The beaded purse hung on her wrist, swinging heavily and chaffing her skin. She took it off and strapped it to the loop of her jeans unconsciously and apparated to Grimmauld Place. It had only been yesterday that she was here last, Ginny and Harry dropped this on her last minute so she wouldn't be able to back out.
Kreacher answered the door this time with a tiny inclination of his head. He shut the door behind her and Ginny's head peaked from the kitchen, her red hair swinging in a curtain.
"Hey!" Her brown eyes darted over Hermione's body in search of her backpack or suitcase and she frowned. "Where's your stuff? The trip is for ten days."
Hermione patted the beaded purse and Ginny's mouth twisted in a ' really?' sort of way. "Are you still using that? You need a new one, that poor thing is so abused."
"It's holding up just fine." Hermione felt defensive of her beaded purse. It got them through the war, it helped them on their Horcrux quest. Ginny gave her a soft stare and then shrugged. Hermione heard the footsteps on the floorboard before she heard Harry's voice.
"You're here!" His voice echoed down at her from the floor with his room. "Oh, that bloody beaded purse still exists huh?" Hermione rolled her eyes and felt the corners of her mouth lift. She had actually been considering getting a new one, a more magically sustainable material based purse that would allow her to enchant compartments and allow her to sort.
"It's just better than a suitcase." Hermione called back at him and he grunted in response. A trunk was in the corridor, narrowing it to half its size; Hermione assumed it held Harry's and Ginny's things together. She looked at Ginny as Harry disappeared from the landing. "Are you sure I can't just-" Hermione groaned, shrugged her shoulders, rolled her eyes and felt like a teenager rebelling against her parents, "I don't want to go and keep you and Harry back from whatever this trip is."
"We want you there! Are you kidding?" Hermione looked at Ginny who was animatedly gesturing and had placed her hands on her hips. "Listen, Harry and I have had plenty of time to reconnect."
Hermione covered her ears and Ginny continued, though muffled. "He and I are getting along just fine, and we've had a lot of time to get-" Hermione groaned. "- reaquainted. " Ginny was laughing. "This trip would be good for you. George said business was slow and he'd be contacting you soon. To not get worried, because he took you seriously."
"I wasn't worried." Hermione lied.
"Like hell you weren't." Ginny pulled her into a hug as the smell of breakfast pastries wafted through the kitchen. Hermione just laughed into her shoulder before she pulled away and looked around. Seeing Grimmauld Place without living there felt like a weird mix of familiarity and disassociation. Like she had fallen asleep and was revisiting one of her favourite places. She allowed the warmth similar to being home fill her from her toes to her hair and smiled.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked. "You said a tour, so I assume there's a list?"
"Yea, there's a list." Ginny sat on the bench and flaked some pastry with her fingers, popping the pieces into her mouth. "Harry has it though."
"You don't know where we're going?" Hermione joined her, the smell of strawberry pulling her.
"I know we're probably going to Godric's Hollow and Hogsmeade. Neville asked us to stop in when we do, said his students want to meet us."
"I forgot he teaches Herbology." Hermione smiled fondly at the thought of Neville finding something he was so good at, he could teach it better than anything Hermione would know, because she wouldn't have a clue how to begin.
"I hear the kids love him." Ginny grinned. "Good for him, and then he landed Luna!"
"Good for them both, I think." Hermione said absentmindedly. She had begun to catalogue every magical place she read about growing up. Well magical by word of mouth but not by Magical World word of mouth. She was curious what the basis of the tour was.
Finally, realising her curiosity often ruined things, she made up her mind sternly not to ask about where they would be visiting and learn everything she could about the respective places they went to by asking the tour guide and research later .
Living in the moment was something she lacked. She was too caught up in what was next, and things she could be doing. She had already done everything she could, so it was half the reason she decided to just go with them, relax, not overthink, and pretend she hadn't had the most dramatic year of her life since the war.
"Earth to Hermione." Harry rapped his knuckles on the door frame. Ginny was already on her feet and Hermione's vision refocused and found them both staring at her, smiling faintly in a knowing way that annoyed her. She knew they were assuming she was thinking of Draco, but she wasn't! Not this time.
She scoffed, got to her feet and brushed past them onto the front step of Grimmauld Place. She was about to ask how come they apparate off the top step still when they weren't being hunted, remembered that people stared and pointed at them in public, and that they were about to visit famous landmarks associated with great wizards and history and dropped it after realising the irony.
