Tuesday 14th January 1986.
Hermione had not wanted to come to school today.
There was nothing there worth the pain she would feel. She told her mother that she was feeling unwell, but Mrs Granger was not buying her story. The problem with medically minded parents, they could see right through her lie.
She was angry at her mother for refusing to let her stay home. Her mother had questioned her as to why she was trying to skip school, something she had never done before. Hermione had clammed up and refused to answer, so her mother had driven her to the school and watched her walk inside.
Trudging through the corridors was even harder than normal. For a fleeting moment, she had seen the light. She had someone to call a friend, and then it had been snatched away. Like so much joy she had found since starting school.
"Hermione!"
She walked into the classroom and slumped heavily into her seat. Not even bothering to pull her things out of the bag or put them on the desk. It wasn't worth the struggle anymore. School was meant to be wonderful. Learning with other people her age, all excited to devour the knowledge being given out. Instead, it was just cruelty. The knowledge was there, but all that accompanied it was the pain of rejection.
"Hermione?" A hand softly pushed her shoulder.
She ignored them. They would just tease her like they always had. She needed to rebuild her armour. She had let it down for a fleeting moment and the world had stabbed her sharply in the heart.
"Hermione." Two hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to face the boy beside her. "Are you alright?"
She glared into the green eyes of the boy holding her. She was about to yell at him, unleash months of pent-up rage and hurt when her brain finally recognized what she was looking at. Harry Potter was on the seat beside her. His face was filled with worry, and he was staring straight into her eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat at the intensity of the gaze in which she was caught. He was here. He was real. She hadn't imagined it. Wait. She thought. His presence wasn't a guarantee of that. She knew he was a member of her class, she couldn't have imagined that much. But his presence alone didn't mean what had happened on Friday wasn't an act or a lie.
"Mrs Grevillea. Hermione isn't feeling well, so I'm going to take her to the nurse."
Hermione didn't move as the teacher walked over and watched her closely. Her eyes did not leave the boy beside her. She couldn't yet figure out how this could possibly end in her ridicule. Why was he doing this?
"Come on, Hermione." He gripped her under her arms and slipping an arm around her waist he guided her from the room.
The pair were completely silent as they walked through the corridors. Hermione was looking ahead but could still see Harry out of the corner of her eye. His gaze was still fixed on her as he guided her onward, taking her to Nurse Joy's office. When he set her down on the bed and spoke to the nurse, Joy Matthews, she barely heard a word of the exchange. She just continued to stare at the boy.
Joy became extremely worried about her lack of response and rushed from the room to call her parents.
Harry knelt in front of her, grasping both her hands and looking up into her eyes.
"Please, Hermione. Please be alright."
"You were gone." She finally said the words barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I was," He paused, thinking a moment, "not feeling well yesterday, Hermione."
"You didn't want to see me."
"Rubbish." She recoiled back slightly at the intense edge in his voice. "I was so excited to spend the day with my friend. You are the only friend I have here, Hermione."
Months of anguish fought with hope inside her. She couldn't open herself to the possibility and have it taken away again. She would not survive.
"We are still friends, aren't we?" Small tears were forming in the corner of Harry's eyes and Hermione couldn't resist the hope anymore.
She lunged forward, the most movement Harry had seen from her all day as both arms wrapped tightly around him. Harry was no stranger to hugs from Mipsy, but this was completely different. This wasn't even like the times he remembered his mother's arms around him. He felt like he was home. A warmth spread throughout his body as he wrapped his arms back around the girl he was so worried about.
Her arms were like a vice squeezing him tightly, but Harry was revelling in it. He'd never felt joy like he did at that moment. Hermione began to cry into his shoulder, soaking it through to the skin as she pulled him tightly against her. Hope sprouted deeply within her at the thought it wasn't a joke.
Harry really wanted to be her friend.
Both children were so wrapped up in one another they didn't notice the nurse returning with Hermione's mother. Both ladies were stunned at the sight in front of them. They both had been privy to some of the things Hermione had gone through in her few short months at the school. Neither had expected to see the sight that greeted them.
Harry whispered softly in her ear. "I'm your friend, Hermione. I will be forever if you'll have me."
Hermione's sobbing became audible as the joy raked her body in ways she had not experienced since beginning school.
"Hermione, sweetheart?" Her mother cooed, squatting down beside the pair.
Hermione pulled her face from Harry's shoulder and looked up at her mother's face. Tears continued to stream down her face, but except for the occasional sob, she contained herself in the presence of the adults.
"What happened, dear?" Natalie wanted to wrap her little girl up and never let her go, but she would not release her grip on the boy in her arms.
