Preface
Hermione emptied out the contents of her bag on her bed. As usual it was brimming with about a dozen books about the most random subjects. Some about dragons blood, others about potions and some light fiction reading. One book however stood out amongst the mass of paperbacks and leather bound covers. Most of the books were sensible colors like brown or black. This one however, was a flamboyant purple. The cover had rhinestones and the title (sparkly like the rhinestones) read, "Mystical Magic: An In-depth Look into Prophesies and the Truth Behind Them".
Hermione picked up the book opened it to the first page. The spine cracked just as most books did when they were opened for the first time. She read the first couple lines before getting frustrated and throwing the book back on to her bed.
"Rubbish… I can't believe I wasted money on that." She muttered as she proceeded to finish unpacking her things. While unpacking her jeans her eyes kept traveling back to the obnoxiously colored book. Slowly she folded all of her clothes back into her closet until she finally reached the bottom of her trunk.
The final item in her trunk was her oldest winter jumper. It was fraying on several of the edges and it was one that her mom had made for her when she got her first letter from Hogwarts. The sweater was by no means a nice one. Both her and her mother shared the inability to knit, sew or draw. And, to add to it's frumpy appearance, several edges were frayed because it was the one she always wore to bed in the winter or under her clothes while going to Hogsmead. She never wore it out unless she planned on covering it with a jacket, not since- she winced before the thought had time to form in her head.
Well, it looked like she couldn't put it off any longer. She pulled the her sweater from her trunk, careful not to drop it. Once it was placed on her bed she began to delicately unfolded it. Outside the sun had just set and she hadn't bothered to open her lights. It was almost dark in her room but slowly as she drew each layer and fold back, a blue light began to emit from somewhere in the center of the fabric. Finally she unsheathed the glowing object from inside and the light from the object gave off a blue glow illuminating everything in the room. She pressed her fingers into it and she could feel the light glass tremble underneath her nonexistent strength.
All she needed to do was smash it and she could leave all this foolishness behind her, all the confusion. Every belief she had prided herself on holding was now being questioned. Prophesies were made by people like that Treneway so that they could feel like they contribute something useful to the world in order to escape their sad lives.
The contents of the of the small orb swirled around in a mesmerizing way. All she had to do was break it and she could move on with her life and pretend she never heard what it had said down in the Hall of Prophesies. Her fist clenched around the orb. Just a tiny bit more pressure and she would be free.
"Hermione!"
Surprised, she dropped the orb and it traveled across her rug halting once it was hidden under her bed.
"Yes Mum?" Her voice sounded unnaturally shrill.
"I was just going to say dinner-" Her mom walked in, "Hermione why are you sitting in the Dark?"
She flicked the switch on, "Why were you in the dark dear? You look traumatized. Is this about what happened to you last week?"
Her mother sat on her bed while reaching out a comforting hand to Hermione, indicating for her to join her. Hermione Obliged.
"Yeah, last week. That's why." she mumbled into her moms shoulder and she got pulled into a hug.
"I know that must have been hard to see your friend's godfather die." She said to her while rubbing the back of her head, "But me and dad will always be here for you honey. Okay? When you're at Ron's house don't hesitate on sending an owl. Even if they do scare song birds away."
"Thank you mum. It has just been a stressful year." A tear leaked down Hermione's face and her mum hug her tighter and then pull away.
Her mother's expression was sad while she studied Hermione's face, "Sometimes I feel like we made a mistake when we sent you to that school. If you want to leave…"
"It's home mum, just as much as here. I can't leave now just because things got hard." Hermione swallowed down all her anxiety and sadness. She didn't want to rain down any more of her magical problems on her parents when they were already worried sick because of everything they read in the prophet.
"You've always been a smart lady and if that's what you want then fine. I'm sure they will catch this dark lord soon anyways now that they're done sticking their heads into the sand. Everything will get better soon. Now lets go get dinner before your father finishes it."
Hermione nodded and let herself be comforted. Even though deep down she knew things were only going to get worse. For someone who rarely trusted her gut and superstition she found her self falling victim to both traps. She walked down stairs to eat dinner with her family and the orb stayed under her bed, forgotten, for the rest of the summer.