Author Note: I own none of this. I am just a conduit for the thoughts that randomly appear. Thanks be to Rowling the great for creating this world.
Episode Name: Hermione Came Home
Production number: Season 2 Episode 4
Starring:
Harry Potter
Hermione Granger
Lavender Brown
Jean II Granger
Co-starring
Luna Lovegood as the scary one
Hermione Granger as the broken one
Special guest appearance by Harry J. Potter as Rogue Harry
Sponsored by Bubbly Brew Beer. The beer that gives you a lift.
==xx(Story begins)
It was a fine summer day in 2020 and Hermione Granger knocked on the door of #12 Grimmould Place. She had butterflies in her stomach as she had not been back to the U.K. since the year 2000. Her relationship with Harry, Ron, her parents, everyone and everything had collapsed and she ran away from it all.
She had kept running until she finally collapsed in a small town somewhere in New Mexico in the United States. She had been taken in by a muggle rancher and given a home. They had not asked any questions nor judged her as they just accepted the strange things that went on. She had lived with them and helped on their ranch like the daughter they never had.
Her thoughts on the past were interrupted by the door opening. Luna stood there wearing a sheer white T-shirt that reached her belly button. Her lower half was only covered by a pair of powder blue knickers with a bright yellow smiley face over her crotch.
The two women stared at each other for several seconds before Hermione found the ability to speak, "Is this a bad time?"
Luna tilted her head for a moment before shaking it with a frown.
Taking heart from that Hermione asked, "Is Harry home?"
"No. He is not. Why do you seek him now after two decades away?" Luna asked in a tone that was not very welcoming. Her expression was neutral though.
Hermione looked at the ground, "I wanted to apologize to him, to let him know I should have listened to him. I was wrong and scared." She said in a rush.
Luna sighed and stepped back, "Come in."
"Are you sure?"
"If I was not sure I would have hexed you the moment I saw you. Harry would not like that however." Luna said calmly. "We have a great deal to discus."
"Okay." Hermione said cautiously. Luna did not seem to be angry with her but then it had been difficult for Hermione to tell what Luna was thinking.
She looked around and was impressed by the changes in the house. Rich lustrous maple wood trimmed all of the doors and walls. The space where Walburga had been was now a glassed in set of shelves with various pictures and awards on them. She felt a slight bit of awkwardness when she saw they were all of Harry and Luna, several children all growing up in the pictures.
Luna led her into the library which was even more stuffed with books it seemed like. Sitting in the chair Luna gestured to she began to feel the overwhelming desire to run away again and fought it down. She had been running for far too long.
"So you seem surprised to see me." Luna said without preamble.
"Well, yes. Harry was dating Ginny the last I had known." Hermione explained.
Luna nodded, "They broke up not long after you left. It was ugly and caused the final rift between Harry and Ron."
Hermione's eyes grew wide as she said, "Oh no. Is Harry, and the others okay?"
Luna raised her eyebrow, "He has recovered. We began to date and got married in 2005 when Celestia was on the way." she did not mention what happened to Ron or Ginny.
"Celestia? That's a pretty name for a girl." Hermione said, "So you two have a good life?"
"Yes and I would like to keep it that way. It took me a great many years to finally help Harry accept that it was not his fault that you and Ginny left him. That I was not going to abandon him. That was why I allowed him to impregnate me before marriage. To help him build ties he could trust." She said in a quiet monotone.
"I never meant to hurt him. I just. There was so many bad memories and I couldn't handle it. I felt like I was being crushed by Ron, the Weasleys, society in general. I had to get out."
"I remember the arguments. Harry showed me his memories of them. Asking me my interpretation as he felt he had done something wrong to drive you away."
"He was dating Ginny, he loved her. I never knew he loved me." Hermioen tried to keep her voice even.
Luna's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as Hermione felt like she was seeing the warrior side of the blonde girl emerge. She tried not to fidget under the intense stare. "Harry did not know how else to express his love for you. And when Ron, his best friend told him that he was in love with you Harry stepped aside and accepted Ginny's obsession for love." Luna coldly declared.
