Welcome to the first chapter of our newest story- loosely based on 'The Taming of the Shrew' and/or 'Ten Things I Hate About You'. We hope you guys will enjoy this- and while this first chapter is rather short, it's only a prologue for what's to come and sets the background.
We're also setting a new posting schedule, which is this:
Tuesday---What I Like About You
Thursday---Hogwarts Undercover
Saturday---Last Dance (we're only updating that one once a week once we return to it)
Due to the fact that we'll have three ongoing stories, we're not going to be able to do review replies to each and every one. We will try to reply when we can, but we both have full-time jobs and with these three stories we might not always be able to reply as we'd like. But please be rest assured that we will answer any questions you have and we'll try and respond when we can. We do read each and every one and appreciate you guys taking the time!
Last Dance will return on March 3rd---we thank you guys for your patience! Thank you for your support and we hope you guys will stick with us!
Please review and let us know what you think!!!
"I hate boys," Six year old Ginny Weasley tossed her red bunches over her shoulders.
"I don't like them either," Seven year old Hermione Granger replied. "They're so mean and silly because we're girls." She was helping Ginny clean her dress from the mud a bunch of boys had thrown at them.
The two girls had met all of a quarter of an hour ago. Hermione, who lived near London, was up near central England while her parents were at a dentist conference. She had a nanny, who was currently sitting on the bench nearby knitting, and it seemed that Ginny was there with her brothers as she had arrived with some redheaded boys that looked very much like she did.
Ginny studied the brown haired girl. 'Obviously a Muggle,' she thought. 'Otherwise she'd ask her Mum to charm off my stains.' She and her brothers had promised their mother they would be careful and not say a word about witches or wizards otherwise they'd never be allowed in a Muggle area again without her or their father with them.
"They're so mean," Hermione was saying. "Honestly, in my class at primary school, boys always put their feet up on the tables, they chew gum and they never do their homework."
"I don't know about school," Ginny answered. "My mum teaches us at home,"
"Wow," Hermione looked at her, her brown eyes wide. "I wish my mum and dad would teach me at home… but then again I do love school and my professors."
Ginny smiled politely. "Thank you for helping me clean my dress," she said. "We'll have to just play together on the other side of the park."
"Okay," Hermione smiled back at her. "I think we've got your dress as clean as we're going to get it."
Ginny looked with a slight bit of dismay at the patch of brown on her pretty skirt. "That's okay; my mum will fix it when I go home."
The two girls left the lavatory, blinking as the sunshine hit their eyes. "Want to go over there?" Hermione pointed to some trees. "It's nice and quiet usually."
Ginny agreed. "I don't want to go near those boys again. What if they throw more mud on me?"
"They're mean," Hermione shook her head, her shoulder length bushy hair swaying. "I think they're probably a form up than me in school. They like to bully other kids like us."
She stopped by her nanny to get her snack, consisting of some water crackers and a tiny jar of jam along with some water and led Ginny the long way. It was nice to see another girl at the park- she'd been walking around there for two days and had hardly seen another soul.
They finally found a spot underneath the shade of one of the trees and Ginny sat down directly opposite Hermione. "It's really nice of you to share your snack with me," Ginny said as Hermione offered her a cracker.
"Sure," Hermione smiled. "I think it's nice to have someone else here."
Ginny nodded. "I think so, too. If you weren't here, I'd be off by myself. My brothers don't usually let me play with them."
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
Ginny shrugged and looked thoughtfully at her new friend. "I think it's because I'm the only girl. My mum's really protective of me, too."
"Both my parents are," Hermione nodded her head. "That's why they hire out a nanny and she comes--" her words were cut off by a scornful laugh.
"You have to have a nanny because you're a baby," a male voice snickered. Hermione glared at him.
"Richard, leave us alone! We aren't bothering you!" she said with a toss of her bushy hair.
Ginny inched closer to Hermione as the group of boys rounded on them. The boy Hermione had called Richard bent down and grabbed a cracker from Ginny's hand.
"Hey!" Ginny protested. "That's mine!"
"It's mine now," Richard said smugly, stuffing it in his mouth. "Goody goody Granger has a good snack."
"Leave us alone!" Hermione's eyes were blazing as she stood up.
One of the other boys grabbed the bag of crackers from the ground and tossed it to Richard. Ginny quickly got to her feet and tried to grab the bag back, but the boys were much too quick for her or Hermione.
"Give that back!" Ginny said, jumping for the bag as Richard carelessly tossed it to another of the boys.
Hermione looked ready to burst into tears but she held them back bravely. "If you don't leave us alone..." she began when a strong wind began to blow through the trees. It whipped Ginny's bunches into her eyes and when she pushed her hair away again Richard and the rest of the boys were running away from them.
"What just happened here?" Hermione asked her eyes wide.
Ginny shook her head, her mouth agape. "I-I don't know," she said weakly.
