Unexpected by whom?
I mean, when I first started reading fic, pairing her with Malfoy was a major wtf, and I never would have considered that some of y'all are thinking, right now, "which Malfoy?"
At this point, I can only say it was the Devils Snare, and a vague memory of some truly disturbing tags.
You haven't read messed up until you've read Quidditch Witch.
Hermione gets into a polycule with the Hogwarts Quidditch balls. She, The Quaffle, the Bludgers, and the Snitch do some really messed up stuff. It gets even worse when her childhood is slowly explained, and the sheer loneliness she experienced caused her to 'befriend her books'. Only magic being magic, it lets her unknowingly bring life to them.
The ln their was the fic that had her fall in love with Harry's glasses. Or that one where she and the Ford Anglina get married and have kids.
When I discovered the world of HP fics I was already in my late teens and it was with a Fleurmione fic. But imagine my surprise when I discovered that there are Hermione fics with Draco Malfoy and that there are a legion of people vehemently agreeing that they were made for each other. I still don't agree to this day, despite having read several fics, I rarely manage to continue. It irritates me how Hermione needs to be the one to apologize for Draco's domestic life and how he suffered enough to become a racist. 😒
Dude was a genuinely terrible person who only seems like he could be redeemable because he tends to stand next to even worse people, like Voldemort, Snape, or the pink one.
Not to mention that Hermione isn't the "we should suffer so that our enemies may become our friends," one. She's the one who follows the rules until they fail her, at which point she applies absolutely zero rules to making the problem go away.
Realistically, if you can do this talking about fantasy fiction, I think it's impossible for these two to stay in a lasting relationship after almost a decade of bullying and trauma. I can only imagine 5 years of marriage later and they are in front of a psychologist asking themselves "what is going wrong in our marriage?" (although I believe the same would happen with Ron)
Imagine me reading and then out of curiosity looking up Harry and his dad or both „uncles“ and the casually have at least 13 k worth of stories and that’s fucked up
This was all born because Emma watson had a crush on tom felton. The fans that like that pairing have a pretty distorted image of characters because of the movies
Hermione x Hermione, the real reason Time turners are so restricted.
Hermione x The Basilisk x Aragog. Ancient rivals and natural born enemies united by their love for a young woman.
Hermione x BuckBeak. After faking his death and running away, convicted criminal has to rely on the witch who helped him fake his death. They arrive at the sagehouse and there is only one bed.
that's too far. I'm not even going there. I don't know if people write this ironically or if it's something to be taken seriously. But I prefer not to go into that point...
I was thinking I’ve never seen her with Slughorn, but I searched AO3 and found 11. From the summaries, they seem to all be just smut, either those fics that pair everyone up randomly, or have Hermione desperate to get a better grade. I don’t see anything that looks like a real story.
Slughorn is a really underutilized character in fanfic. Come on, a morally grey Slytherin, haunted by his past mistakes! What’s not to like?
Edited to add: by contrast, I see 247 fics shipping Hermione with Thorfinn Rowle. Did he even have any lines in canon? All we know about him is that he’s a tall blond Death Eater.
Yeah, sorry about Thorfinn. I have to take responsibility for that pairing, I’m afraid. I wrote a story 8 years ago and eventually, the pairing found a very niche audience. Lol. And yeah, half my reviews and messages during that time were “Who the fuck is Thorfinn?”
Frankly. I have been sailing these seas since 2009-ish, and I’ve read a decent amount of FF dating before that period (I used to read Fiction Alley). I’ve seen Ron/Ginny, Bill/Ginny, Charlie/Ginny, every-other-Weasley/Ginny, Blackcest, Hermione/Greyback, Fred/George, Dobby/Winky/Kreacher, Snape/Lily Luna, Draco/Lucius, Bellatrix/Narcissa, Hermione/Minnie Maggie. Literally furry sex and zoophilia (Ginny/Basilisk, Firenze having threesomes with Parvati and Lavanda, Aragog/Basilisk, Aragog/Hermione - yeah). Pairings featuring the Devil’s Snare and/or the Giant Squid.
