Hermione wrapped her arms tighter around herself as she walked up to the open window. Smiling, she was almost able to hear the long forgotten sounds of the halls of Hogwarts. She closed her eyes remembering her first year, when her friendship with Harry and Ron began.
Her arms left her body as she reached up to touch her lips replaying her betrayal in her mind. She felt the tears making their way unto her face. Quickly she wiped them away with her sleeve. She would not allow herself to cry for what was gone. She would not give into the pain of the long forgotten. She would not let herself remember how she had let it all slip too quickly, and how it had fallen, like fine sand through open fingers.
A sudden bang at the window snapped her out of her reverie. She jumped back and let out a small yelp.
"Hermione, "she heard her father call to her, "are you alright?"
She managed a strangled 'fine' to her father before turning back to the window.
"Ok." She heard the reluctance in his voice. "I have to go out for a bit. If you need me I have my phone."
"Alright daddy."
Footsteps, followed by the slam of the door ended their conversation.
Moving over to the window she carefully opened the window to look out. Instead the twittering creature that has cause the disturbance let itself in.
'Pig.' She smiled. It faded quickly. No, Ron hadn't contacted her in years.
The owl kept zooming over her head wanting nothing more than to be freed of the object on it's leg. Hermione hushed it and pulled the folded piece of parchment from the owl's leg.
The same lettering that had greeted her every year for 7 years, 'Miss Hermione Granger.'
Shaking she turned it over, fingering the seal, dreading what would she had waited for so long.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
6 Years earlier
Harry stepped out of the change rooms to be greeted with the Griffindor House cheering his name. Soon afterward he felt arm's around his neck, and a kiss on his cheek.
"You were great out there Harry." He looked into Hermione's grinning face, and began to grin himself. How could he not; the atmosphere itself was infectious.
"Can you believe that we won again? This is so great. If we win one more game we take the cup."
Hermione smiled. "You know we'll win. We've got you on our side."
Harry looked to the side, not even Snape's deep penetrating stare, and curled lip in his direction could ruin his mood. He deliberately hugged Hermione closer. Snape's lip twisted into an even more disgusted grimace. Harry knew how much he hated Hermione. How much he hated 'Mudbloods'. Harry could care less knowing that he had someone as great as Hermione on his side. And that was enough.
Harry turned his gaze over to Ron who looked particularly dishevelled, taking a nasty beating from a bludger that a Slytherin had sent his way. What the Slytherin didn't expect was the penalty Ron would receive on behalf of the deliberate behaviour. Harry smiled remembering the look on Draco's face.
When Ron had joined his side, Harry was still holding Hermione, and the trio made their way up to the Griffindor Common Room.
Hermione felt more alive that ever. The little victory that Griffindor had just ensued was more than enough to get Hermione's hopes up. This was their last year at Hogwarts, and winning the Quidditch cup would guarantee the Grinffindor house a piece of Hogwarts history.
A history that she would become part of.
She realized that Harry was still clutching her and only let her go when they had reached the Common Room and made his way over to the other Quidditch players.
She felt a butterbeer being pushed into her hands, and looked up to see the grinning faces of Fred and George Weasley. Since they had dropped out the prior year, she had only seen them at summer break.
"How ya doing Hermione?"
Somewhere in the corner she head a bird like squeal. She looked over. An unfortunate first year had just innocently indulged in one of Fred and George's canary creams. She looked away shaking her head.
Looking down at her butterbeer then catching the twins' eyes she gave them a puzzled look ,aware of the pranks Fred and George often played.
They caught on and giggled. "No Hermione it's the pastries we hexed. You know quite well that we would never do that to you." George clarified the matter, but Hermione noticed that his voice held something more in the word 'never'.
Before she had the chance to say anything, Ron came by and grabbed her arm, literally dragging her to the other side of the room. He clinked his butterbeer to hers.
"Cheers Hermione."
"Cheers Ron."
"This is great don't you reckon? If we win the next game we take the championship and the cup. We'll go down in history." His voice became slightly quieter at those words. Even though he hadn't said it, they had both felt it. This was nearly the last year they would be able to see each other. Next year would be spent trying to figure out where they would be in life. "I'll miss you tons." He hugged her.
She returned his hug. "Calm yourself Ron. Hogwarts isn't over yet." With that she let him go. "Ron?"
"Yeah?"
"You smell a bit, do you reckon you could hit the shower?"
He looked at her with exasperation, but eventually broke out into a fit of laughter. "Right I'll do just that. And then I think I'm going to hit the sack. Been quite a day." He put down his butterbeer and made his way to the stairs. "Night Hermione."
