Rotating History
Chapter Four
Thank you so much everyone for the reviews and story alerts. I first posted this story back in February. I had every intention of updating regularly and will certainly strive to do that now. Real life hit me really hard and fast in the past six months. I know that is an excuse a lot of people make but hey… its true. Feel free to message and review me with your ideas. I am looking for a beta. I have excellent spelling but need help with bouncing off ideas and grammar/punctuation. Thanks.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the world or any of the magical items. The plotline is mine.
Harry had no way of knowing that when he got to the library his prayers from the previous night were going to be answered. They were going to be fulfilled in a way he never would have expected.
It took Harry about five minutes to get from Privet Drive to the library that was a ¼ of a mile away. By the time he got there and was heading to the back of the library, where the sci-fi section was, Hermione and Ms. Hyde were already there. Hermione knew that Harry often came here in the afternoons because Harry had once told her about his life when they were in hiding. While Hermione had been waiting to see if Harry would truly come to the library that day, she had backup plans for if he didn't, she pulled out a book by Orson Scott Card. In her past life she never really read fiction and if she did it was not science fiction, so this book was new to her. The book was called Ender's Game.
The book was about a humankind that had survived an enormous attack against the "buggers" who wanted to wipe out the human species. All the nations formed an alliance that set a population and birth decree. Families were only allowed to have one child unless sanctioned by the government. Children, mostly male, were tested and chosen to be trained as soldiers in a space station in outer space. They were taught battle tactics and forced to participate in battle games. In the book one child was sanctioned by the government to be a third child born to one family. His name was Ender. He displayed such a brilliance and tactical mind that he quickly became a favorite project of the government. They had trained him unknowingly to become the person who would wipe out the "buggers."
This was relevant to Hermione because Dumbledore practically did the same to Harry except for the training that Ender endured. Harry was placed with the Dursley's to give him a low sense of self-worth and a gratefulness to the wizarding world so that he would be willing to die for it. Dumbledore sent Hagrid to retrieve and give Harry his letter, because Hagrid had a severe case of hero worship towards Dumbledore that would surely be passed on to Harry, thus making Harry look up to Dumbledore too. Everything that happened to Harry in his Hogwarts years was painstakingly planned to make Harry more susceptible to sacrificing himself for the "Greater Good." The one thing Dumbledore hadn't planned on was Hermione. Hermione had the power to make Harry question why his life happened the way it did. Why things that happened in school took place. Only Dumbledore, the man wasn't called the most powerful and wise wizard for nothing, had figured out that if he could get Hermione to worship him the way she normally did with people in a position of authority, she wouldn't think to question Dumbledore or make Harry question him. Much to Hermione's shame it worked, she didn't start questioning Dumbledore's decisions and plans until it was much too late and the war had already been won by the wrong side.
When Hermione decided to send herself back in time she made plans to thwart Dumbledore by convincing Harry he needed to train and that him sacrificing himself was never the answer. She planned on doing this in her first year, but since she was sent farther back then what she had planned on, she now had much more time to implement a training that would take everyone off guard. This is where Ender's Game came in. If she could get Harry to read this and start some martial arts training then both Harry and she could be in a better position to fight the war that was surely going to come. Hermione was still planning on trying to prevent the war but things don't always go as planned so she had numerous backup plans. Also she would look in the fantasy section for books about magic. She decided she would plant the idea of being able to do magic in Harry's head a lot sooner so that they could try to train in wandless magics. Hermione had started to learn a bit about wandless magic when she was in hiding and planning her time travel. She got to the point where she basically didn't need her wand for most things. The martial arts would help this also; the self-discipline and meditation that martial artists had would help with their focus and build up their cores so that they could do wandless magics.
Hermione had planned this all out by the time Harry finally made it to the library, so she was able to keep an eye out for Harry. She recognized him immediately, he looked like life was weighing him down and he was only five years old. Hermione promised herself the first thing she would do after befriending him, would be to change his living situation. As unassumingly as she could Hermione made her way over to the table that Harry was sitting at.
"Hi, my name's Hermione Jane Granger, I am six years old, and I love reading. What's your name? Do you like to read?" Hermione said this really quickly trying to be as friendly as possible but also trying to overwhelm Harry into talking to her. She was not going to give Harry the opportunity to ignore her, even if Harry believed it was to keep Hermione safe from Dudley and his gang of bullying friends.
"Umm, hi, I'm fre… I mean Harry. I guess I like to read," Harry answered Hermione in a timid voice. He kept looking over his shoulder, expecting Dudley's "crew" to come popping up any second. He looked around and noticed for the first time that Ms. Hyde was not sitting too far away. Dudley never bullied Harry when there was adults around so Harry figured he was safe for as long as she was around. Plus Dudley never came into the library unless forced by his mum.
"Can I ask why you are looking around and behind you like you expect the boogeyman to jump out any second?" Hermione inquired even though she already had a good idea of what he was doing.
"I am hiding from my cousin, you should probably leave me alone because he will pick on you too if he sees you talking to me. Dudley doesn't like people to be friends with me, so you might get hurt." Harry bravely told Hermione, even though he really wanted her to stay. It was nice to have someone talk to him without looking at him like he was a freak. Everyone he'd ever met looked at him like he was a hoodlum because of the stories the Dursleys had told. Harry was so very lonely and was sad because surely this little girl with the large brown eyes, oversized teeth and very bushy hair would leave him too at the threat of bullies.
"I am not afraid, besides I don't have any friends either and I would be very distraught if turned down the chance of finally having one on the possibility that I might get bullied." Hermione stated. Hermione knew that distraught wasn't a word in the usual vocabulary of a six year old, but Hermione had always talked like this and if she changed her diction now it would alert her parents to the difference in her. Besides Harry was a genius, even though he didn't show it and often downplayed his intelligence. First because the Dursleys would severely punish Harry if he even hinted a thinking ability greater than their little Diddykins, and then because Ron had such an inferioritycomplex that Harry was afraid if he showed his intelligence that Ron would quit being his friend.
Hermione had only found out Harry's intelligence in her sixth year after the potions book incident. Harry was so upset with Hermione over him accusing him of cheating that he showed her all his textbooks from his previous years of potions. Low and behold every single one of them had improvements and comments written in the margins, all done by him. He told her how he had always been fascinated by potions from the start, but Snape's very first class taught him no matter how good he was at the subject or if he showed that he was a potions prodigy that he so clearly was, Snape would never acknowledge him. Harry had told her that he might not be as smart as she was, but he was smarter than anybody ever gave him credit for. After all books had been his only friends until he came to Hogwarts also. Hermione also found out that Harry downplayed his intelligence because of herself. He was afraid that she would hate him if she thought he was competing for the grades that she so clearly valued. Not this time she vowed to herself. Never again would she make him feel like he had to dumb himself down to be her friend.
"Are you certain you wouldn't rather sit somewhere else?" Harry asked again. He desperately wanted her to stay. "I won't be able to help you against Dudley; it will get me into trouble with my guardians.
"I am sure," Hermione stated firmly. "That lady sitting over there is my babysitter Ms. Janet. I doubt your cousin will bully us with her sitting there. Can I stay? Or do you want me to leave you alone for other reasons?" She asked just a bit insecurely. Everything she had planned was hinged on Harry's acceptance of her.
"No, I want you to stay. I think we can be great friends." He empathetically stated. Here was the thing he had been praying for just last night. Harry had a feeling that Hermione was going to change his life for the better. He had no way of knowing that this first step into friendship would be the start of a history changing relationship. A relationship that would save the wizarding world and bring it to the dawn of a new era. An era that would be forever linked with the names Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.