Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related properties. They are owned by J.K. Rowling.
Hello and welcome to the completely redone version of Hermione Granger: The Witching Hour! Fingers crossed that it will be much better than the previous one... This rewrite was inspired partially by britael's fanfic Harry Potter: The RPG, and uses the rules from the Harry Potter RPG Core Rulebook by Matthew A Kearns. If anyone knows how to contact him please let me know – I have tried to ask permission but simply cannot find any way to do so...
NOTE: The first half is the same as the original; but it changes in the latter part.
Bold = the game speaking
Normal = normal
Italics = Hermione's thoughts
The battle was lost. Bodies lay scattered around the Hogwarts grounds. Nowhere in Hogwarts had been spared. All the fond memories that Hermione had made at Hogwarts with Harry and Ron were gone, replaced with nightmares of blood and death. The sound of her friend's laughter echoing in the hallways had also faded, now the high-pitched laughter of Bellatrix Lestrange rang in her ears.
She was wounded, and she knew enough about wounds to know that it was fatal. The severed artery in her leg was simple enough to fix, if only she had her wand and some blood-replenishing potions. But magically exhausted as she was - fighting for your life did tend to do that- she was left with barely enough strength to make it up the 7 flights of stairs to the room of requirement. If there was one thing Hermione knew, it was that her body would not be paraded on display like Harry and Ron's were. She would deny the Dark that one final victory.
As she approached the blank length of wall the sound of her pursuers reached her ears. They were maniacally laughing as they chased the last remaining member of the Golden Trio. One chance, that was all she had and the rest was up to fate. The idea of fate made her laugh; she had always been one not to believe in superstitious nonsense. And yet here she was pleading to a room to give her a place where none could enter but her.
The door appeared and she stumbled in gasping for breath. The trail of blood clearly marked her whereabouts, and besides the death-eaters knew about the room's presence anyway. Back in the room where Neville and the other students had marshalled their resistance, the pain grew sharper. Not just from the gash in her leg that was slowly draining her life, but also for the realisation that she would never see them again. The mood had been grim as they had prepared for the final battle, but deep down they had all hoped that they would triumph. They had been prepared to lay their lives down for the others of the Wizarding World. That was what hurt the most, having staked it all on one final confrontation, to see that it had made no difference in the end, well save for gathering them together for easier slaughter.
And now... it was over. No matter how she tried, she could only look forwards to her reunion with Harry and Ron, with her classmates and friends.
Death was only frightening because you were scared of having nothing, she mused to herself. But when the land of the living has nothing left for you then death can only be seen as appealing.
At any rate when she was dead she would not hurt any more. With that thought Hermione's eyes slowly closed and she faded into the blackness.
The next thing she knew was a blinding light. Blinking slowly she turned around; fists at the ready, expecting that a Lumos spell cast by the enemy had found her. What she saw shocked her. An 11 year old Hermione Granger stood slightly to one side in front of her. Next to her apparent doppelganger was a long list that stretched down across the light, trailing into the darkness beneath it.
Hesitantly she started to read the list. By the time she had read the first 3 lines her jaw would have hit the floor, had that not been physically impossible. As it was Hermione's jaw was quickly shut as she stared at what seemed to be a test paper, but instead of a Transfiguration or an Arithmancy exam, it appeared to be grading her life! Curiosity won over horror as she read on. At one point Mr Weasley's voice resounded in her head, telling Ginny never to trust anything if you cannot see where it keeps its brain! But her eyes were simultaneously tracking the lines of words down the screen.
