Stronger Together

1- Back To the Burrow

Hermione's Room. 3 weeks of summer left.

Hermione's summer had been quite an eventful one. She had gone on holiday to Italy with her parents for most of it. They had been to Rome first on their trip. She got to see the Colosseum, a symbol of power and majesty to the Romans. It was gorgeous in her opinion, despite it's missing piece. Surprisingly, her parents and her were able to find a small hidden village in Rome filled with wizards and witches, with tons of wizard shops. She bought Harry his birthday gift there, which was a book on the history of Quidditch in Italy and some sweets too. She decided on buying something for Ron too. She got him a Chudley Cannons sweater with a wizard picture on the front, as it was his favorite team. They went to the Pantheon and many more landmarks before going to Venice. They took a ride through the Grand Canal, which had been absolutely gorgeous in Hermione's mind but of course she was more so focused on the history. Their last and final stop before returning home was Verona, famous for it being the setting of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. They went to an Opera in The Verona Arena. Arena di Verona. She had researched how the singers get their voice to that pitch, and it was very intriguing to see it live. It was nice spending that time with her parents after so much time away. It was perfect for Hermione but she knew her classmates wouldn't care to hear of it once she got back to school. Maybe it'd interest Harry or Ron.

Oh how she missed those boys. It was one of the reasons she couldn't wait for the start of term. The other being she couldn't wait to start learning and practicing her magic again. Her end of term exams could have been better, so she was going to strive to do better this year. The end of term was also the last time she had seen Harry or Ron. She had changed a lot since then, and they probably had too. She had grown a couple inches, though she'd probably still be shorter than the boys. There was bit more to look at on her front area. Her clothes fit nicely to her body now, and she didn't look so awkward. Her hair had grown to just past her shoulders, and it was less bushy and more curly now. The ringlets fell nicely and framed her face better. She'd never had many problems with her skin before, but it had definitely cleared up nicely. She actually looked like a girl.

While she was looking in the mirror, marveling at how much she'd changed this year, a cheery owl had tapped on her window. She opened the window and in came the chipper bird. It looped around her room, tweetings happily. Hermione laughed at Ron's new owl, Pigwidgeon. She caught Pig in her hands as he came to a slow for one second too long. Untying the letter from the bird, she walked over to her desk to read it.

Dear Hermione,

Hiya! It's been awhile hasn't it? Sorry I didn't write sooner, my summer has been crazy. How's your summer been? We visited Charlie in Romania at the dragon keep! We got to help with all the cool dragons, and we even saw some Chinese Fireballs hatch. I saw some pretty cool Horntails too, they're vicious! Charlie keeps saying there may be a surprise at Hogwarts this year, but he's probably lying. When does anything exciting happen there? Ha! The dragons are a lot of work though, don't think I'd ever do this in the future. All of the guys are really cool here, and most of them are a good laugh. Especially Charlie. It's been nice catching up with him. Anyway, I was writing to you to ask if you'd want to come stay at the Burrow the rest of the summer? Dad said he could get us all tickets to the World Cup. If you do say yes, Mum will have to take you to Diagon Alley to get all your school supplies. We already went last Saturday. Write back with your answer. Mum will be bummed if you say no.

Your friend,
Ron.

Hermione had been waiting for one of her best friends to write her. The only time she had written to either one of them was while she was in Italy. It was to Harry for his birthday. She did hope Harry was doing well, she had gotten a letter back of him thanking her but it was short and vague. Judging by the letter she just read, it sounds like Ron was doing perfectly fine. She thought about what she had just read and thought about what could be going on at Hogwarts this year.. Her letter said to bring a ball gown, which had been pretty odd...