Author's Note: Written for...
Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Holyhead Harpies, Seeker. Task: Write for ChocolateWonder's headcanon: Hermione had a crush on Harry in first year but got over it.
Her Hero
908 words
She had read about him before they met. His name was in at least three of her textbooks, and there had been a whole shelf of books at Flourish and Blotts that bore his name.
'Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived'
'Harry Potter: How a Baby Saved the World'
"Harry Potter: A History'
She had skimmed the covers but not bought any. At the time the textbooks had taken priority. But then she kept seeing his name everywhere and she got curious. She read through her textbooks within a week of getting them, absorbing the information at a speed that she'd never possessed at her old school.
Hermione begged her parents to take her back to Diagon Alley for more books. The more she knew about the wizarding world, the better it would be for her when the time came to go to Hogwarts. They conceded and Hermione returned with another armful of books, including one on Harry Potter.
:-:
"He saved the world - both worlds - and no one knows how he did it," Hermione chatted animatedly over breakfast. The book on Harry Potter had kept her up half the night. "And then he just vanished."
"Vanished?" her mum said.
Hermione nodded, swallowing a bit of egg. "No one has seen him for ten years!"
"And you said he's your age?" her dad asked.
"Yes."
"Well then, you'll have to thank him from all us … Muggles." He winked at her.
Hermione smiled while inside she was beginning to panic. She hadn't considered the fact that Harry might actually be attending Hogwarts at the same time as her. In the same year, no less. She was going to meet the Boy Who Lived.
:-:
She had forgotten all about Harry Potter by the time September arrived and she was meant to go off to Hogwarts. Meeting him on the train had been the furthest thing from her mind. And were it not for the scar peeking out from his fringe, Hermione would never have thought the skinny boy in clothes too large for him was the savior of this world.
He was cute, she decided. Hermione had had crushes before. She kept a few pictures of Patrick Swayze hidden in her desk at home. And there was Matty Green, who sat next to her at lunch sometimes.
She didn't want to let on that she liked him, nor that she had spent an entire month of her summer obsessing over him. She watched and admired from a distance, a little bit overwhelmed at having to share a common room with the Harry Potter.
:-:
He saved her.
Suddenly it was harder to look at him over meals, or in classes. And yet the fact that he and Weasley had rescued Hermione from the troll had somehow brought them all together, and so there was no way around looking at Harry now. Yet every time they locked eyes, she became increasingly aware of the size of her front teeth and how her hair looked.
Harry was perfect, with emerald green eyes, and a scar that showed off his heroic nature. She supposed he could do with a comb, but that could easily be fixed - she was looking into spells for unruly hair. He was even a Quidditch star, not that Hermione had been particularly fond of sports before coming to Hogwarts. But she had to admit that watching Harry fly was fascinating.
:-:
"Doesn't Oliver Wood look amazing in his Quidditch robes?" Lavender gushed one evening.
Hermione had been trying to do her Astronomy homework, but she couldn't help but overhear the conversation happening on the other side of the dormitory.
Parvati sighed, flopping onto her bed. "Draco Malfoy's hair looks so soft…"
Hermione rolled her eyes. Her roommate's crushes had nothing on Harry, even if he had been a fool to almost get himself eaten by that three-headed dog.
:-:
"You want me to do your homework for you?" Hermione asked loudly.
Ron shushed her, looking around to see if anyone in the common room had heard.
Harry sat down beside her on the window seat. "We would never ask that of you, 'Mione. We only need some help with History. You're always taking note and we're always…"
"Sleeping," Ron supplied helpfully.
"Right."
Hermione sighed, fishing her class notes from her bag. She couldn't say no to Harry Potter.
:-:
She visited him every day in the infirmary after their adventure to save the philosopher's stone. Sometimes she would hold his hand and thank him for risking his own life for everyone else, but most times Hermione would sit quietly at Harry's bedside and do her homework.
It was only when Harry had woken that she realized she didn't fancy him anymore. It was a shock to her, and she couldn't quite pinpoint when or why it had changed.
Was it after he copied her notes for the fifth time? Was it when she realized he was a reckless idiot? Was it because she'd spent a week without his companionship? Possibly all of the above, she decided.
Harry Potter was an amazing person. He was brave and selfless and kind. But he was also a complete fool who couldn't concentrate in class and got himself into all kinds of trouble.
Hermione loved him for all that he was, because they were friends. He would always look out for her just as she would for him, and that was more than enough.