Lived to 18 years: 180 points
Made friends with Harry Potter: 250 points
Made friends with Ronald Weasley: 250 points
Gained Familiar- Crookshanks: 100 points
Brightest Witch of her Age: 500 points
Did not break under crucio: 100 points
Solved the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets: 300 points
Solved Snape's logic problem: 60 points
Figured out Flamel: 75 points
Survived Troll: 25 points
Devils Snare defeated: 40 points
Reported Firebolt to McGonagall: 30 points
Helped Harry learn summoning charm: 50 points
Dated Krum: 125 points
Saw through Umbridge: 25 points
Co-founder of Dumbledore's Army: 200 points
Tricked Umbridge successfully: 175 points
Rode a Thestral: 75 points
Student of the Year 6 times: 600 points
Quick thinking at the Ministry of Magic: 100 points
Was right about the Half-Blood Prince: 200 points
Slug club member: 75 points
Dated McLaggen: 10 points
Fought against death-eaters 72 times: 720 points
Broke out of Malfoy Manor: 300 Points
Explored Diagon Alley: 90 points
Broke into Gringotts successfully: 300 points
Escaped from Gringotts successfully: 300 points
Read 1180 magical books: 1180 points
Learnt 323 spells: 3230 points
Total +9665 points
Lost to Dolohov: -200 points
Got hurt by Botuber Pus: -20 points
Tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange: -150 points
Rescued from troll: -100 points
Petrified by Basilisk: -125 points
Let Ron cause upset at the Yule ball: -50 points
Cedric died: -250 points
Used time turner over 100 times: -1000 points
Captured by Inquisitorial Squad: -100 points
Confounded McLaggen: -50 points
A novice in Knockturn Alley: -80 points
Always socially inept: -600 points
Never met/befriended – too many to list: -2000 points
Lost battle of Hogwarts: - 3250
Total -7975 points
Overall Total 1690 points
To conclude while Hermione Granger led an exemplary intellectual life her weaknesses in socialising, and unfortunate luck means that she finishes the game with a total of 1690 points. While not as bad as a negative number, it is adequate at best. Although the fact that the score is positive is amazing, considering her loss of the battle of Hogwarts.
Hermione stared at the screen, and then stared some more. Surely this was some form of a cruel joke! To say that SHE had lost the battle of Hogwarts was definitely untrue. She had done her best to help; here a tear ran down her face as she muttered that "Maybe my best was just not good enough." The quiet whisper faded into the background as the screen finished its scrolling downwards. "Why now, everything that I love is gone forever and I am... alone..."
Thoughts ran wildly through her brain. It was no longer organized and neat, with facts and figures where they should be but instead was chaos. Sick, that was how she felt. Sinking to her knees she began to retch violently. Hands went up to her mouth only to be jerked down, her mouth opened to call for her friends only to be snapped shut.
How could I even speak their names with the same mouth which had screamed deadly curses? How could I reach out for them with my hands stained with blood? Most of all how could I expect help from people whom I had failed. I was supposed to be the brains of the Golden Trio, I had even helped plan the final confrontation. I had but one task to complete, one role to fill, and I had failed. I had failed myself, failed my friends and failed all of the innocents who no-one else would protect under Voldemort's reign.
There she was, body on the floor jerking with the strength of the sobs that were convulsing through her body. Time must have passed, surely, she thought as she sat up. Standing facing the screen on trembling legs her emotions burst out.
"Yes I failed, yes I lost but it is over, done, dusted! I am dead and so is everyone I have ever loved. All the principles I stood for are going to be destroyed and the Earth will become a living hell for all who are not pureblood!" She spat bitterly.
That was if they were even allowed to live. Nothing was a right under Voldemort's rule after all.
Despite the pain in her throat she kept on. Barely intelligible her voice was hoarse and rough from her frantic sobbing.
She did not even sound like Hermione Granger anymore. Well, then again Hermione Granger did not exist anymore either so that was fine.
Crying out loud in frustration she forced the words out, each and every one was an agony.
"Why tell me, why show me, why torment me like this? I lost, I was defeated and you have won. Whatever you are you have won! If I could change the past I would. Believe me I would. I f there was a time turner that could erase the years I would take it. At any price I would take it! Do you not get it? I would give everything I ever had for the chance to start anew…
CONTINUE SELECTED
INITIATING START SCREEN
The pure shock of the message was enough to silence Hermione.
What was happening? By Merlin what was going on? Initiating? Was this some sort of spaceship going into countdown? Maybe it was a bomb of some sort. That would be good. No pain and no memory, just sweet, sweet oblivion.
The screen chose that point to flash up another message. At first the words seemed blurry through the tears, but gradually focus returned, although it took some more time after that for her to calm down enough to look at it properly. The screen now showed an image which looked much the same as a start up scene for a... video game? Hermione's eyes skimmed across the words, hardly able to believe what she saw: and after having been scored on her short and unfortunate life, it would take a lot to inspire that level of shock.
The words said in clear black text
Should Hermione Granger wish to continue then please select an option to begin?
