In his sleep Y/N, was visited by the blank eyes of the man he had murdered. Images of his limp body flashed through his head. Y/N didn't even know what he had done. He saw the man move and as if it was automatic he had entered his mind and shattered it to protect his parents.
People already thought poorly of him, what if someone found about it. That he was a murderer, as well as the grandson of two of the most vicious people in the wizarding world. Before this train of thought could continue he was shaken awake. Y/N opened his eyes and saw that he was laid out on his bed. Ryan sat beside him looking at him kindly.
Y/N realised that he was sweating and hot under the bed covers.
"Are you alright?" asked Ryan.
Y/N shook his head slowly.
Ryan sighed sympathetically.
"Whatever you're thinking." he said. "It's not true. You're not a murderer. You were protecting people you care about."
"He didn't need to die." said Y/N quietly.
"You had no wand and you needed to act quickly. Magic can be like that sometimes, emotions can empower it. You were probably so panicked at what might happen that you did anything you could to stop it, even if it was subconscious."
Y/N sat in silence looking at Ryan.
"I don't want you beating yourself up because you protected your loved ones from a piece of scum like that." said Ryan.
Y/N was shocked at the viciousness in his father's voice.
"He was famous for killing muggles during Voldemort's time in power." explained Ryan. "Everyone that was in the house was a former or still aligned Death Eater. I recognised the curse on Shadow and knew something was going to happen."
"How is Shadow?" asked Y/N.
"Healing up, he might be out of action for a bit though. You'll have to use Sophie's owl."
"Are they here now?" said Y/N quickly.
"No, it's still night time. I asked them to come a bit later today. Your aunt knows about what happened but I asked her not to tell Sophie."
Y/N looked at him gratefully and Ryan reached into the inside pocket of his coat. Only now, Y/N realised that his dad was fully dressed in the clothes he wore for work.
"Why are you still wearing that?" he asked.
"I had to question them, didn't I? Then one of the Aurors arrived and helped me take them to the Ministry, where I had to write a report of what happened. Then I tried to identify who they all were. After that," sighed Ryan. "Fudge began nagging me about Sirius Black again."
Y/N felt anger rise inside him, how could he request Ryan to go after a dangerous fugitive after just being hurt and then fending off an attack from Death Eaters inside his own home.
"That's stupid." said Y/N furiously. "He should be working out who sent these people after us, instead of asking you to do everything."
"No need, one of them confessed who put them up to it. It was the one who tried running away he, unfortunately, confirmed my suspicions. The Toombs sent them after me to try and finish me off. He probably shouldn't have told us though." said Ryan.
Y/N looked at him curiously.
"There was a charm that was meant to prevent him telling us who sent him. As soon as he said their names he died."
"What? Why would he tell you then?"
"It was either tell us or get the Dementor's Kiss, he decided on telling us."
"You threatened to destroy his soul?" asked Y/N with horror.
"Me? Merlin, no. It was Fudge."
Y/N was even more shocked to hear this. The Minister of Magic didn't strike him as the type to destroy people's souls. Every time Y/N had met or seen him, he appeared rather timid.
"That's enough talk of Dementors." said Ryan. "I was going to give you this."
He handed Y/N the item from inside his pocket. It was the letter from Hermione that Y/N had been expecting. Shadow must have been carrying it and in the chaos Y/N had missed it.
He took it and placed it on his bedside table ready to read through the next day.
"Try and get some more sleep." advised Ryan. "And don't think about what happened, it's not worth your time."
"I won't, but you look like you need sleep more than me." said Y/N.
"I think you might be right. I haven't had to ambush anyone like that in a while." said Ryan.
He stood up to leave but paused as he placed his hand on the doorhandle.
"You should tell her." said Ryan. "It might not be easy, but she knows you Y/N. She cares about you. Hermione will appreciate it."
Y/N nodded in response, he knew Ryan was right. Hermione had stood by him through everything over the last two years. He was sure that she would understand.
"Goodnight, Dad." said Y/N.
"Goodnight, Y/N." replied Ryan, leaving and closing the door behind him.
Y/N lay his head down to sleep, feeling much less upset about what he had done. As he drifted off, there was a faint crack at the end of the corridor.
() () ()
The next day, Y/N went downstairs and found Ryan spread across the couch asleep. He was in a position that had to be far from comfortable, still in his work clothes.
Y/N began approaching him but was stopped by Amy.
"Let him sleep." she said.
"He's only been there 4 or 5 hours."