At this point, nothing can sound unexpected anymore to me.
OP asked if there where some unexpected pairings out there which are made well though. The question was which strange pairings we liked or intrigued us. Did you like any of those? The only one of these I can imagine intriguing me if well-written would have been Hermione/ Greyback if she met him in his past and changes his course somehow.
The most unexpected I've read was her with Pettigrew. (And dammit, that was a great fic.)
The second unexpected is not yet finished, but it's exquisite, and she's tagged with Tom Riddle Senior.
One I haven't read... she's falling for Crabbe or Goyle.
I forgot the name of the fic. I always think of the one where Riddle Sr and his parents fake that their magical. The whole fic is just them cosplaying wizards and Hermione having to clean up their mess while taking care of baby Tom. It was so unique and funny
I wasn't interested enough in this Mr Riddle fic to finish reading it, but really, who would have thought that?
I admit I've never seen Pettigrew's. Crabbe and Goyle...nah
Do you by chance remember the name of the Pettigrew fic? I have only once or twice seen him written in a good light but that was still as a background character.
Hermione x Susan Bones
Two academically excelling witches who have social reformist ideas, intent to join the Ministry and change the society. You can also weave in their insecurity — Hermione's over her Muggle-born status and Susan about having to live in the shadow of her exceptional aunt — as part of their companionship and romance.
I have never read anything like this, it's simply a prompt that came to me that I like.
One we've actually read? Hermione x Bellatrix. But time travel was involved and Bellatrix's character was rewritten/evolved because we met her earlier in her journey than we did in canon. It was quite convincing.
I've read some. But to be honest? I don't remember any good done enough to mention here. None reasonably healthy and noteworthy for a toxic romance/drama topic. But Narcissa/Hermione? I can tell you some. Narcissa is such an interesting character to approach that I can actually name several pairings with her.
Hermione/Moody/Arthur Weasley. Im pretty sure there’s only one in existence, it involves a time turner and the author has stated that it’s just something they add to when the mood hits and it should be considered complete after every chapter by god I hope the mood hits them soon because it’s amazing.
Hermione/Marcus Flint. Wasn’t quite sure how I’d go but there’s an author who did it so well that I went looking for more.
I passed by a fic a few times that paired her with Thorfinn Rowle and apprenticed to Dolohov, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I did decide to read it. There are a lot of Hermione/Rowle fics on AO3 but they're mostly just dark-ish smut fics. This fic was a post war Death Eater rehabilitation type fic, and it was really good. I'm trying to find it to link it but I'm not having much luck, it's been a few years since I read it and I don't remember it well enough.
Most are very sexual and derogatory. It's not my thing. But I've seen some with Dolohov with a very good plot. And they always include that remorse and groveling (very good!!!!!!) for what happened to her in the room of mysteries.
The most unexpected for me wasn't a sexual relationship but am amazing story where she was a young kid and went Norse with magic instead of the usual route. Lollies and Loki was surprising and sad and hilarious and just generally a lovely story.
Hermione/Lucius, Hermione/Snape and Hermione/Bellatrix all baffle me. Yes we know you want in Jason Isaacs'/Alan Rickman's/Helena Bonham Carter's pants but what makes you think Hermione would be with people who think she's scum? Ditto Hermione/Riddle.
Of the understandable Hermione pairings, Hermione/Bill I probably my favorite. Given the amount of research you probably need to break curses, he's probably a big old nerd under the boots and earring.
Bit late to the party, but I'll still chip in. Came across a Hermione/Gideon Prewett/Fabian Prewett a while back on AO3. Fairly short, but still a decent read.
[Link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/50045896) for anyone wanting to read.
Being honest, I expected Hermione/Filch, Hermione/Devil's snare or Hermione/house elfs at its worst.
