10/24/03: ennui2: for some strange reason, I feel the need to do as you ask…here's the next chapter, nice and long to get you through the weekend.

7. Gryffindor Past

Harry stood rigid, staring uncomprehendingly at Hermione.  Dumbledore…dead?  He worked his jaw, but no sound would come out.  His legs became shaky, and Harry sank to the ground.  Dumbledore was dead.  Voldemort killed Dumbledore.  How could he possibly get things back they way they should be with Dumbledore gone?

"Harry?" he heard Hermione ask tentatively.  Harry looked up and saw Hermione a few paces away, her concern over his strange behavior apparently overcoming her fear of him.  "What's wrong?"

"What…what happened?"

"What happened what?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Dumbledore.  What happened?"

"What do you mean Harry?  We were all there when McGonagall made the announcement."

Harry sighed heavily.  "Pretend that I wasn't, or that I forgot.  Tell me what happened, please."

Harry had drawn his knees to his chest with his arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried.  Hermione looked at Harry a moment before sitting near him, but not too close.  Harry grimly figured that he looked so miserable that Hermione must no longer consider him a threat, or at least less of one.

"Well," Hermione started.  "I suppose it all started at the end of our first year with the Philosopher's Stone, which was being guarded here.  The Philosopher's Stone was created by-"

Harry waved his hand dismissively.  "Nicholas Flamel.  I know, I know.  How did Dumbledore die?"

Hermione looked a bit miffed at being interrupted, but she continued anyways.  "Well, it was the night after exams finished.  We all thought You-Know-Who was dead after you…well, you know…but somehow You-Know-Who managed to get into and steal the Stone.  Dumbledore tried to stop him, but You-Know-Who killed him."

"That's not right, that's not right at all," Harry muttered.

"What's not right?"

"That's not how it happened.  We stopped him – you, me, and Ron went down there.  We got by Fluffy, the vines, the flying keys, the chessboard, the potions…all of it and we stopped Quirrell," came Harry's muffled voice.

"Quirrell?  You mean Professor Quirrell?" Hermione asked.  "Stopped him from what?  He was with Dumbledore…he and Dumbledore tried to stop You-Know-Who together.  He was found unconscious next to Dumbledore's body, and he was the first to tell us that You-Know-Who returned."

At that, Harry's head snapped up, anger glowing fiercely in his eyes.  "Quirrell's...alive?"

Hermione nodded shakily, clearly unnerved by Harry's sudden anger.  She scrambled to her feet.

"But, how?!  Quirrell was working for Voldemort!" Harry said angrily.

Hermione gave a small shriek and backed away.  "Don't say his name!" she hissed.  "Professor Quirrell wasn't working for You-Know-Who…he tried to stop him.  He was so traumatized by what happened that he retired, though he was a bit daft before."

But Harry wasn't listening.  He could clearly remember those moments in first year; they would remain with him forever.  Fluffy growling at them; Ron falling on the chessboard; his fear that Hermione had selected the wrong potion; their hug; and most of all, Voldemort's face sticking out of the back of Quirrell's head.  It was clear in his mind as if it happened yesterday.  But suddenly, another memory surfaced, just as certain: Harry sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, in good spirits as they had won the House Cup; McGonagall appearing and announcing that Dumbledore and Quirrell had been found, Dumbledore dead, Quirrell unconscious.  He remembered that Quirrell was later honored for opposing Voldemort and retired quietly.

What had really happened?  Harry remembered, in the past that he knew was true, Hermione telling him that she ran into Dumbledore on the way to get help.  In this…reality, Dumbledore must have faced Voldemort alone.  Voldemort must have gotten his body back, but surely he was weak, and besides, Dumbledore could handle Voldemort even at his peak.  It…it must have been Quirrell!  Dumbledore must have believed that Quirrell was on his side, and then been betrayed and killed by Quirrell and Voldemort working together. 

"This is not how things are supposed to be!" Harry snarled, slamming his fist against the floor.  "We stopped him!"  A whimper interrupted his angry tirade, and he looked up to see Hermione once again cowering in the corner.  Harry immediately felt his anger deflate.  "Oh Merlin, Hermione, I'm sorry," he said.  "I…it's just that everything's so different now.  Vol-You-Know-Who doesn't come back until our fourth year."

