Chapter 16 – And we're off again.
Disclaimer – If I owned them then do you really think I'd be posting this here??
A/N:- At the bottom.
Reviewers:
Yuji-Kun: thanks – sorry it took so long to update!!
Dumbledore-2003: thanks for the encouragement!!!!!!
Slayer-faith: thank you. I much prefer Draco being nice, and I really wanted to write James, Remus and Sirius together as adults!!!
Elliel8: thankyou!!! What more is there to be said?? Read the authors not about the keep on writing thing!
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Everyone stared as Hermione fled the great hall. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and everyone could hear her gasping for breath around strangled sobs. No-one made a move t go after her. The sight of a distraught Hermione was something no-one was used to seeing and even Harry and Ron, who knew her better than anyone, didn't have a clue what to do.
At the head table six professors in particular looked very worried. They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Lily, Jen and Abbi came to a silent agreement, rose from their seats and left the great hall in search of Hermione.
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Hermione threw herself onto her bed and allowed the sobs to overtake her body. She simply could not believe that this was happening to her.
She read the letter she had received again and again. Why her? Why now? Suddenly a fit of rage ran through her veins and she couldn't control herself. She screwed the letter up into a ball and threw it across the room as hard as she could.
Lily opened the door to the girls' dorm and promptly got hit by a flying piece of paper. She bent down and picked it up. Silently she read over the letter, her eyes widening as she read.
When she was done she passed the letter to Abbi and Jen behind her before crossing the room door and scooping Hermione up into her arms, gently rocking her back and forth until the sobbing subsided slightly.
Jen and Abbi hovered just inside the doorway to the dorm. Jen very quietly read the letter to Abbi,
Dearest Hermione,
It began,
How are you? I hope all is well for you and your friends, that your grades are good and that you are not getting yourselves into too much trouble. Your father and I are doing well. We spent a lovely week in Wales this summer. Going to France as usual did not seem right without you being there with us.
How was your summer? I don't think we've heard from you since the middle of august, it's strange not to have our little girl in touch constantly as we used to. It seems you are growing up.
The summer has provided your father and I with some time to think. Over the last year we have joined a local church. The people there are all very nice, there are lots of children your age that we had hoped to be able to introduce you to this summer however that, for obvious reasons was not an option.
"Is this going where I think it is going?" Abbi asked Jen. "Because if it is then I don't like it."
Jen
nodded in agreement. "I sincerely hope
it isn't. We've been there once; we
don't need to go through all that again."
Hermione. We know how much you love your school and your friends there but we have come to an important decision. We would like you to come home.
We don't mean this as a visit or even as a temporary measure. We want you home for good. All this talk of magic and witchcraft is evil. We don't want our only daughter spending an eternity in hell. We want you to be happy and in order for that to happen you must come home.
Let me tell you this now. This isn't open for discussion. We are doing this simply for your own good. We wish you to cut all ties with people at this school and others of their kind. Please come home now love before it is too late to save you.
We have written a letter to your head teacher, sent in the normal way as this letter was. We have informed him of our desire to take you out of school and intend to do so anyway, with or without his per[YUN1] mission.
We shall allow you until the end of October to get everything in order and get ready to leave and we shall pick you up from Kings Cross on November 1st as if it were the end of term.
Understand, Hermione that this is for your own sake. You need to be taken away from this evil before it gets a hold of you and you become un-saveable. Please Hermione, don't hate us for this.
Write back and let us know you received this letter so that we may enrol you in a school near to us,
Love,
Mum.
**
"Oh hell." Said Jen. "First Lil's and now Hermione. When will muggles learn?"
Abbi just shook her head. "Don't ask."
Then after some consideration she continued, "They aren't all that
naive. It's just a misconception spread
by some."
As Hermione's tears calmed she looked up at Lily.
"Why?" She asked quietly, "They've never shown any signs of not wanting me here before. Why now?"
Lily pulled her closer to her. "Some muggles Hermione, just don't understand. To many of them magic is a scary thing because they don't understand it. Don't worry, we wont let them take you out of school if you don't want them to?"
Hermione sniffed. "Really?" She asked hopefully.
"Really." Stated all three women firmly.
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Back in the great hall five students and three professors were having a bit of a crisis conference.
As soon as Lily, Jen and Abbi had left after Hermione, Sirius, Remus and James had dashed over to the remaining Phoenixers at their table.
"What's up with 'mione?" Sirius asked "Why'd she run out like that?"
"Dunno." Answered Ron. "I've never seen her like that before, it must be something bad."
"The last time I saw anyone leave the great hall like that," began Remus, "Was back in our fifth year when Lil's……" He trailed off, realising the perfect plausibility in the idea that the circumstances were the same.
"You don't think…." Said James, "That Hermione's parents could be trying
the same thing do you? Surely they
wouldn't?!"
"What wouldn't they do dad?" asked Harry. "What do you think is wrong?"
"It doesn't matter what we think Harry." Replied Sirius. "Just hope that we're wrong."
"About what?" Asked Ron, "It can't be that awful." Having thought about that sentence he continued, "Yes it can, after all, it upset her enough to make her leave the great hall, crying at that." Then in a quieter voice he added, "What's wrong, what's upset 'Mione so much, I've never seen her cry before."
