Disclaimer: I do not own anything. I wish I would ;-(
Here we go with the first chapter. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 1
Hermione Granger was picking at her muesli with tiny bits of apples in it; she was in a terribly bad mood. Although this was her favourite kind of breakfast she felt like she couldn't eat any of it. She used to eat it very quickly and even have a second helping but in the last few months she had been losing her appetite.
This was not at all surprising since she always had to sit back and watch Harry making compliments to Viviane and staring openly at her bosom (which was surely not natural) as if it was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Hermione was sure that Viviane knew perfectly well that Harry was only wild about her body. But since Viviane obviously admitted being a failure in matters of the brain and the heart she didn't mind being used as a pin-up girl by all those wankers. Every now and then, "unintentionally", Viviane even touched Harry's shoulder with her firm boobs so that he was speechless for a while and blushed like an overripe tomato.
Hermione cast her eyes down in detestation. But she couldn't ignore Ginny's squeaking voice; she was steadily begging Viviane to give her some advice for styling because Viviane always looked so gorgeous.
Even the girls in Hogwarts adored Viviane like a goddess; they took her as an example for everything. When this dolled up bitch first came as an exchange student from Beauxbatons at the beginning of the sixth schoolyear, Hermione laughed at her and predicted Viviane's downfall but soon the Gryffindor realized that hardly anybody shared her opinion.
While Viviane was accepted in their group by Harry and the others Hermione was gradually excluded. This was the beginning of a very lonesome time for Hermione in which she learned to suppress her feelings or at least to hide them and to pretend to be happy.
During her first years at Hogwarts everybody had been able to read her like a book; she had burst into tears and run to the girls' toilet as soon as a teacher had rebuked her or people had been talking behind her back. But now she was not even offended by Malfoy calling her "Potter's tart" or "mudblood".
Hermione raised her eyes, looking for a certain blonde Slytherin with that sneering grin but his chair was empty. She hadn't seen much of Malfoy recently, which was at least some sort of comfort for her. Apart from that he appeared to be more grown up this year. He no longer spent his time with Crabbe and Goyle or seducing randy girls. Most of the time he was on his own; Hermione hadn't seen him sneer at non-Slytherins for a long time. Not that she had been spying on him but since she was spending so much time alone and knew almost all the books in the library by heart she had automatically started to take a close look at the people around her. In fact Hermione was kind of afraid of Malfoy; he had this air of wickedness reminding one of mass murderers in Muggelfilms.
Suddenly it came to the young witch's mind that she hadn't seen Malfoy since the beginning of the Christmas holidays.
"That suits me fine", she thought and stood up uttering a deep sigh.
Of course nobody lifted his head when she left the great hall.
"Come on, Hermione! You can't be serious; what's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly having a problem with letting me copy your homework? We are friends, aren't we?", Harry Potter was both worried and also slightly impatient so he shook his friend's shoulder who kept her arms crossed in front of her dainty body.
The brown-haired witch answered in a shrill voice what had been on her mind for weeks :
"If we were real friends you would know how I am or what's the matter with me! But you don't seem to appreciate my company anymore; when did we last do some sort of activity together? Of course I am good enough for letting you copy my homework but his has come to an end now!"
First Harry didn't know what to say but the very thought of having to do his homework all by himself made him go on :
"So we are no longer friends, is that what you are trying to tell me? Have you forgotten everything we did together in the last few years? You know perfectly well that we always care for you, Hermione! It's your fault if you don't talk to us! Boys aren't so sensitive that they realize immediately when somebody is not so well. Besides, be honest, you always seemed to be pleased when we did not interfere too much with your life! But now I got it; you obviously feel outcast. I promise you as a friend that from now on we will share everything like we used to!"
Harry opened his arms smiling, perfectly aware of the effect this had on girls. Hermione seemed undecided; on the one hand she was not satisfied with this lousy excuse but on the other hand it would be so good to be embraced by Harry and to foget all those lonely hours in the library.
"You know what? Next weekend we are going to Hogsmeade to have a little party and you could join us if you want to! It will only be me, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Viviane. What do you think about it?"
Hermione couldn't help sinking into his arms, feeling very grateful for regaining her friend. She didn't even mind Viviane being with them too.
"What are we going to celebrate?", the Gryffindor whispered into Harry's ear which was covered by his wild hair.
"It's a surprise", the young wizard said with an air of mystery in his voice. By now he was waiting impatiently for Hermione's homework on potions.
Finally Hermione had reason to hope that her life would soon get better again.
Author's Note : Thank you guys Pranks Are So Siriusly Padfoot and Janangel for reviewing! I know the prologue was very short and that this is neither much longer nor more exciting, nevertheless I beg you to review! I need to know if should still keep writing this fiction and if someone could be my beta-reader for this story I'd be very happy too. Just mail me if you are interested.
°°°°° Walnut Tree °°°°°
