NOVEL FROG Chapter 154 – Diary
Sitting inside Grimmauld Place's kitchen, Hermione was eyeing the still-closed diary on the old wooden table while Neville was finding and washing the dust off some plates and cups at the sink.
"One egg enough?" Krum asked, boiling eggs, looking at Hermione, who gently nodded before pulling off the whistling kettle from the stove.
"I am surprised how quickly you are at home in this place." Neville chuckled, and Krum's initial answer was interrupted by a flash of lightning and the downpour that followed, smashing against the windows.
"It is, is." He said, making Neville raise an eyebrow and questioningly look at Hermione.
"He means, it is what it is. You would be surprised how collected he is most of the time. I rarely saw him get thrown off balance."
"I'm seeker." Krum chuckled, serving some boiled eggs and toast with melted chees atop it to the group before sitting down. "Balance and straight head important for work."
"I bet you miss playing Quidditch." Neville stated while making the tea for them.
"Yes. Good sport. One day, I will hope return to home and play. But... not now."
"So... are we waiting for...?" Neville asked, making Hermione's eyes return to the book, finally reaching out, opening the first page, and reading it aloud.
It was clear that she began writing it not long after her tenth birthday. Her very first paragraph detailed that now that she had become a 'woman' thanks to her biological clock starting to tick, Walburga had begun looking for suitable husbands. In her own words, it would be preferable to secure a position as fast as possible before attending Hogwarts.
"She says I must be engaged to another pure family as soon as possible. By the end of school, I must be married and begin producing offspring for the bloodline to avoid the worst possible outcome. I knew this day would come because the bloodline is the only thing she has been speaking about since I can remember... I just hoped that my blood wouldn't start flowing so soon."
"What bitch." Krum snorted, making Hermione raise her head.
"Language. But yes... She was a massive bitch." She murmured, returning to read the diary, flipping a few pages.
"In the past year, she has been meeting with house after house, and I always had to dress up as a doll, showcased to them like some kind of magical beast. To my luck, our name is tarnished, thanks to my... Thanks to Regulus and Sirius. I wonder if they laugh about it. I wonder if the former even thinks about me. Probably not... well, it is mutual because I also don't think about him except when I have to sit and let grandmother prepare me for another important dinner party. I do hope he suffocates from hiccups. Heh... Grandmother doesn't accept the fact either... It is useless. As if anybody important would let us visit them! I know that most prominent families refuse to meet with her. She tried to contact the Malfoys, trying to appeal to them after the Lestranges, but neither of them wanted to hear about us. Not that it matters... I have no say in it."
"I wonder how desperate the old witch was..." Neville shrugged, shaking his head when hearing Quincy's thoughts, which lacked real emotions. She wrote in a calm and collected manner as if she were an outsider and not the subject of this atrocity or only letting her sarcasm shine through her writings.
"My letter has arrived; I have been accepted into Hogwarts. My grandmother is irritated more than before, cursing that nobody had taken me yet, saying it would be harder to sell me now that their sons would have a broader pool to choose from. I'm personally not worried... I am more focused on preparing for my school life. If I learned something, it would be that my school life wouldn't be easy. With the amount of scorn my grandmother receives on a daily basis, I know that I will have to face multiple similar events within the school walls. I will have to make sure to endure the bullying for the first few years before I can start retaliating. If all goes well, I can become independent if I show enough talent, and if not, I can still kill whoever dares to touch me."
"Oh..." Hermione exclaimed, blinking her eyes and looking up from the pages while the other two exchanged a glance. "She was... not well."
"Not really." Neville agreed, refilling his cup with tea.
"I met with a weird boy on the train to the school. I mean weird... in a good way. He was spacing out multiple times, but he never looked at me as if I were a filthy spot on an expensive robe. At first, I thought he didn't realize which family I come from, but he is terrible at masking his thoughts. Everything is so visible on his face while he tries to play it off coolly. It is funny, I can't lie. He has some quirky ideas and always talks about his father... It irritates me, but... only because I feel envious. It was the first time I had someone to talk with normally... I hope we can keep it up after arriving at school.
