White Lies

Hermione woke up as the early morning sun poured into her room. She looked at her clock and saw it was nine o'clock in the morning. After getting dressed, and brushing her teeth, she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Her mother was at the stove preparing scrambled eggs and sausages. Her mother gave her a warm smile as Hermione sat down at the kitchen table.

"Good morning dear. Eggs?" Her mother asked kindly, holding up the frying pan.

"Mmm... my favorite!" Hermione exclaimed, eyes lighting up brightly. "Has dad already gone to work?"

"Just for a couple of hours. He should be home around noon," her mother flashed another smile as she piled eggs onto her daughter's plate. "Then we can go to the fair."

"I thought we were going tomorrow," Hermione said, surprised.

"Well, it's no big deal. We just decided to go today instead." Her mother was still smiling.

"Ok..." Hermione said slowly, studying her mother's face. She had an alternative reason for wanting to go today, Hermione knew it. She just didn't know why. "What time will we be leaving then?"

"I thought we'd leave around five. Then we could stay 'till dark," Her mother replied.

"Are you sure, mother? I mean, I still have some homework, are you sure that you don't want me to finish first?" Hermione asked, surprised by her mother's spontaneous behavior.

"Well dear, there is still plenty of time before we leave. I'm sure you can get it finished by then, but you don't have to get it done today, dear. There are still three weeks before you return to school." Her mother beamed at how intelligent Hermione was. The phone's shrill ring came from behind her mother. She set down the frying pan and walked over to answer it.

"Yes. Yes. Are you sure? Today? Well, can't it wait until tomorrow? I thought you would be home by noon. But honey, the fair." Hermione realized it must be her dad. "Well you will be home before five, won't you? Ok... I understand. Great. See you then. Love you. Bye, honey." And her mom hung up the phone.

"Well, that was your father. He said he had to work a little late, but he'll still be home by three o'clock. Is that ok?" The question had been directed toward Hermione, but she wasn't paying attention. She was watching an owl as it flew around in the morning air, circling their home. It finally swooped down and flew into their kitchen window. It was carrying a small envelope in its beak. She recognized the untidy scrawl of her friend, Ron, and tore it open. Inside was a birthday card and some sugar-free candy. She opened

the birthday card and read:

Happy birthday!

Hey, how's your summer treating you? I hope it's going great. Mum's allowing me to have you over again this summer, so I was thinking you could come over Tuesday. I wrote to Harry and asked him to come too, but he says Dumbledore will only let him come for one week. We arranged for him to come on the 24^th of August. Well, I know you're not allowed to have loads of sugar, so I sent you these. I got them out of a Muggle shop downtown. Hope you like 'em.

See ya' soon,

Ron

Hermione turned to her mother. "Who's it from, dear?"

Hermione bit her lip. She read the letter one more time before replying. "Um... it's from my friend, Ginny. She... she's asking me to come over on Tuesday, and... she wants me to stay the rest of the summer," she said slowly, trying to sound convincing. Each year she told the same lies, and each year she felt even guiltier than the last. The truth was, she had asked her mother if she could stay with Ron the summer of her second year, but her mother had refused. She told her that she didn't want her daughter sleeping at the house of her boyfriend. While Hermione tried to tell her mother that Ron was not her boyfriend, it was simply no use. Her mother thought that Ron was trying to take "advantage" of her. She decided that maybe if she told her mother that she was staying with a girl friend, her mother would let her stay. It worked.

Her mother flashed her a brilliant smile. "That's fine, dear. Will they be picking you up, or will I need to bring you there?"

"Um... well, she didn't really say, but I'm sure they'll pick me up. I'll send her a note confirming it." Hermione said, smiling at her mother. "In fact, I think I'll go do that now," and she placed her napkin on top of her half-eaten eggs and ran back up to her room.

To be continued...