One More Year

Chapter One

Hermione Granger sat on the edge of a tiny bed in a dingy hotel room rereading the same text book for the hundredth time. Sunlight streamed through the only window in the room, that happened to be coated in a layer of dust, illuminating her book. She had in fact read this book, The Journal of Highly Technical and Obscure Counter Curses, so many times that she had the entire book memorized, but she continued to pick up the book and turn to random pages and pour over it in case there was something she had missed. She had been doing this so often lately that it seemed she would pick this book up simply out of habit to keep herself busy. Her eyes glazed over the text as she flipped through the pages at random without absorbing any of the information.

She couldn't help that she was distracted. The last month and a half of her life, heck the last seven years of her life, had been nothing but chaotic. She was mentally exhausted. She just needed a break from everything. The bed let out a creak as she flopped herself backwards, her hair splaying out as she laid on the bed feeling utterly exhausted. She stared up at the ceiling tracing a brown water stain with her eyes. Her mind started to wander, threatening to start reliving the past couple of months, before she quickly pulled it back to the present and concentrated on the stain again. She could not afford to let herself become distracted by thinking about the past and all the pain that it involves.

She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard three sharp taps at the window. She quickly jumped up and rushed to the window to see two tawny owls hovering outside waiting to be let in. She tried to shimmy the window open but it was stuck from years of disuse. She struggled for a moment before mentally berating herself and finally pulled out her wand. She was clearly out of sorts today. She quickly murmured the appropriate spell and the owls flew into the room both dropping matching envelopes on the bed before flying off.

Hermione smiled. It had been a long time since she had really smiled. Her cheeks actually hurt from the unfamiliar action. She quickly tore open her envelope with the Hogwarts seal on it and hastily scanned the letter before rereading it a second time at a slower pace. Her heart was racing a mile a minute with excitement. They could go back and finish their last year of school. She nearly started dancing on the spot. The last time she felt this happy was when she realized Harry wasn't dead during the final battle at Hogwarts. Finally, something to look forward to. However, her elation was quickly replaced with anxiety. What if she couldn't find her parents by then. The school term started in two weeks! She had to find her parents first. That was the whole point of trapezing around Australia for the last few weeks. She had to find them. With a renewed sense of determination, she returned to her book and started pouring over it with an almost fanatical expression on her face.

She was so absorbed that she barely heard the door to her room open. "Have you been reading this whole time? Never mind, I know the answer to that," Ron joked. "I brought some food," he said unnecessarily holding up a bag that smelled delicious. He strode over to her and gently gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before starting to unpack their breakfast.

"Guess what?" Hermione asked barely containing her excitement.

Ron noticed her excited mood immediately. "What is it? You found a way to track your parents?"

"Uh... no," she amended hurriedly. "Your Hogwarts letter arrived!"

He looked confused and slowly started to pick up his letter "uh Hermione, we already missed our last year of Hogwarts. Don't you remember? Something about a dark lord and horcruxes?" a half-smile, that didn't reach his eyes, danced briefly across his face.

Hermione let out a tiny giggle, still wrapped up in the excitement that the letter brought. "How could I forget? But Professor McGonagall is the new headmistress and she's allowing all eighth years to return to complete their final year properly. It's all in the letter Ron. Isn't this fantastic?"

Ron fingered the letter and slowly opened it reading the contents. Hermione couldn't help herself, she walked up behind him to read the letter for the third time over his shoulder. She had already gotten through the letter a fourth time, he really was a slow reader, by the time he put the letter down.

He didn't look as excited as she expected. "What's wrong Ron?"

He glanced at her and mumbled "nothing." She gave him a stern look reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley. "Uh, it's just that we have to find your parents Hermione," he stammered.

She let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She had been disappointed with his lack of enthusiasm, it had put an immediate damper on her excitement. But that was of course a valid point that she had already thought of. "Of course, Ron. But we'll find them. You'll see. We should be out searching for them right now. Let's go!" She was feeling extremely motivated after receiving her letter. She couldn't stay in that room for another moment.

Ron looked longingly at the uneaten food. "For goodness sakes, take it with you!" she yelled at him.

He quickly replaced the contents in the bag and they hurriedly left their room together.