Summary: Harry Potter Crossover! Paige and Lucas were sent to Hogwarts for different reasons. Hermione watches as her best friend Paige slowly catches the attentions of Ravenclaw Prefect Lucas Cortez, but why does she hate him so much?
Pairings: Lucas/Paige, minor Harry/Luna, one-sided Hermione/Ron, a little Hermione/Victor.
She was reading Hogwarts: a History.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Someone was reading my favourite book; someone might also be a muggleborn and might, just maybe, become my first friend here. I took a deep breath and stepped into the cabin.
"Err...hi," I said nervously.
She smiled at me and I had a chance to look at her properly. She had curly brown hair in a far more manageable state than mine and far darker. Her eyes were a deep green and she had a pretty straight teeth smile. She was also dressed extremely girly and well. God she might hate me. "Hi," she said in an American accent. "I'm Paige Winterbourne and you are?"
"Hermione Granger, you don't mind me sitting here?"
"Of course not Hermione," Paige said cheerfully. "I'm just catching up on the Hogwarts history. It's all exciting that my coven allowed me to go to a British school to study other magics!"
"Coven?"
"Oh yeah, I'm an elemental witch as well as a wanded witch. We have covens for each country and I'm the heir to the Northern American Coven since my aunt doesn't have any children," there was a lie somewhere in this quick and rather rushed explanation. I wasn't sure which part was the lie. Probably all of it knowing my luck but she was blushing as hard as I did when I first told my classmates that my parents were dentists...so maybe she's telling the truth? "But because I'm heir it had been agreed I should be aware of all different kind of magics for when I take leadership. They would have sent me to Salem Witch Institute but they Elders are very weak and thought it was bad luck. So I'm sent to the supposed best school of Europe that still speaks English."
"Supposed? I was told Hogwarts is the best!"
"They say that but if you look at the Potion grades they've been producing for the past ten years..." she broke off with a shudder. "Sorry, bit of a perfectionist here."
"Don't worry I'm the same."
The door slid open and a chubby nervous boy glanced at us shyly. "Erm...I don't suppose you've seen my toad Trevor?" he asked looking rather miserable.
"No, but we can help you look for it," Paige said getting up.
The rest of the train journey is history. I met the Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and managed to not embarrass myself too much about talking about all the books I've read. Paige had sat herself down and introduced herself properly before I could get the words 'I've read all about you' out. We were roughly on the verge of friends with them when a third year Ravenclaw had come by with Neville's toad. The only time I have ever seen Paige look at someone with such hatred later on in the future was at Malfoy, Snape and other pureblood bigots. But none of the hatred she had for them matched up to that first look of sheer hate when her eyes met with Lucas Cortez's eyes.
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Paige, Neville and I were sorted into Gryffindor with Harry, Ron, Lavender Brown, Pravati Patil, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. Pravati and Lavender were best friends almost immediately and I found them to vapid to have a decent conversation but Paige played mediator between us well since she enjoyed being girly as well as intelligent. If it wasn't for Paige I would have broken down on the first week. The people were so mean to me because I was different, because I liked to read, because I am the first in my family to have magic. Paige supported me fully and kicked anyone who upsets me. Ron learnt not to mess with me the hard way and Harry apologised on his behalf while Paige was still...I believe the best term is beating the living shit out of Ron.
Quickly after Paige getting detention for fighting the five of us became friends. Well...more like Harry befriended me, Neville and Paige and Ron followed out of fear. It didn't matter in the end because by the time First Year was over Ron became a true friend and Paige finally included him in her friend category. Second Year started with a horrible bang when Harry and Ron got stuck in the muggle world and flew a car of all things. It continued to get worse when the Chamber of Secrets was opened and everyone blamed Harry. Paige made an enemy out of most of the school as she stuck by Harry and defended him.
The day I figured out that it was a basilisk attacking the students I was almost petrified myself. Paige had followed me because 'you're not supposed to be on your own in times like this you stupid cow' I really hope that Paige's aunt sorts Paige's vocabulary soon...anyway the point is we found out that Harry could hear the monster because it was a snake and the only snake that could petrify people is a basilisk. We ran to find a teacher when we bumped into the Ravenclaw prefect and one of my role models (everyone knew she was up for Head Girl) Penelope Clearwater. We were taking it rather slow, glancing at Penelope's hand mirror when all of a sudden Paige was pulled into a broom closet and because she was holding my hand (and I was holding onto Penelope) all three of us got dragged in to.
"Are you stupid? Do you want to be petrified?" an angry but soft voice demanded.
"It's none of your damned business Sorcerer!" Paige hissed.
