Unofficial Portkey Archive

Off-Limits by Blue Lady

I don't own Harry Potter, but I know who does! (Doesn't that count for something?!) I was always about a chapter ahead on FF.net with this story, but since I've paused that one for..oh, half a year to revise all the chapters I had up, it's now at the same speed with this version. I really should update my stuff, I guess. *sweatdrops* Thanks to all those people that took the time to review Chapter 5.

Chapter 6: The Pensieve

"Believe me, that's what I thought at first," chuckled Natalie.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "I'll take your word for it. Okay, let me guess." She looked at Shawn, "Draco and Ginny, right?" Shawn nodded.

Her cinnamon brown eyes travelled over to Ben and Nina, "Harry, no doubt, and..." and then she paused for a second. "Cho?" she said tentatively.

Ginny's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?"

Natalie and Shawn exchanged a knowing glance as the Potter kids groaned. "Look who's doomed now," said Nina under her breath.

"Nobody's doomed!' said Ginny sharply, glaring at Natalie who was shaking silently with laughter.

"Not yet anyways," was the muttered response.

"I told you she catches on quick," remarked Natalie after she had calmed down a bit, "But that's only 9/10, Hermione."

"And why is that?" asked the genius, raising an eyebrow.

"Harry is not ending up with Cho."

Hermione still looked in doubt.

"And Malfoy here thought he had a hard time," Ben thought a bit sourly as he wondered how many tests his mom wanted to run on him before she believed that he was her kid and not Cho's. He grimanced.

Ginny sighed before she grabbed Hermione's hand. Yanking the brown-haired girl to her feet, she dragged her in the direction of the girl's dormrooms. "The rest of you, just wait here a sec, okay? I want to show Hermione something."

**********************************

"What is it, Ginny?" asked Hermione as the other girl began rumaging through her trunk.

Under many layers of clothes, parchment, books and other stuff, Ginny finally found what she was looking for.

She carefully pulled the glowing object out and handed it to Hermione.

"Is this what I think it is?" asked Hermione in wonder as she gazed at the shallow stone basic which was shining with a bright silvery white light.

"Yes," said Ginny, "It's my pensieve. Here, there's one particular memory I think you'll be interested in..."

She moved it around in her hands for a few seconds, trying to sift through the swirling light to find the memory she wanted.

"Here," she said, handing it to Hermione, "Just look at it, okay?"

Hermione found the request a bit curious, but nevertheless she complied. Pressing her face closer to get a better look, she suddenly found herself thrown forwards and pitched headfirst into the whitish silver substance.

Suddenly, Hermione found herself in an elaborately decorated room. Turning around and discovering hundreds of pairs of eyes on her, she flushed.

"I'm sorry, I-" That was when she noticed that nobody was paying any attention to her. Their eyes were fastened solely on the front of the room. Suddenly they all began clapping and cheering.

Her eyes widened as she finally turned to face the front where an older version of Harry and her were waving happily to the crowd. As her older self threw the bouquet, the scene in front of her slowly dissolved as another one replaced it.

She found herself in a huge living room, but she wasn't the only one there. Sitting on the couch were her and Ginny.

Hermione watched fascinated as her older self beckoned to a girl of no more then two towards her. The girl was just learning to walk as she walked quite unsteadily. Finally she made it to her arms where her older self promptly hugged her, "I'm so proud of you, Nina," she said. Beside her, a older Ginny watched amusingly.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in ran two boys, one with messy black hair and one with pale blond hair. Hermione guessed that were about three to four years old.

"Tag, you're it!" yelled Ben cheerfully as he finally caught up to his friend.

"Hey, no fair!" protested the blond.

"Now Shawn," admonished Ginny's older self, "He did tag you."

Shawn scowled.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Hermione was startled as Ginny suddenly appeared beside her. "I can show you more if you like," she offered.

"No," said Hermione, looking at the scene with an undescribed feeling of joy inside her. Her children. Harry's and her children. "I believe you."

************************************

Meanwhile, Natalie, Shawn, Nina and Benjamin were waiting down in the common room. Ben and Natalie were engaged in a game of Exploding Snap. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming their way.

The brown-haired genius was looking usually thoughtful. Ginny gave them the thumbs-up sign from behind Hermione.

"How did you manage convince her?" whispered Natalie, as Ginny sat down beside her on the couch. Hermione took the armchair while the three kids were currently sprawled on the floor.

"I have my ways." smiled Ginny mysteriously.

As Hermione gazed at Benjamin, Nina and Shawn, she wondered how she could have been so dense. Of course, she had recognized the fact that Ben and Shawn did bear a somewhat close resemblance to Harry and Draco, but she had simply shrugged it off as being unimportant. Her next thought was: How was Harry going to react when he finally figured out Benjamin and Nina's real identities?

