Chapter Text
Dear Hermione,
I just got home from the train station and wanted to write you a letter as soon as possible. Ron’s being annoying like always, and Fred and George are bragging about how they’re your friends and I’m not. But that’s not true, because we are friends now. I think you should come to The Burrow sometime this summer. It’s loads of fun to swim in the lake out back this time of year. Plus you’d get to meet my older brothers Bill and Charlie. We could even have a sleepover and you can stay in my room. My room smells really nice, unlike my brothers’ rooms. Maybe we could even have a sleepover at your house if your mum and dad are ok with it. Anyway, that’s all for now.
From
Ginny
Dearest Lovely Hermione,
As your friend and upperclassman, I must insist you not inflate my little sister’s ego with your friendship. I don’t think she’d be able to handle being friends with the smartest witch at Hogwarts without letting it get to her head. Not to mention sh~~~ℓ୧ ༽ ノ ९
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Ignore those scribbles, I had a momentary muscle spasm in my hand, everything is all good now. My offer for you to come to The Burrow still stands. Anytime you want to come over, just send me an owl letting me know and I can fly the car over to pick you up. Really, anytime at all.
With no ulterior motives
Fred
Hermione let out a breathy laugh to herself as she placed her letters in her desk. She pulled out some light blue craft paper and a metallic pink marker, and began writing back.
Dear Ginny,
I think a sleepover sounds like a wonderful idea. I’m sure my parents won’t mind at all. Especially after we all hang out at Diagon Alley so our parents can get to know each other. A lake sounds really nice, I think it would be fun if we planned a day to swim while I’m at The Burrow. And when you come to my house, I can show you a bunch of muggle movies and games. Also, I have a few pairs of shoes and some clothes that I’ve grown out of, but I haven’t given them away yet, so if you want, when you come over, you can look at them and keep any you like, since you seem to really like muggle clothes, and I’d be more than happy to give them to you. I look forward to spending time with you this summer and I think we’re going to become great friends.
From
Hermione
Dear Fred,
Stop picking on Ginny or this will be the last, and only, letter I write to you for the rest of the summer.
With complete seriousness and a reputation for keeping my word
Hermione
Hermione went downstairs with the letter that Mrs. Weasley sent the night before. She wanted to make sure her parents got a chance to read it and respond, before sending Errol off.
“Oh, how wonderful. Molly said she and Arthur are available this Saturday, which is perfect for us. Do you want to finalize the date and send a letter back?” Mrs. Granger asked Hermione after reading the letter.
“Sounds good to me. Errol is waiting upstairs, so you can give me the letter after you’re done writing it and I can give it to him to take to The Burrow.” Hermione said.
Mrs. Granger pulled out a piece of paper and started writing. “How does noon sound?” She asked and Hermione gave a thumbs up while walking to the cupboard to get some oatmeal and dried fruit.
After her breakfast, Hermione took the three notes and tied them to Errol’s leg and told him to bring them to The Burrow. In five days, she’d be seeing her friends again. Overwhelmed with excitement, she pulled out another piece of craft paper, this one was a light yellow color, and she grabbed her metallic orange marker and began writing.
Dear Harry,
This Saturday, My family is going to Diagon Alley to hang out with The Weasley’s. I'd very much like for you to come with. You said you lived on Privet Drive, right? That’s not too far from The Leaky Cauldron, if you want, my parents can pick you up on the way and we can go together. It would be really nice if all of us could hang out this summer. I look forward to hearing back from you.
From
Hermione
Now all she had to do was wait for Errol to come back so she could send her letter to Harry.
✿
“Hermione!” Ginny ran over to her new friend and they immediately hugged each other. “Come on. My parents are already waiting inside.” Ginny pulled Hermione into The Leaky Cauldron and her parents followed closely behind. On the right side of the pub were three people with bright red hair. Molly, Ron, and a man who Hermione presumed to be Mr. Weasley.
