A Dance Through Thyme (Harry Potter)

Die Last der Welt

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Chapter 38: Weight of the World

It was the hissing and spitting of flames that rose Hermione from her stupor. It was early in the day, and she had not yet had her morning cup of tea. At least this is what she attributed the cause of her slow brain function.

“Hermione?” a voice garbled out of the flames.

Hermione instantly jumped out of her seat. A head had appeared, and it peered back at her from the flames.

“Lily?” gasped Hermione, once she had recovered enough to make slight sense of the turn of events.

“Hermione, you have to come over,” the head of Lily urged her. “James and I have something important  to tell you.”

Hermione instantly thought the worst, and her heart filled with dread as she stood and started to get herself ready. Lily’s words had seemed more like a demand, than the usual request.

“I’ll be over in a minute,” she shouted back to Lily’s head as she left the room. Hearing a resounding pop, she knew that Lily was no longer in the Floo network; but she could not help wondering what was so important that it could not be written in a letter, or indeed told via the Floo system.

Shrugging a jacket over her shoulders, Hermione reached over to the small pot of Floo powder that sat on her mantlepiece. Grasping a pinch between her fingers, she threw it into the flames before transporting herself just down the road to James and Lily’s cottage.

Having now had more practice with the Floo network, Hermione no longer had to throw her hands out in front of her to stop herself from falling out onto the floor. She only had to step out of the flames, and wait a moment for the room to stop spinning and her balance to restore itself.

“Hermione!” a blur of red squealed at her before she felt Lily’s arms squeeze around her middle. It became uncomfortable to say the least.

“Lily? Lily!” Hermione finally had the chance to croak out. “What is going on? Is someone hurt?”

“No! I’m just really, really happy!” Lily still refusing to let go of Hermione. “We’re just waiting for Remus to arrive. James and I want to tell everyone together.”

Hermione looked around to see that Sirius was sitting on the armrest of the couch with a puzzled expression adorning his features. Apparently he had no idea about what was going on either; but Hermione did not have the chance to extrapolate any further information. A loud whooshing sound preceded a slightly dishevelled looking Remus in the fireplace.

“You had better have a good reason for getting me out of bed at this hour,” he grimaced, stepping forward as he used his hands to brush the soot from his clothing.

Lily began to speak, clearly unable to contain her excitement for much longer.

“Now that you’re all here, would you like me to get you something to drin-“ 

“Lils,” said Sirius, fighting to keep his voice calm and polite. “You clearly invited us here for a reason, you’re about to wet yourself. Do us a favour and tell us why we needed to be here before our morning coffee, please?”

Lily pursed her lips at Sirius before huffing slightly.

“Fine. James and I invited you here on this beautiful day to let you all know that -“ Lily paused, glancing around at the occupants of the room for dramatic effect.