Y/N checked his watch and saw that it was 9 am.
"What was he doing last night?" he asked shocked.
"Worrying. I've not seen him this worked up in a long time."
"When are Chloe and Sophie getting here?" asked Y/N, sitting in armchair beside his father.
"About one o'clock. Want anything to eat?"
Y/N turned down the offer and began reading a muggle book called The Lord of the Rings. He continued reading until he heard his mother's voice calling him.
"They're here." she said.
Y/N took a mental note of his page and tried to rouse Ryan from his slumber.
Ryan startled awake and sat up quickly, his hand instinctually going for his wand.
"Dad! Relax, you're at home." said Y/N, concern in his tone.
"Yeah, sorry, sorry."
He sat up and rubbed his eyes with a yawn.
"Chloe and Sophie are here. They were arriving today." explained Y/N.
"Of course, let me get changed."
Ryan lumbered upstairs taking his coat off as he did so.
Y/N looked around for Amy but she had gone to let in their visitors so he did the same.
Chloe and Sophie were hanging their jackets on the coat rack and slipping off their shoes when Y/N got there.
"Hi, Y/N." said Chloe cheerfully.
"Hi." he replied.
Sophie stayed silent.
"Hello Sophie." said Y/N.
She ignored him.
"Soph, your cousin just said hello." said Chloe.
She groaned.
"Hello, Y/N." said the young witch begrudgingly, her American accent came through distinctly.
She strode towards the living room giving Y/N a nasty look as she did.
Y/N sighed.
"Ignore her Y/N, she's in an especially bad mood." said Chloe.
"Why's that?" inquired Amy.
"She overheard me arguing with her father again. We only came here by portkey this morning and before we left I had a row with him. Don't take it personally, Y/N."
Y/N had a hard time doing that, considering Sophie had always treated him like this.
"Enough about us though," said Chloe. "How are you? Better?"
"Yeah, thanks." said Y/N, smiling faintly.
"You'd never even know there was a fight here." said Chloe, looking around the house as they went into the living room.
It was true, Ryan had done an outstanding job cleaning up the house. Based on all the crashing about that had happened, Y/N assumed a lot of it was broken and Ryan had repaired it during the night.
"Where is Ryan, anyway?" asked Chloe.
"He's upstairs." answered Y/N. "He said he was getting changed. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he was asleep."
Chloe looked at Amy and Y/N curiously.
"He was really busy last night, he got back in the early hours and collapsed on the couch." explained Amy.
Chloe tutted loudly.
"The Ministry expects too much of him. He's not as young as he used to be and he has better things to worry about now. Ryan needs to look after himself."
"He's not exactly old." said Y/N.
Ryan was still very young for a wizard at only 35 years old.
"He's also not 22 anymore." said Chloe.
"You better not be calling me old, Chlo." came Ryan's voice from the living room.
"I was just saying you need to take care of yourself, there's a lot of people that care about you."
"I need to take care of them too." replied Ryan. "I'm fine. I've told Fudge I'm not coming in if he asks me anyway."
"Just like that? He listened, did he?" said Chloe.
"Well he doesn't have much choice, does he? Either he lets me have some time off or I quit and the Ministry needs to appoint a new head of Law Enforcement and a new head for the Auror office. Fudge knows there isn't anyone better for the job." said Ryan.
"I'm surprised you were able to get your shirt off with a head that big." said Amy jokingly as they all went to living room.
Ryan smirked.
"It took an effort, let me tell you." he replied. "Hi, Sophie." he called at the sight of his niece.
"Hi." she replied, not taking her eyes off the book she had brought with her.
"How is she?" Ryan asked Chloe.
"She's alright, a little frustrated, but OK."
"Have you found a place to stay?" asked Amy. "You're welcome to stay here."
"Appreciate the offer sis but you've all got enough on your hands. There's a place not too far away which is quite cheap." explained Chloe. "We've got all our stuff in there now."
"That's good," said Ryan. "Is Ra in the house?"
"No, we let him out this morning. Why? Is something wrong with Shadow?"
"He got hurt yesterday." explained Ryan.
The mentioning of the owls reminded Y/N of the letter he had put down last night and he was eager to go read it.
"I'm going to read that letter from, Hermione." said Y/N before dashing upstairs.
He heard Chloe chuckle as he left.
The letter was exactly where he left it last night and he pulled it open carefully to be greeted with Hermione's neat handwriting.
