Chapter 16

Author's note: With this chapter, we are crossing the 300 page-mark in my google docs. Thank you so much, to everyone who has stayed this far!

Em opened the door, and moved out of the way to allow her, William, Daniel and Harry to trudge past her. Looking back over her shoulder to ask her a question, Hermione saw Em scouting up and down the street before carefully closing the door.

Emmeline Black turned around with a small sigh and smile that didn't reach her eyes; "Dan, Harry; you know the way. William and Hermione, we'll put your trunks in the living room."

Hermione watched as Daniel and Harry went silently up the first flight of stairs carrying each their trunks like they didn't weigh a thing - they probably didn't, courtesy of Em and a featherlight-charm - before disappearing out of view. "This way." She said and walked right past the stairs and into a cozy living room.

It was almost like someone had copied their previous living room and moved it into the anonymous townhouse. The same couches, Remus's chair, the tv, Sirius's stereo. Even the pictures were there - though a few more had appeared since the old ones had been taken down at Lupin Cottage.

She went and put down her trunk and Crookshank's crate by the unlit fireplace. She then opened the crate and watched as the orange cat jumped out and onto the couch where he snuggled his face against Snuffles, the Black's other cat.

"Someone's feeling at home." William said as he stepped up beside her. She hummed her agreement, and felt as he slung his arm casually over her shoulder and let her out of the room. "Come on - Em said she wanted to hear it from you lot, and frankly, so do I."

She didn't answer him, but just followed along as they followed the sound of voices, and ended up in a large kitchen.

"Hi Remus," she greeted the man sitting on the other side of the table, nursing a large cuppa. She sat down across from him while William took the seat beside him.

"Hermione, William. I trust that the train ride went smoothly?"

She found herself relieved that they didn't have to go through another round of anxious apologies about everything that had happened. About how he had attacked them - and them, him - about Sirius, about Remus's resignation, about Pettigrew's escape, about Dumbledore's shitty way of handling the situation. The list went on for as long as the day was warm.

When they had met up with Remus before leaving the castle, that was all any of them had been able to do to the other parts.

But it hadn't just been her, of course, both she, Daniel and Harry had gone to check up on him. To make sure that he was alright.

To make sure that he wasn't angry with them.

Two cups of tea floated to the table from the kitchen, and she and William each took one with a thanks towards Em. "Yeah," Hermione answered, "no Dementors this time around."

"As far as I've been told, I'm sure Harry could have handled them." Sirius said from the doorway. Hermione felt a crick in her neck as she whipped her head around to look at the black-haired man. She didn't even feel her legs move, but suddenly found herself jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly.

"It's so good to see you." She said happily. The information had been very vague to say the least, but they had known that he had arrived at home and was alright - or as 'alright' as one can be after having almost lost one's soul to a throng of Dementors - but seeing it for herself, was something entirely different.

She was sure that the man had waited upstairs for his boys to arrive, so that he could greet them properly, and she completely understood why. Both Harry and Daniel had worked themselves into a frenzy on multiple occasions since Daniel woke up in the hospital wing, and until they arrived back at King's cross station.

"Likewise, Hermione." He gave her a small squeeze before letting her go and guiding her back to her tea.

"... I just… I mean - I know that I looked sort of like him, but I was so sure that he was the one casting the Patronus. I was certain. And I was wrong - It wasn't him, it was-, it was-" Harry's voice cracked and his eyes trailed down to the edge of the wooden table, all the while his fingers fiddled with the handle of his now empty cup.

"I was so sure that I saw him throw that Patronus. That… That he was watching and protecting us. I wanted to see him so bad! But it wasn't him! It was me! I just saw myself! And I miss him so much!" She remembered his gut-wrenching sobs from only a couple of days ago.. How could it only be a couple of days, when she felt like she had aged several millennia since?

Not knowing how to comfort him properly, when she knew why he was hurting, she did the only thing she could think of. Slowly, she leaned to the side, and rested her head on his shoulder.

