What If? Part 5

What If? Part 5

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"Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate," she said, pointing him out of her office.

"Oh for heavens sake, Harry, you can do better than her," said Hermione.

Harry looked into her face, which was shining with glee, and tried to look as though he was vaguely tempted by her offer.

"Er...no, I don't think I will, thanks, he said. Er- not tomorrow. I've got loads of homework to do..."

And he traipsed off to the boy's stairs, leaving her looking slightly disappointed behind him.

"I really like you, Harry."

"Is it Cho?" she asked in a businesslike way. "Did she corner you after the meeting?"

"Did you kiss?" asked Hermione briskly.

Harry looked from Ron's expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione's slight frown, and nodded.

"Of course you're not," said Hermione absently, still scribbling away at her letter.

"How do you know?" said Ron in a sharp voice.

"You know what I mean," said Hermione impatiently.

"Well, to tell the truth, skiing is not really my thing," said Hermione. "So I've come for Christmas."

"Er- do you want to come into Hogsmeade with me on Valentine's Day?"

"Oooh, yes!" she said, blushing crimson and beaming at him.

"Listen, Harry." she said looking up at him. "This is really important...Do you think you could meet me in the Three Broomsticks around midday?"

"Well, bring her along if you must," said Hermione urgently. "But will you come?"

"Well...all right, but why?"

"Er...listen do you want to come with me to the Three Broomsticks at lunch time? I'm meeting Hermione Granger there."

"You're meeting Hermione Granger? Today?"

"Yeah. Well, she asked me to, so I thought I would. Do you want to come with me? She said it wouldn't matter if you did."

"Oh...well...that was nice of her."

"Oh, you'll talk to Hermione Granger! But you won't talk to me! Perhaps it would be best if we just...just paid and you went and met up with Hermione Granger, like you obviously want to!"

"But, I don't think you're ugly," said Harry, bewildered.

"Oh yes, I forgot- of course, if it was darling Hermione's idea-"

"HERMIONE!"

A whine of panic inside his head was preventing him from thinking properly. He had one hand on Hermione's shoulder, which was still warm, yet did not dare look at her properly. Don't let her be dead, don't let her be dead, it's my fault if she's dead...

Such a powerful wave of relief swept through Harry that for a moment he felt light headed.

"I-er-heard she's going out with someone else now," said Hermione tentatively.

Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all.

"Really soon, Harry," said Hermione earnestly. "We promise."

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Hello! It's me, The Sorting Hat. Thank you for coming back for one more look into an alternate reality. The things that you have just read were various scenes from the events of Harry's fifth year. From what we know, the relationship between Harry and Cho failed because of her misjudgment of Harry's own relationship with Hermione. What if she hadn't been wrong? What if Hermione had indeed been complicit in keeping Harry away from her? I take you now to a reality where Hermione is not at all the girl that we know her to be.

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Hermione

Poor Harry, it seems everyone apart from Ron and I think he's a dangerous psychopath. I hate myself for thinking this, but I take great comfort in the fact that it means that I have him to myself because of it. So, it's the three of us against the world, as usual. Keeping Ron to myself is fairly easy, he's been keen on me since last year, but Harry is much more of a challenge. I suspect that he looks at me like a sister, but I'll accept that...for now.

I think people are starting to come around. While we were standing around outside Herbology today, Luna Lovegood actually came up to Harry and said she believed him. Ernie McMillan did as well, but Luna is the one that ticked me off. I tried to slag her to Harry, but he seemed to think she was being sincere. Well, she'd better just watch her step. I've got enough to worry about with keeping that Chang girl from moving in on him. Harry and Ron are the only two friends I have, and I'll be damned if I'll let anyone steal either of them from me.

How in the hell did Ron make the Quidditch team? I never imagined he had it in him. This means that both of them are on the damn team, and that means daily practices and games. That means neither of them will be able to spend as much time with me. I was a bit obvious tonight, though. I blame it on being so tired. Harry had come in from his detention with Umbridge and woke me up. I asked him about helping me with the elf hats! How could I have been so stupid? How desperate did that sound to him? I'll need to soft pedal things for a while. The last thing I want to do is drive him away from me.

Well, for a first meeting, that wasn't bad. Harry was brilliant, and I got partnered with Ron. Everything went perfectly until Cho latched onto Harry. I don't even know what she was going there, she's hopeless, and her friend certainly didn't want to be there. It was so obvious that she was only there to see Harry. I'm afraid of what she might resort to in her effort to get him, so I have to do whatever I can to keep that from happening. Today was easy enough; I just cast a charm to speed up Harry's watch and asked him what time it was. In the future, I'll have to keep a close eye on her. With as naive as Harry is, he'd be an easy mark for a bitch like her.

Damn her! I knew I shouldn't have left before she did. I underestimated her this time, but not again. I should have been there to stop it, but I was too busy keeping tabs on Ron to make sure he didn't get drawn in by Luna. I can't believe Cho played on Harry's emotions and kissed him. At least Harry was probably in shock the entire time. I thought it was sweet that he thought he was a bad kisser. He doesn't know that I've dreamed of kissing him a million times. I accidentally let it slip that I didn't think he was a bad kisser. Ron picked up on that one right away, but I managed to come up with a decent excuse. Harry was barely paying attention at that point. I anticipate that she'll make a move soon, so I'll need to be ready when she does.

Christmas at Grimmauld Place, wow, I must be even more messed up than I thought. I couldn't have had fun skiing anyway, not with Harry needing me. I think I made some serious points when I came to talk him out of his self imposed exile. I wonder how many trips I'm going to have to cut short before either of the boys suspect anything. Oh well, the important thing is that we're all together. My new year's resolution for this year will be to break up Harry and Cho, and to keep Ron from Luna. Merry Christmas.

