Okay, so I decided to make "A Way Out" a full story… or at least try to. The one shot is included in this first chapter. I really hate to get rid of my 3 reviews from the one shot… especially the one from Savvy… I liked that one. So, I decided to post those three reviews on my profile page. (I need all the reviews I can get. :P)
Enjoy :D
A Way Out
By: Somethingwithatail
Chapter 1: Brotherly/Sisterly Love
Hermione settled into the lawn chair on her balcony, thinking about how her summer had been going so far.
She had gotten home from Hogwarts and received the usual greeting from her parents. The next couple of days had been pleasant enough, but Hermione could tell that her parents needed to tell her something. They just wouldn't. She waited almost another week before curiosity got the better of her. Then, she asked her parents what was on their minds.
Oh how she wished she'd never said anything. Her parents were worried that she wasn't 'experiencing a normal life for a teenage girl'. They rambled on and on about everything from the fact that she still hadn't had a boyfriend and she was already almost 16 to the fact that they – her parents – had barely even seen 'their little girl' since she started attending Hogwarts her first year.
Hermione was willing to bet that the fact that she had seen more danger in her few years at Hogwarts, than any 'normal' person would in their whole life, would have been a major part in her parents' ramblings. It would have been, had she actually informed them about the many times she, Harry or Ron had almost died. She smiled thinking of the look on her parents' faces if she were to tell them that she had once had a werewolf for a teacher and was now friends with an escaped convict. Well she used to be friends with one…
Thinking of Sirius made her think of Harry and she could only imagine how hard Harry was taking his godfather's death. Sure, Hermione had known him but she had mostly talked to Remus instead of the troublemaking Sirius. Harry, on the other hand, had grown very attached to his father's old best friend.
Hermione sighed. Her problems seemed bad but she knew Harry's must be much worse.
A few days after her parents had finally said what was on their mind, Hermione had gotten sick of the way they were treating her. She wasn't six anymore and she could have fun on her own. Apparently her parents couldn't figure that out by themselves, so she told them. Yes, she – Miss Perfect – had yelled at her parents. They were now not on the best of terms and any conversation at all was strained.
She still loved her parents (and always would) but, by golly, she had had enough of them for the summer. Usually they all flew somewhere far away and stayed in a nice hotel for a week or two which probably would have eased the tension a bit, but this year they hadn't planned on flying. No, they had driven from one tourist trap to the next. Hermione had gotten tired of seeing the "Biggest Ball of Yarn Ever Made" and other things just as trivial quite quickly. In her opinion, summer was supposed to be for relaxing with a good book or hanging out with friends, not being dragged non-stop from one place to another by her parents.
It was just when everything started to get back to normal when it happened.
Hermione slid down the wall near her closet, silently crying. She couldn't take it. Her life had seemed so perfect just days ago. Then they had the fight. It was only then that she realized that her father truly was an asshole. She had always known that he was an egotistical, hypocritical, 'nothing's ever my fault' type of guy, but know she knew. He was pure asshole.
That's why she was sitting by her closet – the only place where no one would find her unless they walked all the way into her room (which was pretty much impossible considering the mess). She was sitting there, crying as quiet as she could, and thinking.
Thinking is a very dangerous thing. Thinking causes realization. Realization can cause a lot of pain that you might not be ready to face. Unfortunately, some people don't have the option of not thinking. Hermione was one of those people.
So, as she sat there in her room looking around and thinking she realized something devastating. She had nothing. Nothing at all that she could truly call her own. Everything she had really belonged to one of her parents. And judging by what had been going on the last few days, her parents were getting a divorce. Unless her mother decided to be a complete wimp, they were going to separate.
With that she realized would come a decision of her own. Who to stick with – the lady that has been a wimp for all her life or the plain old asshole. Hermione hated both. She loved her parents – she had to – but she hated wimpy girls and asshole guys with all her heart. She didn't want to support either one.
She wouldn't go with either one. That meant she'd be alone. She looked around again. Nothing was hers. She had no money – except for in her bank account. Wait! Her bank account! No… she couldn't take money out without her parents permission until she was 18. She could sell her stuff… what stuff? She looked sadly at her waterbed, her CD's, her stuffed animals, her collection of knick-knacks… None of her stuff was hers!
She could run off to a friend's house. Not Harry's – the Dursley's barely put up with him. What would happen if one of his weird friends from school showed up at their doorstep? She didn't think it would be pretty.
She could go to the Burrow… No. They already had enough children. They don't need another mouth to feed. That left…
Hermione sighed and bowed her head in defeat. That left pushing aside her morals and picking the lesser of the two evils. But which one was that?
Her father never helped do anything around the house. They had had a party a few days before and her father decided he didn't need to help get ready for it at all. That got her mother upset and (of course) he had no clue why she would be upset.
