What If Part 1

What If? Part 1

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"I've just thought-Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."

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We all now this scene from Harry's first year, but have you ever wondered what would have happened is things would have gone differently. Albus Dumbledore once said: "It is the choices we make that are important."

Hello, it's me, The Sorting Hat. You may have wondered what I did to fill in my time between sortings. Well, one thing I enjoy is exploring the endless possibilities of alternate realities. The books you have read explore merely one such reality, but there are countless more that also exist. Come with me as I explore another possible outcome to this familiar scene. You will see that sometimes a single action can affect the rest of your life, as well as the lives of others.

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"I've just thought-Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip.

"Look, she's the one who knows everything, let her deal with it."

"Ron, we have to..."

"Hey, you two, come on. We should all be getting back to our dormitories," Percy Weasley called out.

"Come on, Harry. You heard what Percy said, we have to go," Ron said. Harry stood firm.

"No, I've got to warn her, now." He then ran in the opposite direction towards the girl's bathroom.

Apart from a near collision with Snape, Harry was able to make his way down the hall way just as the troll came into view. It opened a door and made its way inside.

The key is in the lock. I could lock it in.

He managed to edge his way to the door and, with one great leap, managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.

Yes!

Flushed with his victory, he started to run back up the passage, but as he reached the corner he heard something that made his heart stop-a high, petrified scream-and it was coming from the chamber he had just chained up.

It's the girl's bathroom!

It was the last thing he wanted to do, but what choice did he have? Wheeling around, he sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in his panic. He pulled open the door and ran inside.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as she went.

Seizing a tap, Harry threw it as hard as he could at the troll.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had hit him. It's mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, and then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.

With the troll distracted, Hermione was able to crawl out from under the remaining sink and seized her own chunk of plaster. The troll looked back over its massive shoulder to look back at her.

"Just run, Hermione! Go get help!" Harry yelled. She didn't move, except to remove her wand from her cloak pocket.

The troll was getting very tired of all the distractions and made a lunge at Hermione.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up his nose, and Harry's wand had still be in his hand when he had jumped-it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling in pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; and second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.

Hermione was now standing there, her wand raised at the trolls face.

"Harry! We both have to cast Stupefy at the same time or it won't work. On three. One, two, three, now!"

"Stupefy!"

The sound, in stereo, reverberated off the bathroom walls like a cannon had gone off. A second later, Harry had to jump off his perch atop the trolls back. It fell backwards where it stood and crashed down onto the floor.

It was Harry who spoke first.

"Is it-dead?"

"I don't think so," said Hermione, "I think we just knocked it out."

Harry bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh-troll boogers."

An Hour Later

"Pig Snout" he said and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Ron waved at Harry from a table with Fred and George. Hermione, however, stood alone by the fire, waiting for him. There was a very embarrassed pause, then, neither of them looking at each other, said "thanks," and hurried off to get plates.

But from that moment one, Hermione Granger became Harry's friend, there are things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve foot mountain troll is one of them.

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So, that is how that little scene played out in another reality. Since Ron had not helped Harry in rescuing Hermione, many things were changed.

For one, there was never a trio that was formed that day, but merely a pair. Ron continued to be a friend of Harry's, but they never reached the bond that occurred in the books we all know.

You may wonder how Harry and Hermione succeeded in saving the Sorcerer's Stone without the help of Ron, but I assure you that they did.

You see, Hermione wasn't nearly as bad at chess as she had let on. She had merely been letting Ron win due to a stupid feeling that she had been having for him that in current reality continues to evolve, but in this alternate reality never made it past its infancy. In fact, Hermione had become so good at chess from her experience with it in her junior MENSA meetings, that she was able to complete the game without being knocked out, as Ron had been.

The two of them continued onto the potions room, where there was only enough for Harry to continue. Hermione made her way back to alert Dumbledore, and the end result was exactly the same as the one we have come to know in our own reality.

Without their close friendship with Ron, the two of them never did spend those first few summers at the Burrow. Instead, Harry spent part of that summer with Hermione in Knightsbridge. As strong as their friendship had been when sharing with Ron, the tie between just the two of them was that much stronger.

Ginny still had a crush on Harry in their second year, and Hermione still became petrified. Ron wasn't with Harry when he found out it was Ginny who had been taken into the Chamber, so Harry went in the Chamber alone, having not been able to catch up with Gilderoy Lockhart before he managed to flee the castle.

