Hermione woke up the next morning, the thoughts of the previous day still lingering in her mind. Why does Ron have to be this way? Why can’t life always end happy? She spent several minutes going over all of these questions, and realizing that the answers may not be pleasant ones. I don’t think the pain will ever end, she told herself. She rested her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, deep in thought.
All of a sudden, she heard the click of her front door, footsteps, then a huge crash. Someone, who’s voice sounded very familiar, yelled, “Sorry!” The footsteps moved throughout the house, obviously searching for something or someone. The voice soon yelled who it was looking for, “Hermione? Are you here?” The footsteps came to Hermione’s bedroom and entered. Hermione opened her eyes to see Tonks standing by her bedside table. Today she fashioned short, spiked, blue and pink hair, a button nose, thin eyebrows, and a tiny mouth.
“Hello, Hermione!” Tonks said happily, sitting on the bed next to Hermione. “Why are you still in bed? Is everything okay?”
“Er, well, I’m fine…” Hermione answered. To herself she added, “As fine as I can be…”
“What was that last bit?” questioned Tonks curiously.
“Well, not everything is great right now, Tonks…” Hermione said, not able or wanting to explain why things were this way.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, it’s just Ron…he’s been a real git lately,” she sighed and walked over to her window. “At my surprise party, he gave me this gorgeous locket, with pictures of us in it, and when I go and show my gratitude, he says it was all a joke…”
“Hermione, I’m sorry,” voiced Tonks sincerely, as she rested her head on the bed’s headboard.
“Yeah, and I really love him, too. I think that’s the thing that makes it ten times worse,” Hermione said, as she watched a bird fly to its nest.
“You should do something Hermione, tell him how you feel,” suggested Tonks.
“That’s what I tried to do…but well, it backfired in my face…”
“Try again,” said a serious Tonks.
“I’m sure he already knows that I love him, he just hates me,” muttered Hermione, familiar tears beckoning to come out.
“Ron does not hate you.”
“And how would you know that?”
“I heard Ron talking about you one day. He didn’t think I heard him, but I did. I was at his shop one day, looking for a new broomstick, because I just got a raise at the Ministry, and my broom was ancient, and I heard him talking to Harry about the locket, and how much it meant to him.”
Hermione was shocked. She was lost. She was confused. She had no idea where to go or what to do. She needed help. Tonks was the only one she could really trust with the information, so Hermione decided to ask her for help.
“Tonks, what should I do? I’m so confused, so lost, so shocked, yet happy, and relieved, and impatient…” She took a deep breath and finished her sentence with, “I need help,” before a huge sigh.
“Personally, if you want to know my opinion…” Tonks began, as they both made their way to the kitchen.
“Yeah I really think I do…”
“I think you should just wait it out,” finished Tonks, as Hermione started the fireplace with a careless flick of her wand, and then started making tea.
“Wait it out?” Hermione asked concerned.
“Yeah…Just let Ron come to you.”
<
“I’ll go wonkers if I have to wait for him though,” Hermione thought out loud, as she almost spilled the entire kettle of tea.
“Just keep yourself busy, and you’ll be alright,” answered Tonks calmly. As Hermione passed her a cup of tea, she voiced, “Thanks.”
Hermione drank some of her tea, which calmed her down, and she said, “Alright, I suppose I can do that.”
“Good, good. Do you want to go into work with me?” Tonks asked. “I need to do a few things and I could use your help.”
“Sure,” Hermione said, “It’ll keep me busy.”
“I mean, I know you had a nice long weekend off from work, but I think it’s time to go back to work.”
“I know, your right.”
They washed the teacups and put them away. They decided to Apparate to the Ministry today, so with a small crack from Hermione and a small pop from Tonks, they were gone.
They appeared at the Ministry’s Apparition Point, and went to the Auror headquarters on Level Two, using the lift.
“There are some things I need to discuss with you, but I can’t do it here. We don’t want uninvited listeners,” Tonks whispered as two tall strange-looking men stepped onto the lift carrying a large box that rattled.
After what seemed like a terribly long walk, they had made it to the Auror Headquarters. Hermione looked at the place that seemed more of a home then her own house, and smiled. Papers were all over the ground and flying in the air. Someone had a radio that was on the Wizarding Wireless Network (and at the moment it was playing a new song from the Weird Sisters). Huge stacks of papers lined every desk that Tonks and Hermione passed by, until they got to their own desks, where there was only one small stack of papers on each desk. Hermione pulled her chair up to Tonks’ desk.
“Alright, now, what I was going to say, was, that…” She stopped, and then said, “Hello, Harry. Yes, you can listen in, too.”
Harry grinned, said, “It looked as though you two were talking about something important, so I thought I’d try and find out what it was.”
Tonks and Hermione smiled. Tonks continued, “So anyways, my cousin Celeste, who works for Ron, said that The Weasleys’ are organizing a memorial service for Ginny on Saturday.”
Hermione heard Ron’s name and she all of a sudden had tears in her eyes and a throbbing, consistent pain in her heart.
“I already knew about that!” Harry exclaimed. “Why couldn’t you two have been talking about something I wouldn’t have known about!”
All three of them laughed. Hermione’s sadness went away. Tonks added, “There’s one more thing.”
“Yeah?” Harry said.
“What is it?” Hermione asked.
“Well, I heard that it was Ron’s idea,” Tonks said quietly, staring at her fingernails, “and that he is organizing most of it.”
“He never told me anything about that part,” Harry admitted, “But he doesn’t seem to tell me all that much…”
Hermione mumbled something about Harry knowing about the locket, but was silenced when Tonks gave her a don’t-talk-about-that look.
There was another silence. Hermione was again thinking about Ron. Harry knew this, too. He knew she missed him, and soon, she wouldn’t have to.
“I think I want to go,” Hermione suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.
“I think I want to go, too,” Harry answered, and Tonks nodded in agreement.
Harry decided to go get a cup of coffee and some bread and marmalade. He was just about to take a sip when an owl came swooping in and knocked the mug out of Harry’s hand and all over his shirt and the floor.
Hermione ignored the distraction of the owl. I never get letters at work, she thought. The owl had found who it was looking for, and it landed on Hermione’s desk with a crash. The owl stood up, and held out its foot to reveal a letter. Hermione took it from the owl, broke off a piece of the bread that Harry was eating (which got her a murderous look from Harry), fed it to the owl, and watched it fly away.
She unfolded the letter frantically and read:
My Dearest Hermione Granger,
I have admired you from not so afar,
To me you’re as phenomenal as the stars.
To the depths of my soul I truly love you,
And I hope you feel the same way that I do.
A Loving Friend
Hermione stared at the letter in disbelief and shock. Who the bloody hell sent this? she thought, I bet it was a joke…On the other hand, it was pretty thoughtful and it seemed sincere. Hermione get a hold of yourself, it was just some random person saying, “I love you.” Don’t over exaggerate, you might get your hopes up.
Hermione could not help but read the letter over and over, to try and figure out who it was, even though she knew her chances of finding out were futile. She sighed and returned to the work that she was supposed to be doing.
Harry had noticed her looking at the letter often throughout the rest of the day. He knew exactly who it came from, but the time to reveal the secret admirer was not just then.
A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Chapter Seven is going to take a little while longer...I need to fix it to my liking. I have it written, I just don't think it's quite good enough. Alright, enough rambling. Chapter Seven will have what happens right after Hermione's and Harry's days at work. Ron is involved as well. Thanks to all my reviewers!! Especially my consistent ones!!!