Hermione looked up as she heard a tapping at the window. It was an owl and she blinked. She hadn’t gotten mail all summer. She opened the window and the owl dropped a letter into her hand and then flew away.

Hermione opened it and started reading. Oh, it's from Ron. I guess better late than never. Hermione read on and frowned. Why was he talking about his ‘last letters?’ Why was he asking her to write back? Hadn’t he gotten her letters? Hermione paused as she thought of something, “Dobby?”

*Crack*. With a crack of air, Dobby appeared in front of her. He looked around frantically, scanning the room his hands held in front of him at the ready.

“Ms. Granger! What is it? What’s happening?”

Hermione cleared her throat. “Uhm, no danger. Sorry. I just wanted to ask you something.”

Dobby relaxed and lowered his hands. “Ah, Dobby apologizes. Dobby didn’t feel like it was urgent, but he wanted to come just in case. Nothing is more important than Ms. Granger’s safety!”

“Well, sorry to interrupt whatever you were up to. You don’t have to come immediately if I just want to talk.” Hermione said, “By the way, how is that going? Have you gotten a fake wand yet?”

Dobby shook his head. “Dobby was about to buy one, Ms. Granger. But it is okay, the person who has it will still be there later. The other wizards seem to accept Ms. Granger's explanation and see Dobby as a wizard.”

“That’s good, that’s good. I’m happy for you…” Hermione said trailing off. After a short pause, she decided to just get it over with, “Dobby, were you intercepting my mail during the summer?”

Dobby froze and trembled like a leaf before throwing himself at Hermione’s feet and started wailing. “Dobby is so sorry, Ms. Granger! I only thought it was for your protection, to help convince you that you shouldn’t go to Hogwarts, to stop yourself from putting yourself in danger. Dobby sees now that he was wrong, Ms. Granger can handle anything!”

Hermione turned and saw Dad standing there in the room door, looking on to the scene of Dobby on the ground sobbing into Hermione’s shoes. He sighed,

“Do I even want to know?”

Dobby stopped speaking coherently but kept crying and apologizing. Hermione looked between the two. She held up the letter. “I guess Dobby was intercepting my mail from my friends. He was just apologizing.”

Dad’s eye twitched. “Always more nonsense,” He grumbled before speaking up.

“Alright, It is close enough for lunch. I’ll make some sandwiches again and Dobby can explain himself after your mother gets back from the store.”

Dobby sat up and looked at Dad hopefully, “Dobby… Can Dobby have some sandwiches too?”

Dad snorted, “Of course, Dobby. You can even help if you’d like.”

Dobby shot up, his mood turning around in an instant. “Yes! Dobby would very much like to help.”

The two men left the room, with Hermione trailing behind still holding the letter from Ron.

— — —

“...So Dobby thought that if Ms. Granger thought her friends had forgotten her then she wouldn’t go back to Hogwarts and be in danger!”

Hermione somehow had forgotten she had neglected to tell her parents about the whole thing with the Chamber and the great monster. Her parents were well past the issue with the mail and were interrogating Dobby about the danger at Hogwarts now. Hermione sighed as she realized the argument brewing in her future. Her parents had barely let her go back last Christmas with just the things happening with Harry. How would she manage to convince them after what Dobby had just told them?

Mom stood up. “Well, thank you for telling us that, Dobby. I can see you thought you were doing the right thing and are sorry about it.”

Mom paused and Dobby piped up, seeming to remember something, “Ah, Dobby almost forgot!”

He put his hands over the table and a large stack of letters bound in twine dropped on the table.

“Dobby kept the letters. Here they are.”

Mom cleared her throat, “Well, uhm. Anyways. Thank you Dobby. It’s been nice having you for lunch. Now, we would like some time with our daughter to discuss… what you’ve told us.”

Uh oh. Mom’s tone carried a hidden threat. Hermione frantically began imagining what she would say when the hammer came down on her.

“Thank you for the food, Mr. and Mrs. Granger! Dobby will leave now. Remember to call Dobby if you need anything at all!”

Dobby snapped his fingers and with another crack of air he had disappeared again. Hermione stood rapidly and looked around. “Uhm. I’m going to go play outside. Bye.”

She went to flee, but her Mom’s sharp tone stopped her in her tracks. “Hermione Granger. Don’t think you’ll get out of it that easily. Your butt is sitting right here and you’re going to explain everything or you’ll be grounded for the rest of the summer!”

Hermione stopped and reluctantly turned around, admitting defeat. “Yes, Mom,” She said in defeat and trudged back to her chair. She sat down and met her Mom’s eyes that had a sharp glint in them. Hermione felt tired already from the interrogation she knew she would be going through. Her mom could be brutal once she latched onto something.