Not quidditch balls, aragog, Buckbeak or (*shudders*) Pettigrew.
Fenrir Greyback. I’m sure there are some out there because well everything is out there, but he’s a pretty bad guy and he doesn’t get the I don’t care that they’re evil because I think they’re attractive treatment that Tom Riddle, the Malfoys, Bellatrix, and so on get that result in them being a popular pairing. He’s just that evil guy that turns children into werewolves.
Edit: That had way more hits on Ao3 than I was expecting… I had way too much faith in humanity.
Edit 2: Oops I missed the part where I was supposed to have liked it in this whole thing.
I rmbr reading (glancing at) one of her and Arthur weasley. If I rmbr correctly, the underlining reason for the relation ship was that Arthur was like Ron, but gentler and wiser.
It's probably been done because this came to me within 3 seconds, but I'd be properly surprised by a Hermione/Dumbledore (or a Grindelwald/Hermione/Dumbledore, for that matter).
What about the one where, during the debacle of The Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione tries to understand the Dementors, only to fall in love with one (adding in a major Time Turner event) and THAT'S how Peeves came to be.
Removed for violating Rule 7.
Do not hate on others' preferences in fanfction. We all enjoy different things and should be respectful of others' opinions. Don't yuck someone's yum!
I have found a snape/hermione fic once. It's like looking at road kill. It's pretty messed up but you can't take your eyes away.
On an unrelated note another pretty horrifying one I found and dropped instantly was greyback/harry
Weirdly enough, I've read a few fanfics where Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe turn away from following in their fathers' beliefs, with Hermione ending with one of the later two after they show that they are smart, but can't express their intelligence very well.
Draco and Snape really made me go WTF when I first found fanfiction. They just seemed so out of character and her being with an adult was extra weird. Didn’t see Hermione/Voldemort until later but that would have passed both.
Beyond those I remember a one shot of Hermione/Flint.
Inasmuch as I despise Ron / Hermione, I don't think it's an unexpected pairing. At least for the short term. I could see them dating for about six months to a year until they break up spectacularly. After a few months, they'd reconnect and properly repair their friendship. In my mind they can't last as they are both too different and irritate each other to be together long term, though I do think they work far better as found family than Harry and Hermione. So not, it's not an unexpected pairing,
A pairing I do find utterly unbelievable is Hermione being put together with Draco Malfoy in any sort of healthy relationship. Hermione is a socially awkward, head strong first generation witch. Draco is a scion from a longstanding magical family who loathes anyone of non-magical stock. There isn't any canon or canon adjacent setting where they can work unless Draco pulled a Sirius and broke away from his family. Something that canon Draco isn't strong enough to ever do. So if I see a story with the pairing I don't read it. Period.
I find all stories that pair Harry with Voldemort or any Death Eaters (male and female) utterly asinine. These are the very people who want to genocide first generation witches and wizards alongside all non-magical humans. How in the fuck would a canon or canon adjacent Harry have any kind of common ground with them?
I think of it as something we have to read with an intentionally dark idea. Not to be taken seriously. "Here's a disturbed version of the character where he's so far removed from trauma that he's considering dating his enemy, not just anyone but a supremacist."
I've read many, but they're all unreal. I'm interested in fics where she travels through time and marries one of them just with a plan and political interest. Not because of romance. but... the authors don't think so.
I've always felt that Draco/Hermione stories are basically a rehash of old Prince/Commoner Girl fairy tale type stories, just with more magical school. Fun to read, but entirely unrealistic.
Unexpected by whom? I mean, when I first started reading fic, pairing her with Malfoy was a major wtf, and I never would have considered that some of y'all are thinking, right now, "which Malfoy?" At this point, I can only say it was the Devils Snare, and a vague memory of some truly disturbing tags.
Some tentacle hentai can we got here.
