Harry Potter and the Last Summer

YO YO YO!! Glad to be back! Sorry about being gone but I've had lots of shows and homework overload and work outs and practices to put in, but I want to get at least up to the wedding before the book comes out this summer. We'll see how much time I get to do it!!!

Warnings: Uh…lots of swearing. My rating is the equivalent of a PG-13 because I don't think language is a bad thing that needs an R to have more than two fuck's in it, but some people might not think that.

Chapter 5: Les Cousines

Hermione was awake.

Most of the surrounding scene was normal: her eyes were blurry from no glasses or contacts and from just opening for the first time that day; the sun could be seen shining light onto the curtains of her window; the book she was reading the night before, Lord of the Flies, was on her night stand; the alarm clock blazed eight o'clock, normal time to wake up until the school schedule was out of her head. Everything was normal except for how she woke up. The following scene happened moments ago:

The door of Hermione's bedroom creaked open as two little twins (two girls), one preteen (a girl), and a teenager (girl) opened the door. The little twins were whispering and giggling, the teenager rolling her eyes and sulking, and the preteen whispering and giggling until she saw that her older sister was uninterested and did her best to imitate the older one.

"You do it!" One of the twins whispered.

"You do it!" The other whispered, getting louder.

"Shut up you guys!" The preteen whispered before it could get out of control.

"Just let me do it. Idiots." The teenager said, rolling her eyes.

"Wh—?"

Hermione groaned and sat up, putting on her glasses. "Get off my bed!" she yelled at the twins jumping on her bed, angrier than normal. She could not stand her cousins for the life of it. She let her hair out of her ponytail; from the corner of her eye she could see that it still frizzed up, but still calmer than normal. That put a smile on her face. "You guys needed to wake me up?"

"Mother's orders Hermes." The teenage girl said with a sneer.

Hermione frowned and put on her glasses; Hannah, her teenaged cousin, always insisted on calling her that just to annoy her. She didn't mind the comparison to a god, but she didn't want to be compared to a male one. "Whatever. Just tell my mom I'll be downstairs after I finish getting ready."

After the door closed, Hermione collapsed back onto her bed. She couldn't shake the feeling that something happened last night that she couldn't remember or think about…until she heard a very loud squeak. Oh yeah, she thought while she looked at Pig, a letter from Ron. Now she was awake enough to realize how weird it was for him to write first. Not that she minded; Hermione was a very straightforward person in her head, so she had known for years that she loved Ron. And not just how she loved Harry as a brother or Ginny as a sister or how she loved her parents. No, this was true, emotional love. It really frustrated her to because they were so close to finally getting together last year! She couldn't believe that right after that he went to Lavender. YUCK. Thankfully he broke up with Lavender sometime after that, but the moment in Herbology was lost.

She was just frustrated with love at that moment. Hermione knew that Ron liked her as more than a friend, but he didn't do anything. Not only was there that situation, but then Harry had to break up with Ginny to keep her safe. After months of flirting they finally got together only to break up—while they still loved each other!—a few months later. Men are frustrating creatures she thought with a sigh.

Finally she grabbed the letter off her night stand, and two pieces of parchment fell out. Hermione grabbed the first one to see Ginny's neat handwriting.

Dear Hermione,

The other piece of parchment is a letter from Ron which you might find shocking for him to write. The other day, Ron wrote two letters for you, but he was only going to send one. That is, until Fred and George entered the picture. They grabbed the letters and started running around and taunting him. They, of course, forgot that Ron was now of legal age and could perform magic. He did a spell on them, grabbed the letters, and unfreezed them.

If this was any other case, we wouldn't do anything. But I cannot tell you how annoying it is to see you two flirting and "fighting" and avoiding ever doing anything about the whole situation! Seriously, when you two finally get together—which better be soon from all the trouble me, Fred, and George went through—everyone will breathe a sigh of relief.

I'm telling you this because of the letter we tricked Ron into sending. He doesn't realize that this letter was sent and not this one, so in your next letter you must explain the situation. This letter is what he really feels and the other is just small talk he wrote down. And if you two don't get together after this, I will be forced to lock you both in the attic with the ghoul until you do.

And don't think I won't!

Get down to it,

Ginny

Hermione's eyes were wide open…was it really that obvious? I guess looking back it is. We always fought because Ron was jealous of Krum or because he started some schoolboy fight. She decided she couldn't wait any longer to see what Ron wrote and started deciphering his unruly handwriting.

Dear Hermione,

Hello. Well, it's me, Ron…How are you? How's summer? When will you come over to the Burrow? Of course my parents are already waiting for you to come over, but I understand if you want to spend time with your parents.

