AN: Hello! This is my first Hermione/Pansy fic, but after becoming recently obsessed with the pairing, I figured I'd give writing it a shot! The fic is rated Mature for language and possible sexual content later on, but I'm not thinking it'll be too graphic or anything like that. Thanks for checking this out!
Chapter 1
Hermione POV
Hermione rolled over on the old wooden cot that she was sleeping on in Ginny's bedroom, eliciting a creak out of it as she moved. Since she'd arrived at the Burrow a few days ago, she hadn't been able to sleep or relax much. Their Hogwarts letters would be arriving any day now, and for Hermione, Harry, and Ron, the contents could quite possibly include the assignment of Gryffindor Prefect along with their booklists. Harry and Ron hadn't seemed to be too concerned about the possibility, and had taken a more casual stance in that they'd be pleased if they received the badge, but if not, it wouldn't matter much to either of them. Hermione, on the other hand, was anxious in her anticipation, hoping desperately that she would open her letter and find a badge stowed safely within it.a
Hermione huffed lightly as she rolled again, trying to get comfortable. She was facing Ginny now, who was sound asleep, her long red hair strewn wildly across her pillow. The night sky outside of Ginny's large bay window was starting to turn ever so slightly lighter, signifying the arrival of the day, and hopefully soon, the arrival of their letters.
Hermione lay in her cot a few more minutes, before eventually giving up on trying to fall back asleep. She pushed herself up and stretched her arms up over her head before tossing back her quilt and getting up. She quietly pulled clothes from her trunk at the base of the cot and got dressed, while Crookshanks, who had been sleeping at the foot of Ginny's bed, picked up his head and watched her. Once Hermione was fully dressed for the day, Crookshanks got up as well, stretching lightly before jumping down onto the floor and trotting beside her as they exited Ginny's room together. They walked down one flight of stairs and entered the kitchen to find that Mrs. Weasley was already up, beginning to prepare breakfast. Crookshanks shot out the back door, likely on a mission to harass a gnome or two in the back garden, while Hermione approached Mrs. Weasley.
"Is there anything I can do to help, Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked.
"I've got everything under control, but thank you for asking, dear. How did you sleep?"
Hermione gave her a small smile as she took a seat at the kitchen table, "I haven't been getting the best sleep. The cot is plenty comfortable, but I can't stop thinking about my Hogwarts letter."
"Ah, yes. I remember the nerves that Percy had the summer before his fifth year when he was awaiting his letter," Mrs. Weasley said as she pointed her wand at the stove, causing a dozen eggs to float over and crack themselves into a hot frying pan, the shells discarding themselves in a bin at the end of the counter.
"I just can't stop thinking about what'll happen if I'm not a Prefect… I don't want anything to affect my ability to get a job working at the Ministry of Magic…"
"Oh Hermione, don't you worry about that. Arthur wasn't a Prefect and he's got a job at the Ministry, and I'm sure plenty of his colleagues weren't Prefects either. You're incredibly bright and an exceptionally hard worker, the Ministry of Magic would be lucky to have someone like you amongst their ranks," Mrs. Weasley gave her a warm smile before another flick of her wand sent two dozen sausages into another frying pan beside the eggs.
"You really think so?"
"I know so, dear. Now, do me a favor and go wake the others. We're going to want to get to Diagon Alley early today. I'm not sure why Hogwarts waited until the last day before school to send out the booklists… Diagon Alley will be absolutely mad today…"
Hermione got up from the table and climbed the steps to the first floor. She opened the door to Ginny's room quietly, and found that the girl was still fast asleep. She crossed the room and gently nudged Ginny with her hand.
"Ginny… Wake up…"
Ginny stirred lightly before scrunching up her face and opening one bright brown eye to look up at her.
"What time is it?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep.
"A little after seven."
"Seven?" Ginny cried out before pulling her pillow over her face, "Why are you waking me up so early?" she whined, her voice muffled by the pillow.
"Your mum asked me to. She wants us to get to Diagon Alley early."
Ginny groaned from beneath the pillow, and Hermione chuckled lightly.
"Oh, you're fine, come on," Hermione said, pulling the pillow away to reveal the redhead's pouty freckled face.
"I'm not fine, it's too early!" Ginny whined again, rolling onto her stomach and burying her face in her arms.
"Fine Ginny, suit yourself. I'm off to wake the boys next, and I'm sure they won't eat everything before you get downstairs…"
"Ugh, fine, I'm up, I'm up!" Ginny grumbled as she climbed out of her bed, running a hand through her messy hair.