"I'm sorry. I really am." Hermione's voice held a trace of begging, "I never meant to hurt him. Maybe if I explained it he'd understand."
Luna shook her head, "I only brought you inside so I could make certain you understood the situation. Not to give you a chance. You will never speak to Harry if I have anything to say about this. Neville and the others that love and care about him will let you either. Go back to whatever rock you have been hiding under for the last two decades Hermione. You are not welcome here." The blonde coldly hissed.
Hermione could feel the hairs standing up on the back of her neck from the tingle of magic exuded from Luna. Everyone took the blonde for a weak simple slip, she had one of the highest body counts of the war and had personally killed multiple death eaters.
"I. I see Luna." Hermione accepted with a heavy sigh, "Can I at least leave you my contact information if you should change your mind?"
"Why would I change my mind? Is there something wrong with the one I have?" She sang in a cold mockery of her usual light and cheery tone. "No Hermione. This is final. Do not return once you have left here."
Hermione nodded as she turned and left. She was walking slowly but gained speed as she felt the rising panic within herself take over. Soon she was running flat out.
==xx
Hermione was sitting in the park sobbing. Her knees drawn up to her forehead so she was as close to being in a ball as she could. She had not tried to contact anyone else as Luna was not someone to be trifled with and no doubt had already announced her presence in the U.K. to everyone.
Why had she run away so long ago. She had told harry she couldn't love, she couldn't feel anything for anyone and left. She had been wrong, the few men she had slept with all had black hair and green eyes. But they did not fill the gaping hole in her heart that she had ripped open on that last day.
The day she had gone to harry and meant to tell him goodbye. Meant to tell him she couldn't stay any longer. He had begged her to stay. He had told her he would do anything, give her anything if she stayed. He had even gotten on his knees to beg her, before she ran away. She was hurt and scared from the war still. A broken child who had panicked instead of understanding.
Her last memory had been of Harry kneeling on the ground of the Burrow, tears streaming down his face as Ginny came up behind him to put her arms around his quivering shoulders.
"Hey, you look like you could use a friend." She heard in the sweetest voice she had ever heard.
"Ha-har-harry?" She managed to stammer out as she wiped her eyes free of their teary film.
The tall bearded man standing there with cold green eyes staring at her looked like the Harry she knew but carried himself with a far different energy. His quiet smirk as he gazed at her was so unlike any expression she could recall from Harry.
"Sort of." He replied before sitting down beside her. "What if I told you I'm not from around here?"
"Really? Since you're pretending to be Harry Potter I'm not surprised." she retorted.
He smiled at her with a chuckle again, "I'm more focused on you right now. Where's your wand?"
"I burned it. I left that world so I won't need it."
"You what?" He hissed, "You. Why? Why the hell would you do that?" He demanded in sheer shock.
"Why? Because after fighting for seven years we accomplished nothing. Nothing changed. I was turned into a cat girl, petrified, almost kissed by a Dementor, almost bitten by a werewolf, kidnapped and put into a trance at the bottom of a lake, tortured by a psychotic bitch, almost killed again, tortured by another psychotic bitch, and almost died in a war that cost me my parents and many people I considered friends. All for that world to ignore all we did and want to keep the status quo. Why should I care. Why should I want to be part of that world?" She was almost hysterical she noticed but didn't care at this point. It was obvious since she was hallucinating a version of harry that her sanity had finally broken.
"So why did you come back?" he asked pointedly.
She paused, shaking her head she shrugged as she said, "I don't know. I was missing Harry. I was missing my friends. I thought maybe I could work things out with them. I was wrong. I shouldn't have come back."
"The real Hermione Granger would have stayed and fought to make things better. To make their losses count. She wouldn't have run away."
"The real Hermione Granger?" She frowned at him, "Last time I checked I was the real Hermione Granger."
"I meant that more metaphysically. Hermione Granger was the brightest witch of her age. The next Morgana Lefey. She was not some sniveling little child hiding in a trailer park in the middle of New Mexico working at Wal-Mart." He sounded more disappointed than angry.