Then they had started yelling at each other one morning a few days later. Hermione still wasn't sure what the argument was about. It had gone out to the garage where her father started complaining about the mess of clothes and such that was sitting in the garage waiting to be put in storage. He flung one box out into the driveway. It broke and clothes flew everywhere. He got even madder, so he grabbed his truck keys and flew out of the driveway. And when I say 'flew' I mean he flew. He was on two wheels most of the time and he made ruts in the yard the size of Asia.
All her mother could do was cry. The wimp.
The next day, Hermione had gone to wake him up for work. She had gotten something thrown at her and the response, "Fuck work!"
She had wanted to say something mean back, so badly. But what if her mother wouldn't get a divorce? If she didn't, Hermione would be stuck living with him until she could get her own place. And she knew that the only way to live with her father was to stay on his good side.
She had to leave. She had to get out of there. Even if it was just for a little while. But where would she go?
She heard footsteps in the hallway and tensed up. Were her parents trying to find her? The footsteps stopped, then turned into her parent's room.
Her stomach was whirling. She had to leave. She couldn't live like this. If she did, she was no better than her mother.
She vowed never to allow herself to get in a situation like this again. Never again would she rely on someone else to live. From now on she would make her own way. But that meant she needed to get a job. Her shoulders drooped. She couldn't get a job. First of all she wasn't old enough for most places to hire her and secondly, she had to go back to Hogwarts. She couldn't have a job while she was at Hogwarts.
Her shoulders drooped even lower. She really was stuck. There was no way out.
She didn't know how it would end up. All she knew was that she needed out of there, at least for now.
She looked at her calendar. It wasn't even July yet. It was still a little early for her to be going to the Burrow until school, but… It would work. It had to work.
It was official. Hermione's mother was a wimp. She hadn't gotten a divorce. She just brushed off his two-day outburst as stress from work or something. This meant that while everyone else acted like everything was normal, Hermione couldn't. It was too late. She'd already had her realization, and she still knew she was stuck if the same thing ever happened again.
She mostly stayed in her room or on the balcony coming off of her room to stay away from everyone else. It was here on the balcony, where she had been reading, when Pig had arrived with a letter from Ron. A letter granting her escape from this prison she called home.
She couldn't wait to see Ron, Ginny, Fred, George – heck, all of the Weasleys and maybe even Harry, at the Burrow. She wanted to be back in the world of wizards. Her few muggle friends were nice but they were nothing compared to all her friends at Hogwarts. Actually her only muggle friends were her neighbors. Even when she was in primary school she hadn't had many friends (she had been too busy keeping her grades perfect).
She sighed happily, remembering the day she had received her acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How glad she was that she had found Hogwarts…
Hermione looked at the digital alarm clock next to her that read 8:16. Her eyes shifted to outside, where it was just starting to get dark, then to her bedroom door. The Weasley's wouldn't be expecting her until the next day, but she knew her parents weren't going to let her go. She had to go anyway.
"Goodbye," she whispered to her door. She really wished she could just say her goodbye right to her parents' faces, but she knew it wouldn't be a good idea.
With one last look at the note she'd left them, she swung her legs over her balcony and looked down. It was a short drop, she'd never actually jumped from there before, but she knew that she could make it. Without another thought she pushed herself off and landed as quietly as possible.
She slipped by the living room window where she saw her father watching the telly. She started down the street and kept going until she was in what she decided was a safe place for her next move.
She looked up and down the road. No cars. A little unsure, she slowly held out her wand hand. In a flash a triple-decker bus appeared in front of her splashing water from a nearby puddle all over her.
A scraggly looking man in a purple uniform stepped out and announced with a practiced air, "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening. Now, may I take your bags?"
He looked up to see the water soaked Hermione in front of him and added, "Sorry 'bout that." Hermione shrugged it off and just got on the bus.
"Where's ya destination?"
"The Burrow, ummm…" she started to panic, realizing that she didn't even know the location of The Burrow. How could I forget to look up something as important as that? she asked herself.
"Don' you be worryin', Miss. We know the Burrow. We'll 'ave you there in no time. Just sit down 'ere," he gestured to a bed right in the front, "'Old on. We're movin''gain."
No sooner had Hermione sat down when she was jerked onto her back by the force of the jumping bus. She sat up and looked out the window at the small city that they had just appeared in.
"Dincha 'ave any luggage, Miss? Do we 'ave to go back for it?" Stan had just noticed that the only thing the newest passenger had with her was a backpack.
"No, this is all I have with me," Hermione responded.
"Well, the Burrow's not very far. It'll jus' cost ya 'bout," Stan pushed a couple buttons on a little wizarding calculator he'd pulled out of his pocket and continued, "six sickles an' a knut."
She reached in her pocket and sorted out the correct amount, handed it to the waiting Stan and turned back to the window.
