Without - Chapter 2
E-mail: cool6848@cs.com
Hermione woke up the next morning to see the glow of the sun shining through her eyelids. She rolled over on the couch and scrunched her eyes tightly. She didn't feel like getting up, she still felt tired from the previous night.
"Rise and shine!" Ron called from the kitchen where sweet smells of breakfast cooking were drifting around the entire room.
Hermione groaned loudly and exhaustedly sat up.
Ron chuckled as he saw Hermione. Her hair was all over the place and in knots (her hair had become quite tame over the years) and her bathrobe was half on her body and half hanging off.
"What... what's so funny?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Oh, nothing." Ron said innocently.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the kitchen that was up a couple of steps and it was separated from the living room by a banister. Hermione plopped down onto a kitchen chair just as Ron set breakfast (a pile of scrambled eggs, two pieces of buttered wheat toast, and a large glass of orange juice.) Hermione took a huge whiff of the pleasant smell and grinned.
"Smells delicious." She commented.
Ron laughed, "Well, I'm glad you think so, but how about eating some?"
"No, Ron, I think I'll just look at it all day." Hermione said sarcastically.
"Fine, go ahead and waste your day staring at scrambled eggs." Ron grinned.
After a few moments of silent chewing Hermione spoke up.
"So, Ron, what are you up to today? Do you have to go to work?"
"Yea, unfortunately." Ron replied sourly. "Later tonight, I have some reports I have to write and file. Maybe I won't go."
At his words Hermione gave him a glare.
"Now, Ron, you know you have to get it done."
"Yea, yea, I know I have to get it done, but that still doesn't make me want to go any more."
Hermione just shook her head trying to suppress a grin. Ever since their first year at Hogwarts Ron had been neglecting his work, it was amusing that he still did it now, as a twenty-four year old. Amusing, but definitely not surprising.
"What about yourself?" Ron said taking another helping of eggs and toast from the large platter in the center of the table. (He still had the same appetite, too.)
"I don't know, I'm off work today. I'll probably just do some research on a written incantation we discovered in some chest up in the attic at the office." Hermione worked with a small group of people who checked new spells that had just been created by the Charm and Incantaion Insight Team over at the Ministry of Magic. If a spell was unsafe or defective, they would make a file on it, keep a copy and send one back to the Ministry, telling them what went wrong. The Misnistry would either try to fix it, or just discard of it. Every now and then the group would climb up to the attic and take a look at the old, dusty files that had been there for centuries. Hermione had taken this job a little less than a year ago, and quickly became the leader or the small but successful (not to mention well paid) group. Which, quite frankly, didn't surprise anyone. Not many people know where the place is located, Hermione works in secrecy. This is because of those ancient curses and hexes stored away in the attic, some of them are deadly and harmful. If they fell into the wrong hands, chaos would ensue.
"You're not working tomorrow are you?" Ron asked curiously.
"Actually, yes, I am. Why?"
"Hermione, what do we do every Sunday?"
"Well, I'm not very sure what you do every Sunday, but, let's see, I wake up, have breakfast..."
"Hermione for some one so smart sometimes you can be dense. Or just to literate. What do we do after all that stuff?"
"We, well, we sleep?" Hermione asked blankly.
Ron sighed. "No Hermione we go and have dinner at my parents house! You're definitely not a morning person, or maybe you're just sick. Are you feeling all right?"
"Oh! How could I have forgotten? And no, I'm not sick." Hermione said irritated and swatting Ron's hand away from her forehead. "I'm definitely 'not' sick."
"All right, all right. But will you be able to come tomorrow? You can't miss it, I won't let you." Ron said as he brought his and Hermione's empty plates over to the sink.
"Yes, Ron I'll be able to come, calm down! I always come."
"Yea, well, you get wrapped up in your work a lot."
"I can't help it, you know me Ron." She smiled.
"I should get going now, besides, aren't you meeting Laura today?"
Ron's hand shot up to his forehead and his mouth hung open.
"I totally forgot!" He glanced quickly at his watch as he scurried down the hall towards his bedroom.
"Ahhh! I'm going to be late! I have to meet her in five minutes!"
Calm down Ron! You'll make it! Thanks for letting me stay the night!" Hermione called down the hall.
