An Alternate Universe: June 22nd, 2000; Hermione Snape

Purification Law:
New Amendment Baffles the Wizarding World
By: Harmony Haller

While many have been accepting of the law made when Minister Malfoy first took office, this new tweak to the legislation could cause much dispute from an already jostled community! Wizards and witches alike have seen nothing close to it before, and with a new stipulation that the Wizengamot passed this morning, no one is quite sure what to expect.

Minister Malfoy has added an age bracket to the Purification Law that now requires any witch or wizard over the age of twenty-six and under forty to be bonded within the next year or serious charges will be faced. The additional part of the new statute demands that any witch or wizard shall be married before the age of twenty-six to the correct blood-status or all Magic shall be removed of them.

Hermione threw her paper down and sighed heavily. They'd been perfectly fine with the law at this point, and now of all times Malfoy was changing it? She wondered if Severus had agreed to such stipulations, then again he had no worry. Due to his being 39, he would have to of been married to someone in that next year... good thing he already was, was her point. It wouldn't have affected her either even if she weren't married.

Picking the paper back up, Hermione glanced over the shifting titles but found nothing else of interest in the black and white script. The parchment made a satisfying noise as she folded it, the folds landing on the table with a crumpling thump.

There was no one she knew who would be affected by the law's new fence, but for those she didn't know... a bit of sorrow escaped into her feelings.

Severus hadn't been a prime option, yet he was intelligent enough to spar in wits and barbs. Hermione couldn't complain. The way she looked at the laws Minister Malfoy subjected upon them was that at least he wasn't making them having children. It was suggested, but it was never forced.

The Purification Law had forced her hand, wanting her to end up with someone tolerable at the very least. Severus had been her professor until Dumbledore's untimely passing sixth year when Snape then took over Headmaster. She'd then proceeded to take a class only taught by the Headmaster and ended up friends enough to propose an idea when Malfoy enacted the law after his graduation and taking of power. The Malfoy's had been in power as long as she could remember, and luckily they were fair enough.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?" She replied automatically, looking at her husband with little more than respect.

"We have dinner with the Minister and his family tonight."

She nodded, "Yes, I must go purchase a dress for the event."

"Enjoy yourself," he muttered, coming into the kitchen where she had been reading the paper alone.

"I think I can afford Diagon Alley, yes?"

The man chuckled in little amusement, "Of course."

Hermione hummed, rolling her eyes as she gathered her belongings.

Severus went to make himself a tea and on the solemn note she always had with her husband, Hermione left the house in search of a dinner dress for that night, not even considering that she wouldn't be attending that evening's get-together.

-

An Alternate Universe: June 22nd, 2000; Hermione Granger

Hermione's eyes fluttered open as she leaned against a brick wall, her bones sore and skin tight from the battle that had been consuming her. That spell knocked her for a loop, and she was quite sure of such a fact in what her surroundings were proving to show. The walls looked to be those of Diagon Alley, comprised of small alleyways and buildings of all sorts that were much larger than they looked. She blinked, trying to get the vision to go away, but it only cleared the fact that clearly she wasn't where she thought she should have been.

Had someone disapperated her? However impossible it was, Hermione figured that a spell was cast that she was ignorant of.

With that thought in her mind, she stood, balancing on the wall with little strength. The brunette witch felt next to awful. Every muscle in her body was tearing and protesting the very movements she made as her limbs stretched into a standing position.

She took in everything around her, the subtle chatter, the smell of Merlin-knows-what floating around, but looking about, something was startlingly off...

Hermione tried to figure it out, her mind weeding out the odd possibilities of what was so displaced. Then it hit her, the blank and void brick walls of Diagon Alley made sense... and didn't, all at once.

There were no wanted posters up... no Undesireable posters labeling Harry as number 1, none at all. Hermione looked down further, walking through the alleys and into Diagon itself. Not a single poster was up for Harry... or anyone at all. It was rather strange considering they'd just been in Hogsmeade that day and it was filled with posters that made her best friend out to be the bad guy. Weren't those everywhere?

Peering down the main way of the alley, Hermione was surprised to see people bustling around like nothing was happening! As if there was no war! Shops that were deserted but days prior were now thriving and bright.

By then she knew that something certainly wasn't right: the spell that hit her must have changed a lot more than originally suspected. The thought chilled her to her core, that something so small as that spell had brought Hermione somewhere so startlingly different. Could she be in the future? The past?

Cursing under her breath, Hermione pulled out a few coins from her beaded bag that precariously hung from her shoulder and paid for a paper, yanking it from the closest vendor's hand. The date alone scared her beyond thought, but the title by itself could have made her ready to cast any of the three unforgivable curses.

"Minister Malfoy?"

