Disclaimer: All JKR's, not mine. And never will be. But after Dh I don't really minda that too much.
This plot bunny has been hunting me for months now and wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is, I decided to give it a try.
To all of those who are reading Times Change: I did NOT abandon that story, I already have the next chapter, I'm just waiting for my beta the finish betaing it and I'll upload it as soon as I get it back from her (which is right now).
As always, a huge thanks to my beta, the ever so wonderful x-Xanti-x, who is betaing this story for me even though she doesn't like the H/Hr pairing. And I'd also like to tahnk SwishAndFlick31 who encouraged me to write this.
About the story:
Pairing: Harry/Hermione, others undecided.
Rating: T (for now)
the texts in bold AND italic are flashbacks.
the text in simple italic means thoughts or empahsis on the word.
WARNING! VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ:
THIS STORY IS AU AND CONTAINS A RELATIONSIP BETWEEN A TEACHER AND HIS STUDENT WHO IS 10 YEARS YOUNGER THAN THE PROFESSOR HIMSELF. IF THIS DISTURBS YOU IN ANY WAY PLEASE DON'T READ FURTHER ON. I DON'T WANT TO READ ANY REVIEWS TELLING ME HOW SICK OR WHATEVER I AM FOR WRITING SOMETHING LIKE THIS. I DID WARN YOU.
Any similaities with the story called Teacher's pet, which can be read over on , are completely unintentional and this plot came to e even before I was aare of the existence of that story. So I did NOT steal the idea. Just so you know.
And one last thing. English is only my second language, so there may be misakes, evn with my beta readng through it. Please don't start sending revies on how bad my grammar or spelling is. I really try to imrpove.
Prologue
Hermione Jane Granger, 18-year-old Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry strode down the halls of the above mentioned school towards the office of her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
It was her birthday and school started only a few weeks ago, so she still didn't have too much homework the complete. And it was Saturday, anyway. It wasn't strange for the passer-bys, that they saw the cleverest witch of the school hurrying in the direction of the library of the school, but they had no idea just where she really was going.
Just that morning, after her seventh year DADA double class, her teacher asked her to stay after the lesson, and that's when he asked her to come to his office after dinner. It wasn't strange for her, as they he always did that on the day of her birthday. It was like a tradition for them since her second year.
As she was nearing his office she thought back to her first days at Hogwarts, when she was still an innocent, scared muggle born girl alone in a huge castle surrounded by things she didn't know and never heard of. It was only her second day in the wizarding world when she made friends with her first friend.
First friend at 11, you could say. The truth was, that Hermione wasn't ugly (nor beautiful) or bad to be around. She was shy, sure, but she was friendly at the same time and would have given anything for a real friend in primary school, but she never got one. All the other kids laughed at her because of her front teeth and her obsession with studying and books. She was always the geek, know-it-all Granger, the weird one around whom the strange happenings were constant.
When she received her letter from Hogwarts she hoped that she'd meet with people who were just like her, but soon realised that magical kids weren't different from muggle ones. The had prejudices and they teased the ones who were different. They quickly learnt about Hermione's obsession with books and soon named her bookworm Granger. Most of them still called her that, but the difference was that this time she didn't care what they said, because unlike in primary school this time she had a friend, whom she could trust and who helped her whenever he could. A friend who became so much more for her just the previous year.
As the curious, bushy haired girl entered the platform 9 ¾ she immediately was fascinated by the huge red train that was waiting for the students to say goodbye to their families and get on the train to depart for the wonderful school Hogwarts was.
The little girl, scared of the new thing, hugged her mother standing right beside her, hiding her face from the other students.
"Come on, Hermione," said her mother. "You don't want to miss the train now, do you?" asked the lady in her mid-thirties. She had long curly brown hair with a few grey lines in it, her hazel brown eyes looking kindly at the girl besides her.
Looking back at her mother, the 11-year-old Hermione shook her head, eyes wide with fear. No, of course she didn't want to miss that train! What would she do if she did? It'd be horrible. It just can't happen.
She quickly grabbed the right hand of her mother and the left hand of her father and dragged them towards the middle of the train, where she was helped on the train by her mother, while her father got her trunk onto the train.
They said their goodbyes and Hermione's mother made her promise to write them at least once a month. As the doors of the train were shut by an invisible force Hermione wiped the single tear sliding down on her cheeks with the sleeve of her sweater and went to find an empty compartment where she could read.
The train went without stopping all morning and in the afternoon, too, but Hermione only had a few visitors, who all left quickly after realising that Hermione would only read or talk about what she was reading about and she quickly realised that none liked bookworms here either.
