Where Are We?
Written by Meredith Summer
Author's Note:
I do apologize for the lack of any updates in any sort of timely fashion. I've had chapter 2 written since before I posted the first chapter, but I came to a snafu in chapter 3. I apparently have a huge inability to write yaoi relationships even though I truly do enjoy reading them. I didn't even get to the lesbian relationships that I had planned. I still haven't figured out how to get around my block, but since I got a review begging me to update, I figured I might as well go ahead and post the chapter I do have written. If anyone has any tips for writing believable yaoi and lesbian relationships, please please share them with me in a review. I will try harder to update much sooner, but it will definitely happen more quickly if I get those tips.
On with the story.
Chapter 2
Hilde was the first to speak. "That was so awesome! Do you think I could do magic?"
Ginny and Severus exchanged cautious glances, then Ginny shrugged. "There's no reason not to try and see… Try my wand. If you get any sort of reaction, then we can try to match you with your own wand. You're all welcome to try, of course."
As Ginny handed her wand to Hilde, Hermione was mentally reviewing all the laws she thought they might be breaking—especially since she doubted anything would come of the petite girl trying Ginny's wand. The five Gundam pilots still regarded the "stick" that was now in Hilde's hand with suspicion.
Now that Hilde was actually holding the wand, she was nervous. "Wh- What do I do now?"
Draco smiled at the girl. "All you have to do is wave the wand—not at any of us mind—and if you have any magic at all, something will happen. It might not be pleasant until we get you the right wand, but something will happen."
As Hilde raised her arm, Relena and Catherine backed up, slightly nervous. At last, Hilde made a flicking motion with the hand that held the wand. At first nothing happened and Hilde's expression fell. Then neon pink butterflies and hot green fireflies streamed out of the wand.
For a long moment no one said a thing. No one even breathed. Then… Hilde began squealing and dancing around.
Duo grinned and began bouncing up and down. "Oooh oooh me! Me now!"
Ron grinned back at him. "Might as well. Try mine."
Duo practically snatched the wand out of Ron's hand and immediately faced away from the group and waved the wand almost frantically. Instantly green slime squirted out of the wand… but the wind chose that moment to kick up and blow it back in his face. Stunned, Duo turned back around to face the group. Quatre and Wufei were bent over laughing, the girls were giggling, and the rest of the guys were coughing or hiding grins behind their hands.
Barely able to breathe because she was giggling so hard, Hermione waved her own wand three times and Duo was first blasted by a stream of bubbles, then a stream of cold water, and finally a gust a warm air. When it was over, Duo was left standing shocked, but clean and dry.
"Ummm, thanks?" was his uncertain response. His friends were even more amused—it was rare to see Duo Maxwell anything but sure of himself. With visible effort, Relena got control over her giggles. "I want to try the wand, too. Actually, I think we all should, but maybe we should get set up for the night first? Now, I don't know a thing about magic, so tell me: can you just create heat with magic or do you need wood to burn?"
Harry, Hermione, Severus, and their friends stared at the girl somewhat disconcerted by how she'd suddenly taken charge of things. Catherine and Sally exchanged amused glances as Dorothy murmured, "Well she is a princess, it's natural for her."
Eventually Severus recovered enough mental balance to reply. "We can create heat—it's a lot like creating light—but that particular spell takes a lot of energy. I think Hermione and I are the only ones who can maintain the spell for any length of time, and Hermione's the only one who can maintain it at a temperature high enough to actually cook food."
Relena just nodded. "Heero and Trowa should go look for enough firewood to last us a few days at least. Catherine and I can cook dinner. Dorothy, Quatre, and Ginny are probably the best ones to work out the sleeping arrangements."
Dorothy and Trowa chorused, "Yes Your Highness!" as they smirked sardonically. Draco looked at the three of them, confused and curious. "What do you mean by 'Your Highness'?"
Quatre grinned. "Relena was the princess of the Sanc Kingdom before it was dissolved and then she was queen of the world for a time."
The wizards, it seemed, were completely shocked by this revelation.
"Princess?!"
"Queen?!"
"Of the world?!"
Only Severus was able to respond in a sane manner. "Out of curiosity, what world were you queen of, Miss Relena?"
It was Dorothy who answered, "Why Earth of course." She did not get the response she expected.
"You're mental," Ron said bluntly. "Harry, we're stuck with a bunch of bloody mental patients!"
Hermione snapped, "Language, Ron!" as Heero glared at the ginger-haired young man.
"I hate to say it," said Ginny, "But maybe Ron's right. We're from Earth and even isolated we would have heard of a queen of the world."
Sally looked at them strangely. "Ano, would you tell me what the date is?"
Now it was Neville's turn to frown. "September first, nineteen ninety five."
