Chapter Text
Love, Hermione
Hermione’s P.O.V
I sat quietly at the round, lace covered table. The candle in the centre fighting the wind with such force, blowing madly with inner strength. Strength with which I did not have. No, indeed I wasn’t a strong burning flame but barely a burning cinder in the corner of the fireplace, slowly dying. Or at least that’s what it felt like.
“Hermione?” Luna elbowed me. Hard, I might add. For one so small and delicate she’s extremely strong. I gazed up at her, finally out of my trance. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun with a green bow, curls at either side framing her face. Homemade daisy earrings hung from her ears and shook slightly in the afternoon air. “Hermione, your speech!” She whispered. Oh right, my speech. I finally looked away from Luna to find all eyes in the room were on me. Including his.
I stood up, awkwardly clearing my dry throat and self consciously rubbed the back of my neck. I caught his eyes with mine again, he gave me a gentle smile of encouragement and that was enough for me.
“Um, Hello” I started. “For those of you I haven’t properly spoken to this afternoon, I’m Hermione Granger.” I paused licking my drying bottom lip. “And well, what can I say? I mean where can one possibly start?”
Well the beginning could be good, I suppose.
15 years earlier
I met Harry when he was 7 years old. A small, scrawny kid with dark, messy hair and possibly the greenest eyes I had ever seen. He wore rounded glasses and a baggy jumper that made him look even smaller, if that were possible. He sat at the back of the classroom by himself and little 7 year old me took pity on him. I slowly walked towards him with equally messy hair. (My Mum tried to hide the fact that I was a walking,talking human bush by putting a red hairband on me whilst I walked out the door. I think it’s safe to say that didn’t work)
“Hello” I softly spoke. He quickly glanced in my direction, a look of puzzlement on his features. I tried again, this time with a firm voice and all the confidence I could muster. “Hello, I’m Hermione Granger. And you are?” His eyes caught mine, a faint pink tinted his cheeks. “Oh i’m sorry” He started “I didn’t realise you were actually talking to me.” It was my turn then to be puzzled “And why would I not?” I asked, tilting my head. My frizzy, brown curls leaning to one side. “I don’t know.” he shrugged. “I guess i’m quite good at being ignored.” he smiled a sad sort of smile.
I had never seen this sort of thing before. I, as an only child was most definitely not ignored. Yes, both my parents worked extremely hard but that didn’t mean I was ignored or on my own. Whilst they were at work I stayed with my grandparents. They have a room filled with books of all different colours and sizes, it looks like a miniature library. I would spend hours in there looking at them all, picking out big words I didn’t understand yet and asking Grandad to tell me the meaning of them. We would curl up in his old antique arm chair - I on his lap - and he would read the most fascinating stories to me. My Grandmother would come in with steaming hot cups of cocoa (sugar free of course - my parents are dentists and would never allow anything less) and her fat black cat with pretty white paws would follow behind her. I loved that cat. Her name was Juliette, she was fiercely loyal and extremely intelligent. I think she was the reason I fell in love with animals and cats in particular.
“Oh.” I answered, not knowing what else to say. His cheeks went an even deeper shade of pink. To save him from more embarrassment I quickly moved on. “You never answered my question” I reminded him. He raised his dark eyebrow. “Question?” I smiled at him, shaking my head. “Yes, I asked you what your name was!” He grinned back at me. “Harry. My name’s Harry.” I nodded, he looked like a Harry. “Well Harry, may I sit?” I asked him, gesturing to the chair beside him. He nodded, beaming up at me. I sat down, placing my new blue school bag beside my chair.
—
“You know, you seem very smart for your age.” Harry commented that week at lunch. I was in the middle of biting my apple at the time, the red skin getting caught in my big front teeth. “Well thank you. I think it’s because I like to read.” I smiled a bright toothy grin. Harry laughed at me, his green eyes shining. “What? Don’t you read?!” I exclaimed, completely oblivious. “No, I don’t but that’s not why i’m laughing. You have apple in your teeth.” My hand went to my mouth, a blush creeping up my neck. “Oh no! Why does that always happen?” Harry let out another laugh. “It happens a lot?” He asked, his laugh dying down. “Yeah.” I whined. “I want to get braces but my parents think i’m too young. They’re dentists, you see.” I sighed. Trying to get the topic off of my hideous teeth I asked him what his parents did.