Ben's voice broke into her thoughts. "Harry and Ron are headed straight this way," he said calmly, looking at the Marauder's Map on the floor beside him.

"I guess I should be going now." said Shawn uncomfortably, "Can I borrow your cloak, Ben?"

Ginny turned her head towards him, sensing his sudden change in mood. "What's wrong Shawn?"

Her son gave her a slightly sheepish smile, "I don't think Uncle Ron would enjoy finding a "Slytherin" inside the Gryffindor Common Room."

Natalie gave Ginny an amused glance, "And I'm sure we're all familiar by now with your brother's tendency to strangle a certain Malfoy...."

"If he lays a hand on Shawn, I'll hex him, favorite brother or not." growled Ginny.

"Nah, then he'll think that I'm manipulating you or something...and we all know that Dad's the only one that can do that." smirked Shawn as Ginny made a face at him.

Putting on the cloak, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mom."

"Bye Shawn." said Ginny softly as the portrait swung open. Shawn quickly snuck out behind Ron and Harry before it closed again.

*****************************************

Later that night:

Hermione sat on her bed, seemingly engrossed in her copy of Hogswarts, A History. However, her mind was anywhere but. She was a mother...well, for the time being, anyways. While Nina and her had been on friendly terms this morning, she couldn't help but think that everything had changed now with the revelation of their new identities. What if Nina and Ben ended up thinking that she was a horrible mother? What if..."Arrggh.." thought Hermione in frustration - there were so many things that could go wrong it wasn't even funny.

Her chain of thought ended abruptly as Nina suddenly spoke up. "Um..Hermione?"

"Yes Nina?" she asked kindly.

"You're not, um...mad, are you?" asked Nina nervously and then she rushed on, "I mean, I understand if you are-"

"What ever gave you that idea?" interrupted Hermione, staring at her in amazement.

Nina looked at the floor, "Well, I guess I should've told you who I was at the beginning, but Professor Dumbledore said not to, and well...please don't be mad." she pleaded.

She was startled as the other girl suddenly walked over and evaloped her in a giant hug.

"Oh Nina," said Hermione, "Of course I'm not mad. After all you and the boys have been through, I'm just happy all of you are okay."

"Besides," she continued after a slight pause, "I'm not even sure that I can live up to your expectations of what you're used to expecting from your real mother." Hermione confessed.

"I guess we're even then." said Nina and then she gave an involuntary yawn.

Tucking her in, Hermione brushed Nina's long black bangs away from her eyes. "Good night, Nina."

"Night..Mommy."

Meanwhile...

"So where were you all afternoon?" Harry asked Ben.

"In the Headmaster's office." Harry noted inwardly that Ben hadn't lied about his wherabouts. "Sorry for running out on you like that," continued Ben with a slightly sheepish smile.

"That's okay. So..you're best friend is Adam, right?"

"Adam?" thought Ben confusingly until he remembered that it was what they were calling Shawn. "Oh yeah, we grew up together."

"He looks an awful lot like Draco." remarked Harry, "Think they're related?"

"I wouldn't be surprised." said Ben, even though Harry wouldn't get his double-meaning.

****************************************

"Mom! Dad! I'm not leaving you!" Draco jerked awake to the yells of his new roommate. He squinted at the clock beside his bed. 2:31a.m. It was definately waaaaaaaay too early.

"Kid must be having a nightmare," he thought sleepily. Pushing aside the curtains, he walked across to the other bed. Adam would wake up the entire house soon if he didn't stop yelling out loud.

"Hey, Adam." he said, shaking Shawn's shoulder. "Adam!"

Shawn's eyes flew open. For a minute he stared at Draco as though he had saw a ghost.

"Are you okay?" asked Draco after awhile.

Shawn blinked, "I am now." and he added apolegetically, "Sorry for waking you."

"It's not your fault," said Draco gruffly.

As Draco headed back to bed, Shawn sat up and leaned against the headboard. What was it with that dream of his? Was he doomed to witness his final glimpse of his parents for the rest of his journey?!

A memory sudden floated to the surface of Draco's mind as he shifted under the covers. Somehow it brought back memories of the time when he had managed to get himself locked up in a dungeon at Malfoy Manor with Harry last year. It was only then did he find that Boy Wonder still had nightmares about his parent's death every now and then.

As Draco drifted off into sleep, his last coherant thought was "Don't be going all Potter on me now, Junior..."

**********************************

Yes, the kids finally have some interactions with their parents. Not much D/G or H/Hr for now..sorry about that, but I can't have them snogging each other without a good reason...or can I? Hmm..I guess I'll think of something. *grins*