A/n: Here we go. I won't keep you. Did it work or didn't it?! Read on to find out…

Chapter 30

She lowered the glass and waited tensely with her eyes shut for something incredible to happen.

A moment passed. Nothing happened.

She held her eyes shut tighter and every muscle in her body was rigid with expectation.

A few more moments passed. Still, nothing happened.

There were no whooshing noises, no bright lights, no ceiling opening up to the sky and whisking her away to her proper reality… nothing out of the ordinary. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to happen, but she had been expecting something to happen.

Hermione cracked open one eye, slowly followed by the other. Not a single thing seemed different from when she'd shut them. Still, she waited, rooted to the spot, not moving for fear something would go wrong if she did. She dropped her gaze to the cauldron contents to see that it had gone completely black and solid as a rock. She briefly wondered how she was going to get that out of the cauldron.

She glanced around the room with mounting despair and panic. It had to have worked… it had to have…

Yet nothing was different. Nothing happened.

Hermione's eyes became blurred and the despair and panic rose inside her worse than before. She had failed to drink the potion in time and fix things, and now more people were going to end up sick. Cedric was going to go to join Ally in St. Mango's, unconscious, ill and somewhere between life and death. Hermione's worlds were going to get thrown into a blender and merge horribly.

She couldn't do anything else but cry.

Somehow, eventually, she'd stumbled her way back to Gryffindor Tower. Cedric was not outside the potion room like she had expected him to be, as he had seemed in no condition to move when she'd gone in. She picked up a shining button that must have fallen off his costume and clutched it tight in her fist.

Hermione met no one along the way and it wasn't until she was crawling fully costumed into her bed that she wondered how much time had passed since she and Cedric had run from the ball. The hangings on all the beds in the dorm were shut and the other girls sounded like they were sleeping deeply. Besides that, the embers in the Common Room fire were nearly out.

Hermione slowly drew her own bed hangings closed. Though she did her best to push thoughts of what kind of a terrible, mixed up world she'd be waking up to away, it was to no avail.

She cried herself to sleep.

When she woke, for the briefest of moments, she thought that it was so nice to sleep in a little on a Saturday. Then a rush of memories as rude as a cold bucket of water to face bombarded her and she immediately felt miserable. She pulled the covers over her head and groaned.

Oh please, please let it all have been a bad dream. Let me go back to sleep and wake up where everything is right… she pleaded silently.

Hermione stayed in bed for a little while longer, wishing everything would just go away, before she finally managed to haul herself out to face what was sure to be a very, very difficult day. With a deep, heavy sigh, she began brushing her teeth.

She stopped mid-brush and looked down at herself and what she was wearing. Funny, she didn't remember changing out of her costume and into her pajamas. She obviously must have, however, as she hadn't woken up as Cinderella. Hermione shook her head sadly. She was in a right state last night; she wasn't surprised she didn't remember changing. With a shrug and another sad sigh, she finished her morning routine.

Just before Hermione left the dorm, she noticed that the covers on Ally's bed were rumpled as if they had been slept in very recently. That was a bit odd, as Ally hadn't slept in her bed for a good week or more. Then again, Hermione didn't recall that anyone had made it since Ally had left.

Very slowly, Hermione descended the staircase down to the Common Room. Her eyes were already stinging with fresh tears at having to face her friends and tell them that the potion had not worked after all. She would have to explain that they were all going to become crosses between the people from Hermione's old world and this new one. She would have to pretend to be brave, like she was all up for quickly creating a new potion, no problem. She would have to face the fact that she'd wrecked everything worse than she could have imagined.

She was especially worried about having to face Cedric at breakfast. That is, thought Hermione glumly. If he hasn't already been rushed off to St. Mango's.

Just before she entered the Common Room, she took a deep steadying breath. She had to face it. She had to have courage. She could do this. It would turn out alright eventually. She would just have to suffer a nightmare before things could be normal…

She could hear the familiar murmur of conversation and it somehow soothed her a tiny bit. She rounded the corner and stepped into the Common Room.

Hermione froze.

"There you are! Look, we're really sorry, Hermione."

"Yeah, we never should have yelled like we did – "

"We were way out of line. I think there was something in the locker room water, or we were cursed – ah, anyways, what I mean is – "

"We were downright awful, Hermione, and we're so sorry – "

The tears spilled onto her cheeks.

"Oh, Hermione don't cry – "

"We didn't know we'd hurt you so bad until you yelled back and we never, ever meant to – "

Before they could say another word, Hermione threw her arms around Harry and Ron and hugged them as tight as she could, afraid they weren't real. Afraid she was about to wake up to face the misery of the potion that had not worked.

"You're real!" she breathed.

"Um…"

"I missed you so much." She cried.

"Right…"

They patted her awkwardly on the back until she pulled away with red and wet cheeks.

Looking from Ron's freckled face to Harry's bespectacled one, Hermione wasn't sure if she could possibly feel more happy and relieved in that moment. The potion had worked – just during the night – and her wish had indeed been finally, blissfully reversed. Everything was back to normal.

Harry opened his mouth to say something but Hermione beat him to it.

"What are you sorry about?" she asked.

They looked at her blankly.

"You said you didn't know you hurt me so bad and that you're sorry you yelled." Hermione moved her gaze from one to the other questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

Harry and Ron exchanged confused and wary glances with each other, then turned back to Hermione.

"Last night. After practice." Harry explained carefully. "When we yelled."

Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together.

Ron raised one of his own eyebrows. "You were, er, rather angry, Hermione. How could you forget?"

Hermione racked her brain. It must be the other Hermione they were talking about. They must have traded places after all. She had been transported to a world where her Slytherins were Gryffindors and probably received quite the shock, seeing as how she had done nothing to cause such an upheaval. Hermione felt bad for the other girl and didn't know what to say to Ron and Harry to explain the behavior of the other Hermione that had likely been, well, the opposite of the Hermione they knew.