"Night Ron."
A few moments later she found herself saying goodnight to everyone and making her way up the stairs. Before she got to her room though Harry caught up to her. "Don't I get a g'night Hermione?"
She smiled. "Of course Harry. Buenos noches." She turned to make her way into her room. "You should go Harry. This is the girls' dormitory. Wouldn't want you to get into trouble like the last time."
He blushed. "Right," he turned to leave, "hey I forgot to compliment your hair. I like what you've done with it."
She absently ran her fingers through it. Tired of the bushy mop that she had possessed though the last 5 years, she had opted to straighten it. A look that she had much coveted through the years.
"Thanks Harry." She grinned watching him walk away. She made her way to her dormitory and climbed into bed after changing into her pyjamas. She closed her eyes and sleep overtook her quickly.
Present day.
That was all 6 years ago. Why was she thinking about it now? Could it have been the envelope? The long expected news. She missed Harry and Ron with every fibre of her being. Unfortunately they no longer felt the same way.
Drying away the tears again, she opened the envelope. Headmaster Dumbledore's small handwriting greeted her.
Dear Hermione Granger,
I hope that you are feeling much better than when we parted our ways. It would be nice to see you again Ms. Granger. Therefore I would like to extend to you and invitation to visit the Hogwarts ground this coming summer break. I have important things to discuss and would very much appreciate your presence in the matter. Please R.S.V.P. me with the owl I have sent you. He may be small, but I assure you he is more than capable of getting the job done.
Albus Dumbledore.
She looked down at the letter with hesitation. What could he possibly want to discuss with her? All she wanted to do was get away from that part of her life, but everywhere she turned it seemed to be calling out to her. The halls of Hogwarts, her joy and her misery.
Why did he want to see her now though? Was there a reason? She had been away from the wizarding world for so long that she didn't know what was happening. After that…incident, Hermione had vowed that she would never have anything to do with that world again.
Instead she had returned to the muggle world and had taken a job as a resident doctor, lying about where she had been educated, Dumbledore had helped her out, contacting a muggle institute and having them put her name into their records. Currently she was working toward her history degree so that she could teach on her own.
Her parents had been worried about her choice career because they knew how much she had valued her Hogwarts education. Never-the-less they had not confronted her about it. Instead they allowed her to live out her meagre existence in the home she had grown up in before her calling to Hogwarts.
They had seen the change in her. It was evident to them no matter how she tried to hide it. Her last year had changed her. She had such high hopes in returning to Hogwarts to become a teacher. What had happened to her that would lead her to change her life's dream? They wished that one day she would open up, tell her what had made her this empty shell, barely living, devoid of all emotion.
But why did she feel the need to answer Dumbledore's letter? To run to Hogwarts, into the waiting halls? Into his waiting arms.
Without thinking she picked up a pen and scribbled on the back of the parchment.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I accept your invitation and look forward to seeing you. Yes I am doing much better than when we parted. I hope you are well. See you soon.
Hermione Granger.
With that she tied the small letter back onto the leg of the jittery owl and sent it off. Although she looked forward to a reunion with the teachers she had loved, the beginnings of a knot formed in her stomach. How would they have treated her if they had known?
Past
They did win the Quidditch cup that year. It had been so exciting watching Harry narrowly miss a bludger while he swooped down to grab the golden snitch that had won them the tournament and the house cup.
Hermoine remember cheering until her throat went raw.
It was also the one year that Voldemort stood idle. Hermione often contemplated this, a knot growing in her stomach that he had something even bigger planned when he did rise. Naturally she would have told Harry, but after seeing the look on his face after the match she didn't have the heart. So she went home for the summer promising to write Ron, and, Harry everyday.
The first two weeks of her summer was spent with her parents who were preparing to attend a dentist convention in America. Her parents needed to receive more training in order to continue on with their practise. As much as she would miss them she was relieved that she would be able to breath for a month with them gone.
The first week of her summer was routine, and she began to miss the excitement she often received in the company of Harry and Ron. She began to work tediously with her chores, opting to do them slow rather than have nothing to do in the end. In short her summer was quite boring.
On the morning of the first Friday of her holidays, Hermione had just returned inside from hanging her clothing.
A sharp rap at her door made her jump. Who could be visiting now? Surely not Harry or Ron, they would've Owled her first. She cautiously walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. Nothing. Finally relenting her fear she pulled open the door.
She looked around but it was not until she looked down that her fears were verified. On her doorstep lay the beaten and bloodied figure of none other than Lucius Malfoy.
