Time in a bottle

Reflections

Hermione was beyond distracted, never before during a lesson at Hogwarts had she been so.  Lithe frame and flowing movements, a gracefulness  beyond her years.  Supple flesh, kind soulful eyes, and a thoughtful mind.  Hermione was entranced, the Professor's lessons couldn't hold a candle to the beauty seated at her right.  Everything, even down to the handwriting of the blonde witch was enticing. 

The brunette's passion for learning began at an early age, her parents would often marvel at the youngling's insatiable need to understand the world around her.  This desire to learn continued to encompass her fully when she attended Hogwarts.  Every year, bar none she would purchase the required reading material weeks before the start of term so she could read, highlight, outline, and practice every subject before she would show up at the enchanted castle.  Being a muggleborn witch made her feel behind her peers, she felt that she always had something to prove.  Her title as 'the brightest witch of her age' was one bestowed on her through her constant grit and determination. 

With this knowledge, the fact that she Hermione Jean Granger was daydreaming like a lovesick pre-teen schoolgirl was shocking to say the least. 

Her life in the last few years had changed drastically, so much so that she barely recognized herself.  She had killed several Death Eaters, she had committed murder...

She had seen many of her friends and those she considered family die.  Her parents...

She had been tortured nearly to the brink of insanity, both physically and mentally, wearing the permanent scars to prove it.  Her forearm bearing the damnable word 'mudblood' forever reminding her of the worst night of her life, and yet those icy blue eyes forever bored into hers.  Those eyes were what saved her from dropping off into the abyss of her unforgiving mind, of this she had no doubt.  How the look of her current timeline's crush saved her, when Narcissa knew that was all she could safely give and keep herself and her son alive.  Hermione would be forever grateful for the kindness shown from the complicated woman known as Narcissa Malfoy.

She had always known she was gay, but that date at the Yule Ball with Victor confirmed what she already knew.  Time on the run with the boys also gave her the chance to reflect upon her own life.  It wasn't widely known that Ron and Harry were together, but the boys were like her brothers and confided in her in all things.  She loved and supported them in ways she knew their families may not, they just might not understand.  Ron leaving them hurt Harry the most and she held him nightly until the stubborn boy returned, saving his love from a watery grave, wielding the Sword of Gryffindor like a returning white knight. 

She had confided in them about herself, but never let slip whom she was infatuated with.  The three fought against the greatest evil their world had ever known.  The weight of the world on their shoulders was heavy, Hermione had worked tirelessly, being the brains of the operation.  Especially after her torture, she worked through the pain, ignoring her own body's weakness and suffering, the stakes were too high to let personal physical shortcomings stop their quest.  Sometimes however, in the dark of night in that tent, she felt so...

alone...

.

.

.

'I know Professor Binns is boring, but he might at some point notice you daydreaming.   Now I do not care about house points per se, but let's say it would not be the best first impression Miss Mcgonagall.'  Narcissa softly spoke in Hermione's ear.  Her warm breath causing a shiver to go down her spine.

Hermione shook her head and cleared her throat.  'Oh, Ahem I, ah sorry, I was just...'

'Deep in thought, which is quite alright, you are a complicated young witch and everyone deserves their privacy.  I will not invade that privacy'. Narcissa laid a calming hand on Hermione's hand that was clutching her cracking quill tightly, causing her grip to loosen.