But then she remembered: the fight that she had had with Harry and Ron that had caused her rash wish to come about in the first place. She recalled Dumbledore's words about the girl who'd made a wish before Hermione:

"…everything was back to the way it had been when she made the wish…"

"Oh. Right." She said, then smiled widely. She was too happy to see them – the real them! – that she could care less about the fight. "I'm really sorry too – more than you know. I didn't mean what I said. Believe me when I say, I'm glad things aren't different."

She felt a tiny pang of guilt at these words, because she did enjoy most of her time in the other world, where things were totally different. She would miss it, for sure, but she knew now that she wouldn't trade the one she already had for anything else.

The two boys cracked wide grins.

"So you're not mad?" asked Ron.

"After I tell you two what happened to me, I think you'll understand why."

The tale of the wish and the parallel universe took quite some time to tell. At first, the boys were understandably extremely skeptical and repeatedly told her she must have dreamt it all. When she produced the coin and showed them a few (non-incriminating nor embarrassing) entries from her journal, however, they began to believe she was telling the truth.

Hermione was careful to leave out the part about her fight with Cedric and make it sound like he'd merely been apart of her circle of friends, rather than someone much more. Someday she supposed she would tell them the full truth, but she desperately didn't want Ron to get flaming jealous as she knew he would (he always did over Viktor Krum, and there was absolutely no romance there!). Harry loved the bit about what Snape and Filch had been like, while Ron greatly enjoyed the part about what Hermione had found out about his brothers.

When she got to the part about Sirius being in a rock band, she proceeded with great caution, as Harry was still hurting pretty badly after Sirius' death not too many months ago. Though his face became a little more closed and sad, he seemed to like hearing about Sirius in the band and being happy and alive. At the same time, it was quite obvious hearing it made him miss Sirius even more.

"Which reminds me, Harry." Hermione dug in her bag. "Sirius sent me some letters to give to people when I got back. It took me a while to figure out how to get them here without them possibly changing or disappearing, but I finally got it. My journal kept all my old entries from before; they weren't changed or gone. So I put the letters in there so hopefully when I drank the potion, they'd transfer with me."

Harry stared at Hermione with a sort of hopeful and scared look on his face, as though he was hoping with all his might it had worked, was trying desperately not to hope at all, and didn't think he'd be able to read the letter if he got it anyway.

"Did it… work?" he asked quietly.

Hermione smiled softly. "Yeah, it did." She produced a letter with Harry's name on it in Sirius' handwriting from her bag.

Harry gingerly took the letter, open-mouthed, and handled it like it might disappear if he turned it the wrong way or blinked too slowly. "It's real?" he breathed.

Hermione nodded.

Harry held the letter as though it were extremely fragile glass that could break at any second and stared at his name on the envelope.

Hermione grabbed Ron's hand, who was also regarding Harry's letter in awe and pulled him out of his chair. "We'll be outside, Harry." She said and hauled Ron out of the portrait hole.

It wasn't until she and Ron were walking across the brown grass of the Hogwarts grounds that Hermione realized she was still holding Ron's hand. She'd been so concerned with giving Harry his privacy and getting outside like she'd told him that she truly hadn't given a thought to it. She slowed her brisk pace, and blushing furiously, made a move to hurriedly let go. She was quite startled when he squeezed her hand to prevent her pulling away action.

"Hermione…" he said uncomfortably and swallowed. "Did… anything else happen? You know, with your wish?"

Hermione almost missed his question as she was so focused on the fact that Ron was still holding her hand. She was acutely aware that she had held it all this time and somehow not noticed it until this moment. "L-like what?"

Ron's ears reddened. "You just seem… different, somehow. And that's why I thought maybe… well, that's why I believe your story, more than anything. You're not quite the same person you were… yesterday, I guess."

Hermione had no idea where he was going with this and chose not to reply. His hand was still on hers…

"I just mean…" he cleared his throat, obviously realizing he wasn't explaining himself very well at all. He stopped walking so he could turn and look her in the eye. He seemed to lose his nerve for whatever he was going to say, however, as he looked away quickly and started walking again.

Trying to fight the way her arm was tingling and her heart was racing – his hand! – Hermione teased, "What, you don't like me anymore?"

Ron stopped and faced her again. "I like you very much, Hermione." He said seriously and then went practically scarlet, dropping his gaze to his feet. He attempted to adopt a similar teasing tone to the one Hermione had used, but the shake in his voice gave away that what he said before had been the truth. "For an insufferable know-it-all girl, of course." He forced a wobbly smile but didn't seem to be able to meet her eyes again.

Abruptly, Hermione remembered Cedric's words to her. It seemed like years ago that he had spoken them:

"…I can read between the lines here. Maybe you don't see it because you're a girl or one of his best friends or whatever. Besides that, I feel like I just know. I really believe that he likes you more than a friend. In fact, I would go as far as to say I believe Ron Weasley loves you…"

Ron added in a mumble he thought Hermione didn't hear, "Always have."

"Really?" Hermione whispered a moment later when she found she was able to breathe again.

Ron looked up, scared because she had heard and understood his mumble. He nodded slowly.

Hermione smiled. "Me too."

Ron opened his mouth in surprise then relaxed and grinned widely.

In that moment, Hermione understood. Ron really did like her much more than just a friend like Cedric had said. Hermione had liked Ron "that way" for so long that him standing there, saying he liked her too, seemed like a perfect dream. And she knew, that even if she and Ron went on to live happily ever after, she'd always have a special spot in her heart for the unexpected love she'd shared with Cedric Diggory for those two strange and special months.

A/n: There you are. :D Stay tuned for the Epilogue...