Hermione Lyra Black

October 1991 

Hermione was bouncing with energy. Today was the first quidditch game of the season. Gryffindor was playing Slytherin, and she would finally see Harry and Draco again. 

They had used their journals almost every day. They didn't have lengthy conversations every day, but they at least wrote to each other daily. If only to say hi. Hermione liked it. She understood they actually had lives, friends and homework to do at school. And Hermione did as well. She had, in fact, been quite busy this fall. 

She had started playing soccer with some muggle girls that lived on their street. Which she surprisingly loved. 

Narcissa had wanted her to continue with ballroom dancing, but Hermione refused to do that without the boys, so they had compromised with her continuing with her ballet dancing.

She had a standing date with her Dad once a week where they explored muggle London. They had initially used the motorbike for that, but when Narcissa discovered that, she freaked out and forced both Lucius and Sirius to buy cars they could use when they couldn't use wizarding transportation. She had also forced them to place every protective charm and ward they could find on the vehicles, even though that was technically illegal. 

Hermione found it absurd that Narcissa thought it was safer to fly on the motorbike than it was to ride it normally. In Hermione's mind, it was a death trap either way. 

Otherwise, she was busy growing the garden with Neville and Kreacher and learning the wolfsbane potion theory. She hoped she would be able to make it by herself before she went to Hogwarts, but she knew that was unlikely. 

She was searching for the best birthday gift for her Dad and had yet to read Gilderoy Lockeheart's latest book. (Don't tell the boys, but he was another one of her crushes).

She went with Lucius to work once a week, which she truly liked. He let her help him with the arithmancy equations, which were way too advanced for her, but she managed to finish them if he started them for her. And she really, really enjoyed sitting in on his business meetings. Seeing her uncle be so cold and vicious when he was the sweetest, most loving person she knew was so weird.

Something that took up a lot of her time was that she might have been doing Harry's homework for him, which she didn't condone by any means, but Hermione enjoyed it so much that she found it hard to care. She made sure she intentionally put several errors in every assignment and told Harry he had to find them and correct them before handing the papers in so she felt it was okay. 

The boys held her updated on life in Hogwarts. They told her about the castle and professors, about the students, and house rivalries. They told her they sometimes found it hard to hang out with each other since some of their friends took the rivalry exceptionally seriously. But they tried to ignore it. 

Hermione knew how to read between the lines, and from what she gathered from what the boys had written, it was mostly Harry's friends who were giving them a hard time about being close. This was made clear by the fact that Harry was becoming friends with Draco's friends, but it didn't seem like Draco was forming friendships with Harry's friends.

Draco had become good friends with most of his housemates. He found Gregory and Vincent a bit dense but still liked them. He mainly wrote about Blaise and Theo and often about Daphne and Pansy, which Hermione found comforting since she was friends with the girls. He also wrote about some of the boys in the year above. 

Harry had also become good friends with his housemates, and according to Draco, Ron was up his arse all the time. It seemed like a sore subject, so Hermione tried to avoid it. 

"Bloody daughter-stealing son of a bitch." Her father's grumbling brought her out of her thoughts. She looked up at her father, who was still pouting and squeezed his hand. They were walking up to the castle from Hogsmead. She was holding her father's hand and trying to be extra sweet and make up for her wearing the Slytherin scarf her uncle had bought her. 

"Daddy?" She asked in her best little girl voice. 

Sirius stopped and looked down at her. "What is it, kitten?" 

"Nothing. I just wanted to say that I love you." Hermione smiled at her father

Sirius felt his throat choke and had to swallow several times to clear it. "You are not playing fair, Hermione." He hugged her tightly and stroked the back of her head. 

"So I'm forgiven?" her voice came out muffled against his chest. 

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, you can wear all the Slytherin gear you want."

"Oh, for Salazar's sake, let the girl go. She can't breathe." Lucius informed them. "And stop being so emotional. It's unbecoming." 

Hermione laughed and wriggled out of her father's arms. She grabbed both men's hands and dragged them towards the field. 

"Don't rush, Hermione. It's beneath you." Lucius drawled. 

"Oh, hush. Hurry up. I think I can see them." 

____________

As they got closer to the quidditch pitch, Hermione let go of her father's hand and ran into the arms of the two boys waiting for them. 

"I've missed you so much," she hugged them tighter. 

"I'm so glad you are here! I can't wait for you to meet my friends." Harry was tugging at her arm, trying to drag her towards the Gryffindor stand. 

"Nope. That's not going to happen, Potter. She is sitting with the Slytherins." Draco said and grabbed her other hand.

"She's actually sitting in the donor stand," Lucius said. 

"What, why?" Hermione whined. 

"That's the rule. Anyone who's not a student has to sit there," he stated. 

"Oh, come on, Father. Let her sit with us. We won't see her until Christmas." Draco pleaded. 

Hermione made sure her best puppy eyes were on and pouted at Lucius. 

He groaned. "Ugh. Fine." 

"She can sit with you, but you must sit together all three. I don't care where, as long as you're together all three." Sirius said. 

"Dad, relax. It's a school game. Nothing is going to happen." Harry said at the same time, Hermione let out a squeal. "Thank you, Daddy!" 

