A/N: Welcome to the practice round for the Caerphilly Catapults for Season 11 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition! I want you all to know that this original draft was over 4k words, and I had to cut it down to 3k. Theodore Nott was in the original draft, and sadly had to be cut. However, I do have plans to write this out more fully, and he will be back for the rewrite!
I hope you guys enjoy, and hope you look forward to more fics for this competition! :D
Thanks to Andie, Hexibora, Queenie, Reflective Pessimist, and BeaWrites for the Beta!
Summary: When a portal opened up in the library of Grimmauld Place, Hermione didn't expect what came out of it would turn the tide of the war.
Triggers/Warnings: off-screen non-canon deaths
Word Count: 2999
Prompts:
QLFC Beater Prompt:
(Multi-verse Dimension) Write a story about a character meeting his/her doppelganger from another universe.
Additional Prompts:
[Word] Fire
[Setting] 12 Grimmauld Place
[Dialogue] "Don't look at me, I didn't do it."
"Til the Last Gasp"
Hermione rubbed her eyes in disbelief as the portal opened up in front of her, obscuring the bookshelf of historical artifacts she had been reaching for. She and the boys had been at 12 Grimmauld Place for only a few weeks, since they fled from the attack on Bill and Fleur's wedding. Hermione was in the middle of a three-day research bender, following a lead to where a possible Horcrux could be, when the portal appeared.
The portal glittered with blue light, flickering like fire, not unlike the jar of bluebell flames she had on the table beside her as a reading light. The light filled the library, consuming every corner of the decrepit room they'd slowly been cleaning as they researched their mission. Hermione knew Grimmauld Place had been left in disrepair, but she hadn't known it was this bad. All of their efforts in cleaning two years ago seemed for naught, and Hermione had once wondered if there was a curse on the place.
The portal stood brightly, seemingly burning–not catching the books on fire, but scorching away the darkness that covered them.
The portal flickers like my bluebell flames too, she thought as she backed away–and none too soon, either. A hand appeared from the portal, roughened but feminine, nails immaculately done. The hand withdrew and Hermione retreated until her spine hit a bookcase on the other side of the room. She daredn't take her eyes off the portal, unsure what type of magic this was, and who–or what–would come out of it. She pulled her wand out, just in case.
A boot-clad foot appeared, followed by a leg, a torso, and then suddenly a face that Hermione was very familiar with.
It was like looking into a mirror.
Hermione stared at her doppelganger as the other woman stepped forward and off to the side, their eyes locked together, neither speaking. This other Hermione had curls like her own, but they were well maintained, coiffed perfectly to fall around her face, framing it attractively. Her cheekbones were a little sharper, her nose a bit more upturned, and when she smiled at Hermione–seemingly to let her know that she wasn't a threat–her teeth looked perfectly immaculate.
Movement at the edge of her vision had Hermione turning her attention back to the portal, which churned chaotically.
"Who are you?" Hermione demanded, pointing her wand at the interloper.
"We mean you no harm." The otherworld Hermione was calm and collected, nothing like the frazzled state Hermione felt herself in more often than not lately.
"Hermione, what's all this light? I heard voices–" Harry exclaimed, bursting into the library. He paused upon seeing the other Hermione. "What's going on?" He leveled his wand at the two, but they didn't seem worried. "Who are you?"
Any further protests died in his throat as someone else stepped through the swirling portal of blue fire. "Sirius?"
Sirius Black stepped through the portal, wearing clothes much too formal for it to be the Sirius Black they had known. Hermione side-stepped to get closer to Harry without taking her eyes off of the newcomers, reaching for him.
They were slowly being outnumbered. Hermione didn't like it.
A man eerily similar to Sirius then stepped out, looking younger by only a few years. He too stepped to the side, and while the otherworld Hermione stood to one side, the two men silently stood to the other side of the portal.
Following them came people Hermione only knew from photographs, and Harry's hand gripped hers tighter, making a noise in his throat.
