Chapter 6: Home

It had started. The war. Sooner than expected, really.

Hermione clutched her beaded bag as she ran toward Harry and Ron. Wizards and witches all around were screaming, Disapparating. Hermione gave a tearful glance to Fleur. The wedding was in shambles and everything Fleur had wanted was shattered right before her.

Panic filled the air and Hermione knew that only she could make the decision of where to go: Ron and Harry's faces showed how clearly distraught they were. Grasping their hands in one of hers, she realised she had precisely one second to decide where to Disapparate to, or they'd all get Splinched. In that one second, Hermione Granger had a flashback.


Stop crying, stop it.

Hermione wondered how little it took to make her cry since the past month. She curled up into a ball in her bed, shivering. Looking around the room she grew up in, she wondered whether she'd live to see it again. Whether she'd see them again.

She steadied herself, wiped her tears and tied her hair into a loose ponytail as her eyes searched for her wand. Spotting it at the foot of the bed, she got up and did what she had to do.

Mrs. Granger heard her daughter come down the stairs and smiled in worry.

"Do you feel better now?"

Hermione didn't reply. Instead, she saw her mother's eyes widen in shock as Hermione held her at a distance, her wand held up threateningly.

Hearing the commotion, Dr. Granger ran from his study to the living room. He nearly had a stroke at the sight of his wife collapsed by the kitchen floor. Hermione stood next to her, crying hysterically.

"Hermione, what—how did this happen? What's—wait. Why do you have your wand like that— oh no. Hermione, did you attack your mother?"

"N-no. Not really."

"What is that supposed to —"



"Where are we?" Harry asked.

Hermione wanted to cry again when she saw where they were. I'm stronger than that, she told herself. "Tottenham Court Road." The street where I grew up, she added in her head.

Notes from the Author:

I really wanted to add the whole parents' facet to the story, that must've been hard on Hermione and everyone seems to leave it largely disregarded. Tell me what you thought of it! (Draco'll be back next chapter, don't fret.)