I am sitting on the floor of my parents' attic. I never knew before now just how many dust covered boxes sat up here, pretty much untouched for years. I am going though my old things, deciding what to take with me when I move out. I'm moving out because I'm getting married. On Saturday.
There is a box, labeled summer, 1991. Things from the summer before I started at Hogwarts. I gently tug the tape off of the cardboard and open the box. On there very top, there is a composition notebook that says, in my 11 year old handwriting (which was neat, but not as neat as it is now) What I Have Learned This Summer. I can't help but smile. I used to make these notebooks every summer so as to never forget. But somehow, I slipped out of the habit. I gingerly pick it up and open the cover.
The first page is blank, save for the word June. On the next page, the list begins. Things I learned in June.
1. Driving stick shift doesn't sound hard. It probably is though.
2. I am not flexible. (Ok. SO I've known this for a while. But I tested it out. I pulled a muscle in my leg.)
3. 12 and up doesn't mean 12 and up. It means don't bring your little children and leave them at the party alone for the hosts to watch.
4. If you want to fit in with your cousin's friends, watch the movie as apposed to reading the book.
5. More importantly, don't try to convince your Aunt that the book Phantom of the Opera is better than the musical. You will end up being wrong.
6. Women in the thirties either woke up at 5 in the morning everyday, had magical powers, or had too much time on their hands. 30s hairdos take an hour to recreate. And that's using modern appliances.
I chuckle at the memories that the list brings back. We'd spent the entire month of June at my aunt and uncle's house for my cousin's wedding. The first day we were there, my Uncle David attempted to teach me to drive stick. The second day, it was decided that I should go to my cousin Isabel's gymnastics class. They tried to make me do the splits.
And on the 3rd day, my Lucy had her bridal shower. The invites said 12 and up. I was not happy, arguing that I was only 11 and more intelligent than half of the adults that would be in attendance. That did not make my Aunt Emily happy. Turned out it just meant unaccompanied. But that was only the first hurdle. Lucy's sister, Janice had invited her friends Ann and Sophia, and they got mad at me when I tried to tell them that the book version of their favorite movie was better (I don't recall the name). After that I stalked off to talk to someone else and ended up in a heated debate about Phantom of the Opera. She said the movie was best. I disagreed. She made me listen to the whole CD. She was right. The music was divine and the lyrics expressed all the intended emotion and more. With the musical version, you don't have to imagine the heavenly works of music- they're there for you. But what really convinced me was when she said that in the show, they actually did make the Chandelier drop- I must say, I was impressed. Though I'm sure they cut out plenty of details.
Then came the actual wedding. Lucy insisted that every woman who was in the wedding party must have 30s hair. I don't know why. It was just one of her things. They were doing hair ALL NIGHT. No one slept. It was horrible.
With a laugh, I look back down at the list.
7. Stay away from baby Alfred. He bites.
8. Do not have anything alcoholic at your wedding reception. Either that, or don't invite your Uncle Andy. And if you must have both, keep them far away from each other. We don't want him getting arrested.
9. Never say you are bored in the car, even if you are. Your dad will attempt to teach you a bunch of crazy road trip games, then force you to play them.
That was the end of the list for June. I can't help but wonder if Alfred still bites. Granted, that was ten years ago, but you never know. From what I've heard from my mother, he's still pretty ornery. I try not to think about Uncle Andy at Lucy's wedding, and instead hope that his wife, my Aunt Mary, will keep him away from the alcohol. The final entry to the list for June reminds me to always bring at least 3 more books than you think you'll need. You won't run out of things to do that way.
I turn the page to find the list for July. It's mostly stupid stuff about someone being a better author or poet than someone else. It doesn't get interesting until number 6.
6. I am a witch.
7. That means I get to go to a special boarding school called Hogwarts where the majority of magical children from Britain go to school.
8. The headmaster is Albus Dumbledore, and the deputy Headmistress is Professor Minerva McGonagall. She teaches transfiguration and is the one who came to tell us that I am a witch.
9. You are not allowed to do magic outside of school.
10. There is a place called Diagon Alley that is full of magic shops where I can get school supplies.
11. School starts on September first.
12. To get there, you take a train from King Cross station at platform 9 ¾. According to professor McGonagall you walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 to get to it.
The list for August starts up on the next page. It's mostly just a list of things I learned from reading my text books and the other books I bought. The only interesting thing on the list is number 8.
8. Harry Potter is 11. That means he will be a first year like me. I wonder if he remembers anything about that night. Would it be imprudent to ask? Probably.
Laughing to myself, I set down the little notebook and go back to digging through the box. Inside I find several essays about books I'd read that summer. Essays that I'd written strictly for my own amusement. I was a strange kid. Along with that, I find my Hogwarts letter that Professor McGonagall gave me. The rest of the box is filled with lots of silly objects that didn't mean very much to me. I close that box and find another, labeled Letters. I open it and find all the letters I wrote to my parents while I was at Hogwarts, all the letters that they wrote to me, and every last letter that either Harry or Ron had written to me. The stack from Ron is the largest. I pull them out and begin to read, giggling over how naive and childish we were- some of the older ones, that is. Reading them over makes me wish that I had continued writing those lists. She had learned so much over the past ten years, and quite a lot of that was learned from or about Ronald Weasley.
I feel a hand tap me on the shoulder causing me to jump. I find that it is Ron and sigh with relief. He smiles at me. "Hey, your mum said that you were up here going through your old stuff. I thought that maybe I could- what are you reading?" He asks, noticing the letter in my hand.
I smile. "A letter that you wrote to me the summer before our 4th year at Hogwarts."
His eyes widen. "You still have those?"
I almost burst out laughing at the surprised look on his face. "Yes, Ronald. I still have them. I haven't read some of them in years, though. This was the one where you invited me to come to the Quidditch world cup and stay at your house the rest of the summer. God, it's remarkable how much we've changed since then. And how thick skulled we were. I mean, Ron, read this." I hand him the letter.
He reads it through and I see a blush creeping over his face. When he finishes he looks at me. "Blimey, Hermione. How did you not realize that I had a crush on you? This is absolutely dreadful. I spent about half the letter making excuses, didn't I? 'I'm not the only one who wants you to come', 'Oh, and don't worry- you're staying in Ginny's room… not anything weird'. Oh, yeah, I definitely wasn't madly in love with you. It wasn't obvious at all. And how did you not notice?"
I laugh at his shock and irritation at his younger self. "Ron, we were 14. And I think that part of me not noticing it was trying not to get my hopes up. And for you, Fred and George had probably been teasing you about it- of course you were going to try as hard as you could to dispel such thoughts from my mind. But that little outburst of yours a moment ago shows just how much we've learned since then, doesn't it?
He shrugs. "Yeah…. Only, sometimes I wish it didn't take time for us to learn all of that stuff. If we could've just figured it out from day one. There wouldn't have been any complications, just us."
I nod. "But Ron, I think the complications are what helped us figure it out. I mean, sure, it'd be nice if we lived in a world where things were easy, but in this world, life is a learning experience. You've got to muddle through a bunch of crap to finally find the answers. It's not always fun, but do you think we would've gotten to know each other half as well as we did if we'd realized that we both liked each other from the off?"
The look he gives me after that shows that he knows exactly what I mean. He kisses my nose. "Well, then I guess it's lucky that I'm marrying a genius. I've still got a hell of a lot of learning to do."