Author Note: I rarely do a note before a chapter but I would like to point something out. This story is an AU (Alternative Universe) story so the character may not be exactly like they were in the books because this is an AU. Please take that into account when reading
Chapter One
Is That What You Want To See?
The dawn was nearly breaking; the night's chill was still desperately trying to cling to the air and in the distance it was almost possible to hear the first calls of the morning birds.
Twenty-one year old Hermione Granger hastily retied her skirt as she glanced over her shoulder at the red haired man pulling on his rich looking riding boots. While shame might consume others over what had gone on during the night Hermione merely felt nothing at all.
"You think bad of me, don't you?" Hermione asked the man, she didn't even know his name.
"Pardon?" the man asked. He finished putting on his riding boots and straighten his neat jacket.
"You. You think bad of don't you? For what we just done." Hermione asked as she sat down on a nearby hay bale. The man looked Hermione up and down then gave a little snort.
"You're grammar is truly terrible. Do you know that?" The man said. He even laughed a little. Hermione felt her tempter begin to rise. She never liked people making fun of her, not even her only friend Luna who lived not far from her.
"Not all of us were brought up in fancy London." Hermione said with a sniff. The man looked her up and down once again.
"No, clearly not." The man said after a short silence. "I must leave soon, my carriage back to London is in a few hours and I need to freshen up.
"Would you ever take me to that London?" Hermione asked. She imagined the vast smoky city with its tall buildings, busy streets filled with carriages and people. She wondered just how many different types of people lived there, worked there and how they lived their lives. They probably lived their lives without a single similarity to her.
"Dressed like that? You're not even wearing shoes." The man said with a harsh laugh.
"Money's hard to come by here, it would be easier in that London I wager." Hermione said.
"I live quite comfortably but I am only going to London to witness a burning. A friends of mine who goes by the name of Malfoy is a good religious man, he oversees the burnings."
"Of witches?" Hermione asked. The man nodded. "What are they like? Have you ever seen a real witch be burned? What was it like? Did she scream? Did she call out curses or incantations?" Hermione asked, she was suddenly fascinated by the thought of seeing witches.
"What is with all of these questions? You don't find that unholy abomination fascinating at all do you?" The man asked with a shocked look on his handsome face.
"What of it if I does?" Hermione asked with a shrug.
"This conversation is making me uncomfortable." The man said as he began to walk away from Hermione
"We could do something else." Hermione said. The man looked back at her and laughed.
"I think not. As I said I have a carriage waiting for me to take me back to London." He said dusting off his jacket of dirt not visible.
"Can I go with you?" Hermione asked. The talk of witches in London had mesmerised Hermione.
"No. You are hardly the type of woman I would like to be seen with while in London."
"Well to hell with you then." Hermione snapped. She made sure her shirt was fully buttoned and gave the man a contemptuous look.
"Charming woman." The man said with a harsh chuckle. Hermione's temper flared up again and she felt like cursing the man just for the fun of it.
"I don't needs you insulting me or just being plain rude." Hermione snapped.
"I was merely pointing out a very obvious fact." The man said with a sniff. "Good day to you madam, I hope we shall never meet again." The man added. Hermione glared at him under her eyelashes.
"Off to hell you go then, I hope your horse crashes into a ditch and dies. Then what use will it be on your travels." Hermione snapped as she hitched up her skirt, she couldn't waste hours later in the day washing it. "I hope you find no one on the road to London and you starve. That would serve you right." She added before she began to walk off down the road back to her village leaving the nameless man spluttering in her wake.
By the time Hermione made it home the sun had risen. At was a crisp summer's morning ad Hermione knew the day was going to be beautiful. Hermione opened the door to her cottage and tiptoed into the kitchen.
"No need to sneak in Hermione, I'm up and I'm awake." A voice said from the pantry. Hermione sighed but smiled as her guardian Molly walked out the pantry holding loaf of bread. "Did you have a good night Hermione?"
"It wasn't completely terrible." Hermione said. Molly placed the loaf of bread into the scrubbed wooden table in the centre of the kitchen. Hermione reached for the bread and broke a piece off before placing it in her mouth and beginning to chew. Hermione saw Molly look at her with concern. "What?" Hermione asked.
"I just want to make sure you're happy. Men are only good for one thing and when that goes you are left with nothing."
"I know, you've said several times that you're glad he's dead Molly." Hermione said.
"Well I promised to look after you when those parents of yours died and I ain't going to start ignoring you anytime soon." Molly said.
"I knows that Molly and I'll always be thankful to you for it." Hermione said with a smile. "I'm a big girl and I can look after myself during the nights, don't worry."
A knock on the front door distracted both Hermione and Molly. Molly looked at Hermione expectantly. Hermione sighed and rose from the table. She walked to the front door and opened it to see Molly's only daughter Ginny standing on the door step.
"Do you have my bowl?" Ginny asked tapping her foot against the floor. Hermione's teeth were instantly set on edge. Ginny was twenty years old and because she had been married for two years she thought she was above Hermione in class and morality. Hermione often fantasized about lighting Ginny's hair on fire but she kept this to herself as Ginny was Molly's daughter.
"Bowl? What bowl?" Hermione asked.
