MAGIANIMA // Hermione Granger

Grieving Isn't Forgetting

Muffled shouts and orders echoed up and into Atlas's room, a few particles of dust falling from the ceiling when several loud bangs sounded from the stairs, Molly was yelling at the top of her lungs, warning everybody that they'd be late for the train and scolding Fred and George for their reckless antics. Yet Atlas remained sat on her bed, she was dressed and ready, trainers on with her trunk beside her but she remained to stare into her hands and upon a picture frame she held within them. A photo from Bella, arrived just that morning.

It was of her, Atlas and Cedric, the day they had spent their first Christmas together in Hogsmeade. Atlas remembered it clearly as she blankly stared at the picture. She remembered how they had forced Bella in the middle, her and Cedric, gathering up clumps of snow and then, just as the light flashed they had dumped it all on her head, laughing as she fell to the floor, trying to get the snow from within her shirt.

The glass of the frame cracked under Atlas's thumb, a dribble of blood wriggling from the small cut of her finger. She pulled it away, staring at the red a moment before turning the frame over in her hand and taking the photo out, folding it and tucking it in her pocket. She turned to the letter Bella had sent with it, reaching out to bury it in her trunk. It was a simple note but it spoke enough.

'This is how you should remember him.'

Atlas sighed, standing to grab her wand so she could tuck it in her thigh holster, something Moody had insisted she wore at all times. The noise below had only tripled, shouting that did not belong to Molly echoing throughout the house. It was her dear old grandmother, screeching obscene words, calling anyone who passed a vile name. At this, Atlas's mood soured even further and she grabbed her trunk viciously, the sounds of wings flapping hurriedly after her, the only incentive that she should slow down. Kalo stopped on her shoulder, Little Robin forcing his way into her breast pocket while the Agoniser curled into its stationary state in the inside pocket of her jacket.

She swung open her door, surprised to find a face on the other side, staring directing at Little Robin. Hermione staggard backwards, looking frazzled and a lot more untamable than usual. Atlas smiled slightly, pulling out her wand to send her trunk down the stairs to the pile below, much to Hermione's dismay.

"You're not allowed to -- !"

"Unregistered wands aren't tracked by the Ministry, Mi."

"Yes but that's illegal..."

"This whole operation is probably illegal," Atlas said, gesturing to their surroundings, "What's up? You were standing outside my door."

"I was just...wondering where you were. Harry asked me to come and see you, he thinks he upset you yesterday...something about a Boggart," Hermione muttered and Atlas's breathing hitched, the image of Hermione, dead on the floor flashing back to her. She closed her eyes, taking a breath through her nose so that the smell of peaches grounded her soul.

"He didn't upset me..." Atlas murmured. "I just got worked up over nothing."

"Atlas, your Boggart isn't nothing, Achlys is a monster, she --"

"My Boggart has changed," Atlas interrupted, "It's not Achlys anymore."

"...what is it now?"

"...a failed test," Atlas smiled and Hermione flushed, rolling her eyes. "Come on, before we miss the train."

"You can't just switch up topics like that."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Atlas replied and set off down the stairs, Kalo jumping from her shoulder and over to Hermione instead, crooning against her cheek in greeting. Hermione was distracted by this and didn't get to respond, leaving Atlas to descend the rest of the way in thankful silence. She reached over the bannister when she got to the bottom to ruffle Ginny's hair and flicked her wand so that a bacon and egg sandwich flew towards her from the kitchen.