A/N: Sorry it took so long. I got busy with doing some house work. Like gardening, building a fence, etc. etc. I was also hoping to wait a little until I was at least done a few more chapters but then I caught the dreaful writer's block so I decided to just post the next two chapters instead. Oh and the original one-shot won't be back up until that chapter comes into the story.
Sorry but these two chapters are on the shorter side. Mainly because I was satisfied with the way they were and felt if I added more it would be kind of pointless and only take away from the story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot I suppose.
Hermione woke to a tapping on her bedroom window. She groaned as she groggily opened the window to let the little grey owl in. Tossing a piece of bread towards the owl she removed the letter attached to his leg.
HERMIONE HERMIONE HERMIONE!
I hope you get this in time. Sorry I couldn't reply a month ago, too busy.
But yeah! You're more than welcome to stay! We'll come get you by floo kay? We'll be over by noon on Saturday. Seeing as it's now Tuesday, that should give you plenty of time to say goodbye to your parents right? And by 'we' I mean Harry, Ginny and me.
See you soon, Ron.
Hermione rubbed her eyes as she looked over at her calendar. Saturday… okay what day is it… "SATURDAY?" she screamed. "Pig!" she yelled at the little owl, "why did it take you so long to get here? I only have a few hours to pack!" She muttered a few other words at the bird as she frantically started to pack her clothes, books and other things into her trunk for school. Luckily, knowing she would be staying at the Burrow whether she had gotten a reply or not, she was able to prepare her parents, as well as herself, for yet another year apart a week in advance. Okay, it is 9 am. I have three hours to get everything together. She began to calm down as she sorted through everything that she would need for her upcoming school year. She also made a list of things that she would need to pick up in Diagon Alley before catching the train.
At around 11:30, she went through a mental list making sure she hasn't forgotten anything. Content, she made her way downstairs to say good bye to her parents, and also warn them for what was going to happen.
"So wait, they'll be coming out of the fireplace?" her father asked, scratching his head. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Dad, we've gone over this. It's, well it's done by a magical powder, called floo powder. Remember? Our house has been connected to the Weasleys through the floo network for years now" her parents still looked confused.
"Oh- uh right, sorry hun, it's still a little hard getting used to all of this again" Dr. Granger finally stammered.
Forcing back her tears she hugged her father, "Don't apologize, it was my entire fault any way." She felt her mother come up, hugging the other side of her.
Brushing her hand through her daughter's hair she said in a soothing voice, "It's not your fault, you were only trying to protect us. We should be thanking you. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here." At that Hermione let the tears come out. The three of them stood there hugging each other, tears forming at all their eyes, comforting each other.
Finally Hermione pulled away, drying away her tears on her sleeve, she sniffled "they should be here any minute now. You do remember Harry and Ron right? Well Ron's sister Ginny will be coming too. She's dating Harry, I don't know if you remember me explaining that to you…" she was beginning to ramble.
Her parents nodded, "and Ron, he's your… boyfriend?" her mother added. Hermione just blushed, while her parents smiled at each other.
After five minutes, there was a crack and out of the fire first came a tall, muscular red hair boy. She ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Blimey Er-my-nee, yur chok'n me" he laughed as she slightly let go of her hold. She laughed too.
Another crack and a she looked to see her green-eyed best friend step out of the fire place. She gave him a quick hug before stepping out of the way to make room for Ginny who almost knocked her over after seeing her. "Hermione! You have no idea how great it'll be to finally have another girl in the house" Ginny said, rolling her eyes at her brother.
"So where are your things?" Harry asked, she lead them to her room and Harry and Ron brought her trunk down. Ginny grabbed her bag while Hermione carried her cat downstairs. The six of them talked for a few minutes before Harry dragged her trunk into the fireplace with a hand full of floo powder. "All right, well it was nice seeing you again Mr. and Mrs. Granger, but we really should be going. Don't want to keep Mrs. Weasley worried" he said then finally adding, "The Burrow." With a puff of smoke and a crack of fire, he was gone. Next to go was Ginny, she waved to the four that were left, said where to go, and disappeared.
Ron said his good byes to Hermione's parents before leaving. He stopped and looked back as he watched Hermione say good bye to her parents. Anyone could tell what Hermione was feeling. It was written all over her face. She was torn by just how far apart they have drifted, yet how understanding they were being. She felt as if she didn't even deserve them as parents. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she looked down at her feet.
