"From Beneath You It Devours"
A/N: Hi all, this is my first foray into writing Harry Potter fanfiction after reading many over the years. I hope you enjoy it.
I obviously own nothing, except any original characters if I eventually choose to add them. This story isn't finished yet, so I am not sure what warnings to put on it but expect it to be dark at times, Voldemort to be sane but still very much himself, and for it to diverge from canon. Hermione may also end up dark, but at the very least expect a morally grey Hermione.
I am rating this M and tagging it with Romance, but don't expect any Romance for a long time. Just wanted to warn you now.
All mistakes are my own.
Chapter 1 - A Birthday Wish
It was Hermione's birthday and no one had come to her party.
She thought that at least Jessica would come. The two girls sat together sometimes and read, or walked home from school together. They were neighbors and Hermione had thought they were actually becoming quite good friends. She knew now that she had been mistaken.
Hermione was upset with herself. She should have realized that Jessica never hung out with her on the playground or anywhere in public. It was obvious now that no one wanted to be seen with the "know it all", "the freak", the "buck-toothed loser", not even someone that she thought was her friend.
Hermione stared at her cake, at the 8 candles that were beginning to burn down as she held in her tears. She could see her parents watching her out of the corner of her eye. Her father was not hiding his anger at this treatment of his daughter well, while her mother looked terribly sad.
Her mum had always assured Hermione that "she would make friends eventually", that "the other children were too young to see her potential", and that "she was amazing". Hermione was not sure if she believed her mother. She was too intelligent to believe in platitudes. She was in a bit of a daze. This was the first birthday party she had ever invited school friends to and no one had come.
She continued to stare at the candles and she knew that she should make a wish, but at this point she didn't know what to wish for.
All of sudden, it was obvious to her what she should wish for. She wanted a friend, someone who would read with her, talk to her about their interests, share her intelligence, and most of all understand her.
She did want a friend, but she didn't want someone that would pretend like Jessica or that she would lose to the more popular kids when they learned that books and learning for learning's sake would always be her priorities.
Hermione was intelligent enough to know that a wish on birthday candles did not usually come true. She'd wished for a friend before and it hadn't panned out. She thought Jessica had been her long wished for friend, but that had all been a lie. There had been girls before Jessica, ones that were did things much crueler than just pretending to be Hermione's friend, but she did not even want to think about them.
This would be the last time.
If this didn't work, then Hermione resigned herself to never having a friend or at least not any time soon. She closed her eyes and articulated what she wanted to the best of her ability.
"I wish for a friend. Someone intelligent, kind to me, and able to hold a conversation. Someone who will never leave me, no matter what. I know that I'm not supposed to wish for anything else, but I wish for the power to keep this friend, to hold their interest, and the power to never let them leave me."
She held the wish in her mind and concentrated on it. Hermione wanted it to come true with every fiber of her being. She pictured it coming true, held all of her desires close to herself, and then blew out the candles. As she blew out the candles, she pictured the wish flying out into the world and coming true.
The lights flickered for a moment, but then nothing else happened.
Hermione let out an inaudible sigh as her father came closer and straightened her party hat.
"Looks like that was a good wish, sprite. I won't ask you to tell me, but I hope it comes true. You deserve everything you wish for and more, and you know I'm not just saying that. Let's have some cake, my Hermione."
"I'll get some plates, Hermione love. Then, we'll have some cake for our lovely smart birthday girl", her mum said.
She leaned in closer to whisper in Hermione's ear, "They don't know what they're missing, darling." She went towards the kitchen to get utensils and plates, directing a smile at Hermione as she left the room.
The Grangers enjoyed the rest of the night and Hermione opened her presents, books the lot of them, and she couldn't be happier with how well her parents knew her. There were at least two people in her life who would always love her, and Hermione was so thankful for that even as she couldn't help but wish for a friend.
Hermione firmly put her wish out of her mind. As much as she hoped for it to come true, she had resigned herself to the fact that it never would.
Hermione went to sleep that night, one year older and certainly wiser, content in the knowledge that at least her parents loved her.
Hermione fell asleep easily with no knowledge that her wish would be coming true the very next day, just not quite in the way she expected.
A/N: Thanks for reading.