"Well that's who I am. And since you're a manifestation of my guilt or some curse Luna put on me that wants to dredge up all my old memories then you should know I'm the real Hermione and I am that person. That's all I deserved after what I did." She stood up and started striding away from him.
He was alongside her a moment later grabbing her arm roughly, "Look. I'm real. I am just as real as you are and you need to grow a spine and fight. Reignite the fire!"
"There is no fire. I'm not the person you think I am. NOW LET GO OF ME!" She commanded feeling her anger growing.
"Good. Feel the magic inside you. Its not dead. You can use that power! Take back your heritage Hermione. Take back your power!" He crowed.
She bit her lip, "NO. I swore to myself never to cast magic again. No. Never again."
He looked personally hurt for a brief moment before there was a bright flash of light.
==xx
When her vision cleared she was standing in a dark and foggy cemetery. She heard voices from nearby, one high pitched and hissing while another was lower and barely tickled her memories.
She heard the high pitched one say, "How much longer until they arrive Wormtail?"
"Barty says it should not be much longer. Potter has almost reached the center of the maze." She heard Pettigrew explain. His sniveling obsequious voice grated on her nerves. She was frozen because this couldn't be real. He had taken her backwards in time to the night Voldemort came back. How he had taken Harry's blood and killed Cedric.
"Master he is coming!" Pettigrew crowed sliding a mirror into his pocket.
There was a brief flash of light and a clattering as she saw across the graveyard two figures landing after a portkey trip. One landed spritely on his feet while the other rolled and tumbled. She felt a stab of fear as she recognized that must have been Harry.
"Hey Harry. This doesn't look like the stage." She heard Cedric say.
She saw moving through the shadows Pettigrew carrying the bundle that must have been the Voldemort homonoclulous. They moved towards the two teen boys.
She looked around frantically trying to find a way out of this nightmare. Turning she began to run away from the scene. She heard the woosh as the trees ahead of her was illuminated by a flash of green light. Diving behind stones she curled herself into a ball. A stream of wetness issued from her as she heard screaming and spells being fired. People apparating in and wet sickly explosions following. Explosions that went on for several long minutes. She had begun to scream at some point only she didn't notice when.
She didn't notice when the Harry that had brought her here came to stand over her, covered in blood with someone's intestines sliding off of his shoulder he gazed at her sadly. A disappointed look on his face as he bent down to picker her up.
She began to thrash and push him away. Her fists not doing much damage he backed off and stunned her. Shaking his head he made a decision.
==xx
Hermione woke up slowly, carefully. The room she was in had a slightly antiseptic smell to it, the walls were a light blue with white floor and ceiling tiles. The bed she was in confirmed it though, hospital. A strange one as she heard the slight thump of a heart monitor and a few other sensors but had nothing attached to herself.
She was wearing a strange blue jumpsuit that had a symbol over her left breast of a door with a person stepping through it. One side of the door had a starburst overhead while the other held a moon. In the middle of the circular patch, running horizontally was the infinity symbol.
The door to the room opened and she felt her heart jump. Lavender Brown walked into the room holding a clipboard of some kind and wearing a white uniform with the patch on the shoulder. Her name was on a card clipped to her left breast pocket and the words Granger Institute were embroidered above the pocket.
"Hello Hermione. I take it from your reaction you recognize me?" Lavender asked politely.
Nodding uncertainly she didn't say anything.
"I'm going to guess the version of me that you knew died, probably in your war?" Lavender asked pulling a chair beside the bed.
"Yeah. May I have some water?" Hermione asked as she felt her throat rasp out the words.
Lavender smiled and walked over to an empty alcove with a set of buttons alongside of it in the wall. Tapping a few buttons a glass of water suddenly appeared in the alcove a moment later.
"Here you go. Cool fresh spring water. Although if you really want it I can order some purified, some fruit juice. Anything you want." Lavender said holding the glass out. Hermione cautiously took it and drank it quickly once she was sure it was water.
"Where am I? Is this heaven?" she demanded.
"Okay second questions first. No this is most assuredly not heaven. This is the Granger Institute on what we prefer to call Alpha Universe. You are in our medical wing and I am Doctor Lavender Brown."
