The Grass is Greener With A Greengrass
Summary: One-Shot/Plot Bunnies ft. Daphne Greengrass and Harry Potter pairings. Because sometimes love comes from the most surprising places.
Realizations Of The Smartest Witch Of Their Generation
Hermione Granger couldn't sleep. She couldn't stomach sleeping. Her best friends, both of them, they were being so stupid! She could understand them being upset, but she was surprised with Harry. It was possibly one of the worst Christmas's ever.
She felt so lonely.
The tears came and went. Finally, the thought crossed her mind. Harry was better than this. She knew he was, he wasn't an idiot like Ron. And Ron, he was just immature. He would grow out of it at some point. Harry, though?
He should know better than this! He should understand. It's a clear possibility, if not an extremely likely possibility that Sirius Black, known holder of Firebolt's parent company, Comet, would send his Godson a broom for Christmas! It's insane, but he escaped from prison!
Before she could talk herself out of it, Hermione Granger stormed from her dorm room and climbed up the boy's dormitory. Wand in hand, she whispered silencing charms around the room before jumping onto Harry's bed and pulling the curtains closed.
In a flurry of motion, Hermione found herself looking up at Harry, who stared back at her with squinting eyes. "Hermione?!" he whispered, confused.
"Lumos," she said, her wand lighting from her hand pinned down at her waist. They both blushed as Harry realized he was directly on top of her in nothing but his boxers and hurriedly pulled the blankets over his legs. "Sorry, Harry, I just couldn't take it anymore."
"What? What is going on?" As the sleep drained from his eyes, anger quickly followed. "Wait-"
"No!" Hermione let her own anger bubble up to the surface. "Don't you dare, Harry James Potter!" She pointed his finger at him and barrelled on, not letting him speak. "I know Ron's immature, but you! You're mad at me for being a good friend, and- and that's not fair!" Tears pooled up in her eyes and she felt her throat close up. "It's- It's Chr-Christmas, Harry! And you're acting like a serious bloody prat!"
Suddenly, sobs wracked through her. She missed her parents terribly, and she missed the comforts of electricity in her life, her Christmas tree and her father's special egg nog, and her mother's slightly better than bad Christmas Dinner that she insisted on cooking every year. And she was scared! And sad. She was scared and sad and her best friends were making it worse, not better.
Suddenly, two arms wrapped around her and she heard Harry sniffling, too. "Who else could it be, Harry? Who else could it possibly be, but Sirius Black? I'm, I'm sorry-"
Harry hugged her a little tighter, rubbing her back a little awkwardly. The awkwardness melted away after a bit and Hermione's sobs calmed down. "Thank you for spending Christmas with me at Hogwarts, Hermione," he said, pulling away and wiping suspiciously at his face.
Hermione made a face before laughing wetly, accepting a tissue Harry offered her from his nightstand. "I'm sorry I jumped you in the dead of night."
"Yeah, well…" He rubbed the back of his head, laughing awkwardly. "There are worse ways to wake up than being grabbed suddenly by a pretty girl in the middle of the night."
"Harry!" Hermione giggled, blushing and slapping a hand on his bare chest. Harry's hands shot up in surrender. "Don't be gross!"
He was still smiling we he answered. "There's nothing gross! But okay, okay." Then his smile went away, and he rubbed his eyes. "You're right. About Sirius Black and my broom being suspicious. And about me being a prat." He looked guiltily up at her as his head sank. "I knew you weren't wrong, but it was just easier to be mad at you… and Ron… well, that's no excuse." He shrugged and looked at her. "I'm sorry, Hermione. Honestly, I don't think anyone in my life has really looked out for me but you."
Hermione blinked. She wanted to reject that, her thoughts automatically going to their professors and the Headmaster but Harry saw her about to answer and stopped her. "No, I mean-" Then, he stopped himself, shaking his head. "Never mind. It's nothing."
Hermione frowned at him. "No, tell me."
Harry looked at her and sighed, leaning back against the wall. "Well… You know, my relatives really aren't good to me. Like, they're just… I think they're actually abusive. And definitely neglectful. But Dumbledore left me on their bloody doorstep. Like I was a parcel. With a note attached to me." He shook his head but Hermione stayed quiet. It wasn't often that Harry opened up, and they had never approached such topics before, though she immediately regretted not doing so sooner.
