What Have We Started?

'Harry, Ron! I have a fantastic idea!' shouted Hermione as she was running down the stairs in her mutual flat with Ron.

'What is it?' asked Harry curiously.

'Wait, I hope it has nothing to do with house elves,' said Ron grumblingly. 'I don't want to make Christmas present for the ones who work in Hogwarts again. That was a nightmare.'

'No, no, it is really a genuine idea,' she calmed him. 'I was thinking about sharing our experiences with the Muggle world.'

'Well, Hermione, I don't think that's a good idea at all,' said Harry cautiously. 'You know, the International Statute of Secrecy forbids sharing anything with Muggles in connection with magic.'

'Of course, I am well aware of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, Harry,' replied Hermione a bit offended. 'However, I truly believe that even Muggle children can learn a lot from our story about the fight between good and evil, love, and friendship, and it could also help them to overcome their ordinary teenage problems.'

'Well, I have never thought about what happened to us as something anyone can learn anything from,' said Harry.

'It's OK, Hermione, but how on earth would you tell the Muggles our story without revealing anything about our existence?' asked Ron.

'I'm glad that you asked it, Ron. I have a brilliant idea. I worked every bit of it out.'

'So it was the project you've been working on recently?' asked Ron surprised. 'I thought it was some Ministry-related stuff.'

'No, I considered this to be more important. So in order not to reveal the existence of the wizarding world, we should imply that it's a fictional story.'

'And how would we imply that?' asked Ron biliously.

'We should send it to an author to write a book about it.'

'Who were you thinking about?' asked Harry.

'As I am really eager to know the effects of our story and I would like to give the author time to be able to finish it completely, I want to send it to the past.'

'But how?' asked Harry, startled.

'With magic, of course, and with the permission of Kingsley.'

'And why are you so sure that he will give it?' asked Ron mockingly.

'Because I have already got it,' answered Hermione airily.

The jaws of the two boys dropped.

'And to whom do you want to send the story?' asked Harry.

'I hope that it is a very good and famous writer,' added Ron.

'No, she is not. I wanted to send it to someone who is talented but can't show her abilities, and who is in great need of money as I hope it will help her improve her situation. Her name is Joanne Kathleen Rowling. So are you in?' asked Hermione.

'Well, yeah, I guess so,' answered Harry.

'Why not?' said Ron.

'Perfect,' said Hermione. 'Then I would like you to write down your experiences concerning our 6 years in Hogwarts and the year when we were hiding and eventually defeated Voldemort.'

Ron showed a painful expression.

'No worries Ron, you shouldn't write that much, Harry would be the protagonist.'

'Then why on the hell should I write anything?' asked Ron.

'Because your perspective is also important,' answered Hermione.

'Why is Harry the protagonist, why not me?'

'Since Harry is the one who defeated Voldemort and he is the Chosen One, it has to be him. Besides you are not half as interesting as him, and neither is your life.'

'Thanks, Hermione, I love when you tell me nice things and praise my abilities.'

A few months passed by amidst preparation, Hermione could finally send their scripts back to 1996, to J. K. Rowling. That was the date she considered to be the most proper to avoid any meddling with the actual events. She also added a note that specified what they asked from her and they made her promise in the note with a signature that she would never ever reveal the true origin of the story.

'So, what should we do now?' asked Harry.

'I think we should visit a bookstore, there is one near my parents' house, and we should inquire whether they have a book about a wizard named Harry Potter,' answered Hermione.

'Well, I am really curious,' said Harry. 'But shouldn't we know about it if it was published?'

'Since we are involved in the change, our memories should not be altered, so we should go out to face the changes if there is any.'

They apparated to the house of Hermione's parents, they greeted them and moved on to the bookshop. They entered and went to the cashier.

'Excuse me,' said Hermione. 'I wonder if you could provide us a fantasy book which is about a wizard called Harry Potter.'

'Of course, would you like to buy all the seven books?' asked the seller.

The trio looked at each other with great surprise.

'There is seven of it?' asked Ron from the seller, startled.

'Yes, plus there are three additional books called The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Would you like to buy them all?'

'Yes, of course' answered Hermione confidently and a bit proudly.

Hermione spent the next couple of months with reading all the books, doing research on them, and emerging in the enormous fandom. As she finished the books she passed them on to Harry, who showed great interest in reading them, and he progressed slowly but surely, unlike Ron who did not really seem to care about them at all. He said that he already knew what is in the books, why the heck would he read them?

