A Time to Love

Chapter One. The Long Journey Home

"Even as the cell is the unit of the organic body, so the family is the unit of society."

_Ruth Nanda Anshen

Hermione Granger didn't know what to feel as she stepped off the Hogwart's Express at last. Her emotions swirled together; relief, sadness, anticipation...

She was relieved to finally be able to get off the train after the long ride. She was also relieved to have made it through another year, both physically and through her studies. Although she didn't have her O.W.L. results back yet, she was confident in that she at least made in through to the next year.

She also felt sad because she was leaving the relatively safe walls of Hogwarts and was back into the "Real World," where there were no friends to comfort her for the weeks she spent with her parents.

And lastly, there was the anticipation. Why, she wasn't exactly sure. And was it a good or bad anticipation? All she knew was, even though she hadn't even left them yet, she couldn't wait to see her friends again.

This might be due to the fact that, before Hogwarts, she never had any friends. And now she had truly come to cherish the great friends that she had. Of course, they hadn't always been friends. They became friends in such a strange way that Hermione should have been warned from the start that their friendship would not be a simple and easy one and that danger came knocking like a salesman: frequent and unwanted.

Take, for example, the events that had happened not even a fortnight ago. Under false pretenses, Hermione and her friends had been led straight into Voldemort's clutches. Hermione shivered at the memories, trying to push them out of her head for the moment.

The ticket inspector signaled to them that it was safe to go through the magical barrier that separated platforms nine and ten. When Hermione stepped through it, she immediately spotted her parents who were standing timidly near the Weasleys (among others). They rushed straight to her and her dad engulfed her in a big hug. It was quite obvious that her parents had missed her. Guilt immediately flooded Hermione. Over the years since she started Hogwarts, she had scarcely spent times with them. She hadn't spent a real Christmas with them since first year, and it must've been a punch in the gut for them to send Hermione off in the middle of her Christmas holiday again to her friends. Not that they weren't glad that Hermione finally had friends. In fact, they had always expressed to her how happy they were that she found such good friends. But Hermione imagined what it must've felt like for them to constantly send their daughter away.

Hermione vowed that she would make it up to them somehow. She had no idea how her life would end and she wanted to make sure she spent enough time with the people she loved. For starters, she would stay longer at home this summer holiday. She knew that the safest way to leave to go to Hogwarts would be to leave with the Weasleys. But how would she explain the circumstances that surrounded that? No doubt, they would be a lot more hesitant to send her off every year if they knew of the risk factor. Hermione amazed herself with just how much she was actually keeping from her parents. For all they knew, she was having a nice, safe stay at Hogwarts while concentrating on her studies. They had no idea that she battled with trolls and Death Eaters. They had no idea that she was once petrified for several weeks. They had no idea because she hadn't told them

And really, what would be the point? If would only make them worry, and that would only add more to her plate. No, things were best the way they were now. She would continue to let her parents live in the dream world that she had created for them.

"Oh, we've missed you, dearest," Mr. Granger said.

"I've missed you too," Hermione replied.

"Don't I get one?" Mrs. Granger asked teasingly.

"Of course, Mum," she said and went over to hug him. She gave her an extra squeeze and Hermione felt her mother's warmth and comfort radiate through her.

Mr. Weasley came over and enthusiastically shook their hands. Hermione couldn't help but be amused at Mr. Weasley's fondness for muggles, which didn't stop at Hermione's parents.

"Ah, Harry," Mr. Weasley said as he saw Harry. "Well - shall we do it, then?" he said to Moody. They were both looking over at the Dursleys and Hermione could tell something was up. Moody and Mr. Weasley walked over to the Dursleys and she could see the fear in Mr. Dursley's eyes, probably due to what happen last time he had an encounter with wizards. Hermione let go of her mum and went over to the group.

"_ a few words with you about Harry," said Mr. Weasley. That's what Hermione came over in time to hear.

"Yeah, about how he's treated when he's at your place," growled Moody.

"I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house _"

"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley," Moody said.

