The Uncle From America

Chapter 1

Hermione pov

It started as an ordinary morning, but soon enough, it would turn into a morning Hermione would, unfortunately, never forget.

The last semester at Hogwarts had ended two weeks ago, and holidays had gone smoothly so far. The young witch was eating her customary late breakfast/early lunch –no school meant sleeping in, an activity her parents indulged the first three weeks before pulling her out from bed at an earlier time.

(It also helped that same parents worked those three first weeks, so she wouldn't have to face her mom's raised eyebrow and her dad's side smirk when she headed downstairs at past eleven).

The TV was on, and she glanced at it just in time to see a new warning message concerning Sirius Black. The criminal was said to still be on the run.

(Hermione never told her parents she had met him in person, and that he was in fact innocent, but she doubted they would understand. They would hear "criminal, daughter, alone" and probably, much to her horror, pull her back from Hogwarts. So she had kept this little detail from them, just like every other little mortal detail she didn't mention since she befriended Harry-trouble-magnet. Hermione loved her parents to death, but they were her parents.)

And then, there was a special interruption about a car accident that had occurred barely earlier in the morning. Apparently, a drunk driver had slammed into another car, pushing it off the road and into a lamppost, killing himself and the passengers of the other vehicle. Hermione winced, switched channel and kept eating her biscuit. It wasn't that the news didn't upset her, but she figured she deserved a break from having to hear about danger and accidents. She had, after all, had to face a werewolf barely a month prior.

The breakfast done, Hermione dropped her dishes in the sink –she'd clean them later –and returned to her bedroom, firmly decided to read a book. She was still pondering on which one to choose –wizard or muggle? Novel or else?- when the bell at the front door rang. With a heavy sigh, she returned downstairs, checked through the peephole and recognized Larry Harrison.

Harrison was a lawyer and one of her father's acquaintances. They weren't exactly friends, but they knew each other well enough for him to join them for diner once in a while. He was a polite and discreet man who always acted amiably with her, so she wasn't afraid to open the door to him.

Today though, he looked quite grim. And there were two policemen with him in the background. Hermione's heartbeat increased under the sudden worry.

"Miss Granger," he greeted, and his voice was all too quiet at solemn.

"If you are looking for my parents, they are at work," Hermione said, hoping this wasn't about what she thought it'd be.

"I was looking for you, actually. There had been an accident earlier today," her thoughts briefly remembered the two cars, but she brushed that thought away, it couldn't have been- "a drunk driver hit them on their way." Oh no. "I'm sorry, Miss Granger, your parents didn't make it."

The rest of the day and the following week seemed to pass in a blur. She could barely remember what happened; only that she had turned into an automaton and hadn't dared make a move she hadn't been ordered to. Mr. Harrison took care of most of the procedures, asking her questions only when necessary. He also organized the ceremony, helped with the details and the eulogy and supported her when she stood alone before her parents' caskets.

Hermione had no idea what she was going to do. None of her parents had siblings and her grand-parents had died long ago. Her parents had money in an account for her, but nothing she couldn't spend before her seventeenth birthday -whenever she needed money to buy something, they'd give her some themselves -and no will had been left behind. Mr. Harrison had been trying to break the agreement with the banks so she could have a little something to rely on, but he did tell her not to get her hopes up. So far, she had to decide what to do starting the following year. She needed to find a place to live during the summer –she couldn't stay in the house, she didn't have the financial means to keep it and although she could pretend her parents were off on a business trip most of the time, she knew it was a matter of time before she reached her breaking point and slammed the door behind.