Magic and Misperceptions
Chapter 13: The Letter
Author: AddisonJ
Beta: DeeMichelle
Disclaimer: The following story is based on situations and characters owned by J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, and their publishers.
***
The Library at Appley-on-the-Green was quite deserted on a sunny weekday morning. Its lone occupant, a bushy haired young witch, was quite well known to Madame Osgood, the librarian. The woman usually came to the library at least once a day and was quite welcome there. She had asked for some restricted reference materials the first week, but then seemed satisfied with the materials in the open stacks, as well as the ability to spread the numerous parchments from her ever-present shoulder bag across the large library tables.
However, Madame Osgood was surprised that morning when the witch was already sitting on the steps, waiting for her to remove the wards from the front door. Usually the witch did not arrive until afternoon when she already had a healthy glow resulting from a walk along the local beaches. Instead, she looked quite ill. Her hair was even messier than usual, her robes haphazardly worn, her eyes red-rimmed, and she sniffled.
"Good morning. Have a bit of a cold, Miss Granger?" Madame Osgood asked.
The witch shook her head.
"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, as Muggles say," she responded. "I'll try to be quiet."
"Oy, you'll probably be the only one here for another hour or two. And you're a regular now. No worries."
Madame Osgood was surprised to see an hour later, a young wizard walk in. He looked worse off than Miss Granger. He scanned the room, soon spied the witch, and walked quickly up to her. He only stayed a moment. He appeared to hand something to her which she didn't want to accept, but took it anyway. He then stayed for a moment as if to make sure she didn't immediately throw it into the rubbish bin. Shortly thereafter he left, so quickly that Madame Osgood only had the briefest glimpses of his anguished face.
***
Hermione Granger wasn't about to take a note from Harry Potter, but the look in his eyes, his silent pleading, appealed to her empathy.
"All right, I'll promise to read it," she replied to his insistence.
"Don't worry, I won't say-say those words again to you. It's something else. I just want to set the record straight. Before I go."
"You're leaving? Leaving Appley?" Hermione was surprised the news hurt her so much.
He nodded brusquely, his eyes scanning her face for clues to her reaction. His Auror training at work. She was skilled as well, but not as fast, and worked quickly to school her features to reflect cool indifference.
"Oh. Reilly? Is he leaving, too? Is the case over?"
"No, I've-I've requested a transfer. The case should be wrapped up soon, but I just need some-personal issues came up. Nothing you know about," he added quickly, seeing Hermione put two and two together, and summing five instead of four. "I-well, I enjoyed most of our time together. I shan't bother you anymore."
His Auror robes brushed her cheek as he turned to leave. "Oh," she couldn't complete her thoughts. "Oh!"
***
Hermione waited until she was alone in her room to read the letter. It was longer than she had expected. In fact, it wasn't at all what she had expected.
Dear Hermione,
Please don't tear this letter up. Just read it all the way through and do with it what you will. I'm pants at writing, but I seem to mess up speaking to you, that's why I'm writing now. We keep seeming to talk against each other and we keep miscommunicating. So I'm trying to write it all down and explain myself to you to stop all these wrong impressions. Don't worry, I won't write about my feelings towards you other than to say they haven't changed and I will never mention them again unless you inquire.
I know I'm difficult. I feel awkward and shy and hate being the centre of attention. I did not choose to be the one prophesised to kill Voldemort, but I had to do it, or he would still be terrorising us today, especially someone like you. I don't hate Muggles. Yes, my mother's relatives abused me, but my mother was a Muggle and many of my friends are Muggleborn, so I am certainly not jealous of those with pureblood. The whole blood thing is bullocks as far as I'm concerned, and I think it's pretty ridiculous that we fought this war only to have it still an issue.
And I realise now that I formed the wrong impression of you when we first met. You see, I first saw you with Lavender and Parvati, rudely discussing men's private parts and then talking about Cedric, and how he is better than me. I admit that. Cedric was a better man than me and I still miss him-and so many others-every day. But to be reminded of that by some silly girls when I was already in a foul mood in a situation I detest, I'm afraid I put you in the rude celebrity chasing fangirl box and never looked back. I did snub you and I was wrong.
