Hermione sat in her room at the Burrow huddled on her bed. Tear tracks streaked her face as she stared out the window into the yard and watched the rain falling down. All the young witch could think about was her parents. She knew that she could never be with her family again. Even though they had won! Most days she could bear through it with a smile engraved on her face, though she always had an under lining of unhappiness in her. Others, like today, she just couldn't pull herself together and wound up lying in bed all day. This had begun to cause problems between her and Ron's fresh relationship. He got frustrated with her a lot due to her depression. He just didn't understand what it was like to have no family to turn to. She understood that he had lost Fred, but he still had many family members to turn to where as Hermione did not. He was easily angered due to his constant foul mood fueled by Hermione's depression. Speaking of Ron, she could hear him fuming down the hallway, and it seems she could hear Harry arguing with him, almost sounding like he was trying to persuade him to change his mind on something.
Her ears perked up to listen in, hearing Harry's voice, "Ron, think about this first. Things are still fresh; you've seen me in the same position. She just needs time."
She?
Hermione sat up straight as her door swung open and Ron marched in, followed by Harry making a move to grab his elbow.
"No Harry," he said with a finalizing tone then turned to the sad witch on the bed, "Hermione, you need to leave. I can't stand you being here anymore! My family is always so sad for you and I'm always pissed off because you're acting so selfish and stupid!"
Hermione's shattered emotions turned quickly to anger, "I'm acting selfish?!" she screeched, "I. HAVE. NO. FAMILY! If you're too much of a right git to get that, then fuck you, Ronald Weasley!"
The young girl felt completely out of control of herself as she open-hand slapped Ron across his pale, freckled face, his cheek turning as red as his hair. She 'accio'd' her trunk from their school years and used the wingardium leviosa spell to quickly shut her things in it. She grabbed a handle and started heading for the door, using wandless magic to push them aside. She stormed to the hallway and just as she reached the stairs she felt someone else tug on the other handle of her trunk. She whipped her head back to find Harry watching her with sad eyes.
"Where will you go?" he asked quietly.
Tears sprung from her eyes again and she choked out, "I don't know." She dropped her side of the trunk, leaving all the weight to an unprepared Harry, as she plopped down onto the stairs. He quickly adjusted and used his wand to shrink the trunk to pocket size. He descended to her level and sat down, pulling his best female friend into his arms.
"Ron is being a right git. He just doesn't understand yet. But he will, Mione. Please stay." Harry rubbed her back as she sobbed into his chest.
"I don't want him to. Not after this. He will never understand, Harry. He has the emotional range of a teaspoon," she repeated a quote from her 5th year, "I can't stay here Harry. The whole family just makes me miss my own."
This gave Harry an idea, "let me floo over to Grimmauld Place. I'm sure Sirius and Remus would be more than happy to have you stay with them. They need a woman's touch around that house," Harry joked, trying to lighten her spirits.
At first, Hermione declined, but after some convincing and Ron bumbling into the staircase she decided it was for the better. As Harry popped over the rest of the Weasley's in the home came out of their respective areas to see what the ruckus was. Molly stopped short of the stairs seeing a distraught Hermione and a fuming Ron.
"What is going on in here?" she asked, looking behind the former couple to her only daughter, Ginny, who also had inquired to the commotion as well. Ginny shrugged and looked pointedly at her brother and assumed sister-in-law, then noticed the small trunk sitting by Hermione's feet on the stairs.
"Are you leaving, Mione?" she quickly asked.
Hermione lowered her head and softly said, "Yes. I may be going to stay at Grimmauld Place. Harry's talking to Sirius right now."
"But why, dear?" Molly continued for information.
Hermione looked Ronald straight in the eye as she spoke, "it seems Ronald doesn't want me here anymore. Says I've become a bother to everyone."
Molly and Ginny both looked taken aback and both rushed to change her mind while scolding Ron for saying such ridiculous accusations. Hermione, though, raised her hand in request for silence and the stage.
"It's okay. I understand. Things are a little uneasy for me here anyways. I just miss my parents, and seeing your family everywhere here is just a little hard for me. It'll be easier there," she reassured them.
