25 December 1991
To say Fred, George, and Percy were upset with Ron would be an understatement. Hermione actually got over her anger before her older brothers. How could she not forgive her twin after he was forced to sport green and silver hair for a week. Percy seemed to abandon his dream of spending all his free time with a pretty Ravenclaw, instead he hunted Ron. After speaking with some of their professors, he found Ron was ranked at 37 in his class. Knowing that Ron was not in fact an idiot, he chose to make Ron rewrite all of his previous essays as well as keep up with his current school work. It was much worse than any punishment Fred and George could come up with.
Harry and Neville got the whole story out of Ron the next day and went out of their way to sit and talk to Hermione. Having Ron otherwise occupied with Percy made it easier as she usually disappeared in the library with her dorm mate. While unhappy that Ron would try and keep away their friend, they knew they would never understand what it was like having siblings. After many visits to the library they were finally able to coax Hermione out, with promises of flying. Harry attempted to teach Neville how to fly a broom, unfortunately, he seemed lost on how to articulate what came natural to him. Neville did attempt but the broom got away from him and he was left in a pile of robes while the broom continued on towards the Black Lake with Hermione and Harry chasing after it.
Harry's first experience with quidditch was not a pleasant one, not only were the conditions awful but someone jinxed his broom halfway through the game. Hermione noticed Professor Snape first and rushed to her friends aid by lighting his robes on fire. Neville sprinted after her, knocking Professor Quirrell over in his haste to keep up with his friend. All of that would be quickly forgotten when Harry crashed hard into the earth and nearly choked on the snitch, winning the match for Gryffindor.
Harry was apparently incredibly nosey and was like a dog with a bone when faced with a mystery. It all started the night of the duel when the 3 first years found a 3 headed dog on the forbidden 3rd floor corridor. Hermione regretted deeply that she pointed out to them that it was standing on a trap door now as Harry was obsessed with figuring out what it was guarding. They visited Hagrid weekly in hopes he would let anymore details slip, as well as his love of lethal creatures. It turned out that Hagrid couldn't keep a secret to save his life, Hermione actually felt guilty about trying to get answers out of him.
"Wake up!" Hermione cried as she hopped onto Fred's bed. As Fred popped up groggily she leapt to George's bed with a manic grin.
"Spitfire, whuzz hrre!" George mumbled, tucking his head under the pillow.
"I brought you Percy's Prefect badge as an additional gift...but since you don't want it." Hermione sighed dramatically and made to get off her brothers bed to leave. Suddenly, Fred tackled her to the bed and George grabbed her feet so she couldn't escape.
"Have we told-"
"-you lately?"
"Your our favorite sister!" They finished together and gave her identical sloppy kisses on the cheek.
"Ugh!" Hermione squealed and slipped away from them, dashing to the door. "Dragon breath, boys. Not a good way to say thank you!" Hermione slammed the door shut and heard the thump of pillows hitting it only a moment later. Dashing down the stairs she ran to the first year boys dorms in hopes of waking Ron as well, only to find Ron and Harry already awake, tearing into their presents. Ron was currently eating the fudge their mother sent and Harry was staring, bemused at a book he just unwrapped.
"Thanks for the candy, Harry!" Hermione chirped as she skipped into the room and sat on Neville's bed.
"No problem, thanks for the...book." Harry trailed off lamely, not taking his eyes off the book in his hand.
Harry Potter Saves the Sanguine Princess. There he was depicted as a tall very muscular man with a baby face. His most prominent features would be his ridiculously large muscles and the scar on his forehead. His his black hair was grown out to his elbows and flowing in the breeze as he looked up towards a tower where a beautiful maiden was frantically waving at him. The Harry on the cover also had a a wand in one hand and a ridiculously large jewel encrusted sword in the other. Ron looked up briefly from his sweets and snorted before continuing on to his feast of mince meat pies.
