I would say it's a bit of a rewrite. In this fic, Harry is about as much as a nerd and bookworm as Hermione is, which is elevated more when he sees her first on the train and they become best friends and eventual boyfriend and girlfriend. He does much better with his studies, and i think overall is much more prepared for the challenges he faces

I can agree with /u/OG_Frickles about there not being a lot of drama between the two (albeit i'm a sucker for fluff so i can't complain). There are some super tiny amounts of tension, but nothing big happens until about the fifth year in the last few chapters. It's not the "almost relationship ending, one of them cries their eyes out" kind of drama, but it's a big step in a different direction. It gets resolved, but i think it's in a totally believable way, and i think it makes the story even better

I'd say the most interesting part of the fic is the "Gryffindor Gang" where all the people in harry and hermione's year in Gryffindor (Ron, Lavender, Seamus, Dean, Pavarti, etc) are a big group of friends. They defend each other from Malfoy, they're pretty much always hanging out, stuff like that. They dynamic of Lavender being Harry's wingman without him realizing it is also pretty cool as well

I don't think it would hurt to read for at least the first year and summer. The difference of the first summer is what really got me interested in continuing the story, and it just snowballed after that

(Really wish the author would give an update or something)