'Hermione, I haven't heard from you in a little while, I hope everything's going okay. If you want, you can come over and spend some time at the Burrow." It was from Harry. Tears were starting to build up in Hermione's eyes. Everything seemed so normal in the letter. The thing was, things weren't normal. Hermione's parents had kicked her out of her house. She felt like she was in love with a man old enough to be her father. Things just seemed so different, it was like she had aged ten years in only three days. It didn't seem like she had only been at Hogwarts only a week before, it just seemed weird to her. The concert had been last night. She went through the pile of mail that she had received.
'What's up, Mione? I hope your not to miserable being away from me and Harry. I bet your summer's going awesome and you've already finished your homework already. Just a question, do you want to spend some time at the Burrow this summer? My mom would love to have you and I'm sure that Ginny misses you. Me and Harry certainly do. It just doesn't seem like summer without hanging out just the three of us. Get back later.' That one was from Ron. It really seemed like they missed her but she didn't know if she wanted to go and hang out with them. The truth was, the last three days had been the most peaceful in the world. She spent most of the time just in her room, reading or doing homework. She went out with Remus a lot but that was only to get her out of the house and to do something productive. They weren't going to do anything that day. She was going to be by herself. Maybe she would be able to get back to the small pile of letters. That would be a good way to spend the day and she would be able to get through the terrible Potions essay that even she found hard and a waste of time. She looked back at the watch on her bedside table, it was only seven thirty.
She wrote a quick reply to Ron and Harry, saying nothing about the Burrow and then looked at the other letters.
'Hermione, I heard what happened with you and your father, Dumbledore told me. I just wanted to write and make sure you were okay and to tell you that if you need anything, don't hesitate to contact me. If you want to spend some time together during the vacation, it would be good and you won't have to spend all your time with Remus because I'm sure you'll get tired of that by the end of the summer. So, I'll talk to you later. Love from, Hagrid.' She smiled as she thought of the half giant she had known since her first year of Hogwarts. It took her a minute to think about what she was going to say and she started to write. When she was done, she gave it to the owl that had sent it and it flew out the window.
'Hermione! What's happening with things at 12 Grimmauld Place? I hope everything's good. If you get tired of it, just tell me and I can go and get you… We don't even have to spend any time with Ron and Harry if you don't want to. I'm sure that you're having a magnificent summer… well anyway… I miss you! Love, Ginny.' Hermione decided that she would save that one until later and then realized that she didn't have as many letters as she thought she had. The next was from, of all people, Malfoy.
'Hey Hermione, I'm sure that it feels weird, you know, me talking to you even though you hate me… well, the thing is, Ginny told me what happened with you and your father and I was wondering if you needed anything. Anyone to talk to. My dad's been like that my whole life so I can relate. Thank god he hasn't kicked me out of the house though. Yeah, I think that's pretty much it. See you later, Draco Malfoy.' After that, all the letter's were gone. She made a quick reply to Malfoy's letter. It didn't consist of much, just her saying that everything was fine and he didn't have to put his hatred aside for her. His owl went outside and back to the Malfoy Manor.
She sat back on her bed and fell back asleep. 'Hermione, Hermione.'
"HERMIONE!!!" She jumped and fell off the bed.
"Yeah?" She said groggily.
"It's past one in the afternoon, if I can't stay asleep that long, I'm not going to let you." She sat back down on her bed and listened to Sirius walk back downstairs.
"Sirius, Harry and Ron invited me to go to the Burrow." Hermione said when she finally went downstairs and started to eat her lunch.
"So, what are you going to do?" Sirius said, looking into his goblet.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know,
dammit!" Sirius said and slammed the goblet back onto the table,
causing its contents to fly everywhere.
"Jesus, Sirius. I was
just asking you what you thought I should do… I wasn't asking you
to start yelling at me!" Hermione said loudly. "I was trying to
talk about it but you didn't want me here from day one. I think I
will go!" She threw her half eaten sandwich on the plate and went
upstairs.
Sirius made no attempt to follow her, he just stayed in his seat and looked into the fire place. Hermione was happy to find that there was a fireplace in her room so she could just leave without seeing him. She didn't know what had made him suddenly snap like that she didn't like it and she would prefer not to find out what had caused it. Even though she didn't want Ron and Harry to see her (She still had various bruises and a black eye that Sirius hadn't been able to heal) She felt like it was her only option. After packing everything up, she stripped the bed and lit a fire. There was floo powder there so she grabbed it and her trunk and stepped into the fire.
"The Burrow!" She said and it brought her there.
The house seemed like home to her when she got into the living room. Nobody was in the living room and she didn't hear any activity throughout the house. Ginny's door was attached to the kitchen so she went there first to drop her stuff off. Then she went into the back yard to where the little lake was. She sat on the boat port and put her feet in the water.
"What are you doing?" A voice came from behind her. She turned around and saw Percy.
