A/N>Thank you so much for the positive feedback and wonderful support for this story! I wasn't sure how it
would be received, but all but one review was positive and that one person didn't understand that this is an AU
fic! I should say now that yes, there will be a happy ending to this story, but Harry and Hermione are going to go
through hell getting there. I am going to cover their years at Hogwarts, but I'm only skimming over the important
events and focusing mainly on the summers because that is when they are stuck with their abusive relatives. I hope that
all of you that reviewed will continue to read, and I hope that I can stay true to the characters thoughts and
emotions. Oh, and I found this great essay on the HP Lexicon about why H/Hr will probably end up together at the end of
book 7! If you want to read it, go to http://www.hp-lexicon.org/essays/essay-harry-hermione.html
. It's really interesting! Thanks again, and please review!!
On the train to Hogwarts two months later, I sat in a compartment by myself, watching the scenery pass by quickly. I
had tried to get a compartment all to myself, but there were too many students on the train and soon a dark haired boy
with glasses and a strange looking scar on his forehead came in. He asked if it would be ok to sit in the empty seat,
and I just nodded my head, watching as he slowly walked over and gingerly sat down. I must have looked at him funny,
because he said "I had a really bad accident on my bike yesterday" while not meeting my eyes.
All I could say was "oh" while wondering if that was really true. I had used that lie a couple of times when my Dad had spanked me so hard that it hurt to sit down or walk. Figuring it was none of my business, I continued to stare out the window and ignore the strange boy. About ten minutes later, a scrawny red headed boy walked in, asking if he could sit with us also. The other boy and I just nodded our heads yes and watched as he walked over to sit by the black haired boy.
"My names Ron, Ron Weasley" he said with a big, friendly smile on his face. When he looked at me expectantly, I smiled the best I could and said "I'm Hermione Granger."
"That's a weird name, isn't it?" he asked, wrinkling his nose as if disgusted.
"I was named after a character in a Shakespeare play called 'A Winter's Tale' I'll have you know" I said, annoyed that he was making fun of my name.
"Who's Shakespeare?" he asked, confused. "Well I'm sorry, it's just a strange name is all" said Ron, eyeing me strangely. He looked over at Harry and his eyes grew wide. "You're Harry Potter!" he said, like he couldn't believe it.
"H-How did you know my name?" Harry asked, sounding afraid.
Ron stared at him in disbelief and said "you're joking right?" When he saw that not only did Harry not know, but neither did I, he was amazed. "You're the bloody savior of the wizarding world mate!"
Harry just stared at him, not even blinking as I asked "how is Harry the savior of the wizarding world?"
"I can't believe you two don't know the story, especially you Harry since it's about you." Ron turned towards Harry and said "it happened the night your parents were killed."
"They died in a car crash, how could I become a savior from that?" Harry asked, thoroughly confused. Ron just sat shaking his head, not sure if he should go on. "Well?" Harry asked, growing impatient.
"Your parents didn't die in a car crash Harry" Ron explained "they were killed by an evil wizard named...well, I can't say his name."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because no one speaks his name, it is a name that makes everyone afraid" Ron replied. Seeing that he was confusing Harry and me even more, he said "I'll be back in a second."
Harry and I watched him walk out of the compartment, wondering where he was going. "Do you have any idea what he's on about?" I asked.
"I have no idea at all" said Harry, looking like he may be sick. After about five minutes of silence, Ron came back in carrying a book titled "The History Of The Magical World, 1900-" and sat next to Harry again. Opening the book and looking through the table of contents, Ron found the page he wanted and turned to it, and then gave the book over to Harry.
I watched Harry's eyes move over the page, the further down he got, the sicker looking he got. When he finished reading, he just looked at me and then at Ron, confusion evident on his face. "Excuse me" he had said quickly, standing up and placing the book down on his seat. I watched as he ran out of the compartment looking as if he was going to be sick right then.
As Harry had run out of the compartment, I reached over and took the book off of his seat, reading the page Harry had just read. My eyes grew wide as I read over what had happened to his parents, and how he had destroyed this evil wizard that no one else seemed able to destroy. 'Poor Harry' I thought to myself, wondering how it was that he had no knowledge of his history.
"Do you think he didn't know all of that?" Ron asked, causing me to look at him as if he were stupid.
"Of course he didn't know; do you think he would have reacted that way if he did?" I asked, as if talking to a five year old. Ron just looked at me for a moment and stood up from his seat.
"I need to give that book back to my brother Percy" he said, reaching out for it. I closed it and handed it back to him. "I guess I'll see you around" he said, not sounding very happy about it.
"Yes, I'll see you around" I said, trying to sound polite.
