Interview with a StoryTeller

Thanks to Ishtar for beta reading.

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Ginny: "Erm... sir? Excuse me, please. May I talk to you for a few minutes?"

StoryTeller: "Of course, Ginny, please sit down. I was wondering which of you would approach me first, but then, I knew it would be you, didn't I?"

Ginny: "Uh, if you say so. Well, you know my name, may I ask yours? I've asked around and no one knows it. We see you popping in and out, and apparently you have permission to be here because the grown ups and the professors don't seem to mind. I see you walking around the Burrow, Grimmauld Place, Hogwarts, but most people hardly realize you're there."

StoryTeller: "They wouldn't, would they? Just call me StoryTeller, Ginny."

Ginny: "Um, alright, sir, um, StoryTeller. A number of my friends and I have read a bit of your stories and theories. We find what you write extraordinary, and we have a few questions. May I ask, are you a time traveler?"

StoryTeller: "It may look that way from a narrow perspective, well, not narrow, but a limited perspective. And that's not the main reason you wanted to talk to me, now is it? Oh, sure, you're about as smart as Hermione and almost as curious, but you have a more important question, don't you? More personal?"

Ginny: "I, but... I, you see-"

StoryTeller: "Ginny, I've been there. I saw how you lived to such a ripe old age, and I see your past life as a future unraveling before me, here and in the different versal dimensions."

Ginny: "Um, huh?"

StoryTeller: "Let me make it easy for you, Ginny dear. I am a Multidimensional Trans-time Chronicler. And before you repeat your 'huh,' let me go into more detail. But in reverse order.

"A chronicler is a historian that usually writes in story form with historical references inserted in his or her tale, or in footnotes for each chapter, a storyteller. At least that's what it means in this versal dimension. The look on your face tells me I need to explain the first part of my description before I do the middle.

"In Muggle science there is a quantum theory that states that each decision is a branch or fork in time. As you decide 'yes' to a decision, another split occurs and another version of you decides 'no'. Quantum theorists call this the multi-verse. That's not what actually happens. Muggles will figure this out in 2047, causing a boost in quantum research that... and I see I have bored you to tears unfairly.

"What really happens is that there are a certain number of parallel universes running in the same direction with the same major events all occurring, but with a lot of variations in the interpersonal relationships of the protagonist that cause the changes in minor events of his or her life. These changes fan out to eventually make profound impact on the specific parallel universe, yet without changing the preset major events.

"I see by the look on your face that I'm making a little more sense, but this will be clear in just a minute. Instead of traveling through time, trans-time means I don't go back and forth, I just "am 'when' I need to be."

Ginny: "I think I understand all of the pieces but, could you give me an example?"

StoryTeller: "Good idea, you are always the practical intellectual.

"All right. My chronicles for the most part revolve around the Parallel Universes of the Paladin Program Dumbledore will implement at the start of the summer before Harry Potter's sixth year, which began a month and a half ago in your time. It's the same program you started next summer."

Ginny: "Will implement a month and a half ago? Started next summer? What...?"

StoryTeller: "Sorry, Ginny. Unless I write it down, I can easily talk like what has already happened to you is going to happen, and what will be in the future I speak of as having already occurred. We multidimensional trans-time chroniclers fall prey to that occasionally."

Ginny: "And Harry is the protagonist for all of these parallel universes you're studying?"

StoryTeller: "Yes. Since we chroniclers write history as story, the technical term for our focal character is the protagonist. He's the hero of the story. The major events in the Paladin Parallel universes I am chronicling all happen in Paladin versal dimensions - the Death Eater assault on the Granger family, the Paladin program and the acceleration potions series, Aberration Day, the Day of Infamy - all occur in these versal dimensions I'm studying now."

Ginny: "Day of Infamy?"

StoryTeller: "Oh, that's right, that day hasn't happened to you yet. It's only the sixth of August 1996 when you are now, that happened on August 25th in nineteen days.

"Anyway, these major events happen in each Paladin Parallel Universe, or it wouldn't be a part of this series of chronicles, now would it? What makes each versal chronicle different has to do with the minor events that happen to the protagonist has he discovers love.

"Ginny, you are the 'Great Scott, Potter, This is War' Ginny Weasley aren't you, not the 'Granger Defense' Ginny, right?"

Ginny: "Um, yes. The 'Great Scott, Potter' Ginny. Hold it. Wait; there's more than one of me?"

StoryTeller: "Yes. You see you are Harry's girlfriend in 'Great Scott, Potter,' but Hermione is Harry's girl in 'The Granger Defense'."

Ginny: "Hermione! Why, I'll... I'll hex her 'til her teeth grow back out! I've told her everything and she's going to..."

StoryTeller: "Ginny, Gin-Gin. Your Hermione won't know what you're talking about. She's mad for Ron and will always be so, even though there will be a few rough times ahead for them. Please let me continue.

"In 'Great Scott, Potter' you'll be the love of Harry's life, Hermione is with Ron and, well, the rest of your friends and brothers end up with a number of different people many don't expect. The 'Granger Defense' Ginny loves Harry like a brother and is fiercely loyal to him, but loves another man who adores her, cherishes her, and makes her so very happy.

Ginny: "Oh, well, as long as I get my Harry, but I am sad for the other me's. That's so strange to say. Oh, no. You won't put another me with Draco, or Crabbe or Goyle, will you?"

StoryTeller: "Gin, I look on you as the daughter I never had. I can promise that all of you Ginnys will eventually be rapturously happy and in love with young men of the highest caliber. They will all be forthright, upstanding, defenders of the Light. Right after Harry, you and Hermione are the ones who will end up the happiest.

"As I said, all of the Parallel Paladin Universes will have the Paladin Program, Harry will be a Spell Monger, and he will fight Cornelius Fudge and the Daily Prophet almost as hard as he fights Voldemort.

"The different girls Harry loves in each versal demension will have a significant impact on his life, as it should be. The fact that Hermione is almost two years older than you, but only one year ahead of you in school, will make a major difference in subsequent events, but not change the hallmark occurrences. Every girl he loves in the different versal dimensions will change his experiences in life, but he'll still be the great and kind defender of all that is good, and scourge of all things evil.

"Gin, I can promise that all of you Ginnys will endure only the usual teenaged angst, nothing too traumatic or upsetting, but there will be a few close calls. And in 'Great Scott, Potter' you eventually end up with Harry."

Ginny: "Eventually?! Well, if he's going to be mine, I'm just going to go up to him the next time I see him and snog him to the ground and back up to the clouds, and-"

StoryTeller: " Obliviate ! There. Ginny, forget going after Harry. It won't happen right away. Now, we were talking about different parallel universes, weren't we?"

Ginny: "But StoryTeller, you say you chronicle the history, but if you promise me these things for my multidimensional self, how can you promise... how can you assure me...?"

StoryTeller: "Calm down, I span the multidimensions. I write down the stories, the history. I don't make it happen. I just record it so others can learn from it."

Ginny: "That's a big job! How can we repay you for this?"

StoryTeller: "You owe me nothing for this, but if you like, you could put in a good word to your friends; jot a favorable review perhaps. It does help to be appreciated."

Ginny: "Well, I have a lot to think about. Er, thank you for talking to me. I feel assured, although it's almost like I've been obliviated since my confidence is higher than my understanding. Um, I wonder how I can explain this to my friends?"

StoryTeller: "How about if I write it down in a question-and-answer format with the name of each speaker before each quotation, and our words there verbatim? That way all of your friends can read what we've discussed."

Ginny: "That should work."

StoryTeller: "I hope so."

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Interview with a StoryTeller