New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|09| Chapter Nine

N I N E 

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Who that girl was, Saffron didn't feel the need to enquire to find out about for the time being. She had way more important things on her mind than who one of her mothers' friends were. Besides, there were probably many reasons as to why she hadn't heard of her before. She might have died during the war. She might only have been friends with the group for months, if not weeks. She could have been one of their cousins. The list went on and on. Saffron didn't allow her mind to dwell on the past, instead, she focussed on her present and that involved going outside with both Rachel and Rowan (Maya stayed inside to speak to the adults) to talk to Harry and Noah near the swing hanging off of a big beech tree.

She and Harry hadn't spoken since the end of the school year and they were certainly due a catch-up. Then, of course, she and Noah hadn't met. None of the Mitchells had any experience with him and if things had turned out differently, they could have grown up together. That first meeting might have ended up being an awkward one, but that was what it was going to take to develop a closeness between them.

Exchanging formalities was the most awkward of phases in their conversation that would go on to last for an hour, as they didn't know anything about one another barring their names and a bit of their background. Luckily, Harry was there to help break down the barriers between them.

"Have long have you been here for then?" Saffron was sat down on the grass next to Harry. The twins sat opposite them whilst Noah swung on the swing, listening. They had spent the past five minutes explaining what their Summer had been like, which was an awfully long time considering they had done next to nothing out of the normal.

"It's only been three days," Harry informed Saffron with a small smile. "It already feels like it's been longer though. I didn't really expect everything to turn out the way it has so quickly. Ron had talked about going to the cup together, but going with---" He paused, tentative to use the word he was about to use. He ultimately decided to go with it. "But going with family is much better, it feels right,"

"It does, doesn't it?" nodded Saffron pleasantly. Seeing Harry look so happy made her feel happy, as there had been many times over the past three years that she'd seen Harry at the lowest of lows. Now that he was out the other side of the lows, everything truly did feel right. "Let's just hope that Hogwarts doesn't mess it up for us,"

"It probably will," remarked Rowan darkly with a frown. "Terrible things always happen there. Mostly good things, but the terrible things happen at the end so that's what I remember the most,"

"It sounds crazy,"

It was the first time that Noah had actually gotten involved in the conversation by his own accord. The other times were only when they introduced each other and when Harry drove the conversation so that he had something to talk about. The thing was, Noah had very little to talk about that he felt the others would be able to relate to. His entire life had been spent how the Mitchells spent the first decade of theirs. In a bubble, isolated from the wizarding world at large and left with a loneliness that they did didn't even realise was there until they were taken away from the predicament. The mention of Hogwarts, however, left him curious and that curiosity was marked by him stopping swinging.

"It really is," Rachel sounded breathless, perplexed that Noah had stopped swinging and had willingly joined in on the conversation. It wasn't that they thought that he didn't want to or anything. They just knew that it was hard for someone who hadn't known four people who'd known each other for years now to suddenly integrate without being helped to do so. 

"That's sorta why I'm looking forward to going," Noah said to them matter-of-factly. "Crazy things have been the best things to happen to me. Having a dad was crazy, but it's a good kind of crazy,"

"Hogwarts is definitely the best kind of crazy," chuckled Saffron fondly. She wasn't certain as to whether or not Noah was going to be attending but the way he spoke about it made it seem as though he was. "Are you going to join this year then?"

Noah crinkled his nose and shook his head. "Mum won't let me. I've asked her before if I could go. She didn't think it was a good idea. Now that everything with my dad is sorted, I thought I would be okay to go. But mum thinks it's best that I do one more year of homeschooling and go next year. That way I'll get to know my dad a bit better,"

"That sounds good to me," Rowan smiled up at the boy who was evidently disappointed but understanding of why his acceptance to his Hogwarts letter was continued to be delayed. "You're not going to miss out on much, getting to do things with your parents will be so much better,"

"I guess," replied Noah in a small voice. "I'm excited to go and everything, but I don't think many other people will start four years in. Everyone will think I'm weird,"

"That's a good thing in Hogwarts," admitted Rachel assuringly. "Why would you want to be normal? That'd just be boring,"

"And compared to half the stuff that happens at Hogwarts, nobody would think you're weird," Harry added to Rowan with sincerity. "Saffron and I have almost died on several occasions over the past three years, and nobody looks at us any differently,"

Saffron knew for a fact that wasn't the truth, given the fact that many students had subscribed to the 'Harry Potter curse' theory, that suggested that the treacherous events that have occurred in Hogwarts over the past three years are because of him. But the fact that Harry was ignorant to all of that spoke to his point that Noah wouldn't have too much to worry about going to school next year. 

"I'll be the boy who's dad spent twelve years in Azkaban and who's mum was basically missing for all that time," said Noah bracingly, looking way into the future about how he would be perceived in Hogwarts. Suddenly, a look of shock came onto his face. In the midst of projecting his future fears out, he realised that the four people he was speaking to had situations worse than he had ever had. He made sure that they knew that he was aware of this.  "But I can't complain about it, not at all. I'm lucky that I'll get to spend the year with my parents. Really lucky,"

"It's okay to worry about Hogwarts," Saffron said to Noah firmly, not wanting him to think that his worries were invalid just because her family and Harry didn't have any parents and hadn't for over twelve years at this point. "We've all been there. But the lucky thing for you is that when you do come, you'll have us. It might take us a while but I really do think we're going to be like brothers and sisters, all of us. We were supposed to grow up together and now that we're able to, I definitely don't want us to waste it,"

"Thanks," Noah's hands were trembling as he held onto the ropes of the swing. "And you have us too, my mum and dad are serious about wanting all of us to stay here. If that's what you all want,"

"Oh, it's definitely what we all want," enthused Rachel dramatically. Her sentiment that followed was equally as dramatic. "Honestly, the only place that I can think of that could be worse than Squires is Azkaban, so we're very happy to be here,"

Rachel may have been exaggerating how bad Squires was but her point stood loud and clear. The Mitchell siblings were truly apprecaitive to move onto the next chapter of their life, regardless of whether or not they would have to endure a few more Summers of Squires. They were getting a glimpse, albeit a foggy one, of what their life would have looked like had their parents have made it long enough to be with them. That alone was more than they ever could have dreamed of even mere months ago and as Saffron said, they had no intention whatsoever of wasting the start of their new chapter in their extended family.