Chapter 68
"Yes, mother," Oliver said as the woman came up and took Hermione's hands.
"But what about you?" Hermione asked, looking to Oliver.
"Oh, I'll be around," Oliver said.
"Down at the pitch, no doubt," Hickory said coming in from a door she recognized from the tent, closing the door behind him.
"Well, now that I made the reserves with Puddlemere United, I need to keep up the practice," Oliver said.
"But you play Keeper," Juniper acknowledged. "How can you practice when Hermione is the only friend you've ever had here? Not to mention the only girl."
Oliver shifted uncomfortably. "That's notentirelytrue," he admitted.
"What do you mean?" Juniper asked, looking at him with a narrowed, studying gaze.
"Well," Oliver said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Over Christmas holidays, in 1990, while you were on vacation with Dad, Lee Jordan came over; Ihadinvited the Weasley twins since they had just made the team as Beaters, but they said that they'd be busy with their parents over the holidays, but Lee said he was available, so he spent a few days here."
"Oliver!" Juniper exclaimed in shock. "I didn't even know you were planning on coming home! Why didn't you say something?"
Hermione guessed that she was more upset about missing her son than him having someone home when they weren't here because it had happened so long ago.
"Well, I knew that you'd be celebrating your silver anniversary, and thought that it was rude to intrude," Oliver explained. "I knew Dad got time off special to take you to Kyoto. Even then, we weren't prepared for the blizzard that hit, so we were house bound, so he never got to see anything. In a way, we're lucky we've never been able to get the house-elves to stay in the house, otherwise I don't want to think what would have happened to the horses."
"What do you mean the house-elves don't live in the house?" Hermione asked in alarm. "Where do they live?"
"Please don't think we don't treat the elves well," Oliver said, recalling his talks with her about the treatment of house-elves.
"They live in the barn," Juniper added.
"The barn?!" Hermione asked, looking between them, and Oliver cringed.
"The truth is," Hickory said. "I've been trying for years to get them to come in the house, but they just won't do it. Too ingrained in the old ways from my family. It does give Juni a break from them when they aren't working on chores around the house. They actually protested time off to look after Ash when he was injured but we all insisted."
"What happened to Ash?" Hermione asked, remembering Oliver's story that Ash had protected Hickory while Cherry and Willow helped Oliver and Juniper escape the attack at the Finals.
"Oh, he was hurt pretty bad," Hickory said. "Could have lost him due to blood loss if I hadn't raised a ruckus at St. Mungo's to treat him, too. They didn't do much of course, even with threatening to withhold funding donations. They did enough to clear their conscience though... they stopped the bleeding and got him bandaged."
"That's awful!" Hermione said.
"We know it is," Oliver said. "That's why Dad threatened to take him to a Muggle hospital."
"It was only then that they agreed to treat him as much as they did," Juniper said.
"Oh, um," Oliver said noticing his parents' bewildered expressions. "Hermione here wants to change how most people treat house elves."
"That is an admirable ambition," Hickory said.
"Will I get to meet them while I'm here?" Hermione asked.
"Thatisa fair possibility," Oliver said.
"If you want, when we go to the barn, you can meet them then," Juniper said.
"Yes, that would be lovely," Hermione answered.
"I think she wants to make sure they are well cared for," Hickory said with a laugh.
"I don't blame her," Oliver said. "Hermione has talked about wanting to change the way they're treated, so why shouldn't she want to check for herself the way we care for ours? You might want to take it easy with the horses, though, mother."
"Oh? Why is that?" Juniper asked. "Don't you ride, dear?"
"Not really, no," Hermione said with a blush. "Only a Shetland pony at the birthday party of one of my primary school mates when I was six. Even then, it only went in a circle."
"Well, we're just going to have to remedy that, aren't we?" Juniper asked.
"That's pretty much what Oliver said," Hermione said with a laugh.
"Then he knows me well," Juniper said with a smile. "It's been a while since we had breakfast, what with Oliver driving you around the property, why don't we have lunch and then we'll head down to the barn?"
"Sounds great," Hermione said feeling the first pangs of hunger.
"Mum's enjoying this," Oliver murmured to her from the side, though he didn't try to hide what he said or lower his voice, looking at his mother with a grin. "She enjoys being able to cook for herself, and with all of us insisting that Willow and Cherry take time off to take care of Ash, she gets a chance to without having to chase them out of the kitchen."
"And you know it," Juniper retorted spunkily. "Now, let's see, while we had a decent breakfast, you're going to need energy and strength to ride..." Hermione watched uncertainly while Juniper tapped her lip, and looked questioningly at Oliver and then Hickory. "Hmm, I think I make roasted shoulder of Scotch lamb with potatoes and onions."