She hadn't expected for him to have a response or any kind of physical acceptance of her reassurance. But she felt the muscles in his shoulder shift, and no sooner had his head rested on top of hers, before it was gone again.

"Sweetheart." Em said while standing from her seat, making Harry look up at her and follow her as she walked around the table. Hermione scooted away a bit, to make room for the woman who kneeled in front of Harry. "My sweet, wonderful Harry. There is nothing wrong with what you feel or with what you thought you saw. I know you miss your dad, and that's okay." She said in a low, intimate voice that made Hermione want to leave the room to give them their privacy, but she couldn't. Not when she was watching her best friend fall apart while picking up the pieces, all at once. Harry answered with a sniff and a nod.

"I know, that…" Emmeline frowned her brows while she maintained their eye contact. She looked like she was struggling to find the words of what she wanted to say. "I know this isn't the family that you wanted, and I understand that there will be times when you feel… hollow." Em rested a hand at the top of Harry's chest and Harry sniffed once more as a tear went down his cheek. Em softly brushed it away and rested her hand on his cheek for comfort. "But I - we - are so happy that you are a part of it. We've had the immense enjoyment of watching you grow both while you were with your mum and dad, and while you've been with us, and though the circumstances sucks, we would never want to be without you." Em sniffed herself and furiously dragged her hands against her own cheeks, her voice shaking ever so slightly. "You have a family in all of us - In Daniel, Hermione, William, Neville, and Remus, Sirius and I - and I know we can be a bunch of bloody assholes sometimes, but we love you so very much."

Em leaned forward to hug Harry who in return put his arms around her shoulders, "I am so proud of you for wording what you saw and how you felt, for how you're managing it, and for conjuring that Patronus. You are so brave and courageous and I am so bloody proud of you, my boy."

Em kissed the top of Harry's head, ran her fingers across his cheeks to remove his tears, before dragging her hands harshly across her cheeks as she went back around the table. She sat down beside Daniel who she then put an arm around, and pulled into her side where he rested his head on her shoulder in contentment.

"Now, let's see." Sirius said loudly as he entered the room. When had he even left in the first place?

Sirius moved the mugs to the side so that everyone could see the middle of the table, in front of Harry. There, he put down a photograph of a black-haired boy. The picture must have been taken right around first or second year if she had to wager a guess.

"Harry, who's that?" He asked chipperly.

"Me." Harry answered instantly.

"How can you tell?" Sirius inquired, and Hermione had the sudden suspicion that he was onto something.

"Well, I'm in my school robes - that's the Gryffindor emblem - it's my hair, my face, my glasses. It's me." He finished confidently.

"Wicked - then who is this?" Another picture of a black-haired boy was put down right beside the first.

"Also, me."

"And how can you tell?" Sirius asked.

Harry sighed and repeated himself; "I'm in my school robes, my hair, my face, my glasses. Though, I look a bit paler in this one... It must have been taken after having been holed up here all of last summer." he muttered sourly.

"So, both of them are you?" Sirius asked in his unusually chipper voice.

"Yes, Sirius, don't be daft," Harry answered cheekily.

"Language, Harry. But no, you're wrong." Sirius answered with a smirk. "One is you - one is your dad. Both of them are taken on the first day of second year, right before leaving for Kings Cross."

Harry looked at Sirius like he had lost his mind. Behind Harry's back, the pictures were drifting around the table as people were taking in the differences with different noises of wonder and/or acknowledgement. "You're mental." Her best friend finally said and withdrew the pictures from William's hands, before studying every last detail of them.

"Look at the eyes, mate." Daniel said and pointed to the one where Harry (she was positive that had to be him), was slightly paler.

"Merlin's saggy left-"

"Language." Em said loudly from across the table. Harry looked up at her with a smirk that could rival that of Sirius's on a bad day. "Finish that sentence, young man, and you will find yourself without a broom for the next week."

Hermione knew that Harry had planned on spending the entirety of the summer holiday on his broom, hoping that someone at the Quidditch World Cup would see his talent - completely by chance of course. Therefore, obviously feeling at least the tiniest bit of chastisement, Harry lowered his eyes back to the pictures.