"Doctor?" Hermione asked with a confused tone.
"Psychology, and I am working on a psychodynamic application of cultural cross-contamination one." she said with a smile. "We have a lot of use for that one here at the Institute."
"Oh your husband must love you."
"Wife actually. I'm lesbian. Although there are several versions of me with husbands. One even just married Ron recently." She laughed. "They have kid that's due any day now."
"So I'm not dead?"
"No. You are very much alive, and to the best of our mind-healers abilities you are not hallucinating, manifesting or otherwise delusional. At least no more so than any other Hermione I've met." She said with a wink.
"Other Hermiones?"
"Right. You have traveled interdimensionally. Judging by the residual energies they found on you, you took a couple of trips." She said glancing at the clipboard.
"He took me someplace. Someplace bad." She said closing her eyes trying to push the memory out of her mind.
"Okay. Just relax. You're not there now. We don't need to talk about that right now. I just want to get to know you. Also let you get to know us." she said casually and politely.
Opening her eyes Hermione tried to calm her breathing, "Okay. So how does this work?"
"We talk. We just sit and talk. You can ask me any question you want, I promise that unless its something harmful or otherwise classified I'll tell you."
"Honestly?"
"Scouts honor!" Lavender said holding her fingers up.
Hermione sighed.
==xx
Hermione alpha-verse version sat behind her desk looking at Lavender and the healer version of herself. She sighed as she read the report that Harry had sent from the world she originated from.
"So how is she Lav?"
"She has PTSD, and survivor's guilt at the least. She has suffered from multiple severe traumas and when her world broke it broke hard. She had a mental breakdown and ran away from her friends. Burned her wand. Swore to never cast another spell." Lavender explained.
"Physically?" She asked turning to the other Granger.
"Physically she still has magic, she's not blocked, there are no traces of magical compulsions or potions in her system, at least not the last few years. She's not a virgin, but has never borne children. When she was in her teens she had some serious injuries. Including the word mudblood carved into her left forearm. She has multiple scars from suicide attempts, all of them at least several years old."
"So basically one of the darker life paths."
"Yes. Apparently. She went through hell. Also she's about ten years older than us as the world she came from is offset ten years forward." Lavender said glumly.
"That matches with the report Harry sent. Their world is stable and aside from the Weasleys not being friends with Harry or his wife Luna things seem to have worked out reasonably well for everyone else." Hermione said.
"Does any of the other of them have issues?"
Hermione scanned the preliminary report again, "Yes all of them began to see mind-healers at Saint Mungo's. The earliest being Harry and Luna in 2001, Neville in 2002, Ron in 2005, Ginny in 2008. According to harry her file was noted that it was a judicial commitment."
Lavender raised her eyebrows, "Judicial commitment. She must have had a major breakdown."
Hermione scanned the report, "According to the copy he sent she began to physically assault and attack a brown haired muggle girl calling her Hermione. The muggle was in the company of a tall black haired male."
"So she never got over her obsession with harry?" Lavender sighed.
"Apparently not. She spent a year in the hospital before she was released. She has refused to see him since then." Hermione said with a sigh.
"This Hermione must have tried to tough it out. Must have thought she could deal with it herself." Lavender sighed.
Hermione set her clipboard down. "I know. So what are we going to do with her?"
"Well she's agreed to stay in clinic to get the treatment she has needed then we'll go from there." Lavender stated.
"Good. Alright. Harry and Chubs were going to check on the second world she was taken to and see about it. I still don't understand why he would take her there."
"Probably shock therapy. Seeing if she could be motivated or pushed into casting a spell." Lavender said.
"What does this add about our profile of him?"
Lavender tapped the screen on her datapad and said, "Not much. We know he is fixated on Hermione Grangers. That he believes all of them should be living the best, fullest and happiest life they should. Their partners are irrelevant to him, just so long as they are safe and happy. That he does not care about any repercussions from kidnapping and relocating them. Fay suggest he might feel the same way we would about a wild animal that has gotten into an urban environment that needs trapped and released back into a better environment. Something that she could thrive in."
