Reviews

Mugen-Muse

Hermione is somewhat salvageable as we will see in this chapter.

Alan

Apparently mice like nuts, berries and seeds.

frankieu

It does make sense that if Harry spends too much time away from Privat Drive that the wards would fail, but Dumbledore would never allow that. So Harry would have to be kidnapped, and that's a whole other set of problems. I think it would be better for Tom Hiddleston to be more subtle and threaten Vernon's job.

Crossworld 1 - Harry Potter

Part 24

Charms Classroom. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I waited until all of my class had cleared out of the room before I went over to speak with my Head of House. This wasn't exactly an urgent matter, but it did need dealing with sooner rather than later. I had a lot to be getting on with.

"Mr Hiddleston," said Professor Flitwick "Is there something we need to discuss?".

I'd been tutoring Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter for long enough to see for myself that Neville's wand, which was actually his father's wand, was not suitable for him, and he blamed himself for his poor performance.

Already I was getting annoyed with trying to assure the kid that he wasn't a waste of space, but I couldn't seem to convince him that he wasn't the problem. I needed to prove to him that he was a real wizard and him getting a new wand could help with that.

"Yes, sir," I answered "I've been helping out a couple of the first-year boys with some classwork they've been struggling with, and I've noticed that one of the lads is having trouble with his wand. When I asked about it he told me the wand belonged to his father. However, his father isn't dead and so I think that the wand is still loyal to its original wielder".

Flitwick didn't seem surprised.

"This would be Neville Longbottom," he said.

He noticed my reaction as I couldn't always prevent myself from displaying my feelings.

"Miss Granger noticed what you were up to and felt the need to inform me" the teacher explained "I assured her that tutoring younger students is perfectly acceptable. Although the tutoring students are normally older. I hope you're being careful".

The fact that Granger had snitched on us shouldn't surprise me and it didn't matter much. What concerned me was that she'd been able to find out what we were doing when I was so careful to make sure that we weren't followed when going off to a tutoring session.

My thinking was that she must have suspected something and then questioned one of the boys when they were alone, getting the truth out of them. Neville most likely as he was more easily intimated than Harry.

"In terms of practical work we're only covering what I did last year," I said to the professor "And I make sure that they perform the spells very carefully and that they study the theory as well".

All of which was true I just didn't want to mention that I was encouraging them both to learn the basics of the Mind Arts. While not a forbidden subject the Mind Arts weren't exactly well known either. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Dumbledore tried to bury the arts so that fewer students could protect their minds from him.

"And this would be when you noticed a problem with Mr Longbottom's wand?" Flitwick asked.

Even if I'd not already known I would have suspected. The wand wasn't the sole cause of his poor performance, his confidence was lacking, but the wand was part of why he was having trouble and that affected his confidence. This could be dangerous when dealing with magic as you needed to be certain of what you were doing.

"Yes, sir" I replied "He let me know that the wand belonged to his father and since I know what happened to his parents I concluded the wand was still bound to his father. Neville needs a wand that chooses him".

Flitwick paused to think.

"Why didn't you go to Professor McGonagall about this?" my Head of House wondered.

Because she didn't do what was right for her students. She knew that Harry's Muggle relatives were not suitable guardians for the boy yet she left him there anyway. She could have gone to the Ministry or come back and taken Harry away, instead, she just leaves him there. She didn't even argue with Dumbledore much on the matter.

Later in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, Harry and Ron went to talk to her about the Philosopher's Stone yet she brushes them off. Perhaps she did go right to Dumbledore, but I still felt that she could have handled that way better.

She does nothing about Snape's treatment of Potter over years and while the movies Snape comes off as less abusive, he's downright cruel to Harry in the books. She knows what Snape is like because everybody knows. I can only assume that Dumbledore actually prevents any action from being taken.

Maybe more was going on, I just didn't see it, and I simply didn't trust the Deputy Headmistress to take any action on this matter.

