how many times have i found you?
The raindrops are heavy across her back as she runs through the space between their houses. One hand holds onto her skirts, while the other is clasped firmly in a boy’s hand. He pulls her behind him, navigating them through the bumps and quickly forming puddles along the old dirt road.
He takes her all the way to her front door, stopping under the canopy her pa just put up after years of her ma begging. She wraps an arm around the post leaning against it as she looks up at him. He looks different, she thinks. He’s spent most of the summer working in the field with his pa. He’s cut his hair. Shorter now then it’s ever been. And he’s grown at least a few inches. She doesn’t remember having to crane her neck so much just to look at him.
He shakes the water off himself like a wet dog. Just to make her laugh, she’s sure. Because as soon as she does, he smiles her favourite smile. She didn’t realise how much she missed him until this very moment.
“Why don’t you come in? Ma will make you something hot to drink.” He takes a second to think, looking between her and the road that leads back to his house. His gaze falls to their shoes as he takes a step closer.
“Better not, my pa will tan my hide if I’m back after dark.” He is standing so close to her; she can feel the heat coming off his body. It’s closer than she can ever remember them being.
“Why did you walk me back then?” Her voice sounds strange to her own ears as the question comes out. Floaty and not at all like her. He must think so too because he finally looks up at her.
“Well, I reckon your pa woulda done worse if I woulda let you walk back alone.” He replies with a chuckle. He pulls a strand of her hair between his fingers and twirls it. It’s something he’s done hundreds of times before, but this time feels different. “And in the rain no less?” He tsks, and she giggles. The sound makes him grin.
For a second, she thinks he’s going to kiss her. His eyes drop to her lips. And for a second, she wants him to.
“Mabel! You get in here before you catch your death!”
Hermione can feel the blush on her cheeks as soon as she wakes up. For two months the dreams have stopped. Since she has started Hogwarts, she hasn’t had one once. It figures it would happen on Hallowe’en. Except this one wasn’t a nightmare. No, it hadn’t been scary at all. She can feel the heat rise to her cheeks again. She groans in frustration as she rubs at them. These dreams, good or bad, almost always make her feel dreadful afterwards. She had forgotten about this part. It was almost like longing. It always passed, but directly afterwards the feeling lingered.
Today is supposed to be fun. All anyone has been able to talk about for the past week has been the Hallowe’en feast. And they have a practical lesson in charms. Which she will admit she is a little more excited about.
She pushes herself out of bed and the remnants of her dream out of her head. It will be a good day. She just knows it.
“It’s no wonder no one can stand her.” He hears the words come out of Ron Weasley’s mouth as they all make their way out of the charms classroom. “She’s a nightmare, honestly.” He knows he’s talking about Hermione Granger, but that seems a little harsh. While she had been a bit condescending in class, Ron isn’t exactly ever nice to her either. And yeah, she is a stickler for the rules, but Dean wouldn’t ever want to do something that would jeopardise his place at Hogwarts either. As the only other first year muggleborn in Gryffindor, he feels a sort of kinship with her.
He’s seen some of the other first years make fun of her in class. He had been just as excited as her at the start of term. Only after seeing the Slytherins snicker at her during their first potions lesson, when she practically jumped out of her seat to answer all of Snape’s questions, did he choose to ease back a bit and save the excitement about magic for the comfort of his four poster.
He has the thought to tell her maybe she should do the same when said girl barrels through Harry and Ron. She had to have heard him. Harry says something similar.
“So? She must’ve noticed she’s got no friends.” Dean hadn’t noticed that. He thinks he should maybe go after her, but Seamus pulls him away for his help on their Transfiguration essay before he can decide.
He doesn’t see her for the rest of the day. He even looks for her at the Hallowe’en feast. He decided he would ask her to sit with him, Seamus, and Neville. But she never shows up. The boys introduce him to all the wizarding treats he’s never heard of. It’s fun and all, but he misses his muggle Halloween, watching scary movies with his mum and sisters. His mum would always get their favourite sweets to go with their kettle corn. He’s still thinking of them when Professor Quirrell comes bursting into the Great Hall. Everybody is staring as he rushes to the head table.
“Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know.” He gasps out before collapsing to the ground. The hall breaks out into chaos. The Gryffindor table is by far the worst. The Weasley twins seem to revel in the disorder. Even as Professor Dumbledore calls for all prefects to lead their houses back to the dormitories, they lean across house lines and are taunting the Hufflepuffs.
He, again, ends up behind Harry and Ron. He’s not really paying them any attention, because of the actual troll on the loose, until Harry stops and pulls Ron along with him. He hears Hermione’s name. He falls in step with them and listens closely.
“She doesn’t know about the troll.”
“She’s back at the dorms though, isn’t she?” Dean cuts in. Both boys jump back at the sound of his voice. They both look uncomfortable as they look between Dean and each other.
“No, she’s in the girls’ toilets.” Harry finally answers.
“Why is she there? How do you know she’s there?”
“Look, we don’t have time for questions. Are you going to help us find her or not?” Harry snaps. Ron takes a step back. Dean and Harry both notice.
“I’m just going to tell Percy. Just so someone knows where we are.” He runs before them casting a glance back before getting lost in the sea of students in the corridor.
They sneak away in the opposite direction. They take off running as soon as they are in the clear. At the sound of footsteps, they glance at each other.
“That’s probably Ron.” Harry guesses as he slows, but the steps are too heavy. He grabs him as he looks back.
“No, Snape.” Dean pushes him behind a stone pillar.
“Why isn’t he with the rest of the teachers?” Dean shrugs. He waits for Snape to clear the corner and then he pulls Harry along behind him.
“So, how do you know she’s down here?” Harry looks guilty as Dean glances back at him. He takes a while to answer, but he blurts out once they are in sight of the toilets.
“One of her dormmates said she was down here crying, okay?” He snaps as a pungent smell reaches them. They look at each other and groan in acceptance as they run into the room with the troll and the girl they came down here to help.
Hermione is on the ground on the opposite side of the room with the troll bearing down on her. Both boys start yelling as they see how close it is to her. It turns to them, more attracted to the moving objects. It moves slowly, lumbering over to them. When it gets far enough away from her, they dart around each side, confusing it further. They try to help Hermione up, but she seems to be too shocked or scared to move.
“What do we do now?” Harry hisses as they sit crouched around Hermione.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” He repeats as he looks between his two fellow Gryffindors and the troll advancing on them. He looks around the room hoping to find anything, but he comes up dry. The troll has destroyed anything that could be used as a weapon. The ceilings are high though. If only they could go over it.
“Wait a minute. Wingardium Leviosa.”
“We make it float then walk right under it.” It’s his only idea, and Harry still looks sceptical. “Well, have you got anything better?” When Harry doesn’t say anything, Dean tries to get Hermione up. They need all three of them for this to even maybe work.
“Please, Hermione we need your help. You did the spell so well in class. You really showed Ron up.” He can feel Harry glaring at him, but he doesn’t care about the other boys friend right now. A troll is standing between them and the only exit. Hermione needs to get up and use her wand, and he’ll say anything to get her to do it.
She looks up at him with determination and nods her head. He pulls her up, and she shakes herself off and puts her wand in position. They all raise their wands and say in unison,
And somehow it works. The troll begins to lift off the ground. It thrashes about as it gets closer to the ceiling. Very slowly all three children pass under the floating troll, all still holding the spell as they go. They have almost made it to the door, when it burst open causing them all to lose concentration. With a loud crash, the troll falls to the ground. The children jump with their backs firmly pressed to the wall. They watch the unmoving troll for a second before their gaze jumps to the wide open door.
Professor McGonagall is glaring at them as Professor Snape sweeps in and makes his way to the troll. Dean hasn’t gotten in any trouble since he started Hogwarts, but from the look on McGonagall’s face he is now in more trouble than he’s ever been in his whole life.
“You should all be in your dormitory! What are you doing down here!?” No one answers, and it only makes her angrier. “Explain yourselves, now!”
