Monsters in the Eyes of Monsters

Summary: "In a universe where the magical world is exposed to the Muggles, wizards and witches are suppressed and hunted. There, in her small, brown cottage in the woods, Muggle Hermione Granger meets Wizard Ron Weasley."

A/N: So, this is my new project. I guess I just like writing stories, although my motivation is way too unstable to really keep one up. BUT, I will keep this going until I'm done with it. Basically, the plot is very, very much more than just the summary. This adventure will take you out on a trip far too big for you to realize just yet. And, so to say, I hope you enjoy it as much as I will. The updates will be rather frequent, but I need some time to actually write them and check over for spelling mistakes et cetera et cetera.

If there is some weird stuff you'd like to tell me, some hate you want to give me, some well-appreciated love you'll share, feel free to leave a review, short or long, whatever is your taste. Now, I'll quit my blabbering and start onto the real story, the adventure you were actually looking for here.

Chapter One

Hermione Granger, a rather happy Muggle living in a rather small town, was whistling a slow tune as she walked down the dirt road to her little cottage. She had her arms full of brown paper bags containing various types of vegetables and milk. Her brown hair was spiralling down in waves, cropped off just above her shoulders. Her orange sweater made her gentle brown eyes stand out as pearls of chocolate. She tripped happily in the direction of the woods and her tiny hut with the full bags in her arms. The gravel squeaked underneath her feet as she walked.

The blue sky reflected her light mind as she let out the last whistling note of her tune. It died out silently, leaving her with the peaceful sounds of the lively forest around her. It was like the woods continued her song. The wind made the pines wheezed slightly, making the birds sing along accompanied by the peaceful song of a raven in the distance.

Hermione sighed. Life in her village was peaceful, even when the outside world was such a gruesome place to live, with the constant feud between the wizards and her people.

By the end of the road, between two pines stretching proudly for the sky, she spotted brown wood and a red doormat. Her humble, little home.

Two brown paper bags dropped to the ground as she found her key and swung the door open, breathing in the scent of burnt firewood and wool. As soon as she opened her eyes, they directly stopped on the floor. Her woollen carpet was thrown aside.

The hesitation bit her as she stepped inside and closed the door. The feeling of sudden nervousness and uneasiness came into full force the second she heard the door slam shut. Her full bags dropped to the ground and her eyes widened. Her breath became short and ragged. The vegetables rolled out of the destroyed bags.

A figure rapidly came into view. It jumped forward and screeched to a halt. For a second, its face was void of emotion. The black clothing flew around it and settled around its body. The person lifted a hand and a small, fragile-looking wooden stick came into view.

A wizard.

A real wizard. In her house.

There was a wizard in her house.

She knew it was a wizard. No other people wore robes like that. She remembered the malicious drawings they'd shown her at school. The robes were unmistakably a wizard's. And wizards were evil. Hermione felt the fear grip her heart and squeeze it, trying to press the life juice out of it – just like the wizard could do in seconds.

The wizard stood by her, only a few steps to her right. He had hid by the wall, ready to attack and kill her the second she had arrived. A brief thought of escape was blown away immediately. He could kill her, now or later. Magical people were not to be trusted, as she'd learnt in school. She met the wizard's gaze, and she looked away, managing to steal a look at him.

The boy was around her age, but remarkably tall. He almost reached the ceiling, although the ceiling was of the lower kind. It made her cringe. It scared her, having to deal with such a big human. He had red hair like he'd set brown hair aflame and never got rid of the fire. His eyes were wide open, painted in an innocent blue – but she knew wizards and witches were vicious people, far from innocent. She'd been taught right. The wizard opened his mouth, and surprised her by his choice of words.

"Please. I'm not going to hurt you," his voice was serious, but needing. A warm hand covered her mouth, not hard, but not pleasantly. She could feel the rough surface of his palm against her lips. The feeling of something dark dawning on her lost its effect as his voice cracked in the middle. He sounded somewhat pathetic, but the edging feeling of the magical people's viciousness made her shudder. "When I remove my hand, you will not scream. I promise I won't hurt you,"

She nodded, paralyzed with fear, and he removed his hand slowly. His gaze burnt her and she tried to beat her hammering heart. The vegetables were spread all over her floor. She stared at him, his stare burning on the inside of her eyelids. "You...you are a wizard," she stuttered, staggering back, stepping on a crushed fruit. She raised her hands defensibly. "Please, don't kill me, please," her voice raised a pitch.

