Reviews

FailedKeikaku

Hermione had the drive to become the Minister of Magic in the main timeline so I can see her becoming a revolutionary once she wises up and sees how the magical world really works. If she can't work to improve the system from within it makes sense for her to challenge the government.

kent-jensen

I'm glad.

Alan

Thank you.

Mugen-Muse

The wizarding world loves its acronyms and when I came up with S.P.A.M it just made me smile and since Hermione thought S.P.E.W was a good name I can see her coming up with S.P.A.M.

DA - Dumbledore's Army

DADA - Defence Against the Dark Arts

O.W.L - Ordinary Wizarding Levels.

N.E.W.T - Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests.

W.O.M.B.A.T - Wizards' Ordinary Magic and Basic Aptitude Test

Those are just a few and I wanted to add one to them.

Crossworlds 1 - Harry Potter

Part 40

Hiddleston Residence. Godric's Hollow.

I should have known that I would regret agreeing to this as soon as Hermione requested to be allowed to use my home as the location for S.P.A.M's first proper meeting. At the time I thought she just wanted a few of her fellow muggle-borns over and since the house was secure it had made sense.

My living room was now filled with many muggle-born students and their supporters, including, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood along with some kind called Kevin Entwhistle. We had the two Creepy brothers here as well, or were they the Creevy brothers? I couldn't recall. Also here was Finch-Fletchley a brilliant young muggle-born who had, prior to being notified by Hogwarts about his magical abilities, been tapped to attend Eton

They were all here in my living room working with others to promote rights for their fellow muggle-borns in ways I didn't think would ever bear any fruit. Mostly I thought that I was going to lose Hermione to politics and that it would be Luna who went with me to other worlds. Assuming she was willing to leave her family behind when the time came as we could be gone for many years if we ever returned.

"If I'd known you had this many members I'd have rented out a hall," I told Hermione.

How she'd gotten so many people to join her group I simply didn't know. She was far from a popular student and she seemed to be flying under the radar of most of the student body as no one even bothered to bully her as far as I knew. That could change if S.P.A.M started to grow in popularity.

I could see the inbred morons at the school reacting badly to this and trying to solve the issue with force. My thinking was that I might need to keep a closer eye on Granger, which wouldn't be too hard since she took part in my duelling training, and spent her time either in the library or the Common Room when not in class. It wasn't as if I'd been doing much as Kol or Tom Hiddleston in recent months.

"I got Harry Potter to join," Hermione told me "Lots of other people wanted in after that, but Harry hasn't come to the meeting".

That proved not to be the case and when the doorbell rang, I was quite surprised to find the Chosen One at my front door with his godfather, who also wanted to join S.P.A.M, mostly because it would have offended his family I imagined or would do if any of them still around. I knew that Regluas Black hadn't been as pro-pureblood as other members of his family had been when he'd left the country.

I wondered if Siruis Black had brought Harry along just so that he could poke around the house and see if the Hiddleston family were up to something. If he had then he was wasting his time as I'd recently hidden the basement with the Fidelius Charm. The secret being that there was a basement in the house and I was the Secret Keeper.

The Charm was an advanced piece of spellwork that could be used rather creatively to hide a person's identity or location. That meant despite staying here with me Hermione was unaware that I even had a basement. It amused me to see her walk right past the door and not register its existence.

Now that the spell had been cast successfully the only way for a person other than the Keeper to learn the hidden piece of information is for the Secret Keeper to divulge it to that person either verbally or via written communication, or by showing them the secret, it cannot be discovered any other way. So if I wanted Hermione to become aware of the basement I'd either have to tell her about it or take her down there.

The information couldn't be forced out of me or seen in my mind. I had to give the information of my own free will. I wasn't sure how the magic prevented someone from being tortured until they willingly shared the secret in order to stop the pain as the books weren't clear on that and I'd rather not find out in person.

As for the possible spies in my midst, I'd checked the transcripts for the Order meetings and nothing about this had been mentioned. The Order meetings were rather pointless as far as I could tell as minions of the Bright Lord had no luck tracking Tom Hiddleston or any of the Death Eaters who'd either gone into hiding or fled the country once I'd started killing them as Kol the Red Mage.

Perhaps Black was here in some desperate effort to find some sort of information, or maybe Harry Potter cared about the rights of Muggleborns enough that he convinced his godfather to come to this meeting. He might even be doing this as some effort to rekindle our friendship as he was loyal to those he cared about.

