Story Title: Time, Interrupted
Chapter Title: Learning
Author: Madm_05
Rating: Strong PG-13/T
Warnings: Snakes ahead…literally
Chapter Word Count: 5,464
Date: 5 November 2006
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everyone else from Potterverse belong to JKR.
Chapter Nineteen: Learning
"Right-o kiddies, this way please." Jerry Connor was a cheerful man, Hermione realized. And he loved taking walks. Long walks. He had decided it would be a good idea to take all of the kids for a walk through the horse trails, so that everyone would have a general idea of where they were in case something should go wrong. He could have told us that the trails go in a big circle, she thought. We would have understood.
"He's rather energetic," Remus murmured to Sirius.
"I'd say so," he agreed. "He doesn't seem to realize that this little nature walk through the horse trails isn't helping the children get to know the lay of the land at all. I think he just likes the exercise." Remus nodded, but said nothing.
The group continued on in silence, though many of the kids were panting from walking so much. Neither Harry nor Hermione were very tired, as they often spent every Sunday working to control their powers and often ended up using a great deal of their energy in the process.
The time since Christmas and New Years seemed to fly by for Harry and Hermione. Their break had ended and their rooms were the envy of all of their peers- as was Hermione's ring. The young witch was shocked to learn that even little girls could be vicious. Though she strongly doubted that many of the girls really understood what marriage meant just yet, it didn't stop them from being jealous and trying to snag the Boy Who Lived from the Wandless Witch. Unfortunately for them, Harry was unfalteringly loyal.
Sirius and Remus had sworn the two of them to secrecy about being Santa's elves, saying again that Santa didn't want anyone to know. Harry, who loved having secrets, had no problem keeping it to himself, whereas Hermione, who had too many secrets already, thought it was annoying to have to keep her little elfish - adventure to herself. Normally, she wasn't very talkative to begin with, and wouldn't have told anyone anyways, but having it labelled as a Secret was irritating. Luckily, it isn't the sort of thing most people talk about, so as long as I don't bring it up, I'm okay.
Lessons were as dreadfully boring as they ever were, but Hermione was dealing with it. Shortly before classes had started back up, Remus had talked to her about doing an accelerated program of sorts, but Hermione had opted to continue on with everyone else when she learned that she would be separated from her peers if she agreed. "I don't want to be any more different than I already am," she had said. Remus had given her a sad look, but had agreed nonetheless.
In the end, it was decided that she would attend class with everyone else, but she would do more advanced work. Despite doing the more advanced work, it was still simple for her eighteen year old mind. Still, it would be suspicious of she suddenly started doing the calculus work she was capable of, when her classmates were learning the mechanics of adding single digit numbers together. She couldn't afford any more suspicion-Remus had already given her an odd look when she completed the decimal worksheet he had given her in record time. She was delighted that her reading was advanced, even if it wasn't educational- reading Dickens and Austen didn't bother her in the least, though she was careful not to let her report sound too intelligent.
Her music lessons were going wonderfully, and she and Harry were the envy of all of the other children again. Together the two of them were capable of astounding everyone, including Mr. Tonks, their music teacher. Though the two of them found playing scales terribly boring, they loved it when they were able to have a bit of free time to just play whatever struck their fancy.
Learning foreign languages was a slow moving process. Hermione had decided to learn Italian along with Harry, and Russian, just for fun. Of course, being so young, the teachers spent a lot of time focusing on rules for proper grammar and how to hold basic conversation. Though Hermione was not pleased with the pace of the courses, she understood that the teachers could not rush them.
Russian was particularly interesting, because she was learning everything alongside Percy. Percy, of course, had it out for her because she was the one- in his eyes at least- that had lost him his rat. It didn't help matters that she constantly upstaged him. It was, however, one of her favourite classes, despite her sole classmate in that course, because it was so different from anything she had ever learned.
She was still trying to convince Sirius and Remus that she could handle learning German and Swedish as well, but the older men seemed reluctant to let her. "We jut don't want you to bite off more than you can chew, Hermione," Remus had said. "You're still young, yet. Relax a little." She had nearly told them that she had handled using a time turner in third year just fine, but stopped herself before she said anything damaging.
Hermione had managed to convince Harry to take Latin. It was a difficult language to learn, but Hermione was sure that learning Latin would help Harry immensely when the time came for them to go to Hogwarts. She only hoped that he wouldn't confuse the Latin with the Italian. She knew that, when she first started learning other languages in the first timeline, she had mixed up French and Spanish several times at first. Hopefully Harry wouldn't have that difficulty.