The sorting ceremony was nerve-wracking; luckily, I managed to land in Slytherin, so I can take a breather for now. Also, I'm glad Conrad, the boy I met on the train, is also in the same house. At least I can talk to somebody... Haaah. The first night was rough; my mind couldn't rest because my roommates made it very clear that I should not show myself while they were there. I will need to learn some self-defensive spells to deal with them."
"Is this how Hogwarts is?" Hermione whispered, not expecting answers.
"Durmstrang similiar." Krum nodded, "Power makes right. When Dark Arts rule, the strong bully the weak. It is wrong... That is why I'm in Order."
"I heard a lot about how it was before." Neville sighed loudly, "I think we all would have loved to be part of the school in those times. Maybe our children will enjoy it, so that is why we must win."
"..."
Hermione did not have much to say to him about it besides blushing for a moment. To mask her sudden embarrassment, she continued reading, flipping through the pages, learning about how the duo slowly began getting closer and how Quincy felt distraught when Conrad was tortured by their Professor, Umbridge. How she wanted to intervene, but she was cursing herself for not knowing any good fighting spells.
"Conrad decided that we would kill the Professor. Good... I agree wholeheartedly. She is horrible, and the world will be a better place if she is gone for good. She totally reminds me of my grandmother, which makes my stomach turn. I also realized something important.
He trusted me this much to tell me all about it, including me in his plans, and he also stood up for me. I wish I met him earlier. I have never had a friend before, and it feels surreal. I don't want to give up this feeling ever again. When you don't know something you are missing, it is easy to ignore it. Now? I don't think I can go back to normal ever again."
"Girl, that was anything but normal!" Hermione scoffed before shaking her head, "Wait, what?! They were trying to kill their Professor?! How? She didn't write down the plans at all..."
"Because she is not stupid, ahaha! And yes, they not just tried, they did it." Neville nodded. "I know a little about it because it was big news within the Order, and they had to do a significant amount of cleaning after them to cover their tracks, utilizing our agents within the school. But they got away with it and even managed to shift the blame onto the Malfoys, which later turned into a boon for the family. Well... not really, but you get the gist of it."
What was shocking for Hermione was how the two came to that type of conclusion, deciding to kill one of their professors. She just couldn't fathom it nor imagine a situation where she would make such a decision, even in her own circumstances. Then, planning it all out and going through with it... At that age, she was still a scared child, getting smuggled into France and starting a new life in a completely foreign place.
"Wait... that's it?" She asked again, suddenly noticing that many pages were left empty and only a few remained for them to read.
"Is it over?" Neville asked, just as surprised, while Hermione kept reading.
"Winter was great... but the summer has been hell so far. I didn't know I would miss him this much... Even though we... we are not like that. Although, I wouldn't mind. I mean, I... I don't know. Is this normal? What if grandmother finds someone else for me? That shouldn't be the case, should it? Not after... Argh... I don't even know what I want or think! But I decided. I will stop writing this stupid journal because it just makes me think of weird things. I will let whatever happens happen and make sure we stay friends. Or... maybe something more. Maybe one day, I can also be lucky... I just need to spend a few weeks with my grandmother before we visit Conrad and his family. I hope this works... If it remains nothing but playing pretends, at least for a little while, I can be happy. If he makes a move... I think I will let him. It is better to be lost in a pleasant dream than suffer this nightmare. If it ever ends and I do wake up, I can always end it anyway. I'm tired of it... I just want to be happy."
"I think I understand what you meant..." Hermione whispered, looking at Neville and then Krum, hearing their recollections of Conrad and Quincy.
"He was angry when Quincy kidnaped." Krum hummed, crossing his arms, glancing at Hermione, "I would, too. He was right. I approve."
"At least he didn't play around with her heart!" Hermione sighed, closing the book, not sure how to feel. On one hand, she was happy for Quincy even if she didn't know her personally. On the other hand, she was appalled by what they had done... and there was a pinch of jealousy, too.
Neville wanted to say something when all three of them heard the same thing: the opening of the front door to 12 Gimmauld Place.