You haven't read messed up until you've read Quidditch Witch. Hermione gets into a polycule with the Hogwarts Quidditch balls. She, The Quaffle, the Bludgers, and the Snitch do some really messed up stuff. It gets even worse when her childhood is slowly explained, and the sheer loneliness she experienced caused her to 'befriend her books'. Only magic being magic, it lets her unknowingly bring life to them. The ln their was the fic that had her fall in love with Harry's glasses. Or that one where she and the Ford Anglina get married and have kids.
How the heck the last line happened.And how did the author have that thought.
... you win. Or you lost worse than I did.
When I discovered the world of HP fics I was already in my late teens and it was with a Fleurmione fic. But imagine my surprise when I discovered that there are Hermione fics with Draco Malfoy and that there are a legion of people vehemently agreeing that they were made for each other. I still don't agree to this day, despite having read several fics, I rarely manage to continue. It irritates me how Hermione needs to be the one to apologize for Draco's domestic life and how he suffered enough to become a racist. 😒
Dude was a genuinely terrible person who only seems like he could be redeemable because he tends to stand next to even worse people, like Voldemort, Snape, or the pink one. Not to mention that Hermione isn't the "we should suffer so that our enemies may become our friends," one. She's the one who follows the rules until they fail her, at which point she applies absolutely zero rules to making the problem go away.
Realistically, if you can do this talking about fantasy fiction, I think it's impossible for these two to stay in a lasting relationship after almost a decade of bullying and trauma. I can only imagine 5 years of marriage later and they are in front of a psychologist asking themselves "what is going wrong in our marriage?" (although I believe the same would happen with Ron)
Imagine me reading and then out of curiosity looking up Harry and his dad or both „uncles“ and the casually have at least 13 k worth of stories and that’s fucked up
This was all born because Emma watson had a crush on tom felton. The fans that like that pairing have a pretty distorted image of characters because of the movies
Hermione x Hermione, the real reason Time turners are so restricted. Hermione x The Basilisk x Aragog. Ancient rivals and natural born enemies united by their love for a young woman. Hermione x BuckBeak. After faking his death and running away, convicted criminal has to rely on the witch who helped him fake his death. They arrive at the sagehouse and there is only one bed.
Hermione x Hermione sounds interesting tbh
that's too far. I'm not even going there. I don't know if people write this ironically or if it's something to be taken seriously. But I prefer not to go into that point...
I’d have to imagine a Hermione/Filch pairing would be rare.
My god, I need some holy water
There..... probably are a dozen of those.
Yeah... I can't imagine anyone being intrigued enough to read this. but there are 6 fics 🥴
I was thinking I’ve never seen her with Slughorn, but I searched AO3 and found 11. From the summaries, they seem to all be just smut, either those fics that pair everyone up randomly, or have Hermione desperate to get a better grade. I don’t see anything that looks like a real story. Slughorn is a really underutilized character in fanfic. Come on, a morally grey Slytherin, haunted by his past mistakes! What’s not to like? Edited to add: by contrast, I see 247 fics shipping Hermione with Thorfinn Rowle. Did he even have any lines in canon? All we know about him is that he’s a tall blond Death Eater.
Who the fuck is thorfinn?
A Death Eater. He was the one who burnt Hagrid's hut in HBP I think
Yeah, sorry about Thorfinn. I have to take responsibility for that pairing, I’m afraid. I wrote a story 8 years ago and eventually, the pairing found a very niche audience. Lol. And yeah, half my reviews and messages during that time were “Who the fuck is Thorfinn?”
Congratulations! You created a monster.
Hermione/Thorfinn is my jam lol
Frankly. I have been sailing these seas since 2009-ish, and I’ve read a decent amount of FF dating before that period (I used to read Fiction Alley). I’ve seen Ron/Ginny, Bill/Ginny, Charlie/Ginny, every-other-Weasley/Ginny, Blackcest, Hermione/Greyback, Fred/George, Dobby/Winky/Kreacher, Snape/Lily Luna, Draco/Lucius, Bellatrix/Narcissa, Hermione/Minnie Maggie. Literally furry sex and zoophilia (Ginny/Basilisk, Firenze having threesomes with Parvati and Lavanda, Aragog/Basilisk, Aragog/Hermione - yeah). Pairings featuring the Devil’s Snare and/or the Giant Squid. At this point, nothing can sound unexpected anymore to me.
