Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am not J. K. Rowling. Therefore I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter one
I, Hermione Jane Weasley of sound body and mind do leave to Luna Lovegood all my books on magical creatures and the notes on my desk. To Harry Potter my best friend I leave Crookshanks, and Vault 180 and all the items in it. To my parents I leave all my nonmoving photos. To Ronald Weasley, my husband I leave all my remaining assets.
Love, Hermione
There were a lot of tears in the room and Harry couldn't help but wonder why? Why after all they survived did they not get their happily ever after? Why did bad things always happen on Halloween?
"Mr. Potter here is the key for your new vault. Do you wish to look into it now or later?" Said the goblin.
Before Harry even had the chance to open his mouth Ginny replied "He will do that later, we have another appointment we have to make."
Harry narrowed his eyes visibly upset "I don't remember having anything we need to do today, besides it won't take too long to look at the vault. If you want you can go order some ice cream or something." Harry had been having a hard time with Ginny lately. Ever since he got back together with her she seemed to be trying to control every minute of his life.
"What do you mean we have nothing to do today you said you would take me to the ministry ball today." Replied Ginny, and before Harry could even respond to her Ron said "You better not mistreat my sister Harry, If you promised to go don't back out of it."
If anyone thought Harry was upset before they would consider it nothing compared to the angry vibes he was giving off after that statement. It was bad enough that Ginny had planned to go to a party and not let him know until the last minute, again, but to have Ron believe that he would not keep his promises was annoying."I never promised to go to the ball, I don't like the attention and I even if I had I am in no mood to party after losing my best friend and Ron you have some nerve even trying to talk to me after your inability to control your temper led to the death of Hermione." Harry replied before turning his attention to the impatient goblin and saying "I will be going to look at the vault now."
Amidst the protest of Ginny and Ron, Harry followed the goblin to the new vault. Following the goblin to the cart Harry couldn't help but wonder what Hermione had left him and why both Ron and Ginny didn't seem to want him to go. He also thought about crookshanks and could understand why Hermione would not leave crookshanks with Ron; the two had never gotten along. During the last month or so before Hermione's death he had seen an increase in their fighting, of course they rarely didn't fight. The cart ride was faster than usual and Harry couldn't help but wonder if the goblin didn't like him. They finally stopped in front of an average looking vault.
"Your Key mister Potter" the goblin impatiently barked. Harry entered the vault and looked at what appeared to be a trunk and a bunch of books.
"I should have guessed she would leave me a bunch of books" muttered Harry while looking at a pile of books that included all the Hogwarts books. He made his way to another pile of books that sat on top of the trunk and Harry Couldn't help but notice one that didn't have a title. The little brown book had a leather cover and when he opened it he was surprised to see that it said Diary of Hermione Jane Granger-Weasley, the Weasley was obviously added after judging by the better handwriting and the different ink. He quickly dropped the book on to the pile and attempted to halt his growing blush, he did however take note of the fact that she had crossed the name Weasley off. Harry decided to forget the diary for now and move the pile of books off the trunk. He was curious about what she had in the trunk. He noted some of the titles as he placed them on the floor, titles that included The Mind Arts and You, Things the Ministry Hides, Conspiracy Theories, The Theory of Time, and Potions and Rituals.
Unlocking the trunk Harry peered inside to see what appeared to be Hermione's notes from school. A letter addressed to him appeared on the top of the pile.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this then I am dead. I knew there was a possibility that this could happen when I started my research into time travel. I want you to understand my reasons for deciding to research time travel. I started my research on the veil hoping to find a way to get Sirius back for you. During my research I asked Luna for help. I didn't know it at the time but Luna had some seer abilities and she saw that I had been dosed by an unknown potion. She offered by a potion meant to remove all potions and spells from a person. It was very painful and when I got home Ron was very upset with how long I spent at work. I think that was the start of the issues between us. He wanted me to stay home longer because he missed me and I can't help but wonder if that was part of the reason that I didn't get as much work done as I had hoped. During the next week I had dreams I couldn't remember only a vague feeling that something had happened. When I asked Luna about it she said that is usually the result of the potion attempting to erase the effects of being obliviated. She did a spell to check for obliviate residue. The results came up as over one hundred times during my school years and three times since my marriage to Ron.
