Please read notes at end once you have finished this intro chapter…and please review! I gets my muse going and I really appreciate it. Oh, and I've left a sneak preview for your reading pleasure.
Chapter 1: Prologue
A few days before Harry arrives for his first year at Hogwarts
Fawkes stirred on his perch, aware that the Headmaster had one hand pinching his forehead while the other still held a piece of paper bearing disappointing news. The phoenix looked around, making sure the two were alone. He cried out.
"Yes, Fawkes. I know I must do something to fix it." Dumbledore answered with a sigh. "But what?" He had already been pacing his office for over an hour.
Suddenly an idea came to the aging wizard. Wasn't there something in that muggle magazine he had been reading a week or so ago? Dumbledore stood up and went to another table to search through a pile.
"Ah! Here it is…" He brought the magazine back to his table and placed it near the not-so-forgotten letter and searched for what he was looking for.
Dumbledore smiled when he was finished. An idea had hatched and he was ready to set it afoot. He got out a new piece of parchment, dipped his quill in some ink, and then started to down the idea and function of a "pen-pal".
The "inspiring" letter still lay beside his resting hand. It read:
Headmaster Dumbledore:
We regret to inform you that we have chosen another school for our child to enroll. While your offer has been most gracious, your visits welcomed, our careers have led us to the decision to relocate to Eastern Europe to help with the relief efforts of the occurring war in Bosnia and the surrounding area. We have found Durmstrang to be a lovely school, and the Headmaster is excited to have a new pupil from England.
Thank you for your understanding. I am sure our paths will cross in the future.
Dr. Peter Granger
Dr. Helene Johnson-Granger
So here is the premise for this "what if" story…
What if Hermione Granger went to another school, not Hogwarts? What if Dumbledore had foreseen a future with the Golden Trio, only to have it erased when the Grangers sent their letter? His solution was creating a wizarding school version of the "pen-pal" program. He deliberately set up Harry and Hermione, feaux names of course, and that is how she became an important confidante of best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. In fact, the two Gryffindor boysconsidered her their "other" best friend, and kept every one of her letters in a special place Dumbledore set up for them.
Take forinstance first year…while the troll may have been taken down by Severus and Minerva, Harry and Ron still found the three-headed dog. It was their pen-pal who helped research the philosopher's stone and how to put the dogs to sleep…it was also their pen-pal that told Harry to look in the pipes during their second year.
In the third year, she pointed out that every time they complained that Snape had taken over Professor Lupin's class, the moon was full. It was also this year that Hermione was able to confidently guess who her pen-pal (and his best friend) was. However, she kept her identity a secret. A request made by Headmaster Dumbledore himself, who visited her at the beginning of her fourth year. The same year Hermione made her own visit to Hogwarts, but only for the Yule Ball. Her friend, a potential suitor, asked her to be his escort. She had helped her pen-pal friends throughout the year, even sending a howler to Ron when he had Harry write about their idea to find "dates" for the Yule Ball. Ron had wanted to send a howler back, but Harry stopped him.
Hermionecontinued to help Harry and Ron during their first six years of school, but that, however, was about to change. You see…
Hermione's parents have now decided to return to England. And Hermione Granger is transferring to Hogwarts.
To be continued
Dear readers
As some of you may have already known (or guessed) I did not originally start off as a Hermione/Ron fan. In fact, I was drawn to stories with HG/SS and HG/DM. I didn't like to read stories that paired HG with either RW or HP (even though I support her and Ron in the books/movie), especially since Ron's a prat in so many of them (why he's a dolt in Hermione's New World) but that has now changed…Especially thanks to stories such as Please Remember Me, Inhibition, and Between Dreams and Reality. So here's my attempt to build a decent story.
One more request: I need help with some ideas.
What could be some arguments that Ron and Hermione fight over? What could originally set them off on each other?
What other activities in school should be happening?
What about Voldemort…is he alive or already defeated?
Snape "good" or evil?
Dumbledore alive/dead?
Lemme know. Please only answer the ideas presented…I don't want other story details spoiled (yet). I'm also open for a content-beta. Ideas for the entire story are laid out, and half of the next chapter is already written, so let me know what you think and I'll get it posted soon.
Sneak preview:
Chapter 2: The girl at the train station
Ron nearly tripped over his own luggage cart in the effort to make the train on time. Ginny and Harry were already at the station, having to stop at the twins shop to load up on "supplies" for the oncoming year. Ginny and Ron were both Prefects, and Harry had been the team Quidditch captain since last year. Ron had hoped to get Head Boy, but to his dismay found out Malfoy had beaten him to the job. He only hoped that the Head Girl wasn't Slytherin.
After making it to the train platform with only minutes to spare, and quite out of breath, Ron looked around for his friends. His eyes stopped as they noticed a new person his own age…a girl, to be exact. He froze. She was tall and slender, already wearing the Hogwarts school uniform - a gray short skirt that showed off her tan legs, and a white blouse that was left unbuttoned on top to just miss showing any cleavage.
She didn't have a school tie on, and so he was left wondering what house she was in until he looked at her luggage cart. There, on top of her neatly stacked boxes lay a tie ready to put on. It was gold and red. He also noticed a cage, in it the most hideous orange cat he'd ever seen.
Ron felt someone tap his shoulder. He didn't need to turn around to see who it was. "Bloody hell, Harry…who is that?"
That's all, folks!
