*sigh* So after weeks of trying to make this perfect, I'm finally posting this. I'm kind of nervous, I'm just not sure if it's good enough*Sigh* but oh well, it's as good as it's going to get. There are some things you should know about this before going on. This is based off of a challenge on Portkey.org called 'Things Change.' There are specific requirements, but the basics of it is that Hermione has to become either a girly girl or a punk, and all the guys have to be all over her and so on and so forth. This is the link if you wish to see it in full.
This is rated PG-13 for some language and other things. Nothing too bad though.
Also thanks to Amanda and Sage(My little plant eater ^_~) for betaing
And now, on to the first chappie, word count is 2775.
Things Change
Chapter One: On to America!
Come on, get here already!
Hermione sat on the edge of the couch staring out the window, twirling her hair and bouncing her knee in anxious nervousness. Just then she saw something flying in the distance. It came nearer and nearer, until the owl was swooping through the open living room window. It landed on the coffee table and stuck out its leg, revealing a piece of parchment attached to it. Hermione removed it with shaky hands, and then ripped the letter open. She scanned it over quickly, giddiness overtaking her.
"Mum! MUM! It's here! It's here!" Hermione screamed, running in to the kitchen where her mother was seated, sipping tea and reading the morning paper.
"Child, calm down! What's here?" her mother asked curiously, setting down the newspaper.
"This!" Hermione exclaimed, shoving a letter into her mother's hands. Mrs. Granger skimmed the paper, eyes widening as she read. She jumped up and rushed to her daughter, picking her up and twirling her around, screaming the whole time.
"You got it! You got it!" her mother cried. She set Hermione back down and Hermione giggled. "I am so proud of you, Hermione," Mrs. Granger told her, beaming.
"Thanks mum," Hermione said, not being able to stop grinning, "but I really have to go start packing. I leave in less than two days!" she exclaimed, skipping towards the door. "Tell dad for me when he gets home, will you?" Hermione asked back to her mother as she headed for the stairs. Hermione didn't wait for an answer; instead she bounded up the stairs and in to her room, slamming the door behind her. She flopped on to her bed, still helplessly grinning. Despite recent events, she couldn't help but be down right giddy right now. She grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it; then let out a big scream while kicking her legs in the air. She got to go to America; a fully paid trip provided by the Ministry. She had applied for it, but no one had known but her parents. She didn't want to face her friends if she didn't get the grant. She tossed her pillow to the side, sighing and closing her eyes. This was exactly what she needed.
.+.
Hermione had her head against the cool glass, gazing at a flock of birds in perfect V formation. They all looked so free, soaring lazily in the wind. Just then the front bird stopped abruptly, dropping slightly in altitude, but still kept a steady beat in its wings. The formation made its way past him, another bird taking its place. It spread its wings and joined on at the end of the formation. Hermione swore that he looked relieved. The entire sight took her breath away, how things could work in such a way. How the front bird could be relieved of all of the pressure of being on top, leading the flock.
Why can't I be that bird?
Hermione had been the 'head bird' all her life, leading the 'flock' along. Just once she wanted to be the one in the back, drifting along lazily with not a care in the world. She wanted to be the slacker, the trouble maker, the popular one, the one that everyone looked up to. But she wasn't, she was just Hermione. Just then a voice came over the loud speaker.
"We will be arriving at our destination in approximately 20 minutes. Please begin gathering your things," the voice informed them. The adrenaline started pumping through Hermione's veins. In twenty minutes she would be meeting the people she'd be living with for a month, the people that would hopefully change her life.
As Hermione was gathering her things back together, she started thinking about what it would be like. Is the magic different? Are there different incantations? This started to puzzle her. After all of the things she had read, she had never come across magic in other countries. She assumed that because of the Triwizard Tournament that things were the same, but maybe America was very different. The thought was almost petrifying.
Soon she was getting off the plane and heading into the Minneapolis airport. She rounded the corner from the hallway and found herself walking into a brightly lit waiting room, which was attached to a bigger hallway and a food court. She looked around nervously, not quite sure who she should be looking for. Just then she saw a family holding a sign that said her name. She waved slightly, and then walked over nervously.
"Hi!" the short blonde girl said, "I'm Caroline. But you can call me Carrie." Hermione smiled weakly. "This is my older sister Keegan, but you can just call her Key. This is my older brother Connor, I suppose you can just call him Connor," Carrie continued, ecstatically, "They're twins! And this," she pointed behind Connor, "is my mother Fahreeda, and my father Raydell. We are the Braedens!" Carrie announced, positively beaming. Each of them nodded and smiled at her as their name was said, except Connor just raised his eyebrows at her.
