Chapter One
Nineteen-year-old Hermione Granger woke up to feel her head pounding. Opening her eyes turned out to be a colossal mistake. She groaned, and shading her eyes with her hand she surveyed her room. Her usually immaculate Dorm Room at the London School of Economics loosely resembled a bombsite. Her shoes from the night before lay where she had presumable had kicked them the night before, one on her desk having knocked over a photograph frame, the other by the door. She stood up gingerly, resting a hand on her bookcase to steady herself as the room span slightly. She was still dressed in skintight indigo jeans and a revealing black top. She wished she could remember the latter part of their evening out the night before.
Jen had been depressed after Dan, a guy she'd met a few days ago had failed to call her as promised, and to get her friend out of the self-imposed funk, Hermione had suggested a girl's night out, though she had her own reasons to drown her sorrows that night…
Hermione got along surprisingly well with three out of the four girls in her suite, since coming to Muggle University three months previously Hermione had been able to relax slightly. Her History degree was enjoyable, but her timetable and workload weren't too strenuous and after years of focusing on Magic, and the impending threat of attacks from Voldemort, University was a bit like a holiday for her.
Stripping off her clothes she threw on a robe and padded quietly out to the communal bathroom and climbed into the shower, the cool water a shock to the system, but a welcome relief for her pounding head. Ten minutes later, Hermione felt vaguely human again and thankfully no longer smelt of stale smoke and liquor. Stopping in the kitchenette on the way back to her bedroom she poured herself a glass of ice-cold water and retreated to her room to find some painkillers.
She rarely used magic at University but she couldn't face the prospect of clearing up her room, so using the small key on her charm bracelet she unlocked the hidden box by her bed and withdrew her wand. With a few flicks of the wand her room was tidy, clean, and the smell of smoke was gone. Why she hadn't thought to break out her supply of sobriety potions she had no idea, she must have been pretty smashed. Pulling on a clean pair of jeans and an oversized orange t-shirt she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and grabbing a book she headed back out of her room.
An hour later as the painkillers kicked in Hermione sat drinking a cup of very sugary tea, reading her book as muffled noises from the room across from her own signified that Jen had returned to the world of the living. If Hermione had felt bad when she woke up she could only imagine what Jen would be feeling like as the resident lightweight. Hermione stood and quickly made a cup of coffee for her friend, and knocking lightly she entered the room and handed it to her closest friend in London. Jen smiled gratefully as she followed Hermione back to the sofa where they collapsed next to one another in silence.
"Any sign of Mel or Jackie this morning?" Jen asked after a few fortifying sips of coffee.
"No signs of life yet. But Mel wasn't really drinking last night, I have a vague memory of her saying she had an extra tutorial this morning that she couldn't miss." Hermione said, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the sofa cushions.
"I'm pretty sure we had a good time last night, judging by the fact I seem to have someone's phone number written up my arm…" Jen said with a raised eyebrow as she studied her arm.
"Well to be honest everything's a bit of a blur after we left 'The Roadhouse'." Hermione admitted.
"Oh…I'm remembering now…we ordered the pitchers of cocktails…Max was working and he gave us a discount…" Jen said slowly.
Hermione groaned.
"Lets blame Max then. I haven't been that drunk in at least a year." Hermione said rubbing her forehead.
"I'm pretty impressed actually Hermione. I've never seen you more than a little giggly. You must have gone all out last night, any special reason?" Jen asked her curiously.
"It was…well, it was the anniversary of an event in my life I'd rather forget." Hermione said softly.
Jen looked at her friend in concern.
"You want to talk about it?" She said putting an arm around Hermione's shoulders.
"Not today. The pain's still a bit raw." Hermione said in a voice only barely above a whisper, she could feel herself getting choked up and took a large gulp of tea and focused on pushing the thoughts from her mind. She would not think about Ginny today. She wouldn't dwell on the past. It had been two years now.
Hermione was grateful to whoever knocked on the door to the girl's suite at that moment as she stood and looked through the peephole. She smiled as she opened the door.
"Morning Max." She said greeting their neighbour from downstairs, and her other best friend in London. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
"I take it we're feeling a bit delicate this morning?" Max asked with a raised eyebrow. Hermione playfully swatted him on the arm as he took a seat on the sofa between the two girls.
"We're choosing not to remember the details and blame you for serving us right now Max, be warned." Jen said with a grimace.
"Well I've sent Tom out to get breakfast for us all if that helps?" He said with a grin.