Dear Y/N,
That's great news! All that running sounded exhausting but from what I've seen boxing isn't much better. Also, if your Mum is into all that stuff, you might want to ask her to go easy on you. I did some research and Muay Thai is a pretty intense sport, I couldn't imagine your Mum doing something like that. I'd love to hear how the sessions go though, I'm sure you'll be great. If not, you're a quick learner anyway!
We left Paris not that long ago and are now in a town called Dijon. It's a fascinating place with a lot of history. It has one of the oldest museums in all of France! It's been very interesting to learn about. I'm sure you would love it here.
I can't wait to see you again. Love, Hermione.
P.S. I've never played poker before but I'll see what I can find out about it. I'm sure one of the libraries here has a book about it.
Y/N grinned as he finished reading the letter, picturing the glow in Hermione's eyes when she was learning about something interesting.
He took out his quill and some parchment immediately, but paused. He was unsure of what he wanted to include in his letter. It took him several minutes but Y/N finally came to a decision. He was going to tell Hermione that there was an attack by some Death Eaters but leave out the part where he had accidentally killed one of them. He felt it was better to tell her that in person.
Y/N looked down to start writing but saw that his quill had been pressed against his parchment the entire time, flooding it with ink.
He groaned and put the ruined material into the bin, pulling a fresh piece from his desk drawer.
In his letter, Y/N made sure to get down as much as possible. From the terrible boxing sessions, to the conversation between his parents, to the Death Eater attack. He assured Hermione that everyone was OK and not to worry about them.
Y/N also wrote about the escape of Sirius Black and his dad's refusal to do the extra work being asked of him. He ended the letter by replying to Hermione rather than just venting his feelings and recounting the events of the previous days.
Dijon sounds amazing, hopefully we'll be able to go there after Hogwarts. You need to tell me about the museum and what's in it.
Can't wait until you're back, love Y/N.
P.S. Don't worry about the poker stuff, we're all a bit busy right now. If you've learnt it already you can always show me at Hogwarts.
Y/N was hugely grateful that he had Hermione to write to during the holidays. It felt fantastic to have someone he could talk to without the awkwardness of them being your parents.
Y/N also wrote a similar letter for Ron and Harry but much shorter and skipping over the unimportant parts.
He took the letters downstairs where he saw his family relaxing together, all playing a muggle board game called Cluedo.
"Dad said I could use your owl, Sophie. Is that alright?" asked Y/N.
She looked up from the game.
"Sure, but he's not here."
"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. Isn't that right, Nep?" said Chloe nuzzling with the black and white cat.
Neptune pawed gently at her face and Y/N saw a hint of a smile on Sophie's face.
"We've just finished this round." said Ryan.
"No, we haven't." said Amy.
"Behold my genius." said Ryan.
Ryan then made a guess about the killer, weapon and place. He checked the cards and threw the three of them down triumphantly.
Amy, Chloe and Sophie gawked at him in disbelief.
"How did you that?" asked Amy, grabbing the cards as if to check for any tampering.
"Pure, unadulterated genius." said Ryan grinning widely, clearly very pleased with himself.
"You cheated!" said Chloe to her brother-in-law, refusing to accept defeat in that way.
"You could call it that." said Ryan. "I call it years of refining this brilliant mind until it's as sharp as the sharpest blade."
"Let me guess," said Y/N, smiling. "Pure luck?"
"Absolutely." replied Ryan with utmost pride and confidence.
Y/N laughed out loud.
"Your deduction skills could make Sherlock jealous." he said.
"Ah, a man of my own taste I see. As they say, it takes one to know one."
Y/N went to sat down with his family and started a new round, ready to join in with the ridiculous antics.
() () ()
The rest of the holidays passed Y/N by quickly. The majority of it was spent playing games with his family, studying for his 3rd year, writing letters to his friends or continuing boxing with his Mum.
Since the Death Eater attack, Amy had dropped the cold attitude during the sessions and focused on helping Y/N get better. Consequently, Y/N improved leaps and bounds, not only in his actual fighting ability but also his discipline. He felt that it was much more effective than the attempts to deliberately provoke him. In the sparring, especially, he felt he had got much better at controlling himself when getting punched around. He was better but still not nearly as fast or skillful as Amy.
Ryan had fully returned to work two weeks after the incident and he said the most interesting part of it was when he had to help Harry after he accidentally blew up his aunt. Ryan assured Harry that he wouldn't be punished and recommended that he spent the rest of the holidays in Diagon Alley.
