This started out as the prologue and chapter 1 of a moderately dark story. During the middle of it, I felt like writing something lighter and converted it to what I consider a fairly lighthearted one-shot. I may at some point continue with the original plan but this will remain untouched and separate. Please enjoy.
Hermione's Perspective
September 1st, 1991 was the first day of her new life. A young girl, born to two dentists, she had always lived an isolated life. She had never had many friends and those she did have went their own way before long. She was lonely and isolated because children often did not like those that were different. The girl was different.
The girl was bright, very bright. She read at a level those ten years her senior might struggle with and at a pace that shamed most everyone, whole books in the time it took most to read chapters. She was not an especially pretty girl, with untamed bushy brown hair and slightly bucked teeth, but she never took great care of her appearance either, long since accustomed to the snide remarks of other girls. It never hurt any less. She simply became better at hiding the hurt.
Her parents were very loving and always supportive. Her mother would hold the crying girl after a hard day at school full of taunting and jeers, her father would treat her to ice cream and days at the park. The two adults moved her to different schools when the faculty proved unable to curb the bullying, four times to date. They tried Girl Guides, play dates, classes, camps, and anything else they could think of to help their daughter's self-esteem and socializing. None worked though the latest school appeared to have prevented the bullying but not the isolation.
Then the letter arrived.
Finally things began to make sense for the girl. The strange happenings around her were explained by an older Scottish woman wearing the Clan Urquhart tartan, as she explained when asked by the excited girl. The older woman was Minerva McGonagall, Professor and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and she was inviting the girl to attend the school.
Very long discussion spanning several weeks regarding the need for the magical schooling and how to fit in non-magical studies so as to earn credentials in both worlds, the girl's parents ultimately decided to support sending their daughter to the Scottish boarding school. The fact that most of the awkwardness felt by other children around their daughter could be laid at the feet of a non-magical child's intuitive feeling regarding magic and its relative strangeness meant that their daughter would likely have a much easier time making friends among magical children. Despite a bit of concern over the girl's socializing abilities, it was likely her best chance at making friends.
After being assured of the availability of contact via letter writing, delivered by owls of all things, their final complaint was put to rest, though they expected near weekly letters. A visit to the magical shopping district, Diagon Alley, and seeing how excited their daughter was at how much there was to learn helped them feel they made the right decision.
That feeling change when they arrived at the station to drop off their daughter for the train ride to school.
They could pass the magical barrier that led to the platform where the train awaited their daughter but the looks they got made them feel very unwelcome.
"Now, Hermione, remember to study hard, brush your teeth every day, get lots of rest, and write us every week," the girl's father Matthew Granger told her as he hugged her tightly.
His wife, Elizabeth, took his place, "And be sure to have lots of fun and make good friends. And if you ever want to come home, you let us know and it'll be done."
The young girl, Hermione Jean Granger, gave her parents a beaming smile, "I will." With that, she pushed her trolley to the train where she took her trunk and boarded with scarcely a look back.. Matt and Liz held each other close and stared at the train for some time questioning if they had made the right decision.
Before they left to head home, they saw a large family of red-heads helping an obviously lost black-haired boy through the barrier and onto the train. Seeing such a helpful family eased their growing concerns and they stayed just long enough to wave as the train departed, catching a glimpse of the excited daughter waving back at the last moment.
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Hermione found herself sitting with a pudgy brown haired boy named Neville Longbottom. He was painfully shy, even more than she was, though she'd never admit to such a thing, and struggled to offer much more than an introduction. The two sat mostly in silence even as the snack trolley came by. Suddenly he perked up in a bit of a panic.
"Trevor!" he cried.
"Who's Trevor?"
Neville was frantically patting his pockets and checking under his seat. "Trevor's my toad. My Great-Uncle Algie got him for me when he found out I was getting into Hogwarts. Now I've gone and lost him! I lost him already on the platform and my Gran summoned him back but now I've gone and lost him again!"
Hermione offered to help him look and after the two had thoroughly searched their compartment, she left to begin asking others if they had seen the missing toad. She made her way from compartment to compartment and failed to find a prefect so she resorted to asking at each apartment she came across. In the next car she caught up with Neville and opened a door to find a black-haired boy watching a red-haired boy holding a rat with his wand out.
After the red-headed boy rudely told her that Neville had already asked about Trevor and made an obviously pathetic attempt at casting a spell to turn his rat yellow of all things, she introduced herself.
