Chapter Text
Monday July 24
The next week Maude was looking very smirky. Margaret, Maude, Romilda and Luna had arrived back by Floo early Monday morning. While Margaret, Romilda and Luna seemed exhausted and were drooping over mugs of coffee, Maude had immediately unpacked her bags, taken a shower and was now prancing around the kitchen, even going so far as to lean over toward Ginny, who was cooking oatmeal, and boop her on the nose.
“What’s gotten into her?” asked Ginny, after Maude bounced into the backyard with her coffee.
“She hit it off with some guy at the wedding,” said Romilda, tiredly. “I don’t know why I let you take me out dancing on a Sunday night, Luna.”
“It’s this guy who was totally obsessed with her at Ilvermorny,” said Margaret, rubbing her temples wearily. “Maude was way too cool for him at the time. She was sneaking out to go see local punk shows and wearing her sunglasses in class so she could take a nap without the professors noticing. He was this twerpy little guy with acne and a poindexter kind of thing going on.”
“Sounds appealing,” said Ginny.
“But,” Margaret continued. “We ran into him in SF and despite the fact that a weird personality probably lurks below, he looked good. Really good. He must have kept growing after we graduated because he’s tall, his skin glows and he’s hot.”
“He is,” Luna confirmed.
“And now Maude likes him,” said Margaret. “They got to dancing at the reception, and there was an open bar and let me tell you, some of the old witches and wizards were looking appalled at the kind of dancing that was happening. And though she had planned to stay with us, Maude didn’t come back to our hotel that night! If I could only go back in time to tell sixteen-year-old Maude that she would be dating Daniel Ward.”
“So you think they’re together?” asked Ginny. “Not just a fling?”
“It seems to be heading toward romance ,” said Romilda. “She told me he’s connected to the Floo network, so she’s been planning all kinds of date nights with him. I think he’s coming up tonight to watch a movie or something.”
---
Thursday July 27
On Thursday afternoon, Ginny put her running shorts and an old Gryffindor Quidditch t-shirt over her swimsuit. She was out the door, rolling her bike out of the barn, and on her way to meet up with Olivia at the lake when the van crunched up the driveway and a familiar voice called after her.
“Ginny! Ginny! Wait up!”
Ginny turned around in confusion. With a WHUMP Ginny found herself in the tight embrace of Hermione Granger, her curls getting in Ginny’s mouth that had dropped open in surprise.
“Hermione! What are you doing here?” she said, around the hair.
“I got away for the weekend! Charlie picked me up from the ferry. We wanted to surprise you! I’m so tired of studying for that damn bar exam and I wanted to see you.”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Ginny said excitedly, squeezing her. “I’ve missed you so much! I was just on my way out the door to go meet up with Olivia, but I’ll text her and let her know I can’t make it. Unless you’d like to come with and meet her?”
“No, no, don’t cancel. I’d like to come along. Just let me go and put my bags down and throw on my bathing suit.”
On the way through the house, they ran into Luna, who was coming out of the living room where she had been poring over a Mermish grammar book.
“Hermione!” Luna said, dropping the big, heavy book with a dusty thump on the ground and throwing her arms around their friend. “How exciting to see you!”
After Hermione and Ginny explained their plans, Luna offered to let Hermione borrow her bike for the lake expedition.
“Should we expect all three of you for dinner?” Luna asked. “It should be ready around 7:30 or 8. I was thinking of making chili and cornbread...”
On the ride over, Hermione ranted about the bar exam and law school drama.
“Cormac McLaggen wrote to me to ask for advice on his application to law school,” Hermione mimed barfing, causing her to almost fall off her bike. “How has it been spending all this time with Charlie and Luna? What do you think of Rolf? You hadn’t met him before, right? I can’t believe that. I used to see them around all the time at Cambridge. They had this nice flat that was really central and they were always throwing dinner parties.”
“He seems nice,” said Ginny. “It’s strange. I haven’t seen Luna around in years, but it’s not awkward. It’s almost like it’s been a month, not six years.”