After a brief introduction, Molly and Mrs. Granger agreed to let the girls go walk around the shops, as long as they brought Ron with them. He looked surprisingly relieved at the offer. Most likely due to not wanting to stay with the grown ups and talk about boring stuff like politics. The three made their way out into the main path of the alley.
“Hey, Ron, have you heard from Harry since summer break started? I sent him a letter a few days ago, but he never sent one back.” Hermione asked, trying to defuse the tension that Ron always seemed to carry around her.
“Uh, no, I haven’t heard from him either.” He looked sad. “But I think he’s probably fine. We shouldn’t worry too much. Maybe his Aunt and Uncle aren’t letting him send letters. He did say they hated magic.”
“You’re probably right. Will you let me know if you do hear from him though?”
Ron nodded. “You do the same.”
They continued walking down the path until they reached Florean Fortesque’s Ice Cream Parlor. Hermione bought herself a scoop of mint, refusing to let Ron pay for it when he offered, more so as a formality than out of genuine friendliness. Ginny got a scoop of chocolate and Ron got a scoop of toffee, before paying.
They made their way over to a bookshop that Hermione remembered enjoying, the first time she went to Diagon Alley. After browsing for 20 minutes, they went to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop where Ron said Fred and George went as soon as they arrived.
Hermione hadn’t been to the joke shop the last time she was there, but she wasn’t surprised at all as to why the twins loved it so much as soon as she stepped through the door. Ginny dragged her toward the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans while Ron decided to go off on his own to look at note taking quills. There was a jar of tester beans on the display and both girls took three each.
“Lawn clippings.” Hermione said after eating the first one.
“Strawberry.” Ginny said. The girls went back and forth, revealing their flavors.
“Butterbeer.”
“Cheese.”
“Lime.”
“Pumpkin.”
“Well well well, what do we have here?” Fred said resting an arm on Hermione’s shoulder. George did the same to Ginny.
“Enjoying the joke shop?” George asked. The girls nodded.
“I should’ve known you two would be here. Up to no good I suspect.” Hermione crossed her arms.
“Of course ‘Mione. We couldn’t miss out on such a great opportunity.” Fred said, his signature sly smirk making its way to his face. “Are you coming to The Burrow today?”
“I don’t know, but probably not since my parents didn’t plan on much more than a meet up to get to know your parents.” Hermione said.
“Hop on.” George said, crouching down in front of Ginny. She jumped up wrapping her arms around him, and George carried her off while she protested against leaving Hermione, when she realised he wasn’t offering a piggy back ride for fun, but to leave his brother alone with Hermione.
“Prat.” Fred whispered under his breath.
“Well, since you’re the expert here, I’ll leave it up to you to show me the best pranking items.” Hermione said, feeling at ease, unlike how she would have felt if they were completely alone.
“Are you feeling alright?” Fred asked, looking at her with disbelief. “I thought you didn’t approve.”
“Well, I don’t, at least when we’re at school, since they aren’t allowed. School rules. But we’re not in school right now, so it’s ok.”
“Noted.” Fred put his arm out. “Come with me M’lady and I’ll show you all the wonders Gambol and Japes so kindly has to offer.” Hermione locked arms with him, shaking her head amused at his formality. They walked through the shop, occasionally stopping so Fred could admire a prank, and Hermione consistently criticized the potential dangers of each one. Fred would roll his eyes, but kept showing Hermione around, excited that she had taken enough of an interest in something he was passionate about, to let him tell her about it.
Hermione couldn’t help but admire how Fred’s face would light up with each stop they made. She’d never admit to it, but she was enjoying herself and found herself genuinely interested in everything Fred said.
“What’s that over there?” Hermione asked, pointing to the corner of the shop. There was a small bookshelf that couldn't of had more than 20 books on it. The two of them walked over, Hermione unlinked her arm from Fred’s so she could pick up a book. Fred made an upset ‘hmph’ sound, but it was too quiet for Hermione to hear over the rucas of the shop.
