After The War (Romione & Hinny fan fiction)

A Near-Death Experience

[The Hounted House in this chaptercould make you feel a little lost. If that happens, you might want to check the map at the end of the chapter...]

Mara had asked Mr and Mrs Granger-Weasley to keep Norah with them for the last term of the year while she was at Hogwarts. Sending Norah back home (the place she used to call home) was definitely not an option. Not after what Mara had seen.

She'd promised to pay them back in the summer, when she hoped to get a job, but Hugo's parents had insisted that it was no bother, and Mr Granger-Weasley had confided that he missed having kids running about at home. He said it was too quiet when his children were at Hogwarts.

Mara wondered what it'd be like to have parents like Hugo's. Parents that cooked his favourite dishes when he came home, that kissed the top of his head after saying goodnight, that encouraged him to follow his passions, no matter what they were.

Mara wondered why Norah couldn't have a mother like Hermione Granger. But, she thought as she watched Mrs Granger-Weasley teach Norah how to hold a wand, maybe she could. Maybe Hugo's mom and dad would be kind enough to accept Norah as a daughter.

Mara smiled and clapped her hands when Norah turned to look at her, holding Mrs Granger-Weasley's wand thight in her fist, her eyes wide - a mix of happiness and amazement. "Good girl." Hugo's mom said proudly, "You're a quick-learner."

Yes, Mara thought, trying to hold her tears back. It was going to be all right.

***

It was the third day of January and James was looking out of the window of the shiny Hogwarts Express as it came to a stop at Hogsmeade station.

He was finally back. And yet James kind of wanted to dig a hole and never get out of it. Alice hadn't responded to his letter. Delibrately, because when James's owl had returned in the morning, the letter James had tied to his leg was gone.

And they hadn't spoken since their last argument. He knew what meant. She was going to break his heart.

Like he's said, he'd rather be in his comfy hole underground, but he was a Gryffindor, for Godric's sake! No Gryffindor would back away from a challenge, right?

He'd speak to her.

All he had to do for now was wait for the opportunity to come. The rest was to be seen...

The first opportunity presented itself while James was collecting some Skinned Shrievelfigs from the potions master's storage. Someone else came in, clearly looking for some ingredient, but James had only the time to catch a glimpse of Alice's neatly pulled up chestnut brown hair before she noticed him standing there. Her eyes widened for half a second and then she turned on her heels and walked out.
"Alice, stop!" James called after her. But she was already back into the classroom.

The second time had been in the Great Hall. That had ended quickly. He'd tried to engage conversation with her, since she was sitting only a couple seats to his right - that had been the only space left when she'd come in. James was half hoping she'd murder him on the spot and be done with it.

Noah and Alan's snickering obviously wasn't helpful, but James had tried to ask if they could talk after dinner in the softest and quietest voice he'd managed.

Alice had shaken her head from side to side to indicate she had no interest in talking to him, and James had tuned back to his bowl of rice, his cheeks burning.

The third opportunity was James's favourite. You should know that on January 6th, on the second day of classes, Professor Niversk - the Care of Magical Creatures teacher - brought the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins to a house that Muggles liked to believe was haunted.