Originally published on AO3 in December 2021, for the HMS Harmony Secret Santa Gift Exchange 2021.
The usual disclaimer: I am French, so please forgive any errors in syntax or vocabulary.
This entry is the result of the prompt given by LadyTsukiko: Slytherin Harry and Ravenclaw Hermione.
This is not a subject I am at all comfortable with. And in particular, as I read this author's works and favourites, I realise that I was not at all the right person to answer it. I can't write Bad Boy characters, and I didn't even want to try. I'm truly sorry if you were hoping for this kind of story.
I did my best, I hope. I started over a few times, and when I finally had a decent script, I realised that it would have taken me several chapters to write it. I settled for something much shorter due to lack of time. Maybe one day I'll write the long fanfiction that is summarized in this OS.
Have a good read!
As they danced to the slow music, Harry thought to himself how glad he was that he had no problem looking her in the eye. Hermione was taller than him for a long time, and it's only in the last few months that he's caught up with her. And in her little heels tonight, her gaze is a little above his again. He knows that the women's growth spurt ends before the men's, but he's under no illusion. In the photos, his father is the third tallest of the Marauders, surpassing Peter by just a few centimetres. And his mother is a beautiful woman, but smaller than average too. A real contrast to that tall pole of Aunt Petunia... However, it's much more convenient to be at about the same height when it comes to drowning in your partner's eyes. They turn quietly on the dance floor, smiling at each other.
"Do you remember," he asks her, moving a little closer to her, "when we first met?
She seems a little surprised by this question, but is not unsettled.
"Of course, and you?" she answers simply.
How could I forget the saviour who had pulled him out of an anxiety attack when he had been dropped off at the station more than two hours early by his impatient uncle? She'd walked him through the barrier, picked the compartment, and then launched into a long, rambling diatribe about everything that awaited them at Hogwarts. He'd been only too happy to let her talk and listen, learning everything Hagrid had forgotten to tell him. They had been joined by Ernie and then Daphne and Tracy. Daphne had naturally jumped at the chance to bond with the Boy-Who-Has-Survived, already a political animal at eleven. Once the mystique of the Survivor had been broken, Tracy and Ernie had proved to be pleasant companions. They had witnessed the late arrival of the Weasley family, whom Daphne seemed both to admire for the courage of their convictions and to shun for their exuberant attitude. At the Sorting, when he would have preferred to be sorted into Ravenclaw with Hermione, the Sorting Hat had offered him Slytherin or Gryffindor. He had hesitated, the meeting with Draco Malfoy had not been pleasant, but Daphne and Tracy were in Slytherin. He had preferred to join them rather than face the unknown of Gryffindor. But that had never stopped him from keeping up his ties with Hermione. He attended her bi-weekly study group, and they regularly ate together, and partnered up for joint projects in the few common classes between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. At the same time, Daphne used him (willingly) to create an anti-Malfoy faction within Slytherin. Voldemort's Vanquisher made an excellent poster boy... Hermione had accompanied them on their end-of-year adventure to prevent Professor Quirrel from finding the Philosopher's Stone. She had been the first person to hug him then, but he had never told her.
The music changes rhythm to something more upbeat, and they decide with a glance to leave the dance floor. They head for the buffet and each help themselves to a glass of a probably alcoholic, but no less excellent, fruity drink. Professor Slughorn has outdone himself. Harry guides her to one of the spare alcoves, where a spell has been applied to reduce the ambient noise and encourage discussion. Out of habit, he adds his own Mufflatio and hears her mutter another incantation that should give them some peace and quiet.
"You are a very good dance partner, Harry. You've improved on the Yule Ball at the Tournament."
"Daphne is keen to ensure that my manners and social skills are always good enough to avoid any faux pas. She still gives me lessons every fortnight. I think she does that for herself too."
Hermione purses her lips. Despite being a friend of Daphne's, she has always had a problem with the Slytherin's behaviour and the way she always looks at everything in terms of political and network gains. Fortunately, she can keep things in perspective in general, and Tracey and Harry keep her grounded.
« I have to say," said the Ravenclaw, "that your talents are just perfect for this evening. I haven't done much dancing since our fourth year. Thank you for guiding me onto the dance floor, I just had to let myself go."
"I so regret not being able to dance with you that night."
They look at each other again, and she sighs.
"Why didn't you invite me?"
"I wanted to invite you. You were the first person I thought of when the Ball was announced."
She stares at him.
"I believe you. Then why did you invite Daphne?"
He sighs in turn. The answer is simple, and not pleasant.
"Partly because I was intimidated. You mean a lot to me, and I wasn't sure I wanted to reveal that in front of a whole audience."
She nods, not surprised.
"But most importantly, Daphne and I agreed that it would be more impactful if she and I went together. She was hesitant to ask me to invite Fleur, but the height and age difference wouldn't have made me look any better."
"I wanted you to invite me."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm glad you had a good evening with Viktor. And I wish you'd spent it with me."
She doesn't answer anything and just hugs him, resting her head lightly on his shoulder. They spend a minute like this before she speaks again.
"I wonder what would have happened if we had been in the same House."
"We probably would have been best friends. Like we are now. If we'd been in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, we'd have had less pressure on our shoulders, and our friendship would have been freer."
She nods against him.
"Why did you date Tracy in fifth year?"
