A/N: Anything you recognize belongs to J.K.R. and affiliates.
Dear Harry and Ginny,
Hello! Hope you two are enjoying Morocco! We miss you guys terribly, but take your time! All is well here. Ginny, your mum sends her love to you both. She heard Harry's threat about the letter and didn't want you to be bombarded with mail on your honeymoon, so she asked if I could squeeze that and some sweets in. I don't have a clue what's in the tin she sent over but it smells divine.
I'm holding up, of course. I told you not to worry. Besides, Harry, you're one to talk about fainting, if I recall third year's train ride correctly! Just kidding!
Work's going well. I've made some progress on my centaur report. If I can get some good hard evidence that the centaurs are and have been kind and peaceful with wizards in the past there is a real chance they could start to get some of the rights they deserve! Just think: first the centaurs, then the goblins, of course, then house elves, the list goes on and on! I know you all think I'm spending too much time at work, but with the opportunity to seriously better the relationship and dynamic between wizards and other magical beings, how could I give up now? I have a meeting at Hogwarts on Wednesday with Firenze to get some quotes for the report. It will be good to see him, and the school. Most of the professors I saw at the wedding, but it will be odd to see them in an empty castle, it being holiday and everything. Boy are we growing up!
Well, see you soon! And don't worry about me!
All my love,
Hermione
Hermione looked down at the letter in front of her and bit the edge of her feather quill.
"That should sufficiently sedate them…and no need to tell them of the second vision. Just a little daydreaming is all…" Hermione muttered to herself. She had forgotten to write the letter, so busy she had been with work. Thus, she quickly melted her red wax stick and stamped the seal to close the envelope. After inscribing "Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter" on the front cover of the letter Hermione handed the letter to her owl, Descendre, who promptly flew out her office window, anxious to stretch her wings.
Hermione stared out after her owl. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining radiantly onto the world below, beckoning the stir crazy out into its realm of warmth.
This time, Hermione could feel the vision/daydream coming on. It was as if a small part of her brain was welcoming back an old friend, rather than envisioning a new scene.
The dark man waved his wand effortlessly over the leaf-covered ground, and a soft blanket appeared. Trees sprang up all around, shielding them from sight. The man lay down upon the material and beckoned for her to come down with him. She did so. Much like the last vision, the couple sat there in a comfortable silence, enjoying the scene of the forest around them. The sun peeped through at random cracks in the ceiling of branches. She closed her eyes and soaked in the warmth of the day.
She spoke, softly, nervously, hesitant to break the silence,
"I know you don't want to hear this…but I do love you. It cannot be helped."
When Hermione's sight returned to her, she was surprised to feel a tear falling down her cheek. She reached her hand up to brush it away and felt another following quickly after the first. Why was she so emotional over a daydream?
I'm upset because I feel like I'm missing that something. Missing…that person in my life. I never knew I wanted a relationship that bad.
Upon reflection, though, Hermione realized it was true. She did want what Harry and Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had. Someone to wake up next to. Some to fall asleep with. Someone who would balance her out when she became too stressed. She had her friends…but…this was different. More tears flowed from Hermione's eyes. She conjured a handkerchief and blew her nose.
A knock at the door pulled her from her depressing musings.
"Yes?" She called, trying not to sound as though she had been crying. She failed miserably.
Mr. Weasley, speak of the devil, walked in with a stack of tins in his hand.
"Hope you haven't sent the letter yet Hermione, Molly went on a baking frenzy las-" as Mr. Weasley looked up and saw the tear streaks on Hermione's face his immediately levitated the pile of sweet tins to her desk without thinking.
"Hermione, dear, are you alright?" He asked, concerned. Ever since Hermione had been unable to relocate her parents from Australia three years ago when she attempted, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had stepped up even more as her surrogate parents.
"Oh, yes, Mr. Weasley, thank you. Just a tad stressed is all." She replied, sniffling.
She hated that she must seem a complete wreck to people lately. She was normally so calm, cool, and collected. Ever since these visions started coming on, though, her emotions had been taking a hit.
"That's it, I'm taking you back to the Burrow with me. You look like you need one of Molly's famous home cooked meals. George and Bill and Fleur are coming over." He smiled from ear to ear with the innocence that only Arthur Weasley had, "And perhaps you may assist me in identifying the purpose of a new artifact! I've been told it's called a Calc You Later…"
Hermione sighed, looked down at all her paperwork, and consented with a grin, "You know what, Mr. Weasley, that actually sounds like a great idea."
"…and then Mum finally realized it was little Charlie that had been stealing the sweets! Levitating them right off the tray, he was! Nearly died of shock, we've heard! "
Hermione laughed warmly at the George's tale of the Weasley firstborn's original display of magic, which had apparently long been considered folklore and passed down even to siblings who were not yet born at the fact, so charming was the story.
Molly came bustling over and placed a third helping of potatoes on Hermione's abused plate and said, "Just don't ask about when I realized the twins began showing their magic."
Bill, who was sitting at the end of the table next to his wife, snorted into his glass of butter beer.
