Expecto Patronum - Chapter 1
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Just warning everyone: This is a Bill/Hermione fic, if you don't like that, you can leave.
Hermione stood next to Ron watching Harry pace back and forth along the corridor opposite the room of requirement. The door handle appered and they stepped inside to waited for the other members of the DA to show up for what was to be their forth meeting. They didn't have to wait long, by half-past-seven, everyone had arrived and Harry began speaking.
"Ok, I think today we will start learning how to repel dementors with the patronus charm. Some of us started learning this with Professor Moody." Harry paused and looked around the room, he still wasn't used to talking to such a large group.
"Umm... the charm is 'Expecto Partronum' when you cast it correctly it should for an animal of some kind, but first you have to think of a happy memory, but not just any memory, you have to pinpoint the exact moment, where you were happier than ever before, that's the way to get the best patronus. Ok everyone, I'll give you a few moments to think of something and then I guess we can start"
Everyone went and sat down one of the cushions that were littered over the floor. Hermione picked a large pink one in the corner and began to think, she knew what her happiest memory would be, well, before it turned into her saddest. It was complicated, how the best time in her life could just go downhill so fast and leave her where she was now. She decided to go through the memory and try to find that moment; the special moment where everything was perfect; before her world shattered into a million pieces. She took a deep breath and started to play everything through in her mind, almost as if she was watching it in a Pensieve.
It had started in the summer of her forth year, she was sitting at the kitchen table engrossed in her book: 'Advanced Magical Theory' by Adalbert Waffling when an owl flew through the window and dropped a letter on the table. Hermione reached for it, but realized it was addressed to her mum. "Mum, there's an owl here for you" she called. Hermione's mother wiped her soap- covered hands on a cloth as she had been washing dishes and picked up the letter. "Now who would be writing to me" she asked herself as she slid open the wax seal. Hermione read over her mother's shoulder, realizing the handwriting belonged to none other than Mrs Weasley.
Dear Mr and Mrs Granger, We were briefly introduced a few years ago. As Hermione may have told you, the final of the Quidditch World Cup takes place next Monday night, and Arthur has managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sport. I do hope we may be able to take Hermione to this match as it is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Britain hasn't hosted the cup in thirty years and tickets are extremely hard to come by. We would of course be glad to have Hermione stay for the remainder of the summer holidays, and see her safely onto the train back to school. I hope to hear from you soon. Yours sincerely,
Molly Weasley
"Can I go mum?" she asked enthusiastically, her book lying forgotten on the table. "Yes, of course, dear, I'll talk it over with your father when he gets home but I think it may be a good idea as it means you wont have to stay with your aunt while we're away for two weeks."
A day later Hermione was collected by Ron and Mrs Weasley. They flooed through and were greeted by a cheerful Mrs and Mr Granger. Her parent sat down with Mrs Weasley while she and Ron went to get her trunk from upstairs.
"Hermione, it's great, dad got these awesome tickets to the Cup. Did you know Britain hasn't hosted the cup in thirty years? And Bill and Charlie have come to stay to, so the house will be really cramped." Ron continued to amble on until it was time to leave.
Hermione said goodbye to her parents and followed Mrs Weasley and Ron as they flooed to the burrow. She stepped through the fireplace in the Weasley's kitchen, dusted herself off and looked around; it was practically the same as the last time she was here except for the presence of a new Weasley face that she presumed was either Bill or Charlie.
"Now Hermione" Mrs Weasley said in a motherly tone. "This is Charlie"
"Hey," Charlie said with a bit of a wave. Hermione noticed that he resembled a younger version of Mr Weasley, but with so many freckles he was almost tanned.
"Now Ron, before you go, I need to talk to you" said Mrs Weasley. "Oh, and Hermione if you want to find Ginny, she's in her room, I don't think she knows you're here yet"
Hermione wandered up the two flights of stairs to Ginny's room. She walked along the corridor; it would be good to Ginny her again, as during the last year they had become quite close.
Hermione was so deep in thought, trying to remember when she last saw Ginny that it was a huge surprise when Hermione felt herself crash into something quite solid. Her book flew out of her hands and hit the wall beside her. She blushed scarlet, and looked up into the face of the person she crashed into.
"Hermione, I presume?" said the guy, holding out his hand to help her up. "I'm Bill".
Hermione got another shock when she took another look at him. He looked nothing like she expected. He had long hair tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck, an earring with a fang dangled from one ear, but the thing Hermione noticed most were his eyes; they deep blue and Hermione made a decision right then that he was the cutest guy she had seen in quite a while. Realizing she had been staring she looked down and started to apologise.