The red-haired boy spoke up first. "I'm Ron Weasley," he muttered.
"Harry Potter," the black-haired boy said.
Harry Potter? Hermione had read all sorts of stories about him, and told him so, but the boy appeared to know nothing about his own story. That made no sense to Hermione but before she could ask more, she reminded herself that Neville was still looking for Trevor.
The train arrived at Hogsmeade a bit later with the pair having no success in finding the wayward toad. They departed the train and made their way, following a very large man, much taller and broader than her father, to a small fleet of boats. They were instructed in, no more than four to a boat. As Hermione and Neville moved forward in their own boat, following Harry and Ron's boat, Hermione looked up.
Hogwarts was beautiful. All lit up amidst the night sky, she could only stare in awe at the majestic sight.
Docking at an underground harbor, they clambered out of the boats. The tall man called out to Neville.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?"
Neville cried in joy holding out his hands to receive his pet.
The man lead the group of first years to the castle huge, oak doors and knocked three times with a gigantic fist.
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Professor McGonagall was waiting for the first years on the other side of the doors. Hermione clung to her every word as the woman talked about the four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, and how they would be like a family. The professor departed back into the Great Hall leaving the first years waiting outside.
Hermione started reviewing every spell she had studied and practiced at home before boarding the train. The only thing she knew about the sorting was that there was to be some form of test and Professor McGonagall wouldn't share any more than that with her citing tradition, though Hermione's parents were told in private.
There was some commotion before Professor McGonagall returned but Hermione was focused on her revision. Following the line forming from the mob of students, she entered the Great Hall.
Candles lit up the room, but not just any candles. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, and they were all floating a dozen or so feet off the ground. How the wax failed to drip all over everything, Hermione wasn't sure. Beyond them, was the night sky, or at least it appeared as such.
She leaned over to whisper to Neville, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
When the ancient hat, sitting on a stool at the front of the hall ripped open and started singing, Hermione realized she was somewhere special and smiled as big a grin as she could. She waited her turn as Professor McGonagall worked her way through the alphabet until, "Granger, Hermione!"
Rushing up, she promptly jammed the hat on her head. Almost immediately the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"
Hurrying over to the Gryffindor table, she sat down next to the other new first years, a very pretty girl with dirty blonde hair who obviously knew it, Lavender Brown, a pretty brown haired girl, Fay Dunbar, and an irish boy, Seamus Finnegan. Neville joined them shortly after Hermione's sorting, though he nearly ran off with the hat and had to return it to Professor McGonagall amidst laughter. Parvati Patil, a pretty Indian girl with black hair, and Sally-Anne Perks, a girl with plump cheeks and reddish-brown hair, joined them a bit later.
"Potter, Harry!"
Whispers broke out all throughout the Great Hall. Hermione was curious about the dark-haired boy she met on the train. He seemed to be awfully small for their age. After a minute or so, the hat shouted out, "GRYFFINDOR!" Hermione clapped while those around her screamed and cheered as Harry walked over to the table.
The remainder of the Sorting passed quickly. The first year Gryffindors were joined by a very tall black boy, Dean Thomas, and finally the rude Ron Weasley from the train. After a few very odd words, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" from the Headmaster, Hermione watched the tables fill with food that appeared from out of nowhere. Anything she could have imagined appeared: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, and a host of other things.
Hermione frowned a bit at the lack of fruit and a distinct lack of anything green, like asparagus, that she ate with her parents every supper. It was as if they were being fed like the royals from the Regency period.
She would have to talk to Professor McGonagall about this.
Looking around at her fellow first years, Hermione saw some of the girls put off by the offerings as well, though she noticed Harry looking very peculiar. It was as if he was waiting for someone to take his food away, they way he ate as quickly as possibly with his eyes darting about watching everyone else.
Another thing she felt she needed to bring to Professor McGonagall.
The house ghost, which Hermione had ignored back in the entrance hall in favor of revising, made a bit of a scene as he explained his nickname, Nearly Headless Nick, by lifting off his head, which was kept attached by a small bit on one side of the neck. Remembering that beheadings were reserved for traitors and criminals, she wasn't sure she wanted to get to know the ghost.
Supper vanished from their plates to be replaced by dessert in the form of ice cream in every flavor she could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, gelatin, rice pudding, and a small assortment of berries. Ice cream was supposed to be a special treat, not something she gorged on.
At least she was among people like her. This was her chance to make friends.
