In the end, Megan was stuck at the infirmary as Mme Pomfrey would not let her go. According to her, the lack of conclusive results from her diagnosis spells made it all the more concerning as whatever caused Megan's seizure was beyond her abilities to cure.

Of course, Megan knew precisely what caused it, even if she did not know how and why. And it was indeed a condition beyond the nurse's talent, or probably anyone, for that matter.

So since she could not do anything else, Mme Pomfrey decided to keep her in observation for the day, claiming that the risk of an aftershock seizure far outweighed the benefit of attending classes.

And she was forbidden from riding a broom for the next six months, meaning she would not be allowed to participate in the flying lesson before March. So her family Quidditch fanatics had been more concerned about her possibly missing the second year tryout than the actual seizure, and cousin Peter congratulated her on being sorted to Gryffindor.

She was missing classes on her very first day. If fainting in front of everyone were not enough, that would guarantee she was the day's talk among her peers. Yet, unlike the school delinquent skipping school, she was bored to death and would still get punished will all the extra work waiting for her once Mme Pomfrey released her.

It took some pleading to get a slate and a chalk stick from the stern nurse so she could spend her time doodling instead of just staring into the blank white walls of the infirmary. Creatures from the magical menagerie, who were very different from their movies counterpart, were the first thing that came to mind.

However, she quickly devolved to roses and other geometrical figures, which always fascinated her, to the point she made it the basis of her novel's magic system. Folium, setrix, parabola, neusis, and quadratix, combined with platonic solid and other regular polyhedra, created magical properties. As the rigid and uncompromising law of mathematics were bounding the effect, target, and output of one's spell.

Fans loved the idea and created thousands of drawings, extrapolating what effect the spell would have based on her written rules. But the more they dived into it, the more frustrating unanswered questions came up and the more out-of-hand it became until it was apparent that the fans knew her system and its limitations more than she did.

It took her this first success and failure to understand that a more complex system was not fundamentally better. Which led her to create a second series of books, which she would never see the readers' feedback as she was stuck in the Potterverse that arguably made her.

It was true that she loved novels. She had been quite fascinated and even obsessed by its universe while she was young. And fanfiction did wonder to get a foot on the ladder and boost her confidence. But she found herself loving fanfiction, shipping Harry and Hermione together more than the original novel.

And once she was writing the third tome in the Avalon Crossing Series and a copy of the Cursed Child made its way to her desk, courtesy of her editor, something clicked into place while her obsession for Harry Potter crashed and burned. She just woke up one day, the book on her bedtable bookmarked in the middle of the third act. And she remembered thinking:

"Why am I reading this crap? This isn't the story and characters I used to love."

Then, the fantastic beast series' first entry was released five months later. And she loved it. But it was an entirely new story in the same universe, and it did not rekindle the passion of her youth. And she simply concluded that she had grown out of it.

Then, the accusation of plagiarism finally came to light as the Worst Witch got its TV show adaptation. The whole transphobic Twitter controversy started the same year, and then, instead of letting the matter lie down, she fed the fire months after months. Two years later, in the court of public opinion, it became a balancing act of supporting J.K.Rowling as an author and screenwriter while not supporting her as an individual, which was, to be honest, the pinnacle of hypocrisy.

Her editor specially coached Meghan so she would not start another controversy that would permanently hurt her blooming celebrity. And then, the system utterly destroyed her life, and she woke up as Megan Jones, the seven-year-old niece of the most popular female quidditch player in the UK.

She kept brooding and doodling until an unexpected visitor broke the vicious circle. The voice was brash and affected as the girl talked her way in against the nurse's opinion. For which she was grateful until she realized it was Hermione.

The girl was nothing like the movies and the very depiction of the books. Her average, forgettable face only had two distinctive, unpleasant features: her prominent front teeth and falling over bushy hair, making her remind her of a wet beaver beastkin. However, it was probably the girl's attitude triggering her mean streak.

"I came to deliver you the homework due for tomorrow," Hermione said, like the perfect teacher pet before her façade cracked ever so slightly as she looked away. "As well as a copy of my notes."

Megan took the offered parchments and decided to be polite and humor the girl as she was quickly going through her notes:

"So, how was the day? What did I miss?"

And so Hermione started talking about her classes, positively glowing, as she was giving her unfiltered opinion about Professors Sprout, Binns, Flitwick, McGonagall, and their respective subjects.

Megan making conversation was an afterthought, but she could not help but notice the girl shifting uncomfortably and her voice shaking as the talk went on. It was another thing the movies glossed over: the girl's insecurities and desperation to fit in beneath the veneer of bossiness. It was almost endearing in a twisted way until she could not take it anymore.

"Okay, just drop the act," Megan said. "I'm the girl who got a fucking seizure in front of everyone." She paused before ramming the point home: "You — don't have — to prove — anything — to me."

Hermione was left frozen, like a deer in headlights. So Megan was forced to fill the awkward silence.

"Besides, I would rather be friends with the very bookish, muggle-born, and insecure Hermione than your patronizing, bossy, and teacher's pet façade."

Hermione cringed at her rebuke, almost to the point of tears but not quite enough to make her run away. So Megan decided to tone down, seeing that she did not get her point home.

"I just said we could be friends, you know?" She reminded Hermione. "But you should not have to painstakingly make a copy of your notes to earn anyone friendship."

Hermione 'helping' Harry and Ron do their homework and tutoring them for the six-year exams was still infuriatingly burning in Megan's memory, as if she had read about it yesterday. That was not what friendship should be like, and like everything in the Potterverse, it twisted Harry and Hermione's relationship just as much as it magnified it.

"By the way, if you asked Flitwick instead of taking all the burden on yourself, I'm sure he would have gladly used the Geminio charm, the magical equivalent of a photocopy, on your notes." Megan finally confessed, shaking while laughing at the nonsensical effort Hermione had endured quietly, all to gain points with a housemate she hardly knew.

And then, Hermione completely lost it and started crying for good.

"I had been trying so damn hard." She admitted, her spirit utterly crushed as she was broking down after only one day.

Megan could easily guess how the day went: Hermione tried to help everyone to earn their friendship. But it backfired, as it always would until Harry saved her from that troll about two months from now. And Megan could never guess where Hermione found the inner strength to keep persevering down that path. But she thought that as she tried her best to improve Harry's life from the backseat, it was about time she did the same for Hermione.

So Megan went against the matron's orders and jumped out of bed to hug Hermione as she fell apart.

"Shhh. It's okay. It's not your fault: some people are not ready to receive whatever help their need. You had been brave, benevolent, sincere, and selfless. Those pricks might not be able to see the real you, but trust me: they will. All you have to do is to be better than them and let people help you too."

Hermione was a diamond in the rough, and her character progression was only second to Neville, the only true late bloomer of the Potterverse. Her heart was in the right place, but she failed to appropriately deliver her intentions and feelings, leading to countless misunderstandings and heartache.

Hermione could use the PR coaching, and Megan was bored out of her mind. In addition, she might have been sent to the Potterverse against her will, but her pride as a former harmony fangirl demanded that she try her best to ship the two of them together.

If only Hermione matured sooner and consented to some minor makeover, Megan was confident that Harry would never even acknowledge Cho and Ginny's existence. Hermione was damn a piece of work. But she was her piece of work.

And it was but a hunch, but she felt like clearing the Harmony trope might also be her ticket out of the Potterverse.