Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did, so HBP would have been more pleasant. For me at least…
A/N: My take on the challenge "Harry to save the day". Hope you will enjoy this, if you read please leave me a review so that I know what you think of it.
Requirements:
I had the idea of Death Eaters taking Hermione down like an alley way and torturing her, and then Harry comes and saves the day.
Harry can have known Hermione from Hogwarts or she could have went to another Wizarding school.
If she is from Hogwarts, then when Harry saves her she recognizes her feelings for him.
If she is from another Wizarding school, then Hermione meets her rescuer and realizes it is the 'great Harry Potter'. Feelings then begin to rise.
I would like a lot of fluff. I don't care what it's rated, but I would prefer it to be PG13 or R. I would like it to develop over a few chapters, please no one shots.
Saved And Loved
First contact
A pretty brown haired witch was peacefully walking in London, when someone pushed a wand in her back.
"Shut up and walk" a deep voice said her, and steered her toward a dark alley.
She started fearing for her life when she saw two other man waiting there. Their faces were covered by white masks, and she immediately recognized them for what they were. Death Eaters, followers of You-Know-Who.
Muggle-borns were persecuted by them, and often killed. They claimed to be polishing the Wizarding World from "the scum of mixed blood", and no one had ever resisted their master, apart for a boy. The Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter.
So she walked into the alley knowing her fate was already written.
"So, what did you bring us? A pretty face, indeed. I think we will have fun with this whore, after all what else can a Mudblood be if not a slut?" one of the other two said, walking toward her.
"Wait! Let's have fun in torturing her first. We have all the time to rape her later, and then kill her" the man who had brought her there said.
"I like how your twisted brain works, you know" the third said. "Crucio!"
The girl writhed in pain, screaming, while her capturers laughed loudly. No one would come to save her, and she would die at their hands, after being humiliated.
She started crying for her hard fate, and that made the men laugh even harder.
"Crucio!" the called again, all together, keeping the curse on her for what seemed hours, although it was probably just a couple minutes.
Slowly she stopped shaking, just to be put under the curse again.
Her torturers didn't have the time to laugh this time, though.
"Sectumsempra!" someone shouted three times, and three beams of light hit the men, slashing them roughly across their whole bodies.
A single figure walked down the alley, and kicked the masks off their faces.
"Avery, Dolohov and Nott. What a pathetic company" he smirked, before conjuring ropes around them and sending them directly to the Auror quarters, then walked toward her.
The girl looked in awe at the young man.
She immediately recognized him, when he was so near she could spot his burning green eyes and the scar on his forehead.
"You…you're Harry Potter!" she whispered.
"Yes, I am" he said, offering her an hand that she eagerly grabbed, and helping her stand. "And you are…"
"Hermione Granger. I attended Beauxbatons, and now I've transferred here to search a work. It's just few days I'm here"
"Do you have an home?"
"Well, for now I'm staying in an hotel…"
"Nonsense. I'll host you in my flat till you find your own place. For now, though, I think you can use an hot chocolate"
"Oh, no. I mean, I can't live with you. I don't even know you" she said blushing, realizing that she was speaking to one of the most famous wizards in the world.
"Well, then the hot chocolate could be an occasion to start that" he found himself saying, enticed by her simple beauty.
"Well, I guess since you saved me, it's the easiest way to start pay back my debt" she said, fidgeting with her purse.
"So my help is worthy just a mug of chocolate?" he teased her. "Maybe next time I'll stick with my own business then"
"Oh, no. What I meant is that…" she said, looking down. She'd never been such a mess with words, she was smart and no one made her speechless ever, yet she seemed to not be able to say one right thing around him.
"Don't worry, I know what you meant. I was just teasing you. So, if you want to come with me…" he said, taking her hand and gently squeezing it.
After a quick walk, they entered a Muggle pub.
"What can I bring you?" the clerk asked them.
"One hot chocolate and a beer" Harry ordered, while Hermione settled in front of him.
"So, what were you doing out so late? It's still dangerous times, especially for people like you" he said.
"What do you mean "like me?"" she said narrowing her eyes at him. "I should have known, the mighty Harry Potter is an obnoxious git like everyone in this society. Maybe this is a mistake" she said, starting to move.
He grabbed her wrist gently.
"Stay. What I meant is that you should be careful You were lucky I was passing by, but I doubt many other wizards would have intervened. They would have pitied you, sure, but left you to your fate" he said, his eyes boring into hers, and she gulped.
"I know" she stammered. "It's just I lost track of time while reading in a library, and was going back to my hotel…why did you intervene, by the way?"
"You know my name, I guess you know my story too" he started, sipping the beer that had just arrived. "I am not an obnoxious git like you may think, I hate fame. So it's not for that. I won't go to the Prophet right now and tell them to write an article on how I saved you" he continued, smiling.
She snorted, sipping her chocolate.
"Simply, I loathe Voldemort" and at that she shuddered.
