Anchor and Rose | Dramione

Four.

Hermione knew it wasn't a good sign when she woke to an old grey bird tapping at the cracks on the window.

She quickly recognised it's old feathers to be Errol, the owl owned by the Weasley family. She cursed, lurching from her bed to grab the letter that was tied to the owl's leg.

She took a deep breath, trying to push away her headache before she peeled back the paper to read over the note. Whoever had written the note must have been incredibly shaky, because Hermione had to squint to make out the words.

Hermione.
I woke to find your cupboards stripped. And you, and your wand, missing. I don't know where the fuck you are Hermione. It is worrying me. It's really really worrying me.
I respect you, and i won't come looking for you, but I don't want to think the worst and that you've done something stupid again and i want to believe you're just clearing your head. Through i, we, beg you, please just come back. We need you here. We need you. Snape has decided to bring the Carrow Twins to become professors. They are hurting us Hermione. But then again, i don't want them to hurt you too. If you have found your way to Harry and Ron, tell them i tell them to stay safe and i love them both. If you can, tell me, us, you're safe. Just please, please don't be dead, and don't get yourself killed.
- Ginny, Seamus, Dean and Neville.

Hermione stopped reading it over and over and over again when the ink began to smudge from the tears falling against the parchment.

It was too much to decipher within a short span of time.

Carrow Twins, Ginny worrying that Hermione was dead, or worse, on a mission to get herself killed.

Hermione's stomach began to reek with guilt, because she couldn't sit and bear the thought of her best friends being hurt and tortured by the two of the most notoriously gruesome siblings to join the Death Eater army.

For a moment, she began to consider packing her bag and heading back to Hogwarts.

For a moment, she considered retreating from her plan to escape her life destined for death to comfort those who have comforted her so many times in the past.

But a knock at the door trapped her thoughts, drifting her back to reality, almost like a subtle reminder-You've made up your mind, you're doing this for yourself.

"Just one moment!"

And with that, she used her wand to conjure up a sheet of parchment and a quill, because her bag was underneath her bed and she's too exhausted to reach down to scoop it up.

Even the simplest magic made her bones hurt, and she found her wrist tingling with pain and the reminiscence of the spells for a few moments afterwards.

I am not dead.
I am not intending to be dead anytime soon.
Stay safe Ginny. Don't come looking for me. - Hermione.

Errol screeched when she attached the note to his leg with the same rope he arrived with. She looked down at the owl and frowned. "I don't know how you found me, but please don't lead them here."

Of course Errol did not reply. He simply shook the snowflakes from his wings and descended into the dark morning sky.

She stood for a moment, watching as the owl disappeared into the thick smog of snow that fell to the ground in great bundles of Ivory, coating the river in a soft acrimony.

She almost forgot someone was at the door until they knocked again. This time they knocked so loudly she dropped the quill she was still holding onto the floor, the black ink staining the wood like a bruise.