In a children's book series her inactivity and mistakes make sense because she was doing her job the children would never be in danger, and thus not having adventures, but when you're actually here with it happening it becomes worrying.

"Professor McGonagall is known to be... strict" I carefully said "You are easier to approach. Besides, she'd the Deputy Headmistress and I'm sure she has a lot of work to be getting on with".

More than she should since Dumbledore has three jobs. I doubted he had time to devote to being a proper Headmaster and I figured that he left the running of the school to McGonagall who was a Head of House as well as the teacher of a difficult subject so I shouldn't be too harsh on her for not dealing with these issues.

"And what would you suggest be done about Mr Longbottom's wand?" asked Flitwick.

Given that he was the teacher it seemed odd that he didn't have a solution or wouldn't handle the matter himself. I got the feeling that I was being tested.

"I took the liberty of contacting my cousin about this," I said "He's offered to escort Neville to Mr Ollivander's to pick up his wand and to pay for it. I assumed that the teachers would be busy with other matters".

Flitwick paused to think again.

"Your cousin isn't one of Mr Longbottom's guardians" he stated.

I'd considered that problem.

"He also offered to contact trainee Auror Tonks and to have her come along," I said "If she's allowed to take Harry Potter from my home then she should be allowed to escort a student through Diagon Alley".

Flitwick frowned when I spoke those words.

"Yes, I heard about that," he told me "I don't know what the Headmaster was thinking sending Aurors to escort Mr Potter back to the castle as if he was some sort of criminal".

I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only one to realise how wrong that had been even if we had different reasons for thinking it was a bad move

"Very well I will discuss it with Professor McGonagall and get back to you," my favourite teacher told me "Ten points to Ravenclaw for looking out other students".

Points meant nothing to me, but it was nice to know that one member of staff in this nuthouse was on my side.

(Line Break)

Diagon Alley. The Wizarding World.

As Tom Hiddleston, I was taking Neville Longbottom to Ollivander's shop along with Tonks who had been deemed a suitable escort for this little shopping trip, at least according to Flitwick who must have convinced McGonagall. Perhaps the old feline wasn't as bad as I'd thought.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Longbottom "I mean wands aren't cheap".

They were in my view. However, I was a millionaire in wizard world terms and I kept adding to my fortune. Even after spending more than a year in this world I still hadn't cleared out the Room of Requirement of its valuables. I wondered how much stuff the students lost every year that just ended up in the Room because the House Elves used it to store lost property.

"Aren't they like seven galleons?" I asked.

Given the exchange rate that was 35 pounds. Okay so the exchange rate made no sense, but the wizarding world works. People get paid for their work, the Ministry is funded by taxes, and I've never seen any sign of homeless people in the Wizarding World. So they must be doing something right.

"Only for your first one" corrected Tonks "The Ministry covers a lot of the cost of your first wand, and if you break the first wand you got from Ollivander you have to pay full price for a replacement".

I had not known that and it make sense, and if you had to wait until you were 11 to get a wand that was greatly reduced in price then most parents would wait for their child to reach the proper age. Plus it would discourage people from going to other wandmakers for their children's first wand.

"Well this is your first Ollivander wand and I don't mind helping a student out" I assured Neville "Compared to the brooms I brought this isn't much of an expense".

Tonks was doing a good job of acting as if we'd never fucked. She didn't try to hold my hand or anything, for which I was grateful as if we had news of it would be circulating Hogwarts by the end of the day and I had to live there as John.

"I heard about that" she mentioned.

We soon entered the shop. I normally avoided this place because Ollivander knew every wand he'd ever sold and to whom. Which meant he'd know that Tom Hiddleston's wand was the same one he'd sold to John Hiddleston. If I ever brought it into the shop as anyone other than John he might wonder why and inform someone.

I'd been careful this time, and I'd not brought my wand along, I'd left that at the school. A little reckless, but I didn't need a wand to access my Loki-given powers and there were many spells I could use without a wand such as my Red Mage spells.

