DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. does, and she has every right to do whatever she thinks is best for Harry Potter. I just love writing. So sue me. Wait, seriously… don't.
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Hermione woke up the morning after with the previous night's conversation still bothering her mind. Feeling heavy-hearted more than ever, she slowly got up and trudged into the vacant bathroom of the Girls' Dormitory. As she closed the door and saw her reflection in mirror, she stopped and turned to look at herself more closely, all the while thinking again of her queries.
What was that final reminder all about? Did the headmaster actually believe she'd rather stay here than go back?
As complicated as it was to her or to anyone else, it wasn't something she should take for granted. And since it was the headmaster himself who had said it, she wasn't in any position to argue. Besides, she has disregarded too much already, and further ignoring other caution could get her into worse trouble.
"Noelle." Erin's voice broke through the long train of thoughts inside her head.
"Yes?" She asked; her voice was muffled as she put on her robes.
"The boys already went ahead; want me to wait up for you?"
"No, that's ok. You can go if you want." Hermione answered, now trying to comb the tangles from her once bushy but now wavy brown hair.
"Sure. I'll go ahead." Erin said. Before she moved away from the door, she called out to Hermione. "I'm saving you a seat, so better hurry."
"All right." She answered, smiling slightly as she put the lightest touch of powder on her face. After a few more minutes of arranging her appearance, Hermione unlocked the bathroom door and went out.
Having gathered all the things she needed, she dashed out of the Girls' Dormitory and took the winding staircase down to the Gryffindor Common Room.
Taking striding steps, she treaded out of the tower.
"Over here, Noelle!" Hermione heard someone shout as she entered the Great Hall.
Searching along the entire length of the Gryffindor Table, Hermione found Erin at the farthest end, patting an empty space beside her. Sitting across from her were Alex and Shawn who were, from the serious looks on their faces, deeply engaged in a conversation.
Cole, on the other hand, was beside them, talking to someone with long brown hair. Hermione didn't say anything as she came over and sat down. But she couldn't quite get over what she saw so she glanced at the girl and was surprised to see her eyes looking straight into hers with an expression of vague familiarity. Not knowing what else to do, she smiled. Her misgivings vanished, however, the instant she smiled back.
With another wave at the guys, the girl sauntered away, her hair swishing back and forth as she walked.
When Hermione returned her focus on what was in front of her, she was a bit surprised to see pancakes laid on her plate. And she didn't realize how hungry she was until she had placed a slice of them in her mouth.
As she ate, everyone else conversed with one another. Too preoccupied with her own thoughts, Hermione kept herself from engaging in their discourse. She agreed she was behaving inappropriately. But proper or not, she couldn't do anything about it.
So she continued to eat, unaware that a pair of eyes were directly focused on her in an odd way. Without warning, she heard someone clear his throat and, unintentionally, she looked up. The minute she did, Cole's intense brown eyes caught her own.
"So, how're you feeling?"
Oblivious to the other three who had stopped their conversations the moment they heard what Cole said, Hermione gave him a puzzled smile. "Excuse me?"
Cole shrugged. "You know, last night."
Last night? Alex mouthed to Shawn.
"Fine--"
"You are the most terrible liar I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with." Cole muttered, frowning.
Hermione waved her hand at him to wave him off. "I'm fine, really."
Cole sighed and said smugly. "Are you really this stubborn?"
"Yes." Hermione said simply. She was about to eat another slice when she caught a glimpse of three people staring at her. Putting her fork down, she asked. "Did I miss something?"
Nobody said anything.
Hermione's brows shot up. "Erin?"
Erin quickly shook her head and said silently. "It's nothing. Don't mind us."
Cole immediately grew defensive after stealing a quick glance at Erin's expression. "It's not what it seems." But it looked as if they weren't going to buy it that easily. Knowing what would shut the mouths of his friends, he looked at Noelle for consent.
For a moment, Hermione stared back at him with a confused expression, but a flash of perception glimmered in her eyes and she shrugged. "What is there to say, anyway? Sure, go ahead."
But hesitation was clearly stated on her face that Cole decided to lie at the last minute, though he knew one person wouldn't believe his false excuse. "She hurt her--uh--foot--last night when she was going up into the Girls' dormitory and I helped her get on her way."
Hermione looked at him in confusion, but kept her mouth shut while the rest of them weighed Cole's explanation. Somehow, Alex and Shawn bought Cole's flimsy excuse for a reason. Erin, however, looked lost.