"Our f-fourth year?  What happened in our fourth year?"

"Moody, I mean Barty Crouch Jr., kidnapped me and Cedric after the Third Task.  Wormtail killed Cedric and used my blood to resurrect Vol, er, You-Know-Who."

Hermione looked positively bewildered.  "What are you talking about?  Is this some kind of trick?  What's a Third Task?  Who's Barty Crouch Jr and Wormtail?  And do you mean Cedric Diggory?  Cedric's not dead; he graduated last year." (A/N: at least I think he would have, if he was still alive…I don't have the book to double-check.)

"Cedric's not dead?" Harry asked.  "But I-" Harry stopped to remember a different version of fourth year.  "There was no Triwizard tournament, was there?"  Hermione shook her head.  "Everything's so different now," Harry said, slumping to the ground and lying down, feeling drained by the onslaught of realizations and new memories.  "I don't know what's real anymore," he said despondently.

Hermione cautiously stood and made her way to him.  Once again, she must have decided that Harry posed no threat, for she carefully sat next to him, just out of arm's reach.  "Are you feeling OK Harry?  Should I get Madam Pomfrey?"

Harry shook his head as he stared at the ceiling.  "Madam Pomfrey can't fix this."

"Fix what, Harry?  What's going on?"

After a period of silence, Harry turned to look up at her.  "If I tell you something, can you promise to keep an open mind?  It'll sound crazy, but please try and believe me."

Hermione looked at him, visibly making her decision.  "OK," she said simply.

Harry let out a deep breath and pulled himself to a sitting position.  "Like you said, I guess I should start at the beginning.  Essentially, yesterday, I went to bed a Gryffindor, and this morning, I woke up a Slytherin."

Hermione stared a moment, before letting out a sharp laugh.  "Right…" she said.

"Please, let me finish," he pleaded.

"OK, finish then," she said skeptically.

"Everything's different now.  It's like I have two sets of memories in my head.  One where I'm a Gryffindor, and one where I'm a Slytherin," Harry began.  "In my Gryffindor memories, I begged the Sorting Hat not to put me in Slytherin.  We were best friends Hermione; you, me, and Ron were the best of friends after the troll incident.  We stopped Voldemort – er, sorry – from stealing the Philosopher's Stone.   We solved the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets.  We saved Sirius using the time turner.  There was a Triwizard tournament in our fourth year, and just last year we went to the Department of Mysteries and battled with Death Eaters."

"Hmm," Hermione said.  "That sounds very exciting, Harry.  We sure did do a lot of things," she said, failing to hide the disbelief on her face.

Harry ignored her and continued.  "But my Slytherin memories are different.  I…I was sorted into Slytherin for some reason.  We didn't stop You-Know-Who in our first year, and Dumbledore died because of it.  There was no Triwizard tournament in our fourth year, and all the other years are fuzzy; it's like pieces of my memory are missing!" he said frustrated.

"Well, that's a very nice story…" Hermione said, nervously standing up.  "I'll see what I can find out in the library," she continued in an anxious voice as she edged her way to the door.

"You don't believe me, do you?"  Harry gave a rueful chuckle.  "Heck, I wouldn't believe me either."

"No, no, I believe you," Hermione said quickly.  "I'll go to the library straight-away to find out what happened."

"Please, you have to believe me Hermione!" Harry said desperately.  "You've always been there for me before; I can't do this alone!"

Hermione paused, seeing Harry's obvious distress.  "Well, you have to admit that it is a rather fantastic story."

Harry nodded.  "I just wish there was some way to convince you."

"Well, maybe there is," Hermione said.  Harry looked at her hopefully.  Hermione sat down again.  "Tell me more about the world you remember.  You said we were best friends.  Start by telling about the Hermione in your world."

Harry smiled.  "Well, my Hermione started out as quite a bossy know-it-all," Harry said.  Then, spotting the offended look on Hermione's face, he quickly added, "you have to remember, Hermione and I are the best of friends.  I actually remember her bossiness with fondness.  You were only eleven, after all."

Hermione looked partially mollified.  "Continue."

