Running

Chapter 22

Emma and Daniel Granger were beginning to worry. Hermione hadn't left her room at all for the past two days. This wasn't completely out of character for her; often before she had left for Hogwarts she had spent whole weeks absorbing book after book, rarely leaving her room, and even then it would be for a glass of water. Still, she would be smiling and say her 'good mornings' and 'goodnights', but this... this was different.

When she had initially returned from her first year at Hogwarts, of course, they were glad to see her as they had missed her greatly; her room had seemed ominously empty for the past few months since Christmas and seeing their daughter again had been the main thing on their mind. The first day of her arrival she had been so bubbly, carrying that same energy that she'd surprisingly shown through Christmas. She'd spent most of her time with her parents, helping around the house as much as she could, listening to her father tell the same ridiculous stories of his own childhood, urging the two of them to play with her or even just spend time doing things she had previously found excessively dull. It seemed that spending just 9 months away from her parents had caused her to appreciate them all the more. But now she'd locked herself away.

Every time they came up to check on her she just appeared to be prodding at her watch, her books opened yet unread scattered across her desk. Her hair seemed to have been left untouched as the mane basically seemed to engulf her face and she didn't seem to be getting much sleep. The most conversation they had with her was the occasional yes or no in response to whether or not she was hungry.

Emma was carrying up a plate of toast and orange juice for Hermione's breakfast; it felt like serving a prison inmate though no one had locked her up but herself. It felt almost futile. The food tended to remain untouched and if this continued for much longer, she would have to find some way to intervene.

As she opened the door she was suddenly ambushed by her daughter running into her arms. "He did it! He's out!" Mrs Granger had no idea what had perked her daughter up so much but seeing her smile so much brought a smile to her own face, though she couldn't help but wonder what she'd meant.

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Harry felt pretty bad. He'd been so caught up in spending time with Sirius, helping him collect his few belongings, returning to Grimmauld Place, trying to catch up with his godfather as much as possible that he'd completely forgot to tell Hermione the results of the trial. Neither of them had bothered in a subscription to the Daily Prophet, who needs news about events you've already lived through? The fact that she had responded almost as soon as he told her the news immediately showed him that she'd been waiting to find out the outcome eagerly and not hearing anything must have worried her out of her wits.

He was currently sat in the room Sirius had provided for him. Fairly large and though rather dark, still a somewhat nice room to stay in. The first couple of days in Grimmauld Place had been spent tearing down curtains, silencing the painting of Sirius' mother and dusting... lots and lots of dusting. The house was cleaned surprisingly quickly and though reluctant, Kreacher had been the largest help in creating a liveable abode. The tension between Kreacher and Sirius was more than palpable but at the very least, Harry had managed to convince him to stop insulting the elf quite so often.

Though it had only been two days, the two of them were very comfortable with each other. Sirius was still adjusting to life outside of a cell but he was quickly getting used to a life of brighter lights and nicer foods, and Harry was glad to be spending time with him again.

Sirius had personally vowed to take custody of Harry and the Dursleys weren't complaining. Harry had refused to go and collect any of his belongings, pretty much everything had fit into his trunk for school and he really couldn't think of anything he'd miss. He had felt a slight pang of disappointment however. He had started to slowly rectify things with Petunia and Dudley in the previous timeline but it had been a long process and once he was 'dead' he had no idea what even happened to them. He wasn't sure if he could go through that again, especially not as an 'eleven-year-old'.