There was silence for several moments. Catherine murmured, "Nineteen ninety five A.D.—you did mean A.D. right?" At Neville's nod, the pretty girl continued, "For us, the date is September first one hundred and ninety seven A.C."
Harry wasn't the only one to stare at the older girl blankly. "A.C? What does that mean?"
It was the dark haired Wufei who answered, smiling slightly at the confusion of the others. "A.C. After Colony. In the year twenty-sixty two A.D., the first space stations were successfully put into orbit around Earth. After people had successfully lived on them for a year, several nations began designing space colonies that would be placed on the LaGrange Points. The calendar was officially changed to After Colony."
Although her companions were in complete shock, Hermione didn't seem to be totally stunned. "The LaGrange points?" she murmured. "So Uncle Josef was right about them being stability points to put artificial objects in space…" **
She trailed off as she realized everyone was staring at her. "What?"
Heero took a small step toward her. "You're related to Josef Granger?"
At the girl's startled nod, the eyes of all five Gundam pilots widened. "Oh wow," breathed Quatre and Duo.
The wizards were completely confused. "Hermione," Ron asked, "Who is Josef Granger?"
The look Trowa gave the redhead was full of pity. "The Granger family is only the single most famous family in the world. Without them, it wouldn't be possible for the space colonies to exist." His tone was one that clearly said "Don't you know anything?" Ron flushed in response.
Hermione blushed at the attention she was getting. "In our time, Uncle Josef isn't famous. Really, only the family and a few scientists know about his theories and I'm the only one who believes them."
Hermione's friends were still confused. Catherine was regarding the brunette with a puzzled look on her face. "Um, Hermione, how old are you?"
"I'm eighteen," was the startled reply.
Catherine took a breath, "I have a theory I want to test out, but first I have to ask. There was a technology developed right around your time that could take a photograph of a person and show what they might look like after a certain number of years. Can your magic do anything like that?"
Harry, Neville, and Draco shook their heads, but Severus and Hermione both nodded slowly. "It's called the 'tempus futura' spell," Severus said. "It's an old spell not used very often."
Catherine nodded. "Do either of you know it? If you do, I'd like to see what Hermione will look like when she's eighty five."
Quatre looked sharply at his friend. "Cathy, what are you thinking?"
The auburn-curled girl just looked at him steadily. "You'll understand if one of them can do the spell."
Intrigued, Severus glanced at Hermione, "If it's alright with Hermione, I can do the spell."
Hermione nodded, but said, "I don't want to know what I'll look like when I'm old, so do it while I enlarge enough supplies for dinner. By the way, even though we started out with enough supplies for several weeks, that was for our original group. We've more than doubled in size. After tonight, we should augment our supplies by hunting."
As Hermione opened her pack a few yards away from the rest of the group, she heard Severus murmuring the spell that would age her image sixty seven years into the future. When Catherine exclaimed, "I knew it!" and there were cries of surprise from the other strangers, Hermione fought with herself not to look at herself, but vanity won out and Hermione did not look to see. Without turning around, she called out, " So did you confirm your theory Catherine?"
The girl with the auburn curls answered, "Yes, but please call me Cathy."
Hermione nodded, though the others wouldn't see it and said, "Then please dismiss my image Severus." Hermione continued to face away from the others until she heard Severus recite the couplet that would release the spell. "So, Cathy, what's this theory you've proved?"
It wasn't Catherine who answered Hermione's wry query, but rather Quatre. "Hermione Granger is the name of the mother of the man who designed the first station that supported life in space, and his design was the basis for all the colonies."
Hermione was stunned, there was absolutely no doubt about that, but her logical mind kept working nonetheless. "Since I'm only eighteen and have not had any children yet, then its logical to assume that we go back to our own times—otherwise the first space colony would have been built by someone other than the son I have not had yet and you all would either not exist, or the memories you have would be different. What is my son's name, please?"
"Charles Ronald Granger."
All seven wizards glanced sharply at Heero, as surprised to hear him speak as to hear the name of Hermione's future son.
Hermione's voice remained calm, even detached. "What do you know of my son's father?" She very carefully didn't look at Ron as she asked this.
Sally frowned, "Absolutely nothing. Histories say that although the Grangers claimed to have a happy family life, they were very private and other than Charles Granger's wife and children, he was never seen in public with any of his family except his mother Hermione, even though in interviews he made frequent references to his father and several brothers and sisters."
Harry and Severus exchanged knowing glances. It was obvious to them that Hermione's family were wizards. Severus murmured, "I wonder if Charles is a sqib, just curious about the Muggles, or if he used magic somehow in designing his space station?"
Harry replied quietly, "With a name like that, I'm betting it's the second option—it would make sense considering who his grandfather likely is."
Ginny grinned impishly at her two friends, "I wonder why Hermione keeps her maiden name?"
