The next morning, she woke to the smell of bacon. Jolting up from her bed, she began to wonder who was in her house before last nights events came crashing back down. Sighing, she rolled over looking at the clock on her bed. Her eyes almost bugged out of her head as she jumped up to get dressed. She was late, extremely late, to work.
Tugging on her uniform as quick as she could she rushed into her bathroom, brushing her untamed mane of hair and casting her glamour charm again. As she slipped her shoes on and ran out of her bedroom, she came face to face with Ginny, fist raised ready to knock on the door, her eyes wide as she saw Hermione up.
"Hey, Harry thought letting you sleep was the best idea. I thought you might want some breakfast. Come eat."
"Oh, uhm, I would love to, but I have to go to- "Ginny cut her off abruptly.
"No, you don't have work today. Harry called the shop." Hermione could feel the familiar swirl of anger and annoyance coursing through her veins. Barely twenty-four hours and already they were getting on her nerves.
"I am going to work Ginny. The one thing I have in my life." Hermione stormed past the redhead who chased after her, gripping her shoulder and spinning the brunette around.
"Hermione, you are staying here! We all need to talk, and you need to come home." Ginny reminded Hermione so much of Molly. The way her eyes would light up and her hair seemed to glow as she told someone off. As strong-willed as her mother as well, Hermione knew she wouldn't win this one. Sighing, she lifted the glamour and removed Ginny's hand from her shoulder. Sighing, the girls sat on the couch, Harry having left the room to give them some space. Ginny conjured up a cup of tea for herself and coffee for Hermione, and somehow, she knew, she would have to tell her everything, and she was dreading it.
Ginny sipped her tea looking at the brunette beside her. "Why won't you come back?" Finally, Ginny asked what Hermione dreaded answering. Sighing heavily, she stood up and went over to the window looking out at the road below. Some children played in the street, cars drove up and down and people shuffled in and out of stores.
"Hermione, we have to- "
"You know why Gin. Please don't make me say it." She begged her friend, but the redhead remained vigilant.
"No, you are not getting out of this, woman up and tell me why you won't come back!"
"Because of HIM! Is that what you want to here?! The famous Hermione Granger, Brightest Witch of Her Age, is running away from some boy who she foolishly thought cared about her!" Hermione was seething in anger as Ginny continued interrogating her. By this time, Ginny had abandoned her teacup and was standing facing Hermione, trying to remain calm but also stern.
"He never said he didn't care about you and you know that! You assumed that!"
"YES! He did! When he chose to leave! I told him before he left, that if he wanted out, to leave and never come back! GUESS WHAT!? HE LEFT!" By this point, tears streamed down her cheeks and she collapsed on the ground as Ginny sat next to her rubbing her back.
"He doesn't care Ginny! Because of me Ron…he hates me. When I left, he was still in St. Mungos, and he wouldn't let me see him. Everyone thought that I did this to him." She cried against Ginny's shoulder as she shushed and comforted her broken friend.
"He does care Mione. He wanted to come with us when we found this lead, but I convinced him not to. He wants nothing more than to see you an apologize for what he did. Ron is a git, he got over it the same week and he has been wallowing in his self-pity because he didn't get to you, he was sorry." Hermione soaked in the words of comfort Ginny whispered in her ear.
He cares. He was looking for me.
She shook her head at her own thoughts shaking them away.
"Ginny, I don't know what you want me to do. Just go home. Pretend nothing has happened? Go back to the life I was living?" Ginny shrugged slightly.
"Honestly? I don't know either. Harry said you can stay with us while you get back on your feet. He could help you get a job at the Ministry again. The Wizarding World need their Golden Girl, but we need Hermione. Harry and I will help as much as we can. We can find a therapist for you; help you work through your problems. We are here for you." Hermione held back tears threatening to spill from her dulled brown eyes.
"Just, come home." Ginny begged one last time as she looked at her friends, her sister.
"When do I have to decide by?"
"Tonight. We have a Portkey to go back to the Ministry at nine tonight. We will help you pack and send your things to Grimwauld Place."
Sighing, the pair of girls sat up and resumed their positions back on the couch. Hermione began thinking in her head how going back would be good for her. She weighed the pros versus the cons, and realized Ginny and Harry were right. Going back and facing her demons, like the Gryffindor she was, was going to be the most therapeutic and the best way to help her mind heal.
