Hermione's Twin ⇒ Fred Weasley

Ch. 3: Sister, Sister?

Ch. 3: Sister, Sister?

Song For This Chapter: Float by Ko Ko

THE GRANGER HOUSE WAS SWEET. It felt like a real family actually lived there. I was so used to Clarisse's obsessive cleaning and compulsive disorders that it was a nice change to be somewhere that did not have everything in its exact, required place.

     The home was a comfy, little two-story house with blue doors and a little box of flowers hanging from both of the front windows. Cordelia buds of pinks and whites pushed through the top of the box to bask in the soft summer sun.

     Nervous, I clutched my owl's cage closer to myself as I stepped into the home, taking in the sweet scent of roses and thyme. Ami coo-ed in behind his bars. There were a lot of faded, floral print patterns throughout the house and enough throw pillows to build the Eiffel Tower of pillow forts. That was something I made a mental note to do one of these days.

    A bit cautious, I padded my way across the home, noticing the fun pictures of my new-found sister hanging on the walls. It showed the story of an awkward, Mediterranean little girl gradually growing into her wild mane of hair and overly large, front teeth.

     It was a story I knew well. Too well, in fact.

     "You'll be sharing my room," Hermione informed me, helping me by grabbing a couple of my bags. She shot an embarrassed glance at one of her baby photos that hung on a wall and quickly hurried me along, not wanting me to see them in too much detail. "Follow me!" She trudged up the wooden staircase and picked the first door on the right. "Excuse the books, I have been meaning to tidy up, but. . . " She let her voice carry off as if the mess of books could explain itself.

     Hermione's room was fairly large, larger than my own room back home. The walls were painted a light, honeyed yellow that made the dreary London overcast seem sunnier. Pressed against the far left wall was a giant, wooden bookshelf that was filled on every shelf. And, a lavender throw rug took up most of the wooden floor, adding a new splash of colour to the yellow world.

     The 'mess' that Hermione was referring to was merely a few books that were scattered across the desk in the room, but still somehow tidy. "I don't mind; I'm a fan of books, so they're welcome!" I stepped up to the spare, bare bed and placed my things around it, not sure what to do now.

     I set Amie's cage down beside Hermione's wide window and sighed, feeling a deep depression settle into my bones. What the hell am I doing here? 

     Ami chirped at me with his wide, judging eyes.

     Hermione lightly sat down on her bed, watching me with curiosity in her eyes. I took a moment to note the small differences between the two of us once again. It was weird to see someone that looked so similar to me, so I purposefully made little notes in my mind of our dissimilarities, just to be sure I still wasn't hallucinating everything.

     My new sister squirmed under my gaze but didn't say much as she softly reached for a book on her own dresser, flipping open the pages as if to fill in the awkward silence. "That dresser right there is yours. My father had his friend move all this furniture up into the room a month ago," she decided against reading and sighed as she placed the book back down, not meeting my eyes, "you see. . .   my mum -- well, our Mum had been extremely excited when Clarisse sent her a letter about you. She couldn't sleep for a week, went into a frenzy and bought all the essentials you would ever need. So, you needn't worry about sharing with me." Hermione explained the extra bed and dresser, as I was a little confused.

          I had only just decided to go on a whim.

     Hermione lightly chewed on her bottom lip and, in her eyes, I could tell that she was feeling the awkward sense of, well, awkwardness like I was. "I'll leave you to go through your things. You might want to be alone for that." She smiled lightly, got up from her bed and made her way to her door, slowly. She and I both understood the drastic change that had just taken place in our lives, and, while I didn't want to be that person that asked for space, . . .  I sure as hell needed it.