Chapter 6: A Little Bit of History

AN:Edited this chapter 08/10/2006.

Cannon World, AU Harry

Harry frowned. Digging through this rubble was getting him nowhere. He couldn't find any hints as to what had happened. Everything had burnt to a crisp, and then blown away with the wind. The person who had attacked his house hadn't left any clues.

But who exactly had attacked his house? Even after years (he assumed it had been years), the spot was still crawling with dark magic. He could feel it—it was definitely signature of a dark curse—and a powerful one at that. It probably ruled out the possibility that it had been any 'light' wizard, for they wouldn't have dared to use this much 'dark' magic.

Casting one last glance around, he apparated to Diagon Alley. He needed to find some kind of history book to see what had happened in the last several years. It wouldn't do for him to be in the future and be helpless. Someone could attack him at any moment. He'd also have to watch out for his future self. He didn't want to cause any time paradoxes.

Walking along the crowded street of Diagon Alley, he realized that they had fixed a couple of stores that had been destroyed in the attack his second year. They looked like they had before the Death Eater attack. And, he noticed, they'd done a good job, keeping true to the past form of the shops.

He kept his hood up as he walked. Sometimes, it was better to remain a face in the crowd.

AU World

December 12, 1994

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Granger,

It pains me to inform you of some rather bad news. Your daughter Hermione has been admitted to St. Mungo's, the best wizard hospital in Europe. Late yesterday evening, she was brutally attacked by a fellow classmate. This young person cast one of the deadliest and certainly most illegal curses on Hermione, and it has affected her rather badly. This curse causes the victim great internal pain, and most go insane under more than a couple of minutes of this curse. Unfortunately, she was under the curse for about an hour. Her condition is unstable at the moment, but we have the officials' word that she has not yet passed into the brink of insanity.

I'm sorry that this occurred right around the holidays, but I found it best to inform you right away. If you wish to see your daughter, please send this owl with your response and I will send someone to get you. Again, I am truly sorry about this horrible incident.

Minerva McGonagall

June 13, 1996,

Dear David and Anne,

Come to the hospital immediately. Hermione is awake.

Minerva

Ron sat in his room, staring at the walls that did not look familiar. There were no bright orange posters of the Cannons, nor was the room painted orange. In fact, the only orange he could spot in this room was the orange shirt that lay crumpled in a pile on the floor.

Instead, the room was red, with a bit of gold, and Ron was strongly reminded of the Gryffindor common room. This room, however, held no warmth for Ron. It was fake: the red was a bit too red, and the gold was more of a cheap yellow. It did not suit his tastes, for some reason, even though technically yellow and red made orange and gold and red were Gryffindor colors.

This world, the one that he and Harry had landed in, was utterly and completely boring. Because You-know-who hadn't died on Halloween, he had fifteen years more experience and power than the you-know-who of their own world. Here, even the name you-know-who sent shivers down his family's backs. You-know-who apparently ran most of the Ministry, not legally of course, but through simpletons who were too weak to stand up to you-know-who. Ron got the impression that his father was one of the few left, and it was only a matter of time before he had to quit or join you-know-who and the Death Eaters. The only reason his father was safe so far was due to his love of everything muggle. You-know-who despised muggles, and hadn't wanted a muggle-loving fool on his side until it was absolutely necessary.

The atmosphere around the house seemed normal to everyone else, but Ron had a hard time living in the same house as these people. The twins hardly pulled any practical jokes, and frequent explosions were not heard throughout the house. Ginny sat with their mum quite frequently, helping her with something that Ron had yet to figure out what.

Bill and Charlie were frequently stopping by, giving secret reports their mum and dad. Hardly anyone laughed, and when they did, it was short and rushed, as if they were afraid you-know-who would swoop down and kill them for laughing.

As he sat staring at the fireplace, he wondered if it was possible to kill you-know-who in this world. He seemed so powerful, and from what Ron gathered from his parents, he had spies everywhere. There were only a couple of families that you knew weren't on Voldemort's side, and they sent their children to Hogwarts every year for protection. Ron was lucky to come home this summer, as they all usually stayed at Hogwarts with the rest of the children.

