The next morning found Hermione tiptoeing into the kitchen at the break of dawn to fix herself some much needed tea and a quick breakfast. Sleep had been hard to come by again, especially with the jumble of thoughts and feelings occupying her mind at the moment, so she might as well start the day early. Harry and Ron would not be up for hours yet, which left Grimmauld Place feeling eerily solemn except for the occasional creaking noise piercing the silence of the old house. It was nothing compared to the bustling she experienced during the summer of her fifth year when order members had swarmed the former Head Quarters of the Order; people constantly arriving and departing had filled the house with life it so desperately needed. Now it felt empty, as it had during the time the three of them had occupied the place by themselves to plan their search of the remaining Horcruxes.
This atmosphere reminded her too much of that uncertain time, from their mission at the Ministry and their hasty escape to the rest of the hunt and the final battle ensuing after that. She had not wanted to return here; after leaving St. Mungo's, where they had repaired the worst of the damage she and the boys had suffered over the course of the last year - cumulating in the wounds the fight at Hogwarts had left them with – they had gone back to the Burrow. The agonising grief that had taken hold of the place had just been too much in the end. Molly had tried to hold it together for all of them but, admittedly, no one had been in their right state of mind at that point and combined with the fact that there were way too many people trying to stay there anyway, all of it had taken even more of a toll on Hermione. When Harry had finally suggested to take up residence at Grimmauld Place once more, she had needed little convincing to join him. After all, where was she supposed to go without them? The two of them were the people she trusted the most and she didn't believe she would manage on her own, not just because she didn't have a lot of money to go out and rent a flat by herself and returning to her childhood home was out of the question with all the memories of her parents attached to it; she needed them to keep her sane, to give her the opportunity to talk to someone, at least on the occasions she felt like it.
They had tried to make Grimmauld Place more comfortable; the first thing they had finally managed to get rid of was the nasty image of a dusty Dumbledore haunting them through the hallway, a bit of complicated spell work she had accomplished after getting limited access to the Hogwarts library again. But even after cleaning most of the rooms – especially the nasty nest of Doxies that had somehow managed to return to some old curtains on the second floor – the place barely felt more tolerable than it had after their big cleaning mission during fifth year. Whenever she had the chance, she would linger at Hogwarts to repair one issue or another, avoiding going home to the damp old house with the nasty portrait screaming obscenities at her as soon she walked past.
But here she was, stuck in Central London for the past few weeks after they had finished the restoration of Hogwarts with rarely more to do than sitting around, lost in thoughts of a war they had barely survived. So all things considered, she was rather looking forward to exchanging the damp, creaking single-bed for a comfortable four-pollster in Gryffindor tower and in the Head Girl quarters at that. If Harry and Ron were coming as well, it would have been almost perfect, really.
After quickly downing her food and tea that left her a little more awake, she quietly sneaked up to her room again to pack the few remaining bits and bops into her already full trunk before flicking her wand to send it floating down the stairs and into the kitchen's fireplace. Following her belongings, she took a handful of floo-powder from a jar on the mantelpiece and threw it into the fireplace, announcing "Hogwarts, Head Girl quarters" in a clear voice. Headmistress McGonagall had made an exception and opened the Floo-connection between Grimmauld Place and Hogwarts for this day so Hermione didn't have to go through the hustle of apparating with all her baggage. Sending off her trunk first meant she had at least one thing she did not have to worry about until later, while she herself would be flooing into the Headmistress' office in a few hours.
She contemplated leaving early as well to avoid saying goodbye to Harry and Ron in person (she would write them a letter of course, which would probably be a lot easier on all of them), but she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. So she sat on the wooden bench of the kitchen reading one of the few books she had allowed herself to buy in Flourish and Blotts the last time she'd visited Diagon Alley, waiting until she heard the plumbing creak upstairs to put on the tea. When the boys finally slouched into the kitchen, Ron following a fairly disgruntled looking Harry with hair that rivalled Hermione's uncontrollable strands, they murmured their greetings and sat across from her grabbing the cups of tea she had set out for them.
"I can't believe you're leaving already, Mione, it just feels strange to imagine not having you here every morning", Harry said looking up from his steaming cup.
"I know what you mean; I can't even remember the last breakfast I had without Ron chewing in my ear", she joined in, trying to lighten the mood. That earned her a fake pout from Ron, who countered:
"Well, at least we can throw out the pumpkin juice now", making both of them chuckle. "For real though, Mione, how are we going to survive without you pestering us to do our work?"
"You'll live", she smirked at him. "Your trainers will pester you enough, believe me. I could, however, arrange to send you some colour-coded planners scheduling in some after hour study sessions if that is what you'd like", she joked, pleased to see the boys exchange an alarmed look.
"No thanks, I think we'll be fine", Harry laughed nervously. A few half-hearted jokes about revision tables and auror parcours later it was time for her to leave. Standing shakily she hugged both of them tightly, a few tears escaping as she tried to keep her composure.
"You'll write to me, won't you? Both of you", she demanded, throwing Ron a pointed look as she released them.
" 'Course, Mione", he replied with a sheepish smile. Harry just nodded at her sincerely, trying to hide his suspiciously glittering eyes.
"Alright. Try to avoid doing anything stupid, you two. And stay safe, ok? I'll miss you", was all she brought out before she hugged them for the last time.
"We'll try, at least", Ron reassured her. "We'll miss you, too, Mione. Maybe you'll even manage to stay out of trouble this year without us dragging you into it all the time", Harry laughed, drawing a smile from her.
"I wouldn't count on it", she joked in turn, turning towards the fireplace and stepping into it with a load of floo-powder in her hand.
"Be careful, Mione. If you need anything, you know where to find us", Harry said with a sincere look on his face. "Thank you", she nodded and gave the two of them a sad smile. She wanted to say much more, wanted to tell them how much their friendship meant to her and how much she would truly miss their company, but she couldn't, at least not without completely losing her composure and arriving a crying mess in McGonagall's office. So instead she just gave them a meaning-laden look and announced "Hogwarts, Headmistress' office", watching as the two of them spun out of her view.
I'm finally back to writing after finishing my exams and termpapers, yay :) Now that I have a bit more time, I will try my hardest to upload at least one chapter per week, maybe two if I can manage it. Also, please ignore any mistakes in my writing so far, I don't have a beta as of now so we'll just have to roll with it. Let me know if you liked it and leave a review :)