Changing Destiny

Thirty-Nine: The Champion Selection

Younger Hermione

Ever since the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students arrived at Hogwarts, things went south for Harry. He began studying the dark arts more, and withdrawing when Slytherin wasn't playing Quidditch games. She decided to go to the champion selection with Luna and Cho, and they clapped along with the whole school as each adult age student was chosen. Cedric Diggory became the Hogwarts champion, some veela witch named Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, and the Durmstrang champion was a tall, dark haired wizard named Viktor Krum. He walked slightly pigeon toed, almost like a dancer balanced on the balls of his feet, and he wasn't exactly traditionally good looking, but Hermione liked his dark looks all the same.

Everyone was announced, when suddenly, the Goblet of fire spat out another blue flame, and a burnt piece of parchment floated upwards, and landed in Dumbledore's hands.

"Harry...Potter," Dumbledore announced. "Is Harry Potter present?"

Students at the Slytherin table clapped politely out of respect for his cunning, no doubt, but Hermione looked up at the teacher's table, and all of the teachers seemed disturbed by this turn of events.

Harry stood up, and there was some loud protests of "Cheater!"

"What the hell?? He's not even seventeen yet!"

There were other more colorful swear words thrown his way, but Dumbledore rose a hand, and the Great Hall fell silent. "Harry. Did you put your name into the Goblet of fire?" He asked calmly.

Harry shook his head. "No, sir. I would never do that."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well. Off you go, then with the other champions." He rose his voice to be heard to the rest of the school, "It appears that we now have four champions for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, not three as originally intended. Now, the hour is late, and a week from now, the first task of the Tournament will be held. Off to bed with all of you, pip, pip."

Hermione needed answers, and she needed them now. She caught Professor Snape's robe just as he was leaving for the dungeons for the night. He turned to face her, and rose an eyebrow. "Yes, Miss Rosier?"

She looked around to make sure they weren't overheard. "Can we talk for a bit...alone?"

"For a few minutes."

"Okay."

They ducked into a deserted corridor, and she asked, "Does this have anything to do with what happened...in my future self's time?"

Snape nodded. "It does. How goes your horcrux hunt?"

"Badly. I was going to use Harry as bait, but he's been getting stranger," She admitted. "You don't think...well, you could be of assistance?"

Snape looked like he debated with himself whether or not to confide in her, but then scowled, "Fuck it. An Unspeakable has taken a special interest in this case. Perhaps, I can call upon him to assist you in this matter."

"Do you know him well?"

"Yes."

"Okay." She hugged him, and he hugged her back. "Sorry. I know I shouldn't hug you, but...it's hard to separate you from my teacher and my Uncle sometimes."

He gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "In private, it is acceptable. Now, go. Rest assured, I will be keeping a close eye on your foster brother."

"Alright. Good night, dad."

"You too, Hermione..."

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

She went back to Ravenclaw tower, and solved the latest riddle to get inside the common room. She got ready for bed, and Luna was reading in bed. Her blue pygmypuff Petey was chirping lightly on her left shoulder.

"I saw you talking with Professor Snape earlier," Luna remarked in her dreamy voice, without looking up from her book, which was about magizoology, of course. "Cho still insists you two are...sweet on each other."

Hermione winced. "Cho is a notorious gossip, you know that Luna."

Luna set her pygmypuff into his little bed, and grinned. "I know. But even he is nicer to you than even any of his Slytherins, so you have to be at least friends."

"Can I trust you, Luna?"

Luna looked about the girls dormitory, and cast a silencing charm. "Of course. You're like the sister I've never had, even though I begged my dad to date, because he's so lonely, and he would be a very good looking wizard if he cared for himself more."

Hermione decided to tell her everything, and when she was done, it was late into the night. Luna didn't interrupt her once, and when Hermione was done, she said sincerely, "Thank you, for telling me. No wonder Snape is good to you. I can't imagine how odd it would be to have my future wizard around, and live with my adult self. It does sound like you two are soul mates though, because you can be confidantes now, though the love is there deep down."

Hermione blushed, then felt herself tearing up. "It is. Sometimes, I look at him in class, and I feel...that lightness in my belly that never really goes away, and....yes, it is strange. I think it's going to get worse, because I looked at my older self's pensieve memories, and she began falling for him in her fifth year, but didn't realize she loved him for real until her sixth year."

Luna nodded, and got out of bed, and sat beside her on her bed. She patted her hands. "I can see that. But with her time turner, she was old enough to pursue him by that time so it makes sense. You know, that Viktor Krum boy has a lot of Snape's looks. I think he likes you too, he glanced your way tonight at the champion selection."

Hermione giggled, "Are you sure it wasn't in Cho's direction? She is quite pretty, and she couldn't shut up about Cedric Diggory."

Luna shook her head firmly. "Nope, he looked at you. You should totally ask him out."

"I'm kind of seeing Draco Malfoy."

"So? You're not exclusive."

"True."

"You should ask him out. Or I will, he's cute."

Hermione laughed, "Okay, okay. Gods, you can be pushy when you want to be."

"Mmhm, I'm being a good friend."

"Thanks, Luna."

Luna went to her own bed, and Hermione got to sleep with great difficulty, but when she did, she dreamed again of the fire that killed her mum and step father, and she awoke in shivers, and her bedsheets soaking wet, and she wondered if her Uncle would consider teaching her Occlumency to block out these dreams. But just before her first Hogsmeade visit, she received a mysterious owl message that offered her help in finding the lost diadem of Ravenclaw at long last....