"Then, I come to the wizarding world, where I am literally famous. And not just famous, but important-famous. Like my family was already well-known and established and a big deal in the community, but I personally had fairytales written about me. They used my name!" His eyes went wide like he hadn't ever really thought about it before. "Which is all just so weird, but then I get here and I'm famous and I go with a goblin and a giant to a vault that's just filled with gold. Filled! Hermione, this wasn't just some Oliver Twist type of story, this was magical at every turn. Except for that, it's my real life. It is my life, and I have no idea where this gold came from, how much gold there is, if this is even all of it or if there's more… And Hagrid and Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley and McGonagall… They all kind of knew where I was coming from and what my life was like, but no one has ever brought anything up about understanding my family finances. And that's not even touching on some of the political questions I have-" His eyes shot open and he looked panicked at Hermione. "Neville told me last year that I'll be on the Wizengamot when I turn 21. What do they even do, Hermione? And isn't it weird that they just take muggleborns from their homes and don't do anything to teach them anything about wizarding economics and society and government?"
Hermione had never heard a tangent like this from Harry. She would have stopped him, but he was honestly asking so many questions that she had considered in passing on her own and never truly addressed out loud for fear of acknowledging that the world was actually as awful as it was turning out to be.
He continued on, questioning how everything could have happened with Voldemort their first and second years, how things like Dementors could exist, how Harry actually might have extended family alive that he didn't know about and who had never approached him out of some weird respect of Dumbledore because that was the only defense either could come up with as to why McGonagall would leave him with his relatives every year and why a persistent and saddened Molly Weasley couldn't ever seem to fatten him up before going back to school.
Hermione watched the sky begin to lighten. Harry had quieted down, now lost in thought. The window at Harry's bedside had a beautiful view of the school grounds. A sad sigh came from Hermione, getting Harry's attention. "I don't think school is actually as important as I've always believed it to be. At least, not when it comes to magic."
"Hermione Jean Granger," Harry said with mock concern, holding a hand dramatically to her forehead. "Are you alright? Do I need to rush you to Pomfrey?"
She slapped his hands away, laughing. "Come off it." She grew serious again. "We need to start researching the right things. And you… you need to start training, Harry. I'm scared for all of us. We need to be the best we can be, even if it means arguing with Ron about moving around more."
"Yeah," he agreed, resolve showing. "I can't deny the fact that I'm a major target. And no one is preparing me for my life. I need to start taking some real control and making things better for myself or I'll always just be taken along for the ride."
"We can do this, Harry," Hermione promised.
He smiled at her and they both looked back outside, watching morning appear slowly. Hermione checked her watch and poked him in the ribs. "What say you and I grab some things from breakfast and head to the library to sit down and make a real plan?"
Harry smiled at her, stretching. Hermione ran to her dorm to change into something casual and Harry did the same, his new jumper proudly on display over baggy hand-me-down pants.
As they made their way to the Great Hall, Hermione cleared her throat. "Please don't take this the wrong way, Harry," she started. At his nod and sideways glance, she continued, "If you have lots of money… Do you think we could go shopping for new clothes for you?"
They both blushed a little but Harry smiled. "Err, yeah, I guess that might be a good idea. And it's probably best to go shopping with you than Ron, he always gets a bit jealous when we go out."
She frowned. "Is that why you've never mentioned anything about wanting to understand finance before?"
He shrugged. "It also never really seemed important or came up in general."
"What else hasn't come up?"
Harry laughed. "I mean, tons of stuff. I don't exactly go around blabbering on."
She rolled her eyes. "Prove it. I mean, you certainly seemed to blabber on earlier, but really everything you said was a good question."
"Hmm. Well…" He looked around the Great Hall as they entered, his voice falling. "I really want to switch out of Divination and into Ancient Runes."
"Harry!" Hermione cheered, eyes bright. "Oh! You simply must! Ancient Runes is such an interesting subject! And the Potters are very well known for having advanced family magics where Runes is concerned."
"What?" he asked in surprise.
