Snippets
Chapter Sixteen
Hermione spends the Saturday following her accidental near-sleepover at Draco's hanging out in the nursery at 12 Grimmauld Place with Harry and Ginny. Evidently Lily has been unusually fussy lately, and– despite this being their third child and that they have definitely experienced a fussy newborn before– her parents have been camped out in her nursery to assure themselves that she is alright. Therefore, when Hermione came over to talk to her aforementioned friends about her potential treatment, she found herself sitting in a conjured Muggle bean bag chair which makes an unpleasant squeaking noise when she shifts her weight.
"So, you're telling us that Daphne Greengrass wants to roast your brain and that you're thinking about letting her?" Ginny asks incredulously, her eyes widening comically as she bounces Lily in her arms.
Hermione laughs lightly. She can absolutely understand why the thought of this kind of treatment would be so jarring to Ginny, who is neither Muggleborn nor a Healer. But if Hermione is being honest, she also thinks that it sounds a bit harsh.
"What does Padma think? Did you talk to her about it?" Harry asks as he lounges back in the old wooden rocking chair in the corner of Lily's nursery.
Hermione pauses for a moment, debating how to answer. She had wanted to talk to Padma about it, but Draco had been more convenient because she sees him more often than she sees Padma. She hadn't intended to ask Draco about her treatment, but it had happened regardless. After her deliberation, she decides on the truth.
"I haven't talked to her about it," she replies, looking down at her hands in her lap before continuing. "But I did talk to Draco about it. He didn't seem too thrilled."
Ginny snorts indelicately into the top of Lily's head, likely in an attempt to smother a laugh.
"Sorry, 'Mione. What did Draco have to say exactly?" Ginny giggles, ignoring the pointed look which Hermione sends her way.
Hermione rolls her eyes. She knows that it is odd– her friendship with Draco. She knows that the fact that she even speaks to him at all is bizarre to her friends– it's bizarre to her most days. But the fact of the matter is that Draco has done a lot for Hermione already and has helped her to research with books that she otherwise wouldn't have had access to. Hermione is grateful to him, regardless of how dystopian that sometimes feels.
"He said that I should trust Healer Greengrass," Hermione begins. "But he also said that as my friend– not in his professional opinion– that he would be concerned that the spell would end up targeting parts of my brain which aren't affected by the visions and would do more harm than good."
Hermione squeezes the tip of her left ring finger. The more she thinks about Healer Greengrass' proposed treatment, the more the idea of it scares her. But on the other hand, she still thinks that she would do just about anything to rid herself of her visions.
"I'm sorry to have to ask, 'Mi, but is it worth frying your brain just to maybe cure the visions?" Harry asks, leaning slightly forward in his rocking chair.
Hermione bites her lip, and unfortunately an answer to Harry's question comes to her immediately.
"I think that it might be."
Hermione's next vision is perhaps one of her most shocking, but in a far different way than some of her previous visions. This vision sees vision-Hermione sitting on what appears to be a knitted picnic blanket, soaking in the rays of the sun, likely in deep Summer if real-Hermione has to guess.
Alongside vision-Hermione is a veritable hoard of children, all of whom real-Hermione, of course, recognizes. Priya, Ron and Padma's daughter, is sitting in her lap, still quite small, which leads real-Hermione to believe that if this vision were to come true, that it would likely be during this coming Summer. On either sides of vision-Hermione sit the two Potter boys, James and Albus– both pouting as if they had recently been told 'no' to something– and in front of vision-Hermione is a small contraption similar to a Muggle car seat which is housing a sleeping Lily Potter. Off to Hermione's left is one final child, who real-Hermione quickly identifies as Fred Weasley II, or Freddie, as he is more commonly referred to.
Evidently, in whatever context this vision is, vision-Hermione has been put on babysitting duty.
The vision swirls slightly, angling upward so that both real-Hermione and vision-Hermione are looking up toward the sky. It's then that real-Hermione realizes why the vision-version of herself seems to have been turned into a temporary nanny.
Above vision-Hermione, high up in the sky, are a handful of blurs, which real-Hermione quickly identifies as quidditch players– eight of them. When real-Hermione considers the number of flying blurs that she sees, she quickly determines that this is likely a recreational quidditch game which her friends– the parents of the children surrounding her– have organized.
Vision-Hermione raises her right hand, using it as a visor to block the sun as she watches all of her friends begin to descend from the sky.
Vision-Ginny lands first, dismounting her broom and running toward vision-Hermione– or more likely, her three children. Vision-Hermione stands, balancing Priya on her hip as she waits for the remainder of her friends to land.
Vision-Harry lands next, followed by vision-George and his wife, Angelina. The vision-versions of Harry and George both approach vision-Hermione and drop quick kisses to her cheeks– George on the left and Harry on the right– presumably in thanks for watching their children while they played.
The next wizard to land is the reason why real-Hermione finds this vision to be so surprising. Vision-Draco lands, whipping his sweaty platinum hair out of his eyes and hoisting his broom up over his shoulder as he also walks towards vision-Hermione.
Real-Hermione's reasoning behind her surprise at this vision is entirely due to the fact that vision-Draco seems so completely integrated into this group. In real-Hermione's current life, her friends have all but mercilessly teased her for even speaking to Draco Malfoy, so the idea of all of them playing quidditch together sort of melts real-Hermione's brain a bit.
Vision-Draco half-smiles at vision-Hermione and winks as he walks past her, following behind the vision-versions of Ginny, Harry, George and Angelina. Vision-Hermione glances back over her own shoulder, very clearly watching as vision-Draco walks away from her, then she bites her lip, tips her head back and exhales heavily.
