Hermione Granger strode through the streets confidently, making her way from Gringotts. Adults and older children often glanced at her and gasped in shock, or threw her looks of disgust. She knew they could feel her magic, her power. Good. Let them speculate. Soon enough they would see. She'd make them all see.

The thought made her smile.

One man stared after her as she passed his shop, power radiating from the small girl. He knew she would do great things, but not alone.

After all, two others with similar auras had already passed by. Two was a coincidence, but three meant fate.

o - o - o

Ron Weasley rolled his eyes as his family walked through Diagon, sufficiently bored. His Mum and Dad were busy buying things for Percy and the twins, who had outgrown the hand-me-downs that were now Ron's. So obviously, the youngest Weasley male was all set for school, having graciously accepted those hand-me-downs. Including the rat that Ron knew wasn't a rat.

After all, walking in on a strange man in the kitchen can only give one so many ideas, and considering when the man heard the noise of the twins, he popped into rat form, Ron had reason to be suspicious of Scabbers.

Glancing to his left, he looked down the dark alley.

Now there's a place to get information.

Without drawing his parents' attention from his other siblings (as if he ever could), Ron held tightly to the rat and stepped into Knockturn.

o - o - o

Harry Potter was starting to get angry, if the cracking shop windows he passed by were any indication. After the giant— Hagrid, was his name— had left his aunt and uncle's, Harry hadn't left his aunt alone until she answered his questions (only after Dudley and Vernon were gone, though).

And she told him everything, about his mother, her friend Severus Snape, his father James and his friends– if only to get Harry to leave her alone. She told him about the headmaster who left him on their doorstep—

And here was Hagrid, singing the man's praises and being a pretty judgemental person, if Harry was honest. He side-eyed and muttered about a lot of the wizards they passed, saying they were 'Dark' or 'Evil'. Harry knew what it was like to be labeled, so when he had the chance to satisfy his curiosity, he took it. And down the dark alley he went.

"Oof!" Harry stumbled back, looking up in slight fear at the boy he'd bumped into. "I- I'm sorry, I hadn't watched where I was going—"

"S fine," The redheaded boy waved dismissively. "I wasn't either. I'm Ron by the way, Ron, uh, Weasley," He whispered his last name, glancing around.

"Harry, Potter," Harry followed his example. "Why're we whispering?"

"Dark wizards don't take kindly to people like us being here, so we need to avoid them and get what we need. I'm looking for information, you?"

"The same. Mostly though, I was curious about Knockturn. And I wanted to get away from Hagrid," Harry rolled his eyes.

Ron wrinkled his nose. "Charlie and Bill told me about him. He's nice enough, but he's a 'mindless follower of Dumbledore', something Bill doesn't agree with. Charlie's a bit biased since he and Hagrid share a love of magical creatures. My brothers," Ron added when Harry looked about to ask.

"Are we friends now?" Harry asked, not entirely sure. Ron grinned and, after a moment's hesitation, stuck out his hand.

"Definitely, mate. You're nowhere near as big headed as I'd thought you'd be," Ron snickered.

Harry rolled his eyes, again, "Oh, yes, I love having adults obsess over me because my parents are dead. Such an honor," The two shook hands, and Harry tilted his head in confusion when Ron gasped, blue eyes glazing over.

The redhead was like that for a few moments before Harry's voice broke the spell. "Ron? You all right?"

"Peter Pettigrew," He murmured, immediately shooting to keep his pocket shut, refusing to let the man escape. "And—" Ron looked at Harry. "You wanna make another friend?"

"What just happened?" Harry asked, confused.

"I'll explain later, I don't really understand it myself, but we need to hurry. We'll come back here later," Ron told him, snatching Harry's wrist and dragging the boy from the book shop. "If we don't hurry we'll miss our shot,"

"What—"

"You think we wouldn't sniff you out?" A man's voice sneered, as Ron and Harry stopped before an alley between two tall buildings. "Your kind stick out. You don't belong here,"

"Get away," The girl's voice was young, exceptionally so compared to the man's. She sounded angry, and a bit fearful. "Don't touch me!"

"If you hadn't tainted our world, we wouldn't have to," Another man's voice said. "Now shut up, you piece of filth. Mudbloods like you deserve this,"

Harry and Ron rushed into the alley, magic flaring. They saw the girl against the wall, cowering but glowering at the two men. Suddenly, she stomped her foot and the man on her left went flying into the air and out of the alley. Harry and Ron ran up to the other guy, Ron kicking him where no man should be kicked. Harry grabbed the man's collar, and, channeling his magic, threw the man in the direction of his companion.

Unbeknownst to the three, something in them snapped together. In that one instant, they'd changed the course of the future.