Morning came fast, and Hermione woke with a shock from Mrs Weasley's three firm knocks on the door. She realised that she had fallen asleep against the odds and quickly got out of bed to look for her cloths. Ginny joined her, though looking like she still was asleep.
While they went down the stairs, Hermione reminded herself to act normal, that she was fifteen years old and had no idea what was going on. It was quite difficult she realised as she sat by the table, Sirius opposite of her and Fred to her left.
Her first instinct when she saw Sirius was to run for a hug, but she had been able to pull herself together. There was no chance that blaming it on a bad dream as she had done the night before, that excuse was used. While she helped herself with some toast and eggs, the conversation around the table were lively. Molly was talking about the cleaning schedule for the day and Fred and George were entertaining their end of the table with some quite indecent jokes. Hermione felt herself enjoying every moment. Not that she found Fred and Georges jokes that funny, she found them quite distasteful to be honest, but seeing everyone healthy and happy made her heart warm, and almost teared her up.
"Fred, George, what in Merlin's name did you just say? I will not hear words of that nature from you two!" Mrs Weasly eyed her boys sternly from the stove. Fred and George quickly shut up while Ron and Sirius tried to look innocent; they had after all laughed the loudest at their jokes.
"Since all of you now have my attention, this is what we are up against today" Molly carried on with a firm voice, "we will clean out the rest of the bedrooms, two people at each room. Harry is coming soon and we are out of room for guests. Mad-eye, Thonks and Lupin are coming today and are to stay the night, so we need more clean rooms".
Hermione felt herself flinch at their names, they were alive. She had to make a mental note to whom she would meet again, and not act weird around. It was many, Lavendel Brown for example, not to mention Snape.
Fred and Hermione were cleaning out the old bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Black. Mrs. Weasley prohibited the twins to clean together, knowing they would get nothing done or just end up making some prank. Therefore, Fred was cleaning with Hermione, George with Ron and a sulking Ginny with Mrs. Weasley. She was not happy about the partner change. They had gotten strict orders not to use magic, and to start at the roof and work themselves out of the bedroom. If they found anything suspicious, they were to report to Mrs Weasley who would look at it. Hermione were busy cleaning the window, which were grey of dust, the corners covered with dead flies and spiders. Good thing Ron did not see this Hermione thought to herself with a smirk.
"Well, this have to do" Fred preached happy and jumping down from a chair. Hermione glanced up at the roof, which were much better than previously. "Think you forgot something" she said and pointed to a corner filled with spider web. "Oh, bloody hell" he moaned, looking tired. Carefully he glanced at the door, before he took out his wand, mumbled a spell and the web disappeared. "Don't you dare tell on me" he said and gave her a serious look. "Would not dream of it" she replied with a smile, "as matter of fact, could you do that on the window too? I have been scrubbing it for ages, but it does not get clean" frustration in her tone. Hermione had spent the last hour realising with horror that she was once again unable to use magic outside of school, and that it was over a year until she would be able to again. Fred seemed a little taken aback but did as asked of him with a surprised, but happy smile.
The window went blank, but still had a few dirty spots. "Thank you" she said, "it's so much easier to clean when the worst is gone." "Well, as said, I'm always there for a damsel in distress" he said with a teather bow, referring to last night. "Anyways, how are you? Have been meaning to ask you all day, you were quite a mess last night…" He was suddenly serious, and looked at her face searchingly. "I'm fine; it was just an awful dream. When I woke up, I believed many people were dead. I was totally convinced, took me some time to realise it was just a dream". To her annoyance, she felt tears build in her eyes so she quickly turned away from him so that he would not notice. Hermione did not consider herself as a person who easily cried, but all that had happened and the trauma of the last days kept her on edge. She had tried to stay as close to the truth as possible, knowing what a terrible liar she was. He seemed to believe her, as he looked rather sad.
They kept cleaning in silence for a while. As Hermione finished the window and started on the wall opposite of Fred he said, "There's no shame to be worried for the future, from the looks of it we're heading towards some dark times. All I can say is try to enjoy the good moments as they come, since there is no certainty they will last forever. That's what I try to do at least." Hermione stopped cleaning and turned to look at him, it was clear that his thought had been at dark places and was trying to comfort her the best he could. She smiled at him sadly and muttered a "thank you". She had never experienced this side of him before, the serious side of him. Fred turned too when he noticed her gaze in his back, "what?" he said, "stop staring at me like that, it's scary!", "I can be deep, too, you know" he said with a wink. Hermione smiled then, "I know, thank you, you are right. Being scared all the time does not help any of us." They kept cleaning in silence for a while, only interrupted by Mrs. Weasley who came in with some sandwiches for lunch.