They each made themselves a sandwich, Harry throwing some fruit and a napkin into his bag as well. "Now I feel like I've been keeping secrets from you…" Hermione admitted, taking a delicate bite from her sandwich and talking around it carefully. "There are many books in Ancient Runes that are written by Potters, for starters. But they are also referenced in many texts as being the magicians responsible for many widely used and prominent runes in magical Britain, particularly Welsh and Irish areas."
"Oh." They each ate their food as they walked. As he finished up, he turned to Hermione. "Do you know anything else about my family?"
Hermione thought about it. "Of the things you know, that your father was good at Transfiguration and considered at the top of his class next to your mother, who was known to be the smartest witch of their generation. She was prolific with Charms, a known favorite student to many teachers, but especially Professor Flitwick. She was also one of the youngest Potions masters in the country, alongside Professor Snape who accomplished the same feat around the same time. Your mother had published an amendment to the Wolfsbane Potion, which is used to help werewolf's deal with the full moon."
"Oh, wow. I wonder why she chose that to work on."
"Well, in her introduction she mentioned knowing a werewolf who was perhaps one of the most tender-hearted individuals she had ever met and wanted to do something to help her friend on the full moon. It was why she began brewing so many iterations of Wolfsbane Potion in the first place, but her future goals in Potions would be better versions of the Potion that could further help with the pain and physical toll the transformation could take on a body."
Harry smiled. That sounded nice. "What else?" he encouraged.
Hermione beamed at him. "Well, if you're so interested-" she continued to explain every bit of knowledge she could bring to mind involving Harry's family from school and from the vast reading and research she had done about magical Britain's history and studies.
Finally, she wrapped things up. "I think it would be wonderful for you to switch into Ancient Runes, though, Harry. There's a heavy belief that things like masteries don't just pass down from generation to generation because of the family's ability to teach a subject, but also a magical inheritance of adeptness with certain subjects. Since the Potters are one of the oldest families with some of the most far dating written documentations of magics in Runes and Defensive/Offensive magics, and both of your parents' success in other magical fields… well, Perhaps there is something to that. We inherit lots of things from our parents. And even if you aren't a natural with it, who's to say it won't just be nice for you to read about your family and feel closer to them by practicing magic you know they had a hand in being the first to use, understand, and develop?"
He grinned at her. "I don't think I have any arguments against that. So studying Ancient Runes is going to be at the top of my list until I'm caught up. Next, a workout plan."
"Right," Hermione agreed, taking out paper and scribbling across it. "We know you need to be able to run far if you're going to run away from someone like Voldemort. So we'll start with cardio. Oh!" she exclaimed quietly, perking up in her seat. "My parents taught me how to use the rest of the equipment in their gym. There's this rowing machine, it wouldn't be hard for us to make our own with magic! They're a really nice way to exercise. And we can do that together somewhere. Hopefully, Ron will be interested, too."
"Maybe I can get Ron interested in boxing and some jujutsu or something."
Hermione giggled. "Think he'd like yoga?"
Harry chuckled with her quietly, not wanting to get kicked out of the library so early in the day. "Yeah, okay. Ron Weasley, attempting the tree pose." They both sniggered together, picturing it.
"Have you ever read Sherlock?" Hermione asked Harry.
He nodded. "Only a few stories, though, not much. I thought they were neat when I was heading out of grade school."
"Well, Sherlock had a method of remembering things that was flawless. It was a technique my dad started working with me on when I was little, it's called a Mind Palace. It's a bit hard at first, but it's really super handy. People in MI6 and the CIA and Queen Guard all use the technique to remember things and other stuff."
"That sounds useful. Is it how you're so good at remember excerpts from books?"
She smiled smugly. "Indeed, Mr. Potter. And I shall teach you my ways."
She jotted it down on their list of things they needed to work on and practice. "Now for finances. I'm pretty sure the best way to start learning about your accounts is to just start managing them. We should request any and all information the bank might have relevant to your accounts and estate and just work from there. That's where we'll come up with questions and start our research."
Harry agreed and she added it to the list. "I also have to start figuring out what the titles I hold are and what they mean. Like what I'm responsible for and stuff like that."
