Magical Heritage
Hey, guys! After nearly five years since the beginning of An Unexpected Switch, here is the sequel to that story, A Change for the Worse! Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Samurai Champloo; they are the properties of their respective owners. This will be the last time I put up this disclaimer. Also, although there will be several Samurai Champloo references because of events of the original story, this story is mainly a Harry Potter one. Now, without further ado, here is A Change for the Worse!
(A Change for the Worse)
"What are you looking at, Potter?" sneers Hermione.
Harry couldn't believe that the person in front of him was his best friend. Her naturally bushy brown hair lies straight below her shoulders as she wears a black-and-white halter dress that cuts off at the thigh. Harry looks at Hermione's six-inch red pumps and wonders whether her brain was fried during the mind transfer, especially since she was hanging onto Dudley like her life depended on it. A more horrifying thought crosses his mind. What happened to Ron?
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry exclaims, "Why are you with Dudley?"
"Hey Potter," growls Dudley, "Stop talking to my girlfriend."
Harry couldn't believe what he just heard. "Gir…Girlfriend?"
"Yeah!" says Hermione as she pulls Dudley up the stairs, "Now if you don't mind, me and Dudley need some alone time."
"Stop!" Harry shouts when the two are half-way up. Something was wrong with Hermione, and he was going to do everything in his power to snap her out of it. "What's wrong with you, Hermione? You're the smartest person I know. Why are you acting like a bimbo?"
"What are you blabbering about?"
Harry sees the red, round face of his Uncle Vernon coming from the living room, his bird-faced Aunt Petunia following her husband. Why was Harry even with these awful people and not with his parents?
"Where are my parents?"
Aunt Petunia lets out a shrill laugh. "Do you think we'd ever put up with you if your parents were still alive?"
"And don't think that having no parents give you the right to try to take Dudley's girlfriend?" shouts Uncle Vernon.
The ridiculousness of that statement did not hit Harry because something else hit harder. His parents were still dead? He killed Voldemort before he began his reign of terror, before he could kill his parents. Did they just die of natural causes? In that case, why didn't Sirius raise him? Why wasn't he at Hogwarts with his teachers and his friends? Why wasn't Hermione? What happened after his trip in past Japan? An idea pops in his mind. Dumbledore will know the answers. Dumbledore will know what to do. First, however, he has to get Hermione out of here.
"Hermione" Harry says calmly, "something is really wrong. Life is not supposed to be like this, and our best friend is missing and we should go find him."
"I warned you, boy" growls Vernon, "One more word out of you and you'll be thrown out of the house for the rest of the night."
Harry just stares at him. He never wanted to see this house again and will leave of his own accord in a moment. First, he had to get Hermione out of here, but he didn't know how. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.
"They're going up to Dudley's room to do you-know-what. Are you going to stop them?"
Hermione looks down, her face flushed with embarrassment. "Pay no attention to him, Duddykins, he doesn't know what he's talking about", making Dudley look away and blush himself. Vernon's face is red as well, but from violent anger rather than humiliation.
"Get out of my house!" shouts Vernon as he throws Harry out the front door, "And don't come back until you've apologize!"
(A Change for the Worse)
Harry plops down on the sidewalk and heaves. He had broken into a sprint after being kicked out of the Dursleys' house. So many things were wrong, but he didn't know what to do. Even if he could pull Hermione away from Dudley, there's no way he can get anywhere without transportation or a wand. Harry looks through his oversized beige T-shirt and faded blue jeans. Not a wand in sight. All he can do now is pray that the Night Bus or Hagrid on Sirius' motorcycle comes to take him to the magical world.
"Herlo!"
Harry looks up and sees a person flying wildly on a broomstick. The person jumps off the broom and grabs it before it flies into a house. This person is Harry's height even though she's female, and she has long, silky black hair in two yellow scrunchies and eyes like small onyxes. Her pale skin and large, hooked nose, however, sends a chill up Harry's spine.
"Pardon me," the girl asks, "Do you know where I can findo 4 Preevet Drive?"
"4 Privet Drive?" Harry says absently, "I just came from there. I'm sorry, but are you related to a man named Severus Snape?"
The girl stops fussing with her outfit- a zebra-striped vest over a short-sleeved, knee-length yellow dress and calf-high boots- and rushes over to him. "You know my fatha?"
Harry resists the urge to recoil in shock. Who the hell would ever have children with Snape? This girl has a strange accent, though; maybe he met someone who didn't know he was such a jerk, and hid them away so they wouldn't find out. In this world, however, it doesn't seem like Harry's a student in Hogwarts, so he answers her question with "I saw a picture of him before, and you look a lot like him!"
She beams at this, then frowns. "Thanku. That is why I am in Englando. My parents die here when I was a baby, and I was hoping that I can findo about them from my grandfather, Harli Potta."
Harry, no longer able to resist it, recoils. Snape is dead? How? But more importantly, "I'm Harry Potter. I can't be your grandfather."
