Schoolbag in hand



She leaves home



In the early morning



Waving good-bye



With an absent-minded smile







“’Bye, Mum, ‘bye Dad!” thirteen-year-old Hermione Granger called from the steps of the Leaky Cauldron. It was a dingy, rather dodgy-looking pub in London, and Katherine Granger was not at all comfortable with the idea of leaving her daughter there alone.







“Are you sure you’ll be all right, dear?” Mrs. Granger asked worriedly “Perhaps I should meet these Weezlbly people…”







“It’s Weasley. I’ll be fine, Mum. Don’t worry. ‘Bye!” Hermione widened her brown eyes meaningfully.







“Oh, good-bye then, ‘Mione.”







Katherine’s daughter waved quickly before hurrying up the steps as though she couldn’t wait to leave her parents and rejoin the magical world she belonged to. Hermione never ceased to mystify Katherine. No matter how hard she tried, the two had never quite bonded.







I watch her go



With a surge of that well-known sadness



And I have to sit down for a while



The feeling that I’m losing her forever



And without really entering her world







Katherine knew her daughter would be back in a few months, but whenever Hermione went off to school, Mrs. Granger had the strangest feeling that she was never coming back. It was times like this when she felt guilty for not being the parent she should have been, for not trying hard enough to connect.







Still, it was not as though Hermione returned the effort. She was a witch. Her parents were dentists.







They had disappointed her.







I’m glad whenever I



Can share her laughter



That funny little girl







“Hermione!” Katherine called desperately.







“Yes?”







“You will write, won’t you?”







Hermione smiled. “Of course. I’ll write and tell you about all the times I’ve gotten Ronald and Harry out of trouble- and there will be many.” She laughed.







Katherine laughed too, not quite understanding the joke. Trying hard to remember who Ronald and Harry were, she took a mental snapshot of Hermione’s laughter, to remember that one warm moment next time she was trying to bridge the chasm.







Slipping through my fingers



All the time



I try to capture



Every minute



The feeling in it



Slipping through my fingers



All the time







“Mum?”







Katherine looked up at fourteen-year-old Hermione from the cookies she was baking. “Yes, dear?”







Hermione seemed terribly nervous. “I -I sort of have this… problem…”







Katherine couldn’t help but be surprised. Her extraordinary daughter, who went to Hogwarty School of Magic and had an amazing IQ, was asking for her advice? “What is it?” she said slowly







“You remember my friends Harry and Ron?”







Katherine nodded.







“Well, I think I kind of fancy Ron… a little bit.”







Mrs. Granger’s heart leapt. Boy trouble! Oh, how long she had been waiting for this day! She jumped up and hugged her daughter. “Oh, ‘Mione!”







“Mum!” Hermione said through gritted teeth. “This is serious! Let me finish!”







Katherine stepped back, pink-cheeked. Why did she always end up feeling like the child and not the mother? “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong,” she suggested cautiously.







“Well,” Hermione began, “you see, I like Ron, I think, sort of, but I don’t want to ruin everything - I mean, our friendship, and I don’t want Harry to be left out, and also, I went to the Yule Ball - that’s a dance - with another boy, and he wants me to be his girlfriend, and I guess I like him, no, I really like him, but if Ron does like me, which I’m not sure about, I don’t want to hurt his feelings, and also, Viktor lives in Bulgaria, so that’s really complicated too -”







For a moment, Katherine could only marvel at the normally articulate teen’s stuttering and the amazing length of her run-on sentence. Then -







“Can you help?” Hermione expectantly asked her mother.







Katherine stared helplessly. How could she help when she had barely understood? She was trapped. Hermione had come to her for help for the first time in years and she had no idea what to say.







“Er- could you repeat that, please?”







“Oh, forget it!” Hermione wheeled around and stormed up the stairs, brown hair lashing her burning cheeks. “I’m going to bed!”







Katherine willed herself not to cry, but she couldn’t help it. Tears splashed her cookie batter. She was sure she would never understand Hermione.







Do I really see what’s



In her mind



Each time I think



I’m close to knowing



She keeps on growing



Slipping through my fingers



All the time







“Hermione?” Katherine softly shook the fifteen-year-old girl awake. “If you’re leaving today, it’s time to get up.”







Hermione sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Morning, Mum. I’ll be…right down…” she said, suppressing a yawn.







“Okay, dear.” Mrs. Granger hurried off to prepare breakfast, feeling rather sad. This was supposed to be such a lovely family vacation for the three of them. But Hermione had decided that she didn’t like skiing, and was rushing off at six in the morning to join her friends. “Harry needs me,” she’d said. “But Hermione,” Katherine had wanted to cry, “we need you too!” She hadn’t, though. Her bold daughter would not have listened.







Katherine and Hermione didn’t speak much at breakfast, sleepily munching their burnt toast. Soon, the teenager had hugged her parents good-bye and “Chooed” … or something like that… to the Headquarters of the Order of the Pigeon… or something like that. Katherine sank into a kitchen chair. Again, tears were flowing down her cheeks. Her husband put a comforting arm around her.







“Shh…”







“Oh, John,” Mrs. Granger sobbed, “Why did she rush off like that?” Looking into his eyes, she added guiltily, “Why didn’t I talk to her at breakfast?”







Her and me



At the breakfast table



Barely awake I



Let precious time go by



Then when she’s gone



There’s that old melancholy feeling



And a sense of guilt



I can’t deny







Katherine remembered how she had planned wonderful vacations for the family of three. They all used to talk about getting away on a tour of the United States. Hermione had been so excited about seeing the Grand Canyon! Oh, Katherine had had dozens of outings in mind. She supposed they had actually gone on some of them, but after Hermione was whisked away to Hogwarts, no one had the time - or the will - for most of them. Why? When had they fallen apart?







What happened to the



Wonderful adventures



The places I had planned for us to go?



Well, some of that we did



But most we didn’t



And why I just don’t know







Katherine pushed her brown hair out of her eyes, scanning the platform for Hermione. Ah, there she was! Getting off the scarlet steam engine with two boys. She turned first to the one with black hair and glasses and hugged him, saying something Katherine couldn’t hear. She thought she saw tears in the boy’s emerald eyes.







Then Hermione turned to the redhead and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Katherine and John glanced at each other, gaping. What?!







“Mum! Dad!” Hermione ran toward them. She looked anxious. “Hi!”







“Hello, dear! How was term?”







“Actually… Er, could you come over here for a minute?” She led them toward a knot of very odd-looking people. Katherine had met Molly and Arthur Weasley before and was therefore not surprised by their worn wizard’s robes. What did shock her was the bubble-gum pink hair of a young witch at the back of the group, and an older man’s scars and madly spinning glass eye were positively frightening. The only ones who seemed relatively normal were Hermione’s two friends and a small red-haired girl who must have been Ron’s sister.







“Mum, Dad, this is Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, and Nymphadora Tonks. You remember the Weasleys and Harry?” said Hermione, pointing to each in turn.







“What’ve you told them, Ms. Granger?” Moody growled without saying hello.







“Well - not much -”







The man called Remus Lupin interrupted. “How much do you know about Lord Voldemort?”







Katherine stared speechlessly at Hermione for a moment before admitting, “Nothing.”







Molly Weasley sighed. “Then we have a lot of explaining to do.”







Schoolbag in hand



She leaves home



In the early morning



Waving good-bye



With an absent-minded smile…







…and this time, Katherine Granger might never see her daughter again.