Written for the Time Travel Competition. While this is currently just a one-shot, I will return back to this at some point. I have a lot of ideas for this story, but I need to focus on some other things right now. If you have anything you would like to see in this story, put in your review. I can't promise that I'll add it, but I will definitely consider it. I hope you enjoy it!
"We're here," Draco said, looking like he couldn't believe it as he sat down next to Ron. Harry couldn't blame him. He was half certain that he was dreaming, his mind giving him a very realistic recreation of his first day of Hogwarts.
"I didn't think it would work. Not really," Draco continued. "My apologies, Hermione, but I was thinking it would kill us. I was kind of hoping it would."
Harry wondered why Draco was saying these things. Usually, the blonde was always in control of emotions, always with a sharp retort or sarcastic remark on his lips, even after he managed to turn his back on his family and joined the Order. Right now though, that was all stripped away. Draco shared the same look on his face as the rest of them. Confusion, shock, and disbelief was written all over their faces, all of them found themselves agreeing with the words Draco was saying.
The spell they had stumbled across to take them back ten years in the past had been a last ditch effort to fix the mistakes that had happened in their present. Not a single one of them had honestly thought this would work.
But it had. All of them had woken up the morning of September 1, 1991, and had spent the morning stunned. They had played it off as nerves to their families, wondering if this was some dream, but when they got on the train, when they all found each other, they realized it wasn't.
For a few minutes, they sat in silence, and then Hermione broke it.
"We need a plan," she said, her voice stronger than she looked. "We need to figure out what we're going to do."
"We need to stop Quirrell. We need to stop Voldemort. We need to get Sirius out of Azkaban and make sure the Chamber of Secrets won't be open. We need to stop everyone from dying. We need to stop everything bad from ever happening," Ron said. "Does that cover everything?"
Harry sighed. "Pretty much. We just need to figure how we are going to make sure those things happen."
They descended into silence again, their minds working as they tried to figure out what exactly was going to happen. They knew exactly what they had to do and how they had no idea how to do it.
"I think we should get Sorted into different Houses," Hermione said, breaking the silence again. The rest of them turned to look at her. "Not Draco, because everyone would think it very odd if he wasn't Sorted into Slytherin and one of us was. Which also means that one of us will stay in Gryffindor. We just need to decide who is going to stay, who is going to go to Hufflepuff, and who is going to Ravenclaw.
"Sorted into different Houses, we should be able to unify Hogwarts better and stronger this time around. And it's not like we're going to stop becoming friends because we're in different Houses," she finished with a weak smile.
Harry, Ron, and Draco nodded in agreement. "So who's going to be in what?" Draco asked. "I need to start finding Crabbe and Goyle soon."
"I was thinking that Harry should stay in Gryffindor. I think people would find it too odd if he wasn't. And that Ron and I should be in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."
"So me in Hufflepuff and you in Ravenclaw," Ron said, stating what he thought was the obvious.
"Actually, I was thinking I would be in Hufflepuff and you, Ron, would be in Ravenclaw," Hermione replied.
"What?" Ron asked with an incredulous laugh. Harry and Draco looked at her oddly.
"I was thinking about it. I'm very smart, and I would be good in Ravenclaw, but the Sorting Hat actually told me that I was incredibly loyal, hard-working, and patience person, and that I would be just as good in Hufflepuff, as any of the other Houses. And Ron, you're very smart and clever. You would do better in Ravenclaw than you think.
"I think you would get an easier time from your family if you were Sorted into Ravenclaw anyway. Plus, we're twenty-one years old, even though we look eleven. We are going to be the smartest students in our year at the very least. Possibly even the whole school. No one is going to have any trouble believing you are in Ravenclaw once you get into the classroom. And when your family's surprised, tell them you would read your brother's textbooks when they came back for the summer."
Ron blinked. While his insecurity with his family had decreased over the years, frankly because he didn't have time to worry about it, it would still occasionally flare up. Hermione giving him the only House that would both make him stand out and make his family proud meant a lot, though over the years he no longer thought of Hufflepuff and Slytherin in the way he had thought of them when he was eleven for the first time. He had been proven wrong too many times.
"Thank you, Hermione," he said, gratitude plan in his voice.
Her only response was a smile.
"So we're really doing this again," Harry said with a sigh. "Well, this should be fun."
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