"Great, will you wake the twins for me then?" Hermione requested as Ginny threw a Holyhead Harpies jumper over the baggy Harpies t-shirt she wore to bed. She shot Hermione an irritated look. "Last time I was in their room they were forcing me, Harry, and Ron to try some awful sweets they'd made…"
Ginny sighed, "Yeah alright. Meet you downstairs in a bit?"
Hermione nodded appreciatively before climbing the staircase to the topmost floor. She knocked on the door, waited for a moment, and then knocked again when she'd gotten no response. Again, no response. She opened the door slowly to reveal her two best friends sleeping soundly, Ron in his bed and Harry in his cot on the other side of the room. She smiled at how peaceful the two teenage boys looked, and considered for a moment how nice it would likely be if she too could be as relaxed as they were. However, they also weren't quite as ambitious as she was, and if she had to be a little less relaxed now to achieve her long-term goals later on, then so be it.
"Harry? Ron?" Hermione called out quietly into the violently orange room. Harry rolled over to face her and opened his eyes slightly before grabbing his glasses from his bedside table and putting them on. Ron continued to sleep, snoring as he did.
"Morning Hermione," Harry yawned, "Why are you waking us up?"
"Mrs. Weasley wants to get an early start to our day at Diagon Alley."
"Alright," Harry said, sitting up on his cot and stretching his arms up over his head.
"Ron? Ron, wake up," Hermione called as she walked over to the still snoring redhead.
"I've got it," Harry said, before grabbing a trainer and tossing it lightly at Ron.
"Oi!" Ron cried out as the trainer hit him on the arm, "What are you playing at?"
Harry and Hermione laughed as Ron sat up grumpily, throwing the trainer back at Harry and smiling a bit, "I'm sure the two of you could've come up with a much nicer way of waking me up…"
"To be fair, Hermione did try to be nice about it," Harry admitted.
"Thanks, Hermione," Ron said, shooting a sleepy smile over at her as he ran a hand threw his shaggy red hair.
Hermione blushed lightly. Over the past year or so, she and Ron had very slowly begun to tiptoe out of the friendzone. He'd grown a considerable amount over the summer – he was taller, a bit more muscular, and his face even seemed as if it had become a bit more adult-like, a bit more manly. Hermione had noticed this, of course, and it had intrigued her. The only "dating" experience she'd had was when Bulgarian Quidditch star Viktor Krum had asked her to accompany him to the Yule Ball the previous school year. They shared a few kisses and kept in touch after that, but nothing much had come of it. The entire experience had been fine, but nothing special. With Ron, there was friendship and trust already established, and those things were important to Hermione. She wanted to feel safe and heard in a relationship, and she figured that's what she'd been missing with Viktor due to them not having much of a friendship before they attended the Yule Ball. With Ron, surely she'd feel those feelings that the girls in her dormitory were always going on about when they discussed their boyfriends or dates they'd been on over Hogsmeade weekends.
"We should get downstairs, I had Ginny wake Fred and George, so who knows how much of your mum's breakfast is still left," Hermione said.
Ron, looking distressed, jumped up from his bed and hustled downstairs, his large feet hitting the stairs heavily all the way down. Harry shook his head and laughed as Hermione smiled, and then two of them made their way down to the kitchen at a normal pace. Once they arrived, there was plenty of food left, and Hermione sat down between Ginny and Fred, across from George, Ron, and Harry.
As they ate the delicious meal Mrs. Weasley had put together, Hermione couldn't help but glance over at the kitchen window every minute or so. She couldn't get the thought of her Hogwarts letter out of her mind. Even though Mrs. Weasley had assured her that she'd be just fine getting a job at the Ministry without having been a Prefect, she still wanted that extra title for her resume. Besides that, she just wanted the position. She liked to be helpful and wanted to make sure that Gryffindor was represented well, and beyond that, she just flat out liked being in charge. She'd been told numerous times by Ron, Harry, and Ginny that she was bossy, but she'd never seen that as a bad thing as they'd implied upon telling her so. She had high standards, and liked to hold others to them, as well as herself.
As Hermione glanced at the window again, she saw what she'd been waiting for – six owls were flying towards the Burrow.
"Incoming!" Fred hollered out as everyone quickly grabbed their plates and pulled them from the table.
The owls flew through the window and landed on the kitchen table in an organized line. Once the letters they'd been carrying were untied and taken off them, they all flew right back out the same window, disappearing into the vast blue sky.
Hermione could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she held her letter in her hands. Everyone else has set their letters to the side and continued eating their breakfast, but Hermione had completely lost her appetite. She slowly and carefully opened the envelope, and gasped once she saw the glitter of a red and gold badge.
"I'm – I'm a Prefect!"