"The bowl I lent my mother last week when she was baking. Can I have it back? I want to make a cake for Harry for when he returns from tending to the cows." Ginny said with contempt as she looked Hermione up and down. Hermione folded her arms across her chest and stood up to her full height and looked down at Ginny.
"Molly's not done any baking in the past week. Sun getting to you?" Hermione said with a slight snap. Ginny sighed and shook her head. "Then walk on Ginny Potter. I have things what I need to be doing." Hermione said with a sniff.
"I doubt that, the only things you ever do require you to be on your back with your legs parted."
"Yes well your husband would know." Hermione said. She laughed inwardly when Ginny looked shocked.
"That's sinful to even joke about something like that, you crude woman. You are lucky that my mother cares for you or you would be going straight to hell where you belong."
"Oh piss on your thoughts Ginny Potter and leave me alone." Hermione snapped as she slammed the door in Ginny's face.
"Who was at the door?" Molly asked when Hermione stomped into the kitchen.
"Useless woman." Hermione said. "I'm going for a sleep. Wake me later when the sun is less fierce." Hermione said as she walked through the kitchen to the staircase to take her upstairs. She settled in her small bed and soon drifted off for a well needed nap.
Molly woke Hermione up in the mid afternoon and asked her to clean a pile of clothes that were sitting in the kitchen. Hermione changed into a, nearly, clean shirt and skirt. Once she was downstairs she dragged the old tin wash bucket from the pantry and filled it with water from outside in the well. Walking back into the house she grabbed the clothes, walked back outside once again and set about cleaning the clothes, many of the Molly's.
It was relaxing work cleaning clothes even if it was slightly tiring. Hermione had vast amounts of fun imagining that the rock she used to clean the clothes was bashing Ginny over the head. From across the lane she heard a door gate open. Hermione looked up and saw Ginny's husband, the handsome Harry Potter. He spotted Hermione instantly and smiled.
"Good afternoon Hermione. Working hard I see." Harry Potter said as he walked over to Hermione. Hermione was scrubbing several of Molly's shirts in the old tin washing bucket as Harry stood over her. He was holding a glossy looking red apple. "I saw this when I was tending to the cows and I thought you would like it." Harry said with a proud smile.
"Thank you Harry Potter." Hermione said with a smile as she let a shirt of Molly's fall into the watch. She stood up and accepted the apple from Harry and bit into it. The juice from the apple dripped down her chin. Harry reached over and wiped it away. "What have I done to deserve such a delicious gift?" Hermione asked. She was mainly acting flirtatious towards Harry not becuase he was handsome but because he was married to Ginny. Anything to annoy Ginny would make Hermione happy.
"Oh it could be anything Hermione. The prettiness of your eyes, your delicate wrists or your curvaceous waist. Anything you choose." Harry said looking down at Hermione.
"it would be impossible to pick just one Harry Potter." Hermione said. She bit into the apple and once again the sharp juice dripped down onto her chin. "Well look at the sun Harry Potter. Your wife while think the cows have trampled you. I says she is a very worrisome woman." Hermione said with a grin. Harry chuckle and did not correct her.
"Have a good afternoon Hermione." Harry said with a nod of his head. As he turned to walk back to his house he spotted Luna Lovegood, Hermione's closest friend, walking towards them. "Good afternoon Luna." Harry said with a bright smile. "Say hello to your husband for me. Please tell him I shall happily see him at church on Sunday morning." He added.
"I will Harry Potter." Luna said as Harry walked back into his house. "What did Harry Potter want?" Luna asked Hermione. Hermione held up the apple. "He gave that to you?" Luna asked. Hermione nodded. "You haven't been flirting with him have you? He's a married man. Lusting is a sin and lusting after a married man is an even bigger sin."
"Calm down Luna. He wants what he can't have. That is all." Hermione said with a laugh. "How are you? How is the baby?"
"She cries all through the night. I am very tired." Luna said with a sigh.
"Do sit down, I don't want you falling to the ground on me because you're tired." Hermione said. Luna sat down on a nearby hay bale and watched as Hermione set back to washing Molly's shirts. "Tiredness can't be good for the little one on the way." Hermione said nodding to Luna's rounded belly. Luna already had a baby, not even five months old but here she was having one again.
"You sound like my husband, he keeps saying 'Wife do sit down and rest your feet' or 'Wife, do sleep some more for the baby'
"He's a smart man but don't tell him I told you that." Hermione said with a short laugh. She was still laughing when Ginny Potter walked out her house holding a small butter churner. "Oh look." Hermione said. She raised her hand and waved at Ginny. "Good afternoon Ginny Potter." Hermione said with a false smile. Ginny merely glared at Hermione. Luna snickered under her breath.
"If she wasn't such a God-fearing woman I would say that she was going to hex you."
"Well it's lucky that I am not God-fearing isn't it?" Hermione said with a cunning chuckle.
Author's Note: Hi. This is my first Harry/Hermione centred fic so I am slightly excited in writing this. This story is going to be based loosely around the play Vinegar Tom by Caryl Churchill which is a great play. If you have any thoughts on this chapter or the idea for the story then please review and give me your opinions.