Pen Pals

Chapter 2: Year 3

Class was just about to be dismissed before scattered brained Professor Tamlin remembered that the pen-pal replies had come in and needed to be delivered back to the students. There was a cacophony of groans from the male students, while all the female students started twittering excitedly. With a flick of her gnarled staff, the letters jumped out of the box she had next to her desk, and danced through the air to distribute themselves amongst her students. Flighty as Professor Tamlin could be, she had a flair to her casting that Hermione could appreciate.

Hermione blinked at the rolled up paper that had flittered itself over to her desk and landed with a flip in front of her. It looked like a scroll. (1) Her Pen Pal had written to her on a scroll, how absolutely bizarre. Picking it up, she found it to be unexpectedly heavy. With a cheshire grin, she packed away the missive carefully in her bag, before getting up and rushing to the library.

While all the other students and her housemates were at lunch, Hermione had made herself nice and comfy, hidden away in a corner of the library with the ancient Illyrian poetry. She pulled out a granola bar she had stashed in her bag, along with her pen-pals reply. Taking a bite out of the bar, she looked the scroll over carefully. The parchment looked yellow and aged, which seemed so absolutely silly. Why purposefully make aged looking paper? How ridiculous.

There was a pretty gold ribbon tied around it held in place by a wax seal. The seal was made of a triangle with three bee's inside. The image made something in her brain itch, she had seen it before, she just couldn't place where. Carefully she broke the wax signet and untied the ribbon, unfurling the yellow parchment carefully. To her surprise, something fell out, right into her lap. Hermione gingerly picked up a heavy cloth pouch which seemed to have been wrapped in the middle of the scroll.

This was so exciting! Her pen-pal had answered her missave, which had essentially been word vomit, in kind. Torn between reading the letter and opening the pouch, Hermione relented and moved to open the pouch first. Reaching in gingerly she pulled out two objects, the first was a photo, a magical moving photo. It was of a boy with thick black messy hair, round spectacles, and spring green eyes. He was holding a giant white owl. Petting the raptor with a gentle smile on his face before turning to the camera and winking.

Hermione felt herself blush. Her pen-pal was as her American peers said, 'a total cutie'. Putting the photo aside while fanning her cheeks and calling herself ridiculous, Hermione turned her attention to the second object, a small gold ball. As she picked it up, a set of delicate gold wings unfurled, and it darted out of her hand.

"A snitch!" Hermione gasped. She had never seen one up close before. It fluttered about her like a hummingbird, never getting farther than 3 feet away from her. Thankfully, it seemed to be charmed to stay put, as she doubted she would ever be able to catch it otherwise. She admired it for a bit, before moving on to the letter.

Hello Hermione,

It's nice to meet you. Or at least it's nice to meet you through paper. Your letter has found its way to Hogwarts. I hope you won't be too disappointed to find out that I am not very surly, nor am I of a 'bubbly disposition'. I'm pretty normal for a bloke I suppose. My name is Harry Potter, British born like you. Pretty neat to think we could have been going to school together if things had been different.

As for my interests, I love to fly. I am on my Houses Quidditch team, youngest Seeker in a century actually. I caught this snitch my last game, just for you. Hope you like it. I adore chocolate, and will eat it until I get sick, and I also love to swim as well. As for dislikes. I can't stand dancing, absolutely hate it. I despise my defense teacher Snape, and until I got your letter I was terrified of talking to girls. They are always giggling, even when I don't mean to be funny. Please tell me you are not the type of bird to twitter non-stop?

I have never been to America. Was it very hard for you to adjust? Also, I had to look up what a Racoon was in the Library. I have never seen one in my life before seeing it in the book. It looks like a cat, bear, thingy… Is that about right? So how long has it been since you have been back home to London? I can't imagine living anywhere else. Or at least, before your letter I had never really thought on it. The American and Canadian wilds sound quite exciting. Though I don't think I would like to run into any bears or those racoon-cats. The rest sounds bloody fantastic though.

Do you suppose you can keep a secret for me Hermione? My family has a bit of land you see, and there is a smattering of woods on the property. I have a fort, a Secret Fort. It's only accessible by broom. There is a clearing in the middle of some dense wood, and in spring it's filled with lilly-of-the-valley. It's where I go to do my serious thinking. (2) I have never taken anyone there before, nor told anyone of it, not even my god father or my best mate Ron. I don't think I would mind showing you though. That's where I spent most of my summer-

Please ignore that weird stain, it's a bit of goose grease. My git of a best friend was trying to read over my shoulder. He is now on his way to the infirmary because he can't stop itching. Always wanted to try that hex, may have given it a bit too much power. Oh well, live and learn right? (I'll enclose the spell at the end of the letter, just in case you need it)

I am in the Great Hall at the moment. It's dinner time and the first bit of free time I have had to write to you. I think you would like the Great Hall here at Hogwarts. The ceiling is charmed to look like the outside. With no moon tonight the stars are shining spectacularly. Not that a bloke like myself notices girly stuff like that. Except I sorta do.

On and on the letter went. Like her, he wrote to her throughout his school week. Telling her about his dour Defense Professor. 'Hermione, if you wanted someone surly, he would have fit the bill.' His best mate, who was a bit emotional stunted it seemed but, 'A good sort over all.' Harry Potter was funny and kind, and goofy in the best way. And hells! She knew that Signet had looked familiar. When she found out she was a Witch she had read up on everything she could about the Wizarding world. Including English Wizarding History, and current events. She was still a British citizen after all. The Potters were Pure Bloods, one of the old families. They had a seat on the Wizengamot. Her letter had ended up in the hands of the Heir to an ancient House!

Not only that, his own Mother was muggleborn like her. Of all the luck! And he asked questions. So many questions about herself, he wanted to know her. After her third read through, Hermione was surprised to find tears sliding down her cheeks and onto the silly fake old parchment. This was a connection, something real, what she had been missing for so long.

Hermione had no friends, only acquaintances. She had never been able to find that easy camaraderie she saw so many others fall into. So she read. She read all kinds of things, but her favorite was fantasy and fairy tales. Warriors and knights on grand adventures. Always alone like her, until one day they found friends and family of their own while they gallivanted around the globe. Hermione carefully wrapped the scroll up before hugging it to her chest desperately. She would be the best pen-pal anyone could ask for. She would make sure of it.

1. I am making America super progressive in my AU's. It is a young country after all, I feel as if it would not be as stuffy as old nations with much more established Wizarding communities. So yeah, instead of scrolls I am going to have them using regular, if not nice paper and stationary.

2. This is unashamedly stolen from 'PS I love you' the Book/Movie. I will watch that movie anytime I need a good cry.

I usually like writing letters from Harry's perspective, but I gotta say, this one was tough! Lol, it was really hard for me to get out of my Hermione headspace and write from his perspective for some reason. I almost rather continue the story from mostly Harry's perspective. What do you guys think? Would you mind seeing things from Harry's end more, the letters he receives from her?

Either way, at least this was a good intro for Hermione.