Bang! The door of the bedroom Hermione and Ginny shared slammed
shut .Hot, angry tears falling from her eyes, Hermione jumped on her bed and hid her face in her pillow. A few moments ago she was downstairs, having dinner with the Weasly family and Harry when Mr. Weasly came home from the ministry and informed her that the ministry still didn't have any idea where her parents were. She had excused herself from the table and had run upstairs. The news was too much for her to handle. Ever since the war ended she has Been searching for her parents. At first , she had apparated to Australia and had tried to find her parents only to learn that they had left that country. She had come to the Burrow in a horrible state and had informed everyone that her parents were missing. Mr. Weasly had told her that it wouldn't be a hard task for the ministry and Ron had told her that the ministry will probably make it top priority to find her parents after all she did in the war. She had calmed down and had gone to bed peacefully hoping that the ministry would have better luck in finding her parents than she did. Weeks had passed and there was no news for her. She had been utterly disappointed with the ministry's capability to find someone. She had started to think that they weren't putting much effort in finding them because they were muggles. She had become temperamental and had lost all of her interests . Even books had lost their charm. It was like she wasn't Hermione Granger, it was like she was a different person altogether. She felt horrible, soulless and empty , in one word , she felt- lost, just lost. She was really distressed, she kept thinking of her life . Each and every important moment had been associated with her parents. She kind of wished she had modified her own memory too . She couldn't bear it anymore. It was just too much for her and to top it all, her relationship with Ron had been suffering for a while. She had been feeling guilty of her behaviour, but she couldn't help herself, her parents had always been a big part of her life, even if she had never said much about them, therefore, Ron wasn't given as much attention as he wanted. That was a big problem for Hermione. She had recently found out that Ron wanted too much attention, nobody could be given the same amount of attention, he wouldn't accept it . Hermione knew why he acted like that, he had always been overlooked, nobody had paid much attention to him , giving more attention to his brothers and Ginny. Later on , it had been Harry who had overshadowed Ron. Ron had siblings who stood out from the crowd, which resulted in him being overlooked - Bill and Percy were noticeable because of their academic achievements, Charlie had his own share, being excellent in sports, Fred and George had always been popular, for their mischievous behaviour and cheerful nature, even Ginny , being an only girl among all those brothers, got more attention from their parents and her impressive personality had got appreciation from many and Ron had always been regarded as Harry Potter's sidekick. Hermione had thought that after the war , Ron would get his long due appreciation from people, that had not been the case. People had as usual, talked about Harry , they had even talked about the death eaters , Daily Prophet had even dedicated an entire issue on them. There had been discussions about the Malfoys, how they had abandoned Voldemort's side at the last moment, how Draco Malfoy had gone missing (Hermione had been scanning the paper for news of her parents when she had learnt about it) and all that but there had not been anything concerning either Ron or Hermione. She didn't have any problem with that but Ron...Ron had been unable to handle it. He had been moody all the time and at that time, it had been hard for her to handle him . The result- constant fighting and arguing with each other. Ginny and Harry had a little bit of trouble too. Ginny had been rather upset with Harry because of an article in Daily Prophet.

It had been about the war and it had completely bypassed everybody except Harry. It had only mentioned Harry. Other people such as Ron, Hermione, Ginny although Ginny was not mad about that , she was mad because it had not mentioned Nevile and how he had beheaded Nagini. It had not paid much attention to the numerous people who had been at Hogwarts, such as Lupin, Tonks , in fact, it had not mentioned any of those things people except Kingsley ( it had been hard for the people at the Prophet to not mention the current Minister of Magic and his contribution in the war.) and that had bothered Ginny a lot. She had asked Harry to talk to the Prophet but Harry had declined to do so, saying that he didn't want to use his position. That had angered Ginny and she had stopped talking to him. Hermione had gone to Harry to fix this problem.

"Don't you think that Ginny had a point? You do. If you do think that then why didn't you say so?"

Harry had heaved a sigh and said- "Hermione, I felt bad too but I couldn't use my position. I didn't want to take advantage of being Harry Potter."

"Still, if you had done something , Ginny wouldn't be this mad"

"Ginny wants me to use my position. I get it, it is something she is used to but I don't like it . You know Hermione that I have never said that I was great or anything, nor have I ever taken advantage of me being 'the boy who lived' , it isn't me and I can't change myself for her . Not to this extent. "

"I understand that, but one has to change for their significant other. "

"I can't Hermione. If I lose Ginny for that, then so be it."

"Why are you so adamant Harry? You just don't understand and why did you say that if you lose Ginny, then so be it? Don't you love her?"

"I love her and I get it that one has to compromise in a relationship , but it is not an one-sided thing, if Ginny can't compromise, then why should I? "

"Harry, don't act like a baby-"

" If Ginny can act like a baby , then why can't I? Leave it Hermione , leave it to fate. What is supposed to happen in the future, will happen, there is no stopping it."

"Still, you should do something about it, if you don't do anything then nothing will happen on its own. Everything can't be left to fate..."

"Hermione, fate is fate. Fate is ultimate. You can't compete with fate . Fate will win . There is no use of fighting with fate. It is useless. "

"Harry..."

"Hermione , drop this. It is a waste of time and just because the war is over, it doesn't mean that we have this much time to waste, so drop it OK? "

"Harry, I am dropping it but remember, if you lose Ginny this time, you won't get her back. The war has changed the dynamics of every relationship, this time , you will lose her forever. "

"I get it Hermione , I get it but to tell you the truth, I really don't care anymore, I just don't. Enough of our relationship, tell me , what is going on between you and Ron?"

"Ron is being Ron and I am being me, you get what is going on, don't you?"

"Ron and Ginny are quite alike, you know ? They want things to go their way and can't handle it if things don't . I don't understand how Ginny can be like that? I mean to say that she is quite intelligent, isn't she?"

"That doesn't mean that she can't have drawbacks, even I have some."

"You and drawbacks? Unbelievable. Name one. "

"I hold grudges for a long time , I really do. I still have this drawback and let us not forget about me being unable to stay silent and stop acting like a know-it-all. "

"These are minor things to deal with. Tell me about something serious."

"I am insecure, I am . I feel insecure if I see someone who is more intelligent or if I see someone who knows more than me ,I feel nobody will need me . I can't show my affection and my biggest drawback is that I prefer books over people."

"Wow, seems like you have made a list and have memorised it. Don't worry, if you and Ron don't work out then it will mean that there is someone better for you"

"You know Hermione, I have been thinking , relationships don't depend on love, they depend on understanding , so why don't you and I get together? Think about it."

Harry had left after that , leaving Hermione feeling lost. She had no idea that her relationships will change like this.

At present, the lost feeling was still there and Hermione felt that she had no way of getting out of this maze life had put her into.
She was lost, totally lost.