Chapter 17
New Year's Day 1999. The time for Harry and Hermione to finally return to Hogwarts had arrived.
After eating breakfast and packing their things, in which Hermione made certain she and Harry placed their photo albums in their trunks to have even if they wouldn't have a chance to add any new photos to them for a while, the group left the house at eight forty-five in the morning. The ride to King's Cross was spent all conversing with one another about what had happened during the break as well as what could be done when the teenagers returned.
One thing that came up was how Harry still only had a provisional driving license, since Hermione had helped him to get his provisional license while they were planning their trip to Australia but told him that he would have to pass the actual tests to get the full version. Upon learning that, Jack and Miranda said that could be something they could all help him with the next time he and Hermione were home from school, since Hermione had gotten her full license in the summer of 1997. Harry's only response was to sheepishly but gratefully thank the parents.
All too soon for everyone's liking, the group arrived at King's Cross. And at about nine fifty, they all crossed the barrier to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters, where the Hogwarts Express was already waiting for its passengers. The platform was still fairly empty at the moment, with only a few people around. Of course, there was little doubt in Hermione's mind about that changing soon enough, given that the train would be leaving at eleven.
The group of four slowly walked the platform until they were at the last compartment of the train. At that point, Harry and Hermione reluctantly turned to her parents, who were wearing their own slightly depressed expressions.
Jack was the first to speak. "Well, I guess it's time for you two."
Miranda then jumped in. "I think the last time that I felt this unhappy about having to see you off to Hogwarts was your very first day of school here, Hermione."
Hermione looked from her parents to Harry and then back again. She responded, "If it makes you feel any better, Mum, I think Harry and I are feeling a bit reluctant about having to leave, as well."
Harry just silently nodded his agreement.
The left side of Miranda's mouth lifted slightly for a couple of seconds. Then, she resolutely said, "Well, just promise us that we'll get no less than one letter each month. More is obviously preferable, but Jack and I are aware that you two will be doing a lot of studying for your final exams, so I won't hold you to more than the one."
Hermione looked at Harry first, who just gave a tiny smile before nodding. Then, she stepped away from her trunk and closer to her parents before saying, "We will, Mum and Dad. We promise."
That caused her parents to genuinely smile. Then, they both stepped forward and wrapped Hermione up in as great of a hug as they could. She instantly responded and placed one arm around each of them.
Miranda then whispered, "We'll miss you while you're away, Little Worm. This has been the most wonderful holiday we've ever had."
Jack added, "We'll be looking forward to when you can come back home. And we love you very much."
Hermione nodded and replied, "I'll miss you both, too. And I love you."
Her parents squeezed her a bit tighter as they all remained in the hug for a few more seconds. When they pulled away, her parents looked at her and managed to give her a tearful smile.
As Hermione moved to stand at the cart that held her trunk and Crookshanks' cat carrier, Jack and Miranda then turned their gazes to Harry, who had been standing back and watching with a somewhat longing expression.
Then, Miranda startled him a bit when she gave a snort of amusement and said, "You didn't think you were getting out of the hugs now, did you?"
Harry only had time to blink in surprise for a second before she moved over to him and gave him a big hug. After taking a second to realize what just happened, he hugged her back in response.
The mother then whispered to him, "You take care of yourself, Harry. It's been absolutely wonderful having you with us. And if there's ever anything you want advice on and aren't sure that you can talk to Hermione, as rare an occasion as that may be, you can always write to me and Jack yourself."
Harry's breathing became a bit shakier before he responded, "Thank you, that means a lot. And thank you so much for opening up your home to me and being so kind to me, even after the turmoil that came into your lives because of me."
Miranda shook her head and retorted, "You deserve such kindness. You're a wonderful young man who has helped to make Hermione a better person. And while I know I shouldn't speak for your parents, I'm sure they would be proud of the man you are today."
He felt tears building in his eyes, but he smiled and said, "As much as I want to belittle myself, I'm sure you wouldn't be saying that if you didn't mean and believe it. So, in keeping with the vow I made on Christmas, I'll just say… thank you."
The mother started pulling away then, so Harry loosened and dropped his arms. But Miranda didn't separate fully, as she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked up at him. Then, she simply smiled and gave his shoulders a squeeze for a second, which caused his smile to widen.
She finally stepped back, but Jack immediately moved forward in her place. He held out his right hand, which Harry firmly took. As soon as Harry had grabbed the hand, Jack then took one more step forward and threw his left arm around Harry's shoulders while still holding the right hand. The teenager responded by doing the same.
After another second, Jack whispered, "Take care of yourself, Harry. It was great to have you here for the holidays. And if you need something, Miranda and I are just a letter away."
Blinking rapidly to try and clear his eyes, Harry replied, "She actually said the same thing. But thank you, too. That truly does mean a lot to me."
The father simply clapped his left hand on Harry's back a couple of times before finally pulling away a few seconds later.
Hermione was standing by her cart, watching all of this with a tearful smile. Her parents were doing the best thing that they possibly could by treating Harry right now as if he was their own child. She was sure that he had to be tearing up or choking up from emotions, even though she couldn't hear anything that may have been said between them and Harry.
At that moment, Jack stepped back to be beside Miranda. Before they could move any further, however, Harry spoke up, this time loud enough that Hermione could hear. "There's something that I didn't tell you two about Christmas night, something that I'm being reminded of again now. I – "
He paused, with Hermione believing that he must have been fighting a lump in his throat, but he seemed to force through it and continue. "When you both hugged me after I accepted your offer to live with you, it reminded me of exactly the kind of comfort and love that my own parents gave me in the dream that I had told you about on Christmas morning. In fact, I actually even saw my parents in place of you both for an instant. And – it made me realize that I was starting to see you as family after everything you've done for me, and that feeling has only grown since then."
Tears finally started falling from his eyes at that point, and he ended by choking out, "Thank you both so much for giving me such a loving family experience for these past two weeks. And as repetitive as this will sound, I can never thank you enough."
