Hermione's Grief

Celia and Lilith stared at the adults, confusion written on their faces.

"Wait a minute Lilith. Your mom is Hermione Potter?" Celia asked her friend incredulously.

"Yeah, but she's always called herself Granger," Lilith answered. "Anyway, what's so special about that."

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Lilith asked, throwing her hands up into the air, "good god, it feels that everyone knows more about everything than I do."

"Your parents were two of the most famous wizards in our entire history."

"Well, I knew they were famous, but I didn't know that." Lilith said, her forehead creasing in thought. "Wow, were they really?"

"Absolutely, they were also honorary Weasleys."

"Um…honorary Weasleys?"

"My grandparents gave them honorary membership into my family, since neither of them really had parents. Well, your mom has parents, but they're Muggles."

"Wait a sec, if our families are really close, wouldn't I have known you." Lilith asked, "I did live in the magical world until I was 5, I told you that earlier."

"Actually, I think I did know you earlier. I didn't recognize you because you look a lot different from when you were 5, but I remember that I was good friends with Harry's daughter."

"So why didn't you remember my name?"

"Oh, I do now, but it wasn't on the top of my mind when I first met you. We don’t talk about you often, in fact, talking about your family is a kinda taboo topic at family reunions, seeing as it usually makes everyone start to cry."

"Oh, what great news," Lilith said cynically.

"Yeah, it's really annoying, there are so many things that we aren't supposed to talk about at family reunions that it gets very very hectic, more so than one would expect with 50 wizards and witches gathered in one place, even when a large part of the family runs a practical joke shop."

Lilith laughed. "Wow, 50 relatives, how are there so many?"

"Well, I have 4 uncles, one aunt, one father, one mother, two grandparents, 10 cousins…"

"Yeah, I get the picture."

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Ginny had dragged Hermione off to a table in the corner, refusing to let go of her. They were talking, holding hands (actually, more like Ginny had a death grip on Hermione's arms), about where Hermione had been for the past 11 years.

"You were living in New York?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I was resident doctor at one of the hospitals there."

"Why?"

"Well, I wanted to dedicate my life to saving others. I'd had my fair share of death."

"No, I mean, why New York?"

"Oh, I don't really know. I wanted to get out of England, and I'd never been to the U.S. so I decided to go there. I wasn't really thinking clearly at that time."

"So I noticed," Ginny said dryly. "Actually, we had a Weasley family meeting about whether or not to track you two down and drag you back home."

"I take it you decided not to."

"Actually, we still haven't decided. Fred and George figured that when you were ready to come home, you would, and they threatened to hex anyone who tried to find you."

"Well, I'm grateful to them."

"Why did you come back then? You certainly didn't tell any of us about it."

"It wasn't entirely my decision, Minvera McGonagall showed up at my house in late May offering me a job at Hogwarts teaching Charms and heading Gryffindor House. We talked for a long time about it and she convinced me to give it a try."

"Fantastic, Neville, you remember, my husband?"

"Of course I remember that you and Neville are married, I was your maid of honor. How could I forget that?"

"Just checking, anyway, he's going to be teaching Herbology. We have a house in Hogsmeade."

"Really? Lilith and I are going to go there once I find an apartment."

"Don't bother looking, Fred and George have a space above their joke shop they recently opened there, you two can stay there until school opens in 2 weeks. I take it you will be living at Hogwarts, right?"

"Of course, you think Minerva managed to run to Hogwarts that quickly from Hogsmeade to tell us to go to sleep when we were making too much noise?"

Ginny chuckled. "You've got a point there."

"I must admit though, I'm horribly nervous about all this coming home business. I still hadn't decided how to tell your family I was back. I was debating sending your parents a letter but everytime I sat down to write it, I chickened out.

"Why? What were you scared we would do?"

"I really don't know. I wasn't sure if you all would be mad at me for leaving for 11 years. I though you might think I was leaving because I was unwilling to fight and was now only coming back because it was safe."

"How could we ever think of you like that? Hermione, chicken out of a fight? Who was it who turned Malfoy into a snake and tied him around the top of the Quidditch goalpost during our 6^th year when he insulted Neville? Who was it who was the one who motivated the rest of your Auror team whenever they were getting cold feet? Who was the one who didn't let Harry have a nervous breakdown after Ron's death?"

"Yeah, but you forgot one."

"What?"

"Who was it who sat still while Ron took that curse for Harry?"

Ginny stared Hermione in the eye. "I promise you that no one in my, no, our family has ever ever thought that about you. We have never resented the fact that you and Harry lived while Ron didn’t."

"I know, I know," Hermione said, "but I couldn't bring myself to write that letter to Arthur, I was afraid I would die if that were the case."

"You wouldn't die, Hermione, even if that were the case, which it isn't. You are the strongest person I know of."

"No I'm not, I ran away from my problems, I ran away for 11 years."

Ginny sighed. "Hermione, my entire family supported your actions, we all thought that was the right thing for you to do if it was you wanted."

