Indulging Scars

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

"Hey Gin.

It's always lovely to see your letter in the mailbox..... As for me, I'm not doing fine at all. Everytime I begin to start a job, one or the other goes wrong and I'm suddenly back to the start again...... money has been pretty tight but my apartment is not all terrible. I have Crooks with me and some quite spectacular microwave food handy. I really hate taking money from you Gin and I promise with all my heart I will repay everything one day. Anyways, enough about me, how are James and Harry? Still being the troublemakers like always I bet! Come visit me soon with them....I want to see all of you.- How's the ministry? I miss you immensely and I really hope we can see each other soon. I'll send my new address once I complete the deal with the new management alright? Love you loads.

Yours always,

Mione.

She reread the letter a thousand times before handing it over to her local wizarding dealer and sent the post off. She missed sending it the magical way, by herself.

The walk back to her apartment was a long and chilly one. December in Manchester was always cold and she expected nothing less. Snow would fall onto cars here and there and the blaring alarm would be muffled by it, empty to its surroundings.

Hermione Granger loved winter. Almost as much as she loved Crookshanks and her recently discovered book, "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. It wouldn't surprise anyone that she learned to read Portuguese in a matter of 7-8 months solely to read this book and by then, the English version had come out already.

She walked back with her head down, kicking a wide and round rock through the snow.

She walked up the long narrow sidewalk, successfully avoiding the muddy ditch that she learned was there after one too many accidents, made a right on her street, and 2 blocks down she entered the lobby of her apartment and got onto the rusty elevator without sparing a glance at anyone.

It was barely 10 pm when she trudged to her kitchen and made herself some dinner with a cup of tea and plopped down on her couch to finish up watching the television. The sounds of her rattling remote clicking through the channels echoed across her room until she stopped at a recent news update.

"After another unsuccessful attempt at capturing the famous 'Nightcrawler Criminal,' the Medusa Emerald jewel has been swiped from the Colchester Museum at 11:39 last night. The 'Nightcrawler Criminal,' who also goes by his trademark 'J,' is now in possession of five out of the ten royal Pealrich jewels of suiting the crown. Authorities are collecting evidence from the museums but it is near to impossible where he will strike next. A discussion with--" she muted the TV.

It was amusing how many times she had seen the same news on television just over the past 3 months....Whoever he is, Merlin I hope I get some of the same luck...

Hermione picked herself up the stairs, grumbling at every one, wishing she had a single story apartment. She walked the last few steps to her bed and fell into a deep sleep as soon as she hit the bed.

—---------------

—-----------------------

She woke up the next morning to an owl tapping on the window. It was Erroll, back with a letter from Ginny.

Opening the window to grab the letter, she fed a few proteinable pellets to the beautiful bird and sent him on his way, finally sitting back on the bed, excited to see Ginny's message.

Hermione,

Everyone and everything is good here. I appreciate you for your concern and I am sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately I cannot keep providing you with the money you need because I do still have a family to raise and I will need to cut you down. I will continue to give you your weekly amount for the next 2 weeks but after that I will have to stop.