Hermione's Parallel Universe

Hermione's Parallel Universe

CHAPTER 1 ~ The Wish

Hermione looked out of her bedside window, yawning slightly. She looked back on her first week at Hogwarts; it had been completely normal. She had started all of her classes very nicely, and she had even got top marks in Transfiguration for her essay on the Transformations of Inanimate Objects to Living Objects. She lay down on her comfy four-poster bed in the girl's dormitory in Gryffindor Tower. She sighed. Yes, her first week had been very normal.

No possessed Professors after a stone, no three headed dogs, and no trolls purposely let into the school. No giant snakes in the pipes, no people being Petrified and no young girls getting kidnapped.

No murderers escaped from Azkaban, no murderers posing as rats, no teachers actually werewolves. Though Lupin had been a great teacher, Hermione thought. So in regards to him, then I have no problem.

There had been no Triwizard Tournament, no Yule Balls to attend, and no drunken House Elves. How was Winky doing these days anyway? she wondered. I'll have to check on her.

There were no twisted Ministry teachers to ruin their lives. That awful Umbridge woman, Hermione practically screamed in rage at the name. I hope she's having a horrible life right now.

There had been no flying on the backs of invisible horses to save someone who didn't need saving and no sneaking into teachers' offices to contact people who didn't need to be contacted. Poor Sirius, Hermione sniffed, letting her thoughts linger on him for a moment.

Yes, the week had been very normal indeed. The most - and only - very normal first week at Hogwarts Hermione had ever had.

And she loved it. Hermione grinned and cuddled her feather down pillow, slipping off into a dreamless sleep.

Hermione woke up late on Saturday and began studying for her classes, as usual. Harry and Ron played a few games of chess, which unsurprisingly, Ron won.

Saturday afternoon, Hermione went for a brief walk across the bright welcoming grounds while Ron and Harry headed to Quidditch practice. As she leisurely strolled through the warm sunshine, a sudden gold glint to her left caught her eye. She looked over and saw a small, round golden disc. Is that a galleon? she asked herself.

Hermione looked around to see if anyone else had seen it. When she was sure they hadn't, she hurried over to it and picked it up, turning it over in her fingers. It wasn't a galleon, but quite similar to one. It had the weight and the shape of a galleon, but instead of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank logo engraved on it, it had the words 'Make a Wish' inscribed elegantly onto its surface. At first she thought of it was just a joke and she considered leaving it right where she found it. But she could actually feel the wish token radiate a magical heat. She knew she could feel that it was real, and that it wasn't a joke.

Where had the coin come from? Hermione questioned. Who dropped it? Should I use it? Should turn it in? Or give it to Professor Dumbledore?

Immediately, as though her questioning had triggered a fuse in her mind, a dozen or more wishes raced through Hermione's head. The last one that went through her head seemed to be the most crucial one, the one that her heart yearned for the most. Ron... I wish Ron and me... She stopped abruptly, for the coin had cleared of the line 'Make a Wish' and was replaced by more of the fancy writing with:

"Be careful what you wish for, it might come true. Think about it, and make it worth while."

On the other side of the coin, there was more writing. It was very tiny and hard to read, but readable nonetheless. It read:

"To make a wish, hold coin in palm of hand or in pocket. Simply start a sentence with 'I wish...' and your wish will be granted!

Take Extreme CAUTION: Most wishes are IRREVERSIBLE!"

Hermione bit her lip. She ought to think this through first, really think about it. She couldn't just go and make some careless wish. It had to be worthwhile, like the coin had said.

She slid the coin into her pocket and headed back to the Common Room.

Later that evening, Hermione was curled up in her favorite chair reading a book ("The Tales of Mergatroyd Ballminder: Heroine and Magical Extraordinaire") waiting for Harry and Ron. Finally, around 10 o'clock in the evening, they returned from an obviously long and dragged out Quidditch practice. Both Ron and Harry looked dirty, tired and on edge. Hermione didn't realize just how on edge.

"How was practice?" she asked in a would-be cheerful voice. Judging by the look on their faces, Hermione thought that it had gone pretty bad, but she wanted to be as nice as possible.

"Bad. Bloody rotten," Harry snapped at her.

"Horrible! Now get off it!" Ron snarled.

Hermione opened her mouth slightly at their reaction. "I was just asking..."

"Yeah, well, why can't you ask us tomorrow or something?" Ron fairly yelled.

"And you don't have to be so happy, either!" Harry said loudly and angrily.

Hermione snapped her book shut and stood challengingly. "Since when was it a CRIME to ask you how practice went?"

