"You know, I've been wondering…" Ron muttered as he and Hermione sat down in the middle of the Gryffindor stands. "How'd you and Harry meet?"

"Hm?" Hermione tilted her head. "Harry didn't tell you how we met?"

"I've…. been forgetting to ask." Ron muttered sheepishly. "What with having to deal with the whole Troll incident, detention, and everything else…it sort of slipped my mind."

"I see." Hermione said. "It's a bit of a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

Ron shrugged. "Why not? We've still got some time to kill before the game starts."

Hermione smiled. "Well then, it all started on the first day of school…."

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"Alright Hermione, we're here!" Her father said as he pulled into the school's parking lot. "And we're just in time before the bell!"

Hermione glanced up from her book and glanced at the small brick and mortar building they'd parked in front of. She spotted silver letters spelling out the words St. Gregory's Primary lined on the front of the building

"It looks a bit smaller than my old school." She commented as she undid her seatbelt.

"Well, we figured it would be best to go somewhere that was a little less…. overwhelming." Her father said with a small smile. "It should feel much more comforting than your other school."

Hermione doubted that, but she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. With a small sigh she opened the door and slipped out of the car.

"By the way, Ms. Honey said that she'd be waiting by the front office." Her father said. "She's a tall blonde woman, you can't miss her."

Hermione nodded and slung her backpack over her shoulder. "Will you and mother be at home when school's over?"

Her father shook his head. "Sorry, we probably won't be back until midnight at the latest."

"Oh, okay." Hermione said. A part of her was a bit upset, but she was long since used to her parent's absence in her life. Normal people would probably view her parents as irresponsible, but….

Her family was anything but normal.

"Well, look at the time!" Her father said as he glanced at his wristwatch. "I was supposed to pick up your mother five minutes ago."

He glanced at Hermione and wryly grinned at her. "I trust that you'll be back home before nine?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "What do you take me for? I'll be finished with my job and my homework before six."

"Atta girl!" Her father chuckled as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Have a good day at school!"

Hermione watched him go before she headed into the school. Luckily it was early enough in the morning so there weren't too many people milling about the halls. She glanced around until she spotted the blonde woman her father had told her about.

"It's nice to meet you Hermione!" Ms. Honey greeted her as soon as they made eye contact. "I'm your homeroom teacher."

"H-hello!" Hermione stammered out and averted her gaze to the floor. "It's nice to meet you!"

Ms. Honey smiled. "Your father was right; you are pretty shy."

Ms. Honey led Hermione down one of the halls and stopped in front of a wooden door that had a few stickers on it. Hermione nervously bit her lip as she felt butterflies in her stomach. This was her next chance to make a good impression, everything hinged on her getting through this in one piece.

'I really hope that things will be different here.' Hermione thought to herself as she gazed up at her new teacher. 'Mother and Father will be upset if I cause another incident.'

"Don't worry Hermione, most of my students are very nice!" Ms. Honey said. "I promise that you'll have a great time!"

Her teacher gently took her head into the classroom. Hermione noted that the other students were busy talking to each other, the sole exception being a boy with broken glasses and a lightning-shaped scar who was sitting by himself in the back corner of the classroom.

Ms. Honey cleared her throat and the class soon fell silent. "Good morning, everyone! I'd like to introduce you all to your new classmate!"

"H-hello, my name is Hermione Granger." Hermione nervously stuttered as Ms. Honey led her in front of the chalkboard. "I hope that we can all get along!"

The rest of the class fell silent causing Hermione to squirm under their gaze.

"Okay Hermione, how about you sit…." Ms. Honey gazed around the classroom before she spotted an empty seat right next to the biggest kid in the class. "Right next to Dudley? I'm sure that he won't mind having a new neighbor."

Hermione nodded and brought her things over to her new desk. As she passed Dudley, she heard him mutter something under his breath.

"I'm sorry did you say something?" Hermione asked once she sat down.

Dudley smirked. "Nope, I didn't say anything at all beaver girl!"

A boy next to Dudley snickered and Dudley's grin grew wider. Hermione sighed.

'I haven't even been here for an hour, and I already hate this school.' She thought to herself. 'Could this day get any worse?'

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Later that afternoon, once class had let out for recess, Hermione decided to sit down on one of the plastic benches. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her copy of A Midsummer's Dream and flipped to the page she had bookmarked. She'd only managed to get through the first three chapters before Dudley and his posse waddled up to her.

"What are you doing beaver girl?" Dudley asked.

"Reading." Hermione answered as she flipped a page. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Dudley scrunched his face up in confusion. "Why are you reading during recess? That's weird."

Hermione shrugged. "I like to read in my free time."

Dudley glanced at his friends for a brief second before he smirked.

"You like to read, huh?" Dudley murmured as he peered over her book. "That must be a pretty good book, you've been sitting here for a while."

"Mm-hmm." Hermione muttered as she turned to another page. "If that's all, do you mind leaving me alone?"

