Summer Relapses- Chapter One
Hermione stepped through Platform 9 ¾ on September first at 10:45am lugging a large and heavy trunk and a basket enclosing her feisty cat, Crookshanks. The day was cloudy and chilly; Hermione was bundled up in a warm brown sweater. After having someone assist her with her belongings she sat down in an empty compartment to wait for her beloved friends. To pass time by Hermione pulled out a textbook and began to read. She was just finishing a half-memorized passage whenever she was met by two familiar faces, one sporting inky hair the other scarlet.
"Hermione, we've been looking everywhere for you!" Ron said with a voice full of relief then quickly switching to concern he continued, "Why didn't you come this summer, I must have invited you twenty times, Mum and Dad were getting worried about you." Hermione dropped her head and muttered something about her Mum that none of them could hear. "Sorry, we didn't catch that, what did you say?" Hermione lifted her head and swallowed before taking a deep breath and repeating, "My mum died."
"Oh Hermione, I am so sorry," Harry said dropping next to her and putting his hand on her back rubbing slowly to comfort her. Ron paled and dropped to the seat across from the two. He couldn't believe that something like that would happen to Hermione, the girl he was crazy about, the girl that had risked all to help her friends. He looked up from the ground at his hurt friend and asked, "How?" That's all it took to get the dam to break and Hermione to burst into the tears she swore she wouldn't shed.
She never answered but instead held her face in her hands not wanting to let her friends see her in weakened state. After a few minutes of the two boys trying to bring comfort to the pained girl, Hermione leapt out of her seat to go to the bathroom, hoping no one would follow her.
Once she stepped out of the lavatory with her face washed Hermione headed to the prefect's compartment to give directions. Once entering the room she immediately noticed Ron, looking at her with concern, his eyes never once breaking the contact he had on her solemn face. "Finally decide to grace us with your presence, Granger? I was thinking that you must think that your tainted blood is too important for us, but that you had to at least make an appearance so we wouldn't think-" Malfoy was abruptly cut off by the connection of a pale fist to his esophagus. Ron was shouting obscenities at the flaxen haired boy with addition to the blows that he was delivering to his face. Ron wanted to cause Draco Malfoy as much pain as he could humanly possible in retaliation to the nasty things he was saying to Hermione.
A ravenclaw 6th year broke up the fight after recovering from the immediate actions that had taken place before his eyes. Once Ron was pulled away from Malfoy and was restrained Hermione looked at the golden haired boy. It looked as if the blow to his esophagus had ruptured it and it seemed that he was having trouble breathing. She ran out of the compartment and started to scream for the help of someone who could fix the problem.
The woman with the trolley of sweets was making her way down the train so Hermione called out to her. "Did I miss you, sweetie?" The trolley lady asked kindly. Hermione quickly replied, "No, there is an emergency in the prefect's compartment, help!" By this time she was almost panic-stricken with making sure that Malfoy, no matter how slimy he was, didn't die. Hermione knew a charm that could heal him herself, but she didn't want to risk doing it wrong and causing the situation to worsen. The squat food cart lady hustled as fast as her little legs would carry her down the passageway, nearly shoving Hermione from in front of the prefect's compartment. With one look at Malfoy the witch pulled out an unusually long wand, and with a flick of the wrist healed Malfoy's purple concave throat. The towheaded boy coughed a few times and glanced up, gratitude filling his silver eyes. Quickly they became expressionless as he muttered a soft "whatever" before storming out of the compartment. "Who in Dumbledore's name was responsible for that, was it you?" The squat lady snapped rounding on Ron, who very obviously was involved somehow, for his lip was cut and his cheek was rapidly swelling matching well with his purple eye. "Malfoy deserved it, honestly! He was making fun of Hermione and-" Ron was suddenly cut off by the voice of a second women. "Don't, Ron." Hermione was looking at the floor avoiding the many sets of eyes upon her emotionless face. Ron ceased to speak and the squat witch told him that he lost 20 points for Gryffindor already and to behave himself. Hermione slowly went around to all of the other prefects and told them quietly the passwords to their houses and made a short announcement about their duties, not reciting any of the motivational speech she had written early in the summer, hoping and dreaming she would get the role of Head Girl.
Hermione quietly left the room, hoping no one would pay any attention due to the bustling around. She set off toward the rear of the train, finally finding the only empty compartment. Hermione lied down on the green carpeted floor, in the fetal position, and cried. The beginning of the summer had been glorious, she was excited to be home and see her parents again, excited to be able to sleep in her bed and not wake up until noon (not that she slept in the much however), excited to see her muggle friends who were under the impression that Hermione went to an expensive boarding school in Norway, she was excited for the invite to go off to The Burrow and just have fun with her best friends.
All of that came crashing down however, and she accomplished hardly any of the things she was excited to be doing. Her mother was an alcoholic. They had kept that fact from her for the six years Hermione had been going to Hogwarts. That's when it had started, "out of worry for her little girl going to a mysterious boarding school", or at least that was what her father told her. They had hidden it so well because of the little time Hermione actually spent with her parents.
All of the sudden the door slid open, slowly, almost as if to ask permission. Hermione looked up and saw the faces of her two best friends. One looked with concern, and the other with empathy. The empathetic boy, Harry, sat on a seat whereas Ron lied down next to Hermione as she sobbed. He looked down at the pathetic sight in front of him and wrapped his arms around it. Ron then realized that this was the first time he had ever seen Hermione cry. He decided immediately that he didn't like it. She was such a wonderful person and everything had been going right in her life, then it all went to hell.
Hermione cried like she'd never cried before, she was shaking it hurt so badly. She wanted the pain to end; she wanted to forget it had all happened. Her hands that had once been covering her deep brown eyes had now moved to her head. She was digging her nails into her scalp, and she didn't even notice out of sheer lack of concentration on anything else but her mind. Ron noticed though and pulled her hands away and set them on his shoulders. He winced once or twice, due to the half-moon shaped cuts that were sure to be forming under his sweater, but he never let her know that he was making him uncomfortable. Harry sat in the seat and looked upon the scene on the floor below him. His best friend was comforting his other best friend in a way he didn't think Ron knew. Ron was always so awkward around other people in emotional settings like this. But it seemed that he knew exactly what he was doing so, in turn, Harry was now unsure of what to do.
A few minutes later Hermione peeled herself off of Ron and sat up against the wall, sniffling, and still crying slightly. Ron moved and sat next to her so she wouldn't feel alone. The remainder of the trip was sat in silence until Hermione looked at her watch and announced quietly that they should put their robes on, since they would be arriving shortly. She got up and went back to the restroom and rinsed her face, and then she headed back to their original compartment to get her robes.
Author's Note (A/N):
Hey, I'm Katie and it is a very emotional thing to lose a parent and this is also the first time that I've really made a story about it. I do know what I am talking about to an extent, however. My own mother died of alcohol poisoning two weeks before I turned eleven. Her funeral was the day before my brothers birthday (my dad had to leave ASAP for China on business) so it really affected all of us. I thought it might make a strong story, especially for Hermione's character, so here it is. Enjoy!