If people cared about her enough, she was sure her home's address would be broadcast to the world and she would have random people visiting her street and bothering her parents, the world would be entranced with muggle born, golden girl, Hermione Granger, the girl who aided in saving the world. The brightest witch of her age. All that bullshit.
" Hermione. " Ginny gripped her hand, because apparently she had been holding it. "Why don't you just send him an owl?"
"Who?" Hermione's eyebrows went up. Harry snickered and said ' who' and 'owl ' under his breath to which Ginny shot him a look and he stopped.
" Draco?" Ginny said his name in a singsongy way that flipped Hermione's stomach and made her feel like shoving Ginny off the very peculiar balance they were maintaining with 6 feet filling the space on the top step.
"I wasn't thinking about him!" Hermione insisted. She rolled her eyes when Ginny and Harry both looked unconvinced.
"Can you concentrate so we don't accidentally splinch you?" Ginny muttered. "Don't want you ending up half in one place and half in another."
Hermione held her palm out to Harry, and when their palms closed tightly against each other, there was a sharp tug behind her navel, the world spun around her and then the floor was firmly beneath her feet.
"Welcome!" A very bright and too happy voice greeted an annoyed Hermione, only because it was completely opposite to how Hermione felt. "We're so excited to have you three with us for this tour."
"Granger, Weasley, Potter." Ginny said from beside her before she stepped forward and started conversing with the witch Hermione saw was very short, wore glasses, held a notepad and quill, her lip stained slightly with ink.
"Well this is going to be fun." Harry was at her shoulder now, his devilish, familiar grin on his face. "We're going to be as equal an attraction as the houses and places we're about to visit."
"Houses?" Hermione's eyes bulged. "As in people's homes?"
"Eh, they're hardly at home. It's all for the economy, Hermione," Harry teased with a slight jab to her rib cage with his elbow. "Without Purebloods marrying and all that."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of it that way." Hermione looked back to Ginny who was waving them over. Harry flicked his wand and his trunk hovered, following them. Hermione looked around, realising the wind was whipping her hair into her eyes and the smell of fresh earth and grass had infiltrated everything around her. She smelled rain in the distance and looked up, closing her eyes and breathing in the fresh air. This countryside was great for walking, and would possibly have foraging ingredients that didn't exist in her usual places.
"Where are we?" Hermione asked Harry's back. He looked over his shoulder and shrugged, then pointed at Ginny. Hermione realised that Ginny lied about Harry having a list with the places. "You don't know where we're going either?"
"Ginny organised everything!" Harry called over the wind. Oh, she thinks she's clever, Hermione rolled her eyes at the back of Ginny's head. A small village came into view and a two story house with a wooden sign swinging in the wind looked to be the only obvious place they would stay. Hermione glanced at her watch and it was just about lunch time. The Inn was humid and rich smells of chicken pot pies, pastries, soups, and various foods blanketed over them. The inn already had people in almost every free seat, Hermione assumed they were the last to arrive. It was a small space, and with the addition of the four of them, including the witch- her nametag said Nilla - then counting the Innkeeper, twelve bodies felt like too much.
"Gin, where are we?" Hermione asked again as Harry was pulled into a handshake with an elderly, almost doubled over wizard.
"A place called Wistman's Woods." Ginny grinned. "Supposed to have something like fairy colonies and magical happenings, so the muggles say anyway."
"And what do the wizards and witches say?" Hermione followed Ginny as they signed into a log book and the Innkeeper gave her the last remaining room key.
"It's perfect for harvesting magical ingredients, there are fairy colonies, and there are rumoured so-called hellhounds." Ginny's smile widened to show white shining teeth because Hermione felt elation stretch her face.
"When do we go?" Hermione felt her fingers itch to do some plucking, digging, and foraging.
"Tomorrow. Tonight's the mixer, we meet and mingle who we're on this tour with, then in the morning we go to the woods. Tomorrow evening, we apparate to the next location." Ginny fiddled with the single key in her fingers, Hermione's eyes followed the movement. "We got a double bedroom. There are two beds. In case you were wondering."
"Just, cast privacy charms if you guys have sex- ow !" Ginny punched Hermione playfully on her arm. "Are all the places going to be like this?"
"I'm not sure, because I don't want to tell you. So, you'll find out when we get there." Ginny moved through the bodies of people toward Harry who was now surrounded by four people. Ginny elbowed her way to him, grabbed his forearm, and yanked him away. Harry waved apologetically and once they were out of earshot, he sighed and dropped his forehead to Ginny's shoulder.