"Ok, well, she was always sticking her nose in our business at the beginning of first year and always focused on school and following the rules.  Once," Harry said with a chuckle, "she had followed Ron and I after hours, and the three of us met Fluffy, the three-headed dog.  We almost died that night, but all you, er, I mean my Hermione, could say was that we were almost expelled."

Hermione gave a soft laugh.  "Sounds like something I would have said back in first year."

Harry grinned at her.  "Then, the famous troll incident.  After Quirrell let in the troll at Halloween-"

"Professor Quirrell let in the troll?" Hermione interrupted, surprised.

Harry nodded.  "Yes, he tried to use the troll as a distraction so he could steal the Philosopher's Stone, but Snape intercepted him before he could get to Fluffy."

Hermione shook his head.  "I'm still having a hard time believing that Professor Quirrell had anything to do with You-Know-Who.  But continue…what did the troll have anything to do with me?"

"Well, you had hid yourself in the girls' bathroom that night-"

"What?  Why would I do that?"

Harry laughed.  "You interrupt a lot," he said teasingly.  Hermione blushed slightly.  "Anyways, you had overheard Ron making fun of you, and you were crying in the girls' bathroom."  He ignored Hermione's tutt of disapproval and continued.  "Ron and I went looking for you to warn you, but the troll had cornered you in the bathroom.  I distracted the troll by jumping on it, and Ron knocked it out with it's own club using the levitation spell.  Then, the teachers came in, and you covered for us, taking the blame.  After that, the three of us were best friends."

Hermione smiled.  "Well, that sounds nice.  Not the troll almost killing me part, but the rest of it."

Harry agreed.  "After that, we managed to loosen you up a bit about breaking rules, and you kept on us about doing our homework and studying.  I think it worked out best for everyone."

"And the three of us went after the Philosopher's Stone?"

Harry nodded.  "We thought it was Snape after the Stone, when in actuality it was Quirrell, so it was a bit of a surprise."

"I imagine so," Hermione said, still obviously trying to decide whether she believed that Quirrell was working for Voldemort.

"Anyways, second year was just as exciting.  You see, the spirit of You-Know-Who had possessed Ginny and made her open the Chamber of Secrets, and-"

"Wait a minute.  Ginny?  Ginny Weasley?  Ginny opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

"You know about the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Of course!  Students were petrified, and Ginny was kidnapped.  You had somehow found her and saved her…" Hermione broke off suddenly, looking very anxious.

"What?  What is it?" Harry asked.

"Well, I don't know why I'm nervous saying this, since you were there and all, but a lot of people thought, and some still think, that you opened the Chamber."

"Because of the Parseltongue when I dueled Malfoy?"

"Well, in a way.  You spoke Parseltongue at a duel, but it wasn't you against Malfoy.  Malfoy was dueling Dean Thomas and sent a snake after him.  You spoke to the snake."

Harry nodded.  "Basically the same, then.  Everyone thought I was the Heir of Slytherin in my memory too.  I was absolutely miserable, and only your and Ron's friendship kept me going."

Hermione shook her head.  "I remember it very differently.  You practically reveled in it; you never said you were the Heir of Slytherin, but you never denied it.  Slytherin House used it to their great advantage."

Harry closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with his hand.  It was true; Harry remembered strutting along the corridors with his fellow Slytherins, bullying students left and right.  "But then why would I bother to rescue Ginny in this world?" he quietly asked himself.  Then the answer came, the same reason Tom Riddle had years ago decided to seal the Chamber; the school was about to be closed, and Harry had nowhere else to go.  "Things are so different," he said in a normal voice.  "In my world, you had discovered that it was a basilisk that was using the pipes to roam the school-"

"A basilisk!" Hermione exclaimed.  "Yes, that would explain it," she added thoughtfully.

Harry grinned at her.  "Stop interrupting.  Anyways, in this world I must have somehow figured it out myself.  I seem to be a lot smarter in this world then in my own," Harry said with a wry smile.

Hermione chuckled.  "Let's not go too far," she said teasingly.  "I can't wait to hear what happened in third year."