"Mum? Dad?" Harry asked, sounding slightly strangled as James, then Lily Potter stepped out of the portal. They looked older than their pictures, which made sense if they had been allowed to grow out of their twenties. James had to nudge a stock-still Lily out of the way of the portal towards Sirius and the unknown man.
"James…he's alive here!" Lily whispered to her husband.
"Let's wait for our Lord," he whispered back. Lily stared longingly at Harry,
The last person that stepped out of the portal was a surprise to them both. Harry hissing out his name was the only reason Hermione could place the older man. He had shortly cropped dark hair and piercing brown eyes, so dark they were nearly black in the blue light of the portal. As soon as the man stepped forward, the portal winked out of existence, light disappearing with it, throwing the room into darkness, lit only by the pale lantern on Hermione's study desk.
"Tom," said Harry heatedly.
"Let's go somewhere more comfortable, shall we?" the otherworld Hermione stated, drawing everyone's attention to her.
"How can we trust you?" Now everyone in the room looked at her. Hermione swallowed thickly. She only had eyes for her doppelganger, however, and kept her wand pointed at the other woman. Hermione shifted, putting herself in front of Harry, noticing the adults in the room staring at him a little more intently than they should. "How do we know you're not here to harm us?" Hermione added. Harry tugged at her, trying to muscle his way in front to protect her, but she wasn't moving.
The otherworld Hermione laughed, pulling out her wand. Both Harry and Hermione flinched, raising their wands in preparation, but the woman merely pointed hers up with a bemused smile on her face.
"I, Hermione Meissa Black, vow we are not here to intentionally hurt the two of you, and are merely seeking asylum from our own universe." A flash of light sealed the vow, and Hermione Black conjured a glass jar before producing her own bluebell flames to fill it. She put away her wand and cupped the jar with both hands before stepping forward. She stepped to the center of the room before pausing, holding the jar out in offering.
Hermione stepped forward, ignoring Harry calling her name worriedly. His hand reached out and snagged the back of her jumper, but she easily pulled out of his grasp. She stashed her wand as she approached her doppelganger, her hands raised to accept the offering. Hermione wasn't entirely sure what prompted her to do so, but she cupped the other Hermione's hands, their palms facing upward as they cradled the jar together.
Despite their faces being nearly identical, there were tiny differences. The otherworld Hermione had darker hair, a black to match Sirius', curled perfectly, unlike Hermione's attempts to tame her own chestnut brown mane. Their clothes contrasted too: Hermione wore Muggle jeans and a button up with a jumper, while her doppelganger wore a form-fitting black and green witches robe that covered her from collar to cuff, similar to what she had seen society witches wear in Diagon Alley.
"We accept your request for asylum, and offer you peace and protection as hosts, so long as you fulfill your roles as gracious guests," Hermione declared, her voice unwavering as she recited an amended passage from a text on Wizarding society she had read for fun.
As she accepted the bell jar from the otherworld Hermione, another flash of light sealed their exchange. Her doppelganger stepped back, letting Hermione return to Harry, jar of fire in hand.
"Come, we can go to the parlor to talk," Hermione stated, grabbing her wand and sending the jar of bluebell fire to join its twin on the study table. "Harry, can you go grab Ron and meet us there?"
Harry nodded, grabbing her sleeve to pull her close. "Do you know what you're doing?" Hermione nodded .
"Hospitality rules have been enacted. They cannot harm us so long as they are guests in Grimmauld Place, and we cannot harm them. Please let Ron know," she replied just as quietly. Harry nodded again before slipping through the door before her.
"Please follow me."
She turned and headed into the hallway, her trainers tapping softly on the hardwood floors, heading downstairs. Soft footfalls followed her into the downstairs parlor, and Hermione conjured a few more couches and armchairs, arranging them to fit better in the space.
As everyone settled around her, Hermione excused herself to go make tea, but was stopped by Hermione Black.
"No need. Is Kreacher still here?" she asked. Before Hermione could reply, Kreacher popped in with a snarl. He spotted Sirius first and stilled before grimacing.