Ollivander started off by using Tonk's full name, which made her grit her teeth, and then he gave out details of her wand before he turned his eye to Neville's wand.

"Ash and dragon's heartstring," he said, "Totally unsuitable for you even if it was perfect for your father".

That made sense to me.

"I'm not that different from my father," Neville said "Am I?".

Since I knew nothing of his father other than he'd been an Auror and that he'd been tortured into insanity along with his wife I couldn't say.

"No it's because it's an ash wand" answered Ollivander

With that, he headed into the back of the shop so I decided to explain better.

"Ash wands only ever have one true master," I told Neville "That's why they should never be inherited and why you can't use your father's wand properly. It's nothing to do with you, the wand is still bound to your father and always will be".

This would explain why Frank Longbottom was amazing with the wand, but Neville was so bad with it. He wasn't Frank and the wand knew this.

"Quite right," Ollivander said as he returned "You need a wand of your own. Something with a unicorn hair core if I'm not mistaken that was what your mother favoured or it favoured her I should say"

I got the feeling that Neville might be more his mother's son than his fathers' child and there was nothing wrong with that. I certainly didn't wish to be anything like my father, and at least he had one that could be admired.

"They don't make for the most powerful of wands, but they are dependable and trustworthy," said Ollivander "Much like the wizards who wield them".

Sounded like Neville to me.

"But what wood?" Ollivander asked himself as Neville began to try out wands that just didn't respond to him "You need some special. A wood that will accept you".

That he was struggling with the wood didn't surprise me. Neville's true wand was made from cherry if memory served not a wood used by western wizards very often.

"Might I suggest cherry?" I said to Ollivander.

He stopped to stare at me.

"Cherry and unicorn tail hair" he muttered to himself before perking up "I do have one of those and it might work. It's not a combination I'd try with someone unless they had a very good heart".

Of course, Neville was suited to the Cherry wand with a core of unicorn tail hair, there was no heavenly choir or golden aura around the land, there was just a feeling he had and Ollivander picked up on that. I could tell by the way Neville stood while holding the wand that he was already feeling more confident.

"You should think about a career as a wandmaker" the store owner suggested to me.

I might look into it one of these days.

"He'll need a wand holster and cleaning supplies" I mentioned.

That was soon all packed up and after I paid for everything we headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. From there Longbottom used the floor network to quickly return to the school. I would make my own way back later and retake the form of John Hiddleston, before seeking out Neville to enquire about his new wand as that would be expected.

"So pub lunch?" I asked Tonks.

I might as well treat her to a meal and maybe we could have a quickie before I needed to get back to playing the role of a student at a magic school.

(Line Break)

The Hospital Wing. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"I brought you your homework," said Hermione Granger.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Hermione had never spent any time in the Hospital Wing, but she could imagine it being terribly boring so she'd gone to the teachers and asked for work to give to poor John Hiddleston who had been injured during the latest quidditch game. Yet he didn't seem pleased by her offering.

Hermione didn't much care for the game, but she'd gone anyway since John had told her all about why the game mattered to the Ravenclaw house, she hadn't understood all of what he'd said to her, and she certainly hadn't agreed with it at the time, but the more she thought about the more she'd come to realise that he'd been right.

It did matter to the students of Ravenclaw House and while it didn't matter to them if she liked the game or not, they took it rather badly when she tried to explain why it was dangerous, even if it clearly was. No, it was best to go along with everyone else and cheer for her team. If nothing else it made life easier for her.

She'd not gone to see John play because that would be silly. Sure he was intelligent, he could play sports and even had friends, but this didn't mean he was... to be admired?

Hermione did her best to ignore that line of thought and focused on why she was here. She wanted to help one of her fellow students. That was all.

"Oh homework just what someone wants when they are on the death bed," said John.

Hermione didn't care for his sarcasm.

"You're not dying" she pointed out "You don't have even have a concussion. Madam Pomfrey is just being careful".

She recalled well what had happened, and if John didn't then that was understandable. The young wizard had just caught that little golden ball (and won the game for Ravenclaw) when not one but both of the Weasley twins hit him with bludgers they'd sent his way on purpose, no matter what anyone else had to say on the subject, and the poor boy had been hit in the head by one as he tried to dodge.

"I know that in your way you're trying to help," said John "But I don't recommend gifting any other injured people with homework. Most students see being spent in the hospital wing as a chance to get out of work for a while".

Miss Granger had noticed that other students had been by. Evidence of this could be seen at the foot of the bed. Aside from the expected flowers and get well soon cards, there were a lot of sugar-filled foods.

"It's better than just plying you with sweets" she argued Hermione "You should be eating healthy food more than ever when injured".

That made perfect sense to her.

"This is just the way my housemates express their affection and concern towards me or at least pretend to," said John "It's the expected social convention".

Hermoine had never heard of those.

"What is a social convention?" she asked.

John looked for a moment as if he could hear something that Hermione couldn't.

"Social conventions are like unwritten laws of society that dictate proper behaviour" he explained "They are why girls can wear skirts but I can't. There's no legal reason why not, and I bet you'd struggle to find a school rule against it, but it's just not something I a boy can do".

Hermione thought for a moment and realised that the uniform code didn't say anything about skirts at all only robes.

"You mean like traditions?" she asked.

Those always seemed important to people if they often made little to no sense.

"Exactly," said John "It's best to go along with these social conventions when you can as then you have an easier time navigating society".

She'd not realised it at first, but he was always trying to help her. She'd been wrong about those horse things that pulled the carriages and so had many others. John was worth listening to.

"Why isn't there a book about this sort of thing" she complained.

It would be so much simpler if there was.

"Books aren't the answer to everything," John told her.

Hermione would have debated that if she'd been given the chance.

"There are a thousand books about parenting and none of them is the right book," he said before she could argue "Some things just need to be learned through experience and by getting advice from people you trust".

John was very wise as well as smart so perhaps he could explain why there was a toilet seat here. It seemed very unhygienic and silly to her.

"That was from the Weasly twins" he answered "It's their calling card you might say".

"So they did hurt you on purpose," she said "Why?".

The Gryffindors normally only went after the Slytherins and vice versa.

"I visited the Weasly home over the summer," John told her "And I discovered that Mrs Weasly isn't very happy about the book my cousin wrote with Professor Bagshot. That entire family are Dumbledore's supporters and I am not. I'm just surprised that it took this long for them to do something. I wonder if they caused the switch around".

She asked about that last part.

"Ravenclaw normally plays Gryffindor at the end of the year" John was saying "But one of the Slytherin players got ill so they switched teams. It seems a long time to wait so I think it's more likely that they just saw a chance to hurt me and took it. Something I can get them back for".

Hermione didn't approve of this.

"Revenge is wrong" she stated.

John seemed amused by this.

"There's nothing purer and more unsullied, madam, than the desire for revenge," he said.

That sounded like a quote, but she'd never heard it before.

"Violence only begets more violence, you should turn the other cheek," she said.

That just amused the boy.

"If I do nothing then they will just keep bullying me" he argued "Besides sayings like that are meant to encourage people to be meek and to not rock the boat. I refuse to be oppressed by outdated morality".

Hermione felt otherwise.

"The teachers will punish them" she insisted.

She hoped so because John was smart in a way that made her look so downright average and she knew he could do something very painful to the twins. He might even get away with it.

"A few detentions won't change anything" he argued, "And Dumbledore won't do more than give them a slap on the wrist. The Weasley family are big backers of his and he needs the support of people like them to stay in power".

Hermione bit her lip. She struggled because she knew that if she did what was right here and told a teacher what John was planning then they'd never be friends

"Well that's not fair," she said.

"Life isn't fair" stated John "You know that because now you're caught between telling a teacher on me and doing what is morally right, or doing nothing and being loyal to a classmate, which is morally right if you think about it".

She didn't like that she was so transparent to him. It was if he'd known her from the start.