Keeping her promise to herself, Hermione had begun planning how to go about getting the Horcruxes, particularly when to destroy them- she was planning on 'discovering' the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts in first year and getting rid of them then- and planning on what else to teach Harry in regards to wandless magic. She was surprised at how difficult planning her discovery was- she had to work in a way to 'discover' the Philosopher's Stone, Nicholas Flamel, keep Harry safe, and find a way to stumble upon the Room of Requirement. It was a thankless task, but one she planned to perform, regardless. It was her duty. Much like it was Harry's duty to defeat Voldemort.
"Okay," Mr. Connor said, turning back to the kids. "Now, we've been through the trails, so we know where we'll be going when we finally take the horses out. Our esteemed headmaster purchased twenty horses and fifteen ponies for us to learn how to ride on. I recommend the older kids take the horses and let the littler ones have the ponies." Hermione glanced at Harry then looked at the barn. Heaving a sigh, she took off, Harry at her side.
Remus shuffled over to where Sirius was standing. "Five galleons says Hermione picks the ugliest thing on four hooves in that barn."
Sirius looked thoughtful and shook his head. "Ten galleons says she picks the meanest thing in that barn."
"You're on," Remus said with a grin, then turned to see what horse, or pony, Hermione would choose.
"Men," Andromeda Tonks muttered. She and her husband set off to wander around the barn and check on the children.
Meanwhile, inside the large barn, Hermione began to look for a pony, or maybe a horse, to ride. Draco, she noticed, had chosen what looked to be a very vain horse, if horses could be vain. Harry was admiring a white horse. Hermione sighed, wishing she knew more about horses. So far the only thing she knew about horses was that they had hooves and people could ride on them. Unfortunately, horseback riding was something she had never learned about in the first timeline, and there were no books on horses in the Black family library.
She looked at all of the ponies, then at all of the horses, but couldn't find one that suited her. She was ready to just give up, sneak away and go read a book when she heard something like a horse snorting. She turned and looked at the horse- and there was no mistaking the horse for a large pony- and was shocked to say the least.
It was a large, grey horse with two white socks and white patches that looked like it had seen many unpleasant days. At one point, the horse had likely been white, but time had caused his coat to grey out. Despite being large, he was a very skinny horse, and looked to have been starved- it appeared he was only beginning to gain weight back. Across his back and along his sides were several scars, signs of past mistreatment. There were scabs on his ears, likely from flies, and his mane and tail were scraggly looking. He had an unpleasant air about him, like he was going to bite or kick anyone who dared come close.
"I wouldn't recommend him," Mr. Connor said, coming up from behind her. "He doesn't like too many people, and he isn't very pleasant to begin with. Been mistreated pretty badly, I was going to put him in another barn, but didn't have time to move him. He was an extra horse, thrown in just to get rid of him. I figured I could rehabilitate him eventually, but he doesn't seem up for it. He doesn't even have a name. Not to mention he's an ugly thing."
"I think he's gorgeous," Hermione replied. Mr. Connor and Oliver Wood, who was admiring the horse next to the one Hermione had chosen, gave her a strange look. Even the horse himself looked at her like she was crazy. "What do you say, hmm? Do you want to be mine? I'll take very good care of you, I promise," she crooned, reaching out to pet him on the nose. He lowered his head to let her touch him. Hermione smiled at him. "Yes, you're so handsome, aren't you? Yes you are." The horse looked at her with what could only be described as amusement. "You, my handsome friend, are going to need a name."
Mr. Connor shook his head and walked away to check on the other kids. "Mental, that one. Picks the ugliest brute in the barn, and coos over how handsome he is."
A short while later, all of the children were learning about how to groom their horses, and ponies for many of the girls, when Sirius and Remus decided to see who won their wager.
"Jerry, old friend, you wouldn't happen to know what kind or horse or pony Hermione chose, would you?" Sirius asked.
The other man snorted. "Picked a real winner, she did. An Arabian horse. Good breed, Arabians, even if they are on the expensive side- they're intelligent, spirited, and have lots of stamina. Of course, it's a wizarding horse, so he's bound to be more intelligent and have more stamina than those horses muggles ride." He sighed. "The only problem is that the horse she chose is the ugliest thing I've ever seen."
Sirius groaned as Remus snorted with laughter. "And Harry? What kind did Harry choose?" Remus asked as Sirius handed him the galleons.