Hermione tried to send a thank you smile to Cole discreetly, but when she looked at him, he was looking somewhere else, distracted, it seemed, that Hermione considered her gratitude wasn't an excuse enough to haul him out of his own thoughts.
`Oh well,' she thought as she shrugged mentally. `I can always thank him later.'
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"Ms. Sheldon." Prof. Larsen called Hermione as she and Erin made their way out of the Transfiguration classroom.
"I'll wait." Erin informed Hermione even as she turned back to look at Ms. Reagan.
Hermione nodded appreciatively before walking in front of the classroom and then stopping before Prof. Larsen's desk. "Yes, ma'am?"
"I am well aware of your state right now, Ms. Sheldon and you are a bit behind the curriculum. I fear that you might not know enough of this year's course to pass the final exams that are just around the corner." The professor began, looking at her in an odd way that the spacious room suddenly felt too cramped for Hermione.
"What do you suggest?" She asked even if she was already familiar with almost everything about the tests since she had passed the 7th year exams with flying colors.
"I've already arranged a solution for that. I asked one of my students to help you out with the lessons you missed. He's going to meet you in the library at 8:00. Try your best to learn what he'll teach you, all right?" She said with a small smile.
Hermione nodded and turned to leave, but stopped when her professor acknowledged her again. "If you have some questions to clear with a different subject, you may ask him about it as well. He'll probably know the answer to anything you ask anyway."
`I doubt he'll know a way to get me out of here.' Hermione thought as she nodded once more and made her way towards the exit.
"Noelle." She heard Prof. Larsen call out for the last time as she took hold of the doorknob. Patiently, Hermione turned around. "Yes, miss?"
"Have we met before?"
The question was simple yet unnerving that Hermione was taken aback. She tried to shake her head as nonchalant as possible. "I don't think so, professor."
"But I have the oddest feeling that I've seen you somewhere before." She protested. Then realizing what she was saying, she dismissed her with a perturbed chuckle. "I'm sorry. I seem to have mistaken you for someone else. Might be stress from too much work. You better be getting on your way, then. See you tomorrow."
Smiling feebly, Hermione nodded and finally exited the room as quickly as possible.
`What was that all about?'
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It was at exactly 8 o'clock in the evening when Hermione half-heartedly trudged in the library, books at hand, for her tutoring session with Ms. Reagan's student. The place was almost empty when she arrived, save for some students who were either seated on the study desks or skimming through the bookshelves.
Her mind a thousand miles away, Hermione passed by the librarian whose name was Lynette Briskwood and placed her books on the window ledge, and started her perusing near it so she could have a view of the sky.
As she browsed, Hermione couldn't help but think how this night would be wasted because of a sitting she had to spend with someone she has yet to find out whom. Instead of being able to think more on her situation, she had no choice but learn things she already knew.
As isolation and concern began to dawn on her, Hermione took the few steps away from the ledge and gazed outside. Despite the serene view that was laid out in front of her, all she felt was the same abandoned feeling she had been harboring the moment she came here.
"Harry." Hermione breathed quietly, dimly seeing his face in the murky ambiance of the night. "Do you even know I'm gone?"
"Whoever he is," Said a deep voice behind her, "He might keep you from your session tonight."
Hermione whipped around as she heard the sudden sound and her mouth formed a slight `o' as she saw the tall person in front of her.
"Alex?"
She tried to smile but her grin came out in a crooked form as she was embarrassed that he had been standing there long enough to hear her hopeless plea to someone who didn't exist in this time. "Hi!"
The boy he was speaking to simply stared back at her, silent and motionless. But after a split second, he returned the smile, if not the greeting. Then to her surprise she heard him ask, "Who's Harry? Is he your boyfriend?"
Hermione shook her head even as the words `I wish' flickered in her thoughts. "No--no, he's not." She finally answered him, making it sound as if she found the whole notion ridiculous.
He quirked an eyebrow at her, as if telling her he wasn't buying her excuse, but she seemed at loss for words, fearful of what he might confirm if she opened her mouth again.
He may be sweet and charming, but she doesn't know him all that much yet. More to the point, though Alex was poles apart from his best friend, they were still the same.
Having been part of a conversation he had initiated, Hermione already knew how Cole played his match: discovering his company's weakness and using his irresistible charm to pry information without anyone becoming aware of it was most likely his area of expertise.
With Alex, expecting an entirely different game was highly futile because though his tactics and skills were much gentler and more attentive, his alluring charm works as enthrallingly as Cole's charisma, making this mystifying game played by twin charmers precarious for her.
