"MIA!" The shouts were deafening but the resulting collision when the 5 bodies all met at once was even worse.
The 5 of them ended up on the floor, all tangled with each other, and Hermione groaning loudly, "I really did miss you guys before you did that. Lafayette, if that's your hand we're going to have words."
"Oh God, sorry Mia," Jason said, quickly moving his hand from her rear.
It took a while but they were all soon on their feet, Hermione checking to make certain that the charms on her clothes had left her safe and uninjured while everyone else brushed down their clothes. At a more sedate pace, the 4 Louisianans wrapped their friend into a loving group hug that nearly broke down Hermione's emotional walls.
Motioning for the all to sit, first thing the witch did was introduce her friend, "Okay, this is Remus Lupin and his boy Teddy. Remus, these are my American family members. We have Lafayette Reynolds and Tara Thornton; they're cousins, and Sookie and Jason Stackhouse, my cousins."
"Pleasure"
"How do you know Mia?" Jason asked, relaxing in his seat.
"I was a professor at her school, taught her for a year," the older man explained before placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder, "I'm going to go talk to your grandmother, you going to be okay?"
Squeezing the hand, the teen nodded, "Yeah, I'll call out if I need help."
After Remus was gone, Sookie asked the question on all 4 lips, "Why would you need help Mia?"
"It's not physical trouble Remus is worried about, it's emotional. I've had a fucking terrible time this past year, we both have actually," resting her head against the back of her chair, Hermione settled herself before starting again, "So there's something that I've not told any of you that I really should have. But see, it wasn't suitable for a letter, and I had no access to a phone or email for the majority of the past 8 years, and I haven't been back over since just before I was 12…"
"Girl, can you please get to the point?" Tara said with all of her usual eloquence.
"I'm a witch; I haven't been going to a private girl's boarding school but a magical school where I learnt a lot. I've been married and widowed already, fought in too many battles to count, and watched the man I married die in my arms. And just yesterday I found out that I was going to have his child, the one thing he truly wanted in the world, but he's not going to be here," once she had said those first few words, everything had just tumbled out.
Across from her, her 4 friends and family were stunned silent, a first for them all actually. Hermione's eyes drifted over each, just to make certain they were alive, but finally settled on Sookie. The teen had known that Sookie would probably take it the hardest; her cousin was a Telepath and had been considered a freak for her whole life because of her talent. The fact that Sookie had trusted her with her secret ability and Hermione had not done the same; it had the potential to be irreparable.
*I'm so sorry Sook; I never meant to hurt you. I was just scared that none of you would want anything to do with me anymore, and I couldn't have lived with that,* Hermione had dropped her mental shields to allow her cousin to hear her thoughts.
The blonde slowly stood and walked over to where her cousin was sitting, perching onto the edge and gently placing a kiss on her head, "It's okay Mia, just don't do it again."
With the words said out loud, it broke the stunned looks of the other three, and Jason was the first to laugh, "Mia, do you fly a broom?"
"No!" Hermione said a little too loudly before calming, "I hate it. Harry, he loved flying, but I can't stand it. I'll stay firmly on the ground thank you very bloody much."
That had all of them looking shocked, Jason had only been joking. Lafayette leant forward and told the girl, "Bitch, you best start telling us all about what the fuck you can do."
"Oh how I've missed your affectionate names for me Lafayette. Fine, get settled, this could take a while," and it did, it took Hermione about 3 hours before she had finished giving a full run down of magic.
Once she was done, Sookie asked softly, "So you married a boy called Harry? What was he like?"
"He was my best friend for 3 years before we started dating. God, he was so nervous when he tried to ask, I had to take pity on him and finish the question," talking about Harry, Hermione was surprised that it didn't hurt as badly as it had only hours earlier at only thinking about him, "He proposed the day I turned 17, which I'm pleased to say, I didn't need to finish for him. All of our friends were so happy, mainly because most had won a bit of money from various bets around the school concerning our relationship.
"On his birthday last year, we were married by one of our professors, and had 6 witnesses in our friends. That was one of our final days without the war destroying our time, we didn't even get a honeymoon; there was no time. I mean people were dying all around us every day, and we were the ones who had to finish the war so we both decided that it could wait," the witch laughed sadly, "Harry told me that he would sweep me away and we would travel for as long as we wanted, seeing everything there was to be seen, just as soon as he had killed that evil bastard. Didn't even consider that he could die as he tried to kill the monster.