"No problem, Hermione! So you're coming tomorrow right!?" Ron stuck his head out the door, Hermione could hear his shower running.
"Yes, I'll be there!" And with that Hermione apparated back to her home.
Hermione apparated onto the short brick pathway that led up to her front steps. The bricks on the edges of the path were crumbling and weeds were growing in beetween the cracks along the entire path. She looked up at the home she had lived in since she was four, only now she lived in it alone. During her sixth year at Hogwarts her parents had been victims of one of Voldemorts many Muggle raids. Her eyes stung at the memory of it all, getting the sad, sad letter telling her that her parents were dead, the memory of how hard it was going on day to day at school, and how she had suffered so much pain. There was little light during that time, the only light coming from her closest friends, especially Harry. He was there for her throughout the entire time, holding her, giving her a shoulder to cry on, and telling her everything would be ok.
She broke out of her trance and took a closer look at the house. Her house. The white paint was chipped in some places and really needed a fresh new coat of paint. The red shutters hanging on either side of each front window were cracked and broken. The shrubs in the front of her house, once neatly trimmed and colorful, were now over-grown and dull. She sighed sadly at herselff for letting her home do this poorly. What would her parents think of her for keeping the house in this bad a condition? They would probably be dissapionted.
Hermione decided she would do some serious house cleaning today. She would open all the windows and let the fresh smell of dew enter her house, and since it was suprisingly warm for mid-November. She walked up the worn brick-way into the front foyer of her home and opened the closet to gather together her cleaning supplies. Hermione figured she would work her way from upstairs to downstairs, but before she did any of that she would have to change out of her pajamas.
She threw on a pair of long cotton pants and an old white shirt with sleeves that came down to her elbows. She tied a red bandana to keep her long, wavy hair out of her face. She started with the hallway, vacuming the hard maple-wood floors and ridding the corners of cobwebs or anything else that had crept into the corners. She moved to her tiny library next. She looked around the dim room, a sliver of light made its way into the room and with that light Hermione could see dust floating around. She gazed at the walls lined with books and the comfy love seat that sat in the middle of the room. Hermione groaned inwardly, she knew this was going to take some work. Maybe she could just use her wand...? No, that's not the way to get everything done, she couldn't let herself become lazy.
She started with taking each book off the shelf one at a time, dusting off each book. After she had finished three shelves she moped into her room and plopped onto her bed. A piece of hair that had escaped her bandana fell in her face and she blew it away. Maybe some music would cheer her up, she hadn't listened to the radio in forever. She slowly sat up and walked over to her closet to get her radio. When she took it out dust blew all around her face causing her to sneeze loudly.
"Ow... that hurt." She complained to no one.
She carried her heavy radio into her library and set it down on the floor nect to the electrical outlet. She dusted off the front of it with her hand and flipped the switch. Instantly, loud music started to blast out of the speakers and Hermione drew back in shock and covered her ears. She reached out and turned the volume down to a pitch she could stand. She changed the radio stations until she heard a familiar song. She hummed the song and slowly started to sing as the words came back to her. Her mother had always used to love this song, and whenever Hermione came home for the summer it would be blasting all over the house. It was a soft rock song, but it still had a fast pace with smooth gutair playing and booming drums.
Hermione resumed cleaning the room. Throughout her time in cleaning the library she would stop and change the station every now and then, singing to any song she knew, all the time keeping the music loud. When she had finally finished thouroghly cleaning that room she turned off the radio and decided to take a break.
As she walked down the stairs she heard that back door creak open. She froze. What if it was whoever was in her house last night? What if it was a new intruder. She quietly snuck down the remaining stairs and pressed herself up against the wall that separated her front foyer from her kitchen. She could hear who ever it was walking around her kitchen, coming closer to where she was hidden. Five steps away; she gripped her wand tightly. Only three steps now; time seemed to be going in slow motion. Hermione watched quietly as a tall figure entered the foyer where she was tightly pressed up against the wall.
"Don't move or I'll hex you so bad you won't remember what happen, literally!" Hermione startled the intruder. Whoever this man was (Hermione could tell it was a man by his build) jumped off his feet and turned around. But it wasn't an intruder at all, it was just a shocked looking Sirius.