George leaned over conspiratorially towards Hermione and whispered, "I won't go into details, but it involves a blast ended skrewt, a wig, and a very pissed off Auntie Muriel"
Hermione covered her mouth and laughed heartily. She was so proud of George that he could remember the old days with Fred confidently now. She couldn't imagine losing someone she had been so close to…
When supper had been eaten with relish and a sleepy-eyed Bill and Fleur had said their goodbyes, Hermione joined Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and George for a night cap, though she requested some warm pumpkin juice with cinnamon in favor of the fire whisky proffered, in their small and cozy living room.
Hermione was nursing her juice and explaining that a calculator didn't require any potions to be able to do multiplications on its own when they heard a pecking at the small lattice window that had previously been showing the relaxed group a stunning view of the Ottery St. Catchpole night sky.
George got up and brought the brown and white barn owl onto his arm. He took the letter she was holding out in her beak and read the name.
"Here, Hermione. It's for you." George handed the letter to her.
"Oh, this is from Harry and Ginny." she said as she opened it and scanned its contents quickly, "They say they are having a splendid time. Weather is divine. Ginny forgot to pack a few things, and wonders if we could send them back with Descendre if it's not too much trouble."
Mrs. Weasley stood to get up, but Hermione stopped her, "I can get them, Mrs. Weasley. I think I remember where she put everything well enough.
Hermione got up and left the room, entered the corridor and took the many flights of stairs swiftly and two at a time. It was great to be back in a house she had wonderful memories of her youth in, even though she had been here days before at the wedding. The Weasleys were always so welcoming.
When Hermione got the room that she knew was Ginny's, she opened the door and looked around. All the posters of favorite quidditch stars and wizard bands were still adorning every inch of the wall space. She saw the settee and the full-length mirror, the two twin beds they had sat up late on during the summer, giggling. Ginny had a tendency to make Hermione feel like the flighty little school girl she never had the time to be.
The first thing Ginny requested was a polka-dotted two piece bath suit. Hermione grinned and walked over to the oak armoire that was a part of a set with the beds. Hermione squatted down and pulled open the second-to-last drawer. Inside was a crammed and untidy bunch of bathing suits and other various Summertime articles.
As she shoved the suits aside in search of the requested one, Hermione muttered, "Oh Gin, you have really got to clean this thing out."
Hermione was thinking of her own perfectly organized, neatly folded, and rather more sensible one-piece bathing suits at her apartment when her hand felt something rough and leathery. Curious, she pulled out a small journal. It was dark mahogany had a braided piece of leather holding it shut.
Not wanting to intrude on what clearly was some sort of hidden diary of Ginny's, Hermione was about to place the journal when she saw the engraved initials "HG" on the spine.
"What the…" Hermione asked herself aloud.
"Need any help, Hermione, dear? I know Ginny keeps her things in a right state, you must be having the worst time…" Hermione could hear Mrs. Weasley's voice getting closer and closer as she came down the narrow corridor.
Feeling guilty, but still intensely curious, Hermione shoved the journal into an inside pocket of her work robes and replied as Mrs. Weasley walked in, "Yes, I've only been able to locate her bathing suit." She pulled the slight pieces of fabric from the drawer upon seeing them from the corner of her eye and held them up.
When she and Mrs. Weasley had found all the items Ginny had asked for, Hermione said it was probably time she took her leave.
"I'll leave Descendre here for you to send Gin the package. See you tomorrow Mr. Weasley, and thank you guys both so much for having me tonight. Everything was wonderful, Mrs. Weasley."
"Anytime, dear, you know you're like family to us."
Hermione knew Mrs. Weasley genuinely meant it, and she felt guilty because she knew the matronly witch still had hopes that Hermione would get back together with Ron. At this point in her life, though, Hermione wondered how she could have ever seen the youngest male Weasley as anything more than a best friend.
"Yeah, 'Mione, you really are. Stop by the shop, sometime. I'll show you the best new prototypes." Said George as he gave her a big bear hug.
Hermione laughed, "I'm not so sure that idea would be in my best interest, but I'll make a plan of coming round anyway."
With instructions to take it easy and another hug from Mrs. Weasley, Hermione apparated to her small, but well-furnished, apartment. After having been in a home that held so much love in every pore, Hermione felt a sudden loss of life when she walked around her empty place. It didn't feel like a home. It was missing a core element.
That night, Hermione dreamt of the still unopened diary.
A young woman wandered into a dark, moss-covered forest. She was lost. Suddenly she whipped around to see a herd of centaurs that were digging their hooves into the dirt, a sign of aggression. Hermione wondered why they were so upset when she looked down and saw the leather journal wrapped tightly in her arms. They knew she had stolen it, but rather than from Ginny's armoire Hermione sensed they thought the journal was stolen from them.
"I…I…swear I haven't opened it! I don't know what's…"
The enraged centaurs began chasing Hermione through the forest, into the never-ending maze of trees.
"Please! I didn't steal it from you!" Hermione could hear herself shouting as she awoke. She sat up quickly and put a hand to steady her racing heart. She looked over at the journal sitting on her side table and shuttered.
Just a nightmare, Hermione. Relax. You've faced the Dark Lord and a nightmare about a herd of centaurs chasing you prompts this reaction? Honestly, girl.
She turned over to her bedroom window. The sky was black. Hermione fell back upon her pillow, knowing she had to work in the morning, and tried to compel sleep to come. It did not.
R/R Please!
