Disclaimer: Not mine. If it were, Harmony shippers would be celebrating.
A/N: My response to the "Hermione's sister" challenge by Strawberry Nerd. You can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26786 . I hope you'll like the story, it will start from HBP, during sixth year, but hopefully this new character will help change things, uh? ;)
The letter you'll find here is almost completely taken from the challenge itself.
A Sister's Influence
Chapter Two: Hermione's Letter
At breakfast the next day, Hermione kept looking up to where the owls would come to deliver the mail. She hoped her sister had had time to read her letter and reply.
As evident her worry about receiving mail was, Harry was too wrapped up kissing Ginny to notice, and Ron…well, let's say he had his own troubles deciding if he should eat breakfast, or Lavender's face.
Finally, a brown school owl swooped down and graciously settled in front of Hermione, an envelope attached to its leg. Hastily pocketing it to read it later when she was alone, the brunette resumed her breakfast as if nothing had happened, her heart much lighter knowing her sister Ophelia had been able to write back. She really needed some advice.
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For once, Hermione Granger was eager to have the lessons finish, so that she could sneak to the dorms and read her letter. She wasn't famished anyway, and if she got hungry later, she could always sneak to the kitchens for a snack. Staying in the dorms at dinner when everyone else was in the Great Hall was the perfect opportunity to read with privacy, and focus on what her sister would have to tell her.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the envelope, and slowly pulled the piece of paper out of it.
"It's long" she noticed. "Oh, well, better start then" she thought, and began reading.
Dear Hermione,
I cannot truly believe that my little sister can act so brainless! Where is my logical, independent sister who helped
me get through my break up with Jason?
Where is that little girl who swore never to get involved with a man who could treat her like Jason treated me?
Hermione snorted. That was a completely different situation.
My first piece of advice is to forget about a romantic relationship with this Ron boy.
From what I've gathered in your letters in the past years, he still has some growing up to do and besides that he's almost never respected anything that you've done or said. Did he ever apologize about the rat incident? Did he ever apologize about the broom thing? What about in your fourth year when he abandoned you and Harry? Has he ever thanked you for helping him with his homework? Does he even notice when he hurts your feelings?
Hermione had to reread this part twice. Ophelia was right, Ron never apologized for those things. But did that matter? They were friends, so he just assumed she had forgiven him, which she had, of course. But was it wrong for him to just assume? After all, Harry never said he was sorry either when he upset her, which wasn't very often though.
You are sixteen years old and no matter what your female friends say, you do not have to be in a romantic relationship.
You have plenty of time to find a guy who will respect your opinions and be able to talk to you about more than
just that game Harry plays. And don't try making him or anyone else jealous again, it's just
stupid and it only hurts everyone involved.
"Yeah, I noticed that" Hermione said to herself. Seriously, thinking she could win Ron's heart by making him jealous must have been her dumbest idea so far. As for her not needing to have a boyfriend…true, she didn't need one, but it would have been nice. But Ophelia was right, Ron did talk only about Quidditch, and as much as she liked the sport when Harry played, even if he usually scared her to death with his bold moves, Quidditch was hardly the subject on which to build a healthy relationship.
Now, a nice discussion over S.P.E.W., that would be something worth talking about, but Hermione knew she would never be able to do that with Ron. He would just mock her ideas. Harry would be different, he would be able to talk to her about that. He had done it before, and even if he didn't agree with her methods, he did free Dobby, so he must have her same ideas deep down.
Furthermore, you've told me that this Voldemort person is back, it's the whole reason that I'm here at
Harvard instead of Oxford like mum and dad wanted after all. If I have my terminology correct, you are a
Muggleborn and you are the best friend of the boy at the top of this Voldemort person's `to kill'
list. You do not have time for a romantic relationship, you are in the middle of a bloody war! You have already
participated in one battle and you nearly died, Hermione!
Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes at this. Her sister had never dated after the Jason fiasco, not seriously at least, so it was to be expected that she would make the excuse of the war to say she had other things to focus on. Living in fear of the upcoming war would mean that Voldemort had already won, because he had managed to change their way of living, affecting the way they thought. Plus, from love you can also draw the determination to keep fighting, so that you can enjoy it in a free world afterwards. But on one thing her sister was right, Hermione was one of the main targets of Voldemort, both for her lineage and her friendship with Harry.