"So what is the right thing to do?" she asked.

She soon got an answer. Sort of.

"Social convention says Snitches gets Stitches" she was told "Try to think of this school as a prison only we get to leave. If it's something really bad you should call for the guards, but you don't go running to them over every little thing as that gets you a reputation as snitch and people don't them".

Thinking of teachers as bad wasn't easy for Hermione.

"Friendship requires loyalty," John said to her.

It was time to leave. She had some things she needed to go think about.

(Line Break)

The Hospital Wing. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I might have actually gotten through to her I was thinking as the young witch left me in peace, but that didn't matter right now as I had other matters to attend to. Once the Granger girl was gone, left to go think, I decided to get some needed payback. The Weasley family had made a powerful enemy and I would destroy them, or at least make them rue the day Mrs Weasley was mean to me.

There were many plans in my mind, and I needed to be very clever about this as if I got caught then it would be me who got the punishment that the twins deserved since I was not one of Dumbledore's minions. No doubt the evil Headmaster would expel me even if he would never do the same to the twins.

After I got out of bed I hid behind an illusion similar to invisibility only I could fool all of the sense not only sight, I just wasn't here as far as anyone could tell. That wouldn't help if someone used magic to try to detect me as far as I knew, but it was more effective than mere invisibility because I could also prevent people from hearing me.

I found Madam Promfry at her desk and I used a spell to place her in an enchanted sleep. The spell was easy to guard against, however, it was much more subtle than a stunner so if you found someone you needed to take out of action and they were unaware of you being there then it was a good bit of magic to use.

Before leaving the wing I made sure that a window was open as I would need to quickly return once my work was done. Then I took out my magical map and found my prey in an unused classroom not too far from here. No doubt they were planning more trouble making, maybe something to use on me.

They should be heading to their dorms or their common room, as while we didn't have bedtimes we did have curfews and after than we weren't meant to leave our towers in the case of Ravenclaw and Gyriffindor. I could see Hermoine, ever the good girl, on the map heading towards our tower as curfew came around.

Like a wraith, I moved through the mostly dark school, unnoticed by the patrolling prefects, portraits and even ghosts. However, I didn't go to where the twins could be found. No, I headed outside to grab some bludgers from the equipment shed, old inactive ones that didn't move on their own. They were sometimes used in training.

Once I had those shrunk down and in a pouch of holding I checked the map and then turned into a bird so that I could fly up to the Gryffindor tower only there was no open window so I had to re-enter the castle and gain entrance as I had before as a cat. Lucky for me that pets get their own entrance.

I quickly made my way to the right dorm rooms, they'd moved up the tower since I'd come here for the original magical map of this school, as you did as you advanced in years, and since the coast was clear I could get on with my sneaky plan.

The twins were no experts in defensive magic so I was able to remove the defences that they had protecting their trunks and in each trunk, I placed the small bludger, but not before I used some of the same spells on it that balls in the game have on them.

It was a rush job so the spells wouldn't last long, but the next time one of them opened their trunk they'd be attacked by a small bludger for a few seconds until the spell wore off. Not exactly equal to what they did, but this was just the start of my revenge.

I opened a window and flew out of the dorms as a bird so that I could fly right back into the hospital wing via the window I'd opened earlier. Once I was inside I closed the window, brought Madam Promphy out of her sleep so that she'd think that she'd just dozed off for a moment, and then I got back into bed. I even started on the homework Granger had given to me.

This kept me busy for a while so when both of the twins came in looking like they'd gone five rounds with Mike Tyson I was just finishing up some DADA work. By the looks of things, they'd opened their lockers at the same time. How wonderful.

"Goodness what happened to these two?" asked Pomfrey as she came out of her little office "They look as if they have been attacked".

Even my mind arts were not enough to stop me from smirking so it was a good thing that I could hide my face behind some parchment. This wasn't even this week's homework so I was doing work that hadn't even been assigned. I must look like such a swotty Ravenclaw.

"Both of these boys opened up their lockers and were attacked by shrunken quidditch balls," said Professor McGonagall.

She looked over at me.

"Would you know anything about that Mr Hiddleston?" she asked.

I didn't need to defend myself.

"Mr Hiddleston has been here since the end of the match" she stated "And he has been as quiet as a dormouse. He's even keeping up with homework that Miss Granger dropped off here less than an hour ago".

I wondered if Hermione had mentioned anything or if Professor McGonagall was drawing conclusions on her own. I was a suspect after all.

"Mr Hiddleston I think it's best if you sleep in Ravenclaw tower," said Pomfrey "But do come to see me if you have headaches or dizziness".

She must be worried that the twins would do something to me if I stayed here overnight and of course, they would because they are bullies.

(Line Break)

School Grounds. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When I next saw Hermoine Granger it was when I'd just been for a walk on the grounds and I'd been able to head inside for dinner. Well, I'd not stayed on the grounds I'd dropped by the Ministry to file assault charges as Tom Hiddleston on behalf of John Hiddleston.

I didn't think Dumbledore would let it go anywhere, he ran the government for the most part, but it would make the assault public knowledge over at the Ministry. No doubt Mr Weasly was very angry with his sons, he always seemed more reasonable than his wife so I might try to settle this with him if things escalated.

If not well it was simply part of a series of schemes meant to bring down that evil flock of redheads.

"John, I heard about what happened," she said, not even bothering to greet me "Did you do it?".

That was a bit vague as I did lots of things.

"Can you be more precise?" I requested.

Of course, I knew what she meant I just enjoyed making her all huffy.

"The twins ended up in the hospital wing," she said.

I shrugged as if it didn't matter.

"Yes, I was there when they came in," I told her "They were attacked inside their dorm room if I heard correctly. It was just after you left".

Hermione stopped walking so I had to as well.

"There's no way you could have gotten into their dorm room without being seen," she said "And they have a password".

"I promise you that I have no idea what the password to that tower is" I swore.

And I didn't have a clue. I didn't need to know.

"So it couldn't have been you" Hermoine incorrectly reasoned "There's no way you could have gotten into the tower and attacked them if you were in Hosptial Wing".

Not as far as she knew.

"I never laid a hand on either of them," I assured the young witch.

At least not directly.

"I didn't tell anyone what you told me" she let me know.

She could have it wouldn't have made a difference and I wouldn't know anyway.

"And" was my reply.

Clearly, she wanted something from me.

"I want you to tutor me for the exams" she requested.

My first reaction would have been to refuse, but I did think about it, and I figured that it wouldn't be such a bad thing if she owed me a favour. It could come in handy to have her return it later. I might need help to protect the world-seed or just have her as someone to talk to about something,

Sire Hermione might just be very annoying now, but she wasn't unsalvageable as a person. Perhaps I could train her and if nothing else it would be good practice for when Luna started school next year as I intended to guide her education carefully.

"You can join Harry and Neville" I decided "Just remember it's my study group. I already have it all planned out. If you don't like it you can just leave".

Poor Hermione she was so desperate to be accepted and make friends. I figured that before long I could get her eating out my hand, although not literally, well maybe literally. Shame she wasn't older because she looked like Emma Watson, only somehow more frizzy in the hair department.

As for the teeth, while she had braces for that and magic could handle them easily enough I just needed to convince her to go see Promfrey about them. Maybe we could practice the teeth-growing jinx as part of the DADA study lessons and let it happen as it did in the books.

Something to ponder in the future, for now, I had something else to enquire about. Besides, it was a bit creepy to be planning to groom children even if it would help them

"Hermione, have you ever heard of Nicolas Flamel?" I asked.

Either she hadn't or she was very good at lying to me. I wondered why she wasn't looking into that. Had Dumbledore altered his plans or had Harry just never gotten that tip from Hagrid?

I'd dealt with Voldemort for now. He would return, but not any time soon, and I had other matters to concern myself with.