WOW! What an overwhelming response to last chapter. I was told by a few people that in fact it was the best chapter I had written so far. Right now, I'm going to take some time to respond to some reviews, both from Portkey and Fanfiction so I don't have to re-write the chapter for different sites.
Portkey:
Shaz124 - Don't you worry, you'll find out how they're going to get back in this chapter, but it won't be happening for a while. I want to let them have a good time in the past before they have to go back to the future and face everything that's coming for them.
Be_be_beaky & SavvyJackSparrow - I'll be quite honest. Reviews like yours are why I started writing and why I continue to write. Thanks for giving me more inspiration to continue, and I hope you like the rest of my eventual works.
He-Who-I-Will-Not-Name - I received an unfortunate review from someone (you know who you are) which I have since deleted, as it was a depressing thing to look at and read, regarding Part I of my series. I am going to make something very clear, right now. If you're going to flame me, go ahead. If you're going to leave constructive criticism, go ahead. But if you're going to be downright insulting, and not even bother finishing reading what I've written (which is much better than the beginnings of Part I, thank you very much), then don't bother reviewing. I don't need to hear derogatory banter from people who don't even post works on this site, and I especially don't want to hear crap from anyone who is rude about it. The least you could've done is finish the reading the fic before giving me bullshit. That being said, thank you very much for pissing me off thoroughly for a good few hours.
FanFiction:
Supernova - Glad to see my humor is improving slightly. One of the reasons I post stories is to try to make some people laugh. I'm glad I have accomplished this a little bit, no matter how small the laughter was. I find that no matter what darkens our doors, if we can have humor, we can make it through the hardest times (That is an original quote, by me, so if anyone ever uses it, I BEST GET CREDIT!).
FlyingFurBall - I know, I know, I have what I call ACS. Addictive Cliffhanger Syndrome. I'm sorry, I can't help it. :)
SLITH: I admit, your review put a smile on my face. To clear something up, they'll have to go back to their own time to kill Voldie, but don't worry about the other thing you mentioned. Just read this chapter :)
Also, I've started up a LiveJournal, for those of you who want to hear about my everyday life and my progress on chapters as I'm writing them. The link is:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/thegreatfox2000/
Now on one final note, this chapter's a little short, and is mostly filler. Hey, there need to be one or two of
them every so often. Provided on the response I get, I'll try to have the next chapter up a little sooner than
usual, so as not to keep you all waiting.
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Chapter 8: Marauder Mischief
"Say that one more time for me please?" asked Harry.
"The year is 1977," said Dumbledore again. "Therefore, I think the most pressing question is: how did you two manage to travel back in time by 20 years?" Upon being asked this, Harry began to wonder how it actually did happen. "I think a good idea might be retracing your steps."
"We were on the train talking with Ron and Ginny," began Hermione. "They left...." she paused here and looked at Harry. He knew why Hermione hesitated. He wasn't entirely sure either on whether or not he wanted to tell Dumbledore what they had been doing before they had been attacked.
"We were attacked by death eaters," he said, deciding to skip that small bit in-between. "And I used the Fleeing Charm."
"I'm not familiar with that," she Dumbledore. "What is it?"
"It's a spell we created using the Tome of the Spellmaker," said Hermione. Dumbledore's eyes widened at this.
"Really?" he asked. "And how did it come into your possession?"
"You gave it to me for my 17th birthday," said Harry. Dumbledore nodded.
"What does this 'Fleeing Charm' do exactly?" he asked.
"It transports the caster and anyone the caster is thinking of, along with any belongings the caster wishes to the safest place possible," said Hermione.
"That sounds like a rather complex spell," Dumbledore said. "It does, however, tell us how you have come to be here."
"How?" asked Harry.
"Well it's quite simple," said the headmaster rising to his feet. "Your spell does not specify that it transports you to the safest place in the current time, so naturally, Hogwarts in 1977 must have been the safer for you than Hogwarts in 1997, given the situation." Harry and Hermione looked at each other. He didn't like it, but Harry had to admit that Dumbledore's explanation made sense.
"So how can we get back to our own time?" asked Hermione. "We need to tell everyone there what's happened."
"Well, unfortunately I currently do not possess the Tome, so we can't make a spell to send you back to the future. I lent it to a good friend of mine, perhaps you've heard of him? Nicolas Flamel?"