“So did your dinner date work? Do Olivia and Luna like each other now?”
“No, not really. It’s strange since Olivia is so close with Rolf. Olivia is so nice though, I still think they just don’t understand each other...”
.
When they reached the lake and set their bikes among the tall reeds they spotted Olivia lying on a towel on the dock. She looked up as they approached, sunglasses rendering her expression inscrutable.
“Hi--”
“You must be Hermione Granger,” said Olivia, standing up gracefully and offering her a hug. “I’ve heard so much about you. My name’s Olivia. I’ve been showing Ginny around the island this summer.”
“Nice to meet you,” Hermione said.
They all sat down on the dock and Ginny pulled a bag of corn chips and a jar of salsa out of her backpack. Olivia asked Hermione little questions about her journey over here, what she did for a living.
“This salsa is so good,” Hermione said.
“I think Luna made it,” Ginny said. “She made a pineapple one last week and a mango one a few days ago. I didn’t used to like savory pineapple dishes, but this is good.”
“British people don’t really understand Mexican food,” said Olivia. “No offense to Luna, of course,” she added, smiling. “This salsa is pretty good. It’s not authentic at all of course, but I’m from San Diego so I grew up eating Mexican food.”
“I suppose I wouldn’t really know,” Hermione said.
“When I studied abroad in England, I had such a craving for Mexican food, but there’s really no good Latin American food, at least where I was.”
“Where were you studying?” asked Hermione curiously.
“London.”
Hermione looked a bit dubious, “None at all--?”
Ginny cast around for a new subject. “Olivia runs her own organic strawberry farm. She’s also a potioneer.”
“How interesting,” said Hermione, dipping a chip. “What kinds of potions do you make?”
“They're all organic, and I often incorporate my strawberries or local plants. I make hangover cures, skin care potions for acne, blackheads, and I also make an anti-bloat potion and a potion to promote a healthy appetite.”
Hermione’s skeptical look had returned.
“Everyone loves your hangover cure,” said Ginny. “It tastes so good and, um, works so quickly. You should see Olivia’s potions room, Hermione, you’d love it. Her ingredient storage and copper cauldrons are so much more aesthetically pleasing than anything we had in Snape’s nasty dungeon, obviously.”
“Copper cauldrons?” Hermione asked.
“Yes, I was the first of my friends to start using them, but now they’re really trendy,” said Olivia.
“I’ll show you the hangover potion when we’re back at home,” said Ginny. “I have a few bottles up in my room.”
Ginny and Hermione slid off the dock into the water, Hermione shrieking a bit about all the seaweed winding around her ankles. Olivia took pictures and videos from the dock before following them down the ladder into the water.
That night, the group was once again spread out on picnic blankets in the yard. Olivia had seemed pleased to see Daniel when they got back to Aunt Florence’s -- this was the first time they had been at the house together -- and gave him a welcoming hug. Charlie had put out cheese and crackers and rolled out the bar cart for a cocktail hour. Hermione was shown off to the group by Ginny and Luna, who was hurrying in and out of the kitchen to go grab cilantro, and soon Hermione was chatting easily with everyone.
After all the food was ready, Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Rolf and Olivia sat spread out across a few blankets eating the black bean chili. Maude was with Daniel over near the tomato plants. Daniel was lying across the blanket with his head in her lap, while she fed him little bits of cornbread and stroked his hair. Ginny and Margaret exchanged a glance, and the latter rolled her eyes.
“This is just like what I was talking about earlier,” Olivia said to Ginny. Turning to Rolf, “the English don’t understand Mexican food, or Tex-Mex. This is a fine bean soup, but it’s not really chili. It’s not spicy at all and there’s no ground beef.”
“Maybe that’s because Luna was making it for a group,” said Hermione testily. “Maude is vegetarian and Charlie can’t handle spice.”
Olivia’s nostrils flared ever so slightly.
