It was a couple of nights before the start of school and Hermione was packing her trunk when she was startled by a knock on her door. "Hermione?" her mother called then poked her head in the room.
"Yes, Mum?"
"Is there something bothering you dear?"
Hermione thought about it for a moment before answering; "No Mum... why?"
Her mother came in and sat on her bed. "Your Dad and I noticed something was bothering you after we tried to visit that French magic school and then you didn't try to take us near magic the rest of the trip..."
Hermione hadn't realised they'd noticed. "I just miss using magic when I'm not at school Mum..."
"No," her mother interrupted her, "it's more than that... you seemed, I don't know, sad when we couldn't see the school."
How could she explain to her mother that she was disappointed they didn't have a drop of magical blood? "Mum... how come you never had any other kids?"
"I... I..." her mother stammered, clearly she hadn't expect the question. Even though it was what she had come to talk to Hermione about this very thing, she was still surprised when her daughter gave her the opening. "Was it because you were afraid there'd be another witch or wizard in the family?" she pressed.
"God, no, Hermione... you know we've always been so proud of you," she paused, as if trying to find the right words; "Hermione... your Dad and I... we'd been trying for years to have a child..."
"I'm adopted?" Hermione guessed.
Her mother shook her head, exasperated at the interruption; "Will you let me finish?" Hermione nodded; "Good, because this hard enough..." she sighed, "Hermione we did a bunch of tests and we found out that your Dad, well, he can't have kids. But we wanted kids so badly we... we went to a sperm bank."
"Are you serious?" was all Hermione could say.
Her mother nodded and continued; "It was anonymous so we don't really know much about your biological father..."
Suddenly Hermione understood why her Mother was telling her this. "But... you think he might have been a wizard?" She asked incredulous. Her mother nodded; "I highly doubt it Mum, most wizards don't venture very far outside the magical world... I can't see one donating to a sperm bank," she could see her mother was unconvinced. "But maybe he did have magical blood somewhere in his family tree and didn't know it," she conceded.
"You're not angry at me are you? For not telling you sooner?"
Hermione looked at her mother. Angry? No. Confused and having a lot more questions? Definitely. "No Mum, I understand why you waited... does Dad know you're telling me?" Her mother nodded her head. "But you didn't actually answer my question, Mum," seeing the look of confusion on her mother's face she continued; "How come you never had more kids?"
"We wanted to, actually, even visited the clinic again... we wanted to use the same donor because you were so amazing and we thought it'd be nice if you both had the same father... but when we went back they told us, well, that all samples had vanished."
"Well, that is weird," she said as she hugged her mother. "Thanks for telling me Mum... does Dad know you're telling me this?" Her mother nodded. "I think I'll go find him and tell him how much I love him."
Her mother let her out of the hug; "He'd like that... he was worried."
…
Ginny was sitting on her bed in the Leaky Cauldron; one of her diaries in her lap lay unopened. The Weasley's had met up with Hermione and Harry earlier in the day. Before Ginny even had the chance to say "Hi" to Hermione she and the boys had left to get their school supplies. Ginny thought she'd be able to talk to Hermione at dinner but every time she looked her way, she blushed. She couldn't really remember the dreams Tom had given her anymore, but the feelings they had inspired were stronger than ever. Every time she looked her Ginny felt a rush of love and, was it desire? She thought of what Luna had asked at the beginning of the summer... could she be content with Hermione's friendship? She blushed. "Yes," she thought, "but I never realized it'd be this hard."
She was brought out of her revelry by a quiet knock on the door and then the object of her musings poked her head around the door. "Mind if we come in?" she asked, Ginny nodded and was about to ask who "we" was when she saw the cat in Hermione's arms.
"Who's that?" She asked, pointing at the cat.
"Meet Crookshanks... he's part Kneazle, loves me and hates Ron's rat," Ginny started laughing, "What? He's always complaining about his stupid rat and if Crookshanks does what a cat usually does and eats him maybe Ron can finally get a new pet. And well if he doesn't, it'll still annoy Ron, so win win, don't you think?" Hermione finished and, after placing the cat on the bed, sat down next to Ginny.
Ginny looked at the cat more closely. It wasn't what you'd call pretty. More like so ugly he was cute. Crookshanks walked over, sniffed her, and then started rubbing against her and purring. "I think he likes me," Ginny laughed as she started petting the cat.
"I think you're right," Hermione agreed with a laugh as the cat crawled into her lap. She pointed to the diary in Ginny's hand and asked; "Have you been writing?"
"Trying to... I'm still trying to sort everything out," Ginny replied sadly.
Noting the look of sadness on Ginny's face she tried to cheer her up. "Well... I didn't just come in here to introduce you to him," she said, pointing at the fluffy orange cat now curled up in Ginny's lap purring, "I wanted to give you your birthday gift," she said as she took a small slim box from her pocket, and with a slightly shaking hand, gave it to Ginny. She was worried that Ginny wouldn't like it because it was a Muggle thing and that she'd think it was silly.
Ginny took the box from Hermione, carefully removed the gift wrap, and opened the box. Inside was a simple cloth bracelet: it was a dark green with golden Holyhead Harpies talons mixed in. It was perfect. She looked up to see that Hermione looked anxious.
"It's a Muggle thing..." she rushed to explain; "I ran into one of my old classmates before I left for France and she was wearing one. I asked her what it was and she told me it's a Friendship Bracelet. Muggle kids make them for each other and then exchange them as a sign of friendship." She paused, and looked at Ginny anxiously; "Do you like it?"
