A Little Different

Hermione Granger was extremely nervous. She was in an entirely new place, surrounded by people she didn't know; heck, she was in an entirely different world.

"Finnegan, Seamus!"

What if she wasn't any of those things? She knew she was smart over any of them, but was she smart enough? What if the hat couldn't find where she fit in? What if it just sent her home?

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The crowd dressed in red and gold cheered while two of their number quietly put something on the seat where Seamus was about to sit down.

'Just look at that! The barbarians. They think that breaking school rules is funny? Well I know one place I definitely don't want to go.'

"Granger, Hermione!"

She ran up to the stool excitedly. 'Now let's see where I go, Mr. Hat!'

'Hmm... Very smart, oh yes, very smart. Hard worker... Not too cunning though... Quite brave as well...'

'Not Gryffindor, please, not those barbaric idiots...'

'That leaves Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff... I see you'd rather make your own conclusions than follow blindly, so let's make you a'

"RAVENCLAW!"

Hermione was delighted; she looked over at her new table and saw that they were cheering for her, but also that they were seemingly dignified. She made her way down to the Ravenclaw table and stopped at the closest empty seat, next to a pretty Chinese girl who looked one year older than her.

"Hi, I'm Cho Chang. Welcome to Ravenclaw!"

"I'm Hermione Granger, pleased to meet you."

The Sorting continued, and soon, Padma Patil, Sally-Anne Perks, and Lisa Turpin joined the Ravenclaws.

After a sumptuous feast, they followed a fifth year girl to a portrait of a skinny man holding two potion bottles on the second floor.

"This is Paracelous, the greatest of all medieval alchemists. That door at the end of the hallway is the charms classroom, the door right across the hall is the library, which is two stories high-"

Sally-Anne then saw the need to interrupt. "So? Where's our dorm? We're tired!"

"I was getting to that, but was somehow rudely interrupted. As I was saying, this is Paracelous. He is the entrance to our dorm. The password this right now is 'Aconite' do not tell anyone outside our house the password. You will be informed by a prefect when the word changes. Now inside! Aconite!"

The portrait opened, admitting them into a large, rather cozy room, decorated in blues and white. There were tables with numerous chairs, a few couches, a couple of squashy chairs, all around a blue fire in the center of the room.

After looking around the common room a bit, the prefect gathered them and pointed at the left staircase.

"This is the boys common room. Girls are allowed up there, but going up too much is frowned upon." She pointed to the stairs on the right, "These are the girls stairs. Your dorm is the first landing. Boys are not allowed up on any circumstances! If they attempt to come up, the stairs will turn into a slide, and a loud bell will sound. Tomorrow is the first day of classes, so sleep well, and I'll see you bright and early."

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June 3rd, 1992

The school year was almost over. It was the end of the year feast, but instead of being decked out in blue and white, like it should have, it was completely black. Two boys had died.

They figured out that the staff was hiding something on the third floor, and that You-Know-Who was after it. They made it past a Cerberus, somehow, but then ended up in giant Devil's Snare. That Potter boy was able to free himself with fire, but by the time he turned to help the Weasley boy, it was too late and he had been strangled.

Harry was able to catch a key out of midair and use it to progress into a room full of potions. He chose the wrong one and was poisoned, badly. He should have died the instant it hit his stomach, but something kept him barely alive. He was like that for some time, when Professor Quirrell came back through the door ahead of Harry and killed him.

So now Voldemort is back, running rampant killing anyone who defies him.

I just wonder if there was something I could have done to have saved them...

If I only had been in their house...

I could have saved them, I know it...

"OH MY GOD!"

I looked up, an the last thing I saw was a man in a black robe and white mask shoot a green curse at me, ending my time on this earth...

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"OH MY GOD!"

I shot up from my bed, panting heavily.

"Hermione? Are you okay?"

I took a second to regain my senses. I was Hermione Granger, a seventh year Gryffindor. I was in bed. It was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare... Harry didn't die… We're going to Hogsmeade after graduation with Ron and Luna…

"Yes, Parvati, I'm fine, just a bad dream. Go back to sleep, we have finals tomorrow."

"G'night"

"Night."

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AN: I had you going there, didn't I? Just a little something in response to a challenge at the Hideaway. Thanks for reading!