Dropping the Bomb

Hermione

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It was late in the evening, a few days before school was to begin again, when it happened. Mum, Dad, and I were all sitting comfortably around the fireplace. Or at least, I was comfortable. Mum and Dad must have felt quite the opposite, now that I think about it, but I didn't pick up on the tension. Dad was reading the paper over Mum's shoulder and I was immersed in a well-loved copy of A Winter's Tale. Needless to say, The Question caught me completely unawares.

In the middle of Act I, Mum folded her paper with a dramatic flourish. At this, Dad got to his feet and, hesitantly, left the room. None of this surprised me, it seemed as if they were only preparing to go to bed. But then…

'Sweetie, I think we need to have a little talk.' The last time we had had a 'little talk' I had emerged with a very detailed knowledge of male and female genitalia and a variety of different ways of reproducing/preventing reproduction. My attention was caught. I only hoped…

'Your father and I found this letter on the kitchen counter-'

Damn.

'I know it really isn't our buisness to be reading your mail, but the handwriting is so similar to Maria's- You know Maria, don't you? Your father's new intern?' Poor mother. She was so terribly nervous.

'Mum, it's all right. Say what you need to. I won't get angry.'

'Thank you dear. I just… I just wanted to say that your father and I are thrilled you've found someone who'll make you happy. Even if the situation wasn't quite expected. This… Ginny, is it? sounds like quite a lovely girl.'

I wanted to say something, anything, but I found I wasn't able to speak. Both Mum and I were silent for a moment.

'You can come back in now, Hank!' she called finally.

My father came shuffling awkwardly in. He stared at me for a moment, then held out a small wad of bills and said 'Here. You can buy your Ginny some chocolate. She, erm… implied that she might want some in the- in the letter.' I squealed and ran to hug him, then turned and embraced Mum as well. And then, finally, it was over.

Or perhaps, I thought, it is just beginning.

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So this is the first of several 'episodes' of Dropping the Bomb, my interpretation of the coming out experiences of various different Hogwarts students. To avoid confusion in the future, I'll say here and now that each chapter is more or less independent of all other chapters. What this means is that, while Hermione is paired with Ginny in this particular chappie, I could easily decide to pair Ginny with Tonks or Fleur or Millicent or whoever else when it comes time for her story. Also, these little blurbs aren't supposed to be phenomenal. They're just experiments, mostly. I wanted to try my hand at writing in first person, which I haven't done a lot of in the past. We'll be doing a lot of personal narratives and such this year, and I wanted to get better aquatinted with the less formal, more intimate feeling that comes with first person. I don't know how it's working out for me… Anyhow, I hope you, my faithful (coughcough) readers, liked this. Because I'm writing more whether you like it or not.

Much love,

SMs