Summary: What do you do if your best friend sends your picture to her pen pal, claiming it is her and asks you to meet him? Find out what Harmony does when this happens to her. AU-FemHarry
AN: This is my first Harry Potter fanfic, so please I beg you readers to be gentle with me. This is NOT my first time writing with Harry Potter, if any of you had read my other story "Starting a New Life", you will know. The setting of this story is AU, as started in summary, so there will be NO magic involved. Please read and review!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Story inspired by a chapter in Kanshakudama no Yuutsu byArina Tanemura
Love by Letters
The day started beautifully with the sun shining down on a huge three-storied Whitestone mansion on a huge private property, surrounded by a huge garden all around filled with flowers, fruits and vegetables. Towards the back of the mansion was a path leading down to a huge area where animals were kept with horses and other farm animals.
Inside the mansion, on the first floor, was a large dining room that would often transform into a ballroom, a huge kitchen were meals were prepared, and a large entertaining room. The second floor had guest rooms on the one side of the mansions, on the other side was a huge library filled with books of all genres and languages and another entertaining room. On the third floor were the bedrooms of the owners of the mansion and the home offices for the master and mistress to work in.
On the second floor's entertaining room, a sixteen year old girl with long curly brown hair clapped her hands together and closed her eyes tightly as she pleaded, "Please, Harmony, I beg you to help me out."
Another sixteen year old girl was lounging in an expensive white leather sofa. Her green eyes stared at the begging girl in front of her. She ran her fingers through her long straight reddish-brown hair that was tied into a ponytail draped over her right shoulder. "Can you explain to me exactly what you did, Hermoine?" She nodded her head in thanks as a maid placed a cup of tea on the glass table in front of her.
Hermoine Granger sat down on an armchair beside her friend and took a deep breath. "You see, I have this pen pal and we decided to exchange photos of each other. The thing is…I sent him your photo. And now, he wants to meet me," she said. She glanced up to see her friend not responding, just sipping her tea. "Harmony Potter, are you listening to me?!?" she shouted, banging the table.
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Harmony sighed as she stood in the middle of the park, the meeting area for the pen pals. "I can't believe you did something like this, Hermoine," she said. She ran her hands down her pale blue dress to make sure it was spotless. "Why am I doing this again?"
"Because I offered to buy you all the desserts you like," Hermoine said, "Please do this for me. I really like him, but was afraid that he might not like me because I'm not good looking." Her hands clenched tightly to the skirt of her dark red dress.
Harmony shook her head and laughed, "Hermoine, if a guy likes you because of your looks, it's best to not even meet them."
"You're one to talk," Hermoine grumbled, "You're beautiful."
"No I am not," Harmony injected.
Hermoine shook her head and rolled her eyes. Beautiful? Yes, her friend is, but she is also quite dense. It was then she remembered the extra baggage they were towing. She glanced behind…yep, still there. "Harmony, is it really necessary for you to have those guys trailing after you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the other brunette.
Harmony turned to see a group of four men wearing suits and sunglasses, hiding in the scenery, trying to blend in. "I told them not to come, but my parents insisted on it," she said. She reached into her pocketbook and pulled out a long silk white scarf and proceeded to wrap it around her shoulders.
Hermoine laughed sheepishly. "Guess its hard being from a rich family," she said. She reached into her pocket. "Here, I should show you a picture of my pen pal first before we go meet him."
Just then, a huge gust of wind blew by, causing both girls to quickly pull back their hair and closing their eyes. When Harmony opened her eyes, she noticed that her scarf was no longer in her possession, but rather dancing in the wind. Without waiting for her friend, she ran after it.
Hermoine threw her head back to fix her hair. She looked over to an empty space instead of her friend. "Harmony!" she screamed. She was about to run over to her when she crashed into somebody walking around a tree, causing them both to fall to the ground with Hermoine on his back.
