Just a Kiss

Chapter 32

Warning: There is an anxiety attack in this chapter. Description of it is brief, mostly it's someone helping the person through it, but I want to have it known even still. I'll put a bolded marker at the beginning and end of the scene if you think it is something you ought to skip. 

Hermione had hoped for a few more days to readjust to being home before the papers found out, but a sneaky photographer had snapped a photo of her leaving Harry's house. By the very next morning, the entire wizarding community had been informed in some way or another about Hermione being alive. 

It takes until mid-afternoon for the owls to start flying in, carrying both letters and howlers. Rumors are circulating, and everyone wants an answer from her since their only other source is possibly a deranged criminal and has been missing just as long as Hermione has been. 

Some want to know the truth, others, the howlers usually, are filled with the excited voices of young witches and wizards welcoming her home and hoping that she feels better even though they don't really know what was wrong with her. 

It's nearing sunset when another howler arrives, and she automatically smiles, thinking it'll be from a joyous wizard or witch. When it bursts open though, a snarling voice fills the room. 

"You're a lying, pathetic child," the voice, spits. The envelop floats in front of Hermione, jagged strips of paper forming teeth and projecting very well what she imagines the person speaking looks like. "Ron has never done a thing wrong in his life," they continue. 

Hermione stumbles away, sucking in a sharp breath, and hits a wall. She's trapped with this vicious person's letter. Defeated by a talking piece of paper, how very true they are in calling her pathetic. 

"You're a disgusting slob for insinuating that he's ever done anything to hurt you. Both you and the Malfoy's deserve everything that's happened. Especially that rotten death eater boy. The world is better without him, and I wish that it had been Ron that had done it. If you weren't such a hag and didn't want the spotlight so much, then Ron wouldn't have had to run from all the lies you told the world." The letter swoops closer and Hermione flinches back, shaking as the words stab through her. "I wish you would have died. It's what you deserve after the way you've ruined Ron's life." 

It stops there, and the howler bursts into flames, showering her in a powdery ash. There is silence for a while as Hermione wonders if that had actually happened. Then she sinks to the floor and just sobs. 

~~~~~

Everything that she had always feared would happen when the world found out what sort of person Ronald is had just happened in the space of two minutes. Every word she had feared, every phrase that had given her nightmares, all spit out by a single person. It rips her open, leaving her bare and exposed. 

She gasps for air, feeling her chest constrict. Her vision blurs and narrows so that she can only really see what's directly around her. Distantly, she acknowledges that she knows exactly what is happening to her, but doesn't know what to do with the information. Her limbs feel too heavy to move and her thoughts feel like they're pushing through sludge in order to be understood. 

Somewhere, there is a roar of sound, though she might be mistaking it for the thunder pounding in her ears. Hands touch her shoulder and she jerks away, wondering if it might be the person who sent the letter, or Ron, or someone who's broken into her home to take her life just like she deserved when Ron-

"Hermione, I need you to focus on me, can you do that?" Someone speaks, and it isn't like the letter. It's softer, gentler. She forces herself to look up, not entirely seeing, but hoping it'll translate into the person knowing that she can understand that they're speaking to her "Good, good, you're doing very well," they coo.