A/N: And here we come to the (not incredibly) shocking conclusion to Reverse Cinderella, the first story in my Harry Tales series. Thanks to everyone who's followed it, and especially to liss xo 1221, Julie3291, Nimbus02, van_twitch and Anonymous (not sure if it's the same anonymous, but it could be) for following and reviewing from the start. You guys rock! I hope you'll read more Harry Tales too. The next installment is called Petrified Princess, an HP version of Sleeping Beauty.
xo Allie
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When it came time for school on Monday, Hermione was determined to find James. Saturday night was the most amazing night of my life, and I'm sure as hell not going to let him get away that easily. I am going to find him if it's the last thing I do. She took the lion-shaped cufflink out of her jewelry box (where she had been keeping it since Saturday night) and placed it in the large locket her grandmother had given her on her birthday. She heard Winston, the chauffeur, honking the horn from outside, so she grabbed a bottle of orange juice and headed out the door.
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"Boy, it's time to wake up," Petunia said, knocking on the cupboard door. "You need to make breakfast before you go to school."
Harry stretched as much as he possibly could in his tiny cupboard before changing his clothes. He saw the tiny ruby eyes of his lion-shaped cufflink glinting at him from its hiding place in his sock pile. Looking at it brought back memories from Saturday night.
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"So," he asked, as other couples took to the floor, "why, out of all the blokes in this room, did you pick me?"
"They're all so fake. They all want to use me to gain status. You don't seem to care about that, and I've enjoyed the little time we've spent together. You're a breath of fresh air."
"That's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," he said. She noticed for the first time how startling his emerald eyes were.
"Really? Surely someone has said nice things to you before."
"Not really. I live with my aunt and uncle, and they don't seem to like me very much," James said.
"That's terrible! How could they not like you? I think you're perfectly lovely," she said sincerely.
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Without a moment's hesitation, James leaned down and captured her lips with his. It was sweet at first, but he soon put a bit more ferocity behind it. Hermione returned his kiss with a hunger she didn't know she had.
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Harry snapped out of his reverie and went into the kitchen, where he set about cooking breakfast for the Dursleys. After serving Dudley a heaping portion of eggs and bacon, Petunia asked, "So Dudders, how was the party?
Dudley shoved a forkful of ketchup-covered eggs into his mouth and said, "It was great mum, everyone was there. Hermione looked really great, too, but I didn't get to dance with her."
"Why not?" Vernon yelled gruffly. "You'd think the most popular girl in school would be all over a fine specimen of young man like yourself." Harry coughed to cover up the snicker he couldn't help but emit.
"She kept hanging around with this weird guy all night. She only danced with him. And after he left, she wouldn't dance with anyone else."
Harry's heart skipped a beat. She only danced with me! Not like it really matters though. She likes James. She'd never look twice at Harry. The bus driver honked, and Dudley and Harry left.
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"What am I going to do?" Hermione asked Ginny, Luna, Lavender and Parvati in the ladies' before history. "I have to find him. I expected that night to be awful, and instead it became the most amazing night of my life. He changed everything. He sees me for me, not as some silly little trophy he can parade in front of his friends. Do you know how rare that is around here?"
"He sounds pretty amazing," Lavender says. "More boys should be like that, and less like...Dudley Dursley."
"Ugh, I can't believe he had the nerve to show up in spandex! I wanted to barf!" Parvati added.
"You guys! Be nice!" Hermione said. "Although I will admit that a less clingy fabric would have done wonders for him."
"Anyway, back to the problem at hand," Ginny interrupted. "What are we going to do to find James?"
"You still have the invitation lists, don't you?" Luna asked. When Hermione nodded, Luna added, "Well, why don't you go to each boy's house and see if they have the matching cufflink?"
"That's brilliant Lu! Thank you!" Hermione cried, hugging the blonde tightly.
"I'm glad I was able to help," Luna smiled. "I really hope we find this guy. We all saw how genuinely happy you were on Saturday night, and if he's the reason for that goofy grin you've had on your face for the past couple of days, then I think we'd better keep him around."
"And we can go ahead and mark Draco off the list, since he was with Ginny most of the night," Lavender teased.