The auburn-haired girl shook her head and held a hand to her throbbing forehead. She looked down at the suspicious character underneath her. And by suspicious, he was REALLY suspicious looking. He wore a heavy dark coffee color trench coat with a high neck, despite the warm weather. Large black sunglasses were covering his eyes, along with a white mask covering his lower face. His hair was covered by a navy blue hat that clung on. "What a weird looking person," she thought, eyeing him carefully.
"Excuse me, but can you please get off," the man said in a muffled voice, due to his face being shoved into the ground.
Remembering that she was still on top of him in a strange compromising position, Hermoine quickly got up off of him. "Why did you pop out of there so abruptly for?" she scolded, putting her hands on her hips.
"I could ask you the same thing," the guy replied.
Hermoine was about to retort when she remember her predicament. "Forget it. I don't have time to deal with you," she said angrily. She quickly ran off after Harmony without another word.
The guy got up and dusted off his coat. "Weird girl," he muttered, "Cute…but weird."
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Harmony held out her hand to the sky, trying to catch the dancing cloth while keeping her balance as she ran after it. Behind her, were the bodyguards following close behind, still hiding behind the trees. She sighed in relief as the scarf got tired to dancing and began to fall down to the ground, nestling itself beside a pair of dark brown shoes. "Please, can you get that for me?" she asked, running up to the stranger.
A man, who looked to be in his early twenties, knelt down to pick it up, he stood up straight as he watched Harmony catch up. She bowed her head down to calm her heart from the running she had done before straightening her posture. When she saw the man, her heart began to flutter yet again, this time not from the running, but from the male in front of her.
He was about two heads taller than her, with long red hair, his bangs slightly covering his kind brown eyes. He wore dark magneta shirt with a light earth colored jacket over it and dark blue jeans that reached down to the ground, almost covering his light brown boots.(1) He held out the scarf and asked, "Is this yours?"
Harmony smiled as she took it. "Yes it is, thank you." She quickly wrapped it over her shoulders before it could get away from her again.
"It's a brilliant piece of cloth. Is it silk?" he asked.
Harmony's face turned red as she nodded her head. "Yes, imported out of China," she said with a smile on her face. She then tilted her head and looked confused as she asked, "I'm sorry, but you are?"
"Oh." The man bowed in a gentleman manner. "The name is Ronald Weasley." He eyed Harmony carefully. "You are Hermoine Granger, correct?"
Harmony gasped when she realized that she has found Hermione's pen pal. She nodded her head. "I'm sorry, you just look so much older than your age," she apologized.
Ronald laughed as he said, "Yeah, I get that a lot." He looked to the side and said, "I hope you don't mind, but I made plans to go to a zoo, so…"
"THE ZOO!" Harmony said excitedly. Her green eyes glistened with exhilaration as she leaned toward the flustered teen, who slowly nodded his head. A bright smile grew on her face as she snapped her fingers, the bodyguards immediately coming to her beck and call with a limousine. "Let's go!" she cheered, getting into the limo.
Hermoine entered the scene too late as the limo had already driven off. "Harmony, what are you doing?" she muttered. She was about to follow when she was pushed by someone behind her, causing her to fall down. She growled angrily as she got up to seethe same guy she had met earlier was the culprit. "You again!" she shouted.
The guy was also upset. He got up and stared down at the girl, whether or not if he was also glaring at her, she couldn't tell because of his sunglasses. "Can you stop popping out wherever I am? Are you stalking me?" he grumbled.
Placing her hands on her hips, Hermoine said, "That should be my question." The two continued to have a glaring contest, when all of a sudden, Hermoine remembered the task at hand. "Blast it, Harmony!" she shouted. The boy jumped from the suddenness of her shout. Hermoine turned towards the white limo that was almost out of sight.
Hermoine left the guy staring at her and headed towards the street. She waved down a taxi; she opened the door and said, "Follow that limousine…HEY!" Hermoine felt someone push her into the taxi and sit down beside her. She turned around to see the same guy was the same culprit. "Why are you following me?" she demanded to know.
"I have something to deal with them," the guy said as Hermoine just stared at him suspiciously.
()
Harmony's green eyes widened with excitement as she stared at the hundreds of open pens filled with animals from all over the world. Giggling, she ran over towards a cage where a small brown monkey was hanging by its tail on a branch, chattering in its language; blowing air into her mouth until her cheeks puffed out, she tilted her head, almost like a child playing with a fish tank. She was so into the animals that she didn't even realize that Ron was watching her with amusement. It wasn't until she spotted a specific animal that her excitement escalated. Harmony ran towards a cage where a large yellow cat with black spots was lounging in a tree. "Mr. Weasley! Look, it's a cheetah!" she exclaimed.
Ron studied the feline closely and chuckled. "That's not a cheetah, Ms. Granger" Ron corrected her; "It's a leopard."
Harmony tilted her head and stared at the napping wildcat and asked him, "How do you know that it's a leopard? It looks like a cheetah?"
"Most people make the same mistake about many animals because they look so similar to each other," Ron told her. He pointed to the leopard and explained, "You see those spots? Leopard spots are usually forming a circular pattern. Cheetah spots are more egg shaped and just scattered around the cat like confetti."
Harmony nodded her head to show that she understands what he told her. It was then that she spotted another big cat in a different pen. "Mr. Weasley, look, it's another leopard," she said, "But why did they put it in a different cage?"
Chuckling, Ron shook his head. "That's not leopard," he told her, "See how inside the circular pattern, there's a spot in the middle?" Harmony nodded her head. "That's a jaguar."
Harmony stared at Ron in amazement. "Wow, Mr. Weasley, you're so smart," she praised him, causing him to blush, "You must know a lot about wildcats."
Ron's face was bright red with embarrassment from her praise as he scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Actually, I'm more into reptiles than mammals," he told her.
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Hermoine had arrived at her destination at the zoo and looked around to find her friend and penpal. To her dismay and annoyance, that suspicious looking fellow kept following her wherever she went. When she had finally found them, she listened as Ron explained the difference between a jaguar and a leopard to Harmony and Harmony's praising of his intelligence. Narrowing her eyes, she muttered, "Strange…he didn't sound that intelligent in his letters."
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Ron watched with a gentle smile on his face as harmony expressed her excitement at the animals, especially around those in the feline family. "Ms. Granger, may I ask you a question?" Remembering that she was masquerading as her friend, Harmony nodded her head; she stopped staring at a female lion grooming one of her cubs to give him her attention. "Why is it that you love cats so much?"
Harmony placed her pointer finger against her lips, like she's trying to keep a secret, and grinned. "I'll tell you if you tell me why you chose to study reptiles instead of mammals?"
Ron sat down on a white stone bench in front of the lions' pens. "It started when I was a child, I loved everything about dragons; movies, books, toys, anything that dealt with dragons I have them." Sighing, almost dejectedly, he continued, "However, since dragons don't exist, at least in this lifetime, I decided to spend the rest of my life on the next best things, reptiles." He shrugged his shoulders with a proud smile on his face. "It's not that bad; with my studies on reptiles, it gives me a better understanding on dragons and what their behavior could've been." He grabbed Harmony's hand and dragged her down to sit next to him. "Now it's your turn, why cats?"
Harmony turned the top half of her body to face the lions. "It's kind of like you," she said, "Ever since I was little, I was always fascinated by cats, but because my mum is allergic, I wasn't allowed to have any, not even at the barns. One day on my birthday, my daddy went out and bought me a white stuffed tiger toy, but when my mum saw it, she got upset."
"She didn't throw it away, did she?" Ron thought, horrified at the idea of throwing a child's plaything in the garbage.
"She then went out and bought any feline stuffed animal she could find," Harmony said, causing Ron to stare at her in shock. She laughed and said, "According to mum, more is apparently better than one." She sighed as she thought about those memories she held dear and said, "Throughout the years, my friends and families would always send anything that deals with cats as presents."
Ron smiled at her enthusiasm. He stared at the bodyguards and asked, "Is it normal for those guys to follow you wherever you go?"