"The one who made the Philosopher's Stone?" asked Harry. Dumbledore smiled.
"You do get around," he said chuckling. "Yes, the same."
"Well that's ok though," said Hermione. "We can use yours, right Harry?"
"Er....I left it at Grimmauld Place."
"What?! Why?!" Hermione shriked.
"Well Dumbledore told me to leave it there, that it would be safer there than at Hogwarts where students might try to steal it," Harry answered.
"I take it things in the future are quite grim if there is a safer place than Hogwarts?" asked the headmaster. Harry and Hermione nodded grimly. "All right then," he said. "I will contact Nicolas to see if I can re-aquire the Tome from him. In the meantime however..." Dumbledore paused looking at the Head Boy and Girl badges pinned upon Harry and Hermione's robes. "You will have to stay here. Lily Evans and James Potter are Head Boy and Girl though, I will definitely have to think on a solution to this."
"Professor, we understand that there can't be two Head Boys and Girls in one year," said Hermione.
"We do?" whispered Harry.
"Of course!" she replied. "Harry we're in the past, I think that we can give up our Head Boy and Girl duties for a little while so we can do more important things. Say, spend time with your parents?" Harry's face lit up as he realised that he could do just that. However, Dumbledore spoke before he could think further.
"I will assume, Harry, that James is your father?"
"Yes," he replied.
"And I'll also assume that your mother is Lily Evans, because you have her eyes," said Dumbledore. Harry nodded. "This is not going to be easy to hear Harry."
"What is it?" Harry asked, worry starting to run through him.
"I don't think that you should let your parents know who you really are," the headmaster said. Harry's jaw dropped at this. "At least not for the time being. I think coming up to them and saying that you're their future son might put them off a little bit. Become friends with them first before you go and tell them everything. Of course, I will have to put a memory charm on them when you leave so that they don't remember your visit." Reluctantly, Harry agreed.
"Well what will I say my name is then?" he asked. "I can't very well going around as Harry Potter, not when I look so much like James, anyway."
"Yes, you make a valid point," said Dumbledore. "Do you have any suggestions?" Hermione's face broke into a grin and she whispered something in Harry's ear.
"What?!" he yelled. "No way."
"Oh come on, I think it'd be hysterical," she pouted.
"I will not call myself that!"
"Pleeeeeease?" she begged. "It'll only be for a short time anyway." Harry gave a disgusted groan.
"Fine...."
"So you have it all worked out then?" Dumbledore asked. "I'll need to put your names in with the Gryffindor schedules, so what have you decided?"
"I can still be Hermione Granger, right?" Hermione asked. Dumbledore nodded and scribbled down something on a piece of parchment.
"And what will you call yourself Harry?" Harry gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes.
"Harry Lockheart," he said grimmacing. Hermione's grin was stretching from ear to ear, and Harry could tell that if they weren't in the presence of Dumbledore, she would be laughing.
"All right then," said Dumbledore. "I'll have the house-elves take your belongings up to the tower, you do have your trunks, right?"
"Yeah," Harry replied. "They're in the entrance hall."
"Very well," said the headmaster. "And now, perhaps you would like to go to your dormitories until the feast? The train won't be arriving for another two hours or so." Harry and Hermione nodded and bid their headmaster good afternoon.
As they were walking away towards the tower, Harry rounded on Hermione.
"Out of all the names you could've chosen, why Lockheart?!" he yelled. Hermione couldn't repress her laughter this time.
"Honestly Harry I was joking!" she responded. "You didn't think I was serious?"
"Obviously I did, because now it's my name until my parents find out who I really am!"
"Oh stop it," she said. "Besides, it's charming. Harry Lockheart. It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"No, I don't think it has a nice ring to it all," Harry grumbled.
"Oh quit being such a git," Hermione laughed. "Come on, I'll race you to the dorms."
"And why would I want to do that?" asked Harry.
"Ok, fine!" said Hermione throwing up her arms. "I thought perhaps we might be able to finish what we started on the train, considering that we have at least two hours to ourselves in the empty dorms, but I'll understand if you don't want to do that." And with that she walked off ahead of Harry towards the tower.
It took about five seconds for Harry to realise what she was talking about, and then he set off at a sprint to catch up to her.
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"The one thing the bothers me the most," said Harry lying in his bed in his dorm. "Is that it was all a ruse."