Hermione looked at Ginny another moment before bending over. "Well so much for having a snack," she said, looking at the spilled jar of jam and smashed crackers. "I hate those boys!"
"Me too!" Ginny said frowning, bending down and helping her friend clean up the mess the boys' had made.
"Why would any girl ever want a boyfriend?" Hermione asked angrily. "My older cousin says they act the same even though she's fourteen."
Ginny wrinkled her nose up in disgust. "My brother Charlie has a girlfriend and he kisses her all the time...it makes me sick. I can't imagine ever wanting some boy to do that to me!"
Hermione marched to a garbage can and threw the remnants of her snack into it. "I know that I'M never going to have a boyfriend." she crossed her arms.
"That goes double for me," Ginny said, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.
Hermione sat back down. "Let's make a pact," she said, her eyes brightening.
"What's a pact?" Ginny asked curiously.
"It's like a deal... a deal that can never be broken," Hermione recalled reading about a pact in one of the books in her family's library. "We have to swear to the same thing and then shake on it."
"Brilliant!" Ginny said excitedly, her eyes lighting up at the idea.
"Okay," Hermione stuck out her hand. "I, Hermione Jane Granger and you..." she looked at the redhead. "What's your whole name?"
The smile on Ginny's face faded. "Do I have to use my full name?"
"Well..." Hermione looked hesitant. "It makes it more official..."
Ginny nodded. "It's just that I've never really liked my whole name. Promise you won't laugh?"
"I promise," Hermione said. "You're talking to someone named Hermione remember?"
Ginny giggled. "Okay...my name is Ginevra Molly Weasley."
"Okay," Hermione smiled. "I, Hermione Jane Granger and you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, do..." she paused a moment as she recalled the pact from the book. "Do... hereby declare that as of this day, we will never date a boy because... they're disgusting and repulsive."
"And mean and smelly and dirty," Ginny chimed in.
"Right," Hermione started to giggle. "We'll be happier staying by ourselves for the rest of our lives."
Ginny nodded in agreement and offered her hand to Hermione. "Do we shake on it now?" she asked, deferring to the older girl who obviously knew more about this than she did.
"Yes," Hermione grasped Ginny's hand and they shook firmly.
Unbeknownst to the two young girls who collapsed against each other in giggles, their pact had become a contract. A Wizarding contract, not to be broken and forgotten about for many, many years.
*** 10 Years Later ***
Hermione Granger stretched, her hand sneaking out from underneath her covers to shut off her alarm. She sighed contentedly and allowed herself a few extra moments in bed. "I'm Head Girl today," she looked up at her ceiling. "Head Girl of all Hogwarts."
"Hermione!" her mother knocked on her door. "Are you up yet love?"
"Yes Mum," Hermione answered, pushing back her covers. She showered quickly and put on her jeans and jumper she would wear until changing into her Hogwarts uniform once on the train.
"Are you excited about this year?" her father asked as Hermione joined her parents for breakfast.
"I am," Hermione replied, digging into her eggs. "Being Head Girl is such a great responsibility, and will look fantastic next year when I start looking for a career."
Her father nodded approvingly as her mother sat down. "We're very proud of you Hermione," Elinore said. "We were sceptical when we found out about this witchcraft thing but you've done remarkably well."
"Thanks Mum," Hermione glowed with pride. "I've stayed at the top of my classes all six years and I expect this year to be absolutely no different."
Meanwhile, Ginny Weasley was still blissfully ensconced in the arms of sleep. Her dreams from the night before went uninterrupted, that is, until her brother Ron decided to wake her up.
"Wake up Ginny," Ron shook the edge of her bed.
"Go away Ron," Ginny buried her face in her pillow, clinging desperately to her dream of dancing around the room with a handsome yet nameless wizard.
"Well I just thought you might like to know there are about twelve wizards downstairs who all heard you're finally able to date and are lining up to take you out."
"WHAT?" Ginny was suddenly wide awake.
Ron started laughing. "Got you to get up," he said smugly. "Come on, Mum made us a huge breakfast as a goodbye."
Ginny glared at the back of her brother's head. "Ronald Bilius Weasley!" she yelled but he ran down the stairs laughing. "Ugh what a git…" she grumbled as she got out of bed, pulling on a skirt and blouse. She would change into her Hogwarts uniform on the train.
She bounced down the stairs several minutes later, her hair arranged neatly in plaits. "Morning everyone," she said.
"Good morning dear," Molly Weasley smiled at her only daughter.
"Thanks for waking me up so nicely Ron," Ginny hit her brother's shoulder. "Still sore about not being Head Boy?" she teased.
"Shut up Ginny," Ron shovelled bacon into his mouth.
"Ronald," Molly Weasley said. "You don't talk to your sister that way."
Ginny waited until her mother turned her back and smirked at him as she dug into her breakfast. She could hardly wait to get on the train to school!