"I always hated this story." Hermione giggled and moved to sit beside him. She opened the book to show the pages were hollowed out, the space looked much bigger than possible. A handful of mini treacle tarts were nestled in the cushioned space. She whispered close to his ear. "I had Percy help me with the charm and Fred showed me the kitchen so I could make them. I'm rubbish at cooking but I can bake."
"You made these?" Harry asked incredulously, staring at her with wide eyes, an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.
"Yeah, they're my favorite. I also thought you would need a good hiding spot for sweets. Nose like a niffler, that one." Hermione smiled brightly, jerking her head towards her brother who was still occupied with his gifts.
"Thank you." Harry whispered as he picked up on of the round treats and ate it whole. He smiled contentedly before closing the book and placing it on the shelf above his bed. "That's what you thought I looked like?"
"Sod off! I've been reading those adventures since I was 4!" Hermione blushed and hid her face.
"I'm younger than you!" Harry laughed at her discomfort, thinking her red cheeks were quite cute.
"You were a baby when you beat Voldemort, I really thought you did all those things...I always wanted to go on great adventures." Hermione smiled shyly, keeping her eyes downcast.
"Oi! What are you doing?" Ron's head snapped up at the sound of You-Know-Who's name to find his sister sitting very close to Harry on his bed.
"I was having some fudge, mum didn't send me any. She sent me some apple tart and this sweater." Hermione rolled her eyes, flashing her gold sweater with a large burgundy H.
"Your mum sent me one too." Harry smiled, holding up a green sweater with the letter H.
"I told mum you weren't expecting any gifts..." Ron said sheepishly.
"Mum loves to cook and knit. Every year she tries to knit all of us a whole new wardrobe." Hermione chuckled.
"It's brilliant." Harry smiled genuinely and moved to his last present. "Use it well..." He mumbled under his breath, pulling out a shimmering cloak that was light and felt like cool water on the skin.
"Blimey!" Ron exclaimed, dropping a meat pie from his mouth.
"What?" Harry looked up quizzically.
"I think it's an invisibility cloak!" Hermione cried excitedly clapping her hands. Harry silently threw the cloak over his shoulders, his body instantly disappearing.
"Those are super rare, innit? I would give anything to have one of those." Ron whispered reverently, his eyes shimmering with envy. Hermione and Harry were too wrapped up in his gift to notice.
"Here." Harry threw the cloak over himself and Hermione, who stood up. "Wow, this is amazing."
"Ronnie! Where's our darling little sister, mate?" Fred popped into the room, they could see George walk past, heading up the stairs. "Run off with Harry then?"
"What?" Ron looked around for a moment. "No, they're-"
"Ah, say no more. I'll have a talk with ickle Harrikens. I just wanted to show Spitefire our gift." Fred smiled brightly and held up Percy's Prefect badge. When he pinned it to his blue sweater with a G, the large P slowly extended to spell out PILLOCK.
"Percy's gunna be spitting mad!" Ron gaped at his brother.
"Ah well, some people just can't appreciate a good gift." Fred sighed dramatically, taking the badge from his chest, it reverted back to its usual state. "Happy Yule littlest brother."
"So worth it!" Hermione broke into giggles as soon as Fred left the room, she threw the cloak over her head and headed to the door. "I'm going down to the Great Hall. Happy Yule!"
The day was filled with so much fun and laughter, Hermione barely had the chance to feel homesick. The tables in the great hall were removed, leaving only a large round table with enough seats for the staff and remaining students. There was only a handful of students from each house that stayed. The Weasleys, Harry, and a 7th year who locked himself in his dorm to study for NEWTS were the only Gryffindors. At every meal there were crackers that filled the Great hall with an echoing boom when opened. Hermione smiled happily as she put on an oversized top hat and watched the live mice scatter.
The afternoon was spent in an epic war of flying snow. Fred, Hermione, and Percy squared off against George, Ron, and Harry. Percy managed to make a giant wall of snow with a ledge for them to take cover, Hermione was busy stacking snowballs, preparing for battle. Halfway through the game Fred and George defected, easily taking their teammates down from behind. As they were heading in, soaking wet, Ron was almost knocked to the ground by Professor Quirrell. He was being chased by 3 reforming snowballs aimed to pelt the back of his turban. Fred and George sported matching grins and Percy left them in a huff to get changed.
