I don't own the story or the characters of Harry Potter, this work is entirely fan-made. The rights to everything Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling. I also have no beta or proof-reader (at least not a human one) so expect some mistakes from time to time.
This is a re-upload, as the website only got fixed today.
Always the Tone of Surprise - Muggle!Harmony AU
Hermione knew that her mother would fuss over her dress, on this, the most 'important day of her schooling life'. Sarah Granger was running about the house with various items: cameras, phones and eventually, the thing that Hermione had asked for. Her handbag. The little bag that would barely conceal her phone, let alone any of the numerous other things that her mother had wanted her to take. The telltale sign of embarrassment from any teenager came up from her chest and into her cheeks, a rosy hue that barely messed with her complexion. And though her mother had always insisted that she was beautiful, tonight was the only night she had felt like it in a long time. Gone were the veritable mountains of books that no matter how they grew, always seemed to fit into her rucksack. Gone were the slumped shoulders and the determined look of her academic self. Tonight, the bag fitted into her hands with no effort or weight and her demeanour was replaced with that of a nervous wreck. Tonight, she had been almost caked in makeup, proudly done by her doting mum and promptly sniggered at by her dad, David. On reflection, Sarah had realised that she had gotten carried away in presenting her daughter, but only when David had said "Sarah, we aren't trying to marry her off to keep the honour in our family, so don't dress her up like Mulan. Besides, I think Hermione wants to be able to feel her face tonight." He leaned on the doorframe of the bathroom and sipped some tea to prevent himself from making any other comments after Hermione had flushed red without the help of makeup. "Well, if your father thinks that, it is the kindest compliment he could give. But… do you feel like you need less help? I can stop if you would like me to." Hermione clasped her mother's hands in her own. "Please do. I don't want to look like a clown tonight, especially if the whole class is going to be there. And someone I'd like to see." Sarah Granger backed off, and when Hermione was finished and had come stepping gingerly down each step on the stairs to avoid tripping, the older woman burst into tears. "You look absolutely stunning, exactly as I planned." Her father came over and pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead. "I have to agree with the waterworks. You will be seen as the beautiful young woman that we know you to be." She hugged her parents, holding back tears, which, had she applied her mother's mascara, would have run and made black streaks down her face.
"Yeah, I'm nearly ready, mate. Hold on. I need to do this tie to impress…" Harry said around the corner to his flatmate Ron. He trailed off. His ginger friend poked his head through the doorframe and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, who?" He said, slightly muffled by the overflowing toothpaste in his mouth. Harry sighed and shook his head at both the question and his friend's odd habits. "Nothing, I didn't say who. Besides, I'm pretty sure you're just messing around. You know exactly who I mean, don't you?" The other boy cocked his head from his place at the door. "Oi, you ain't planning on asking out my sister again are you?" Harry groaned and flicked Ron with his incomplete tie. "No! I told you, she already rejected me and I moved on. Besides, that was two fucking years ago!" His tone and use of profanities led Ron to believe the opposite. "Tell you what, you get a girl's number tonight, one that isn't Ginny's, and I'll believe you. Lavender'll be with me the entire night, so I have to trust you to not to do it. And take another bird home, I'll give you some privacy." He punctuated his retort with a wink and Harry grimaced. Ron's dirty mind and unashamed humour were sometimes charming and funny, now, not so much. Not with the fate of a relationship entirely up to one man, whose only source of advice was from him. "I need to be the person she wants tonight. Gentleman, gentleman, gentleman." He recited his mantra for the evening as if sticking to it would somehow alleviate some of the nerves in his chest and bile rising in his throat. But, instead of brushing his teeth multiple times, he might just use a mint.
Taking Ron's car to the prom was an… interesting affair. Ron and Lavender were in the back seat of it, tongues already darting down each other's throats. To keep his eyes on the road, therefore keeping his provisional license, Harry kept the light from the pull-down mirror on. Whilst normally a fairly reckless thing to do, the roads were calm tonight and the view of the backseat was far more blinding, in that he wanted to immediately sew his eyes shut. The dancing lights of the lampposts whizzing past were enough distraction too, helping keep his focus on the road, not at the organism forming from two humans in the backseat. Thankfully, no crashes befell them and Harry had managed to hold his stomach from throwing his lunch over the dashboard by the time they arrived at the venue. To give credit where it was due, the school had done a major favour to earn the trust of a luxury hotel nearby, as it was stunning, even from the car park around the back of the hall. When the door snapped closed from Harry shutting it, Ron and Lavender fell apart, breathless from their alien mating ceremony. Giving them a few moments to readjust themselves into accordance with the proper dress code, Harry waited by the entrance, nervous to see the one person who he had dressed himself up for.