"A thoroughbred," he grinned. "And a rare but beautiful one, at that- there aren't too many white thoroughbreds. She won plenty of races in her prime, but came up lame last year, and can't race anymore. Her name is Gloria. She's a good horse for him, I think. I would rather have the younger ones learning to ride on the ponies, but I did say I'd let them pick."
Remus nodded his approval. "You'll make sure the kids don't just take off, right? I don't want Harry or Hermione to get hurt, and with the horses they chose…" He trailed off. "Granted, I didn't think either of them would choose to ride a pony. I just guess I thought they'd take something smaller… and slower."
"No such luck, Moony," Sirius said. "Oh look, there's Harry." The three turned to look at the young boy beaming back at them.
"Can I keep her? Please?" He asked, his emerald eyes shining with hope as he rubbed the mare's white neck.
"We'll see," Sirius said evasively. "Where's Hermione at, Harry?" Hermione was always good for a distraction when it came to Harry.
"She's three stalls down that way," he said, pointing to his left. Sure enough, there she was, gushing over a rather unpleasant looking horse.
"Gah, is that even a horse?" Remus asked.
Mr. Connor nodded. "Like I told the little Lupin," he said with a smile. "He's not very pleasant. He was abused pretty badly though, and it's turned him away from most people. He seems to like her just fine, though. Actually, he's the meanest horse we have, so it's amazing that he likes her as much as he does. I was going to put him somewhere else so that he didn't bite anyone, but we didn't have anything that could keep him from running off, and I didn't have the time or energy to conjure anything."
Remus sighed and handed Sirius' galleons back. "Looks like a tie, Padfoot. I didn't count on the ugliest horse being the meanest."
"I didn't either." Sirius sighed mournfully. "Our Hermione seems to have a penchant for hard luck cases. That's why I figured she'd go for something mean- it probably wouldn't have been treated well."
"That's why I picked something ugly- I thought she'd go for something that probably wouldn't be liked by everyone else." Remus shrugged. "Oh well."
Sirius nodded sagely. "I think that's why she likes us so much- ex - convict, werewolf, Boy Who Lived." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you ever wonder why she likes hard luck cases like us so much?"
Remus shook his head. "No idea, but I'm glad she does, and I think I'll make it a point to stay on her good side. She may be a kid, but as I've been saying for a while now, there's something unusual about her."
The two men shrugged and began to wonder around, looking at the horses that each of the others had selected to learn to care for and to ride. "So, are we going to let the kids keep their horses?" Remus asked at last.
"I don't know." Sirius said, reaching out to pet Hermione's chosen horse as he walked by. The horse seemed to be affronted by Sirius' attention, and tried to bite him. He jerked back. "Why you vicious little-"
"Isn't he wonderful?" Hermione asked, coming up from behind. The two men turned to see the little girl carrying a comb and a brush to learn how to properly groom a horse. "Mr. Connor said he doesn't have a name, because his former owners were very cruel to him, so I've decided to name him Archimedes. It's a good name for him, don't you think?" She asked, walking up to the horse.
"Hermione, he bites, don't get too-" Archimedes lowered his head and gently nudged her. Smiling, Hermione set down her grooming equipment and began to rub his nose. "Attached," Sirius finished lamely. "I mean, these are school horses, they're not for you to keep."
"Oh," Hermione said softly before focusing all of her attention on Archimedes.
Remus frowned at Sirius. "Maybe we'll be able to set it up so that you can take care of him, not just for class, but like he was really yours," Remus offered.
"Maybe," she said quietly.
Remus was about to say something more when Mr. Connor stood up and cleared his throat. "Right, now I'm going to show you all how to saddle a horse, though you will need help as the saddles are quite heavy. After that, I'll show you all how to mount your horses, or ponies." With that, he clapped his hands once and set to work showing each child how to properly saddle a horse.
Hermione, meanwhile, had gone inexplicably pale. She waited patiently alongside Archimedes until Mr. Connor came around and showed her how to put a saddle and bridle on her horse. Sirius and Remus, who had decided to let the other man do his job and teach the eighteen students- those who were six and older- how to ride, noticed Hermione's odd behaviour, but said nothing.
Once all of the horses and ponies that had been selected were saddled and ready to go, the students were shown how to mount properly. Hermione hesitated and continued to stand beside Archimedes. "I- I'm fine down here, thanks." She said at last.
Remus gave his adopted daughter a strange look. "Hermione, you seemed pretty excited about learning how to ride earlier. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said quickly and shifted uncomfortably. "I… I'm just… well you see I… well…"
"What's wrong?" Remus asked, kneeling beside her, setting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I'm… I don't like heights," she said quietly, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Remus nearly fell over. "Hermione, you fly without a broom on a regular basis, not to mention that right now, you can fly faster than your horse can run. There's nothing to be afraid of."