“ Gambol and Japes Guide to Pranks and Practical Jokes.” Hermione read out loud.
“Thinking of getting in the business of pranks?” Fred asked, leaning his back against the bookshelf so he was facing Hermione.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She said, not looking up from the chapter index.
“It’d be a dream come true.” Fred leaned over slightly to peer into the book. “With your brilliant mind, and my unmatched creativity, I’m sure we could pull off the best prank Hogwarts has ever seen.”
“Nice try. Using flattery to get me to break rules with you.” Hermione glanced up and poked Fred’s nose, then turned back to the book and turned a page. “I don’t owe you a favor anymore, remember? Which means you can’t guilt me into pulling a prank with you, George, and Lee.”
“I bet I could change that.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. All I have to do is jinx anyone who picks on you, that way you have no choice but to agree to pulling a prank with us, in order for me to undo the jinx. It worked once before, and I’m sure it’d work again.”
Hermione let an airy laugh out her nose. “Except, unlike last time, I actually know how to use magic now. So, I could just undo the jinx myself.”
“Oh please, ‘Mione, I’ve been memorizing jinxes since I was seven, I highly doubt you could recognize every one of them, let alone memorize counter spells for each one.”
“I’ve read over 300 books about the wizarding world since receiving my Hogwarts letter, so I like my odds of being able to identify a jinx and counter it, and for the ones I don’t know, I’m sure I could figure something out.”
“What?” Fred blushed. “300 books? How?”
“Well I read Hogwarts a History , Basic Magical Laws , and Integration into the World of Magic for Muggleborns the day McGonagall gave them to me when she brought me my letter, and then I read all eight of the required books for first years during the week between my trip to Diagon Alley and the day before leaving for Hogwarts, as well as half the leisure reading books I got while I was at Diagon Alley, since the bookstore was having a sale, 10 books for 1 Galleon, and I finished the other half by the second day of school.” Hermione began scribbling in the air with her finger as she tried to calculate in her head how many books that was.
“That’s 21 books right there, and I spent my free time during my first two weeks at school, in the library, and ended up reading a consistent 2-3 books everyday after finishing my homework. That’s roughly 52 books at that point. Then all that crazy stuff started happening with Harry and Ron and I only managed to get in 1 book a day, sometimes it’d even take me 2 days to finish a book,” Hermione scrunched her nose up, thinking about how annoyed she was with Harry and Ron for cutting into her reading time.
“So in order to make up for that lost reading time, I made it my goal to read at least 9 books a week, doing my best to get through the bulk of them at night or on weekends,” Hermione swished her finger around again. “Which got me up to 154.”
“Then before winter break, I asked McGonagall if I could bring a few books with me from the library, she said yes, and I read all 32 of them, with one day to spare.” She smiled triumphantly at her impeccable time management skills.
“Luckily, I had lots of spare time for reading during January and February because the snow made a good excuse for me to stay indoors, and I ended up knocking out 70 more books.”
Her face went sour again before continuing. “Unfortunately, March was when Harry and Ron really started getting caught up in stuff they shouldn’t, so I kept having to put off my reading to make sure they were ok, and only managed to read 56 more books for those those 3 months by the week before final exams, which I wanted to set aside for rereading books to prepare for exams.”
She calculated one more time, just to make sure she was adding the numbers right. “So, all in all, I’ve read 304 books.”
“Oh.” Was all Fred could say. His cheeks started turning pink as he looked at the witch in front of him, her nose stuck in a joke book. He was too amazed by what she had accomplished to say or do anything else. The two of them stood like this for about half an hour. Hermione turning pages, and Fred, for the first time in his life, appreciating books for simply existing.