Hermione looked at Ginny quizzically. "Why?"

"You and Harry were the happiest couple I have ever seen. I never knew anyone more in love than you two. Do you remember your wedding?"

"Of course, how could I forget? It was the happiest day of my life."

"Well, do you remember what Sirius did?"

"He did a lot of things, not all of which were entirely appropriate for a man of his age."

"I'm talking about a specific incidence."

"Which one?"

"Remember when the minister asked the obligatory question requesting that if anyone had any reasons why you two shouldn't be married they should stand up now? Remember what Sirius said when he stood?"

Hermione began to grin.

"He said that you two shouldn't get married because you were too in love with each other and that anything that makes a person as deliriously happy as you two obviously were is usually a highly illegal and controlled substance."

Hermione laughed, a grin on her face. "Of course I remember that, and them Remus pulled him back down remarking that Sirius must be right, as Sirius was the expert on those sort of controlled and highly illegal substances."

Ginny starting laughing as well. After she regained her composure, she continued. "Anyway, my point was that you had just lost your most favorite thing in your life and you needed time away, time to yourself, time removed from anything that would make you unhappy." Ginny grimaced. "Now, no one in my family thought it would take 11 years, but we knew you were still alive and we didn’t want to drag you back to a place you obviously didn't want to be."

* * * * *

Hermione and Ginny talked into the wee hours of the morning, long after Lilith and Celia had gone up to Lilith's room to sleep, long after the bartender had gone to bed. The room was dark except for the light thrown by Hermione's wand. They were practicing every charm they could think of, trying to get Hermione back into practice for teaching.

"Phew, Hermione," Ginny said, leaning on the table, breathing heavily. "I really doubt you're going to need to be teaching your classes all those charms and hexes you learned in Auror Training. You're supposed to be teaching them how to levitate feathers and stuff like that, not how to kill or torture each other."

"I know, I'm not practicing these things for teaching, I'm practicing them for self-defense."

"Really, Hermione, times have changed, there isn't any dark force any more. I highly doubt that there will even be any Slytherins."

"There might not be any organized dark force, but it only takes one crazy. You're married to Neville, remember his parents. They were attacked after Voldemort fell."

"No, Hermione, things are very very different. There are no more life sentences in Azkaban, not even any sentences above 15 years," Ginny said, "if anyone committed a crime that deserved those types of sentences, they are killed."

Hermione sat down, staring at her wand, deep in thought. "I guess so, but I just wanted to prove to myself that I can still do all that, that I can still defend myself."

"Trust me, you can," Ginny said, "but now we need to talk about more practical matters. How are you going to be reintroduced to the rest of my family?"

"Oh, please no overblown entrances. How about I just walk into Fred and George's joke shop and say 'Hi, it’s me, nice to see you again'?"

"Absolutely not, they'd probably faint," Ginny said, "besides, it's been eleven years for god's sake Hermione, we need a better entrance plan than that!"

"So what do you suggest?"

"We'll go with your original idea of a letter, but I'll help you write it so you can't chicken out, not that you have any reason to anyway." Ginny's tone of voice left no room for debate, so Hermione meekly nodded.

* * * * *

An hour and a entire pad of parchment later, Hermione and Ginny had the letter they were going to send in the morning to the Weasley family, using Hermione's new owl, Hedwig Jr. Ginny cleared her throat and began to read the final copy.

"Ahem, Dear Arthur and Molly (Mum and Dad), You may not believe this letter, but I guarantee that it is not a hoax, everything here is absolutely true. I am sitting the Leaky Cauldron right now, penning this letter to you on behalf of none of than Hermione. I came here earlier this evening to pick up Celia to come stay with Neville and me in Hogsmeade, as you know, only to find that earlier that day she had met Lilith Potter in Diagon Alley. Naturally, Hermione and I have been talking for nearly 6 consecutive hours. She was unsure how to reintroduce herself to the wizarding community, so I am writing this letter to you informing you of her return. If you don't mind, Mum, she and Lilith will come to dinner this Sunday. Neither of them is really ready to see everyone again, so can we just keep it to you two, Hermione, Lilith, Celia and I? Love, Ginny and Hermione" Ginny finished reading and put the letter on the table, sealing it and addressing it to The Burrow. After tying to the owl's leg, she opened a window and let it fly out into the night.

"Oh god, I'm so nervous. I know it's a completely unreasonable fear, but it's still there," Hermione said, running a hand through her hair. "Are you still in contact with Remus and Sirius, by the way, they're going to be teaching with me at Hogwarts, according to Minerva."

"Yes, on and off. They are closer to my parents naturally, but we get together for dinner occasionally."

"Are they both still living the life of a single wizard?"

"Of course, Sirius hasn't been in a serious affair, pardon the pun, for a few years and Remus has had a few relationships with various witches, who have all abandoned him when they realized he was a werewolf."

"That's horrible, how close minded could they be?"

