Disclaimer: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Harry Potter. Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times. This ride is brought to you by JKR, with some embellishments courtesy of me.
Once again, thank you for all the reviews. You guys are so great!
This chapter will answer some questions that a few of you had...
There was a small group of witches and wizards gathered toward the rear of the store as Jenny magically set up chairs for the group to sit on. The book reading was not scheduled for another half an hour, but people seemed eager to gather early to get good seats.
At five minutes 'til two o'clock, Hermione entered from the storage room and was amazed at the sight that met her eyes. She was beyond pleased at the turnout for the shop's first book reading. More people were joining the wizards and witches already seated as Hermione took her seat in front of the group.
She looked around at some of the people and noticed Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout sitting in the second row. The two women gave their former student encouraging smiles and modest waves, which Hermione happily returned.
At exactly two o'clock, Jenny stood next to Hermione's chair and welcomed everyone before explaining how the reading would work. She then introduced Hermione and the reading for the day – the play, "Helas, j'ai Transfigure mes Pieds (Alas, I Have Transfigured my Feet)" by Malecrit.
Hermione smiled shyly, suddenly feeling slightly nervous for some reason. She spotted that reason sitting in the last row of chairs.
Severus was there.
She hoped that he would be, but she doubted that he would find something like this agreeable. Hermione felt her abdomen tighten as he flashed a rare smile at her just before she began reading aloud.
She felt his eyes, in particular, on her the entire time she read, and she had to will her mind to stay focused on the task at hand so that her own eyes would not stray from the book.
She read for an hour and a half without break. When she finally paused, she looked up to see the entire crowd watching her expectantly. No one was ready for the reading to be over. She decided to read for an additional hour before ending the session.
Hermione watched Severus out of the corner of her eye as she spoke with several customers. He was lingering near the muggle classics section and she hoped that he would not leave before she had a chance to see how he liked the reading.
The crowd dispersed slowly with many having purchased the play Hermione read from. She was just about to make her way to him when she was intercepted by Professors McGonagall and Sprout.
"Hermione!"
"We're so glad that you are back!"
"We have all missed you so much!"
"We were hoping that you would come to see us or, at least, write us!"
"We've only just found out that this was your shop."
"I can't believe Albus kept it from us for two months!"
"Where have you been these past five years?"
"Do Harry and Ron know that you are back?"
"This is such a lovely book shop, Hermione!"
Hermione was inundated with excited questions and statements and quickly felt overwhelmed as neither woman gave her a chance to reply. She cast a longing glance at Severus, wishing that she could have put off the old biddies for a few minutes in favour of speaking with him first.
When she met his eyes, however, that feeling was washed away. Those black eyes were cold and emotionless - the way she used to see them when she was a student. It hit her then that he must have heard Professors McGonagall and Sprout call her 'Hermione'.
The women were still jabbering away at her, but Hermione's attention was fixed on Severus. He stood stiffly and glared at her as she tried to send him her most apologetic look. He merely raised an irritated eyebrow in response.
"S-Severus?" Hermione called out uncertainly. She flinched when his eyes narrowed and his expression turned frigid.
"Do not address me so informally, Miss Granger," he said icily before he dropped the book he was grasping and stormed out of the shop.
Hermione watched sadly as he disappeared, wanting desperately to run after him, but she couldn't. Instead, she forced her attention back to the two women before her. They gave her a questioning look and huffed about the surly man's behaviour before they continued in their friendly interrogation.
She tolerated their questions, knowing that there was nothing that she could do about Severus right now - he would loathe having to speak to her after what he just found out. She would need to give him time to absorb the truth; she would send him some kind of apology to explain her actions later.
In the meantime, she provided answers to her former Professors' never-ending questions.
"Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout," Hermione nodded to each woman, "it is wonderful to see you again."
"Oh," Professor McGonagall waved her hand in the air, "you are no longer a student, Hermione. Please, call me Minerva." Professor Sprout quickly followed with the same sentiment and Hermione obliged them both.
"So, Hermione, how are you?" Minerva asked earnestly.
"I am well, thank you. And the both of you? How is Hogwarts?" Hermione wanted to steer the conversation away from where she knew it was heading, but her efforts were fruitless.
"We are well, as is Hogwarts," Pomona said quickly before getting down to what they really wanted to know. "Why did you wait so long to come back to our world, child? We have missed you so much!"
"We never heard a word from you in five years! Why didn't you send an owl to let us all know that you were alright?"
Oh, the questions! That was exactly why she waited so long to come back from the muggle world. No one, except maybe Dumbledore, understood why she had to leave a week after the war, and no one could understand why she stayed away so long. Hell, she barely understood it herself. How in Merlin's name was she supposed to explain it to these women?
"I'm sorry, truly, I am. I just felt lost after the war, like I was without purpose, and wanted to escape for a while. I thought that Harry and Ron felt the same way - they always said that the three of us would vanish for a while after the final battle - but when it came down to it, they both lived for the excitement, which wasn't that surprising in the end, actually."
The words seemed to flow from her mouth once she started and she soon found herself relating the misery she felt at watching people she knew die, her utter regret at having to take lives in order to save her own, and the emptiness she felt once the battle was finally over.
That is what scared her most. She thought that once the battle was finally over, she would feel some sense of accomplishment or pride at being a part of something so profound. All she felt was complete and utter emptiness...and remorse.
The emptiness and remorse only seemed to increase tenfold when she found out that her parents were brutally murdered by a few rogue Death Eaters two days after the final battle, a day before she was going to visit them.
She never got to say goodbye.
That was why she fled from all she knew four days later. Harry and Ron refused to understand why she couldn't just deal with her grief there, with them, like everyone else, so she left without turning back.
She went to live in the muggle world, not far from her hometown. She sold her parents' house – the same one she grew up in – because she could not bear to return there with all of those childhood memories to haunt her. She lived off of the money from the sale until she started to work for a busy book shop in town.
She let Albus know how she was every once in a while, but was adamant that no one was to come looking for her – she would return when she was ready, if she ever was.
She was also adamant about not receiving any owls from anyone – other than the occasional response from Dumbledore and the daily news owl post, that is. In fact, she only learned of Severus' waking from his coma sometime after the battle because she read it in the Daily Prophet.
The two women were mildly surprised to learn that the boys still didn't know that she was back and that she didn't plan on telling them either. Her relationship with Harry and Ron was tenuous at best when she fled the wizarding world. After so many years of no contact, she wouldn't have a clue what to say to them. Better to just let sleeping dogs lie, she mused.
When she finally stopped to take a breath, Minerva and Pomona were full of empathy and understanding. There was no pity in their words of comfort and Hermione was ultimately grateful. Pity was something that she could not bear.
When her former professors finally left to return to Hogwarts, Hermione felt drained. She left Jenny to close the shop and went up the charmed staircase to her flat for a much needed glass of firewhisky. One glass turned into four as her thoughts drifted to a certain man in black before she fell asleep on the settee in front of the gently burning fire.
There will be one more chapter after this one, then the tale will be over. I hope to post it later tonight...