"Jeez, Hermione, what did you do that for?! You almost caused me an early death!" Sirius spoke angrily.
Hermione covered her open mouth with her hand and blushed.
"Oh, Sirius, I'm so sorry... But you shouldn't just enter my house like that! 'You' nearly caused 'me' an early death." Hermione said, forgetting about her apology.
"I tried ringing that... the door buzzer thing..."
"You could have knocked, and it's called a doorbell." Hermione said cutting him off.
"If you would let me finish... I tried knocking, and I didn't go home because I heard music coming from inside. Then I tried apparating in, but for some reason I couldn't. Why is that?" Sirius asked curiously, following Hermione into the kitchen from which he had just come.
"You couldn't apparate because I set up protective wards around my property. No one can de-activate them except myself because it's my own spell." Hermione said putting her elbows on the counter and placing her head in her hands, while Sirius sat at a barstool across from her.
"Clever, but why did you put up the wards now? You never had them before."
Hermione hesitated. She wasn't sure if she should tell Sirius. He had become almost like a second dad to Hermione, and he was just like Ron when it came to her safety, only worse, much worse. Like one time Hermione had told him she would meet him for lunch, but she was running late due to her work. Sirius had becom every worried and started to panic going around and gathering every one who knew Hermione to go and look for her. Eventually, the search party ended up at work where Hermione had been the entire time. From then on, Hermione was never late to meet with Sirius again. (Even if Hermione was 'never' late in the first place.)
"Well..." Hermione bit her lip.
"What? What happened?" Sirius asked, concerned.
"There, there was some one in my house last night, an intruder."
Sirius choked a little and his eyes opened considerably wider.
"But-"
"Did you see who it was?" Sirius asked with urgency in his voice.
"No, I didn't but I t-"
"I've got to go Hermione, I've just remembered something very important over at the school that I have to get done. I'll see you soon." Sirius spoke as he rushed out the front door and apparated away.
I wonder what that was all about, Hermione thought.
A/N- Well, there it is, the next chapter! I hope you all like it. Thanks to all who reviewed, and I hope you continue reviewing. If you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or anything at all, feel free to ask!
Disclaimer- I don't own anything.
E-mail: cool6848@cs.com
Hermione woke up the next morning to see the glow of the sun shining through her eyelids. She rolled over on the couch and scrunched her eyes tightly. She didn't feel like getting up, she still felt tired from the previous night.
"Rise and shine!" Ron called from the kitchen where sweet smells of breakfast cooking were drifting around the entire room.
Hermione groaned loudly and exhaustedly sat up.
Ron chuckled as he saw Hermione. Her hair was all over the place and in knots (her hair had become quite tame over the years) and her bathrobe was half on her body and half hanging off.
"What... what's so funny?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Oh, nothing." Ron said innocently.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the kitchen that was up a couple of steps and it was separated from the living room by a banister. Hermione plopped down onto a kitchen chair just as Ron set breakfast (a pile of scrambled eggs, two pieces of buttered wheat toast, and a large glass of orange juice.) Hermione took a huge whiff of the pleasant smell and grinned.
"Smells delicious." She commented.
Ron laughed, "Well, I'm glad you think so, but how about eating some?"
"No, Ron, I think I'll just look at it all day." Hermione said sarcastically.
"Fine, go ahead and waste your day staring at scrambled eggs." Ron grinned.
After a few moments of silent chewing Hermione spoke up.
"So, Ron, what are you up to today? Do you have to go to work?"
"Yea, unfortunately." Ron replied sourly. "Later tonight, I have some reports I have to write and file. Maybe I won't go."
At his words Hermione gave him a glare.
"Now, Ron, you know you have to get it done."
"Yea, yea, I know I have to get it done, but that still doesn't make me want to go any more."
Hermione just shook her head trying to suppress a grin. Ever since their first year at Hogwarts Ron had been neglecting his work, it was amusing that he still did it now, as a twenty-four year old. Amusing, but definitely not surprising.
"What about yourself?" Ron said taking another helping of eggs and toast from the large platter in the center of the table. (He still had the same appetite, too.)
