Chapter 116: Reasons
"Headmaster, you heard him! He himself admitted that he works with cursed artifacts! He needs to be arrested!"
*Was I really that stupid?*
Hermione shook her head, and her counterpart from another world gave her a shocked look.
"He just brainwashed you! Headmaster, do something!"
"Miss Granger, if you do not quiet down, I will make certain you cannot say another word today."
Dumbledore's voice was cold, and it made the outsider shrink into herself. Hermione, however, only looked at the Headmaster in slight confusion. It was rare to see him this displeased.
"Hmm..."
Meanwhile, I was studying the artifact, while somewhere in the back of my mind, slightly detached, I thought about how my projection had recently reached a new level. I used it so often now that I could even create magic through it.
"...something strange."
With every passing minute, I looked more and more gloomily at the Time-Turner, and then I even held it away from me at arm's length.
"Headmaster, maximum protection needs to be cast here. My wand is with my main body right now, so all I can do is run diagnostics... and I've done that."
"All right, Draco..."
And the Headmaster, taking out his wand, began layering one protective spell after another.
"What have you found out?"
"The artifact is damaged. Not badly, otherwise Miss Granger would simply have been torn apart into atoms when she tried to use it."
The girl's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, but as each second passed, fear grew in her eyes.
"Miss Granger?"
"He's just lying!"
Dumbledore sighed and shook his head.
"Miss Granger, I understand that you have a certain prejudiced view of Mr. Black, but over the two years he has taught Charms and spells to the three lower years, he has proven himself to be an exceptionally knowledgeable specialist. Moreover, he is already nearly a master, and in some areas, he surpassed that threshold long ago."
Hermione opened and closed her mouth.
"So, Miss Granger, please tell me exactly how you handled the artifact."
"I... well..."
Granger shook her head.
...I followed the instructions exactly. I did everything right!"
"Now then..."
Dumbledore closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, then pointed his wand at the girl and spoke a single spell. Granger's eyes grew slightly glassy, and Dumbledore sighed immediately after.
"I... what?"
It took about a dozen seconds before she snapped back to reality and stared at the Headmaster in shock.
"What did you do to me?"
"I examined your memory, and I must admit, Miss Granger, that you really did follow the rules for using the artifact..."
Granger immediately straightened her shoulders and was clearly about to say something, but the Headmaster didn't give her a chance, continuing to speak.
"...except this morning, Mr. Weasley elbowed you. It took me some time to figure it out, but that blow struck exactly where your Time-Turner was hanging. I'm certain that if Miss Pomfrey examines you, she'll find a small abrasion from the incident."
"That's..."
The girl looked confused.
"...yes, probably that blow damaged the Time-Turner. And considering the damage, to be honest, as Mr. Black said, you were lucky... You could very well have been blown to atoms, or left a giant crater in place of Hogwarts, or..."
Dumbledore shook his head.
"...basically, it's difficult to predict what might have happened if the artifact had been even slightly more damaged. As for you, you were simply transported into one of the parallel worlds. Consider yourself lucky to have gotten away with only a scare."
"Can... can I go back?"
"How do you imagine that would work?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Do you think I will simply wave my wand..."
Dumbledore waved his wand theatrically.
"...and a translucent arch will appear in the air, and by passing through it, you will be able to return to your native world?"
"Well..."
Granger looked extremely uncertain about how to answer such a question from the Headmaster.
"I don't know, but there... my parents are there... my friends... Harry... Ron..."
"I am afraid this world will now become your home, Miss Granger. Tonight, Poppy will examine you again and keep you here, and tomorrow morning, we will hold your Sorting."
"But... my parents..."
"I am afraid you will not see them..."
"But..."
Granger sobbed, then looked around at all of us, turned her face toward the pillow, and began to cry quietly.
"Well... you are basically me, right?"
Hermione said in a slightly confused voice.
"So you can think of my parents as yours... they will be happy to take you in."
"U-u-u-u-u..."
Granger's sobbing only grew louder.
"All right, Miss Granger..."
Dumbledore addressed our Hermione.
"...I excuse you from classes for today. You may spend time with your new sister and tell her about our world. As we have seen, our worlds are still somewhat different..."
"All right."
Hermione nodded.
After that, everyone who did not belong there left the hospital wing.
"Now then, I'll pass the Time-Turner to the Department of Mysteries. Let them think about what can be done with it. Perhaps they can even send the girl home, though not immediately..."
"I wouldn't count on that..."
I shook my head.
"There are many parallel worlds, and figuring out exactly which world she comes from will be almost impossible, at least at the current level of magical science."
"I understand that myself, but we are obliged to try to help her. Especially because studying a Time-Turner like this may open a passage into parallel worlds for us."
"Now that is more likely..."
I nodded a couple of times, then took off the protective clothing and handed it to the house-elf I had called before Disapparating.
*** The Next Morning. ***
"Dear students, I have a small announcement for you!"
