Hogwarts Reunion
Chapter 3 - The Reunion
The Sunday of the Reunion dawned bright and clear, Hermione was up as usual, to watch the sun rise, a beauty that she never tired of witnessing. She braced herself for when the kids would be up, and then the house would be overrun by the high-pitched squeals and giggles of the twelve young members who resided at Granger House. Their laughter always warmed her heart, but there was a small part that refused to thaw and now Hermione had become used to the small icy bite in her chest and largely ignored though she knew that one day it would come back to haunt her.
"MIONE! MIONE! MIONE! MIONE! MIONE! MIONE!" came the chant of her wards and Hermione couldn't help the smile that crept on her face.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes?" Hermione stood in the doorway of her bedroom, hands on hips looking sternly at the twelve young faces crowded in front of her. They all peered up at her not quite sure of the mood that she was in, they all knew that they shouldn't be yelling inside but today wasn't like other days, today they were going to Hogwarts!
Suddenly Hermione smiled and all of the children visibly relaxed.
"A little excited are we? You should all feel very special; most children do not get to see Hogwarts before they start their schooling there." Hermione kept the smile on her face and little Imogen Rose ran up to her and grabbed her hand.
"Mione, you help me?" The innocent face of the little two year old never failed to melt her heart. Imogen had bush platinum blonde hair with large blue eyes and the most beautiful smile. Hermione allowed herself to be lead into the little girl's room and for the next two hours she helped each child pack, supervision was defiantly needed, especially as she had caught Jake, who at seven was the oldest and the most mischievous of the lot, trying to smuggle one of the Weasley twins latest and most inventive inventions, 'Everlasting stinksap Squirters.' Hermione had confiscated the squirters and hid them in a cleverly hidden cupboard in her room, which held many other inventions of the Weasley twins.
Finally at 10:30 am they were all ready to leave, Hermione said a handy little spell that turned all of their luggage into miniature and everyone placed their respective trunks in his or hers pockets. They all stood around an old rubber-swimming ring that Hermione had found in the attic and they all stood around holding onto a small piece of it. At 10:35 precisely each person felt a small tug behind their navels and suddenly they were on platform 9 and ¾'s facing the large shiny red steam engine that was Hogwarts Express. Hermione smiled as a wave of nostalgia hit her, she had had many happy memories of traveling on this train. As usual with the happy memories she was hit with the sad but she pushed them aside, this week was going to be a week of fun and happy times, she was not going to dwell on the bad, because there was nothing she could do to change the past. Nodding to herself, Hermione looked down at the smiling faces around her and flashed one at them in return.
"Alright everyone, take out your luggage and I will return it to normal size that way we can go find ourselves a compartment for the trip to Hogwarts." This announcement was met with cheers and lots of jumping up and down from the excited youngsters. They all put their luggage on the floor in front of them and Hermione muttered a spell and the trunks all returned to their normal size. Their trunks were taken away by an old wizard and Hermione led the way to the train and to a compartment.
As they sat in their compartment, the same one that Hermione had shared with Harry and Ron on their final trip to Hogwarts, Hermione let the excited babble of her kids wash over her and she looked out of the window watching the scenery go by.
Suddenly the door opened and Hermione looked over to see who it was. Neville Longbottom, Minister of Magic stepped into the compartment, walked over to Hermione, and gave her a big warm hug.
"Hermione it's been ages! It is good to see you again."
"Neville, it's nice to see you as well. How have you been?"
"Good, though I didn't realise what a stress this job was, makes you admire Fudge a little more, I tell you." Neville had not changed much since Hogwarts, he was still slightly plump and round faced but the war had changed him and he grew a lot mentally. While he still had a problem with confidence and could be forgetful, the appointment of Luna Lovegood as his personal secretary had been a blessing. No one would have guessed that she could keep him as organised as she did but, together they made a good team.
Hermione looked down when she felt a small tugging on her sleeve. She looked down and saw Tate tugging gently on her sleeve, he motioned for her to leave down and pick her up, Hermione complied and wrapped her arms around his waist as he sat on her hip. He smiled at her and snuggled into her shoulder.
"Well Hermione, I guess that I better leave you to it, we will have a chance to catch up during the week." Neville smiled and waved as he shut the compartment door behind him. Hermione smiled down at the kids, the twins Taylah and Kayla were playing exploding snap, and Imogen was looking at a picture book. Travis was trying to control his small green tree frog that he had found at home and Daphne was sitting next to him with her nose screwed up quite horrified at the frogs antics. Lilly and Isobella were standing up and looking out the window, hoping for a glance of Hogwarts even though they were still miles away from the castle. Jake and his shadows, Riley, Robert and William were whispering together in a manner that could only lead to mischief but Hermione didn't have the heart to find out what they were up to.