In response Ginny took it from the box, handed it to Hermione, who looked crestfallen until Ginny proffered her wrist so that she could tie it around it. Hermione sighed in relief.
"It's great Hermione, thank you." she replied quietly. "You made this?"
Hermione nodded. "Took me most of the summer to get it just right. I didn't know your favorite colours but I know how much you love Quidditch. I did a little research and found out about the only all witch Quidditch team and well, there you have it," she finished simply. "I was going to give it to you on the train, but well I thought the boys would think it was just a silly Muggle thing and not understand what it means."
Ginny's voice caught her throat before she was able to ask: "It means something?"
"When I saw it and found out what it was, I thought of you," Hermione explained and then reached over and took Ginny's hand, "I know we don't get to spend a lot of time together but I want you to have a reminder that I am your friend and you can always come to me if you need to talk."
Ginny sat stunned and was wondering if Hermione would feel differently if she knew what just holding her hand was doing to her and starting blushing furiously.
Hermione noticed Ginny's blush and remembered seeing her blush every time she looked at Harry during dinner. "I saw you blushing at dinner... I thought you said you don't have a crush on Harry?" Ginny laughed out loud, startling Crookshanks from her lap, she let her hand go and crossed the room to her trunk. "What's so funny? You did send him that Valentine."
Ginny laughed even louder, remembering the silly dwarf and the poem she and Luna had written as she came back and sat the bed, nervously holding Hermione's birthday present in her hand, before she explained; "That was meant as a joke." At the surprised look on Hermione's face she continued; "I didn't have the diary at the time and I wanted to do something to make you... make everyone laugh. I was going to send you one," she paused looking at Hermione's reaction, "but then I remembered you telling me that Harry thinks I have a crush on him. I made sure the dwarf knew to only give it to him in front of you... I thought you'd find it funny."
"It was... priceless... did you come up with the poem yourself?"
"Me and Luna," Ginny laughed. "We wanted to make it as silly as possible." Ginny played nervously with the box in her hand and then handed it to Hermione. "I know your birthday isn't for a couple of weeks yet but I really wanted you to have this."
Hermione opened the gift and stared at the silver pendant and delicate silver chain. She took it from the box and looked more closely at the pendant. It was the figure of woman holding a turquoise stone over her head, with wings that extended angel-like from her arms to her back. She seemed to be wearing a headdress of some sort and had, what looked like, cow ears. "Did you get this in Egypt?" Ginny nodded. "But it looks so expensive Ginny, I... I can't accept this."
Ginny shook her head. She had a feeling this might be one of the reactions Hermione would have, granted it wasn't the one she was hoping for. "When we won the Daily Prophet prize Dad gave us each twenty Galleons."
"But Ginny..." she interrupted.
"So anyway," ignoring Hermione's objection, "The last tomb we visited my Mom wouldn't let me go in. Thought it might scare me. So she and I went to look at some of the stalls that were set up and this caught my eye. It's the Egyptian Goddess, Hathor... she's a protective goddess..." she shrugged, as if it didn't matter to her whether Hermione took it or not; "I figured if you keep insisting on putting yourself in harm's way…"
"It's beautiful Ginny..." Hermione replied and countered; "but, you should've spent that money on yourself."
Ginny desperately wanted to tell her that, in a way she had spent the money on herself. The goddess Hathor wasn't just a protective goddess but also the goddess of love and joy. Something she felt every time she saw Hermione. But she had to find a way to make Hermione take the gift. "It didn't cost very much Hermione... and I didn't find anything I liked, I knew you'd gotten me something for my birthday and..."
Hermione stared at the pendant a moment. It was beautiful, and as she looked at Ginny's face, she realised that it looked like it would break the young girl's heart if she didn't accept it. She handed it to Ginny and asked; "Will you put it on for me?" as she moved her hair out of the way and showed Ginny the back of her neck.
With a sigh of relief and shaking fingers she laid the necklace around Hermione's neck and fastened the clasp and then she fought the urge to place a kiss on the back of her neck.
Hermione let her hair go and the looked at the pendent again; "I love it Ginny, thank you..." she said sincerely.
They sat in silence on the bed until the clock chimed eleven times. Hermione stood, Ginny followed suit and without a word they hugged. Hermione had briefly considered telling Ginny about the talk she had with her mother but it was getting late. She let Ginny go and picked up Crookshanks. "We should be getting to bed..."
Ginny nodded, wishing that Hermione would stay. She looked at the bracelet on her wrist again and stopped Hermione at the door when she said; "Thanks again Hermione...for this," indicating the bracelet.
Hermione smiled and touched her pendent, "And thank you... sleep tight, pleasant dreams." She said closing the door behind her. Ginny changed into her pajamas and sat on the bed again, twisting the bracelet round and round her wrist.
"Pleasant dreams?" she thought sadly. She still hadn't remembered having a single dream since the Chamber, and after her visit with Hermione, she realised with a pang of longing just how much she missed the dreams Tom had given her. Feeling guilty for such a thought, she curled up under her covers and tried to sleep.
Tomorrow was a big day after all: going back to Hogwarts. She was so nervous to face her fellow students after what happened last year. No matter how times she was told it wasn't her fault, she would always feel that it was and she wasn't sure she'd be able to hide the guilt from everyone. Especially Hermione. Because, no matter what anyone said, she knew Tom had meant to kill Hermione because of her and that... that she would always feel guilty about. Add to that how much she missed the dreams and it was almost too much to handle. Thinking she would talk to Luna about it on the train the next day she finally fell to sleep.