"So by pushing this Hermione he hoped he could jump start her back into thriving? That seems out of place for him." Hermione observed. "Usually he either dumps them on us or does something on their own world to make their lives better."
"It dis out of place for him from what we know, but maybe since her problems were internally originated he could not take his anger and frustration out on others. He treats all Hermione's with an almost reverent degree of kindness. He kept trying to motivate this one into being better, into having her fire brought back." Lavender explained.
"So since she did it to herself he took a tough love approach with her?" Jean II asked.
"Maybe. He didn't physically harm her. He may be mentally incapable of physically harming a Hermione. That's what Fay and I believe."
"Okay." Hermione said as the door buzzed.
"Yes?"
"Hey we're back. You want the report now or later?" Harry asked popping his head into the room.
"You can give me a verbal now, typed later."
"Okay. The second world she was taken to did have the tri-wizard tournament and the night at the cemetery like on several other worlds." Harry said coming in with a nod to the other two women.
"Alright and the current situation?"
"Well the time offset if wonky as its the middle of July there now. Chubs and I managed to get an interview with Harry Potter's best mate Neville Longbottom. It seems Harry Potter is on his honeymoon with Hermione Granger and incommunicado."
"Best mate Neville?" Lavender asked.
"It seems that during the tournament Ron had shoved Hermione down some stairs during an argument. She wound up with several broken bones and some concern she would have brain damage but she recovered." Harry explained, "The morning after the Yule Ball he was found with Draco Malfoy's personalized, silver plated quill driven into the back of his brain stem."
"They don't have the ability to regenerate the spine do they on that world?" Jean II asked in horror.
"No they don't. He is paralyzed from the neck down and on full life support in Saint Mungo's" Harry said pursing his lips.
Lavender winced and made a note in her datapadd.
"Do you think that was Rogue Harry?"
"Well I bet it wasn't Father Christmas." Harry deadpanned. "The courts convicted Draco of the attack and he got life in Azkaban."
Hermione shook her head, "So what happened the night our Hermione was taken there?"
"Well the port-key brought Cedric and harry to the graveyard. Then according to Neville and the newspapers and pretty much everyone who cares to talk to you. Harry and Cedric recognized what was going on and opened a can of kick-arse. Forcing Pettigrew to use the Dark Mark and call the other Death Eaters there that night the two worked together to eliminate every marked Death Eater in the U.K. " Harry said flatly.
The three women looked at him expectantly. Hermione finally said, "Every Death Eater?"
Nodding harry said, "All 47 marked Death Eaters were accounted for in the graveyard. Deader than dead. Apparently at some point our boy Harry had managed to discover the secret of the Horcruxes and collect all of them as well. As they were laid out for the aurors to discover along with the head of Albus Dumbledore who knew everything according to the notes."
Hermione rubbed her forehead, "And Harry and Hermione?"
"Both emancipated adults, both filthy rich and powerful and regarded as the next Merlin and Morgan Lefay. They will have their world on a silver platter when they get back. According to their Neville Hermione has already begun making notes to the upgrades and changes she is going to see happen and Harry is cheerfully and happily right there with her." Harry said chuckling.
"Which means that Rogue got exactly what he wanted on that world."
"I would say so. Oh BTW Neville and Ginny make a cute couple." Harry said.
"I'm afraid to ask but Luna?" Lavender said with a grin.
"A Ravenclaw named Clyde Bruckman." Harry said with a shrug.
"Okay. Let's put this one to bed. Lavender I'll see you tomorrow afternoon as usual?"
"Okay boss." Lavender said walking out with a whistle.
Jean II stood up, "I'll make another pass through the resident rooms and check on our guests. Then head out."
Harry stood and gave her a slight hug, "Okay tell Rosie hi."
"Sure."
Harry waited for Hermione and escorted her out. The lights in the office dimming on their own.
Review Responses
LeoniousDong: I know. I got myself confused a bit too and I use cue cards to keep track of whos who. I'm going to try and not do that many in one story again. Not without figuring a better way to keep track of them all.