"What was a ruse?" Hermione asked pressing her body against his.
"All that stuff about death eaters attacking your house, it was just a ruse to try to catch us with our guard down, which they did. If it hadn't been for the charm...."
"Harry stop it, it wasn't your fault," admonished Hermione. "And we don't even know that it was, in fact, a ruse."
"Of course it was. Ron and I were the ones who suggested sending people over there in the first place," said Harry. "What if the death eaters destroyed the train because there weren't enough teachers to protect it?"
"I'm sure everyone's fine," Hermione said. "Ron was with them, I'm sure he could handle three death eaters without much difficulty."
"I should've known the moment that Dumbledore was against it that it was a bad idea," he said. "He was the only one who seemed to think that it might've been some sort of trap."
"Harry, look at me," Hermione said looking directly at him. "It. Wasn't. Your. Fault. Got it?" Harry sighed.
"I suppose."
"Come on now," Hermione said getting out of the bed. "We should head downstairs, the train should be arriving soon." Harry grinned at her as she picked her discarded clothes off of the floor and began to dress. "What?" she asked noticing his stare.
"You just look fantastic," he said. Hermione blushed slightly.
"Only to you," she said putting her socks on while sitting on Harry's trunk. He stood up and cupped her chain with his hand, raising her gaze to his.
"Does anyone else matter?" he asked.
"Not at all."
"Good," Harry said. The two of them got dressed and made their way down to the Great Hall, where they could see the thestral-drawn carriages making their way up to the school. Hermione gasped.
"What is it?" Harry asked, quickly reaching for his wand.
"They're magnificent!" Hermione exclaimed looking at the thestrals.
"What are?"
"The thestrals," she said, causing Harry to relax. "Of course, I can see them now, since I saw......." Her voice trailed off as both she and Harry remembered the fateful day in Hogsmeade at the end of last year. Quietly, they made their way from the windows over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, waiting the arrival of the students.
"Didn't you see them last year?" Harry asked as they waited.
"I guess I did, now that I think about it," Hermione answered. "I suppose I didn't notice them."
"How could you not notice them?" asked Harry.
"I think there were more important things going on, say for example, me spending what we thought were going to be our last few hours for a month together?" Harry smiled and gave Hermione a kiss on the forehead at this.
At that point, the oak doors opened and the students started to fill the great hall. Anxious, Harry took Hermione's hand in his own underneath the table as he waited for the arrival of his parents.
"Nervous?" asked Hermione.
"More anxious than nervous," replied Harry. "Honestly, I spent the entire walk down here thinking about what I was going to do when I saw them, and now that I'm here, I have no idea what to do."
"I know how you feel," she said. "I felt the same way before talking to my parents in person the first time after I told them about us." Harry smiled at this. "Don't look now, but they're here."
And so they were. Harry turned and saw four boys his age walking through the large double doors, followed a few moments later by a very attractive red-head. The tallest one (who Harry immediately picked out to be James) kept turning and making comments at the girl behind them, who was ignoring him with a certain dislike.
"That's my dad," he said pointing to James.
"Obviously," replied Hermione with that know-it-all tone. "He looks exactly like you." Harry continued to watch the Marauders walk down the great hall towards where they were sitting, when he saw one of the shorter boys look directly at him. He knew immediately which one it was.
"Pettigrew," he spat. "What I would do to him if I could...."
"Harry, he's their friend, and if you want to be friends with them, you're going to have to get along with him too," said Hermione.
"He's the reason they're dead," said Harry. "The reason that Sirius is dead." Hermione looked at him astonished.
"You just admitted that Sirius' death wasn't your fault," she said smiling. Harry's mouth opened, then he realised what he had said and closed it again. Maybe there was truth to what Hermione had just stated. He turned back at the Marauders and saw that they were all now staring directly at him. James didn't even flinch when the red-haired girl (who Harry thought had to be Lily) brushed past them. They quickly huddled up in conversation then made a beeline straight for Harry and Hermione. Hermione felt Harry's grip on her hand tighten and she couldn't help but smile.
"You're not scared of your own father, now are you?" she asked.
"I dunno," Harry replied. "I've seen him do some awful things to Snape." Hermione's eyes widened at him, and he quickly added, "I saw it in Snape's pensieve, I'll tell you later." She nodded her understanding at him just as the four Marauders sat down across from them. They were all staring at Harry with interest.
