A/N: JKR once said she was going to give Hermione a little sister but she never made it into the books. Well I decided to be kind and give Hermione's little sister a chance. Enjoy!
Much to Hermione Granger's dismay her 20th birthday party was being held in the reception hall at the Ministry of Magic. It was only five weeks ago that Hermione had learned that her prized provisional department for the protection of house elves that she had struggled to turn into a real department for the Ministry for nearly two years had been terminated. All of her hard work and research gone in the wave of a wand.
Now being at the Ministry of Magic, her place of previous employment, surrounded by all her former colleagues who mocked her was the last place she wanted to be. Her mother had this party planned for months with the help of her daughter's school friends. By the time Hermione lost her job, the reception hall had already been booked, and the invitations had already been sent out and the last thing Hermione wanted to do was break her mother's heart by telling her to cancel it. Hermione's mother hated watching accomplishments fall short. Like mother like daughter.
Hermione now stood alone by the punch bowl, hoping if she got drunk enough the night would slip away faster and she could try and forget the horrible awkwardness after spontaneous sex with her best friend. She took another sip of her punch, watching all the guest dancing and laughing on the dance floor. Hermione forced smiles and polite thank you's to the passing guests who wished her a Happy Birthday. She wore a little black strapless dress with streaks of silver on the bodice. Her long brown curls were now charmed into straight chic locks.
"You look lovely tonight!"
Hermione turned around and smiled weakly when she saw Ron walking up to her, wearing dark dress pants and a scarlet dress shirt.
"Thank you," she replied. "You do too."
"And happy birthday," he said again, placing a kiss on her cheek.
Hermione smiled in response. "So did you find a dress for Ginny?" she asked.
"Yes, after a good argument," Ron said. "She's by the doorway, take a look for yourself."
Hermione took a sip of her punch and turned around to seek out Ginny in the crowd. When she finally caught sight of the red head she choked on her punch and whipped around to glare at Ron. "Ronald!" she gasped. "How could you do that to your poor sister!?"
"What?" he asked, pretending to not to know what she was talking about.
"That!" Hermione said pointing at Ginny. "How could you put her in that horrible neon orange dress? It's absolutely hideous! Your sister is now colorblind because of the war, how could you do that to her! You are cruel Ron Weasley!" she scolded.
"Yeah well its pay back for all that childhood torment she caused me," Ron stated. "Besides…"
"What the bloody hell is Ginny wearing?" Harry asked, his head suddenly appearing over their shoulders.
Harry eyed Hermione carefully. "You look very beautiful tonight." he told her.
Hermione turned around to face him. She looked up and down and blushed horribly. He was wearing an eye catching black suit with a dark green tie that brought out his enticing green eyes.
She gulped and looked between Ron and Harry. "I remember my sister wanted a word with me," she told them. "Excuse me."
Hermione placed her glass gently on the table and turned away, avoiding eye contact with Harry.
"What was that about?" Ron asked Harry suspiciously.
Harry frowned after Hermione, watching her walk away. "I have no idea," he replied.
Hermione left the boys and briskly strolled over to a large round table in the far corner of the vast hall to greet her sister, she could feel Harry's eyes burning into the back of her head as she walked away from him. She saw her sister sitting at the table eating celery sticks and talking with and elderly woman. Hermione sat down in the empty chair next to her sister.
"Hi Shelby," Hermione said.
Eighteen year old Shelby Granger excused herself from the elderly woman and turned to her despondent sister, her shiny blond bouncy hair whirling around her neck with the swift turn of her head. "Oh, hello, Hermione. Enjoying your party?" Shelby beamed, revealing her pearly white perfect teeth. Hermione took in all of her little sister's beauty, the shiny blond hair, perfect white teeth, and her sparkling brown eyes.
This is the kind of woman Harry deserves, somebody beautiful. Hermione thought. Not somebody plain like me.
"Yes," Hermione lied forcing a weak smile.
"Hermione, Shelby!" the girls names were called in a singsong voice.
The two girls twisted in their seats to see their mother, a tall thin woman with short sandy hair, grinning profusely from across the room waving them in her direction standing across from an elderly couple who Hermione had never laid eyes on before.
Hermione groaned. "Who the bloody hell is mum with?" she asked Shelby.
"Mr. and Mrs. Walden. He is an Orthodontist and works in dads building. I haven't officially met them yet, just tales of mum kissing Mrs. Walden's arse trying to wield her way into their Country Club," Shelby replied.
"Please don't tell me they told them I am a witch!" Hermione begged.
"No," Shelby answered. "Mum just told them that you're part of a secret society."
"What!" Hermione exclaimed. "Is she completely mad? She can get me in serious trouble by doing that. Bringing muggles here. What if someone here did magic?" Hermione slowly rose from her seat. "She makes me so angry at times!"
"Yoo-hoo," their mother called again.
Both girls marched over to their mother bearing polite smiles. As they passed the refreshment table, Hermione briefly caught Harry's eye. She noticed he was watching her intently.
"Shelby, Hermione, I would like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Walden. Mr. Walden here works with your father in the dental building," Mrs. Granger said.
Hermione shook both of their hands politely.
"So this is the famous Shelby Granger!" Mrs. Walden cried out. "I have heard nothing but wonderful things about you. Your mother just raves out you!"
