First Meeting| PS (/watch?v=-gOMfsWefVA) (put the YouTube domain first)

Welcome to The Auburn Shades of Emerald (TASOE in short). It is one of my first attempts at fanfiction. Criticism is welcome, as long as it is constructive. Forgive me if my vocabulary, word choice and lack of the 'British touch' (which Harry Potter is supposed to have) do not appeal to you. I'm not particularly good at English. Grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and plot holes, however, do need correction, and I'd be grateful if you'd point out any.

All characters belong to the wondrous mind of JK Rowling unless stated explicitly.

You can read this fic (and all my other ones) on Wattpad (EmeraldMeetsAuburn), AO3 (EmeraldMeetsAuburn) and HarryPotterFanfiction (HarmonyForever).

Now, without any further ado...

On with the fic!

"Stick to your ticket!" a man who was by all means a giant said to him. Within a few days of knowing him, he had come to accept him as a friend. A first, as he had never known any friends in the eleven revolutions he had completed around the Sun.

The boy held the ticket tightly in his hands, quite a bit weak for a child his age. His clothes were hand-me-downs and were far too big. He read whatever the ticket said carefully, but his emerald green eyes filled with utter confusion when he saw the platform number, which was there in bold: 9 3/4!

"Nine and three-quarters! That doesn't make any sense!" he said to himself and then aloud "Hagrid, it says platform nine three-quarters! There can't be such a platform. It has to be a mistake!" On hearing no reply, he turned his head to find that Hagrid was gone.

Puzzled, the boy continued wheeling his trolley and reached the platform which said nine on one side and ten on the other. Every signboard from there to the very end said nine and ten, but there was no sign of nine three-quarters. He decided to ask a guard, but it was of no use. The guard thought he was fooling with him and huffed away. The boy felt a bit of fear. What if I can't find the platform on time! I'll have to go back to the Dursleys once again, and that would be my doom! Just as he was about to start panicking, he saw a flash of red hair. A plump woman was guiding her children, all redheads. They had luggage similar to his. He thought he heard her say 'Muggles' and 'nine three-quarters'. Curious to know if they were wizards, he followed the army of redheads with a slight hint of nervousness.

What he saw left him blinking his eyes in a mixture of surprise and shock. His jaw fell open. How's that even possible?! Am I seeing what I am seeing? No no, no way, I've got to be hallucinating! How could one ever walk through the wall!

After two more of the redheads had gone through, he scolded himself. You are about to enter the magical world, Harry! What do you expect? There'll be a whole lot of crazy things going on. Stop being a coward! He finally mustered enough courage to ask the kind-looking lady: "Ex-Excuse me! Could you please tell me how-how to..." he trailed off. "How to get on the platform?", the woman completed for him. Harry replied with a nervous nod. "Oh, don't be afraid m'boy, it's Ron's first time as well," she said, and Harry looked to find a boy his age standing right beside him. "Alright, so listen carefully. You take a deep breath, grip your trolley tightly and walk straight through that [pointing] wall between platforms nine and ten, ok? Oh, and as it is your first time, you might want to close your eyes and run" she smiled. Harry also managed a nervous smile. "Good luck", said a tiny girl, who Harry presumed to be the redheads' sister.

Calm down, Harry.

He took a deep breath, pushed his trolley hard and burst into a sprint. He closed his eyes as soon as the trolley touched the wall, expecting a hard collision, but nothing happened & he went straight through the wall. When he emerged on the other side and opened his eyes, he was overjoyed. He had made it! He had made it to the Wizarding World!

There was a signboard that read 'Hogwarts Express' with another one reading '9 3/4' just below it. On his left stood the Hogwarts Express, the big scarlet & black train with a steam engine belching out small amounts of smoke through the chimney. He gave himself a toothy grin. The one which will take me to a place where I can begin my life anew.

The train was steaming through the country at an amazing pace, leaving clouds of smoke trailing behind. Harry Potter sat alone in a compartment, resignedly looking out of the window.

Suddenly, a fellow popped in. Harry saw a familiar face and red hair peering at him. "Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full", asked the boy, whose name Harry remembered to be Ron from their 'meeting' at King's Cross, which had involved nothing except a small, nervous smile.

"No, not at all", he replied. The boy came and sat across from him. "I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley", said the boy.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

Ron's eyes went wide with shock. His jaw fell open. "So-so it's true!? I mean do you really have the... the..." he trailed off.

"The what?"

"Scar...?" asked Ron, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"Oh" Harry replied, lifting his messy, jet-black hair to reveal the lighting bolt-shaped scar. The one that was permanent and won't go away, the one that made him famous all over the Wizarding World.

"Wicked!" Ron uttered, his voice full of surprise and still not much louder than a whisper.

The two new friends were enjoying the sweets that Harry had bought off the trolley. Ron had been ready to have his mushed sandwiches. Harry, however, had stopped the woman and said that they'd take the lot, drawing out a handful of coins from his pocket, to which Ron reacted with a look of a pleasant surprise. They were discussing cards and chocolate frogs and spells. Ron was about to perform a spell to turn his rat Scabbers yellow. Fred had taught it to him. And, as he was soon to know, fooled him for the umpteenth time.

Just then, a girl with bushy brown hair, dressed in robes, appeared at the doorway. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."

