Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter. In other words, Harry Potter is not in my posession; I have no part in the ownership of Harry Potter.
Feel free to review, and yes, I do accept flames and C&C (comments and critisism).
A/N-I am sooooo sorry that I haven't been updating, but with school and Christmas coming up....let's just say my life's been hectic. But, now, here is Chapter Four!
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Chapter Four-Aftermath; Pt. 2
---Recap---
"Hermione. Hermione, wake up," a voice called. Hermione slowly opened her eyes.
"Mom?" she whispered.
"Yeah," her mother replied softly.
"But...you're dead," Hermione stuttered.
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"What are you talking about, Hermione?" Mrs.Granger asked, a look of concern planted upon her face. "We're home. It's summer." Hermione sat up and looked at her mother. She looks alive...Hermione took her hand...it was warm. She feels alive... A wave of happiness swept over the young witch.
"Mom!" she cried, hugging her mother and crying into her shoulder. "Mom.." Suddenly her mother began to fall away...her room was swallowed into total blackness..."Mom!" Hermione screamed, as she watched her mother disappear into the darkness...falling...falling....falling.....
"Hermione! Hermione! Wake up, Hermione!"
"Do you think she's okay?"
"I don't know...she was screaming and thrashing in her sleep..." Hermione opened her eyes to her roommates standing over her bed.
"She's awake!" Parvati cried. A hush fell over the dormitory. Ginny stepped up from the crowd.
"Are you okay?" she asked gently. Hermione sat up and looked around at everyone.
"I guess," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Was I really screaming and thrashing?"
"Yeah," Lavender answered from somewhere in the room. "You woke us up, and we got Ginny 'cause you guys are supposedly close." A chorus of agreement surged through the room.
"I see," Hermione said, rising from her bed. She pushed through the crowd towards her trunk and looked back at them. "I'm fine now, really," she told them. Parvati looked at Ginny and shrugged. Everyone else went back to their beds. As Hermione dressed, she stared out the window. It's a beautiful Saturday...she thought. But I don't feel like doing anything...she pulled her robe over her clothes. No yesterday...Hermione checked her watch...almost eight. She walked down into the Common Room, where Harry and Ron were waiting.
"Hermione, are you okay?!" Harry cried as she walked down the stairs from the dormitories. He rose from the couch and walked over to her.
"Yeah, we heard you screaming from down here," Ron continued, also rising and walking over to her. "We wanted to come up, but, you know...it's the girl's dormitory."
"Would you tell us what happened?" Harry asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and Ron nodding encouragingly for her to tell them. Hermione took a deep breath.
"I had a nightmare," she replied, avoiding their worried gazes. "About my parents.....Well, my mom mostly..." Her friends nodded. "I don't know...I was at home...and she felt so alive," Hermione sighed. "But then she fell away...I fell into darkness...and then I woke up."
The two boys looked at each other. What were they supposed to say now? Hermione read their faces.
"It's okay if you don't say anything," she said.
"Why don't we go down to breakfast?" Ron suggested. Harry and Hermione agreed and they made their way down to the Great Hall. Each of the boys piled eggs, sausage, bacon, and hash browns onto their plates, though Hermione only had an egg, two pieces of bacon, and a sausage. Harry watched her push her food around her plate. Her parent's deaths must have really gotten to her, he thought as he munched on a piece of bacon. He swallowed and looked up at the Head Table. Dumbledore was watching Hermione as well, with the most concerned look on his face...
"Mail's here," Seamus said dully as a stream of owls entered the hall. Hedwig was with them, so Harry made room for her to land next to his food. But she didn't land near him. She landed next to Hermione, along with a tawny owl who dropped it's post as fast as it found her.
"Hey, Hermione," Ron called to her. She had not even looked up at the owls. "Helloooo, anybody home?" He playfully knocked on her head. She looked up. Harry shot him a death glare.
"Oh," she said when she saw the owls. The tawny had carried her edition of the Daily Prophet. She kept it rolled and placed it next to her plate. "Hello, Hedwig," she crooned, scratching the owl's back. She took the envelope that Hedwig was carrying, handed her the last piece of bacon on her plate, and the owl took flight.
"Hey, look! Granger's parents croaked!" a voice laughed from the Slytherin Table. The rest of the table joined in with his laughter. Malfoy's laughter. Hermione, cool and calm as she usually was, quickly picked up her letter and her Daily Prophet, and rushed out of the Hall. Harry wasn't quite sure, but it looked like she was in tears.
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Hermione lay curled up on her bed for hours after breakfast. No one bothered her, for any who had tried had only gotten an odd whine or sigh or nothing at all. Harry and Ron tried sending Ginny up multiple times to get Hermione to come down, but each time the red-head came down the stairs shaking her head sadly.
"She still isn't speaking," Ginny'd always say. Harry and Ron waited for hours, playing Wizard's Chess to pass the time. Meanwhile, in the Girl's Dormitory, Hermione was finally stirring from her depressed stupor. She sat on the edge of her four-poster bed, staring blankly at the evelope that Hedwig had brought her that morning. She saw that it had a return address, so it must've been from a Muggle. She turned the envelope over and carefully opened it. Inside was a piece of blue sky stationary with a message written in dark blue ink that read:
Hermione,
Hi Hermione, it's me, Talia. Remember, from Grade School? Well, I'm really sorry about your parents, 'Mione, and since we were so close in Grade School, in your parents' wills, it said that if they were to die while you were still in school, to give my parents and me a letter. The letter told us about you and being a witch and all about Hogwarts, and asked us if we would take you in, considering your other family members' views of magic.
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Hermione thought back to the last time she had visited her other relatives last year...when they had finally found out about her being a witch, they had begun to shun her. They had begun to completely ignore her or were brutally mean to her. She finally found out how Harry had felt. She sighed and looked back to the letter.
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After a brutal discussion with my parents, they decided that it'd be their pleasure to have you this summer! Hermione, I do hope that you'll agree...we will be awaiting your owl. (Don't worry, the letter mentioned a lot of things, including the owls).
Always,
Talia
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Hermione looked up from the letter and out the window. At least now I have a home, she thought, not happy nor sad. She got up and placed the letter in her trunk and walked down the stairs to the Common Room to tell the boys.
"Hermione!" Ron cried as she walked down the stairs. He leapt up from the couch, knocking the Wizard's Chess board over in the process, and hurried up to her. "We've been waiting ages! C'mon! We still have a couple hours before dinner..."
"Ron," Harry said firmly. He had noticed her glum expression. Ron stared for a minute and realized what he had sounded like. He also realized what Harry was going to do. His ears turned bright red as nodded and walked back to the couch that Harry and he had been sitting in in the corner of the room. Harry led Hermione to the fireplace. "Hermione...are you okay?" he asked with concern. Hermione avoided his gaze.
"Yes, fine," she lied. The logs in the fireplace seemed empty and lonely without the fire to keep them warm and safe. Somehow, she felt as if they related. Who am I kidding...she thought.
"Hermione," Harry said softly. "Did you hear me?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry Harry, no," she blushed. "What did you say?" Harry smiled at her.
"I love you," he whispered. He gently pulled her towards him and brushed his lips against his. I can't believe it..Hermione thought. He does love me...Harry softly pushed his tounge into Hermione's mouth as the kissed by the empty fireplace. All of Hermione's troubles and sadness seemed to just disappear when they became one in the sense of their first kiss....
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Ahhh...love....tune in for the next chapter!