"I know, it's a real shame since he's such a wonderful person. I think he's currently seeing a Muggle, believe it or not. Her name's Nellie; she knows he's a wizard, but I don't think he's told her about the whole werewolf thing yet."

"Hmm, a Muggle. He probably should tell her about it, she won't have all the misconceptions that most witches would."

"I suppose, but he's too afraid he'll lose her to tell her."

"Yeah, I see his point," Hermione said, "and anyhow, I'm really not the one to be giving romantic advice, I'm still wearing my dead husband's wedding ring."

Ginny looked Hermione in the eye. "Hermione, as long as you still love Harry, he's still alive."

* * * * *

On Sunday evening, Hermione and Lilith took Floo Powder to Ginny's apartment in Hogsmeade, dressed in their nicest dress robes, which turned out to be a big mistake. Lilith had never used Floo Powder before, and Hermione was sorely out of practice. They ended up landing on Ginny's floor convered in soot, coughing madly.

Once they had both been cleaned off, thanks to the charms Ginny and Hermione knew for these circumstances, Ginny, Hermione, Lilith, and Celia all piled into Ginny's old stations wagon. Neville and Ginny had been out to lunch with Hermione the day before since Neville was going to be busy this evening wrapping he his old job as an herbologist for the Ministry, in order to start teaching at Hogwarts soon.

Ginny's station wagon, though from the outside appeared to be a beat-up 1987 Ford with the multiple layers of different shades of blue paint chipping off the fenders, was a beautiful car inside. The Department for the Misuse of Muggle Items had loosened up its rules a bit since Arthur first charmed his Ford Anglia. Now, witches and wizards were permitted to charm Muggle items so long as the charms were not harmful and the item was registered with the Ministry. Thanks to these new rules, Ginny's car had been turned into a work of art. Arthur and Celia had taken it upon themselves to research, design, and fix up Ginny's car. The result was an interior that somewhat resembled a psychedelic limousine.

The red velvet benches were arraigned in a circle with a table in the middle that had a water dispenser on it. Instead of seatbeats there were adhesion charms on the benches so that one could not leave their seats without saying the proper charm. The driver's console was equally remarkable, instead of the driver needing to drive, they could merely say the name of the place they wanted to go to and the car would go; the driver's only responsibility was to press the gas or the brake. And of course the car was equipped with flying and invisibility charms; such things were standard on magical cars these days.

"Wow, Ginny, your mum must have had a heart attack when they changed the rules," Hermione said, running her hand over the red velvet seat.

"Yeah, nearly, but I think she was relieved that at least now Dad wouldn't be forced to arrest himself if he decided to raid our garage," Ginny replied, swerving to avoid a cat in the road.

Hermione laughed, recalling how the interior of the Weasley garage usually looked like a Radio Shack after someone dropped a bomb in it, with bits and pieces of various mechanical and electrical devices strewn across the tables and floor.

After a relatively brief car ride, they arrived at The Burrow. It looked just as Hermione had remembered it, except the garden was a bit larger now that Molly had more time with all 7 kids out of the house, for better or for worse. The front add-on still looked like it would have fallen off long ago had it not been for stabilizing charms.

Walking up the front door, Hermione barely had a chance to lift the knocker when the door was thrown open by Molly Weasley who grabbed Hermione around the waist and gave her a huge hug that threatened to break a few ribs. Hermione noticed that Molly was crying.

Returning the hug, Hermione said, "I'm glad to see you again Mrs. Weasley."

Disentangling herself, Molly replied, "Oh Darling, you can call me Molly, I think you're old enough now. Don't you?" Molly tried in vain to inconspicuously dab at her eyes.

Arthur came forward and stuck out his hand to shake Hermione's before reconsidering and pulling her into another hug, albeit less fierce than Molly's had been.

"We’re glad you came back, Hermione. We were starting to think you might never," Arthur said.

"I might not have, had it not been for Minerva. I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I'm grateful."

"So are we," Molly said, bustling about the kitchen finishing preparations for dinner. It appeared as if Molly had prepared for the entire Gryffindor House by the number of pots and pans sitting on the stove and floating in the air above magical fires.

Arthur led everyone out into the garden, where he and Molly had set out the picnic tables. It was a lovely evening, the moon was nearly full, its light spilling over the tables, rendering the floating candles superfluous, yet beautiful all the same.

Sitting down at the tables, Hermione had a flashback to the summer before her fourth year at Hogwarts when the entire family, all 9 of them at the time, including her and Harry, had eaten outside in the very same garden, probably off these very same tables.

"Is something wrong, Mom?" Lilith asked, noticing that Hermione had gotten the detached look on her face that she usually did whenever she was thinking about something sad.

Snapping out of her daze, Hermione responded, "Oh, no honey, but thanks for asking. Could you please pass that treacle pudding on the other side of you? It looks delicious."

The rest of the evening passed in a haze of friendship and memories; not once did Hermione cry, surrounded as she was by friends whom she had sorely missed for 11 years, though she had never admitted it, even to herself.