"Nothing to be afraid of!" She shrieked, drawing everyone's attention. "I could fall! I could be thrown if Archimedes gets spooked! I could fall and break my neck and die!" By the end of her tirade, Hermione looked fairly ill, as though she were about to faint.
"Hermione," Remus began soothingly. "I promise, you won't get hurt." The werewolf leaned down closer to her. "And even if you do fall, you can fly, remember? You can use your wandless magic," he to whispered to her.
The young girl became even more panicked. "But what if I'm not expecting to fall, then I do, and I don't have time to use my magic because I'm in a state of shock, and I-"
"Calm down," the older man said quietly, still trying to calm the hysterical girl.
Hermione swallowed and tried to calm herself. I can fly, she thought. Remus is right, I can fly. There's no reason for me to be afraid from heights… unless you count the fact that I could be thrown off and break my neck because Archimedes didn't know I didn't have a good grip, and I didn't have the time to react. Hermione swallowed again- she wasn't helping her situation any. She looked up at the horse standing calmly behind her. He seemed docile enough, but then, she had seen him try to bite no less than four people so far. "Okay," she said eventually.
Remus smiled gently at her and helped her into the saddle. Words cannot describe how much I really don't like this, Hermione thought as she clung to the saddle horn. This is worse than riding on Buckbeak. At least then I had Harry. I know he'd never let me fall. She glanced over the side of her horse and squeaked. Oh, I really, really, don't like this, not at all. Why can't I just walk Archimedes?
She was gripping the saddle horn for dear life when she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid of small places," Harry said softly in her ear. Hermione immediately felt herself relax and even smiled a little when she understood that he was trying to offer her comfort by letting her know it was alright to be afraid. She turned and looked at her friend, giving him a nod. Harry smiled in return and sat more comfortably on his horse. "I think I'm getting the hang of it," he grinned.
Hermione grinned back, more than a little relieved to have something to distract her. "You're a natural, there's no doubt about it. You're just good at everything you do- riding, Quidditch, playing the piano…"
"You're better at everything else," he said with a bashful smile. "I wish I was as smart as you are, Hermione."
"You are smart Harry," she said earnestly. "You just, well, I mean your Aunt and Uncle didn't exactly help you learn anything, did they? My parents made learning easy for me- they gave me all sorts of books and everything. You'll catch up to me in no time at all, I'm sure of it."
"Okay kiddies, now that you know the basics, we'll head out!" Mr. Connor said cheerfully.
Snap! I wasn't paying attention! Okay, deep breaths. I'll just do what everyone else is doing. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to be doing something different. Some kids were holding reins, while others were holding the saddle horn. Some where digging their heals into the horses or ponies they were riding, and others were tugging on the reins. All in all, she had no idea what she was doing. Oh dear.
"Giddy-up?" She said unsurely to Archimedes. "Go horsy, go?" Hermione sighed in frustration. "I need help," she muttered. "I wish I knew something about horses," she grumbled quietly, before digging her heels into the side of the horse like she saw some of the others doing. Archimedes made an agitated noise but began to move. Horseback riding, Hermione decided, was rather pleasant. No sooner had she begun to enjoy her very short ride out of the barn did fate throw yet another twist her way.
Archimedes spotted a rather large snake.
The large horse reared back, nearly throwing his young rider. Hermione, terrified, wrapped her small arms around his neck and held on for dear life as the horse took off. Archimedes leapt over the fence meant to keeping him and the others from running off and dashed into the forest beyond. I'm going to die!
"Hermione!" She heard someone one yell. Still clinging to Archimedes, she managed to push herself up a little despite her bumpy ride and glance behind her. It was Harry. How he had managed to stay atop the mare he was riding, she didn't know, but she hadn't been so relieved to see her dearest friend since the time he had popped into Malfoy Manor in a blaze of glory. I'm not going to die!
Dimly, she was aware that others were riding towards them, but none of them mattered- Harry was coming. It didn't matter that he was only six years old, because she had absolute faith in their friendship. He was her tried and true friend, and she trusted him.
"Slow down, Hermione!" She heard Harry call.
How do I slow down?! "Erm, stop Archimedes!" She gasped as the horse was still running at a full gallop, jostling her painfully. Oddly, he seemed to understand what she was saying and did slow down before he eventually came to a stop. "Well, if I'd known it was that easy… I'm glad I didn't name you Courage," she muttered. "Or I'd never live it down."