Fearing that the spell may have been cast on you, I cast the spell to check. You showed so much residue that the spell couldn't determine the exact amounts. I told this to you when I found out, and with the results in my pocket I left. When I got home that day I was obliviated by Ron. Luckily he didn't obliviate the fact that I was working with Luna on the research project. When I met Luna the next day she asked for your results. When she realized that I had no memory of the event she gave me a potion, a Lovegood special recipe, which reverses the effects of a recent obliviate. I was upset when I realized what happened; especially since it was that morning I discovered I was pregnant. I managed to find your results and gave a copy to Luna for safe keeping. When I went to talk to you about the results you had no memory of it. I asked Luna for more of the potion, but it didn't have enough time to brew. We continued researching the veil, and we discovered an old biography that mentioned it. We didn't have enough time to read it that night. When I went home I saw Ron talking to Ginny via the floo, he stopped when he noticed me and then obliviated me again. Luna informed me about what happened when I went back to her house. I am extremely thankful that Ron didn't know I was working with Luna. Luna started brewing several doses of the Lovegood Memory Retrieval Potion and we continued in our research on the veil.
Speaking of the veil, the biography we found was extremely helpful. It mentioned that the veil was an attempt at time travel. The book was apparently being written by the creator, who went by the name Jus T. Imagine. It listed all his research in time travel. It turns out that the veil was meant to work with a potion and ritual to send up to three people back in time. Unfortunately he admits that he must have made a mistake somewhere and that the ministry confiscated his property and forbid him from continuing his research. He remarks that if he could only figure out what part of the ritual and or potion went wrong he could have gotten it to work. Ministry records show that the veil had been used as an execution tool until the foundation of Azkaban and a method to control dememtors. Unfortunately looking at all the information in the book we concluded that there would be no way to get Sirius out of the veil. We did however notice some errors in his work. He had made several assumptions he made based on the theory of magic during that time that have since been proven false.
Luna and I had by that point been unable to bring to your attention the issues of being obliviated, and to my annoyance I discovered I wasn't actually in love with Ron. After having been obliviated so many times Luna and I went to Gringotts to change our wills and I wrote this letter to you. If the worse has come to pass then please talk to Luna and finish the research. Luna and I were hoping that the three of us could travel back in time and prevent Riddle from becoming Voldemort and maybe better the Magical World as much as we could. In the box at the far left corner is a sky blue potion it is the potion I took when Luna told me I had been dosed by an unknown potion, please take it. Luna and I think that you might have been dosed too.
Love with all my heart,
Hermione
Harry's rage was so strong that for several minutes all he could do was scream.
"Mr. Potter" came the loud voice of the goblin. Harry turned around and noticed the goblin peering into the vault while plugging his hears. The goblin finally having Harry's attention removed his hands and asked "are you alright?"
"I am fine, sorry for the noise." Harry said through his sore throat. Harry then went to the box and drank the potion. It was painful but in the end Harry couldn't help but feel like a burden had been removed. He then started to shrink the books and place them in the trunk. He noticed that there were a couple books on muggle subjects like history and psychology. After packing all the books in the trunk Harry stood up. Clutching Hermione's letter in his hand, he left the vault with the trunk while a copy of the letter fell to the ground and the original stayed safe in his robe pocket. Harry loaded the trunk on the cart then they left. During the cart ride back harry was making plans and mourning the fact that his best friend wouldn't be with him.
When Harry stepped into the lobby of Gringotts he noticed that Ginny was waiting for him with an unhappy crookshanks in her arms. He couldn't help but think about the letter.
"It's about time; do you realize how long you spent down there? We missed the ball you know" snapped a Ginny as soon as she saw him.