Hermione, I can't stop thinking about you without my stomach flipping. With all this shit going on, I keep on wondering if you're all right. Well, it's weird to finally get this all off my chest. I don't know how else to say this, so I guess I can't beat around the bush. I love you.

Hermione's heart stopped and she smiled the biggest smile she ever had and tried not to squeal.

It took me a long time to realize that I even liked you that way. At first I thought I was just jealous that you got asked out and I didn't for the Yule Ball. I tried to tell myself that that was true, but when you said you wanted to take me to Slughorn's party, I couldn't deny it.

Of course I tried to deny it. I told myself that we couldn't because the whole friendship we had would be ruined forever and Harry would be a third wheel…I don't know…it's all so confusing. And then Lavender was just…there. She was just coming on so strong I couldn't do anything to stop her, and I guess hormones took over or something, I don't know…

Well, it's just…with the war on…I can't stop worrying if your safe and I can't stop thinking about what would happen if I didn't tell you how I felt. I know I couldn't make it through if something happened to one of us and I never even gave it a shot.

I don't even think that this will ever reach you since I don't plan to send it. I guess it just takes more courage than I have to admit I love you. I really do Hermione, and I think that you do to. If I ever get the courage to send it, just tell me that you feel the same way.

Love,

Ron

Hermione was awed. She never thought he would ever tell her, but she was happy he had. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had a piece of parchment and a quill and an inkpot.

Dear Ron,

Well, right now my cousins just arrived, and that's just perfect. Those kids are more annoying than anything else. I'm fine in general, just reading some books, like Lord of the Flies. It's very interesting, but it's a Muggle book so I don't think you'd have heard of it. It's very symbolic though, and great to read; it's also a requirement for Muggles our age to have read at some point or another. I'm probably going to have to stay here for a few more weeks; I haven't talked it over with my parents yet.

Hermione explained what Ginny did and told him that she had sent the letter Ginny wrote.

Well, I never realized that we were that obvious. I always knew there was something special about you, and then I realized I liked you as more than a friend. I can't remember when I realized that I loved you.

I agree with everything you wrote. I can't wait to see you again, to finally be with you as a couple. Yes, I know this sounds so weird, but time could run out at any moment and I want to make the best of what time we've got. And yes, I want to be boyfriend and girlfriend or a couple or whatever sounds best…I mean, if everyone wants this so bad, it would just be evil to deny them and us.

Love,

Hermione

P.S. Don't you ever expect me to call you Won-Won.

Hermione smiled at her letter and attached it to Pig. She was moving so fast, but she couldn't wait any longer. This was years of sexual frustration here!

"Hermione dear, are you coming down?" Hermione's mom called from the kitchen.

Hermione was confused for a moment since she was lost in her thoughts. Then she remembered that she was still at her house with her stupid cousins. She wasn't with Ron, no matter how much she wanted to be. She decided to release Pig after she had breakfast.

"Yeah, just a second."

—

As soon as Hermione entered the kitchen, she wished that she just pretended that she was sick in her room. Penny and Jenny (yes, Hermione's aunt gave them rhyming names sadly), her twin, seven year-old cousins, were bouncing around the room giggling; Jackie, her eleven year-old cousin, was trying to copy her older sister; Bretta, her fourteen year-old cousin, was tapping her foot impatiently and looking so bored Hermione thought she was in a History of Magic class.

Then, of course, there was her aunt. Aunt Helen was…well…kind of a bitch. She was always judging people and putting them down. (Sadly, Bretta had inherited this talent of hers, but at least Jackie was generally sweet, just annoying because she tried to be her sister.) Aunt Helen had bleached blond hair and was always covered in make up and wearing something "glamorous".

Hermione greeted them, doing the European bise on her aunt, and grabbed a box of cereal and semi-skinned milk. While pouring herself the cereal, she could feel her aunt's eyes on her, inspecting every inch. Hermione had chosen to wear a strapless bra under a red camisole, dark blue jeans, and didn't even bother putting on shoes. Her hair was in a new ponytail and her eyes had contacts in them. There was even makeup on her face since she knew she would be dealing with her aunt; she wore light green eye shadow, black eye liner, black mascara, a bit of pink blush, and some shimmer lip gloss.

As Hermione sat down with her bowl of cereal, Aunt Helen said, "You look great today, hon." Hermione smiled at passing her test and thanked her, making sure to compliment her appearance too.

While eating her Cheerios, Hermione inspected her cousins. All of them still had brown hair naturally, but Bretta had bleached her hair blonde like her mother. They had the same hazel eyes, except for Jackie who had green eyes. Their skin was white like porcelain and she could see their long, black eyelashes from the other side of the table. Bretta was clearly wearing make up of light brown eye shadow, bronzer, mascara, eye liner, and red lipstick.