"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry asked, bringing his mare to a stop beside her.
"I'm fine," she mumbled, a little jealous of the ease Harry showed in horseback riding. It may have helped if I had been paying attention. Of all of the times for me to let my mind wander. Looking for a distraction, Hermione glanced down to see Archimedes grazing peacefully alongside Gloria, Harry's mare.
"I told you that I was going to need trained assistants. There were too many kids to deal with , even without the kids who were five and younger. I should have had no less than three assistants to help me with the kids," Mr. Connor was saying as he, Sirius and Remus rode up.
"Now Jerry, how was I to know that a snake was going to show up out of nowhere? No one could have guessed that a snake was just going to show up, or that my godson was just going to take off after Hermione," Sirius defended. "Besides, I thought that Ted, Andy, Remus and I would be more than enough help."
"There is a difference between knowing how to ride and knowing how to teach others to ride!" Mr. Connor scowled.
Remus snorted at the last remark and clumsily slid out of the saddle and stumbled to the kids. "Hermione, Harry, are you two alright?" He asked, pulling Hermione unceremoniously off the horse and holding her close before reaching out to touch Harry, as if to reassure himself that the young boy was whole.
"Can we do that again?" Harry asked excitedly. "Not that part where Hermione was scared and screamed, the part where Gloria got to jump over the fence! That was fun!"
"Harry, my boy," Sirius said, pulling his godson down from the mare and held him much like Remus was holding Hermione. "You are too much like your father, so no, you can't do that again." Harry looked decidedly crestfallen, but nodded.
"What are we going to do, Sirius?" Mr. Connor asked. "We need to have those snakes exterminated," he said, trying to grab Archimedes' reins, but failing as the horse tried to bite him every time he got close.
"No!" Harry said, his eyes wide with panic. "Misstessah didn't mean to scare anyone, honest! She wouldn't do that!"
Hermione mentally kicked herself- how could she have forgotten Harry was a Parselmouth? Harry didn't know that it wasn't considered a good thing that he could speak with snakes, and wouldn't know to keep quiet, especially in front of Mr. Connor. She did the only thing she could think of doing.
"Spider!" She shrieked, squirming in Remus' arms and kicking Archimedes. The large horse was off again at full speed. Distantly, she heard Mr. Connor cursing and mounting his horse to take off after the Arabian stallion.
"Hermione," Remus frowned. "There's no spider."
"Later Moony,' Sirius said, looking back to the young boy. "Who is Misstessah, Harry? What are you talking about?"
Harry gave Sirius a bewildered look. "Misstessah. She's the snake that scared Hermione's horse, but she didn't mean to scare him, she's really nice. I met her a few days ago, when Hermione was in her Russian class. She told me all about her home, and how I was the only human she had ever talked to," he said proudly.
"Talked?" Sirius asked weakly. "She talked to you?" Remus, meanwhile, had looked down at Hermione, who bravely met his eyes.
Harry nodded. "Yes. She said she wanted to see me again. She said that most of the snakes around here left many years ago, because they weren't welcome anymore, but she said she would never leave her home. She said there were only three of her kind left here, but she hates Sahsika. They're rivals, you see, for Narsuss." Harry paused. "Snakes love to gossip. Did you know that Sahsika kept lying to Narsuss to get him to leave Misstessah, and stay with her? The nerve!" He huffed in a manner reminiscent of Hermione.
Hermione would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. "Fascinating," she said instead.
"Harry," Sirius hesitated. "You can talk to snakes?" Harry nodded. "And you understand them?" Harry nodded again. Sirius sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He looked around the forest surrounding them, seeming to search for answers with in the limbs of the trees. "Listen Harry," he said solemnly, kneeling down by the young boy. "That's a secret, okay? You can't tell anyone that you can speak to snakes, alright?"
"Why?" Harry asked, frowning. "I was going to show my friends to Misstessah, and Misstessah was going to show me to Narsuss today."
"You can show Hermione to them, Harry, and Misstessah can still show you to Narsuss, just not around anyone else," Sirius offered.
"Harry," Remus said, kneeling beside his friend and the boy who was very much like a nephew to him. "It's like how you can fly," he continued, letting Hermione wriggle out of his arms to stand by her friend. "Only you can talk to snakes Harry, so it's like how you don't need a wand to move things, and how you don't need a broom to fly. It's a secret."
