A Time To Reflect
Summer Before Fifth Year
By Kinsfire
Disclaimer: Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are. These characters all belong to JK Rowling.
Note: The tip of the hat to DrT was the gem that Nagini had swallowed. And to the one reviewer — I'm sorry, but Hermione gets to stay alive a while longer. How much longer? Keep reading.
They sat in the back seat of the auto, holding each other gently. "I just wish that ... damn it," he muttered.
"You didn't fail, Harry," she said. "Cedric is alive, and friendships have been forged that weren't the first time around. Could you have seen Viktor and Luna together the first time through?"
"No, but it seems to make so much sense now. It's how she pointed it out — for a flier, he grounds her, and she helps him fly in ways he never thought of. They will either crash and burn spectacularly, or be the stuff of romantic legends for ages to come."
The pulled into a restaurant parking lot as he finished the statement. "I think we should get something to eat before heading the rest of the way home," Dan Granger said. "Otherwise it will be too late in the evening to get a proper meal."
"I'll pay my way, sir," Harry said. "You never expected me to be along with you at this point, so you shouldn't bear the additional financial burden."
"You'll need that money, son," he replied. "Don't worry about it."
He shrugged. He had a feeling that this was a conversation he was not going to win, at least not in the parking lot.
The meal went well, except for Harry noticing that Mr Granger kept looking at how closely he and Hermione sat together. He sighed to himself and thought about the conversation that they'd be having soon.
It was about nine-thirty that evening that they arrived at the Granger home. It looked to be a decent size. He also noticed that there didn't seem to be any near neighbours. "Dentistry does quite well for us," Emma said with a laugh. "Actually, between our writing and our investing, we've turned what would be enough to live on into a pleasant little fortune." At Hermione's puzzled look, she said, "Haven't you ever wondered how we can afford the things we do when we're dentists?" Emma asked. "We get paid by the National Health Service for most of our work, and there's not a huge call for cosmetic work where our offices are. Both your father and I write. He writes travelogues for magazines, mostly, but almost always with a humorous twist to them, and they bring in a decent amount of money. I write as well, and I even have a few books published under a pen name."
"What sort of books?" Hermione asked excitedly.
"Depends on the pen name. If it's Lily Farmer -"
"Oh my god! My mother is Lily Farmer?" Hermione squeaked, suddenly blushing.
"I take it you're a fan?" Emma asked in amusement.
"Those books are passed around school amongst the Muggle-born girls," was the reply. "The girls call them the next best thing to sex. Even some of the purebloods are asking for copies." Her blush deepened. "I've worn out my copy of Midnight Rendezvous." She did something no one at the table thought was possible — deepened her blush yet again. "I keep imagining Harry as Roland and myself as Evangeline," she whispered.
"You kinky little thing!" Emma said with a soft chuckle. "I'll have to show you some of the scenes that I wasn't permitted to leave in for those two, even hinting."
"I'm your daughter," Hermione replied, sticking her chin up. "I'm not kinky; I just have a healthy respect for the amount of fun I can have!" She grinned widely at her parents, who were both shaking their heads and trying hard not to laugh loudly.
"There'd better not be any of that kind of fun happening under our roof, however," Dan said finally. "You're both under-age."
Harry winced slightly, hoping that Dan might not notice the wince. No such luck. "From your reaction, is it safe to assume that such activities have taken place at your school?"
"Yes, Dad, they have. And you need to understand -"
"- that this young man has apparently had sex with my under-age daughter while under-age himself. Fairly clear, correct?"
"Yes sir," Harry said.
"I will not tolerate such things while you are a guest in my house, am I clear?" he asked, his voice rising slightly.
"Crystal, sir," Harry answered with no inflection to his voice.
"I'd appreciate it if you not take that tone with me, young man."
Harry simply nodded as he stood up. "I'd appreciate it if you'd send Hedwig along at some point, Hermione. I'll be heading elsewhere." He reached down and grabbed his trunk, then touched the signet ring that suddenly became visible, and disappeared.
He appeared in the entryway of what looked to be a fairly large building. Torches flared to life and expose the well-appointed hallway of what was obviously the home of a wealthy family. Well, the Potters were well off, I'm told.
His thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a house elf. "I is Memo," the elf said simply. "It is good to see Master Harry return to Potter Manor."
"I'm happy to be here, Memo. What, if anything, needs to be done around here?"
"House is clean, and awaiting family. Will Master Harry be living here from now on?"