His eyes are amazing.
Hermione stood nodding, trying to speak, but words failing her. She coughed, and then swallowed hard.
"Hi, nice to meet you all," Hermione said, smiling at them, "I'm Hermione Granger." Fahreeda smiled at her.
"Of course we know who you are dear. Are you hungry? We can go get something to eat if you'd like," Mrs. Braeden asked her. Hermione shook her head.
"No that's alright, I ate on the plane," she replied nervously, looking at all the surrounding faces. Mrs. Braeden smiled back at her.
"That's alright. How about we go collect your luggage and head on home?" Hermione nodded slightly.
An hour later, Hermione was walking through the front door to a huge house in the suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota. Hermione's breath caught in her throat. It was so elegant and beautiful, nothing like her small house back in Europe. She stood in the entrance way looking around in awe. In front of her was a long, spiral staircase made of marble, paving the way to the upper portion of the house, which looked even more magnificent. Mr. Braeden walked through the door behind her, dragging her trunk.
"Come on, Hermione, I'll show you to your room," Carrie said, smiling brightly as she came through the front door. Hermione smiled back and followed Carrie around the corner and down the open staircase. At the bottom they stepped in to a large family room, complete with a wrap-around couch and big screen television.
"Umm, Carrie? I thought your family was a big wizarding family?" Carrie glanced at her.
"We are; what are you talking about?" Carrie asked, confused.
"Well, it's just that if your family uses magic, muggle things don't work, do they? Like the television?"
"Oh, well, we don't really use magic too much around the house. A little bit wont effect anything, but my parents tend to avoid using it. You see, my mom grew up as a muggle, and she couldn't bear to not have television and electronic things. So my dad agreed, though he is a pureblood and had never used such things," Carrie explained, making her way down the hall to the left. Hermione followed, millions of questions forming in her mind.
"Well, my mom is a healer at the hospital here," Carrie started, but then she came to a stop in front of a door, "And this is your room!" she announced ecstatically, opening the door and revealing a marvelous room. In the middle was a huge four-poster mahogany bed with elegant lace hangings all around. The room was luxuriant reds and golds, reminding her of her own dorm room at Hogwarts.
"It's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, walking in and dropping down on the bed. The rosy sheets flowed like silky rivers to the floor, with ripples of gold and silver dancing between threads, and many plush pillows lined the immense headboard. There was a furry rug under the bed, hiding a patch of the dark wood floor, and tickled her toes when she walked. There was a large, oval mirror hanging over a dresser that matched the bed. She got up and walked over to the mirror. It was aged silver, with some sort of ancient pattern engraved in to the finish. She ran her fingers over it; the engraving seemed to speak to her, sooth her. It looked like some kind of ancient spell, but Hermione wasn't quite sure. She was so entranced with the mirror that she was startled when a voice spoke out to her, "You look positively stunning, m'dear, ravishing if I do say so myself." Hermione gasped and jumped a little, then blushed furiously. She heard a giggle from the doorway.
"It's just a mirror, Hermione," Carrie announced, still giggling, "I thought you'd be used to them by now." Hermione blushed a deeper shade of crimson.
"I ... I was just caught off guard." Carrie laughed and skipped in to the room, and then plopped down on the bed.
"I hope you like the room; we tried to spice it up a bit for you."
"It's magnificent!" Hermione exclaimed, twirling around and glancing at the ceiling. Her eyes widened at the sight. The ceiling was painted midnight blue, and was spotted with twinkling stars. One seemed to wink at her, and then it shot across the ceiling, colliding with more stars and fading in to the blue. She walked over to the bed and sank down on it. "Really, I couldn't ask for more. This is already so much!" Carrie smiled at her.
"Good, I'm glad. Why don't I show you around a little more? I'll give you the full tour tomorrow, but come on; I'll show you the main places you need to see." Hermione smiled as they got up and followed Carrie out of her room. They walked out back to the family room and back up the stairs. At the top they turned right, going down a hallway and entering the kitchen. Mrs. Braeden was standing at the sink doing the dishes. She turned around when she heard them coming.
"Hello girls, what are you up to?"
"I'm just showing Hermione a bit of the house," Carrie replied, walking over and sitting down at the breakfast bar. Her mother wiped off the island in the middle of the kitchen, and Hermione just stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"Excuse me," a deep voice came from behind her. Hermione jumped as Connor brushed pass her and gave her a smile that could make any girl melt.
Stop it! You can't be attracted to him you idiot!
So what do you want me to do, ignore him?
It's a start.
