Chapter 3: The incompetent stalker

Summary:

Hermione finally has some peace and quiet, or so she thought.

Neville feels offended for something he didn't know he had to know.

Hermione is nothing like he expects.

Notes:

Y'all are awesome, thank you for all the kudos and comments last chapter, i swear i read every single one( yes, even the ones in spanish).

It might take a while for chapters to come out but all of them are made with love( and mischief). I had a lot of fun writing this one, Hermione Addams lives rent free inside my brain lol .

I know you guys have a lot of love for your favourite ship, trust me i do too, and we do appreciate all the support we have been receiving, but i need to say that you need to calm down with the end game, after all the end game is for Hermione to cause chaos as much as possible. Many of your comments were really fun to read and i confess i got very interested in in the future write a spin-off one shot of Hermione going to Hufflepuff. That said, you guys don't need to worry about who she will end up with because that's very far away yet since they are all children.

So for now just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. I know we are!

Oof, that was a long note, sorry for the delay, as always happy reading!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

She entered the compartment where Lurch stored her things near the end of the train. Closing the door behind her, muffling the noise from students meeting once again, asking about how their summer went. Hermione sat by the window and sighed in relief, finally some peace and quiet. Although she loved her family more than anything, and would kill and die for them, they were exhausting. Her father couldn't help himself but sob all the way to the train station, about how Hogwarts were stealing his winter storm from them, how this school kept tormenting his every waking moment.

Naturally she told him she was thankful for the reprieve of his constant blabbering of nonsense, especially about mother. Which made stop his sobbing and smile brightly turning to his beloved, sprouting bad poetry about his wife once again. Pugsley was quieter but no less annoying about her departure, hugging her arm and laying his head on her shoulder the whole drive. He made sure to stick close to her to the last minute. She supposed since she would be relieved of his less than stellar study habits and empty headedness for the duration of the scholar year, she could allow this, and she mentally rolled her eyes to herself, comfort for him. He was just a child after all, they are allowed small mercies every once in a while.

The one she was most reluctant to let go was her sister. Wednesday and her spent the last three days in arm's reach of each other, they held hands throughout the whole car ride. Hermione spotted their mother noticing their intertwined digits, but said nothing, silently understanding their need to cling to each as she always did, without any fuss.

Despite the fact that her mother was very physical in expressing her affections, blessedly not as much as father, Morticia had an ingrained instinct for knowing how much she could push her children, including their boundaries. She would never touch Wednesday without express permission of the girl, knowing her stance with touching anyone but her twin. Winter would always receive brief touches, silently questioning if she would allow a prolonged contact or deny it. Her youngest brother had no qualms about hugging their mother or letting their father squeeze him to his heart's content, for all that Hermione was grateful, it was a respite to her parents from the craving of wanting to hold their children but unable to for their comfort. The Addams family would always pride themselves in supporting the next generation on blazing their own paths, and Morticia and Gomez Addams were the epitome of parenthood. Not that she would ever divulge that to her parents, they would never let her live it down and their egos would grow deeper than the Mariana trench, and that wouldn't do.

Pulling herself from her reverie, Hermione digs into her messenger bag, retrieving Hogwarts: A it on the page she stopped and getting more comfortable on her seat, crossing her ankles much like her mother did when she was sitting on her big wicker chair at home. She tried to immerse herself in the book once again but along with the absolute cacophony of children milling about trying to find their friends, the nervous shuffling from the other side of the door on the corridor made reading a difficult endeavor.

Looking through the corner of her eyes, she saw the blonde boy that thought he was stalking her discreetly since the train station, hesitating if he should knock or go look for another compartment to sit. Normally Hermione would be patient and let him agonize in his silent debate with himself if the risk of bothering her was worth it, but she had a feeling that he would not go away so soon.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thinking about all the information she had about him. 'Neville Longbottom, heir to house Longbottom, infinitely clumsy, owner of a runaway toad. I can feel his magic calling for mine like a lost puppy, that's probably the reason he's stuck outside suffering fools. Doesn't look the brightest, but that can be fixed. If Pugsley was able to understand equations with me teaching him, even though his teacher thinks he should have been wasting his time with basic math, I'm sure Longbottom will be able to learn something. Hopefully he is not a complete idiot and is able to provide me with information that the books couldn't.'

Neville watched from the door the Addams girl close her eyes and take a deep breath, maybe he shouldn't bother her after all. When he was about to turn around and look for a place to sit, the girl abruptly closed her book and turned her face to him, his breath hitched for being caught in her emotionless stare. When she wordlessly raises one of her eyebrows in a silent question, or maybe a challenge, he swallows loudly and opens the door.

"C-can I sit here?"