"I don't think I've seen any of these pictures… It's only the older ones you have out." Harry wondered out loud. "No wonder I thought he was the one casting the Patronus."

Sirius put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "Yeah - at least you have better behaving company than he did." He laughed.

"Heard!" Remus and Emmeline chorused and clinched their mugs together with a laugh.

Sirius went back to his seat after that, and she and Harry continued on their telling of how they had freed Sirius and then hurried back to the hospital wing without being seen.

"Why wouldn't Dumbledore defend you?" William inquired, "If you've known him for so long, and with the Order and all that… Why wouldn't he defend you in any sort of way?"

The three adults on the other side of the table shared looks that Hermione didn't know how to interpret.

Remus finally added: "Albus is a good man - if he didn't defend Sirius then I'm sure there's a reason for it."

July 2nd, 1994

Hermione opened her school trunk with a hard sigh, and started pulling out everything.

Books, quills, ink, parchments, notebooks and anything that may otherwise have been used in class, went to her desk for further organization. Dirty clothes went into the hamper, clean clothes went to the chair where it would also wait for further organisation. Things that had to go to the bathroom, went to wait by the door while trinkets, pictures, letters, and, well, most of everything else really, went to her bed.

What was then left in her trunk was thrown into the rubbish bin by her desk, before she grabbed a wrung-up rag and cleaned her trunk of leftover dirt.

If I can't eat my sandwich from the surface of it, without getting sick, then it isn't clean enough! Her mum's words echoed in her mind as she scrubbed a little harder at a sticky spot on the right side. Was it a rogue lemondrop that had melted there in the blazing heat of their dorm-fireplace, or a forgotten licorice-wand? Who knew? She didn't, that was for sure.

"Nene? Are you done with the spotcleaner?!" William's voice boomed through the hallway and through her open door.

She turned towards the door while removing her hair and some sweat from her face with her arm. "I'm not using it, you can just come and get it!"

Almost instantly he was in her room where she pointed to the container at the corner of her desk. "Merlin, it's hot in here." She groaned as she stood and went to open the window.

She had barely opened the hatch before the window flew open. "Shit." She gasped, as the window handle was ripped out of her hand by a gust of wind, and smashed against the outside of the wall before she could grab it again.

She turned around to find her room in an even greater mess as the wind made all of her papers and parchment fly around in complete disarray, while Wills tried desperately to catch as much as possible from the air. She jumped forward to catch a couple of papers, but slipped on a bathrobe on the floor and elbowed William in the stomach - who then hit the door behind him and slammed it shut.

Instantly, the rest of the papers floated to the ground around them while the siblings stared at each other, heaving for breaths.

"My window might be open." William whispered into the room, his arms still spread out over the door like he was barricading it, all while having his hands full of papers.

"That's one hell of a draft." She muttered and stepped backwards to sit down on her chair. Only, she hadn't remembered that the chair was full of clothes, so in her surprise at not having any space for her bum, she ended up at the absolute edge of the chair, which then slid away from under her, resulting in her tailbone pummeling into the hardwood floor.

She was so surprised that she started laughing only to realize that her bum really hurt.

"That really hurt," She groaned helplessly from the floor in between laughs, even as William joined in.

Somehow, she managed to get her bum off the floor and he and her brother started picking up all of the papers and parchments.

"What are all of these anyway?" He asked as he looked at some of them.

"Letters, assignments, notes, all that sort of stuff." She answered as she picked up a letter and threw it onto the bed. Looking up at Wills who stood awfully still, she watched him scrunch up his face. "Hey! Don't read my letters! I don't go around reading your letters to Ellinor either!" She said as she pulled the letter from his grasp.

"Krum? Are you writing with him?" Completely ignoring her dig at his love life. A very Exclusive love life as of… February? March, maybe? She wasn't sure, but she knew that they were very much a couple.

"Yes, William. That's what happens with letters – He writes, I answer, then he writes back. Eventually. I haven't talked to him since like… April or May anyway, so it doesn't even matter." she answered exasperated as she threw it on the bed by the other letters.