Harmony pouted. "Unfortunately, yes; according to my parents, it's for my protection."
The tall redhead couldn't help but think that Harmony looked cute with the pout on face. He stood up and held his hand out. "Why don't we go over to see if there are other felines in the zoo?" he said. Leaning closer, he whispered, "You want to ditch the guards?"
"Do I ever?" Harmony replied. Grinning, Ron took her hand and winked.
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Deciding to step in, Hermione was about to call out her friend's name when the two had decided to bail and ran straight through a dark cave-like interaction. She moaned, "Harmony." She was about to run after her when she ran into the not so stranger once again. "YOU!" she shouted.
"Stop going wherever I'm going," the guy yelled.
Hermione glared at him. "Me? Aren't you the one who's constantly following me? Should I call the cops about a stalker on the loose?"
"I'm not the stalker, you are," he screamed.
"Well, the least you could do is apologize for bumping into someone," Hermione scolded.
"Funny, the same thing could be said about you," he argued.
The two glared at each other, before turning their heads to the opposite sides, pouting, completely forgetting their tasks of pursuing the two runaways.
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Through her excitement of leaving behind the constant memory of her overprotective parents, it wasn't until they slowed down and were deep into the artificial cave and the dim lights showed the various pathways through that she realized where she was. Along the sides were plastic barriers that prevented the cave dwellers from escaping and possibly injuring the guests and themselves. Feeling slightly nervous, Harmony tightened her grip on Ron's hand and reached for his sleeve with her other hand.
Ron turned to Harmony to see her turn pale. "Ms. Granger, are you okay?" he asked with a concern tone.
Harmony nodded her head hesitantly. "Yeah…no…maybe," she replied, not really knowing what to do, only that she wanted to get out of there at that moment.
Giving her a comforting squeeze on her hand, Ron brought her to a bench that was directly below the light and sat her down. He knelt down in front of her and asked, "Do you need me to go get you some water?" By the panicking and horrified look on her face, he could tell that she didn't want him to leave her alone. "You want to get out of this cave, don't you?" he asked. This time, Harmony had her eyes closed tightly and nodded her head anxiously. Seeing that she was stiff with anxiety, whether from the cave or the darkness, he didn't know, but it was better for him to take her and quickly leave the exit on the other side. With a single swoop, Ron lifted her up bridal style and quickly hurried out of the reproduction of the cave.
He settled her down on the bench outside the exit and quickly went to get some water from a nearby vender. Harmony felt something icy cold touch her cheek and slowly opened her eyes. Sighing in relief when she saw that she was finally outside of the dark, she whispered, "Thank you," as she took the clear plastic water bottle from him.
Watching her take a gulp of the water, he smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that. Maybe it would've been better if we ran to get away from them outside of the cave."
Harmony shook her head. "No, it's not your fault," she said, "I should've told you about it."
Ron sat down beside her. "Maybe if you tell me now, I could avoid doing the same mistake," he told her.
"It's silly," Harmony muttered, rolling the bottle between her hands back and front, "It happened a long time ago, but it still bothers me sometimes. When I was younger, my parents took overseas for vacation and one of the attractions was exploring through a cave. Daddy wasn't too sure about it, but mum insisted, saying it'll be great experience. We went with a tour guide and did explore the cave, which was pretty fun if you don't mind the constant darkness and the only source of light was the flashlight we carried. I accidentally dropped my flashlight; when I reached down to pick it up, somebody grabbed me from behind." Ron looked appalled. "I couldn't even scream because they covered my mouth. All I could do is hear my parents call out my name as this person started to take me away. I didn't know what was going on since he blindfolded me; then I heard him talking to other people. I didn't know the language very well, but I did manage to make out that they wanted to either use me for ransom or to sell me."
Ron looked disgusted at the criminals' behaviors as he worriedly thought to himself, "They didn't do anything, did they?"