The girl continues to stare at him, waiting for something he's not sure of what it could be. He lowers his gaze to the floor, knowing that it meant he was acting just like Lord Flint with his grandmother years ago, but he knew he was no match for those eyes. That didn't mean he would let her think he wasn't worth her time,he could feel his magic nudging him towards her since he tripped his way into the platform and he was taught to always follow his magic. Squaring his shoulders he looks up once again and waits, whatever his little moment of introspection brought to his eyes was what she was looking for. She nods minimally and gestures to the seat in front of her. Sighing in relief he enters and hoists his trunk on the rack over the seats after closing the door, muffling once again the noise coming from the rest of the train. Taking the place offered to him, he looks into her eyes and smiles softly.

"Thank you for letting me sit with you, I'm Neville Longbottom, nice to meet you."

After a few moments of silently being studied Neville thought he imagined the permission to enter the compartment and was getting ready to be kicked out when she moved to put the book by her side and rest her hands on her lap giving him her undivided attention, which admittedly made him even more nervous. Every bit as regal as the purebloods ladies he saw his Gran interact with. Although he has the impression that this girl would not be intimidated by Augusta Longbottom no matter what the matriarch tries, like many of the society wives and their husbands that thought they had a better chance against her than their spouses.

"Of course, I was wondering what you would be like. I'm Hermione Addams, pleasure to meet you Mr. Longbottom."

"What would I be like?"

"Yes, you've been stalking me since the platform, I wanted to know what kind of deranged mind would have decided it would be prudent to follow me anywhere."

Neville recoiled in surprise, his eyes wide open.

"STALKING?" He winced at the volume of his voice, immediately going back to what his grandmother called his indoor voice. "I wasn't stalking you."

"I'm glad then, it was a pathetic attempt to observe someone without them noticing, I've realized immediately that I was under scrutiny. If I am to be stalked, I wish to be stalked by someone much more competent."

Whatever Neville was expecting from the mysterious Addams, was definitely not being criticized by his non-existent ability to stalk someone, like that should be an obvious skill that he utterly failed at, maybe his magic was going bonkers, guiding him to this girl.

Hermione reveled silently on the blonde boy's confused hurt pride, all his emotions written on his face ranging from 'Why on earth would you want to be stalked? 'to' Hey, I could totally stalk you, how dare you tell me I'm bad at it?'. In the end his face settled on bewildered determination to prove himself, just like he did moments prior after stuttering his request to sit with her, it almost brought a smirk to her face. 'Oh yes, you will be a great source of entertainment for me, Neville Longbottom.'

"Since you were not stalking me, what was your objective following me around? Not everybody is bold nor stupid enough to try to interfere with my family's private affairs."

Neville was startled with that, before he could ask what Hermione was talking about, she pulled the little black box that her father gave her out of her trousers' pocket and dangled in front of his face, emphasizing his breach in her privacy. He felt his blood flowing all up to his head and he knew his whole face was red. He'd been caught, he knew that already, she confirmed feeling his gaze the moment it fell on her, but he completely forgot his curiosity getting the better of him when Mr. Addams pulled her aside.

"I'm sor-"

"Spare me your empty apologies, you are not sorry for trying to spy on me, you are only sorry that you were caught, aren't you?"

She raises one of her eyebrows at him, challenging him to lie to her face which made him shrink on his seat. She was not wrong, he regretted being caught and for not listening to all the exchange between father and daughter, but he was not sorry for letting his nosiness lead him into eavesdropping on them. He pondered what he should do now, she had all the rights to kick him out of her compartment and never look at his face again. Should he lie to her, all his opportunities of being friends with her would be blown away. The thought of lying to Hermione made his magic poke him hard and angrily, making him wince, like he guessed it, he had no choice.

"You're right. I'm sorry that I may have destroyed my chances of being your friend, but I am not ashamed of my curiosity. My magic keeps nudging me in your direction, and I wanted to know why."

"So you've decided that eavesdropping on me instead of actually talking to me was the better option, not considering whatever may happen to you if you were caught?"

He simply nodded, not daring looking up at her. 'This is it, way to go Longbottom, curiosity killed the kneazle and all that. Just like that you wiped your chance to be friends because you couldn't just wait and actually talk to her, she's right, I'm a horrible stalker." He took a deep breath, getting ready for whatever she was about to say to him before kicking him out.

"Fascinating, that is very commendable, foolish and reckless, but commendable. Not caring enough about one's safety just to obtain the desired information."

'Wait, what?'

The boy felt like Hermione just threw him in a greenhouse full of crying mandrakes that were poorly replanted.

"Of course, I will demand recompense for catching you in your failed attempt to learn my secrets, after all you have much to improve to actually be useful in collecting information. I shall endeavor in teaching you how to stalk and possibly lurk if you prove yourself a useful ally."