William frowned at her and pointed to the bed, "That letter was dated this week."

"Yeah, well I obviously haven't gotten around to answering him yet." She answered as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

Where was he going with this?

"He's hitting on you, Hermione." He stated blatantly, like she didn't already know what the damn letter said. When she didn't immediately answer him he continued, "Come on, Hermione! He's too old for you!"

"Get out, and mind your own business." She seethed at him.

Right at this moment, she found herself wondering if it really was the beginning of July, seeing as the room just turned cold.

"Get out." She growled angrily at him and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm telling mum." He stated, looking awfully proud of himself, before turning around and leaving the room. She could hear him stomping angrily down the hall, even as the draft helped shut the door behind him.

"Bastard." She muttered and finished her cleaning.

July 3rd, 1994

"Dear Herm-own-ninny, (she sighed loudly)

Training is really intense right now, and I don't have a lot of freetime to write. But I was just doing some final round as the moon ascended, and the glow of the snitch as the moonlight shone on it reminded me of you.

I'll see you soon.
Viktor."

She faceplanted onto her duvet and groaned loudly into it.

'...the glow of the snitch as the moonlight shone on it reminded me of you'? Really? What in the actually bloody fuck did he think he was doing, writing something like that to her? And what the hell was she supposed to write back to him?

She wasn't some chit.

And she definitely wasn't a poet - or at least anywhere near as poetic as what he had just thrown her way.

She groaned loudly again.

And he was probably waiting for an answer?

She rolled onto her back and spread out her arms and legs to the side as she gave up on her thought and just stared up into the ceiling.

Should she even answer him?

How had he even gotten it into his head that she was interested in him, in the first place? It didn't make any sense to her.

How could he think that it was alright to write something like that to her, when he hadn't even answered her last letter from months ago?

It wasn't like she had spent the last couple of months by some window every night, scouting for his owls and waiting for letters that would explain why he so suddenly chose to not even acknowledge that they had a penpall-ish-friendship.

Was it so hard to write a couple of lines akin to 'I'm sorry for not writing, school and Quidditch is really busy. I promise to get back to you when I can.', Or whatever? Was she not worth it to him anymore?

Or was that just how it went with big, bad, famous Quidditchplayers? She was sure he switched out what girls to hang around, like he changed his pants.

Or whatever.

She decided then and there, that she wasn't having it.

"Dear Viktor,

I'm glad that training is keeping you busy - perhaps it will benefit you in the Tournament?

Crossing my fingers,
Hermione."

She snickered as she sealed the envelope and put it by a letter for Harry that she would send the following day.

Maybe completely ignoring his advances would open his eyes to the obvious?

July 5th, 1994

She was walking down the stairs on her way to the floo, her hair still wet from her shower even though she had spent about twenty minutes drying and styling it.

Curls, she moaned mentally at the ever-lasting struggle. Hopefully the summer heat will help dry it faster than normally.

"Hermione, there's a letter for you sweetheart." Her mother said and tapped the letter on the counter, as Hermione entered the kitchen.

If Viktor is going to play that game, then he can get a piece of his own damn medicine. She thought to herself and walked past it. "I'll just read it tonight when I get home."

"I'll just leave it here for you then - oh, and Hermione." Her mother called after her as Hermione entered their living room, making her turn around and look around the corner to her mother standing by the fridge. "Don't expect to be a part of it. There's an agreement of no kids in the order. Just because you're getting inside information, doesn't mean you get it all. Alright?"

Hermione sighed hard, "I knoooow." She went to turn around when she saw her mum open her mouth again, "I'll give them your love, and I'll see you tonight."

"Thank you! Have fun!" Her mum called after her in a laugh as Hermione ran for the fireplace.

Luckily, the collective parents had chosen to acknowledge that it did more harm than good to keep the kids separated, and therefore had opened the floo up. That way, the kids could stay at Grimmauld Place if they wanted, or at the Granger's residence.

