[Chapter Four]
After warning the third years about not going off limits and not buy products that were restricted by Filch, Hermione went to find Ginny, where she was supposed to wait for her while she did her duty. It was Malfoy's duty too, but again when has he ever taken his duty seriously?
She was surprised to find the red head in the most unlikely company. She was standing near the carriages, talking, or rather, glaring at Blaise Zabini, who was smirking. Standing besides them, looking annoyed was Draco Malfoy.
Oh well! She thought, before marching towards them.
Upon seeing her, Ginny stopped glaring at Blaise who grinned upon Hermione.
"Thank god, Hermione, let's go, this asshole was eating my wits off. I was close to hexing the idiot to Voldemort's grave and back." She said glaring once again at the Italian Slytherin.
"Glad that you'd want me back", fired the Slytherin which caused Ginny to shoot a death glare towards his way.
"I'd rather want Voldemort to be back" she stated and he pouted.
"You wound me sweetheart!" he said dramatically placing hands over his heart in mock hurt.
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Don't you dare call me that you arrogant little git"
"My git ain't little; you want to check for yourself?"
Ginny flushed scarlet. "You-"
"Ginny lets just go, leave it" Hermione said cutting Ginny off.
"Awe Granger, why so eager to leave?" said Blaise smirking once again. "It's rude not to say hello"
Hermione eyed him wearily.
"Well, Hello Zabini how's your morning so far?" she said in a tone that showed that she did not at all care.
Blaise ignored it, anyways, instead he spoke,
"Well, its fantastic thank you, How is yours?"
"Mine is fine, let's go Ginny" she told her friend who nodded.
"Oh wait!"
"What now, Zabini?" she asked annoyed at him.
"You didn't greet Draco, he's standing right here" he said pointing towards the blonde who scowled at him.
Draco rolled his eyes, before turning towards the brunette and meeting her gaze. After some seconds of staring contest, she looked away,
"Well, good morning Malfoy. I hope your day doesn't ruin, considering the company you have."
"Ouch" exclaimed Zabini, but Draco ignored him.
"Good Morning Granger and Ill survive, I think" he said with a small tug of his lips and she smiled feebly.
"Well, good luck then", with that she walked inside the carriage with the red headed following her, before casting one last glare toward Blaise, who, in response, winked.
"Stop grinning like a child who just got ice cream" said Blaise causing Draco's grin to fall.
"I wasn't", he said, glaring at Blaise.
"Yeah, sure" the other replied with an eye roll. "Now, get a carriage if you want to go to Hogsmead"
~.~
Hermione and Ginny entered the bustling pub, with shopping bags in their hands. Hermione's bag was heavier, with huge books and parchments, while Ginny had made sure to only buy some quills and few chosen books.
The pair looked around searching for certain black messy hair or a tall ginger. And they spotted them, in the far end of "Three Broomsticks", Ginny let out a squeal when she saw the third person with them.
"George!!" she cried out and hurried towards the boys. She tackle-hugged her brother who grinned.
Smiling, Hermione made her way towards them,
"Hello there sister, how are things?" he asked.
"Good I must say, how are you?"
"I'm doing great, hey Hermione!" George hugged the brunette.
Returning his embrace, she replied,
"Hey, how's the shop going?"
"Is fantastic, actually, we are getting a lot of orders overseas." He said, his tone clearly indicating how passionate he was about the shop.
"That's brilliant congratulations"
"Thank you, heard you got the head girl, no surprises there! Are you still doin spew?" he asked grinning.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"It's S.P.E.W, society for the promotion of Elfish Welfare, and no, I decided the elves are better in their houses." She admitted sheepishly.
She had finally come into a conclusion that elves needed their works, freeing them would only make their lives miserable.
"That, they are. Let's get ourselves a drink, shall we?" Harry said.
Agreeing with him, the group of five sat down round a table.
"What you having? Hermione, Gin?" asked George.
