A/N : -Casually drops off a new chapter after 4 years and runs in the other direction-
While Fred and George were camped out in Hermione's hospital room, she was overwhelmed as memory after memory filtered through her mind in a continuous stream. She could only see snapshots of the memories before it would move towards the next one. It seemed as if her mind was seeking a particular memory for comfort. It felt like an eternity before her mind settled on her first meeting with Neville's Grandmother, Augusta Longbottom.
"I'm sorry about this Madam Longbottom. I'm positive they will be here soon," Hermione said with a frown, a blush dusting her cheeks. Hermione Granger rarely got embarrassed but the Hogwarts Express had just dropped off the student from Hermione's first year at the magical boarding school and her parents had not shown to pick her up yet.
Neville had pulled Hermione with him, after she had said goodbye to Ron and Harry, to meet his grandmother. Madam Longbottom was an intimidating witch in her regal emerald green robes and vulture hat, her left hand clasped protectively on Neville's shoulder as he peered around the platform looking for the Grangers along with Hermione.
"Surely they will be here soon," Madam Longbottom said with a sniff as she observed the last few families leaving the platform. They had been waiting for close to an hour. She could not leave the poor girl alone. Merlin knows what could happen to the young girl. "Did they know how to get through the platform barrier?"
"Yes, I even sent an owl going through the directions just in case they had forgotten since the holidays." Hermione signed biting her lip. "I'll just wait on the muggle side until they arrive. They might have hit traffic."
"We'll go with you," Neville looked up to his grandmother with a hopeful smile. "Right Gran?"
"I'll be okay by myself," Hermione said with a shake of her head. She always had a few muggle pounds tucked away in her bag for emergencies. She could always take the underground and a bus home if she needed. "I'm sure you want to go home."
"Gran loves muggle London," Neville exclaimed. "Plus, we can't leave you all by yourself Hermione."
"I believe there are those muggle floos on the other side," Madam Longbottom said transfiguring her traditional robes into an outdated muggle dress and matching hat. She quickly shrunk and pocketed both Neville and Hermione's trunks before guiding both children to the barrier.
"Telephones," Hermione said, of course, she could just call her parents and leave a message for them. Hermione dug around her book bag getting the correct coins to make a call as they walked towards the closets public phone. She quickly dialed the phone and turned away from the Longbottom's as it rang.
"Granger's Residence," Her mother's voice said after the third ring.
"Hi mum," Hermione said fidgeting with the phone cord. "Did you forget I was coming home today?"
"Oh honey, I'm sorry we were just so busy." Her mother signed, "Dad just took the car to run to the office for an emergency appointment. I'll call him to come get you after, it shouldn't take more than an hour."
"Oh," Hermione muttered turning back towards the Longbottom's. "I could walk to the office."
"That's at least a thirty-minute walk from the station, why don't you just wait at the station with one of your books."
"One of my friends, Neville you remember me writing about him, his grandmother is here. They stayed with me while I waited for you."
Madam Longbottom held her hand out towards Hermione, "Let me talk to your mother. We'll figure out a plan."
Neville's Gran and her mother had agreed that Hermione would join the Longbottom's for an early dinner in muggle London and wait for her father at the restaurant.
Hermione wished that had been the last time her parents had forgotten about her but it had been a reoccurring theme throughout that first summer. They had locked her out of the house multiple times forgetting she had gone to the park to read or the had even forgotten that they had promised to go back to school shopping with Harry and the Weasleys two weeks before classes begun. Instead, she had woken to an empty house, Hermione had to take a bus and the underground to get to the Leaky Cauldron to meet the Weasleys. She had also planned to meet with Neville and his Gran after shopping to spend the rest of her summer at the Longbottom estate.
Hermione's mind pulled the memory from that night after arriving at the beautiful Longbottom estate. Gran, as Madam Longbottom insisted Hermione call her, had ushered the two children to bed not long after dinner. Hermione had forgotten her bookbag on the sitting room couch and had tipped toed back to grab it but she stopped as she heard voices from behind the engraved dark oak double doors.