"Can we help you?" asked Hermione in her sweetest tone. Harry saw Sirius give a sly grin at Hermione and got the distinct impression that he was sizing her up.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," said James. "We've never seen you around here before, and we thought you could use some company." He extended his hand to Harry, which he shook. "James Potter," he said. "And you might be?"
"Harry P-" Hermione elbowed him hard. "-Lockheart," he quickly amended.
"Lockheart, eh?" asked James with a bemused expression. "This is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew."
"Nice to meet you," said Harry.
"So, did you guys transfer in here from another school?" asked Sirius. "You don't look as if you're first years."
"No, we're seventh years," interjected Hermione. "We transferred here from America."
"Not much of an American accent," mumbled James. He clearly he wasn't too keen on Harry and Hermione's arrival.
"So, what classes will you be taking?" asked the fourth boy who had to be Remus.
"We're not really sure," said Hermione. "Probably Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," she said rattling off the names of the courses they she and Harry would've taken had they been in their own time. "It's N.E.W.T. year after all, so instead of taking electives we'll just double up on some other courses."
"How do you know about N.E.W.T.s?" asked James cooly. "I thought they took C.A.T.s in America."
"Oh well yes, but uh...." Hermione was coming up short answering this one.
"Potter leave them alone," came a voice behind Harry. He and Hermione turned and looked up into the face of none other than Lily Evans. "If you're not going to be nice to them you should just go away."
"I wasn't giving them a hard time," said James. "Merely welcoming them to Hogwarts."
"Sure you were," she answered. "And I'm in love with you." James' eyes widened.
"You love me Lily? I always knew you'd come around -"
"Once again Potter that amazing intellect of yours failed to detect the obvious sarcasm in my voice. I'll say it one more time. Stop feeding the new students your Head Boy dribble and bugger off, or I'll send McGonagal after you." James huffed at this but complied, standing up and walking away, flanked by the other three Marauders. Lily sat down next to Harry.
"Sorry about that," she said looking at them. "I'm afraid he likes to give all new students a hard time. I'm the Head Girl, Lily Evans, by the way."
"Hermione Granger," Hermione said.
"Harry Lockheart," followed Harry. Lily nodded and gave them a smile.
"You do know how much you look like James, right?" she asked.
"I suppose there are some similarities," said Harry trying to evade this topic.
"So you're from America?" Lily asked. Hermione nodded. "What's it like over there." Hermione quickly looked at Harry for an answer, but when none came she had to come up with something in a hurry.
"Well it's very....different," she said. "People are a lot more vulgar over there, for one." Lily chuckled slightly.
"I've heard that," she said. "Now, do you want to tell me where you're really from, or will I have to guess?" Harry and Hermione's eyes widened at this. "Oh please," continued Lily. "The one thing I pride myself on is my ability to read people, and it obvious that you two are lying right through your teeth. You don't have a hint of an American accent, either."
"Well....uh...." stammered Harry. Both he and Hermione were at a loss for words.
"It's ok," Lily said. "You don't have to tell me."
"No!" said Harry a little too forcefully. Lily looked at him slightly taken aback. "What I mean is, we can't really tell you where we're from."
"Why not?" asked Lily.
"We're not supposed to," said Hermione. Lily looked at her then at Harry. A moment passed where no one said anything, Lily only continued to stare at him. Finally, she spoke up.
"Well, alright then," she said. "I'll let you two keep on hiding whatever you're hiding until you want to tell me." At that moment Dumbledore rose to speak to the student body. The three of them had been so wrapped up in their conversation that they completely failed to notice that they had ignored the sorting.
"Friends," he began. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I don't wish to keep you all from our excellent feast, so with that in mind, tuck in!" And just like as always, the food appeared on the tables instantly.
"So," Lily said piling food on her plate. "Looking forward to this year?"
"Immensely," said Hermione. "Although I'm a bit worried about the N.E.W.T.s."
"Understandable," Lily said. "Have you two picked jobs that require high scores?" Harry nodded as he put some food in his mouth.
"Or-or," he said whilst chewing. Hermione gave him a stern look.
"Swallow," she said in a commanding tone, and Harry obliged.
"Sorry," he said. "I'm going for Auror."
"So am I," added Hermione. Lily smiled a sad smile at them.
