Hermione's Parallel Universe

Hermione's Parallel Universe

CHAPTER 2 ~ Hard Realizations

Hermione sullenly returned to the Common Room, still unsure of what to do. When she entered, Pansy and that other Slytherin - uh, Gryffindor - girl were sitting on the couch, looking thoroughly upset.

"What's wrong with her? I -" Pansy broke off her tear choked sentence when she heard Hermione enter. Pansy and the girl stood up, looking startled.

"H-H-Hermione?" Pansy's lip trembled uncertainly.

Perhaps it was because Hermione was still shell-shocked, or because of the Pansy she knew, or a combination of both, but Hermione swooshed past them not saying a word. Hermione knew that even if this was a "new" Pansy Parkinson, she would never be able to shake the memories of the old Pansy.

Hermione briefly had the image of Slytherin Pansy Parkinson laughing shrilly as Draco Malfoy swooned and pretended to faint, as she, Harry and Ron walked past in their third year.

Hermione plodded up the steps to the girls dormitories, fighting back tears. Once there, she sat down dejectedly on the bed.

What happened? Why? How? Why were all the Slytherins Gryffindors, and all the Gryffindors Slytherins? Why was she still in Gryffindor when all of her friends weren't? How could she get things back to normal?

WHAT HAPPENED?

It slowly dawned on Hermione right then. The coin... the wish...

"'Begin a sentence with 'I wish'... ' "

"I wish it was different! I wish everything was different! I wish I had two best friends who cared about me and didn't yell at me!"

Hermione's eyes overflowed with tears. "No, no, no..." she whispered to herself, over and over. "No, please no, please no..."

She wiped her eyes and pulled out the coin. It now read,

"Thank you, your wish has been granted. Hope it's what you really wanted! Have a great day!"

She swallowed hard, and searched for tiny print - anything - but there was definitely none. She re-pocketed the coin, buried her face in her hands and began crying her heart out once again. The second time in two days.

When there were no more tears to cry, Hermione choked with dry sobs for a few moments and then she was quite quiet, alone with her thoughts.

She kept picturing Harry yelling and flinging her back.

"DON'T TOUCH ME YOU FILTHY MUDBLOOD!"

And Ron's face and the pure dislike that was all across it when he looked at her; Parvati, hanging onto his arm shrieking with laughter; Lavender kissing Harry's cheek and ruffling his hair; Ginny sticking her tongue out; the Creevey brothers with their horrid jeers amongst the laughter.

"SLIME!"

"GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!"

Now they were all yelling.

"UNWELCOME!" Alicia Spinnet screamed and pointed.

Lee Jordan said something that Hermione didn't quite hear, but dared not repeat.

"Get out! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

It wasn't until there was a small knock at the door that Hermione realized she'd dozed off. She awoke with a start, thankful to be pulled from her nightmare. The knock sounded again, but Hermione ignored it.

Her clock read 12:04 pm. Lunch; her stomach growled noisily.

The door slowly opened. "H-Hermione?" It was the other girl; the one Hermione did not know the name of.

Hermione didn't respond. She just laid there, renewed tears silently trickling down the sides of her face.

"Are you - ok?" the girl asked tentatively.

"No," Hermione whispered, her voice choked with emotion.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The girl quietly shut the door and slowly, cautiously walked towards Hermione. When Hermione didn't answer, the girl asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Hermione sniffed and sat up. "No. No one can. Not unless you can reverse time and get me my best friends back."

The girl looked hurt and confused. "I-I... I thought... I thought I was your best f-friend..."

Hermione looked at the girl with tears in her eyes. "Look, I don't know what happened, ok? I had a life which is now gone. In that life you were not my best friend. Maybe in this new life which you obviously remember, we were best friends. I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. If I hurt your feelings now or later because I don't know anything, then I apologize now. I'm sorry. But whatever happened, I need to fix it."

The girl looked even more confused, but less hurt. "What happened? Can you tell me?" she asked quietly and sat down on Hermione's trunk.

Hermione sighed. "Can I ask you a question first?"

The girl nodded.

"What's your name?"

The girl made a small noise like she'd been poked in the side with a sharp pencil. "M-M-My n-name?"

Hermione sighed again. "As you may recall, I said that I don't remember anything before this morning. This, that. Your and my life before. Nothing, ok? Bear with me here!"

The girl swallowed and nodded quickly. "Right, ok. My name is Allaiyah Minstrel. But you call - called me Ally."

"Allaiyah - Ally - Minstrel. Ok." Hermione nodded.

"So what happened?" Ally asked again.

"Well, yesterday I was out walking and..." Hermione told Ally the whole story - including the phenomena she'd experienced that night. Ally listened well, nodding here and there.

"See, last night I felt chilled and I thought there was wind blowing, but I wasn't awake enough to be sure," Ally said when Hermione had finished. "But I have no memory of this 'other life' you - we apparently had."

Hermione gave a very brief description of what kind of people Harry, Ron, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy used to be like. Ally was horrified and intrigued at the same time.