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Please tell me you're not--"
Ginny blushed. "No, not yet. At least not officially."
"Do you think that if you two get married and have kids that they'll have pink hair?" Parvati asked, giggling hysterically.
"You guys are so not funny," Ginny said as the others joined in Parvati's giggles.
The warning bell rang, and the girls rushed to history.
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"Alright," said Ms. McGonagall, "today we're starting a new project. You'll each be divided into pairs, and each pair will be given a different topic. Mister Malfoy and Miss Weasley will be doing Guy Fawkes. Miss Brown and Mister Finnigan, you have piracy in the Caribbean. Mister Thomas, you and Parvati Patil have Queen Victoria. Mister Weasley and Miss Lovegood...you two have Bloody Sunday. The wives of Henry VIII will be done by Miss Granger and Mister Potter..."
As McGonagall continued to rattle off pairs, Harry felt very nervous. I'll be working on this project with Hermione. I'll get to be near her again, but it won't be like last time. I'm not charming James, I'm just Harry. And she'll never notice Harry.
Harry suddenly heard McGonagall's voice. "Mister Potter, did you hear me?"
"W-what?"
"You're supposed to be pairing up with your partner to discuss the project," she said sternly.
Harry flushed. "Oh, er, right." He made his way over to Hermione, who was already writing down ideas.
"Sorry about that," Harry mumbled as he sat down beside her. "I wasn't really paying a lot of attention."
Hermione looked up at his voice and found herself staring into a pair of penetrating emerald eyes. So much like James's eyes...but he couldn't be James. Dudley said Harry wasn' able to come to the party. "Perfectly understandable," she said happily, smiling warmly at him. "I've been a bit distracted today myself."
Could she be thinking about me still? Just like I've been thinking about her? But it's not really me she's thinking about...it's James. That night with her was the best night of my life, but knowing she won't ever look at me almost makes me wish I hadn't done it. But it was so amazing...
"Harry?"
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.
Hermione laughed prettily, and he felt like he was melting. "I was asking if it would be okay to work together at your house tonight, say, around five?"
"Um, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. My aunt and uncle probably wouldn't like it," Harry replied, his voice nervous.
"Well, can you work at my house?"
"Probably. They'll be glad to get me out of the house a little longer. They don't like me very much."
Hermione's thoughts flashed back to Saturday night. The don't seem to like me very much. She shook the thought out of her head. James was not actually Harry Potter. He simply couldn't be.
"Okay," she said. "How about I come pick you up at five?"
As the bell rang, Harry said, "That sounds good. But you don't know where I--"
But she was gone.
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Hermione had never been so thankful that she went to a small school. Luckily for her, there were only a hundred guys who showed up to her party. She divided her male guest list into five parts, and each of the five girls were responsible for checking the twenty names on her list. Dudley Dursley was on Hermione's list, and although Hermione was positive he wasn't James, she figured she'd ask anyway since she was going over there to pick up Harry.
After an hour and a half, nineteen names, and no luck, a disappointed Hermione had Winston take her to the Dursleys'. When she knocked on the door, she was met by the angry, purple face of Vernon Dursley.
"If you're selling something, we're not interested," he sneered.
"Oh, no sir. I'm Hermione Granger. I go to school with Harry and Dudley."
"I'm sorry Miss Granger, please come in," he said in his most impressive voice.
"Thank you sir," she said apprehensively as she stepped inside.
Dudley was sitting on the couch watching a television program and eating cheese curls. He was rather startled to see Hermione.
"Hermione! What are you doing here?" he asked, mouth surrounded by a thick orange ring.
Hermione tried to suppress a giggle. "Did you happen to lose a cufflink at my party?"
"A cufflink? No. In case you forgot, Batman doesn't need to wear cufflinks," he said, flexing.
"Right." Turning to Vernon, she asked, "Is Harry here? We're working together on something for school."
"He didn't say you could work here, did he?" Vernon asked menacingly.
"Oh no sir. We're working at my house," she assured him. Dudley looked crestfallen.
"Alright then," Vernon said, walking over to a locked cupboard underneath the stairs. Hermione was horrified when Vernon unlocked it and threw the door open, revealing Harry.