"Okay." She said finally, Ginny's head snapping over to her.
"Are you sure? Because you have all- "
"I am positive Gin. You are right, I must go back. I can't run away from this forever." Though the end of her sentence was lost as Ginny launched herself into her arms squealing in joy and tackling the brunette to the couch causing a laugh to slip past Hermione's lips.
"YES! I promise this is the right choice!" Ginny smiled and laughed as they both fell back on the couch.
"Gin! Get off me! You are so heavy!" Hermione slapped at Ginny's back as she purposefully let her full weight rest on her. Laughing, the red head got up calling Harry back into the room.
As he walked in, he looked around with a surprised face. "Honestly? I am shocked no one is bleeding. She was ready to drag you home." He joked making her eyes water. Getting up, she hugged him tightly and he chuckled slightly hugging her back and planting a brotherly kiss on the top of her head. She sighed softly, having missed this, her eyes watering again.
After a couple minutes they both pulled away. Hermione wiped her eyes and Harry did the same.
"Uhm, can we not tell anyone? I just, I would like to get use to being back before I am bombarded with questions." The pair in front of her nodded agreeing that they would keep her appearance a secret until Hermione was mentally well enough to withstand the litany of questions she was going to receive.
For the rest of that day, the three spent packing up only what Hermione absolutely needed. She wrote a note to the landlord telling him she had moved out, along with one to her job letting them know she wouldn't be back. As nine approached, Ginny and harry were shrinking her belongings and putting them in a small bag for easier carry.
"Alright, got the bed, clothes, books, lots of books, bathroom essentials, cat food and toys…are we forgetting anything?" Hermione checked off each item in her head realizing she needed to take the extending charm off her closet.
"Uhm Harry, can you take down the extending charm on my closet? I would, but I would probably backfire." She mumbled the last bit. Nodding, he walked off and Ginny grabbed the Portkey, a rubber duck that her father had given her. She laughed slightly seeing the duck and Ginny smiled.
"Dad gave it to me. Incase it was really you, so that it would help convince you to come home."
"It probably would've worked." She laughed as Harry came back in the room.
"Alright. It is done. Where is Crookshanks?" She held up a cage with a yowling cat inside. Harry flinched as the animal swiped at him.
"Bad Crookshanks!" Swatting the cat's paw as the clock on Harry's watch chimed nine times.
"Time to go." Sighing they all three looked at one another, before they all placed their hands on the duck, and in a blink of an eye, disappeared.
Hermione stumbled and gagged again as her feet met familiar marble floors. The smell of parchment and ink, and the hum of magic in the air made her forget about her current nausea and made her look around. She was standing in what she assumed what was Harry's office. Pictures of the kids were on his desk each in their own colorful frame, Ginny and Harry on their wedding day in one frame, and the three of them, her, Ron, and Harry in another. Her hands picked up the picture of the three of them and traced her fingers over the faces as they moved. All three of them were laughing at something Ron said, Harry's arm slung around Ron and Hermione's shoulders as they all tried to gather their composure.
Setting the picture down, a tear leaking from her eye, she turned to the couple and wiped her eyes quickly. "Can we go? I am a bit tired from all the Apparating and Portkeys."
Ginny nodded thinking this was a good idea, and they decided to take the Floo back to Grimwauld Place. Harry found the green powder and one at a time they all threw the powder, shouted their destination, and were sent off.
Hermione tumbled out of the fireplace groaning lightly as she found herself in Harry's home. The old wooden floorboards creaked as she stood and wiped the dust off her face and her hands. Ginny was in the living room waiting for her.
"Come on. I will show you to the guest room. Harry has work in the morning and I have some things to do aswell." Hermione nodded and Ginny showed her to the guest room. Once Ginny helped her set up the bed, she left Hermione to own devices to go talk to Harry. Sitting on the bed, she remembered staying here with Harry and Ron, when Sirius was alive, when things were so much simpler in her life. All she had to do was stay alive and now, now she must deal with real life problems.
You can do this. You are a Gryffindor, stop being such a coward. Her conscious giving her a pep talk, she decided to sleep it off. It was two in the morning currently; it was nine in America when they left which meant it was around or close to two in the morning. Laying on the bed, she took her hair down and slipped under the blankets, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep, once again seeing those storm grey eyes.