"Don't say that name" she whispered.
"Come on, you have not to fear to call him his name. Fearing a name just increases the fear of the thing itself" he said her, his eyes twinkling. She found that mesmerizing.
One should not be allowed to have such magnetic eyes.
"However, if you like it more, I'll call him by his real name. Tom Riddle. Now, as I was saying, I loathe him and his followers. Since I killed him a couple months ago, the ones who served him have hid, and come out at night to do raids like the one they were doing with you. They pick a random Muggle-born witch, and they rape and torture and kill her. I've stopped them more than once, so maybe it's just become an habit for me lately" he said, drinking some more.
"But…don't you have a job? A family?" she asked, interested.
"Family? I would love that. No, all the witches I meet are trying to get me just for the fame and the money. I've still to find a witch who loves the real me, not the hero. As for the job, not yet. I'm going to be an Auror. Had my fair amount of work to convince them to make me go trough the usual training, but now I'm almost done"
She nodded.
"What about you?" he asked then. "What would you like to do?"
"Well, I would like to be an Healer, but my dream is to be Minister and right some injustices in our world, for example the treatment of other magical beings, like Elves, werewolves, and so on"
"You know, I like what you said. And with my name we could have you do just that in no time" he suggested. "Although, I don't think you would like to get the position that way"
She shook her head, smiling. "No. Thanks for the offer, but I want to reach it for my own merits"
"Understandable. Well, I'm going home, and my offer still stands"
She looked at him for some time, thinking. The idea of living with the great Harry Potter was tempting, but still she knew him too little yet.
"No, thanks. I think it's better if we know each other first, then maybe…" she said.
"Ok. Well, then I'll walk you to your hotel, just to be sure" he said, actually glad she refused his offer. It spoke volumes to him on how much she was different from the other witches he had known till that moment, they would have killed to have the chance he was offering her. Yet, she refused.
"Who knows, maybe she's really the witch I'm searching for"
And so they left, and he noticed she was shivering. Draping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her close.
"Hope this doesn't upset you" he said, and she shook her head. "I just wanted to make you feel warmer"
"It's ok" she said softly, leaning just a bit into him, and missing the small smile tugging at his lips.
They continued walking silently, enjoying the company and the quiet night.
"I hope we're going to see each other soon. I'll send you an owl so that we can fix a day and hour, if that's ok with you" he said, once they arrived to the hotel.
"I would love to" she said, and he grinned, then kissed her on the cheek.
"Good night, then"
"Good night" she said, and entered the building, touching the spot where he had kissed her.
True to his word, next day Harry sent her a note.
"Hey,
how are you doing?
I thought if you had nothing
else to do we could meet
in a couple days for dinner.
I would invite you tonight, but then
It would seem I wanted to rush things…
Your friend,
Harry"
She smiled reading that. Truth was, she had scarcely thought about something not having green eyes and a scar since she got to the hotel the previous night.
So she wrote back to him.
"I would love to, and if you want
we could make it tonight. I've
nothing to do, and your company
was really pleasant yesterday night.
Kisses,
Hermione"
Later that day, she was in her room in the hotel, relaxing, and a bit put out because he didn't write her anymore that day.
"Guess he was busy with Auror training" she reasoned, going to answer the knock at her door.
"Yes?" she said, opening the door and finding herself facing an huge bouquet of red roses, and a grinning Harry Potter.
She was so shocked it didn't register in her brain that she was covered just with a towel, since she had just exited from the shower.
His blush, however, gave that away as she looked at herself wondering why he was reddening.
She became scarlet red herself and slammed the door on his face, just to open it again a couple minutes later, dressed with the first things she found.
"Sorry for that" she muttered, looking down.
"Hey, don't worry. It's my fault, I shouldn't have come here without telling you first" he apologized. "I thought to surprise you, but maybe it was a bit too much"
"Oh, no. It's ok, really. So, since you're here I guess you want to go out?" she asked tentatively.
"Well, yes, if it's ok with you, we could go to an Italian restaurant that's near here, it's really good"
"Ok, just give me the time to dress properly…"
"You're already beautiful as you are" he blurted out, and she blushed.
"Don't tell me things I may believe" she said, taking something from her wardrobe and retreating into the bathroom to change.
Soon later, they were off to the restaurant.
They shared lasagne and a salad, as no one of them was really hungry, and they chatted quietly.
"So, how was your day?" she asked him sipping her wine.
"Very good, thanks. Tiring, but good, it was. Of course, the fact that your pretty face came to my mind now and then was a bit troublesome for concentration…" he said, taking her hand into his own.
She didn't expect the gesture, but welcomed it all the same, and entwined their fingers together.
Till that moment she had had only a boyfriend in her life, but she felt she was already falling for him, not the hero she had so much heard about, but the simple and sweet boy who carried that heavy title.
Just Harry, as he had told her he longed to be known by the others.
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