"Sure, just as soon as I-"

Dudley cut himself off as he quickly grabbed her book and pulled. Hermione, not wanting to have the pages get torn or risk getting her cover blown, loosened her grip and allowed the boy to yank it out of her hands.

Hermione sighed. She should've known better than to jinx herself.

"Give it back Dudley." Hermione said as she reached for her book. She frowned when he stepped back and pulled it out of her reach. "I mean it."

"Give it back Dudley, I mean it!" Dudley mocked as he held the book high over his head and dangled it out of her reach. "If you want it back so bad, just try and take it from us!"

For a moment, Hermione harbored the idea of simply stabbing Dudley and getting her book back, when suddenly….

"Give it back Dudley! It doesn't belong to you!"

Everyone's eyes fell on the person who had shouted. It was the boy with the lightning-shaped scar who sat at the back of the class.

Dudley's nose wrinkled. "Ew, who invited you over, freak?"

Dudley stalked over to the smaller boy, who seemed to wilt a little as Dudley drew near him.

"Wait your turn freak, can't you see that I'm talking to my new friend?" Dudley sneered and grabbed the boy by his collar. "Go on, beat it! We don't need someone like you stinking up the place!"

The boy glanced at Hermione before he looked back at Dudley. "It doesn't look like you two are friends, it looks like you're bullying her."

"Oh, does it now?" Dudley grinned as he roughly shoved the boy backwards, causing him to fall to the ground. "I think you need new glasses freak; you clearly can't see very well."

He turned his attention back to Hermione and smirked. "Now then, where were we?"

"You were challenging me to get my book back." Hermione said dryly.

"Oh, that's right!" Dudley said with a smug grin on his face. "Now then, if you want your book back, you'll…. you'll…."

Dudley blinked as he glanced down at his empty hands. "What the, where did the book go-!"

Dudley whirled around to see that the boy with the scar had managed to grab the book. The boy quickly scrambled to his feet and broke into a mad sprint towards the playground.

"Get him!" Dudley growled as he and the others took after the boy, leaving Hermione alone.

"…what just happened?" Hermione muttered to herself.

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Once recess had ended, Hermione sat at her desk and noted that Dudley, his friends, and the boy with the lightning-shaped scar still weren't back. In fact, for the rest of the day the entire group of boys had somehow managed to miss their final few periods. It wasn't until school was over and she was on her way home when she happened to bump into one of them by pure chance.

"Hermione, wait!"

Hermione turned around to see the boy with the lightning-shaped scar running up to her.

'Huh, I was wondering where he went.' Hermione thought to herself as the boy skidded to a stop in front of her. She frowned when she noticed the dark bruise that was on the side of his cheek.

"I finally caught up to you!" He wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. "It took a while, but I managed to get away from Dudley!"

He reached into his bag and pulled out her book. "Here, this belongs to you."

"Oh, thank you." Hermione said as she gingerly took her book back. "You know, you really didn't have to go through all that, I could've gotten a teacher."

The boy chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, but if you'd done that Dudley might've tried to rip up your book for revenge."

Hermione blinked. "He's that petty?"

The boy nodded. "Yup. Anyway, I just couldn't sit by and do nothing while he was bullying you."

"Why?"

"Huh?" The boy tilted his head and gave her an odd look. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Most people would keep their heads down so that they wouldn't end up getting bullied themselves." Hermione said with a small frown. "And yet you…intentionally put yourself in danger to help me. Why?"

"I guess….it just isn't in my nature." The boy answered. "I saw someone who needed help and I helped them, it's as simple as that!"

Hermione stumbled back as the boy smiled the purest smiles she'd ever seen.

'He went through all that trouble, for someone like me?' Hermione thought to herself. For most of her life she'd never had anyone do anything for her and ask for nothing in return. She'd never had anyone willingly get hurt for her.

She felt butterflies in her stomach as her heart skipped a beat, and her face flushed.

"This feeling…" Hermione quietly muttered under her breath. "Is this…?"

She jerked as the boy put a hand to her forehead.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked. "You look like you're burning up."

"I—I'm fine!" Hermione squeaked as she moved away from the boy. "Thanks for getting my book back…um, what's your name?"

"It's Harry, Harry potter."

"Thank you, Harry!"

"Ah, you don't have to thank me, it's no problem!" Harry said with a small laugh. He turned around and headed back the way he came. "See you at school tomorrow, Hermione!"

"Bye!" Hermione waved as she watched him leave. As soon as he was out of sight, she sunk to her knees and sighed.

"These feelings…" Hermione murmured. "Is this what…. love feels like?"

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"Whoa." Ron said once Hermione finished her story. "That's how you two met? That seems so…normal."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well of course it was normal, what else did you expect?"

Ron had honestly expected her story to involve a lot more murder and displays of psychopathy, but he wisely kept his thoughts to himself.

"Oh, look Ron, it's Harry!" Hermione shouted as the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked onto the field. "Give them hell Harry!"

As Ron watched her excitedly cheer on Harry, he let out a soft sigh.

'Honestly mate,' Ron thought to himself. 'I can't figure out if you're the luckiest guy I've ever met. Or if you're cursed.'