The Muggle Project

All Sorts of Company

There, having just came out of the loo, was Draco Malfoy himself. I quickly withdrew my wand and aimed it at the middle of his chest.

"Make any funny moves and I will not hesitate to petrify you!" I threatened.

His hands shot up into the air, his eyes widening dramatically. "Do yourself a favor, mud blood, and lower your wand before things get ugly." He snapped.

I crossed the room hastily, before pinning him against the wall. My wand was jabbed at his neck. "I don't think you are in any position to be dealing out threats, do you agree?" I sneered. "Now answer this, why did you send for me?"

"It doesn't matter now, you've ruined everything." He said, his face looming with anger. "Now just leave!"

I stared at him in disbelief. What did he mean I ruined everything. What was I supposed to have ruined anyways?

"GET OUT!" He shouted before he stalked across the room and wrenched the door open.

I jumped at the loudness of his words before I quickly strode through the open doors. I had barely crossed the threshold into the hall when the door was slammed closed behind me.

What in the bloody hell just happened?

I took to the stairs two at a time, venturing back into the parlor of the Leaky Cauldron. Just as I came around the corner to my seat I heard my name.

"Hermione! Hermione!" A male shouted. I felt my heart lighten when I recognized that the voice belonged to Harry. Slowly I turned around, gleaming once my eyes rested on his face.

Harry!

He was the closest thing I had to a brother.

I ran across the room and lept into his arms. His arms wrapped themselves around me and spun me once before setting me to my feet. Then I noticed, Ron was there. I turned my head to acknowledge him and smiled.

Things were still awkward, having broken up with him. We dated for just under a month before calling it quits. After Fred had passed away he wasn't the same. No one who had fought in the war of Hogwarts was the same but this was different. Fred was dead and the entire Weasley family was shattered.

Harry and I no longer stayed over there for the two weeks before term began. We only visited but the visits were cut short when something brought about memories of Fred. Instead Harry and I normally stayed at Grimmauld place, as roommates. Ron occasionally stopped by when he needed someone to talk to but during those times I would go and stay with my parents since being around Ron was too much for me.

He was the first person I ever loved and the first person to break my heart.

Harry immediately felt the tension in the air and cleared his throat. "Ron and I were doing some shopping for our new jobs, what about you? I heard the Ministry offered you a job as well."

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I gave my attention back to Harry. "Um, yes you are correct. But I put that on the back burner as I have chosen to return to Hogwarts for my final year. It is quite important for me to finish my education before I move on."

"Of course, that is er... good for you Hermione." Harry replied.

I gave a tightlipped smile before turning my attention back to Ron who hadn't said a word since the company of my presence.

"And how have you been getting along Ronald?" I asked, trying to spark some conversation.

I knew it was a waste of time before I let slip my first word. After we broke up Ron never spoke a word to me. It was as if I was a ghost he was unable to see or hear.

He didn't even look at me when I spoke to him. He kept his eyes focused on something in the distance.

"He hasn't been handling so well, lately." Harry whispered into my ear.

I frowned, staring at Ron. It was so unnatural to see him in such condition. Before Fred's death he was full of life, witty, sarcastic. His skin was tan his hair red and unruly. Now he rarely spoke, his eyes had dark bags underneath them, he had four o'clock shadow, his skin was a dingy color and his hair was unkempt and hanging unnaturally at his shoulders in a way that would've made Severus Snape proud.

This wasn't Ron. This wasn't the man I had once loved.

"Well, er I should get going. I have a train to catch." I said, clearing my throat.

"Hermione, the train isn't until tomorrow."

"I know. I'll write you soon." I said before I summoned my things using a hovering charm.

I knew I wasn't supposed to use magic outside of Hogwarts but after everything I had done in the past year with Harry and Ron, I just didn't care right now. I needed to leave. I was desperate to put an adequate amount of distance between myself and Ron.

Once I managed to get Ron out of my eye sight I quickly turned on the spot and apparated to Grimmauld Place. I took my things inside and placed them upstairs in my bedroom before I started towards my parents home. I needed to tell them goodbye before I left for school tomorrow.

I apparated within the confines of my room at number Grimmauld Place and appeared in my bedroom at my parents home. Without glancing around I went out into the main living area of the house to find my parents.

Both my parents sat at the small table in the dining area conversing over a small dinner about work. When they saw me enter into the room they rose quickly to their feet.

"Hermione dear, I thought you might not be back before you left for school." My mother said as she welcomed me into her arms.

I embraced her quickly. "I had to say goodbye, didn't I?"

"I'm not so sure you should go back, after what happened last year." My mother said.

I smiled sweetly as I looked into her eyes. "Mum, this year will be different. It's going to be better, safer-" I paused as I thought over my next choice of words. I wanted to say happier but it wouldn't be the truth.