"So, in your other life, Malfoy was a slimy git?" Ally asked.

"Oh and worse. He's - was - the most horrible creature ever to cross the Earth. Well, other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Who?"

Hermione stuttered at Ally's reaction. "H-He Who M-Must N-Not Be Named! You know, V-v-v-v-v..." She cleared her throat. 'Just say it!' she thought. "V-Voldemort."

Ally stared blankly at Hermione. "Um, ok. I've never heard of - what was it? Vole-dee-mort."

Hermione cringed slightly as Ally fairly butchered the Dark Lord's name. "You haven't? But he's murdered loads of people! He's the most evil and feared wizard of all time!"

"Really?" Ally shrugged. "I don't watch the news or read the paper."

Hermione gaped at Ally. "Y-You really don't know who he is? My goodness, Ally! He murdered Harry's parents! Harry's got that scar on his head because he's the Boy Who Lived!"

"Uh, Hermione? You're getting your lives mixed up. Harry doesn't have a scar on his forehead. Harry's parents are very powerful people who work at the Ministry of Magic. Alive and well - unfortunately."

"What?"

"It's true."

"What about Fudge?"

"What? Fudge? What does food have to do with this? "Ally raised an eyebrow.

"No, no. Cornelius Fudge!"

"What about him?"

"He's the Minister! He can back me up!" Hermione threw her hands up.

"Since when? He's head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

"But then who's the Minister of Magic?"

"Ludo Bagman, of course!" Ally said exasperatedly. "Jeepers, Hermione! You really don't remember anything, do you!?"

Hermione shook head, and her eyes filled with tears once again. Everything was wrong. Everything was different. Just like she'd so wrongly wished.

~

Monday morning came and Hermione dazedly headed down to the Great Hall by herself - for her first meal since her wish.

After Hermione had finished talking with Ally, Hermione had curled up in bed and refused to have lunch or supper. She needed to think and be alone. She wanted no part in being friends with Draco Malfoy, whether he had changed or not.

When Hermione had walked in that morning, the Gryf - Slytherins pointed and jeered and mocked the way she'd been with Harry and Ron. The Raven - Hufflepuffs ignored her as did the new Ravenclaws. And the new Slyt - Gryffindors already at the table having breakfast beckoned her over.

The Gryffindors talked about everyday things, not making Hermione obligated to join in the conversation. For that, she was grateful.

Hermione ate slowly, even though she was practically ravenous with hunger. As she ate, she studied the staff table and the people sitting at it.

Snape looked mostly the same, although his hair wasn't greasy or stringy. It was clean and neatly pulled back, and his skin didn't look as pale as usual. Professor McGonagall's hair was in a loose ponytail and she looked less stern, but at the same time more disgusted with absolutely everything. Professor Flitwick was at least 6 feet tall. Professor Sprout was thin. Professor Binns wasn't a ghost. In fact, there was something slightly different about every teacher except Dumbledore, who looked positively unchanged. She didn't see Hagrid, and wondered where he was. She'd have to ask Ally later.

Hermione turned in her seat to regard the other students. She recognized so many, but who were her friends? And who were her enemies? She didn't know, and she wasn't sure how to find out.

There was Ron - sitting with Parvati. She flipped her hair around and laughed heartily. Ron handed her his last piece of bacon. Hermione bit her lip. He'd never done that to her before. Lavender Brown sat a little too close to Harry. There was also Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan and Alicia Spinnet.

Hermione looked to the Ravenclaw table. There sat all the people she knew previously to be Hufflepuffs. Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Ernie Macmillian, Zacharias Smith, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Kevin Whitby and Cedric Diggory...

Hermione did a double take. Cedric? She gaped openly at him. He was alive! But then again, if there was no Voldemort, then all the people he killed must be alive. People like Bertha Jorkins and Lily and James Potter. What were their lives like now, not to have been cut short by an evil wizard?

And if there was no Voldemort, then surely there were no followers of Voldemort. What were the Malfoy's like, and Neville's parents? How were they? What were anyone whose lives had been touched by Voldemort and his followers like now?

After her initial shock, Hermione scanned the new Hufflepuffs. There was Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Michael Corner, Luna Lovegood, Terry Boot, Padma Patil and Lisa Turpin.

Hermione sighed and surveyed her new Gryffindors. Millicent Bulstrode, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Pansy Parkinson, Graham Pritchard, Malcolm Baddock, Miles Bletchley and her newly acquired best friend, Ally Minstrel.

She once again felt like crying. She didn't belong. Nothing belonged. Why oh why had she been so careless in her wishing?

"Hey," Ally nudged Hermione. "You ok?"

Hermione shook her head and inadvertently glanced at Ron.

Ally didn't ask, she already understood. "Just try not to think about it."

"How can I not?" Hermione whispered.

Ally shrugged then changed the subject. "We have Transfiguration first, then Potions."

Hermione nodded. She'd have to pull herself together before she went to class. One question lingered in her mind as she finished eating her scrambled eggs. How was she going to concentrate in class when her world was totally upside down?