One day, Hermione requested Harry and Ron through the Ministry's messaging system, the interdepartmental memos to meet at the closest local library after work because she wanted to show something.

'Bloody hell, Hermione, why do we have to meet in the library?' asked Ron who was the last to arrive because he brought the children to his parents to look after them. 'You just can't get rid of it. Why do you always go to the library when you have something to show?'

'Because first, we need Internet connection, and second, I did all my research in here.'

'That's true,' whispered Ron to Harry. 'In the last few months, she spent hours in the library every week. I felt like we were back in Hogwarts, or at least she was.'

'Besides, I did not want Mom and Dad to overhear this conversation,' continued Hermione.

The boys looked at each other a bit frightened, but they obediently took seats around a computer. Hermione started it and while it was loading she began to speak.

'So, as I was observing the effects of the books, I started to realize that it became one of the most iconic fantasy books of the 21st century, and it has an enormous fandom. And I became interested in our fandom as it shows best the reception of our story. I'm simply curious as to what you will think about the things I show you.'

She open up a browser and typed in Google the name Daniel Radcliffe.

'He played you, Harry, in the movies they made of the story,' said Hermione.

'Gosh, there's even a movie?!' the two boys exclaimed, not wanting to believe what they just heard.

'Eight movies,' corrected them Hermione.

'I want to know what I look like,' said Ron, showing genuine excitement.

Harry leaned closer to the monitor to have a look at 'himself'.

'He is OK, but he is too short and doesn't have green eyes.'

'Yes, I agree,' said Hermione while typing Rupert Grint. 'I think that we should definitely watch the movies with the children, I think they would like it. This is you, Ron,' said she, smiling victoriously.

'Well, he is a bit burly, but he seems OK to me,' said Ron. 'Show us who played you.'

When Hermione clicked on a picture of Emma Watson, the breath of the boys stuck in.

'Bloody hell, she is hot as hell,' said Ron and he received a disapproving glance from Hermione in exchange. 'Of course, you are hot, too, Hermione.'

'Show me please Ginny,' asked Harry. When the picture of Bonnie Wright appeared, Harry looked disappointed. 'She is not half as beautiful as Ginny.'

'I agree,' said Hermione. 'I show you a group photograph of the cast, I think you will be able to recognise everyone.'

They observed the picture and pointed to everyone to name them. They agreed that the actors of Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps), Neville (Matthew Lewis), Luna (Evanna Lynch), Dumbledore (Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, though they found Richard Harris to be better), Snape (Alan Rickman), and Lupin (David Thewlis), Malfoy (Tom Felton) were quite accurate, but they did not like the actor of Sirius (Gary Oldman) as Sirius was much more handsome, Cedric (Robert Pattinson) because he was sparkling, and that of Ginny, of course.

'There are a lot of stories written by fans about us called fanfiction' said Hermione. 'I show you the page where the most stories of us can be found.'

She typed , clicked on the category of Books/Harry Potter where they found an unbelievable number of 700,000 fanfics.

'The stories are really varied,' started Hermione to explain. 'Some of them take place in the past, some in the present of the books, and some after that. The thing fans really like to write about is getting people together in various pairings, which is called shipping. The most popular ships are Drarry – '

'What is Darry?' interrupted Ron.

'It's Drarry, and it is a story about Draco and Harry.'

'What kind of story?' asked Harry suspiciously.

'Well, you know Harry, you are romantically involved in a relationship with one another,' said Hermione cautiously.

'WHAT? Me and Malfoy? Are these people crazy?' asked Harry outraged. 'I'm obviously straight like hell, how could they write something like that?'

'It's disgusting,' added Ron.

'No, it's not,' said Hermione. 'You don't get the essence of fandom and the liberty of fantasy.'

'That's likely…' said Ron. He received a disapproving glace once again.

'Clearly not, so you could explain that,' said Harry.

'The essence of fandom is, that you love a story and you are free to express whatever you think about it, and you can write about anything you like, it's partly about self-expressing. It's a place where you can move freely.'

'I guess people shouldn't let fans to move that freely,' said Harry.

'You are not alone with this opinion, Harry, but it is a bad attitude towards fandom.'