Hermione could stand back no longer and rushed forward to hug and comfort Harry. What she wasn't expecting was her parents to follow a couple of seconds later and join in on the hug.
Then, with Hermione being able to tell that her mother was holding back tears of her own, Miranda spoke. "Thank you, Harry, for thinking so highly of us that you would place us in any category with your own parents."
Jack then said, "And that means so much to us that you are willing to consider us family."
Though his voice was still watery, Harry quietly responded, "You both deserve it."
Both parents tightened the squeeze that they had on the teenagers at that response. And for another minute or so, the four silently stood there, continuing to hug one another.
The parents were the first to finally pull away. After they did so, Hermione couldn't help keeping one arm around Harry, as her father checked his wristwatch.
"Almost ten o'clock," he said. Looking back to her and Harry, he added, "You two should probably get on the train. There's a real chance that if you don't, we won't be able to let you leave."
Hermione sighed but knew her father was right. She looked at Harry and said, "We probably should, or I won't be able to resist the urge to stay home."
He nodded, and with that, the two of them loaded their things off the carts and up into the compartment. When finished, they sadly waved to her parents a couple of times, receiving similar waves in response. Then, the parents turned around and began walking back in the direction of the entrance to the train platform.
Jack and Miranda silently walked through the barrier and crossed back to the non-magical side of King's Cross. They remained silent until they were all the way back at the car.
Once they were sitting inside the car, but before Jack could turn the engine on, Miranda sadly said, "I was wrong about my feelings. I can definitively say that I've never been this unhappy about seeing her off."
Jack looked at her and softly replied, "That's because now, it's not just her that we care for and are seeing off."
That caused Miranda to turn her gaze to him. Her eyes grew wide as she quietly said, "I still can't believe it. He may as well have just said that he sees us as his own parents."
Jack's expression became somewhat astonished, as his eyes glanced down and he let out a long breath. He responded, "Yeah, that was something. And not only did he say things to that effect, but there's the fact that he was willing to admit it to us that he views us as family. He could have simply kept that to himself, but he wanted us to know."
Miranda had to blink back a few tears that rose in her eyes before she could respond. "I can already tell that this is going to be the longest six months of my life, waiting for those two to finally return home."
Jack said, "I definitely agree with you on that." Then, he reached over and took her hand in his. "Still, they promised to send us letters, so they won't be completely gone. And you saw how reluctant they were about having to leave for school. Maybe they'll be counting down the days until they come home just like we are."
He gave her hand a quick squeeze before ending with, "We'll get through this, honey, even if it might be a little rougher this time."
She finally smiled for the first time since they walked away from the Hogwarts Express. She leaned over to him and kissed him for a second. After pulling away, she whispered, "You're right, on all counts. Thank you, dear, I needed that reassurance."
He said just as quietly, "Anytime."
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione had been getting settled for the journey. After they loaded their luggage onto the rack, Hermione then released Crookshanks from his cat carrier, and the cat quickly flopped down in one of the seats after being freed. Harry went over and sat down by the window in the opposite seat, with Hermione sitting on his left side a second later. All this was done while not having spoken a word since saying goodbye to her parents.
After a few more seconds, Hermione finally ended the silence the best way she knew how, by talking about their upcoming duties. "The meeting with the prefects, or I guess I should say the other prefects since you and I are technically the Gryffindor seventh-year prefects, will start at eleven as soon as the train begins to leave. What do you say we go to the prefect carriage about fifteen minutes before then? We can put a combined Locking Spell on this compartment that will hopefully be powerful enough to dissuade anyone from coming in here."
Harry just nodded and quietly said, "Sure, that works." Then, he turned his gaze to the window, staring out almost forlornly to the still-empty train platform.
Sympathy filled Hermione's expression at that point. She had a good idea about what was still on his mind. Thus, she gently grabbed his left hand in her right, which caused him to turn back to her, before linking their fingers together.
"Hey," she whispered. "It won't be long before we return, Harry. The end of June will be here before we know it."
He didn't say anything at first. After a few seconds, he actually pulled out his mokeskin pouch and dug into it with his right hand. When he pulled his hand out, he opened it up and then stared down at the house key that was now laying in his palm.
"I know you're right," he finally replied, just as quietly. He then dropped the key back into his pouch and hid the pouch underneath his clothes again before saying, "Knowing that still doesn't make this any less depressing, though."
She squeezed the hand that she was holding before putting her other one on top of their joined hands. "We'll get through the next six months, Harry. We've endured so much worse together, haven't we?"
He gave her a tiny smile. "Yeah, you're right about that, too." The smile immediately disappeared, however, as he looked to the window again. "Still, I'm also not looking forward to the ruckus that I know will happen once everyone at Hogwarts realizes we're together. I'm certain that something will probably show up in the Daily Prophet at some point, too, especially with Rita Skeeter still being there."
Hermione continued to look at him, with sadness filling her. It was another reason as to why he was reluctant to return to Hogwarts. Here in magical society, it would go back to him being Harry Potter, The Man Who Won, as the Daily Prophet had used in the aftermath of the war. And of course, him getting into a relationship with anyone would be all over the paper, no matter how much Harry would want his private life kept exactly as such. He would no longer get to simply be Harry, the shy but loving teenage boy, as he had gotten to be at home with just her and her parents.
Her parents…
Hermione's eyes widened as she realized one option to take. She and Harry were already similar enough to her parents with how they acted in their relationship. Why not add one more action to that list?
She squeezed his hand until his gaze locked onto her again. Then, she quietly said, "Who says anyone else has to know about us?"
His expression became adorably confused. "What? You mean… hide our new relationship?"
She nodded and replied, "Mum and Dad were able to hide theirs for two years. What's wrong with us doing the same for a few months?"
He looked completely lost at that point. His mouth opened a little, but no words came out for a few seconds. When he finally spoke, he whispered, "Because it would almost seem like I'm ashamed of our relationship and wanted to hide it for that reason, even though I'm not and never will be ashamed of anything about you."