And I absolutely support everything that you are doing. My closest friends are a half-giant, a house-elf, a werewolf. I know what it's like to be the underdog, to be misrepresented. I did not grow up in this world, and was appalled to learn that werewolves cannot hold jobs, that house-elves are like slaves, and that giants and goblins are discriminated against. If I did not express it adequately when Shacklebolt told us at the Ministry, I will write it now: I absolutely support equal rights to all magical beings. And you are welcome to quote me. I'm also enclosing a copy of a letter to the editor I am sending to the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler to finally become public in my support of your work and challenge the rest of the Wizarding world to follow.
True to his word, Hermione held in her hand a brief, clear and passionate letter that Harry wrote to the Wizarding press, calling upon them to remember why they fought, why Voldemort prevailed and why the Light won, and how magical beings came to their aid at the Battle of Hogwarts and how dare we not treat them with the same dignity and respect they are due. And changing the laws and reducing the restrictions was a start. He wrote with all the passion of Shakespeare's Henry V giving the St Crispin's Day speech, so much so that Hermione was literally moved to tears. She continued with his letter to her.
Now, there is the matter that I am most appalled by my own behaviour. And I will be truly honest with you, Hermione, and hope that you are honest with me, because I think there are so many wrong assumptions between us that we could not even be friends. I did encourage Ron to travel with the Quidditch team and avoid Luna. Bear with me: I adore Luna, she was a true and loyal friend throughout our Hogwarts years. So often I thought she was the only person who understood me, and I guess you feel the same way about her. However, I must be perfectly frank and admit that although I adore Luna, Ron is my best friend, and there are where my loyalties lie. Ron has many fine qualities, but he falls in love very easily. And he is very easily taken advantage of. I will not bore you by naming each and every witch and Muggle he has fallen for across the world, but needless to say I have been there and have had to fix them all for him. And in every case he was the one who ended up heartbroken and used. And I don't want my best friend to go through that again, even with Luna. Thanks to you, I know that I was wrong and I will do everything to fix the mess I made.
I've requested and have been granted a transfer. I will not bother you anymore; suffice to say if you need me, you can just use the attached coin. It's been charmed to let me know you're in need. Not that I think you will ever need it, but I just wanted you to have it.
Good luck and best wishes,
Harry
Hermione held the small silver coin in her hands. One side had an engraving of Hogwarts, the other side had three words in three languages: the Latin word: Veritas. Truth. And the French word: L'égalité. Equality. And the English word: Love.
Hermione Granger knew she was smart. She knew she worked hard, especially when learning a new subject, did her research, and when she had enough information, she would form an opinion and stick to it. Stubbornly. And she knew in this case she had been wrong. So very very wrong about Harry Potter.
She held the coin tightly in her hand and thought about all the times she was rude to him. And all the lies Draco told her that she believed. Willingly. Without proof, even when Luna tried to dissuade her, she ignored any differing opinions and listened to that scab of a wizard instead of her best friend. Simply because she wanted to believe the worst in Harry. Because he had snubbed her. Over a misunderstanding. And how many misunderstandings were piled on top of each other now?
She willed herself not to cry, but it was useless. She had a good sob, and tried to focus on her work again, but could not. It was a sit-in-bed, eat ice cream and watch old movies type of day, so that was what she did. She cancelled her appointments, sent an owl that she was unwell, got into her warmest pyjamas and stayed in her room until the next day, when she received an owl from Luna. A very welcome owl.
Hermione,
You'll never guess who's here! Ronald! He came back! Something about Harry telling him that I loved Ronald, and Harry apologising for being a prat (to use Ronald's word, not mine). And something about you having something to do with it. Ronald Apparated here the moment he knew. And he loves me, too! I'm so incredibly happy, thank you. The Weeblewogs are glowing!
Love,
L
The happiness made Hermione cry some more, and she wasn't sure if it due to joy, jealousy, or something more.
***
Please review!
A/N: this is the end of Part 2. Part 3 will be Ron & Luna being deliriously happy while Harry & Hermione try to deal with the consequences of what happened in Appley/Rosings. And we'll be departing a bit more from P&P plot, but keeping the overall plot and emotions.
Apologies for my atrocious French in Chapter 12, and thanks for those who corrected. If I need further assistance, I know who to contact!
BTW, I finished my original 53k word novel for National Novel Writing Month (hurrah!), but December is quite busy in real life with the holidays for both me and my beta. Once again, the first draft of this fic is entirely written, just need to edit, so we'll work on this in between Real Life. Thanks for your patience, and Happy Holidays in advance.
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