Whilst this was certainly a shock for Y/N to hear, the most surprising part about the rest of the holidays was the fact that Sophie was treating him like a regular human being. So much so, that he actually looked forward to introducing her to his friends in person.
And the time came when, with one week left in the holidays, Ryan asked if they all wanted to go to Diagon Alley and stay in the Leaky Cauldron.
Y/N eagerly accepted and Amy was delighted to be able to meet Harry again.
Chloe and Sophie were also going to come along.
It was Monday morning and everyone was gathered in the L/N's family home. Y/N and Sophie's trunks stood out distinctly from everyone else's because they were filled almost to the brim with everything they might need for Hogwarts.
Neptune, Pluto and Ra (Sophie's owl) were all in the room playing excitedly.
Ryan ushered the animals into their cages and assured them there'd be plenty of time to roam around in Diagon Alley.
"I'll send the bags off first." announced Ryan. "We can apparate afterwards."
He waved his wand and the bags vanished. Y/N could imagine the fright of a wizard in the Leaky Cauldron who had just been assaulted by a group of unmanned bags.
"Alright, Amy, Y/N take my arms. Sophie, take your mother's."
"Sophie hasn't apparated before." said Chloe.
"She'll be fine, won't you Soph? Just try not to throw up on anyone."
"Wha-?"
There was a sudden blackness and a squeeze coming from all directions. It passed as quickly as it came and the five of them were now in the Leaky Cauldron.
Sophie stumbled backwards and sat down onto a bench. She looked very pale and Y/N wondered if he looked as bad as she did the first time he apparated.
"Are you alright?" asked Chloe.
Instead of replying, Sophie threw up all over the floor in front of her. Thankfully she had managed to avoid anyone's feet and Chloe waved her wand disposing of the mess.
"First time apparating?" said a kindly voice.
Y/N turned to see who spoke and saw that it was an old, toothless wizard, who he assumed to be the landlord.
"Yes, it's good to see you Tom." said Ryan pleasantly.
"Likewise, anything I can get you?"
"The usual." Ryan looked around at his family.
"Water." said Sophie weakly.
"I'll have water too." said Chloe and Amy simultaneously.
"Boring," said Y/N. "Butterbeer please."
"Coming right up."
Tom the landlord waved his wand quickly and a jug of water alongside three glasses appeared on the table Sophie was sat at. He waved his wand again and two mugs of butterbeer appeared with a thud.
"Where are our bags?" asked Y/N, taking a seat.
"They're up in the rooms already." answered Ryan. "Tom would've got them up there as soon as they arrived."
Y/N nodded his head and went to sip his Butterbeer but a call of his name caused him to stop.
"Y/N!" shouted Harry brightly.
Y/N smiled and waved at him across the room. Harry approached the L/N family quickly and sat down next to his friend.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"We thought we'd visit."answered Y/N. "This is Sophie. Sophie, this is Harry Potter."
"Hi," she said amicably.
Harry clearly noticed her accent and opened his mouth to inquire but was cut off.
"I was born in England but lived in the US since I was 4." explained Sophie.
"Is there a wizarding school there?" asked Harry.
"Yep, it's called Ilvermorny."
"What's it like?" asked Harry.
"It's fine." said Sophie. "The professors are nice. But the grounds aren't nearly as interesting as Hogwarts from what I've read. And there's no Dumbledore at Ilvermorny."
Harry and Y/N smiled, glad to hear their school spoken about positively.
"What've you been up to?" Y/N asked Harry.
"Exploring Diagon Alley, there's a new broom in the Quidditch shop," said Harry excitedly. "it's called the Firebolt. It looks amazing."
"How much is it?" asked Y/N.
Y/N wasn't interested in getting it, he was happy enough with his Nimbus but he was curious what a brand new broom like that would cost.
"It said price on request." answered Harry.
Ryan whistled in surprise.
"You don't want it, do you Y/N?" he asked.
"Merlin, no."
Ryan looked relieved.
"What else, Harry?"
Harry began to explain what he'd be doing in his time at Diagon Alley: paying frequent visits to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour (where he got free ice cream), doing his shopping for Hogwarts, including an encounter with a rather distressed shopkeeper in Flourish and Blotts and generally just relaxing away from those dreadful Dursleys.
"Sounds like you've had a good time, then." said Y/N.
"Better than yours, it seemed." said Harry. "How are you all now?"
"We're good, thanks." replied Y/N. "I was never too worried, we had Dad."
"Do you know what they wanted?" asked Harry.
