Authors Note: The names of Harry's friends are a reference to something. A metaphorical cookie to the first one to get it.
It was a warm, pleasant morning in July and the clocks were striking eleven. Sunlight drifted through the street where the Granger's house lay, slowly increasing in warmth and light.
To the casual observer it might seem as if it had only been a day or so since the strange and confusing events of that day in November. After all, much of the house seemed entirely the same, especially on the outside. But they would be wrong for it had been ten years since then and a closer look would soon show that much had changed. The carpet was a different colour, Henry had a new car and several more books had been added to the bookcase. But the biggest change had been to the mantelpiece.
Ten years ago there had been two photograph on the mantelpiece – a picture of Henry and Petunia's wedding and one of baby Hermione. These pictures were still there but a great many others had been added since. For one there was another photo of a baby –but one would not have to take a closer look to see that it was not a picture of Hermione. No, this was a picture of a baby boy, with a very distinctive scar on his forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt. Many other pictures of the boy, at various ages and in various situation could be found throughout the house. There were pictures of him going to school, riding a bike and eating birthday cake. There were almost as many pictures of him as there were of Hermione.
The boy in question was named Harry Potter and he woke with a start. He looked up to see the face of his aunt looking back at him. "Come on now Harry" she said "you've been asleep all morning. If you don't get out now you'll miss the sunshine". Harry just grunted and rolled over. He'd been having such a nice dream.
Harry was a small, skinny boy of eleven years with messy black hair and green eyes. He didn't look much like the rest of the family and of course he didn't have the same last name, so it had been obvious to him from an early age that the Grangers weren't really his parents. Still Uncle Henry and Aunt Petunia had always treated him as one of their own so he didn't really mind very much, apart from when the anniversary of his parent's death came around every year. Plus he was fairly sure he wouldn't have had a sister if he'd stayed with his parents and he thought that would be a shame (although getting him to admit that out loud would be rather difficult).
Harry really didn't know much about his parents. He knew that they died when he was a baby, at the same time he got his scar but he didn't know how or why. When he pressed Aunt Petunia on the subject she said that it was a story not fit for young ears and he'd learn when he was old enough. He'd been waiting quite a long time. He knew that his mum had been Aunt Petunia's sister but it was hard to get her to talk about the subject. She tended to clam up quite quickly. Uncle Henry hadn't known his parents very well but he said that Harry looked very much like his dad.
As Harry got dressed, he tried to remember his dream. He was sure it involved a flying motorbike but the details escaped him. What had actually happened? There might be something about a beard but it was all very vague. Oh well, it was sure to come back to him sooner or later. Besides something about the dream seemed familiar. He was sure he'd had it before, more than once.
Harry opted to head to the kitchen. It was too late for breakfast but it was just about the right time for lunch. When he arrived Uncle Henry and Aunt Petunia were there but there was no sign of Hermione. Uncle Henry was reading a book and Aunt Petunia was dusting the tabletop. Uncle Henry looked up from his book and spoke.
"Ah, good afternoon Harry. So glad you could join us"
"Afternoon Uncle Henry" Harry replied "Where's Hermione? I've barely seen her all week"
"She's still in her room I think, Harry dear" said Aunt Petunia "what happened on Tuesday seems to have really frightened her. I've tried talking to her but she won't have any of it. I think you'd better go up and talk to her, tell her you're alright".
Harry suddenly felt a jolt of realisation. He'd almost forgotten what had happened on Tuesday.
Harry had been very bored all summer. All of his friends – Chris, Alfie, Mike and Dave had gone away on holiday and they didn't look they'd be back anytime soon. There'd been nothing much worth watching on TV since Doctor Who had been cancelled and not a lot on at the cinema since Batman. He liked reading but not as much as Hermione and there was only so much of it he could get through in a day before it began to get more than a little dull. So for the past few days he'd taken up a new hobby: annoying Hermione.
His sister was easy to irritate and when she was irritated she had the funniest reactions. She crossed her arms, sighed loudly and muttered "honestly" under her breath. She got even more annoyed when he imitated her annoyance. But it seemed that on Tuesday he'd gone a little too far because while she was insisting he give her book back to her she waved her hand angrily. Somehow (Harry couldn't work out for the life of him how) this had caused a gust of wind to appear from nowhere and knock him flat on his back. Since he landed on soft carpet he hadn't been hurt but it was quite a shock nevertheless.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Ever since he could remember strange things had happened when Harry was scared or angry. There was one occasion where he'd narrowly escaped being in the path of an oncoming car by suddenly being on the other side of the street. On another occasion he'd been doing a very difficult test in school when suddenly it burst into flames. Whenever these things happened he always heard his aunt and uncle talking about it in hushed tones afterwards. He was sure it had to have happened to Hermione before because he'd heard them talking in that way even when he hadn't done anything. Whenever he tried to eavesdrop he couldn't hear most of the conversation but one word seemed to come up again and again – "Dumbledore". Harry had no idea what a Dumbledore was- the only thing he could find in Uncle Henry's dictionary was that it was an old word for Bumblebee.
Harry walked up Hermione's room and knocked on the door. He received no answer. He knocked again and received a curt "go away".
"Come on Hermione" he said "it's really no problem. I'm fine. You didn't hurt me". Hermione muttered something under her breath he couldn't hear and suspected he didn't really want to. He decided he'd better change the subject "look" he said "I'm sorry I was so annoying. It was my own fault for being so rude. I won't do it again I promise".
He got a response after that. She came bounding out of the room, her bushy blonde hair swaying. She walked up to him and hugger him round the middle. Harry was not altogether pleased with this but he thought it was best not to spoil the moment. "Oh Harry" she said "let's not fight anymore. I don't want to do… whatever that was again"
They spent the rest of the day together, playing and reading. Harry was glad to spend more time with her – they'd been very close when they were little but they seemed to have drifted apart as they grew older. Hermione didn't have nearly as many friends as he did- at times she seemed more interested in books than people and he knew her parents worried about her. It was good for her, they said, to get some company.
The next morning Aunt Petunia made sure he didn't sleep in nearly as long as he had the last time. As he sat next to Hermione, munching on his Cornflakes, he saw Aunt Petunia come and get today's letters from the front door. There was nothing unusual about this- it happened every day of the week apart from Sundays. What was unusual was when, a minute later she suddenly cried out.
"Henry, he's got a letter just like Lily! And there's one for Hermione too!"
Author's Note: This chapter was just to give you a feel of what Harry's life with the Grangers is like before we move on to the momentous revelations of the Wizarding World. Obviously it's a lot nicer than life with the Dursley's but the effects aren't all positive. Notice for instance that the way Harry behaves in the backstory is considerably brattier than canon Harry. This is because extra confidence isn't always a good thing, especially when the person in question is an eleven year old boy. I promise you that Harry won't be insufferable during the main body of the story.
Some of my more eagle-eyed viewers may notice that I mention Hermione having blonde hair in this chapter. This is not because I thought the third chapter was a good time to jump the shark but because I thought it was a little silly to have her be absolutely identical to her canon self when half of her DNA is different. She probably looks a little different in a few, more minor areas as well. Don't panic though- while her upbringing means she won't be completely identical to how she is in canon, the core of the Hermione Granger we all know and love will remain the same.