After lunch, they were back to normal. The intense and heavy atmosphere in the room disappeared. Fred told jokes and Hermione laughed of them. She found herself much fonder of his jokes now, having been without them for so many years. Fred seemed different she thought, not realising that it was her, not him that had changed.
Suddenly the door opened with a bang, "it's dinner, you coming?" It was Ron, both Hermione and Fred had made a jump, surprised by the sudden company. Hermione had snapped out her wand and stood pointing at Ron - it was a reflex she had adopted after the war, always ready for emergencies. "Hey, relax, why are you pointing it at me," he said, looking a bit offended. "Sorry" Hermione muttered while she put her wand away, "you startled me."
She discovered that she was really hungry, and threw herself into the dinner with eagerness; after all, she had been working all day. She felt herself enjoying the company again; feeling the peace she had forgotten existed. The dinner dragged out, she and Ginny were entertained with Tonks many faces, laughing loudly. Ginny had not asked about Hermione's outburst the day before, and she was sure as hell not going to be the one bringing it up. She tried keep as little suspicion to herself as possible.
The evening was about to end and people slowly dragged themselves out of their chairs to get to bed. Sirius thanked Molly for a lovely dinner when Mundungus's voice could be heard in the hall. "Wasn't all my fault, the cauldrons…" He appeared in the entrance of the kitchen, and seemed surprised by all the people staring at him "Hey, um, eh, it is this that, er, Harry got, ehh".
"What about Harry?" Sirius said in a stern voice. «Well, eh, Harrygotattackedbydementores» he answered fast, looking at the floor. The whole room went silence. "HE WHAT!?" Mrs. Weasley shirked, "he's alright, he really can work that protonous charm good… Good teaching Lupin!" "Where were you? You're on watch today" Sirius said, looking more and more like the man on his prison photo by the second.
Mundungus didn't seem to have heard him, he just looked around in panic "where's Dumbledore, he needs to know" he said, "he's at Hogwarts, I'll go with you, can't trust you for a second" Mad-Eye replied as he took Mundungus by the collar and dragged him towards the fireplace.
The rest of the party sat down, everybody looking a bit stunned, what had just happened? Hermione slowly rested her head in her arm, how could she forget? She knew about it, but forgot, when did she get so dense?
Suddenly Dumbledore stood in the kitchen looking murderous. It was now very clear why Voldemort feared him. Mrs. Weasley pointed to the Weasley children and Hermione "you five, up to bed!" They immediately started arguing, but with a glance from Dumbledore, they all shut up and started walking up the stairs. "We'll let you know as soon as we know anything" They heard Sirius say apologetic as they exited the kitchen. As soon as the door was shut, Fred and George dug up some long-ears from their pockets and sneaked them under the door. All of them surrounded themselves around the ears and tried to listen. Hermione didn't particularly care, since she already knew what was going on but listened carefully as well, keeping up the appearance. After all, it seemed like she had forgotten a lot. She was lying in between Fred and Ginny, and was a little unfocused due to the fact that Fred's leg was lying close to hers, leaving no space between. The ear was only giving a summing tone, and they soon realised that the order had used a spell to keep them from hearing anything. Slowly they went up the stairs, all of them feeling helpless for Harry sake.
Late that night, Hermione snuck out of bed. Ginny was in deep sleep on the other bed, judging by her light snore (which she would deny with force if ever brought up to her). She carefully walked down the stairs, trying her best to avoid the steps that creaked. Grimmauld place was creepy at night, and the yet-to-be-cleaned living room was not a sight for easily creeped people at night. Which closet was it again, there was two, one next to the fireplace, and one next to the door. Trying to remember back, she was quite sure that Kreatcher had snuck in behind them, which meant the closet next to the fireplace. She quickly set to work, hoping to be quick and silent. After what felt like hours to Hermione, but in reality barley was fifteen minutes, she found it. The locket with Slytherin's family crest carved into the gold. Hermione looked at it in disgust, goose bumps covering her as she lifted it up. Just the thought of holding Voldemort's soul in her hand made her ill. She slowly she snuck back to her room and hid the locket in suitcase.
The next days was filled with silent conversations about Harry and the dementores. The Weasley children and Hermione were filled in on what had happened to Harry, and that he was soon to be brought to the safe place. Mrs. Weasley kept them busy during the day, cleaning the rest of the bedrooms. When the 5th of August ended, Harry entered the room she and Ron was chilling in. When Hermione saw him, she ran towards him and gave him a hug. It was weird to see him this young again, she had to get used to this she reminded herself.