"Well, uh, I suppose I should get going now" she managed to mumble. Next thing she knew she felt Ron's arm around her shoulder, squeezing her encouragingly. Buying his girlfriend some time, he struck up a conversation with her parents about a sport he had heard about called football, where they kicked a ball much similar to a quaffle around a field. He thought it was boring but at least it was easing the tension that was in the room. After a few laughs, Ron shook her parents' hands and grabbed Hermione's backpack as he walked over to the fireplace. Mr. and Mrs. Granger wrapped their arms around their daughter for the last time for possibly a whole year. Kissing her on her forehead her mother wished her luck as Hermione stepped into the fireplace, calling out the Burrow.
Her body twisted and contorted, stretched and squeezed but before she knew it she was stumbling into the living room of her second most favourite place to be, the Burrow. She dusted herself off and made her way to the kitchen where she could hear a frantic Mrs. Weasley hustling over towards her. "Hermione my dear, I'm so glad you could finally make it. We've missed you all summer you know? Would you like some tea?" the plump Weasley mother asked.
"Tea would be lovely" she replied, "I've missed you all so much too. How are you doing today Mrs. Weasley?" she asked.
"That's Molly to you Hermione. You should know that by now, even if you aren't dating my little Ronald" she squeezed her youngest son's cheeks, Ron blushed, "and I've been doing well, I have my good days and my bad days but I suppose now that everyone is back together again I can rest knowing we're finally safe." She sighed as the kettle started to steam. Molly hurried over to the kettle, pouring everyone a cup of tea while they sat in the kitchen, catching up and telling stories about their summers.
Hermione let out a yawn as the stories started to wind down for the night. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night. It's been a long day. Besides we have a lot of work to get done this week," she glared over at Ron and Harry, "right boys?" They just nodded.
Molly hesitated at first but then put her usual rules into place "Now I understand that after the war you haven't had much time together, but it's still my house, my rules. Got that Ronald? Ginevra?" Mrs. Weasley glared at her children. "Hermione dear, you can room with Ginny just like before, and Harry, you still have a cot set up in Ron's old room correct?" Harry nodded. "Good good, now off you go. Hermione's right, lot's to do before school starts again." With that, the four of them trudged up the staircase to their rooms.
Hermione stopped at Ron's door wanting to talk to him quickly before going to bed. She stared at the ground for a few seconds before starting, "Thank you earlier. You know, with my parents." Ron just smiled at her and nodded. Her mind started to run over everything that happened that day, and then it hit her, "Ron! Where's your father? I haven't seen him all night!" she exclaimed.
He scratched his head trying to think of what to say, clearly too tired for thought process until he finally found his words, "oh yeah, dad's been working late the past few months, what with all the muggle-born issues and what not" he stifled through a yawn. "nu'n to worry about mione, he just works late is all." He hugged her and kissed her on the cheek before going to bed.
As Hermione headed to Ginny's room she stopped walking at the end of the hall, blushing at what she saw before letting out a gentle cough to let them know she was there. "Oh, uh-erm, Night Gin, Night Hermione." Harry muttered as he brushed past her and went to his and Ron's room.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at her red headed friend. "What?" Ginny chuckled as she shrugged her shoulders. Hermione just rolled her eyes and went into the room to get some much needed sleep.
The next morning while eating breakfast a rather large owl swooped in through one of the open windows and perched itself on the kitchen table. They all immediately recognized the crest and the red seal on the envelopes. Each grabbing their respective letters they tore them open to reveal their letters from Hogwarts. The four students read over their book and supply lists when they suddenly heard a squeal. Looking up, everyone could find a very excited Hermione, bouncing out of her chair.
"They made me Head Girl! Can you believe it? Even after I missed a year? Me!" she read over her letter making sure it was indeed meant to be sent to her before testing out her new badge.
"Blimey, of course it would be you Hermione, you could have missed fourth and fifth year as well and they still would have chosen you. You're bloody brilliant." Ron told her, trying to calm her down, "I don't know what's so exciting about being a Head though, all those extra duties…" Ron shuddered at the though, then shook his head to clear out all the memories.