"Boy! Get out of here and work on this project thingy."
Hermione caught a glimpse of Harry's cupboard as he exited, and was shocked by how small it was, as well as by how few belongings he seemed to have.
"Well, we'd better get going," Hermione said. "Lovely to meet you sir." She grabbed Harry's wrist an pulled him out the door.
Once they were in the limousine and a block away from the Dursleys', Hermione turned to Harry.
"Why do you put up with that?"
"Well it's better than getting knocked around for arguing."
Hermione gasped and suddenly noticed that the skin below his left eye was a bit yellowish. "Did he do that to you?" she asked, gingerly running her fingers over the bruised skin.
"Nah, Dudley gave me that one. It's not a big deal though. I'm pretty used to it by now. Plus I'm faster than he is, so he can really only get me if he catches me unawares."
"You should tell somebody. This isn't right," she said, tears forming in her eyes.
"Hermione don't cry," he said, forgetting all pretenses and wiping a tear off her cheek. "I'm not worth crying over. Besides, telling someone wouldn't help anything. Nobody's going to care."
"I care!" she exclaimed, eyes aggressive. "And you are worth crying over!" She opened the locket around her neck and removed something small from it.
"Why do you care?" he asked.
She gently placed the small object in his hand. "Because you gave me the most amazing night of my life Saturday night." Harry looked at his palm to find his other cufflink. "Besides, you're a person, and that's enough reason to care. Nobody deserves this."
"How did you know it was me?" Harry asked, barely daring to look at her.
"Well the first thing that tipped me off was your eyes, but I shook it off because Dudley said you stayed home. Then you made a comment about your aunt and uncle not liking you, which you also did on Saturday, but I still shook it off. But I knew without a doubt it was you when you came out of that cupboard, because I saw the other cufflink glinting in a pile of socks."
"It was my dad's," Harry said. "I was afraid I'd never see it again. After Dudley finished, this is nearly all I have left of him."
"Why did you tell me your name was James?" she asked.
"I didn't want you to know it was me. I figured you'd ignore me if you knew who I really was. Everyone else does. I just said my name was James because that was my father's name, and I've heard we look a lot alike."
"Harry, I wouldn't have ignored you," she said, almost pleadingly. It broke his heart to hear her speaking like that.
"I know that now Hermione, but I didn't before. I'm sorry for doubting you. You're not like that at all. You're wonderful, and amazing, and I definitely did not deserve that wonderful night we had Saturday. I don't even deserve to have you talk to me."
"Oh Harry, you deserve all that and more! I'm the one who doesn't deserve you. I refuse to stand up for myself and I just go along with everyone else. I'm weak."
"Hermione, you're hardly weak. You had the--" but Harry could continue no longer, as his mouth had become obscured by Hermione's. After about half a minute, she pulled away.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me--"
"I'm not! It can come over you any time you want!"
Hermione laughed. "Well, I may just take you up on that," she said.
And she did.
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Epilogue (Harry's POV)
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Sometimes it's still hard for me to believe that I'm the lucky guy who gets to call Hermione Granger his.
She's amazing, you know. Through her determination and her father's skill as a lawyer, I got a real home for the first time in my life. It turns out that in my parents' will, I was supposed to be placed with my godfather in case of their deaths. My godfather, Sirius Black, was my father's best friend, and, as it turns out, Mr. Granger's college roommate. The two of them are still good friends, and Sirius's house is really close to the Grangers', which made it really easy to see Hermione (not that we wouldn't have found a way anyway, it was just more convenient). Sirius has been great; he's the father I never had. Plus he knows loads about my parents, and he doesn't care if I ask about them.
Shortly after graduation, we bought a flat and moved in together. Living together has been a lot harder than we imagined it would be, but we always work everything out. We both started university soon after moving in together. I'm studying to be a veterinarian, and she's studying political science. She wants to go into politics, because she really wants to see human rights reform. That girl's going to change the world someday.
I turn and look at her, and she's even more beautiful now than she was when we first kissed five years ago. She looks at me and smiles.
I pull her into my arms, and, to the applause of everyone in the church, I kiss my bride.