Kindness and Limits

It had all taken place just a few months ago. Hermione had felt like she had lived two lifetimes just having to go through all the quests to find the Philosopher’s Stone. She rode the train back to London by herself. She read about how she and her friends were celebrated by many people. The golden trio is what they were being called – Harry, Ron, and herself. It made sense, considering they managed not only to protect the stone for further studies but to end once and for all the threat of the Dark Lord’s return.

She still had trouble coming to terms that she was a pivotal piece in relinquishing Voldemort. Most of the merit went to Harry and Ron – they didn’t end up in a hospital bed for almost a month after the entire ordeal. She had figured out all the riddles at the potion’s room and took a vial that allowed her to go back through the black flames and reach Dumbledore. She also managed to fix all the ailments Ron was struggling with at the chessboard. No mention was given of how she had also had to deal with some side effects of her potion – Lingering Lucidity. This potion heightened all of her senses, making her hyper-aware of small details – smells, sounds, magical energies, you name it. The overflow of information caused her to be overstimulated and went into a burnout that put her into a semi-conscious state until just three weeks before her second year at Hogwarts.

By the time she realized she only had two weeks to return and hadn’t fixed her schedule, studied for the first subjects, or even started to buy her supplies she was already home with her parents, living on an almost stand-by mode. It felt surreal that their lives just went on and that they could not fathom what she had to go through. She quickly went back into survival mode and went to the Diagonal Alley to get her supplies.

The buzzing and comings and goings of people mixed with the parchment paper smell made her feel safe and anxious about meeting her friends and going back together to school. She tried reaching them before, with no success. She had learned that Harry moved with the Weasleys at the Burrow after returning, not being able to share the same space with his family anymore. Focused on getting what she needed and maybe more she headed to Flourish and Blotts. Looking at how the tiny storefront unraveled into such a huge space filled with books made her feel so special and privileged to be able to be part of the wizard world.

The first owl she received after school arrived with her at her parent’s place. It was a letter from McGonagall. She was being offered a chance to have advanced classes, along with a mentorship with the professor herself. She could not stop smiling as she re-read the letter and its contents. It felt like good things were becoming her reality. Maybe helping the world to get rid of evil was worth it after all. She came downstairs and shared the news with her parents, who celebrated it with her.

“We always knew you would achieve whatever you set your mind to, Pumpkin!” Her mom said as they all hugged together.

“I am going to try calling Harry and Ron. I want to share the news and start to make plans for us to head to Hogwarts together! They are not going to believe it, I am sure.” Giving her mom and dad a kiss and another hug, she hurried towards the phone, dialing her friend’s number. After a few rings, someone picked up from the other side of the line.

“Hello?” A girl’s voice said.

“Hi! This is Hermione, I am looking for Ron or Harry, are they there?”

“Oh, hi Hermione, the boys told us about you. I’m Ginny, Ron’s sister. They’re not home right now, I think they went to another Golden Trio celebration party. Would you like to leave them a message?”

“A celebration for us, nice… Well, would you let them know that I am up for whichever plan they have for going to Hogwarts together? If they could mail me more information it would be great, thank you, Ginny, can’t wait to meet you in person.”

“Sure thing, bye!”

She waited for a few days and no owl came. She tried calling again sometimes, but they were never there or could talk at the moment. She was almost intimate with the entire Weasley family just from the brief interactions over the phone. Getting close to the departure day, she decided to call and leave a message saying she would be by the 9 3/4 platform at King’s Cross Station at 9 am, so they could get their choice of seating.

She could tell her parents were not happy with how they were treating her, but they had always been like that with other friends. They think she’s too good for them and they should treat her as she deserves to be treated or something like that. They didn’t understand all that had happened to them and how they bonded so fast and intensively. It’s as if they were family. Her mom kept insisting that friends don’t do that, or that they don’t kiss them one day and pretend nothing happened afterwards. She regretted instantly sharing how Ron had kissed her a few times when they were studying, but they never talked about it, and he was always spending time with her, they studied together all the time. She knew he was just shy and didn’t want to discuss those things now. Boys take longer to mature anyway. Besides, what did her mom know about them?

The first of September came faster than she was anticipating and with no answer from her friends, she headed to the station, waited until 10 am, and decided to go look for an empty cabin or somewhere with space for her to sit. As she walked the corridors and looked into the full cabins she started to hear familiar voices. She walked towards a cabin in which were Ron, Harry, Padma, and Parvati. They seemed to be having a lot of fun, from all the giggles the girls were giving. She knocked and opened the door.

“Hey guys!” She said as she looked around and found Ron’s arm around Padma’s shoulder. She felt a pang of pain but shoved it inside, she was supposed to be happy to be reunited with her friends. This was probably just a friendly way of holding someone. They didn’t have any sort of talk and she had no right to feel jealous, right?

“Oh, hi Hermione, nice to see you!” Harry said and got up to hug her, while Ron pretended she hadn’t walked in and kept talking to the girls.