She reached up with her left hand and placed it on his cheek. "I know you would never feel that way. And I'm the one here suggesting the option of hiding our relationship. Are you worried about me feeling ashamed of you because of that?"
His words were quite resolute. "Never. All I care about is that you want to be with me."
"And that's exactly how I feel about you, Harry."
Hermione stopped to take a deep breath before quietly continuing. "All I wanted was to give you an option of what we could do, Harry. If you aren't comfortable with it, we don't have to do it. And if we let everyone know that we're together, I'm willing to endure whatever fallout may come, because being with you is the most important thing for me. I'll follow your lead in whatever you wish to do in this situation, whatever will make you the most comfortable."
Though his mouth remained closed, she could see the astonishment in his expression. His eyes glanced down and away, as though in thought. Hermione remained silent to let Harry work out whatever it may be that he wanted to say.
After probably thirty seconds of silence, his eyes locked onto hers again before he whispered, "So, you really wouldn't be ashamed if we hide our romantic relationship for now, and we still act in public as though things haven't really changed?"
She rubbed his cheek for a second with her left hand. "I truly wouldn't, Harry. I promise."
Of course, she then couldn't resist trying to lighten things up by saying, as sensually as she could, "Besides, there's a certain thrill in keeping this new step in our relationship hidden from the rest of the populace, don't you think? We outwardly act like nothing has happened, but perhaps while doing something such as studying in the library, I move my foot over to rest against yours just to let you know that I'm there. Or when we're on one of our patrols at night, we take advantage of your Cloak and the Marauder's Map to sneak away into a broom closet for just a minute or so. And we can even make our own times for meetings in the Room of Requirement if we need some… extra attention, perhaps."
Her mouth opened in a grin as she could see temptation light up in Harry's expression. It took a few more seconds before he finally spoke, in a low voice. "God, do you have any idea how sexy you make that sound?"
Her grin widened as she playfully responded, "Well, many circumstances tend to have at least some positives to balance out the negativity. And this can be one such case."
She was glad to hear Harry chuckle for a few seconds. When he stopped and took a deep breath, his expression became a bit more serious but not grimly so. "OK, if you're fine with it, then we'll keep our relationship hidden for now. But please, let me know if having this be a secret gets to be too much for you. I'll be brave for you if you want this to be public."
Hermione moved her left hand back down to cover their still-joined ones. "I can wait as long as it takes for you, Harry. And if you reach the point that you're ready to announce our relationship to the public, just tell me."
He smiled and quietly replied, "I will, Hermione. And thank you for always being willing to go so far just for my sake."
She smiled and then squeezed his hand just a bit tighter in response. She didn't, however, get a chance to say anything more.
At that moment, a tapping sound made them both look towards the window. They were surprised to see an owl tapping on the glass with its beak like it wanted inside.
Harry slid his hand out of Hermione's grip and then opened the window to let the owl in. The two of them were further confused when the owl dropped an envelope beside Hermione on the seat before then flying back outside.
As Harry shut the window, he asked with bafflement, "Were you expecting mail from anyone?"
Hermione grabbed the envelope and replied with as much confusion, "No, I was about to ask you the same question."
She pulled out her wand and checked for any kind of magic within the envelope, but it came up clean. Thus, she then looked to see if there was a name of the sender on the envelope. Her eyes widened when she indeed found a name.
She opened the envelope and pulled out the letter within it, looking at the bottom to confirm the name that she had found. She then said to Harry, "And apparently, this is a letter from Fleur."
His head tilted in even more confusion. "Fleur? Why did she suddenly send you a letter?"
Hermione shook her head. "Going by this first paragraph here, it's not that she sent me a letter. It's that she sent us a letter. And she wants us to read it together."
Harry's eyes widened at the information, but he remained silent. Hermione placed the letter on the table in the compartment so that she and Harry could read together. And with that, the two kept quiet as they slowly made their way through the letter to see whatever it was Fleur wanted them to know.
Hello, Harry and Hermione!
If only one of you receives this letter because you are away from one another due to the holidays, please wait until you are together again at Hogwarts before reading anything beyond this part.
Now, with that out of the way…
First, I wish to thank both of you for the huge parts that you played in ending this war. Ron eventually told the rest of the family about what the three of you did last year, and it was certainly a brave thing for you to sacrifice so much to destroy Voldemort. And you in particular, Harry, have already suffered much more than anyone else ever should even in just the years that I have known you. So, I will simply say here… thank you both, and I apologize for not saying such a thing sooner than now.
Now, to get into the main reason as to why I am writing the two of you for the holidays. Bill and I were staying at the Burrow with the rest of the family this year for Christmas, and we were still there on the day before New Year's Eve. That day, while we were gathered at the table for lunch, Molly was somewhat angry that the two of you have never sent any kind of letter to her or the family since the Battle of Hogwarts ended, and she asked Ginny as to why you would be avoiding them. Ginny tearfully said that you, Harry, had said that she had never known you at all and that you would never be with her, along with you having mentioned something about Ron abandoning both you and Hermione last year. When we all turned to Ron at that point, he simply repeated the story he had told to me and Bill about he and the two of you getting separated during your hunt, and him being unable to find you for a long period of time. He also said that he had sent letters to both of you with his little owl during the summer, but that Harry never responded at all while the letters to Hermione always returned to him unopened.
I must say, the two of you were quite close to getting a Howler from Molly right then and there. But that is when I entered the conversation and, though I do not know the full circumstances about which Ginny was speaking, replied that maybe the two of you needed time on your own to heal. I even added how none of the Weasleys, myself included, ever thought to keep in contact with the two of you while everyone was grieving over the death of Fred. And I firmly told Molly that, perhaps, being ignored is what we deserved after having done the same to both of you.