"Anyway, that's not the point," Tonks said. "The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry _"

" _ and make no mistake, we'll hear about it," Lupin added.

"Yes, even if you won't let Harry use the fellytone _"

"Telephone," Hermione whispered to Mr. Weasley. Now she knew where Ron had gotten that from.

"Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer to," Moody said.

"Are you threatening me, sir?"

This was the first person Hermione had heard stand up to Moody. Obviously, Mr. Dursley had no idea who he was talking to.

"Yes, I am."

"And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?" Mr. Dursley half-yelled.

"Yes," Hermione muttered under her breath. Ron turned to her and flashed her a quick grin. Her stomach did a familiar bellyfip and she had to swallow a huge breath to regain her composure again.

"Well..." Moody said, pushing back his hat to reveal his magical eye. Mr. Dursley leapt backwards and bumped into a luggage trolley. Hermione let out a laugh, happy to see a small piece of justice finally being dished out to the man who tortured Harry for so many years. "Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley."

He then turned back to Harry. "So, Potter... give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along . . .." He briefly patted Harry's shoulder. "Bye, then, Potter."

"Take care, Harry. Keep in touch," Lupin said.

"Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can," Mrs. Weasley said, stepping up to him and hugging him

"We'll see you soon, mate" Ron said, shaking his hand.

Hermione came over to him too. "Really soon, Harry. We promise."

Harry nodded and smiled. He raised his hand in farewell to them and walked out of the station. The Dursleys hurried after them, clearly not wanting to give the group of wizards behind him a chance to complain. Hermione felt better, knowing at least that the time he spent at the Dursleys wouldn't be a miserable one.

Hermione now said her own good-byes to everyone. She knew she would see them very soon, but she still got a little teary at having to leave them. Hermione felt ashamed, feeling closer to these people then she felt towards her own parents. Whenever it came time to leave them, she felt no qualms about it. Again, she was reminded of the ocean-wide gap that separated her from her parents. All of these thoughts combined made a tear fall from her eyes. She felt positively stupid crying, even more so for doing it in a train station. She brushed her hand to her cheek briefly, to make it seem like she had an itch. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice.

"Bye, Mione."

Hermione whipped around and came face to face (more like face to chest) with Ron. "Oh, bye Ron. I'll see you soon, right?" Hermione knew she would but for some reason, she needed confirmation.

Ron's brow wrinkled slightly in confusion. "Of course, why wouldn't you?"

Hermione wanted to roll her eyes and say: "Well, there is that thing called death that's constantly hanging over our heads like a storm cloud." But she didn't. Instead, she said, "Oh, just wanted to be sure, that's all." If her voice sounded a little high, Ron didn't seem to notice.

"Hermione, are you ready to go?" her mum asked.

"Yes, Mum. I'll be right there."

"Okay. Your dad and I will start taking your stuff out to the car."

Hermione nodded. "You should probably go," Ron said. "I'll owl you soon about you coming over."

Hermione fidgeted slightly. "Well... uh... actually..." she stammered. "I think maybe I should spend more time with my parents. Because they miss me and I haven't really spent much time with them in a while and they might want to go on holiday and they'll be really disappointed if I don't go, though I'm not sure if they do it's just that I _"

"Hermione! Just breathe, please!"

She did. She had just been rambling on and somewhere along the line she forgot to breathe.

"I understand, okay?" Ron said.

"You do?"

"Of course I do. What did you expect me to do, ban you from ever returning to the Burrow because you wanted to spend time with your family?"

Hermione smirked. "Well actually..."

"Hey! I'm not that bad. Besides, Mum wouldn't let me."

"True," she said and smiled. She was feeling better now. A good dose of Ron - ever the lighthearted one - was all she needed. "I'd better go. Try not to get in trouble."

"Thanks for having such tremendous faith in me, Hermione. Really, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I think we both know the answer to that," Hermione said. She walked away from him as he pondered her meaning. She laughed to herself. Just as she got to the entrance, she turned around and gave him a final wave. Ginny was standing next to him and they both waved at her.

It was finally time to make the long journey home.