"Is your cousin home?" asked Harry's godfather "I was hoping to have a chat while you kids have your meeting".

Since I was Tom Hiddleston he couldn't also be here.

"No he's gone out to meet with a friend" I answered "I don't know when he'll be back. He's not around much".

Black went into the living and took a seat next to Potter. The young wizard looked pleased to be here. I didn't think he got out much during the holidays. I was really surprised that Dumbledore had allowed him to come here as it seemed risky and the map didn't show anyone else from the Order in the area.

Was the Headmaster so desperate to get information on Tom Hiddleston that he was willing to risk his pawn? Well, he did let Harry compete in the Triwizard Tournament so as to use him as bait so it was possible.

"I didn't get enough supplies for this" I muttered to myself.

Then again going out for drinks and snacks did give me an excuse to leave the house and clear my head. There was nothing outside of the basement that I worried about anyone seeing so I was free to leave the house. There was a wizarding shop here in the village that normally delivered, but I could go in and grab what I wanted if I felt so inclined. If nothing else it was a good excuse to get out of attending the meeting which hadn't even started yet I didn't really want to get involved.

After entering the shop I filled the bags I'd brought along with cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties and everything else that young wand wavers liked to consume along with a lot of butterbeer. I normally kept myself well stocked with treats for my tutoring sessions, but I'd been intending to resupply just before going back to school so my pouches were lacking in yummy things.

When I got back the meeting had started, but since I didn't think my suggestions would be welcome since I believed that the only way to bring about change would be to overthrow the current government, I just put out some snacks and let Hermione get on with it.

"Aside from recruiting new members when we get back to school, we need to think of ways to share information about our organisation to the public" Hermione was now saying "I don't think the Daily Prophet will help".

Well, she was right about that.

"I'm sure my parents will" offered Luna.

Everyone here knew what the Lovegoods did for a living and while their magazine didn't sell as well as others anything printed in it would be read by many.

"I can get anything the group needs to be printed done for free" I reminded Hermione as I finally took a seat.

Hiding out in the kitchen seemed tempting, but this was important to people that I cared about so I would endure.

(Line Break)

The Ministry of Magic. London.

Once again I'd been invited to the Ministry as Fudge needed my advice about something and with Hermione distracted by S.P.A.M I was able to sneak out and take the form of the older of the two Hiddleston wizards.

"Ah, Tom I'm glad you are here," said the Minister as I was shown into the man's office and offered a seat "I want you to meet Ludo Bagman, the Head of Magical Sports and Games, and this is Edward Greengrass who heads up International Magical Cooperation".

Barty Crouch Senior had been Head of International Magical Cooperation until I'd exposed the fact that he'd broken his son out of Azkaban and kept him captive in his home, by tipping off an Auror. These days, both father and son lived with the Dementors as had been part of my plans.

As for the Greengrass family, they were an old Pureblood family that had reputation for being somewhat dark, but the family wasn't important enough for anyone to care much, but they were purebloods and wealthy enough to land cushy jobs at the Ministry.

I knew Daphne Greengrass, who often played an important role in many fanfiction stories, to be one of the most boring and vapid people you could ever have the misfortune to encounter. Hopefully, this Greengrass was different.

Given the people involved, I assumed that this meeting had something to do with the upcoming Quidditch World Cup Final or the Triwizard Tournament and that I was invited made sense as I'd become Fudge's main supporter since Lucius Malfoy had disappeared. I kept an eye on my magical maps and so far he'd not appeared on any of them. Not knowing that he and the other Death Eaters were getting up to really bugged me.

"Hello, gentlemen," I said as I shook hands before taking a seat

I turned my attention to the Minister of Magic.

"Given whose here it seems safe to assume this has something to do with the Quidditch Cup," I said.

Fudge soon confirmed this.

"We will be hosting the World Cup Final this year and as you can imagine this takes a lot of planning" I was told, "There's also a fair bit of bartering involved, but that's not my main concern".

Tea was served before Fudge finally got on with it. Not that I minded as they had chocolate digestive.

"You're worried about going over budget," I said.

It wasn't a question. I knew exactly why I was here. The Ministry officials would all be finding ways to make money off the World Cup.

"To put it bluntly," said Bagman "We might need to grease a few palms if you know what I mean and there will be unexpected costs".

Building the stadium wouldn't be easy. Then they had to get all the visitors in and out of the county. The foreign VIPs would need some sort of housing. It would add up and something would go wrong that would require money to fix.

"We have a generous budget," said Mr Greengrass "But you know how these things are".

So far, I didn't see a problem with this. I intended to be at the World Cup as John Hiddleston, as Tom had no love for the sport and if John vanished when Kol the Red Mage appeared to deal with any Death Eaters who turned up, then no one would suspect John of being Kol due to his age, were as Tom would be a suspect at least in the eyes of some. So it would be good if he wasn't seen in the area.

That was assuming that the errand Loki wanted to me to handle was finished by then. I had an idea of what relic I'd be going after and knowing it is as I did I knew the task might take a while.

"I won't be attending the match myself" I mentioned "I have other plans over the summer, but I would like tickets for my cousin and for a couple of his friends".

At no point did I ask for free tickets or be in the Minister's top box, I just had a feeling that I'd be sent them. I'd drag Luna or Hermione along, and not bother with the camping since I had a motorbike I could just drive home.

The subject soon changed to that of the Triwizard Tournament which was already being planned and Ludo Bagman was here to explain the events to me. There were a few issues I had and I decided to bring them up.

"To begin with only a few students at the school will be seventeen by the time the Triwizard Tournament beings" I commented "I think anyone who has completed their OWL exams should be allowed to compete".

"We imposed an age limit to help protect the students and the Ministry from any backlash should someone die," said Mr Greengrass "People have died during this contest".

I'd considered this.

"Just have it so that anyone under the age of seventeen wanting to enter the Triwizard Tournament needs permission from a parent or guardian" I suggested "That way the fault will be with the parents, not the Ministry or the school should something go wrong".

No one seemed eager to allow that, but the idea wasn't dismissed out of hand either. To be fair, imposing an age limit was one of the few sensible things the people in charge of the Triwizard Tournament ever did. I wasn't trying to change the rules so that I would be able to enter myself as John Hiddleston I just thought it was unfair.

"It can be discussed with the Headmasters of the schools," said Fudge.

I had more to say.

"There's also the matter of there being just three events spread out over months, not counting the Yule Ball" I mentioned "The challenges themselves only take something like an hour, that means there's not much going on most of the year. Perhaps we could have some smaller events between the tasks for people who aren't the champions to get involved in so that the other students can demonstrate their knowledge and mingle with the students from the other schools".

Fudge and Bagman at least seemed interested.

"We can't have more than one champion from each school and having them compete in more than three events could be too taxing," the Minister said.

The wizard had a point.

"I was thinking more along the lines of group events" I explained "Maybe each school can have a team that answers questions about different magical subjects in a quiz. Hogwarts has its own duelling contest so it wouldn't be much work to add a few foreign students to the lineup".

Bagman now looked concerned.

"Drumstrang students are known for using the dark arts" he pointed out.

Not that big of a deal.

"Just make sure that they understand that spells they learn as part of the dark arts and not allowed to be used during the contest," I said "Duelling tournaments have rules that any real duellists know how to follow".

"I can see a quiz being easy to arrange," said Fudge "And there is a big gap between the second and third task that we could have it take place in. I'll have to talk to Dumbledore about the duelling contest".

Giving the Headmaster more work suited me just fine and I was also happy to use my wealth to help fund these events as I could compete in events meant for younger students and show off a little when pretending to be John Hiddleston.

I wondered how much of my gold would make its way into the vaults of these three wizards and I also thought about how much of an uphill battle S.P.A.M on its hands given that so many important matters were dealt with my wizards from old families. I was so glad that I'd be able to get out of politics once I was done with my schooling.

(Line Break)

Dwarven Village. Wales.

"You got this done fast" I complimented.

I wasn't worried about the new project being rushed as the dwarves took far too much pride in their great work to ever create shoddy products, but it hadn't been that long since I'd sent them a message about my latest ideas and only a few days since I'd dropped off the needed supplies.

During the holidays I'd revised one of my old ideas about making something better than a wand. I knew that a wizard such as myself didn't need to use a wand and some magical cultures, the Celtic wizards included, had made use of staffs before wands became the mainstream magical tool.

With this in mind, I'd long suspected that some sort of metal baton or rod might work if it was made correctly and used certain materials. I'd considered going to the goblins and enquiring about making something from goblin-silver that might work as a wand, but goblins had different ideas of ownership than dwarves and humans.

Like humans, if a dwarf sold you something then it belongs to you, goblins believe that the creator of the object is always the true owner. Also, the dwarves were less likely to steal my idea. Plus they didn't have a lot of gold and jewels to use for such projects which made it harder for them to make use of my idea.

The dwarves who had made my swords and some of my daggers for me were happy to help and they could work with gold if required even if that was more of a goblin thing. What mattered most of all in terms of materials was the gemstone that was held in place at the end of the rod making it a sceptre.

A rod made of even enchanted metal would not alone make for a good conduit of magical energies. The sapphire was what really made this sceptre worth having. It had been enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw and meant to magically enhance the mind and I specialised in magic to do with the mind. These things were important when it came to using something to channel your mystical powers, or maybe it just mattered that I believed that it mattered.

"So is it made of pure gold?" I asked the dwarf in charge of this project.

While not the strongest metal around the sceptre had been imbued with magic so it would be much more sturdy than it would have been if made by non-magical people and therefore better suited for hitting people with than a wand. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to hit someone with my sceptre, but it was best to prepare for the worst and having an extra weapon at hand wouldn't be a bad thing.

"So this sceptre has a core of magical silver taken from the enchanted objects you supplied," Cortana said once the dwarf had spoken "You won't need to worry about the silver tarnishing".

We'd both understood what he'd just said since I had Babel

I'd considered using the Resurrection Stone rather than Ravenclaw's sapphire (which I had felt I had the right use since I was a Ravenclaw student who had freed the relic from Voldemort's corruption) but the stone seemed better suited to a darker sort of magic.

Besides I had other plans for the Deathly Hallow.

"Is the ring done as well?" I asked.

The goblins couldn't have been trusted to forge a new ring to hold the stone nor to create a fake that I could tell apart from the ring that had the true stone attached thanks to engravings on the inside of both rings

The fake one had an engraving that reads: The Last Enemy That Shall Be Defeated Is Death in very small writing as this has some meaning for Dumbledore who I intended to let find the fake thing that I would place a Withering Curse upon just as Riddle had done with the real artefact.

This ring once cursed in the same way Riddle had done all those years ago, might be enough to kill Dumbledore since he didn't have Snape to go running off to as he did in the book/movies series, and I could place a Compulsion Charm on the ring as Voldemort did when he was only sixteen. I just needed to lure Dumbledore somewhere that a Horcrux might be found within such as Riddle Manor.

The ring might not kill him right away, but it wouldn't cost me much to try, and I'd known for a while that I would have to kill Dumbledore one day. I just rather he die after Voldemort was dealt with and that was partly why I'd delayed dealing with Riddle. But Dumbledore did need to go so I'd decided to plant the ring at the manor and then lure Dumbledore to it over the summer.

"You did a wonderful job on the fake stone" I praised.

You really couldn't beat the dwarves when it came to shaping gemstones.

"Hopefully the sceptre will work as I wish it to," I then said.

Given that there was no record that I'd been able to find of anyone wielding a sceptre then they might not work, but it might also be that no wizard thought to employ dwarves because of how racist so many wizards could be. It also could be that no one had ever thought to make a sort of metal wand with an enchanted jewel attached.

"Don't worry. I'm happy with your work," I said to the dwarf who just asked me a question "If there are any problems with this project it will be because I miscalculated. Your work is of the highest quality and has always served my needs".

The dwarves were pleased by these words and the generous amount of money I paid for their services.

(Line Break)

Hiddleston Residence. Godric's Hollow.

Not long before the end of our Xmas break, I'd gotten into a discussion about the Mind Arts with Hermione who was finally making some progress with her Occlumency. This was impressive since she was only fourteen and unlike me, she didn't have a natural talent for the mind arts.

Because she could now protect valuable information stored within her mind I'd decided to entrust the young witch with some of my many secrets and to teach her a little about looking into the minds of others.

"While Occlumency does have many benefits as it helps you to stay cool under pressure the main purpose of this talent is that allows the user to suppress any feelings and memories that contradict what the user wishes a Legilimens to believe," I told Hermione "This allows the Occlumens to not only lie to someone using Legilmency but also to present with a 'truth' that the person using Legilmency will accept".

This was how Snape lies to Voldemort. The Dark Lord would be able to detect and destroy any kind of mental shield he encountered and the mere existence of such a defence proves that someone is hiding something from you when you are using Legilemency. Voldemort would have destroyed Snape's mind long ago to get at what Snape was hiding if Occlumency involved mental shields of any kind.