Neville's insightful response was "Probably only because the Muggles would have no recollection or records of her married name—that would create problems, afterall."
Quatre, Dorothy, and Relena were all looking at the four with open curiosity. "What do you mean Hermione's married name would cause problems? Why doesn't her maiden name?" Relena asked quietly.
Surprisingly, it was Draco who answered. "The Wizarding world is totally separate from what we call the Muggle—or non-magical—world. If Hermione marries into a wizarding family, chances are almost zero that the muggle governments would have any record of that family. Sometimes, however, a wizard or witch is born into a muggle family. That's the case with Hermione. Thus the name Granger would not raise any suspicions in the muggle world."
Duo had come over just in time to hear the last part of Draco's explaination. "Just why is it so important to prevent any suspicions in our world."
Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Ever hear of the Salam Witch Trials?"
Duo's braid bounced as he nodded, "I can see your point. You aren't evil are you?"
He didn't miss Harry's sudden anger. "Magic is like any other tool; it can be used for good or evil. We use it for good."
The Gundam pilots and their friends were somewhat taken aback by the forcefulness of Harry's reply.
Quatre clutched at his heart, gasping out, "Duo was only joking, but to provoke such rage and pain... Duo, you must apologize."
The braided boy's eyes widened, he knew what it meant when his blond friend reacted that way. "The Space Heart," he whispered. "Ah hell, Harry, Quat's right. I was only joking. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean anything. I guess I tend to be flippant. If it makes you feel any better, Heero is always calling me an idiot. You can too if you want."
Harry didn't say anything for a long time. Because none of the other wizards said anything or tried to touch Harry to comfort him, no one else dared to either although Cathy really wanted to.
Trowa and Wufei were supporting Quatre as the blond was slowly able to regain his breath and sit up, the mask of pain gone from his features.
Abruptly Harry stood up. "I'll go collect firewood. I don't want to talk about it or talk to anyone. Ginny, Hermione, you can tell them; they should probably know."
Draco stared after the brown-haired youth as he stalked off into the growing darkness. As Ginny sighed and began to speak, Draco suddenly stood up and followed Harry. Ron started to protest, but Hermione put her hand on his arm and shook her head.
Ginny continued, ignoring the interruption. "Harry's parents were killed when he was a baby by a dark wizard*—someone who uses magic for evil purposes."
Hermione took up the tale. "Harry's mother was like me—born into a Muggle family; she had an older sister who was a Muggle and who hated Harry's mother for being a witch."
When the brunette paused, Ginny took over again. "Harry was raised by this aunt and her husband who both hated and feared magic. They kept him ignorant about his magic and that of his parents until he was eleven—old enough to go to Hogwarts, the boarding school for young witches and wizards where we all went. The thing is, Harry's aunt and uncle abused him physically, mentally, and emotionally and their son was a bully whose favorite target was Harry. The Dursleys also told Harry his parents were worthless. After Harry found out about his magic, they told him he was evil and that his parents were evil. Even though they were too scared of Harry's magic to physically abuse him, the mental and emotional abuse continued."
Quatre started to speak, but Hermione cut him off, "Wait. That isn't the worst of it. You see, despite all this… A few months ago, a group of dark wizards appeared, trying to stage a revolt in the wizarding world. One of their tactics was to capture, torture, and kill Muggles and leave the bodies in such a way that the wizarding world would be discovered. Our government had managed to suppress it, to alter the evidence to make it look like the Muggles had died in horrible accidents. Harry, and the rest of us, were a part of all this because we were all interning with various aspects of the government for the summer. We had managed to prevent a witch hunt, but we hadn't yet caught the dark wizards. Then, purely by chance we believe, Harry's family was taken. Harry tracked them down by himself, I'm not really sure how. Despite everything the Dursley's had done to him, Harry went after them, to save what was left of his family. By the time we caught up with Harry, he had managed to subdue the entire band of dark-wizards—he had thirty-six restrained or unconscious and had killed two others, but he was too late to save his uncle or his cousin. His aunt died in his arms before he could even try to heal her."
No one said anything after that.
Author's Notes:
**Credit for Josef Granger's discovery of the LaGrange points goes to Skeren Dreamera, author of "Never Say Let Go" on ff. net. The idea is his (hers?) at least as far as I know. I've just tweaked it a bit to work for my purposes. Also, the two hundred eighty two years in difference between the two timelines is rather arbitrary so if anyone has other ideas, just deal with it ok?
*I should mention here, if I haven't already, that the war with Voldemort doesn't exist in my story, but Harry's personal history prior to Hogwarts is still the same although Harry is not known as the Boy Who Lived and he got his scar in a dueling accident in school.
The next chapter contains the first yaoi scene that I am having trouble writing so if anyone has any suggestions, I would welcome them.
