It started as an ordinary morning, but soon enough, it would turn into morning Hermione would, unfortunately, never forget.
The last semester at Hogwarts had ended two weeks ago, and holidays had gone smoothly so far. The young witch was eating her customary late breakfast/early lunch no school meant sleeping in, an activity her parents indulged the first three weeks before pulling her out from bed at an earlier time.
It also helped that the same parents worked those three first weeks, so she wouldn't have to face her mom's raised eyebrow for not training and her dad's training too. When she headed downstairs at past eleven.
The TV was on, and she glanced at it just in time to see a new warning message concerning Sirius Black. The criminal was said to still be on the run.
Hermione never told her parents she had met him in person, and that he was in fact innocent, but she doubted they would understand. They would hear "criminal, daughter, alone" and probably, much to her horror, pull her back from Hogwarts. So she had kept this little detail from them, just like every other little mortal detail she didn't mention since she befriended Harry-trouble-magnet. Hermione loved her parents to death, but they were her parents.
And then, there was a special interruption about a car accident that had occurred barely earlier in the morning. Apparently, a drunk driver had slammed into another car, pushing it off the road and into a lamppost, killing himself and the passengers of the other vehicle. Hermione winced, switched channels and kept eating her biscuit. It wasn't that the news didn't upset her, but she figured she deserved a break from having to hear about danger and accidents. She had, after all, had to face a werewolf barely a month prior.
With breakfast done, Hermione dropped her dishes in the sink. She'd clean them later and returned to her bedroom, firmly deciding to read a book. She was still pondering on which one to choose wizard or muggle? Novel or else?- when the bell at the front door rang. With a heavy sigh, she returned downstairs, checked through the peephole and recognized Lucas Johnson.
Lucas Johnson was a lawyer and one of her father's acquaintances. They weren't exactly friends, but they knew each other well enough for him to join them for dinner once in a while. He was a polite and discreet man who always acted amiably with her, so she wasn't afraid to open the door to him.
Today though, he looked quite grim. And there were two policemen with him in the background. Hermione's heartbeat increased under the sudden worry.
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"Miss Granger," he greeted, and his voice was all too quiet and solemn.
"If you are looking for my parents, they are at work," Hermione said, hoping this wasn't about what she thought it'd be.
"I was looking for you, actually. There had been an accident earlier today," Johnson said
Her thoughts briefly remembered the two cars, but she brushed that thought away, it couldn't have been- "a drunk driver hit them on their way." Oh no.