The only boy that stayed long enough told her about the biggest rumour of that year: Harry Potter would be the new teacher of the defence against the dark arts classes. Of course Hermione knew who Harry Potter was. The boy-who-lived, the Hero of the wizarding world, the man who defeated You-Know-Who just four years ago in his seventh year. He was 21 and if the rumours were true then the youngest teacher on Hogwarts' history.
When they finally got off the train a scary looking huge man collected them and led them to a big black lake where they got their first glance of the enormous castle. Luckily no one fell into the lake and they arrived safely at the school, where they met a strict looking professor by the name of Minerva McGonagall.
All the way to the castle Hermione chatted about how the ceiling was supposed to look like the sky outside and how a speaking hat had the duty of shorting them into the fours houses. When they finally were allowed to go into the Great hall her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the enormous hall and the ceiling that indeed sported the look of the night sky with millions of stars in it.
She was so scared of the sorting, that she forgot to look anywhere else until after her shorting in which she was sorted into the house of Godric Gryffindor. She was really surprised by that decision, as she was sure she'd go the Raveclaw, because that's where the smart ones were supposed to go. Gryffindor's house was for the brave ones and she didn't feel any bravery in herself at that moment.
She was shocked when the old headmaster stood up, said a few strange word and in that moment tons of food appeared on the four house tables. As she started to eat and finally calmed down she looked up to the teacher's table for the first time and noted that the giant man whom she met earlier was sitting there, too. As she was examining the teachers she noticed one who was talking to the headmaster, occasionally looking up. He must have felt that someone was staring at him, because he suddenly looked up ad shocking emerald eyes met Hermione's hazel ones.
It was her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry James Potter.
The next day Hermione woke up early, but couldn't go back to sleep, so she decided to get up and start the morning early.
As soon as she got down to the Great Hall, after about half an hour of wandering around the school, she was grateful that she woke up so early, because she was sure that if she slept till she was planning on she not only would have been late for breakfast but her first lesson, too, what happened to be DADA.
After finishing her breakfast she got up and thanks to the help of a seventh year fellow Gryffindor, she relatively quickly found the classroom she was supposed to go to and waited nervously for the others and her teacher to arrive.
When the rest of the class arrived the door of the room suddenly flung open and they filled in, with Hermione immediately sitting in the front row.
During the lesson she couldn't help but notice that Professor Potter seemed extremely nervous, even more so then she was.
'It must be because this was his first ever lesson,' thought Hermione. She couldn't help but note that despite his nervousness the professor was fairing really well and it was obvious from the first moment on that he knew what he was talking about. Secretly Hermione was really proud of herself, too, as she managed to answer every single question correctly, thus winning Gryffindor almost 50 points.
After the class ended every student hurried to get out of the classroom, except for Hermione who stayed back and when the professor noticed it, he addressed her.
"Is there something wrong? Your name's Hermione, right?" he asked. She nervously nodded then did something that'd change her life forever. She stepped to her professor and hugged him. Harry's smile faded and a shocked and questioning expression took its place, that's when Hermione looked into his eyes and said:
"You looked really nervous through the class and I thought you needed that. You're a great teacher, Professor Potter" she said, then turned on her heels and walked away, not noticing the smile of her professor's face.
That was the beginning of their friendship. They became close friends, as close as a teacher and a student can get, even though the never let on their 'relationship' to others. They always acted like they weren't more than a simple student and teacher, but that wasn't exactly true. They always gave each other gifts for birthdays and Christmas, often talking.
Their relationship took a turn when Hermione was chosen a perfect in her fifth year. Every perfect was to patrol the halls with one of the teachers and as her luck was, she got Harry. They became even closer, he even allowed her to call him Harry when in private.
As the months went along she started to think about Harry as more than her professor. First she thought that it was only a silly crush and that it'd go away, but it didn't and her feeling became even stronger. Of course she hid it all from Harry, but unbeknownst to her professor was starting to have more than inappropriate thoughts about her, too.
They both tried to deny everything, until a fateful spring afternoon in Hermione's sixth year, when their world turned upside down.
'But I don't have time to think about that now,' thought Hermione, as she looked up and noted that she arrived at her destination. She lifted her hand and softly knocked on the door and waited for him the answer it.
'It's going to be a long night.' She thought before she was quickly pulled into the room by a strong masculine hand.
So this was the first chapter. please leave me a review and tell me what you think. It really helps a lot.
Thank you for reading.