Harry nodded his understanding before he looked at Hermione. "You knew?" Hermione nodded slowly, more than a little nervous. Would Harry be upset that she didn't tell him about his ability? "That's why you sent Archimedes away? So that Mr. Connor would follow him and wouldn't find out?" Again, she nodded. Harry gave her a small smile. "Thanks," he said softly.
Hermione was flooded with a strong sense of warmth and relief. "You're very welcome," she replied just as softly.
"Well," Sirius said. "I think it's time we got back. We left Ted and Andy with sixteen kids to look after, so they're probably going half mad after that stunt the two of you pulled, even if you didn't mean to. And remember Harry- this is a secret."
"Can I till show you to Misstessah? She really wants to see you," Harry said, looking hopeful.
Sirius hesitated. "We'll just have to wait and see Harry, okay? I don't know if you'll be able to or not, it all depends on what happens. I may be pretty busy soon, since two of my charges were carried off by horses."
"I'm sorry," Harry said, his shoulders slumping a little.
"It wasn't your fault Harry," Remus reassured the young boy. "You couldn't do anything to stop it, and you were trying to do the right thing by helping Hermione. Just next time, why don't you let the adults handle it, okay?"
Harry nodded, but Hermione could tell he didn't agree. Harry didn't believe that adults could do anything right. He would never admit it, but Hermione knew he blamed Sirius for holding him back when Malfoy Senior took her away, and that he blamed all of the adults for not rescuing her sooner.
"I've got him!" The group turned to see Mr. Connor fruitlessly trying to get Archimedes to move. The horse was stubbornly refusing. Suppressing a smile, Hermione jogged up to the Arabian horse, glad he was back. As she approached, the horse seemed to give her a wary look, clearly saying 'don't do that again'.
"I'm ever so sorry, Archimedes," she soothed as she walked closer and began to stroke his nose. "I panicked. I won't hurt you ever again, I promise. Do you want to go back to the barn? I think we've had enough excitement for the time being."
"How did you do that?" Mr. Connor asked, quite amazed. He stood between his horse, Misty, and Archimedes with a stunned look on his face. "I fought the whole time to get him this far. I found him over there," he nodded to a small, nearby pool of water. "And it took me this long to get him here. Amazing how you can do that when he tries to bite just about everyone who comes near him."
Hermione shrugged. She certainly didn't want to tell him about how she had been drawn to her Archimedes from the start. It would make her feel foolish to say that he reminded her of herself- a horse with a broken past being given a second chance.
"Oh well. Here, I'll help you up, then I'll let you ride back." Mr. Connor reached down to help her into the saddle, all the while muttering that if he had only had more assistants, than this wouldn't have happened. "I might as well use this as a chance to teach you a few things. You're a smart girl, and I know you'll teach your brother-"
"Harry's not my brother," Hermione said firmly, showing him her ring. "He's my betrothed." She didn't know why it was so important that he understood that, but it was. All she could say for sure was that it turned her stomach that anyone would think of her as Harry's sister, and she knew that Harry was just as appalled at the thought as she was.
"Sorry," he said, raising his hands in mock defeat. "Didn't mean nothing by it. I was just saying that you and Harry are so close that you'll probably show him everything I show you, and it will just make my job that much easier."
Hermione nodded, not really paying attention until he began to show her the basics of riding. Once they set off, Hermione was lost in thought. She wondered why she was so defensive about her engagement to Harry. Come to think of it, she had become more defensive around Christmas. She glanced down at the band on her left ring finger and wondered, distantly, if there was something more about the ring than she had been told.
Alas, it was a research project for another day.
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A/N: Yes, there was a delay. Again. I'm sorry, I really am, but it's time for midterms at college, and I've been studying most of the time. I can't wait for Christmas break-then it will be just me and my keyboard. Alas, I have a month until that can happen.
I feel that it is time for me to formally announce what I have told a few people in some of my review replies. I've made a few references to the trilogy in previous notes, but now I'm going to outright say it. I've put it off long enough.
Time, Interrupted is the first part in a trilogy. Life, Interrupted will be the second part of the trilogy. It can also be considered a companion piece to part one. Part two will cover what is going on in the other timeline, so if you like the Dark Harry, you'll like that story, because it's all about him, his descent into Darkness, so on and so forth. Love, Interrupted is going to be the third part of the trilogy, and can be considered the sequel to both parts . I've dubbed the whole thing Trilogy, Interrupted. It will look like this:
1-2
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3
Well, that's all for now. Thanks to everyone who read, and special thanks to those who reviewed. If you would, please review.
Cheers,
Madm_05