Harmony laughed as she said, "It's a good thing that I was carrying a tracking device." Ron's disgusted expression turned to disbelief. Harmony showed him her bracelet; it was a silver chain with a lion shaped charm on it. "Daddy had it installed in case anything happens to me. Because I kept it on and those guys didn't take it off, my parents managed to find me with the police and arrested those guys." Playing with her hair, Harmony continued with an embarrassed tone, "Every since then, daddy made sure that every piece of jewelry I have would have a tracking device in them just in case."
Ron looked guiltily at the floor. "I'm so sorry; if I had known, I wouldn't have brought you in there."
Harmony waved her hands in front of her. "No, it's not your fault. As I said, I should've told you earlier," she said.
"But still…" Ron trailed off. He stared off to the side when something caught his eye. He stood up abruptly and told her, "Wait here," and ran off, only to have come back in a flash. Harmony watched with a blank look on her face as he stopped in front of her with a pleased look on his face. He held out a hand and revealed with thin silver chain with a snow leopard charm on it. "Here, this is my apology present for you," he said. Harmony was speechless and just stared at the necklace in hand. Smiling awkwardly, Ron said, "They were sold out of stuff animals that were felines and I figured you probably have every stuff animal there is."
Beaming at him, Harmony took the necklace and said in a grateful tone, "Thank you."
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(A few minutes after Harmony and Ron ran into the cave)
Hermione ignored the man and began to run in her anger, forgetting that her two targets had entered the cave. She bit her bottom lip as she muttered, "Harmony, where can you be?"
One of the workers behind an outdoor counter asked, "Excuse me, miss, would you like a pin of any animal of your choice?"
Hermione looked excited as she asked, "Do you have any cats?" Like Harmony, Hermione loves cats and was lucky enough to have one of her own back home. She went over to the counter and looked upset to see the guy standing there, getting a pin of his own. "He's getting one too, huh?" she thought to herself.
"May I have your name, please?" the worker asked.
"Hermione Granger," was the reply. The brunette heard a loud crash and turned to see him sitting on the floor.
The guy stared at Hermione in shock and pointed at her, screaming, "YOU'RE HERMIONE GRANGER?"
"What's it to you?" she asked, paying for the pin. Her eyes narrowed at him before something catches her eyes. She turned her head to see the two people she had been chasing after. "Harmony," she said loudly, but not loud enough for her friend to hear. She watched as the two walked into an elevator and ran after them, hoping to reach them before the doors closed. She skidded to a stop when she saw that she was too late with the metal doors closing in front of her and banged her head against the door. She fell to the floor, gently rubbing her head. "What in the world?" she muttered.
She felt somebody tenderly grab her arm and pulled her to her feet. "You okay?" Hermione looked up to see the weird guy standing beside her, no longer acting like a jerk. The strange guy stared up at the numbers that indicate where the elevator is. "I guess, we're just gonna have to wait for them to come down," he said.
Hermione studied the male as she smiled gently. "Guess he's not that bad after all," she thought to herself. Spotting something on the floor, she noticed that it was one of the pins that were on sale at the counter. While hers has a picture of a bobcat, his was a picture of a dark brown owl. She picked it up and stared at the name in shock.
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Harmony stared in awe at the scene she overlooked. The elevator had revealed an open safari filled animals and wildlife from the north and south poles. Chunks of ice were all over the surface and floated above the chilling icy waters. Around this time, the animals placed in this exhibit were mainly penguins, seals, and walruses. The black and white penguins waddled across the ice, some were diving into the water while others stayed close to white baby chicks. Large brown walruses were lying, just basking in the artificial sun's light. Some of the adult grey seals were swimming while others were staying close to their white pups. There were even several keepers feeding the animals. Harmony placed her hand on the window and shivered from the freezing cold that could be felt through the glass.
"They release the polar bears in a different time when they remove all these animals," Ron told her, "It's to prevent the animals from killing each other, or rather the polar bears from killing their preys in the actual world."
"That's a good idea," Harmony said, nodding her head. "I would hate to see a polar bear hunt down and kill a seal in front of me."
