Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is true. I'm absolutely broke. But, it's especially true towards anything regarding Harry Potter. So much awesomeness belongs to one J. K. Rowling. Who is not me. Clear enough?
With a sudden burst of wind and a shocking scream of brilliantly colored lightning, six unfamiliar figures landed in an otherwise familiar location. There arose from the tangled group groans and grunts along with a few baritone voiced curses.
"Bloody buggering hell-" a girlish shriek sounded.
"Ah, sorry Hermione, I didn't mean to-"
"That wasn't me, Neville. I'm perfectly fine, if a bit squished."
"Oh. Alright then. Gin?"
"Wasn't me either. I'm too out of breath to shriek like that, but thanks. Was it Luna?"
"Nah, she landed on top of me. If anybody ought to be shrieking it'd be me." The group managed to disentangle themselves, revealing a red-faced Ron Weasley and a highly amused Harry Potter.
"You kneed me in the bollocks, Harry." Ron groaned. Harry began to laugh. "'Snot funny, mate. I'd appreciate being able to have children someday. 'Specially with the bloody war finally being over."
Luna smiled dreamily. "So the girly shriek came from Ron. I do find that rather funny." She gazed at him fondly before moving to dust Neville off. Hermione moved to do the same for Ron, as well as to attempt some manner of sympathizing, while Ginny moved to embrace Harry, grinning broadly at her brother's misfortune.
"So," Harry began, looking around. "Any theories on why we appear to be on Hogwarts grounds, when last I knew we were in the Great Hall? And please don't mention that apparating is impossible."
"Well," Hermione began a bit uncertainly, casting her wand about in a curious fashion. "I don't suppose you recall that rather strange voice we heard? Based upon what it said, I can make a few conjectures, but they seem highly unlikely. Not to mention somewhat impossible."
"Ah, but what is impossible for one, may not be so for another. It has to do with perception and the unknown." Luna continued to gaze wide-eyed at their surroundings. "For example, while this appears at first glance to be the edge of the forbidden forest, the view of Hogwarts Castle is far different from the one we have recently become accustomed to." Her voice grew slightly sad. "Look."
As one, the group turned to look in the direction of the castle, noting, not a battle-weary monument, but something more in line with their memories of the past.
"But that's impossible!" Burst out Ron. "That was in grave need of repair just yesterday!"
"Not even magic can fix something of that level of destruction in so quick a time." Hermione's expression was troubled and she paused momentarily in her strange casting. "And just this morning I was discussing with McGonagall and Flitwick the problem of Hogwart's wards." Harry swung around to face her, alarmed.
"Problems?" She looked at him sorrowfully.
"Yes, the Founders laid in place powerful wards to protect Hogwarts- and even Hogsmeade!- but the battle, all of the rampart magic with so much death and destruction, wreaked a terrible price on the wards. We suppose we can manage normal wards, but they will never be as powerful and likely not as useful. Hogwarts may never be as safe again." They gazed at the pseudo-Hogwarts with something akin to regret.
"It doesn't seem right." Ginny said, wiping her eyes. "We fought so hard, lost so much and- it's just not fair." She turned into Harry's hug, weeping silently. Luna laid her hand on Ginny's shoulder.
"It will turn out alright. It always does, in the end. If nothing else, we were sent here for some reason."
She looked towards the strange Hogwarts with a smile. "Why can't it be for this one?"
A subtle bell-like tone sounded behind them. They turned, wands drawn, to see an ethereal being. She smiled faintly at their readiness, but raised her hands in a gesture of peace.
"Peace, my children. I have indeed brought you here for a purpose. If you would take my hands and join in a circle, I will tell you all." She extended her hands towards them. With a slight look of hesitation on his part and little to none on hers, Luna and Harry both moved to take her hands, linking with the rest of them. They soon found themselves in a set of chambers that looked very much a part of the Castle. She smiled to see them looking around. She turned them towards the fireplace around which was arranged seating similar to the Houses Common Rooms. After they sat, they turned towards her and she began.
"I am the Lady Hogwarts. Over time, so much magic has accumulated within me and such were the personalities that built me, that I have gained sentience of my own. With this power, I have managed to reach my parallel forms, and discovered one in much need. You may be aware of the concept of time that holds that with each major decision, an alternate universe begins." Hermione gasped. "Yes, child, this world is one that has not yet suffered a second war with the man called Voldemort. He was thankfully halted before his power could grow, but the possibility of a return remains. It was my belief, and I mean mine and the me of your world of course, that to bring you six here would be mutually beneficial to our causes. You could rid us of Voldemort's terror before he even begins again, and I can give you the means to repair your home. But, of course, if you would rather not, I can very easily set you back in your world. Know, however, that this is a one-time only chance. If you manage this task, though, you may very well be able to establish a permanent link between our two worlds. Something that in time I believe you may come to appreciate greatly. I will leave you for the night to contemplate my words. This form grows ever so weary after a time." With her final words she faded into the walls of Hogwarts.
"This could be exactly what we need!" Hermione jumped up, looking excited. "If this is true-and I see no reason to believe it's not, trust me I've done every spell I could think of to verify this- then we could save Hogwarts!" She began pacing. "Not to mention the possibilities this kind of opportunity opens up. I mean, imagine it!" She looked at them in triumph. "With access to a whole different world, who knows what sort of problems we could solve. We could cure AIDS!"
They looked rather alarmed, Harry in particular. "Ah, 'Mione? Mate?" He stood up and led her back to her seat next to Ron. "That's a rather long jump from the wards of Hogwarts. How about we start with-"
"What the bloody hell we're supposed to do!" Ron appeared particularly bewildered. "I mean, c'mon! Alternate worlds?" He turned towards Hermione a bit indignantly. "And what d'you mean you've verified this? I think we'd all like to know how." They all looked at her, Harry's eyebrow lifted in question. She blushed.
"Well. I, er, I may have, you know, just in case, I—" She rushed through her explanation, focusing on the fire rather than her friend and fiancé's faces. Ron sighed loudly.
"Hermione, love, that made no bloody sense. Care to try again?"
"With something called 'enunciation' this time, Oh future sister dear?" Ginny said, grinning.
"Fine. It's, well, it's something I've been interested in for a long time, actually. If you remember, I didn't exactly have any friends when we first started at Hogwarts- No, Ron and Harry, don't start feeling guilty right now- but in my spare time- of which I had rather admittedly a lot of- I pursued a subject that interested me before Hogwarts." She managed to look a bit sheepish. "You don't know this about me but I was an avid fantasy and sci-fi reader before Hogwarts. Erm, still am really. Only, most of the time, our textbooks and the books in the Library are more interesting reads. Because they're real. And I sort of stumbled upon a book about time travel. After third year actually… I was rather interested to research the Time Turners and-" she looked at Harry, "After what Harry managed to do with the Dementors and all, I just," she shrugged, "I kept digging and I've continued reading theory on the subject for ages now." She looked at them all rather solemnly. "I found a book in the restricted section about a week ago. At the time, I thought it had been overlooked, because it seems like the sort of book that the Unspeakables would take exception to being readily available-" She paused. "But now I wonder if Hogwarts hid it on purpose, in case it was ever needed, and she decided that I needed to read it before sending us on this trip." She reached into the beaded purse she had taken to carrying and pulled out Time-travel and Wonderfully Wacky Worlds by Trekky Tenant. She looked down at it somewhat fondly. "It details a theory that is arithmically substantiated purporting that for every event that shapes the world, an equal and opposite event takes place in an Alter World. Meaning, Voldemort is born in one world, Voldemort is not in the other. Hitler loses in one world, he may win in another."
"Which really sucks for that world," Ron muttered.
She nodded slightly before turning to Harry. "Harry Potter is born in one world. In another he never existed. Who knows what makes this world different, Harry. It may be that- that you- that you died here, Harry. Oh Harry," she flung herself at the bewildered Potter, crying. Ron looked at Harry, seemingly torn between a What the hell? look of commiseration and a What'd you do? glare of accusation. Harry himself was unsure of what to do. The awkward memory of Cho crying and the subsequent kiss surfaced, and he shuddered. Somehow that didn't seem to be the right thing to do, so he settled for patting Hermione awkwardly on the back. Ginny gave him a look of sympathy, although he noticed her eyes were suspiciously bright as well, and allowed her to take Hermione.
"Shhh, Hermione. Even if something happened to Harry in this world, at least he exists in ours. Nothing can change that, alright?" She looked at Hermione firmly. "Okay? Everything is going to be okay. Now breathe. Just breathe." Once Hermione calmed down, she asked her, "Think you can continue now?" Hermione nodded before sitting next to Ron.