"Hey Mione! Hey kids! How are we all?" Harry stuck his head in the compartment and flashed a wide smile.
"Harry! How are you? Where's Ginny?" upon hearing her name Ginny stuck her head in under Harry's arm and gave him a shove from behind forcing him to go inside the compartment.
"Did I hear my name?" Ginny smiled and enveloped Hermione in a hug mindful of Tate.
"How have you been?" Ginny plonked herself down next to Hermione and Harry went to have a look at the frog that Travis was struggling with.
"I've been good, busy but good. How are you coping with this lot then?" Ginny teased.
"Were coping quite well thank you! How has work been?"
"Busy as ever! But you don't want to hear about that! We just thought that we would stop in to say hi, Dean and Lavender and Seamus have asked us to sit with them so I guess we will be traveling along. Oh and the twins are here, can you believe it? They are dating the Patill twins so they got invites as well! Those brothers of mine!" Ginny paused slightly at the mention of her brothers, she knew that it had been a long time since Ron's death and while she was still saddened by it she knew that Hermione was still mourning. After the awkward pause Ginny tried to cover it up by rushing on and saying, "ah. come on Harry, you will have time to play with frogs later on! The others will be wondering what happened to us!" Ginny gabbed Harry by the arm, hauled him up and with a wave they both left, in search of their other school friends. Hermione just gave Tate a slight squeeze and tried not to feel depressed, she had promised herself that she would not let the bad things weigh on her mind and she intended to keep that promise to herself.
Tate had fallen asleep in her arms and Hermione breathed in the baby scent of him. Tate had not spoken a word since coming into her care, he was three years old, incredibly bright but Hermione had learned that he had witnessed the death of his parents and since the night of their deaths he had not uttered a word. It had taken Hermione months to gain his trust and now was rewarded with smiles and hugs, however the fact that he refused to talk to her still weighed heavily on her mind, but that didn't matter today, he would open up to her one day, all she had to do was to keep showing him how much she loved him and everything would work out. Tate soon woke from his nap and began to look out the window also trying to look for a first glimpse of Hogwarts. They were still a long way away but telling them that wouldn't help, they were to excited!
After they had been on the train for a couple of hours the old witch pushing the food cart came by and Hermione succumbed to the demands of the eleven speaking children and the silent pleas of Tate and bought each child a sweet of their choosing. Soon the compartment was filled with wrappers and the sounds of munching and bubbles popping. Tate had chosen a sticky pop that turned out to be very sticky! He had taken it out of his mouth and rested it on his tummy and was now struggling to get it off of his jumper. He was whimpering and Hermione was doing her best to help unstick the pop from his jumper without much success.
There was a knock at the compartment door and all the kids turned to look to see who had knocked.
"Come in," Hermione called still trying to unstick the stickiest stick pop from the front of Tate's shirt.
"Hello Hermione, its been a while," Hermione's head snapped up and chocolate brown eyes collided with icy blue eyes.
"Hello Draco."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Hello to all! Do you like my mini cliffie? Depending on how much homework I have to do, it shouldn't be too long of a wait until you get the next installment!
Sorry if this is moving a bit slow, but I need to set up all the back ground so that you all can understand what is going on! Does anyone think that I should put in some flash backs, I later chapters, about the war and stuff, or just leave it?
Thank-you once again to everyone who reviewed, it made me feel special! :) I have only written two chapters (now three) and I already have almost more reviews for this than I did for that one! I feel loved! So thank you all! Hehehe!
If anyone has any ideas for some activities that can be conducted while they are at the reunion, I will greatly appreciate it, because I have a couple but not enough for a whole week's worth!
If there is something you did not like, would like to happen, people that you want to see or anything along those lines you can tell me via the review thingy or you can find my e-mail from the last chappies and tell me that way. Oh yeah, and any one interested in being a beta reader for me, you know what to do, and if you don't look in previous chapters note and you will find instructions!
Who am I kidding I just like the reviews! Lol! Nah, seriously, if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them, because it will give me direction in my story. I mean, I know the basic plot like such as it is, but there is always room for additions! :)
Wow, I gotta stop doing this, my authors notes are getting to be longer than my chapters! Hehehe!
This chappie is dedicated to all those who reviewed:
Jivel Malfoy
Danika (again! Ta muchly!)
Sesen
Meg
Cailin (again! Thank you)
Avestia (glad you like it so much!)
