Hermione's Strength

Ever since I was very little I have always had a strong affiliation with reading. Not that at five years old I had any clue as to go about doing that. But nothing seemed to stop this intangible urge to go with my parents every Tuesday to the library. I would stroll about the aisles, my hands lingering on every book. I drank in the sight of the old scrolls, faded and breaking. I would take one down from its niche and hurry toward my secluded part of the library. I would open the books tenderly, absorbing the musty smell, and begin to read.

Well, when you are five years old it isn't quite reading, but more skimming over the lines, recognizing a few words from my limited knowledge. Every Tuesday I would do this. The same routine of coming in, grabbing a book, and settling down to read. I was the odd child. While most children were in storytime with their parents, I was in the shadows with a book bigger than my head.

During the time I was in the library, one of the librarians always took special notice of me. Her name was Ms. Lynnette. She was the person who stood behind the desk while everyone was in storytime. She was young and very kind. She was my reading companion on her breaks. She would come and sit beside me with her book and we would read in comfortable silence.

I always admired her. She always had a new book with her each time. I asked her one day what her books were about. She answered me without even looking up, "Adventure. Seeing a new world without leaving your own." That was her motto. Always look at the world over the edge of book. Advice I followed until I came to Hogwarts and made friends with Harry and Ron.

But there was something in the words she said that drove me. My Fascination with books after that progressed into an obsession. I asked my Mum for my own library card the next day. She said no, but I could check as many as I wanted out on hers. I positively beamed. I could be seen with my knees buckling under the weight of the books I would bring home. My walks through the different aisles had narrowed to the adventure section. Ms. Lynnette laughed at me one day. She told me, "It's alright to like one genre of book, but don't limit yourself. All books are fascinating," and she handed me a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

Through her guidance over the years, my reading had improved and at seven I was reading text books she would bring to me that were from Cambridge, where her younger sister, Amelia, was attending. I would read about all sorts of things. I would bring my homework in on the days that I would come to the library and she would help me with it. Now that I think about it, Ms. Lynnette was amazingly smart. I could say that she was smarter than I could ever hope to be with muggles.

Later on, when I was about ten, just before going to Hogwarts, I was in the library, now visiting on Saturdays, going around and looking in the aisles. I quickly found my favorite book, A Study In Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story. I extracted it from its hole and went to one of the reading couches. As I was reading, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that a table draped in a red cloth was set up. It had dozens upon dozens of flowers on it, as well as a few elegant candles. As beautiful as the sight was, all of it was put in a circle around a picture. A picture of Ms. Lynnette.

I don't really remember what happened after that. My Dad told me that I had thrown my book across the room and started crying hysterically. He said that I had kept screaming, "NO!" over and over again. I later learned that Ms. Lynnette had been killed in her home. When I asked my father if she had suffered much he shook his head and replied, "I don't know, Hermione. She was found in perfect health."

It's now that I realize that she had been killed with the Killing Curse. It's one of the reasons that I lie here in St. Mungo's waiting for my war wounds to heal. It's one of the things that drove me to protect Harry as Bellatrix Lestrange attempted to plunge a poisoned dagger into his heart and it was her guidance over me that lead him to defeat the vilest and cruelest Wizard known to mankind. In retrospect... I think we would not have won this war without Ms. Aspen Lynnette.