Hermione had to sit down at the nearest table, located by a few miscellaneous shops, a Wizarding cafe, and a formal dress-robes shop. A few breaths in, a few breaths out, Hermione wasn't sure what she was to do with herself. Somehow, that curse had sent her into some alternate reality where Lucius Malfoy was the Minister of magic... or was it Draco? While she couldn't be sure, there was no time to think about it when she heard bells chime to the dress-robes shop.

Her head looked up at the noise purely out of instinct, as any noise had aroused the trio while on their mission to destroy horcruxes. Their survival depended on such sharp reflexes.

Glaring at the bell, she nearly missed the woman who was stoically waltzing into the shop, head held high and curls pinned to perfection. Hermione was staring at herself, disappearing through the door with another jingle of the bell.

She shuddered vehemently... where was she? Horror filled her at wanting to hide her identity, not knowing who or what type of timeline she'd been thrust into. Again she wondered if this was the future, her pristine attire obviously not from the past! The realization only festered when she recalled that she didn't know the spell used, nor could she remember what the man attacking her had cantered! Hermione had no idea even to what he looked like, her back turned and unaware. It was a dastardly move, yet there she was with what seemed like a futile hope to get back home.

Immediately Hermione cast a disillusionment charm to pursue for more information, getting up with her paper to follow her doppelgänger into the store. She easily spotted herself after a nosy witch attempted to sell her something.

"No, thank you," Hermione insisted, browsing as casually as she was capable of pulling off just to stare at herself... even if that wasn't really her.

The only problem was, she was almost certain that the prim and proper witch was her... it had to be. Her brown eyes and strikingly kept curls were carbon-copies of those upon her very own head. The books her alternative self was browsing only added to the list of evidence.

Weighing her options, Hermione was hardly sure that she could get back to where she originally came from. That time seemed so far away, even if she had only been gone for less than an hour, it was just baffling to Hermione that a plain wizard could have cast such a spell. A spell she bloody-well had no idea of. She was screwed then, knowing that there was no way back. Well, she assumed there was no way back, if she didn't know the spell's inter-working, then she would never find the counter-curse.

There was little to do, however, about the situation of her not having a life... or any knowledge of the world around her, which maybe she could solve with some light reading and research. That was a joke, she thought, how was she supposed to get around with being mistook as... her alter self. A disillusionment charm couldn't last forever.

The same witch who had bothered Hermione walked up to her other self and caught the woman's attention quickly, "Madame Snape, is there anything I can do for you?"

Hermione blinked quickly, staring as the other her casually smiled, nodding all the while.

"Just fine, thank you, Josephine."

The old witch nodded, backing away with ease. Hermione felt a bit bad for calling her annoying, but her incredulity to what she'd heard proved a larger burden to bear.

This version of herself was married to Snape? Severus Snape? The thought was nauseating, but obviously her alternate self thought nothing of it. A shiver ran up her spine at the utterly awful man who had betrayed Hogwarts and Dumbledore so blatantly in his alliance with Voldemort. There was no way she agreed to marry him with any type of free will.

Remembering the paper she had tucked in her bag, Hermione pulled it out and read over the part of the paper she'd ignored when spotting the Malfoy name in place of Minister. What in Merlin's name was the Purification Law? She saw it now had an age-requirement, but that was all it gave. Everyone there probably knew what it was; if she went around asking about it, that certainly would not bode well, though. Hermione could not draw attention to herself, not yet.

Looking about the book shop, the young witch kept an eye on the door at all times, listening for the bell as her eyes glanced over the bookstore for some indication of any law-keeping tomes. Maybe they would give detail on the Purification Law that was referenced?

After only two failed attempts, she found what she had been looking for.

The Purification Law, enacted by Minister Draco Malfoy - well that had solved one mystery - states that witches and wizards of muggle-born status must marry a witch or wizard with pure or half-blood status. Pureblood's and half-bloods have choice in their partner, but full pureblood marriages are frowned upon in common circumstances. If a pureblood wishes to bond with another pureblooded witch or wizard, they must first attempt to be granted permission from the Wizengamot or Minister for Magic and agree that their child(ren) will marry no more than a muggleborn witch or wizard. Muggleborn witches and wizards are not allowed under any circumstance to be bonded or married in an alternative, muggle ceremony to a muggleborn, squib, or muggle. June 30th, 1998.

Hermione closed the book numbly. She had married Snape because he was a half-blood? Well there must have been other reasons, yes? Ron Weasley was a pureblood, the young witch in her still very much fancied Ronald... the one who fought valiantly for her and had kissed her....

Did he exist in this world? Were they friends?

Shaking out her hair, Hermione tried to get herself to focus on what was important: How was she going to integrate into this world without someone noticing there was a second her?