"Neville would be the best person to ask, probably. His gran seems to really emphasize that with him, he's talked about how he knows some of the other kids in school from the tea parties they went to to enforce traditional things with others he would be expected to do business and politics with someday."
"Oh, like who?" Harry thought about a young, shy, round Neville sitting at a fancy toddler table with toddler Malfoy and Parkinson.
"Daphne Greengrass and Michael Proudfoot, Susan Bones… that's all that's coming to mind that he's mentioned."
"Hm. Have you ever talked to Proudfoot or Greengrass?"
She nodded. "Greengrass is my partner in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy." Looked frustrated and after a look from Harry, her cheeks heated and she rolled her eyes. "I suppose she's a bit intimidating and she might actually be better than me at both. But she hides it!"
"Hides it?"
"Yes! It's so frustrating… I can tell she purposefully changes her answers to be wrong so she's never fighting me for the top position in either class. It's like she purposefully doesn't want to be the smartest one in the room, just one of the smartest."
Harry's eyes glazed over as he realized he did the same thing. Ever since he got in trouble for getting high marks and "showing off" when Dudley couldn't get anything higher than a C in any of his subjects, he had purposefully dimmed his own light. He hadn't even realized he had done that naturally at Hogwarts when he realized it put Ron at ease, but he had. "I do that too. Well, I used to do that. I wasn't supposed to be smarter than my dumbass cousin. It was actually a bit hard, making myself sound so stupid. A challenge, really." He shook his head and waved off the pity that started appearing in Hermione's eyes. "None of that. Let's refocus. Maybe I could join you and Greengrass when you study Ancient Runes this week or something."
As if hearing her name, the Slytherin in question strode through the doors. Harry could understand why Hermione had called her intimidating. He had known in his mind that she was one of the prettiest girls at school, but seeing her out of her school robes and really looking at her for the first time, he realized she was quite possibly the prettiest girl in Britain.
Her hair was long, dark red, and braided simply in places. She had a few pieces of jewelry glittering along her ears, neck, and wrist. Some makeup decorated her eyes, darkening them magically and highlighting her dark green gaze. Her clothes looked a touch gothic and very expensive, the magical threaded lace moving gently in sparkling patterns that only somewhat caught the light.
Hermione kicked him under the table and shot him a look before standing up and waving uncertainly at Greengrass.
As she approached, Harry realized she looked a bit guarded but curious about what Hermione could want. "Hi, Greengrass." She put the list away in her bag and pulled out some parchment and Runes textbooks. "Harry and I were just discussing his decision to drop out of Divination and pick up Ancient Runes." Then she stopped and smiled at both of them. "Oh, excuse me. Harry, this is Daphne Greengrass, my Ancient Runes partner. Greengrass, this is Harry Potter. I don't know that either of you has ever been introduced?"
Daphne inclined her head. "Indeed, this would be our first introduction." She smiled politely at both of them, curiosity showing. "Potter."
"Greengrass," he acknowledged, rising from his seat and offering a hand. When she offered it, he thought time might have slowed down. Her eyes looked so pretty, and he liked how she was looking back at him.
Hermione cleared her throat and the two teenagers dropped each other's hands with a start. Harry blushed a brilliant shade and immediately sat down, clearing his throat and mentally kicking himself for looking like an idiot. What even?
"If you'd like to sit with us, you're more than welcome. I sure Harry would appreciate someone a little less bossy walking him through a quick introduction of the subject."
Daphne was much more adept at recovering emotionally than Harry and she quickly glazed over her embarrassment, smiling as she sat down. Her eyes kept flicking at Harry as if she was trying to not look at him but couldn't help herself. "I wouldn't mind. I was honestly going to peruse the Runes texts anyway to see if I could find anything new and interesting."
Harry smiled at her and she smiled back. A moment later Hermione had to kick Harry again under the table so he would pay attention and stop staring at their new acquaintance. "Right, so, do you know anything at all about Runes, Potter?" Daphne began.
Harry's throat dried, listening to her voice. Oh no, he realized with no small amount of mortification. Was this a crush? Was he crushing on a Slytherin? Ron is going to kill me. "Err, nothing, really."
Hermione sighed and opened her textbook. "Right. So, for starters, the first Runic Language…"