"That's a tough job to get. Unfortunately for you, you're going to have to deal with all four of them for the year," she said.
"All four of who?" asked Hermione. Lily nodded in the direction of the Marauders, who were all chatting animatedly amongst themselves.
"They all want Auror jobs too. I'm going for a charms-related job in the Ministry, myself," Lily said. "Something in research, preferably."
"Sounds exciting," said Hermione. "Will you be in any of our classes?"
"Charms and Transfiguration are definite, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll be taking Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions," she replied. "At least us seventh years get tomorrow to finalize our classes."
"Since when?" asked Harry. Hermione shot him a glare, and he quickly realised that he might've given away too much information. Lily considered him a moment before responding.
"It's always been like that," she said. "I hear it's to give us one last free day around the school before a long and hard year of learning." Harry could tell that this news excited Hermione. He knew that anyone else would be groaning miserably at the thought of a long and hard year of learning.
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"Remind me again why we're doing this?" asked Lupin. The Marauders were walking back to Gryffindor tower early from the feast.
"Because they lied right through their teeth to us," said Sirius. "Not to mention that Harry, if that is his real name, looks exactly like Prongs."
"Maybe so, but it's no reason to harass them," retorted Lupin.
"I'm with Padfoot on this," said James. "The two of them seem very suspicious to me. Especially Harry, something about him seems strange."
"He does look like you," said Pettigrew in a barely audible whisper.
"Who cares," said Sirius. "After this, we'll be able to tell whether he's a fake or not." The four of them reached the entrance to the common room.
"Mimbletoma," said Lupin to the portrait to of the fat lady. The picture swung open and let them in. They made their way up to the seventh year boys' dorm, which James was staying in after requesting permission from Dumbledore to stay with his friends. They looked at the seven beds (there were two other Gryffindor boys in the seventh year), and saw that the new bed for Harry had clearly already been used. Sirius let out a long, low growl.
"Why do I get the feeling that he's already been up here?" he asked.
"Because he has," answered James. "And I'll bet you anything that girl was with him."
"Hermione?" asked Remus. "You think that they're together then?"
"It's obvious with the way that she kept answering all the questions you asked her Moony," said James. "It was always, 'WE're taking this class together, and WE want to take double courses instead of electives'. Why? Do you fancy her?"
"Not at all," said Lupin. "I just thought she seemed like a nice person."
"It's irrelevant," said Sirius pulling out the exact same penknife that he would give Harry for Christmas 17 years later when Harry was 14. Walking over to Harry's trunk, he inserted the knife into the lock, and turned. When he attempted to lift the lid though, the trunk did not open.
"What in the bloody hell?" said James incredulously. "That thing picks every lock in existence."
"There must be some sort of spell on his trunk prohibiting anyone but him from opening it," said Lupin.
"Is there any way around it?" asked Sirius.
"Probably not if he's put enough time and effort into it."
"Bollocks," said James sitting down on his four-poster. "You think we should try the dust?" Sirius turned and looked at him, Peter's face sprouted a huge grin while he was nodded fervently, and Lupin merely shook his head.
"Don't use that stuff," he said. "It's too dangerous."
"Like hell it is," Sirius replied. "James and I have worked on it for two years. It's perfect."
"But you've never used it on a human before," said Lupin. "What if you kill him by accident?"
"We wont," said James. "This stuff works miracles, trust me."
"What if he's harmless and all of this is for nothing?" asked Lupin
"Well we'll find out after breakfast tomorrow," said James. "Harry Lockheart, what kind of name is that?" Peter let out a loud laugh, then quickly shut up after realising that he was the only one laughing.
"Put a little of this in his orange juice, and he'll do whatever we want him to," said Sirius holding up a small pouch of some sort.
"You make sure you tell the dust to do ONLY that," said Lupin. "The last thing we need is to end up hurting some new transfer student."
What the Marauders didn't know, however, was that Harry had sneaked up the stairs quietly and had listened to everything that they were saying. He quietly tiptoed back down the stairs and stopped in front of where the head girl's room was (he could see it because he'd been named Head Boy in the future), knocking three times.
"Lily?" he asked. She opened the door slightly, and when seeing who it was opened it all the way.
"Harry? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?" she asked.
"I need to talk to Hermione, but I can't go and get her because I'm a guy."
