"Why, oh why am i not enough" Hermione said as she sat in front of the mirror tears cascading down her face. All she had was her diary and her feelings. She wrote,
Dear diary,
What have I done with my life? I'm failing at school. No, no, not just school. I'm failing at life. Why oh why am I like this. Why does everyone think I'm a control freak? Driven by a greed to succeed? But it's not my fault if I want to run away!
I don't know why I'm like this. But i'll try and be better i guess…
By,
Hermione,
Downstairs:
Hermione's mum sat at her desk with a pen and paper.
Dear diary,
I know this isn't a diary but I lost my old one. I am so disappointed in hermione. She used to be a straight A student but now she's failing! She's such a disappointment at this point I'm wondering whether to make her change schools! Hogwarts is not doing her any good.
Sorry its short but I need to talk to Hermione.
By,
Monica.
Monica walked into the front room and sat down next to wendell.
"Come downstairs right now" called Monica in a stern tone. Hermione wiped the tears off her cheeks, fixed her clothes and walked downstairs.
Everything was silent as she sat down in front of her mum and dad. Her mum took a deep breath as she turned her gaze towards hermione. "What has happened recently?" her mum asked "you used to do so well in school but now you're failing".
"I'm try-" Hermione said before she got cut off.
"Are you going to be satisfied with an average life? Will you need to lie to make your way?"
"Hermione nothing comes for free" her dad chimed in.
"You're such control freaks!" Hermione yelled as she ran upstairs and slammed the door.
Back in her room:
Once in her room Hermione grabbed her bag and began to pack. She thought 'Hopefully the Hogwarts express is still running'. She opened her closet and remembered to pack her wand and presents (it was nearly christmas of course). Hermione approached the open window, the cool evening breeze blew through her hair. She looked back into her room. All of her childhood memories filled her head. But these were slowly drowned out by her mothers words "Are you going to be satisfied with an average life? Will you need to lie to make your way?" She lifted one leg over the windowsill whilst being Careful not to fall. She reached behind her and grabbed her bag and threw it onto the bush outside. As she swung her other leg out and onto the ledge, her weak muscles began tensing with the effort. With a final push, she grabbed onto a drainage pipe and slid down, landing with a thump on the ground outside, free from the pressure of her parents.
She picked up her bag and began to run. Her mum's words still running through her head. She dashed down the quiet streets, her long hair flowing behind her like a ribbon in the wind. Her backpack hitting her back every step she took. In the distance a train station began to form.
She entered the station whilst releasing a sigh of relief. Hermione walked straight to platform 9 ¾ hoping the Hogwarts Express was there. Luckily it was. The doors opened and she entered. It felt like home. She walked towards a seat near the door and sat herself down. Once she was comfortable she pulled out her diary and her quill given to her by began to write.
Dear diary,
Today is the day where I am finally free. No more pressure from my parents.
But am I meant to feel happy that my life is just about to change? Everyone used to say "oh hermione is a dreamer" people liked to tell me what i'm going to be and i no longer give a damn if anyone tries. It's not their problem on how fast I would succeed.
All i keep thinking is will i be satisfied, will i need to lie to make my way in life.
Goodbye for now,
From
Hermione.
With a jolt the train started moving. Hermione waved goodbye. She could feel the gentle sway of the carriage as she watched the world pass by. The changing scenery definitely lifted her mood. The calming sound of the breeze passing by sent her to sleep.
She awoke as the train stopped outside of the castle. Where she saw the gryffindoor tower lights still on. 'Harry must still be in there' she thought as she ran off of the train and into hogwarts. Where she was stopped by the locked door. She rummaged through her bag quickly trying to get her wand. When she eventually got her hands on it she said "accio keys' and a bright white light shone. The keys burst through an open window and into Hermione's hands.
Once she opened the door it let off a loud creak. She hurried through the ancient corridors, her footsteps echoing off the stone walls. The glimmering torches casted a dim light which was just enough to guide her the right way.
After running for what seemed for ages she finally reached the gryffindor common room but was met with the fat lady image. Oh how could she forget. She searched her mind trying to find the password but it was gone amongst the chaos. The painting looked up at her with a glare."password!" said the fat lady in the painting. Hermione stood there with a blank look coming across her face. How could she forget it? But without saying anything the painting opened. Awaiting her on the other side was…
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she stepped through the opening now made in the wall.
"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Harry asked as he re-closed the painting-door.
"Ok basically," Hermione said "remember my grades? Well they dropped. A lot…"
Harry instructed Hermione to sit down on the couch. "When the reports came out" Hermione continued. "My parents were not happy. They called me downstairs and they just got in my head and I was fed up with it. I can't deal with all the pressure anymore. I came to start a new life."
"Oh Hermione," Harry said in a concerned tone. "Is that everything? Because you don't usually run away from pressure like this you usually thrive in it"
"N-no that's not everything" Hermione sniffled. "Before I came downstairs I heard my parents arguing over me. My mum sounded mad and my dad was trying to defend me but something changed. I don't know. They've both changed. Weird things have been happening recently"
"Like what?" Harry asked.
"I don't know what's been happening. My mum isn't the same as usual. She used to be so loving but now she's so strict." Hermione replied.
