"Let me just take a wild guess. Does this have anything to do with You-Know-Who?" I questioned.
'Please let me be wrong! I don't want to be responsible for causing Harry to never be born.'
"Duh! Or did you forget?" Hermione questioned.
"I forgot," I replied hoping that would a kind explanation.
"Oh. Well, Fred, Here's the skinny. You-Know-Who's been in power for 30 years. Almost everyday someone at Hogwarts finds out someone they love has died. You-Know-Who is always threatening families. It's a very dark time. Sometimes I wish I could disappear into a perfect world like you," Hermione stated.
If only she knew how real my world was and what a nightmare this current world was. I sighed and faked a yawn hoping they would get the message. "Let's go. Fred's tired," Ron said.
I closed my eyes feeling sick. How could something innocent cause Voldemort to still be in power and never be weakened? It just doesn't seem right.
Madam Pomfry released me the next at 8 in the morning. I found Ron talking with a boy I'd never seen before. "Hey, Ron!" I greeted.
"Good morning! I was just telling Zebediah about your fit. I explained that you hadn't had one in 6 years," Ron told me.
"You told him and not someone else?" I asked sharply.
I was getting really sick of people acting like I had some kind of schizo fit. I am a completely normal 17 year old boy who made a mistake with a spell. That's no reason to label me as psychotic. No reason at all. "Well, yeah! Ron and I are best friends!" Zeb told me.
"Are you now?" I asked.
I guess Zebediah is the person who takes Harry's place. No one can replace Harry Potter. There's no way he can match Harry in seeker skills. I think I'll challenge him to a Quidditch game just to make sure. "Well yeah, Zeb Black and I met on the train before our first year," Ron explained sensing that I didn't know who Zebediah was.
Well what do you know about that? Ron and I are friends with the Black brother's in this royally screwed up world. I went up to my dorm, found my bed and began searching my own stuff.
A person's book bag can tell you a lot about them. I needed to know what this world's Fred was like. Did he like potions? Did he have a girlfriend?
All "my" book bag contained was schoolbooks, items from a joke shop and quills. Looks like all I care about is school and jokes. This was a complete bust.
Why couldn't there be a note in my book bag to or from some girl? Even old school papers would be helpful. I guess I'll just have to do some discreet investigating by myself. Maybe when I get back to the real 1995, I'll become a private investigator. It's not like I don't have experience.
I think I'll start out with the whole Snape issue. After all, what could be weirder than a nice Snape? It doesn't get much weirder than that. I've seen my share of strange things but none of them included a sweet Snape. George and I used to joke about Snape with, "When Snape starts being nice to Gryffindors…"
"Hey Fred! Are you going to Potions class today? Or do you want me to tell Snape that you feel sick?"
I turned around and saw Josiah. "Potions?"
"Uh-huh," he replied.
'Great. That's just how I want to start my day—with a dose of Potions and wacky Snape!'
"I'm going," I replied.
I quickly picked up my Potions book and followed Josiah. How was I ever going to get out of this bloody mess? It's bloody ridiculous how one thing can cause the whole world to change.
'Mum was right when she said messing with time spells usually causes more harm than good!' I thought sourly.