Authors Note: OMG you guys, I'm soooo sorry! I know I haven't posted in forever, but I've been super busy with school (mid-terms and such) but here I am. I really hope that I haven't lost any fans, and I'm so sorry if you guys lost faith in me, but I promise that I'll try to write more frequently!
I hope you like! (and yes, I know it's a cliffie)
Gabby
PS. I know a lot of my fans are confused about how Pansy Parkinson and the Malfoy family have suddenly appeared in my story. For the answer, please check out my profile on FanFiction
-The Gentle Hum-
Peaceful. Quiet. Still.
Thick white snowflakes gliding from the stormy sky above, and gently landing on the trees and bushes that flocked the Weasley's back yard.
It was early Christmas morning, 7:21 to be exact, and Hermione found her self sitting in the Weasley's kitchen, sipping a hot mug of coffee and staring out the window.
All was quiet in the house around her, as it had been for the last hour. Hermione seemed to be the only one who was awake in a house of twelve, but she didn't mind being alone.
As she sat at the kitchen table and stared outside the window to the gently falling snow, she felt herself smile and blush between sips of coffee; all was right in the world.
She was happy, more than happy – ecstatic was the word, for not only was she with the man that she loved, but now she was engaged to him.
The night before had been a special one for both her and Ron, and now all she could think of was how happy they'd be to together, and how glad she was that they had managed to past through the hard times and suffering.
Her heart was at peace, her soul was at peace, but her mind was stilling whispering caution,
What will your parents say about this?
Hermione pushed the thought out of her head as she forcefully reminded her inner voice that she was after all an adult, and that this was her decision and not theirs.
The voice quickly retreated and Hermione went back to happily sipping her morning coffee.
Half an hour past before any one else came down and then, slowly and quietly, Harry creped down the stairs.
When he saw Hermione, twisted in a chair to see who had entered, he smiled at her,
"I didn't think anyone would be awake at this hour,"
Hermione returned the smile, "Well, with all of yesterday's excitement, I found it a little hard to sleep. You?"
"I well… just have a lot on my mind," said Harry as he reached the table and sat across from Hermione. He pulled the coffee pot towards him, poured a cup, and then pulled his wand out of his pants pocket.
He aimed his wand at a cupboard over his shoulder. The cupboard door swung open and a small glass jar came floating out of it, and headed straight for Harry's open left hand.
He grasped the jar, opened it and sprinkled a few shavings into his cup of coffee.
Hermione smelt the scent of the vanilla and smiled, "Isn't life so much sweeter now that we are adults and we can do magic when ever we like?"
Harry took a long sip and nodded, "Well you know, I personally still feel like a child, I mean, I'm not the one getting married."
Hermione blushed, "Yeah… I'm really excited about that,"
"Even though you saw it coming?" grinned Harry.
"I didn't see it coming!" lied Hermione, but then complied when Harry gave her a look, "Okay, okay, so I had a hunch. But it was still very, very romantic."
"Well I'm happy for you two. Really, you and Ron are so good together,"
Hermione smiled, "Thank you, Harry. I'm really glad that you're okay with this."
"Why wouldn't I be?" asked Harry now puzzled.
"Oh well – it's nothing like that! Ron and I were just worried that if we got together that you'd feel…"
"Left out? Alone? Betrayed by my own friends?" offered Harry dramatically as he bared a shocked and hurt expression.
Hermione laughed and Harry quickly smiled.
They sat together quietly for a few more moments, until they heard grumbling noises coming from the living room.
Ron came around the corner, shirtless and wearing a baggy pair of plaid pants. He froze in the doorway, raised his arms above his head and yawned loud and deep, and then mumbled a morning greeting.
Harry nodded in return, but Hermione was busy eyeing Ron's body up and down, taking in every curve of his toned arms… the narrowness of his waist… the slight bulge in his pants… and when Ron caught her eye, she turned away and blushed into her coffee cup.
Ron smirked and walked towards Hermione, who continued to stare into her cup. He then leaned over and kissed the top of her bushy, brown head and whispered, "Maybe later."
Hermione blushed even deeper and her eye's quickly darted upward to look at Harry, but thankfully Harry seemed too busy with his own thoughts to have noticed.
Ron then walked around the table and over to some cupboards, where he began to fix himself some breakfast, and Hermione began to watch Harry while she sipped her coffee.