"Tell Harry I'm sorry if I upset him, would ya?" Ron asked, looking truly sorry.
"Of course" I said, trying to put on a friendly smile. I watched as he walked away, glad that he was finally gone. 'Hope I never see him again!' I thought to myself, then thought of Harry and wondered if he was ok.
I saw that the page was a history of my parent's lives, and how when I was one year old my parents were killed by
someone named Voldemort; someone that I had supposedly killed, saving the wizarding world from his evil wrath.
'This can't be right' I thought to myself, feeling sick all of a sudden. Standing up and putting the book
down on my seat, I quickly excused myself and ran to the lavatory, retching until my stomach hurt and tears ran from my
eyes. I couldn't understand how my Aunt could have kept this from me; she was my Mum's sister, didn't she
care for her at all? If anything, it showed how much she truly hated me and my Mum. And if I was the bloody savior of
the wizarding world, why did I have to stay with my horrid relatives? Rinsing my face and mouth with cold water, I sat
back on the closed toilet seat, pondering everything I had just read about my own life. About five minutes later,
someone banged on the door of the lavatory and I yelled "it's occupied!"
"Harry?" I heard the girl I had just met say "are you ok?" It was hard for me to believe she was actually worried about me; she had actually come to check on me? No one in my entire life had ever been worried about me when I was sick, I always just took care of myself the best I could until I was better. I had heard the worry in her voice, and I figured I should go sit back down. Checking myself in the mirror, I turned and opened the door to see her still standing there.
"I just wondered if you were all right?" she asked, giving me what looked to be a forced smile.
"I'm better now; thanks for coming to check on me" I said, not entirely sure why. Her cheeks turned pink and she looked away from me, as if I had embarrassed her. We made our way back to the compartment and I noticed the boy named Ron had left.
"Where did Ron go?" I asked, curious as to if I was the reason he left.
"He said he had to get back to his brothers and that he would see you later" she had replied, making me feel a little better. As the ride continued, we had fallen into a comfortable silence, neither really having much to say to each other. Finally we had made it to the station and disembarked, walking out to find a huge man standing there that was the size of a giant.
"Hullo 'arry" he said, smiling down at me and placing a huge hand on my shoulder, almost making me fall.
"Um, hi" I said, trying not to show my fear of him. He had given me a strange look and I said "is something wrong?"
"No, no there's nuthin' wrong" he said "you don' know who I am, do ya?"
"No, I'm sorry, but I don't know you" I had answered "should I?"
"I knew yer parents 'arry; I'm the one tha took you away from your house tha' nigh." When I heard him say this, a small pit of anger had formed in my stomach.
"You're the one who left me with my Aunt and Uncle?" I asked, trying not to let the anger show through. When he had just nodded his head yes, I really didn't know what to say or do. This was the man that had handed me over to those monsters; I probably would have been better off if that evil wizard guy had just killed me along with my parents that night.
"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione had asked, walking over to me and placing her hand gently on my arm. I had winced a little because that was where my Uncle had grabbed me this morning, causing a huge bruise on my upper arm. I knew she had seen me wince, and when I looked up at her face, I was surprised to see a look of understanding there. Could she know what was under my sleeve? How could she? Something about the look on her face told me she might know more than I thought.
"I'll be ok; I think it's just all the new stuff I keep learning today" I said, trying to lighten the situation. "What is your name?" I asked, turning to the giant man in front of me.
" 'agrid, my name's 'agrid" he said in a deep, gruff voice. "I din'nt mean to upset ya 'arry. I though' you already knew" he explained, looking a little sad as he spoke.
"It's ok" I had said "another student on the train had already told me I'm the savior of the wizarding world." Hagrid had looked down at me and smiled.
"I'm sure if'n you go see Professor Dumbledore, he'll tell ya all ya want to know" he said, smiling a genuine smile. "I'll be seein' ye 'arry" he said, turning around and walking down the platform, calling for all the first years to follow him.
As I walked next to Harry, I was amazed at the inside of the castle that would be my new school. It seemed huge to me as we followed Professor McGonagall up two flights of stairs. As she left us to check on something, a girl with long dark hair approached me, smiling. "Hi, I'm Lavender" she had said. I wasn't really sure what to do, no one in my old school had ever approached me as a friend before, so I just said "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger."
The girl had smiled and I was startled when I heard Professor McGonagall behind me say "ah, Ms. Granger, your father has already been in touch with the Headmaster about your arrival here today."
I looked at her and couldn't believe what she had just said. I hadn't been gone a day and my father was still making my life a living hell. "H-he al-already talked to the Headmaster today?" I stuttered, mad at myself for possibly making her suspicious.