What was this meant to be? She wondered out loud. Her thoughts continued to process this new information at superhuman speed, probably due to her heightened state of emotion.
I am somewhere. I was thinking. I have command of my body. All these facts pointed to me being alive. But I was dead. I was in an unknown location that was not my place of death. Logically then I could not be a ghost, as ghosts could move and were not limited to one area. But I was dead and yet all the signs pointed to me being alive.
Having already ruled out being a ghost she could only conclude that she was in some state of limbo, between life and death? The thought sickened her, breaking the control that she was desperately trying to retain.
Just like that time in third year when she had punched Malfoy, her rage had soared to the same level.
Why was I separated from Harry and Ron? I should be embarking on the next great adventure with them not stuck in some in-between! Was I lacking in some way that meant that I was found unworthy? Oh Merlin, Harry, Ron will I ever reach you again!
In her temporary delirium she lashed out at the only other object in the strange dimension. Her fist smacked into the screen with all the force that she could muster. A bell sounded and a voice announced…
LOADING COMPLETE
Now her attention was drawn to the screen. Below the words from earlier were 3 buttons. Looking at them she could see that they read
NEW GAME
NEW GAME +
LOAD GAME
Okay, Hermione thought. From what I know about video games new game is a complete restart of the story, new game + is when you start over with bonuses from the previous game and load game is when you die… and want to retry something!
Her fingers fumbled as she reached out to the button with the label LOAD GAME. A dull buzzer sounded.
Sorry you have no saved games to load
Although this did make sense to Hermione, after all she was certain that she would remember something like this happening, she was also devastated.
My chance to change things has gone. She thought a creature of quiet desperation and crushed hope. My chance to save Harry and Ron and to stop all the killing is gone. Now there is nothing left of my old life I cannot make a new start… unless I start again completely. That's it! There were 3 buttons, if one way does not work; you try again and again until you get it right! Nothing is too high a price to pay to save Harry and Ron!
So with no hesitation Hermione reached forwards and tapped the NEW GAME+ option. A dialogue box came up and flashed. Looking at the words she let out her first real smile. It was the best news that she had heard in over a year. It read...
NEW GAME + is for the player who has completed the game and wishes to start anew while retaining memories from their previous game. Are you sure you want to select NEW GAME +
YES
NO
Yes was tapped quickly and without thought of the consequences. All Hermione was thinking at this point was that this time, things would be different; this time there would be no deaths, no war.
After all I could stop everything from occurring now that I knew what would happen! I could prevent Voldemort being resurrected and stop Professor Dumbledore's death from occurring. But there was the downside as well, she thought glumly. I only know the future following this one sequence of events. Should I prevent Voldemort from being resurrected he could come back and conquer some other time, and then I would have no Idea what to do! No, it would be best to follow the timeline as much as possible. I cannot afford to change the future too much. Instead I will have to try and help from the sidelines. If I warned people then they would put me in St Mungos for insanity! But if I seemed to be there on every essential occasion then people would get suspicious. Goodness, Legilimency, I would have to keep an incredibly low profile. Imagine the consequences should Snape find out the future. He was a legilimens and he had killed Professor Dumbledore! No I would have to be extremely careful!
Thinking about the failure of her past life made her shudder so Hermione quickly focused on the options in front of her. Denial was definitely unhealthy, but her steadily growing hope was all she had to cling to in this place. Even if it was more of an ideal to save everyone, it was just too painful to think of the other possibilities.
Hermione Granger starts NEW GAME + with the following benefits carried over
Normal teeth
YES
NO
The latter part was actually quite insulting, to her anyway! Well at least she would not suffer the all too familiar taunt of 'Beaver' this time. As to the former part, she had no idea what anything was except for the galleons, nevertheless Hermione clicked the finish button. At this moment in time she was torn between an impossible hope and a terrible dread. Hope that maybe this was real, despite what her logic told her. Dread that she was under some spell or hallucinating. The world shifted again and Hermione found herself on her back, looking up at the word Tutorial?
Hello and welcome to Character Creation!
Question 1: What is your Blood Status? Tap for more information.
Pureblood
Halfblood
Muggleborn
If there was one factor in Hermione's consciousness which had remained a constant throughout the 18 years she had lived, it was her thirst for knowledge. So she tapped on the first item on the list, Pure-Blood, not intending to choose that option, but wanting to learn more.
