The Grey | Hermione Granger

|02| Chapter Two

T W O

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One week had passed since Maya had left for Hogwarts and during that week the three Mitchell siblings she had left in her wake had not heard from her. Saffron had never heard a silence so loud. It was deafening and distracted her from anything else. Rachel and Rowan constantly questioned what was taking so long and Rachel in particular had gone down a path of convincing herself that Maya had been kidnapped, held somewhere against her will unable to contact them. Although Saffron did not subscribe to that theory, she knew something must be up. 

This was out of character for Maya. Saffron experienced a whirlwind of emotions when it came to her sister leaving them. Delight, anticipation, sadness and possibly most of all envy. But she had managed to suppress those emotions and spend the days in the lead up to Maya's departure allowing herself to share in her sister's excitement. That's what made it sting more that her sister had not sent them an update immediately and that Saffron, who had taken on Maya's mantle of being the leader of their family now, could not express her dismay to the twins. She was not even two years old than them but she felt a lot older. She had to stay positive in order to help them stay positive. 

Therefore, as Saffron sat by the window in their shared bedroom tracing invisible patterns on the glass being taken aback by a tawny brown owl knocking against it, she felt utter relief. It had taken a week but finally Maya had responded. All Saffron could do was let out a sigh of relief as she informed her siblings that there was an owl outside their window, much to their delight. The two of them stood on either side of Saffron as she untied a rolled parchment from the owl's leg.

"It's her handwriting!" Rowan let out peering over Saffron's shoulder to get a closer look at the roll of parchment. "Definitely is!"

"Obviously," stated Rachel matter-of-factly. "Who else would be sending us anything?"

Saffron couldn't help but agree however she did not think it needed to be said. She straightened out the letter and look at both her siblings to let them know she would read it out to them:

Dear Saffron, Rachel and Rowan,

"Why am I always put last in everything?" Rowan interrupted Saffron, who glared at him. "Is it because I'm the boy? You three hate me for it and ms squirrel loves it, it's so annoy---"

"It's because you were born last!" Rachel almost yelled, causing Saffron to shush her. The last thing she needed was a visit from Squire at what must have been close to ten o'clock at night. "No one cares if you're a he or sh--"

"Just shut it both of you!" Saffron interjected firmly, throwing her hard caramel eyes from Rachel to Rowan, both of whom had moved to lie down on the bed that belonged to Maya when she was living there. "She's been gone for a week and hasn't said anything, we need to know why."

"I just--" Rowan started.

"Just let her read," Rachel cut him off, beckoning Saffron to move over to the bed. Saffron obliged and continued to read.

I know you're the three of you probably freaking out at the fact that almost a week has passed and that I haven't sent you guys anything, I AM SORRY. I can't even start to tell you how busy I've been, but I'm going to try my best. I left this space open for me to write this bit in, but anyway, I'll get to it and put you three out of your misery.

To say what Hogwarts is like (for you Rach) in one word, I would have to use manic, but in the best way possible. It all started on the train on the way there, as you know, I was petrified. I didn't know what to do, but luckily, other people didn't either, people are more similar to us than you would think!