"I get the part about compartmentalizing my life," said the young witch "When I'm at school I'm student Hermione who thinks about classes and homework. When I'm out of school I'm just Hermione".

My process was something similar. Tom and John Hiddleston are different people, Kol is totally separate from the both of them. I would never fool Voldemort or Dumbledore this way, and Snape might have found the truth if he'd lived, hence why I never looked the Headmaster in his eyes, but I didn't need to fear Hermione finding out anything she shouldn't as she was a mere novice. When I was John Hiddleston it was easy to think about things as he would and to fill my mind with Quidditch practice and duelling.

"So you can clear your mind if you detect intrusion," I said the young witch "And force yourself to think and feel the things that you want someone to see if they enter your mind. But that's just the beginning of what this branch of magic can do".

I waved my wand and summoned up a snake. Since this was a pureblood home any magical activity detected could be attributed to Tom Hiddleston so I didn't have to worry about the Ministry sending warnings if Hermione or I, as John Hiddleston, started casting any spells.

"Stay still" I ordered the snake.

Hermione was alarmed.

"You can talk to snakes?" she asked.

Just one of my many talents.

"The ability to actually speak Parseltongue is considered an attribute of a Dark Wizard, partly due to the fact that both Salazar Slytherin and Lord Voldemort possessed this ability, as did Herpo the Foul, but Salazar was a school teacher who had a falling out with his friends, not a dark lord".

Really why would three of the founders, who were supposed to be the greatest witches and wizard of their age next to Merlin, set up a school with a dark lord?

"Parselmouths only have such a dark reputation here in Britain because of Voldemort if you go elsewhere in the world it's treated differently," I said to Hermione "Most importantly in this country, the only known Parselmouths all inherit the talent. It's limited to the Gaunt family. That family was big into inbreeding to keep themselves pure, but one of its daughters could have married into the Hiddleston family".

Hermione still looked a bit nervous, although that might have something to do with the snake rather than me talking with it.

"Don't forget that the people who say Parseltongues are evil happen to be the same idiot Purebloods who also go around saying the Muggleborns steal magic from proper wizards" I reminded Hermione "But don't tell anyone that I can speak with snakes I don't want the attention and you know I'm not a dark wizard".

If she betrayed me I'd utterly destroy her for doing so. Well not physically, but since I was her only real friend, she'd find herself feeling very lonely without my support.

"Of course, you're not a dark wizard," said Hermione "You're right it's bigotry, and you can't help who your ancestors are".

One day I would explain my family situation, but we'd get to that when she was older, and I should tell Luna first. She could learn about the Parselmouth situation when I began to teach her Legilmency, something I could do during the next school year.

"The reason I summoned up Sammy the Snake here is that snakes are somewhat complex creatures like humans and it's legal to read their minds," I told Hermione "I want you to use Legilmency on this snake".

Hermione hesitated.

"If it is a person then I can't harm it, that would be wrong" she insisted "If it is a sapient creature then I should respect its rights".

While at times I wished that she would just do as I told her to. I reminded myself that I wasn't Dumbledore or Voldemort I didn't desire followers who would obey my commands and never have opinions of their own. I needed to enjoy the time I spent with her in case we parted ways in a few years and never saw each other again.

"Simply having some form of sapience isn't enough for you to be considered a true being. To be a proper person you need to be able to rise above your baser instincts, to be able to participate in society, to form some sort of culture" I explained "Goblins for all their greed do that, Centaurs form tribes and do rarely interact with other races in positive ways. Snakes do not act outside of their nature, they are just animals, and the pig that was slaughtered to provide bacon for the sandwich I made you at breakfast had crude feelings as well".

I had a bit more to say.

"Besides, I can just ask the snake for its permission" I pointed out.

Which was partly why I'd summoned one.

"The girl is going to cast a spell on you," I told the snake "Behave and I'll send you home with some food".

Snakes seemed to be compelled to obey Parselmouths for some reason.

"Sure thing," said the snake.

I turned to Hermione.

"He's fine with it" I assured.

The young witch took out her wand and cast the spell as she began to probe what passed for a mind in the snake's head. Once she got over her concerns she'd be quite happy to learn more about this kind of magic of that I felt sure. She might need to know this branch of magic very well if she ever became a revolutionary.