Chapter 3 - The Reunion
The Sunday of the Reunion dawned bright and clear, Hermione was up as usual, to watch the sun rise, a beauty that she never tired of witnessing. She braced herself for when the kids would be up, and then the house would be overrun by the high-pitched squeals and giggles of the twelve young members who resided at Granger House. Their laughter always warmed her heart, but there was a small part that refused to thaw and now Hermione had become used to the small icy bite in her chest and largely ignored though she knew that one day it would come back to haunt her.
"MIONE! MIONE! MIONE! MIONE! MIONE! MIONE!" came the chant of her wards and Hermione couldn't help the smile that crept on her face.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes?" Hermione stood in the doorway of her bedroom, hands on hips looking sternly at the twelve young faces crowded in front of her. They all peered up at her not quite sure of the mood that she was in, they all knew that they shouldn't be yelling inside but today wasn't like other days, today they were going to Hogwarts!
Suddenly Hermione smiled and all of the children visibly relaxed.
"A little excited are we? You should all feel very special; most children do not get to see Hogwarts before they start their schooling there." Hermione kept the smile on her face and little Imogen Rose ran up to her and grabbed her hand.
"Mione, you help me?" The innocent face of the little two year old never failed to melt her heart. Imogen had bush platinum blonde hair with large blue eyes and the most beautiful smile. Hermione allowed herself to be lead into the little girl's room and for the next two hours she helped each child pack, supervision was defiantly needed, especially as she had caught Jake, who at seven was the oldest and the most mischievous of the lot, trying to smuggle one of the Weasley twins latest and most inventive inventions, 'Everlasting stinksap Squirters.' Hermione had confiscated the squirters and hid them in a cleverly hidden cupboard in her room, which held many other inventions of the Weasley twins.
Finally at 10:30 am they were all ready to leave, Hermione said a handy little spell that turned all of their luggage into miniature and everyone placed their respective trunks in his or hers pockets. They all stood around an old rubber-swimming ring that Hermione had found in the attic and they all stood around holding onto a small piece of it. At 10:35 precisely each person felt a small tug behind their navels and suddenly they were on platform 9 and ¾'s facing the large shiny red steam engine that was Hogwarts Express. Hermione smiled as a wave of nostalgia hit her, she had had many happy memories of traveling on this train. As usual with the happy memories she was hit with the sad but she pushed them aside, this week was going to be a week of fun and happy times, she was not going to dwell on the bad, because there was nothing she could do to change the past. Nodding to herself, Hermione looked down at the smiling faces around her and flashed one at them in return.
"Alright everyone, take out your luggage and I will return it to normal size that way we can go find ourselves a compartment for the trip to Hogwarts." This announcement was met with cheers and lots of jumping up and down from the excited youngsters. They all put their luggage on the floor in front of them and Hermione muttered a spell and the trunks all returned to their normal size. Their trunks were taken away by an old wizard and Hermione led the way to the train and to a compartment.
As they sat in their compartment, the same one that Hermione had shared with Harry and Ron on their final trip to Hogwarts, Hermione let the excited babble of her kids wash over her and she looked out of the window watching the scenery go by.
Suddenly the door opened and Hermione looked over to see who it was. Neville Longbottom, Minister of Magic stepped into the compartment, walked over to Hermione, and gave her a big warm hug.
"Hermione it's been ages! It is good to see you again."
"Neville, it's nice to see you as well. How have you been?"
"Good, though I didn't realise what a stress this job was, makes you admire Fudge a little more, I tell you." Neville had not changed much since Hogwarts, he was still slightly plump and round faced but the war had changed him and he grew a lot mentally. While he still had a problem with confidence and could be forgetful, the appointment of Luna Lovegood as his personal secretary had been a blessing. No one would have guessed that she could keep him as organised as she did but, together they made a good team.
Hermione looked down when she felt a small tugging on her sleeve. She looked down and saw Tate tugging gently on her sleeve, he motioned for her to leave down and pick her up, Hermione complied and wrapped her arms around his waist as he sat on her hip. He smiled at her and snuggled into her shoulder.
"Well Hermione, I guess that I better leave you to it, we will have a chance to catch up during the week." Neville smiled and waved as he shut the compartment door behind him. Hermione smiled down at the kids, the twins Taylah and Kayla were playing exploding snap, and Imogen was looking at a picture book. Travis was trying to control his small green tree frog that he had found at home and Daphne was sitting next to him with her nose screwed up quite horrified at the frogs antics. Lilly and Isobella were standing up and looking out the window, hoping for a glance of Hogwarts even though they were still miles away from the castle. Jake and his shadows, Riley, Robert and William were whispering together in a manner that could only lead to mischief but Hermione didn't have the heart to find out what they were up to.