Well, that only caused Molly to grow angrier, while Arthur feebly tried to calm her down. She then replied that I did not know what I was talking about, and that she had treated you like family and didn't deserve such a silent treatment. That is when my husband joined the conversation and told his mother that I was right about all of us having ignored you two in the aftermath of the war. He then decisively said that if she sent the both of you a Howler, it would most likely be the last bit of contact she would ever have with you, and that she should let you both contact the rest of us at whatever pace that you wanted. The two of us then left for our home at my request because, though Molly had gone quiet at Bill's admonishment, her expression showed that she still seemed to be stubbornly refusing to believe our words, as well as still seeming to believe that you two need to be the ones to contact the family first.
I tell all of this to you both for these reasons. I want you to be prepared just in case Molly or any other Weasley does finally try to contact you both about why you have not kept in touch with them. But I also wish for you to know that, while we obviously do not know your full reasoning for being silent with the Weasleys, Bill and I will both stand behind you if anyone gives you trouble. I like to consider the both of you good friends, and I will not let even my own family talk badly about you when you most likely have reasons for your actions. You two will always be welcome here at Shell Cottage.
Well, let us move away from that depressing topic, and let me now wish you both a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope the two of you had a wonderful holiday, and that your final year of Hogwarts is going well! I am glad that you both decided to fully finish your education. I must say, it disappointed me a little that Ron skipped out on his final year in order to go into the Aurors with the offer that the Ministry made to allow those who were of age and also fought in the Battle of Hogwarts to go straight into the three-year Auror training without having the education requirements, but I digress. It is not my life, and that was his choice.
Finally, there is one more subject that I wish to bring up to the both of you…
At my and Bill's wedding, you were both seated in such a position that I could somewhat see the both of you, even while I was staring at Bill during the vows. And I noticed you gazing at one another as the words 'I declare you bonded for life' were spoken. All I will say from here is that… if you two are not already with anyone at this time, perhaps you should both look back on that memory and ask yourselves why you would perform such an action at that particular time. It is simply something to think about, and I will say no more on it unless or until you two would respond about it first.
Well, that should be everything that I wish to tell you. I hope that the two of you receive this letter in a timely manner once I have Bill's owl take it to you, since it is actually the evening of New Year's Eve as I write this part. But again, I digress. I sincerely hope that the two of you had a Merry Christmas! And I do hope that I can hear from the two of you again. While Bill still has many protections on and around the house, the Fidelius Charm was removed after the Ministry announced that the remaining Death Eaters had been executed for their crimes, so you won't have to worry about a post owl being able to find us. But please, do not feel obligated if you feel that you still need time away from the rest of us. Goodness knows that I would certainly not blame you for simply wanting time to yourselves after everything that happened.
Au revoir, Harry and Hermione, take care!
Fleur Weasley
Finally reaching the end of the letter, Hermione was at a complete loss for words, both at the actual information Fleur just revealed and at the lengths to which it seemed that Fleur was willing to go for her and Harry. It made her feel quite horrible about how badly she had acted towards Fleur until only last year, even when the French woman had already considerably warmed up to Harry after the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. If nothing else, Hermione could respond to Fleur and apologize for that along with giving thanks for helping her and Harry even if it pitted Fleur against the other Weasleys.
The part about Ron apparently having sent letters to her especially bothered Hermione, though. She only ever received two letters during the summer: the one from Professor McGonagall regarding the list of books for the school year as well as her Head Girl status, and the one from Harry telling her that he would be at King's Cross on the first of September. She didn't think this would be a lie, considering Mrs. Weasley was apparently also mad about the family not receiving letters. Of course, considering it sounded from Fleur like Ron never told the rest of his family that the actual reason he got separated from her and Harry was because he abandoned the two of them out of his own jealousy and insecurity, she supposed that anything could be possible.
Hermione just shook her head a couple of times, seeing this as a lot to deal with on her own at the moment, before turning to Harry. She immediately became concerned, however, at what she saw.
He was just staring down at the letter, even though she knew he could have seen her head turn to him. His eyes were somewhat wide, but his brow was furrowed in what appeared to be anger. His overall facial expression showed signs of distress, and his right hand was sitting up on the table and clenched seemingly as hard as it could be.
Hermione couldn't resist taking hold of his left hand again. That caused Harry to quickly blink for a second before he looked at her.
Hoping to lighten the atmosphere, she said, "Well, you've definitely earned Fleur's loyalty, if this letter is anything to go by."
He quietly snorted, though his expression still didn't change. He quietly replied, "Yeah, seems so. I'll have to send her a response, or we can do one together if you want to. She's earned that much, for not only this but also how much she risked to help me when leaving the Dursleys and after we escaped from Malfoy Manor."
He turned away as he stared down at the letter again. "But the things that were mentioned in this letter… I just… I don't…"
He trailed off, still apparently not able to find his words. Hermione first checked her wristwatch before then giving Harry's hand a squeeze. His head shifted just enough that he could look at her with his left eye.
She said, "It's already ten thirty. What do you say we just go up to the prefect carriage now, and we can talk more about this later when we have more time to not be interrupted? I'll keep this letter in my beaded handbag, for the time being."
That caused the left corner of his mouth to twitch upward for an instant. He replied, "Sure, that works." He then grew a bit thoughtful. "What do you say we put our trunks here in the seat while we're gone? That way, even if the Locking Spell we'll put on the compartment gets removed, it will still appear that the compartment is occupied so that no one will take it."
Hermione nodded at his idea, and they went about their task before exiting the compartment. With that, they cast a Locking Spell on the door together to try and amplify the power, and then left for the prefect carriage at the front of the train. Some of the other compartments they passed along the way were already filled up, proving Hermione's earlier thoughts on the platform.
And soon enough, the time reached eleven o'clock, the prefect carriage had filled up, and the Hogwarts Express began its journey back to the Highlands of Scotland. The meeting went quickly and smoothly, with none of the other prefects having any objections to the scheduled rotation of patrols that Hermione and Harry laid out for them. With that, the two Head students would have the very first patrol of the train on this journey.