"He was--I mean, is--one of my best friends." Hermione decided to say. Telling him what Harry was in her life couldn't mean any harm, could it?
"And he doesn't know you're here?"
"He was gone while I--traveled away from our school, so there was no time to tell him." And it was true, anyway; Harry was really somewhere else that day when she journeyed through time--so she couldn't be accused of lying.
"And you didn't leave him any message or anything?"
Hermione frowned. He was getting too far. It was time to end this charade and go back to why she was here in the first place.
"Didn't you just mention something about a study session?"
"Yes, I did." Alex answered, smiling in awe at the sudden change of topic. Though the way Hermione altered it was nothing out of the ordinary, he found how she told him marveling, owing to the fact that her extreme anxiety over this Harry could be seen in the misty reflection in her eyes.
In addition to that, the wariness in her tone as she explained to him her relationship with her friend told him in a thousand words the way she felt for him. But it wasn't his place to ask anything about it so instead, he asked. "Then it shouldn't come as a surprise if I told you I was your tutor?"
"Not at all." Hermione answered, hiding her true feelings beneath a perky attitude. "Shall we get started?"
"Sure." Alex said and then, as he was a well-bred gentleman, he approached where Hermione had apparently placed her books and got them before she could. "Let's go over there where we can sit down." Alex walked past her and disappeared around the corner of the shelf leaving Hermione with no choice but to follow him.
"Where do you want to sit?" He asked when he had stopped and she had reached his side.
"Anywhere's fine." She said in a dreary sort of drawl.
Shrugging, Alex walked over to one of the vacant tables, pulled back a chair and sat down. When she followed his gesture, the first thing he noticed was the way she suddenly eyed the books he had laid out in front of her with familiarity and dullness. It was as if they were something she had constantly eaten and had gotten tired of tasting the same matter.
Confused but slightly tired to ask, he took one of the books on top of the table and opened it. Hermione yawned subtly as Alex began leafing through the pages. When he reached the part where most of the things Hermione had missed started on, he cleared his throat and began to talk…
At the first few minutes of Alex's discussion, Hermione had only been half-listening to his details, nodding every now and then to show she understood his reasons. But when she had gotten tired of only listening in, she reached for the book identical to the one Alex was holding and followed his words as he spoke. It was a good thing she did because Alex, who up until then had been watching her intently, was starting to be puzzled as Hermione seemed only interested in thinking of other things rather than the lecture.
And when at last came the time to ask her how much she has learned, Alex asked the simplest questions he could think of so she wouldn't be pressured but was left in awe when she answered each and every query with accuracy and supplementary details that he, himself, hadn't known until then.
Satisfied, yet still disbelieving, Alex decided to ask another set, this time his questions needed more accurate responds. But just like before, Hermione answered them professionally with ease and precision.
Still looking at her, he shut the book and lightly threw it down on the table, it landed with a light thud that caught her attention. Frowning, she looked at the book and then gazed at Alex's face. "What's the matter? I didn't get the correct answers?"
Alex gave a short laugh and leaned forward. "Actually, you did perfectly fine."
Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or get mad at Alex's incongruous proclamation. "Then why'd you stop?"
"Because I have the slightest bit of notion that you really didn't want to do this in the first place."
"No?" She asked, challenging his accuracy, but when he quirked an eyebrow at her, she found herself smiling. "Okay. I admit it. I really wasn't paying attention--much." She added and it was again true since she had heard enough to confirm his academic proficiency.
"That Harry guy bothering you as promised, huh?" Alex crossed his arms and smiled at her while slouching back on his chair.
Hermione looked surprised for a moment, but recovered instantly. "No."
Alex smiled and began arranging the books, piling them on top of the other. "Since you and I both know we can't continue anymore, what do you want to do now?"
Hermione tipped her head to the side and an immediate question came to her. "How did you and Cole become best friends?"
Alex crossed his arms and regarded her blankly but with questioning brows. Then he shrugged. "It's the same old story, you know."
Hermione smiled knowingly, but her answer was a bit ironic. "No, I don't. Tell me about it."
Alex laughed slightly while raking a hand through his hair and regarding her comically. "Persistent little witch, aren't you? Fine. I'll tell you as much as I can." He then leaned forward and placed his hands on the table and linked them together.
"Our parents were friends since they were born and had spent most of their time in school together. Even after they graduated they still saw each other as often as they could. Other people used to call it inseparable, but I think of it as hereditary. You see, our grandparents and their parents-parents were the same, friends since from the beginning and were just as always together as their next and previous generations were. At any rate, as you can guess and what everyone expected, one married the other. Naturally, Cole, Erin, Shawn and I were born and as their sons and daughter, we tagged along in most of their trips, spent time with one another and ended up as friends."
