Chapter 4: Stefen
I leaned against the door, confused, unsure of what I was thinking, what I was feeling. When it was just Nikolas to remind me of everything, I could deal. I'm confident of that, but now Malfoy's starting? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This is something I'll just have to deal with, something that I can deal with. I know I can. Nikolas said that he wouldn't tell him, and I'm not going to tell him. Maybe he'll forget about it. After all, Harry's his obsession, not me.
With that in mind, I opened my eyes and took a look around my room. The walls and ceiling were spelled to look like the outside and on the hardwood floor was a beautiful oriental rug. Across from me was a canopied bed decorated with red and gold drapes and bedding. On the windowed wall was a desk facing the window with a leather chair and four floor-to-ceiling bookshelves (two on either side of the desk). Across the room from that was a large fireplace with a comfortable, overstuffed armchair with an ottoman placed in front of it. On the same wall as the door, was my dresser with a large antique mirror. The room was beautiful, more beautiful and larger than I expected it to be. It was enough to take my mind off of Nikolas and Malfoy. I walked over to the armchair to sit down and almost screamed in surprise when a fire came to life in the fireplace. After seven years, I should be used to the magic, but once in a while it still caught me off-guard – especially when I returned to the wizarding world after months of playing a Muggle. I shook my head, smiling to myself as I sat down.
The fire was warm. The chair was comfortable. I was tired and had started to doze off when a knock on the door woke me up.
"Go away," I yelled at the door. "I'm trying sleep."
"''Mione, open up! It's us!" yelled Harry's voice through the door accompanied by a series of knocks. "C'mon! We missed you at dinner!"
"Okay, okay!" I laughed as I crawled out of my chair. Although we had owled each other constantly over the summer and had talked earlier that day, I still missed my best friends. "I'm coming!" I went to the door and opened it, just in time to see Malfoy's door open across the Common Room.
"POTTER!" Malfoy yelled, appearing in the doorway. "What on earth are you doing here? How the bloody hell did you get in here!" He demanded, arms crossing his chest. Apparently Harry had woken him up because he was in nothing but a pair of green boxer and his silvery-blonde hair had that ungeled, rumpled look. It was quite cute, the way his hair waved without all that gunk to smear it straight back.
"Oh, Malfoy, love. Don't throw a hissy-fit," Ginny teased. "We only came to pay you a visit. You do look lovely in those boxers." Unused to Ginny's teasing, Malfoy's eyes widened before he stalked back into his room.
"Bloody idiots. Who the hell do they think they are? If I wasn't so damn tired . . ." we heard Malfoy mumbling to himself as he slammed his door shut.
"Ginny!" Harry admonished. "What were you thinking? It's Malfoy! Do you flirt with him?"
"Oh, come off it, Harry." Ron laughed. "She's just teasing."
"Harry," Ginny said, putting her arms around Harry. "You saw what happened. He didn't know how to take it. I figured that all your fighting was only provoking him so I decided to change tactics." Ginny reached up and gave him a kiss before continuing, " . . . besides, he was cute in those boxers." Laughing, she raced past me into my room.
"Guys, get in here before that git starts up again," I ordered as I pushed them into my room. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" I asked as I closed the door and locked it. Harry and Ginny had already claimed my chair and Ron had taken a seat on the ottoman. I pulled the desk chair over to them and sat down.
"Well, we haven't really had a chance to see you, so we decided to come visit," Ginny said. "It's a good thing the two of you hadn't changed the password yet, otherwise we would've never had gotten in. Besides we wanted to talk to you. . ."
"Yeah, 'Mione," Ron interrupted. "You said that you would tell us about the whole Sesso-freak-out thing."
"Guys, it's nothing."
"'Mione," Ron gave me a look that told me they weren't going to leave until they heard the story. "Tell us."
"Ron, it happened a long time ago. It doesn't matter anymore."
"If that was true, then you wouldn't have reacted to what Ginny told you." Harry said as I stood up. I walked to the mirror and placed my hands down on the dresser. I knew that I would tell them eventually, I just wasn't expecting it to be now. "'Mione, we love you. We're your best friends. You can talk to us."
"I know that. It's just a memory that I want to forget." I sighed and turned around, facing them. "I used to have a brother. . . Stefen . . . he was my older brother. He was eighteen when it happened. . . ."
"Hermione," Ginny asked in a quiet voice. "What happened?"
"He had picked me up from the school and we were on the way home, but we decided to stop for ice cream because it was my birthday." I smiled a little at the memory. "I had just turned eight. . . ." Talking about this was hard, but it wasn't quite as hard as I had expected it to be. I took a deep breath and continued on. Even though it was easier to talk about it than I expected, I still knew that if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to continue. "He had a vanilla cone while I had a chocolate cone. We were driving home, laughing, eating our ice cream cones, trying to stop the drips . . . . . " I paused and took a deep breath, refusing to cry. "I had just finished mine when we heard a loud noise. It scared us and Stefen dropped his cone in his lap. It was cold and he swerved . . ." my voice cracked and I blinked against the tears in my eyes. ". . . we didn't see the other automobile. . ."
"Oh, 'Mione . . ." Ginny whispered as Ron came up to me and gave me a hug. I welcomed his comfort for a few minutes. Telling them about Stefen eased the burden on my heart quite a bit, but the telling was tiring. I returned Ron's hug before pushing him away.
"Guys," I swallowed against the tears that wanted to fall. "I need to sleep. . ."
"'Mione . ."Harry started, but was cut off.
"Okay, ''Mione," Ginny said getting up. "Harry, come on."
"Ginny, what are you . . ."
"Harry, don't be stupid," Ginny said in a whisper, pulling him up. "She needs to be alone." She dragged him to the door and opened it, pushing him out.
"Hermione," Ron looked at me, concern in his eyes. "Will you be all right?"
"Yeah, Ron," I gave him a smile. "It's just been a long time since I've talked about Stefen." I gave him a hug and a smile before I pushed him towards the door. "Go to bed before I deduct any points from Gryffindor."
"You wouldn't do that," Ron laughed as he left.