As the meeting adjourned, Harry and Hermione waited to let the others all leave for their desired train compartments first. Once they were alone, Hermione quietly said, "I can do this patrol alone, too, if you don't want to deal with the rest of the students yet."
His expression became soft, and he said, "No, that's OK. I'll actually do my duty with you this time. I may keep quiet the entire time when you end up talking to students as we go along, but I'll go with you."
She couldn't help smiling up at him, which caused him to go a bit sheepish as he smiled back. She then responded, "Alright then. Still, let's go back to our compartment first, not only to see if our Locking Spell is still up but also to check on Crookshanks for a second."
His smile turned into a smirk, but he simply nodded without a word. The two of them made their way back down to their compartment, happy to find that their lock had held when Hermione attempted to open the door. Thus, she just peeked in from the small window. She found Crookshanks staring back from the same seat that he had first taken, but once he seemed to realize that it was her, he flopped back down and stretched out to rest again. Hermione couldn't help laughing at the silly behavior but was glad that her pet was wary enough to see who might be at the door or coming in.
With that, Hermione nudged Harry along, and the two began their slow patrol of the train corridor.
Most of their patrol was uneventful. When Hermione would stop at an open compartment and check with the students there, they were all willing to be polite with her at the very least. And though a few students certainly seemed curious enough going by their expressions, everyone left well enough alone with Harry and kept from asking anything personal of him.
That all changed, however, once the two Head students reached the last compartment before the prefect carriage, on their final pass through the corridor.
The compartment door was now open, and when Hermione stepped to the entrance while Harry stepped up beside her, she saw Neville and Ginny conversing with one another from opposite seats, while Luna was sitting beside Neville and gazing upon them in silence. Luna then immediately looked over to the entrance, though, seemingly sensing Hermione's gaze on them.
"Oh, hello Hermione, hello Harry," she said in her dreamy voice.
That caused the conversation to stop as Neville and Ginny turned their gazes to the entrance as well.
"Hello everyone," Hermione replied.
She turned to look at Harry as he politely said, "Luna. Neville." When he directed his eyes to Ginny, however, his expression became hard, but he managed to say in the same polite tone, "Ginny," before quickly looking away from her and schooling his expression.
A prickle of fear about what may happen from here was beginning to grow within Hermione, but she remained silent and turned her head back to the inside as Neville replied, "Hey, you two."
"Hello," Ginny hesitantly added, her gaze somewhat scared as she turned to look out the window she was sitting beside.
Hoping to keep things light, Hermione asked to no one in particular, "So, how was your holiday break, everyone?"
Neville was the first to respond. "It was good to have a break from studying finally. I don't know how you're even surviving with taking seven classes, Hermione, much less doing so well in all of them. I'm only taking Charms, Defense, and Herbology, and I already feel like I'm going spare."
Hermione responded to Neville, "Well, I enjoy the challenge of learning, so it doesn't usually feel like work to me."
Hermione heard Harry quietly snort in amusement, but he remained silent otherwise. A tingle started in her mind when she saw Luna's eyes flick for a second to Harry before returning to Hermione herself, but as the younger girl didn't actually say anything, she decided to let it lie for now.
Meanwhile, Neville smiled for a second. "I suppose you would have to enjoy it to take on that kind of challenge, but you're certainly the most capable of us all to handle it."
Hermione smiled in response before looking at Luna. "How about you, Luna? Did you enjoy the holidays?"
"Yes, it was good to be back at home for some time," the blonde Ravenclaw serenely said. "And it seems you may have been right, Hermione. The horn that Daddy bought last year, and which you said had exploded, never did mend itself. So, it couldn't have been an actual horn of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. The person who made the horn must have done quite a good job for Daddy to have been fooled by it."
Hermione was slightly exasperated at Luna's belief that the horn that exploded while she, Harry, and Ron were visiting the Lovegood residence was a fake Snorkack horn instead of an Erumpent horn. But she kept that to herself and merely replied, "Well, I'm sorry that the horn didn't end up being what you wanted."
Luna just smiled and replied, "Oh, that's quite alright. Daddy thought he was getting me a Snorkack horn, and it's the thought that counts with gifts."
That made Hermione genuinely smile. "Yes, it certainly is, Luna."
The younger girl nodded in return.
With that, Hermione finally looked back to Ginny, unable to just ignore the redheaded girl, even in the face of not only that being how things had been for the year thus far but also the information from Fleur's letter. "What about you, Ginny? Was your holiday good?"
That caused the Weasley daughter to look to her and Harry, eyes glancing back and forth for a second. Then, Ginny merely said, "It was fine," before turning back to the window.
Hermione knew that things were about to get too awkward. But before she could have herself and Harry say their farewells, Luna then asked her the same question. "What about your holiday, Hermione?"
A smile instantly rose on her face without her even trying. "It was good. It was wonderful to be at home again with Mum and Dad, and it was certainly hard getting back on the train this time."
She couldn't help looking to Harry for a couple of seconds. Though he remained quiet and aloof while staring at her, she also saw his lips flick upward for just an instant.
As they turned back to the other three, Luna surprised them all when she then said to Harry, "And you, Harry? Was your time away from Hogwarts enjoyable? Only if you don't mind the question, of course."
All heads turned to look at him as he remained silent. Then, though his expression was still neutral, he shocked them further by quietly replying, "Yeah, it was good, Luna. And thanks for asking."
The blonde girl said nothing for a couple of seconds, her eyes once again flicking between Harry and Hermione. Then, she smiled and replied, "You're welcome."
The exchange seemed to give Neville the courage to also say something. "I'm sure having a break from everything was great, wasn't it, mate? You've been going at the studying just as hard as Hermione."
Harry shrugged and said, "Well, after seven years of friendship, some good aspect of hers would have to eventually rub off onto me."
