Doubt
"Oh, Ginny, come on in, I wasn't expecting you was I?" Hermione asked.
"No, I was in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd stop by. We haven't talked in a while." Ginny plopped onto a couch, totally at home in Hermione's flat. "So how's life?" She asked with a grin as Hermione sat back in the chair she had previously been in.
"I can't complain I guess. I've been quite busy with work and such. What about you?"
"Yeah about the same I suppose. I feel bad that we haven't hung out much since you and Ron split up." She got a glint in her eye. "What is work and such exactly?"
"Well you know, developing spells, and working on my cooking skills." Hermione knew it would be unwise to tell Ginny about her admirer so stopped at that. But it was almost like Ginny knew something.
"Haven't been hanging around anyone new? Because you haven't been spending much time with us." She was referring to herself and Harry.
"Uh, not really." Hermione knew she was a rubbish liar and looked away from Ginny.
"Ooh! There is someone, who is it?" Ginny perked up.
"I-uh-I…" Hermione stuttered trying to come up with a lie.
"Don't bother lying to me Mione. I know you too well. Just tell me!" Ginny demanded.
"I feel like you won't understand." Hermione shrugged.
"Try me." Ginny shot Hermione a challenging smile. Hermione sighed and paused to figure out how she would phrase it.
"I have been talking to someone lately. Only I'm not quite sure who they are…" Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"You don't know who they are? That makes no sense, you realize that?"
"I do. But…I've been talking with them for the past couple of days but only through correspondence."
"So like you just got an owl out of the blue and decided to write back? That's barmy Hermione." Ginny laughed. Hermione sighed and wondered if she should tell Ginny it wasn't an owl delivering messages back and forth. Ginny seemed to come to that conclusion herself though. "That seems like it would take quite a while though to have any sort of conversation that way. So it isn't an owl. Talk to me Hermione."
"You're going to freak out, and I know you are. And I want you to remember that I am completely able to take care of myself." As Hermione spoke, Ginny's eyebrows shot up and she looked at Hermione with a very worried expression on her face.
"Merlin Hermione tell me already. You are scaring me." Hermione heaved a deep breath and pulled her notebook off of the shelf.
"I was sent this notebook. And it had a note in it that said it was from and admirer, and that he was too nervous to talk to me in real life, so he sent me this. I've done a bunch of spells on it to make sure that it is safe, and it all seems fine to me." Ginny looked shocked.
"Hermione a book that writes back to you? How could you think this is okay? Don't you remember what happened to me?"
"I knew you would react that way, but, Voldemort is dead, and this is not controlling my mind. Plus I have training in Occlumency and Legilimency; I would be able to tell if someone was trying to get into my head!" Ginny frowned and shook her head slightly.
"I still think it's stupid, but, if you're sure then…whatever." Ginny blinked and looked away from Hermione.
"Please don't be mad at me Gin. Don't you trust me?" Hermione sat forward and put a hesitant hand over one of Ginny's hands. Ginny sighed and looked back at Hermione.
"Of course I do Mione…you can't blame me for worrying though." She stated.
"I don't. It's touching that you care that much. But I'm positive this is nothing like what happened to you." Ginny nodded and sat back, a small smile appearing on her face.
"So what's he like then?" She asked.
"He's…funny, intelligent, we have so much in common." Hermione sighed.
"Well then why won't he tell you who he is?" Ginny asked.
"He said he has some kind of injury from the war, and that people…judge him because of it. I don't really know what he is talking about." Ginny thought for a second or two.
"Well I can think of one thing that it might be." Ginny looked at Hermione warily. "You might get pissed off but…You know after Voldemort died all of the branded death eaters experienced quite a bit of pain where their marks were. And you can never get rid of the mark. People hate anyone who is marked." Hermione thought about it for a minute.
"I suppose that is a possibility. In fact it makes quite a bit of sense." Ginny looked sadly over at Hermione.
"Only one way to find out." Ginny smiled at Hermione.
"You think I should ask him?" Hermione looked incredulously at Ginny.
"Well yeah, I would. Well I wouldn't because I wouldn't be talking to him in the first place, but, yeah ask him!" Ginny looked at her watch out of nowhere. "Merlin! Is that the time? I have to go! I'm really sorry Hermione! I'll owl you okay?"
"Sure." Hermione smiled at Ginny and saw her out the door. As soon as Ginny was gone Hermione stole over to the notebook and opened it.
Are you still there?
I'm still here.
Good. Sorry about that, it was Ginny. She was pretty pissed at me for writing in an apparently sentient notebook.
Yeah, I can see that. I hope you don't think this is something like what happened to her. It was a pretty well-known fact about what had happened to Ginny in her first year at Hogwarts.
I don't think that. Plus I think I am a little harder to dupe than an eleven year old…but who knows. Hermione was hoping against hope that Ginny would be proven wrong. She wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject.
What does that mean? Who knows? You think I'm playing some sort of trick?
I didn't say that. I just…I'm wondering if your injury from the war has something to do with your…affiliation during the war. Maybe that's why you describe yourself as being a victim of prejudice? I don't mean to say that I am calling you anything, or that if you were I would write you off. But I'm kind of wondering… I hope you're not mad or offended by this. Hermione sat and watched the paper willing V to say something back to her. He did eventually and it did nothing to quell her suspicions.
Suppose I was on the losing side of the war? What would you think? Hermione's heart thudded once painfully.
So it's true then?
I didn't say that. I've already told you that I can't reveal much about myself. And whether I was on the dark side or not I'm interested in what you have to say about this. Hermione blinked in surprise a couple of times. The answer was not quite what she was expecting. So she thought for a good couple of minutes before answering.
People change. People do things when they are afraid that they later wish they hadn't. Voldemort was a powerful wizard with many ways to get what he wanted. So, depending on the circumstances I could forgive someone for being on the other side of the war. One thing I have learned is that not everything is black and white, or right and wrong. There are complexities to every decision we make. Hermione sat there pretty pleased with her wording, looking over her paragraph waiting for V to write back.
That's quite a liberal view, and certainly different than I expected from you. A pleasant surprise Hermione; I'm glad we landed on this topic.
Care to enlighten me on your views having to do with the war and the two sides.
It's very similar to yours. Only I think some things are not quite justifiable. There comes a point where enough is enough and you should be able to say no. Is there a justification for torturing people even if you are under duress? I'm inclined to say no. But as you say, there are complexities. At any rate I hate to cut this conversation short, but I have to turn in for the night. I hope to talk to you soon.
Goodnight V. Hermione unhappily shut the book more confused than before.
On the other side of the book, its counterpart was pleased. The girl was like nothing else he had encountered. He only hoped he could bolster his courage enough to face her.
AN: I'm still on the fence about who the admirer will turn out to be. I have two really good ideas and I'm not sure where I will take it. I haven't gotten any feedback on this story so I'm not sure how you all are feeling about it. I'd love a review or two. Thanks for reading! :)