Carrie stood up and walked back over to her. "Well come on, I'll show you around a little more." They walked back downstairs and down the hallway leading to Hermione's room. Carrie opened the door on the left, across from her room. "This is my room," Carrie announced, walking in. It was a cute little room with baby pink walls and a small bed in the corner, comforter pink and blue striped.
"I love your room!" Hermione exclaimed, walking in. The wall to her left was a wall-to-wall bookshelf. "I think you have more books than I do!" Hermione said almost to herself. Carrie laughed and turned to walk back out of the room. Hermione followed as they went to the room next to Carrie's.
"This is the bathroom you'll be using. You share it with Connor; I hope that won't be a big deal. I share mine with Key, and Connor usually has his own. We figure why shove three girls in to one bathroom?" Hermione gulped and nodded, terrified of the thought of sharing such a personal room like a bathroom. They headed back in to Hermione's room and they plopped on to the bed. Just then there was a tap at the door. Mr. Braeden stuck his head around the corner and smiled at them.
"The room alright, Hermione?" he asked, dragging her trunk in to the room and setting it at the foot of her bed.
"It's gorgeous!" Hermione exclaimed, "Really, it's more than enough. Plus it reminds me a lot of my dorm back at Hogwarts." Mr. Braeden smiled and nodded.
"Well I'll let you girls get back to whatever you were doing. Caroline, don't bug her for too much longer, I'm sure she's tired and wants to rest." Carrie moaned and glared at her father.
"It's quite alright, I'm enjoying this," Hermione chuckled. Mr. Braeden shrugged and walked out of the room. Carrie eyed her.
"Are you sure I'm not bugging you?" she asked with a worried expression on her face. Hermione punched her lightly on the arm and laughed.
"I'm sure! I'm having a ton of fun. It may not be so much fun for you; I'm going to start unpacking." Carrie's face lit up.
"Oh I'd love to help!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together in front of her.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked skeptically. Carrie nodded enthusiastically. "Well, if you say so," Hermione said slyly, getting off the bed and walking over to her trunk. She opened the lock and lifted the lid, revealing a layer of her collection of various books.
"Wow…," Carrie breathed, getting up to get a closer look at Hermione's mass of books, "How many do you have in there?"
"Oh about 50 or so, during my first year, our Headmaster let me put an engorgement charm on my trunk so I could fit all of them. He understood my need to read." She reached in and picked up the topmost book, Hogwarts, A History.
"What's that?" Carrie asked, peaking over her shoulder. Hermione looked at her and smiled, then handed the book to her.
"That's Hogwarts, A History, it's the complete history of my school." Carrie flipped though the pages in awe.
"Would you mind if I borrowed this some time? I love reading about history," Carrie asked excitedly. Hermione gaped at her, stunned that she had someone here that shared an interest.
"Sure you can, feel free to borrow any book you like," Hermione replied, reaching down and pulling out a stack. She carried them over to the small bookshelf in the corner. She set them down on the floor and looked at the bookshelf, stumped.
"I guess I'll have to make do, right?" Hermione thought out loud, chuckling as she placed 12 books on the top shelf, which took up the entire space. She turned around to get some more books. Carrie was nestled on Hermione's bed, her nose already deep in to the book. Hermione smiled to herself as she walked back to her worn trunk and pulled out another stack of books. She went to turn around, when the stack started to waver.
"Ahh!" Hermione shrieked, trying to maneuver as to not lose her entire stack of books. There was a hand on the top of the stack, and the load was lifted from her hands.
"Here, let me help you with that," Connor told her, looking around the wall of books. Their eyes met and she felt her knees go weak. The depths of the ocean blue were such a mystery, but stunning none the less.
What is it with those eyes? He grinned and then walked over to the bookshelf. "So where do you want these?" Hermione stared at him in semi-shock. He's amazing.
"Hermione?" Connor questioned, eyeing her with a smirk on his face.
"Oh, um, you can just set them on the floor there…" Hermione trailed off, snapping back to reality. He gave a small laugh and set them down.
"So do you need anymore help?" he asked, walking back over to her, stopping mere inches from her. God, why does he have to smell so darn good?
"Um," Hermione started, clearing her throat, "no, that's okay." Connor shrugged and walked out of the room, Hermione staring at him the entire time. She finally turned around to see Carrie staring at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You think my brother's hot, don't you?" she asked with a smug look.
"Wha-- What? No! Of course not!" Hermione stumbled. "Well, okay, maybe a little. But he doesn't think I am, so it doesn't really matter, now does it?" Carrie shook her head and stood up.
"Good night, Hermione," she said stiffly as she brushed past her.
Okay, he isn't a little hot. He's really hot. She sighed, then went to go get ready for bed.
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