".....how do you know about that?" she asked with her brow furrowed. Harry instantly realised that he was not supposed to know anything about Hogwarts, having just transferred here and all.
"Er....Dumbledore told me when we saw him earlier," he lied. Lily looked at him in curiosity for a moment, but seemed satisfied with the answer. She walked out of her room, closing the door behind her, and made her way up to the girl's dorm.
A few minutes later she came back down with Hermione on her heels.
"What is it?" asked Hermione.
"I need to talk to you," said Harry. "Preferably in someplace private."
"You can use the Head Boy's room," said Lily. "James got permission to stay in the dorms with the rest of his friends, there won't be anyone there. You can use it for as long as you want."
"Thanks," said Harry in gratitude. He walked over to the other door in the wall with Hermione following and turned the knob.
The first thought in his mind when he entered the room was to go and tell Dumbledore to come up with some sort of idea to let him and Hermione be assistant Head Boy and Girl or such. The sheer thought of having this room to himself was too much. A chandelier hung from the smooth, white ceiling. The walls were a solid Gryffindor red, and there was a large, kind sized four poster with it's headboard along the left wall. A fireplace with a warm fire was built into the wall across from the bed. There were shelves lined with books, some of which Harry knew to be in the restricted section, dressers for his clothes, closets for all of his school supplies. None of this however, compared to the bathroom that was attached to it.
When Harry walked into the bathroom, his jaw dropped. By normal standards, the prefect's bathroom that Harry had used during his fourth year was spectacular. It was, however, dwarfed in comparison to the bathroom that belonged to the Head Boy. Roughly the same size as the main room, it had a swimming pool, a hot tub, a bath built into the floor, and a shower. All of this was capped off by the fact that there was a switch built into the wall that allowed the occupant to change the scenery of the room to that which he desired. Hermione, looking completely unimpressed, had to pat Harry on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Harry? Didn't you want to talk to me about something?" she asked.
"What? Oh, right," he said walking back into the main room and sitting down on the bed, Hermione sitting next to him. "I was on my way to the dorm, and I heard my dad, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew talking inside the room."
"You didn't eavesdrop on them, did you?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"I had to, I had to know what they were up to," he replied honestly.
"What did they say?"
"I didn't catch all of it, but it sounded as if they tried to get into my trunk and failed. Then they were talking about some dust they were going to use on me tomorrow morning." Hermione's eyes were wide.
"Why would they do something like this?" she asked.
"Dunno, maybe they think I'm a dark wizard or something," Harry answered
"What's this dust do?"
"I didn't hear it all, but Sirius said something like, 'it'll make him do whatever we him to'," he said. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"I suppose it all boils down to whether or not you think that they're out to hurt you," she said.
"Prank me, yes," Harry said with a chuckle. "But hurt me? Lupin said the only person that James ever purposely hurt was Snape, and I hope they don't see me on his level."
"As long as you don't think they'll hurt you, I see no reason to worry about it. Who hasn't been on the receiving end of a prank before?" Hermione asked.
"I don't believe I've ever pranked you," said Harry wrapping his arm around her.
"Ron sure did once," she said turning slightly red.
"What?" asked Harry in surprise. "When did this happen? He never told me about it!"
"It's because I threatened him with the fact that if he ever told anyone I would personally make sure he lost his ability to procreate." Harry's eyes widened.
"You wouldn't really do that to him, would you?" he asked. Hermione smiled.
"No, but it didn't stop me from threatening him with the idea," she answered. Harry chuckled.
"So what did he do?" asked Harry. "And why?"
"It was back during Halloween in 6th year," she said. "Over the summer Ron had expressed feelings towards me, and I had politely turned him down, telling him that I had feelings for you." Harry couldn't help but smile at this. "He took it extremely well. Said that he had a feeling about us for a long time, but had to know if he was wrong. Anyways his last words to me from that conversation were, 'Don't worry, I'll get you back eventually'. I never though he would actually go through with it."
"What'd he do?" Harry asked.
"One night in the common room when you had gone to bed early, Ron challenged me to a game of chess. I was really bored and tired of studying, so I accepted. What he didn't tell me was that he had dipped all of the pieces I was using in a Numbing Potion, and the next day I couldn't feel my hands." Harry smiled at this. "That's not even the half of it though," Hermione continued. "He had screwed up the potion, so the day after that, instead of the feeling returning to my hands, my arms went numb." Harry started to chuckle.