“I’m sorry, Professor.” All eyes shoot to Hermione. “It’s all my fault. They were only out of their dormitory because they were looking for me.”
“And why weren’t you in the dormitory, Miss Granger?” Some of the anger has faded, as she watches Hermione.
“I-I- wasn’t at the feast Professor. I wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t know about the troll. I swear.” He understands why Hermione isn’t telling the whole truth. He wouldn’t want to tell anyone he was crying in the toilets because someone was being a git let alone his professor. “Punish me if you have to, but not the boys. If they hadn’t found me, I’d be dead.” He feels the blood leaving his face at the thought of what would have happened if they hadn’t made it in time.
Both boys are speechless as Hermione offers herself up to be punished instead of them. Even though they are the ones that broke the rules. They could have told a professor or one of the prefects, but they didn’t.
Professor McGonagall lets out a sigh as she rests her head against her palm.
“No punishments, but I want all of you to realise just how lucky you are. Now, back to your dormitory.” They all rush out as soon as the words are out of her mouth.
The silence is awkward as they all walk back to their dorm. No one knows what to say, so nothing is said. Hermione walks ahead and says the password before they even get there. But she turns back to them before walking in.
“Thank you both.” She says it with a small smile and the tops of her cheeks are pink, but she turns around and runs into the common room before either of them can say anything in return.
“Girls are strange, mate.” Harry’s looking wide eyed at the spot where Hermione just stood.
“Tell me about it. I live in a house with four of them.” He nudges his shoulder as he walks through the portrait hole. Harry chuckles as he walks in beside him. *
She finds him in the common room the next day. It’s, thankfully, mostly empty. Harry is already down for breakfast, and everybody wants to know how he defeated the troll. Better him than her.
She asks him the question that has been rattling around her head since he helped her up in the girls’ toilets. She has seen him almost every day since the start of term, but yesterday he had looked so familiar in a way she has never noticed.
“Have we met before?” He looks offended.
“We’ve had classes together and shared a common room for the past two months, Hermione.”
“Yes, I know, Dean.” She puts emphasis on his name. Of course, she knows who he is. “I just meant, well, we’re both muggleborns.” He raises his brows at her. She continues. “I guess you just seem familiar. Like we’ve met before. Somewhere outside of Hogwarts.” She’s rambling, she knows. But he doesn’t seem to mind. For some reason, he is smiling.
“Nah, I’d think I’d remember this head of hair.” As he says it, he twirls one of her curls between his fingers. She freezes, so does he. The action seems to shock both of them. Dean practically jumps away from her. He shoves his hands deep in his pockets. “I just meant it really stands out.” He seems embarrassed, but Hermione doesn’t have a clue of what to say either. “Er… Not in a bad way or anything.”
“It’s okay, Dean. I’m well aware of how my hair looks.” She smiles at him, and she can hear his relief as he chuckles. “Really, I just wanted to thank you again.”
“Really, you don’t have to. I’m sure if anyone knew you were down there, they would have done the same thing.” He has to actively keep his eyes from finding Ron. It’s better if she doesn’t know about that. There’s already enough discontent between them.
“I’m not too sure about that. Ron was right. No one likes me.”
“Oh, come on, that isn’t true.”
“Really, who?” She’s standing defensively with her arms crossed over her chest. He’s seen his sisters in the same pose hundreds of times. The corner of his mouth twitches up at the familiarity of it. One of her brows quirk up in response. “What, would you like to be friends?”
No, that hadn’t been what he was implying, but now that the idea is planted in his head it seems right. He feels his heart beating rapidly in his chest and he can’t figure out why. He’s made plenty of friends in his life. But this moment feels important. He can be friends with Hermione Granger. Maybe he can even help her relax in class a bit, too.
“Sounds good, Hermione.” He finally pulls his hands out of his pockets and holds one out to her. She smiles as she puts her hand in his, and he knows he’s made the right choice. “Friends.”
*Section contains lines of dialogue taken directly from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