"I wonder who head boy is this year…" Ginny questioned. They all shrugged.
As the days went past Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny helped around the Burrow as much as they could, trying to keep Molly happy until they had to leave. This also gave Hermione some time to get used to her new wand. It was a sad thought for all of them; just to know how lonely and worried Mrs. Weasley was going to be while they went off to school. But it was also comforting to know that this year will probably be the safest year at Hogwarts yet. It was the day before school was going to start, so the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry went over to Diagon Alley to buy some new things for their new year at school.
First they had to go to Gringotts so they can afford their purchases. Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at each other nervously as they climbed the steps to the bank that they had destroyed just a few months ago. Luckily no one had really paid much attention to them while there. After exchanging and withdrawing some money, they hit Flourish and Blotts to get their textbooks they would need for their classes. As usual, Hermione ended up buying more books than Ginny, Ron and Harry combined. Many other stores were still rebuilding so they were forced to make a list of things they would have to get another time. Before heading to The Leaky Cauldron for lunch, they all decided to stop by one of the other only standing stores, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, to see if George and Angelina wanted to join them for a quick bite.
"Now's our only chance" Ron whispered to Hermione as they headed towards the shop, "we'll distract mum while you go get some treats for school, alright?" Hermione rolled her eyes but silently agreed.
"Oh, wait, I forgot! There was one more book I wanted to grad at Flourish and Blotts, I'll just meet you at the Leaky okay?" Hermione yelled to the rest of them as she ran off towards the bookstore. Once she knew they couldn't see her anymore, she changed directions and headed over to Sugarplum's Sweets shop to grab a few treats for her friends.
She looked up and down the aisles for her friend's favourites when she walked right into someone. "Hey watch where- Granger?" Hermione groaned at the familiar voice. Of all people she had to run into, it was Malfoy.
"What are you doing here?" she spat. After a moment deciding he wasn't worth it she continued her search. Of course, they put the pumpkin pasties right next to the cauldron cakes on a shelf I can't even reach! Just my luck she complained as she stood on her toes trying to reach. Just then a pale white hand reached up and brought down a couple boxes of each for her. "Thanks so- oh, it's you… well, um thanks" she smirked and ran off to pay. That was odd. Especially for Malfoy… Draco just stood there smiling before turning down an aisle to find some treacle fudge and sugar quills.
Hermione hid the boxes in her extended beaded handbag and ran towards The Leaky Cauldron for lunch.
That night everyone was buzzing with excitement to be going back to Hogwarts, none of them thought they would be able to sleep. However, soon they all drifted off and dreamt about their hopes for the upcoming school year.
One particular student though really couldn't sleep.
Draco paced back and forth in his room for about half an hour, growing more nervous as each minute passed. School was definitely going to be different for him this year, he knew that for certain. My father is a known Death Eater. Hell, half the students even knew I was once one too; not my choice, but I was still a Death Eater just the same. He sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. Well, the one good thing about being Head Boy is it might help restore my name and image at school. Oh who am I kidding? Even as head boy they're still not going to talk to me, let alone listen to me! I doubt I'll even be able to do my duties properly because no one is going to respect me. I wouldn't respect me either. He flopped back on the bed, his hands clutching at his head, rubbing his temples. He lay like that for about an hour, just staring at the ceiling, before he heard a gentle knock on his door. He groaned to tell them he didn't want to be bothered as he rolled on his stomach, burying his head under his pillows.
As he heard the door slowly creak open, he heard his mother's timid voice, "Draco?" she called to him, "Draco honey, I know you're awake, but just listen to me" she continued as she sat on the edge of his bed. "Look, this year is going to be hard. It's going to be hard on all of us, I know. But we just have to stay strong, and hold our heads high. I'm not saying being ignore everything, because that will just turn people away, but don't let anything negative get you down. You have to focus on school and do well on your N.E.W.T.S if you want to get a respectable job" she rubbed his back before getting up and kissing him on the pillow where his head should be. "I'll be just down the hall, do try and get some sleep" she added before slipping out of his room.
Mother's right I suppose he agreed as he sat up again. Well if I'm not sleeping, I may as well start on some reading. Draco got up from his bed and after grabbing a textbook he bought today he sat in a chair by his window and began to read the first chapter on Advanced Potions.