A/N: This chapter is kind of a filler chapter, so I apologize if it's not too thrilling, haha. I'm currently writing Chapter 37 (which is the first part of The Night of Neglect) and coming up with quite a few ideas if I decide to continue this story into the third season of Glee (or make it a sequel), so my brain was kind of fuzzy while I was editing/adding to this chapter.
Burnedx2: Thank you! You don't know how happy I am that you're glad I didn't pair Hermione with Quinn. I'm also happy that you like how I'm writing Hermione. I hope you continue to enjoy this story!
LauraFlowi: I love your reviews and hearing (or rather reading) your input! Thank you so much for taking the time to review almost every chapter :)
Beautiful-Liar13: Yes, Hermione will tell some other people that she's a witch, but I don't want to rush into it. And by others, I'm assuming you mean people from the wizarding world? I just checked and someone from Hermione's other life will appear in Chapter 25, I promise!
Mummification: Haha, I totally agree about Santana. Thank you so much for the review though. I'm really glad you are enjoying this story :)
Thanks again to everyone for their feedback!
Anyway, onto the chapter, enjoy!
~Chapter 21~
Previously: "Hermione Granger…?"
"Hm? Oh, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hummel. Congratulations. You two are a very beautiful couple," she informed them sincerely.
"You are too sweet," Carole said to her truthfully. "But, actually Burt and I just wanted to come over and thank you for standing up for Kurt the way you did. You don't know how much that means to us."
"Oh, it was nothing, Mrs. Hummel. I just did what I knew was right."
"Well, you are a very courageous young woman. I hope you don't mind, but Kurt told us about a lot of the things you've been through. We just wanted to tell you that you are more than welcome at our home if you ever need some guidance. Carole and I both know what it's like to lose someone you love, so feel free to come and talk to us whenever you want," Burt told her warmly.
"Thank you. I don't know what to say. I mean, I love Will more than anything, but he's naïve in a lot of ways and you both remind me so much of my parents." The three continued talking for a while until someone cleared his or her throat.
"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Hummel, but I just wanted to ask Hermione if she'd honor me with a dance."
"Oh, of course, Santana. You two have fun," Carole spoke with a knowing look directed at the two teenagers as she led a puzzled looking Burt away.
"Well, I must say, this is a surprise," laughed the British girl before she allowed herself to be pulled over to the dance floor.
"Well, you were looking kind of down, so I took it upon myself to make you feel better," Santana muttered sheepishly, while spinning the girl around.
"How did you know dancing made me feel better?" Hermione inquired with a fond smile, remembering the time Harry got her to dance that night in the tent almost a year ago. The Latina shrugged and put her hands on the other girl's waist as the wavy-haired brunette placed her arms around the younger girl's neck.
"How are you holding up with everything?" The raven-haired Cheerio finally asked as the two swayed back and forth.
"Um, well, where should I start? I'm still trying to get over Quinn and figure out what I did to screw up, I'm trying to find a way to keep Karofsky away from Kurt and the rest of us, I find myself really missing my parents especially now, and I'm feeling incredibly homesick."
"You're not leaving, are you?" Santana questioned her softly, afraid of the answer.
"No, I'm not leaving. I mean, there's no way you guys could win Sectionals without me," Hermione teased playfully.
"Ha, ha, very funny. About the whole Quinn situation though. I mean, you guys were only a thing for a few weeks and she is notorious for not really committing to anything long term, so it's not your fault at all. She's crazy for letting you go and anyone would be lucky to have you. I guess what I'm trying to say is Quinn's a bitch and you're fucking awesome," she finished lamely causing the older girl to chuckle.
"It's more of what she said to me that's got me so upset. I don't know how she heard about my past…relationships." Santana had the decency to look guilty. "I didn't even sleep around that much. Well, I guess I kind of did. But they were mostly just friends with benefits. I was always afraid of developing feelings for someone and then I met Quinn and I thought we could be something more. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that my feelings for her were misdirected. I still cared a great deal about her though," she finished with a sigh causing the dark-eyed girl to stop suddenly.
"Wait, you said your feelings for her were misdirected? Does that mean you like someone else? Who is it?" Santana asked her rapidly.
"Well, I—" Hermione began as the song finished. "Oh, I guess it's my turn to perform now," she stated, pulling back from the other girl who began to pout. The British girl gave the Latina one last smile before moving up on stage to sit at the piano. "Alright, folks, I'm gonna take it down a notch with my version of this good ol' classic song. Mr. and Mrs. Hummel, I dedicate this to you."
"No New Year's Day to celebrate.
No chocolate coveredcandy hearts to give away.
No first of spring.
No song to sing.
In fact here's just another ordinary day.
"No April rain.
No flowers bloom.
No wedding Saturday within the month of June.
But what it is, is something true.
Made up of these three words that I must say to you.
"I just called to say I love you.
I just called to say how much I care.
I just called to say I love you.
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
"No summer's high.
No warm July.
No harvest moon to light one tender August night.
Noautumn breeze.
No falling leaves.
Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies.
"No Libra sun.
No Halloween.
No giving thanks to all the Christmas joy you bring.
But what it is, though old so new.
Tofill your heartlike no three words could ever do.
"I just called to say I love you.
I just called to say how much I care, I do.
I just called to say I love you.
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
"I just called to say I love you.
I just called to say how much I care, I do.
I just called to say I love you.
