Treacherous | Hermione Granger Book II

|68| Chapter Sixty-Eight

S I X T Y  E I G H T 

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"Oh, I've been so worried!"

Saffron couldn't help but let out a squeak when she heard Hermione's voice for the first time in months. It felt very much so like an out of body experience when she saw Hermione rushing towards her, followed closely by Harry and Ron. Hermione had vanished from their lives for the past several months, so much so that it was normal for her not to be there. But now that she was, Saffron was overwhelmed with too many emotions to count. She merely stared up directly at Hermione with tears stinging her eyes.

"You've been worried?" Saffron scoffed with a chuckle. "It's only been a day, imagine how I've felt about you for months,"

"Harry and Ron told me what happened, how the three of you figured it all out," enthused Hermione, placing her hand into Saffron's and sitting in the seat that Rowan had occupied, who, alongside Maya and Rachel, had gone down to the Great Hall for breakfast. "That was so brave of you, so brave,"

Saffron shook her head from her position on the bed. "We only figured it out only because you figured it out for us,"

"But you actually acted on it, which is a lot more impressive than writing somethings down,"

"Well, all I did was get crushed by Lockhart's faulty spell, that's not very---"

"Okay, you both did great," Ron cut her off, seeing where the conversation was going. "Anyway, I thought you'd want to know that the exams have been called off,"

"Really?" replied Saffron in surprise.

"I know, I was upset about it too," said Hermione solemnly.

"Probably the biggest cheer I've ever heard, meaning everyone except Hermione," said Ron, sending a wink in Saffron's direction, amused at the girl's bemused look at Hermione. Saffron couldn't help but smile at both of them. The Hermione and Ron dynamic was always entertaining, as was Hermione's addiction to her studies, especially considering she literally hadn't been able to do any study for months but yet still wanted to do her exams.

"I'm sure Dumbledore let everybody know what you did, Harry," said Saffron, averting her attention onto Harry, who had been oddly quiet amongst the conversation. "What, did he give you a hundred points this time?"

"Two hundred," replied Harry quietly.

"Two hundred?" Saffron exclaimed loudly in return.

"All four of us got two hundred each," Ron informed her. "Us three for going into the Chamber, and Hermione for figuring it out. Oh, and a special services award to the school, like the one Riddle got,"

"Speaking of Riddle," Hermione turned to Harry suggestingly, and Saffron's eyes narrowed, looking to each of them individually.

"The story everyone knows isn't the full story isn't it?" Saffron suspected.

Harry shook his head and proceeded to account for his version of events. Essentially, Ginny had been possessed by Tom Riddle from within the diary, and not only that, Tom Riddle was Lord Voldemort. But Harry managed to kill that memory of him with a Basilisk fang. Riddle had been behind all the attacks and was trying to fulfil Salazar Slytherin's ancient desire of having a Muggleborn free school. 

Saffron couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. The fact that Ginny had been writing such raw and honest explanations of her life to such a monster was a terrifying fact. She couldn't even begin to fathom how much the girl had gone through over the past few months and how much she was going to go through in the aftermath.