Bretta was about the same height as Hermione and Jackie was a bit shorter and the twins were a bit shorter than her. The twins' hair was cut by their neck; Jackie's hair was slightly passed her shoulders in layers; Bretta's hair was cut in layers several inches past her shoulder and her fringe was cut bluntly across her forehead, right by her eyelash line. The twins had their father's nose and eye shape while Jackie had her mom's eye shape and her dad's nose and Bretta looked almost exactly like her mom.

It seemed that Bretta had just noticed that Hermione was there, "So, we weren't supposed to see you for two weeks. Why did your hocus pocus school let you out so soon?" Before Hermione could respond, an owl swooped in and dropped a letter.

Hermione grabbed it from instinct and looked at who it was addressed to. Her cousins and aunt looked shocked, but they quickly covered up, remembering that she was a witch. She remembered that they were there when she got her letter from Hogwarts, and her mom often bragged about Hermione being the top student of her year.

"Is it from that Ron kid?" Hermione's mom asked.

"No, I already got a letter from him." Hermione said, trying to do her best not to blush, "This is a Hogwarts school letter…for Jackie!"

Everyone turned to look at the letter. Sure enough, it was addressed to Jackie.

Jackie Granger

Breakfast Nook

5 Robin Lane

South Croyden

London

Hermione handed the letter to Jackie who took it with shaking hands. She tore it open and Hermione came over and read the letter. It said that she was accepted at Hogwarts, if it opened next year ("If they can find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, too,"). Professor McGonagall also added that Hermione could explain why it might not open and how to get her supplies. It also had a note to send the owl back by July 31.

Jackie was still stunned that she was to Hogwarts. Hermione knew what she was thinking; she made it clear that she was jealous of Hermione going there and being so successful. But was there a mistake? Was she really accepted to Hogwarts?

But before she could doubt it anymore, Hermione engulfed her in a hug from behind her chair. "This is so exciting! We can go to Diagon Alley and shop for your books, you can meet all my wizarding friends, you'll meet all my teachers…this is so great, Jackie!"

Jackie finally managed to speak. "I can't believe I made it!" She turned to Hermione, got out of her chair, and squealed, "I'm going to Hogwarts!!!" Jackie hugged Hermione and started bouncing up and down with her.

Then Hermione realized that Jackie needed permission from her mom. Jackie seemed to realize this too and turned to her mom and broke the hug. "Mom, please let me go. I can't just not go! Please mom! Please!!!" Jackie gave the saddest puppy dog eyes to her mother.

"I was unsure about this too, Helen, but you can't deny your daughter what she was born to be! She'll be a success at Hogwarts, I just know it." Hermione's mom looked Helen in the eye, "If she wants to go, you can't deny her."

Helen sighed and closed her eyes. A few seconds later she replied, "Of course you can go, Jackie. I want you to be happy. And if Hermione can last there, you can too."

Hermione normally would've said something back, but Jackie ran over to her mother and hugged her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you mom!!!" Then she turned to Hermione, "Can you help me reply to them?"

"Sure, Jackie, I'll just go up to my room and grab some parchment." Hermione ran up to her room and grabbed parchment and her quill and ink pot. She paused for a moment and then decided to bring down Pig and the letter to Ron; they could possibly meet in Diagon Alley.

Hermione ran down the steps with her items in hand. She placed them on the table and the twins immediately started playing with Pig, who seemed to enjoy the attention. On a piece of parchment she wrote that Jackie would go to Hogwarts and she got Jackie and Aunt Helen to sign. Hermione then showed her cousin how to attach the letter to the school owl and sent the bird into the sky.

"Here, Ron wrote to me last night. I'll see if his family could meet us in Diagon Alley sometime soon. They're all magic and know more than me about these things." She added onto her letter.

P.P.S. We just found out my cousin Jackie got into Hogwarts! Maybe we could meet your family in Diagon Alley in the next few weeks? Just say when, since our schedule isn't full at all.

Hermione attached the rest to Pig and let him fly out the window. As she watched Pig fly away, she couldn't help but think what a wonderful day it had been. She had someone in the house she could pass on her information to! And, of course, Ron had finally said his feelings and they could start going out.

She joined the rest of the group at the table and pretended that she was listening to the conversation. Jackie couldn't contain herself and kept on jumping up and down and saying how exciting it was; Hermione's mom talked about what it was like for her and Hermione's dad and what to expect in Diagon Alley and what she knew about Hogwarts (at least, what Hermione had let her know). All this was going on around her, yet all she could think about was Ron and how happy she was that it was finally all out in the open.

And if anything went wrong, well, she would have to kill someone.

—