Ron laughed and said, "Well, that's the circle of life for you." He pointed back towards the doors and continued, "There are other kinds of exhibits like this, even the ones from Africa; I'm sure they have some wildcats out around this time. If you want we can head off there."
"That'll be nice," Harmony said. She stared at Ron and just smiled gently.
"What is it?" Ron asked, curious as to the reason behind the gentle stare.
"You're really nice, Mr. Weasley," Harmony said. In a softer tone, she added, "It just makes me want to fall in love with you." She watched as Ron's face turned slightly disappointed and conflicted. As she felt the elevator they were in decline back down, she couldn't help but wonder why.
The doors opened and an annoyed voice shouted, "Harmony!" The two inside jumped and turned around to see Hermione standing there with an infuriated look on her face. "How can you even think about running off like that? Don't tell me that you forgot that I was supposed to be trailing you?" she shouted.
"Whoops," Harmony said sheepishly.
"Wait! There are two Hermione's?" Ron asked.
Harmony's eyes widened when she just remembered that she was just taking Hermione's place when going on this trip with her pen pal. Smiling in a sad way, Harmony introduced her friend, "This is the real Hermione Granger." She turned around and said in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry, "I…I just remembered that I have to do something. Please excuse me," and ran off, ignoring her best friend calling out her name.
Harmony kept on running until she got herself completely lost. Her eyes were wet from the tears that fell down as her breaths became labored from the running she had done. She clenched her fists tightly, only to feel something digging into her palm. She slowly brought up her hand and opened it to see a tiny charm of a white wild cat with grey spots all over it. "Why did I agree to do this?" she muttered, "I know that he's Hermione's pen pal, but I…" She brought her hand to her eyes as she felt something prickling her eyes.
"Ms. Potter," Ron said, catching up to her.
Harmony rubbed her eyes and turned to him. "Yes?" she said in a sad tone. When the redhead went up to her, she bowed her head down. "I'm sorry," she apologized.
"I didn't know girls do the same thing," Ron said. Harmony looked up and saw him smile. She watched as he pointed to Hermione and this weird man in a trench coat following after her. "The real Ms. Granger told me the truth. The real Ron Weasley gave her my picture and said that it was him," he explained.
"Then you're…"
"The name's Charlie Weasley," he reintroduced himself, this time using his real name, "Ron's my younger brother."(2) He held out his hand to her and asked, "If the young lady would permit it, may I take you on another outing next time?"
Harmony's face brightened with joy as she took his hand. "Yes," she replied. She then turned to see the real Hermione Granger and the real Ron Weasley exchanging the pins they had bought and were talking. "If you're brother is Mr. Weasley and you're Mr. Weasley, how do you know if I'm talking to you or to your brother?" she asked.
Charlie laughed in a deep voice. "You can call me 'Charlie' if you want to," he told her.
Harmony grinned as she tightened her hold on his hand. "Then you can call me 'Harmony'," she told him.
Charlie gave her a brief kiss on her hand as he said, "Shall we head on to the African safari now?"
"Yes, let's," Harmony replied; she then proceeded to give him a chaste kiss on his cheek with a big smile on her face.
AN: There you have it, a CharliexfemHarry and a HermRon pairing. At first I had wanted to have Draco Malfoy instead of Charlie, but then I thought about it. Draco's not really good friends with Ron and I kinda wanted an older person with Harry instead.
Another reason why Charlie was chosen instead of Draco was because there are just too many DracoHarry pairings, not that I hate that pairing, it's just too much of a good thing is just not right. It's kinda like loving to read SasuNaru stories, but there are other great pairings that are perfect for a uke or fem Naru, so why only Sasuke?
Any how, I how you all like this story just as much as I love writing it! Please review it and tell me what you think!
(1) Inspired by cyberhell's picture of Charlie Weasley, go to my profile to see the link to see the picture.
(2) If anyone is confused, the name Ron that is mentioned before this was talking about Charlie since that was what Harmony had believed his name to be and when Charlie calls Harmony 'Ms. Granger', it was because he thought that she was Hermione