Their Return
It was dark. All Hermione could feel was indescribable pain. All she could do was beg for it to stop. She saw the dark room. The same dark room she had been seeing for over a year. All she saw were the same faces she saw every time she tried to go to bed. Bellatrix, Greyback, and Malfoy. No matter how many times she had this exact same nightmare, she couldn't bring herself to blame him. She saw the haunted look in his eyes. She saw how he didn't want to let her go through this. But most importantly, she saw how there was nothing he could do. She saw the tip of a knife being lowered when her screaming increased tenfold.
Hermione shot out of bed as she felt someone shaking her. She saw bright, red hair, striking blue eyes and an infinite amount of freckles were noticeable, even in the dark room. Ron. She suddenly remembered that she was at The Burrow. She was visiting because Molly insisted she be around friendly company when she found out about everything that went down during their stint on the run. She felt her cheeks go hot as she realized that her screaming probably woke up the entire house. She started to apologize when Ron wrapped her into a hug that reminded her of safe, warmth, comfort and friendship beyond compare. He said, "There's nothing to apologize for." They laid back onto the bed, as they were and went back into a much more peaceful sleep.
When Hermione woke up again, there was light streaming out of the windows. She didn't have nightmares again after Ron came into her room. She never did, when one of her siblings, Ron or Harry was with her. When they weren't however, they would be much much worse than they were last night. If anyone other than the people in the house had seen Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley entangled together the way they were, they would have thought they were dating and had romantic feelings toward each other. Rita Skeeter would have a field day. But both Hermione and Ron knew, that would never happen. Ron actually has had a partner for almost 4 years, that very few people knew about because they preferred to keep their relationship quiet. Even if he wasn't, they knew they didn't want a relationship, they never had.
(AN: The kiss in the Chamber of Secrets never happened in the fic)
Deep in her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed that she was staring (without meaning to) at Ron had before he went, "Hey." Hermione looked at him and said "Hey back." "What were you looking at at?", knowing full well that I was just thinking. Playing along, I said, "Oh just your handsome face. It's a shame you're with Alex, I would've picked you straight up otherwise." He grinned at our daily banter. It was always like this, with us. Contrary to popular belief, neither of us were salty about the other not wanting to date us. Since the moment we were old enough to understand the idea of a relationship, Ron, Harry and I knew we didn't want one with each other.
Ron left to his room and Hermione got dressed for breakfast. As she looked in the mirror, she noticed how much she had grown up over the last year. Her features had become more defined, with her hazel eyes becoming more mature, growing into her own body and the most noticeable, was that her hair wasn't as wild and Amazonian anymore. In fact, it had dissolved into much more soft curls and had started complimenting her face. Dear gods, she was becoming vain.
She shook out of reverie and went downstairs to the table and smelled what she could only describe as heaven. God bless Molly Weasley.
"Good Morning!"
"Good Morning dear! There are owls for all of you sitting on the table." She thanked the kind-hearted woman she considered her second mother and went to go look at what they owls were about.
She sat down and saw that the letter had a Hogwarts seal. It read as follows:
Dear Ms. Granger,
We are pleased to inform you that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is reopening. In light of the events from last year, we are inviting students whose last year of education at our institute was disrupted as eighth years. Term starts on the 1st of September. Please find enclosed all that you will need should you choose to accept. We await your reply.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress
She found the parchment about the resources she would need, but she also saw another sheet. She looked at it and saw that it was another letter, except it was a letter written personally by the Headmistress, instead of the standard one. She read the previous one again before she picked up the other. She was a creature of habit.
Dear Ms. Granger,
I hope this letter finds you well. I expect you've read the previous letter and you know that Hogwarts will be reopening. I am writing to you personally to once again urge you to return to the school. We are taking on many more new initiatives and would really like you to be a part of them. I understand that the school holds a lot of unfortunate memories for you, but I'm hoping you still remember the good ones and are willing to try and make some more. It might not be like you remember it, but I am trying my best to live up to the standard Headmaster Dumbledore left. I hope you genuinely consider attending.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Hermione was touched. She didn't miss the way the letters ended and was honored that Professor McGonagall wanted her to return quite so badly. She sat on the couch while debating the pros and cons in her head. She waited until the rest of the group arrived before she could make a proper decision.
Harry and Ron walked into the sitting room and saw the letter. They wordlessly sat down and read the letters when Hermione nodded at the owls. The three of them looked at each other and they knew the decision was unanimous. The Golden Trio would be returning to Hogwarts one last time.