~Nappa
Summery: AU. Hermione is an independent witch and she wants to get married when she wants to and who she wants to. But what happens when her father dies leaving a clause in the will for her to get married or lose all the property? What will she do? Who will help her out and who will she be getting married to.
Keywords: O/Hr, H/Hr, H/other people – Ships are not in any order.
Prologue: The boogie Man
Hermione Granger stood in line with other students – looking down at the floor, hoping that it was not a dream. She was standing in line to be sorted into one of the houses of Hogwarts. Until two weeks ago, Hermione did not even know of the existence of the school. Her introduction to the magical world had been a rather amusing one – when she cared to look back.
No one in her family knew that there was magic. It was a terrible shock to everyone present when a cat came into the house and started to talk about magic and the need for Hermione to get a proper education. Hermione was surprised to see that a cat could talk but she did not think that it was totally abnormal. Her parents had been a totally different story.
The opportunity was a heaven sent for Hermione – who was glad that she would not have to go to Madam Worthington's Academy for Young Girls. She had heard from one of her friends that the headmistress there was very strict. She made the disobedient girls cry in a week. Hermione did not want to think what she would do to her.
If there was an exaggeration in the above paragraph it was the fact that Hermione's aforementioned friend was her only friend – and even then only over the telephone. At school, they did not talk to each other. Hermione's intelligence combined with her I-am- always-right attitude made her few friends and lots of enemies. It would have been less of a problem with other children, if she were wrong occasionally, but since that never happened, the other children avoided her. As time passed, friendships did not form and she became the only child in the school without a friend. Then a new girl came to school and Hermione was assigned to show her around for a day. The girl had been kind of heart and became friends with Hermione.
It only lasted until the lunch hour.
Some other girls warned the new girl that being seen with Hermione would make label her as much of a looser as her. Though the girl broke ties to Hermione at school, she kept the telephone number that Hermione had given her before. Hermione received a call later in the day from the new girl and they chatted – it had been Hermione's happiest day till she was accepted into Hogwarts.
Hermione saw it as a chance to start over – make friends and hopefully have a less miserable life. Not wanting to be kicked out of the school before she was in it, Hermione walked straight and made no attempt what so ever to look people directly in the face. – people always mistook her inquisitive looks as a sign of threat. She did not know if people would be the same in her new school, but she did not want to find out for as long as she could.
" Granger, Hermione." Called out the woman who had ushered her along with all the new students into the great hall.
' Another life –' Hermione thought, ' hopefully not as bad as the one before.'
She made her way to the three-legged chair. Hermione picked up the mouldy old hat and put it on her head, before taking a seat. She was expecting the teacher to yell out her house name when a voice inside her head spoke. ' Hello, Miss. Granger.'
Hermione was very shocked to hear that voice and fell right off the chair. The hall filled with laughter and she could feel her cheeks beginning to flame, tears threatening to come out. Hermione had good reason to be surprised that someone was talking inside her head. She had been so busy looking down at the floor that she had completely missed how they children were sorted. ' Now, No one will like me.' She thought, shortly forgetting why she was so jumpy. She quickly took her seat again.
The voice inside her head piped up again. ' Don't think that. Most of them won't even remember today and besides, more of them are friendly then not.'
" Who said that?" Hermione's hand's grabbed onto the side of the three-legged stool and she quickly turned her head side to side a few times. The oversized hat covered her eyes, so even if there was someone there, she would not have had seen them. Logic was overwritten by panic.
' Please… stop that. It's making me sick. I'm the hat!' The hat said, with an odd sort of voice than it had on before Hermione started to move her head.
' Oh… I'm terribly sorry." Hermione thought in her mind. ' Please don't throw me out. Please. Wait, you can talk?'
The sorting hat laughed inside her head. ' I only let people in, my dear. Throwing them out is the headmaster's job. I'm to do the sorting and that's all."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. ' What does that mean?'
' Hmm. Not many ask that.' The hat seemed to have been flattered that Hermione had inquired about its role in the process. ' I'll be looking into your mind to see your strengths and weaknesses and then judge which founder would have had liked you in his or her house.'
' Looking inside my head.' Hermione sounded uncertain that it was safe. ' Is it going to hurt?'
' Is it hurting now?'
' No.'
' Than it won't.'
' Let's see now. Oh my!'
' What?' Hermione panicked. ' I don't have any magic do I? I knew this was going to happen. Now, I'll have to…'
' No. No, my dear. That's not it. That's not it at all. In fact, your magic is very strong and powerful magic.' The hat seemed to think, and despite the assurances by the hat Hermione started to panic again. ' It's just interesting. Well, I suppose I should let you choose.'
' Choose what?'
' Which house you will go to. So where do you want to go?'
' I thought that was your job?'
