Day 19 - Parallels by Laney
Title: Parallels
Author: laney_1974
Crossover: BTVS/Harry Potter
August Fic-a-day Challenge Contribution Date: 19 August 2015
Characters: Hermione Granger/Weasley, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Ginny Potter and mentions of Dr Dawn
Sequel: Sequel to Notes and Open your Eyes
Word Count: 770
Rating: 15
Timeline/Authors Notes: BTVS: Post series and completely ignores the comics. Harry Potter: after the books. The timelines are concurrent so, for example, Harry and his friends would be around the same age as Buffy and the gang give or take.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Buffy and Angel people belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling
Summary: Waiting after class to talk to a teacher was not anything new to Hermione.
“So how was it?”
The question was innocent enough. Ron, Harry and Ginny all looked at her expectantly.
Hermione didn't know what to say. “It was enlightening.”
Harry gave her a sympathetic smile. “That bad, huh?”
Hermione sighed. “I didn't even take any notes.”
Her three closest friends - her family - exchanged shocked looks.
“You didn't take notes? What happened?”
Hermione shrugged. The fact was she didn't like what she had learned. It made her feel uncomfortable, and she didn't like how it reflected on her.
She didn't like the fact that she had forgotten her roots, who she was -or was beginning to become - before she left for Hogwarts.
She didn't like that her own children were not comfortable in the muggle - non-magical - world even though their grandparents were both muggle. She didn't like that she had spent so many years trying to get the Wizarding public to think more of house elves and werewolves, but nothing to improve the way they looked down in muggles.
Hermione found that she didn't like how much magic had taken over her life.
Funnily enough, it wasn't Dr Summer's talk that had her thinking about all of this, but her method of 'opening' Hermione's eyes. Dr Summers had given her a diary, written by a friend - victim? - of an earth-witch who abused her powers. The earth-witch -who was never named - had gotten so caught up in the fact that she could do magic that she started to use it for everything. Decorating a room for a party, using magic to enchant a computer (they could do that??) so she could do research. Earth-magics wasn't designed, apparently, to be used the same way as wand-magic, but the earth-witch had began to use it much like everyone she knew.
Not long after the earth-witch began to use magic carelessly, she used it to alter her girlfriend’s memories after they had a fight. Then, in another attempt to alter her girlfriend's memories, she miscast the spell and altered all of her friends’ memories, putting them all in great danger. Magic had become the focus of the earth-witch's life, so much so that she had forgotten who she was and allowed herself to be seduced by the dark arts, more so after her girlfriend had been killed.
After Hermione had finished reading it, she couldn't help but see the parallels between the earth-witch and her.
Hermione didn't like that she herself was guilty of some of the same thing. She had obliviated her own parents. Yes, it was to protect them, but she could have sat down and told them the truth. Maybe they would have fought her, demanded that she leave with them and not help Harry, but maybe they would have understood. Unlikely, but she would never know. Instead, she violated them. Used magic against them because it was the quickest and simplest way of dealing with them.
While Hermione had altered her parents’ memory for what she still considered a good reason, she found that she could relate to the earth-witch. After growing up in the muggle world, to learn that magic is real was... a heady experience, especially for a child. Hermione could understand the earth-witch’s search for knowledge and how easy it was for that knowledge to overtake all reason. Especially in grief... or anger.
The witches and wizards of the Wizarding world abused their power. For the greater good, of course, but their greater good. Not anyone else's. They altered memories whenever they felt it necessary, and she had to wonder how many people obliviated loved ones because it was easier than working through a fight.
Hermione didn't know if she could live without magic if she were to try now, and that scared her.
Was she nothing without her magic anymore?
“Hermione?” Ron reached out and touched hey shoulder. “You’re scaring me, babe.”
“Sorry, I...” She didn't know where to start. “My first class was enlightening. I didn't make it to my second class.”
All three of her friends gaped at her.
“You missed a class? You, Hermione Weasley, missed a class?” Ginny asked incredulously.
If the situation wasn’t so serious to Hermione, she would have been amused by how worried they looked.
“Don’t you think is interesting, that the most powerful witches and wizards of the last two generations are either half-bloods or muggleborns, and that two of the most powerful wizards, Harry and Voldemort, were both raised in the muggle world before coming here?”
Her friends exchanged looks once again.
“Okay, Hermione,” Harry began, his expression serious. “What happened today?”