His face changed. Gone was the bright green sparkle of laughter and in it’s place was a dull, frosted frown. “I wouldn’t know, my parents are dead.” he muttered. I didn’t know what to say, as intelligent as I was nothing could have prepared me for that. All I done was place my small hand over his. “I live with my uncle and aunt” He gave me a sad smile. “Is that not a good thing?” I asked, wondering why he looked even more unhappy. “No, not really. They don’t talk to me, unless it’s to give out or tell me to clean.” I raised my eyebrows past my brown, bushy hair. “They what? That’s horrible!” He sighed “Yeah tell me about it. But there’s nothing I can do.” I thought for a while, I as a 7 year old couldn’t do much but maybe my parents could. “Would you like to come to my house for tea later? My parents won’t mind.” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes “Sure, they won’t miss me.”
After school Harry and I strolled over to my Mothers car. She was waiting outside it, a perfectly white smile plastered across her face. “Mum, could my new friend Harry please come for tea?” My Mother glanced sweetly between him and I before replying “Of course he can. Hi Harry, I’m Monica” Harry let out the breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding. “Hello.” he grinned. We hopped into the back seat of my car and played ‘iSpy with my little eye’ all the way home. Harry spying things like trees and street lamps, I spying the pin in my Mothers hair and the little robin in old Mrs Butlers shop window. “Well I can’t see that far, my eye sight is bad!” he complained, folding his arms.
We pulled up outside my house, Harry’s eyes widened. “You live here?” he asked. I focussed my eyes on my house and then back at him “Yes?” I answered, unsure of where this was going. “I don’t live too far from here, just over the road really.” He smiled. “That’s great! We can visit each other all the time.” I replied, beaming at him. My Mother smiled at us and unlocked the front door, Harry and I followed closely behind her. “Why don’t you show Harry around while I make tea?” Mrs Granger suggested. “Yes, great idea!” I nodded, grabbing Harry’s arm and pulling him upstairs. “Lets start with my room, shall we?” I proposed, pointing down a long hallway towards a white door with a hanging sign that said ‘Hermione’s room.’ Harry shrugged his shoulders “Sure, why not?” he grinned at me.
My room wasn’t extremely big but I wouldn’t have called it small either. It had two bookshelves covered head to toe in books, a small single bed with white bedding and a light blue blanket. A large white window with a desk in front of it so I could make use of the natural lighting when I do my homework. But my most favourite thing of all was my arm chair - just like the one my Grandfather owns - I could spend all weekend sitting on that chair going over the books I bought with my pocket money. I loved the smell of new books, the feel of old books and the look of both together on my shelves.
“Wow Hermione, your room is great!” Harry gasped, eyes wide in awe. I blushed “Thank you, Harry. I do quite like it.” I admitted. He scanned the room taking everything in, brushing his had across the trunk at the end of my bed. “I have something cool in that trunk, would you like to see?” I asked him, breaking him out of whatever world he was in. “Okay, sure” he nodded. I flashed him a smile and lifted the heavy lid of the trunk. Inside lay lots of colourful blankets, a few pillows, some fairy lights and a box of clothes pegs and rubber bands. “I glanced over at Harrys curious face and giggled. “They’re fort supplies” I explained proudly. “Dad and I build forts in here all the time when he’s not busy pulling people’s teeth out” I added, smirking at Harry’s horrified expression. “Would you like to build one?” I asked him already handing him a blanket and pillow. “I’ve never built a fort before. This is going to be so cool!” he smiled.
An hour later we had successfully built a blanket fort. We lay buried under a sea of sheets, both our heads resting on a fluffy periwinkle pillow. We were making shadow animals with our hands and a flashlight, my shadow cat perched on the back of Harry’s shadow dragon. “Hermione?” He whispered, turning his head to face mine. “I had a dream I was flying the other night.” He smiled sheepishly. I moved my head to the right, almost bumping my forehead with his. “That sounds magical.” I whispered, smiling gently at him. Harry beamed at me, his green eyes crinkling at the corners. “What are you smiling like that for?” I giggled. “You didn’t call me a silly boy.” He said shrugging as if that explained everything.
I sat upright again, looking down at Harry. His hair was as messy as ever, his round glasses lopsided from laying down and his baggy jumper hid one of his hands completely. His features friendly, his eyes a deep emerald. “What?” he whispered as if speaking any louder would cave in our perfectly made palace. “Promise me we’ll always be friends, Harry.” I answered, surprising myself with how quiet my voice had become too. “Promise.” He grinned from ear to ear displaying teeth my parents would be proud of.
And that was the start of our story. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. But it’s never normally that simple, is it? Well when Harry Potter is concerned simple isn’t even in his vocabulary.