“It’s actually my recipe,” Margaret declared from a nearby blanket where she was sitting with Romilda. “Given to me by my dear old abuelita, exactly how they made it in her hometown.”
Olivia, as if she couldn’t hear, continued talking to Rolf as if Margaret hadn’t said anything.
“Is it really a family recipe?” Hermione asked Margaret later as they washed dishes in the kitchen.
“No,” said Margaret. “I just was sick of Olivia going off about every topic as if she’s queen of the world and expert on all topics.”
“So you’re not a big Olivia fan, huh?”
“Not really,” Margaret said, scrubbing off a stubborn bit of melted cheese from a bowl.
“She was telling me all about her copper cauldrons. Copper’s a really reactive material. It looks pretty, but to my knowledge, copper cauldrons are well-suited only for potions where there are no acidic ingredients. It’s a specialty cauldron to pull out every now and then, not everyday equipment.”
“Surprise, surprise,” said Margaret. “She just wants something that photographs well.”
After dinner, Hermione conjured up a twin bed across the narrow room from Ginny’s.
After the lights were out, Ginny said, “this reminds me of all the times you stayed in my room at the Burrow.”
“And at Grimmauld Place, and at the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and that time we went to visit Fleur in France, and at the Leaky Cauldron...”
“You would come to visit Ron, but we always spent probably more time together since you were always sharing a room with me.”
“And you always wanted to talk all night long! Thank Merlin it worked out that way, though. Harry and Ron could be so annoying. Plus, from what I’ve seen of Ronald’s room at the Burrow, I’m very glad I wasn’t staying in there.”
“Yes, we both clearly hate Ron and Harry,” Ginny laughed, then sighed.
“So how are you feeling about Harry these days? Do you think you want to get back together?”
“I know he’s one of your best friends,” Ginny began.
“So are you, Ginny. I won’t tell him anything.”
“I feel so disloyal saying this, but I feel like I’m stuck with Harry. It feels like we were destined to be together in this way that I used to find romantic, but lately I find frustrating. He’s intertwined in my life in this unavoidable way. Lately things that never used to bother me make me want to pull my hair out.
I think it’s self-sabotaging that he wants to be stressed out and in danger as an Auror for the rest of his life, when we all know how much joy he finds in teaching. And his job affects me too. That’s the whole reason he split up with me before you all went off to find the Horcruxes, so that Death Eaters wouldn’t target me. And now he wants to go after crazy, old Death Eaters with nothing to lose, and he thinks that wouldn’t put a future family at risk? And he’s so moody. I know I’m moody too, but I can’t deal with the storm cloud over his head all the time. And there will be whole days at a time where it feels like we don’t say anything of importance to each other, where it doesn't feel like we’ve even looked each other in the eye all day.”
Hermione was quiet for a moment, then asked, “I wonder when you felt happiest with Harry? When did you feel the most in love?”
Ginny thought back to a long spring day spread out on the lawn of the Black Lake, Harry’s hand resting on her leg. All of their friends around them, surrounded by parchment, iced pumpkin juice, packs of Exploding Snap. Luna’s cornflower blue eyes reflecting the clouds as she gazed up at the sky. Luna saying, to everybody and nobody in particular, “Sometimes I think I’m seeing one of those Beauxbatons carriages flying back to visit us again, but it’s just a cloud.” Ginny moving out from under Harry’s hand, to lay beside her, asking, “which cloud are you thinking of? Show me.”
Shaking herself out of the memory, she said, “I’m not sure.”.
“Ginny, you don’t need to convince me. You don’t need to be able to explain why. If you aren’t in love with him anymore, you don’t need some iron-clad reason. Maybe he’s just not what you need right now. I think sometimes people make a mistake in thinking a relationship that ends is a failed relationship. You loved Harry, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay with him forever. If your relationship brought you joy, if you feel that you’ve learned anything, you had a successful relationship. You can hold him in your heart. But that doesn’t mean you have to be with him until you die.”