Hermione's heart was jumping for joy right now. Even though Harry was still being quite vague about any details, he was now actually willing to talk about something personal with Neville and Luna. Maybe this meant that he would one day give them his full friendship again.
This was the best note that things could end on, so she turned to the other three and said, "Well, I think we'll get out of your hair for now. We'll see you later at Hogwarts."
But before she and Harry could move to leave, things finally took a turn for the worse.
"Harry, wait."
Ginny's words caused everyone to look to her. After a second, Hermione turned back to Harry, dread beginning to fill her upon seeing his expression go hard again as he stared at the youngest Weasley. She thought that there was no way this was going to end well.
Harry didn't respond at all, just continuing to coldly stare at Ginny. After a few more seconds of being under his piercing gaze, Ginny nervously said, "How come you've been ignoring all of us?"
Harry's brow furrowed, but his eyes grew larger with repressed anger. His firm response was, "I should think that you would know exactly why I haven't talked to you, considering you've been the one avoiding Hermione and me after what you said in the library in the only time you've spoken to us."
Ginny then said, "I don't mean just me. I mean the family, as well. You and Hermione have been ignoring all of us. And hasn't enough time passed that you could look past that mistake I made with being too forceful about having you answer questions?"
Harry's voice raised at that point. "You completely ignored Hermione's multiple protests against you about wanting answers from me. You haven't apologized to either one of us for what you did, considering you just ran away and haven't even spoken to us since that day. And you say that I'm the one that should be able to let go of that incident for your sake?!"
At that point, he shook his head before looking to Hermione. He angrily said, "I'm going back to the compartment. Knock like you did the last time so that I'll know it's you."
With that, he turned and walked down the corridor.
Hermione sadly looked at his retreating back until she could no longer see Harry. Everything had been going so well. How badly could that one bit at the end set things back?
Quickly, though, that sadness became anger, remembering from Fleur's letter about Ginny apparently also crying to her mother about Harry not wanting to be with her but never acknowledging her own faults in what happened. Anger that built up so much that Hermione wasn't going to keep her mouth shut about this, though she still had enough sense to know not to bring up anything that Fleur had said, lest she need to reveal how exactly she knew that information. Frankly, though, there was already enough ammo for her to use that Fleur's information wouldn't be necessary.
Thus, she stepped into the compartment before shutting the door and facing Ginny, her brow furrowed in rage at the redheaded girl. Though she could tell from the left side of her vision that Neville and Luna were watching her, she couldn't muster a care about having witnesses right now.
"You just couldn't let it go, could you," she firmly said while crossing her arms over her chest. "You not only had to bring mention to that day, but you won't even acknowledge your own part in it in the first place! You know good and well that the apology is on you to make first. You made things all about you when you tried to force him to answer questions and said that you had been waiting on him since the war ended. And he blew up on you because of that combined with the fact that you told him, when he was breaking up with you after Dumbledore's funeral, that you knew he wouldn't be happy unless he was hunting Voldemort."
Hermione knew that none of them would have known who exactly Tom Riddle was, so she had to say the pseudonym to get her point across.
Neville interjected at that point. "Blimey, Ginny, did you really say that?"
Luna then jumped in, a bit of confusion in her voice while still not wavering from its airy quality. "Yes, that seems silly to say. Why would going off to hunt the man who murdered his parents and wanted to murder him make Harry happy?"
Ginny frantically said to them, "Well, yes, maybe I said that. But I didn't mean it literally like that!"
Hermione immediately interrupted. "Then perhaps you should have said exactly what you meant, Ginny! Instead, you let him believe that the only reason you liked him is because you see him as a hero!"
She couldn't help shaking her head. "Of course, maybe that is the only reason why you liked him. I may not have hard evidence to say for sure, but it certainly seems believable from your statements."
Hermione could see anger beginning to grow in Ginny's eyes, as the youngest Weasley retorted, "Oh, and you think you know more about love than me, Hermione? You, who not only has never had a real boyfriend at all, even when you had Viktor Krum at your fingertips four years ago, but who also couldn't even give my brother the courtesy of answering his letters in the summer? Meanwhile, I would have done anything that Harry wanted if he asked it. And at the time, he wanted to break up because of what was happening in the war."
Neville spoke up at that point with a bit of nervousness. "Hey, maybe we should all just take a little time and calm down – "
"Stay out of this, Neville!" Hermione and Ginny both exclaimed at the same time while not moving their gazes even a centimeter away from each other.
While the other two were still occupied with each other, Luna patted Neville's right hand with her left one and quietly said to him, "It's alright, you tried. But perhaps this is something that they must work out for themselves."
Neville responded with a whisper, "Yeah, you're probably right, Luna. I just hope things don't end up resulting in hexes."
Meanwhile, Hermione and Ginny had continued to silently stare one another down. And after about ten seconds of silence, Hermione finally did respond.
"First off, Viktor was never anything more than a friend for me, if even that. And regardless of whether or not he was, I had more important issues, and a much more important person, on which to worry."
She saw Ginny roll her eyes a bit as Hermione continued talking.
"Second, there was only one letter that I ever received during the summer that didn't come from Hogwarts about this school year. That letter also came only a few days before school started. I know exactly who sent that letter, and it certainly wasn't any Weasley. That's the full truth of the matter, and if you and Ron don't want to believe that, it's your problem, not mine."
Ginny loudly scoffed at that statement, but Hermione didn't give her a chance to say anything and simply kept refuting the younger girl's points.
"And finally, yes, you did and would do exactly what Harry wanted. The two of you broke up, with nary a word of protest from you. No, you just easily went along with it and sent him off to let him hunt the most dangerous and psychopathic wizard of our time, with your parting words being that it's what made you like him so much. Meanwhile, I was with Harry every step of the way, even when he tried to protest about me coming along. Even when things came to a low point and it was just the two of us on our hunt last year, never once did it cross my mind to leave him or let him go off on his own."