His facial expression was an awkward one, a mixture of pleasure and pain, but before she could gently ask him what was on his mind, someone had just entered the room and had let out a loud gasp.
Everyone in the room turned to look at Ginny, who was standing frozen in the doorway, staring in Harry's direction.
A long silence followed as Harry and Ginny stared at each other in a most peculiar fashion. Hermione slowly lowered her cup onto the table as her glace bounced from Ginny to Harry and back again, but it was Ron who was the first to speak,
"What's the matter with you, Gin? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Hermione looked annoyingly over at Ron, but by the time she had turned back to Ginny and Harry, the two had unlocked their gaze and Ginny was now walking towards Hermione.
"Morning," said Ginny embarrassedly as she sat down at the table, next to Hermione and across from Harry. "I didn't realize that everyone would be awake at this hour,"
Hermione softly smiled, "Did you sleep well?"
Ginny slowly nodded and then looked down at the table where she started to scratch at a chipped piece of wood.
Hermione was confused. Between the crying this morning, the gasp, the awkward stare and the now unusual silence, Hermione wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but before she could say anything to anyone, there was a sudden thump at the kitchen window.
"Hedwig!" cried Harry as he jumped out of his seat and ran to the closed kitchen window. He pushed the frame open and held it for Hedwig, but before he could close it, another owl jumped into the kitchen as well.
The second owl, a small brownish thing, flew into the kitchen, circled around Ginny's head and dropped a small box wrapped in red, holiday paper into her lap. And with a two short hoots, the small owl flew right back out of the kitchen window that Harry still had open.
"What is it?" asked Hermione as she leaned in closer to Ginny.
Ginny looked less then thrilled when she read the gift tag, "It's from Dean," she whispered, looking scared to open the package.
Hermione looked up at Harry, and noticed that he too had a look of contemplation on his face.
"So 're you gonna open it 'Arry?" asked Ron with a mouth full of cereal.
Harry shook his head as though he had only just realized he was amongst company, "Huh? Oh, oh… nah, it's nothing important…" he quickly said and then sat back down at the table with Hedwig still on his shoulder.
Ron shrugged and moved to close the window as he said, "I don't know what's gotten into you two, but I know something that will really fix things up!" Everyone turned to look at Ron,
"A big Weasley family snowball fight! It's tradition!" said Ron with a huge grin on his face.
Harry and Ginny smiled but Hermione had to deliver some bad news, "But Ron you and I can't partake in a snowball fight today."
Ron's face fell, "Why not?"
Hermione raised her left hand, exposing the ring that sat on her finger, "Because it's Christmas morning and not only have I not seen my parents, but we have to tell them we're engaged."
Ron stared at Hermione for a second and then playfully slapped himself on the forehead, "That's right, that's right… I proposed yesterday, didn't I?" said Ron slowly, "And here I had thought it had all been a horrible nightmare…"
Hermione picked up her cup and threatened to throw it at Ron when she heard someone say, "If you're going to throw something at him, please don't use my good china, dear." Hermione turned around and saw Mrs. Weasley smiling at her from inside the living room. Hermione blushed.
It was almost noon, and while the whole Weasley family was outside having the worlds biggest snowball fight ever, Hermione was pacing Ginny's bedroom floor as she practiced over and over her speech to her parents.
"Mum, Dad… I know that what I'm about to say may shock you… oh who am I kidding? May shock them? I'll be lucky if they don't run up and shake me!"
Hermione plopped herself down on Ginny's bed and closed her eyes. She was ready to leave. She had gotten dressed an hour ago yet here she was, still in the Burrow and dressed in her winter coat, scarf, mittens and hat.
She was terrified, what could she say to them?
She knew what she wanted to say, something along the lines of, "I'm engaged, and I'm getting married whether you agree with it or not. No, I'm not too young, and yes I will finish school – and yes, I love Ron and he loves me, so we're going to do it, whether you come or not."
This she wanted to say, but it was one thing to envision her parents in front of her, and another to actually have them there.
She took and deep breath, and released it. And as she did, she listened to the fun being had outside.
They were all playing, Ron included, for Hermione had decided that she should probably talk to her parents alone first, and then bring in the fiancé. Of course that was over an hour ago, and she knew that if she didn't do it soon, she would break down in a flood of tears.