"A misunderstanding, Mrs Granger. It was my fault." Harry said, drawing her attention.
"And you are?"
"Harry. Harry Potter. I'm Hermione's friend." Harry beamed.
This was a shock to the elder Granger. Hermione had made no mention of any friends at school. In fact, she had made a point of telling them just how much most of the students enjoyed mocking her. She was certain that if she had made a friend that she would have told her own mother. She looked at Harry with suspicion wondering if the lad could be trusted, or if this was some long-winded attempt to hurt her daughter.
A scowl must have broken out on her face because Harry suddenly looked afraid of her, and Hermione let Harry go for the first time since they had entered. "Mum! Don't you dare judge, Harry. He is my friend."
Natalie was taken aback by the tone of her daughter's voice. A tone she had never heard from the timid girl before. She looked between the two again and this time she tried to do so without the rose-tinted glasses of her experience with the children of this school.
If Joy was to be believed, this boy had practically dragged her daughter from the classroom to her office. He had continued to sit with her the entire time and had been hugging her so strongly she doubted she'd have been able to fit a sheet of paper between the two of them.
There was also a look on both their faces. A challenge against anyone who would seek to try to pry them apart. Hermione's arm was wrapped back around Harry's as they sat there staring at the adults in the room.
"A pleasure to meet you, Harry." Natalie extended a hand to the boy.
He hesitated a moment, looking at Hermione for her thoughts. She nodded softly, and he took the offered hand in a firm handshake.
"A pleasure to meet you too, Mrs Granger. Your daughter is really something else."
A beaming smile spread across her daughter's face, the first one the nurse could recall seeing on the young lady since she started at the school. It gave her a glow, despite the tears and the messy hair.
Natalie snuck as close to Hermione as she could get, attempting to whisper in her ear and keep the others from hearing. "Is this why you didn't want to come today?"
Hermione contemplated a moment before slowly nodding her head and tightening her grip on Harry's arm. She was afraid that her mother would misunderstand and try to take her away from Harry.
Natalie ran her fingers gently through her daughter's hair. "Sweetheart, you don't look up to school today. How about we go home, and you have a lie-down?"
A shard of fear ripped through Hermione as her grip tightened even more. "Can… can Harry come too?" It was barely a whisper.
Natalie smiled and turned to Harry. "Would you like that?"
Harry looked torn. He wanted to, more than anything, but he remembered the talking to his mother had given him last night. He was grounded. "I really would, but I need to check with my mum first."
"Of course. Hermione, you need to let Harry go for five minutes so he can get permission."
Hermione stared into the boy's green eyes begging him to return as she released the iron grip she had on his arm. He squeezed her hand softly as he stood up. "Five minutes, I promise."
Harry rushed from the room and shot back into the classroom. He grabbed both his and Hermione's bags and without a word shot back out of the room before anyone could say a thing, and ducked into the first closet he came across. Fishing through his bag he searched for the gift his parents had given him his first day so that he could always get in touch with them if he needed. He wrenched the mirror free from its hidden partition and held it to his face.
"Home."
The surface of the mirror shimmered before the reflection disappeared and was replaced by an empty picture frame hanging on a wall.
"Mum," Harry called into the mirror and waited a moment as a figure stepped into the picture frame.
"Harry? What is going on? You haven't gotten in trouble two days in a row, have you?"
Harry grinned, but quickly realised this was the wrong thing to do as his mother scowled.
"No, I promise, I'm being as good as I can. It's just… Hermione, she is not feeling well. She wasn't responding when she came in this morning. I had to take her to the nurse's office."
"Oh my, is she alright?"
"I think so, her mum is here. She is going to take Hermione home, but I think they're afraid she'll freeze up again. She thought I abandoned her yesterday, mum. She's never had a friend at school. I can't leave her again. Her mum asked me to go with them. Can I Mum, please?"
Lily was shocked by the situation. The poor girl must have been having a terrible time at the school. "You know you are grounded, Harry. But given until now you never had anywhere to go outside the house, that really meant being locked out of the library."
Harry now understood his father's chuckle at the fact that he was grounded. The entire situation had gone over his head as he was rather distracted by his mother's wrath at the time. A feeling of dread built in his chest that she would say no, and he would be forced to break his promise to Hermione.
"Yes, Harry. You can go. When you get there tell Mipsy and she will summon Tybalt. I want both of them watching over you while you're there. We haven't had the chance to vet these people yet, and I don't want you at any unnecessary risk, understood?"
Harry barely stopped himself from whooping and jumping up and down, probably a good thing given all the cleaning supplies surrounding him.
