Title: Convergent Possibilities
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Susan, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: From across the Multiverse, four extraordinary individuals are gathered together to prevent the fall of a vital reality. Slight crossover with Buffy.
A/N: meja9201, the realities that Harry and Neville come from are not 'from' anywhere, they are original.
The Four sat in a private compartment of the Hogwarts Express on their way to their 'Third Year', with the door locked and silenced but an alarm ward up to notify them if anyone was trying to gain access. Luna had decided to sit with her Ginny Weasley, her only other friend, knowing that the Four needed some time to talk.
"Alright, let's review." Harry said, having taken on the role of leader of the Four. "Which Houses were we sorted into? Susan?"
"I'm in Hufflepuff. Neville's in Gryffindor. Hermione's in Ravenclaw. You are in Slytherin." The Slayer replied.
"Hermione. Headmaster and Four House Masters for first and second years?" Harry asked.
"First year. Headmaster was Dumbledore. Gryffindor was McGonagall, who was also Deputy Headmistress. Hufflepuff was Sprout. Ravenclaw was Flitwick. Slytherin was Slughorn. Second Year. Headmistress was McGonagall. Gryffindor was Sinistra. Hufflepuff stayed Sprout. Ravenclaw stayed Flitwick but he became Deputy Headmaster. Slytherin stayed Slughorn." Hermione rattled off.
"Neville. Why did Professor McGonagall get promoted to Headmistress?" Harry asked.
"Because we got rid of Dumbledore by informing Susan's Aunt that he was both hiding the Philosopher's Stone and keeping a Cerberus in the castle." Neville replied.
"Alright Harry, your turn." Hermione said. "All major Staff Changes?"
"Dumbledore to McGonagall as Headmaster, obviously." Harry replied. "DADA started out with Quirrell who was killed by Aurors, then Lockheart who lasted three days before we got McGonagall to kick him as a fraud, he was hired by Dumbledore, then after a few weeks of cancelled classes we got Senior Auror Shacklebolt to fill in for the rest of Second Year. Transfiguration was McGonagall until she got promoted and then it was Professor… Johnson. Angelina's mother."
They continued to spend the rest of the ride reviewing the memories they had received and telling each other about their own lives.
The Four walked into the Great Hall, looked around and then separated to head for their House Tables. It was odd for Harry to be heading for the Slytherin table, and he could tell the others were just as uncomfortable as he was. For Hermione it was the fact she was heading for the Ravenclaw table. Susan's discomfort came from trying to act normal while assessing everyone for possible danger, something Harry was having difficulty with as well. Neville seemed almost overwhelmed simply by the number of people in the room, as in his home reality he had barely ever been around more than a dozen people at a time.
Another odd thing for Harry was that he knew what almost every student in the room was capable of, as he had read dossiers on the vast majority of these students in his home reality on what they could possibly do over the next twenty-four years. As he sat down at the Slytherin table, three other students joined him. Daphne Greengrass sat next to him with Tracy Davis and Blaise Zabini sitting across from him. Automatically his brain brought up the summaries of the dossiers he had read on them.
Daphne: Reluctant Integrationist. High Colonial Official in charge of all Magic related issues for the Saturn Moons Colonies. No known radical associations or leanings.
Tracy: Former SARS Analyst. Retired from SARS and took a private network security position for a major corporation based on Mars.
Blaise: Rim Runner. Part of an independent mining, exploration and salvage ship that works in the Kuiper Belt. The salvage ship occasionally assisted SARS and other law enforcement to monitor the Kuiper Belt for hidden bases for Pirates and Smugglers.
Only after the dossiers ran through his head did the memories of the Harry from this reality surface showing them to be good friends. Daphne was intelligent and well versed in navigating the politics of Slytherin House. Tracy was determined, loyal to her friends and able to read the direction of broader events. Blaze, being from an Italian family rather than a British one, was able to provide an outsiders perspective on events and machinations.
The dinner proceeded smoothly, with Headmistress McGonagall showing none of the overly dramatic flair that Dumbledore used to show. Afterwards Harry went down into the dungeons and the Slytherin Common Room with Daphne, Tracy and Blaise. To his surprise, Harry found the underground Slytherin dorms quite to his liking, with the tunnel like arched roof and the dorm spreading out laterally with the individual rooms of the students branching off along corridors from the main common room rather than being stacked vertically. It reminded him greatly of the SARS Moon Base where he had spent most of his adult life. He also found the 'observation room' fascinating, being a small circular room that was just off the common room and was equipped entirely with glass walls and was furnished with couches that faced the walls so that students could sit and watch the aquatic life of the Black Lake, through an aquamarine filter the water tinted the sunlight with during the day and with the use of illumination charms in the evening.