So she told them.
End
Author: laney_1974
Crossover: BTVS/Harry Potter
August Fic-a-day Challenge Contribution Date: 19 August 2015
Characters: Hermione Granger/Weasley, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Ginny Potter and mentions of Dr Dawn
Sequel: Sequel to Notes and Open your Eyes
Word Count: 770
Rating: 15
Timeline/Authors Notes: BTVS: Post series and completely ignores the comics. Harry Potter: after the books. The timelines are concurrent so, for example, Harry and his friends would be around the same age as Buffy and the gang give or take.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Buffy and Angel people belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling
Summary: Waiting after class to talk to a teacher was not anything new to Hermione.
“So how was it?”
The question was innocent enough. Ron, Harry and Ginny all looked at her expectantly.
Hermione didn't know what to say. “It was enlightening.”
Harry gave her a sympathetic smile. “That bad, huh?”
Hermione sighed. “I didn't even take any notes.”
Her three closest friends - her family - exchanged shocked looks.
“You didn't take notes? What happened?”
Hermione shrugged. The fact was she didn't like what she had learned. It made her feel uncomfortable, and she didn't like how it reflected on her.
She didn't like the fact that she had forgotten her roots, who she was -or was beginning to become - before she left for Hogwarts.
She didn't like that her own children were not comfortable in the muggle - non-magical - world even though their grandparents were both muggle. She didn't like that she had spent so many years trying to get the Wizarding public to think more of house elves and werewolves, but nothing to improve the way they looked down in muggles.
Hermione found that she didn't like how much magic had taken over her life.
Funnily enough, it wasn't Dr Summer's talk that had her thinking about all of this, but her method of 'opening' Hermione's eyes. Dr Summers had given her a diary, written by a friend - victim? - of an earth-witch who abused her powers. The earth-witch -who was never named - had gotten so caught up in the fact that she could do magic that she started to use it for everything. Decorating a room for a party, using magic to enchant a computer (they could do that??) so she could do research. Earth-magics wasn't designed, apparently, to be used the same way as wand-magic, but the earth-witch had began to use it much like everyone she knew.
Not long after the earth-witch began to use magic carelessly, she used it to alter her girlfriend’s memories after they had a fight. Then, in another attempt to alter her girlfriend's memories, she miscast the spell and altered all of her friends’ memories, putting them all in great danger. Magic had become the focus of the earth-witch's life, so much so that she had forgotten who she was and allowed herself to be seduced by the dark arts, more so after her girlfriend had been killed.
After Hermione had finished reading it, she couldn't help but see the parallels between the earth-witch and her.
Hermione didn't like that she herself was guilty of some of the same thing. She had obliviated her own parents. Yes, it was to protect them, but she could have sat down and told them the truth. Maybe they would have fought her, demanded that she leave with them and not help Harry, but maybe they would have understood. Unlikely, but she would never know. Instead, she violated them. Used magic against them because it was the quickest and simplest way of dealing with them.
While Hermione had altered her parents’ memory for what she still considered a good reason, she found that she could relate to the earth-witch. After growing up in the muggle world, to learn that magic is real was... a heady experience, especially for a child. Hermione could understand the earth-witch’s search for knowledge and how easy it was for that knowledge to overtake all reason. Especially in grief... or anger.
The witches and wizards of the Wizarding world abused their power. For the greater good, of course, but their greater good. Not anyone else's. They altered memories whenever they felt it necessary, and she had to wonder how many people obliviated loved ones because it was easier than working through a fight.
Hermione didn't know if she could live without magic if she were to try now, and that scared her.
Was she nothing without her magic anymore?
“Hermione?” Ron reached out and touched hey shoulder. “You’re scaring me, babe.”
“Sorry, I...” She didn't know where to start. “My first class was enlightening. I didn't make it to my second class.”
All three of her friends gaped at her.
“You missed a class? You, Hermione Weasley, missed a class?” Ginny asked incredulously.
If the situation wasn’t so serious to Hermione, she would have been amused by how worried they looked.
“Don’t you think is interesting, that the most powerful witches and wizards of the last two generations are either half-bloods or muggleborns, and that two of the most powerful wizards, Harry and Voldemort, were both raised in the muggle world before coming here?”
Her friends exchanged looks once again.
“Okay, Hermione,” Harry began, his expression serious. “What happened today?”
So she told them.
End