"I don't know, I'm off work today. I'll probably just do some research on a written incantation we discovered in some chest up in the attic at the office." Hermione worked with a small group of people who checked new spells that had just been created by the Charm and Incantaion Insight Team over at the Ministry of Magic. If a spell was unsafe or defective, they would make a file on it, keep a copy and send one back to the Ministry, telling them what went wrong. The Misnistry would either try to fix it, or just discard of it. Every now and then the group would climb up to the attic and take a look at the old, dusty files that had been there for centuries. Hermione had taken this job a little less than a year ago, and quickly became the leader or the small but successful (not to mention well paid) group. Which, quite frankly, didn't surprise anyone. Not many people know where the place is located, Hermione works in secrecy. This is because of those ancient curses and hexes stored away in the attic, some of them are deadly and harmful. If they fell into the wrong hands, chaos would ensue.
"You're not working tomorrow are you?" Ron asked curiously.
"Actually, yes, I am. Why?"
"Hermione, what do we do every Sunday?"
"Well, I'm not very sure what you do every Sunday, but, let's see, I wake up, have breakfast..."
"Hermione for some one so smart sometimes you can be dense. Or just to literate. What do we do after all that stuff?"
"We, well, we sleep?" Hermione asked blankly.
Ron sighed. "No Hermione we go and have dinner at my parents house! You're definitely not a morning person, or maybe you're just sick. Are you feeling all right?"
"Oh! How could I have forgotten? And no, I'm not sick." Hermione said irritated and swatting Ron's hand away from her forehead. "I'm definitely 'not' sick."
"All right, all right. But will you be able to come tomorrow? You can't miss it, I won't let you." Ron said as he brought his and Hermione's empty plates over to the sink.
"Yes, Ron I'll be able to come, calm down! I always come."
"Yea, well, you get wrapped up in your work a lot."
"I can't help it, you know me Ron." She smiled.
"I should get going now, besides, aren't you meeting Laura today?"
Ron's hand shot up to his forehead and his mouth hung open.
"I totally forgot!" He glanced quickly at his watch as he scurried down the hall towards his bedroom.
"Ahhh! I'm going to be late! I have to meet her in five minutes!"
Calm down Ron! You'll make it! Thanks for letting me stay the night!" Hermione called down the hall.
"No problem, Hermione! So you're coming tomorrow right!?" Ron stuck his head out the door, Hermione could hear his shower running.
"Yes, I'll be there!" And with that Hermione apparated back to her home.
Hermione apparated onto the short brick pathway that led up to her front steps. The bricks on the edges of the path were crumbling and weeds were growing in beetween the cracks along the entire path. She looked up at the home she had lived in since she was four, only now she lived in it alone. During her sixth year at Hogwarts her parents had been victims of one of Voldemorts many Muggle raids. Her eyes stung at the memory of it all, getting the sad, sad letter telling her that her parents were dead, the memory of how hard it was going on day to day at school, and how she had suffered so much pain. There was little light during that time, the only light coming from her closest friends, especially Harry. He was there for her throughout the entire time, holding her, giving her a shoulder to cry on, and telling her everything would be ok.
She broke out of her trance and took a closer look at the house. Her house. The white paint was chipped in some places and really needed a fresh new coat of paint. The red shutters hanging on either side of each front window were cracked and broken. The shrubs in the front of her house, once neatly trimmed and colorful, were now over-grown and dull. She sighed sadly at herselff for letting her home do this poorly. What would her parents think of her for keeping the house in this bad a condition? They would probably be dissapionted.
Hermione decided she would do some serious house cleaning today. She would open all the windows and let the fresh smell of dew enter her house, and since it was suprisingly warm for mid-November. She walked up the worn brick-way into the front foyer of her home and opened the closet to gather together her cleaning supplies. Hermione figured she would work her way from upstairs to downstairs, but before she did any of that she would have to change out of her pajamas.
She threw on a pair of long cotton pants and an old white shirt with sleeves that came down to her elbows. She tied a red bandana to keep her long, wavy hair out of her face. She started with the hallway, vacuming the hard maple-wood floors and ridding the corners of cobwebs or anything else that had crept into the corners. She moved to her tiny library next. She looked around the dim room, a sliver of light made its way into the room and with that light Hermione could see dust floating around. She gazed at the walls lined with books and the comfy love seat that sat in the middle of the room. Hermione groaned inwardly, she knew this was going to take some work. Maybe she could just use her wand...? No, that's not the way to get everything done, she couldn't let herself become lazy.