"Thank you so much, mum. I love you."
Lily smiled as the mirror call ended and Harry shoved the glass back into the hidden section of his bag. He shouldered it quickly and grabbing Hermione's bag he shot back off towards Nurse Joy's office. He slid to a stop just inside the door almost exactly five minutes after he had left. The look of relief on Hermione's face brought a grin to his own.
"She said yes."
A wide grin spread across Hermione's face as she leapt up and hugged him tightly again. Natalie and Joy had a quick conversation before she led the two children out and into the car. They did not let go of each other's hands as they both climbed in through the same rear door and settled into the seats, clipping on their belts and smiling at Natalie as she settled into the driver's seat.
She smiled to herself as she started the engine and began the short trip home.
ϟ
The day spent at the Grangers was one of the best of Harry's short life.
Shortly after arriving, Mrs Granger called her husband to inform him that she was taking the day off and would be home watching over Hermione and her new friend. She settled them in by making an amazing early lunch.
Harry had tasted some rather amazing dishes with several house-elves cooking solely for him, but somehow the food made by Mrs Granger was a cut above. Hermione sat with amazement through the meal that not only did she have a real friend now, but he was also sitting in her house talking to her mum. The joy she experienced was beyond anything she had known before.
The moment they had both finished eating she dragged him through the entire building showing him every nook and cranny. She even filled him in with some rather embarrassing stories of events that had taken place in them over the years.
When they reached her room, Harry was amazed at the number of bookshelves wrapped around the blue walls. There were no dolls or girlish toys that he had expected to see. It was clear his new friend was a complete bookworm and, at home at least, proud of it.
She showed him all her favourite books, of which there were many spread throughout the home. Almost every room had at least one bookshelf in it and Harry felt a little guilty that he couldn't tell her about the library he had back home yet.
As the day wore on Mrs Granger suggested the children spend some time outdoors and after a few minutes of showing Harry around the yard, they settled under the tree in the middle of the yard. Hermione's favourite place to sit and read. She chose to read him her favourite book together.
Harry already loved the Lord of the Rings, even though he sometimes had to stop and get help with the words. But he loved it, even more, when Hermione read it. She used different voices for all the characters and some of them were truly out there.
The laughter coming from the backyard had Natalie smiling constantly. She had known Hermione was having a hard time at school but hadn't thought things were as bad as she made out. When she had begged to stay home for no reason, she couldn't figure out what had come over her normally bubbly little girl. After the story about how they had first met and how Harry had to miss school on Monday came out, it all began to make a little more sense.
In her first month at the school, several children had pretended to be friendly to Hermione to get help with their homework, or some just as a cruel joke, but in the end, all of them had ended in heartbreak for her daughter. Aware now of what she had been feeling that morning, she felt terrible for forcing her to go. But was now so glad that she had, as it had led to these two sitting under the tree happily chatting away.
Both children were disappointed when Hermione's father came home, and they realised just how late it was becoming. Harry thanked the Grangers for having him but said he had to go home before his parents became worried, but he promised Hermione he would see her again at school the next day and if for any reason he couldn't make it on a day he would make sure to get a message to the school.
Before he could leave Hermione grabbed him firmly in a hug that Harry swore he would never tire of. There was just something so completely different about being hugged by a human than his elves. And Harry was quickly coming to love the feeling, as he squeezed the girl back in return.
He walked out the door with a huge grin on his face to see Pops standing there, appearing to all to be a wizened old man in a neat, dark suit.
"Thank you for having the young master," Pops said to the two adults, who gave him odd looks before glancing down at Harry slightly differently.
Harry knew that Pops's disguise as his family's servant made him seem a bit pompous, but he wasn't worried that Hermione would judge him for his family. He had a real friend now.
"He was a delight. He's welcome back anytime." Natalie replied and Pops nodded to them both.
Waving to the Grangers, Harry took the elf's hand as Pops led him down the street to a concealed copse of trees by the very same park that Mipsy arrived in for school Where, with a pop, they both headed home.
ϟ
The days passed quickly after that and before Harry knew it his grounding was over. This was the best thing in the world because, except for that first time, his parents hadn't let him go back to Hermione's house again while he was grounded.
She had taken it well this time, understanding the punishment and making sure he had as much fun as possible when they saw each other during school hours, but things quickly became normal between them.
They would always eat their lunch together in the library under the watchful eye of Miss Holmes the librarian. One time Thomas had figured out where two of his favourite punching bags had been vanishing to and tried to start something in the library but was summarily tossed out on his ear by Miss Holmes. The letter home to his parents did not go well for the third-year and his bullying was severely toned down after that.