"She left me a lot of books I had to shrink them." He said while the two headed out the bank.
"It figures she would leave you a lot of books. Ron dropped crookshanks off said he couldn't spend another minute with him now that Hermione is no longer there." Ginny said just before the two apparated home.
Harry set the trunk down in his room before locking the door while Ginny set crookshanks down.
-The Next Morning-
Harry awoke to the sounds of thumps on the stairs. Grabbing his wand he immediately went to investigate. The first thing he noticed was that the sounds were from the Hermione's trunk hitting the wall while it was being floated down the stairs. The second thing he noticed was that Ginny was the one floating it down. "Ginny what are you doing?"
"Oh, Good morning Harry. Did I wake you up I didn't mean to. I was going to move the trunk to the living room so we could go through it this morning." Ginny had managed to get the trunk to near the end of the stairs.
"I left it in my room for a reason Ginny." Harry replied while casting his on spell to summon the trunk back upstairs. Harry noticed Ginny's eyes narrow before she dropped her levitation spell in such a way to make the trunk fall on to the stairs. "I wanted to go through it alone"
"Oops" Ginny exclaimed. The trunk hit the stairs and opened spilling several books and some papers that fell to the bottom of the stairs. Harry quickly raced down the stairs and started putting the books and papers back in the trunk. Looking at Ginny he noticed that she had Hermione's diary and had raised her wand to cast a spell.
"Ginny, what are you doing? Give that to me" harry yelled while pulling the book from her hand before she could finish her spell.
"It's her diary Harry. I am sure she didn't mean for you to have it, after all no girl wants a boy to read her diary." Ginny replied with a pout. "Well I guess if you want to clean up the rest of the books it would be alright, but you really should give the diary to me." She said while placing her hand on the diary and attempting to take the diary. Harry quickly moved the book out of her reach and into the trunk. Ginny huffed before making her way toward the kitchen.
While Harry finished cleaning up the mess, Ginny pulled out a large white book with frills and lace. After placing the trunk back in his room and locking the door behind him. Harry made his way to the kitchen to start breakfast.
"I managed to come up with a place for our wedding. Minerva said that it would be alright for us to have the wedding on Christmas Eve in front of the Lake. I also found the invitations we should use." Harry was not in a good mood at all. Hearing Ginny rambling on about the wedding he couldn't help but wonder why. Why was he getting married to her again?
"Ginny let's not talk about that right now" Harry said while setting the breakfast on the table.
"What do you want to talk about then?" Ginny replied, as she slowly placed her frilly white wedding planner to the side. "Perhaps we should talk about you not taking me to the ball like you said you would or would you prefer to talk about what was in the trunk Hermione left you?"
By this point Harry's temper rose. "I told you before; I never promised to take you. Honestly I am having a hard time remembering why I decided to marry you."
"Harry, how could you say that to me? After all the things we have been through." Ginny had stopped eating and placed her fork down with a loud clank. In an example of Weasley temper Ginny started yelling. "First we miss the ball. Then we end up with that monster in disguise of a kneazle. Then you ignore me to look at what Hermione left you, spending longer than you said you would. Meanwhile I am stuck in the lobby with crookshanks. Then when I try to help organize the trunk for you, you get mad at me. Then you ignored me when I advise you against reading Hermione's diary. Then you don't want to talk about the marriage AND NOW YOU SAY YOU CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHY YOU WANT TO MARRY ME!" By the time Ginny had finished her rant her face had turned as red as her hair.
"Look Ginny I am not in the mood to do much today. I didn't make you stay in Gringotts, in fact I suggested you go get ice cream or go to the ball on your own. You could have easily dropped crookshanks off instead of hold him all day. I think…"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU. THAT'S IT I AM LEAVING AND WON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU APOLOGIZE!"
Ginny quickly left before Harry could do much of anything. After she left Harry sat dumbfounded at her reaction. Slowly he got up and went to the fire place; throwing a handful of floo powder into the fire, when the fire turned green he muttered "The Rookery: Luna Lovegood." After a few moments Luna's head appeared in the fireplace.
