Hero of the Story || James Potter x Hermione Granger Fanfiction

1 | our universe was brought to life - part i

TW: mentions of alcoholism, implied/mentions of domestic abuse
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i.

our universe was brought to life - part i

(Sun by Sleeping at Last)

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March 19, 1962

Hermione's body felt wrong.

She tried to move her limbs around, wanting to see if she was injured from the effects of the potion she had consumed. But try as she might, her bones felt raw and painful. She opened her mouth to cry out in pain, but instead of hearing her usual sob, a piercing cry from a baby rang throughout the room.

"Hush now, love, dry your tears," a soft, melodious voice crooned.

Hermione clamped her mouth shut in confusion and tried to open her eyes, wanting to see the source of that soothing voice. Someone was caressing her cheeks and although she would have normally felt annoyed at being touched on her face, this hand was soft and warm like a mother's.

She tried to wriggle once more, begging for her eyes to open, and when she finally opened them, a burst of multicolored light greeted her. She squinted her eyes and cried once more in pain, and again, the noisy cries of a baby filled her ears. "Who's making that noise?" she tried to ask, but no words tumbled out from her mouth. Instead, the noisy cries grew and grew, until it was deafening and Hermione started to panic.

She was suddenly lifted into the air and Hermione wriggled around again, but when she was pressed against softness and warmth, she stilled. At the same time, the cries were soothed away and the woman started humming a soft lullaby under her breath.

"Yes, good girl," she gently whispered, dropping a kiss on the crown of Hermione's head. "Hush now, my love."

Hermione blinked her wide eyes once more and was surprised to be pressed lovingly against the woman's chest. Wildly confused, she grasped onto the brown curls of the woman, ones that almost rivalled her own and expelled a loud cry when she saw how puny her hands had become. She stilled when the woman shifted her in her arms and glanced down at her, with eyes of the deepest blue and a smile like the radiant sun.

"Hello, Hermione," she cooed, brushing away her tears tenderly. Hermione flinched away but was unable to get too far, as the woman held her closely to her chest again and hummed a lullaby under her breath.

'Did it work?' Hermione asked herself, wiggling around once more to take in the room she was in. She was in a small room, walls painted blue with a single wall clock hanging on one wall. There was a lovely painted sun on the ceiling and when Hermione glanced down once more, she could make out a crib that was most undoubtedly hers.

When the book spoke about another timeline – another universe – Hermione didn't expect that she would become a baby once more. She expected to be thrust into another world, still very much in her own body, and starting her life anew.

Still, she couldn't complain. The potion was selfish with words and no one really knew what would happen if it was successful. She was glad that she was, at least, alive.

Suddenly excited, she wriggled wildly in the woman's arms until she had no choice but to deposit her back into her crib.

'It worked!' Hermione exclaimed, chanting in her head again and again. She tried to search for Harry, to tell him about the news, but when the events of last time flashed through her little mind's eye, she remembered her Harry had died and she had been the only one able to drink the potion.