Title: The Pact
Author:TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Pairings: Harry/Hermione
Summary: Two strange children make a pact. Years later they meet at Hogwarts. Harry/Hermione. AU. Non-canon.
Author notes:
What inspired this? Not much of a clue, really, except that Harry and Hermione were both ostracised children, for different reasons, and I think they'd have gotten on well, and I haven't uploaded a Harry/Hermione fic yet. So…
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THE PACT
PROLOGUE:
TWO STRANGE CHILDREN
--
There was a park that Hermione liked to go to, after school, before her parents got home. She was supposed to walk straight home and let herself in, she knew, but there was something so lonely about being in the little house, all alone. At the park she could sit and read in peace, without anyone teasing her about being a bookworm or a freak, surrounded by the grass and the open sky and a certain sense of peace. Hermione knew all about Stranger Danger, but after all, it was a park, for children to play in, so what could possibly happen to her there? If she ever did meet a stranger, she'd do just as the nice policeman had told her class.
-
One afternoon there was a boy there, sitting on the swings. He wasn't swinging, just sitting, staring at his feet. He had messy black hair and pale skin and glasses that were a bit too big for his face. His clothes were just as ill-fitting.
Hermione went and sat on the grass near the slide. Her latest book was called The Magicians of Caprona, and it was actually from the grade 5-7 section of the library. The librarian had looked a little surprised when Hermione brought it to the counter to borrow it, but she knew Hermione's reading habits by now and just smiled and let it go through. It was a very interesting book, about an evil witch who kidnapped two children from magical families, who couldn't do proper magic themselves.
"Hello."
Hermione looked up. It was the boy from the swings. He was standing a little way away, watching her uncertainly with bright green eyes the same colour as her mum's emeralds earrings when they were held up to the light.
"Hello." Hermione watched cautiously. Most people tended to tease her about her reading. "Your clothes are too big for you."
The boy flushed and looked at his shoes in embarrassment. Hermione felt a bit guilty.
"Can't your family afford new ones?" she asked. For some reason he just looked even more distressed.
"They don't like me." It was mumbled, but Hermione caught it. She felt bad.
"Most people don't like me either," she said, trying to make up for it. "The girls at school say I'm a reading freak."
His eyes swung up to meet hers again.
"My family says I'm a freak too," he observed. He looked critically at her, then down at himself. "Do you think we are?"
Frowning, Hermione examined them both as well.
"I don't think so, but if everyone says so, there must be a reason," she replied.
The boy plopped down on the grass next to her, face thoughtful.
"You're the first person who's ever been nice to me," he said. "Everyone else just pointed and laughed because I was dressed all wrong, and then because Dudley doesn't like me. Maybe being a freak's not so bad, if we're the nice ones."
Hermione thought about it. The boy leaned forward to look at her book.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"It's excellent," Hermione said honestly. "Do you read much?"
"Not really," the boy said sadly. "I'm a bit better now I can see coz of my glasses, but it's hard."
"How old are you?" Hermione demanded.
"Seven," the boy said meekly.
"Seven!" Hermione scoffed. "That's nothing. Lots of people can't read at seven."
"You can read," the boy pointed out.
"I'm eight," Hermione said importantly. "That's different." Seeing his downcast look, she added impulsively, "maybe I can help you."
The emerald eyes brightened.
"Really?"
"Of course," Hermione told him. "And if I'm going t teach you, we need to be properly introduced. I'm Hermione Jane Granger."
The boy smiled, eyes shining.
"I'm Harry."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Harry," Hermione said with a quaint primness and propriety that made Harry smile shyly. "Now come read this for me so I can see how well you do."
-
The next time they met, Harry turned up with a bruise on the side of his face and sticky tape holding the two halves of his glasses together.
"Harry!" Hermione ran over. "What happened to your face? And your glasses?"
Harry hunched and looked at his feet.
"My cousin hit me in the face and broke them," he said, almost too softly for Hermione to hear.
"And your face?" Hermione pressed. Harry shifted uncomfortably.
"My uncle got mad and said I was ungrateful for breaking them and hit me."
"That's terrible!" Hermione exclaimed in horror. Then she turned practical. "Harry, that's child abuse and it's against the law. You have to tell someone."
"No!" Harry stared at her in equal horror. "Uncle Vernon will kill me!"
Hermione frowned, unconvinced.
"Harry…"
"You can't tell anyone," he insisted. "Promise me you won't tell. Promise! Please!"
"Oh, very well," Hermione huffed, "but I really think you ought to tell someone, Harry. It's not right," she added seriously.