"Hey Mione! Hey kids! How are we all?" Harry stuck his head in the compartment and flashed a wide smile.
"Harry! How are you? Where's Ginny?" upon hearing her name Ginny stuck her head in under Harry's arm and gave him a shove from behind forcing him to go inside the compartment.
"Did I hear my name?" Ginny smiled and enveloped Hermione in a hug mindful of Tate.
"How have you been?" Ginny plonked herself down next to Hermione and Harry went to have a look at the frog that Travis was struggling with.
"I've been good, busy but good. How are you coping with this lot then?" Ginny teased.
"Were coping quite well thank you! How has work been?"
"Busy as ever! But you don't want to hear about that! We just thought that we would stop in to say hi, Dean and Lavender and Seamus have asked us to sit with them so I guess we will be traveling along. Oh and the twins are here, can you believe it? They are dating the Patill twins so they got invites as well! Those brothers of mine!" Ginny paused slightly at the mention of her brothers, she knew that it had been a long time since Ron's death and while she was still saddened by it she knew that Hermione was still mourning. After the awkward pause Ginny tried to cover it up by rushing on and saying, "ah. come on Harry, you will have time to play with frogs later on! The others will be wondering what happened to us!" Ginny gabbed Harry by the arm, hauled him up and with a wave they both left, in search of their other school friends. Hermione just gave Tate a slight squeeze and tried not to feel depressed, she had promised herself that she would not let the bad things weigh on her mind and she intended to keep that promise to herself.
Tate had fallen asleep in her arms and Hermione breathed in the baby scent of him. Tate had not spoken a word since coming into her care, he was three years old, incredibly bright but Hermione had learned that he had witnessed the death of his parents and since the night of their deaths he had not uttered a word. It had taken Hermione months to gain his trust and now was rewarded with smiles and hugs, however the fact that he refused to talk to her still weighed heavily on her mind, but that didn't matter today, he would open up to her one day, all she had to do was to keep showing him how much she loved him and everything would work out. Tate soon woke from his nap and began to look out the window also trying to look for a first glimpse of Hogwarts. They were still a long way away but telling them that wouldn't help, they were to excited!
After they had been on the train for a couple of hours the old witch pushing the food cart came by and Hermione succumbed to the demands of the eleven speaking children and the silent pleas of Tate and bought each child a sweet of their choosing. Soon the compartment was filled with wrappers and the sounds of munching and bubbles popping. Tate had chosen a sticky pop that turned out to be very sticky! He had taken it out of his mouth and rested it on his tummy and was now struggling to get it off of his jumper. He was whimpering and Hermione was doing her best to help unstick the pop from his jumper without much success.
There was a knock at the compartment door and all the kids turned to look to see who had knocked.
"Come in," Hermione called still trying to unstick the stickiest stick pop from the front of Tate's shirt.
"Hello Hermione, its been a while," Hermione's head snapped up and chocolate brown eyes collided with icy blue eyes.
"Hello Draco."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Hello to all! Do you like my mini cliffie? Depending on how much homework I have to do, it shouldn't be too long of a wait until you get the next installment!
Sorry if this is moving a bit slow, but I need to set up all the back ground so that you all can understand what is going on! Does anyone think that I should put in some flash backs, I later chapters, about the war and stuff, or just leave it?
Thank-you once again to everyone who reviewed, it made me feel special! :) I have only written two chapters (now three) and I already have almost more reviews for this than I did for that one! I feel loved! So thank you all! Hehehe!
If anyone has any ideas for some activities that can be conducted while they are at the reunion, I will greatly appreciate it, because I have a couple but not enough for a whole week's worth!
If there is something you did not like, would like to happen, people that you want to see or anything along those lines you can tell me via the review thingy or you can find my e-mail from the last chappies and tell me that way. Oh yeah, and any one interested in being a beta reader for me, you know what to do, and if you don't look in previous chapters note and you will find instructions!
Who am I kidding I just like the reviews! Lol! Nah, seriously, if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them, because it will give me direction in my story. I mean, I know the basic plot like such as it is, but there is always room for additions! :)
Wow, I gotta stop doing this, my authors notes are getting to be longer than my chapters! Hehehe!
This chappie is dedicated to all those who reviewed:
Jivel Malfoy
Danika (again! Ta muchly!)
Sesen
Meg
Cailin (again! Thank you)
Avestia (glad you like it so much!)