"Why are we in the dark?" Penelope asked. "Lumos" her spell lit up the cupboard and I found myself squashed between the broom and Penelope while Paige was practically pinned to a wall by Lucas Cortez. "Oh for heaven's sake! Aren't you two too young to do those sorts of things?" Penelope cried out.
I felt my cheeks heat up and they probably looked like the red blotches of embarrassment on Penelope's Lucas' and Paige's faces.
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I have begun to observe Lucas Cortez. He is always in the library and so is Paige, they both share an unhealthy thirst for knowledge as I do. But Paige is solely focused on the book in front of her while Lucas Cortez's eyes seem to be more focused on Paige. I can't help but think she is lucky, she attracts someone even if she despises them while I can't even get Ron to realise I wear a skirt.
Third Year was as eventful as the last and Paige had informed both Professor Lupin and Sirius Black that she'll request sanctuary for them but can't ensure Massachusetts would be safe for them since the Coven seem to hate men. Especially sorcerers, I believe this is where Paige's unwavering hatred for Lucas has come from. In the summer before Fourth Year, Ron invited us all to the World Cup but Paige had refuses the invitation.
"Why?" Ron asked his mouth full, "its qudditch! What on earth do you do in the summer that'll make you miss this?"
Paige has never been a qudditch fan, but neither have I and I was going to go. "I go to school," Paige said cheerfully horrifying Ron and Harry. "I continue my muggle studies in the summer. It's not that difficult and it would mean I can continue to higher education if I wanted to."
"Same here," Lucas said calmly behind us, making us all jump and drop our forks and knives. We turned to see him look, as usual, expressionless but there was an amused twinkle in his eye much like Professor Dumbledore. He waved a hand to a small blonde girl with wide eyes. "This is Luna, a second year Ravenclaw. She's being bullied and I had thought you brave Griffins would gladly take her under your wing for tonight's feast while I'll make a complaint to Professor Flitwick."
"You take your Prefect duties seriously, Cortez," Paige said as she moved to make room for Luna.
"It is my duty."
"Sorcerers like their power, don't they?" Paige said coldly.
"You're just jealous because Miss Granger has a better chance at being Prefect than you," Lucas said calmly before he turned and left.
"The nerve of him!" Paige hissed.
"Well you did hurt his feelings a little bit," Luna said helping herself to the pudding. "Lucas is under a lot of pressure to do well, not for his father but to prove that he can do things without his father's money. He doesn't want to fall into the stereotype you try to put him in all the time and then of course on top of that he has three older brothers and a stepmother that's been trying to kill him."
We all stared at Luna, Neville and Harry's mouths were wide open and some food fell out of Ron's – disgusting. "Why?" Neville managed to squeak.
"Oh he's the bastard child," Luna said as if it was nothing, "his mother was his father's mistress."
"O...Kay..."
The awkward silence continued for a while before the discussion topic changed. Luna infuriated me, her father was the editor of the Quibbler and she believed every word of the nonsense! Paige, however, seemed to like her despite her respect for Lucas Cortez and threatened the boys quite a bit to stop them from teasing Luna. Since then Luna had began to spend time with us the moment Fourth Year had started. She was insightful, friendly and she stood up for Harry when the school turned against him, including Ron. Neville, Paige and I believed in Harry.
Fourth Year was the most terrifying so far. I had to watch on the sidelines as Harry got bullied, someone trying to kill him, and then that dragon. On top of that the two visiting schools had brought a snob who thought she was better than all of us and all the fan girls that haunt the halls into the library to watch Victor Krum.
I was not impressed.
But I was flattered enough to say yes when he asked me to the Yule Ball. Paige had no problems getting a date either, she turned to Harry and just went 'wanna go as friends' and that was that. Neville asked Ginny after both Paige and I turned him down and Ron, not sure what do with himself, brought Luna. It was a fun night; Harry being too shy to dance spent most of it hanging out with Ron and Luna while Paige danced with a few boys or caught up with me. Victor danced with her once and according to Paige he couldn't stop talking about me. I told her to stop lying because I knew he didn't say a word to her.
Lucas spent the whole night at the punch bowl until Paige approached him. "Your date would be disappointed if you keep standing her up like that," she said irritably. She just had a bad dance with Justin who stepped on her feet every three steps and then Malfoy said something about Americans. "That's not very gentlemanly."
"Oh, I didn't bring a date with me. No one asked," Lucas said smiling, "I just came to watch the festive. It's not fun sitting alone in the common room at Christmas and I didn't really want to go home. Summers are bad enough."
Something about that reminded me a lot of Harry and I think it reminded Paige of Harry too because she gave him her best smile. "Come on then, since its Christmas I'll allow you to dance with me."
I think that was the first time I have ever seen Lucas Cortez smile like that.