"Uncle Vernon say I deserve it coz I'm a freak."
"That is not true," Hermione was still serious and a little indignant, "no child deserves to be abused Harry. That's why it's called abuse."
Harry sighed and flopped onto the grass.
"No one would believe me. They all think I'm a criminal. They feel sorry for my aunt and uncle."
"That's terrible." Hermione sat down carefully, arranging her school uniform for maximum decorum.
"Yeah." Harry gave a deep sigh, then rolled over. "What book did you bring?"
"The River of Silence…"
-
The two of them continued to meet all year. Harry's reading slowly improved until it was, he said proudly, better than most of his classmates. They went lighter on the reading lessons after that, sometimes, playing games with each other or going on the swings, but they continued to read books together. Harry was clever and nice and Hermione liked him a lot. Harry knew that Hermione was a bit bossy, but he like her too. It felt kind of nice to have someone who cared about him. It felt nice to have a friend.
Close to the Christmas holidays, however, when Harry went out to the park, wrapped in layers of old clothes, it was to find Hermione sniffing.
"Hermione?"
"Oh Harry!" Hermione wailed flinging herself at him. "I'm moving!"
Harry's heart flopped into his shoes.
"Mum and Dad's dental surgery, it's been doing really well, and we've got enough money to get a bigger house now," Hermione began to sob, wiping her nose with a gloved hand, the pom-poms on her beanie jiggling. "But it means I can't se-seee-eeeeeee you anymore!" Hermione began crying in earnest.
Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. He patted Hermione's back awkwardly. Her arms immediately tightened around him.
"When are you moving?" Harry asked after a bit.
"W-whenever we f-find a new h-house," Hermione sniffled.
"Well, that'll take a while," Harry pointed out. "We can still be friends until then." Hermione sniffed again. He tried to think of something to cheer her up.
"Some people have been worried about me," he said suddenly. Hermione immediately looked up.
"Who?"
"They say they're friends of my mum's," he explained. "They said they didn't know where I was and it took them this long to find me. They're upset about how the Dursleys act and they want to take me away, but they said if anyone finds out I'll be brought back, so they need to figure out a way to hide me properly."
"Oh Harry!" Hermione hugged him enthusiastically, "that's marvellous! I'll miss you," she added bravely, "but I'm glad someone's going to help you."
"Me too," he agreed. He hesitated. "Want to build a snow fort?"
Hermione nodded, so together they started looking for a good place to build a fort.
-
Closer to the end of the school year Harry turned up looking thoughtful, and a bit sad, but with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked him. Harry gave a happy-sad smile.
"Tomorrow I'm going away," he said. "My mum's friends are taking me away."
"T-tomorrow?" Hermione faltered. Harry nodded solemnly.
"They said I can send you a letter when I'm gone, to tell you how I'm going, but only once. Otherwise someone might use it to trace me."
Hermione burst into tears and flung her arms round his neck.
"I'm glad you'll be happy but I don't want you to go!"
"Me neither," Harry said. "I'll miss you. I... sort of had an idea, though," he added hesitantly.
"What kind of idea?" Hermione asked hopefully. Harry looked embarrassed.
"Remember that book where the forest-witch and the warlock cut their hands and made a pact? Well, I thought maybe we could do that, only, you know, swear never to forget each other or something."
"That's lovely," Hermione said. "I want to do it. But how will we cut our hands?"
Harry fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a small pocket-knife.
"It's Dudley's, but I pinched it from his room," he explained. "What do you want to say?"
"Do you have any ideas?" Hermione asked. "The pact is your idea."
Harry nodded. He flipped open the pocket knife, and slowly drew it across his palm, wincing as blood immeidately welled up. He passed it to Hermione, who did the same. They clasped their hands together so that their blood mingled.
"Whatever happens, we'll remain loyal to each other," Harry said seriously. "We'll never forget each other. Just us, you and me, the two freaks together, never letting anyone come between us. Let it be so."
"Let it be so," Hermione repeated.
Something like an electric shock ran through them both. They quickly let go of each other in surprise..
"Look," Hermione gasped. The cut across her palm had vanished, and the skin tingled where it had been. Harry examined his own hand to find that the same thing had happened to him.
"It worked," he said in wonder.
"That's supposed to be impossible," Hermione said. Harry shrugged.
"We're freaks," he said matter-of-factly. "Maybe, all that means is we can do things other people can't."
Hermione nodded soberly.
-
And that afternoon was the last time Harry and Hermione saw each other for several years.
-
END CHAPTER