'But could you explain, Hermione, why people like to read and write about something which would never happen and it's disgusting, too?' asked Harry.

'Well, there are two types of fanfics, they can be canon or OOC, obviously the first contains elements which were incorporated in the original text, too, and the latter not.'

'So Draco and me are obviously OOC, whatever that might be,' stated Harry.

'Exactly,' replied Hermione. 'And slash fictions are really popular.'

'What is slash?' asked Ron.

'It is a homoerotic fanfiction, like Drarry,' answered Hermione. 'People have very varied taste, some likes slash, some reads only canon, some has favourite pairings, some like future or past stories only, some like alternative endings.'

'I see, but why do people like slash if it is not even canonical?' asked Harry.

'According to some scholar—'

'Oh my God, Hermione, you can't be serious that you even researched the topic,' exclaimed Ron. 'We are not in Hogwarts, you have no homework to do and nothing to study.'

'I know, but I am highly interested in the topic,' said Hermione. 'So, according to some scholars who study slash fan writings, these are mainly written by women for women, and they like it because the ones in a homoerotic relationship are equal, so there is no dominance which is appealing to women. Also, it serves as some kind of good pornography for them.'

'I still don't get it,' said Harry.

'No worries, Harry, as you are not a girl you don't even need to, I guess,' said Ron. 'But Hermione, do you like reading slash, too?'

Hermione blushed:

'Well, no, not really, I mean first I didn't understand why people like it either, but now I can see why—'

'Please, tell me, that you haven't read any Drarry fanfics,' begged Harry Hermione.

'Just for the sake of research,' explained Hermione nervously, and in order to get the boys' attention off the slash topic, she continued: 'But it is not Drarry which is the most popular pairing on but Dramione.'

'I hope that doesn't stand for you and Draco,' said Ron furiously.

'Yes, it does, and they are always really passionate ones.'

'But how, when it's clearly written down that we are married and have children?'

'They are really creative, in most of the stories you are faced with some difficulty in your life, become a drunkard and I'm comforted by Draco or simply I'm just seduced by him or he simply asks me out and we start dating.'

'Since how long do you call that rat Draco?' asked Ron, starting to lose his temper. 'And that's rubbish, all of it.'

'Call down Ron, it's only fantasy,' said Harry. 'What are the other popular pairings, Hermione?'

'Well, you and me are quite popular, too,' said Hermione smiling. 'But also your parents, and you and Ginny. There are some disturbing ones, though.'

'Why?' interrupted Ron. 'Drarry was not disturbing enough for you? And you and Harry are good for you?'

Hermione ignored him and went on. 'For example, the ones involving you and Ron, or me and Snape, but—'

'Bloody hell, you and Snape, and Harry with Snape?' asked Ron. 'For fans nothing is sacred?'

'Nothing,' answered Hermione. 'But actually I found those stories involving me and Snape quite interesting, they are typical teacher-student affairs. Some were funny and some were really hot.'

'Bloody hell, I don't get what's up with you and these stories,' said Ron. 'Don't they write about us, Hermione?' asked he, disappointed.

'They do, but they are far from being the most popular. However, from the so called new generation Scorpius and Rosie, Scorpius and Albus, and Teddy and Victoire are the most frequent ones.'

'WHAT THE FUCK? AL WITH SCORPIUS? ARE THEY INSANE? THEY ARE ONLY KIDS!' yelled Harry outraged.

'Sssh, Harry, for God's sake, we're in a library, behave yourself!' hissed Hermione.

'If that greasy haired descendant of that evil ferret bastard would even dare to look at Rosie, I would kill him, instantly,' said Ron threateningly.

'No worries, guys,' said Hermione. 'As Harry said before these are only fictions. Would you like to read some?'

'I guess we will be fine without it, thanks,' answered Ron.

'In this case, I think it's time we should be going, the kids must have tired Molly and Arthur a lot,' said Hermione. 'You should get more familiar with the Internet, it's a really useful thing,' she added as she walked out of the room, leaving the two boys at the computer.

'She doesn't know that I'm quite familiar with one part of the Internet,' winked Ron. 'If she reads Drarry, why can't I watch porn?' added Ron.

After they caught up with Hermione and were walking out of the library, they couldn't stop laughing receiving many scornful glances, especially from Hermione, who couldn't imagine what they found so funny.

6