"Well we should probably head to bed," Harry said.
They both headed their separate ways for the night. Girls dorms to the left and boys to the right.
Hermione was awakened by a concerned Harry at the end of her bed. "Hermione, are you ok?" He asked "you didn't sleep at all last night"
"Yes I'm fine, Harry," Hermione replied. "You shouldn't be in here"
"Yes yes i know" harry responded "i was just so worried about you i heard walking around in your room i thought you were sleepwalking i didn't want you to get hurt,"
"Thank you Harry," Hermione said. As she stood up. But immediately sat down when a wave of dizziness went over her.
"Hermione are y-" Harry got cut off as it all went…
~~Black~~
Back at hermione's house:
"Hermione! Where are you" said her mum monica.
"Call the police darling!"exclaimed her father wendell. Monica grabbed the landline and dialed 999 the beeps of the telephone ringing through their ears.
"999 what's your emergency," said the operator.
"My daughter Hermione Granger has gone missing," said monica. This was followed by sounds of typing from the operator.
"Hermione granger? Did you say?" asked the operator in a confused tone.
"Yes yes that's what i said." replied Monica.
"She's not in our system. One second let me check that it is spelt correctly. Is it spelt H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E space G-R-A-N-G-E-R ?" asked the operator.
"Yes yes that's how it spelt" Monica hurriedly responded.
"Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to put the phone down, we do not accept prank calls" said the operator angrily.
"Bu-" Monica got cut off by the loud beep that signalled the phone being put down.
Monica fell to the ground in tears. "Oh Hermione, where are you?" she cried.
Wendell went to hug her. But he backed away, his face turning blank. "Why are you crying Monica?" he asked.
"What do you mean? Hermione has gone-" she stopped. "Why am I crying?" She asked as she stood up.
Back at the castle:
Hermione woke up with a jolt. Her eyes had to readjust to the bright light. When she could see, she saw Harry standing above her. "You're welcome," he said as he smirked.
"For what?" Hermione asked
"Don't worry about your parents anymore" he responded.
"What. did . you . do harry?" Hermione sternly asked.
"They won't remember you anymore," he said. "You did say you wanted to start a new life"
"I know I said that but-" Harry cut her off.
"Obliviate!" Harry exclaimed whilst aiming his wand at her head.
"Harry what are you-" a cold chill shivered down Hermione's spine as her memories were erased.
Dear diary,
I can't believe Ive done this. I never thought I would be this type of person. But I have. And there's no undoing it.
I've erased Hermione's memories of her parents and our conversation. So hopefully she can start fresh and be happy. But is what I've done right? Right now I'm wondering if I should have done that. Hopefully everything gets better for her soon.
By,
Harry,
Dear diary,
I don't know what happened. I've looked through the diary and I don't know I can't remember anything I've written about, it's all just a blur. Anyway I've got to go.
By,
Hermione.
The next day:
Hermione woke up feeling refreshed and ready to learn! Her past was completely gone and she was free. The only memories left were her happy ones. Which was all Harry cared about. He just cared that Hermione was happy. He would do anything for her.
Back at Hermione's house:
The memory wipe didn't work too well because of how far of a distance it was. So after about 2 hours Monica and Wendell's memory came back. Which of course sent them into a spiral of fear. Not knowing what to do they grabbed their diaries and started writing.
Dear diary,
Hermione's still missing. I don't know where she's gone. We've called everyone we know and no one knows. Where is she? I miss her. I don't know what I'd do without her! Why were we so hard on her? That's probably why she left. Oh Hermione what have we done? All I can hope is that she comes back. Or someone finds her. That's our only hope for my little dreamer.
By,
Monica
Dear diary,
Monica keeps crying and I don't know what to do. She's is so sad about our daughter's disappearance. I hope she comes back soon. I miss her. Everyone misses her. She was such a perfect child until she started failing. Although she was disappointing we still loved her and i hope she knows that.
Please come back Hermione.
By,
Wendell.
At the castle:
For Hermione life just went on as usual. Science forgetting about her parents she had started improving on her school work. This made her very happy. But something didn't feel right. Hermione knew she was forgetting something but she didn't know what. And she knew that Harry had something to do with it.
"Harry!" Hermione called.
"Yes?" he responded.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," Harry said.
"I won't repeat myself again. What? have? you? done?" she responded sternly.
There was a pause. An awkward silence ran through the air. Harry took a deep breath and said "ok so you won't remember this but your parents were stressing you out and you didn't want to be there anymore. So you came here and asked me for help. Which I did. I erased your memory and your parents. Well I'm not sure if your parents' memory wipe worked. And now you're back to your perfect self and you're happy now."
"Omg harry i can't believe you!" Hermione angrily exclaimed.
"I know , I know" responded Harry remorsefully.
"Get . out" Hermione shouted.
Present day:
Dear diary,
I keep thinking back to that horrible horrible week. Luckily Harry was able to show me how sorry he was by fixing everything. All I know is that I have learned a very valuable lesson.
Always think when you cross the line will you be satisfied? Clearly I won't be.
Goodnight xx.
By,
Hermione.