Hero of the Story || James Potter x Hermione Granger Fanfiction

3 | it seems they have been chosen

iii.

it seems they have been chosen

(Say by Sleeping at Last)

__________

August 5, 1972

"Peter, knock it out," Hermione grumbled, noting with dismay that her brother perked up every time a noise that resembled tapping reached their ears.

"Why aren't you excited?" he shot back with a frown. "You're going to Hogwarts soon!"

"You weren't this excited last year," she murmured under her breath. Peter's face turned splotchy red and he scowled upon hearing her words.

Anya sauntered into their cosy kitchen, eyebrows raised upon noticing the glaring contest between her children. "What happened and who started it this time?" she asked with an exhausted sigh, placing the steaming plate of fried chicken in front of them at the table.

Peter's glare wavered, thoroughly distracted by the food, but he was able to say, "Hermione's being a berk."

"Peter! Language!" Anya hissed, now glaring down at her sheepish son. "Where did you learn that?"

Hermione snorted and helped herself to a large spoonful of mashed potato. "I'm sure it's from his friends, Mum," she pointed out. "They've been a bad influence on Petey here."

"No they haven't!" he retorted with frown.

The brunette quirked an eyebrow in his direction. "Professor McGonagall's letter of disappointment begged to differ," she quipped in return.

"That was just one time, seriously," Peter grumbled into his food, his cheeks now a darker shade of red.

Hermione secretly smiled, remembering the letter from the furious Head of Gryffindor House about her disappointment at the numerous pranks Peter and his friends had pulled throughout their first year, just for the fun of it. McGonagall also pointed out that Peter had gone through numerous detentions and lost a lot of points for their House because he'd been tagging along with Sirius, James, and Remus. Anya was surprisingly more amused than enraged, having worried herself sick over Peter's situation in Hogwarts after what had happened earlier that year. It placed her heart at ease that he had at least made friends with harmless, albeit rowdy, boys.

When loud tapping from their kitchen window caught their attention, Peter flinched and glared when Hermione snickered under her breath. But when the tapping persisted, Hermione's eyes widened and she glanced at the kitchen window. A handsome barn owl was patiently waiting, clutching what was obviously two Hogwarts letters in his beak.

"I'll get it!" Peter exclaimed, racing down from his chair towards the window. He pushed it open and the owl entered, landing gracefully beside Hermione's plate. While Peter brushed his feathers, Hermione caught the letters and fed the owl some treats, before he flew away once more.

Hermione passed Peter his own letter while she dumbly stared at her own—'Hermione Pettigrew' scrawled across the envelope. Although she had been through this once before, she still couldn't deny the giddiness she felt at being invited to Hogwarts to study.

"What are you waiting for?" Peter urged, his unopened letter still clutched in his hand. "Open it!"

"Honestly," Hermione said, laughing in spite of herself. "We all know what it says anyway."

But she opened it nonetheless, her smile growing wider as she read through the words Professor McGonagall had written on her Hogwarts acceptance letter.