Hermione yawned and starting blinking the sleepiness away from her eyes. She stretched, yawned again, and looked around. * Ok, not a dream, still here…what to do?* She planted her feet on the plush carpet and began putting together a comfortable, yet "adult" outfit. There was a lot that Hermione had to get done today, and number one on the list was getting back on speaking terms with Winter. She opened the door to her room and walked out towards the noises coming from the kitchen. Her pace quickened as she took in the scents of sizzling bacon and salty eggs. Turning into the kitchen, she was met by a sheepish grin. "I guess this means I'm forgiven?" Hermione ventured.
"Well, I guess you might say that…or I could be trying to poison you!" Winter smiled wryly and began distributing the breakfast as her mother sat down. "Bacon, eggs, toast, what am I forgetting, oh! Orange juice!" Winter opened the fridge and pulled out the Tropicana. She poured two glasses and then took her seat across from her mother, who was looking at her intently. "Something on my face?" the redhead giggled.
"No, no nothing's on your face, except for like a million freckles!" At this Winter balled up her napkin and threw it at her mother. Hermione ducked quickly out of the way, then righted herself smiling wickedly. "So what's the plan for today?"
"No plan." Winter mumbled through a bite of scrambled eggs. "You got any ideas?" She looked curiously at her mother.
"Well…actually I was thinking we could go to London…" Hermione let this out slowly, trying to gage her daughter's reaction, which was a fit of giggles. The giggles promptly ended though, when Winter's laughing eyes met Hermione's unmistakenly serious face. Hermione rushed out the rest, "I mean there's just so much to see there, and it's where I'm from, I just thought it was about time I showed you around a bit. If we have nothing else to do, that is"
"Wow! London!
You're serious?? When do we leave?
I can't believe it Mom! I've
never even been to Canada, and now we're going to London? In Europe! Oh my god!"
Winter bounced out of her chair and jumped around the kitchen, hugging
Hermione, jumping around some more, and hugging Hermione again.
"Ok, slow down. I have to see if there are any flights
today, if so, we can leave this afternoon.
So while I start making arrangements, why don't you pack some
things?" Winter proceeded to bounce her
way out of the kitchen, when suddenly her head poked back in and asked,
"Will we visit Nana and Gramps?" To which Hermione nodded. The 'older' woman finished off her breakfast and sat at the table sighing. Plan? I guess you could call it a plan, though Hermione had no idea what she would do once she arrived in London. Possibly drop Winter off at her parents before heading over to The Leaky Cauldron to do some investigating. She had to get in touch with Dumbledore. And what about Harry, and Ron? Could she really have gone all these years without her two best friends. Hermione's eyes sweeped over the picture frames from which her two best friends were absent and acknowledged to herself what she already knew. She had left them all without a word, abandoned the ministry, and started over, with the only clue to her past being her own journal, telling the story of an incomplete life without the ones she loved the most. It was time to set things right. Hermione clenched her teeth and got to packing, ready to fix the mistake that was her future.