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The rest of the year went by with one drama after another and it ended with Voldemort making his return and Cedric's death. The summer was horrible and Harry came back to Hogwarts looking depressed and angry. The school, government and the usual people were against him because they didn't want to believe Voldemort had returned. Paige came back a little tense herself and Lucas even more so.
I was named Prefect along with Ron which didn't make sense because if Harry didn't get it then Neville should have done. We started up Dumbledore's Army, fought death eaters and watched Sirius Black die. Sixth Year, for some reason seemed lighter and easier until Dumbledore died and left Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna, Paige and I a job to do.
Paige wasn't going to do it.
"You have to understand. I am heir to the Coven, my aunt won't allow it and the Elders are terrified to be dragged into this war. They're all cowards. I'll be returning to America and staying there permanently. I'm so sorry, Harry."
Harry understood. So did me, Neville and Luna. Ron thought she was a coward and I was so tempted to slap him for that. We shared a long goodbye with her on the platform and as she hugged me tightly, Paige whispered to me, "Don't settle for Ron. He isn't good enough for you; find someone who is intelligent and hard-working."
At first I didn't take her advice. We were all at war and it didn't seem to matter, Ron and I flirted and comforted one another but it didn't seem to matter if we were together or not. Ron left, Harry almost died, Ron saved him, Neville and Luna and I have still yet to forgive Ron. We fought the war, destroyed Voldemort's little toys and killed him. I went to Australia to find my parents and came back to find Ron's lips attached to Lavender Brown's...again. I have yet to find someone I can truly love but until then I'm happy with my work.
Harry has found love in Luna. They deserved each other mostly because I don't think I can ever understand the pair of them. Paige and I kept in contact through emails. Once a week I visited my parents, had a cup of coffee, check my emails and have dinner before going back to the magical world. It isn't the perfect balance but it works.
One day an article caught my father's interest. It was about satanic rituals in Salem and he showed me to it. It was all about Paige and people were accusing her of witchcraft. I phoned her immediately.
"There's nothing to worry about Hermione," Paige said calmly though she sounded rather stressed. "Lucas has been a great help."
"Lucas Cortez?"
"Yes, you see it all started because some half demon bitch wanted m ward and she's been playing games to ruin my reputation. Lucas is a lawyer now and he took my case."
"But you hate Lucas Cortez."
"He's been a great comfort to me when my mother died and he's not really that bad..."
"Do you fancy him?"
"That's neither here nor there."
I was about to launch into an inquisition when a voice could be heard in the background. "Who are you talking to Paige?" it was a deep manly voice and I assumed it was Lucas.
"Hermione Granger."
"Hermione Granger?" a younger voice squealed. "As in Harry Potter? As in Hogwarts? I thought they were just books! Hogwarts exists?"
Ah...my work? I'm a writer, I've written for both the magical and muggle world. I've changed things in my muggle version of events because I didn't want Salem witch hunters knocking on Paige's door.
"Yes, Savannah," Paige sighed.
"I want to go to Hogwarts!"
"You can't, you're too old."
"But that's not fair! Hogwarts is awesome!"
"We'll discuss this when I'm not charging Hermione a fortune," Paige said firmly. "I'm sorry Hermione, I have to go and don't worry about me. I'm fine."
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I was not that much surprised when two years later a wedding invitation appeared. Harry stared at it dumbfound because of the little Harry Potter cartoon on the corner. Both Luna and I had a laugh at Savannah's humour.
"We must go Harry," Luna said dreamily. "I do love a good wedding."
"What about..." Harry trailed off as he stared at Luna's oversize belly.
"It's a good few months after the birth, Harry," I said patiently. "They'll be able to travel." I took looked at Luna's belly. "I can't believe you're having quads. How fertile are you two?"
"Oh, it was the Snorkack's breeding ground that affected us. Very fertile," Luna said without blinking an eye. "The Healer says I'm carrying three girls and one boy, we were discussing names earlier."
"Oh..." I didn't mind what they called their child as long as they didn't name the baby something really embarrassing.
"Harry's mother's family has a tradition of naming the females flower names, so I told Harry we'll make Lily one of the girl's middle names and pick another flower to be her first name. I'm thinking Violet for that one, and we'll use my mother's name was a middle name and I was thinking Holly...or maybe Rose, not sure which one will go better with Selene and then we're thinking of your name for a middle name as well. For our boy it's going to be something with James. Harry likes to honour the dead so I was thinking Elvis."
I reported all of this back to Paige while inviting her and Lucas to the shotgun wedding Harry and Luna were having next year. She replied that she and Lucas will look into it and said the name choices were looking good but for the love of god don't let Luna or Harry name their son Elvis or Albus Severus. If he's going to pick a dead guy, pick a dead guy with a normal name.