Harry and his Slytherin friends sat in the observation room for a brief period, after all claiming adjacent rooms, mostly to avoid Draco Malfoy and his cronies. Malfoy considered himself to be the natural ruler of Slytherin House and was constantly annoyed when most of the house sided with Harry and his friends on a range of issues. After waiting long enough to make sure that Draco had made an idiot of himself and then gone to bed, they emerged into the common room and gave the new first years a run down of how Slytherin House really operated.
Susan glided out from behind the statue and continued her late night patrol around the Castle. She was half offended at the poor job the prefects and the Professors were doing of their 'Patrols'. She had bypassed at least three patrols in the last half hour and not a single one had even the slightest inkling she was there. In hindsight that was probably a good thing because they would not have appreciated her being out this late, let alone kitted out in full combat gear and loaded with more weapons than any of them had ever seen. She slipped out one of the side entrances to the Castle, one that most students used to head down to the Greenhouses, and made her way towards the Forest.
As she approached the edge of the Forest she drew her wand, her old wand from her reality not the one this reality's Susan had used, and her Bastard Sword. She still lamented the loss of her Bow and that her Quiver was empty when she had come through to this reality, as the bow was a solid and quiet distance weapon that she had come to favour in most engagements, but she had not found the time to search for and purchase a suitable replacement weapon. She could make her own Arrows, assuming she had the right materials and enough time, but it was pointless until she could get a reliable bow.
Now most people would say that she was insane for venturing into the Forbidden Forest at all, let alone a night by herself, but to Susan it was natural. Luna had called her 'The Predator' and she was right. All Slayers were predators, and after fifteen years as The Slayer, and the longest lived Slayer in recorded history by well over a decade, Susan was an Alpha Predator, and her prey was anything that could threaten the students in the Castle. She stalked through the trees and many of the more Magical Creatures, such as the Unicorns and Satyrs sensed her intent and gave her a wide birth, not out of fear but so that they did not distract her. Tonight there were not a lot of creatures out and about, despite the reputation of the Forest of being 'full of dangerous creatures', apart from a few lean looking wolves that growled at her, before running away when she growled back. After almost two hours, Susan finished her patrol in the Forest and headed back to the Castle and the Hufflepuff Dorms. On the one hand an uneventful patrol was a good thing, but on the other she was The Slayer and she was getting antsy with the lack of action. In her experience that simply meant that something bad was on the horizon.
Silently Susan slipped back through the Common Room and into the bedroom that she shared with Hannah Abbott, an old friend of hers in both realities. Susan smiled as she saw Hannah curled up in bed hugging a Harry Potter plush doll. Susan began divesting herself of her weapons, stating with then gun rig at her thighs, then the bracers and finally the vest and the few items in the loops and pockets of her cargo pants. As she packed the equipment away into her Magical Trunk, she idly scratched at an itch on her stomach. Soon enough she stripped down to her underwear and slid into bed, falling asleep with ease.
The Four followed Hermione as she led them up to the Room of Requirements. The room she had the Room of Requirements create was a mixture of briefing room, gun range and sparing mat.
"Nice room, Mione." Harry said, taking a seat in the briefing area. "Training I presume."
"More an evaluation." Hermione replied. "I think we should all know what the others are capable of."
"I'm not sure I will be of much use." Neville said. "I am not a soldier."
"Maybe, but you were chosen. We were all chosen." Hermione said. "There must be some reason."
They split up, with Harry and Hermione heading for the gun range, each examining the other's gun, with Harry explaining the integrated magical focus, while Neville and Susan moved over to the sparing mat.
"You ok?" Susan asked. "You look a bit stiff."
"Yeah." Neville replied. "It's just the bed's here are too soft. I'm just glad the curtains have privacy wards and go all the way to the floor."
"Curled up on the floor?" Susan asked, and got a nod in return. "I've done that a number of times."
They took position in the middle of the sparing mat, a few feet apart.
"Ok, first you attack me, and then next round I will attack and you defend." Susan instructed. "Don't worry, I will pull my punches, or you would be in the Hospital Wing."
As Neville and Susan began to spar, Harry and Hermione were firing bursts of fire down the firing range, each firing the other's weapon.
"Remember, don't try to channel any magic." Harry said. "I disabled the fire protection protocols, but you try to channel any magic and it will retaliate, violently."
"This technology is amazing." Hermione said. "I would love to see how these are constructed."
Harry had to laugh at this, and got glared at by Hermione
"Sorry. But if you are impressed by that you should see my Armour." Harry said. "And the fact that the you in my reality helped make half the magitech in both work."
"Right." Hermione said with a shake of her head. "So… how do you find the P90?"
"Not a bad weapon." Harry replied. "Doesn't hold a candle to my weapons but is better than some the SARS used in the past."
TBC…