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, of my heart,
Of my heart.
"I just called to say I love you.
I just called to say how much I care, I do.
I just called to say I love you.
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, of my heart,
Baby, of my heart."
Hermione finished with a smile and stood up to bow before jumping off the stage. As soon as her feet were back on the dance floor, she immediately returned to Santana's side.
"Well, what did you think?" The wavy-haired brunette questioned shyly.
"Well, it is a kind of cheesy song to begin with, but when you performed it…it was simply spectacular," Santana replied with a look Hermione couldn't really decipher.
"Why thank you, Lopez," she replied with a smirk before strutting off confidently as the slightly shorter girl hurried after her.
"You know you never answered my question from before!" The raven-haired cheerleader called out to her, causing the other girl to turn around and face her.
"To answer your question, I do have feelings for someone else and maybe if you're lucky, you'll find out who that person is," the British girl responded with a wink as she went to go dance with Kurt leaving a speechless Latina behind.
"Come on, guys, the wedding was great, but we have got to ready for Sectionals next week," Mr. Schue informed them as Kurt walked in with a dazed look in his eyes. "Oh, Kurt, I want to talk to you about this amazing idea I had for a solo for you at Sectionals."
"Can I make an announcement first?" The hazel-eyed man nodded slowly. "First, I wanted to thank everyone for what you did at my dad's wedding. It's nice to know that I have great friends here as well as a true brother. Which is why this is so hard for me to leave."
"Wait, what do you mean leave?" Hermione questioned, standing up quickly.
"I'm transferring to Dalton Academy. Immediately. My parents are using the money they saved up for their honeymoon to pay for tuition," the blue-eyed boy murmured shakily.
"Kurt, you can't leave," Tina spoke disbelievingly.
"What the hell? How about you talk to me about this first?" Yelled out Finn angrily, not believing what he was hearing.
"I'm sorry, Finn, but there's nothing to talk about. Karofsky's coming back tomorrow, so that means I won't be."
"We can protect you," Mike muttered as he tried to comfort his girlfriend.
"Seriously, we could form a perimeter around you like the Secret Service," Puck suggested seriously.
"Yeah!"
"The only thing that can really protect me is what they have at Dalton, a zero tolerance no bullying policy. It's enforced."
"Does this mean that you're going to be competing against us at Sectionals?"
"Really, Berry?" Santana said with an eye roll as she gently grabbed Hermione's hand.
"Kurt…" Mercedes choked out while walking up to him.
"I'm sorry, I have to go," Kurt told them as his eyes welled up with tears before walking out the door.
"I can't believe this!"
"Calm down, Finn. I know it sucks, but Dalton will be great for him. Kurt already has friends there and the Warblers will be good to him. This is hard enough on him already and the best thing we can do is to fully support him in his decision," the British girl murmured reasonably, though a frown was evident on her face.
The next day, Hermione was walking to the library to meet Sam for their tutoring session when she came face-to-face with Karofsky.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
"What do you want, Karofsky?" Hermione groaned trying to move past the football player.
"I just wanted to give you a little gift," he sneered as he motioned for someone to come forward. "Boys, if you will go ahead and do the honors." The British girl turned around slowly and was met with three slushies to the face. "You better watch your back, London. There's more where that came from," Karofsky spat as he high-fived his fellow athletes and walked away. The wavy-haired brunette sent a quick text to Sam telling him what happened before heading to the nearest restroom. As soon as she entered, she was met with the concerned stare of one Rachel Berry.
"Oh my god, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little pissed and cold," Hermione chuckled uncomfortably.
"Will you let me help you clean up?" The little diva asked warily, afraid of rejection.
"Knock yourself out, Rach," smiled the older girl as she allowed the shorter girl to pull her over to the sink.
"I guess Karofsky really is back," Rachel muttered with a frown as she rinsed the frozen beverage from Hermione's hair.
"Yeah, but if he gives you any trouble, you let me know, ok? I don't want him messing with you again."
"That's really sweet of you," the singer told her with a large grin. "Ok, well, I think I got all of the slushie off of your face and out of your hair. You might want to get a clean shirt though. I'd offer you one of mine, but it'd probably be too small for you."
"Saying I'm fat there, Rach?"
"What! No! I'm just saying your chest is a lot bigger than mine. You have a very lovely body, in fact. If I were into girls, I'd totally try to 'tap that'," Rachel rambled, turning a light shade of pink.
"Relax, love," laughed Hermione. "I'm just kidding. My friend should be bringing me a shirt though." As soon as she said that, a knock sounded from the other side of the door. "Speak of the devil," smirked the British girl as she walked over to the door. "Hey, Sammy, thank you for the shirt. Now get back to the library, we have a paper to write!"
"Yes, Herms," the blonde boy groaned with a playful roll of his eyes. Hermione closed the door and quickly whipped off her shirt before throwing on the t-shirt Sam had brought her. As she looked herself over in the mirror, she turned to face the diva.
"Hey, Rach, would you like to come with me to the Lima Bean after school? I wanted to meet up with Kurt and Blaine and see how Kurt's first day went."
"I'd love to!" The other girl squealed as she threw her arms around the wavy-haired brunette.
A/N, part II: Song was "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder.
The next chapter is the first part of Special Education, so that means Sectionals is descending upon us. I don't know when I'll be able to update again because I have exams next week and I should be getting my Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray box set any day now :P