Black Goat's Nest

Ever since the day Harry had suddenly appeared in the great hall Hermione and Ron had made an agreement. No matter how long it took for Harry to wake up they would both check up on him every day before breakfast. 

Hermione, ever the early riser, usually went up first. That day was no exception as Hermione diverted her well worn, familiar morning routine with a trip up to the hospital ward. 

Despite her visit she didn’t actually expect Harry to be awake. Madame Pomfrey had given them a prognosis of at least a few more days before he woke up. That wasn’t the reason she froze in surprise when she saw him awake and reading though. 

When she walked into the room she felt like she’d walked straight into a painting. Rays of morning sun filtered through the window and onto snow white hair. The light drew attention to the slight smile on Harry’s face, something caught between fond nostalgia and thick melancholy. 

If she had a camera she would take a picture. She didn’t usually do much more than sketch while she was at Hogwarts, preferring to focus on school work and leave her artistic pursuits for summer, but this scene was making her want to paint. 

Then as quickly as the perfect scene came, it disappeared, shattered by Harry looking up to see who’d just walked into the room.

"Oh! Hermione?" Kaneki questioned. He hadn't seen his friends in so long that he wasn't quite sure what they looked like anymore. From the bushy brown hair though, it wasn't too hard to take a guess.

The words caused Hermione to unfreeze and suddenly she processed the fact that she was standing in front of someone she thought she'd lost forever.

"Harry, is it really you?" she asked. The idea that he was here, in front of her, and not six feet under seemed too good to be true.

Kaneki couldn't get over the way his skin crawled when people called him Harry but he chose to ignore it.

"Yeah, it is." he said with a soft smile.

"Merlin! I can't believe it. I'm so glad you're back!" Hermione said as she walked toward the bed.

"Honestly, I can't believe it either." he admitted with a soft chuckle.

"Oh I have so much to tell you, I don't even know where to start!" She said as she transfigured an armchair out of a peach.

"You're still great at magic, it seems." Kaneki remarked.

Hermione sighed “I’m really not that good. The chair wasn’t supposed to be fuzzy and it still has the original color of the peach when I was aiming for just white.” she pointed out.

Harry raised his eyebrows “Really? It’s better than anything I could make. Do the other students even know the spell yet?”

Hermione blushed in embarrassment “Point taken.”

Kaneki smiled, “Good! You need to be less harsh on yourself.”

She cleared her throat and tried to change the subject. "Anyway, what book are you reading?" 

"Ah this? It's one of my favorites, Monochrome Rainbows by Sen Takatsuki." 

"Oh! I've heard of her! Some of the muggle-born Ravenclaws have been talking about the recent english translation of her other book Black Goat's Egg! I haven't gotten around to reading it though." Hermione said.

“I would recommend both! I love all of her work. My all time favorite is Black Goat’s Egg. I’m a little disappointed with the English translation though. It’s still good but it loses some of the mystique of her writing style.”

“I’ve heard about the plot of Black Goat’s Egg, but what’s Monochrome Rainbows?”

“Ah! It’s one of her lesser known books, a collection of short stories.” She watched as his expression turned into something wistful. “It’s definitely not her best work but it’s still good. I’m probably biased though, this book is important to me.”

“Really? Why?” She asked.

“It’s how I met a little girl and her mother. She ended up becoming like a little sister to me, unfortunately her Mother passed soon after that in an- accident. I was there when it happened.” 

The expression when she walked into the room made more sense now. He was nostalgic about meeting someone important to him and sad from remembering the death of her mother.

“Well if I have some free time I’ll check it out.” Hermione said when the door opened to reveal fiery red hair and a generous smattering of freckles.

…

It was an understatement to say Ron was nervous. His best mate had come back from the dead, only to turn up so injured he was half dead. He'd just disappeared off the face of the earth sometime in the middle of summer, and while he desperately wanted them to get along the way they had in first year he was terrified that maybe they’d changed too much.

Ron took a deep breath before he pushed the door to the hospital ward open. His eyes were immediately met with two faces, the first one was Hermione's but the second one-. Even though he knew it was Harry he was caught off guard by how different he looked.

His cheeks were rounder and his vivid green eyes had turned calm grey. Most notably of all, his black hair was stark white.

Combined with the medical robes he wore and the pale hospital sheets he looked completely washed out. 

“Geez, did you stand in a blizzard too long or something? You’re completely white now!” He joked.

Kaneki smirked, “Actually it was a snow spirit. The only cure is true love I’m afraid.” He explained so solemnly that it became sarcastic. 

They all laughed at that and Ron was glad to see that he was worried over nothing. Even after years, Harry fit back into their group like he was never gone. 

He smiled, “Nice to have you back mate.”

Kaneki grinned back at him “Nice to be back!”

All of a sudden Hermione’s head snapped up to look at Kaneki, “Oh my god, you didn’t! Was that a ”Frozen” reference?!” 

“Hey! If Anna can get a cool highlight why can’t I get my whole head?” He retorted.

She cackled like a mad witch.

Ron tilted his head in confusion, “Frozen?” 

Hermione waved her hand in dismissal “It’s a muggle movie.”

“A what?”

“You don’t know what a movie is?” Kaneki asked. 

“No? Should I?”

“You should! This summer you're coming to my house, you need to experience muggle life! Wait till you find out about online gaming!” Hermione declared. 

Kaneki looked fondly at this, everything he’d thought he’d lost. He was genuinely happy to have this again. In the recesses of his mind though he felt something slimy and cold, something full of dread.

How long would this last?

For the moment though he pushed the thought down. He couldn’t falter right now, not in front of them where they would notice

“So how have things been here? What happened while I was gone?" he asked while Hermione made another chair for Ron.

"At first I assumed we kept running into Voldemort because you were the boy who lived but things were just as chaotic after you left." Ron said.

"Zero reprieve. We’ve run into Voldemort or his men every year so far!” Hermione added. 

…

"You got turned to stone!?" Harry asked Hermione worriedly.

"Yeah but I’m totally fine now! No lasting effects!" 

"And you were kidnapped by a serial killer only to find out the real serial killer was your pet rat!?" Harry asked Ron hysterically.

"Well when you phrase it like that it sounds really convoluted." Ron admitted.

Harry's brows furrowed in a way that clearly expressed his displeasure “It sounds like that because it is! Your pet rat! Honestly, it sounds like the plot to a bargain bin pulp novel.”

They'd fallen into small talk eventually, obviously trying to avoid the elephant in the room when the door opened to reveal Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore.