Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 42

Okay, first off, I want to apologize for missing last week's posting. As you know from reading the last chapter, I was out of town. I DID have my computer with me and had access to internet so that I could work on it, but when I got to where I was going, I found out that my parents also had a situation arise that needed my attention. Luckily, the majority of that situation has been taken care of, but one is still ongoing. I will be heading back down next month for a week as well. I ask you for your patience in the upcoming weeks while I handle what is going on. I felt like I had three weeks worth of stress crammed into one, and was so exhausted by the early evenings that I just crashed out. Thank you for your understanding, and now on with the story.

The next morning was hectic even by the Leaky Cauldron's standards with witches and wizards checking in and out at all hours. Hermione was beginning to think that Tom, the owner, wasn't used to so many people at once, particularly with students heading to Hogwarts in a family as large as the Weasleys and then there were herself and Harry to consider.

She was headed down to breakfast and shrugged as an orange blur shot past her. She had plenty of time to get her things together after she'd eaten, but she cringed at hearing the arguing going on among the Weasleys as Mr Weasley seemed to adamantly be trying to get everything in order for them to check out before the Ministry cars arrived to take them to King's Cross.

"Ah, good morning, Hermione."

Hermione smiled as the plump, friendly woman that was Mrs Weasley smiled at her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Good morning," Hermione returned.

"All packed?" the woman asked.

"Nearly," Hermione replied, and then blushed as her stomach growled.

"Well, sit down and have a spot of breakfast," the woman said kindly, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "If you say nearly, I know you're a lot closer to being ready to go than my own are."

Hermione smiled and sat down as Tom came by and set a plate of traditional breakfast on the table after he excused himself from Mr Weasley for a moment. Tucking into her plate of eggs, sausage links, black pudding, English bacon, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and breakfast potatoes that were accompanied with a glass of pumpkin juice, she wrinkled her brow, looking curiously at Mr Weasley as he drew Harry away from the others and spoke with him quietly.

"I told you, Hermione," Ron called. "Keep that bloody beast away from Scabbers."

"And I told you, Ron, he's a cat," Hermione replied. "It's in his nature."

"Come off it, Ron," Fred said.

"Yeah, look at him," George added. "Crookshanks would be doing him a favour."

"Knock it off, all of you," Mrs Weasley said as Hermione came around after she'd had her fill, she excused herself and collected Crookshanks. "You've all got packing to do, so I suggest you get on with it."

Hermione nodded and headed back to her room to finish packing, making sure her new pet was tucked away securely in his basket.

It took a while to get everything loaded into the cars the Ministry sent and be on their way. They had just boarded the train when Ron noticed that his rat was gone. He was about to turn on Hermione and blame Crookshanks when he heard his mother calling from out the window and turned to see her running to catch up with the train as it started to pull away.

Hermione rolled her eyes and glared at him as he hung out the window, knowing all too well what he'd been about to do by the colour of his face and his expression.