`Sounds like Harry, Ron and I.' Hermione thought deeply as he paused. `The only difference being is," She added bitterly, `I don't get to marry either one.' She forced this thought out of her head before she could get all-sentimental again and said. "But you haven't answered my question yet. How did you and Cole become best friends?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "It just happened. We were always playing together. And because Erin and Shawn used to have their own world, and still do, we were always alone with no one else to play with. There were other kids, but Cole and I never bothered to join the huddle. Also, it was kind of natural for the both of us to be the closest so it really hasn't crossed my mind or his why we had ended up the way we are."
"Natural?" Hermione scoffed, Harry and Draco's images appearing before her very eyes. "How can a Potter and Malfoy--as best friends--be natural?"
Alex smiled in its place. "So, you've heard of Potter and Malfoy feud, huh?"
"I have--about some things, but I don't know the story, especially about what happened in the end." Hermione lied, amused at the thought that she knew how deep Harry and Ron's loathing were for Malfoy but was denying she actually knew most of the tale.
But as it turned out, Alex wasn't keen on talking about it as she was; "Perhaps you and I better have this talk some other time. It's quite a story to tell and Ms. Briskwood might not allow us to just chat since we're still in the library."
And then he glanced at the clock on the wall that had its small hand pointed already to 9 and the big one to 2. "Besides it's late. Curfews still haven't changed. Just because I'm friends with the Head Boy, doesn't mean I can break the rules." He added with a wink as he stood up and gathered all the books that he had brought with him.
Hermione nodded agreeably and also alighted from the chair, somewhat disappointed because she wasn't able to get the answer she wanted.
Noticing the way her expression changed from inquisitive to dismay, Alex suggested. "Perhaps Erin's still awake when we get back to the tower. You can ask her if you want, she knows it as well as anybody in the family."
Grateful that Alex hadn't asked why she was so keen on finding out, Hermione nodded and smiled slightly. "I'll do that. Thanks."
Alex's suggestion, however, was highly pointless because Erin was already asleep when Hermione entered the Girls' dormitory. Seeing there was nothing else she could do, Hermione decided to go to bed and take her questions along with her into slumber. Her queries would just have to wait some other time, she thought, as she changed into her nightshirt.
After 5 minutes of staring into nothingness and thinking of empty thoughts, Hermione involuntarily began reflecting on her life and the hazardous way she had spent it for the last 7 years. She laughed an embittered and suffering one as she wondered on how she, Harry and Ron had managed to escape from the dangers and perils, which were constantly on their sides.
Then she bit back the tears threatening to fall again as she realized how cruel she had been to Harry. Maybe for her and Ron, the past events that happened merely imposed cuts on them that had undeniably healed fast and became nothing more than memories with no evidence--but to Harry, everything was different.
As no one really understands him better than she does, aside from Ron, she knew every time something terrible transpires to him, there has always been something that stayed behind, slashing him inside, and leaving him with more than just physical damages. What still remains inside him up until this very time were painful memories and emotional traumas she was sure would never leave him as long as he could and would remember.
And though she treasures every single minute they had spent together, ignoring a feeling that she has never had before was too much neglect she could manage to do. It was, after all, something she has felt for the very first time in years: safety.
With Harry and Ron, she always had to be guarded with every movement they were about to do and never, even for one brief moment, has she experienced living a normal teenage life.
Worrying about tests, boys--were some things someone her age should be thinking about, not Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But, having met Harry and Ron, she had no choice but follow what fate had in store for them.
But in this place--time--she can think of anything, everything, without frowning at the risky consequences of her acts--without feeling the nervous beating of her heart every time she had to understand the painful reality of losing the people she loved. In this place, she was happy being safe and feeling as normal as a witch could possibly feel.
Wiping her eyes with the front hem of her clothes, Hermione sniffed and laid on her back to glare heatedly at the top of her four-poster bed, suddenly mad at her own thoughts for letting these kind of ideas circle her mind. She was ashamed and annoyed at the same time for being selfish enough to regret everything that has happened in the past when she should be thankful that those same events had given her the kind of friends she has now.
But still--it wasn't something she could just ignore. It was a good feeling--a really good one. And the thought never left her mind, even as she finally sunk into a dark stupor with nothing more than two matters in her mind: then and now.
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