All eyes landed on her, followed by smiles.
"Congrats Hermione," Ginny said nudging her affectionately.
"Well done, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, beaming.
Harry and Ron looked at each other very seriously, "Alright, now, whoever doesn't get the time-honored position of Gryffindor Prefect, they must agree to never get jealous of the bloke who does get it… And, more importantly, they can't ever dock points or turn them in to Professor McGonagall…" Harry said in a faux-dramatic voice.
"And no matter what happens, we have to agree to remain friends…" Ron added in the same tone.
"Our love for one other will remain the same… Yes, of course…" Harry nodded in agreement.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the two and Ginny rolled her eyes as she spoke, "Just get it over with you two! I'm sure neither of you will get it, it'll probably go to Dean or – "
"It's me…" Ron muttered, stunned as he opened his envelope at the same time as Harry.
Harry raised his eyebrows, then nodded in approval, "Good on them! You two will be great Prefects," he added, clapping Ron on the back and shooting a smile at Hermione.
Ron looked at Hermione, shock still evident on his freckled face, "Guess we'll be spending loads of time together this year?" he said, smiling at her.
"I guess we will," Hermione said, giving him a soft smile back.
"So, what'll it be, Ron?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she hugged Ron around the shoulders.
"What? What'll what be?" he asked, clearly confused.
"Bill, Charlie, and Percy all got a gift for being named Gryffindor Prefect, so we'll be doing the same for you! Think about it, but we can pick it up today in Diagon Alley, if you'd like?"
"I… Think I'd like a broom… If that's alright?" Ron asked tentatively, "If it's too much that's fine, I just thought that maybe since I'll be trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year, a new broom would be good to have…"
"We'll take a look today," Mrs. Weasley said, affectionately pushing Ron's shaggy hair out of his eyes and kissing him on the head. He glanced at Hermione as the tops of his ears turned bright red, to Harry, Ginny, Fred, and George's amusement.
"Here's to Prefect Ronniekins and Prefect Hermione!" Fred called out, raising his glass.
"May they never put us in detention," George added, clinking his glass to Fred's.
"Here, here!" Ginny chimed in, laughing.
Hermione rolled her eyes at this, but ultimately didn't care about the jokes that'd been made over the breakfast. She was a Gryffindor Prefect, and she couldn't be more pleased about it.
Later that evening, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were all up in Ron's room hanging out before going to bed. The last day of August had been long, but good. The trip to Diagon Alley had gone smoothly, and Ron had gotten the new broom he wanted – a Cleansweep Eleven.
"You're so lucky…" Ginny muttered as the four of them looked at Ron's new broom.
"Well, maybe you'll be Prefect next year and they'll buy you a broom too?" Ron suggested.
"Won't do me much good for this year's tryouts, now will it?" Ginny said glumly. She left and walked down the stairs, headed for her room.
Ron shrugged, "She'll be fine. I'm sure she'll still outfly me on whatever she borrows from Madam Hooch. Anyway, what do you think, Hermione?"
Hermione smiled politely, "I think it's great."
"I know Quidditch isn't really your thing, but doesn't it look cool?"
Hermione nodded in agreement, "It really does. How do you feel about being selected as a Prefect?" she asked.
"Great! It's got me a new broom, hasn't it?"
Hermione smiled lightly as Harry laughed, "I'm sure McGonagall would love to hear that. Her newest Prefect is ecstatic to serve the house of Gryffindor, as it's allotted him a new broom," Harry said, shaking his head in amusement.
"I mean, it means other stuff too, I guess. Like I can order first years around to do whatever I want," Ron said with a grin.
"Ronald Weasley, you will not!" Hermione said seriously, the smile leaving her face.
Ron grinned wider, "I'm just joking Hermione. I wouldn't do that to first years. Now second years…"
Harry laughed as Hermione glared across at Ron.
"So, who in our year do you think will be Prefects in other houses?" Harry asked.
"Even better, who do we want to be Prefects? I reckon we'll have to work with whoever they are pretty closely,
Ron added.
"Hmmm…" Hermione said, pondering the question, "Really, anyone from Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff will be fine to work with, I'm sure…"
"Slytherin Prefects will be a laugh to deal with, no doubt," Harry said with a grin. Both Ron and Hermione frowned.
