Hey, everybody! I want to thank you for reading this, it's the first story I have posted.
It will be a multi-fic. This is only the beginning (cue evil laughter) and it begins in their seventh year, negating the events in books 6 and 7. This will involve several romances with several characters, but the main will eventually be Hermione and Snape. I have yet to decide on the other pairings they will come to me as I write the story and if you have suggestions, just send them to me
I will try to update regularly since I'm on break right now, but I do tend to procrastinate ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own this, wish I did then I wouldn't have to go college because I'd be rich... but alas, this belongs to the fabulous J.K. Rowling
And this is the part where the curtain falls
And the day dream ends it all
Where the yellow brick road it much too far to go alone
It was the end of the summer.
And Hermione Granger was beyond relieved.
She had been isolated from the magical world in her parent's house for months and the cloud of the upcoming war hovered the entire time. The tension in her house could have been cut with a dull blade, maybe even a sharp spoon.
And Hermione could not take another second of it.
Though the drive to the train station was proving to be worse than the summer itself. She currently sat in the backseat with Crookshanks resting peacefully on her lap. Her father, who was driving the car, maintained a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel and would turn the car in jerky movements. His face remained an unchanging sharp line of utter concentration on the road in front of him; never looking at any person in the car. Her mother, on the other hand, looked like she would burst into tears at any moment as she kept looking back at Hermione and then her husband then her hands then the road then back at Hermione and the cycle of tear filled looks would start over again.
Hermione was looking at her father and his unblinking stare at the road was making her eyes water in dry sympathy.
Hermione then shifted her gaze to her mother, made eye contact, felt her heart fill up with guilt, and then proceeded to look at the only safe place, her cat. King's Cross never seemed so far away as it did in this moment.
The reason for this family's melancholy behavior can be blamed, in Hermione's mind, on two people: Albus Dumbledore and her father. Dumbledore decided at the beginning of the summer before the start of Hermione's Seventh Year at Hogwarts, that he should inform her parent's on the exact happenings of Voldemort, Death Eaters, and their hatred against everything Hermione was.
"So what your are saying is that this guy Vol…Volly…Vole—" Mr. Granger began.
"Voldemort" Hermione supplied out of force of habit while her mind was clearly elsewhere. This elsewhere being of a place that did not involve her, her parents, and Dumbledore in her immaculate living room discussing a war which she would most likely be in the front lines of.
She was trying to find her happy place, one involving books and a very comfortable chair.
She failed at this attempt.
"Right. Voldemort. Is a very strong, evil-"
"Not evil, dark" Dumbledore said with a smile as he sipped his now cold tea.
"Right. Dark wizard. Who came back from the dead three years, has been killing Muggles and Muggleborns with the help of his followers which are called Death Eaters? Is this correct?"
"Yes" Dumbledore said this as he would a student who just stated the correct start and end date of the Goblin Wars.
"And now this Voldemort is planning on starting a war, soon to destroy all the magical people he considers of lesser value and the only person that stands in his way is a seventeen year old boy who is best friends with my daughter and this year He will most likely attack the school, which my daughter attends to get to this boy who is friends with my daughter."
Hermione began to think that her father forgot her name.
"That is the long and short of it Mr. Granger. I hope to see your daughter soon" and with that said Dumbledore smiled, stood up, and showed himself out of the Granger household.
No one moved for a couple minutes until Mrs. Granger let out a muffled sob and Mr. Granger started an imaginative string of cuss words.
Finally her dad jerked the car into a sort of parallel park position and Hermione jumped out the car, causing her cat to ungracefully fall to the floor with a screech of indignation, and surprising an unsuspecting old couple who happened to be walking by the car on the sidewalk that only a second ago was not filled with Hermione.
The trunk popped open and Hermione dashed over to it and started taking out her luggage as her mom slowly exited the car.
"I don't want you going this year" Mrs. Granger barely whispered this, but Hermione would have heard her the same as if she yelled it. She turned and looked at her mother who had her head bowed, her posture slightly hunched, and was wringing her hands in a constant, stress filled motion. She set down the last of her luggage on the sidewalk and shut the trunk. She looked at anywhere but her mother.