"Why are you wearing a Slytherin scarf?" Harry frowned at her. 

"Cause this arsehole thinks he can decide what my daughter wears," Sirius stated, nodding at Lucius. 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said and dragged the boys with her. 

They ended up with the Gryffindors. Draco and Harry had settled it with a round of stone/cloak/wand, which Harry had won. 

Draco was sulking a bit in the beginning, but he got over it quickly. To Hermione's delight, the boys weren't overly obsessed with watching the game, and they spent most of the time talking and catching up. 

Harry had introduced her to his housemates, and she really liked them. She found Seamus hilarious. Harry was telling her about their first chams class, where Seamus' feather had exploded in his face, and they were all laughing. 

Except Ron. He was scowling at Draco. He had made a sly comment about Draco sitting with them and about her scarf when they first got to the stand but had dropped it after Harry had glared at him. 

"Dude, what is his problem?" Hermione whispered to Draco after a good 35 minutes of Ron's scowling. 

"He's in love with Harry and wants him all to himself, " Draco said with a laugh.

"What! Seriously?" Hermione whisper-shouted. 

Draco shrugged. "Honestly, maybe."

"Oh, stop it. He's not that bad." Harry said. 

"You are just blind when it comes to him," Draco said. "Honestly, maybe you're the one with the crush". 

"Let's not talk about that anymore." Hermione cut in, sensing some real tension. She pulled out the bag of sweets from her bag and handed them to each of the boys. "Here, I brought you something." 

"Sweet, toffee apples!" Draco exclaimed. 

"Twanks!" Harry mumbled with a mouth already full of candy. 

"Do you want some?" Hermione said while holding the bag out to Seamus and Dean. She made it a point to actively not offer something to Ron. 

Ron tried grabbing for some, but Hermione yanked the bag of candy away. 

Draco laughed, and Harry sighed. "Mione."

"Oi," Ron said. "What's your deal?" 

"What's MY deal?" Hermione asked. "What's your deal? You've been glaring at Draco all through the game." She looked over at Draco, who was obsessively snacking at his toffees and watching the interaction. 

Run huffed. "I have not been glaring. Get over yourself." 

"Hey," Harry said. "Don't talk to her like that." 

"Hush, Harry." Hermione waved him off. "Seriously, what's your problem, Ron? Do you have a crush or something?" 

Ron's face flushed red. "What? No, of course not." 

The other boys started snickering. "Then what? Are you jealous? Cause, seriously, it's getting boring to watch." 

"Hermione. That's enough." Harry interrupted, a bit exasperated. 

That gave Ron all the courage he needed. "You know what? Yeah, I was glaring. Cause I don't want to sit with Slytherinscum and death." 

"Ron!" Harry yelled. 

"Harry, stay out of it," Hermione yelled right back. 

She went up to Ron and calmly asked him. "What did you say?" 

"I, uh", he stammered, looking to Harry for some backup. 

"No, I didn't hear you?" She asked again. 

"I just don't want to sit with evil peopl.." 

"I'm going to stop you right there." She interrupted him. "You see. You don't even know Draco, like really know him. You have never given him a real chance. You have always been mean to him. And for what? Envy? Some stupid rumours about his father? When you judge someone based on mere rumours and labels, you limit your capacity for empathy and understanding. Granted, you are quite dense, and your general capacity is quite small." 

Draco burst out laughing at that. 

Hermione ignored him and continued, "Regardless, you actively contribute to a culture of division and misunderstanding. And YOU are, in fact, the evil one. Not Draco. And if you would have taken the time to get to know him instead of just judging him, you would have known that." 

Ron's face was blazing red again. "I, you" 

"Oh, and by the way," Hermione said and punched him in the nose. "If you ever talk about my uncle again, I won't be nearly as nice next time." 

"Oi, bloody Hell!" Ron exclaimed while holding his bleeding nose. 

Hermione stomped on his foot before turning around. "And that's for being an arse to Draco."

"Seriously??" Ron yelled. "Harry, what the heck?" 

She grabbed Draco's hand, dragging him along. "Come, Draco, let's go sit with your friends." 

"Wait up!" Harry yelled after them. 

Hermione was fuming. "No, Harry. What in the actual Merlin's pants was that."

"Mione, you didn't need to punch him," Harry said. 

"Seriously?" Hermione screeched. "I didn't need to punch him? Draco, is he serious right now? Tell me he's not being serious?" She asked, looking at Draco.

Draco looked from Hermione to Harry, shrugging his shoulders, happy this anger wasn't directed at him. 

"Mione, calm down." Harry tried to placate her.

"No. What the fuck Harry?" Hermione yelled. 

Harry froze. Draco froze as well. Both boys were a tiny bit scared. Hermione didn't usually curse, like really curse. She only did that when she was really angry or upset. Harry had really screwed up somehow. 

"You're letting him talk and act that way towards Draco? Towards uncle? Who even are you? I'm so disappointed in you right now. It's been 2 months, and you're already putting schoolhouses over your family." 

"Mione.. I" He sighed. "Let me... I'm.." Harry whined. 

"No. Come on, Draco." She said and dragged Draco along, leaving Harry standing by himself.