A Piece of Mind

Chapter [5]

Hermione hurried away from the raven-haired boy, embarrassed by her rapidly rising body temperature. These blasted teenage thoughts had been distracting her recently, (mostly around Ron now that they were forced to spend hours together cleaning the Black Mansion). They are nothing more than imagination and hormones, she reminded herself. Silently reciting a few lines from one of her favorite books, Hermione felt herself calm down as she slowed to a brisk walk.

She had seen that boy before, at Flourish and Blotts. She remembered ducking behind a bookshelf so as not to be seen, but Artemis had seemed too invested in the titles on the spines to pay her any attention. He wasn't exceptionally tall or muscular and wore a simple black robe that he had probably bought earlier that day. He looked as if he and the sun were on bad terms and stayed inside most of the time, and his slightly gelled hair gave him the impression of a teenage vampire. Yet there was something about him...

His electric blue eyes set him apart, narrow and calculating. His slightly larger forehead suggested intelligence, along with his ruggedly handsome features that outlined his raven black hair quite nicely. Hermione wondered how the boy's hair would look unstyled, and had to bury her face in the book she had long since stopped reading to hide her blush.

Hermione quickened her step upon seeing her parents and forced herself to stop thinking of that boy. Her parents stood in the midst of the foot traffic, looking only a little less bewildered than when they first saw Diagon Alley.

"Hey honey, did you get everything you need?" her mum asked kindly, as her father peered curiously through a window at an advertisement for chocolate frogs. The advertisement, of course, which was moving.

"Hey baby," her dad said, pulling his eyes away from the animated brown frog jumping around the inside of the window to hug her. "Here, let me take those."

She sighed in relief as she handed him her stack of books. Her parents always enjoyed seeing Diagon Ally, as it was full of magic and very different from their jobs as dentists. Hermione sometimes worried about leaving them by themselves, but they always reassured her they were fine.

On the car ride home, Hermione thought about the transfer student she'd met when she'd run into Hagrid. She was glad she caught herself before she revealed the Order to those strangers. She should have been more careful. Not that she knew much about it anyway, the adults never told them anything.

Mad-Eye had approved a trip to get some books and visit her parents, as long as Tonks shadowed her to make sure she was safe. It might be the last time she saw her parents until next summer, and Hermione made sure to fully focus on them until she had to leave.

When Tonks came to pick her up, she still couldn't get Artemis' electric blue eyes out of her head. She told herself it was purely out of curiosity, and for no other reason. He was the first transfer student since she had started Hogwarts, according to her books. She had read about a few from previous years but never met one before. Maybe she'd ask Bill about it back at headquarters.

"Wotcher, Hermione. Ready to go?"

"Yes," she said, gripping Tonks' arm tightly. The uncomfortable, squeezing sensation that always came with apparating stopped abruptly as she stumbled onto a dark, paved street. They walked in silence, nausea ebbing as Hermione breathed in the cool night air.

Entering the house, Tonks thankfully missed the umbrella stand, and they passed the portrait of Sirius' mother unscathed. When they walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Weasly was just finishing cleaning up the table from dinner. The lingering smell of fresh bread and stew was starkly different from the musty scent the rest of the house couldn't seem to shake.

"Oh! Hermione, dear, you had dinner with your parents, right?" She asked. Hermione smiled warmly at her. Mrs. Weasley was like her second mother, always making sure she had everything, and always there to listen to her even when she didn't understand what book or topic she was talking about.