Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 21

Summer, 1992

# 1

Oliver,

Have you ever noticed that the summer goes by so fast that the days just seem to run together? That's why I thought it best to date the letter as above. How are you? I hope you and your family are well. Sorry we didn't catch up again on the platform after the train arrived, but perhaps it was for the best.

My parents hounded me on the way home about where you were — they remembered seeing you hug me when we got off the train at Christmas.

Dad: "Where is that strapping young man we saw you with over the holidays?"

Mom: "Yes, he was quite handsome."

Both: "When are we going to meet him and have him over for dinner?"

Ugh, they drove me crazy on the way home... it was all that and more. I tried telling them we were just friends, but yeah... they didn't pay much attention to that.

Anyway, I was glad I didn't pull you into it or it could have been ten times worse considering you were the topic of a lot of conversations over the holidays. I have to wonder about them sometimes...

Oh, I wanted to tell you; Ron, Harry and I agreed to write to each other and Ron invited Harry to go stay at his house this summer. The thing is... Harry's reaction was rather...odd. Harry told Ron that he needed something to look forward to after thanking him for the invitation. Ron made a remark that he was still famous, and he used the fact that other people kept telling Harry goodbye to prove his point. Harry told him not where he was going. But even that wasn't the strangest thing.

Mrs Weasley accompanied him through the barrier with us to find his aunt and uncle were there with his cousin to get him, and, well... Mrs Weasley greeted them cheerfully, but his uncle was quite rude to her and Harry as well. When I wished him a good holiday, he just said that he was going to have fun because they didn't know he couldn't do magic outside of school.

Back at school, after we got back from Christmas holidays, Ron showed me something Harry gave him for Christmas. He said Harry told him it was from them. It was Muggle money... 50 pence. So really, they only sent him 2 Sickles 14 Knuts for Christmas. It's not even enough to refill all his potions supplies, except maybe for the beetle eyes.

I know that they likely don't know the conversions, but still, they should know that school supplies cost more than that. It's absurd. I think that was why Harry gave it to Ron... Ron was interested in what he called 'the weird shape of it', so regardless of the value, I think Harry knew it would mean more to him.

It's rather sad though, that even for being his friends, we don't really know what his home life is like. Well, I guess that none of us really know about each other's home lives, except maybe Ron just being from a large family, but still, you'd think he'd share something with us.

Maybe I'm worried about nothing, I don't know, but I just found it strange that when I made the comment when we were boarding the train that it felt strange to be going home, Harry said he wasn't going home...not really.

Hermione

Summer 1992

#1

Hermione,

I really like the way you think. Yes, the summer days do tend to run together, so your idea of new time markers for our letters makes sense. Your description of the conversation with your parents made me laugh, I truly wouldn't mind meeting them if they want to meet me. I told you over Christmas that I would be glad to meet them any time. I understand how you feel though, and I will leave that decision up to you.