Chapter 1 – The start of something weird.
'That's weird. I don't remember installing this app.' Noah frowned, looking at his phone.
He certainly didn't install anything new before he turned his phone off for charging. Maybe it was hacked?
Thankfully, he had two phones, and he didn't keep anything important in this one. It would be a pain in the ass to change all his passwords if the other phone got hacked, not to mention his bank details.
'Might as well look what it is before I do a factory reset.'
Noah opened the unknown app. It looked a bit like WhatsApp, with a single group chat already set up. He opened the chat and saw that it didn't have a single message yet.
►Bookworm
Hello? Anyone there?
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Noah looked at the phone puzzled. The name didn't help him much. He knew a few people who could be called bookworms, including his sister.
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►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Hi, I'm Noah. Can I know your name?
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'Well, that's not nice.'
Sure, his knee gave out on him when he was seventeen. Killing his NBA dream and making Noah have to settle for a boring corporate job. But the weird app didn't have to make that his handle. There was no reason for random people to know he was still bitter about it.
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►Bookworm
I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger.
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'Well… Shit!'
As an avid fanfiction reader, Noah now knew exactly what the weird app was. How the hell did a multiversal chat group show up on his phone?
Did it mean that his life was fiction? Was there someone out there reading his every thought and action?
His growing panic was interrupted by another message.
►Bookworm
Can you tell me what this weird device is? I've never seen anything like this.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
It's a cell phone.
►Bookworm
How is this possible? I've never seen a phone like this, it looks more like a really advanced computer than a phone. How was it made? How can it work in Hog… The place I'm in shouldn't have signal. How is it working?
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Well, now Noah had a choice. Pretend to not know her, or reveal the multiverse and all it's craziness to Hermione.
In the end, it wasn't much of a choice. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to uninstall the app from his phone. If he kept talking in the chat, the multiverse would be revealed pretty soon. Hiding it now wouldn't change much.
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►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
You can say Hogwarts, Hermione. It might sound weird but I know exactly who you are.
►Bookworm
How?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
It might sound a little crazy. Have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?
►Bookworm
Are you talking about Schrödinger's theory of superposition?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
How do you know about that? You're a kid.
►Bookworm
I'm 15. And I took a book to the world cup this summer for some light reading.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
How the fuck is quantum mechanics 'light reading'?
►Bookworm
Language! And I like to read.
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What fifteen-year-old is interested in reading about quantum mechanics? It seemed the real Hermione, or at least this version of her, was even more of a nerd than canon Hermione.
At least he now knew from exactly which point in the story this Hermione was from.
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►Bookworm
And you still haven't answered my question. What do you mean, multiverse?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Well… it is a bit difficult to explain. There is a theory that some stories are so powerful that they breach the 'source wall' and appear in other universes. The story of Harry Potter is one of those. And we both know how important you are to Harry.
►Bookworm
What does that mean? I'm a bit confused.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
It means I know everything there is to know about your school years. I know about the Troll, the basilisk, I know about how you and Harry used a time turner to save Sirius. Everything important there is to know about your time in school.
►Bookworm
That sounds creepy. Are you watching me right now?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
I'm not watching, Hermione. Although there is a series of movies made about Harry's story. I like to read, just like you. Although I prefer to read fiction, or rather non-fiction, books, now that I know you're actually real in another universe.
►Bookworm
There are books about my life? Why?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
The books are more about Harry's life. But you are pretty important to him, and as such, you are pretty important to the story.
►Bookworm
It still sounds weird. I don't know how I feel with the possibility that I might just be a character in a story.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Everyone is a character in a story. Your own, or someone else's.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Look on the bright side. I know not just your past, but also your future as well. So I can help you change a few things for the better.
Because there was no way in hell Noah wouldn't change things now that he had the chance. There was a reason why Harry Potter had so many fanfics written about it. The ending was shit, and anyone would change it given the chance.
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►Bookworm
You shouldn't mess with time.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Didn't you spend most of your last school year messing with time?
►Bookworm
That's different!
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Alright, you do you. I just thought I could help with preventing you best friend losing his godfather in a little over the year. After all the trouble you and Harry went to save him, it would be a shame for Sirius to die. But, if you don't want to 'mess' with time, that's on you.
►Bookworm
SIRIUS DIE? TELL ME EVERYTHING!
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Didn't you say I shouldn't mess with time?
►Bookworm
Fine, you're right. Happy now? Now tell me how to save Sirius.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
One thing at a time. It might not even be needed if we change things enough for him to not be in trouble in the first place.
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
The most important thing right now is knowing exactly when in the story you are. Have the champions for the Triwizard tournament been selected already?
►Bookworm
The champions will be selected tonight. Why is that important?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
Then it is impossible to stop Harry's name from coming out of the goblet. The best thing you can do now is stay with him and help him clear his name with the rest of the school, before they all turn on him like they did with the whole heir of Slytherin debacle.
►Bookworm
Harry will be entered in the tournament? How?
►Failed athlete/Corporate Slave
He will. And as to how, Moody is being impersonated by a death eater, Barty Crouch Jr, under Polyjuice.
►Siscon
What's polyjuice?
►Siscon
And what's with the weird names?
AN: So, tell me if you guys like it.
And what's your theory as to who 'Siscon' is.
I will see you guys in the next one