Sometimes It's Good to be Bad

Chapter 7 The Bad News

Hermione had been out of the house for less than an hour. When she returned, she had changed into her pajamas, scourigified her Death Eater robes and re-charming them to school robes before removing her make-up and letting her hair out of the braids. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was so tired.

Three hours later she was awoken by a very distraught Molly Weasley. Seeing the tears on the woman's face, Hermione sat straight up in her bed. "Mrs. Weasley, what's wrong? Is it Ron or Harry?" There was a twinge of fear and panic in her voice.

"No, dear. It's your parents."

"M-my parents? What happened?" The girl now had tears sprouting from her eyes and had brought her knees up to her chest, arms wrapped around them as she looked up to the older woman for answers.

"Well, it looks as though your father was put under the Imperious to kill your mother, and then himself." The mother of seven was trying to soften the blow as much as possible as she watched her son's best friend whose only reaction was to break down into sobs, hugging the portly woman to her. After she had cried herself back to sleep, Molly went back downstairs where the rest of the Order was gathered.

"How is she?" asked Lupin with concern.

"The poor dear's in shock. Cried herself to sleep. I'm sure when she wakes up she'll have a lot of questions, though."

"What are we going to tell her?" wondered Tonks.

"The truth," responded Lupin firmly. "The next thing to do is let Harry and Ron know. They'll want to come and be with her."

"We'll have to let them come. They shouldn't really leave yet, but I don't think we have much of a choice," responded Molly.

After a while most of the Order had left, but Molly, Lupin, and Tonks stayed so as to be there for Hermione when she would wake wanting answers.

She woke up early; Molly was in the kitchen making breakfast while Lupin and Tonks were in the living room, apprising Harry and Ron of the entire situation. When she came down the stairs she was surrounded by arms .

Just when they sat down to breakfast and she opened her mouth to talk for the first time that morning, the mobile phone her parents had bought her for emergencies (despite the fact she had explained that it wouldn't work at Hogwarts) rang in her pocket, startling everyone. She pulled the phone out, looked at the caller id, and answered it. Harry and Ron were the only other people in the room who knew what a mobile was, and so the adults were looking at her a little strangely.

"Hello?"

"Hermione?" The voice on the other end was shaking with tears, afraid of the news they were about to deliver.

"I already know, Aunt Anne."

"You do?" the woman asked, taken aback, though slightly relieved. "How?"

"They were killed by Dark wizards." came the simple answer.

"But the police said....." she trailed off, not wanting to repeat what had been told to her.

"The police said that Daddy snapped and killed Mum before killing himself, right?" The tears were starting to appear back on the young woman's eyes as she said the sentance.

"Well, they said more than that, but yes."

"What more?" her vioce quivered, but she was staring straight at Mrs. Weasley as she directed the question to her aunt.

"Ummm," she had been hoping that if her neice knew of the deaths, she would also know the rest. "Apparently it looked like Jerry carved and cut your mum up before she died." Anne's voice broke as she started to cry again at what her sister had had to go through during her final minutes.

"They made Daddy torture her first?" she yelled, jumping out of her chair before falling down to the floor, the tears freely flowing down her face.

Three or four minutes had passed before either said anything else, both crying their own tears. "Hermione, love," her aunt started, "I'm also calling to tell you that even though we haven't gone through the will or anything yet, your parents appointed me your guardian. I have to insist that you came and stay with me."

Hermione's eyes widened in panic, and everyone looked at her with more interest than sympathy compared to the second before. "What, I--" a look of understanding crossed her face before she spoke again. "Aunt Anne, if you want, I will come and stay with you with my friends until the funeral, but after that I will be returning to where I currently am."

"Hermione, I don't want to argue with you, but you are a minor, and I am your guardian now. I would feel much more comfortable if you were here to stay."

Hermione sighed before she spoke again, though in a soft, comforting voice rather than the stern, beligerant one she wanted to use. Her tears had disappeared with her frustration, and the whole room looked on in shock after hearing the last thing she had said. "Auntie, I've already been of age in the wizarding world for ten months, and in two more I will be in yours, as well. I understand that you're my guardian, but my parents understood my need to be here, and I expect you to as well. My friends and I will be there in a couple of hours, and we can talk this through then."

Anne sighed, but then she agreed and the two hung up the phone. "So, are you two up to coming over my aunt's and to the funeral?" she asked Ron and Harry.

Before either had a chance to respond, Molly decided to put in her two cents. "Now, that is just not a good idea. The three of you would be in extreme danger. If You-Know-Who were to find out that the three of you were at a muggle funeral, muggles that he had killed, do you really think he would hesitate to come and finish you off as well!"

The tears were once again coming to the surface as Hermione answered the woman. "Mrs. Weasley, I have no choice but to go. Aside that the funeral is for my parents, my Aunt has legal control over me for the next two months. I need Harry and Ron to come with me, not only as my friends, but also for protection." She looked up with pleading eyes, and her friend's mother relented.

"Alright, but I expect at least two owls a day at the Burrow to let me know that everything is all right." Her voice left nothing to question, so the three agreed before going to prepare to go to the muggle world for a few days (or back to in the cases of Ron and Harry).