The Truth She Hides

Chapter II

~Hermione's POV~

“Ron!” Hermione cried happily, tackling the boy in a hug. “It’s good to see you again! Is Harry here yet?”

Ron shook his head, smiling. “Good to see you too! Moody and the others said Harry’d arrive later tonight… anyway, why’d you wait so long? You could have come over a lot sooner…” he pouted slightly, and Hermione laughed, walking up the stairs after Mrs. Weasley, so that she could put her bags down.

“Well, there was…” Hermione drifted off awkwardly. “well, no reason really.” She finished at last, not exactly sure how to tell Ron she’d spent her summer hanging out with an amnesiac muggle.

“Oh, okay. Well, I’m going back downstairs to grab some dinner before the meeting starts…” Ron muttered, walking off. Hermione nodded, then slipped into the room that Mrs. Weasley gestured to for her and Ginny to share.

“Thanks, Mrs. Weasley.” She said, nodding to the older woman as she dropped her suitcase off.

~Ed's POV~

The boy yawned as he dropped onto the bench, just finished with his exercises. “Hmm… Two days until Hermione leaves for… wherever her school is…” he muttered in his natural language as he stared up at the fading stars. “Perhaps I should ask Grace if they can give me a ride to King’s Cross… surprise her. What time did her ticket say… I think it was eleven. Perhaps…” the boy drifted off, chuckling evilly. Until a bird landed on his shoulder and decided that pecking on his cheek was good fun, that is.

“Vhat zhe hell?” he exclaimed, switching to English in irritation (the language irritated him, so he used it when he was irritated). The bird, no, owl, he recognized, hopped onto the back of the bench, and extended his leg. In the early morning light, the boy took a moment to notice the letter attached to its ankle. Rolling his eyes and wondering what kind of crazy person used an owl to deliver letters, he reached out and took the parchment (for it was indeed, very fine parchment) from the bird. As he opened it up, he nearly dropped it in surprise.

‘Hey John! (I’m just using ‘John’ because calling you ‘boy’ in a letter seems so… weird.) I didn’t write sooner because, well, I’ve had trouble telling my other friends about you. I have no idea how they’d react, so, I had to find a time to write the letter when no one was looking. Anyway, remember anything worthwhile yet? Oh and, sorry if the owl attacks you at all. It belongs to my friend Ronald, and is very hyper when it comes to new people. Have you read through the entire library yet? Haha, if you haven’t, I don’t expect it to take much longer.

Well, whatever. If you want to reply, just tell the owl to stick around, and he’ll wait for you. If not, he’ll leave eventually (unless he got attached to you, in which case Ron tells me you may have to fight him off).

Bye!

Hermione (not ‘herr’ you crazy German!)

The boy smirked as he idly shooed the bird away with one hand. After all, why bother replying when he could just drop in on her? Even if he had no clue what kind of platform 9¾ was, she had to enter the station from somewhere, right? Standing up, letter in hand, he decided to skip the library in favor of speaking to Grace and Robert about a ride to the station.

The boy stepped out of the car, [unknowingly] trademark red cloak draped idly over his shoulder, and a suitcase (with all his belongings, Hermione’s library card, and all the allowance the Seras’ gave him inside) clutched in his other hand.

“Zhank you.” He said, glancing back at the two people in the car. Grace smiled at him, and Robert merely nodded.

“Sorry you couldn’t stay with us longer… it was fun having you around.” The man said, looking straight at the kid.