"Just sitting around and wallowing in my own self pity." She replied. He nodded and took off his shoes as well to put his feet in the water.
"Joining the club then?" He asked her, a hint of a smile on his face. "So, what's wrong with you?"
"Well, I really like someone, maybe even love him… Wait, why should I tell you? You put your family through so much grief and they are still mad at you, why are you even here?"
"Because something just brought me here." He said. "I don't know what it was put something just said that I should come here and I guess that little voice was right. Hermione, you look like you need someone to talk to. I know we've never been close, but you can trust me."
"Just, go away." Hermione said quietly. "I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe later but not right now." He nodded, understanding yet disappointment clear on his face.
"I understand. I need to get back to work but remember, I'm just an owl post away." He apparated on the spot and it was just Hermione again. Why did everyone want to talk to her now? When she needed help. Why didn't they just talk to her before. She could tell that everyone would be pestering her when they got home from whatever they were doing and now she wasn't looking forward to the reunion.
Her thoughts drifted to Sirius and how she had left without saying good bye to him. Now she felt bad, but, he had just cracked, and she couldn't deal with him being like that, not for one second. Suddenly footsteps could be heard running from the house. They were soft, meaning that they were barefoot. The guys at the house always wore their shoes so she could tell that it was Ginny.
"Hermione!" She said happily and gave her a hug.
"What's going on?" She asked, with a hint of a smile.
"Nothing."
"Does anyone know
that I'm here yet?"
"No."
"How's your summer
been?"
"Boring. Just Harry and Ron doing nothing and the
twins have the shop now so it's basically just been me and my
mother." Hermione nodded.
"How's yours been? How was being with Sirius."
"Mine's been okay. You know what happened." Ginny agreed and looked at her. "And I left today because he flipped out at me for no reason and my dad randomly attacked me… I didn't want to be there if Sirius decided he wanted to hurt me for no reason."
"But her loves you!" Ginny said loudly.
"Who loves who?" Ron yelled from his room.
"SHUT UP RON!" Ginny answered.
"Who are you even talking- Hermione!" The window shut and about thirty seconds later, Ron and Harry were in the backyard.
"So, how's everything going?" Harry asked her as he sat down next to her.
"Oh, pretty good." Hermione answered.
"Wait, what's all over your face?" Ron asked with a horrified expression on his face.
"What are you talking
about?"
"You have bruises all over you!"
"I don't want to talk about it right now."
"But Hermione-"
"No buts, Ronald." She snapped and put her flip flops back on. "I'm going inside."
"You shouldn't have said anything!" She heard Ginny say angrily to Ron and followed Hermione inside.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked her.
"The reason why I went to Sirius first was so nobody had to find out about what my father did to me!" Hermione answered.
"Well, they're your
best friends. They have the right to know."
"They will know
what I'm ready to tell them." Hermione answered. Ginny nodded
and they stayed quiet for a couple minutes. Molly was still out and
it was just them in the house.
"Percy came home today." Hermione said, looking out the window to where Ron and Harry still were.
"What did he want?"
"Nothing, he said that he felt as though something had brought him to the house and I just made him leave."
"How is he?" Ginny said, it was unexpected, Hermione didn't think that Ginny liked her older brother that much, even when he was part of the family.
"He looks good." Hermione answered and Ginny looked happy.
"Even though it doesn't seem like it, we used to be really close." She said. "Even closer than me and Ron." Hermione laughed.
"Wow, I would have never expected that." A knock came at the door.
"Come in." Ginny and Hermione said in unison. Harry walked in.
"Can I talk to Hermione a minute, alone."
"Yeah." Ginny got up and walked out of the room.
"So, what's up?" Hermione asked him.
"Hermione, don't start like that. I just want us to talk." Hermione nodded.
"You weren't at your house." He said looking out the window. "I went over every day so we could hang out… where were you?"
Hermione remained quiet for a couple minutes, playing with the anklet that she'd worn since she found out about Hogwarts.
"My father kicked me out of the house and he punched me a couple times… it looked a lot worse before someone healed me up."
"Who?"
"Harry, I don't want to talk about it." Hermione said after giving him a quick hug.
"Okay, but you know that I don't tell Ron everything. If you want to tell me anything and don't want him to find out, you can trust me."
"I'll keep that in
mind. Do you know when Mrs. Weasley is getting home?"
"Not
until the day after tomorrow." Harry answered. "She's helping
Fred and George set up the shop."
They stayed in the room for a little while.
"Did you know that Sirius is alive?"
"Yeah, he sent me a letter. Lupin saved him."
"Well, he told me that I could move in after this year. I'm finally going to be away from the Dursleys." There was excitement and hope in Harry's voice.
"I'm happy for you…
it's about time that you get to have a normal life." Harry
laughed.
"What are you going to do about yours?"
"I
don't know… I'm sure the answer will come soon."