He tenses up. She never broached the subject of the relationship he and Tracey had had for over six months last year. Which was significant, since apart from that, there was never a subject they didn't bring up. He knew that she regularly had depressing moments with Cho and Luna, her best friends from Ravenclaw. And he also knew that he was the cause, because Luna never held back from telling him what she thought, in her own frank and graphic way. But now he can tell her the truth.
"Tracy and I never had a romantic relationship. It was a charade."
She turns around abruptly, her eyes wide.
"How... Harry James Potter! Did you stoop so low as to fake a romance to protect Daphne and her group's image? This is going way too far!"
He suspected that she would react. He remains calm, and does not take his eyes off her. He has nothing to reproach himself for. He grabs one of her hands and squeezes it between his own.
"Hermione, please listen to me."
She calms down a little, but her brow remains furrowed. He knows she is frustrated. The dance they are doing together is almost as old as their friendship. At first they didn't understand, and then when they both managed to put their feelings into words, they were too caught up in the twists and turns of the events around Harry. With the Tournament, fourth year was really not the time, but he knows that Hermione waited for him the next year. And had a bad time with his 'relationship' with Tracy.
"I didn't do it for Daphne, I did it for Tracy."
"What do you mean?"
"What I'm about to tell you is not to be repeated, even to the principals involved, okay?"
She hesitates, both doubtful and interested.
"Okay."
He does not need more. He trusts her, without promise or vow.
"Do you remember in second year, Tracy and Daphne went with me to the Chamber of Secrets to save Ginny?"
Like many of the 'secrets' at Hogwarts, everyone knew, at least part of the story. Harry had told her when she had been cured of petrification, and Daphne had been responsible for expertly distilling the bits of information needed to work their legend with the rest of the school.
Everyone knew that the Slytherin trio had rushed to the aid of their friend, the first Weasley in nine generations to join the House of Green and Silver.
"Yes. Daphne got stuck with Lockhart after he attacked you, and Tracy and you faced down Tom Jedusor and the Basilisk."
"While I was fighting the Basilisk, Tracy was trying to wake Ginny up and protect her from Tom. When she woke up, she was in Tracy's arms, and it made quite an impression on her. They became very good friends and saw each other regularly. And last year..."
He pauses for a moment to search for the right words.
"They... have been together since November of last year. Like, romantically."
"Oh. OH!"
Hermione is absolutely shocked because she guesses.
"You... you dated Tracy to cover up their relationship?"
Harry takes on a guilty look.
"I was going to ask you to spend the Hogsmeade weekends with me, but we had to deal with that, and several Slytherins were starting to wonder after some... indiscretions by Tracy and Ginny in their behavior. We had to improvise quickly, and the first idea that came to us was to build a fake relationship. I'm sorry."
Hermione pursed her lips, and looked... irritated. She shakes her head a little and grabs his arms.
"What now? What's your excuse?"
"Other than the fact that a sadistic and neurotic and very powerful terrorist is after my life and probably everyone around me? And that you'd probably be much safer emigrating to Australia with your parents, and probably half the school?"
"Yes!"
"None at all. My biggest regret at Hogwarts was always that we were in two different Houses. I love Daphne, Tracy, Ginny. Even Blaise is an interesting person when he decides to come out of his shell. And I have other friends in other houses. Ernie, Neville. Ron now that he's grown up. Luna and Cho. But you..."
They look at each other. There is no surprise in Hermione's eyes, and no fear in Harry's.
"Me?"
She smiles, a little playful with him. She let go of his arms, and now it's their hands that are holding.
"I asked you out tonight, didn't I?" he points out to her.
"You invited Daphne to the Ball, and to Professor Slughorn's first party."
"Daphne is not, and never will be, a rival. I'm not sure she's considering any romance with anyone. She's completely detached from all that. She wants to conquer the world, and she's using me to do it. Well, with what's going on with Voldemort, she has other things on her mind."
"So..."
"You're persistent."
They both move closer together almost as tightly as they did during the dance earlier.
"I want you to say it," she whispers to him.
"I'm not comfortable. Do you know that, excluding Tracy, I haven't had a girlfriend yet? While you've been with Viktor, and with Ernie."
"Almost nothing happened with Viktor. We kissed three times in a fortnight, and then we stopped there. And my relationship with Ernie was an inappropriate response to the situation with Tracy. It only lasted two months, and that included the Christmas holidays.
"Still, you're more experienced than I am..."
"Harry James Potter."
He takes a deep breath.
"Hermione. We've been circling each other for years, you're one of my best friends and one of the few people I trust. You're smart, beautiful, extremely competent. I don't have the words to tell you how much you inspire me, and I would like to be the one who will accompany you for a long time, through the trials but also the joys that await us. I'm in love with you, maybe since that moment when you took my hand through the wall at King's Cross Station. Will you be my girlfriend?"
Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are bright, while a smile eats at her face. To him, she has never looked more beautiful.
"It looks like a proposal, you know."
She continues to tease him, but her slightly erratic breathing and delighted tone belie the slightly sarcastic side. He just stays silent, waiting for her answer.
"I've been waiting for this for three years, Harry. I swear, I'll never let you go again. You better get used to it, because now you have a possessive, exclusive, brilliant but scary witch for a girlfriend, as Ronald would say."
"I think I can handle that."
"If we're in agreement, it's time I put that so-called experience you mentioned to good use," she said as she reached up to kiss him.
END