Late that night was the first time Hermione felt truly homesick. Every Christmas, her brothers would come home to the burrow. Their mother would make a feast, Bill and Charlie would tell stories of their work, and their father would bring home some new muggle device. Hermione smiled as she thought of last year when Fred and George slipped a potion into the hot cocoa that changed everyone's hair color to reflect their moods. She sat by the fire, hugging a quilt her mother made close, crying softly.
"What's wrong?" A hand on her shoulder made her jump.
"Who's there?" Hermione cried, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"Oh!" Harry cried softly, tearing the invisibility cloak off him he looked at Hermione sheepishly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm just a little homesick...it's my first Yule without all my brothers. Sorry." Hermione looked down, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Hey! Come with me!" Harry's face suddenly broke into a bright smile. He reached his hand out for her and placed the cloak over them both. Harry silently lead them down the corridors to and empty classroom.
"What's this?" Hermione asked as she ducked from under the cloak.
The only item in the room was a 6ft ornate mirror. Words were written on the top in fancy, barely legible writing. As she stepped forward her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Her entire family was standing around her. Her mum and dad on one side with all her brothers surrounding her, on the other side was a a couple she had never seen before. The man was tall, lanky with golden brown colored hair, his eyes were a warm chocolate, just like hers. Beside him stood a very petite curvy woman with crazy curly blonde hair that was much bushier than hers. Her blue eyes looked back at Hermione with so much love and pride. Hermione felt tears in her eyes as she instantly recognized her birth parents. She had the same full lips as her mother, the high cheekbones of her father.
"It's my.." Hermione trailed off, her voice cracking. Harry stood beside her, panicking that he had gotten it wrong, somehow.
"What do you see?" Harry asked urgently. He watched as Hermione silently slid down to sit in front of the mirror before he joined her.
"It's my parents...my birth parents...with my mum and dad and all my brothers and..." Hermione whispered, not taking her eyes off the couple she dreamed of for so long.
"What?" Harry asked whispered, shocked that she was adopted. Granted she didn't really look like her brothers.
"They look so happy, Harry." Hermione shot him a watery smile. "Thank you."
"I see my family too. My mum and dad...I guess aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. I never knew what they looked like." Harry said quietly, looking back to the mirror now. He slid closer to Hermione and the reflection changed, he and Hermione were joined once more with his whole family, smiling and waving.
"Oh, Harry." Hermione sighed sadly. "I never knew what my parents looked like, either. My mum said she didn't have any pictures and I didn't want her to think I loved her any less so I.."
"So, you're adopted." Harry said awkwardly.
"Yeah, my parents were murdered by death eaters when I was a baby. Uncle Albus brought me to my mum and dad. They told me a few years ago that my grandad was Hector Dagworth-Granger and apparently they thought I had some massive fortune but I stood in the way of them getting it." Hermione said softly, still drinking in the image of her mother and father with their arms around each other.
"That's awful, I'm sorry." Harry whispered.
"Please don't tell anyone. I'm a Weasley now and even though I do love my birth parents..." Hermione chewed her lip and reached out to take Harry's hand while she searched for the words. "My mum and dad told me they wanted to end my family line, my parents died to protect me."
"I won't, promise. Do your brothers know?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"Oh, yeah. They all know but they said it doesn't change that I'm their sister." Hermione smiled slightly.
"You want to come back with me tomorrow?" Harry asked.
"I don't know Harry, it hurts. I think about what could have been...and it hurts knowing I'll never meet them." Hermione whispered.
"I guess but I've wanted to know them for so long. It's just...getting to see them..." Harry mumbled.
"You know everyone says they knew your parents so well, why don't you ask some of them about what they were like?" Hermione suggested gently.
"Yeah, I'm sure Hagrid will tell me about them." Harry perked up at the notion of learning more about his parents.