Chapter Text
Hermione
She loved catching up with Elizabeth, she really did and despite being so mysterious, Hermione trusted that Johanna would take good care of Beth. Sure, she was disappointed with Beth not returning to Hogwarts but she understood. It was too dangerous from all the sides, for Elizabeth to return to the magical world like nothing happened after all of the things that did.
Hermione gave her the most bone crushing hug once she had to leave with Blaise and McGonagal back out, but with new magical knowledge she was sure she could write Elizabeth letters all year long. And Hermione wrote to her every so often for the rest of the break also, especially when she was hanging out with Ron at his parents place.
“I saw that, she looked so happy.” Ron agreed as the two were sitting on his windowsill, watching Fred and George play catch on their brooms while Ginny excitedly watched, “I wish she could have just stayed with us anyway.”
“Me too.” Hermione nodded in admission, looking at the boys flying about, “Who will we cheer for at quidditch. And who will stay up all night with us.”
“You have way better priorities now.” Ron teased her with a laugh, “If this happened before we went to Hogwarts you’d want to send her homework to do.”
“I wouldn’t know her if we didn’t meet at Hogwarts.” she pointed out, rolling her eyes at such an obvious conclusion, “But I already miss her.”
“Me too.” Ron admitted as he leaned on the window frame, “We should snoop around about why she’s so important to Dumbledore. Once we get back to school.”
“We will.” Hermione's eyes beamed which made Ron smile, “At least we have each other.”
“Yea, I am so glad we do.” she hugged him and he hugged back. They hung out a lot, especially at the burrow since Hermione's parents wanted her to fit into the magical society and learn their culture. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley took them out to dinner a bunch of times out of politeness, even if Hermione's parents, having heard from her about their situation, insisted on splitting the bill every time. Nonetheless Hermione and Ron walked into the Diagon alley like siblings, Hermione holding Ginny's nervous hand for the girls first year at Hogwarts.
Once they walked over to the bargain robes store, they bumped into Blaise, all alone and rather awkward. His hair was still short, his designer coat and robes having a new addition of boys uniform pants, “Hi.”
“Hello Blaise.” Ron shot a glare in his direction. Hermione did her best to smile slightly, “Hi Blaise. Where are your parents?”
“Mom’s busy.” Blaise informed her, pushing his shirt down, “But she paid Dumbledore to introduce me as my brother.”
“Gross.” Ron was still frowning at him, “After all you put Elizabeth through you will just pay yourself out of it? You disgust me.”
Blaise just looked at the ground, “I am honestly sorry for what happened last year. I was trying to save myself but went about it in a way that I shouldn’t have. I get why you can’t forgive me, I just hope one day I can prove to you I changed my views.”
“We are not the ones you will have to prove it to.” Hermione reminded him and he nodded in agreement, “You all. You, Elizabeth and everyone else I hurt.”
Ron didn’t give Blaise a second glance, pushing past him into the shop. Hermione didn’t, she waited until Blaise walked out of the doorway, taking him inside with them, “Have you heard about the professor not coming this year?”
“Yes, the position is cursed after all.” Blaise pointed out, Ron giving him a grunt of annoyance instead of a response. Blaise however had some intel neither of them did, “I heard he said it was because of Johanna.”
Ron turned to him at the mention and Blaise raised an eyebrow, “You don’t know that?”
“Obviously not, what happened?” Ron insisted and Blaise without hesitation shared, “The job Johanna was hired to do at Hogwarts apparently went well but professor Quirel disagreed with being done so he left his position.”
“What? So he will not teach anymore?” Hermione was slightly confused by that. Blaise however shook his head, “No, he says he doesn’t want to do that one job. My mom suggested he teaches electives.”
“We don’t have any electives this year do we?” Ron pointed out to which Hermione nodded, “Those are for year three and older. Why didn’t he leave if he doesn’t agree with it?”
“Who knows. Maybe Dumbledore pays well.” Blaise pointed out, “People would overlook a lot for some Knuts.”
“Why don’t they employ my dad then? For muggle studies? That is an elective too.” Ron almost barked at Blaise but Hermione stopped him, “That’s not Blaises fault Ron!”
Ron pouted with a sigh, “Sorry, you’re right.”
“Hey, maybe they will at some point.” Blaise tried to reassure him but he only got a glare from Ginny in return. Blaise gave up on trying to save the interaction, “See you three at Hogwarts.”
“See you Blaise.” Hermione agreed but Ron only gave him a nod of acknowledgment before Blaise left to buy the rest of his school supplies. Hermione frowned slightly at Ron, “We need to give him a chance.”
“He didn’t give Elizabeth a chance did he?” Ron pointed out, pissed off at Hermione's dismissive attitude, “He can be glad we are calling him by the name he wants, unlike what he did to Beth.”
“Chosen names shouldn’t be a privilege but a human right Ron.” Hermione explained, letting Ginny look over their options for school uniforms, “Because if they weren’t then it would always be unfair to those who don’t get respected and everyone would just stop respecting things all together.”
“I read it in a lot of articles over the summer.” Hermione continued, “If communities don’t stay together and start splitting up they don’t survive for long. Especially if we start to shatter from the inside.”
Ron nodded along with a hum, looking for the clothes for his little sister.