"I'll have butterbeer thanks" replied Ginny.
Hermione chose to have Butterbeer as well and the boys ordered Fire whiskey.
"You shouldn't be drinking that in broad daylight, boys" said Hermione, frowning.
"Oh come on, 'mione, we are permitted to drink, now that we're all of age", Ron said.
"Yeah, let Ickle Ronnie drink Hermione, he might as well stat today", George said smirking causing Ron to scowl.
"Its not the first time I'm drinking it" he defended himself. George just shrugged.
"We're okay, Hermione, we'll not drink much" Harry assured and Hermione nodded.
"How's Angelina?" Hermione asked George.
After Fred gone, George started isolating himself. He'd stay in his room for hours and not answer when called. Losing his twin was really really difficult for him, they weren't only siblings, they were like a soul split into two bodies, and when Fred died, and George almost became incomplete. That's when Angelina came in.
Only she could get the surviving twin out from his room and get him to eat.
Angelina made sure, George remained busy, encouraged him to re-open his shop and slowly George started being back to normal.
The void was still there, Hermione could feel it, she could feel just how much he was grieving his twin, when George stopped abruptly mid-sentence, as if waiting for his twin to complete his sentence. He no longer cracked jokes as frequently he used to in the past.
Hermione's heart ached for him, he was like a brother and she really wished she could do something to ease his pain, but some wounds are just un-healed.
"Angelina is good, she wanted to come too, but we needed someone at the shop."
Hermione nodded.
"Say our greetings to her"
"Will do and may I know why Draco Malfoy of all people is staring at our table?" George said raising his brows.
Hermione's brows hiked upwards at his comment and she turned back to indeed, find Malfoy and Zabini looking at their tables.
When the blonde found them looking at him, he averted his gaze as if nothing happened, but Zabini shamelessly grinned and winked at them.
"Did he just wink at you" Ron asked Ginny who rolled her eyes.
"Calm down, Ron. Don't fret over nothing." the red head said calling her brother off.
"Is he giving you troubles Hermione? Malfoy?" George asked and Hermione shook her head.
"No, he isn't. Why'd you say that?"
"Heard he's got the head-boy, and considering the heads usually share dorms-"
"Oh no, Uhm, I'm not spending a lot of time in the dormitory, I only go there when I need to do heads work or sometimes for assignments, I'm usually-"
"In the library" said Ginny finishing her sentence, "Yeah, you practically live in the library, you only come to the Gryfindor tower to sleep and to take your books"
"Well, I just have a lot of studying to do" Hermione said, which was true, kind of. She didn't really feel home in the Gryfindor tower, not anymore. Even after the horror of the war had ended, its aftermath still lingered. And the horrendous grief she faced right after the war, her father.
One evening after a tiring day of re-building Hogwarts, she had returned home to find her mum sobbing over her dad's dead body. The impact had hit her like a lightening strike, after everything she did, after all those "memory-wiping" to protect them from Voldemort, a car accident had killed her dad. She had isolated herself for weeks, until she forced herself to come out. Her father wouldn't have wanted that. She had to move on, she couldn't live in the past, and then she had felt guilty for abandoning her mum, she was grieving too and Hermione had been selfish locking herself away. She then spent rest of the days, spending time with her mother, relieving old memories, until her Hogwarts letter had arrived.
Some part of her was still unable to believe the war had really ended, that everything was still normal.
And she found it difficult to stay in the bustling common room, found it hard to sit and pretend that she wasn't at all lingering in the past. She knew, this was bad, but her mind, one stubborn part of her refused to move on.
" I know you are still grieving Hermione, and you can trust us. You can share whatever you are feeling. Don't bottle your feelings inside you, they'll only weigh you down", Harry said locking eyes with her.
" Yes Hermione, we have all suffered" George said, a far away look in his eyes, "But we have each other and we'll try our best to cheer each other up"
Hermione sighed and nodded, offering her friends a smile.
~.~
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