If I Never Knew You

Prologue

1^st August 1991

Hermione looked down at the piece of paper clutched in her hand, the ink smudged where her fingers had run along each line, making sure each small word was actually real. She'd been staring at it for the past two hours, but she still had no idea what to do. No matter what her parents might say about it being her decision, she knew exactly what they thought of as her "most desirable option". For what felt like the millionth time she read the letter again.

Dear Miss Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed...

It wasn't logical. It wasn't normal. It wasn't even particularly convincing - Hermione didn't know why she was just supposed to believe this McGonagall woman without ever having met her. But the weird thing was, she did believe her. All the strange events of her childhood had suddenly been explained to her in a way that made complete sense, no matter what her mother said.

And wouldn't it be nice to fit in? If she really could do... magic - she almost laughed aloud at the very thought - then surely there would be other children who could do it too. She would meet people like herself at this school: outcasts, just like her. For once she wouldn't be in the minority, there would be people who had the same talents and dreams as her. She might make friends...

Sighing, she looked at the other letter lying on her bureau, announcing to the entire world her acceptance to the prestigious Fettes College in Edinburgh. Though it hadn't been her idea to travel the 300 odd miles from her home in Blackheath to Scotland to take the entrance exam, she couldn't help feeling a little proud to be chosen from such a huge group of applicants. Not as proud as her parents had been, however, but she had been perfectly happy to go to Fettes as a boarder and study to be a lawyer like she had always wanted. Until the other letter arrived. Now she didn't know what to do.

Organised as always, Hermione had drawn up a pros and cons list for both schools, and on paper it seemed as if Fettes was the ideal choice. It was certainly the easier alternative, and surely it was stupid to gamble her future on something she wasn't completely certain was even real. It was just so... un-Hermione. Maybe that was why she wanted more than anything to write back to Fettes and tell them to stuff their place: she didn't need it, she was going to be a witch!

Hermione shook herself, hardly believing she was so out of control. Was she not the rational one? Of all the children at her tiny primary school, did she not have the most potential to really make something of herself? Then why was she acting like a baby again, believing in fairies and witches and magic wands just because some letter had fallen through her door?

She would make the right choice, she would go to Fettes, she would make her parents proud. She scrunched the letter up and rocketed it into the bin. There was no such thing as magic.