"Well, in third year, Sirius Black," Harry's face clouded for a second, "escaped from Azkaban prison.  They had Dementers at Hogwarts, because everyone was afraid he was coming after me.  In reality, he was after Wormtail, I mean Peter Pettigrew, but Sirius was captured.  You and I used your time-turner to save Sirius using Buckbeak."

During Harry's summary of third year, Hermione's face had gone initial interest, to distaste at Sirius Black's name and Dementers, to curiosity about Peter Pettigrew.  But her face paled at the end.  "How…how did you know about the time-turner?"

Harry glanced at her.  "Remember?  In my world we're best friends.  You actually kept it a secret from me until the end of term when we used it together."

Hermione shook her head.  "This is too weird…"

"You're telling me," Harry agreed.  "We even flew a hippograff together to save Sirius."

"Well, that's definitely a difference.  You couldn't pay me to fly a broom, much an animal.  But why would we save Sirius Black?  He's You-Know-Who's second-in-command!"

"He was framed.  Sirius was thought to be my parent's secret keeper, but at the last minute he switched with Peter.  Peter betrayed my parents to Voldemort, oops, sorry, and framed Sirius."

"But…Peter Pettigrew.  Didn't he die fourteen years ago?  He's a hero!"

"No," Harry said darkly.  "He was working for You-Know-Who all along.  He was an Animagus and tricked everyone into thinking Sirius killed him and the others."

Hermione sighed.  "First Professor Quirrell, now Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black.  This is getting to be too much!"  Then she grew thoughtful.  "But if what you're saying is true, then Sirius shouldn't be in Azkaban."

"Sirius is still in Azkaban?  He's alive?" Harry said, surprised.  "He never broke out when he saw Scabbers?"

"Scabbers?  What does Ron's rat have to do with anything?"

"Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew…it's his Animagus form.  Waitaminute, is Scabbers still here?"

Hermione shook her head.  "Ron lost him at the end of first year, right after the Leaving Feast."

Harry thought a moment.  "I suppose it makes sense," he said, mostly to himself.  "Wormtail would have gone to You-Know-Who once he got his body back, and not with Ron to Egypt, which meant that Sirius never saw his picture in the paper."  A little louder, he added, "so Sirius is still in Azkaban?"

"Yes."

Harry was unsure how to feel about that.  Part of him was elated that Sirius was still alive, but was he really any better off?  Which was preferable: to be dead, or to be imprisoned in Azkaban?  If he couldn't return to his own world, as Harry had come to think of it, then he would have to find a way to free Sirius.  "Sirius is my godfather," Harry said finally.

"Oh," was all Hermione could say.

"Yeah, he bought me a Firebolt for Christmas to make up for all the Christmas presents he didn't get to give me while in prison."

"Wow, those are expensive."

Harry nodded.  "Actually, it was an anonymous gift at the time, since we still thought he was guilty.  But you suspected it was from Sirius, and you had McGonagall confiscate it.  Ohhhh, Ron and I were so mad at you.  We blamed you for the loss of our beloved Firebolt."  Harry smiled at the memory.

Hermione laughed.  "I can only imagine!  Though, I'm surprised I had the guts to do such a thing, knowing that the two of you would be so angry with me."

"Well, that's the way you are, Hermione," Harry said seriously.  "You always do what you believe is the right thing.  Besides, we weren't mad for long, only a month or so.  And we knew, or at least I knew, that you meant well, that you had my best interests at heart."  Harry smiled, and the two locked eyes for a moment.

"What about fourth year," Hermione said, breaking their gaze.

Harry cleared his throat.  "Um, well, in our fourth year we had the Triwizard Tournament.  Have you read about it?"  Hermione nodded, which elicited a grin.  "I should have figured.  Anyways, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was actually a servant of Voldemort using a Polyjuice potion.  To make a long story short, Cedric and I were portkeyed away.  Pettigrew killed Cedric and used my blood to resurrect Vol, er, You-Know-Who."

"How did you and Cedric both become champions? I thought it was one per school."

"Oh yeah.  The fake Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher bewitched the Goblet of Fire and made it so I was selected.  Ron thought I had done it myself, and he was really mad at me.  In fact, most of the school thought I was just trying to get more attention, so I was basically an outcast, like in second year."

Hermione gave him a sympathetic look.  "I'm sorry, I understand how it feels to be left out," she said.