"Yes, he had asked if it would be ok to check up on you from time to time, seeing as it's your first time away from home" she had explained. But how could my Dad contact the school if there were no phones here? "He sent a note with the new owl he bought for you; he found out that was how the wizarding world communicates and wanted you to be able to send letters home. The owl is already in the owlery. You must be glad to have such a concerned and loving Father."
'If only she knew the half of it' I thought to myself, and then I noticed Harry staring at me. He had this look on his face like he was trying to figure out my deep, dark secrets and it was making me uncomfortable. Why was he getting to me like this and why did I care what he thought about me? Thankfully, the Professor had taken us into the Great Hall to be sorted and the rest of the night went by quickly. I had been sorted into Gryffindor house, along with Harry and that red headed boy named Ron. He had come over to sit by us after he was sorted, spouting off about how all of his brothers had been in Gryffindor house too and he kept talking about something called Quidditch . I just ate my dinner, trying to ignore his incessant rambling.
Finally it was time to go to our rooms for the night. I was so glad to be getting away from all of the other students for a while. Everyone seemed so friendly here; it was different from public school where everyone just ignored you most of the time. We followed one of the older students, a Prefect, up a huge staircase and he showed us how to use the password to get into our common room. It was such a pretty room; everything was maroon and gold, there was a giant, roaring fireplace and a nice cushy couch to sit on in front of it.
Going up to my room, I noticed that I would be sharing it with four other girls, which I really didn't mind. It might be nice to be around other girls for once. Digging through my trunk, I found my nightgown and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. As I was changing, I hadn't noticed the girl named Lavender walk in as I slipped my gown over my head.
"Oh my, what happened to your side?" she had asked, pointing to my Father's latest work, four small bruises the size of a marble on my right side. Trying hard to come up with an excuse, I said "it's nothing really. I'm just clumsy; it happens all the time." I saw that she didn't buy my story, and I panicked. Excusing myself quickly, I almost ran out of the bathroom and back to my bed, jumping on it and drawing the curtains around it closed. I lay in bed, trying not to cry at the embarrassment I felt at her seeing my bruises. I would have to be more careful from now on; if my Father found out, he would definitely make me pay.
I think that first year at Hogwarts was the best year of my life! Ron and I became close friends, and even Hermione became a little friendlier as the year went on; she had started out staying mainly to herself and studying in the library. Ron and I had saved her from a Troll on Halloween and she'd hung out with us ever since, helping us with our homework and lecturing us when we didn't do it like we should. I was on the Quidditch team that year also; I was the Seeker. I had never even heard of the game before, but thanks to Oliver Wood, the captain I learned fast. I also found out my Dad had played, thanks to Hermione.
I found out quite a bit about my parents that year, with Dumbledore telling me all he could about them when I would go see him. At the end of the year, I unfortunately had a run in with Voldemort, who was hiding out in one of the Professors bodies and trying to steal a stone that would make him immortal. With the help of Ron and Hermione, I was able to save the stone and get rid of Voldemort once more, but only for a little while. His spirit had escaped and I had no idea where I would find him next.
I had woke up in hospital to find all sorts of cards and gifts from the students, thanking me for saving the stone. I couldn't believe all these people actually cared what happened to me! When I left Hospital, Ron and Hermione were waiting for me and we all walked down to the Feast together that night. We had gotten extra points for our house that night because of our adventure and had ended up winning the House Cup! It was a great feeling to win something like that. Everyone was clapping me on the back, saying what a good job I did and I was actually genuinely happy for once.
The next day we boarded the Hogwarts Express to go back home; I really didn't want to go back to the Dursley's. I had found my real home and it was at Hogwarts. Hermione and I were quiet on the way home while Ron talked animatedly about how I had saved the stone and the wicked game of wizards chess he had played to help us across the giant board. Sooner than I liked, we pulled onto Platform 9 3/4 and started to gather our stuff together. When I walked off of the train, I watched as Hermione walked over to a man and woman, the woman pulling her into a fierce hug. The man, her Dad, was watching her with a look on his face such as I'd seen on my Uncle Vernon from time to time. I knew that look, and I shivered as I felt a chill run through my body as a realization occurred to me: maybe Hermione's Dad hit her too.
I walked over to her and her family, saying a final goodbye and watched as her Father gave me a phony smile. He grabbed Hermione forcefully by the arm and started to drag her away, all the while she looked back at me with an almost pleading look. I had no idea what I could do to help her, so I just gave her a small wave and continued on to meet my Uncle outside in the parking lot. Walking towards the car, I watched as Hermione's Dad shoved her into the backseat of their car and I felt sad as I realized that I had been right; Hermione's Dad was just like Uncle Vernon and she had probably suffered just as I had over the years.