The three men looked at each other, having a conversation between themselves in a silent exchange which obviously stemmed from the closeness of their friendship. Eventually Sirius answered.
"Alright. When you've finished your breakfast we'll see you in the DADA classroom, then we'll explain, ok?"
There was a chorus of ok's from the assembled group before the three men rose and left the hall. After their realisation, they really had lost their appetite.
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10 minutes later t was a sombre group of people that were to be found sat around a table in the DADA class room.
"So what you're saying," summarised Harry, "Is that you think that Mione's parents are trying to take her out of hogwarts. And that mum's parents did exactly the same thing when she was at school."
"Basically yes." Replied Remus. "We might be wrong though, don't count on us being right. Just because Lil's parents did it to her doesn't mean that that's what Hermione's parents are doing. It could be something completely different."
The five students sat in silence for a while, digesting the information they had just been given. Eventually Ron decided to break the silence.
"I'm going to go and look for her, I want to see if she's alright. I'll see you soon." With that he got up and left in search of his girlfriend.
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Once they had Hermione calmed down Lily, Jen and Abbi had all left her alone for a while and gone to find Dumbledore. They had found him sat in his office poring over a letter.
"Hermione's parents?" Abbi asked.
Dumbledore nodded his
head. "Yes. I'm guessing she told you about what they
want to do."
Jen nodded her head. "What are we going to do Albus? The poor girl is devastated."
Dumbledore looked at Lily. "Do you remember how we convinced your parents?" he asked her.
Lily nodded thoughtfully. "We had a meeting, they sat in on some
classes, then, when that wasn't looking very hopeful, I threw the final card
down and told them that I'd leave home if they wouldn't let me stay."
Dumbledore smiled slightly. "I always wondered what you said to make them so upset." Lily blushed slightly and Dumbledore continued. "However, what you may not have been aware of is that after all that I had a meeting with your parents. At that meeting I simply explained to them that with the threat of Voldemort rising you would be far safer at school where we could teach you to defend yourself and protect you if the need arose. It seemed to do the trick, and they thanked me for it later on."
Lily smiled. "So we do the same thing for Hermione then?" She asked.
"I believe that would be a good start, yes." Dumbledore replied. "I'll write a letter to them issuing them with an invitation to come and visit the school."
With that said Dumbledore turned back to what he was doing and Lily Jen and Abbi left the office in search of the others ready to start the day's lessons.
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Ron and Hermione sat on Hermione's bed contemplating what was happening. When Ron had found his girlfriend she had been blotchy eyed from crying and he had immediately pulled her into a hug. 20 minutes later after many more tears from each of them they were sat together in silence, neither sure what to say to the other.
Finally Ron broke the silence, "It'll all be ok you know." He said, more to convince himself than Hermione, "Dumbledore wont let them take you away from here."
Hermione smiled weakly at him, "I know, that's just what Jen, Abbi and Lily said, it's just that my parents don't give up easily, if they want to do something then they'll do it, whatever it takes."
"Not this time." Said Ron, determination evident in his voice, "I'll make sure of it."
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15 minutes later found the group sat together around the table in their library having their first history of magic lesson of the year.
"Wizarding relations with the Muggle world" said Lily to start the lesson. She was met by a predictable round of groans and a head banging on the table from Hermione.
"We know it's boring. The whole subject is useless and you are never likely to need to know this." Said James, "But Dumbledore says we have to teach it to you, sorry."
A long lecture then ensued. None of the five who had previously attended Hogwarts believed it possible for the subject to be more boring than professor Binns had made it but it soon became apparent that that was in fact wholly possible and indeed this lesson they had been wishing they were sat in Binns' ice cold classroom with everyone else.
As the lesson drew to a close Harry looked at his parents.
"You know I love you." He stated his voice full of seriousness. "But I have some advice fore you. NEVER become history of magic teacher's full time!"
At that the group all burst into fits of laughter whilst James and Lily did their best to look indignant.
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The rest of the day passed without incident. They all greatly enjoyed their new lessons, even Ron found himself looking forward to the rest of the lessons that people had planned for them and all of them willingly sat together doing their homework that evening.
After dinner Dumbledore met with Hermione and informed her of his plans concerning her parents. At first, having heard the plan Hermione was sceptical however once she had heard how it worked for Lily on her parents she was feeling more optimistic and agreed to let Dumbledore try it.
The letter was written and sent. The plan was that professor McGonagall was to collect Hermione's parents the following Monday morning and bring them via portkey to Hogwarts where they could spend a week watching the school environment and then make a final decision about Hermione's schooling.
The plan seemed fool-proof. Everyone expected it to go without a hitch and for Hermione to be allowed to stay at Hogwarts for definite. The truth of the matter though, as they were about to discover, could not have been more different if it had been the exact opposite.
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A/N: Finally!!! I'm so sorry that took me so long but I got to a certain point and then just had a total block. I went ages without being able to think what to write next and then when I finally knew what to write I couldn't get near my computer for 3 weeks! Sorry if the end of that chapter seemed a little rushed or abrupt. I didn't want to go into details on every lesson because it would have taken me forever so I just skipped a little.
[YUN1]