Hermione was proud of her origins, and loyal to Harry, so there was no chance of her becoming less conspicuous in Voldemort's eye. She would just have to learn to fight exceptionally well so that the likes of Dolohov couldn't get her again.
As to the Prince book, so there's someone that's better than you? So what? I understand that you think the
Prince book is dangerous and I understand that you think Harry is cheating but I also think that you cannot honestly
tell me that you aren't upset because you are no longer the best Gryffindor at potions. You're going to not be
the best in a lot of things Hermione, get used to it and don't get mad about it. Just think of it as a challenge to
better yourself instead of being jealous.
"Honestly!" Hermione huffed. "Can't anyone see that it is a dangerous book to meddle with?" she scowled.
However, as she thought back to the instances in with she had called Harry upon using it, she had to admit she had felt a bit jealous for his results in Potions. Basically, she had thought that if Harry found other books like that, he would best her in any subject, and he would not need her anymore. That was what made her resentful about the book in the first place, the idea that Harry might not want to hang around with her anymore because he didn't need her. Given her childhood, it wouldn't have been strange, although she had to admit Harry wasn't like that. But her doubts were hard to overcome.
Apologize to Harry for being so suspicious about the book but point out that you're worried about him. If you
really feel suspicious and not jealous about the book then remind him about that diary situation that you told me about
ages ago and remind him that you are his friend and you're just trying to help him. Ask him if you can read the
book. Even if this Prince person was a git, he or she was still a git who knew what they were talking
about.
That was obvious. The Prince was surely a Potion Master, or he became one later in life. But some things in that book were highly suspicious, even with her petty jealousy pushed aside for the time being. She would need to have a nice chat with Harry about that, possibly without Ginny around Hermione thought, rolling her eyes.
You may hate me for this letter Hermione but I would rather you live and hate me than die or end up in a relationship
like the one I had with Jason. I would also rather that you live and hate me than loose one of your
first friends all because you can't stand not being the best.
"Oh, sis, I could never hate you!" Hermione said softly, starting to read the next part.
Now buck up, forget about Ron, forget about Lavender, in fact, find some female friends outside of your tower- those
Gryffindor girls sound like absolute brats! Especially that Ginny girl. I mean for goodness sakes `don't try to act
like you understand' honestly! Like that world is so hard to understand! They're still stuck at least two
centuries behind the rest of the world. They don't have an ounce of logic and there's hardly any innovation.
Their society seems completely stagnant!
Hermione just had to laugh at that. "Thanks for telling me I'm stuck two centuries behind you, sissy" she joked. "Do I need to remind you I'm part of this world too?" she whispered with a smile, but she knew what Ophelia meant. And she couldn't help but agree, at least partly. And then there was the part about Lav and Ginny, on that Hermione couldn't say anything. Ophelia had written exactly what she thought of the youngest Weasley. Maybe she should hang out more with Luna, the Ravenclaw was odd at times, but a nice person and she was obviously smart otherwise she wouldn't be in that house. As for Ron, maybe Ophelia was right, she should let him be with Lavender.
She had thought their fighting was a sign of unresolved sexual tension, but she realized now that if that was the truth, their fighting would have been more like bantering, not hurting each other to the point of tears, on her part, or storming off without talking to her for days or weeks, on Ron's part. Plus, they always fought about rather important things, so she couldn't see it dying down once they were together, and a romantic relationship like that made her shudder at the mere thought of it.
Finally, go practice duelling because you are not allowed to get anywhere as close to loosing a
battle as you did last time. In fact, I'm the older sibling and I'm also the Muggle
child of the family. That means that you are not allowed to die in the stupid war of yours because I get
to go first, so there!
Hermione smiled grimly. "Considering the situation, sis, there's a high chance I'll go before you" she reflected sadly, with a long sigh. But she knew she would have to train, as smart as she was duelling was never her best ability, so much that Harry always bested her in DADA, the only subject where he did so, without outside help at least.
I love you little sister and I miss you so much. Just tell me when it's safe to visit and I'll be
there in a flash. Hugs and sugar quills,
Ophelia
Hermione closed her eyes as she finished reading her sister's letter. Ophelia had given her enough to think about, but for now she really needed a trip to the kitchen and then off to bed. Tomorrow would be another long day.
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