"Old nasty Master has come back from the dead, it seems," he grumbled. Shock filled Sirius and Hermione Black's faces at his disrespect. "And you," he added, turning to Hermione Black. "I don't take orders from filthy Mud-" He paused again as he spotted Hermione Granger out of the corner of his eye. He looked between the two in confusion.
"Kreacher, that's enough," the unnamed man stated, and Kreacher whirled around, panicked.
"Good Master Reggie?!"
The time in which it took Harry to find Ron, explain everything, and return with him was filled with Regulus Black consoling an inconsolable Kreacher, who was spilling everything he knew. Hermione, shocked at the display of emotion from the normally vitriolic house elf, focused on his words instead, noting that when she produced the fake locket from her bag, Kreacher had honed in on it instantly.
"Kreacher, can you find the one who took the locket from the house and bring him here?"
Kreacher stilled, his arms tightening around Regulus' leg. "Kreacher might. Kreacher must see." The house elf then gazed up adoringly at Regulus, as if he were the second coming of the sun.
"Kreacher, do so," Regulus stated.
"Yes Master Reggie," Kreacher said before vanishing. He looked at Hermione resignedly, before looking at Hermione Black, which caused Hermione's next question to spring up.
"Why are you Hermione Black? We look nearly identical, but you don't have a Muggleborn name," Hermione stated.
"You're Muggleborn? That explains a lot. Your manners are impeccable, however," Hermione Black replied. "For the ease of this conversation, please call me Mia. Normally only friends do, but seeing as we could be sisters, I can make an exception." Mia shifted her gaze to Tom Riddle at his place by the fireplace, and he nodded at her.
"I was born Hermione Meissa Black to my mother, Bellatrix Black. It was wartime, and none of her family knew she was in a relationship with someone. According to my uncles here," she said, motioning to Sirius and Regulus, "Mother fell pregnant with me, and they were planning on marrying the following month. My father died before they could."
"Your world still had a war in it?" Hermione found herself asking. Mia nodded. She opened her mouth to continue, but a voice from the doorway made Hermione jump.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" Ron exclaimed. He and Harry entered the room immediately flanking Hermione.
"I'm surprised you're friends with a Weasley," Mia commented tensely, her eyes tracking the wand Ron brandished.
"Since first year, actually," Hermione replied tightly. She then turned her head to speak to Ron, her hand going to his wand arm to make him lower it. "I was in the library, researching, when a portal opened up–"
"Hermione…" Ron said warningly.
"Don't look at me, I didn't do it," Hermione replied quickly.
"No, I did," Mia replied from her chair with a grin. "So, in a way, you did do it. Now sit. Is this everyone? I don't want to be interrupted again." She pinned Ron with a look and he just glared back at her, his ears turning red. Harry ushered Hermione and Ron over to one of the unclaimed sofas.
"Now that that's taken care of, I'll start from the beginning," Mia stated. "I was born Hermione Meissa Black…"
What Hermione heard in the next hour was nothing short of ludicrous. The Dark Lord had won the first war, successfully installed himself as Minister of Magic, and began enacting reforms. The war was effectively over, except the Order of the Phoenix kept attacking highly populated areas. They went after anyone whom they suspected to be a Knight of Walpurgis, and refused to let peace reign.
Mia's mother raised her on her own after her lover had been killed in one such skirmish, before Mia was born. No one was safe, not even children.
Harry Potter's birthday party had been ambushed due to several high-ranking Ministry officials there, causing the death of one-year-old Harry Potter and Andromeda Black.
They found out Ted Tonks had been part of the Order before the attack that had killed Andromeda. He had posted his suicide note as flyers all over the Alley detailing his and Andromeda's whirlwind romance, their subsequent plan of running away the following week, and his resignation from the Order. He detailed all of the Order's plans, their members, safehouses, everything.
He then committed suicide in the middle of the alley before the Aurors could take him into protective custody.
Several of the Order members had been rounded up after that, and many were put on trial and found guilty.
