Better Man

A Reunion in Diagon Alley

Hermione took a sip of her cappuccino and idly turned the page of the monstrous book she had propped up on the table. The sun was beating down on her, her skin a summery mixture of freckles and bronze tones. She pushed back a stray curl that had fallen from her ponytail with one hand, her fingertips dancing over the corner of the page as her dark eyes finished the last sentence. She closed the book and picked up her drink, quickly draining it as she glanced down Diagon Alley, awaiting the arrival of her best friend Ginny Weasley.

In the distance, she saw a head of scarlet hair bobbing and weaving its way through the crowd. Running alongside her was a girl with dirty blonde hair and some sort of hat-tiara combination on her head. Hermione raised a hand to the girls and they both rushed over, the three girls exchanging hugs.

"Hermione! How are you? I haven't seen you in weeks!" Ginny exclaimed, holding her best friend tighter than probably necessary.

"I missed you guys so much," Hermione replied, hugging her back with just as much, if not more, enthusiasm. Hermione and Luna exchanged hugs and they all set off down the cobblestoned streets of Diagon Alley.

"Ginny said that you went to Australia," Luna enquired. Hermione nodded, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah, I had to find my parents again. They've been travelling all around the country so it took a little while to find them. They were staying in a small coastal town in Western Australia."

"I assume you gave them their memories back?" Ginny craning her neck to see around Luna's multicoloured headpiece.

"Obviously. I spent a bit of time catching them up on everything that's happened..." Hermione trailed off, her heart hurting as she thought about the battle and everyone they lost. She glanced at Ginny, who was smiling in spite of the pain threatening to spill from her brown eyes.

Fred's death had been particularly hard on the Weasleys. Before she left to search for her parents, Hermione had stayed at The Burrow. For a house with so many people in it, it was dead silent most of the time. Mrs Weasley was the one to frequently break that silence in the form of hidden sniffles or all out hysterics. No one knew what to do when she got like this, all of them alternating between awkward patting and heartfelt embracing. It was difficult for them all to keep it together but they tried their best for Mrs Weasley and George's sakes.

George was another matter entirely. He no longer cried. He would often spend his time just staring blankly. He barely ate and only put up a front around his mother so as not to worry her. Hermione remembered a few weeks ago when the whole house had woken up to every mirror in the house smashed to pieces. Harry had been the one to notice the little cuts on George's knuckles. Not long after that, George began changing himself. He would dye his hair different colours, dress in different styles. It was like he was trying to run away from everything that reminded him of Fred. When Hermione last saw him, he had green hair and had taken to wearing luxurious dragon scale jackets with bright purple overalls.
"What do you think it will be like this year? I mean, so much has changed..." Ginny drifted off. Hermione knew exactly what she meant.
So many people died in the battle last year. Hermione remembered Colin Creevey, a boy who would forever be sixteen, immortalised in a battle he was far too young to fight in, let alone to die. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she remembered that her grade would be missing Lavender Brown as well. Even though Lav always got on her nerves, you couldn't share a dorm with someone for six years without caring for them a little bit. Hermione forced the memory of Lav's lifeless eyes to the back of her mind with the other people she didn't want to remember, nor forget.
"I expect there will be a lot less students this year," Luna responded to the previous question. Hermione nodded in agreement.
"I wouldn't be surprised if some parents kept their kids home regardless of whether it's safe now or not," Hermione trailed off, wondering how Dennis Creevey was coping with the loss of his brother. Would his muggle parents let him return to Hogwarts this year? Hermione wouldn't blame them for keeping him home.