Snippets
Chapter Eight
"That's so good to hear, Ms. Granger," Healer Greengrass smiles, writing a handful of words out on her parchment before stashing her quill behind her ear. Her hair is in a bun today, so the quill sticks out dramatically, but somehow Healer Greengrass makes it look like an accessory. "I'm so pleased that your work has not been affected thus far."
Hermione smiles down at her lap. She has just spent the past forty minutes recounting her week to Healer Greengrass, explaining Padma's observations during her vision in the maternity ward waiting room, the vision itself, as well as a few of the more minor visions she's had since her last appointment. She also told Healer Greengrass of her gratitude that she can still perform her job duties without disruption.
"Do you have any questions for me today, Ms. Granger?" Healer Greengrass asks, standing from her rolling stool. She closes up her file and holds it down in front of her as she looks intently at Hermione.
Hermione shakes her head, picking up her beaded bag from behind her on the exam bench and digging her hand inside in search of her scarf and mittens. It's the middle of January, but it's still cold outside and warming charms make Hermione's hair even more frizzy than it is to begin with, so she'll always be grateful for the knits that Mrs. Weasley gifts her for every Christmas.
As Hermione stuffs her hands into her mittens, she notices Healer Greengrass' eyebrows scrunch as she takes a seat again on her stool, flicking open her file of parchments regarding Hermione's case once more.
"Ms. Granger, wait just a moment, please," Healer Greengrass states as she seems to frantically search her own notes for something.
Hermione sets her bag back down behind her, resting her now mittened hands on her lap as she waits for Healer Greengrass to make whatever connection she is attempting to and speak again.
"Those mittens," Healer Greengrass states, but it sounds almost like a question. "Are they new? Have you always had them?"
Hermione tilts her head to the side, unsure of where Healer Greengrass is going with this, but responds anyway.
"No. No, they were a Christmas present," Hermione answers, brushing her right hand over the back of her left as if stroking the knit, though she can't feel it due to both hands being covered.
Healer Greengrass picks out a piece of parchment from her file and rolls her stool over to Hermione so that she can see it too.
"At our first appointment, Ms. Granger, you mentioned that one of your first visions was of you standing in the snow, wearing a pair of mittens that you didn't recognize. Are these the mittens from that vision?"
Hermione's eyes widen and she raises her right hand to her mouth in surprise. It takes a moment for her to string her thoughts together before she responds.
"That's it– I– when I– before Harry called outside that Ginny was in labor, I thought I– that's it. My vision. It happened."
Healer Greengrass exhales heavily, as if her suspicion has just been confirmed.
"Let me just be clear about this, Ms. Granger," Healer Greengrass looks back down her recording of Hermione's vision regarding the mittens. "You're saying that exactly what you saw in your vision happened? It wasn't just a similar moment?"
Hermione shakes her head again, now absolutely certain.
"No, no, I'm sure of it. It was exactly the same."
Now armored with the knowledge that one of her visions has actually happened, Hermione is understandably tense for several days following her appointment with Healer Greengrass. Against all probability, Hermione is choosing to believe that the fact that her vision has come to pass is a fluke. It won't happen again and it was a fairly non-specific vision to begin with, so she's decided to operate as if it hadn't happened at all.
Hermione knows that sticking her head in the sand is probably not the most advisable response to this revelation– in fact, Healer Greengrass told her as much before she left their appointment on Friday– but if she starts thinking that all of her visions might come true, she will surely lose her grip on reality.
Hermione feels even more confident in this decision when her next vision comes.
In this vision, vision-Hermione is slumped in a pink, tufted velvet armchair, her chin resting in her hand as if she could not be more bored. Real-Hermione doesn't recognize the surroundings in the vision, but it looks to be some sort of clothing store. Behind vision-Hermione is racks upon racks of what appear to be high-end designer clothing, none of which look like anything Hermione would wear in any iteration of herself.
The angle of the vision shifts and another person comes into view– a petite, dark haired woman. She appears to be about Hermione's height, if not for the spikes which she's wearing on her feet. She's wearing a slim-fitting black dress which hits her knees and looks as if it has been perfectly tailored to fit her frame. Her dark hair is cut into a mid-length bob and has artfully added waves which pick up the healthy shine of her hair when the light from the store touches it.
The woman is holding a stack of what look like evening gowns in garment bags folded over her arm as she is clearly arguing with vision-Hermione. Neither woman seems to be particularly agitated, though, despite their clear disagreement. Their body language almost looks like that of when Hermione watches Ginny and one of her brothers argue– there's an underlying fondness there, despite the tense conversation.
It takes a moment, but real-Hermione recognizes her once she looks more closely at her. Pansy Parkinson. She's older and has a more flattering haircut than the last time Hermione saw her, but it's her.
Vision-Pansy says something, her shoulders sinking slightly as she picks the first gown off of the top of the pile, holding the hanger out to vision-Hermione pleadingly, saying something which real-Hermione cannot hear. Vision-Hermione rolls her eyes dramatically before snatching the garment bag from vision-Pansy's hand and stomping off toward a fitting room situated at the back of the store.
The vision swirls for a moment before it comes back into focus, this time with vision-Hermione standing on some sort of pedestal, still in the same store– and still with Pansy Parkinson, of all people– but this time, she's wearing, presumably, the evening gown which vision-Pansy had thrust at her previously.