"Okay." Hermione quietly said to herself as she rose off the bed. "I'm just going to get this over and done with… no more waiting…"
She walked into the center of the room and prepared to apparate. She closed her eyes, and thought of her three D's: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. And without speaking, she took in a breath and spun on the spot.
But instead of apparating into her bedroom as she had planned, she tripped over her feet and fell face first on Ginny's bedroom floor.
"Ahhh!" screamed Hermione as her hand flew up to her face and rubbed her nose. She lay there on the ground for a few minutes, and after the pain in her face had passed, she slowly got up and tried again.
Again she didn't apparate, yet this time she stopped herself from falling over.
What on earth is going on? I've done it before…
Hermione stood there thinking, and thinking, and then she decided that she had better try a different location.
She released a breath, opened her eyes wide, and spun on the spot… only to have herself come crashing down again.
"God damn it!" she screamed, completely frustrated and sore. "Why can't I get in the kitchen?"
And then, as if someone had poured ice water down her back, her body froze in a cold shiver.
Hogwarts is impossible to apparate into… but that takes a lot of spells to accomplish… powerful magic…
As Hermione's fear grew she quickly searched her mind for a location outside of her house, and decided on the shed in her back yard, a place she was sure no one would see her arrive.
With her heart thumping, Hermione closed her eyes and spun around.
There was the sudden feeling of being suffocated, and Hermione tried to clam her nerves down as she waited for the feeling to pass, and then the invisible bands that were squeezing her let go, just as she heard a loud crash.
Hermione shut her eyes as a plastic rake fell on top of her head, and she was suddenly ever so grateful that her parents had plastic tools rather than metal ones.
The dark shed was packed full of items: rakes, a hoe, a lawnmower, flowering pots, and a whole list of other gardening supplies which made Hermione's arrival most unpleasant.
Hermione tried not to knock anything down as she leaned forward and tried to push the door open, but it didn't budge. She then pulled out her wand, whispered "Alohamora" and pushed again, but still nothing.
She paused, silently thinking and then she lit the tip of her wand and placed it against the bottom of the door. Slowly and slowly she could hear the door gently become unstuck as the piled up snow on the other side melted away.
After a few minutes, the door opened and Hermione squeezed herself outside and into her parent's back yard.
She should have felt safe, she was home and the sun was shining brightly from behind the winter clouds, but all Hermione could think about was why her house had been made unapparatable.
Her eyes darted from window to window, carefully taking everything in, trying to determine if something was up. She kept her wand in her hand, ready to strike, while trying to decided how best to enter her house.
She decided that she would try to enter from the basement, in hopes that she could attack unsuspected. She got down really low, and waddled over to one of the windows, and then melted away the snow.
When she had finally gotten safely inside the basement, Hermione lit the tip of her wand and quietly made her way to the stairs.
And the she stood at the bottom step, staring at the door leading into a kitchen, when she thought she heard her mother's voice… well it wasn't her voice, but her hum… humming a tune that made Hermione's heart race…
It can't be! thought Hermione wildly… She can't be singing that! She doesn't know that song! That's a brand new song! That's a –
"Weird sister's song." Said Hermione out loud. The second she had said it, she clasped her left hand over her mouth, horrified at what she might have just done.
Her heart was racing as she listened intently to the voice above, praying that it hadn't stopped.
But stopped it had, and Hermione could hear the scuffling of feet over head…
Hermione threw herself around the stairs and extinguished her wand, as her heart pounded and pounded on.
Normally she wouldn't have hid, but her mother's voice… humming to a tune in which she didn't know… in which she shouldn't know, unless… unless she was a witch…
The door above opened slowly and the basement, which had been dark only moments ago, was now partly illuminated by the light from the kitchen above.
All was silent…
Hermione was frozen. She didn't know what was going on, she didn't know what to do, but her wand was still gripped firmly in her hand. And then she heard it, the sound she had been dreading… footsteps… someone coming down the stairs… wearing her mother's slippers… holding a wand…
Hermione raised her wand and thought in her head, "Petrificus Totalus" and the figure on the stairs fell forward with a crash.
Hermione rushed forward and looked down at the person on the ground, lying on her stomach, in her mother's robe and slippers.
Hermione was about to roll to the person over when she heard more scuffling of feet, and then a voice she hadn't expected to hear –
"Tonks! Tonks, are you alright?" cried Remus Lupin.