"Well, what I was getting at is that something about this world changed so that although it should be along the same timeline as our own, it hasn't experienced all of the same events, and it may end up happier than our own, or worse, or even- just different. I think Lady Hogwarts wants to ensure that both worlds end up relatively unscathed."
Neville's brow furrowed. "But what about the time-travel bit? It's in the title after all."
"Oh," said Hermione, "that's actually rather interesting. It suggests that some major events that split worlds could be the result of time-travel, but not, I think time-travel of the degree that I and Harry managed in third year. I believe that to be the reason time-travel is said to be unsafe after more than a few hours and any possible means to do otherwise are banned, but even that could be world-splitting if an extremely major decision was changed. But most decisions don't seem so earth-shattering until far into the future, so say we went back in time and killed Voldemort before his horcruxes, than most likely a separate world would break off; ours and the new one. It's a theory that's spilled over into the muggle world even."
"Yes, Father wrote an interesting piece on it once, but the Unspeakables used a time-turner to stop the printing of that issue, so he turned his attention to the Crumple-Horned Snorkack instead." Luna rather dreamily played with a strand of Neville's hair, quite oblivious to the incredulous looks of Ron and Hermione and the rather amused ones of Harry and Ginny.
"Well," Neville coughed, "So general consensus is- what exactly?"
Harry pondered the matter for a moment. "Well, if this is all true, then it probably doesn't even really matter." His friends looked at him surprised. "No, I mean, doesn't this seem like a rather important decision, too? I mean, if we don't do it, who's to say that a- a, erm, a splinter world or what have you, won't go off and do exactly the opposite of us? The question is, do we want to be the world that does it, or the world that doesn't?"
There was an almost solemn silence for a moment before Ron said slowly, "You know, I think we should do it. If it can save Hogwarts, why not?" He looked at them each.
Neville nodded. "I think it's worth a try."
Ginny smiled at Harry. "I think it's a good idea." Hermione nodded, tucking her hand into Ron's. Luna jumped up happily and clapped her hands.
"So it's decided! And if we manage to establish a link between the worlds, maybe Daddy and I can do some research on the Crumple-Horned Snorkack here!" She twirled slightly while the other looked on in fond amusement.
The next morning dawned bright and early, though they weren't aware of that fact. Indeed, so tiring had been the journey between worlds that they all slept in far later than they'd grown used to. Save for Ron. He was prodded awake by a first amused and then steadily more exasperated girlfriend. At best, one could say that one Hermione Granger found it quite easy to fall back into a seven-year habit of bossy bickering with one Ron- AKA Ronald- Weasley.
"Some things never change," Neville said ruefully to Harry. Harry suppressed a yawn and grinned.
"If they did, then we'd know the world really was ending. Hi, love," he said, burying his nose in Ginny's red hair. She giggled.
"Hello, yourself." She watched Ron and Hermione in amusement. "I see they're getting past the initial lovey-dovey stage."
"Oh, they'll get there again after they get married." Luna linked arms with Neville and surveyed the now blushing couple with wide, unblinking eyes. "Although I wonder how their bickering will seem when they really are an old married couple." She seemed quite content to stay there staring at them while she pondered this seemingly fascinating idea. Suddenly she smiled. "Ah! I know. Wrackspurts are attracted to long marriages, that's why older couples tend to lose track of things. But, when the time comes, I'll help you try to avoid them." She looked at Neville. "Unless they come to me, too, and cause me to forget." Neville blushed suddenly. She brushed his cheek with a bit of concern. "Did the wizzle-weems startle you?" At Neville's look of confusion, she smiled. "Never mind, I know just how to deal with them." And she kissed him fondly upon both cheeks.
"As much as I thoroughly enjoy your interactions with one another," came a softly amused voice behind them, "Am I correct in believing you wish to partake in my offer?" Hogwarts looked at them, waiting for their answer. They looked at each other and finally, Harry nodded.
"Yes," he said. "We are interested in your offer. That is- we are willing to do what you want."
She beamed at them. "In that case, I would like to present you with certain gifts. They will ease your ability to save this world, and they will be the key to reestablishing the ancient wards of your world's Hogwarts. If you would but take my hands once more." This time, neither Harry nor Luna hesitated to do so, and the group knew no more.