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Two months of class and Hermione was miserable. Her Head of House, Professor McGonagall, had dismissed her concerns about the food and how unhealthy it appeared to be, about Harry's behavior at meals where he still acted like someone was going to take his food away, about Professor Snape's behavior in Potions where he singled out Gryffindors, Harry worst of all, and took away points for the most ridiculous things, about Professor Quirrel in Defense Against the Dark Arts where no one could understand him, about Professor Binns in History who simply read from their text, A History of Magic, and countless other things about the school. Hermione was told that things were different and that she would adapt in time to the Wizarding World.
Plus, she hadn't made any friends.
Hermione knew she could be overbearing at times. She struggled to get along with people, sought solace in books, and yearned for approval from others. McGonagall dismissed all of Hermione's concerns, her dormmates ignored her for being impartial about boys and fashion, and just about everyone in her year made snide remarks about her behavior in and out of class. She was miserable.
Frustrated with Ron Weasley's incessant complaining, she tried to help him in Charms class. Professor Flitwick was so proud when she managed to make the feather float on her first try at casting Wingardium Leviosa. Then Ron Weasley decided he needed the last word. And that word hurt.
Hermione had spent the last several hours crying in the toilet. She was friendless, she was lonely, she was ignored, and she missed her parents. She missed her daddy taking her out for a special treat. She missed her mummy holding her after a bad day. It was time to admit defeat and go home to where she was wanted.
Sniffling a bit, a horrid stench filled her nose. It was possibly the most vile thing she had ever smelled. Opening the stall just a bit, she witnessed a hideous and terrifying sight. A twelve-foot tall troll, with dull, grey skin, a lumpy body and small bald head, holding a massive wooden club, the size of a small tree, was sniffing about.
She screamed.
Hermione screamed for all she was worth, every bit that she could muster. The troll jumped, startled by the sound, before turning to face her. With a disgusting grunt that threw snot and spittle everywhere, the troll swung its club, destroying the stall dividers in one go. Hermione dashed to the other side and curled up in the corner under the sinks as far away from the troll as possible.
As she kept screaming, Hermione saw the door open behind the troll, Harry Potter rushed into the room followed by that foul, loathsome Ron Weasley. The two boys were shouting at each other and the troll when it took another swing.
Half the sinks were now destroyed, thankfully away from Hermione. Harry and Ron started pelting the troll with bits of stone and sink that littered the floor thanks to the club strikes. With the thrown chunks drawing its attention away from Hermione, the troll turned to the doorway to face Ron when Harry took a running leap at it's back. Clambering up the last few feet, Harry tried to hold onto the troll's fat neck but could only reach part-way round. Twisting, the troll tried to throw Harry off only to find a rather large piece of wand jammed up its nose.
Howling in pain, the troll reared back, tossing Harry to the floor. It raised the club high above its head about to smash Harry to a paste. Hermione started scrambling for her wand, something anything to help save Harry. The troll started its swing.
The club struck the ceiling, pivoted about the trolls hand and whacked the troll in the back of the head. Seeing its eyes roll back, Hermione rushed out from her corner and started pulling at a dazed Harry. The two had just moved back enough when the troll collapsed face first in front of them, unconscious.
Panting, Hermione kept her arms wrapped around Harry. Her ears were ringing, her heart racing, she finally took a look at herself in the shattered mirror fragments. Her hair was matted with blood from a cut on the side of her head. Her robes were torn in multiple places. Tear marks covered her cheeks.
Turning to Harry, she saw he was even worse. His back was bleeding freely from his being tossed from the troll and landing on jagged pieces of sink and stone. Some were even still embedded in his back. His arm was badly bruised, maybe even broken, from landing funny. His glasses had falling from his face and were bent, twisted, and broken on the ground a few feet away. He was confused(dazed) and bleeding from the side of his face from where his head hit the ground.
Looking up, she saw that Ron was standing by the door, perfectly fine.
Before she could react, "What is going on in here?" Professor McGonagall called out, seeming far more displeased than concerned.
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
After Halloween, everything changed for Hermione. She was happier than she could ever remember. She laughed more often, she relaxed and even skived off from time to time. She had a friend.