The wizard's blue eyes widened further. He stepped forward, but stopped as she raised her hands higher. "I won't hurt you. Please, just understand," he paused, "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not evil,"

The words ringed in her ears. His voice was like silk in her ears, but his words were hard and pointy.

"You...you..." Hermione started, the undertone of unbelief faded slowly, "You're not gonna kill me?"

"No, I'm not," he replied. His tense shoulders eased a little, "Do you believe me?" Her stomach told her to run, to not believe him, but the logic part of her brain told her that if he wanted her dead, she'd be lying on the floor dead by now. "Yes, I believe you, Wizard,"

"That's not some kind of insult, is it?" he surprised her by sounding so gentle and joking, just like they were old friends, "Because you don't sound very menacing, Muggle," She raised an eyebrow. He wasn't any better. At least she'd discovered that although magical people were evil creatures, they still had a sense of humour.

The wizard raised his arm to scratch his shoulder, making her cringe at his sudden motion. He gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry," his grin faded, but came back with double strength, "I believe I didn't quite catch your name?"

He stretched out a hand in a welcoming gesture, making her inwardly freak out. This was one of the monsters of her history books. One of the villains massacring dozens of her kind only years ago. He was the monster – the beast – and he was trying to...greet her?

He must have noticed her doubt and began returning his hand, but she quickly grabbed it before it was out of reach. "I'm Hermione Granger, professional Muggle," she said, out of pure lack of things to say. He grinned back.

"I'm Ron Weasley, professional Wizard," and they shook hands.

Hermione smiled as he let go of her hand. There was a moment where the emotions were raging inside her like a storm. What was she supposed to feel? She had shook hands with the enemy, the beast, the villain of her world. And she was acting nice? It felt like a crime, knowing dozens of Muggles had died under the attacks they'd caused to her people.

And the worst was, he seemed normal. Not like the blood-thirsty, malicious magical people in the books. He was pretty similar to the Muggles in her town, any Muggle actually, and it scared her.

The wizard – Ron – grinned sheepishly again and scratched his neck nervously. "Do you mind if I stay over? I don't have a place for tonight, and I...when I arrived, I thought this hut was abandoned, that's why I was here, really,"

Hermione looked at him with astonishment. Her eyebrows rose slowly and she opened her mouth to reply to his blunt request. She even surprised herself as the words came tumbling out of her mouth, "You're free to stay, but you must sleep on the ground, because I'm not sharing bed with a stranger," or a wizard, she wanted to add.

Ron Weasley looked her in the eyes and drew out his wand. With a careful sweep of it, a bed conjured itself onto the floor, ready for use. "Just a little perk of being a magical," he muttered before he winked at her.

Right then and there, she wondered if the world really was just painted in black and white, right and wrong, because she surely didn't know where to place Ron Weasley the Wizard.

Hermione smiled, but on the inside it felt like she was splashed with acid. "Why did you come here?" Ron had sit down in his bed, eyes glued to the wall in front of him. He looked up at her, blinking blankly. He opened his mouth, closed it and tried again. "I..." he looked away, "I was being followed by Death Eaters, not like you know what that means,"

"You can tell me, because frankly, I don't appreciate people breaking into my house, scaring me to death and back, then ask me for a sleepover," she snapped. Hermione didn't manage to stop the somewhat rude words from rolling off her tongue, but it was true. He had broken into her house and basically asked for a bloody sleepover.

Ron sighed and propped his head onto his hands. He closed his innocent blue eyes before shifting his gaze to the wall again. "They're...bad people," she raised an eyebrow, bending down to collect her broken vegetables. "Bad people? Why do you have to hide from them? All wizards and witches are bad people,"

A small smile popped up on his face, making him seem ever more mystical. He stepped over to her and helped her collect the vegetables that were spread across the floor. His hands gracefully worked until her paper bags once again were full.

Just before he'd dropped the last vegetable into the bag, he muttered almost too quietly for her to hear, "Not all," and she swore that she heard him add, "Not me,"

End Chapter One

A/N: Well thank you. Please leave a review, updates will probably be weekly. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the first chapter!