"Since now!" Ron was now yelling. "I said it was horrible!"

"How many times do you have to ask?" Harry growled and glared at Hermione.

Hermione's mouth was wide open now. "What on EARTH happened? Why are you two being so rotten to me?"

"Nothing happened! It was a ruddy horrible practice! I didn't stop a single ball! I even fell off my broom!" Ron screamed.

"And I didn't catch the Snitch! We had to get Ginny - who is, by the way, a Chaser, not a Seeker - to get it! I ran into the goalpost!" Harry threw his Quidditch robes across the room.

"I was just asking because I care! How was I supposed to know you didn't do well today? You make it sound like it's my entire fault!" Hermione ranted. "'I hit a goalpost today... thanks a lot, Hermione.'" she mimicked sarcastically. "In case you didn't know, I had NOTHING to do with it! But you two always take your bloody frustration out on me! I'm just a bloody PACKHORSE for your problems!"

Harry looked a little taken aback by Hermione's shouting. His anger subsided, as did Ron's. Harry started to apologize. "Hermione, I'm - "

"Sorry, yes, I know. You always are!" she cut him off and continued. "This isn't the first time this has happened, you know!" Her eyes filled up with tears. She was very glad no one else was in the Common Room, although she was pretty sure they were hearing every word exchanged anyway. "How many times a day do I help you? Am I nice to you? And then you come in here and rip my head off because YOU'VE had a rotten day!"

Ron's face had softened at the sight of Hermione's tears. He was already instantly guilty. "D-Don't cry, Hermione... listen..." He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, but she slapped it away forcefully.

"No, you listen! If your life goes wrong, then I'M the one who pays. You're my best friends and I'm happy to listen to and help you with your problems, but I don't want them thrown at me so hard that I get hurt!"

Ron looked ashamed and a little hurt. His ears began to turn red. Harry obviously felt the same way as Ron: ashamed and a bit hurt. "Look, Hermione -"

"I wish it were different! I wish EVERYTHING WAS DIFFERENT! I wish I had two best friends who cared about me and didn't yell at me!" Hermione was practically sobbing by now and the tears were flowing freely down her face. She tore from the Common Room, leaving Ron and Harry in a guilty silence, and bolted up the steps to the girls' dormitories.

She thought she heard someone call, "Hermione, wait...", but she didn't stop.

She slammed the door shut as hard as she could, abruptly ending the whispering that had been going on when she'd blazed in. Hermione threw herself on her bed, ripped the hangings shut around her and sobbed and cried until there were tears left to cry or she had fallen asleep - she didn't know which had come first.

In the middle of her sleep, Hermione woke up to feel the air cold swishing all around her. She cracked open an eye - was a window open? - shut it immediately. Everywhere around her was washed in brilliant white light. The swishing continued. It felt like a great wind was whipping in every direction around Hermione's bed.

Suddenly, it stopped. Hermione slowly opened her eyes. The light was gone. She peeked out from between her bed hangings to see if anyone else had been awakened by the strange phenomenon. Nothing stirred. There was no sound except the rhythmic breathing to indicate that everyone was still asleep.

Hermione shook her head. Must've been a weird dream, she thought, and dozed off back to sleep.

Finally, Sunday morning arrived.

Hermione stood and stretched, glad that it was still the weekend. She always liked to sleep in late on the weekends.

As expected, she was the last girl to rise. All the other bed hangings were open, and there were no other girls up in the dormitory with her.

The thoughts of last night came rushing back to her - the fight. She hated being on bad terms with Ron and Harry. But she knew that as soon as she arrived in the Common Room this morning, Harry and Ron would apologize, as would she. Hermione only hoped that this time it would be different. It wouldn't happen again.

The thought of Ron's pained face flashed in her head. He'd looked so... hurt. She hadn't meant to hurt him; she only wanted to get her point through.

Why'd you have to yell? she thought. She wasn't sure whether she was referring to herself or Ron. Maybe both.

Hermione got dressed, combed her hair, brushed her teeth and hoped she looked a little extra nice. No reason, really, she just wanted to.

She walked down the steps to the Common Room, rehearsing what she was going to say and steeling her face to look like she was still mad. Hermione turned the corner, ready to see Ron and Harry run towards her. Instead, Hermione nearly fainted at the sight before her.

Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson were sitting in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's favorite chairs in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Good morning!" Pansy and Goyle chorused. There was another girl that Hermione didn't recognize, standing behind Crabbe. Malfoy stood to greet her, smiling.