During their third year, Harry and Hermione never became involved with Ron that much, thus when he was dragged into the passage beneath the whomping willow, they weren't there to go after him. This meant that Sirius and Lupin were able to proceed with their plan and kill Peter Pettigrew. Snape was never able to sneak in after them under Harry's cloak, so he was never able to take Sirius to the dementors. Without the need to take Peter up to the castle, Lupin had the presence of mind to remember that tonight was the full moon, and quickly told Sirius and Ron to get out. Once outside, Sirius told Ron about what really happened between him and Harry's parents, and how Peter had been the one to blame. Unfortunately, without anyone bout Ron and Lupin to back up the story, Sirius is forced to flee and his reality becomes much the same as the one we know now. Lupin is still forced to resign by Snape, and Ron had a talk with Harry about the things Sirius told him. This causes the two to become closer friends, but not nearly as close as they were by this time in the books. Sadly, with no reason to use the time turner, Buckbeak does meet his death by beheading, leaving behind a very upset Hagrid.

In their fourth year, Harry is still at Hermione's when Ron sends him the invitation to the Quidditch World Cup. Since they had become better friends at the end of the last term, Ron had invited Harry along, and even extended an invitation to his friend, Hermione. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still very fond of Harry, owing to his saving Ginny during second year, and treated him in much the same manner we are used to in the books. Unfortunately, the growing friendship between Ron and Harry is cut short when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. This happened in our own reality as well, but in this one, Hermione has no real interest in reuniting the two of them, so the reconciliation never really comes. At the time of the Yule Ball, Harry never considers taking Cho to the Ball. He immediately asked Hermione, feeling that he would be most comfortable going with his best friend. This means that Hermione accepts before Viktor ever had a chance to get up the nerve to talk to her. For Harry, it isn't the fact that he has feelings for Hermione as such, although he is starting to realize he may. Hermione feels much the same, including her own feelings she is starting to have for her own best friend. This means that Harry never had to ask Parvarti to go with him, nor does he ask her to ask her sister about Ron. Because of this, Ron is forced into a last minute situation where he asks a third year Ravenclaw by the name of Luna Lovegood, who agrees to go with him. He decides that she is pretty enough, even if she is a bit odd. Instead of Hermione, Viktor ends up going to the dance with Fleur, who asked him right after Cedric. Ron ends up having a much better time than he did in our own reality, since Luna didn't care anything about dancing. He spent the bulk of the evening telling her jokes that she seemed to find amazingly funny. His jealous gazes at Hermione never came, although Krum took up his slack for him. Harry ended up dancing much more than he did in our own reality, since he felt a lot less self-conscious with Hermione than he had with Parvarti. By the end of the evening, their relationship with one another had progressed past the point of best friends to that of soul mates. Harry, of course, had no idea that this had happened, but Hermione did, and it made her very happy. Her happiness was tested at the end of that year when Harry emerged from the maze clutching the body of Cedric Diggory; she immediately thought that both of them had perished. It was with great relief that she discovered that Harry had actually survived, even though he was still in great danger. As the two of them stood at the train station at the end of term, Hermione promised him that she would see him real soon, which Harry took solace in at the end of every term. What happened next though, is slightly different than the reality we know. Instead of a simple kiss on the cheek, Hermione kissed Harry squarely on the lips, and told him that she loved him. It took a moment or two for Harry to respond, since he was currently feeling as if he had just caught the snitch for England, but when he did, he told her that he loved her as well, and wondered why he had never thought of it before, as it seemed to obvious to him now. As they parted at the station, Harry could barely stand the idea of being separated from Hermione and wished more than ever that the summer would go by quickly.

When Harry showed up at Grimmauld Place that summer, Ron and Hermione were both there. Mrs. Weasley had told Ron to grow up, and that Harry hadn't been the one to put his name in the Goblet of Fire at all. Hermione wasn't quite as willing to forgive him as Harry was, but did so for his sake. The news of Harry and Hermione being a couple soon spread, causing a slight rift between them and Ron again. When Harry sees Ron's father attacked be the snake, however, he and Harry are once again brought together. Hermione does come to visit Harry during the Christmas holidays while he is at Grimmauld Place, and thus the reason for her cutting short her ski trip with her parents, as well as Harry's quick response to her when she comes to talk him out of his self-imposed exile, is better explained. By the time that the battle at the Ministry occurs, the same people are involved as in our own reality, due to the fact that, although Ron was not as close of friends with them as we know him to be, he was still a member of the DA, and the fact that he and his now girlfriend Luna would be together is more understandable. At the end of their fifth year, following their battle at the Ministry, the trio still doesn't exist. What does exist is a sextet. Harry and Hermione agree to come spend time with Ron over the summer, as he has invited them along with his own girlfriend, and his sister's boyfriend, Neville.

So, you see, a single decision can indeed change many people's lives. However, sometimes when people are fated to be together, nothing can deter them from their course. Over their next two years, the six of them would encounter many more dangers, not to mention their final battle with Voldemort himself. But, those are stories for another time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to work on my song for next year. Stop by again for another look into a different reality. Until then, thank you, good night, and may your god go with you.