Having felt the deep sting of prejudice towards her many times before in the Wizarding World, Hermione often tried hard not to judge others based on things they can't control – their blood status, what houses they were sorted into, etc. However, the Slytherin students in their year were a completely different story. She felt free to judge them for the horrible human beings they were, as they were the ones who inflicted most of the prejudice pain and remarks towards her. She didn't care which Slytherin students were given the title and responsibility of Prefect, because no matter what, it likely wouldn't be an enjoyable experience to work with any of them. For boys, it would likely be Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, or Draco Malfoy, seeing as Crabbe or Goyle couldn't possibly be considered. If she had to guess, she figured Draco Malfoy would be given the Prefect role. For girls, Hermione truly didn't even want to think about it… Surely it wouldn't be Millicent Bulstrode, whose similarities to Crabbe and Goyle left her out of the running in Hermione's mind, leaving Daphne Greengrass, who would likely be too busy tending to her cuticles to be bothered with Prefect duties, Tracey Davis, who muttered 'Mudblood' whenever Hermione entered a room as if it needed announcing to the masses, and Pansy Parkinson, easily the cruelest girl Hermione had encountered so far at Hogwarts and her biggest bully besides Draco Malfoy…
"I hope for Slytherin it's Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass…" Ron muttered, looking at Hermione.
"Why them?" Harry asked.
"They've been the least horrible to Hermione about being a Muggle-born…" Ron said quietly.
Hermione looked at him, stunned. She hadn't realized he'd paid attention to things like that.
"Me too," she agreed, giving him another small smile. He returned it.
They chatted a bit longer, talking excitedly about the upcoming school year, before Hermione bid the boys goodnight and headed down to Ginny's room. As she walked through the door, she saw Ginny putting the final touches on her trunk for the journey back to Hogwarts the following morning.
"All ready for the Hogwarts Express?" Hermione asked as she sat down on the cot opposite Ginny's bed.
Ginny nodded as she closed the trunk and sat on her bed as well, "Yep! Ready for another year of fantastic education and learning," she said with a wink.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny's obvious sarcasm, but couldn't help but smile.
"I've got a question for you," Ginny said.
Hermione nodded, prompting the redhead to continue.
"Are you and my brother snogging?" she asked seriously.
Hermione stared at her, shocked, "How did you – "
"Well, I've got eyes that work…" Ginny said, shooting Hermione a look.
"We – We haven't done anything yet…"
Ginny raised her eyebrows.
"No! No, I didn't mean – I mean we're not together. We're not dating, we're not snogging, we haven't even said we fancy each other…" Hermione explained quickly and nervously.
Ginny studied her a moment, before looking at her very seriously, "We're friends, right Hermione?"
"Of course we are, Ginny, why – "
"We're friends, and I do love my idiot brother…" Ginny continued, "And ultimately I'll respect whatever you want and whatever you do, but…"
"Yes…?" Hermione said, prompting Ginny again to continue.
Ginny shrugged, "I dunno, I just think you could do better, that's all…"
Hermione frowned, "What's wrong with Ron? He can be funny and sweet and considerate…" Hermione said defensively.
"Yeah, I know he can. I can't really explain it, I just feel like you can do better, that's all," Ginny said, shrugging again.
"Well, if you can't explain it, then it can't be too based in logic or rationale, can it?" Hermione retorted hotly.
Ginny tipped her head, "Hermione, I'm not trying to upset you, I just – "
"It's none of your business, Ginny. We haven't even said anything to each other about fancying one another, and you're already jumping down my throat about how I shouldn't be with him."
"Hermione, I – "
"I don't want to hear it!" Hermione declared forcefully enough to make Crookshanks scamper out of the room.
Ginny looked at her, eyes slightly wide, "Got it, I'm sorry…"
"I'm not sure where you get off telling me what I should be doing in terms of relationships when you aren't in one yourself…" Hermione muttered angrily as she sat down hard on her cot.
Ginny opened her mouth to respond before closing it quickly, clearly having decided against it. Then she merely turned and climbed into bed, facing the wall. Hermione lifted her quilt and climbed into her cot as well, turning to face the wall opposite Ginny. They lay in silence for a few minutes, before Ginny broke it.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. You're right. I shouldn't have said anything."
Hermione rolled over to look at Ginny, who too had rolled to look at Hermione.
"Then why did you?" Hermione asked.
Ginny shrugged, "I don't know… I just think the world of you, Hermione. And I do love my brother, I do. But you're passionate and driven and brilliant… I'm not sure if you and Ron would be the best match… And I don't want either of you to get hurt in the end…"
Hermione was quiet as she processed what Ginny said.
"Thank you… I understand where you're coming from… But I think I'll be able to figure out who I do and don't want to be in a relationship with…" Hermione said, still a bit crossly.
Ginny nodded, "I respect that… Again, I'm sorry for saying anything. And if you do end up with Ron, I hope it goes well," she said with a small smile.
"Me too… Goodnight, Ginny."
"Goodnight, Hermione."