Dumbledore gained the students' attention, though they still couldn't figure out why the food hadn't appeared on the tables. Normally, it materialized right in front of each student as soon as they sat down, but today there was nothing.
"What, is breakfast over already?!"
That was Sixth, who had already taken a seat and addressed the teachers in a booming voice. The entire staff was present at the head table, which was unusual for an ordinary breakfast and had already sparked whispered speculation about what had happened.
"No, Mr. Weasley, breakfast has not yet begun. An event occurred recently, and I would like to announce it before we eat."
"Well, all right then..."
Fleur, sitting beside me, snorted softly.
"Did he just give the Headmaster permission?"
"Apparently, yes..."
I answered just as quietly. Some of our acquaintances sitting nearby caught our exchange and started suppressing grins that threatened to spread across their faces.
"So, not long ago, as a result of an undocumented property activated in an artifact issued to a student for use on Hogwarts grounds, she fell from her world into ours."
Silence...
At that moment, when Dumbledore paused to give everyone a chance to process what he had said, you could have heard a fly buzzing beneath the ceiling.
"In the parallel world, this student was Hermione Granger, and since we do not know how to send her back, the Sorting of a new student will now take place. Professor McGonagall..."
The Headmaster nodded to his deputy, and she carried the stool to its usual place, setting the Hat upon it.
"Huh? What? Has a year already passed?!"
"No, dear Hat..."
McGonagall began explaining what had happened.
"...we have simply had a small, unforeseen incident, and we need to Sort a student who has come to us from a parallel world."
"Um... all right... you're not playing a joke on an old hat, are you?"
"No, honored one, this is not a joke..."
"Well, all right... But don't expect a song from me! I haven't had time to compose one!"
"Don't worry, we all understand..."
Soon, the ghosts of the Founders flew through the walls into the Great Hall and froze before their Houses. Then, Madam Pomfrey led Granger into the Great Hall, where she froze in shock right at the entrance.
"U-u-um... what is this? The Founders?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, these are the Founders, and they will observe your Sorting. Now please proceed to the stool. I believe the procedure is familiar to you..."
"Yes."
Granger nodded and, on stiff legs, approached the chair.
"So that's why you didn't show up in the common room and dormitory yesterday?"
"Yes..."
Hermione nodded.
"...I had to explain to my sister how things are set up at our school. Otherwise, at first, she kept trying to rush off to Gryffindor, to Ron and Harry."
"To me?"
Harry looked at Hermione in surprise.
"Yes... in her world, you and Ron are her best friends. You saved her in first year from a troll that nearly killed her, and all three of you are in Gryffindor."
"Me, with Ron?"
Harry shuddered.
"Bloody hell, no..."
"Exactly. So I was explaining to her how things turned out here and outlining the general reasons. Incidentally, in her version, everything is your fault, Draco. She says you're the wrong Draco, who somehow became a Black, which made everything go completely off track from the moment we boarded the train for first year."
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...considering that she stubbornly kept calling me Malfoy..."
"How?"
Daphne looked at me with great surprise.
"Malfoy... apparently, in her world, Lucius was alive and involved in my upbringing."
"Yes... that's exactly right, I managed to ask her about that."
"Uh-huh..."
I nodded.
"...and knowing from my mother's story what my father was really like, I can imagine what he would have raised me to be."
And what would that be?"
"A lackey, only with far greater opportunities. Most likely, every other word out of my mouth would be about my father, I would walk around with my chest puffed out even though I'm practically a nobody myself... in short, it would have been a pitiful sight."
Meanwhile, Granger sat in the chair, and the Hat, which had gone quiet on her head, began to squirm softly.
"Where do you think she'll go?"
Tracey asked our Hermione, who had used cosmetic charms to dye several strands of her hair pink.
"Who the hell knows, but just in case she ends up with us, I took measures..."
She demonstratively wound the pink strands around her finger.
"...this way, it will be harder to confuse us. And since she had no interest in cosmetic charms whatsoever, deeming them completely useless..."
All the girls sitting at the table snorted in contempt, while the boys who heard those words raised their eyebrows in confusion. After all, it was much faster to cast a couple of spells on yourself and calmly get dressed after washing your face or bathing, instead of...
"...we'll be recognizable for another couple of months not only by the streaks, but also by our hairstyles. Though this one may never learn cosmetic charms at all..."
Hermione shook her head.
"No, but still..."
Penny decided to continue interrogating the young Ravenclaw.
"...you've already had time to talk to her a little. Where do you think she'll go?"
"Well, I'm sure she'll ask for us. Ron really is a pig, and she considers Harry a friend. She still doesn't quite understand that our Harry is not the Harry she was fami..."
"To hell with you! But that House does not suit you! Ravenclaw!"
We exchanged glances and quietly snorted, watching as Granger, red as a boiled lobster, walked toward our table under the quiet snickering of the entire school...
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