Ron and I were no longer together. Neither him nor Harry would be accompanying me to Hogwarts for my final year. Plus several of my fellow Gryffindor's, the ones I would pass almost every day in the Common Room were dead. This year was definitely going to be different and safer but it wouldn't be happier.

"Hermione?" My mother said, touching my shoulder gently.

I inhaled sharply before blinking and turning my head to look at her. I didn't realize that I had spaced out completely. When I looked into my mothers eyes I could see the worry. I had to look away so I glanced over to my father only to see his expression mimicked my mothers.

Suddenly my heart began pounding and I could feel sweat dripping from my armpits. My face began to grow warm and the room began to slowly spin.

Then I heard screams, screams of my friends, screams of the death eaters. I looked from my mother to my father and I saw in their faces they knew something wasn't right with me. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get away so they didn't see me like this.

"I should go now. I need to make sure I..." I paused as I tried to find my voice that was stuck in my throat that felt so dry and so tight. "Er, that I have everything for school tomorrow. I love you. I will write you soon." I turned quickly on the spot and apparated without thinking.

Only when I opened my eyes did I realize where I was. The Forest of Dean. This was not only the place where my mother and father took me to go camping when I was a child but also the place where Harry and I sought shelter when we were on the run from Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It was also the place we were when Ron had finally come back to us after running away.

I couldn't be here. There were too many memories. Too many to handle. I closed my eyes to focus on my next place of apparation when I heard a faint pop. I opened my eyes and there stood Harry.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I took a step back.

He looked around, silently, for several seconds before he addressed me. "When I need to get away to a place I feel safe I come here."

"Why here?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it is a place where, for once, I felt normal."

"What about Hogwarts?" I asked as I walked over to his side.

He stared at the ground, pushing around a pinecone with his foot. "When was there ever a normal day at Hogwarts? First year we chased after the Sorcerers Stone. Second year we dealt with our friends being petrifyed and Ron's sister being taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Third year-"

"Dementors and saving Sirius." I finished.

"Fourth year, the Triwizard Tournament and watching Voldemort come back and kill Cedric in front of my face. Fifth Year...." His voice trailed off and I knew he was thinking about Dumbledore's Army, Umbridge and the Battle at the Ministry of Magic where the last of Harry's family had perished.

He didn't bother speaking anymore so I continued. "Sixth year Draco tried killing Dumbledore, then the Horcrux and the Death Eaters that broke into Hogwarts following Dumbledore's death. And the Seventh year, on the run from Death Eaters and Voldemort while trying to locate and destroy Horcruxes. The War of Hogwarts and the death of family and friends." I finished.

Harry nodded his head before he took a seat on the forest floor, with his back leaning against a tree. "This place, you once said-"

"Maybe we should just stay here and grow old together." I whispered.

I moved to sit on my knees in front of him.

"You are like a sister to me. Hermione."

"And you, like a brother." I took his face gently between my hands and looked deeply into his eyes. "You are strong Harry, stronger than you may realize at the best of times and that is why you are going to move forward."

"I can't. Hermione have you not realized what we went through over the past year? We watched our friends die. I lost so many people-" he began shaking, his body trembling all over. Then he turned away his head as tears began to fall.

"Harry?" I whispered as I traced a vertical trail of tears along his cheek.

He shook his head at me as he began to cry hysterically. "No, I can't do this anymore. I can't. I've lost everyone I ever cared about in this life. My family, Dumbledore, Sirius-"

"The Weasley's-"

"They aren't the Weasley's anymore. Who they were died the day Fred was murdered."

"Ron-"

"Ron exists no more. I don't know who he is or what he's become." Harry cried. He continued blubbering only I couldn't hear any of his words as they were lost in his tears.

I shook him to gain his attention but he just continued crying. I closed my eyes to try and focus but his cries brought my mind such pain.

"HARRY!" I screamed at I shook him fiercely. "LOOK AT ME!" I slapped his face as I recognized that he was going into a fit of hysterics. This seemed to work as he suddenly grew quiet.

As his eyes connected once more to mine I saw the pain that he had hidden away from all those years. Everything he had gone through, everyone he had lost, the sacrifice's he had made... Yet he kept it locked away so he could keep his head on straight to protect everyone, even people he didn't know.

"I can't imagine what you are going through or what you have gone through but you need to stop and breath. You can't allow it to eat you alive like this. Take the pain and turn it to good. Your parents may not be with you right now in person but they reside in your heart. Live for them. Live for them Harry James Potter."

He gave a weak nod.

"When the time comes you will start your job and you will be great at it, Harry." He closed his eyes and I saw one last trail of tears descend down his cheek. "You will be great Harry, I know, because you are a good wizard."