— — —

It had been a long conversation. Hermione’s throat was sore from arguing with her parents about her going back to school after so long. It had ended with a stalemate, but maybe they would understand if they thought about it more. Mom had wrung out every last little danger in the wizarding world from Hermione. From how people cursed each other in the Hogwarts hallways to all the nasty potions and curses Hermione had read about in her books.

Her parents hadn’t liked her talking about that in the least. But Hermione couldn’t get them to understand. All those things were there anyway, and pretending that they didn’t exist wouldn’t keep Hermione safe. At least they had Dobby to help protect them now. Hermione was sure he would help them as much as he could.

— — —

Hermione read through the big stack of letters from Neville and Ron. Many more from Neville. They talked about what they had been up to, it was all a little strange as they were from wizarding households. Like how Ron talked casually about practicing with a broom with his brothers and his sister Ginny. Neville seemed a little lonely, but was having some fun in doing activities and going to a carnival fair with his parents. A wizard carnival.

Hermione looked to her own stack of letters that were all in a big stack. She had agonized over how exactly to phrase things as she wrote them too. All of her stress over them was for nothing after all…

Hermione started to write her first real reply for Ron and Neville. She hesitated as she considered what she should tell them. She probably shouldn’t write anything down about Dobby, considering she seemed to have gotten away with it so far. The forgetfulness potion had been smashed when her room had been destroyed, but luckily it didn't seem that she would need it. It would be pretty dumb of her to write down a confession in the letter after getting away so cleanly, and her getting caught would get Dobby in trouble too.

Eventually she decided to just be vague and said there was an ‘issue’ with her mail so she didn’t receive any of their last letters and her own letters were lost on the way. Still pretty suspicious, but Hermione could explain it all to them when they saw each other in person again. At least they would know she hadn’t really been ignoring them or anything.

After an hour of agonizing about the exact wording on the letters, Hermione finished and sealed them. Hogwarts had given them all some magical stamps, so Hermione could drop it off at the post office like normal and some wizard somewhere would sort it out and send it to wherever it had to go by owl. She would drop them off tomorrow, hopefully they would be able to deliver it quickly.

— — —

Hermione looked at her parents, “You guys know not to say anything about Dobby? Ron’s dad is a ministry official, so he might get in trouble if you tell him anything…”

Dad rolled his eyes. “Yes, Hermione. You must have told the both of us a thousand times by now. Neither of us want to get in trouble with the wizard government either.”

Luckily Dobby only came if they intended to call him, so they could say his name normally without him popping in. It had been a little awkward the first few times, but three of them had gotten the hang of it after a little while so they could talk about him.

“Oh, there they are!” Hermione pointed and saw a beat up blue car park on the street in front of their house. Ron’s parents had offered to let them go to their house so they could all travel to Diagon Alley to buy their school supplies together. Neville was coming too.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Dad spoke loudly, looking at the bathroom. “Jean! The Weasleys are here!”

“Just a minute. Just washing up,” Mom replied.

They walked outside and saw Ron and an older red headed man standing next to him outside the car.

The older man took a step forward and waved to them. “Arthur Weasely. A pleasure to meet you all. I’ve heard a lot about your daughter from my son! Seems rather fond of her. Quite the brilliant girl the way he tells it!”

Ron’s neck flushed slightly and he slouched a little, “Dad!” He protested, only to be ignored.

The adults started chatting with Hermione and Ron standing to the side.

“So, um. How was your summer, Hermione? I can’t believe you didn’t get any of our letters…” Ron said.

Hermione cleared her throat. “Yeah, it was… really crazy. You wouldn’t believe it… but yeah, sorry about that. Not sure what happened there…”

She nervously laughed not sure what else to say with Mr. Weasley standing right there.

Noticing her shifting uncomfortably, Mr. Weasley checked his watch. “Well, I’d say it is about time to get going. Don’t want to keep the wife waiting. She’s been eager to meet you as well.”

They all piled in the car. The car with a suspiciously large interior. There were three rows and sixteen seats total, the thing must have been double the size it should have been. The Grangers looked around in shock as they buckled in.

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat, “Extension charm on the car. Perfectly legal so long as it's not seen by any muggles. Besides those in the know such as yourselves of course.”

Dad spoke up, “Why would it be illegal? Why wouldn’t a wizard enchant their things? Seems useful at least.”

