Chapter Text
Prologue
First Year
Receiving her letter wasn’t just confirmation that she was as special as her parents had always told her. It wasn’t even confirmation that she wasn’t as crazy as she had started to believe herself to be given all the accidental magic she had been doing the last seven years.
No. The letter was a promise. An escape. There was another world where she would automatically have something in common with the children her own age. A promise that she wouldn’t be the weird girl in class who couldn’t participate in the conversation about the latest trend or the cutest boy on the playground. After all, if Professor McGonagall was any indication of what this wonderful world, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she was about to step foot into was like she knew she would be appreciated. This was Hermione Granger's new beginning.
GRYFFINDOR!
Hermione took another deep breath while hopping off the stool and made her way to the long maroon and gold table that was clapping for her. For her. She sat down and people actually spoke to her and clapped her on the back. Finally, people were excited to have her. They must have seen something in her. The hat seemed to have a fit about Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Secretly, she would have have been thrilled with any placement.
Slowly, as the other kids were sorted and she sat next to the infamous Harry Potter and across from his fast friend Ron Weasley she let the tension from the day release as she drank her first goblet of pumpkin juice. She nearly scared herself into thinking it would be more of the same after the unfortunate events on the train with coming across as a know it all to Ron and Harry. She was laughed out of one train car by a platinum blonde boy and his friends for simply asking after another boys toad.
But that was behind her now. Her Prefect was leading her group up to the dorm and she was walking through the Fat Lady for the first time. A perfect way to end a night only to have a most perfect morning of first day of classes and getting her timetable and -
“my god Lavender how many clothes did you pack? You know we have to wear uniforms right?”
Parvati Patil. A beautiful southeast asian girl she hadn’t spoken to yet. In fact she hadn’t spoken to either of the girls in her dorm yet.
“Well, of course I know that, but you never want to be caught unaware. And since when is hiding lipgloss in your shoes okay?” Lavender Brown stared back. The girls bust into a fit of giggles and began comparing the contents of their trunks.
Hermione saw this as her chance to make the girl friends she always wanted, “what classes are you most interested in taking? Personally, I think ancient ruins will be the best of the year. I mean if you think about it Hogwarts: A History draws some much on ancient ruins and really tells how Hogwarts came to be.”
Hermione didn’t realize that she was a bit breathless and smiling too largely.
Both girls glanced at each other. Lavender cocked her head to the side while Parvati said something along the lines of Charms probably being the most useful for practical purposes such as glamours and daily life. Lavender turned her back on the girls, but the all too familiar sound of snickering rang in Hermione’s ears as she quietly agreed with Parvati. She grabbed her bathroom bag and as the bedroom door was closing the girls combusted into full on giggles. A sting hit Hermione’s heart as she tried to convince herself that this would be different. That night as she took her shower and her tears mixed with her soap she decided this was just a one time thing of coming on too strongly. This had to be different.
And different it was not.
At first. Try as she might she knew she was different from the other girls. She couldn’t seem to connect. No matter what she attempted to do they wouldn’t talk to her. She began spending more and more time with Harry and Ron, but even that seemed forced. Polite and friendly, but definitely not friends. Almost two months into school and she was brushing tears away from her seventh letter home telling her parents about how funny her friends were and how much she’s enjoying the study groups they’ve formed.
In an attempt to simply help Ron with his spell work she was once again harshly reminded that polite and friendly was not even half way close to real friendship. She cried until her head ached and her stomach hurt so badly she felt like throwing up in the bathroom. Both of which seemed to pale in comparison to a troll.
Harry and Ron saved her that night. That’s how she saw it. They knew where she was and they came rushing to her side. Everything changed after that. They became the trio. Where you would find one you would find the other two. Inseparable. Troublemakers. Rumor has it Dumbledore’s favorites. They took on Snape (in their mind) and defeated Voldemort. Together. Her letters home were no longer lies or wishful thinking. She could actually tell her parents the truth about life at Hogwarts.
The girls never seemed to come around to her. She still caught herself trying too hard and their eye rolls and giggles didn’t go unnoticed. Towards the end of the year when Lavender talked about holding hands with Dean Thomas or Parvati was spilling about Seamus following her around the castle again Hermione would lay stock still and quiet in her bed. The first time she had tried to take part in the conversation by commenting that Draco Malfoy, while foul, had nice hair. The girls had laughed so hard Hermione faked laughed and excused herself to cry in the shower. The final hit came in June. It didn’t seem to matter that Hermione was part of the Golden Trio, or had help win the House Cup. When she was packing up Parvati approached her with a stack of magazines in her hands.
“Hermione, listen, Lav and I were talking and we think that you’re the smartest girl we’ve ever met. I mean the rumors going around…” Parvati took a quick look at Lavender behind her. Hermione’s heart soared at the forthcoming acceptance, “which is why we think if we give you all of these and you have all of summer you just might be able to understand at least one thing in here.” Parvati shoved the magazines in her hands while Lavender absolutely cackled behind her.
Hermione quickly turned to her open trunk so the girls couldn’t see her welling eyes and placed the “gift” inside, “thank you Parvati. It’s so nice to be thought of. I hope you guys have a great summer. Come September I’m sure you’ll have even more tips you could share with me.”
With that Hermione grabbed her bathroom bag just as she had the first night and walked out. Just like her first night the girls didn’t wait for the door to close before their laughter echoed so loudly in the halls it scared a third year coming out of the bathroom. Her last night at Hogwarts Hermione cried in the shower.