Hermione Granger sat on her balcony over looking muggle London on a cold, windy November evening. She had warming charms set on the small space, but the weather was so harsh today that she still huddled under a blanket in her favorite wool jumper. A glass of dark red wine twirled between her fingers as she thought about where she was in her life.

She was not happy at all.

Her on again, off again relationship with Marcus Flint was firmly off again and it would never be rekindled. She knew he wasn't faithful to her and really she didn't expect it, but she did expect him to not sleep with all of her best friends.

She had lunch with Luna and Ginny on Halloween last week where they both told her in whispered conversations while the other was up either fetching drinks or food that they had both recently slept with Marcus while his team, the Tutshill Tornadoes were in town. He had a reputation for being a very skilled lover and very charming. Hermione could tell you that both those things were incredible true.

He was constantly in the papers, along with a few other players for the British Quidditch league, as one of the most eligible bachelors in the country. He was constantly seen in the hottest night spots with gorgeous women on each arm. He was always featured in the Wizard GQ where they talked about his tips and tricks with the ladies, the newest fashions he was sporting, his diet and exercise regime, and a few of his star Chaser tricks. He was in constant demand.

Not that anyone would have guessed it during his Hogwarts days. Back then he looked like a troll. His teeth were too large and facing the wrong directions. He was rumored to be incredibly stupid and he did have to repeat his 7th year again due to poor NEWT scores. You know someone's scores are bad when a professional sporting team makes you go back and collect better scores just to play. Basically everyone wrote Marcus off as hideous to look at but talented on the Quidditch pitch. No one would have ever expected this.

Hermione did though.

She had bumped into Marcus during her first year. Technically she crashed into him with amazing brute force as the book she tried to remove from the high library shelf and herself came toppling off a chair and right onto him. She managed to not only hit him in the face with a book but her elbow and well as a well placed knee to the groin. She figured that she was about to get pounded or at least screamed at by the 6'4" Slytherin but he just laughed and told her that the only way Gryffindor would win the match this weekend was if they sent their first years to take out the better team.

It was the start of a quiet kind of friendship. Mostly continued through her first year with just nods in the hallways and small smirks. They never really talked more than her telling him he played the most recent match well (provided it wasn't against Gryffindor) or him asking her how she was enjoying her classes.

That changed during her second year. First Draco Malfoy hurled that foul word at her and rocked her to her core. She knew what it meant but from all her reading she also knew it was only really used by groups of blood supremacists who assumed she was inferior. She cried in the library for a full day before Marcus found her and told her that he made Malfoy fly laps for his behavior until he was almost too tired to sit on the broom. Marcus was the first Pureblood to tell her he was sorry for those beliefs. He actually meant it too.

As much as she was angry at him now for sleeping with her friends she knew he really didn't believe in all the rubbish which made her pain just a little bit worse.

Also during second year was her epiphany about Marcus. It was nearing the first big testing time before Christmas that she found Marcus in the library with a little house elf reading too him very poorly and then she noticed that Marcus would answer back and the little elf would try to write down what he said. Based on everything she had heard about the elf Dobby, Hermione assumed he was having his elf do his work for her and she saw red. She confronted Marcus in hushed yells and tore into him. Her righteous indignation was so great that she would not stop to hear anything he had to say.

Finally she ran out of steam and Marcus introduced her to Moxy his house elf. Marcus was embarrassed but he quietly told her what was happening and it turned out Marcus wasn't stupid at all. All those people who said he had troll blood or troll brain didn't know anything about who Marcus truly was.

After listening to Marcus and asking some questions Hermione started to suspect he might have dyslexia and after a few more questions she decided her might have dysgraphia as well. She told him that his difficulties might not be cure-able but manageable and she would do some research on the subject. She apologized to both Marcus and Moxy for her assumptions.

After the Christmas holidays she came back with a stack of books and special pens and parchment. She had a plan and the two spent hours working on improving Marcus's reading ability as well as his writing until she was petrified by a Basilisk midway through the year. When she was revived she spent time coaching him how to survive in the muggle world and then managed to arrange daily tutoring from her cousin Rachel who was majoring in therapies for issues like what Marcus had at Oxford during the summer. He went everyday to get his help and with her and her cousin's help improved his reading abilities just in time to return for his seventh year.

Her third year she had the time turner and she didn't see much of Marcus. When they did see each other she was impressed by the efforts he was making to not only learn but too catch up on everything he had missed. He was perfect with the practical work but in the past six years he had ever turned in anything but an acceptable grade essay. Honestly more of his essays didn't even hit the acceptable mark. He was making great strides with his new skills and confidence.

The NEWT examine took place right after they had rescued Sirius so Hermione took some time and helped him study. She knew he was going to do way better than anyone expected him to do but when she looked for him after the first batch of testing was done she never could find him. She didn't see him again until the World Cup.

That turned out to be a disaster. When she ran into Marcus in the woods trying to flee the Death Eaters she was so afraid. Her and Ron realized they were missing Harry and were trying to run back to the grounds but Marcus stood in her way. He told her he thought his father was there with the Death Eaters and he didn't want her anywhere near the man. He looked genuinely afraid but Hermione gripped his hand and told him she couldn't leave Harry behind. He nodded and shadowed her back to the edge of the woods. She didn't see him again until school started.

On the Hogwarts Express they bumped into each other in the hallway. He told her that he had to repeat the year and she was stunned. Actually told him there was no way she would believe he failed his NEWTs and he laughed at that. During the first test, he told her, he was informed that his mother was dying and he promptly left to be home at her side. He had a terrible relationship with his father but he loved his mother completely unconditionally. Hermione gave him a hard hug and tried to put everything into that hug that said how sorry he was for his loss because words had failed her.

That first hug was the day she developed her crush on Marcus Flint.

That was the day she gave her heart away to the one man who was not worth her time.

Oh look at that, her bottle of wine was empty.

She walked back into her apartment for a fresh bottle.