"I believe so, Memo. I'm away from the Dursleys, and I need a home of my own. This looks like a good one." He smiled for a moment, and then frowned. "I need to send a note to someone. Can you appear in a Muggle home if they know that magic exists?" Memo nodded. "I'll write the note, and if you would kindly take it to Hermione Granger?"
Hermione was facing down her father as soon as Harry was gone. "Well done, dad," she said sarcastically. "Chase him off before there's any possible explanations! Blame it all on him!"
"What are you saying?" Emma asked with a smile, knowing where this was going.
"Well, I sort of pushed the question on him. Daphne and I looked up the spells to prevent pregnancy and then followed Harry to a place that we knew he was going to be taking a bath. Neither of us were wearing anything under our robes." She glared at her father. "None of us were virgins when we left that room."
Emma was openly grinning now. "So correct me if I'm wrong, but Harry was by himself when not one, but two young ladies who knew what they wanted entered the bath that he was in, and convinced him, as girls are wont to do, that they had a certain pesky problem that they wished dealt with, and effectively 'forced' a solution on him."
"I'd argue the forcing, but you're basically correct." She was going to continue, but a house elf appeared before her and handed her a note before disappearing again. Her face fell as she read it.
Hermione,
I should have remembered you father's temper, love. The first time through, he hit me with a fireplace poker when I told them of your death.
Feel free to tell them about what you know, and we can set up a time and place for a meeting, since I am quite certain that the only way I will be allowed back into that house is under extreme duress on your father's part.
I wonder which one of my parents was the loud and angry one? Dad was a bully, it seems, so he's a candidate, but Mum was Aunt Petunia's sister, and my aunt has a piercing voice, so it could have been her. But it's sad to think that family has to have that to exist.
We'll try to set up neutral meetings during the summer, since you obviously will not be permitted to visit me at Potter Manor. If not, we'll at least see each other on September 1st.
I love you.
Harry
She handed the note to her mother and picked up her trunk, carrying it upstairs to her room. A few moments later, both parents were in the room with her. "What does he mean about which of his parents was the loud one?" Emma asked. "And what does he mean about 'the first time through'?"
"Well, the loud one is the easiest to answer. The only examples of family that he's ever been faced with have at least one forceful personality willing to push their decisions onto everyone else. His first example is his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, who are quite vocal about what a worthless freak he is. And by vocal I mean loud. Then you have Molly Weasley, who — as wonderful as she can be at times — can be very pushy about her desires for her family. Very much a 'my way or the highway' attitude." She looked at her father. "And now he has a man who automatically blames him for taking my virginity, his attitude assuming that I had no say in the matter, and who apparently hit him with the fireplace poker in the first time stream."
"First time stream?" Dan asked.
"Yes," she replied. "Harry was ... his mind came back about twenty years, I think — I'm not exactly sure how much — to fix a problem. People had died at the hands of the Dark Lord that I've mentioned to you. That Voldemort fellow?" she asked by way of reminding them. "He's not dead. So, he ended up capturing twelve of us in the first time stream, and was going to use our life forces to make himself immortal. Harry apparently got there just a touch too late to save us, but did kill Voldemort. He ended up with the lifespan. He apparently told you two, and Dad hit him with a fireplace poker."
"This was supposed to be a nice summer for him, one where he doesn't have to mourn the death of a classmate this time around, and instead, he gets to spend it alone in a family home that nobody lives in except him and some house elves. Forgive me if I'm not a happy girl at the moment," she said, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "The sad thing about this is that when it comes time for him to start a family, he likely won't, because he'll be afraid of becoming what he hates. He now knows that a family 'needs' the angry one, and he won't do that, so he'll assume that Daphne or I would be forced into the position, and he won't do that to us, either."
"I'm a little uncomfortable with something I'm hearing," Dan said.
Hermione looked up, fire in her eyes. "I'm bisexual, Dad. Live with it, or tell me to move out. One or the other."
"Don't take that -"
"You saw what happened the last time you used that phrase, Dan," Emma said with steel in her voice. "Don't try for two in a row."
Dan turned and stalked from the room. "I'll get him calmed down. Maybe you can invite Harry back over here for tomorrow?" Emma asked.
"He won't come. You saw the neutral ground reference. Dad's fu ... screwed that up." She fought back her tears again. "Is it too much to want him to have a happy summer for once in his life?"
Emma joined her husband downstairs. He'd opened a Newcastle Brown Ale and was halfway through it already. "Quite the start to the summer, isn't it?" she asked conversationally.
"Don't start, Emma," he said softly. "I'm stuck between trying to keep her safe -"
"- by threatening off her suitors -" she quipped.
"- and letting some young buck come sniffing around her. And now he's got her convinced that he's some time traveller?"
"Dan? Remember that story she told us about last year, when she was using that thing they called a Time Turner?"
He sat up suddenly, almost sloshing the ale out of his glass. "Bugger me, you're right! I had completely forgotten about that." He thought for a moment. "And I've managed to insult someone who came back in time to save my daughter's life, from what I can tell."
"What about the other girl?" Emma asked.
"Same reasoning as with Harry. So what if Hermione likes girls too? So what if she likes girls exclusively? Is this other girl good enough for my little girl?"
"The problem is, Dan, you need to let her make her own mistakes. Maybe she's been luckier than anyone deserves to be and found her soul-mate, or two as the case may be. Maybe she'll get her heart broken, but we can't be there to stop it for her."
She took his face in her hands. "You hurt her tonight, Dan, and you have to make up for that somehow. She thinks that you're unhappy with her because she's bisexual. You chased her boyfriend out of the house. All because you're threatened that you won't be the number one male in her heart anymore."
His face fell. "It is that, isn't it?" He stood, downing the rest of the glass, and then headed upstairs to talk to Hermione.
Hermione sat at her desk, writing a letter to Harry when she heard the knock on her door frame. "May I come in, Hermione?" her father asked.
"It's not as if I could really stop you, even if I wanted to," she replied before turning around to face him. She was surprised to see the look of deep sadness on his face. "I'm sorry, Dad, but you hurt me, and hurt Harry tonight."
"I know, and your mother just made me realise why. Would you believe that it's jealousy?"
She cocked her head for a long moment before smiling widely at her father. "I'll always be your little girl, Daddy."
"Yeah, but you won't be just my girl anymore, and that's what was bothering me," he said. "I'm jealous of the fact that a little bit of your heart now goes to this boy who loves you so much that he came back in time to save your life, and to this girl you know. I screwed everything up because you're not mine alone anymore."
"It's not screwed up, Daddy. Not totally, at least. We should be able to get in touch with Harry." She hugged her father. "Just realise that he loves me like you do, and would die to keep me safe, just like you."
Dan laughed. "I'll tell him that when we meet again."
"I'll finish writing my letter and invite him somewhere neutral. We can invite him here from there."
Harry finished the eight ounces of Newcastle that Dan had poured him. "I appreciate your candour, sir. Just know that -"
"I know. We'd both die for that girl," he said. "Can I assume that at this point, your intentions toward my daughter likely involve someday putting a ring on her finger?"
Harry smiled and unfocused for a moment, telling Dan more than Harry realised. "Sir, I came back in time because twelve people who meant everything to me were killed by a madman. The first time around, I never really admitted to myself until it was too late that I felt something for your daughter." He winced slightly. "One other girl as well, to be honest, but that's another kettle of fish."
"The same girl that Hermione is sweet on?"
Harry smiled. "Daphne. Yes. Wonderful woman — well, girl right now — and ... well, I can vouch for her as well. We know that Hermione wouldn't want us to, but either one of us would ... what's that phrase I came across once? Oh yeah — we'd take a bullet for your daughter. I love her more than I can possibly put into words, sir, no matter how much of a cliché that sounds."
He frowned slightly and bit his lower lip. "I want to ask your blessing on putting a promise ring on your daughter's finger, sir. It's not an engagement ring, but it is a statement that one will follow, if she so desires, once she's old enough." He chuckled as he heard a soft "Squee!" from outside the door. "Either that was your wife being happy about it, or Hermione has plans to say yes."
"I may have made a bad decision earlier, but I feel I'm making a good one now. You have my permission to court and someday marry my daughter, should she find you worthy."
"Of a woman such as her I'll never be worthy, sir, but I'll spend my life trying to be."
"So sayeth the intelligent man," Dan replied. "I still don't understand exactly what Emma sees in me."
"A wonderful man with a sense of honour," Emma said. Eyes twinkling she added, "The mind-blowing sex is pretty good, too!"
"Mother!" squeaked an embarrassed Hermione. She leaned over and whispered something in Emma's ear while she blushed that made the woman lean back and laugh the hardest Harry had ever seen anyone laugh.
Sirius was pardoned finally for his non-part in the deaths of all those people. There had been some wrangling, since a few people wanted him thrown back in prison for escaping his wrongful imprisonment, but it was quickly pointed out that since the prison term had been wrong, since no trial had ever happened, Sirius could not be said to have actually escaped — rather, he had exited the equivalent of a kidnapping. Harry spoke to him the day that he first walked in the open air once more with no fear of legal reprisals.
"Sirius, will you do something for me?" he asked.
"Anything, Harry. Anything at all."
"In the original time line, you never actually claimed the proper title of Patriarch of the Black Family. I think it's part of the reason your mother still hangs on that wall."
"But they're such a Dark family that I want nothing to do with them!"
"Yes, but think of it this way, Sirius — if you claim the right of Patriarch, and then start steering the family into the Light, by doing things like officially accepting Andromeda and her daughter as members once more, and getting rid of Bellatrix and possibly Narcissa, people will remember the Black family as one of the great Light side families in a few generations. And it will all be traceable back to your decision to officially claim Patriarch status."
"How do you know Nymphadora?" he asked. "No, never mind, I forgot."
"Haven't met her yet in this time line, and may never, but I recall that she was a very attractive young lady, with a thing for a certain man with a 'furry little problem' in my original time line."
"Really?" Sirius asked with a mischievous grin.
"Yes, but don't force them too much, or they'll never end up together. You know what she can be like, and you know Remus."
"Yeah, yeah," Sirius replied. "I'll introduce them and see where things go from there."
"Good enough. So, do you agree to take the leadership of the Black family? If you do, I can tell you that the head of the Potter family would look rather favourably upon suggestions of an alliance between the two great households." Harry was grinning by the end of his statement.
"Wouldn't that just put Lucius Malfoy's knickers in a bind?" Sirius replied with an evil grin. "Let's get to Gringott's and deal with it right now."
They returned to number 12 Grimmauld Place a few hours later to find the portrait of Sirius's mother on the ground with Kreacher dead beneath it. It appeared that he had attempted to catch the portrait and been crushed by it instead. There were few tears shed over Kreacher.
The only thing that really marred Harry's summer this time around was the report of a grave in Little Hangleton being robbed. It was a tiny cemetery, reported to be unconsecrated ground, and had been the grave of one Merope Gaunt. An Auror had been found dead in the graveyard as well, having bled to death after apparently putting up a valiant struggle. Harry's scar twinged on and off that summer after that, but there were no major painful flares from his scar.
This had been partially mitigated by the look on Sirius's face when he realised that he was going to be picking up his family's hereditary Wizengamot seat, which would require that he begin to be respectable.
The Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and Daphne, not to mention Remus, were particularly unsympathetic to his requests that they stop laughing.
His summer ended with the question of who would be taking the Defence Against the Dark Arts position during the upcoming school year. Despite the differences, Harry had a feeling that it would still be Umbridge. She hadn't had the chance to try to discredit him this summer as she had the first time around, but she had always been trouble. Well, this time around, if she tries it, she'll not like the outcome. "Harry? You're scaring me a little," Daphne said from his left shoulder.
"Plotting against the evil ones?" Hermione asked from his right one.
"Just deciding what to do if we have the same Defence teacher as we had last time."
"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked.
"Well, if we have Dolores Umbridge, she's got a Blood Quill she'll use for detentions. I'm a threat to her power structure at the Ministry, so I'll get a lot of detentions. Well, the moment she uses one on me, I get to hit her hard. I'm an adult in the eyes of the law, and can take it before the Wizengamot. If she's not carefully, I'll end up bringing down the Fudge government. Not something I want to do, but if we can get someone in fast in his place, then we'll have a better chance of prosecuting this war against Tom." He grinned. "And this time around, we get to deal with him quicker. He's mortal now, ladies. He can't make anymore Horcruxes. I even double checked the Headmaster's calculations.
Hermione was silent for a long moment. "I think that's the thing that proves to me more than anything else that you came back from the future. The Harry I knew up to the beginning of Fourth Year would have never even contemplated Arithmancy and Runes and classes like that. Now you say things like 'I checked the Headmater's calculations for errors' without a thought."
"Does that scare you?" he asked, worried.
"A little, but it helps prove how important we were to you," she replied. Blushing suddenly, she added, "I find intelligent men sexy."
Before he could even think it, Daphne had lightly swatted him. "That's for thinking what you were, Harry. You're a smart man, and we find you attractive. Deal with it."