~

Thankfully, other than the visible differences, most of the Professors hadn't changed. They still taught the same subjects as before. Professor Binns still droned on and on about Goblin Wars, and Professor Sprout gave them a quick review about potting Mandrakes before having them read their text books about Gloriteldna Grass.

Other Professors, however, were completely different - for example, Professor Snape and McGonagall. Closer up, Hermione saw that McGonagall's hair was greasy and stringy in the loose ponytail. Her usually impeccably clean robes looked old and dingy. She was downright mean to everyone and gave Goyle a 5 scroll essay on why he should do his homework. She deducted 20 points from Millicent for sneezing too loudly while she was teaching. This extreme change in McGonagall deeply saddened Hermione even more because McGonagall had been one Professor that Hermione felt she could really trust with anything.

Snape, on the other hand, had clean, sleek hair that was tied neatly back. He actually smiled! He gave Crabbe 10 points for answering a question right. He gave Pansy 20 points for having the best Potion in the class. (Hermione hadn't been concentrating at all, to account for her poor Potion). He was actually being kind to the Gryffindors!

"Yeah, why wouldn't he be?" Ally asked when Hermione commented on the fact. "He's head of Gryffindor, after all."

Indeed, instead of his usual swishing slightly dusty old black robes, Snape wore deep scarlet colored robes with the legendary Gryffindor lion crest emblazoned on his chest.

Heading back to Gryffindor Tower after a grueling second class of Transfiguration, Dumbledore stopped Hermione.

"Miss Granger!" he called.

"Yes, sir?"

"A moment, if you please."

"Yes sir."

Her fellow students stared at her with curious wondering eyes as she followed Dumbledore to his office.

Once they had arrived, Dumbledore gestured to a large cushy red chair. "Sit, please."

Hermione obeyed.

Dumbledore also sat. He slowly intertwined his fingers and then stared down his crooked nose through his half-moon shaped spectacles.

"Is there something you need to tell me about, Miss Granger?" he asked gently.

In a span of about two seconds, Hermione briefly searched her mind, thinking, 'Have I done something wrong?' But then the dreadful wish and the coin came to mind soon after Dumbledore's question.

She looked up, straight into Dumbledore's calm blue eyes. He already knew.

Hermione wasted no time. She immediately plunged into her story, starting with finding the coin and ending with her last Transfiguration class, not leaving out a single detail.

When she was finished, Dumbledore merely inclined his head slightly and said, "I thought so."

"But how did you know it was me?"

"You and I were the only two who remained unchanged. As I knew 'twas not myself, I could only assume 'twas you."

"Oh." Hermione paused. "H-how do I fix it? How do I make things back to the way they were?"

"Were there any directions on the mysterious coin?" Dumbledore asked.

Hermione shook her head. "It told me how to make a wish, and it said... it said that m-most wishes are irreversible." She sniffed.

"Ah. I see." Dumbledore nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "Something of a very similar nature happened a few years ago. A young girl wished to be appreciated and turned Hogwarts upside down. I remained unchanged in that instance as well. She came to me and begged me to tell her what to do. As I once had to perform a wish reversal, I knew what to do. Naturally, I told her. And in time, she was able to reverse or 'take back' her wish. The next morning, after she had performed the 'wish reversal', everything was back to the way it had been when she made the wish. No one remembered the incident except for herself and I. We kept it a secret, just in case." He smiled as he finished.

Hermione sucked in her breath. "How do I reverse it? How do I make everything normal? Oh Professor, I would do anything!"

Dumbledore chuckled and cracked his kind smile again. "Yes, yes. I believe you would." He paused and Hermione held her breath, waiting tensely to hear how to fix her world. "Well, first you must tell the coin daily why you want to reverse your wish."

"Talk to the coin?" Hermione said skeptically.

"Indeed." Dumbledore nodded and then continued, "Then you will need the 'Wishing Book' from the Library. It is in the Restricted Section, so I shall get it for you. In this book is a potion and spell that go hand and hand. You must make the potion and drink it, prior to reciting the spell."

"Is that all?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. But the potion can take at the very least two months to make."

"Two months!" Hermione's jaw dropped open.

"Yes, at the very least," Dumbledore replied, and nodded. He'd heard this before. "The other problem presented with this potion is that you must receive little or no outside help. So, someone like Professor Snape cannot make the potion for you. And you must follow all the steps exactly as they are written, or there could be catastrophic results."

Hermione's hope of living in her own world began to fizzle at Dumbledore's warnings.

"I realize two - or more - months seem like a very long time to live in this strange world, but it will be worth it when it is repaired, I assure you."

Hermione nodded glumly.

"And do not worry, Miss Granger," Dumbledore added, "You are a brilliant student, with top marks in everything. You will do fine."

Hermione's heart lifted a little again. "Thank you, sir."

"You're quite welcome. Now off to bed then." He smiled again and stood gracefully.

Hermione stood also. "Thank you, again, very much, sir."

"And again, you're quite welcome, Miss Hermione Granger. Good luck."