---
Friday, July 28
The next morning, Hermione ran into Romilda in the kitchen. Ginny had left earlier to go run errands, and Hermione had stayed behind because she and Luna were planning to hang out. Romilda was wearing sunglasses, but a passer-by would only see the stems as she was facedown on the table in the kitchen nook. A cup of coffee steamed beside her head, all but forgotten.
Hermione bustled around, pouring herself coffee from the pot and getting out Luna’s homemade creamer that Ginny had told her about. This week it was vanilla lavender. Hermione had brought some groceries with her and started waving her wand around. Bananas, yogurt, orange juice, frozen peaches and blueberries started flying into the blender, which closed itself and started whirring loudly.
“Hermione, please,” Romilda moaned. “Surely a talented witch like you must know a way to have that blend more quietly. I have never had this bad of a headache in my life. I went out dancing with Terry and Sam last night in Capitol Hill.”
“Ah,” said Hermione.
Romilda raised her head slightly, so her chin was propped up on the table. Her face was rather green. “That’s the historically gay neighborhood in Seattle, though the locals tell me it’s mostly tech workers now. Those boys know how to party. They are exhausting. I’m never doing it again.”
“Ginny was just telling me she’s got a hangover potion in her room,” said Hermione, waving her wand and soon the little dark brown bottle was flying into her hand.
Hermione unscrewed the bottle, and smelled it gingerly.
“Give me that,” said Romilda, grabbing it and downing it in one go.
“Did it work?” asked Hermione, curiously.
Romilda sat up and gave herself a little shake. The color was ebbing back into her face. “I think so. Thank Godric. I only woke up because I had to throw up and then I tried to take a shower and threw up in the shower too!”
“You threw up in the shower?” Hermione asked, distressed.
“Aw, come on, Hermione. You think I got to this big age without knowing a proper Scourgify?”
Hermione didn’t answer that. “So you really feel better now?” Hermione asked, pouring her smoothie into a glass.
“Did you not expect it to work?” asked Romilda, who was now drinking her coffee.
“Well, Olivia made it--”
“Say no more, I understand. Well, she finally did something right, because I actually do feel pretty much normal.”
“So you don’t like Olivia either,” Hermione commented.
Romilda rolled her eyes. “Not hardly. She’s manipulative, in my opinion. Everyone’s putty in her hands, but not me --”
“It seems like a lot of the girls don’t like her, actually,” said Hermione thoughtfully. “You, Margaret, Luna. I wonder if internalized misogyny combined with the socialization that teaches women to overvalue men’s opinions on our worthiness is making us distrustful of a young woman who’s conventionally attractive and confident?”
“Hermione. I was just trying to gossip and now we’re self-reflecting? I mean, you’re probably on the money in some respects. If she wasn’t so hot and charismatic, she wouldn’t have this power over people. So are we jealous of her, or resentful of that power and what she chooses to do with it? She’s awful to Luna, but most of the group likes her fine because she keeps up a veneer of niceness and is meanest when she doesn’t think others are watching. She was telling Luna that Rolf’s mom wants him to marry Olivia and is constantly waving her high school romance with Rolf in Luna’s face. Why is she even going on about that if she’s supposed to be into Ginny now?”
“Good question,” said Hermione, sipping her smoothie.
“And I’ve been hanging out with Luna all summer. Way more time than I expected. I think Olivia is engineering ways to leave her out, while she goes off with Ginny and Rolf, and makes Luna feel unwelcome just subtly enough. But anyway,” she said with a sigh, drinking more coffee. “What are you up to these days, Hermione? Everyone’s been telling me you just finished law school.”
“Yes, and once I’ve passed the bar, I’m going to start with the law firm I’ve interned at. They’re called Banerjee, Mui, Prang and Wolpert. They’ve got an office in London, New York and Sydney so there’s some opportunity for travel if I were to consult on a case or the like. What about you? What’s next after this program?”
“Well I’ve got a few more credits until I get my Master’s and then we’ll see from there.”
