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Chapter 13: Awkward Moments
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Julia woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of someone sobbing. She rolled over, and saw her best friend in bed lying on her side, arms curled around her pillow, wiping away occasional tears. Julia threw the covers back and got out of bed, kneeling beside Lily's bed. She wiped a tear away from Lily's cheek.
"What's wrong?"
"Look at me, look at you, and look at Blake. We're all the way we looked before. We've messed up the future, so much that we're probably never going to be born." She sniffled and wiped away more tears.
"You never know, Lils, it might turn out alright."
"Yeah right. I doubt it."
"Well, like I said, they know they're going to end up together now, so maybe it'll be different."
"Yeah right, they probably would refuse to, just to be spiteful and ruin our lives, kill us all."
"They would never…ok, maybe they would, but you never know."
"I doubt it."
"Well, you never know, it's like your mum always says, you shouldn't give up, even if it looks hopeless, because even in bleak situations there's still hope." Lily gave a short laugh.
"I never want to take my mother's advice ever again."
"Why?"
"Because you know what I figured out today?"
"What?"
"My mother's a bitch." Julia smiled.
"Well we knew that already, though she's more so now than we knew as her daughter and goddaughter." Lily mirrored her friend's smile.
"I mean, I always figured she was that way to us sometimes because she's just a mum, mums are just that way. But Dad always told me that when they were younger, that my mother was kind to everyone, with the exception of a few people. She was strong and stubborn, and brilliant. I never thought he might be lying to me."
"Your dad wasn't lying, Lils, your mum is a nice person, some of the time. But judging from what we've seen of her since we've been here, yeah, she is a bitch."
"Tell me the truth, Jules. People say I'm just like her, am I a bitch too?" Julia grinned teasingly.
"Do you really want the truth?" Lily sighed.
"Gee, thanks, Jules."
"I'm joking, Lils. You're not a bitch, and you're not your mother. You're Lily Potter, not Hermione. Because the other half of your DNA belongs to your father and he's a nice guy. A strict dad to his two children sometimes, but still a nice guy," Lily smiled. "But you'll never be your mother, because you're too much like both of your parents. But, I think the reason why Hermione's been this way is because she knew there was something different about us, she knew we weren't telling the truth, and she didn't know whether we were dangerous or not. She didn't trust us, and she was afraid that if we were dangerous that we'd hurt the people close to her. So, deep down, she is a caring person. To everyone but us in this time period." Lily nodded slowly.
"But you know what I've noticed in the time we've been here, Lils?"
"What?"
"Your dad is whipped." Lily laughed.
"I mean, your mum and dad aren't even going out yet, and she's got him whipped." Lily laughed again.
"But see, my Dad's stayin' strong. She hasn't corrupted him yet," Julia shook her fist slightly. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but your mum has him whipped. Worse than how my mum has my dad whipped. You just don't see it yet." Both girls laughed.
"Do you feel better now?"
"A little. Thanks." Julia nodded and stood up to go back to her bed. She glanced over at Hermione's bed and saw she was still awake. The smile on Julia's face turned into a cold glare.
"Yeah, we're talking about you. Got a problem?" A glare was all the answer Julia got from Hermione. Julia didn't say anything more and crawled back into bed.
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The next morning the Gryffindor Common Room was split into two groups. Actually, it was the entire Gryffindor house against Lily, Blake, and Julia. It was a Saturday, so no one had any classes, and everyone hung around the common room all day. Midway through the day, Julia commented,
"This is going to be a long week." Sometime in the day, Julia acquired a wizard's chess set, and challenged Blake to a game. Blake, like his dad, wasn't very good at the game, while Julia, who took after her dad when it came to wizard's chess, was an excellent chess player. Blake knew before he started that he lost, but he didn't care.
"Knight to F-6." Julia scanned the board, and smiled smugly.
"Queen to F-6." Lily closed her book and sat next to her brother, looking over his shoulder. She saw a play and whispered it in Blake's ear. Trying not to grin, he said,
"Bishop to F-6." Julia watched in horror as Blake's bishop took her queen.
"That's cheating!"
"How?"
"You had Lily tell you what to do."
"So, you're a better chess player than he is, so it's only fair that two equally average chess players take on a above average chess player." Even with her queen taken, and with Lily helping Blake, Julia still won the match. She sat back smugly in her chair and put her hands behind her head and crossed her legs.
"Come on, Blake, give me a challenge."
"You know you'll always beat me, Jules. You know that there's no one that can give you a good challenge in chess except your dad, and there's no way in hell he'll agree to play chess with you."
"I hate this seclusion from the rest of the house, it's eerily creepy." Both Blake and Lily were confused by Julia's choice of words.
"Um, Jules, eerily and creepy are pretty much the same thing."
"Whatever, I'm not one of those professors who teach grammar and stuff."
"English teachers?"
"Yeah, those. Anyways, I hate this. Why did your mother have to go rat us out?"
"That's mum for you, that's why."
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"Tell me again why we're avoiding them?" Harry said.
"Because, you heard Hermione tell you who they are, they're our kids."
"So? So they're from the future, and so they're our kids," Harry said. "It's not like we won't meet them sooner or later."
"Harry, they lied to us about who they were, and it's weird to see my son and daughter two years before they're even born," Hermione said.
"So what? They're our kids, Hermione, our flesh and blood, and here we're treating them like they're contagious with some deadly disease or something."
"What are you suggesting then, Harry?"
"At least let's go talk with them, instead of isolating them from everyone."
"I agree with Harry. This common room is eerily creepy today."
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Blake yawned. And since yawns are contagious, Julia yawned, and then Lily yawned. They all laughed.
"Don't do that again, Blake," Julia said. Lily pulled out one of the books she got from the library. Blake groaned when he saw it.
"Hogwarts, A History again? You've read it already, twice."
"So what? It's an interesting read. How many times have you read Dad's copy of Quidditch Through the Ages?" Blake didn't answer her.
"See? There's nothing wrong with reading a book more than once."
"But there's over fifteen hundred pages in that book, Quidditch Through the Ages only has three hundred."
"So what? Just because you don't have the patience to read this book, doesn't mean I can't read it."
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"Well, I'm going down to the library, anyone want to join me?" Neither Harry nor Ron answered her. She sighed and left the common room.
"What the hell is yours and Hermione's problem?" Ron said, closing his book.
"What?"
"You two know you're going to end up with each other, why don't you ask her out?"
"I don't know." Harry said, running his hand through his hair.
"What more proof do you need that you'll marry her? There's two people over there that Hermione has already pointed out are your son and daughter. Your son and daughter with Hermione. Blake looks exactly like you, and Lily has your eyes and hair color and she looks almost exactly like Hermione."
"Look, Ron, I have time. If we're supposed to be together, I'll have time. I don't have to do it now, I can maybe ask her out after Voldemort's gone or something, then she'll be safe."
"You don't know that. What if something happens between now and then that she meets someone else and it's too late? Then you've screwed up the future and…"
"Screwed up the future for who? Not for me, not for Hermione, but them. The only ones who will endure anyone screwing up the future is them. They can wait."
"You don't know that either. What if you never make it back? What if having a wife and kids gives you something to fight for and it helps you make it back to them? If you wait till afterwards, you might not make it back alive."
"Gee, that's a really comforting thought, Ron."
"I'm serious Harry."
"Here, let's go talk to them." Harry got up and walked across the room to the future trio, Ron following close behind.
A/n: Here's another short chapter. I'm sorry about the chapter lengths, I know they should be longer, but look at it this way; shorter chapters mean shorter times between updates. Also reviews help too to shorten the days between updates. So please review!!!
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