Harry and Hermione had only giggled with each other as he was being escorted out, discussing how disappointing it was that he hadn't actually burst into flame.
With the added benefit of a reliable and helpful study partner, the pair quickly shot to the top of their class, stunning all the teachers with their combined abilities. Harry was more excited every day to go back to school and almost dreaded the weekends that he had to spend cooped up at home learning about the magical world.
While he knew these were important lessons that would help him immensely when he was finally revealed to that world again, he much preferred the occasional weekend he got to spend all day hanging out with Hermione.
His father had looked at him with pride and anguish the day he came home and described in detail how Hermione had taught him to ride a bike.
After Harry had gone to bed that night, Lily had held James in the portrait above his bed as the man cried for hours at the loss of yet another major bonding milestone in his son's life.
ϟ
Saturday 15th February 1986.
During one of the more boring weekend lessons, Harry felt his mind drifting to his friend, wondering how Hermione was spending her time while he was cooped up inside, listening to great, great, great, great, great Uncle Reginald waffle on about trade practices and their impact on grain something or others.
He felt his stomach trying to eat itself as he had not been terribly hungry at breakfast, but Reginald would never end a lesson early and let him get a snack.
While wishing hard that he could just grab something sweet to eat as he listened, Harry looked up when the talking stopped and found himself sitting in the kitchen being stared at by Tybalt as he steadily poured a bottle of milk over the floor rather than into the bowl he had hopefully been aiming for.
"Um, Tybalt, you're making a mess."
The elf quickly pulled himself together and snapped his fingers, cleaning away the spilt milk. "Young master, how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You just appeared. Like we do."
"Huh?." Harry replied, with all the elegance of a child on display. "I was just really hungry, and Reginald wouldn't stop talking."
The elf laughed. Even Pops was too young to have been around in Reginald's day but the elves had all had many run-ins with the man's portrait over the years. Of all the Potters he was the most difficult to remain awake around. Mistress Lily had once said he reminded her of Professor Binns at Hogwarts, not that Tybalt really knew what that meant.
Tybalt quickly fixed Harry a small snack and suggested he head back to his lesson, but he made a note to bring up the strange appearance with Harry's parents when he had finished preparing the marinade for tonight's dinner.
And so it was that Harry and Mipsy were summoned to the study to discuss the matter.
"I didn't do it on purpose." Harry defended immediately upon entering. "Just Uncle Reginald is boring." He finished under his breath.
Mipsy laughed and Lily looked at him sympathetically. James had an odd expression, torn between humour and concern. Given that Mipsy was summoned as well, Harry was pretty sure he knew what his father thought had triggered the strange ability.
"Harry, I want you to concentrate really hard on something for me. I want you to picture yourself standing on the other side of the room, just by the window, but looking this way. Can you do that for me?" His father asked, seriously, for a change.
Harry shrugged and closed his eyes, focusing intently on what his father had requested. He didn't feel anything unusual, but after several moments he heard several gasps and opened his eyes to see what had everyone so flustered. Only now he was looking at the portrait from a different direction. He glanced about and was now standing exactly where he had imagined himself to be.
"But, I didn't do anything?" Harry exclaimed.
Mipsy suddenly looked unhappy and James was glaring at the little elf. "This is your doing."
Lily smacked James softly on the shoulder. "We have talked about this James. We thought something might happen but it's hardly something to get upset about."
Harry was still confused. "What is going on? I'm getting scared. Am I going to disappear from my bed in the middle of a dream?" Tears began forming in his eyes.
Mipsy quickly grabbed her young master in a firm hug, shaking her head. "No little Harry. You must really mean it. You can't pop about in your sleep. Elsewise we elves would be popping all over the place."
"So, he is elf apparating?" Lily inquired softly.
"It certainly felt like it, Mistress," Mipsy replied, looking bashful.
"Excellent," Lily replied with a bright smile. "That means he never has to deal with the horrible feeling of apparating."
"I'd hardly call it excellent." James jibed before being silenced by a look from his wife.
"Harry, it's nothing to worry about. It will get easier as you practise, which Mipsy will help with over the next few weeks. Then you can pop wherever you need to. And unless I'm mistaken, you could even pop in and out of Hogwarts once you start going there. I know the elves in the kitchens certainly can."
Harry started to feel a little better after the talk with his parents, and as he lay trying to sleep that night, he heard a rather heated argument coming from his parent's portrait. But decided it was none of his business and allowed himself to drift off, knowing tomorrow was Monday and he would see Hermione again.