Hp: Hermione and Darkness

After grabbing the jam at the market, Hermione and Tonks explored more before returning. The streets of Islington were starting to come alive, mostly with Arsenal fans getting ready for the game later that day. Hermione was sure her father was excited—Arsenal was one of his favourite football clubs.

Thinking about her father at that moment gave Hermione pause. She realised that she had not written to her parents once since arriving at Twelve Grimmauld Place. Guilt washed over her, as intense as the regret she felt that morning for missing Harry before he left for his hearing. She scolded herself silently. How could she manage her fifth year with O.W.L.s and all the other stressors at Hogwarts when she couldn't even handle simple tasks like writing to her parents to let them know she arrived safely or waking up a few minutes early to support her best friend?

Hermione's gait slowed as she internally criticised herself. She could feel a panic attack beginning but didn't do any of her usual steps to quell it because she thought she deserved to have one at this point.

"Hey, you alright?" Tonks asked, stopping to look at her with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You can't lie to an Auror," Tonks said with a knowing smile. "We always know. 'Constant vigilance' and all, yeah?"

Hermione allowed herself a small smile at Tonks's impersonation of Professor Moody. "I just got sad all of a sudden, that's all."

"What's wrong?"

"All of the Arsenal fans made me think of my dad. He's a big fan."

"Oh, is that the Muggle sport thing? What is it? Soccer?"

"Kind of," said Hermione with a giggle. "But we call it Football here."

"Ahh, right. Soccer is the American version," Tonks said with a grin. "Ya miss them, yeah?"

Hermione paused. "Kind of," she said. "It's complicated. But I just realised I haven't spoken to them all summer."

"Why don't you write them when we get back?" Tonks suggested.

"Yeah, great idea," Hermione said, humorlessly wishing it was that easy.

"I have some fun colour-changing parchment back in my bag at Headquarters you can use," Tonks offered.

Hermione pretended to be excited but knew there was no way she'd use that parchment in a letter to her parents. She suspected magic was even more of a taboo subject in the Granger house now that she had ignored them all summer.

When they returned to Twelve Grimmauld Place, Hermione watched as numbers Eleven and Thirteen stretched and pulled apart to reveal number Twelve. Magic was an amazing thing, her parents be damned.

 ...

When they returned, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George were finishing breakfast. They all wore expressions of jealousy that Hermione had been able to leave the house, even for just an hour. The absence of cleaning left everyone restless that morning, each struggling to find something to do with their free time.

Tonks did her best to entertain them, but their nervous energy was almost unbearable. Fred and George eventually disappeared to their room, Ron announced he was going to take a nap, Tonks and Ginny started a game of Exploding Snaps before Tonks had to head back to the Ministry, and Hermione joined Mrs Weasley in the kitchen to work on the Jammie Dodgers. She noticed Sirius was nowhere to be found.

As Hermione rolled out the dough, Mrs Weasley mixed new batches and started on lunch. They worked silently for a while, but Hermione couldn't shake what was on her mind. "Mrs Weasley," she began hesitantly, "would you help me write to my parents? I don't know what to say."

"I'm sure it will come to you," Mrs Weasley replied warmly, "but you can certainly run anything by me."

"I suppose inviting them here is out of the question," Hermione ventured.

Mrs Weasley's face softened with understanding. "I don't think that's wise for many reasons. But perhaps we can speak to the Order about accompanying you back to Lavenham for a visit before school starts?"

"No, that's alright," Hermione said quickly. "I was just wondering. But you're right – can you imagine them in this place?"

Mrs Weasley laughed. "Mrs Black would have a thing or two to say about that."

"Honestly, my parents visiting might finally convince Mrs Black to remove the Permanent Sticking Charm herself just to get away," Hermione joked.

"Well then, let me figure out how to get them here!" Mrs Weasley responded with a chuckle.

Just as they pulled the last batch of biscuits from the oven to cool before filling them with jam, Ron and Ginny returned to the kitchen. Hermione could tell they were just as anxious as she was.

"You're making Jammie Dodgers? Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, doing a silly little dance.

The joy of the Jammie Dodgers wore off quickly, however. Ron kept glancing at the large wall clock, his face contorting as he did the math in his head. Hermione knew he was calculating the time left until Harry's hearing ended.

....

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