She looks down. "But Nana Fuu say that Harli Potta was…"
"Fuu is your grandmother?" Harry shouts.
"Yes. You know my grandmother also?"
Harry doesn't respond, instead rewinding back to the night he killed Voldemort. He was in Fuu's body, and they were…oh no. What if a child was born from that? No. It's highly possible that Fuu had a child through someone else after that event, who married Snape. Yeah, that's it.
"Hey" says Harry as he sees the girl tear up, "I may not be your grandfather, but I can help you find out about your parents. I have to save my friend first. Can you help me?"
"Sure" she says as she shakes Harry's hand, "Thanku for helping me."
"You're welcome and thank you. By the way, what's your name?"
The girl beams. "Wendy. Wendy Irene Snape."
(A Change for the Worse)
Harry and Wendy float under Dudley's window. "Okay" Harry whispers, "My friend has been brainwashed, so she's going to fight against any help we try to give her. Now, do you have a wand?"
"Yes! I have my Nana Irene's wand."
Harry absently takes the wand. He never knew that Snape's mother was named Irene. Actually, there are a lot of things that he doesn't know about Snape, and he'll probably never find out these things because Snape is dead. A surprising tinge of pain hits Harry's chest, but he shakes it off as he whispers "Alohomora" and jumps into Dudley's window, to the surprise of Dudley and Hermione.
"What the-"starts Dudley.
"Impedimenta" says Harry, making Dudley freeze where he stands.
Hermione, who is now wearing Dudley white-and-red leather jacket over her dress and is barefooted, stares in horror. "What did you do to him?" she shouts.
"Don't worry; it'll wear off" Harry says as he holds out his hand to her, "but you have to come with us, Hermione."
"No!" shouts Hermione, causing the lights to flicker and making objects fly around the room, "Fix Dudley, or I'll scream!"
Harry looks down and bites his lips. "I'm sorry, Hermione" he whispers before saying "Silencio!" and "Petrificus Totalus!", shutting her mouth and binding her body on the bed.
"No!" growls Dudley, "Let her go, Potter!"
Harry jumps out of the window and onto the broomstick where Wendy is waiting for him. "Mobilicorpus" he says, making Hermione's body float outside.
"Give her back! Leave her alone!"
Harry takes one last look at Dudley. His body was shaken despite being restricted, and Harry almost sees tears well up in his cousin's eyes. Harry quickly turns away and flies off.
(A Change for the Worse)
"Do you not think that was a beeto harsh?" Wendy asks as Harry and she land next to a brick wall. Harry gently floats Hermione to the ground.
"There was no other way to get her out" says Harry as he reverses the spells. As soon as he does, a fist connects to his face, sending him on his butt.
"What is wrong with you, Potter?" Hermione screams, "You kidnap me and bring me to God-knows-where, and worse, you did that weird thing to Dudley. Dudley believed that his parents were wrong about you, and maybe they should treat you nicer. But his parents were right about you; you are a monster!"
Several different emotions ran through Harry's head. One is confusion; why would Dudley ever defend him? Secondly, Harry is hurt that one of his best friends in the world is looking at him with complete terror. Finally, Harry is angry, because after all of the things the Dursleys put him through, she has the audacity to call him a monster? He can't worry about those things now; he needs to calm Hermione down and get her to come along willingly.
"Hermione, remember when the lights were going on and off and things were flying around Dudley's room?'
"You mean those weird things you did after you froze Dudley?"
"That wasn't me. That was you."
Hermione turns around and hugs herself. "You're lying."
"Weird things happen when you're angry or scared. That's your magic manifesting itself because you don't have control over it."
Hermione faces him. "Bad things happen around me. People at school called me a jinx, and Dudley was the only person brave enough to stand my curse. I didn't know there was a legitimate why all of that was happening."
"If you come with me, you can learn how to control it so that it won't go out of control."
"Can I learn how to make it go away?"
Harry looks down, fighting back tears. What had happened to his friend? "If you learn how to control them and never use them, it will be as if you never had them."
Hermione nods. "Okay, I'll go with you, but as soon as I have control of, this, I want to come back home."
"Okay."
A minute of silence pass before Wendy breaks it by grabbing Hermione's hand and shaking it. "Herlo, my name is Wendy Snape. I have magic too, and am coming here to findo out about my family."
Hermione looks in shock before bowing. "My name is Hermione Granger. Your accent…are you Japanese?"
Wendy smiles. "Hai, I mean, yes. Harry, she is a smart girl."
Harry sighs as he looks at the wall. Yes she is. He taps a pattern on the wall, making it spread open, to the amazement of both girls. The answers to what happened to the world when Harry killed Voldemort will be answered beyond this wall.
(A Change for the Worse)
Thank you for reading the first chapter of A Change for the Worse! I've had an idea for this for years, but I was surprised that I started it now. One note: Some of Wendy's dialogue is purposefully misspelled to highlight her accent, especially pertaining to Eileen/Irene. Because in the Japanese language, r and l are the same sound, both of those names would be pronounced the same way. Stay tune for the next chapter!