Harmione One Shots

| What Might Have Been pt. 2

Summary: Hermione can't stop thinking about the letter she got on the day that changed her life 7 years ago.

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Ice filled her veins as she read the letter he'd sent once more.

She'd lost count over the years of how many times she'd held the tear-stained parchment in her hands, struck dumb at thoughts of what might have been had she taken a different path.

The letter was an indelible mark on her mind and on her soul.

But now, years later, it was not worth ruminating on what might have been. Ruminating. That's the word the muggle therapist had used years ago to describe focusing on negative thoughts for no good reason.

A knock on her door startled her from the habit she'd been trying for years to break, and she hastily folded the letter before shrinking it down and returning it to the locket she'd been wearing around her neck for the last seven years.

"Hermione? Are you nearly ready, we're getting down to the wire out here." The kind voice through the door was music to her ears.

"Yes, daddy - I'll be out in a moment!" She called back with a smile.

It had taken them months to find and then mend what she'd done to her parents out of desperation, but in the end they were successful. There were a few hard years in the middle while her parents came to terms with what their daughter had done and why she'd done it, but with the help of her friends she'd gotten through to them and made them understand the reality of the danger she'd spared them.