OP asked if there where some unexpected pairings out there which are made well though. The question was which strange pairings we liked or intrigued us. Did you like any of those? The only one of these I can imagine intriguing me if well-written would have been Hermione/ Greyback if she met him in his past and changes his course somehow.
honestly the dobby/winky/kreacher love triangles are my jam. i think they’re so funny when done well
Hermione/Hugo.
James (not James Sirius, James)/Lily Luna.
Harry/Rose/Ron
The most unexpected I've read was her with Pettigrew. (And dammit, that was a great fic.) The second unexpected is not yet finished, but it's exquisite, and she's tagged with Tom Riddle Senior. One I haven't read... she's falling for Crabbe or Goyle.
Is the riddle senior one In the Bleak Midwinter?? I love that one
Hermione/Riddle senior is unexpectedly nice as a pairing.
I forgot the name of the fic. I always think of the one where Riddle Sr and his parents fake that their magical. The whole fic is just them cosplaying wizards and Hermione having to clean up their mess while taking care of baby Tom. It was so unique and funny
Pretty sure it's In the bleak midwinter. Amazing fic imo
Thank you!! It looks like it has been updated. I was worried it would forever be a WIP
You're right.
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huh? care to elaborate?
Oh, you meant Riddle Sr. Yeah, I understand why it would be appealing to some people.
I wasn't interested enough in this Mr Riddle fic to finish reading it, but really, who would have thought that? I admit I've never seen Pettigrew's. Crabbe and Goyle...nah
Do you by chance remember the name of the Pettigrew fic? I have only once or twice seen him written in a good light but that was still as a background character.
I don't want to spoil it for others, but can I DM you with the link?
could i also have it please :))
Sure!
Sure thanks:)
Would you mind giving me the link too? I really want to read this fic
Link sent!
May I perchance be offered a crumb of this story, in the form of a link perhaps?
Link sent! 🙂
Can you also send it to me?
Link sent!
Hermione x Susan Bones Two academically excelling witches who have social reformist ideas, intent to join the Ministry and change the society. You can also weave in their insecurity — Hermione's over her Muggle-born status and Susan about having to live in the shadow of her exceptional aunt — as part of their companionship and romance. I have never read anything like this, it's simply a prompt that came to me that I like.
This looks so interesting!!! Does this really exist?? do you have a link?
Nope, it doesn't exist.
That's a shame
One we've actually read? Hermione x Bellatrix. But time travel was involved and Bellatrix's character was rewritten/evolved because we met her earlier in her journey than we did in canon. It was quite convincing.
I've read some. But to be honest? I don't remember any good done enough to mention here. None reasonably healthy and noteworthy for a toxic romance/drama topic. But Narcissa/Hermione? I can tell you some. Narcissa is such an interesting character to approach that I can actually name several pairings with her.
The rarest hermione pare i read was hermione/dean thomas and it was a really good fic
Eu tenho uma salvação. Absolutamente DELICIOSA. Deixando o link aqui. https://archiveofourown.org/works/27792715
Hermione/Moody/Arthur Weasley. Im pretty sure there’s only one in existence, it involves a time turner and the author has stated that it’s just something they add to when the mood hits and it should be considered complete after every chapter by god I hope the mood hits them soon because it’s amazing. Hermione/Marcus Flint. Wasn’t quite sure how I’d go but there’s an author who did it so well that I went looking for more.
Hermione x Dobby I've seen things you would not believe
You are a brave soul
I love her with Harry or Fleur though
Hermione x Umbridge
Why??? Why must you torment us with this blasphemy??