"We'll 'ave ya there in no time, Miss."
Without looking away from the window, Hermione nodded her head to confirm she'd heard him. Then she let her mind wander to what she had with her and what she was going to do once she got to The Burrow.
All she'd brought was a couple days of muggle clothes, her wand, and Hogwarts, A History.
She hoped that the Weasley's wouldn't mind her showing up a bit early. She was pretty sure that Mr. Weasley would jump at the chance to go into a muggle house to get her trunk from her room. So far everything had gone according to plan. Now, she just had to wait to see if the rest worked out as smoothly.
Hermione thought of getting some sleep but decided that, between her nerves from running away and the craziness of the bus ride, she really wouldn't be able to. So, instead she pulled out Hogwart's, A History and buried herself in it.
Just as she was reading about the origin of Christopher the Grey, one ofthe more strange portraits in the castle, Stan's voice yelled out "The Burrow" and pulled her out of her book. Taking a deep breath, Hermione stepped off of the bus. As soon as both her feet hit solid ground, the bus disappeared in a whoosh of air.
Hermione looked up at the familiar home in front of her. It was obviously only still standing because of magic, the smell of Mrs. Weasley's great cooking wafted out to her, and she heard laughter coming from inside. She automatically felt safe and loved again. She only remembered that they still weren't even expecting her when the front door opened and one of the twins came out shouting something over his shoulder to someone inside. Hermione suddenly felt very worried. What if they won't let me stay? She looked for a place to hide. Too late.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
"No!"
"Yes! I won! You have to take out the trash."
George grudgingly picked up the garbage bag and headed toward the door, glaring playfully at his twin. "Just you wait. You'll get what's coming to you!"
"Looks like I already have," Fred said, reclining back with his hands behind his head and a content smile on his face.
George just shook his head and continued out the door. Right away he saw Hermione standing on the front lawn – Wait! Hermione? What's she doing here?
"Hermione?"
"Uh… I- um…," she paused and composed herself before continuing, "I was wondering if it'd be okay for me to stay a day early." She berated herself mentally for how stupid that had sounded.
"I don't think Mum will mind," he took a look at her and noticed that she looked like she'd been stomping in mud puddles so added, "But, what happened?"
"Well, it's a long story."
"Just let me put this," he gestured to the bag he was holding, "in the trash can, then we can both go inside and you can tell everyone what's going on, 'kay?"
Hermione just nodded her head and started walking toward the house. She was still worried about Mrs. Weasley's reaction and became more and more nervous the closer she got to the door. When she finally reached it (she'd been walking really slowly), she seemed to forget how to open it and instead just stared at the door knob like it was some new concept in a book that she couldn't understand.
She was just about to turn around and go the other way when George reached around her and opened the door for her.
"Oh, thanks…" she trailed off still worrying. What if Mrs. Weasley didn't approve of Hermione running away from home to stay at The Burrow? She wouldn't kick her out would she? Or make her go back home?
"Hermione," George looked at her searchingly, "Are you okay?"
Hermione just nodded and stepped inside.
Fred had been balancing his chair on one leg but lost his balance when Hermione walked into the house. This caused a loud crash at which Mrs. Weasley looked up from her cooking to scold her son but instead spotted Hermione. "Oh! Hello, dear. You're here a bit early. I hope you had a nice summer. Ron and Ginny are in there," she said as she pointed to a door Hermione knew led to their sitting room.
Before Hermione could be amazed at how accepting Mrs. Weasley had been about her showing up early and unannounced, Fred exclaimed from the floor, "Well golly! If I would 'a known that we got a pretty girl for taking out the trash I would have actually volunteered!"
Hermione blushed and started toward the sitting room door. Just before she reached it though, she turned back to the twins only to find that only one was still there. "Wait, where did… umm… the other of you go?" The remaining twin laughed at her choice of words and nodded toward the stairs.
"Well," continued Hermione, "I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to me outside there. I'm sure you could tell I was worried so thanks for not teasing me or something."
For a second the boy looked confused then understanding filled his eyes and he said with a small chuckle, "Oh, you think I'm my brother. No, George," he nodded to the stairs again, "was the one who was outside with you. But he didn't tease you, huh? I'll have to go yell at him." And with that Fred bounded up the stairs.
A little embarrassed about getting the twins mixed up after knowing them for so long, Hermione turned back to the sitting room door. When she stepped into the room she was attacked by squealing red hair. Actually, she realized, it was just Ginny hugging her.
"Hi, Ginny!" she walked over to Ron, dragging Ginny with her. She gave Ron a quick hug, which he sheepishly returned.
"Hi, Ron! How has your summer been?"
The smile that had previously been plastered on his face disappeared instantly and was replaced with a grimace.
"That bad, huh?"
