Chapter Six
It was towards the break of dawn when Hermione was roused from her sleep by the shrill hooting of an apparently angry owl. It was Hedwig, nipping angrily at the window. "Whooz it so early?" Hermione mumbled sleepily as she went to the window.
As she opened the window, she gave a shout of exclamation as Hedwig stuttered in with a hoot. Shaken awake from all sleep, Hermione went to the owl and untied the note from his claws as she set a bowl of water and some seeds for the tired owl. "It's a letter from Harry!" she thought excitedly to herself.
"He wants to know whether I will help him. Does he even have to ask? He's leaving for Grimmauld Place soon. I'll see you soon then, Harry!" she thought excitedly to herself. Running down to the living room where her parents were watching television, she secured their permission to leave for Grimmauld Place the next day.
Hermione kept herself busy the rest of the day, packing her dresses very carefully. She had furnished her wardrobe over the holidays and hoped that she would look graceful and sophisticated, rather than just a nerdy bookworm. Her father had not agreed to let her do her hair or buy any make-up insisting that she was too young for them. It was an argument that she often had with her father. He was a good man and Hermione knew that she and her mother were his life but he tended to be a bit conservative in his outlook.
Hermione assumed philosophically that some things just were that way. No point getting all upset over it and she was forgetting something. But what?! "Books! Oh God! What a thing to forget! Hermione Granger, you are losing it! I had better start getting to work. If Harry needs my help, I should be reading up and upgrading my knowledge", she exclaimed to herself as she walked purposefully to her desk.
Hermione took out the book on Advanced Potion Making and started to read it, falling asleep at her desk several hours later.