"I can still remember the last thing we truly did together before he died. Voldemort had said Harry had an hour to sacrifice himself or everyone would die, so of course, my darling husband drags me to the closest broom closet and screws my brains out. He was dead an hour later, and I was left a widow and a single mother. Stupid sod," Hermione quickly tried to hide her tears.
Her friends saw the tears and moved to support the teen, she had been always been their little sister and it hurt them to see her hurting. Feeling her family surrounding her, Hermione could sense that flame in her body growing and growing, making her feel more human than she had in a month.
Once they were certain that the teen was settled, all but Sookie returned to their seats. The blonde was still perched on the arm of the chair, "Figuring you would need something to help take your mind off of Aunt Handley and Uncle Kevin, I talked to my boss at Merlotte's and Sam is happy for you to join his collection of waitresses. I even have a few uniforms that should fit."
That brought about a large grin; Hermione had hated the idea of just sitting around going stir crazy either here or at the house she was buying down the road, "When do I start?"
"Sook and me have a shift tonight, soon as you called we switched shifts with Terry Bellefleur and Arlene Fowler," Lafayette explained, "You can get your moves on then."
"Sounds great," for the first time in a month, Hermione could feel her old self coming back.
Just then Remus and Adele walked in, the former carrying a tray of drinks while the older woman was cradling Teddy as he fed from a bottle, "Who'd like a drink?"
With a drink in everyone's hands, Adele settled in her rocking chair and looked at her granddaughter, "So how did they take it?"
"You knew?" All 4 heads spun to face the grinning woman.
"Of course I knew, my Earl was a wizard but he didn't do magic very often after we were married, he didn't want to gain too much attention. He was rather sad when none of our children gained magical talents but you should have seen him light up after learning about your talent Sookie, while not a witch it was a pleasant surprise. He would have so hated that he missed seeing Mia," Adele shook her head sadly, remembering about her deceased husband.
As that sunk in, Hermione smiled at her Gran, "Went deathly silent for a while but then they wanted to know everything. I'm just waiting for someone to ask to see my wand or me to do magic."
The quartet each slapped their foreheads, "Didn't think. So can we?"
Looking over at Remus, the witch had a conspiratorial look in her eyes, making the man shake his head. Hermione stood from her seat, "We best head outside, I don't want to ruin Gran's house."
It was a race outside, the older pair proceeding much slower and sitting on the porch, Remus calling out, "Don't hurt yourself Mia."
"I won't," the witch then turned to face her family, "So, what do you want to see me do?"
"Anything"
With that word, Hermione quickly drew her wand, twirling it with her fingers, a habit she had picked up from Harry. Aiming at Jason's truck, the witch calmly said, "Wingardium Leviosa."
As soon as the beam hit the vehicle, it began floating in the air, causing Jason to shriek, "My truck!"
"Aw come on Jase, don't you trust me?" Hermione levitated the truck further into the air, getting laughs from everyone but the owner.
"I do but come on Mia, that's my baby. Please put her down gently."
"Fine," the brunette placed the truck back onto the ground, before apparating to stand in the tray, "See not even a scratch."
The fact that their friend had vanished only to reappear nearly instantly on the back of the truck was astonishing to the quartet and they all flinched very lightly when she returned the same way, "How?"
"That was called apparating, means I can go from one place to another almost instantly and quietly. Only problem is that I've got to have either been there before, have the coordinates, and hope that it's not too far away. Like I can't pop back to London, I'd probably wind up in the middle of the bloody ocean," the witch explained, "One last thing, so who wants to see me change form?"
All hands went up; the four spectators acting as though back in primary school. Hermione moved a few feet away from the Muggles and sheathed her wand again. In a fluid motion, the brunette teen was replaced by a large white Bengal tiger, causing the quartet to leap backwards. She paced around for a while but soon returned to human form.
"Holy son of a b…" Jason was cut off.
"You finished that Jason Stackhouse and you will regret it," Adele warned from her seat.
"Sorry Gran," the man responded then looked at his cousin, "What the hell?"
The witch grinned, "I'm an Animagus, means I learnt how to change through many agonising months. I only have one form, the tigress and as you saw, she really stands out."
Sookie walked over and hugged her baby cousin, "Sweetie you're really something. Come on, let's get you dressed for work."