Harry looked at her.  "But you still believed in me, Hermione.  Even though the whole school was against me, you stood by me when no one else would.  If not for your friendship, I don't know what I would have done."

Hermione blushed slightly, and then quickly changed the subject.  "So, in your world, You-Know-Who didn't come back until our fourth year, while here, he came back at the end of our first year."  Harry nodded.  "So, what happened in fifth year?"

Harry's expression darkened.  "Fifth year was hard," he said.  "A lot of bad things happened that's hard to talk about.  (A/N: but mostly my fingers are tired of typing)  But I will say that you were there by my side the whole time, and you really helped me to come to terms with what happened," he said earnestly, instinctively reaching for her hand.  Hermione sat still for a moment as they looked at each other, until she jumped slightly when she seemed to realize that Harry was holding her hand.  Harry noticed her reaction, and quickly released her.  "I'm sorry," he said.  "It's just so easy to forget that you're not my Hermione."

"It's ok," Hermione said flustered.  "You're Hermione sounds wonderful.  In a way, it's slightly reassuring - I've often wondering why I was sorted into Gryffindor, and the Hermione you know sounds very brave."

"She is," Harry agreed.  "But you are the same person.  If given the chance, I know you'd act the same way."

Hermione laughed.  "I don't think so."

"No, it's true," Harry insisted.  "You're the same person, just different events happened in your life, but inside, you're the same Hermione."

Hermione regarded him dubiously.  "If you say so, Harry Potter."

"I do."  A comfortable silence descended upon the two.  "So," Harry said, "that was a quick summary of the past five years.  I'm not sure what else to tell you to convince you that I'm telling the truth."

"I'm not sure why, but for some reason, I do believe you," Hermione said, causing Harry's face to brighten.  "I figure there are three possibilities.  One, you're telling the truth.  Two, you've gone crazy or have been cursed and only believe you're telling the truth.  And three, you're the best actor in the world.  I choose to believe number one.  Besides, you acting so differently right now, I can't help but think something significant must have happened."

Harry looked at her gratefully.  "Thank you, Hermione," he said, his voice breaking slightly.  "You don't know how much it means to me to have you on my side."  Giving in to an impulse, Harry leaned over and embraced Hermione.  She stiffened at first, before wrapping her arms around him.

Suddenly, the door of the room burst open and a crowd of people entered, wands drawn.

"Get away from her!"

A/N: Wowza, talk about a long chapter.  It would have been longer, but I wussed out and made fifth year "too difficult" to talk about.  And that wasn't an intentional cliffhanger: nothing bad is going to happen in the next chapter, it just seemed like a good place to stop. 

Anyways, you're probably thinking "another artfully written chapter, but c'mon!  I read the books, I already knew what happened in first through fourth years.  Tell me about Harry's new world, and why he's in Slytherin!"

Simmer down, now.  We'll get to it soon.  I'm not quite sure how, but I'm sure it'll come to me before I fall asleep.

keebler-elmo: I love answering questions.  Plus, I admit I never thought about it until you asked.

Narcissa-Malfoy-22: Hermione and Ron are friends (they're in the same house, after all), but not best friends.  That's just my personal bias though - I just can't seem them being friends without Harry to mediate.

Romm: No cliffhanger this time, though I fear I may receive a threat for keeping the mystery alive for so long…

CatatonicReaction: er, thanks?  I've decided to take it, whatever it is, as a compliment.

onkel: darn your questions!  I imagine Hogwarts is still safe because the wards, whatever they may be, are still active.  As for the answer to your other question, it's trapped inside my mind and I just need to find a way of freeing it (another way of saying I have no idea yet).

Facade1: Of course I missed you!  But I just figured you were busy trying to think of 869 other reasons why H/Hr works.

ears91: yup, Harry did his explanation, now Hermione has to explain her reality.  When will that be?  Soon, I hope.

Galen Woolfmoon: Thanks!  I hope I can continue to please.  Also, I'm not saying that Ron and Hermione can't be together now in canon (I'm not saying it, but I'm surely thinking it), but I cannot imagine a scenario where they would be best friends without harry…they just have nothing in common with which to build a friendship.