"I'm worried Minerva," Hermione could her Gran speak, "Neville has told me they have been leaving her alone for a majority of the time, even locking her out of the house. She traveled across muggle London all by herself today because they had already left the house before she had woken."
"They say haven't been harming her," Hermione recognized the voice of her head of house, Professor McGonagall. "I went to visit them today after your letter to me. They didn't even notice she was gone."
"I don't think they've been making sure she eats." Gran sighed. "I'm worried about her."
"Neglect can be just as harmful as abuse," Professor McGonagall reasoned.
"This would not be the first time muggle parents had abandoned their magical children once they found out they could do magic. What did they say about my proposal?"
"They seemed relieved as if they had been frightened of their own daughter living with them. Mrs. Granger did say it was up to Hermione to decide if she wanted to have you as her magical guardian."
"I'll talk to her tomorrow, let her know everything we've been discussing. Visit her parents if she wants to talk it over with them. Who would give up that delightful little girl?"
Hermione remembered those last two weeks of summer to be the most painful moments of her young life. Gran had taken Hermione to the side early the next morning. Explaining everything she had been suspecting since Hermione had met her on the platform two months prior. Her loving and caring parents couldn't bring themselves to be in the same room as their daughter anymore, they couldn't adjust to having a witch in their home. They had purposefully left her at Kings Cross, locked her out of the house, and avoided her this summer because they were afraid of what she could do to them. Hermione wasn't proud but she had cried for several hours refusing to believe it, till Gran had taken her back to her parent's house. Boxes filled with her belongs had been placed on the front porch already. They must have worked all night to pack up her room so fast.
Her memories flew faster through her mind after that. Snapshots began in a stream again.
Gran official signing the papers to be her magical guardian.
Hermione lying to Harry and Ron about her parents.
Spending summers and holiday's exploring the Longbottom grounds with Neville.
The bloody messages left by the heir of Slytherin. The faces of all those who had been petrified.
Her mind froze as Fred and George's faces emerged from another memory.
"Granger," Hermione was sure it was Fred had shouted down the hallway. She had been walking to the library to search through more books hoping to find a lead on what the monster that had been attacking students could have been. It was just a week before winter break and her Polyjuice potion was almost done, but she needed to keep busy as she waited for it to finish. She watched them cautiously as the twins approached.
"We heard you were staying for the holidays," George said.
"With ickle Ronniekins and our boy wonder Harry," Fred continued.
"Anything you want to tell us?" The sang out together hovering over her.
"Nothing," She smiled sweetly up at them. She had grown fond of the two twin boys. They had seemed to know something was upsetting her this year as they tried harder to make her laugh. They could always bring out a weak smile even when she was in the worst mood.
"Brother," Fred began again.
"I don't believe her," George said.
"Time for plan b," Fred signaled.
"Kidnapping," They twins said together each grabbing on her arms dragging her way from the library.
"Let me go," Hermione attempted to pull away.
"I don't think so," Friend said with a shake of his head. "You've been spending all of your time in the library,"
"You even skipped lunch and dinner three times this week," George said sharing a look with his brother and both of their grips tightened on her arms, "We noticed. You can't go back to the library till after dinner."
"Fine," Hermione signed out. This way she could visit Professor Lockhart's office to get a pass for the restricted section. She wanted to look at more dark art books. The had much more information on dark magical creatures than anything in the normal section of the library. It didn't help that she also found the theory behind dark magic much more fascinating than traditional magic.
That was her first night officially sitting between the Weasley Twin during meal times. By the time she had been petrified it had become her standard seating spot. They had taken to walking with her between classes when Harry and Ron would abandon her. It was nice to have more friends than just Harry, Ron and Neville. Hermione always made sure to escape the twin's before going into the restricted section, she didn't need them to be curious at her new reading material. She had given up trying to finding the monster that was terrorizing the school in the dark art textbooks but she couldn't stop herself from devouring the books for her leisure reading.
The memories began to speed up again.
Her furry face from the Polyjuice mishap.
Discovering the monster was a basilisk.
Clutching the ripped page as she was petrified from seeing the basilisk eyes from Penelope Clearwater's mirror.
Spending the next few months trapped in her mind, using dark magic theory to keep her mind busy so she did not go insane from boredom.
