This is AU, like all my Fics. No wartime, No Voldermort, Harry's parents live. Read my Bio for more info on the world. Please credit me if you choose to use any of my world building.

HarryXHarmione. My all time fave pairing.

Pen-Pals

Chapter 1: Year 3

"Hermione? What kinda name is that? Ugh, I got a girl, bloody hell. Harry trade me."

Harry hadn't even had a chance to open the scroll that had been placed in front of him before it was snatched up, and another thrown in his face. Grabbing the offending parchment while rolling his eyes at his ginger git of a friend, Harry took a moment to look it over. It wasn't a scroll, but an envelope, from America no less. He had heard the American Wizarding school Ilvermorny was quite progressive, and here was some proof of that. An actual letter! Like how Muggles exchanged messages.

Looking at the front of the Envelope he saw the name Hermione Granger written out in nice neat writing, with a slight flare the letters learned a bit oddly before he realized she must be left-handed. There were stickers as well, 4 of them, placed on the front. A picture of an old automobile, a cat, a flower, and an American flag. None of them moved. (1) The white envelope was thick, it seemed fit to burst, it was stuffed to capacity.

The Pen Pal project was an initiative spearheaded by Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall to promote school unity among the largest Wizarding schools located in Europe and America. As it was completely voluntary, it had not gotten much of a following until the two teachers started offering extra credit for those who participated. Harry hadn't been in need of bumping up his grade, but Ron had. So he followed along at his insistence.

"Ugh, this bloke is French, look at his poncy penmanship! Never-mind, I rather write to the bird than talk to some fancy French bloke."

Ron made to grab for Harry's letter again, but Harry quickly stuffed it into his bag before grabbing his wand and taping it on the top of his friend's head as he stood up. Ron's normally ginger locks turning a flamboyant pink that clashed awfully with his freckles.

"No take backs mate."

And so the letter ended up laying forgotten for the rest of the day until Neville tripped over his book bag that night, sending its contents spilling across the floor. Shoving everything back into his bag haphazardly, Harry noticed the letter and grabbed it, taking it into bed with him.

Using his wand to rip open the large heavy envelope, he held it upside down letting several pages drop out, along with a small white stone, and a photo to his great surprise. Picking up the photo first, he turned it over to reveal a girl. With big bushy brown curls, wide dark brown eyes, and a small smile that showed two slightly too large front teeth. She was holding an award of some type, and the photo was motionless like the still photos his mum had from her childhood. She looked like a bit of a swot, but also there was something a bit adorable about her. Maybe because her smile was more of a smirk. As if she had known all along she was going to get that award, hands down without a doubt. Harry liked it, he liked that smile.

Putting the photo aside, next he went to pick up the small stone. It started to glow a soft white yellow color, lighting up his entire bed. Like a flame, it gave off a pleasant warmth. He had never seen anything quite like it before. With a smile, he put the nifty little stone aside next to the photo before reaching for the letter.

Hello Stranger,

It's a curious thing, to try and write a letter to a person I do not know. Will this letter end up in the hands of a boy or girl? Are you of a happy and bubbly disposition? Or perhaps you are the incredibly serious type and surly? I must admit, it's quite marvelous to sit and wonder who's hands this letter will fall into. What country this missive may find its way to.

I supposed it would be polite to start with an introduction. My name is Hermione Granger. I am a British muggleborn witch but attend school in America. My interests include reading anything and everything I can get my hands on, spell crafting, creature rights, and I love to swim. My dislikes include bullies, egg-nog, flying, and people who talk with their mouth full.

Have you ever been to America? My father and I moved here for his work. I have been here so long it gets harder and harder to remember much of my old life in London. I do wish to return one day, perhaps when I am done with school. My summers are spent usually traveling around the country with my father. Camping, hiking, kayaking, and fishing. It's fun but exhausting. Not to mention I am not naturally very athletic. Last year we rented a cabin in Banff National Park in Canada. It was absolutely stunning! Mountains and green forests for as far as the eye could see, and lakes that never got warm.

A bear ate half our food the second night there, father hadn't stored it properly you see. We had to go all the way back into town to get more supplies. After that I started placing warding stones around the cabin to keep any more unwanted critters out. It was my first time getting to try that out, it worked amazingly well. Well, except for the raccoons…

Do you have raccoons over there? What marvelously frustrating creatures, let me tell you. The American Racoon is Magic resistant, did you know this? I did not! They stole all my warding stones! (Those stones took me all year to make.) I found them later, they had set them up around their home in a hollowed out tree. I am embarrassed to admit that they set them up better than I did, and I could not retrieve them. How absolutely mortifying.

But even with the bears, and raccoons, even with being bitten by all manner of bugs and falling straight into a batch of poison ivy our 4th day there. I was loath to leave at the end of our trip. Have you ever felt that way? That strange feeling in your chest when you leave a place. Like you will not only miss the people and things there, but you will miss the person you were in that time and place, because you will never be the person you were in that moment again?

On and on Harry read. The Witch, Hermione, she had written him on and off throughout her school week whenever she had a free moment. Pages filled with her day to day life, observations, and stories of her home life. She was a Muggleborn, just like his Mum, and she also seemed quite mature for her age as well. He found himself smiling and laughing at some parts of her letter, and at other parts, like when she described leaving Banff, his heart clenched. She was able to put into words feelings he had always had, and could never get out himself.

He read the letter over twice through before Ron threw a pillow at his head, yelling at him to put out the damn light and go to bed. With a glance at the dorm room clock Harry was startled to realize it was well past 2am. Carefully he gathered up the letter and all its contents before storing them away safely in his bedside table. That night he dreamed of skipping glowing stones along a large frigid lake in the woods, with a smirking curly haired witch.

1 - Stamps. Even though Harry's mother is Muggleborn, I wasn't sure if he would know what stamps are.

I got the idea for this fic from my one-shot, 'You Will Thank Me Someday.' I wondered what letters would look like between Harry & Hermione. And then that kinda evolved into them getting to know each other through letters. This fic is going to be made up of mostly short chapters, so I will hopefully update it quicker than any of my other stories.

Bonus: This will be my first story where James and Lilly are alive and well. I actually have another couple of stories with them alive in the works as well.