From what he could gather, most of the children staying behind he already knew. Neville Longbottom stayed behind with his sister Megan (which confused Ron—why did Neville have a sister in this world? What was different?), as did Lavender Brown, Paravati and Padma Patil, Justin and Ernie from Hufflepuff, Susan Bones (whose aunt Amelia Bones apparently was killed in an attack last year), Seamus and his brother Sam, Terry Boot from Ravenclaw, and another from Hufflepuff (those were just in his year, he didn't know about Ginny's year, or the others). Apparently, the rest of the people were children of Death Eaters, and could not stay in the castle over the summer.

Ron wondered where Hermione was. He hadn't heard her name mentioned yet, and he had been listening carefully to his mum and dad talk. He also wondered if Hermione had been transferred from their world as he and Harry had been. It was making him nervous, especially since you-know-who hated muggle-borns. He hadn't heard of her staying at Hogwarts over the summer, and he wondered if she was alive in this world. Ron gulped at the thought—he didn't want to imagine.

A head appeared in the fireplace, effectively startling Ron out of his thoughts. It looked like Dumbledore, but he had many more wrinkles than the last time Ron had seen him, about a month ago at Hogwarts (the day he and Harry had shown up).

"Ah, young Ronald, would you please fetch your father for me?" Dumbledore said, with a tired smile on his face. "I have some rather urgent news for him," he said.

Hermione sat on her bed in the hospital, reading 'A History of Dark Wizards and Witches in the Last Hundred Years'. Really, though, half the chapters were on Grindewald, and half were on Voldemort. She was more interested in Voldemort, ever since she woke up in hospital earlier that summer.

Apparently, she had been in a coma for the last year and a half, do to prolonged exposure to 'crucio'. Her parents told her that a boy named Harry Potter had cursed her until she was unconscious. In her unstable state, she had dropped off into a coma, and the doctors didn't know when she would wake up. It was a miracle that she had woken up, they told her.

Now, this all confused Hermione, because as far as she remembered, she had been in her own room at home, and she knew for a fact that Harry would never place her under that terrible curse. You had to really want to cause pain, and she knew that as mad as Harry would get sometimes, he would never hate anyone enough to cast that curse and actually do damage.

They hadn't let her have any books for the first month, and she'd gone nearly bonkers. After all, she hadn't been in a coma, so everything was just fine. After they were sure that she wasn't going to relapse, they let her read books and do homework. She'd been so bored that she'd finished all of her homework in a week, and now she was reading up on her history. Things were not fitting together. Why hadn't Harry and Ron sent her any owls? And why were her parents suddenly best friends with Professor McGonagall? They'd met her once before, and only for a brief period of time.

She looked at the chapter she started with-- 'The Rise of Voldemort—A Powerful Empire Emerges'.

Why wasn't it the rise and fall of Voldemort? After all, he'd fallen to Harry over fifteen years ago.

As she read, she grew more and more horrified. Something was very wrong with history. This book said that Voldemort had been in power for over twenty-five years. She flipped through the chapters, stopping when she reached the last chapter.

'The Rise of Dark Families, Light Families, and All Those In-Between'

Scanning the chapter, she looked for familiar names. She stopped when she came to 'Weasley'.

'The Weasley name has yet to be associated with 'dark', one of the few families left to remain away from Voldemort and his supporters. Their elder son William works as a curse-breaker for Albus Dumbledore, head of the 'Light' resistance called the Order of the Phoenix. (ref pg. 20-34, 45, 60-82, 96-98, 109-112, 120-139). Charles has worked with Dragons until 1993, when they rebelled against light magic, (ref pg. 134-135). Percival quit from the Ministry for 'personal reasons' and currently works with his father Arthur. Arthur, along with Frederick and George, works for the Ministry as Obliviators. The youngest Weasleys remain at Hogwarts in Gryffindor.'

She scanned through again, spotting other names like Malfoy (which was under dark), Longbottom (which was under light—and confused Hermione for a second, until she read about them), Patil (light), Brown (light), Zabini (dark), Parkinson (dark), and finally Potter (in-between).

Hermione frowned when she saw the name Potter, and started reading the page.

'Lily and James Potter are notorious supporters of Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. They have three children, Harry, Thomas, and Kaylee, all of whom now attend Hogwarts. Because of their devotion to the 'light', Voldemort planned an attack in 1981. He planned to defeat them, and move on to the Longbottom family (ref pg 202). However, after many failed attempts to find them, he eventually gave up. This, and the failed attack on the Longbottom family, proved to be two of the few failed attacks Voldemort has encountered in the last fifteen years.

'The reason the Potter family has been classified as 'in-between' is because of their eldest son, Harry. While the rumors have never been officially confirmed, it is said that Harry was initiated into Voldemort's ranks at age 11, making him one of the youngest Death Eaters to be initiated. However, that is only a rumor, and sufficient proof has not been brought forward to the eyes of the public.'

Hermione stopped reading. Either this book was a practical joke, or she was not in her own world.

She'd read about alternate universes, of course, but all that she'd found were brief mentions here or there. They'd never been confirmed by others than those who had supposedly been to these 'alternate universes'. After an extensive search, she'd only come up with limited information. Hermione had eventually given up on the search.

Her thoughts immediately turned to Harry and Ron. Usually, it said in the books, more than one person traveled to the same alternate worlds, and there was usually one person who was the trigger to the travel. Hermione guessed that Harry, who attracted all kinds of attention, both good and bad, was the trigger. Somehow, Voldemort had sent at least her and Harry to this world. She didn't know about Ron.

Ahhh!—she had to get out of this bed and find a library and an owl. She had to make sure that Harry was okay, especially since they thought he was a Death Eater here. He could be in serious trouble if he didn't play it smooth, and Harry wasn't exactly known for his acting abilities. Now—how was she going to get out of the hospital?

Looking over at her mother and father, she decided to wake her father. She was a daddy's girl, and he would do just about anything for his little girl. If she told him she wanted to go for a walk, he'd probably let her.

Harry had finally found the book he was looking for. It was a huge book that had everything you wanted to know (and most things you didn't) about the Ministry and the different positions that one could hold. It also told which offices were on floor one, floor two, etc. The thing he needed was in the second to last chapter.

'Rules for Entering/Visiting the Ministry'

He read through the chapter, and he found out that the system worked the same way as it did in his world. He'd have to be careful, as 'Harry Potter' is not a person they would want entering the Ministry. Perhaps he could get in another way.

An owl hooted softly, and he turned to see an owl lingering outside with a letter. He opened his window and let the owl in, apologizing that he didn't have anything but water for the owl. He grabbed the letter from the owl's grip, and looked at the familiar and impeccably neat handwriting.

Dear Harry,

I've had a wonderful summer thus far, visiting all different places. I saw the wonderful white hills of Mungos, which I would recommend to you. I know you love to visit hilly places, especially when they hills look whitewashed.

Earlier this summer, an incredible thing happened to me. I was visiting a familiar place, when suddenly I turned up in Mungos. I think it was a wonderful surprise that my uncle Riddle gave to me, courtesy of you. If you would be so kind, I would like to meet with you and talk about old times, and our old home.

Oh, and if you happen to see our red weasel, would you please pass this message along to him. I haven't seen him since the summer, and I didn't know if he survived the trip with you.

Sincerely,

Jane (book-worm)

It was an odd letter, but he had no doubt that it was from Hermione. His Hermione. That meant she was here, in this world!

Looking through he figured out what most of the odd language meant. She was obviously at St. Mungos, the wizard hospital. The remark about the whitewashed hills gave him that clue. It looks like she had figured out that they were no longer in their world, by the fact that she was in an unfamiliar place. Hermione thought that Voldemort sent him here? Not that that was unexpected—in fact, Harry had been toying with the idea in his head for a while, but it didn't make any sense. Why would Voldemort send him and his two best friends to another world?

