The Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) (Hermione x Male Reader)

Ch. 1: Start of Summer

I was in my room, reading, when suddenly, my owl, Grim, flew in through the window. I stroked the owl before taking the letter attached to its leg.

Y/N,

I can't wait to go with you when you see your grandparents in America! It'll be fun to experience another country. But also, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the shopping centre again soon? Tomorrow would probably be the best time.

Love,
Hermione

I immediately wrote a response letter back, telling her I couldn't wait, either, and I would definitely go tomorrow. I sent my letter with Grim to take to Hermione. It was currently June 28th, less than a week before the trip. I had also started taking boxing lessons. It taught me fighting technique and the importance of staying balanced, but also being light on your feet. The coach even talked about trying to get me signed up for a match eventually, as even though I had only been taking them for about two weeks, I was a fast learner, and he told me I had potential. My only real problem was getting the footwork down properly.

I had also been writing to Ron and Harry, but for some reason, Harry didn't write back. Knowing how the Dursleys were from what Harry had told me, this was worrying, but there wasn't really much I could do, so I just kept sending him letters, hoping to get one back. Hermione and I hadn't gotten the chance to hang out this summer yet ever since we left Hogwarts, so I was excited for tomorrow. I stretched a bit before walking downstairs to see my mom in the kitchen.

"Hey, mom. Do you mind if I go to the mall tomorrow with Hermione?" I asked as she turned to me.

"Not at all. Actually, I was about to ask you if you could see if she wanted to because tomorrow, your dad and I are gonna be busy with finalizing everything for the trip," my mom said.

"Oh, well, perfect then," I said with a little laugh.

"How is boxing training going?" she asked.

"Surprisingly well. The coach wants me to fight in matches whenever they have them again. The next one is right before I have to go back to Hogwarts," I said.

"You gonna try it?" she asked.

"I don't know yet. Maybe," I said. "I did explain to him that until I was eighteen, I'd have to only train during summer because I go to a 'boarding school', but he said that he could make that work. I'm just not sure if I really wanna try to make that something I put a lot of time into or try to make a career out of. For fun, though, maybe."

"Well, you have plenty of time to decide about careers and all that stuff. For now, though, just focus on being a kid and having fun," she said. "Oh, and also, this whole He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named thing, you still haven't told me exactly what happened."

"It was dangerous, but I'm fine. That's all you need to know," I said, definitely not wanting to give details for fear of my parents not wanting me to go back to Hogwarts, even though that was a perfectly valid reason for them to not want me to.

"Fine, fine. Don't tell me, then," she said. "But what's up with that Harry boy? You told me he hasn't been writing back to you."

"I know no more than you do. Honestly, I've been thinking about going and seeing him myself, but I don't know if that would be the greatest idea with how his aunt and uncle are," I said.

"Well, you let him know if he ever needs a place to stay to get away from them or anything, our door is always open," my mom said.

I smiled at this.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate hearing that. Which is actually something I was planning on talking to you and him about this summer. What if you adopted him?" I asked.

My mom stood there, seemingly in contemplation, but frowned a bit.

"You know, adoption is a long and hard process. Tons of paperwork involved and things like that. I definitely wouldn't be against the idea, I'd just need to know Harry's opinion and find out if his aunt and uncle would try to fight for him, so I'd know if we needed to save the money for court fees and everything," she said. "So, if we did, we'd have to be able to get in contact with them about the whole thing."

I nodded at this. My mom was the type who didn't dumb things down just because I was a kid. She was outright with everything, and I think that's why I was very mature for my age. I knew things most people my age would never even think about. But also, growing up in Columbus, I was, even though I was still very young, caught up in situations no kid should be in. It wasn't my parents fault, of course. They've tried their best to keep me away from the violence and gang wars and all that, but my friends in elementary were the ones who dragged me into a lot of those situations, and at nine years old, I was consistently getting in fights outside of school and was around more actual gangsters or wanna-be gangsters than I should've been around. Of course, being around any of those type of people as a kid at all is something no kid should be around, but seeing how prevalent that kind of stuff was around the area we lived, it wasn't much of a surprise. That's also why hip-hop and rap were one of my favorite genres. But I was definitely an outlier, as I was a studious person, but I still had that side to me because of the environment. I just didn't show it much since then.

After the conversation with my mom, I went back to my room to get ready to go to bed, so I could wake up early enough to be ready to go to the mall with Hermione. I quickly fell asleep, and in the morning, I woke up a little too early. Checking the time on my watch, it was 8:32 A.M. We weren't supposed to meet at the mall until 11. I rose out of bed and made my way downstairs, seeing that no one else was up yet. I decided to attempt to make pancakes, and the results were actually, surprisingly, not that bad, seeing as I had never cooked a day in my life. They also weren't great either, though. I ate them anyway, making a few extra for my parents before switching on the TV in the living room to pass the time.

At around 9:45, I heard my parents get up. They made their way to the living room and saw the pancakes sitting on the kitchen table.

"I see you decided to make breakfast," my mom said, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah. They're actually not terrible," I said. "But I don't think I'm gonna grow up to be a professional chef, though."

They laughed at this before eating the pancakes. More time passed, and eventually, it was time to go. We all got in the car and made our way to the mall. I smiled as I saw Hermione at the front entrance, waving, with a smile on her face.