Harry had promptly ended his friendship with Ron. Hermione agreed with Harry's decision wholeheartedly. Waking up after two days of being unconscious in the Hospital Wing under Madam Pomfrey's care, Harry found to his horror that the entire school was under the impression that Ron had stopped the troll instead of Harry. According to rumor, Harry stood by the door the whole time while allowing Ron to handle the situation since, "it was just a first year in danger." The cock and bull story, which had Ron performing the Levitation Charm perfectly and dropping the club on the troll's head despite being unable to perform the charm before or since, boggled Hermione's sense of logic and enraged Harry's sense of honour. A public blowout between the two boys saw Harry isolating himself from the gossip mongers by staying in the library with Hermione.
Every spare moment for Hermione was spent with Harry. The rumors about what really happened in the girls toilet never came close to reality despite the true story being shared multiple times. Harry and Hermione may not have enjoyed all of the gossip but they had each other to take comfort from.
When December arrived, Hermione insisted Harry come home with her for the Hols. For some reason, their headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore, suggested that it was not a good idea. The two first years opted to ignore him and Harry accepted the invitation from Liz Granger.
The eleven year old boy had never felt so welcome anywhere, even Hogwarts. After a few days where he was obviously tense, he relaxed and soaked up all of the attention Matt directed his way. Just before the New Year, Harry woke the house with a fit in the middle of the night. Tears streaming down his face, he broke down and confessed his entire life to the three Grangers. He told them he had never felt so wanted and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to leave. With a promise that, no matter what, he would always be welcome at the Granger household, he went back to sleep.
Upon returning to Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione grew even closer, to the exclusion of anyone else. Ron repeatedly tried to act as if he was Harry's best mate but, as Ron had never given Hermione even a half-hearted apology, Harry continually rebuffed his attempts.
Harry and Hermione led a quiet remainder of the school year. Harry left the quidditch team after an accident against the Hufflepuffs left him bedridden for three days once they got his heart started again. He was significantly less popular in the Gryffindor Tower after that. Even donating his Nimbus 2000 to the team failed to improve the situation.
When finals were over, the Headmaster called Harry up to his office. Harry was told he would be returning to the Dursleys. The only explanation Harry received the Headmaster's actions were that "it was for the greater good."
"Bollocks to that."
"Hermione! Language!" Harry replied. The two sat in silence for a bit before Hermione perked up.
"I have an idea, Harry."
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Ten years had passed.
Hermione never returned to Hogwarts after that first year. Harry never returned to the Dursleys. When Harry left the train after that first year, he didn't go with the Dursleys. Instead, he was taken home.
After a summer of inquiry and intensive summer courses in non-magical subjects, Matt and Liz enrolled Harry and Hermione in a magical school in France, Beauxbatons. The condition to their enrollment was that no one would ever use the children's actual names and they would be enrolled under pseudonyms. Once she heard the reasoning, Olympe Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons gladly accepted the condition.
Harry and Hermione had a normal school life, full of friends, laughter, essays, revising, tears, frustration and teenagers. They graduated at the top of their class with the highest marks possible on the standardized proficiency tests. In the summers, they furiously studied non-magical studies, completing GCSEs and A-Levels with perfect marks
Albus Dumbledore tried multiple times to find Harry after that first year, but with Harry no longer being enrolled at Hogwarts, the old man's ability to do so was extremely limited. Over the years, Harry and Hermione heard rumors about magical Britain, about how Dumbledore started claiming the man who killed Harry's parents wasn't dead. No one believed him and, when he finally died, the efforts to find Harry stopped. There were a few minor incidents after Dumbledore's death, but nothing spread outside of magical Britain, neither into non-magical Britain nor beyond the shores.
The two were currently in robes, though not the magical kind. They had just finished their final examinations for their Bachelor degrees, Hermione in preparation for a career in law and Harry a career in politics. He had vowed that he would do whatever it took to change policy so that what happened to him as a child would not happen to any other child.
Harry looked at Hermione as she began to disrobe in their shared flat. With a bit of a smirk he took in the sight. Hermione had grown into a beautiful woman. Her bucked teeth were magically rectified with her parents permission when she was sixteen and her hair had tamed itself with time.
"And just what do you think you're looking at?"
She knew what he was thinking, and couldn't wait herself. Their wedding was in a month and nearly every day she bemoaned her promise to her mother to be worthy of the white dress the two women had picked out for her wedding day.
"Just admiring the woman who had the best idea ever."
PaxHumana and I routinely bat ideas back and forth regarding all sorts of stories, acting as sound boards for one another. This, and the original plan for this, are due to one of those conversations while on a tangent spawned from his story "The Potter Attraction". Once again, he acted as beta for this little drabble, which I greatly appreciate. Feedback is, as always, appreciated.