"My uncles here," Mia added, motioning to Sirius and Regulus, "raised me afterward, here in Grimmauld Place. So please forgive me if I'm distrustful of anyone from the Weasley family. I went to school with the youngest son, Ronald Weasley…your counterpart," she added, motioning to Ron. "He made my life a living hell, because his mother was put in Azkaban for life for murdering mine. According to him, it was my family's fault she got caught. So he bullied me, put me down, and tried to make my life miserable while we were at Hogwarts."
Hermione refused to look at Ron at that moment, so she was surprised when he stood up and bowed to Mia.
"I'm sorry for what he did. I did no better here, but I'm trying to make amends to Hermione," he said. Hermione and Harry looked at him, astonished at how out of character that was.
"We will never be friends," Mia stated, "but I'm hoping perhaps we can be allies?" Ron nodded before sitting once more, reaching out to take Hermione's hand in his.
"Some of us," James Potter interjected, "wouldn't mind being a family." He stared at Harry, who merely shifted uncomfortably. "I know your parents would care greatly if we were suddenly in your life, but if we were to explain to them–"
"I'm an orphan," Harry blurted out. He stared at his mother and father. "You both died saving me, Halloween, 1981. Aunt Petunia raised me." Lily couldn't contain her sobs and she launched herself out of the chair, scooping Harry up in an embrace.
"Oh, my boy. My sweet baby boy. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry she wasn't there." Lily smoothed down Harry's hair, her head resting on his as she clung to him. It took a moment, but soon Harry clung to her just as tightly.
Mia gave them a moment to compose themselves
"So from those events, you can understand why I have no sympathy for the Order or their ways," Mia said, "and now they've buggered everything up! Their latest attack in London hit St Mungos and destroyed not only a huge chunk of the hospital, but also the Statute of Secrecy! They killed Healers! They killed potion masters like Masters Snape and Burnberry! The British Wizarding World is now under siege from Muggles. Aside from annihilating all of the Muggles as they genocided us, there's nothing we could do to stop them. Their technology is superior. Their weapons are superior. Short of declaring World War III, we had to leave."
"So you came here?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," Mia confirmed with a nod. "With my research, I came up with a way to utilize the Veil of Death as a portal to another universe. All of my calculations indicated that your universe is currently at a turning point in your timeline. I do not know what trajectory you are currently on, but we are here to do it right."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing at the thought of having more people on their side, including, what seemed to be a more experienced Tom Riddle Jr.
"My Lord Vol-"
"Don't say it!" Ron interjected.
"There's a Taboo on the name. It lets him know where anyone is who says it," Hermione added.
"That's good to know," Tom stated from where he leaned on the fireplace. He straightened and pinned the group with his piercing brown gaze. "This universe's version of me is quite the upstart, isn't he? How many Horcruxes did he make? Besides you, of course," he added, motioning to Harry.
The Golden Trio froze on the couch.
"What?" Harry asked as Lily pulled away from him. Tom looked at him curiously as if seeing him for the first time.
"Your scar is a Horcrux," he repeated. "I myself only made one of them, foolishly, at the expense of a classmate. But a friend helped me see the folly of making more. However, it does make me curious: can I be affected by his Horcruxes, and if not, can I absorb his soul piece like it were mine?"
"I…I've never come across something like that being able to be done," Hermione commented pensively.
"Me either," replied Mia.
"Regardless," Sirius butted in, his eyes scanning the three teens in front of him. "What is your situation here? We were escaping total annihilation in our world. What is it like for you?"
"Nearly the same," Harry replied, adjusting in his seat to let his otherworld mother sit next to him. "The Muggles aren't involved yet. We just have to find Tommy Boy's other Horcruxes–"
"We think he made seven total," Hermione interjected. She listed off the ones that had been taken care of and the ones they knew about. They only had hints of what the others may be.
"So we help you. We help you and then we establish ourselves in this world," Sirius continued.
"That won't be easy," Ron commented.
Mia grinned from her spot across the room. "Challenge accepted."