Next, vision-Ron, followed by vision-Seamus and vision-Dean land in the grass in front of vision-Hermione. Vision-Ron comes up to the vision-versions of Hermione and his daughter, dropping a kiss onto his daughter's head and squeezing vision-Hermione's bicep in gratitude before he continues in the same direction as the rest of the players.
The last thing that real-Hermione sees in this vision is the vision-version of herself laughing as she says something inaudible to Priya, who probably has no idea what she is talking about anyway.
When Hermione comes to, the thing that sticks with her from this vision– apart from the fact that Draco had been included in the otherwise entirely former-Gryffindor group– is the way that the vision-version of herself had looked at the vision-version of Draco, as well as the way that she had acted after he had walked away.
Vision-Hermione had looked at vision-Draco as if she had had a schoolgirl crush on him. It was one thing when she had been seeing visions of herself and Draco completely enamored with one another– it's another thing entirely to see what appears to be the beginning of that imagined romance.
It's nearing the end of Hermione's workday when her assistant, Delilah, pokes her head inside Hermione's office, a mischievous smile on her face.
"Ms. Granger, you have a visitor. Shall I send him in?" Delilah asks, smirking darkly at her boss.
Hermione scrunches her eyebrows together in confusion. Her schedule for the remainder of the day had been clear, at least the last time she had checked– and if she had had a meeting, Delilah would've let her know before the client was outside her door.
Delilah had also referred to this person as a 'visitor'. Hermione doesn't often get visitors. The majority of those who grace her doorstep are work-related meetings, but the expression on Delilah's face gives Hermione the feeling that this particular visitor is not work-related.
Hermione's curiosity, admittedly, eventually wins out and she waves her hand to allow Delilah to give entrance to her visitor.
Hermione gasps when a man– tall and broad with cropped short, dark hair– enters her office behind Delilah.
"Victor!" Hermione exclaims, launching out of her chair and running across the room to throw her arms around the shoulders of one of her oldest friends. "What are you doing here?!"
Victor circles his arms tightly around Hermione's waist and squeezes her, burying his nose in her unruly mass of curls for a moment before he responds.
"I'm not allowed to visit you?" Victor laughs when he pulls back from Hermione, though he leaves his hands on Hermione's waist as he looks down at her. Victor's accent is far smoother than it had been when Hermione had first met him and his English is cleaner, but even still, the sound of Victor Krum's voice brings Hermione straight back to Hogwarts in the best way possible.
Hermione smiles up at her friend, noticing that at some point during her hug with Victor that Delilah has exited her office and closed the door behind herself.
"Of course you are!" Hermione corrects, stepping back and taking a seat on the under-utilized sofa in the corner of her office, gesturing for Victor to sit beside her. "I'm just surprised!"
Victor flashes a bright smile at Hermione as he relaxes back into the sofa.
"Yes, that was the plan," Victor says conspiratorially. "I am also taking you out for dinner this evening. I knew that if I surprised you that you wouldn not have time to convince yourself that you need to work instead."
Hermione rolls her eyes, though, she can't exactly fault Victor for his thought process. He's probably right and perhaps surprising her was the best course of action on his part.
"I would love to have dinner with you, Victor," Hermione smiles but still shakes her head in disbelief.
Hermione is immensely grateful for her continued friendship with Victor. She knows that she hasn't always been the best friend and it has been close to three years since the last time she was able to see him in person, but their exchange of letters has been a constant in her life in spite of any other changes.
"I should tell you, I have ulterior motives for my visit," Victor states, his voice turning serious. "You sounded different in your last letter."
Hermione sighs.
"Oh, Victor, please tell me that you didn't come all of this way just to check on me?" Hermione frowns, dropping her head into her hands, now concerned that she had needlessly worried her friend.
"Of course I did," Victor replies, tucking his index finger under Hermione's chin and lifting her head to look at him. "You are my oldest friend, Her-min-e."
Hermione smiles weakly at Victor, suddenly feeling flushed with guilt. Victor is a busy wizard and the fact that he came all of the way to England just to check in on her is a testament to his care for her, yes, but it is also concerning for her because she doesn't want to be stealing him away from his life.
"I– thank you, Victor. I don't know how to thank you for being such a good friend to me for all of these years," Hermione's voice is slightly watery when her eyes begin to prick with tears of gratitude.
"You let me take you out for dinner," Victor responds easily, brushing a fallen tear from Hermione's left cheek with his thumb. "And you finally come to see my team play this season."
Hermione laughs a wet laugh, reaching out and squeezing Victor's hand.
"I can do that."
Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! (:
I apologize for the late upload again. Life has been a lot lately, but I promised y'all an upload every week, so I want to honor that!
I don't have much to say about this chapter, but I hope y'all enjoyed it. (:
In other news, I may or may not have started a legitimate list of potential fic ideas in my notes app on my phone. I've got all the pairings and so many ideas. I don't have an abundance of time to write these days, but I am writing- and I'm always thinking about writing. I just ask that y'all be patient with me as I try to write/finish the three fics that I have WIP. (And that's not including the others that I have ideas for but haven't actually started writing yet.)
In any case, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and I thank you so much for spending a bit of your time here with me this week. I look forward to reading your reviews, thoughts, theories and favorite scenes. Your support truly does not go unnoticed and rereading y'all's reviews this week have helped me get through some hard days. So, thank you. I cannot thank you enough.
See you next week, friends.