Admittedly, the dress is beautiful. It's a floor-length, emerald green silk gown, with thin straps and a straight neckline. It's fitted, but not tight– it's flattering in the best possible way. Real-Hermione begrudgingly admits that it's really, very lovely and that the vision-version of herself in that gown looks quite pretty.
Vision-Pansy steps up onto the pedestal behind vision-Hermione and places her hands on vision-Hermione's mostly-bare shoulders. With a very Slytherin-esque smirk, vision-Pansy says something, her mouth moving, but real-Hermione hears no sound. Vision-Hermione bites her bottom lip to hide a smile, reaching up and grabbing vision-Pansy's hands and squeezing with a sense of real familiarity before the vision swirls away.
Hermione comes to, convinced now more than ever that her visions are complete fabrications– that her subconscious is just bored and playing elaborate practical jokes on her, because in what world would she ever be in a room alone with Pansy Parkinson, nevermind the level of closeness she seemed to have with the witch.
Hermione beams brightly as she steps out of the floo at Ron and Padma's home, the party already in full-swing by the time she arrives.
Ron is the first to notice her, making his way through the crowd to help Hermione out of her coat and hang it up on a rack beside the hearth for her.
"This whole party was your idea, 'Mione, and you're late?" Ron laughs, nudging Hermione with his elbow before slinging his arm around her shoulders and guiding her back through the crowd toward where the celebrants are.
"I got caught up at work," Hermione explains, though she knows that an excuse was unnecessary– Ron had only been joking. "Neville! Luna!"
Hermione is quickly pulled into another tangle of limbs when Neville and Luna both reach out to squeeze her, which she accepts happily, wrapping an arm around each of them.
"Thank you for this, Hermione," Neville says into her hair before she pulls back to look at her friends. "It means a lot to us."
Hermione places one hand on Neville's shoulder and the other on Luna's.
"You don't have to thank me," Hermione responds earnestly. "This is a milestone. Ten years. You deserve to be celebrated. Happy anniversary."
From there, Hermione floats around the party, talking to her friends, some of which she hasn't seen in a while. She sees Seamus standing beside Dean Thomas and his daughter– those two are still thick as thieves. She sees Padma talking with her sister, Parvati, who's holding Priya and rocking her gently. Ginny and Harry are sitting on the sofa across the room, both looking exhausted but attempting to hide it.
Hermione plops herself down beside Ginny, who immediately leans back against her, resting her head against Hermione's shoulder. Hermione raises her hand to stroke Ginny's hair off of her face, meeting her friend's eye nearly upside down.
"Have a third, they said. It would be fun, they said," Ginny grumbles, her eyelids sagging as she kicks her feet up onto her husband's lap, the witch now sprawled across the entire sofa and two humans.
"I'm not sure who said that, but it certainly wasn't me," Hermione laughs, shrugging her shoulders and holding up a hand as if to say, 'Not it.'
Ginny humphs and crosses her arms over her stomach as she relaxes more heavily against Hermione.
"Lily's pretty cute though, huh?" Hermione nudges Ginny, knowing that while Ginny may be exhausted, that she cannot resist the opportunity to love on any one of her children.
"So cute," Ginny responds, finally losing the battle against her eyelids. Her voice sounds sleepy. "And she smells like new baby."
Hermione looks up from Ginny's face and meets Harry's eye. He shakes his head, chuckling softly to himself.
"Are the kids with Molly and Arthur?" Hermione asks quietly, this time speaking to Harry as it appears– based on the soft snoring that she hears from the general direction of her left ear– that Ginny has finally fallen asleep.
"For the night," Harry confirms, nodding his head as he adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I should get her home."
"Let her sleep for a minute," Hermione whispers, placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder to keep her steady if she starts to move in her sleep. "You know as well as I do that Ginny could sleep through a bombarda– a small house party won't wake her."
Harry seems to think for a moment before he tips his head in agreement.
"She's been so great," Harry says wistfully, brushing his hand over his wife's knee. "She works so hard, even now that she's on leave. But when she's not, she works so hard, and then she comes home and takes care of me and the kids– she never stops."
Hermione smiles. Over the past nearly eleven years now, she's had the privilege of watching Harry and Ginny's relationship go through every phase possible– from budding relationship to newlyweds, to new parents, to now having been married for almost a decade with three children. They're wonderful parents to their now three children and they're still just as in love with one another as they were as teenagers.
Hermione knows that that clearly wasn't the way that her story was meant to play out, but she could never not be happy that her best friends have found such happiness together. Harry and Ginny, Ron with Padma, even Neville and Luna. She only hopes that one day she might find even just a sliver of that kind of happiness for herself.
Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! (:
First and foremost, thank you so much to each and every one of you who responded to my questions over the weekend. According to some of you, it does appear that FFN is experiencing some issues, but fear not, I am going to continue uploading as if nothing is wrong. So, I'll continue to see you all back here on Tuesdays for new chapters. (:
ALSO. We may or may not have some interesting developments in the works in this chapter, and of course, more to come!
As always, thank you so much for spending a bit of your time here with me this week. It means more to me than you know.
Please, if you feel so inclined, please review. As we've all learned from the last chapter, reviews really help me out and I read every single one of them.
See y'all again next week! (: