A Time To Reflect
Meetings and Outcomes
By Kinsfire
Disclaimer: Safety precautions should always be followed when in the water. Snorkel and scuba gear are not toys. Caution: Choking hazard exists. These characters do not belong to me; instead, they belong to JK Rowling.
Back in the Gryffindor Tower, several of the students still up were surprised to find Daphne Greengrass entering the common room with Neville, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Parvati. Harry was carrying the egg, of course, having never had a chance to put it back in his dorm room.
"Not that we mind you guys adding an extra knock-out to the list of girls," Seamus said as he looked at Daphne, "but what gives with bringing someone from Slytherin into Gryffindor?"
Ron surprised them all — given his known thoughts about the house of silver and green — by saying, "You guys should have heard her. She was invited to a meeting that Snape wasn't, and when he left in a huff, he tried to order her to leave as well. She basically told him to get stuffed, no matter how politely she said it."
"Welcome to Gryffindor Tower, dear lady," Dean said, bowing over her hand. "I thought you should be greeted by a gentleman -"
"- but you got to her instead," Seamus interrupted with a grin. Dean's hand went behind his back, and those in view saw a rude gesture toward Finnegan.
Daphne had a small amused smile on her face. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mr ..."
"Thomas. Dean Thomas. The drooling sandy-haired one is Seamus Finnegan, and you already seem to know Misters Potter, Weasley and Longbottom."
"Yes. Gentleman all. If anyone will listen, I will definitely tell them that the Gryffindors that I've met are a wonderful group of people."
"She'll be sleeping in the fourth year girls dorm, before you ask, Seamus," Parvati said with a scowl on her face, as if she'd just eaten an entire lemon in one go.
"I was merely going to be a gentleman and offer -"
"-and of course you'd offer to be right by her to protect her, right Seamus?" Harry asked.
"But of course! A gentleman could do no less!" Seamus said with a laugh. "Seriously," he finally said to Daphne, "welcome to Gryffindor Tower. I apologise if my act made you uncomfortable."
"Actually, it helped make me feel as if I am welcome in your common room. Thank you."
"If the Golden Trio welcome you into the Tower without a peep — if Ron Weasley is impressed with someone from Slytherin — then you are more than welcome here," Dean said.
"Then I suppose that I have you to thank for my warm welcome," she said, and kissed Ron on the cheek.
Blushing furiously, he replied, "Nah, I'm just a git who's finally learning to pull his head out of his ... uh ... well, you understand. Harry's the mover and shaker here."
"Yes, but Hermione would likely hurt me if I tried to kiss him," she said with a smile.
"Nah, it just shows how lucky I was to get there first," Hermione replied.
"Must be something in the water," Harry murmured.
"Silly man," she said, kissing his cheek. "We should head to bed, though, it's a bit late."
Eyes twinkling, he replied, "This early in our relationship?"
She smacked him on the arm perhaps a little harder than intended. "Prat!" she said through a deep blush. "Come with me, Daphne," she said, turning and heading up the stairs.
"And there, gentlemen," Harry said, "is the reason that God gave women beautiful posteriors. Because if they have to walk away from you, it should at least be an enjoyable experience."
"Harry!" squeaked Hermione's embarrassed voice from upstairs followed by the sound of multipe girls giggling.
Harry waited on the couch the next morning for Hermione. He wasn't sure if a major change had happened, or if his being that forward had forced her to confront her attraction to both boys early. He couldn't have imagined that scene with Hermione demanding that Ron make a choice before sixth or seventh year, first go-around.
Parvati and Lavender came downstairs. As soon as she caught sight of Harry, Parvati blushed furiously and almost ran from the common room. "Daphne and Hermione will be down shortly," Lavender said with a grin before moving to catch up with her friend.
Harry waited a few minuted more before he heard the two girls coming down the stairs. Hermione stopped at the bottom and looked at Harry, worry evident in her face. He smiled at her. "Came to your senses last night, huh? Don't worry, I don't have a problem with it. Let's head on down to breakfast."
Hermione looked relieved and relaxed. Harry turned and headed for the door, opening it for the two girls, and escorting them to breakfast. Daphne sat with them when she saw the looks that the rest of Slytherin seemed to be giving her.
"Potions won't be any fun today," Daphne said. "You embarrassed him by getting him out of the meeting, and then I argued with him."
"Well, he's going to be watched, whether he knows it or not. "Expect him to take the points from Gryffindor, since you stayed there overnight, so he'll 'insult' you by calling you one."
"If I'd known you guys were that friendly, I'd have tried to end up there. I'm too ambitious, though," she shrugged, and Harry enjoyed it for a moment.
Interesting. I wouldn't have looked at a fourteen or fifteen year old and found them sexy two weeks ago, but now I'm enjoying the memory of what she'll look like under her robes in a year or two. I guess She reset my hormones at the same time when she sent me back. Still feel a little like a pervert, though.
"You okay, Harry?" Hermione asked. "You zoned out for a moment."
"Ah, just thinking about some of what you guys heard last night."
"You are not deserving of Hell!" she hissed quietly.
He blinked. "No, I wasn't thinking that," he said equally as quietly. "Just realising that some extra changes had to have been made in the bounce back. Certain ways of thinking that work better for me now than if I were acting like a thirty-something." He looked at the two, who were now quite curious. "Basically, I can act as if I'm fourteen, which this body is, rather than the thirty-something that the mind is," he whispered. "It's much easier to deal with everyone. Even if I could pass my N.E.W.T.s tomorrow."
Hermione's eyebrows rose, and even Daphne perked up somewhat. "We are so studying with you," Daphne breathed.
The group walked into Potions class that Friday several minutes early and sat down. As the professor entered the room. He said nothing, but sneered at the group, including Daphne in the sneer as he looked around the room.
"Don't think your little performance means that you'll be getting a free ride around here, Potter. You are a spoiled child, and I will break you of that arrogance of yours if it is the last thing I do."
Harry looked at him and replied, with no malice in his voice, "The attempt will be, professor."
Snape rose to full height and opened his mouth as the door opened to let the rest of the class into the room. He silenced himself quickly, but Harry knew that he would be paying for his response throughout the class.
Out of the corner of his eye, about halfway through the class, while Snape was looking toward the Slytherins, Harry saw Millicent Bulstrode 'accidentally' hit Daphne's face hard enough to make blood flow from the blonde girl's nose. "Ten points from Gryffindor for not being more careful, Miss Greengrass."
"And how, precisely, does Gryffindor work into this, Professor?" Harry asked conversationally.
"Given where she spent the night, I would think that would be obvious," the man said with a smirk.
"Ah. You consider it by injection," Daphne said through her hand. She stood and gathered her things, heading for the door, but not before letting several drops of her blood 'accidentally' fall into the cauldron. Oddly, neither Millicent or Snape caught that. She swept from the room as majestically as one with a bloody nose can.
"You'll take the points for it anyway, so I'll say it. That may well have been your last mistake, sir. She's a real Slytherin, as opposed to the ones you've been brewing recently."
"And how would you be able to judge?" sneered the Potions professor.
"Oh no, I won't ruin the surprise for you. You'd best make sure your resume is up to date, though."
"And how will you manage that?" Harry's response was merely to smile beatifically.
Snape got so furious that he stalked away, rather than physically assault a student. In doing so, he forgot to take more points from Gryffindor.
About twenty minutes later, thick orange smoke began to pour from Bulstrode's cauldron, and it boiled over dangerously, thick bubbles popping and releasing noxious fumes with every pop. "Everyone out!" Snape bellowed. "Now!" In a near panic, the Slytherins left.
"Why are you still here?" he asked the handful of remaining Gryffindors.
"Waiting for the stampede to end," Harry said, "and being stupid Gryffindors, making sure that everyone got out safely." He left with a smile.
They were met by Daphne, who was looking well. The Gryffindors smiled at her and headed to dinner with her. She and Hermione seemed to be whispering about something, and Harry smiled at the image.
"So how soon will our dear Potions professor be seeing his downfall?" he asked somewhat theatrically into a lull in their whispering.
"I have no idea what you mean," Daphne said in a far too innocent voice. Harry's only answer was a snort of laughter.
"I'm going to disappear tomorrow," he said once they had gone back to the Tower. Daphne had once again come with them. "I need to make sure that the clue is the same as before." He looked to Daphne. "Oh yes. Dobby?" he asked softly, and the house elf appeared. Hermione started to turn a colour that does not look good on anything human. "In a moment, Hermione. Dobby, could you grab all of Daphne's things from Slytherin and move them here to Gryffindor? If her Head of House is going to treat her like a Gryffindor, she might as well be one."
"Dobby will do!" he said before popping out.
"Harry, how could you -" Hermione started.
"How much do you know about house elves?" he interrupted.
"I know that they're unpaid slaves!" she replied, her voice becoming shrill. "How can you condone such treatment of a sentient species? I thought better of you, Harry!"
He looked at her coldly. "Kindly study the results of what will happen to a house elf if they are freed, Miss Granger," he finally said in a chill voice. "I look forward to hearing the results of your studies. You might wish to actually interview those you profess you are trying to save." With that, he stood and left the Tower, but not before he heard Ron say, "Smooth going, Hermione. You've lost your boyfriend after how many days?"
He stalked through the school, since curfew was not yet called, and found himself on the seventh floor, in front of the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy. He stomped back and forth in front of it for several seconds before a door appeared.
What he found inside was a surprise — a quiet room in what he recognised as the Granger home. He had been there once, to be the one to tell them of their daughter's death and his part in it. Rather than the expected ranting and raving, they thanked him for the information.
"I'm sorry, Drs Granger, but ... Hermione is dead due to one man's intense stupidity. I thought you should know from a person who knew her, rather than some cold and impersonal Ministry employee."
"Thank you," Emma Granger sniffed. "It means a lot."
"What will be done to the idiot?"Dan Granger asked.
"Unfortunately, rather than being put into Azkaban for the remainder of his life, where he belongs, the worthless prick gets parades and the like from a grateful public," Harry snarled.
"How did he manage that?" Dan asked.
"By surviving, rather than getting there on time and saving the lives of twelve far more deserving people." He bowed his head. "You daughter is dead because of me, and if it were possible for me to die, I would stand here and let you kill me," he told the shocked couple. "As it is, I give you full permission to take out all your frustrations on me. I can't be killed, dammit, so if you want to do things like slit my throat or bash my head in with a fireplace poker, I'll let you with no fight. I'll just ask that we move it to your bathroom, so that you have less to clean up."
Dan had looked furious for a moment, and then did as Harry had suggested — he grabbed the poker and slammed it against Harry's head as hard as he could.
Harry awoke a time later with a blinding headache that was rapidly fading. "Damn it to hell," he growled. "Why can't I die like I deserve to?"
"Because you obviously have a purpose," Dan said sadly. "I'm sorry for hurting you."
"I'm not. It's the one good thing about this curse — you can kill me as many times as you want, and I'll come back for more."
"I took my grief out on you, son, and that's wrong."
"No it's not!" Harry yelled indignantly. "You crushed my skull with that poker, and I came back. My purpose is to be the punching bag for all the families, I know that much. So strike away, as often as you want to."
"It's all right to admit that you loved her," Emma said.
"I still do!" he yelled. "But she's not here because I was two thousand types of idiot! You don't have a daughter any more because some arrogant arsehole took his fucking time getting to save his supposed friends, and she paid the price for it!"
He shook his head and looked around the empty building that the Room of Requirement had created for him. "Why did it make the Granger home for me? All it does is make me depressed."
"Because the castle is mildly ... well, sentient isn't the right word," 'Emma Granger' said as she stepped out from the kitchen area with a cup of coffee. "We're representations of them, and we'll act pretty much as their daughter would expect them to. Not necessarily how she consciously wises they would, but how she knows them. It's pretty safe to assume that I'll react to you the way that the real Emma Granger would."
"It's like that Holodeck in the Star Trek show," he said with admiration.
"If you will," she said. "You need to be shriven, in a way. You need to talk about her, and who better than to her parents. Destroying things won't work, as you've learned, and you certainly are too angry to talk to her right now."
"It's just that ... well, I forgot how single-minded she can be on a subject, especially when she's in the wrong. I fully expect that it will be at least a week before she's willing to approach me and talk as we used to, and then she'll hope to gloss past the incident. Your daughter ... excuse me. Hermione is not one to admit when she's wrong. She fights it as long as possible."
"Then why do you love her?" Emma asked and took a sip of the coffee.
"She's beautiful, and caring, and sweet, and she's even physically attractive." He developed a wry smile. "I never did tell her that I enjoyed the fact that her sweaters fit her so delightfully."
He sighed. "She's such a wonderful person at times, but she has got to curb that tendency to try to help before learning all the facts about what she's trying to do. She just accused me of being a slaver, for God's sake! She's trying to help the house elves, but doesn't realise that the freedom she's offering them will kill them — they need to be bound to someone. In the time I came from, even years after her death the house elves saw her as their equivalent of Voldemort — someone who wanted them all dead. All because she refused to learn. And that's why so many other students mocked her."
"The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you'll forgive her."
"I forgave Ron for calling me a liar. I think I can forgive her for calling me something without all the facts."
"So she won't get any real punishment? You've already said that she'll try to avoid taking real responsibility for her actions."
"I did, didn't I?" He thought for a long moment. "I suppose that I should go back to the Tower, since I'm going to forgive her, no matter what. I didn't come back to save her life just to lose her from my life. Even if we did have one of the shortest romances on record."
Emma took another sip from the coffee. "So when are you going to tell them that you'll likely not survive the final battle with Voldemort, if things go the way you want?"
He looked at her, stunned for a moment, before laughing. "Of course you'd be able to know that! You're not really Emma Granger!"
"You're avoiding the question," was all that she said.
"Honestly? I don't intend to tell them. If I survive, it's great. If I die to keep them safe, then great. But I'm not about to get them worrying about me for the next several months, because they'll probably try to come with me, and that is not going to happen."
Dobby appeared in the room. "Master Harry Potter sir? Miss Grangey would like to speak with you when you are willing to speak with her. Miss Grangey has spoken to Dobby about house-elves, and she is sorrowful at the loss of her friendship with Master Harry Potter sir."
"Loss of her friendship?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"Well, it's the very first time you have ever spoken to her and not called her by her first name," Emma said. "Even when you were terribly angry with her over the Firebolt, she was still Hermione."
"Okay, another reason to return to the Tower quickly." He stood and started to leave. "Have I been shriven yet?"
"That's a personal thing, to be honest," Emma said. "Go to her, Harry."
"I will. Thank you, ma'am." The representation of Mrs Granger smiled and faded out, coffee cup and all as Harry exited the room.
He ran all the way back to Gryffindor Tower, worried about Hermione, and shot through the portal as soon as there was enough room, remembering to thank the Fat Lady as he did so. Hermione looked up and smiled, but lost the smile almost immediately. She stood and faced him, trying very hard to keep her lower lip from quivering. "Mr Potter, I owe you a very large apology. I made some horrible, unfounded assumptions, and lost your friendship because of it. You were absolutely correct concerning the house elves, and I will endeavour to learn more about a subject before I try to do something about it." Softly, at a level Harry was sure she hadn't meant him to be able to hear, she added, "If only the cost hadn't been so high to learn the lesson."
He pulled her into a hug. "Even if you decided not to be my girlfriend, you will always be my friend. I'm sorry that my formal tone made you think that I was breaking everything off with you."
She pushed away from him and looked up into his smiling face. "You really ... oh, thank you!" she cried, tears starting to flow from her eyes. She cuddled up against him, and he could tell that she was listening to the sound of his heart beating.
It was about a minute later that he saw her frown. "Wait, you said something about me not being you girlfriend anymore? When did that happen?"
He cocked his head in puzzlement. "The other day, when you and Daphne came down together. You looked worried, and when I mentioned that you'd come to your senses and that I didn't have a problem with it ..."
She turned white. "You thought I'd broken up with you?" she asked in horror.
He laughed softly. "Hermione, I'm thirty-something in here," he said, tapping his head. "I've done some really ugly things. I expected that, once you'd had a chance to hear my history and could think on it. I'm not hurt by it. Really!"
"Harry, I need to say this to you, so please let me, alright?" He nodded to her, and suddenly found his face pulled down to hers, where she gave him the most searing kiss he had ever received, one that made the blood in his body head rather resolutely below his waist. When she finally released him, she was pressed against him tightly. "Harry James Potter, I am in love with you. I am sorry for giving you the impression that we were breaking up. I fully intend to help you with that not so little problem that I seemed to have caused — intentionally, I might add — at some point that you will let me do so." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Maybe give you the gift of making me a woman."
His eyes widened, and he kissed her in response. When he was done, he could feel her heart pounding, they were holding each other so tightly. "What were you so worried about, then? What had you worried that I wouldn't accept what you had to say?"
She bit her lower lip and tried to push away from him, but he held her closely. "Tell me. I can't think of anything you can tell me now that might make me not want to be with you."
"Call Daphne over. She needs to be here too." Daphne was looking at the two of them and smiling, but looked confused when Harry motioned her over.
"What's up?" Daphne asked.
Harry cast a few charms, and they knew that no one was going to be listening to them or bothering them. "Her worry that I'm going to hate her in a minute. I misunderstood her the other day, and thought that she had broken up with me. She thinks that whatever she has to say will make me hate her."
"Some people do," Daphne said, now biting her lower lip.
Harry looked at the two of them for a moment and then smiled. "So I take it that you really enjoy what Daphne wears under her robes?"
Hermione's eyes widened. "How do you ... oh, she was your lover in the future?"
"No, she just got very comfortable around me to the point where she was willing to take off her robes. I assume that there are charms that imitate a brassiere?"
Daphne smiled. "Yes, and I already need them at almost fifteen."
"So is it that the two of you just enjoyed looking at each other or -" Harry began to ask.
Daphne blushed furiously. "I ... uh, well, Hermione awoke to find me pretending I was a baby, if you understand me."
Harry looked at Hermione for a moment and then back at Daphne. "Do you have any idea of just how jealous I am of you right now?" he asked with a smile. "In the previous time stream, once I got my head out of my arse, I grew to adore the way that Hermione fills out her sweaters. My fantasy was to someday be in a position where she would have no problem walking around in front of me in a sweater and high leg knickers. Of course, I'd be advertising my appreciation of the outfit the whole time ..." he trailed off, blushing himself now. "I never had the chance to be that lucky. I suspected that you," he said, looking at Daphne, "were likely bisexual, based on the fact that you always seemed to show a ... ah ... pointed interest in the other girls we hung out with."
Hermione asked in a small voice, "How many lovers did you have?"
"If you and I make love someday, Hermione, then you will be getting my virginity. Both time streams. I have never made love to any woman. There was some small amount of petting with Ginny and I. She had some very pretty bras and knickers that I got to see and get my hands under, but at no time did any of them leave her body." He paused. "Y'know, based on that time stream, Ginny and I will never be boyfriend and girlfriend this time around. I know her too well."
"What if we make that sign up sheet for your harem?" Daphne asked. Her eyes were twinkling.
"For the time being, all girls must be vetted by Hermione. She gets final say over who joins and who doesn't." He smirked at the girls, calling their bluff.
Hermione grinned and nestled against his chest again. "Good, that means that it's just Daphne and I at the moment, with Parvati being a possible, given the way she was staring at Daphne and I all last night. Just as pointed an interest, to use your phrasing, Harry."
"Daphne and me," he said, correcting her grammar. "If you drop Daphne from the sentence, then you'd use the word me, so it should be used anyway." He shook his head. "So you think she'd not have complained had the two of you climbed into her bed and chosen to ... ah, tire her out?"
"We could always find out tonight," Daphne said wickedly.
Harry closed his eyes. "Please. The images that are coming to mind are too pleasant, and I really don't need to be advertising as I climb into bed tonight. The guys might take it wrong." What Hermione had said finally sank in completely. "Wait. You were actually serious about both you and Daphne?!"
"Don't you want us both to be serious about it?" she asked quite seriously.
"The brain might be thirty-something, but the hormones have reset to fourteen, Hermione. Let me explain it. Heterosexual male here," he said, waving his hand as if drawing attention to himself. "Two sexy women, both of whom I happen to really like as friends as well. What do you think my answer is?"
"Then where's the problem?" Daphne asked.
He met both pairs of eyes for a moment before answering. "Losing the friendship of either of you. I was going to die a virgin in that other time stream. If there's a worry about losing either of you as a friend, I'll die a virgin this time around."
Hermione smiled widely. "Looks like you have yourself two girlfriends, then, Harry." After a moment's pause, she asked, "Which one of us do you want to make love to first?"
He met her eyes and locked his gaze to hers. "No offence to you Daphne, but once I knew that Ginny and I weren't going to work out, all my fantasies about losing my virginity were about Hermione. The library, a broom closet, Snape's desk, the Great Hall, the prefect's bathroom -" He stopped suddenly and snapped his fingers. "That reminds me. I might as well do it this weekend. I'm going to hit the prefect's bathroom and submerge the egg and listen to it to make sure that the clue is still the same as last time around."
"Okay," Hermione said brightly. "It's good that you're doing it soon."
"Well, knowing how to solve it is easier this time. I already know how. At least I won't be waiting until January this time." He looked at them. "If it is the same clue, then ..." He paused. "No insult intended, Daphne, but Hermione is likely to be the one chosen, if they don't change things." He cocked his head. "Could be both, I don't know how they'll work it."
He looked at the two of them. "I'll explain after I've heard the egg, in case the clue might have changed with the time stream changes. It shouldn't have, but I've learned my lessons about arrogance. It gets people killed."
"We'll wait to find out what the clue is, then," Hermione said. After a moment, she said, "It's been quite a few years for you. Do you even remember the password for the prefect's bath this year?"
He grinned. "Pine fresh. I checked the other day, just to be sure."
They woke the next day to discover that Professor Snape was on indefinite leave until a potential legal problem could be worked out. The Slytherins were looking at Daphne with undisguised hatred in their eyes. Harry looked back in their direction and let a little of his power flow into his eyes. Those who looked at him quailed.
He checked the sign up sheet for the prefect's bath and discovered that no one would be using it in the middle of the day, between the hours of two and five pm, so he warned Daphne and Hermione so that they could help run interference for him while he slipped into the room.
He was there at two pm, slipping inside quickly. He had been dressed normally, and quickly slipped into the warm water, putting the egg under the surface and opening it, listening to the gentle music with words that he could not yet hear play. He smiled. So far, so good.
He took a deep breath and dipped his head below the surface and opened the egg once more.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you re searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour- the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back"
He grinned as he surfaced. "Perfect! The clue hasn't changed." he said.
"Glad to hear it," Daphne said to the accompaniment of the rustling of fabric. He spun to find himself surprised by their mode of dress.
It was nearly five o'clock when he exited the prefect's bathroom with Hermione and Daphne. "Have I mentioned what a wonderful day it is?" he asked with a happy laugh.
"I understand getting laid can do that for you," Daphne said with her own joyous laugh. "It certainly improved my day!"
"Mine too, even if I'm going to be sore for the rest of the day," Hermione said, mock-glaring at Harry. "I think you bruised me a little."
"Sorry," he said honestly. "I was ... um, inspired, shall we say? I have a problem, though."
"What?" Hermione asked, sounding worried.
"I can only ask one of you to the Yule Ball that we know nothing about yet. They won't announce it until the tenth of December. Which one of you do I take to the ball?"