Well, she's made her move now. I thought she might try to do something for Valentine's Day. I'm sure she guilt tripped Harry into going with her. I'm glad I planned ahead this time. Rita owes me one, and it's time to cash in. Just for good measure, I'm bringing in Luna as well. Harry will do anything I ask him, so I'll be able to break up Cho's little dream date and keep Luna where I can see her all at the same time! HA! Cho missed with the wrong person this time. The best part of it is, Harry will have no idea what I'm doing...but she will. She'll get mad, and he'll defend me. It's just so easy.

Cho

Damn Hermione Granger! I knew she was friends with Harry, but now I see what she's really up to. Harry's so blind; he has no idea at all. I fell right into her trap. How did Harry think I'd respond to him wanting to meet up with her on our date? It's Valentine's Day! You don't meet up with friends when you're on a date on Valentine's Day! Marietta had wanted me to meet up with her to shop for clothes, but I said no. Why? BECAUSE I HAD A DATE! I should have known that Harry had no experience with girls, not with darling Hermione constantly at his side. Come on, Harry! You're handsome, famous, and rich...what do you think is holding you back? It's that bitch of a frizzy haired anchor tied to you. I blew up at him, and he ran right to her. Damn her! I haven't given up yet, though. If she wants a fight, I'll give her a fight!

I ran into Harry today. I thought it would be a chance for me to talk to him about what had happened on Valentine's Day, but he only wanted to defend his precious Hermione. My best friend got disfigured because of her, and he can't even see that. Hermione has her hooks so far into him; he's not even his own person anymore. If Hermione told him to jump off the Astronomy Tower for her, I bet they'd find him dead with a smile on his face. Well, I might not have gotten anywhere with him, But I'm not about to let her walk away from this one. It's time for darling Hermione and me to have a little talk, just the two of us.

"Granger! We need to talk-now."

"Cho, what are you doing out this late? Curfew was up an hour ago. As a prefect I have to tell you..."

"I bet you could tell me a lot of things, bitch. I'm here to tell you something. I care about Harry, a lot. What problem do you have with him going out with me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like hell you don't! Why? You've got Ron wrapped around your finger, why do you need them both? What's the hold you have on them? Are you having sex with both of them? Is that it?"

"How dare you! Unlike you, I don't have to use my body to keep a boyfriend. Is that all you have to offer Harry? Sloppy seconds from Cedric?"

SMACK!

Cho caught Hermione square on her left cheek with the back of her left hand, causing a large red area to appear there. For a few seconds the two females stood staring at one another before Hermione threw her own punch into Cho's stomach, causing her to double over in pain. Grabbing her hair in her left hand, Hermione pulled Cho's face back to look up at her.

"Listen here, Cho. You can have any boy in this whole school, who will take you, but you will leave Harry alone, or else next time I use my wand to settle this. Do you understand me?"

Cho was still trying to get her breath back. Hermione's bony fist her bruised a few of her ribs. "You bitch. Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this to Harry?"

"How many friends do you have, Cho?"

"What?"

"You heard me," Hermione pulled Cho's hair back even further, causing her to grimace in pain. "How many?"

"I don't know, about a dozen or so close friends, and several more that I know well enough. What do you care?"

"I have a total of two- Harry and Ron. When I was growing up, I was constantly staying with my grandparents because my parents both worked. This meant that I never could have friends over, and since I was always the smartest kid, I was picked on by everyone. Then, when I was about nine, I started doing things that my parents couldn't explain. I saw this as just one more thing that made me different from everyone else. I withdrew into my own world and knew I'd spend my entire life alone. Then I got my invitation to Hogwarts and realized that I wasn't alone, and that there would be people that understood me. When I got here, I found that things were hardly any different here than anywhere else. Do you really think that I don't hear what people say about me? Do you think that I don't know that everybody thinks I'm some kind of goody-goody know it all? Well, I do. For the first few weeks I was here, my life was as miserable was it ever was before, and I even considered leaving and going back home. It wasn't until Halloween of that first year that I made the first two friends I've ever had- Harry and Ron. We've been through hell together, and I owe them both my life. I know I don't own them, but I'll be damned if I let someone take them from me. So, remember what I said, stay away from Harry if you know what's good for you."

When she had finished, Hermione released her grip on Cho and walked back to the Gryffindor common room. Cho remained where she was for several minutes, hardly able to comprehend what had just happened to her. For a moment she considered going after Hermione and hexing her, but she knew that she would merely block it and then cast a worse one in return. Cho had seen her handiwork on Marietta and had no desire to be disfigured. As scared as she was, Cho also couldn't help but feel sorry for Hermione. Cho had always been popular and had many friends, but Hermione had not had the same advantages. Hermione's feelings towards Harry may have been disturbing, but they were very powerful all the same. Did Cho want to get involved in such a horribly complicated situation as this? No, not after losing Cedric just last year. It was a shame that things had to end up this way, but it seemed like that's what was happening. As she settled down to sleep that night, Cho thought of her one kiss with Harry, and how she had so looked forward to a possible future with him. It all seemed like a lifetime ago now. After saying her nightly prayers, Cho added, "good luck, Harry."

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Let us hope that the Hermione that we all know and love in our own reality had a much happier childhood than the poor lost soul we met here. Thank you for listening to my stories of Harry's first five years at Hogwarts as seen from alternative realities. Perhaps you could come back at the end of the sixth? I'm sure I'll have another story to tell you by then. For now, I'm going to go back to working on next year's sorting song. So, until we meet again, I am The Sorting Hat saying, thank you, good night, and may your god go with you.