' It is, but you see my dear, you are a very peculiar case. You are cunning like the Slytherins…' – Hermione winced remembering what the red haired boy had said about the house on the train. According to him, you had to fight a troll and the people who were in the top quarter got into the Gryffindor house. The second the Ravenclaw the third was the Hufflepuff. When someone had said that what about the last few, the red haired boy had said something in a whisper. " Slytherins." There was a gasp from people. " All the dark wizards came from there, you know." He had said. " Pray you aren't sorted there. Now, if you want to know how to not trampled by the Troll this is what you have to do…"
Hermione did not believe the boy about the sorting process, but she realised that the boy thought the sorting process was true because it showed how bad the Slytherins were. ' …You are smart enough to be a very good Ravenclaw and you have the loyalty and sense of fair play to be a Hufflepuff. You certainly are brave – you have to be to go all your life without a friend. Perfect for Gryffindor you are – just like all the others. So, you see, I really can't choose for you.'
Hermione would have had said Gryffindor, seeing as how everyone said it was the best house, but she said Ravenclaw instead – she did not think she was good enough to be in the Gryffindor house.
' Are you sure?'
' Yes… unless you think that I shouldn't. Should I?'
' I just thought that you didn't want to have that smart thing hanging over your head.'
' Hufflepuff then.'
' You will be deftly bored before you even spend a day there. It's not for you.'
' But you just said I would make a great Hufflepuff…'
' You won't like it. Take my word for it.'
' Then I'll be in Slytherin…' Hermione said that and hoped she was powerful enough to not become evil going I there.
' You won't like it there. Boys and girls there don't take kindly to people of non magical parentage.'
Hermione was getting annoyed at the hat. It had led her to believe that she could get into any of he houses, but it seemed to find reason why she should not be there. ' Gryffindor?' she asked uncertainly.
' Good choice.'
' I had a choice?' Hermione said rather sarcastically, though that the hat did not hear comment or if it did, it ignored it – yelling, " Gryffindor."
Hermione mumbled thanks in her mind before taking off the hat and moving to the table that was showing signs of asking her to come and seat with them. It was then that she noticed that people were clapping and cheering for her! Hermione did not know how long she had talked to the hat, but did not care – she was in. She made her way quickly to where the tall red haired boy sat at the end of the table and tried to sit down. The boy moved over to the right slightly so what little space was there was there in the end was no longer there. Hermione thought that it was a mistake and as such tried to seat in the space that the boy had created between him and the boy he was sitting next to. But again the boy moved to block her. Hermione realised her life might not be as good as she had hoped for. A boy that she had done nothing to was making trouble for her on the very first day and in front of the whole school on the first day. None of the teacher seemed to do anything. It was a miracle in her mind that people had not noticed her plight and started to laugh at her. It was making her think that her original happiness that the names were being called in the reverse alphabetical order was not such a good thing as she had thought in the beginning. When the boy had started to pout advice to people about how to battle a troll, Hermione was happy that the names were in reverse and he was off the line before anyone else. But on the hindsight she would have had liked to hear the boy speak more instead of him humiliating her like he was doing now.
Despite what Hermione thought, several of the people in the great hall did notice her. One of them was a green-eyed boy, whose eyes glowed shortly – before the glow returned to normal – He was too far away to do anything. There was another boy that noticed her plight too, and he was close enough to actually do something about it.
And he did.
The next time Hermione tried to sit and the boy moved, this other boy pushed the red head off the edge of the seat. There was a round of laughter that made the Red haired boy's face turn almost as red as his hair. The Slytherins' table was the one diagonally across from the Gryffindors' and a lot of heckling could be heard, and a lot of it was directed at some one called Weasley. Hermione did not try to make sense of it. She saw an opportunity to sit down, and she took it.
" Thanks" she said to boy that had had helped her, extending her hand so he could shake it. " Hermione Granger."
" Huh? Ohh…" He shook her hand. " I heard them calling you that. " He took her hand and shook it once. " Second year student and Quidditch team hopeful, Oliver Wood."
" Nice to meet you… Oliver?" Hermione did not ask about Quidditch, since it appeared to be a sport, and she was not interested in sport.
" You can call me that." The boy had a friendly face, Hermione noted. " So, where are you from?"
" Sheffield."
" Really. I'm from Pearl Bay, so we're pretty close."
The red haired boy interrupted into their conversation. " Ronald Weasley of the Weasley Clan. You might know my father - deputy Minister of Magic he is. I'm from Ottery St. Catchpole – it'll be renamed to Weasley Lane in two months time…" As Ronald went on about his family and how great they were, Hermione tuned out of the conversation. The feast started after the head master gave his speech.
Hermione's gaze continued to wonder from face to face until she found one there that she did know and did not think she would see there. It was a very surly looking boy – tall and lean. He had green eyes from what she could make out. He had shiny raven black hair that she knew her mother would kill for. She herself liked all the frizzy hair – but her mother had commented that if doing something truly evil would get her silky hair, she would not hesitate. " I know that boy," she whispered to Oliver. " That's Harry Black."
Oliver followed Hermione's little pointed finger and found " Harry Black". No sooner had he found it, he spat out his food. " That's not Harry Black. It's Harry Potter. You probably don't know him. He's this famous wizard that defeated the dark lord twice already."
" No." Hermione was adamant that she was right. " He's Harry Black. My mom told me about his father – Sirius Black. He used to be in the investment banking, but now he's retired. They live across the house from mine and his father and mine great friends – they moved in end of last year."
Oliver laughed.
