Today was going to be a good day. Not only had she gotten Harry's 'Hello world, I'm still alive' message just the night before but this morning may have seen the tipping point for the Chocolate Bar Rebellion. Her chocolate and chocolate chip muffins had dealt a real blow to the enemy. Much to the later lament of her father, her mother hadn't simply thrown them away; she threw them away roughly and smashed them beneath other garbage.
Her mother might be more machine now than man, twisted and evil, but the little tantrum showed there was still a bit of human left in her. It seemed like after more than a month of surprise attacks her mother's patience was wearing thin and the human inside that exoskeleton was no longer amused, not when her daily bran muffin had been shanghaied and replaced. Hermione smiled as she relived the memory. At this rate, maybe by the end of the summer she might actually get her mother to swear. She had to fight the urge to laugh lest she get her Bournville all over her book.
She began to turn the page and start the next chapter when there was movement and a soft thump at her window. An owl had landed; a snow white owl. So much for Harry not being much of a writer. Hermione took a calming breath before opening the window.
"Hello, Hedwig, you have a nice flight?" she asked as she nervously untied the letter.
Hedwig gave her an affectionate nip.
'At least there's one female in my life not a stranger to a little affection, ' she thought. Hermione smiled, it was a strangely calming sensation, and one she welcomed for she needed calming at the moment.
As the moment lingered and the letter was still in her hands, Hedwig looked at her as if to ask why she hadn't opened it. It was what you did with letters after all. Hermione took another calming breath. It was just a letter, she had told him to bin the other ones, so what was she worried about? This one was probably sent to tell her he was looking forward to leaving for Ron's in a few days and would contact her again if the Wednesday after the Hogwarts book list came out would work for them. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.
'Hey Hermione, ' the letter started, and she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Hey was good, hey was friendly, hey was comfortable - so why did she feel a bit sad? Did she want him to completely disregard everything she had said in the last letter only to have to face the friendship-crushing awkwardness again?
'Today has to be the strangest day of my life. I really wish you could've been there,' Harry continued. Hermione couldn't imagine how anything could be stranger than giant three-headed dogs, strangulating plants, keys that attacked, and a possessed man with two faces but she couldn't deny it felt nice to be missed.
'I guess the big news is that I'm away from the Dursleys and I'm never going back!'
There was a split-second of reflected joy before what it meant caught up to her. Harry had run away?
'Don't worry; I'm safe and sound at the Burrow. That's Ron's place, by the way .'
She took a calming breath.
'They had a bit of a party for us tonight and his older brother, Bill, gave me his old room since he moved to Egypt ages ago .'
Hermione thought that was certainly nice of them, but what was Harry going to do, stay with Ron for the rest of his life and become a Weasley? She shook away the sudden image of a Harry with ginger hair and freckles.
'I'd really like to tell you why I won't be going back and all the big stuff I found out today, but I learned that letters by owl can be intercepted really easily and I think Lichfield would kill me if I did. He's my litigator and was a bailiff for my grandfather .'
'A bailiff?' Hermione thought . 'That makes Harry sound like some sort of landed gentry .'
'If this gets out before he's ready,' Harry continued, 'Lichfield says we could get crushed in court and I'd be right back to the Dursleys .'
Taking that as a given, she supposed she could see why Harry would want to keep whatever it was close to his chest, but she could at least hope he'd tell her when they saw each other next.
'I hope you understand; I trust you more than anyone,' Hermione read and couldn't help but smile.
'And speaking of letters-,' she read ominously as her blood began to run cold and the smile slid off her face. 'I've got to say, I found yours much more interesting than Ron's. It's certainly not what I'd call basic stuff. '
Hermione could only sigh in resignation as she contemplated throwing the rest of the letter away unread. Why did this have to happen today? It had been such a good day, why did he have to ruin it by doing the one thing she didn't want him to do? She really had no one to blame but herself.
'There may be some of the really recent stuff I can't tell you right now,' she read curiously. '-but I'd really like to get to know you too .'
Hermione's mind told her this couldn't be happening.
'So, I guess the question now is… What do you want to know?'
.....
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