She could see Ginny becoming more and more angry. And Hermione knew that her next words might be the catalyst of an explosion.
"Yes, Ginevra, I know all about love. It's making someone else's happiness far more important than your own, while also being willing to stand up to them and do what they need the most at the moment even if it may not be exactly what they want. That seems to be a lesson that you still need to learn. And until you do, you'll never know what love is, you bloody stupid girl."
That final statement set off the bomb.
Ginny instantly reached for something while her face became red, and Hermione's instincts completely took over. Ginny's wand came up and, without a word, a flash indicated the casting of a spell.
But Hermione had raised her hands up just in the nick of time, and the spell bounced off the wandless Shield Charm she performed and hit Ginny instead.
With her adrenaline still pumping so much that she didn't notice that Luna's eyebrows had raised, nor that Neville's eyes had widened and mouth had dropped open in amazement, Hermione kept the shield up with her right hand before immediately using her left one to go around the shield and hit Ginny with a wandless Disarming Charm. When the wand flew out of Ginny's hand, Hermione summoned it to herself and grabbed it out of the air before she finally dropped her shield.
At that moment, she realized what spell Ginny had tried to use. Because it seemed that Ginny was getting a taste of her own Bat-Bogey Hex, with three bats now flying around her head as she was frantically trying to shoo them away. Hermione somehow couldn't help feeling an iota of pity on the girl even after all that had just taken place. So, after letting her suffer for just a few more seconds, she waved her right hand to cast a wandless Finite and ended the hex.
Once Ginny realized that the hex had stopped, she whipped her head around to face Hermione, mouth open and eyes wide in complete fright. Hermione didn't say a word yet, only slowly taking deep breaths to cool off from the massive amount of adrenaline that had just flowed through her.
After another few seconds, Neville was the first to speak. "Blimey, Hermione. You not only just used language that I've never before heard you use, but you just did wandless magic, too?!"
She didn't respond to Neville and just continued to silently stare at Ginny, with the younger girl having leaned back against the window as though she was trying to be as far away from Hermione as possible. That was just fine with Hermione. She frankly wanted nothing more to do with the girl right now.
At that point, she held her left hand up and opened it to show Ginny's wand laying in it. Then, though she made her expression blank, she spoke quietly but also as viciously as she could. "You know, there's a whole host of punishments that you could receive for attacking a Head student. But instead, I just want you to take two more lessons away from this, Ginevra. The first is... always know your enemy before attacking. Otherwise, you end up with a situation like this where you are completely beaten and humiliated at best, or utterly annihilated and killed at worst."
Then, she gave Ginny a cold and wrathful stare, causing the younger girl to try and lean back even further, even though she was already against the wall. And Hermione said, "The second is this… there's a saying, in non-magical society at the very least, that the act of killing only gets easier after the first kill. You should keep that in mind while also recalling that I'm the one that killed Bellatrix Lestrange, even saving your life in the process. Remember all of that if you ever so much as even think for an instant about attacking me ever again."
Her words just now, along with Ginny widening her eyes as she seemed to recall the final battle, combined at that moment to bring forth a quick flash of memories from the Battle of Hogwarts and that final day of the war in Hermione's mind.
-O-
It was utter chaos, with duels happening everywhere in the Great Hall. Hermione, Luna, and Ginny were all battling Bellatrix Lestrange together, with the crazed Death Eater being an equal match for the three of them.
Hermione was putting every last bit of energy she had into her spells, knowing that she was being wasteful, but she was too furious to care anymore. Her best friend was dead. All she wanted was to keep him alive to see the demise of Voldemort and the end of this war, even sending her parents to Australia so that she would never have to worry about them while she remained at Harry's side, and she failed. She was probably going to exhaust herself to the point that she would eventually be easy pickings for any random Death Eater in the chaos, but she just hoped that she could take as many of them down with her as she could.
The fight wore on, and all four combatants became increasingly and greatly tired. But after some time, Bellatrix finally gained the upper hand when she cast Bombarda at the floor near the teenagers to try and catch all of them at once. Though the three of them were not directly hit by the explosion, it was still close and powerful enough that it knocked them back some and down to the ground.
Hermione still had a grip on her wand in her right hand, but the massive fatigue of all the activity she had done since leaving Shell Cottage finally hit her all at once with the force of a charging elephant. She was barely able to struggle up onto her hands and knees. Luna and Ginny, however, seemed to be even worse off after a glance. They were lying on their backs and barely seemed able to even just slightly move their limbs, much less rise from the floor. Hermione heard Mrs. Weasley scream for Ginny, but the mother and the rest of the Weasleys also sounded as though they were caught up in their own battle at that moment and were unable to get away.
As heavily as Bellatrix was breathing, the Death Eater still let out a cruel laugh at that moment. She then spoke, her words directed more at Luna and Ginny. "Is that it? You blood traitors just lie there, unable to even outlast a Mudblood in battle. It's so pathetic and pitiful, you can have the mercy of dying first."
And Bellatrix moved over to Ginny before raising her wand.
As the Death Eater had been speaking, Hermione took notice of their proximity to one of the walls of the Great Hall. And once Bellatrix began walking to Ginny, Hermione realized that the Death Eater would not only be directly in front of her but would also have her back turned almost entirely to Hermione. With that, Hermione instantly formed a last-ditch plan in her mind, one that she desperately hoped would work. Otherwise, she wasn't sure that she would have enough energy afterwards to cast even the smallest Lumos spell. This would truly be do or die.
Thus, Hermione pulled every last bit of strength and adrenaline that she could. And when Bellatrix began raising her wand, Hermione pointed her own wand at the Death Eater's head and then whispered, "Depulso."
Because Bellatrix had been arrogant enough to think that Hermione was no threat and thus let her guard down, the Banishing Charm hit before she knew at all what was happening. She went nearly horizontal and had barely let out a shriek before she slammed into the wall headfirst at full speed.