"We think they wanted to kill Dad." said Y/N, dropping the volume of his voice as to not spoil the mood of anyone else.
Harry held a look of disgust on his face.
"He'd been in a fight, earlier in the summer." explained Y/N. "That's why I had to run off to St Mungo's, the wizarding hospital."
Harry nodded, clearly having been informed about it by Ron and Hermione.
"We think they were sent to finish the job. 'Course it didn't work out the way they wanted, did it? Should have just left us alone."
"How many did you say there were?"
"Eight."
"And your dad fought them off on his own?" said Harry, an impressed expression on his face.
"Yep." said Y/N proudly.
"Do you want to do your Hogwarts shopping now?" asked Ryan loudly.
"Sure." said Y/N.
"Can do." said Sophie.
"You want to come, Harry?" asked Ryan.
"Yeah." he answered happily.
The three students went upstairs and grabbed their booklists from their bags, quickly gathering anything else they might need as well.
Y/N was the first back downstairs, followed shortly by Harry then Sophie.
Sophie's booklist was longer than the other two's because Ilvermorny didn't use all the same books as Hogwarts so she needed the some of the first year as well as the second year books.
"Ready!" she called.
"Alright, that's everyone."
They left the Leaky Cauldron, Ryan placed down the money for the drinks, which vanished almost immediately, and lead the way.
They headed off to Flourish and Blotts first. On the way, Y/N noticed Ryan eyeing everyone they passed suspiciously and checking every dark alley silently with his wand.
"Is something wrong?" whispered Y/N to his father.
"No, I'm just being cautious. With Black escaping and the increasing Death Eater activity you need to be vigilant." explained the auror.
"Black wouldn't be here, would he?" asked Y/N.
"You'd think not, but desperation and insanity aren't a good combination. Still can't believe it." said Ryan, muttering the last part.
"Believe what?" questioned Y/N, hearing it despite the quietness.
"That Black escaped Azkaban." answered Ryan without missing a beat.
"It's meant to be impossible with the Dementors there, isn't it?" asked Sophie, overhearing their conversation.
"It should be." said Ryan gravely.
He brightened up though as he realised they had reached their destination.
They entered the shop and the person behind the counter gave them all a look of despair.
"Hogwarts?" he asked shortly.
"Yes," answered Ryan.
The shopkeeper groaned.
"Out the way then." he said impatiently.
He pushed past the three students and towards the corner of the room where Amy was intently watching a cage of books which were wrestling with and tearing out each others pages.
"Excuse me." said the shopkeep, moving Amy aside.
His shoulders slumped further at the sight of the wild books.
"Oh, stop it! Stop it!" he said poking his walking stick through the bars of the cage.
He placed his walking stick down and hesitantly opened the cage door, his hands heavily protected.
He managed to get the first two out relatively easy. He passed them to Ryan and Chloe who restrained them with spells. The third book though, clamped its toothy jaws on the shopkeeper's gloved hands. He whipped his hand out the cage and began to shake it violently.
"Stupid thing!" he said angrily. "Who would - ever - want - a book - like - this."
Y/N had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly who would want a book like this.
He confirmed his suspicions, by looking at his booklist which read:
The Monster Book of Monsters - Care of Magical Creatures
Unfogging the Future - Divination
Intermediate Transfiguration - Transfiguration
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three - Numerous.
"What else do you need?" said the shopkeeper in a huff.
Y/N read off the books he needed and they were shoved into his hands quickly.
Sophie read off her books and Y/N remembered a few of them from his previous years. Thankfully, none of Lockhart's fraudulent books were on the list this time.
"Anything else I can get you?"
Ryan asked him for a book Y/N had never heard of. When his dad had gotten it, Y/N approached the counter.
"A copy of Hogwarts: A History, please." he said.
Ryan raised an eyebrow at him.
"You've already got that, and read it who knows how many times."
"It's as a gift." explained Y/N.
"The only person who'd want it as a gift is Hermione, but as far as I'm aware, she's already got it."
"That's where you come in," said Y/N. "I was hoping you could get it signed by Batilda Bagshot and Dumbledore. I thought Hermione might like a unique version of it."
"That's actually quite a good idea." said Ryan, feigning shock.
"I have quite a lot of them, yet you seem surprised."
"They must elude me." joked Ryan. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks." said Y/N, handing it over.
"No problem, anyone else want anything?" said Ryan, addressing the rest of the group.
"All done." said Sophie.