He was not gonna be kicked out? Neville reared back, how many times can one person give another person whiplash like that? He didn't know what to think anymore, he went from nervous, to excited, to nervous and surprised, and ashamed and alarmed, to sad for losing a friendship that didn't even start, to being completely confused and now he didn't know what to do. Did she want to be friends or was she angry at him? He didn't even know if she was a sane person, was he even sane at this point?

Meanwhile Hermione was having the time of her life, her sister may have a hard time grasping the concept of emotional torture and how much fun it could be to slowly bring someone to the brink of sanity with just a simple conversation, but she for sure was having fun. Longbottom's face and body language cycled through so many emotions that she felt the urge to laugh. She smirked instead.

"I can feel your magic calling mine as well, Longbottom. Don't be so naive to think that I wouldn't indulge into my own curiosity. There's much we can teach each other, an alliance would be more than satisfactory, what do you say?"

The boy inhaled sharply and met her stare with his own eyes wide in surprise, he didn't lose his chance after all. Even though her range of expressions up to this point have been a challenging eyebrow and an amused smirk. He could see the sadistic glee in her eyes when he choked on his own saliva and started coughing.

"Yes, please." He said eagerly after regaining his bearings, relief spreading on his chest despite Hermione's mischievous nature. He excitedly extended his hand to her with a smile on his face.

"Friends then?"

She eyed his hand, pondering if she should tolerate this handshake and give him the impression he was allowed to touch her or if she could ignore it and make him uncomfortable.

"We'll see about that." She shook his hand in the end, she could always correct him at knife point if he assumed he had liberties with her person.

Neville watched Hermione quickly remove her hand from his and clean it against her trousers, she apparently was not the kind that enjoyed being touched then. His Gran was like that, even though she would let him hug her and gave sporadic soft touches like adjusting his hair or clothing, just to show she was physically there for him, she was not big in physical affection. Uncle Algie only received glares most of the time because he was a buffoon and behaved like a drunk hippogriff inside a tea shop, Gran's words not his. He could respect his friend's boundaries without much fuss, up to this point she didn't laugh at him for having a toad as a familiar nor did she make fun of him for being clumsy.

"Since you are glad to waltz over people's privacy." Hermione commented, making him blush. "How about we take a walk and you tell me all about the people we find?"

"Sure, I guess. I can show you some of my friends, maybe they even invite us to sit with them. They are cool like that." He shrugged.

"No need, I just want to know about them, no need for show and tell."

"Why?" Neville puzzled.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

"What?'' He stares dumbly back at her, looks like Longbottom will have much to read, she'll ask for some of her books when she sends a letter to mother and father so she could lend him something beneficial to read.

"That's Sun Tzu, he was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher and writer that lived during the Eastern Zhou period." He kept staring at her clueless, she sighed internally. 'Much to read indeed.'

"I'll lend you some books so you can catch up and make yourself useful."

"Ah o-okay." He was still confused but if she was willing to teach him, he was willing to learn. He gets up and starts opening the door when she asks him what does he thinks he is doing.

"You said you want me to tell you about everybody."

"Yes, but it can't be obvious, these people don't need to know they are being studied."

"Oh, because you are going to…battle…them?" He guessed hesitantly.

"Precisely. It appears you do have a brain after all. Know thy enemy, Longbottom, and you shall never fear to walk in the shadows."

"Alright, thanks I guess. So how do you plan to study them without them knowing?" That was a compliment, right? He felt as if he was being complimented, in a very backhanded insulting way, but complemented nonetheless.

"For a proper disguise, one must be hidden in plain sight. To hide in plain sight one must have a reasonable way to be around people, and for that to happen one must have a proper excuse to look around. The closer to the truth the better."

Neville mulled over that, Hermione's explanation was like describing a butterwort for him. From afar it was a pretty flower with big green and soft leaves, but would trap and consume any insect that was foolish enough to land on it. She was right, the closer to the truth the better, just like the butterwort's pretty flower.

"I see, that makes sense, and what will be our excuse?"

A loud croak came out from his pocket, announcing that Trevor was very much still there with them. A shiver ran down his spine when Hermione's eyes lit up with malicious glee once again as a sly smile bloomed across her face. Neville swallows apprehensively, the only thing going through his head is 'Oh Merlin!'.

Notes:

Oh Merlin indeed lol

Poor Neville, i confess that i laughed when he got offended that she said he was a rubbish stalker xD

I mean, she is an Addams, if you meet an Addams and don't get whiplash, it means you are an Addams.

Hermione will make him read so many books, Neville will end as the best slytherin gryffindor has ever produced.

Thanks for the love, see you next time!