He already knew that he enjoyed seeing Hermione laugh and the way she’d scrunch up her nose when she was about to lecture him about his behavior, but this was different. Now that he was seeing her read up close, Fred scolded himself for neglecting such an amazing sight. Her face was relaxed, eyes sparkling with a desire to learn as much as she could, occasionally the side of her mouth would pull upwards, or she’d chew the inside of her cheek and furrow her eyebrow, which Fred learned was her thinking face. At that moment, Fred decided that he would take any chance he got from this day forward to admire the look of content and fulfillment that books brought to Hermione.
Hermione was half way done with the book, completely oblivious to the goofy smile plastered on the boy in front of her, and far too caught up in reading to see the girl with a flaming head of ginger hair making a mad dash straight at her. In a split second there was a tiny fist colliding with Fred’s stomach, causing him to double over in pain, and before Hermione could react, Ginny grabbed her hand and started pulling her to the door, with so much force that Hermione had to drop the book and put out a hand to grab a shelf and keep herself from falling. She quickly regained her balance and started running at a consistent pace with the younger girl.
There was no time for Hermione to process all of what just happened, so she shook her head deciding to just go along with whatever Ginny was planning. Within a few seconds, they were standing in front of Madame Malkin’s Robes for all Occasions. The two made their way to the back where the flowy dress robes were. Ginny was admiring an orange satin dress while Hermione gently brushed her hand along a bright pink dress that was covered in so many feathers that the only part of the dress that was visible, were the straps.
“You should try it on.” Ginny said, smirking at Hermione while nudging an elbow at her.
Hermione laughed. “I think it’s too big.”
“We can ask for a smaller size. Come on, I wanna see what it looks like.”
Hermione contemplated for a minute and then said, “Ok, but you have to try on that one.” Ginny followed with her eyes to where Hermione was pointing and let out a loud snort. There by the window display was a bright blue dress that puffed out at the hips and curved around to cinch at the ankles, forming a sphere shape around the legs.
The two girls got the right sizes for their dresses and rushed off to the fitting rooms. After several minutes of struggling, they both stepped out to show each other. As soon as they locked eyes on one another, they began laughing so hard that they were weezing. Hermione looked like a pink cone shaped bird with her arms and head awkwardly poking out of the top of the dress. Ginny on the other hand, despite getting the smallest size, was a few inches too short for the dress to make a proper sphere around her legs, and it ended up looking like a blue pumpkin shape instead. After having a good laugh, Ginny pushed the sleeves of the dress up her arms so they wouldn’t fall over her hands as she made her way back into the changing room. Hermione reached down and grabbed a huge handful of the dress and lifted it so she could walk back into the changing room without stepping all over the feathers.
Once they finished changing, the girls made their way back to The Leaky Cauldron. Hermione and Ginny’s parents were still talking and laughing, seeming to get along very well. Arthur spotted the girls after a minute and waved them over.
“You must be Hermione.” He said holding out a hand for her to shake. “I’ve heard all about you. Gotten a reputation for being one of the most intelligent witches at Hogwarts.”
“Ah, you heard about that?” Hermione said forcing a smile onto her face.
“Hermione, dear, we were just discussing summer plans, and thought maybe you two would like to have a sleepover at our house next Friday. How does that sound?” Mrs. Granger asked. Both the girls’ faces lit up and they nodded their heads eagerly.
“Oh that works out so nicely. Ginny, you’ll have to get up earlier than usual so your father can drop you off on his way to pick up Charlie.” Molly said. Ginny had no problem with this and gave her mum a thumbs up.
A few minutes later, Ron, George, and a grumpy looking Fred made their way back. Ron was playing with a finger trap and sat at the table right behind his parents and the twins followed him to go and occupy the seats on the other side. Fred dropped his head to the table and George snickered at his brother’s pouting.
Not too long after the boys got back, the two families parted ways. The Granger’s waving goodbye while making their way to the exit. The Weasley’s returning goodbye waves of their own, except Ron, who couldn’t get his finger’s out of the Gamble and Japes finger trap.