"Sounds wonderful, dear," Hickory said.
"Are you sure you want to try that?" Oliver asked.
"Why not?" Hermione asked. "It sounds wonderful."
"Its just -" Oliver began but was stopped short by the look his mother gave him.
"Just that I haven't really had the chance to cook since before Ash was laid up," Juniper said. "And before that, since Hick and I were married and his parents passed on and we inherited the elves."
"Don't let her fool you," Hickory said with a smirk. "She's cooked more than that... she cooks when we go on vacation at times when we don't go out on the town."
"I don't know what you two are talking about," Hermione said. "It sounds fine to me if she wants to make us lunch."
"Okay!" Juniper said, thrusting her fist up in the air with a grin and then wrapping her free arm around Hermione's shoulder. "Come on, dear," she said. "Don't listen to these two. They just like giving me grief because it drives me nuts that the house-elves insist on doing things I was doing before I married Hick, and still enjoy doing."
"How long will this take to make, Juni?" Hickory asked.
Juniper went to the kitchen and pulled down a book, thumbing through it before she slammed it down on the counter with a groan. "Over threehours!" she exclaimed. "We can't havethatfor lunch!"
"Well," Hermione said helpfully. "How about dinner then?"
"Dinner?" Juniper asked looking at her uncertainly.
"Sure," Hermione said. "There's still plenty of time to make that for dinner."
"Oh. Oh, yes," Juniper said with a smile. "Dinner. We could have it for dinner. Now," she said, thumbing through her cookbook. "What to have for lunch?" She flipped a few pages and then her eyes lit up. "How about Parsnip, Carrot and Lentil Soup? That only takes 45 minutes, and we have some Oat and Walnut Biscuits for on the side."
"That sounds wonderful," Hermione said returning Juniper's smile.
"Would you like to cook with me, dear?" Juniper asked.
"I didn't get to finish showing her around the first floor," Oliver interjected.
"I could do that," Hickory said. "She hasn't seen the study."
"Ugh!" Juniper said looking skyward for a moment in frustration. "Hermione, dear," she said looking at Hermione with a forced smile. "Would you like to cook with me or would you rather go on a tour of the rest of the house with Oliver and Hick?"
"Oh, um," Hermione said, biting her lip. "I - I'd like to stay and cook with you," she said after a moment. "I can always finish the tour of the house after lunch before we go see your horses."
"Now, see," Juniper said, looking to Oliver and Hickory. "There's a lovely idea! Come on, dear," she said, and led Hermione off to the kitchen where they got started on fixing their lunch.
"Smart girl, you got there, Ol," Hermione heard Hickory say as she headed off to the kitchen with Juniper, and she looked over her shoulder to see them smile and wave. Hermione just rolled her eyes and shook her head, causing them to laugh.
Making lunch with Juniper wasn't as bad as Hermione thought it was going to be. Her initial hesitancy, she admitted to herself had been because her mother had always been like a tornado in the kitchen, moving about with such a fast pace, to get everything done quickly, and Hermione always felt like she was in the way, and that it was safer to just stay out of the kitchen, especially when there was a holiday or some other celebration she was preparing for. Making lunch with Juniper however was relaxing and laid back, and they found themselves cutting up the parsnips and peeling carrots as they told each other jokes.
Her first lunch with the Woods was a happy affair. They asked her questions about her family, and she was happy to share the answers with them. She told them the story of how her parents met, though she didn't find it at all romantic, meeting at a conference and then her mother chipping a tooth, and her father taking her to his nearby office to fix it for her, but that was romantic for them, she supposed. She told them about growing up and finding it hard to make friends because games of imagination, tag, and hide and seek always bored her, and she'd much rather read.
"So how did you and Oliver meet?" Juniper asked curiously.
"Yes, we've been curious since he started sending you gifts - at least, we assume they were to you..." Hickory said and looked at Oliver who started turning pink with embarrassment.
"Well," Hermione said. "We didn't meet officially until the third week of my first term," Hermione said. "But the first night, when I was sorted into Gryffindor, he saw that I was going to have trouble making friends - which I did the first two months - so the first night, he wrote me a letter, introducing himself and offering his friendship. We wrote a lot after that."
"So," Juniper said. "You were pen pals?"
Hermione nodded and glanced to Oliver who was still rather pink.
"Nowthat'sromantic," Juniper said. "Much more than fixing someone's tooth."
Now it was Hermione's turn to blush.