Disclaimer: Not mine. If it were, Harmony shippers would be celebrating.
A/N: My response to the "Hermione's sister" challenge by Strawberry Nerd. You can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26786 . I hope you'll like the story, it will start from HBP, during sixth year, but hopefully this new character will help change things, uh? ;)
The letter you'll find here is almost completely taken from the challenge itself.
A Sister's Influence
Chapter Three: Harry's Letter
Harry was quietly eating his breakfast now that Ginny had moved from his lap to go chat with her friends, when an envelope fluttered in front of him. Wondering who might have written him, he sure enough didn't expect letters, he took a glance at the front, reading his name in a somewhat familiar handwriting. Taking a look around, he noticed Ron involved in a debate over what was more alluring, Lavender's lips or his sausages, unaware of what had just happened.
Hermione seemed a bit distracted herself, he noticed. He took the chance to pocket the envelope unseen, whoever was writing him must have had something important to say he reckoned. Sadly, he didn't have relatives who would write just for the sake of asking how he was, so it was better to read it in a secluded place without too many eyes around.
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All day Harry wondered who the mysterious person who wrote him was. He couldn't wait for lessons to finish so that he would be able to sneak away with his cloak and read it. He sure enough didn't want to do that in the common room when anyone could meddle in his affairs. Hermione being the first who would do so, he thought with something akin to annoyance. He still didn't understand why she was giving him such a hard time over the Prince's book, and if he was to be honest, she was starting to get on his nerves about that.
Finally managing to sneak out of the common room, Harry went to the Room of Requirements to have some privacy. He was so curious about the letter that he never noticed Hermione missing dinner and not being in the common room with the others. He did notice Ginny searching for him, though, but he would just have to tell her he was sorry tomorrow.
When he finally tore the envelope open, Harry read the first lines and chuckled. Of course he thought the handwriting was familiar! And the length of the letter was another hint, he thought with a smile.
Dear Harry
First, I'm sorry for being so informal when you don't know me. My name is Ophelia Granger. I'm
Hermione's older sister and I suspect she hasn't said anything about me.
Harry had to admit he never knew Hermione had a sister. He briefly wondered why she never mentioned it. To him at least. Maybe Ron knew it, they had had to become a bit closer after all, spending part of the summer together before fifth year and a few days last summer when he wasn't there. The thought of Ron knowing something about Hermione that he didn't was unsettling, to say the least, although Harry didn't really know why.
Now, the actual topic of this letter is my concern about a few of your choices Mr. Potter. Normally I would never
involve myself in your personal matters but they affect my sister and I will do everything and anything I can to help
her, even interfere in her friends' lives if necessary.
Harry knew where Ophelia was coming from. He would interfere in his friends' lives too, if he thought they were doing something wrong or that would make them unhappy. Or at least, he thought he would, but till now he never had the need to.
Mr. Potter, I feel that you do not understand your importance and no, I am not talking about your importance to that
backwards world you and my sister seem so determined to live in.
Harry openly laughed at Ophelia's definition of the Wizarding World. He had to admit, being Muggle-raised, that wizards were quite behind the Muggles in certain matters.
I am talking about your importance in my little sister's life. You may not realize this, and if you tell her I told you this I will deny telling you anything, but you are her first real friend. She constantly talks about you and she values your opinion more than most of her teachers'.
The raven haired boy was a bit troubled at that. He had suspected, in their first year when Hermione was always studying and sticking to the rules and reprimanding them, that she must have not had many friends before, and if he was honest, he could see why. But him, her first friend? He never thought she had been that badly isolated before. He always thought someone like him and Ron must have befriended her in her primary school!
As for valuing his opinion more than the teachers' and talking about him…well, it wasn't the first time he had heard it. Krum mentioned she talked a lot about him too, in their fourth year. Why him and not Ron? It was clear she fancied the redhead, so why not talk about him?
Plus, did she really believe he knew better than their teachers? He might have had some right instincts in the past, when they saved the Philosopher's Stone, or when they saved Sirius who was thought a murderer by everyone, even the school staff and Dumbledore, but he wasn't wiser than them. Why did Hermione think so highly of him?
You, on the other hand, have all but taken her for granted for the past three years if not more! Do you know how many
letters I got in her third year, showing how upset she was?
All of them were talking about how her friend Harry was taking Ron's side about a stupid rat when she was innocent
and about how her friend Harry was being so careless with a bloody murderer after him. Have you ever apologized for
that or did you just assume that you were forgiven when you started to talk to her again? Did you ever thank her for
being the only bloody person who truly believed you about not entering that blasted tournament? Or spending hours
trying to find spells that could help you survive the tournament? What about thanking her for arranging for that
article to be written in that paper last year?
Now Harry really felt bad. Ophelia was right, he never told Hermione he was sorry about the incidents in their third year with the broom and Scabbers. He never thanked her for being by his side when not even Ron was, or for trying to lessen the pressure he had on him last year when everyone thought he was mad. He never did something like that for her. What kind of friend was he? An awful one, he was starting to think.
But that didn't surprise him, considering his lack of experience with relating to others. For ten years he had been alone, coped up at the Dursleys', and beaten by his cousin and his gang. He didn't exactly have a good example of friendship. Not that this justified his actions, he thought.
