AN This is just something I wrote but I do not dig the start of it too much but I thought I would post it in case anyone was interested. It is an AU where Harry's parents survived. He defeated Voldemort and now lives a very different life. It is a slow burn HHR fic and is mostly a Romance or Drama. I have around 9 chapters done and I have not had this edited. I am posting it as-is because it is not my main responsibility right now because I am working on my own novel. But it is currently in a beta-reading phase so I had some free time. I call this my 'car fic' because I write it in the car when I have spare time. Let me know if you like it.
Harry Potter would be graduating Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry this very year. His years had been filled with fun, mischief, and many house points earned and lost. It had been filled with friends and enemies alike but nobody could argue it wasn't eventful.
Harry Potter was the son of James and Lily. When only as a baby his magic had stopped the darkest lord in all of magical history. Nobody was quite sure how he had done it. Lily and James had been knocked unconscious when it happened but when they woke up the body of Lord Voldemort was withering to dust in their nursery. The news has spread like a wild fire that a mere baby had ended the war. Researchers tried for nearly a decade to figure out what happened that fateful night but none had been able to come up with a solution. Peter Pettigrew had been killed in a dual soon after and then the world went back to normal more or less.
Harry grew up a loved albeit pampered boy. He was given perhaps too much freedom and more than enough leeway. He had only a scar to remember that night but for the public it was enough. His parents had done the best they could by whisking him away to a muggle estate but they would never disappear from the wizarding world.
"Amazing right?" Ron said as their trunks floated silently into the trains compartment.
"Tell me about it. Feels like just yesterday we boarded for the first time doesn't it?" Harry laughed.
The two boys found a compartment near the back where they met up with their friends. He listened as Neville told him about him and his aunts trip to Australia while Luna asked him about some made up creature that supposedly roamed there. Lavender Brown hugged her boyfriend Ronald Weasley and gave him a kiss.
Harry took his seat before he started recounting his last week of holiday. Him and his family had taken a trip to the US and they had a blast.
Of course most of the school would call Harry a friend. He liked to think he was pleasant with everyone… well except the Slytherins him and his band of new age mauraders had made it their personal mission to destroy them. They had pranked them relentlessly to the point of insanity sometimes. Harry had eased it on families his Godfather were aligned with in the Wizardgamot. Which included the Greengrass's. They had been spared but anyone else was free game. Him, Ron, Neville, and the twins for a time had made his family proud with the pranks that the halls of Hogwarts had not seen in more than a decade.
Life was good.
Hermione Granger boarded the Hogwarts Express for the last time she thought. She smiled to herself before dragging her trunk towards the back which was traditional for people in her year.
She had come and in part fulfilled what she had set out to achieve. She wanted to learn it all, she wanted to become the best at this so she could finally show what she was made to do!
Back in primary school she had been… less than popular. She didn't have many friends and the ones she has she suspected mocked her behind her back for her studious nature. That all changed when her letter arrived. She entered the magical world with a keen mind and a hunger for knowledge.
And it had all changed for her, she went from having few friends to absolutely none! It had all started when she thought she was helpfully correcting a young red head on his spell work. Few took notice of her "know it all ness" as it would be labeled and from there it snowballed. She was always the first one to raise her hand, the first to turn in their essays, and the first to point out other facts about what they were learning. She thought that being a Ravenclaw it was expected and would earn her friends and maybe respect within her house but she was wrong. Well… sort of. One girl did try to be her friend, Luna Lovegood. But she had turned the girl away after hearing about her far fetched ideas that for the life of her she couldn't find in a book.
She had endured. She had been teased but not nearly as bad as the snakes got it. Professor Filtwick had protected her from the worst of it and after a while they got bored and jumped on the Potter Bandwagon.
Harry Potter… the boy who thought he was the greatest of all time. Of course he had never done anything to her personally but he was an arrogant jock if she had ever seen one. He had walked on to the house team as a first year and had historically won the cup six years in a row and it looked like he may make it a seventh which would make him the first to ever do so and likely the last. Because of this he had a mob of fans, well other than defeating a dark lord.
She hadn't spoken to him before but she knew the teachers raved about his spell work although noted his lack of devotion to the theory. Him along with Weasley were known to turn in assignments late but the professors let them get away with it anyway. Despite Potter's "Dumbledore-esk spell work" as her favorite professor had put it she remained on top of him in most subjects. In the back of her mind she knew it was only because of her dedication to study and understanding all of the magic she was using while Harry Potter was content with waving his wand and transfiguring a button into a bird as a first year. He talked often about his family and sometimes even flaunted spells that he had gotten from the Black and Potter personal libraries which made her blood boil! There was no way she would ever be able to learn those spells! Nobody could but him which only added to his ego. The professors didn't seem to mind, she knew for a fact he had never served one detention for his pranks or antics like when in third year he had dueled Malfoy while citing some old rule that of course she now knew all about. Maybe they couldn't prove he had done the pranks? But him and his friends had bragged about them! It just all seemed unfair in her eyes. Or when he wasn't punished after illegally entering himself into the Triwizard tournament? Dumbledore had chuckled! Had it been any other student she was sure they would face expulsion! But no! The whole school loved it when he won the competition with ease!
She'd never admit it but she was jealous. With all the pranks they pulled there was no way he had ever opened a book! She remembered him snickering to Weasley just last year about waving his wand and hoping his duplication charm worked! It had taken her weeks to get it to work and he got it on the first go! Of course she had her own theories on it. He was either just incredibly powerful or he received special lessons over the holidays. She wouldn't rule either out.
No she didn't hate the Boy-Who-Conquered. She was jealous of him and how easy he made everything look. Weasley on the other hand? He may have helped get the ball rolling on the Granger shunning she was so accustomed to. Unlike his best friend she knew his grades weren't very good, he was also on the house team but only for the last two seasons. He had been a little more vocal about his displeasure with her over the years and she had even received a handful of pranks herself from him only. Probably because she had embarrassed him, but she was only trying to help!
After this year it wouldn't matter anyway. She would apply to become a healer and then she would be done with the school. Her professors had been great and she loved magic but she had made no lasting memories there.
She was excited to get on with the rest of her life that was for sure. She had spent seven years growing her wealth of knowledge and becoming the best witch she could. She had even been compared to Lily Potter in that regard which she had smiled at. Lily Potter the mother of one arrogant son was known as one of the worlds finest spell crafters and it was a name all witches, especially muggleborns would love to be compared to. For a moment she again wondered how such a woman was the mother of such a prat.
It wouldn't matter after this year she'd never have to see his face again. Silently she knew she would never hear the end of him. He was one of few magical celebrities like Albus Dumbledore and maybe Victor Crum who hardly stood up to either of the former. Of course people had gotten used to Dumbledore and Crum was only a sports player who displayed no outstanding magical talent. Harry was young and powerful and he had some accolades to back it up.
But that would enough of thinking of Harry Potter. She had spells to brush up on.