Mr. Weasley looked uncomfortable. “Well, I work in the misuse of muggle artifacts office in the ministry. Last week we had a wizard's enchanted lawn mower run off and start cutting the lawns of his muggle neighbors. Things like that happen all the time, but we need to take care of them to keep the statute of secrecy intact. If someone saw this when they weren’t supposed to I’d have to pay a fine. But that’s why I just have to be a little careful when I use it.”

Mom jumped in, “So tell us more about the Ministry, we don’t know much about the government that runs the wizarding world.”

Arthur relaxed as they went back into more comfortable territory. “Ah, I suppose you wouldn’t. So the Ministry’s main goal is to keep the statute of Secrecy intact and to hide the existence of wizards from the non-magical people. There are a few departments, including…”

Hermione thought that the conversation between their parents was interesting, she didn’t know much about the workings of the ministry either. But Ron looked bored and was staring out the window.

Eventually they reached the Burrow, as Mr. Weasley called their home. It was a strange house five or more stories tall. It was a patchwork of various types of woods and additions to it and looked like it might fall over any moment. Hermione eyed it as they walked inside. There was no way this thing stood on its own, there must be magic involved in keeping it from toppling over from a strong gust of wind.

— — —

Inside Hermione and her parents were greeted by a rather round red headed woman who looked rather harried. Fred, George, and another red headed girl were running around and getting ready to go. The girl must be Ron’s sister Ginny. The woman, Molly Weasley eventually got all the redheaded siblings including Ron into one line in front of their fireplace.

“Alright children, we’ll be traveling by floo powder today. Arthur will demonstrate first. Here’s the powder, dear.”

Mr. Weasley stepped forward and grabbed the gray powder that looked like ashes and stepped into the fireplace. He held his hand in front of him and then threw the powder down at his feet.

“Diagon Alley!”

The powder burst into green flames and then the man was gone and the fireplace was empty again. Hermione and her parents jolted. Wow, Hermione had heard from Harry what it was like. But it really did look like the man had just burned himself into ashes out of nowhere. All the Weasley siblings went next, with Ginny going last. It seems she was the only one that hadn’t done it before.

“Da- Diagon Alley!”

Ginny disappeared in her own burst of flames. Mrs. Weasley held out the powder and they all eyed it suspiciously. Eventually Dad sighed and stepped forward, “If one of us is going to burst into flames, it’s going to be me.”

“Denton!” Mom said as he grabbed a fistful of powder. She turned to Mrs. Weasley, “This is perfectly safe, right? I’m sure you’ve used it plenty of times.”

Mrs. Weasley nodded and gave a reassuring smile. “Of course! As safe as can be. Just make sure to clearly say where you want to go and you’ll be fine.”

Dad threw down the powder.

“Diagon Alley!”

He disappeared into flames as Mrs. Weasley continued. “There hasn’t been a serious accident recorded for their use in over three years!”

Hermione and her mom looked at Mrs. Weasley incredulously. The woman blinked at their stares.

“What? Back in my parents' day, people had to reattach their fingers all the time. People avoided using the things like the plague.”

Hermione and her mom shared a look before Mom sighed and stepped forward. “I guess I’m going next then?”

She took a handful of powder, stepped into the fireplace and threw it down.

“Diagon Alley!”

With a roar of flame she was gone.

Now it was Hermione’s turn. She nervously took the powder and went into the fireplace. She threw down the powder.

“Di- Di- Diagonally!”

The flames leapt up and Hermione was suddenly in a blank void again. It wasn’t like the void she had entered with Dobby though, this wasn’t like when she was a soul. She could still feel her body and could tell that she was moving through something even if she couldn’t see much. She shifted her arms and could still feel things even if the sensation was muted. There were little points of light spinning by so fast it was making Hermione sick.

Eventually she started to slow down and the points of light grew larger and brighter. Hermione could see people on the other sides of them now, like little windows out of the fireplaces. Hermione saw a group of redheads milling around a point of light in the distance and she relaxed. That must be where she was going. Everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion as Hermione approached them. Even as she watched, her dad slowly walked into view. It took him almost five seconds to take a single step as she watched him. The point of light grew brighter and brighter until it filled Hermione’s view.

But suddenly the force pulling her plunged downward and Hermione’s exit rapidly flew upwards out of reach. Hermione thrashed and not entirely sure what she was doing pointed at the rapidly dwindling exit above her. ‘Hey!’ She shouted wordlessly. ‘What are you doing, I want to go there!’

Hermione descended a little longer before she felt her magic twitch and she instantly reversed direction with a lurch. She was sent spinning rapidly and waved her arms and saw the exit rapidly approaching at an angle as she spun in circles, the exit above her flashing in and out of her vision rapidly.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! Too fast!’