"I know…but Harry needs me, Ron needs me, I'm needed there, in the magical world, not this one mom. I belong there" she felt, as she said these words that this was a significant moment in her life where she would decide to take one road or another.
Her mom raised her eyes from the ground and stared at her daughter who she finally realized had changed into a grown woman. She looked at her daughter who now stood tall, confident, and strong; ready to take on the world. She could not have felt more proud in that moment of her daughter. She smiled a sad smile, walked three steps forward, and embraced her daughter in a fierce hug.
"I know" she whispered and kissed her daughter on the forehead.
She took a step back and gazed at her daughter as if trying to memorize every detail that she might have looked over in the last eighteen years.
"I want you to remember that no matter what happens that I and your father will always love you."
At the mention of her father, Hermione looked around her mom and realized that her father was still sitting in the car, gripping the steering wheel, and staring straight ahead at the busy road in front of them.
"Well, that settles it. You are not going to Hogworms or whatever the hell it's called, this year" Mr. Granger stated in a firm voice as he stood from his arm chair and placed his tea cup back on the tray on the living room coffee table.
Hermione who had been sitting on the couch in front of her mother and father and next to Dumbledore who only left a few minutes ago, jumped to her feet.
"It's called Hogwarts dad, which I have been attending for six years, and I will be attending for a seventh" Hermione stated in the same firm voice as her father while placing her hands stiffly at her sides. Her father sent a withering glare in her direction. Her mother sat numbly, quietly in the other arm chair to Hermione's right, and was looking down at her wringing hands.
"You. Will. Not. Be. Going. Back. To. That. School."
"I will be completing my education."Icily calm.
Mr. Granger took a step forward, now standing a hair away from the coffee table that sat in between him and his daughter. "Your damn education is not more important than your life! You will stay in this house and will be attending a normal school this year!"
Hermione flinched at the word 'normal' but still looked firmly at her father. "I am an adult. And I am a witch! I will not go to some muggle school because I am not a muggle!"
Mr. Granger walked around the coffee table and forced his daughter to face him by grabbing her arms and bodily turning her towards him in a desperate attempt to have her see what she will be walking away from.
"You are my daughter! And I will not have you dying at the hands of a maniac just because you want to be more than what your parents are!" Mr. Granger snarled, "I will not have you die—"
"I will not abandon my friends!" Hermione yelled causing her voice to crack as tears welled up in her chocolate eyes as she tried to free her arms form his painful grip. "I am part of that world whether you liked to admit it or not!"
"I don't care about your fucking friends!" Mr. Granger shook with fury that his body could not contain, "You will stay HERE!" He emphasized with one forceful shake of Hermione's body. "HERE!"
His face was inches away from hers and filled with passionate anger. Hermione felt like flinching and running up stairs away from the open, fierce emotion she had never seen on her father's face before, but she held her ground firm. She wrenched her arms out of her father's grip and straightened her back.
She screamed as the tears finally escaped her eyes, "I Don't Belong HERE Anymore!"
A sound of a slap echoed through the Granger house; followed by a sob.
Hermione tore her eyes away from the back of her father's head. Her mother, who followed Hermione's gaze, looked down at the ground, let go of her daughter, and took another step back. She resumed wringing her hands as her dark hair obscured the painful look on her face.
"He is only worried about your safety."
Hermione sent a hard, indefinable look in her mother's direction as she touched her right cheek and said nothing in response. She bent down picked up her two suitcases looked at her mother and started walking towards the train station, Crookshanks followed obediently behind her.
She did not once look back.
Mr. Granger slowly turned his head to watch his daughter disappear into the crowded station. Then he resumed looking forward as a single tear rolled down his cheek, his jaw clenched harder, and his grip on the steering, if possible, became even tighter.
Thanks for reading again.
The lyrics in the beginning is being used to summarize the whole fic and it is a fantastic song by Mariah Mcmanus called Unarmed
Reviews are love!