Needless to say, a lot of flying and outdoor play were done at Hermione's house. She didn't mind, of course, as long as she could stay on the ground.

Stepping out of the fireplace, Hermione was 'greeted' by the sound of shouting.

"What in Merlin's name-" She began as she followed the sound out of the empty living room and into the hallway where several redheaded children stood, accompanied by Harry and Daniel. Obviously not finding it necessary to sneak to the door to listen in on the conversation, many of the kids were lounging on the stairs or leaning against the walls.

"THEY ARE NOT OF AGE! I WILL NOT HAVE IT!" Hermione heard from beyond the door, not knowing whom it was. "YOU CANNOT JUST TELL THEM-"

"What's going on?" She tried, but was hushed by Daniel putting his finger to his lips and patting the step beside him in silent invitation. She frowned, but took the seat nevertheless.

"I can tell my children whatever the hell I want." Sirius said calmly. His voice didn't hold the same sort of desperation as the woman's, but knowing Sirius, Hermione was sure that he was giving the woman a look that could ground her for the next year without her having any say in it.

"HE'S NOT YOUR CHILD TO-" The woman tried again but was silenced by Sirius's bristling voice.

"Not my child, huh? So, he's… yours? Is that what you're saying?" Sirius didn't wait for the woman to answer him. "So, you were there when Lily gave birth? You fed him formula? Changed his nappies? Taught him how to crawl? Gifted him his first broom - and taught him how to ride it?"

"No, but-" She tried, though her voice was suddenly lacking an awfully lot of conviction.

Meanwhile, Harry moved from where he had been leaning against the wall and put his finger to his lips in a plea for silence, before whispering: "Watch this" in a low voice.

"Did you teach him how to ride a bike? Stayed up all night when he had nightmares, or when he was sick? Huh? Gave him the talk about the birds and the bees? You didn't? Then don't fucking come around, telling me that he isn't my son -"

Harry chose that particular moment to open the door without knocking and smile at Sirius, "Hey dad? What's for dinner? I'm hungry."

Sirius stared at Harry with an oddly dumbstruck look, before a smile crept up and he opened his arm out from where he was standing by Em's chair, his hand on her shoulder. Harry walked confidently into his embrace as Sirius spoke: "Your timing is as always, perfect, my boy. But you just had lunch." Sirius looked over Harry's shoulder and through the opening of the door and noticed the bunch of kids listening in on the conversation. Sirius waved a hello to the newcomers and lifted a single eyebrow while smirking.

All of them waved excitedly back at him, even as Sirius whispered something to Harry, making the boy dart to the other side of the room.

Moments later, Harry emerged with popsicles for all of them. He barely made it across the threshold of the door before the door closed softly, and a buzzing told her that the room had been silenced.

"Look what I got us!" Harry said excitedly as he started handing out popsicles for everyone, and walked into the living room where he threw himself on one of the couches, careful not to drop his popsicle in the process.

Everyone was sitting at the dinner table eating the delicious food that Molly - the woman from earlier was called - had made for all of them.

Hermione carefully twirled spaghetti around her fork, stabbed a piece of meatball and ate it, humming in delight.

Conversations were flowing all around the table, and Hermione did her best to listen in on everything, even though there was a large possibility that nothing of what was being said had anything to do with her.

She was just enjoying being there with her friends and pseudo-family.

"I bet Bulgaria is going to be at the finals." Ron said in conviction, as he put an entire meetball into his mouth. Hermione scrunched up her nose in disgust at the blatant lack of manners.

"I think that Brazil is going to be pretty high of the scores this year," Daniel added, "Their beaters have been really good these last few years."

"But Bulgaria has a new seeker that's supposed to be in topshape - right Hermione?" Harry added with a smirk, as he stared at her and popped an olive into his mouth.

Hermione stared at him incredulously. Could she never tell him anything? How he had managed to keep her Timeturner a secret was really beyond her.

"Uh, yeah. Krum. They already qualified for the tournament back in February - the earliest of all the teams."