"I never noticed a thing," he said.
"You were still upset over Sirius' death," Hermione said. "You spent that entire weekend, like all the other weekends, in your dorm." Harry's smile vanished at the memory of his terrible depression binge that had plagued him for the first half of his 6th year.
"Sorry," he said.
"There's nothing to be sorry for," Hermione replied. "Anyways, at that point I went to see Madam Pomfrey, who fixed me right up. However, in that amount of time Ron had managed to talk Lavender into putting itching powder in my sheets. I spent had to spend all of that Sunday in the shower just to get it all off. I got her back good, though, believe me."
"What'd you do?" Harry asked.
"The day of the first Hogsmeade trip, she had a date with a 7th year boy from Ravenclaw. The night beforehand, I charmed her lipstick so that it would appear red to her, but would really be green." Harry couldn't help but chuckle at Hermione's ingenuity. "Needless to say, that was their only date."
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Lily was pacing in her room debating with herself. She knew full well that Harry and Hermione were in the next room talking about private matters, and that if she listened in, she would probably have all the answers she wanted. 'It's so wrong, though,' she thought. 'I certainly wouldn't want them listenting in on me if I was having a private conversation...' Just then a laugh from the Head Boy's room brought her back to her senses. Abandoning reason for curiosity, she muttered a quick hearing charm on herself to allow her to hear through the door connecting the rooms, walked over to it, and pressed her ear against the oak.
"So did you get back at Ron?" Harry asked.
"No, after that whole episode, we sat down and had a good laugh, and agreed that we were even," she said. Harry and Hermione laughed for a little while over the story, until Harry's smile slowly turned into a frown. "What wrong?"
"I'm sorry, it just seems like everyone was off having a great time while I was lying around depressed over Sirius."
"We weren't having a great time Harry, it was one of the few occasions where we all managed to have a laugh," Hermione said in a serious tone. "The rest of the time Ron and I were worried sick about you."
"I know, Sirius' death just hit me really hard," Harry replied. Lily's eyes widened. "He was like the father I never had."
"How do you think James and Lily will react to the news of being your parents?"
"I have absolutely no idea," replied Harry. "It's ironic isn't it?"
"What's ironic?" Hermione asked.
"My own father and godfather have no idea who I am and are planning a prank on me. They have no clue that I'm Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, and are treating me like I'm just another person." Lily had to grip the shelves next to her in order to maintain her balance at hearing this.
"How is that ironic?" asked Hermione.
"Because all my life, all I've wanted is to be normal. Have a family, not be destined to kill Voldemort. Now I AM a normal person, and the top two people who I want to spend time with have absolutely no idea who I really am."
"Two?" Hermione asked. "What about me?"
"You're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with," said Harry smiling. "But while I'm here, I need to be with my mom and dad. I need to know who James and Lily Potter really are."
"I know," Hermione replied. "Don't worry. You'll be able to talk to them freely soon enough. Come on, we should get to bed. It's late."
"Lily did say that we could stay in this room as long as we wanted to," said Harry with a smile. "Let's spend tonight here."
"What about our things?" asked Hermione.
"Who cares?" asked Harry. "We have each other." With any other answer, Hermione would've protested to go and get her night clothes, but after hearing Harry say that, she just melted into his arms on the bed. Harry turned off the lights with a flick of his wand, and the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms quite quickly.
Out of all the things Lily had expected to hear, her being Harry's mother was not one of them. Hearing that James was his father also came as an equally big shock. The conversation that she had overheard had given her more new questions than answers. Namely, 'How did this happen?' Making up her mind quickly, she walked to the door to the common room, opened it, headed out of the tower, and walked off in the direction of the stone gargoyle that hid the steps to Dumbledore's office.
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Well, I hope you all liked this chapter. I know I originally said it was going to be posted on Wednesday, maybe even Thursday, but the writer's block suddenly cleared and I suddenly was able to crank out the last 10 pages of this chapter. I know it's not very long, but it was either that or write a 35 page chapter that wouldn't be up until at least next Monday. So I hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review!
Quick A/N: The ending of this chapter has been revised since it was posted. I apologize, but it was brought to my
attention that there was a slight continuity error in my writing, that is wasn't clearly apparent that Lily knew
she was Harry's mother. It's been fixed, sorry for the trouble I caused (no I'm not) :-P