The force slowed its pull, but it was too late, Hermione was already flying into the sphere of light. She started screaming.

‘Ahhhhhhhhh—’

“—AhhhhhhHHHH!”

Hermione came flying out of the fireplace head over heels at an upwards angle and caught a flash of everyone’s horrified faces as she flew over their heads. Hermione felt her strange new magic flow through her and she began to slow down and stop spinning as much. Huh, but she wasn’t touching her wand? The magic just leapt to do what she wanted.

But it wasn’t enough. Hermione’s eyes widened as she herself approached the thick oak door of whatever building they were in. She crashed directly into it full force, the impact driving the air from her lungs. "Oooof."

After a moment, she fell onto her back off of the door, dazed from the impact.

“Uugggghhhhhh.” She groaned as a circle of concerned faces gathered above her. After taking a few seconds to recover, Hermione sat up and rubbed her throbbing head. “Ow.”

Fred and George smiled as they saw that she seemed alright. “Wicked.” They said in unison. Mr. Weasley cuffed the back of their heads in unison and they looked chastened. Mr. Weasley continued forward and pushed everyone back. “Give the girl some space, all of you! Are you alright, Hermione?”

Hermione blinked and felt her face and side. She felt like one big bruise right now, but nothing hurt like it was broken. She made her way to her feet unsteadily and Mr. Weasley helped stabilize her. Her parents were looking at her in concern, “I think so,” She said.

The green flame burst in the fireplace again and Mrs. Weasley came through. She stared in confusion at the dazed Hermione and the crowd gathered around the door.

“What happened? What did I miss?” She said as all eyes in the room suddenly turned to her, “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Perfectly safe! Why I aught to…!” Hermione’s mom said, looking furious.

Dad put a hand on her shoulder, “Now dear, I’m sure she didn’t mean to…”

“No, Denton. I have words for…” Mom said, shrugging off her husband's hand.

Everything devolved into bickering and shouting as Hermione wandered over to a nearby table and sat down, still feeling a little out of it. The small building was lined with ten or so fireplaces and people would occasionally arrive or leave in bursts of green flame as Hermione watched. The rest of the siblings joined her at the table. Some of the people were staring at Hermione or spectating the loud argument between Mom and Mrs. Weasley, slowing their pace as they walked by.

One of the identical twins Fred and George spoke up, “Now, that’s one way to make an entrance.”

“Bloody incredible,” the other twin hopped in.

“Nine out of ten,” The first said.

“Yeah, great start. Weaker finish. If you need any tips, feel free to ask us.”

“We’re the experts at dramatic entrances. It takes practice to get it right, but you are off to a great start, Hermione. You have natural talent at this sort of thing.”

“Will you guys lay off? It was clearly an accident.” Ron said.

“We know,” They said in unison, “Just trying to cheer her up, mate,” The first twin said.

Hermione shook her head, “I’m fine guys, Just a little lightheaded and needed a minute.”

She went to stand and the room swam a bit and she sat back down, “Maybe more than a minute.”

She glanced on the battlefield in the middle of the room with Mom and Mrs. Weasley went at it while the two beleaguered husbands tried to calm the two women down, looking mortified as the crowd stood around and pointedly didn’t listen in on the very loud argument.

“I’ll just wait until Mom calms down, I’ll have plenty of time then.”

The second twin smirked, “Lot of respect I’ve got for your mum, Hermione. We’ve never seen someone able to keep up with our mum once she really gets into an argument like this.”

“She’s not usually like this, I swear…” Hermione said, realizing for the first time just how embarrassing this all was for her.

The first twin shook his head. “Hey, they are the ones that are choosing to go at it right here and now in public. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”

And that’s what they did. If Hermione pretended it wasn’t about her then it actually was kind of funny listening to them fighting. After a few minutes, she was feeling much better and the room had stopped spinning. The argument petered out, the husbands finally managing to stop the women's argument. Mrs. Weasley came over and looked to Hermione,

“I’m very sorry about your accident, dear. Would you like some ice cream?”

Hermione nodded, “Ye-yeah. That would be nice.”

The woman clapped her hands. “Okay then, Ice cream on us for everyone.”

Hermione glanced at her parents. Her mom still was a little flushed and her arms were crossed across her chest, but she seemed to have calmed down a little from before.

Fred and George cheered. “Yeah! Ice cream, let’s go!”

The two rushed out the door. A few seconds of wobbling steps later to get her bearings, Hermione was jogging after them too.

I mean, who could turn down free ice cream?