The Trouble With Firsties

4. Letters Home

The usual shebang. I own nada. I just came up with the plot and a couple characters. J.K. Rowling is the almighty genius behind this universe.

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Hermione waited anxiously by the window having just been told off by Ron and then Ginny for pacing and essentially burning a hole into the carpet. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair desperately needing to dissipate the nervous energy that was building up inside her. She stared out the window trying to identify every flying or even moving thing outside, hoping it was an owl. After a few minutes Hermione raised her foot ready to take another step to begin pacing again but was suddenly stopped by the clearing of the throat and the not very subtle glare that Ginny sent her way.

"Sorry." Hermione mumbled. She stared down at her hands watching them clench and then unclench, thinking to herself that she needed something to keep them occupied – continuously clenching them was not satisfying. She reached into her hair and pulled out the large hair claw, deciding instead to listen to the clicks it made as she opened and closed it.

"For goodness sake." Ron exclaimed before getting out his wand and silencing the object that was offending his ears. Hermione looked down at the suddenly silent object and frowned, she liked filling her ears with a frustrating repetitive noise that would terminate the silence. Anything was better than the silence, but no one really wanted to speak.

Narrowing her eyes at Ron, Hermione too pulled out her wand and pointed it at the hair claw in her hands, clearly pronouncing the spell "Finite Incantatem" so that she could listen to the distracting noise once again.

Ron glared at Hermione before once more silencing the hair accessory to which Hermione in turn stopped the spell. This was repeated several times much to Ginny's annoyance, however she opted to just stay out of it and wait for Harry to come through the floo, hopefully with a letter from James.

"Accio!" A very annoyed Ron finally shouted, grabbing the clip when it was within arm's reach.

"I needed that!" Hermione cried out.

"No you did not, that bloody annoying noise was driving me round the bend-"

"But I needed it Ron!" Hermione repeated.

"I have to say I agree with Ron, Hermione."

"Exactly! Nobody could ever want to listen to let alone need any sound like-"

"I do!" Hermione shouted. "You don't get it, neither of you do! Ginny, even with James gone you still have Albus and Lily and even Harry to run around the house making a racket. Ron you, Dean and Seamus somehow manage to make more noise than an entire army after a great victory during your frequent Wii competitions, your table football matches or even when any of you try to do any cooking – it's honestly a wonder you haven't had any noise complaints from your neighbours. But with Will gone my house is completely silent, I've got no one to disrupt the deafening silence that I've felt smother this house since Will left on the Hogwarts Express yesterday. I don't have Will's laughter, I don't have Inky's little bell or even Crook's growling and I don't have Ben's-" Hermione's eyes started to well up, but she quickly shook her head and wiped them away, "Well I don't have Benjamin to kiss me awake in the mornings, to pester and annoy me to no end or to make me feel like a silly giggling school girl when he'd randomly grab my hands and start dancing. He's gone and there's nothing I can do about it, which makes the silence ten times worse. So give me back my clip so I can fill my ears with sound and forget for one second just how lonely this house has become."

Ron and Ginny stared at Hermione with their mouths open in shock. Ron managed to close his first as he cautiously took a step forward and held out the clip as if he were offering a tiger his hand, unsure whether said tiger would either rub up against his hand or eat it. "Umm, here... Hermione." Ron mumbled quietly as Hermione stomped forwards and snatched it from his hands. She glared at him for a second before returning to her spot by the window, clicking the clip as she went.