"I am so sorry for crashing into you, I wasn't watching where I was going an-" Bill cut her off.
"Hey, don't worry about it 'Mione, no harm done"
"'Mione?" she asked, confused at his sudden shortening of her name.
"Yeah, everyone needs a nickname" he replied picking up her book and handing it to her.
"You know where Ginny's room is, right?" he asked.
"Um... Yeah, I stay there last time" she said
"Well, I'll see you round, I guess," he replied and descended the stairs two at a time.
Hermione walked into Ginny's room feeling rather flustered.
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That night Hermione, Ron and Ginny sat around in the Weasley's lounge room. Ron and Ginny were in the middle of a game of wizards chess and Hermione was watching. Fred and George sat in the corner talking quietly and Percy was upstairs working. Mr and Mrs Weasley were in the kitchen and she hadn't seen Bill or Charlie since dinner and presumed them were in their room.
"When is Harry coming?" Hermione asked, watching the game of chess which Ginny was drastically loosing.
"We sent him a letter the other day, you know, the muggle way, I don't know how long it takes but I'll send him an owl if I don't hear from him tomorrow." Ron replied turning to move one of his pieces across the bored.
"It'll probably take two or three days"
"I hope mum put enough stamps on it" Ron said, deep in concentration.
"How many did she use?"
"About fifty," Ron replied, as if this was perfectly normal.
"You only need one" Hermione said, trying to suppress a giggle.
"Oh" said Ron and the room fell into silence before all three of them started laughing hysterically.
"Im- im- image the look on the Dursley face" Ginny said trying not to laugh. It was fifteen minuets before Mrs Weasley came in and calmed them down.
"Come on kids, everyone in bed, you too Fred, don't give me that look," She said as Fred rolled his eyes at her. "It's 10:30 and you should all be asleep. I've already had to battle with Percy to get him to stop work; I don't need to battle with you too. All of you, upstairs, now!"
They all trudged upstairs and Hermione and Ginny walked into their room. Talking animatedly, the changed into their pyjamas.
"So Hermione, how's your summer been" Asked Ginny.
"I haven't done much" Hermione admitted, stepping into her baby blue pyjama pants. "I finished all my homework last week -".
Ginny snorted and muttered "Typical" under her breath.
"And I spent the rest of the time catching up with mum and dad, and a few friends around the neighbourhood. Yeah so how's your summer been?" She asked.
"Well" Ginny started. "Lots of Quidditch, which I'm defiantly not complaining about. I'm glad to have another girl in the house though, I feel overrun by brothers. It's like, you open a door and a brother pops out, pour out your cereal and two more fall onto your plate, they're everywhere, I can't escape them and they're all being overprotective gits now 'cos Charlie got hold of my diary and found out I like someone, and, well, now they wont leave me alone and keep threatening to bash his head in."
"Do they know who he is?" asked Hermione, sitting down on Ginny's bed.
"No, and well if they did, well, we would have some major problems" Ginny said and sat on the bed next to Hermione.
"Why, who is -" and then she realised. "It's Harry isn't it?"
Ginny nodded and started to blush.
"Well, I think you'd make a cute couple" Hermione said, smiling at her.
"Thanks" Ginny replied. "Well, now you know who I like. So, who do you like Hermione?"
"I don't know, Gin" she said. "I'll be back in a minute, just going to the bathroom" she whispered as she shut the door.
Outside of the door, Hermione took a deep breath. She really didn't know who she liked. Walking toward the bathroom she put her hand on the handle and was about to open the door when someone opened it from the inside.
Yet again she found herself face to face with Bill Weasley; they barely avoided a collision, neither expecting the other to be there. He had obviously just come out of the shower as his hair was dripping leaving wet patches all over his top.
"We've got to stop meeting like this 'Mione" Bill joked.
"Yeah" Both of them tried to step out of the way at the same time but ended up going the same direction. After a few awkward moments of sidestepping they passed each other and Hermione walked into the bathroom. She wiped the fog off the mirror and stared at herself. She couldn't understand why she became so tongue-tied whenever she saw Bill. No matter what, she ended up just saying something stupid and blushing.
This wasn't like her; she always knew what to say. It was so confusing. She splashed cold water on her face, brushed her teeth and then went back to the room she was sharing. Ginny was already asleep and soon Hermione crawled into bed and fell asleep too.
Well that was my first chapter, i hope it was ok : ) I think i may end up re-writing it as it seems a bit rushed, just thought i would post it and see whether everyone thinks it's worth continuing.