Purebloods: An Introduction
Purebloods are those who can trace their heritage back for 7 generations, with no muggle ancestors in their lineage up to that point. Purebloods will have been brought up in the Wizarding World and as such begin with skills reflecting this. The player upon choosing this ancestry will gain 5 picks to spend on magical skills, although no skill may have more than 3 picks spent on it.
Then she selected the Halfblood option.
Halfbloods: An Introduction
Halfbloods are those who have traceable magical background but who have muggle ancestry as well Halfbloods will usually have been brought up in the Wizarding World, albeit with knowledge of the Muggle World and as such begin with skills reflecting this. The player upon choosing this ancestry will gain 3 picks to spend on magical skills, although no skill may have more than 3 picks spent on it, and an additional 2 picks to be spent on Muggle skills, with the same restrictions applying.
Lastly the one she was really curious about came up.
Muggleborns: An Introduction
Muggleborns are those who have no Wizarding ancestors at all. Muggleborns will have been brought up in the Muggle World, unaware of the Wizarding World and as such they will begin with skills reflecting this. The player upon choosing this ancestry will gain 5 picks to spend on magical skills, although no skill may have more than 3 picks spent on it.
You have selected Muggleborn?
YES
NO
And with that selected she found herself looking at a list of characteristics, or did they call them statistics in games? Each one currently stood at a score of 6, with an additional 7 picks – was that what they called them – available for allocation...
Strength -6+
Constitution -6+
Dexterity -6+
Charisma -6+
Intelligence -6+
Wisdom -6+
Magic -6+
Picks: 7
Reading a pop-up that had come into her line of sight Hermione discovered that the maximum for a statistic was 12. The guide did stress though that 6 was average for an 11 year old child. Slightly mollified about the seemingly low scores Hermione then looked at exactly what each statistic affected.
Strength
Strength is a measure of your physical prowess. It affects how much you are able to lift, and how many items you can carry at one time. It also affects any attack for which physical effort must be exerted. This applies to both armed and unarmed combat.
Personally, she thought, there was not much need for strength. Hermione knew that in the past she had managed to get by with her wits and skill alone, and if she was not to change the future beyond recognition she should probably do the same this time. Besides, lightening charms rendered weight restrictions a minor inconvenience. All she could really do with increased strength was punching Malfoy harder, which while satisfying, was not worth one of the few picks she had.
Constitution
Constitution represents both the amount of health points you begin with, and the amount of stamina you have. It additionally will determine your resistance to all injuries as well as the amount of injuries before you are incapacitated.
That seemed much more important! But then again she had never been in a physical fight first year, and as such had never been injured. This meant that Constitution could wait a while. It wasn't like an extra point would help much against a troll anyway...
Dexterity
Dexterity is a versatile stat, insofar as it applies to both magical and non magical areas, Affecting quickness, Dexterity controls both the speed and agility with which you move: for example dodging curses. As well as that the number of spells that you can cast in a given time is increased or decreased depending on Dexterity. It will also affect your movement speed.
Again there was another thing that could wait until a later date, though it was definitely one that needed to get higher before the department of mysteries fiasco.
Charisma
Charisma will define all of your social relationships in one way or another, since it affects how well you convey the desired emotion or attitude towards other people, be it friendliness or fear.
Now that could not wait. Hermione knew that she would be in social contact with others on a regular basis at Hogwarts and she was not jeopardising any potential friendships because of a low charisma!
Intelligence
Intelligence is a key area, affecting not only how quickly and easily you learn new information, but also affecting how quickly you can respond to new situations. It will affect how many picks you begin with to assign to skills as well as how much studying you have to do in order to learn a spell or do homework.
And wasn't it annoying to have the area in which she had once excelled reduced to 'average'! Intelligence was important and so she mentally allocated at least 3 picks to be spent on getting her brain back to how it should be.
Wisdom
Wisdom is a stat which comprises many parts. Not only does it affect your ability to discern other people's emotions, it also affects how aware of your surroundings you are. Lastly it will help with logical thought as a high intelligence stat might provide 100 ways to do something, but wisdom will help you select the right one and give you the willpower necessary to do it.
So another stat joined the list of very important areas, and at long last Hermione reached the last stat description.