Ron stared at her like she had grown an extra head. "And how would you know that exactly?"

She poked a meatball around the leftover sauce and cheese at her plate, as she thought about how to answer that. It's not like she could tell him that she knew Viktor, or that they were on a first name basis. "Insider knowledge?" She finally answered, cutting out the meat and forking it.

In front of her, Harry choked on something and started coughing violently. Em slammed him between the shoulderblades a couple of times, before he finally started breathing again. When he finally came back to himself, he turned a disbelieving stare her way like he was trying to convey a 'Seriously?' her way. She shrugged, and went back to the conversation that had continued after Harry's near-death-experience.

"But Ireland!" Fred - was it Fred? She thought so - started, before George - yes, that was definitely him - added, "They have smashed everyone else in the qualification-rounds! They're on a roll!"

"We'd put our galleons on Ireland." They finished in unison.

"Are you going to the world cup?" Ginny asked her, and Hermione nodded excitedly. "Yeah! We're going with Harry and Daniel. Grandma got the tickets for the final match back in like... March? I think? Anyway, she asked Em and Sirius if we could tag along with them and they agreed."

"That's great! We'll all get to see it together then!" Ginny exclaimed, almost jumping in her seat in excitement. "Oh, I'm so excited to not be the only girl anymore." She groaned.

Daniel laughed out loud from beside Harry and exclaimed: "Have you ever even been around her for a full day? There is barely any girl left in her at this point - she's basically a Black Boy." Harry agreed wholeheartedly and laughed along with his brother.

Hermione smiled even though she felt incredibly awkward all of a sudden. She knew she was a girl, even if she didn't look like it. A petite frame while wearing jeans and jumpers rarely did anything good for anyone who wanted to look like a woman, but… After all of this time, was that all he saw her as?

A brother sort-of-thing?

Maybe her fear of physical interactions hadn't been the only reason for the demise of their relationship.

When Ron started moaning loudly about why they couldn't be a part of the Order meeting that was about to start, Hermione took her leave. She was sick and tired of his moaning and complaining and was looking forward to spending the night with a book in the quiet of her room.

She quickly said her goodbyes to anyone she knew (except for Ron) and made her way for the floo.

It really sucked for the Weasley's and Black's that they couldn't go home, but at least they had the opportunity to come to her place if they wanted. She found herself hoping that a particular Weasley would not have that want and would in fact just stay the hell away from her and her home. But ever the perfect host, she would of course welcome him with open-ish arms if he should feel the… Need.

Stepping through the floo she greeted her parents, gave them hugs and kisses goodnight and went to the kitchen for a glass of water to bring up with her.

She turned around from the sink, and yelped in shock. "What is that?!" She called no one in particular.

Her mother emerged and grinned at her. "That is your own, personal, owl. Maybe we should have given you one earlier, but Wills asked for one, and it's not like you can share it… So, this is yours. She's a barred owl."

"She's… Mine?" Hermione asked carefully, unable to take her eyes away from the majestic animal.

"She is."

"She's beautiful…" Hermione whispered, carefully walking closer to the cage. The owl was grey and white, except that it looked like the whites were stripes or spots… It was really rather peculiar to see, but beautiful nonetheless. She opened the hatch and cautiously put in her hand for the owl to investigate at its own pace.

It did so, by nippling softly at her finger and tugging at it.

"What's her name?"

"That's up for you to decide sweetheart." Her mother patted her cheek lovingly as Hermione withdrew her hand from the cage, and turned to the woman. "Thank you, mum. She's perfect."

"Just like you." Her mum said affectionately and patted her cheek once more before turning away. "Oh, while I remember it… Another letter arrived for you. I put it into your pile. Sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams." She muttered back as she looked at her name scrawled on the top envelope.

But if that's a letter from Viktor, then who was the first one from?

Her heart hammered away in her chest.

What if…

She carefully grabbed the cage and her two letters and carried them up the stairs and into her room. In the corner of the room, stood a stand for the cage, and leaning against the foot of it was a large bag of owl treats and a bowl for water.