"Thank you." Harry said. "Maybe we should have invested in some polyjuice potion."
"I have, but they've all seen you now, and this is the mixer. Maybe a Notice Me Not charm?" Hermione started walking up the staircase to find their room, Harry and Ginny followed. Harry's eyes opened at Hermione's suggestion.
"You're a genius!"
"I'm just highly logical." Hermione grinned. Casting a spell like that on a person was tough, but she would try.
Hermione's beaded purse was considerably heavier by the eighth day. The places they visited had been a mixture of places Hermione had only read about a little, and obvious places.
Hermione foraged in the evenings near the Inns they stayed at, which gave Ginny and Harry time alone without her worrying if she might see something she would need to dump soap in her eyes to unsee. She tried not to feel lonely seeing her best friends were together, while she had no one but wanted someone she didn't believe was possible to date.
Shell Grotto was the perfect place for magical shells to add to her potions chest. Shell dust was known to take bitterness from some potent potions that were good for your health but terrible on the tongue. Hermione even spotted mermaids in the shorelines when she was walking home, but she didn't stare long because they scared her more than made her curious.
Pluckley, they visited for only a day. The stench of rotting food there, meant to entice the big ghost population, meant no one had an appetite. The Innkeeper was happy to cook food and see live people eating it, though it was without hunger or urgency. Harry grimaced at the sight of the food and held his stomach, Ginny looked green.
Merlin's Cave had Hermione excited more than anything. Merlin lived hundreds of years ago, but it looked like it had been looted over the years, and the space itself looked bare and long abandoned. Hermione saw runes inscribed on the walls and wrote them down to study later, then plucked moss and beetles from the cave walls and floor.
When they got to Hogsmeade Village, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry were greeted like heroes. Madam Rosemerta served them free alcohol and food for the night. The following day, they visited Hogwarts, and Neville let Hermione pick anything that she wanted from the Greenhouses. She almost broke down in tears, but settled for hugging him instead.
At Godric's Hollow, Harry visited his parent's grave, the Notice Me Not charm came in handy since Hermione suggested it and got it to work after fiddling with it. Ginny let him have a moment alone with Lily, James, and Sirius before joining him a half an hour later. Hermione avoided Bathilda Bagshot's home, afraid to see the damage that could have easily killed them years ago.
The final day of the tour was a house tour. They were meant to stay in tents in the countryside and eat as guests of the house. Hermione had no idea where they were. She could feel magic buzzing around her and they felt like they were in the middle of nowhere, the fields disappeared onto the horizon and trees dotting the hills.
Ginny kept looking at Hermione, paying more attention to her than Harry and she felt like she was being studied.
"What?" Hermione asked as they left their magically expanded (and provided as part of the tour) tent and sealed the flap with magic. The trio headed toward the middle of the tents where Nilla, the tour guide, stood as others gathered around her.
"Nothing." Ginny grinned. "You look pretty today."
Hermione rolled her eyes. She didn't feel particularly pretty. Her hair was tied up away from her neck, she was wearing her best jeans and a slouchy, comfy grey sweater, with simple silver studs in her ears. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose felt a little cold with the end of Summer.
The troupe of people walked ahead with Harry, Hermione, and Ginny making up the tail end. Nestled in the base of soft hills, the air damp where it clung to grass and remnants of mist drifting lazily into nonexistence, was an enormous mansion. The grounds around it crackled with energy and magic, Hermione could feel all kinds of repelling charms around it. She wondered how they could even see it and was sure a disillusionment charm had been cast.
The grounds unfurled from it, with high hedges, a maze, trimmed trees, fountains, and what looked like a small Quidditch field making up different petals of its entirety.
It felt vaguely familiar, but with the sun beaming down at them and starting to warm their skin, and the fresh smell of grass damp with dew swirling around her, she felt calm. They walked up to a gate and Nilla paused at the gate. Long enough for Hermione to notice a double M as they swung open.
The eerie call of a peacock cried out, stirring a memory that made Hermione's stomach twist.
She stared at Ginny now, who was staring back with big brown eyes, worry knitting her eyebrows together. "This- this is-"
"Welcome to Malfoy Manor." Nilla said brightly, the collective crunch of everyone's heels on the gravel drowning out panic at being back to a place she was tortured. Then she remembered she was safe, and all at once realised that this was Draco Malfoy's home.
" Fuck. " Hermione felt a blush blend across her face and wanted to push Ginny to her limit with rictusempra.
"Happy Birthday?" Ginny said hopefully. Harry looked hopelessly between them.