If Only She Knew

Disclaimer: I have strawberry-blonde hair…

I know, I know, I'm horrid. But in my defense, all of you that write know how it gets. This one I know won't be too terribly difficult to keep continuing, mostly because it's based on a true story.

Okay, so this is an AU HHR fic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are still in Gryffindor, and everyone else is still in their normal houses, though Hermione is in a lower grade with Ginny. There isn't going to be such bad vibes between the houses, and though the Harry-Draco thing is still true, it isn't as bad as in the books, mostly because Voldemort doesn't exist! This is rated R for a reason that won't become clear for a little while.

We start with fourth-year Hermione and fifth-year everyone else.

Chapter one

Hermione felt rushed. Not just rushed, but exceedingly hassled. She wasn't just late; she was late on her first day of fourth-year. And her first class just happened to be double potions with Professor Snape. Just as she was turning the corner in the dungeons she ran smack into another body.

"Oomph… Oh I'm so sorry!" She had fallen over onto her bottom and was currently frantically trying to re-gather her books that had spilt all over the floor. Suddenly she noticed a hand on one of her books, a hand that was piling them up for her.

"Ah… thank you." She looked up at her helper, and realized that not only was he a Slytherin, but a fifth-year also. She cringed.

"I'm really, really sorry." He was pale, almost ghostly white, made whiter only because his hair and eyes were so dark. He was tall and thin, and she noticed that his hands were long and thin like a poet's. He was grimacing in a way that almost seemed like a smile.

"Don't worry; if I had been paying attention too this may not have happened. Not all Slytherins are bad. So you're in Gryffindor? What year?" His head cocked side-ways, watching her prepare her answer as she readied to stand with her stack of books.

"I… I'm a fourth-year Gryffindor. I'm on my way to potions, and I know Professor Snape is really going to hate me now." He chuckled at her.

"I though you were in fourth-year, ah…"

"Hermione."

"Yes, I though you were in fourth-year Hermione. Snape's class now is fifth-years, I know 'cause I'm late for his class too."

"Umm, well, I… I'm taking a few advanced classes, Potions, Charms, Herbology, and Arithmancy."

"Well Hermione, you certainly sound smart. Unfortunately, I'm barely passing Potions, and I've never even heard of Arithmancy."

"I really need to get to class, I'm so late already." Hermione looked nervous, glancing around the hallway looking for any sign of Mrs. Norris. "And if we stay out here much longer Filch might show up." He nodded and the two hurried to Snape's dungeon.

Just as Hermione's hand hit the door knob, the boy spoke up.

"By the way, my name's Blaise."

"Ah, Mr. Zabini, Miss Granger what a pleasure. You're late! Sit down, and ten points off Gryffindor." Professor Snape twirled around and stalked off to his desk, expecting the students to take their seat and begin working. As she was turning away to the class, she saw Blaise wink at her then cross to the Slytherin side of the room.

She sat at a table with a Hufflepuff boy and introduced herself, sighing as she did so. Already this year was just not turning out as she had hoped.

After Potions, she had Herbology, then lunch, which she spent in the library, Charms, and lastly Transfiguration, taught, as always, by her favourite teacher, Professor McGonagall. She had earned back the ten points she had lost in Potions and then some.

She was, as always, excelling and still losing in potions, though she rather thought she had made a friend, odd though it was because not only was he older, but he was a Slytherin.

Blaise Zabini was, she thought, and odd character. After that first day she wasn't late again, but he was late almost everyday, along with about half the Slytherin class, but Snape never took points or did anything other than tell them, rather crossly, to 'Sit Down'.

Hermione was currently in the library studying for a quiz in Transfiguration that Professor McGonagall had strongly hinted at, which meant she told them to study for a quiz coming up soon, and everyone had ignored her. Everyone but Hermione, of course, which was why she was the only one currently studying for it.

She was deep in thought about animagus transformations when she heard a voice behind her speak up and startle her.

"Hey Hermione. You look, busy." It was Blaise. "So where are your friends?" She blushed, and looked back down at her books.

"Ah, well…"

"I see. Grades are most important right?" At a faint nod from her he chuckled.

"Well, seeing as we're friends and all, I figure you can help me with a spot of trouble in Potions. I didn't really understand the procedures for that last potion, and now we have a bloody paper to write on it. Won't you help me?" His eyes seemed to twinkle, and she noticed a slight flush on his pale cheeks.

"Sure. We can't have you getting a T on your OWLs, now can we?"

That night Hermione was lying in her bed, trying to sleep, but failing miserably. In fact, she was lying in her bed thinking of a certain friend she seemed to have made. He was very odd, and slightly attractive in that dark gothic way that she saw so often in her muggle neighborhood at home. He was a fairytale elf, long, thin, and pale, only with dark hair, normal ears, and a slightly malicious sense of humor.

Though she really couldn't blame him for that, because she had a rather malicious sense of humor herself, only nobody really ever found that out.

She sighed, and turned over in her four-poster to stare out the window at the twinkling stars. In fact, even though they obviously loved her, her parents didn't really know her very well either. All those jokes and witty comebacks she came up with when someone poked fun at her stayed in her head. She was the only one that knew, and the only one that cared.

She turned back onto her back and kicked her covers off. The room felt warm, and her white nightgown covered most of her flesh. One of the girls in her room giggled and shifted in her bed, probably dreaming about boys.

This brought her mind around to the fact that she, while not caring about boyfriends and make-up and all that, now had a boy for a best friend, best friend of course because she didn't have another friend to hold that place.

A.N.

Okay, I'm just gonna end the first chapter there, and hopefully everyone will tell me what you think. Oh, and just so it's said, most of the big canon things like Sirius Black, the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and other such things didn't happen. Voldemort doesn't exist, Harry Potter is not a England-wide known name, he's only popular 'cause he's hot, and rich.

This story is going to take some weird turns, Hermione is gonna go a little crazy, a few boys will make appearances that you don't really like, there will be a couple Hermione-boy pairings in the course of the story, ending with Harry Potter, but that won't show till much later on. Much later.

Well, please review, it makes me happy. And when you do so, make some guesses as to what pairings will show up in the story. Other than the one that I gave you, of course. I won't tell you if your right, but do I wonder who will guess them.

And I rather thought that the only way to find a beta was to ask. So here I am, pride on the line, is that what I'm supposed to do?

Okay… okay… I'm done.

Bru-chan