A/N: Update, what update? Back into reading fanfic and it kicked this back into gear for me. Can't promise how long it will be before I add more to it or finish it, but would be nice to see it through to the end!
Hermione's heart ached as she left Harry and the others in the safe house. She knew that most of them would have moved out of Britain by the time the next school break rolled around. She knew that the work of the Order was important and that they all had their parts to play, but it was hard being so alone in Hogwarts without the easy friendship of the two boys she had become so close to.
Ginny, Molly and Arthur boarded the muggle train to London, towards the familiarity of the wizarding world and the responsibilities it entailed. The three of them passed the time as any other family might do, Ginny alternating between reading a novel (though she had charmed the cover to hide just quite how raunchy the text was) and staring bored out of the window. Molly doing much the same (though Hermione couldn't be sure if the cover of her book had been enchanted to hide her own volume of erotica as well) and Arthur looking around the train with all his usual glee when it came to experiencing anything muggle.
"Such a shame we missed seeing Ron today," came the comment from Molly out of the blue.
Hermione's head snapped up at this, "Ron?" she asked, eager for more details.
Molly smiled back sadly, "Yes his ferry is coming in today. We only found out this morning when he sent word to take some of our guests to meet him at the terminal." At Hermione's sad expression she leaned across the plastic table that separated their seats and put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "I'm so sorry dear, it must be awful being apart from a boy you're so close to"
Hermione accepted the comfort, mentally noting that Ron's mum most likely thought they were a couple. A reasonable assumption for her to make, and something that may well come to fruition one day, but definitely nothing that was on the cards for her now.
The rest of the trip passed in much the same mundanity, making it on to the platform and the much quieter Hogwarts Express. Hermione and Ginny separated then, Ginny wanting to connect with some of the other sixth years she had seen who were coming to her regular exercise classes. Hermione sat down in an empty carriage and opened her bag to get some reading done, only to find that she had swept Ginny's copy of "Pride and Prejudice" into her bag as well as her own.
She briefly considered tracking Ginny down to return her book to her but then figured that it would be easy enough to hand it back to her when they were already at Hogwarts. It wasn't like she had to go anywhere than another room in Griffindor Tower and if she wanted it on the train she could find Hermione and get it back off her then.
Hermione paused returning the book to her bag. While a textbook on spell disguises was both interesting and useful, the opportunity that had presented itself was too good to pass up. After all, she wasn't just a brain on legs, she was a woman with sexual desires just as much as any other, the memory of sliding against Ron's lean form pulled a smile from the corner of her mouth as she flipped open the cover of "The Virgin Witch" and started to read.
The opening of the carriage door didn't pull Hermione from the gripping climax, as she was engrossed in the protagonist's gripping climax. The seemingly aloof older boy from next door having finally accepted her as his girlfriend and deciding to consummate their realationship beyond the chaste kisses he had given her under the mistletoe. She turned the final page and put the book down with a smile, basking in the joy of a completed story tinged with the sadness of letting the characters go.
This bittersweet glow was abruptly switched to embarassment as Ginny's face came into view, wearing the kind of smirk you only wear when you know you've caught the other person out.
"So... what did you think?" Ginny asked, smirk still firmly in place.
"It was very good," came Hermione's strangled response. Handing the book back to Ginny who tucked it into her bag with a giggle.
"I just thought I'd update you before we got back to Hogwarts on all the gossip I picked up," Ginny started, her smirk making way for a more neutral expression.
"Ginny," began Hermione, sounding exasparated, "you know I don't care about who is sleeping with whom and who gained weight and all that nonsense. I've got enough going on to keep track of."
Ginny's face turned stormy. Was this what her friend and comrade truly thought of her?
"Three families of students aren't on the train, mostly Hufflepuff half-bloods whose magical parent have seen the severity of the situation and don't want their children out of their sight," Ginny replied in a matter-of-fact manner, "one of the families has gone missing. The father was killed and the dark mark was spotted over the house. She's a Ravenclaw third year, her mum and little brother might have gotten away but no-one has seen or heard of them. Spent the best part of an hour holding her best friend as she sobbed about having gone to her house for dinner and finding the place absolutely ransacked."
Ginny stood up, looking coldly at Hermione who sat quietly, somewhat ashamed to have been sat reading erotica while Ginny was out gathering intel and doing her job of befriending the younger students.
"I'll tell Headmaster Snape when we get back in," replied Hermione quietly.
"Don't bother, I'll do it," replied Ginny shortly. "Thanks for the book," she said as she swiftly slipped out into the corridor and back to another carriage to get changed.
Hermione felt the weight of her responsibilities come crashing down on her all at once. She had a few blissful hours of escape in the pages of a trashy novel and now she was back to trying to save the lives of children from a genocidal maniac under the nose of two other hideous torturers. She began changing into her uniform, which had never felt so much like a prison jumpsuit before.