly up and down in his study. How could have things gone so wrong? Hadn't he always done his best to ensure that his son got the finest education possible for a pureblood? Hadn't he always tried to promote his son? To help him and support him? He should have never given in to Narcissa's wishes. It had been a mistake not to send Draco to Durmstrang. Now, he himself had to pay for this decision. It was not only that his marks could have been better, it was more his entire attitude. His son was weak, a coward. He wasn't worthy of the Malfoy name. But Lucius Malfoy would make sure that his son would finally see how he was to behave!
A timid knock on the door ended his train of thoughts quite abruptly.
"Yes! Come on, enter, I don't have all day!" he hissed as he walked in front of the fireplace and sat down in one of his comfortable, squashy armchairs.
Draco entered the study rather cautiously. He was well aware of the fact that his father had probably gotten hold of his NEWT exams and judging by the look on his face, he wasn't at all too happy.
"You wanted to talk to me, Father?"
"Well, want is not really the right expression, Draco, or do you think that any father enjoys talking to his son about the most horrible marks in a century?" was the sarcastic reply.
"I didnt fail, did I?" Draco's voice wavered. As cocky he was when he was with his mates, as timid and unsure he turned when he had to face his father.
"No, you didn't fail, but your marks are a disgrace none the less! Do you know who came first in your class? A Mudblood!"
"Granger," Draco whispered. Deep down in his heart he had known that it would be her. How could it not have been here, the bane of his life, second only to Harry Potter?
"From now on, I'll take matters in my own hands, Draco! I'll personally take care of your further education regarding all means necessary to make you learn how to behave, what it means to be a Malfoy!"
There was an open threat in these words. Draco could nearly feel the cold of the icy tone with which they had been spoken. He shivered.
"If you wish it," Draco finally managed to say, his hands curling into fists.
"Yes, I do indeed wish it. Now leave, I've got something else to do today as well."
Draco nodded and made his way to the door. It took him a lot of control not to break into run. All he wanted to do was run, run as fast and as far as his legs would carry him and never return back to his father. He had always admired Lucius Malfoy, always wanted to be like him, but he never even came close to fulfilling his expectations. It was fruitless, he'd never be good enough for him.
"Hello?" Petunia Dursely answered the phone with her usual sneer.
"Hello, this is Dr. Granger speaking, is Harry at home?"
"Dr. Granger? Harry-, well-"
"Please, Mrs Dursely, it's urgent, can I please talk to your nephew?"
Harry's aunt eyed the telephone suspiciously, whoever wanted to talk to her nephew was a very strange person in her opinion. However, this man was a doctor and he seemed to be quiet normal so, in short, she called Harry downstairs and handed him the phone.
"Hello?" Harry asked incredulously, it was quite out of the ordinary that someone would give him a call.
"Hello, Harry, this is Mr. Granger, Hermione's father."
"Oh, hi," Harry answered.
"Listen, Harry, we had a little argument with Hermione and now she has gone, and we don't have a clue where she could be. She is not with you, is she?"
"No, I'm sorry, she is not here."
"Well, okay then, you see, it's just not like Hermione to run-off not leaving a note-"
"Mr. Granger, I think she'll probably have gone to Ron. Don't worry, I'll go right there and check if she is and then I'll send her home to you."
"Thank you, Harry."
Harry could hear the relief in the older man's voice."All right then, I'll be there in a second, I wanted to go there anyway. Don't worry, she'll be all right." With that, Harry hung up. It wasn't typical for Hermione to run away, her father was right with that, but Harry knew her long enough to tell that the first place she would go if ever such a case happened, would be the Burrow. Not wasting another minute, he ran back upstairs, took his wand and apparated. He certainly wouldn't bother to leave the Dursley's a note.