She started with taking each book off the shelf one at a time, dusting off each book. After she had finished three shelves she moped into her room and plopped onto her bed. A piece of hair that had escaped her bandana fell in her face and she blew it away. Maybe some music would cheer her up, she hadn't listened to the radio in forever. She slowly sat up and walked over to her closet to get her radio. When she took it out dust blew all around her face causing her to sneeze loudly.
"Ow... that hurt." She complained to no one.
She carried her heavy radio into her library and set it down on the floor nect to the electrical outlet. She dusted off the front of it with her hand and flipped the switch. Instantly, loud music started to blast out of the speakers and Hermione drew back in shock and covered her ears. She reached out and turned the volume down to a pitch she could stand. She changed the radio stations until she heard a familiar song. She hummed the song and slowly started to sing as the words came back to her. Her mother had always used to love this song, and whenever Hermione came home for the summer it would be blasting all over the house. It was a soft rock song, but it still had a fast pace with smooth gutair playing and booming drums.
Hermione resumed cleaning the room. Throughout her time in cleaning the library she would stop and change the station every now and then, singing to any song she knew, all the time keeping the music loud. When she had finally finished thouroghly cleaning that room she turned off the radio and decided to take a break.
As she walked down the stairs she heard that back door creak open. She froze. What if it was whoever was in her house last night? What if it was a new intruder. She quietly snuck down the remaining stairs and pressed herself up against the wall that separated her front foyer from her kitchen. She could hear who ever it was walking around her kitchen, coming closer to where she was hidden. Five steps away; she gripped her wand tightly. Only three steps now; time seemed to be going in slow motion. Hermione watched quietly as a tall figure entered the foyer where she was tightly pressed up against the wall.
"Don't move or I'll hex you so bad you won't remember what happen, literally!" Hermione startled the intruder. Whoever this man was (Hermione could tell it was a man by his build) jumped off his feet and turned around. But it wasn't an intruder at all, it was just a shocked looking Sirius.
"Jeez, Hermione, what did you do that for?! You almost caused me an early death!" Sirius spoke angrily.
Hermione covered her open mouth with her hand and blushed.
"Oh, Sirius, I'm so sorry... But you shouldn't just enter my house like that! 'You' nearly caused 'me' an early death." Hermione said, forgetting about her apology.
"I tried ringing that... the door buzzer thing..."
"You could have knocked, and it's called a doorbell." Hermione said cutting him off.
"If you would let me finish... I tried knocking, and I didn't go home because I heard music coming from inside. Then I tried apparating in, but for some reason I couldn't. Why is that?" Sirius asked curiously, following Hermione into the kitchen from which he had just come.
"You couldn't apparate because I set up protective wards around my property. No one can de-activate them except myself because it's my own spell." Hermione said putting her elbows on the counter and placing her head in her hands, while Sirius sat at a barstool across from her.
"Clever, but why did you put up the wards now? You never had them before."
Hermione hesitated. She wasn't sure if she should tell Sirius. He had become almost like a second dad to Hermione, and he was just like Ron when it came to her safety, only worse, much worse. Like one time Hermione had told him she would meet him for lunch, but she was running late due to her work. Sirius had becom every worried and started to panic going around and gathering every one who knew Hermione to go and look for her. Eventually, the search party ended up at work where Hermione had been the entire time. From then on, Hermione was never late to meet with Sirius again. (Even if Hermione was 'never' late in the first place.)
"Well..." Hermione bit her lip.
"What? What happened?" Sirius asked, concerned.
"There, there was some one in my house last night, an intruder."
Sirius choked a little and his eyes opened considerably wider.
"But-"
"Did you see who it was?" Sirius asked with urgency in his voice.
"No, I didn't but I t-"
"I've got to go Hermione, I've just remembered something very important over at the school that I have to get done. I'll see you soon." Sirius spoke as he rushed out the front door and apparated away.
I wonder what that was all about, Hermione thought.
A/N- Well, there it is, the next chapter! I hope you all like it. Thanks to all who reviewed, and I hope you continue reviewing. If you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or anything at all, feel free to ask!
Disclaimer- I don't own anything.