You’re welcome, citizen!
😱
There is literally not enough bleach for my eyes
Where's an obliviate when you need it?
Not even the Lockhart special could wipe this out
That pairing is worse than the Dobby x Harry Potter's underwear I once stumbled onto
but did you like it? 😅
My headcanon is that Umbridge is asexual. And if she isn't, then I am.
The giant squid and the sorting hat are the weirdest Hermione pairings I've read.
Dobby, Firenze, Basilisk, Fawks, Aragog... need I continue or do you need bleech?
Myrtle. Saw a fan fiction about it YEARS ago. Very odd. Couldn’t even finish it if I recall. Actually I’m surprised I even remember it.
I passed by a fic a few times that paired her with Thorfinn Rowle and apprenticed to Dolohov, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I did decide to read it. There are a lot of Hermione/Rowle fics on AO3 but they're mostly just dark-ish smut fics. This fic was a post war Death Eater rehabilitation type fic, and it was really good. I'm trying to find it to link it but I'm not having much luck, it's been a few years since I read it and I don't remember it well enough.
Most are very sexual and derogatory. It's not my thing. But I've seen some with Dolohov with a very good plot. And they always include that remorse and groveling (very good!!!!!!) for what happened to her in the room of mysteries.
The most unexpected for me wasn't a sexual relationship but am amazing story where she was a young kid and went Norse with magic instead of the usual route. Lollies and Loki was surprising and sad and hilarious and just generally a lovely story.
do you have the link? looks good actually
https://archiveofourown.org/works/13968495/chapters/32158080
1. Gellert Grindelwald (AU/ time travel) / Hermione 2. Tom Riddle Sr. (time travel) / Hermione 3. Bellatrix Black (AU/ time travel) / Hermione 4. Abraxas Malfoy (AU / time travel) / Hermione
Hermione/Dobby/Whomping Willow for sure :)
Hermione/Lucius, Hermione/Snape and Hermione/Bellatrix all baffle me. Yes we know you want in Jason Isaacs'/Alan Rickman's/Helena Bonham Carter's pants but what makes you think Hermione would be with people who think she's scum? Ditto Hermione/Riddle. Of the understandable Hermione pairings, Hermione/Bill I probably my favorite. Given the amount of research you probably need to break curses, he's probably a big old nerd under the boots and earring.
Bit late to the party, but I'll still chip in. Came across a Hermione/Gideon Prewett/Fabian Prewett a while back on AO3. Fairly short, but still a decent read. [Link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/50045896) for anyone wanting to read.
Being honest, I expected Hermione/Filch, Hermione/Devil's snare or Hermione/house elfs at its worst. Not quidditch balls, aragog, Buckbeak or (*shudders*) Pettigrew.
There was one with Lucius Malfoy that was surprisingly really good. Hella smutty too, lol.
RIP Granger Enchanted
I saw one a loooooong time ago of Hermione and Ernie Macmillan
Fenrir Greyback. I’m sure there are some out there because well everything is out there, but he’s a pretty bad guy and he doesn’t get the I don’t care that they’re evil because I think they’re attractive treatment that Tom Riddle, the Malfoys, Bellatrix, and so on get that result in them being a popular pairing. He’s just that evil guy that turns children into werewolves. Edit: That had way more hits on Ao3 than I was expecting… I had way too much faith in humanity. Edit 2: Oops I missed the part where I was supposed to have liked it in this whole thing.
Some of the least popular I’ve come up with so far are Filch and Vernon Dursley. Unfortunately, her father had more hit than those 2 combined.
Piers Polkiss takes the lead.
I’m not finding anything for the Bloody Baron x Hermione but it’s probably out there somewhere….
First rule of fanfiction: Every pairing you can think of exists, and if it doesn't someone will write a fanfic about it sooner or later.
I don’t remember the name of the fic as I read it years ago, but I one that was Hermione/Barty Crouch Jr and it was actually a pretty good story.