“Hi Harry, you look great! I see living with the Weasleys has done wonders for you. So much has happened, I can’t wait to share it with you!”

“Sure, let’s go outside, it’s getting noisy inside here.” He pointed towards the door and she felt weird that Ron didn’t join them.

“So, how have you been Mione?” He was leaning on the wall and looking at the floor.

“Oh Harry, I will be able to take advanced classes and have a mentorship with Professor McGonagall! I am head over heels. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I will be super busy, sure, but think of all the opportunities this will bring me!” She was speaking with such enthusiasm that he couldn’t help but look at her with a warm smile.

“That is great Mione, I think you’ll do great! Can’t wait for us to celebrate and catch up. I think I should go back, are you in a faraway cabin?” She realized they did not save a seat for her.

“Oh, um… Yeah, I got in early, so, yeah, I’m more towards the front.” She said, trying to hide her bag behind her.

“Nice. See you later at the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony for the new first years, right?”

“Um… Yeah, sure. Until later.” As she was saying that he was already entering the cabin again and she was left to find another cabin to sit at.

Tears began to prickle her eyes, but she managed to walk without dropping them. Roaming through the corridors it seemed like all of the cabins were already full. As she was about to give up a door opened up to her right and Draco Malfoy came out, bumping right into her. He was sharing the space with Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott.

“Sorry, Granger. My bad.”

She was expecting him to be condescending or frankly, a prick, not polite. She kept looking around and checking herself to see if no pranks were being pulled on her, but everything seemed fine. She looked back at Malfoy and he was blushing a bit.

“Oh, it’s fine Malfoy. No harm done, I guess.”

He looked at her and noticed her bag, raising an eyebrow,

“Are you not in the golden cabin?”

“Wha- You mean Ron and Harry’s? No, they ended up sharing it with other friends.”

“Well, we have a spot free if you’re still looking.”

“And you wouldn’t mind if I joined you?”

“Not at all. It would be my pleasure.”

He got her bag and put it in the overhead compartment. She got in and waved shyly at the other people.

“Um… Hi guys”

“Oh my! Hermione! Sit, please, tell me more about you. I am very sorry for before. We were under strict vigilance from our parents and… You know who. I am so relieved we are now free, thank you, so much.” Pansy said taking her hand and pulling her to be seated next to her.

This was very unexpected, so she just sat with her jaw open. Pansy continued to carry the conversation by herself while Nott chuckled while pretending to read a book – a muggle book “Pride and Prejudice”, one of her favorites. It felt as if she had been their friend for a while with how welcomed she was. It had an easy feeling, talking to these Slytherins. It was also very natural how they acted now, with a relaxed vibe that was not visible before. She had read that many of the former Death Eaters were doing rehabilitation therapy and that their families were also required to participate. Could this be the reason behind all of this change? Was what Pansy said true? Draco had left the cabin and when he came back he was bearing many chocolate frogs, one for each of them. She ate hers and felt it warm her entire being and she just smiled while devouring it. Time flew by as they rode towards Hogwarts, and before they noticed, the train had arrived.

As she got up and started to move towards her bag, Draco got to it first and started to carry it with his, as Nott did with Pansy’s.

“I can carry it myself, Malfoy, you don’t have to worry. Thank you, though.”

“As if. What kind of gentleman would I be if I let you carry this weight by yourself? Besides, we just have to walk for a little while until we can put things in the carriages.”

She blushed, taken by surprise by the kind action, but let him take her things. This was the first time anyone besides her dad did that for her. It felt as if she was burdening him, but he looked so… Nonchalant about it. Pansy took her arms into hers and kept walking and talking about things, how the carriages were amazing – her mother had told her all about it, how people always assumed she would date Draco – she did not see him as anything other than a brother, how she always envied Hermione’s school performance, how she was excited about Hermione’s advanced classes – even though she would have to have Malfoy and Nott in her classes, among other subjects. All this attention made her feel raw, in a way. Pansy would not stop sharing, but she inquired a lot of things about her as well - with genuine interest, she sounded as if she was trying to get to know who she was, not who the female third of the golden trio was. Was this what female friendship was like? Probably, it was different with Harry and Ron since they were boys, she guessed. The four of them talked on their ride toward Hogwarts, although most of the talking was made by the raven Slytherin girl.

She was the last one to get out of the carriage – the boys had made sure the girls were last, so they could help them down the steps if necessary. As she was going down the last step, her foot lost its ground and in an instant, Malfoy was holding her steadily by the arm and her waist.

“Are you alright?” He asked as he helped her down the last step.

“Yeah, I’m just clumsy sometimes.”

“You should be more careful, Granger. You wouldn’t want your mentorship to start late just because you had to go to the infirmary, now, would you?”

“I would not. You are correct. Thank you again.”

“Anytime.”

She blushed and hurried towards Pansy and Nott, followed by a chuckling Draco.