The loud and sickening crunch actually caused all of the fighting in the hall to stop for a moment. People then saw Bellatrix lying unmoving at the wall in a growing pool of blood, as Hermione dropped her arm in exhaustion. She turned to look at Voldemort when he let out a furious scream at seeing his top lieutenant dead on the floor. He instantly blasted Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, and Kingsley Shacklebolt away from him before turning his attentions to Hermione. Knowing she would never be able to rise from the ground quickly enough, Hermione just hung her head and simply accepted that her death was here.
Maybe she would at least get to see Harry again in the afterlife.
But Voldemort had only just begun to raise his wand before Hermione received the shock of her life when a familiar voice shouted out, "Protego!"
Her eyes were wide as she raised her head up, unwilling to give herself too much hope at the voice, and a shield formed between herself and Voldemort. And a few seconds later, pulling off his Invisibility Cloak to reveal himself to be standing in between her and the shield, was Harry.
Exultant cries and screams sounded off throughout the hall, but only for a couple of seconds before being stifled. As that happened, Hermione remained silent but found the strength to raise herself off her hands and sit solely on her knees, staring in astonishment at Harry. He glanced over his shoulder and gazed at her for a second before giving her a nod. He then turned to face Voldemort and dropped the shield, ordering everyone to remain back and not to help.
That started a lengthy conversation between him and Voldemort, in which Harry never moved from in front of Hermione. Eventually, Harry revealed that he was the master of the Elder Wand, causing Voldemort to furiously cast a Killing Curse. And when Harry cast a Disarming Charm to deflect it, the curse rebounded back to its caster, and Voldemort fell dead to the ground after being hit with both spells, while Harry caught the Elder Wand that had flown in the air towards him.
Everyone seemed to be stunned senseless with astonishment, as though needing to process what had just happened. Hermione, though, acted after no more than two seconds.
"Harry," she weakly called out, while struggling to her feet. He turned around at the sound of his name, and she stumbled as best she could towards him before he met her halfway. When he did, she hugged her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder, and the only reason she could remain standing was that he wrapped his own arms around her to support her.
And then suddenly, shouts of joy and triumph echoed throughout the Great Hall. Calls of Stunning Spells then sounded for a bit, with Hermione realizing that people on their side were knocking out Voldemort's remaining supporters to keep them from escaping. As that was happening, she felt herself and Harry get wrapped up by a horde of other people in celebration, all yelling at once in jubilation. Behind her, she could hear Mrs. Weasley sobbing about Ginny still being alive while Mr. Weasley was helping out Luna.
Hermione didn't have a care at all for anything else happening in the Great Hall, though. The only thing on her mind was that her best friend was alive and here.
-O-
Hermione was pulled out of the flashing images and back into the present when she heard Ginny whimper, "You – you can't mean that. You wouldn't really do that, would you?"
Hermione glared at the red-haired girl before saying with a growl, "As long as you have enough brain cells to refrain from ever trying to attack me, I won't."
The additional level of fright in Ginny's expression at those words would have given Hermione a great satisfaction, if not for the fact that her quick flashback reminded her that someone much more important was still waiting on her right now. Someone who she would need to thank for wanting the Shield and Disarming Charms to be two of the top priority spells they learned over the last week to perform with wandless magic. With that, she shook her head before then looking to Neville and Luna.
She remorsefully said, "Luna, Neville. I'm sorry that you both had to witness this. I'm also sorry for yelling at you before, Neville. And finally, regarding what you just saw me do, I would appreciate it if you all kept it strictly to yourselves."
She then looked at Ginny and gave her one more hard stare, before finally tossing the girl's wand back to her. Ginny didn't make any sort of movement to grab it, instead simply letting it fall down beside her in the seat.
As Hermione turned to open the door, she stopped when Luna called out, "Hermione."
She looked over her right shoulder at Luna and Neville but didn't say anything. And after another second, the blonde girl added, "Could you please tell Harry, when you next see him, that he should try not to let the Wrackspurts take refuge in his brain? He may need some help getting them away if he already has some, but I'm sure they won't stay for very long if you make him aware of it."
Hermione was confused for a second. But then, she remembered hearing from Harry about Wrackspurts being little creatures that made someone's brain get confused and fuzzy. Whether they truly existed or not, it suddenly hit her what Luna could also be saying.
Thus, Hermione smiled at Luna before saying, "Don't worry, Luna. I'll tell him. And thank you."
She didn't stay long enough to see any more reactions, simply leaving the compartment in order to return to her and Harry's, only stopping along the way to let the next set of prefects know that their time to patrol was ready to begin. No, she wouldn't let Harry be infested with Wrackspurts. She would make absolutely certain that there would be no need for him to feel any guilt or shame over what had just happened with Ginny. He had made so much progress in his healing over the past two weeks, and she would be damned if she let anything try to push him back from the steps he had taken.
A/N: Can you tell how much I hate that "I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort" line that Ginny gives in HBP? Beyond that, a few points to note...
First, holy crap, Luna feels like just the absolute hardest character to get right when it comes to dialogue. And I'm frankly still not even sure if my depiction of her is somewhat fitting for her character. I can legitimately say that getting to this point where Neville and Luna make a larger appearance has been the only part thus far of the story that I was actually dreading about reaching and writing, due to that requirement of dialogue for Luna. But, I had always intended to bring those two back in for at least one or two chapters, so it had to be done.
Second, while this hopefully may be obvious, there's no accent whatsoever in Fleur's letter because of the fact that the words are all in writing rather than actually being spoken to the characters. Just noting that in case people may have questions about it.
Third, Neville only having three N.E.W.T. classes is based on the fact that we only ever read about him receiving four O.W.L.s ('Outstanding' in Herbology, 'Exceeds Expectations' in Charms and Defense, and 'Acceptable' in Transfiguration), and McGonagall said that she couldn't accept him into N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration because of the lower grade.
And as always, thank you to everyone that has read and reacted up to this point! And I hope you continue to stay tuned for more!