" What?"
" Sirius Black is Harry Potter's godfather. He used to live with some terrible muggles before that."
Hermione looked Quizzically at Oliver.
" Muggles – Non magical folks. Anyway, he's been taking care of him ever since he got out of the Azkaban – wizarding prison – terrible place. Apparently he was wrongfully convicted of murdering Harry's parents, but then Ronald's father there found the real person who did it. Great big scandal that was and when the elections came around – he got elected for doing such a good job."
" Are you sure, he's Harry Potter? I mean I read about him in the books, but he is… He's just so…" Hermione started, but Oliver finished it. " Young?"
Hermione nodded.
" Hey, Sir Weasley." Oliver said to Ronald.
" How may I help?" Hermione was amazed at how quickly the boy that had hassled her a few moments ago was suddenly all chummy.
" Cut the act, Ron. Tell me who that is?" Oliver pointed out "Harry Black" or Harry Potter.
Ronald made a squeaking noise. To Hermione it seemed that the boy in the far table was someone that he feared. " It's the boogie man."
Both Hermione and Oliver exclaimed. " What?"
" He's terrible. That's Harry Potter. Defeated the dark lord twice –killed many people and he's only two years older than me. He scares me."
" Why is that?" asked Oliver with a rather bemused tone.
" Laugh all you want. You're lucky you did not have the misfortune to see the pictures of the dead bodies after the battles he's been in on – dead bodies strewn all over. From the pictures it looked like he had ripped those people up after he killed them. Heads were missing, as were eyes and tongues in some. It was horrible." There was a shudder after he finished talking. Unlike the last time that he had spoken about the troll, Ronald looked and sounded very genuine. It was almost as if he really believed what he said. It was sending chills down her back when a girl from the other side of the table piped up.
" Ronald Weasley!" said the ebony haired girl. " Don't say those things about Harry. He's a really kind and good person. He's done so many good things for your family and you go around spreading those awful things about him. I'm really disappointed in you – I thought you would be better than those two twin brothers of yours."
" Alicia, It's true." Ronald tried to make her believe, but the girl just gave him a glare – Ronald changed his story slightly. " Okay, so the heads missing part was a bit too much, but he did kill all those people. I've seen the pictures and he did kill a lot of them..."
" How do you suggest he deal with Deatheaters then? Cuddle them? They were going to kill him Ronald. It was either him or them. What would you have done in his shoes?"
" I'm not in his shoes am I?"
" If you were, you'd have wet you pants." She said, before getting up and leaving the feast. Ronald's face turned very red at the last comment.
Hermione looked at Oliver for an explanation as to why the girl Alicia had reacted that way. " What just happened?"
" That's Alicia Spinnet." Answered Ronald. " I think she has the hots for Mr. Save the world." said Ronald.
" Ronald, leave Alicia out of it." Oliver looked a bit out of sorts. " She is right you know. You and your brothers have a lot to be thankful to him for, yet all you three do is try to turn his name into mud. It's a surprise he's not killed you and your brother's yet." Ronald's face was turning a dark shade of red and to Hermione, it looked like it would never be stop. " I know Charlie is the only one that actually was next to him in the last fight - you don't see him bingeing about it, do you Ronald?"
" Whatever. I still say someone who could kill you-know-who twice, has got to be a threat to us. We should take him out now, before he is so powerful that we can't do anything about him, " said Ronald in reply.
Hermione did not know what was going through the red head's brain. If the wizarding world needed Harry's help in getting rid of someone like "You-know-who", then how were they supposed to get rid of a person who was stronger than an enemy that they needed his help to get rid of. Hermione did not get to say her opinion as to what Harry Black/Potter seemed to her – from reading just her DADA book and the two times that she had met him. An older red head by the name of Percy Weasley hurried them all to their house.
As Hermione was leaving the hall, she bumped into another boy. He was considerably older – Hermione suspected him to be in the sixth or the seventh year. His silver blond hair and cool grey eyes gave the impression that he was a very mean person. The boy looked down at her scornfully, before leaving towards the other side of the hall. Hermione followed his movement and could have had sworn that she had seen Harry's eyes glow brighter and then comeback to normal. But that was impossible since when she blinked, he was not there. Realising that the things that Ronald had said was fuelling her imagination, she shook her head hoping to shake off the feeling. It was then that Oliver came rushing to meet her. " You alright?" He asked.
" Yes. Thank you for…"
" Please tell me you did not touch his cloak. Did you?"
" No. I don't think so. Why?"
" That was Draco Malfoy. The son of the Minister of Magic. He doesn't like muggleborns and he has this odd thing about them touching his cloak. The day they do it, the next they have a few bones broken. No one knows how it happens – it just happens. He's dangerous, keep clear of him."
" Oh…"
" He didn't say anything did he? Anything at all?"
" No. He just glared at me…"
Oliver sighed in relief. " Good. He's not going to do anything then. Let's get out of here, before you get yourself into more trouble."
Age of People
_______________________________________
Harry Potter (13)
Hermione Granger (11)
Oliver Wood (12)
Alicia Spinet (13)
Ronald Ron Weasley
(11)
Draco Malfoy (18)