"That'll do, I guess." She shrugged, put the cage on the stand and returned a few minutes later with some water for the bowl. She opened the door to the cage and then the window to give the owl free passage, and flopped down on her bed with the two letters.

"I wonder what he'll write this time." She wondered out loud and opened the seal of Viktors letter.

"Dear Herm-own-ninny,

I'm sure it will, though I am sad to see all of my time going into quidditch when I could be spending it with you. (She snorted out loud in disbelief at the obvious lie.)

But I have been training very hard on a new manoeuvre, and I'm looking forward to you seeing it.

Will you still come cheer for me?

Viktor"

"Unbelievable." She said to herself in a low voice. It looked like he hadn't caught on, when she had ignored his question on whether or not she would be cheering for him.

Choosing to ignore him once again and answer him another day, she instead picked up the other letter.

Instantly, she felt her heart start to beat faster in her chest.

The handwriting. The envelope. The seal. It was all him.

She was suddenly reminded of dreaming about grey eyes and a low voice calling her name over, and over again.

With shaky hands, she broke the seal and pulled out the letter.

"Hermione, (She suddenly found great satisfaction in seeing her name spelled correctly)

I hope your trip back to London went alright - I was exhausted from the final exams and slept for most of the ride. I'm sure Theo must have found me very poor company.

I missed you at our last couple of study sessions, though I'm sure you were very busy. Have you enjoyed coming home? Theo was a right pain in the ass and not nearly as good help as you are. Maybe we should ditch him next year? (She giggled loudly at the look Theo would surely be giving them, if they tried.)

Anyway, mum has been nagging me ever since I arrived back home, about when she would be seeing you again. So, she has forced me to tell you, that should you feel so inclined so as to visit for a few days, you need only give us a call, and we would be at your service.
I swear Hermione, I can barely stop myself from laughing as I'm writing this, but it really is her words.

On a serious note, I'd love your company. Would you like to come hang out for a few days during the holidays?

Yours, ("YOURS?!" She gasped out loud.)
Draco

She clutched the letter to her chest and giggled loudly, she rolled to her side and somehow ended up on the floor. She didn't even acknowledge that it might have hurt, because right now she was riding so high she wasn't sure she would ever be coming down.

A knock on her door made her lift her head, her wide smile still plastered across her face. "Are you alright darling?" Her dad asked from the door, peeking over the edge of the bed and down at his daughter.

"I'm fine - I just fell." Hard, she added mentally, because that was what she was doing. She was falling hard for Draco, and he didn't even know it. "Umm, dad? Can I go visit Draco for a couple of days?"

Her dad was silent for a short while. "Sure, but you'll need to go shopping with mum before then. When do you want to go?"

"I was thinking, maybe... Wednesday?" She sat up and stared at her dad.

"That's doable, I'd say. But you'll have to ask mum tomorrow. Sweet Dreams Hermione - try not to stay up all night." And then he closed the door.

She looked at her bedside clock. 9:20. Was it too late to send an owl?

Naah.

"Draco,

It was a rather hard end to the school year - I wouldn't really know if you missed anything, seeing as I slept, too, for most of the way. Who would have known that bumpy railways were so good at keeping one asleep?

Poor Theo - with you falling asleep and then wanting to ditch him, I'm sure he'll feel quite left out. Maybe that'll give him more time to study his subjects properly? Know that I am smiling brightly, as I am betraying the nutter.

A lot happened last term and I have so much to tell you. I'm sorry if you feel neglected in any way - I promise to make it up to you!

I've spent what little time I have been home, chilling in my house or spending time with Daniel and Harry. What have you been doing?

Your mum is one of the sweetest, kindest women I have ever met. My dad says I can visit some time next week - maybe the 6th of 7th? I just need to go pick up some stuff with my mum before leaving.

I miss you too, (apparently, she was feeling particularly brave right now)
Hermione.

P.S.
I just got this owl from my parents this evening. Isn't she gorgeous? I have yet to find a name for her, but she will have the pleasure of delivering her very first letter to you.