𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈-𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎 - hermione granger

- 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

FEBRUARY, 14 — 1991. ANDREA MCKINNON rolled on her small, wooden bedroom floor, imitating the large dog beside her. Her guardian, Hargrid, was downstairs cooking her favourite birthday meal — chocolate pancookiecakes. They were hard, gewy and soft all at the same time, and they felt like luxury to the mouth. She'd been obsessed with them ever since she came up with the idea at three years old, and Hagrid had been baking them ever since. Although, his kitchen skills weren't exactly the greatest, but Drea was grateful nevertheless.

Smelling the oven from upstairs, a smile sat upon the eleven-year-old's face, and she sat up on the windowsill of her narrow home to stare up at the castle above. It was always so bright and busy up there, and often she'd hear noises of excitement and cheers, but she'd never had the privilege to meet anyone just yet. Dumbledore always said it was important that she stayed in the hut until her own time came to attend the royal school of magic. Hogwarts. It was her dream.

All her life, she'd been trapped inside this hut, and — whilst Hagrid and his pets were amazing company — she'd always hoped to make friends of her own someday. Friends with the same kind of abilities as her. Friends like her mum had when she attended Hogwarts. She couldn't wait to become a student there.

A window downstairs suddenly slammed open, and Drea's eyes ran up in alarm. She ditched the window and leaped down the stone steps of her home, finding Hargrid standing at the single window with tears in his eyes, still wearing oven mitts.

"It's here?" Andrea asked, her entire body bursting with anticipation.

Hagrid nodded. "It's here," the tall man confirmed, his strong accent soaking through his words.

Without another moment to spare, the girl ran into his arms, squealing and cheering, unable to contain the excitement. Hagrid chuckled down at the small girl he managed to raise, wrapping his heavy arms back around her.

"What am I gonna do without you, eh?" he said.

"We'll be next door neighbours!" Andrea exclaimed. "We can borrow each other's loo roll!"

Hagrid chuckled and shook his head. "You're a delight, kid. Poor ol' McGonagall's gonna have to keep a' eye on ya."

Later that night, Andrea McKinnon sat at the edge of her metal-framed bed, swinging her legs off the edge. Her dog, Fang, was curled up beside her, snoring and drooling. She leaned down to drag the small box from under her bed, smiling softly when it sat up on her lap.

Growing up, Drea was often confused. The only human she was ever able to socialise with was Hagrid — and sometimes Dumbledore —, and she never understood why. He was a great person to be around, and an amazing guardian to her, and she knew she'd forever be lucky go be raised by such a generous heart. But it was obvious from the start that he wasn't her father, and it was obvious from the beginning that there was some kind of secret hidden from her. The reason why Dumbledore would never let her outside the hut. Often, when she started to grow, Hagrid would sneak her out into the forbidden forest, but even then, she knew that was weird.

Why wasn't she like the kids in the storybooks, who lived on streets full of friends and lived in Houses with huge families? Why wasn't she allowed to be a normal little girl? Where were her real parents? These questions haunted her every single night ever since she was five years old and started to see the difference in herself. She'd tried asking Hargrid a few times, and some of them he'd slip up and accidentally say something about her mum, but most of the time, he shut off.

Which meant she had to find her own way. She searched the crawlspace under their hut for anything that might he relevant to her birth family. All she found was a box. A tiny pink box with a purple ribbon. Drea had treasured it ever since.

M.M, D.M, L.E, M.M, S.B, J.P, R.L, ₱.₱.

Those eight initials were names Andrea had been questioning for years, as they were all carved just like that — in a list — on the lid of her mother's box. She was only able to translate one name. The first one. Marlene McKinnon. Her mum.

Inside, there were only four things: a fluffy, pink, Muggle pen, which Drea had no idea how to use, never having met a Muggle before; an old walkman cassette player, paired with headphones and a playlist; an oversized, bright green cardigan; and a diary. The diary was useless, if Drea ever wanted to find anything relevant, as most pages had been torn out, but some of the entries were pretty funny. It gave her a fantastic idea of how her mum's personality was, and it made her feel closer to her. Like they'd really met in real life once.

Dear St. Dick Diary,

R.L and L.E warned me not to be writing down everything in here anymore, for I may get caught and booted out of school, but I'm not worried — Old Minnie Moo would never let them get rid of me.

Today was great. Amazing, even!! In fact, I think it may have been the best day of my life.

So, me and S.B were enjoying one of our 'dates' when we spotted D.M go by with a few of her mates from Ravenclaw (I cannot believe she could be friends with anyone who's not in Gryffindor, but not everybody can be perfect). And, oh my God, did she look beautiful. I would've married her right then and there on the spot, if it was allowed.

Anyway, she looked at me.

She looked at me!!

Can you believe it? And I swear, she glared at S.B — not that I can blame her, he was looking rather shitty today, and he is always teasing her in Potions. But I'd rather believe that it was out of jealousy. Because me and him are 'together'. Hah. As if. I pity the poor boy who ever kisses him. His nose has stunk of cheese ever since we got those matching piercings.

I'm going off track now.

The point is, she looked at me. D.M looked right at me.

I'm arranging the wedding plans as we speak.

Andrea chuckled at the writing, imagining in her head that Marlene was telling her these stories personally, like she was right there, beside her in the bed, as she should've been. Drea wanted to know what happened to her. Where she went to. Why she didn't take her with. She liked to imagine that her mum, and whoever D.M was, eventually did get married, but had to work away in a foreign country to fight dark magic, meaning they had to sent Andrea to live with their trusty pal, Hagrid, for a few years. She liked to believe Marlene would come back to her some day.

But she knew the odds of that were unlikely. Deep down, Andrea always knew the truth. It was just too hard to believe.

"I did it, Mum," she whispered, staring out her window at the castle ahead. "I'm going to Hogwarts."

A/N: ngl this was kina rushed, but it's only the prologue so idc. im actually so excited to start writing this story!!

thank you for reading.

love, tay </3