Magic
Magic represents exactly how much magic you have, how quickly it regenerates and your control over it. It is an essential stat for any witch or wizard, especially in duelling. This is because should the same spell be cast by two people then the spell cast by the witch/wizard with less magic will be overpowered.
It seemed to Hermione that all of the good stats were at the end; Magic was definitely of more use to her than strength anyway. Therefore she decided to focus on the last four areas. 3 picks went to Intelligence, 2 to Wisdom and 1 each to Magic and Charisma. She just hoped that that would be enough, this was her second chance and she could not afford to fail, the fate of the Wizarding World literally rested on it.
After her decision was finalized everything changed once more and she found herself looking at an incredibly long list of yet another unfamiliar game-related terms, this time called 'Backgrounds'.
So you have decided your ancestry and your base stats... but how has your life been up until your 11th year? Backgrounds will give you an advantage in the form of a skills boost, making it easier to pursue a certain style of play.
That was actually pretty simple to resolve as after Hermione had read through every single background she promptly returned to the first one. It was the one most true to her character, and while some others came with better advantages she had no desire to be an orphan, or be a gang member!
Academic
Skills: History +2, Language +2, Science +1, Observe +1, Maths +1 & Investigate +1
And that compromised her entire repertoire of skills so far. She did still have the 10 picks to spend on raising her present skills, or unlocking new ones. It was just that, so far, there had been no opportunity to do so, which made a sort of sense considering that she didn't know much about skills yet. Rather, it was being covered at the moment as she looked at two very long lists, representing respectively Muggle Skills and Magical Skills. This was going to take a long time, especially since Hermione had resolved to wring every last drop of information possible from this game.
Muggle Skills (Current Level in Brackets) (Available Picks - Intelligence (9) + (5) = 14)
Acrobatics (0), Aesthetics (0), Art (0), Athletics (0)
Befriend (0), Beguile (0), Botany (0), Calligraphy (0)
Conceal (0), Cooking (0), Debate (0), Enterprise (0)
Engineering (0), Espionage (0), First Aid (0), Games (0)
History (2), Inspire (0), Intimidate (0), Investigate (1)
Language (2) Legerdemain (0), Martial Arts (0), Maths (1)
Melee Weapons (0) Music (0), Observe (1), Plotting (0)
Ranged Combat (0), Science (1), Stealth (0), Survival (0)
Tactics (0), Tracking (0), Zoology (0)
Magical Skills (Current Level in Brackets) (Locked Until Hogwarts Letter Received) Alchemy (0), Ancient Runes (0), Arithmancy (0), Astrology (0)
Battle Magic (0), Care Of Magical Creatures (0), Charms (0), Conjuration (0)
Dark Arts (0), Defence Against The Dark Arts (0), Divination (0), Duelling (0)
Elemental Magic (0), Enchantment (0), Enspell (0), Flying (0)
Healing (0), Herbology (0), History of Magic (0), Illusions (0)
Lore (0), Magic Sensing (0), Magical Theory (0), Mind Magic (0),
Muggle Studies (0), Negation (0), Spellcraft (0), Summoning (0)
Potions (0), Religion (0), Rituals (0), Talismans (0)
Technomancy (0), Transfiguration (0), Warding (0)
It was annoying to an extreme that she was unable to place any points on any of the Magical Skills, but there was going to be at least a month in which she could practice, so it might not be as bad as it had initially seemed. Since one of Hermione's aims had been to be more sociable this time around, two picks were spent on the Befriend Skill. This cost Hermione the grand total of three picks, since you had to use an extra pick to select a skill that had not been unlocked.
Another three went on Ranged Combat in the same manner, chosen because it would probably apply to spells as well as Muggle archery. With eight picks remaining she chose to unlock, and place a single point in, Stealth, First Aid, Legerdemain and Conceal, all of which had been chosen for their potential. Knowing what to do when Harry or Ron got hurt would be a huge relief, while Stealth and Conceal would be useful when breaking school rules. And she could not believe that she had just thought that! Thinking back to her first year she realised how naive she had been, thinking that expulsion was a worse option than death. Having experienced the horrors of war first hand she could say with certainty that the value of a human life could not be dismissed so easily.
And it wouldn't be dismissed so easily this time. She would make sure of it.
So... opinions anyone? Please review if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism to give. Any questions, just pm me and I will do my best to answer!