“Do you think you’ll go into research? Policy-making?”
“Maybe,” said Romilda vaguely, sipping her coffee. “Got to graduate before I can really worry about all that, don’t I?”
*
At the beach later, Hermione and Luna waded in the shallow water that had warmed up on the beach at low tide.
“This is so much nicer than swimming to the Mervillage,” said Luna.
Just then, a cold wave washed over their feet. “Ugh, I can only imagine,” said Hermione. “You couldn’t pay me to swim out there. It’s so funny to run into Romilda Vane here,” Hermione continued. “Obviously it was nice to have her in the DA and she came and fought with us, but I’m having trouble seeing her as more than the silly girl with the love potion.”
“Ah, Romilda,” said Luna with a smile. “I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. We’ve been hanging out a lot this summer. She’s ridiculous, and really nosey, but her heart’s in the right place. I’m glad she’s here. We’ve even done some weekend trips with some of the other girls in the program.”
“Huh, I would’ve thought you’d have your hands full with Rolf and Ginny,” said Hermione, as they walked out of the water and back to the sand.
“I definitely thought I would have been seeing more of Rolf,” said Luna. “I don’t know when I’ve seen him less, honestly. He’s busy all day long and we don’t even go to bed at the same time. I’m usually asleep by the time he’s done for the day.”
“I guess he’s busy with Charlie’s project?”
“And catching up with old friends from Ilvermorny.”
“Hmm,” said Hermione. “Well, what about you and your work? You’ve been going underwater all day with just your wand and that beat-up notebook?”
Luna pulled the notebook out of her tote bag, accidentally flicking a galleon onto the sand. Hermione reached down to pick it up for her and was handing it back when she looked closely at the coin.
“Is this your old DA galleon?” she asked, referring to the enchanted coins she had created in her fifth year to communicate with the other members of Dumbledore’s Army.
Luna took it back with a smile. “Yes,” she said fondly. “It’s my good luck charm.”
“I actually keep mine with me too,” said Hermione. “It’s in a separate zipper in my wallet so I don’t get it mixed up with any regular money. I don’t want to get in trouble for trying to buy something with a counterfeit galleon, especially since I’m meant to become a barrister.”
The two friends walked along the beach for a few moments, before Luna looked down again at the notebook in her hand. “The paper’s waxed and then I added an Impervius charm to the paper so that’s how it’s not gotten too wet, but it has been getting kind of moldy. Is all black mold bad or just a specific kind?”
“Just the one type, I thought,” said Hermione, peering at the notebook in question.
“And black mold’s really just bad if it’s in your house, I think. Neville’s new flat is so moldy.”
“Ugh,” said Hermione. “Well, I don’t know any good mold-abatement charms off the top of my head, but maybe I can find a way to help you carry other things with you.”
When they got back to the house, they hopped into the van and went to the outdoor recreation store. Hermione bought Luna a small roll-top dry bag, with a waist strap. In the passenger’s seat, Hermione added an undetectable Extension charm to the bag.
“There, now you’ll be able to bring a snack with you.”
“I guess something I don’t mind eating wet,” Luna said. “Not popcorn.”
“Soup is wet, but soup would just float out and mix into the water, I expect,” said Hermione.
“Maybe grapes or something.”
“I’ve added a security charm so that only you can see and access the full contents of the bag. If anyone else opens it they’ll see a pack of gum, a little Muggle money and an old crumpled tissue. It also came with some different straps so you could wrap it around your wrist or leg or cross-body or whatever.”
“Ooh, I might want some gum.”
“You’ll have to get your own. This is just what other people can see. It’s not an illusion, so if someone does take the gum or tissue for some reason, it would be gone. If you wanted another decoy item you’d need to get someone else to put it in, because only other people will be able to see and access this stuff.”
“Why did you have to put an old tissue in it?” Luna asked, wrinkling her nose.
“I’m trying to go for realism,” said Hermione. “Plus the gum and tissue was what I had in my purse right now.”