To his dismay and relief, she had not arrived, in fact, only seven people were there already. Two of them were Neville and Hannah, his genius best friends. Hannah had taken one of the same courses as him, and Neville had been a friend since they were in primary school together. It still amazed him that he had stuck by him all the way through high school and college. With a wave to Harry, they beckoned him over and introduced a friend of theirs, Luna. The girl had flowing blonde hair that seemed to reach her lower back and wore a deep blue gown with a hairpin that mimicked a raven taking flight. She was certainly interesting as Harry knew from his English class, in which Luna had never spoken to him. In fact, the only time that she talked to anyone but the teacher in the class, it was to present a piece of work, which as he had always thought, was astounding. Harry remembered that she was a fluent reader of poetry and classic books, such as To Kill a Mockingbird and the numerous works of Edgar Allen Poe. Aside from his Catering course, that was his favourite subject. The elderly teacher was a crack-up, always spurring them on with witty anecdotes and embellishments on her life. One time, she was a kickboxer and if the legends were true, she had fought an actual kangaroo and won. This, paired with his intimate knowledge of fantasy novels and fiction writing were the reasons why he loved English.
After being introduced to the quirky Luna, Harry noticed Ron and Lavender come in, noticeably less dishevelled looking than they had been not five minutes before. They walked over and the ginger boy noticed immediately what kinds of foods the place was serving during the meal portion of the prom. Even though it was a mostly impractical skill, Harry had to admit, Ron's sense of smell was unrivalled in the natural human species. "Smelled the food already, have we?" He asked his mate with a slight smirk, undercut by yet another grimace. "Yep, lots of steaks, couple of fish dishes and…" he took another largely comical sniff, drawing the attention of nearby classmates and finished with "yes! Coq au Vin. My bloody favourite!" He laughed and borderline dragged Lavender to get a drink: apparently, their tongue-tying session had worn him out already. When he disappeared, Harry, Neville and Hannah exchanged comments about their exams and how they thought they had done, remarking that they were behind them and all they had to do for a month was chill around and steadily apply for uni or get a job. Once their minds had been addled by each other's thoughts on particular subjects and questions of the others, they turned around to notice that in the time they had spent chatting, lots more of their classmates had turned up, making the total headcount around the one-hundred mark. The music had not yet started, and thankfully, neither had the teachers chaperoning the event start to make sure everyone was alcohol-free. Though many people had already gotten drunk, the tutors would be able to stop anyone from getting anymore pissed than they were.
Hermione had darted quickly from her parent's car into the chilly air that unfortunately, was a regular for Britain. Her dress was not nearly enough protection from the biting cold, so, with hurried steps and a waved goodbye to her parents she went to go inside. But then, who should be there but Mr Draco Malfoy. His dad was high up in a car manufacturing company and had personally driven him and his posse to the dance in a limousine. "It would seem that she still wants to show her face. Really, Granger. I would've thought that someone like you would be more interested in getting a good nights sleep, ready for another Uni test that isn't due until we're there." His drawl was uncalled for and unneeded. Luckily for Hermione, who was on the verge of assaulting him, her favourite teacher, Mrs McGonagall was manning the door, making sure that no liquor was brought in from the outside to corrupt her students. "Mr Malfoy, would you please just present anything on your person that you've brought." He spluttered and fumbled with his blazer pocket, seemingly trying to stow something. "I don't mean to be rude Mrs McGonagall, but could I please get inside, out of the cold? I might as well greet everyone as Frosty the Snowman if I were to wait for Draco to stow his beer." She smirked inwardly and showed the elderly woman her handbag, showcasing her phone and any essentials small enough to fit into it. "Go on in, Hermione. Have a good evening, now, you earned it." She smiled and reminded the bookish girl why she liked her as Hermione strolled past Draco and his crew, along with his girlfriend Pansy, who even if she had a heart of stone and a brain made of mush, was quite stunning in her deep green gown. It made Hermione compare, if unknowingly, herself to Pansy. "I really need to up my game." She muttered to herself as she manoeuvered around the groups of friends to find hers.
As she walked around the hall, trying desperately to find them, she bumped into the Patil twins, Parvati and Padma. Both were stunningly beautiful in their opposite colours that somehow worked more and more each time she looked. Hugging each of them, they chatted momentarily, the twins gushing at Hermione's dress and appearance for this. Subconsciously, she thought that they were lying to make her feel better; clearly out of her element here, amongst the handsome and pretty. Her friends had done nothing but help her and boost her self-esteem since high school, where she was teased and bullied mercilessly for her looks, which had only started to improve, in her eyes, during her final year there. "You two seriously need to take a look at yourselves, you are the embodiment of natural beauty, which I'm pretty sure has earned at least Leanne's eyes on you, Padma. You two have fun… and I'll meet up with you later, ok." She left the two to find her usual quartet, who came into view as soon as one boy moved out of the way. There she saw the main objective for tonight and the reason she had dolled herself up: Harry Potter.
There isn't much written so far, so don't expect regular updates.