"No thanks." said Harry.
They left Flourish and Blotts and continued their shopping - restocking on Potion ingredients, Quidditch supplies and getting robes for Sophie and Y/N, who had outgrown his others.
After their required shopping, Y/N hoped to split off too but Ryan insisted he be joined by Chloe.
"Where do you want to go?" asked the witch.
"There's a place that sells magical jewellery, isn't there? I was hoping to get something small for Hermione." explained Y/N.
"Yeah, it's this way, I'm pretty sure."
Chloe led the way, clearly not as confident as Ryan in navigating the many shops of Diagon Alley.
"I knew it was this way!" exclaimed Chloe suddenly. "I'll wait outside."
They stopped outside the shop and Y/N handed Pluto over to his aunt telling the niffler to behave.
Y/N pushed the door open and a bell above it let out a catchy jingle before closing silently behind him.
Shelves, which stretched to the ceiling, were filled with glowing jewellery and glimmering antiques. Each item had a price tag attached to it and the values ranged from as little as one galleon to upwards of one thousand.
The most expensive items had moving advertisements projected onto the glass displays. They showed off the most unique functions and most desirable features of their assigned product.
Y/N passed a shelf of silver bracelets, which the advertisement said changed based on the wearer's wand core. In the display adjacent hung necklaces which adapted to the wearer's Patronus.
Y/N moved away from the large displays and crouched down next to a case full of smaller accessories.
"Anything I can help you with?" said the store assistant.
"No thanks," said Y/N.
Y/N expected the assistant to leave but he noticed that their eyes were drawn to his grandfather's ring on his right hand.
"Where'd you get that ring?" asked the assistant.
"It's a family heirloom." said Y/N.
"How much?"
"Not for sale."
Y/N was confused as to why a magic jeweller would be interested in a Muggle ring.
"You sure?" questioned the assistant. "You won't get a better price anywhere else."
"It's not for sale." repeated Y/N pointing out an item. "How much is this?"
"Free, if you swap it for the ring." insisted the jeweller, who was getting on Y/N's nerves now.
"The ring's not going anywhere. How much?"
"Ten galleons."
"Alright, I'll have that."
The wizard came over and waved his wand abnormally. The case unlocked and he watched Y/N remove his item.
They went over to the counter and Y/N handed over the money and the attachment for Hermione's bracelet.
The shopkeeper packaged the item and returned it to Y/N.
"Thanks." said Y/N, leaving quickly.
"What d'ya get?" asked Chloe, handing back Pluto who went for the package. Y/N quickly told him off and placed the niffler back into his pocket.
"An attachment for Hermione's bracelet." explained Y/N. "But the shopkeeper was really interested in my ring. It was weird."
"The one that belonged to Amy's dad?" questioned Chloe.
Y/N nodded.
"Strange, maybe he just thought it was nice."
Y/N shrugged his shoulders not thinking that was likely. There were much more flashy and interesting jewels for sale in the shop.
"I dont know. Anyway, let's go to Fortescue's shop and meet Dad."
()()()
The rest of that week Y/N spent exploring Diagon Alley and visiting shops he had never seen before. Thankfully he had Harry, who in the weeks he had been there, had visited the majority of shops and knew his way around nearly perfectly. Harry was able to navigate even better than Ryan, who insisted on going everywhere with them due to the "increasing Death Eater activity."
Y/N suspected there was a different reason but upon asking, Ryan insisted that he was telling the truth.
There was only one day which was majorly different to the rest of the week. It was the last day of the holidays and as usual Y/N went down to have breakfast at the bar.
He was eating his cereal and heard someone enter the Leaky Cauldron. He took a glance to see if it was anyone interesting but nearly choked on his cereal when he saw who it was.
Hermione had come through the front door and was scanning the room. Y/N snapped to his feet causing Hermione to look at him and they both grinned widely as they caught each other's eyes.
Y/N rushed over to her and they wrapped each other in a tight hug.
"I didn't know you were back today." said Y/N happily.
"We got back a day early and I wanted to surprise you." explained Hermione.
"Well it was the best surprise I could have gotten." said Y/N. "Come upstairs for a minute, the landlord will sort your bags out."
Y/N led Hermione quickly up to his room, he shut the door behind them and took a deep breath.
"I've got something to tell you." said Y/N.
Hermione stopped looking at his body and gazed into his eyes.
"I was wondering - if maybe, you wanted to - you don't have to of course."
Y/N took another deep breath.
"I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me, Hermione?"