Ch 5: The Package

The train pulled to a stop at King's Cross Station, a place that Hermione remembered as if she had been there only yesterday. She got a cart and gathered up Emma and thier belongings, wiping dried tears from her face. She then walked to the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and waited until the coast was clear to go through to the Hogwarts Express. She walked through the wall and saw steam billowing from the glorious engine. Though she dreaded meeting Ron, she couldn't help but to feel very happy about going back to Hogwarts.

She took her things and began searching for a car. After a while of looking she came upon a doorway that she heard a familiar voice floating through. She opened the door to the car and found Harry and Ginny sharing old memories with Neville Longbottom and his wife who Hermione recognized but couldn't place her name.

"Hermione! Emma!" Ginny shouted, jumping up to greet them."Come sit down. Relax." Ginny looked at Hermione who gave her a nervous look and again fingered her cut. Ginny realised what it meant and said "Don't worry, 'Mione. He's not riding the train." Then she gestured to a seat next to where she had been sitting. "Join us. Neville, Cho, Harry and I were just talking about our years at Hogwarts"

Cho? Hermione thought, looking at the young woman again. Oh My God...Neville married Cho Chang!

"Hi guys" she said quitely handing Emma off to her aunt and taking a seat. "Neville, Cho, how have you been?" She then noticed that Neville had changed. He looked different. He had grown to be about 6 ft tall and had gained a very muscular build. He also seemed much more confident than he had in school.

"We've been well." he said. Then gesturing to Hermione's face, said "Harry told us what happened. I'm really sorry. I never knew Ron could have ever turned out like that. At least you and your daughter got away"

Hermione simply nodded and gave a weak 'thank you' before asking Ginny to keep an eye on Emma and excusing herself to the bathroom. When she finally made it to the bathing car, she found the nearest stall and threw up. She couldn't bear having everyone know about she and Ron. She had known that she would inevitably be asked about her cut, but didn't expect people to already know about it.

She then flushed the toilet and went to the nearest sink where she splashed water on her face. She knew that it was a bad idea coming to the reunion. What if she did run into Ron? What would she do? And then there was Draco. What was it that he had to tell her after 5 years? What if Ron caught them together? She had so many 'What Ifs' going through her mind, that she barely noticed that Ginny had entered the car.

"Hermione, you alright?" she asked worriedly. "Look, I'm really sorry about telling Neville and Cho about what happened, but I thought it would help. You know, save you the trouble of explaining."

"It's fine Gin." Hermione said with the threat of tears. "I just didn't expect it that's all. I mean, i'm going to have to deal with it sometime, right?"

"Yeah." Ginny said sympathetically."You wanna go back to the car now. Emma was practically asleep when I left."

"Ok."

The two then headed back to thier car, where they found that everyone was asleep, including Emma. Ginny curled up next to Harry as Hermione sat down and opened her bag. The package she had recieved from Draco fell to the floor.

"What's that?" Ginny whispered.

"I'm not sure yet" Hermione responded, opening the small box.

Inside was a small photo of she and Draco during thier 5th year. It showed the two innocent faces smiling up at her from besied the lake. Draco, with his blonde hair slicked back, had his arm around her. Hermione, with her curls up in a pony tail, sat with a look of content in her eyes smiling brightly within Draco's arms. They truly looked good together. Hermione remembered having the picture taken only two weeks prior to Draco's supposed death.

"Hermione..." Ginny had moved next to her. "When is that from?"

Oh crap Hermione thought, She doesn't know

"It's uh...from 5th year" Hermione responded. Ginny's eyes widened.

"You WERE with him then." She said in awe.

"You knew?"

"I didn't know, but I suspected it, Hermione. After he disappeared, you changed. You were like moody all the time and when you thought no one was looking, I could see the pain and longing in your eyes"

"I'm so sorry I never told you. It's just...well, I thought you guys wouldn't accept it."

"Hermione, we wouldn't have cared who you were with as long as you were happy." she paused for a moment, thinking. "Is that why Ron...you know...went crazy on you?"

"The last time? Yeah."

"Ginny gave her a long, warm hug and said "Don't worry, he can't hurt you anymore."

Hermione felt so happy that Ginny understood, yet so sad as she thought of Ron that she cried on Ginny's shoulder for what seemed like hours before the two seperated to get some sleep.