The Order of the Phoenix - Harry Potter Male Reader Insert

30: Hermione's Confession

Hermione sagged to her knees, her face in her hands. She couldn't help the terrified tears that came streaking down her face, as though blistering her cold skin with their heat. Everything would be alright now. With Y/N in the Hogwarts grounds, he'd be able to conjure a Patronus to scare away the Dementor for good.

His absence left an empty crater inside her though. Why did he have to come up with such a dangerous plan? Why did he just happen to have a Portkey with him? Had he been anticipating an attack? Dangerous as his plan had been, he had executed it nearly perfectly. It was precisely the sort of messed up, well thought out plan that only he would come up with.

And why? Why had her home of all places been attacked?

She wiped away her tears and shakily got to her feet. She'd have to brave the wrath of telling her parents everything now. How could she have been so stupid to think that her parents wouldn't notice her scars? Her injuries? Her excuses? Her parents had known all along that she had been putting herself in danger, yet had remained silent about it out of respect for her privacy.

She felt a light brush against her leg. Looking down, she saw an icy white cate curling itself around at her feet, nuzzling her ankles. Coconut. Of course, Y/N hadn't been able to take his possessions back with him. All of his things were still here.

She crouched down and stroked Coconut's soft fur. It was pleasant at the touch, soothing her still frantically beating heart. Something in the cat's eyes told her that she couldn't stall this responsibility any longer. She straightened up again, her nose held high, and marched out of the room, down the stairs.

Entering the living room once again, she found that her mother had risen from her slumber, still quite pale in the face. Her father and Gramps were sitting with her at the dining table, talking to her in low whispers. Hermione could only assume that they were explaining the cause of her sudden collapse. Her mother was the first to notice Hermione standing by the doorway.

"Hermione dear," she said in a weak but caring tone. She eyed the tear streaks on her face with worry. "How are you feeling?"

Hermione bit her lip, fighting back a fresh set of tears. There was a horrid tension in the air, one her mother was desperately trying to break, but it was present nonetheless.

"Has Y/N taken that - that thing away?" her father asked.

Hermione nodded again, too anxious to speak.

"I think it's time we finally had a long-awaited talk, Hermione." said her father, his face hard and stern.

Hermione nodded. "I - I think so too."

As steadily as she could, she walked to the table and drew up a chair, sitting down with her hands clasped tightly together on her lap. She didn't have long to wait.

"I want you to be frank with us, Hermione." said her father. "We received a letter from the school when you were twelve that you'd been attacked by a troll. But after that, we never reviewed any sort of letters regarding you being in danger. Is the school hiding it from us? If so, what sort of school have I sent my daughter to, for them not to inform parents of student danger?"

Hermione swallowed several times to catch her voice, which seemed to be stuck in her throat. It was very difficult to hide things from your parents. It was even more difficult to finally tell them the truth.

"Hermione?" said her mother.

Hermione swallowed one final time. "W-when - when you two had learned that I'd been attacked by a mountain troll and nearly been killed, you were furious. You wanted to withdraw me from the school immediately, remember?"