Molly seemed to understand, saying, "alright dear, well if you need anything at all or just want to pop in you know you're free to do so. And I'll be expecting you here with those boys here every other Sunday for lunch, like always."
"Of course," Hermione smiled and nodded to both women.
Harry returned, bringing good news that Remus and Sirius had no problem and even had began preparing a room for her.
"They said you're welcome to go over at any time and get acquainted with the place while they restore one of the unused bedrooms. It should only take a little while," Harry finished with.
"Thank you, Harry. I'll go now. Have a good day, you all," Hermione hugged Harry, then waved goodbye to the rest of the Weasley clan before grabbing a handful of floo powder and disappeared to Grimmauld Place; House of Black. She stepped forth from the green flames of the fireplace and took in her surroundings. Last she had seen it; it had been the main location of the Order of the Phoenix. Now, it was just a house. An old family house. A home where two best friends lived.
"And I'm intruding…" she accidentally said aloud the thought that just forced its way to the front of her mind.
"What was that, Ms. Granger?" Remus startled the young witch as he appeared at the top of the stairs holding a bundle of various items in his arms.
"Oh! Professor, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked to stay here. I'm intruding and bothering you and Sirius. I'm so sorry to have tried to burden you bo-" she began to ramble her apologies, but was stopped by a hearty laugh from her best friends Godfather, Sirius Black.
"Hermione, don't you even worry about any of that. We'll make good use of you," he winked in joking flirtation at the innuendo in his words.
"Ex-excuse me?" Hermione was slightly taken aback.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Granger, you'll have to excuse my friend. He's quite intoxicated and what he means is, naturally, you'll be sharing household chores. Nothing more," Remus assured.
Hermione let out a small breathy laugh.
"If you'd like to explore the house we'll just be a few moments longer preparing your room." Her former professor smiled down to her, which she returned.
Hermione walked down one corridor opening a few doors here and there, finding unused bedrooms, storage rooms, and many other odd rooms scattered about. She found a door toward the end of the hallway that looked more ornate than the others. A different type of wood and a sleek long door handle. Intrigued, the curious witch opened the door and gasped in surprise as a large study opened before her, filled with a home library of books. She smiled and began running her fingers over the tomes. After a few minutes of title searching, she settled on a large hard-bound book about Arithmancy number charts. She found a spot on the couch to the far end of the library in front of a large window. Around 15 pages into the book she heard a knock on the door, startling her out of her thoughts.
"I thought I'd find you in here, Ms. Granger. Always seeking more knowledge," Remus chuckled.
"I'm sorry, Professor. And please, you can call me Hermione," the young girl smiled and stood, placing the book back on the shelf where she had found it.
"I will, Hermione. And please, call me Remus."
Hermione nodded in agreement and Remus motioned for her to follow him to her room.
After Hermione packed her clothes away into the dresser and set up a few personal belongings around the room she laid her quilt on her bed and just stared around her new living quarters. It felt odd, to be somewhere so unfamiliar in such a harsh time in her life. She sat on the bed and pondered what to do next when she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in," she stated loudly.
Remus poked his head into the room and smiled at seeing how she had added personal belongings.
"I just made some fresh tea if you'd like to join us downstairs," he offered.
Hermione gratefully accepted the invitation and followed Remus to the library where Sirius was already laying comfortably sprawled across one couch.
"You sure look comfy," the girl joked, tapping his foot as she passed him to one of the armchairs by the fireplace. Remus sat in the chair next to Hermione, across from Sirius and poured their new housemate a cup of tea.
Hermione graciously took the warm cup and plate from him, "I don't want either of you to act differently because I'm here. Just go on like normal, I want to stay out of your way. I refuse to be bother here, too."
"Hermione, if we thought you were a bother we wouldn't have let you stay here. We are quite happy you're here," Sirius sat up and looked the witch in the eyes.
"And I hope you don't believe what Ronald said," Remus added, "you were never bothering anyone."
A small smile slowly creeped onto Hermione's lips, "thank you, both. For everything."
