The Agony Aunt
A/N: This character and universe isn't mine. Don't pretend it is. I don't.
Hermione stared at the letter in her hand. It looked so innocent and simple, not even half a foot long. Yet if word of it ever got out she was ruined. The perfect prefect was submitting a question to an agony aunt. About a boy no less, the only thing that could be no embarrassing is if she were to get caught. Hermione looked down at the letter and re-read her carefully thought out and precise words.
Dear Anna,
I am in love with my best friend of five years. I thought I wasn't, Heck I
never really thought of him as anything other than &(I've
decided to disguise his name). I always fought with him, bugged him about homework
eating and swearing, and mothered him. Oh how I mothered him, sometimes I think
I wrapped him in more cotton wool than his own mother did. I thought that he just a friend. Then he began
to get jealous about the other boys in my life. He despised my dates and resented
the friendships I had with other people (not that I really am friends with
other people). It made me wonder if he would ever just grow up and get over
himself, I should be allowed to be with other people. That led me to all the things I should or
could say to him to make him stop being so jealous. My logic and booksmarts led me to think up a list of all te reasons why he can't be jealous
and a list of ways to make him stop.
The list caught fire accidentally.
After another friend put out the flames, all my thoughts
lead me to one conclusion. I wanted him
to be jealous; I wanted to date my best friend. But then one day it stopped,
not our bickering, but the jealously. I miss it. We are back to the days before
his brilliant comment "Hermione, Neville's right you are a girl."
That comment changed everything. I want us to be friends. I really do, but I
want us to be more than that. I want my best friend to love me. Can you help?
How do I stop being just a mate, one of the guys? I guess I need help from
someone that isn't involved. Is this a lost cause?
H. Granger
Maybe it wasn't as well thought out and precise as she thought, maybe she
babbled and didn't make any sense, but she had to do it. Her hand shook she
wondered if this wasn't one of the stupider things she had ever done.
Her mind ran through her exploits over the last five years, trolls, and three headed dogs, advanced potions in abandoned lavatories, resisting tyrannical teachers, and Voldemort, so many adventures, so many bad choices. And yet sending this letter was probably going to top the list of stupid things to do.
Drifting up the stairs to the dormitory was the loud laugh of a certain red head. The loud sound made Hermione grin, a pale flush spread over her cheeks as she wondered at how free his laugh sounded. Her hand tightened convulsively on the letter. She quickly folded it and sealed it tightly, praying that no one would ask the contents of the letter. She ran down the stairs, bushy hair bigger than normal, and a set expression to her face.
She raced through the common room ignoring the shouted greetings hoping the red head in question would simply not notice it was her. But at the sound of his voice her feet slowed, "Oi, Hermione. What are you off to in such a bloody hurry?" She looked up at him and cleared her suddenly dry throat. "Just off to the owlery, ummm... I ahh...I have to get the best owl before they're all gone." She hurried out, not even trying to monitor Ron's foul language. The portrait door closed quickly enough for her to miss Ron mutter to himself, as his face turned puce, "Bloody Vicky Buggering Krum, bloody pen pal, I'll, I'll hex him in to next Sunday." The people around him laughed at her discomfort and Ron's anger. The pair really had no idea of the feelings that were so apparent to the rest of Gryffindor, and most of Hogwarts.
Hermione waited for her letter for months, OWLS passed, and so did the reign of Umbridge. Hermione nearly was killed battling Death Eaters, she felt her heart ache for Harry and Sirius, no one deserved to fall through that mysterious black veil. She watched Harry withdraw into grief, and she saw Ron step to the challenge and mature more in a few weeks than in nearly five years. She felt her feelings for him grow and adjust until she knew that she loved him, and if all he wanted from her was friendship, she could handle it. She loved him too much to lose him.
Finally on the day the trains were pulling into the station to take them away from the stone walls of Hogwarts, and to take each student to their own version of reality, a medium snowy owl alighted from the sky and deposited a letter in her surprised hands. Thanking the owl she stuffed it into her pocket, hoping that no one would notice it. The letter burning a hole in her pocket she stepped on board the train with a contemplative expression on her face.
As the train chugged on, and Hermione's friends argued around her about Ginny's choice of boyfriends, Hermione slipped the letter out of her pocket and began to read the loopy script that shimmered in the late afternoon sun.
Dear H. Granger,
I received your letter months ago, and I know that you probably hoped for a
response sooner, however I had to write responses to questions that would be
answered in Witch Weekly. While your letter was publishable, I felt that
Hermione Granger in love with Ronald Weasly, the best
friends of Harry Potter, was no business of the rest of the Wizard community. (If
you were trying to disguise your identity learn to change your handwriting and
your last name. Granger is well known
now in the wizard world). Your lives are
open enough to the public eye. I wouldn't want to ruin any chance you might
have at love with Ron. And there is a chance. You see, a few days after I
received your letter a small hyperactive owl delivered a letter from a young
man was in love with his best friend. He was jealous of all her friends, and he
wanted to strangle her 'bloody buggering pen pal'. He then went on to describe
why he loved her, why he wanted to stop since he knew the smartest girl in
school could never like him. He wanted to know if there was a way for him to
stop blushing every time she looked in his direction. He never once asked if
there was a way to stop loving her since he knew that wouldn't happen but he
wanted to know how not to ruin his friendship.
Enclosed is a copy of his letter, I thought you might find
it enlightening. Simply put Hermione, you need to speak to your young man. I
wish you all the happiness in the world, and all of the luck. Perhaps when it's
all worked out you could invite me to the wedding.
Melisande
Dunfries a.k.a. Aunt Anna
Hermione stared in shock at the letter. Ron loved her. She read his letter over and over until she could hear him reciting the words into his ear.
Dear Aunt Anna,
I feel like a right moron for writing this but after I noticed you in my little sisters Witch Weekly it was all I could think of. I need help. I'm in love with my best friend you see. I have been forever, but I didn't notice it until she started seeing boys as something other to order around. She doesn't know that boys are not nice and she should stay far away from them. She doesn't realize that the bloody pen pal is bad news
You see I love her--
Yes she certainly did need to speak to Ron. They needed to work something out. But as the train pulled into Kings Cross she knew that it could wait until later in the summer. Right now she just wanted to listen to the Ron in her head reading the litany of thing he loved about her.
I love my best friend. I love her smile and the way her eyes flash when she is angry. I love her bushy hair, and her mental study habits. I love our fights and her scolding, I love her courage and bravery and I love her will to fight. I love how she bites her lips when she takes notes, and how she is always willing to help a mate. How she is one of the most beautiful girls in our year, but she would never even realize it. I love everything about her, I love Hermione Granger.
A/N: This is an edit of my first fanfiction ever. Please be kind, review and maybe rea some of my other better developed work.