"Oh, hello Harry" Luna tilted her head and asked "can I help you."
"Hey Luna I got some questions about some of the things that Hermione left me, she mentioned that you were helping her." Harry was hoping to move the trunk somewhere safe and maybe go through it with Luna.
"Hmm, why don't you come here and I will attempt to help you."
"Okay, I'll be their soon." Harry pulled his head out of the fire. He went upstairs and grabbed the trunk and brought it downstairs. Crookshanks, who had fallen asleep on his bed woke up and followed him to the fire place. Harry set the trunk down and turned to grab a hand full of floo powder. With the powder in his hand he turned to grab a hold of the trunk only to see crookshanks sitting on top of it. "Crooks, get off." Crookshanks looked at him like he was dumb. "Do you want to come with me or something?" Crookshanks started purring. "Fine, you can come." He quickly picked up crookshanks with the hand that hand no floo powder. He managed to get Crookshanks secured on his shoulder. He then grabbed the trunk, threw the powder into the fire and stepped inside when it turned green. "The Rookery" He shouted.
Crookshanks was not amused by Harry falling out of the fireplace if the painful yowl he made was any indication. "Did you hear something?" came a voice from upstairs. Harry was confused that was definitely not Luna unless she had suddenly turned into a guy. Crookshanks was already moving up the stairs. Harry floating Hermione's trunk followed.
"I didn't hear anything" said a voice that sounded a lot like Ginny. "Anyway, Ron and I …" They started talking quieter and Harry couldn't help but remember what Hermione said in her letter about Ron. Seeing Crookshanks nudge a door open. Seeing it was empty he quickly set the trunk in the room. "Crookshanks, can you guard the trunk while I go talk to Luna." Crookshanks looked at him before jumping on the top of the trunk and watching the door.
Harry quietly left the room and closed the door behind him. He moved his wand into his hand and followed the whispers which appeared to be coming from Luna's library. Seeing that the door was open he peaked inside. He noticed Ron first. He was taking notes of Luna's desk while her back was turned. Thinking quickly Harry grabbed his handkerchief and switched it for the papers that were now in Ron's pocket. Ron after stealing the papers gave Ginny a nod. Ginny then raised her wand and said "Obliviate."
Ron and Ginny left Luna on the chair of her desk before they started making their way out. Harry quickly disillusioned himself and pressed himself against the wall.
"Glad you got a look into Hermione's trunk otherwise we wouldn't know that Luna knew about our use of love potions and memory spells." Said Ron. Ginny quickly hushed him and said "Be quiet. We don't know if Luna has a method of hearing what we say."
Harry was pissed and was tempted to just outright hurt the two but knew that he would get obliviated if he tried. So instead he made his way to Luna.
"Luna" when she didn't respond Harry quickly cast an enervate.
"Huh, Harry what are you doing here" asked Luna.
"I came over to talk about the project you were working on with Hermione when I saw Ron stealing these notes. I switched them with a handkerchief and before I could stop her, Ginny obliviated you" Harry replied while handing her the notes he had prevented Ron from taking.
"Oh, it's a good thing I recently finished another batch of the Memory Retrieval potion." Luna said while making her way to a portrait in the hallway of an old man riding a funny looking mammal. She whispered a phrase that Harry couldn't hear and the portrait swung open to reveal a small shelf with several potions. Harry recognized five of them as the same as the one Hermione left in his vault. There were about fifteen bottles of a sliver potion that had gold swirls in it. Luna took one of these out, closed the portrait and made her way to the study that crookshanks was in. She only glanced at crookshanks before making her way to the little couch in the corner.
Harry made his way to crookshanks. "Thanks for watching the trunk, Crooks. Um, Luna shouldn't we…" Harry said while turning to face Luna. He sighed when he realized that the potion was empty and Luna was asleep on the couch. "I would have preferred if we went somewhere safer first." Harry then pulled out Hermione's diary and started to read.