"No" Ron replied.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then" said the bushy-haired girl.

Ron cleared his throat and began again. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" he said loudly and clearly, zapping Scabbers. But nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? Of course, I've tried only a few simple spells myself, and they've all worked for me. For example...", she went over and sat across from Harry. She pointed her wand at his glasses and enunciated, "Oculus Reparo". The tape on the nose-band vanished in a jiffy & the frame stiffened up. Harry, whose mind had been somewhere else and hadn't registered a word she had said till then, zapped to life and took off his glasses, amazed to find them as good as new.

"That's better, isn't it?" the-girl-with-the-bushy-brown-hair said. After a second, her eyes went wide with surprise, even if it was only for a second.

"Holy Cricket, you're Harry Potter", she spoke with the slightest hint of amazement. "I'm Hermione Granger... and you are...?" she asked, turning towards Ron.

"I'm... Ron Weasley...", he said, his mouth full. Hermione gave him an inappreciable look of disgust at that.

"Pleasure", she replied. "You two better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon."

She got up and left, but came back and looked at Ron.

"You've got dirt, on your nose, by the way, did you know? Just there", she said, pointing to the dirt mark on his nose. Ron scratched it, embarrassed.

Harry hadn't paid attention to the conversation was going on between the girl and Ron until she came and sat across from him. He didn't know why he had been completely mesmerised. All that he was focusing on was her. The way her lips moved when she talked, her bushy brown hair, her nose, the rounds and edges of her face, her slender neck, the way her eyebrows moved, the way her robes swished, her overall appearance. The most enchanting of all were her eyes. Her brown eyes. They had an auburn shade with the slightest hint of gold and shone brilliantly when a sharp ray of the dipping Sun caught her face.

He zapped out of his daze when she repaired his glasses. When she stated that he was Harry Potter, he caught the tiniest hint of surprise in her eyes, even though she thought nobody would notice. And then she said her name. Hermione Granger. It was the sweetest voice he had ever heard, and the name was even more unique. Her attitude spoke volumes about her, and he barely stifled a laugh when she pointed out the dirt on Ron's nose.

What was that? He thought to himself. Why was I so distracted? Why was I so lost in her? The rambling continued.

Hermione Granger... hmm... why does that name sound vaguely familiar? Where have I heard it? Harry continued his useless efforts. Somehow, it felt that it wasn't their first meeting.

And I don't think it'd be the last, Miss Granger. He smiled to himself.

Jesus, that was close! Oh, Hermione you stupid dumb girl, why did you have to go on boasting about your brains! And that too in front of Harry Potter! Oh, now he too like all others will think that you are an ugly, mental girl who has no business except going around being a know-it-all. Oh, Hermione, you lost the chance to be friends with Harry Potter! She mentally slapped herself for that.

She was supposed to look for Neville's toad but felt the 'urge' to scoff at that Ron boy, who by every measure appeared to be a close friend of Harry Potter. And here she was now, standing in front of the mirror in the lavatory. Oh, that was so, so, so hilarious! And worst of all, you had to top it off by telling the 'Boy Who Lived' to get into his robes! And then you embarrassed his friend! Her eyes glistened with water. "Oh Hermione you haven't even reached school & you messed it all up! Now that Potter boy is sure to tell everyone how bad you are, and then every single student in the school will mock you and crack jokes on you and curse you!" she said aloud. A few tears finally spilt out.

She cried for some time, and by some, at least an hour is implied. The weeping continued until her eyes ran out of water.

No, you have to be strong. You can't let the demons of your Muggle past haunt you. Grow up, Hermione, you are a witch! You are going to be a brilliant student and make lots of friends. Don't think about Harry Potter. He seems to be a nice boy. He will not mock you. Now grow a spine, be brave, and put on a big smile.

She went back to her compartment and sat down. Hogwarts was still about two hours away, so she took out Hogwarts: A History.

However, she stopped reading after ten minutes, finding herself unable to concentrate. She was surprised, as she was that kind of a person who could spend their whole life reading the same book. Somehow, her mind kept wandering back to the 'incident'. Or, more specifically, to Harry Potter.

Messy, untameable hair, just like her own, only raven-coloured instead of brown. Nervous demeanour. Sharp features, even for his age. And most of all, those brilliant, emerald green eyes which were far too beautiful to be real. They had had her attention & she had almost uttered the wrong incantation while repairing his glasses because of there sheer splendour.

Cute. She smiled to herself.

That's when it struck her. Woah, what!? Cute? Hermione Jean Granger, what has become of you? Since when did you start noticing boys? You're not that type of girl!

Just then the train started slowing down, and she took this as the cue to pack up. Not that she hadn't done it already, four hours earlier to be precise.

The smile returned. Now that's my Hermione.

A/N: So here we come to the end of the first chapter. How was it? Too short? Too long? Boring? Difficult to read? I know it was mostly canon except for the last parts. The upcoming chapters shall be close to it as well, but there will be differences. A major twist will happen towards the end. But it's a long journey, as covering all Seven Years and beyond is a big task. Updates might take time, a lot of it sometimes, but I'll try my best. I won't make any promises, though. There's a lot of academic pressure on me, too much of it. But I hope my love for Harry Potter will last until I finally get the time to do this (and won't pass off as a temporary infatuation).

Love, Ash

#HarmioneForever