"Max, all is forgiven. I may even name my first child after you. Bugger that, I might even have my first child with you if there are Hash Browns in that breakfast." Hermione said resting her head on his shoulder.
Max burst out laughing, as did Jen, both amused to see that Hermione's dry sense of humour wasn't dulled by the after effects of excess alcohol.
Max was still grinning at the two hung over girls when Tom and Jackie arrived carrying breakfast.
"What's Max grinning like an idiot about?" Jackie asked as she let herself into the suite.
"Morning Jack my sweet. I'm just relishing the fact that it isn't Hermione making fun of me for my drunken antics this morning, but the other way around for once. Oh, and she promised to have children with me which didn't hurt." He said getting up to help distribute breakfast onto plates as Tom laughed and Jackie winked at Hermione.
"How is it that you still look human this morning Jack?" Jen asked her friend.
"Ah, well that would be because though I drank almost as much as you two last night, I could still walk when we got home, you two on the other hand we're paralytic, and highly amusing." Jackie said with a grin as took a seat opposite the sofa.
Hermione inhaled the scent of the Hash Browns Max passed her and sighed with happiness.
"If these taste as good as they smell, I may even make that twins Max." She said with a grin, causing him to drop the fork he was holding, as she giggled at him.
"Glad to see you're back to normal this morning Hermione." Jackie said with a smile.
"In fact, I have a few questions for you about last night…"
"Oh God, what did I do or say?" Hermione said cringing nervously.
"Nothing too coherent so I wouldn't worry, though I am extremely curious about just who the mysterious Ash might be?" Jackie said watching her friend closely.
Hermione's face paled slightly, and she placed the fork she was holding back on her plate.
"Ash?" She asked quietly. "What did I say about him?"
"You were mumbling quite a bit by this point, but something about Owls, and telling him how you really felt." Jackie said, now very curious about who this guy was and why he was so important to their friend who never spoke of her love life.
"Oh Shit." Hermione said softly.
"Did I write any letters when I got home?" She asked cautiously as her four friends eyed her curiously.
"Well you scribbling away at your desk when I headed down to Tom's." Jackie said as Hermione put her head in her hands. She stood quickly and looked in the door of her bedroom, taking in several small details she had missed earlier that morning, the open window, the owl treat lying on the floor, and the pieces of paper littering her desk. She returned to the living room and sank back into her chair.
"I sent the letter." She said, and suddenly fragments of the night before came back to her and she groaned.
"Please tell me I addressed it wrong or something. He can't have gotten the letter." She muttered to herself.
Jen watched her friend worriedly.
"Um, Hermione, who's Ash, I don't remember you ever mentioning his name before."
"Oh, it's a nickname. He's…well its Harry, my best friend." She said with a groan.
"Oh god I'm such an idiot. I shouldn't have drunk so much." Jen took in what Hermione was telling and realised why her friend was so distressed. From what she could guess, Hermione had sent a letter telling her best friend that she had feelings for him. Jen had guessed Hermione was in love with the mysterious Harry several weeks before but she guessed the pair had never discussed anything of the sort. Jen quickly changed the subject and convinced Max to tell them what they'd got up to in the bar the night before, and as always Max embellished the story, teasing them and getting a laugh from everyone, even Hermione who looked a little calmer now she'd eaten her breakfast.
The gang were later joined by Mel who joined in the teasing as she produced photographs from the night before which showed Hermione and Jen dancing on a table in a crowded bar, and participating in a drinking contest with complete strangers. Hermione laughed along with her friends, glad for the distraction, though her mind crept back every few minutes to thinking of her Hogwarts friends. It hadn't been a good idea to go out drinking on the anniversary of Ginny's death…she had been feeling down all day, and had owled Ron, Harry and Mrs. Weasley in the morning, though she knew she wouldn't receive replies from the boys. Maybe that was why yesterday had hit her so hard, it had been four months now since Harry and Ron had headed off with Moody for advanced Auror training and in that time she had received only one letter from them, on her birthday and it had been written in advance and sent on by Mrs. Weasley. They weren't allowed to contact anyone in the outside world, though they were allowed to receive letters and she wrote to them constantly. After eight years as their constant companion it was incredibly hard to be separated from them. They were The Trio - the three people responsible for the death of Voldemort, and they were a part of her. Without them a part of her was missing. Especially Harry.
Maybe in some way it was a good thing she'd sent the letter. It had been too long, holding her feelings in, but the last thing Harry had needed was more turmoil in his life, and if he didn't think of her in that way then their friendship would be altered, and their friendship was the most important thing in her life. She wished she could remember what she'd written.