"I'll have to talk with Hermione soon" he made a mental note for later. For now, he had a long letter to keep reading.
The impression I get is that she is one of your best friends, one third of a `golden trio'. If she really is your
best friend, how is it that you let those awful girls in your House make fun of her by telling her that
she doesn't understand their world? How is it you don't understand that for years
she has thought that all she is good for is intellectual help? You've let her keep thinking this and now she thinks
you don't need her anymore. She probably thinks she doesn't have any value except for homework help or some
other such nonsense. If you let her continue thinking such things, if you let those awful girls continue to
degrade her for being a Muggleborn or for being intelligent or for not dating someone and therefore not really
apart of `your world', you don't deserve her as a friend.
Harry read this part really carefully. He had always thought Hermione was one of his best friends, that was true. But he didn't defend her from the taunting of their housemates, and particularly of Ginny who now was his girlfriend. That was awful of him. He never truly stopped to think about it, but now that Ophelia had pointed that out, he felt so undeserving of Hermione's friendship.
And how could she think she was only useful for homework? Was that the real reason for her dislike of the Prince's book? Did she really think that now he had it he would cast her away like an old sock? Harry felt a mixture of resentment toward Hermione for thinking so lowly of him, and anger at himself because he must have encouraged her view with his actions. She was a wonderful, caring girl, and he couldn't be luckier to have her as a friend. He should have shown her that by his actions, though. It was hard for him, as he was accustomed to keeping his feelings for himself, but he vowed he would try from now on.
And as to that Prince book, yes I know about it, Hermione told me about it. Do you have any idea how much you've
hurt her when you completely disregarded her opinions? And Hermione told me about that wretched diary incident in your
second year. Do you really think the diary was the only book in the Wizarding world that is
dangerous? Yes I can see that the information may be useful, but at least research before you try some of the more
dangerous things like the spells. You don't know what they will do and it would be dangerous to
find out in the middle of a battle.
The boy started to realize just now how Hermione must have felt at his comments about the book. He ought to tell her he was sorry for them, maybe have her read the book with him so they could work out what's dangerous and what is not. Even being a Muggle, Ophelia had a point, and he couldn't believe he didn't see it. The diary that almost caused Ginny's death was a book, and of course if that had been charmed to be so deadly, any other book could have similar charms on it. Only now he realized what Hermione must have thought at seeing him so adamant at not giving the book up.
As for the point about the spells, he learned the hard way that Hermione and Ophelia were right when he used Sectumsempra on Malfoy and almost killed the Slytherin. He would have to be more careful, and research was a good way to assure what a spell could or could not do.
And about battles, you are in the middle of a bloody war and I'm quite certain that you are one of the biggest
targets. Are you preparing to fight? Are you practicing to make sure that you will survive? Are you taking every
opportunity you can to make sure that you have the necessary skills to protect yourself? Are you making
sure that your friends can protect themselves?
I promise you Mr. Potter, that if you are off trying to act like everything is normal and my sister is hurt because of
it, I will find you and you'll wish that Voldemort fellow had found you first.
Even being a wizard, Harry was a bit scared by Ophelia's threat. He knew Hermione's temper, and if an angry Ophelia was a tiny bit like that, he better find a way to keep Hermione safe. And, what the girl had said about the upcoming war was true. He was listening to Dumbledore's lessons on the Horcruxes to understand why Voldemort couldn't die, but even if he managed to destroy all of them, he would still have to duel the darkest wizard of all times and kill him to end the war once and for all, and who knows how many Death Eaters he would have to duel in the process. Was he ready for that? Not even close.
He needed to ask Dumbledore to train him in battle before it was too late. He had noticed the Headmaster's health worsen, slightly but continuously, through the school year, and he knew no better dueller than the Headmaster. He would also have to pick up the DA again, so that he could teach his friends how to duel and make sure they had a chance to survive. He had already lost too many people close to him.
Harry realized his foolishness. All year he had lusted after Ginny, acting like a normal teenager, searching a distraction from his fate and troubles, but he should have been preparing for war all that time. He couldn't be thankful enough to this girl he never met for waking him up and pointing him in the right direction. But then, he wasn't at all surprised. She was Hermione's sister after all, what else could he expect?
With a soft smile, Harry set to read the last few lines.
And don't you dare use this as an excuse to avoid her or break off your friendship with her. She's been your
friend for the past five years and she's a Muggleborn, she'll be a target whether you're
still friends or not so learn, practice, and protect her and the rest of that stupid world the two of you seem so
determined to stay in.
sincerely
Ophelia J. Granger
"Don't worry, Ophelia. I wouldn't even think of breaking my friendship with Hermione, she wouldn't let me anyway. Plus, I like to think I'm smart enough to know I can't win this war alone" he whispered to the night, clutching the sheet of paper in his fisted right hand as he swore he would do what he could from now on to prepare for the upcoming war, and to right the mistakes he made in his and Hermione's friendship.
With a new determination, Harry finally snuck back to Gryffindor Tower to get some sleep. Tomorrow, a Harry Potter different from the one of the last few months would have to rise with the sun.
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