Once Upon a Dream
Prologue
When this all began, we knew there'd be a price
The tears ran silently down her cheek as she read the paper one more time- why was it so hard to concentrate and why was she crying? Yes, he had been distant but so had she. They both had so much on their plates with work, Harry's wedding, the Order and of course their family life. But was that really an excuse? The tears continued to fall and she still couldn't figure out why she couldn't stop crying. This was so frustrating- she just wanted to make it through The Daily Prophet and then get ready for work; but her mind kept wandering back to distant memories again and again. She was reliving both the good and the bad of her life, and right now she didn't want to remember any of it because of the pain that they brought.
Five years? Had it really been that long? No it been longer if you counted the seven years of school and the two years after it had been fourteen years since they had met. Fourteen years that had brought triumph, heartache, love, frustration, but most of all friendship. What was her problem? She didn't have time for this she had to keep busy she had to keep busy in order to forget everything- to block out the pain. In all honesty she did not want to have the time to deal with her problems, because it would mean facing demons that she wasn't ready to face.
"Well, Hermione, maybe you should just make the time," said the voice inside her head "this is important."
"I know," she sighed aloud "but if I think about it now then I won't stop crying."
"You know that this is the cause of your crying and that if you ever want to stop you need to stop and take stock of your life"
"Great" she said "All I need to be doing is arguing with myself right now- that's all they need to prove that I really am mental."
She begin to pace the floor trying to control the tears that would not stop, "Fine" she said "but if I am going to do this I am going to do it properly."
Knowing that it was best if she did not go to work in the state she was currently in she sent off a short note by owl letting her department know that she would not been in today. Then she sat down on the couch and picked up the album that was lying on the coffee table. She opened it to revel her 11 year old self standing between her two best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
Yes she thought it was strange that the three of them had remained friends for so long but they had been through so much together that it literally had bonded them one to another. As she flipped through the pages of photos from her first year she at first thought "Were we ever that small? And look at my hair all long and curly. Ugh! The pain that used to cause me- thank heavens for hair styling products and a decent stylist that could do something with that mop." she thought as she ran her hands through her now shortened hair.
Her memory began to walk her through the Hogwarts year's one after another and the years after and she knew that today was going to be the day that she finally dealt with her life.