Hermione watched her sister blush pathetically and immediately start gushing about how she got engaged over the summer to her boyfriend. Hermione rolled her eyes she thought her sister was a fool for thinking of marriage at such a young age, she had barely just turned 18 for heaven sakes! Hermione wasn't going to take this any longer. She politely asked her mother if they could have a word in private.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Mrs. Granger asked once out of earshot of the others.
"They have to leave!"
"What!" Mrs. Granger shrieked. "Why?'
"Because they are muggles and they are not supposed to be here!" Hermione replied angrily. "The condition for allowing you, dad and Shelby here is that I am responsible for all three of you, anything goes wrong and it's my fault!"
"So I'm what you call one of those muggles!" Mrs. Granger barked back.
`You, dad, and Shelby are my family!" Hermione retorted. "So you kind of have to know about the whole magic thing. They don't!"
"They are my guests!"
"And you are a guest in the Wizarding World! I am not getting an inquiry from the Ministry of Magic just because you want to show of "The Magnificent Shelby" to get into some stupid country club! You are risking exposure to the Wizarding World. Now you ask them to leave politely or I will do it for you…and it won't be pretty!"
Mrs. Granger huffed angrily at her daughter. "Fine!" she spat. "But when I get back we're having a chat!"
Mrs. Granger turned on her heel to walk back over to her guests. Hermione turned in the opposite direction to walk back to her table to finish her punch. She watched from afar as her mother asked the Walden's to leave. The elderly couple shot Hermione a nasty look before following Mrs. Granger out of the hall. Hermione could have cared less. Her eyes scanned the hall again and noticed Harry still watching her from the punch table; she could feel herself flushing again. A few moments later an angry Mrs. Granger stomped through the hall in the direction of her eldest daughter.
"How dare you!" Mrs. Granger said angrily through clenched teeth.
"Oh, mother, please…"
"You are rude. I have been working on this party for months. Then you turn around and treat me like this! And did you know that they brought their sixteen-year-old grandson for you to meet? And you just kicked them out like vermin! You have lost all hope of meeting that boy and starting a relationship with him!"
Hermione gaped at her mother. "S-sixteen? You wanted to hook me up with a sixteen-year-old? For god sakes, mother, I am twenty years old! I don't want anything to do with a sixteen-year-old, never mind date one!"
"Well that's not surprising."
"What's that supposed to mean, mother?"
"You never have a boyfriend," Mrs. Granger told her daughter. "You don't even have the decency to show up to your own birthday party with a date! Your friends did, so why can't you?"
"Harry and Ron did not bring dates," Hermione retorted.
"Yes they did. Ron came with that ginger haired girl in the ugly dress and…"
"That's not a date, that's his sister!"
"At least he came with somebody, and Harry is over there with the girl in the green dress," her mother said. "Why can't you find anybody?"
Hermione turned and her heart dropped, feeling like she had been hit with a sack of bricks, when she saw Harry was no longer watching her but walking through the hall with the arm of tall brunette hook through his. The woman on his arm glared at the others in the room, obviously feeling superior because she was with Harry Potter.
The sight of it all almost made Hermione sick. How could Harry make love to her and then just a few hours later be seeing somebody else? Tears stung her eyes as they threaten to fall; she swallowed hard and turned back to her mother.
"Because I don't want just anybody," Hermione muttered under her breath, hoping her mother didn't hear her.
Mrs. Granger took a step closer to her daughter, and began whispering in a softer tone. "Look, Hermione, by the time I was twenty I was married to your father and pregnant with you," Mrs. Granger spoke softly, reaching for her daughters arm. "Now look at your sister, she is young, happy, engaged, and she is going to have a good career. I know lots of people Hermione - wealthy people - and I can find you a nice bloke. You can come home, go back to school become a doctor, just like you've always wanted. And if things work out well you can be married within a year and put this magical world behind you! Isn't that something you want?"
Hermione aggressively pulled away from her mother. "No, mother, that is not what I want! How could you think such a thing?" Hermione spat angrily. "Just because you married young, and Shelby is getting married young doesn't mean I want the same thing! What do you have against me trying to build my career and living a life before I settle down? I want to try and build my career again. I want to live a life I have been denied since I was twelve-years-old!"
"Your career? It's been squashed, nobody cares about the elves," Mrs. Granger told her daughter.
"Well I do! And I am going to help them if I have to turn to a foreign ministry for a start," Hermione snapped back. "The American ministry showed some interest when they heard about it a few years ago."
Mrs. Granger scoffed. "What has this magical world given you?" Mrs. Granger asked, harshly. "Nothing…absolutely nothing but trouble and chaos and this silly war you've told me about."
"This world has given me acceptance and the two greatest friends a person could ever wish for!"
"Friends who have done nothing but almost get you killed on several occasions."
"Go to hell, mother."
"You are a horrible person!" Mrs. Granger said, turning to walk away. "Why don't you be like your sister and try doing something with your life!"
Hermione stood in the middle of the hall watching her mother stalk away and was suddenly aware that everybody's eyes were on her. She could feel her eyes filling with tears. She took in a few deep breaths before she ran for the direction of the girl's bathroom.
With Harry running after her.
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