"What... how... I... y-you... w-who... " Hermione stuttered uncontrollably. Malfoy - here - in the Gryffindor Common Room! She shook her head and regained her speech in a hurry. "What are you doing here?" she asked as icily as she could.

Malfoy looked confused. "What do you mean?" This infuriated Hermione. He was going to play dumb about it?

"I said, 'what are you doing here!'" Hermione said again, clenching her fist tightly.

Malfoy glanced at the others. "Sitting here, waiting for you... like we always do?" he answered.

Hermione's blood boiled. What was he playing at? "Get out."

Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy stood. The girl cowered behind them, looking very worried.

"H-Hermione...?" Pansy looked genuinely concerned.

Good performance, Hermione thought. "How did you get in here?" she demanded loudly. Where were all the other Gryffindors?

Malfoy glanced at the others again. "I - we used the password, like... like everyone else... " he said unsurely. The others nodded quickly.

"I said, GET OUT!" Hermione suddenly yelled and pointed to the portrait hole. The five before her all jumped when she yelled.

Finally, one of them found a little courage. "What? We're not allowed to be in here?" Crabbe piped up weakly.

"Yeah, that's right! We have the same right as you!" Pansy squeaked an agreement.

"You know the rules, just the same as everyone else. I don't know how you got in here, but you'd better get out of the Gryffindor Common Room, NOW! You dirty horrible Slytherins!" Hermione screamed. Please, someone help me here! she thought.

Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, the unknown girl and Pansy all took a step back looking horrified. "B-But Hermione, we are in Gryffindor!" Pansy cried out, tears brimming in her eyes.

You could get an award for this performance, Parkinson, Hermione thought dryly. She saw that they were indeed wearing Gryffindor robes, which only made her all the more furious. They had stolen robes!

"Why would you think we're Slytherins?" Goyle asked fearfully. The girl behind him nodded.

Malfoy took a few steps toward Hermione. "'Mione? Are you ok? Do you want to go see Madame Pomfrey?" He held out his hand to hers.

"No! Don't! GET - AWAY - FROM - ME!" Hermione bolted past the Slytherins, leaving them looking worried, scared, hurt, dumbstruck, confused, and even sick (Pansy).

She ran down the halls as hard and as fast as her legs would carry her. McGonagall... Dumbledore... Teacher... someone! Harry... Ron... where were all the people who would help her!

To her horror, she saw everyone who was in Slytherin wearing Gryffindor robes...all of the Hufflepuffs were Ravenclaws...all of the Ravenclaws were Hufflepuffs...

And then it hit her.

All of the Gryffindors would be Slytherins now. But why was she still in Gryffindor?

She raced down the Great Hall, and finally spotted a large group of Slytherins emerging from breakfast. She saw Alicia Spinnet... Neville Longbottom... Ginny Weasley...

And there was Ron.

"Ron! Ron!" Hermione hollered and ran up to him. "Something crazy's going on, Ron! I was -"

"The only thing crazy here is you!" Ron snarled and looked at her with pure dislike. "Go away!"

"Hey, look here, Ron. I'm sorry about what I said last night - I really am! Now will you help me figure out what's going on?"

But Ron wasn't listening. He was talking to Parvarti Patil and whatever he was saying was apparently very funny. The girl shrieked with uncontrollable laughter. Parvarti slid her arm through Ron's, who smiled down at her and made a "crazy - loco" gesture towards Hermione. Pavarti shrieked once again.

Hermione stared at Ron and Parvarti, momentarily in disgust. How low can you get? she thought. Then she spotted Harry. Well, he'd always been more willing to hear her apologies anyways.

"Harry!" She grabbed his arm to pull him away from Lavender Brown, who (Hermione most annoyingly noted) had her arms wrapped around Harry's waist. "I wanted t -"

Harry flung Hermione backwards so forcefully that she lost her balance and landed hard on the floor, skidding an inch or two.

"Don't touch me, you filthy Mudblood!" Harry yelled, his eyes fairly blazing.

The "Slytherins" roared with raucous laughter. As Hermione looked from laughing face to laughing face, she sickly realized that these people were no longer her friends. They each had the same opinion about her: the name Harry had so loathingly called her.

Tears trickled down her face and she slowly stood up. It felt as though a dull knife had pierced her heart, and each time a Gryffindor - Slytherin, rather - laughed and pointed and jeered and mocked, it twisted and turned and cut deeper.

Especially when she saw Ron's face.

Hermione backed away from them, unsure of what to do, where to go, and who to turn to.

What have I done?