Change to Subject Chapter 1: Default Chapter, a harry potter fanfic

Title: Change to Subject

Author: Lily Potter

A/N: Thank you so much to my new beta :) Smile7499.

Who needs a dream?
Who needs ambition?
Who'd be the fool
In my position?
Once I had dreams
Now they're obsessions
Hopes became needs
Lovers possessions

Then they move in
Oh so discreetly
Slowly at first
Smiling too sweetly
I opened doors
They walked right through them
Called me their friend
I hardly knew them

Now I'm where I want to be and who I want to be and doing what I
always said I would and yet I feel I haven't won at all
Running for my life and never looking back in case there's
someone right behind to shoot me down and say he always knew I'd fall.

When the crazy wheel slows down
Where will I be? Back where I started.

Don't get me wrong
I'm not complaining
Times have been good
Fast, entertaining
But what's the point
If I'm concealing
Not only love
All other feeling.

~**~

It was hot. So very hot that Hermione thought she would die. One should not die of heat, when one is a half trained mage that could fix the weather in a snap. But a certain red haired full trained mage had threatened to throw her into a loo for a couple of days if anything got out of hand. So it stayed hot. Hermione absentmindedly played with her mother's wedding rings, which she wore on a chain, and privately cursed her parents for not having air conditioning, and cursed Harry's parents for not letting her fix that minor detail.

So she sat on a box in her beastly hot attic, and stared at the mounds of boxes and bags that contained all of her possessions, and those of her parents. Each box full of memories of her parents. Memories that she didn't want to see, even though they had died six months ago. And died again a few days later. Guilt was like memories, it seemed that the ones that were least wanted were the ones that never seemed to go away.

Well, the material memories would be gone soon. They would charmed so that the boxes would become very small, and they would be stowed away in a corner of Lily and James' attic, and she'd never have to see them ever again. Just like she would never see this house again. Not if she could help it. Some poor defenseless muggle had bought it, with no idea as to why the owners had died, or how close the world was to ending.

Hermione shook herself. The world wasn't about to end. Not while Harry was around. She knew she sounded stupid when she thought it, and smiled wryly at the irony of it all. Everybody's hopes, and even lives, depended on one almost sixteen-year-old boy. It was ludicrous. Too bad it was true. Too bad he wasn't really talking to her, either.

The aforementioned saviour of the world walked into the room, hit his head on the low ceiling, and fell sprawling over a large trunk.

"Sorry," he grinned sheepishly, picked up his glasses off the floor, and tried to straighten the robes that were now far too many inches off the ground. Hermione grinned to herself. That was the third time today. Was he actually going to say anything else besides that?

"Are you finished yet?" A whole sentence. He must be feeling extremely talkative today.

"Yeah," said Hermione. "I wish I could take all this stuff and burn it."

"You won't want to, later," said Harry seriously. He suddenly grinned. "Besides, my Mum will lock you in a toilet for a couple of days if you do. And if you're really lucky, you could get Malfoy in there too."

"I don't know if Malfoy could stand it," said Hermione. "He's quite unbalanced enough as it is."

"I don't know if it's just him," said Harry. "I'm beginning to believe we all are." He picked up the nearest box, hit his head again, and cheerfully cursed his way down the flight of stairs.

"Yeah," said Hermione, "Maybe we are."

~**~

"You know Harry," said Ron conversationally as he moved another box into the living room. "I don't understand you at all."

"What?" said Harry distractedly, as he put his box on top of Ron's. "What are you talking about?"

"You finally get up the courage to write this long sappy love note to Hermione, she saves your life, everything is happy and incredibly annoying, and right afterwards, you start avoiding her like she's some rare breed of blast ended skrewt."

"Blast ended skrewts are rare breeds," said Harry. "Hagrid made them up. You pretty much can't get any rarer than that."

"You are avoiding the question," said Ron. "Why are you avoiding her?"

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. Every time she walks into a room, you walk out of it. You keep your conversations to a bare minimum, and when you do talk, you always joke around, and never say anything serious."

"You're one to talk," said Harry.

"Yes, but I was like this all the time, and you just started," said Ron. "You should be finding corners to passionately snog in, not finding corners to hide from her."

"Ron, just shut it, alright?" said Harry irritably. "It isn't like that at all."

"How stupid do you think I am?" asked Ron. "Was it because she saved your life and now you're embarrassed?"

"Hermione has saved my life loads of times," said Harry. "It's not that."

"Are you embarrassed because of the long sappy love note?"

"I didn't mean to write that," said Harry. "I thought I was going to die. People do stupid things when they think they're going to die."

"Like going out to fight Voldemort?" said Ron.

"No," said Harry angrily, "people do stupid things like annoying other people with stupid questions." And he stormed off to find another box.

"Does this mean I think I'm going to die?" asked Ron.

~**~

It was the same dream, the same time, and the same place. They were all behind that magical barrier, with Harry looking defeated and worn. There was a slight sound of scuffling behind them. Several men in hooded cloaks passed them, and headed over to where Voldemort was. Voldemort directed them over to the magical barrier and turned to Harry, sadistically smiling.

"More of your friends, I believe?" he inquired. Ron inwardly groaned. There were Sirius and Professor Lupin and…Draco Malfoy. Ron supposed he should have been shocked but he wasn't. He knew perfectly well why Draco was there. It was more of a shock to see Lily and James Potter.

"Dear, dear, Lucius," said Voldemort, now shaking his head and glancing in Draco's direction. "This one was supposed to be one of mine. Your son, I believe?"

"I have no son," said Lucius coldly. "My son is dead."

"Well put, father," said Draco as obnoxiously as possible. "Perhaps now we can all join a talk show. You can talk about how I never joined a bunch of murdering freak shows, and I'll talk about the various times you tried to kill me, and eventually decided that I just didn't exist. Better yet, it could be a Victorian drama. Lots of gnashing of teeth and screaming, 'never darken my doorway again!' We'd make loads. Not that we need it, of course, do we? Not after we sold off all of our dear friend Voldie's school supplies which we kept inconspicuously under the floor boards."

"This is true, Lucius?" asked Voldemort, a frown beginning on his face, which was a temporary relief from his sadistic grin. "After I expressly told you not to?"

"My lord, I…"

"Silence!" Voldemort glared at him. "I will deal with you later."

"Enjoy yourself, father," said Draco, outdoing himself in obnoxiousness. "I've heard that the cruciatus curse is very painful. Actually, I haven't heard, I know. How many times was it? Oh I don't know…twenty billion mayb-"

"I will deal with you as well," said Voldemort. "And you will come out considerably worse than you father. Now, I believe Harry has a decision to make."

~**~

"Ron? OY! Ron!"

"Eh?" Ron sat up. Ugh, he had a horribly stiff neck.

"Sleeping on the job, are you?" said Harry, grinning down at him. "Hey, are you ok?"

"Yeah, fine," said Ron.

"You look really white," said Harry. "Anyway, I'm sorry about all those snarky comments I made. It's just really hot out."

"I know," said Ron. Why did it all of a sudden seem so cold?

~**~

A/N: Finally. I thought that I'd never get that done. :)

~*~
~smile