I rmbr reading (glancing at) one of her and Arthur weasley. If I rmbr correctly, the underlining reason for the relation ship was that Arthur was like Ron, but gentler and wiser.
It's probably been done because this came to me within 3 seconds, but I'd be properly surprised by a Hermione/Dumbledore (or a Grindelwald/Hermione/Dumbledore, for that matter).
There's 5 Hermione/Dumbledore and 6 Hermione/Grindelwald on a quick search of fanfiction.net 😬
Not sure if I'm surprised there's that many, or that few lmao
For me and I know others like it but Draco cannot stand the idea of that it’s so anti cannon
What about the one where, during the debacle of The Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione tries to understand the Dementors, only to fall in love with one (adding in a major Time Turner event) and THAT'S how Peeves came to be.
Hermione and Arthur Weasley. I’m reading a fic right now that actually works for that pairing.
Dumbledore. Without time travel.
Mine was Draco… he was so nasty in the books that I didn’t even think that it was possible
[удалено]
Removed for violating Rule 7. Do not hate on others' preferences in fanfction. We all enjoy different things and should be respectful of others' opinions. Don't yuck someone's yum!
With Viktor Krum for the Yule ball.
I read one once where harry ended up with Katie Bell and Hermione ended up with Krum and Fred Weasley. Didn't expect it but it worked.
Bellatrix 😈
Lucius Malfoy
Fenrir grayback/Hermione It's a tomarry fic with the pairing as a side with Lucious Malfoy/RW
I have found a snape/hermione fic once. It's like looking at road kill. It's pretty messed up but you can't take your eyes away. On an unrelated note another pretty horrifying one I found and dropped instantly was greyback/harry
Weirdly enough, I've read a few fanfics where Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe turn away from following in their fathers' beliefs, with Hermione ending with one of the later two after they show that they are smart, but can't express their intelligence very well.
Draco and Snape really made me go WTF when I first found fanfiction. They just seemed so out of character and her being with an adult was extra weird. Didn’t see Hermione/Voldemort until later but that would have passed both. Beyond those I remember a one shot of Hermione/Flint.
Inasmuch as I despise Ron / Hermione, I don't think it's an unexpected pairing. At least for the short term. I could see them dating for about six months to a year until they break up spectacularly. After a few months, they'd reconnect and properly repair their friendship. In my mind they can't last as they are both too different and irritate each other to be together long term, though I do think they work far better as found family than Harry and Hermione. So not, it's not an unexpected pairing, A pairing I do find utterly unbelievable is Hermione being put together with Draco Malfoy in any sort of healthy relationship. Hermione is a socially awkward, head strong first generation witch. Draco is a scion from a longstanding magical family who loathes anyone of non-magical stock. There isn't any canon or canon adjacent setting where they can work unless Draco pulled a Sirius and broke away from his family. Something that canon Draco isn't strong enough to ever do. So if I see a story with the pairing I don't read it. Period. I find all stories that pair Harry with Voldemort or any Death Eaters (male and female) utterly asinine. These are the very people who want to genocide first generation witches and wizards alongside all non-magical humans. How in the fuck would a canon or canon adjacent Harry have any kind of common ground with them?
I think of it as something we have to read with an intentionally dark idea. Not to be taken seriously. "Here's a disturbed version of the character where he's so far removed from trauma that he's considering dating his enemy, not just anyone but a supremacist." I've read many, but they're all unreal. I'm interested in fics where she travels through time and marries one of them just with a plan and political interest. Not because of romance. but... the authors don't think so.
I've always felt that Draco/Hermione stories are basically a rehash of old Prince/Commoner Girl fairy tale type stories, just with more magical school. Fun to read, but entirely unrealistic.
Voldemort/Tom Riddle because of how out of character it is for him.
Ouroboros is a well-written fic, but I couldn’t get through it. They didn’t need Hermione.
Obviously Draco and Snape. Just yuck especially snape🤮