Neville was right. This work was tough and exhausting, but oh so rewarding. Hermione began to feel like herself again, as she had something to throw herself into. But at the back of her mind, she worried about what would happen once everyone in the camp found homes to go to. She couldn't just slink back to the Burrow and expect them to welcome her back. At least, she observed, she was having to swig her anxiety potion less and less. She had done something good for herself, and good for others.
She did get regular owls from Harry, Mrs Weasley, and Ginny, but letters from Ron were noticeably absent. She felt horribly guilty and sad for him, but knew that she no longer loved him romatically anymore; it would be good if he moved on. She hoped that they would be able to be good friends again someday. The others all seemed to be happy that she was doing something that she loved – helping people. She didn't tell them that the camp would like more volunteers: as horribly selfish as it was, she did not really want to deal with her friends at the moment. She would mend things with them later, and they were writing regularly, so she knew it would get better.
There were thousands of people in this particular camp, and she knew that there were many more dotted around England; no part of the Wizarding World had been untouched by the war, but she knew that England was where most of the destruction had taken place. She wondered how wizards in other places were getting on. She wondered if her parents were okay in Australia. She still cried herself to sleep many nights, but most of the time, she was so exhausted from running around after kids all day that she fell straight to sleep in seconds. She was running a six bedroom house with eight children ranging from the ages of three to ten years old, alone. In the morning, she had to get up, assist the youngest ones in getting dresses, bathed, and fed, whilst making sure that the older ones were doing what they were supposed to and not getting into fights (of which, there were many), whilst getting herself ready and making sure the house was not left in a mess. Then they would go out and walk to the massive tent that was being used as a school. There, she would help the five and six year olds learn to read, do basic mathematics and learn about the world around them (yes, even wizard kids had to learn maths before Hogwarts). At the end of the school day, she would round up "her kids," walk them to where supplies were handed out to pick up whatever they needed, and go back home to sort out dinner and entertain them until bedtime. They did a lot of storytelling, hide and seek, and she taught them how to play Wizard Chess, despite how totally barbaric she thought it was.
At least the younger kids were still being educated, though not in ideal conditions. For the Hogwarts kids, they would have to go back and repeat whatever year they had been in when the war messed it up. Hermione thought about how this was going to mess with the Wizarding economy; there would be no new graduates flowing into the workforce for another year, and so many had died that many new workers would be required.
Hermione also began thinking more and more about her own education. Would she be allowed to return to Hogwarts, and finish her education? The thought excited her – she loved learning, and it would give her something to pursue, and allow her more time to think about and become qualified for whatever she decided she really wanted to do. The thought also depressed her. I would not be the same without her two best friends, and all of the other people she had loved learning with. But in the meantime, she would continue to focus on her kids.
There were thousands of people staying in the refugee camp, but Hermione still saw many people that she knew. She saw Neville around a lot, and recognised many kids from below her at Hogwarts. It made her sad, but she knew that as the weeks passed, more and more people were able to return to their homes, and many kids were taken back to their parents or their extended family. She supposed life was slowly going back to normal. Still, the camp was overcrowded, and she wished that she was in one of the houses that had two adults to look after all of the kids.
She regretted that wish the day Draco Malfoy showed up.