Ron opened his mouth as if to respond but then promptly closed it again, his head rolling up to throw a glare at the ceiling.
Hermione threw a confused look at Ginny and asked, "What's up with him?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and said smugly, "He's just sore 'cause he can't talk."
Ron looked about ready to jump at Ginny.
"Can't talk?" She glanced over at him and saw that he looked about ready to jump at Ginny so she put a restraining hand on his shoulder. He jumped and looked at her very strangely.
"Well," Ginny glanced toward the kitchen then lowered her voice, "since Percy is gone, Ron is Fred and George's new favorite target."
A strange gurgle came from Ron and Ginny smiled at him, "Hey! He's starting to get his voice back!"
"Wait, Fred and George invented something that could cause you not to be able to speak?" she glanced over at Ron, "Is his tongue swollen up or something?"
"No. He just doesn't have any control over his vocal chords. The twins are still working on something that will cause them to be the one in charge of his vocal chords but… well, let's just say they aren't having the best of luck."
"They're really continuing with their 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' thing?"
"Yup. Let's see at lunch about a week ago, Ron was turned into a giant mouse for about a minute. Oh, and they invented this really cool stone that you put under your pillow and it makes your dreams come alive. Not really, of course, but it does seem like it."
"So they do have good inventions then?"
They heard a snort from Ron. Ginny smiled evilly at her brother, "Ronnie here happened to be dreaming of spiders that night. Of course that was right after his dream about y-"
Ron really had jumped on her this time, cutting her off before she could finish telling Hermione what he had been dreaming about. They tumbled onto the floor and then Ron clamped his hand tightly on top of his sister's mouth. He tried to talk a few times but it was in vain. He still couldn't control his vocal chords enough. Giving up the talking bit, he just growled at Ginny.
Ginny bit Ron's finger. He flew off of her and yelped, bringing his 'injured' hand up to his chest.
"Oh, you're gunna get it." He started toward her then stopped and exclaimed, "I can talk!" before being promptly pushed to the floor by his sister.
Hermione sat back to watch the siblings fight, wishing she had popcorn.
Ginny and Ron had finally stopped fighting after Ginny had gotten Ron tangled up in a mess of blankets so bad that he could barely move, let alone fight back. Now, about an hour later, Hermione was sitting on the floor in front of the couch as Ginny sat on the couch and braided her unruly hair. George and Fred were on opposite sides of the other couch in identical sprawled positions. Ron was sitting in the recliner farthest from both the twins and the pile of blankets next to them.
"So, Hermione, why are you here early anyway?" asked Ginny as she finished up Hermione's hair.
"Yeah, and how did you get here?" added Ron.
Hermione looked down at her feet. "I – well, I sort of ran away."
"What?" exclaimed one of the twins as the other asked, "Do you mean to say that you actually disobeyed an authority figure?"
Becoming defensive, Hermione shot back, "I'm not always Ms. Perfect you know. I just couldn't stand my parents anymore and I knew they were going to give me a hard time about coming here for the last bit of summer. So, I decided to leave before they had the chance. I climbed out my window and came here on the Knight Bus."
"Wow, 'Mione, I didn't know you had it in you," said Ron who still seemed shocked that his friend had done anything so rebellious at all.
Hermione glared at Ron and scolded, "I've told you before not to call me that."
"And I've been sure not to listen," he countered with a smile.
Ginny, always the practical one, asked, "So, where is all of your stuff like your books for school and your robes."
Hermione suddenly became embarrassed again. She'd forgotten to ask if Mr. Weasley would mind picking that stuff up for her tomorrow. She explained her plan of having Mr. Weasley apparate into her house while her parents were at work. All of the red heads in the room assured Hermione that her plan would be perfectly okay with their dad.
The next morning Hermione walked into the bathroom to find Ginny with her head hanging over the sink and blood streaming from her nose.
"Oh, Ginny! Are you all right?"
Ginny looked up at Hermione and attempted a smile, "I'm fine. The twins must have substituted my vitamins for some of their nosebleed pills."
"They did what!"
"It's nothing, Hermione, really. It's my fault. I should have noticed that they were shaped a little different… Could you go get me the antidote from their room?"
"Sure. I'll be right back."
She headed out the door, glad to be of help, but stopped and turned back to Ginny when she said, "B-be careful."
"Okay?" Hermione turned and bounded up the stairs and down the hall to the twins' quarters.
Just as she reached the top of the stairs though, she heard Ginny yell up to her, "DON'T EAT ANYTHING THEY OFFER YOU!"
Well, That was my attempt at a cliff hanger. :P Let me know how I did by pushing that little button down there. :D The next chapter should be out in a few days... It's already written (so are the next few chapters as well) but I haven't uploaded it yet and I need to get to a better Internet connection than my poopy dial-up.
Thanks for reading,
Somethingwithatail