A/N – This feels… different from the first chapter, tonaly. But I'm not sure if there is a way to change that at all. And since it was over two years ago that I wrote the first chapter, I don't think I could get back to that initial tone.
When Hermione left home, she took her camera with her, initially just with the plan of capturing a few moment of the summer with her friends and Bill and Fleur's wedding, without intending on taking it with her when she, Ron, and Harry fled to search for the Horcruxes. A few pictures were taken of the ceremony, and of the reception of different couples dancing, including Hermione herself and Fred, holding her close, not wanting to let her go. She had just reclaimed her camera from Ginny along with a teasing comment about all of her brothers falling for the bookworm when the patronus came declaring the ministry fallen, and Hermione didn't stop to think again for nearly an hour, at which point the camera was in her beaded bag, wrapped in Fred's sweater, and the trio had changed into less formal attire and began to make a plan.
It wasn't uncovered again until the middle of October, by Harry who knocked it loose of the sweater when he went digging for a spell book that was near the bottom of the bag. He teased his friends into a couple of pictures with silly faces to lighten their spirits, knowing that they would be entering the Ministry of Magic soon and it could end badly in any number of ways.
Hermione took a photo of Harry next to his parent's graves in Godrics Hollow, both for herself and to possibly give to her friend when the entire endeavour ended, as a physical connection to his family.
After escaping and healing all of their injuries, Harry took a picture of Hermione wrapped up in Fred's sweater, curled up next to the radio that was tuned to Potterwatch, on which Fred had been speaking as Hermione fell asleep.
In the spring, the trio spent time at Shell Cottage with Bill and Fleur recuperating from their time in Malfoy Manor, and after she had healed and rested, Hermione took pictures of the beautiful house and area around, and her friends, Luna included, that had helped her so much as they took an afternoon to play in the surf, cold though it was.
The camera stayed in her bag after that, up until after escaping Gringotts and returning to Hogwarts, nearly a year after leaving. Hermione couldn't believe the people that were coming to help fight against Voldemort, and the number of students hiding away in the Room of Requirement. As everyone planned, she took out her camera and snapped pictures of everyone, students, professors, ministry officials, and Order members alike, as they plotted what needed to be done.
A few of the older students went to her with news clippings with notes and edits to tell truth from the fiction, essays, and journal entries from the past year, as well as a couple of precious photos of students, her friends, that had remained at Hogwarts that year. Hermione realised her habit of keeping pictures and scraps from past years had been noticed, and the students were helping ensure that she would have a full collection from her '7th year' even though she had not been present for it. Combined with the photos she had taken, it would create an interesting section in her scrapbook.
People continued to come through the portrait on the wall, and finally a pair of red heads peeked through, earning a quiet cheer from the assembled students. Fred and George had arrived, and things were sure to get interesting from then on.
After greeting their various family members, Fred turned and found Hermione, still holding her camera and, she realised, wearing his sweater, something she had begun doing after Christmas when she needed comfort or extra courage. He gave her a wide smile, and she took a picture, never wanting to lose that happiness no matter what happened in the coming days, and then she set her camera down on a nearby table and hugged him, practically curling into him.
"Hello Hermione. I told you we'd be fine. Sorry it wasn't by Christmas."
"Don't say that. It isn't over yet. But I am glad to see you. And now our picture will be complete." Fred gave her a puzzled look, but Hermione just hugged him close one more time, then went to pick up her camera and began rallying everyone together.
It was a much larger group picture than she had ever taken before. Beyond just the Gryffindor students, it was all of the students hidden in the Room of Requirement, which at this point included most of Dumbledore's Army as well as a few others and the Order of the Phoenix. Still, Harry stood in the middle of the assembled collection, as he always had, with Hermione on his left and Ron on his right, with Ginny to Ron's right, followed by George, and Neville, and Fred at Hermione's left side, followed by Luna. The rest of the collection spread around them, the twins and the 'golden' and 'silver' trios as Fred labelled them in Hermione's ear, as she went to set the camera timer. As the light flashed, he leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek, and she had a feeling that this would definitely be her favourite of the pictures that would ever be in her album.
Now she just had to survive the coming battle long enough to put the picture into the album.
A/N – Since I should have been working on a paper for uni instead of writing this, I may come back to it later and try to fix the tone. But don't expect another chapter any time soon. On another note, guess where I am this year for uni? Exeter, UK, also known as the place our dear JKR went to school (who btw owns HP blah blah blah) so I get to see all kinds of places that were the inspiration for things in Harry Potter, like the Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, etc. Lots of fun.