Rushing into the great hall to hug Harry, Ron, Neville, and the twins after she finally was treated by the Mandrake Restorative Draught.
Third-year memories filtered by faster.
Adopting Crookshanks
Getting her time turner. Using her time turner for a few extra turns to study the dark art books she had bought in Knockturn Alley while she had snuck away during her back to school shopping.
Ron and Harry ignoring her over the stupid boom.
Spending her time between the twins and Neville while avoiding Harry and Ron.
Creating S.P.E.W.
Punching Draco Malfoy. Merlin, that had felt so good.
Saving Buckbeak and Sirius.
Her memories didn't stop again till it settled from a moment this past summer. She sat on top of one of the grassy knolls on the Longbottom grounds with Neville and the Weasley Twins. Hermione had asked the Twin to floo to the Longbottom estate.
"So you've been lying to us this whole time," Fred said standing in a huff.
"I didn't lie I just didn't tell you my parents didn't want me," Hermione sighed as she laid back in the grass refusing to meet any of their eyes. Neville laid down next to her clasping her hand in his.
"I got an older sister out of this," Neville said with a bright smile. "I've loved having you here."
"I know, Nev," Hermione said sparing him a smile.
"We always knew something was different after you returned for your second year," George said settled from her other side.
"But—" Fred started but was quickly cut off.
"Leave it," His brother said glaring at his twin. "We weren't exactly best friends with her when this first happened."
"Fine," Fred huffed again, finally sitting down again next to his brother. "But can we all agree, no more secrete from this point on. You too Nev."
"I'm not interesting enough to have secretes," Nev said with another easy smile. "I agree with you though, no more secrets."
"Agree," George said nodding as he turned towards Hermione.
"Well," Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. If they wanted no more secretes she was going to have to tell them her darkest one. "I guess this means I'm going to have to tell you something even worse."
"What could be worse," Fred exclaimed leaning over his brother to peer at her.
"I've been studying the dark arts for the past three years. It started when I was trying to find the monster in second year, I just couldn't stop." She pulled her hands from Neville and hid her face behind her hands as she continued to ramble, "Well it was just reading till I meet Viktor. He started actually teaching me what he knew. Did you know they still teach the old dark arts at Durmstrang?"
"Bloody hell," The twins exclaimed together.
"I second that," Nev whispered. "It's okay Hermione, I'm sure we can talk to Gran."
"No," Hermione said sitting back up. "We can't tell her. She'll make me stop."
"You need to stop, especially if you are getting this sucked in." George said taking Hermione's hand. "it's dangerous."
"At this point, it's more dangerous not knowing the dark arts." Hermione signed squeezing his hand for comfort. "There is a war coming. I will not be defenseless against these horrid people that think I'm unworthy to hold a wand. They will have to drain my magic from my dead mudblood body before I let them threaten those like myself or the ones I love."
Again, her memories raced past. Spinning so fast she could barely pick up images from this past year. Suddenly she was blinded by a bright purple light as a crushing pain ripping through her chest. It wasn't till her vision cleared that she realized she was being embraced by both sides as she cried out in pain.
"It's okay. You're fine. You are safe," Soothing voices muttered in unison.
"Madam Pomfrey, come quick, she's awake." Someone called out between her sobs and the soothing voices.
A/N: It's been almost four years. Now while I haven't been writing fanfiction in four years trust me I've been devouring as many stories as I possibly can. Since the last time I've posted, I've earned my bachelor's degree and am now pursuing my master's while also working full-time. Trust me it has been one hell of a ride since 2016.
I've been thinking about getting back into writing fanfiction for a while now. It was always something I loved to do but always felt guilty when I didn't have time to update every week. This year I have decided to use writing this story as my self-care. I am not promising you'll get a chapter every week or hell even every other week. I am promising to work hard to create something I enjoy that I'm hoping you all will enjoy as well.
Sit back and join me as we move forward with Grey Warrior.
If you have any questions or just really enjoyed my update, please, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! I cannot tell you how motivating reviews make me. I always want to know what you think about the story so far or what you think may happen in the future.
Thank you for reading!
ScaryPoppins