It looked like she didn't know if Ron had come, judging by the weasel remark. And, Harry was pretty sure that 'Jane' was Hermione's middle name. She had put this letter in code, for some reason wanting it to look like a normal letter. He supposed she didn't want someone to intercept the letter, especially if she was writing to him and he was a 'supposed' Death Eater.

He didn't know what to write back, other than to say that he was fine, but he didn't know what to put in a letter. Should he put it into a code like Hermione had? He didn't think he was that clever, but he didn't want anyone to intercept the letter on the way. It would not look good for a Death Eater to be sending mail to someone he had 'tortured'. He'd have to think about it.

Ron sighed. His father and Dumbledore had been talking for over an hour, and Ron was starting to get impatient. He knew it was none of his business, but for some reason he thought he should hear this conversation. Perhaps it was because he'd heard the name 'Potter' through the shut door more than once. Apparently, his father hadn't cast a silencing charm yet, because he could still hear muted voices. Man, he wished he had those 'ear' things the twins had invented last year.

"...James isn't going to be happy—does this include Harry?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. It's amazing that we actually got this through without Voldemort noticing, but I suspect he has too much to deal with right now. If we were to let Harry get away without visiting this school, others would see it as a sign of weakness on our part. Everyone knows he's involved with the dark arts."

"Poor James...he'll have to admit that Harry isn't the boy he wants him to be..." his father trailed off, talking in quieter tones. Ron stopped listening for a moment. What was going to happen to Harry?

"He was over here the other day, looking happier than I'd seen him in years, Albus. He said something about wanting Ron to come shadow he and Sirius for a day. I said I'd have to think about it, but he said it would help Ron get over anything that happened this summer. You know, Ron still hasn't told me what happened, and I'm beginning to get worried..."

"Ronald Weasly, you had better not be doing what I think you're doing," a familiar voice said. He cringed and turned to face his mother, who was tapping her foot.

Jane,

It's good to hear from you. I'm fine, as is our 'red weasel'. He is currently with his family of weasels. I'm afraid that the father weasel doesn't like me very much.

I'm disappointed that I'm missing the white hills of Mungos, but, as you hinted, I've seen far too many white hills and now consider myself to be an expert on them.

Would you be able to try calling me (by fire, not by phone)? I have some things I need help with, and I really need to talk to you.

Your friend always,

Harry

Hermione smiled as she finished the short letter. Ron and Harry were both fine! A huge wave of relief washed over her. She got up from the bed she was currently resting in, and quietly made her way out of the hospital room and down the hall. There had to be a fireplace around here somewhere.

Voldemort grinned (if one could call the slight twist on his face a grin) as he heard the youngest Malfoy's report. Good--the little whelp had proved valuable. Finally.

"And how did you get this past Dumbledore?" he asked.

"The old fool thinks it was his idea to begin with, my Lord."

Voldemort nodded, intrigued. "Ah, well done Malfoy. Now young Potter will not have an excuse to avoid my presence."

Draco hoped Harry knew what he was doing--otherwise, he was going to be a best friend short in a couple of weeks.

Memory #12

"Draco, lay off. I'm almost done with this book--and I'm not going anywhere until I finish it. You are just prolonging your misery by interupting me," Harry said, not glancing up from the book he read. The title was Bonds: Forced, Accepted, and All Those In Between.

"Harry," Draco whined. "Come on, I want to go outside and fly. You can read your book later."

Harry finally looked up at his best friend, saw that he was practically bouncing, and sighed. He closed his book, and heard Draco give a strangled cheer. When he looked up, Draco had his broom in one hand, and Harry's in the other.

"Let's go down to the pitch!" Draco led the way, babbling every once in a while. Harry let a small smile come on his lips, amused that Draco could be so excited about flying. Harry didn't like to fly, because once it was over, once the feeling of being free ended, you crashed back down to earth in a wave of disappointment. Flying was an illusion of freedom, and it cut him every time.