Freefalling
By dazed*kitten
Part 2: Finding
Hermione was sitting at the table in the Common Room, wondering how teenage boys manage to be so noisy and not annoy themselves. She suspected that it was quite an achievement. Closing her eyes and holding her hands over her ears, she attempted solve the Arithmancy problem she was working on in her head. She was just beginning to get somewhere when a loud noise made the numbers and symbols fragment apart and disappear.
Opening her eyes in disgust, she only just managed to cut off an annoyed comment when she saw a splash of periwinkle fabric.
The headmaster was standing in the portal-hole of the Gryffindor Common Room with a very pretty blonde girl. She stood elegantly, her hair falling in gentle cascades down her shoulders. Hermione sighed, knowing that such beauty was unattainable for her. Not that she was ugly: just not stunning. Or certainly some of the boys would have noticed by now. Hermione inwardly frowned at herself for thinking about boys- they were the biggest waste of time while she was studying. That would come in time.
Meanwhile, a strange girl was standing in front of her, dressed in Hogwarts school robes- Gryffindor colours- despite Hermione's knowledge that this girl was not normally in her House. Hermione's ever-present curiosity was piqued.
Dumbledore's eyes searched the room, paused on Hermione and indicated for her to come over. The girl's dark eyes flickered in a double take over Hermione, but she smiled warmly. Hermione smiled back, not being able to restrain herself. Well, she seemed friendly enough.
"Hermione, this is Dianella. She is here via a magical accident involving a time turner. She just so happens to be in every single one of your classes, so would you please take care of her? I'm sure she'll tell you her whole story as soon as I'm out of the room," Dumbledore smiled benignly at the blonde girl who laughed softly.
"I'm sure, Headmaster. I'll be fine now." Dumbledore smiled again, and moved to the portrait-hole. He glanced back as he closed the portrait, his expression not quite as composed as it had been in the room. The portrait then swung closed firmly.
There was a particularly loud bang from the fifth-year boys who were playing exploding snap and the cards suddenly flew into the air. Hermione laughed delightedly at the raining cards. The boys started scampering around the room, picking up the cards where they fell. A few stopped to stare at Dianella, but she just smiled secretively.
"Now they'll have to be quiet for a while! The deck doesn't work until they've found all the cards- I'm glad that Fred and George incorporated that into the cards. I think I would go insane otherwise. Of course," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, "it doesn't state it on the box- it's just one of the little surprises of buying a product from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Nell laughed with Hermione, before helping her gather up her Arithmancy homework to carry into her room.
"Lots of homework?" Nell questioned.
Hermione smiled, "personal interests. I can't get enough of learning- unfortunately, that involves a great deal of reading. As you can tell, my friends are not so interested in that- Harry and Ron are off having an adventure at the moment. An unplanned expedition to Hogsmeade, I believe."
Nell smiled as she followed Hermione up the stairs. "That's the way with boys- and those who aren't really interested in learning."
Hermione dumped her armload of books onto the desk beside her bed, motioning for Nell to do the same. Hermione closed the door. "Indeed. I'm not even going to get started about Lavendar and Parvati. It's a losing battle."
Nell shrugged and sat on the bed beside Hermione's. "That one's vacant- I gather it's yours?" Hermione commented.
Nell looked down at it, lifted up the pillow and discovered the sleeping garments that she had always worn- t-shirt and long pants.
"It appears so," she said, discovering that the garments had her initials sewn into the inner edges. "I wonder how the house elves found these? But then, maybe it's safer not to know."
Hermione sighed. "The poor house elves. They know no other life than one of slavery."
Nell laughed out loud at the comment, and continued to laugh for much longer than was polite. She held her stomach, and tears began to emerge from the corners of her eyes. "Oh, you have no idea just how funny that is, do you?"
Hermione looked a trifle offended, but the sincere humour in Dianella's face kept her from being overly so. "No, I don't, really."
"I have many friends among the house elves, and the one thing that they love most is having someone to serve. They are too powerful to be released, for a start, and they find it hard to make good choices. That was why the first house elves bonded themselves to wizarding families- two elves had an argument and destroyed half of England. They stopped and realised what they'd done and decided that maybe they should find someone to help them make their decisions. They bonded themselves to wizarding families, and they stopped destroying countries; they became house elves."
Hermione sniffed- "Dobby's free, and he's perfectly fine."
Nell smiled patiently, "Dobby's still a house elf- he's still serving someone, and his decisions are still guided. If he were truly free he would grow about three inches, his facial structure would become more prominent, and he would be impossible to contain. He would make terrible choices, and many people would die. Dobby's a very happy house elf- although; it wouldn't be hard after living with Lucius Malfoy. He was a very hard man. Winky, on the other hand, loved her owner, and is seriously miserable. House elves, if treated valuably, are more loyal than any other creature in existence."
Hermione looked uncomprehendingly at Dianella. "Who told you all this?"
Nell's eyes looked distant for a moment, before she laughed outrageously. "You did. To the word."
Hermione stared. "Me?"
Nell sighed, "I was going to tell you anyway."
Hermione stared. "Tell me what?"
"I'm from the future, remember?" Hermione nodded her head, her eyes still glued unseeingly to the blonde girl's face. "Well, you're my grandmother."
Hermione stared. "Me?"
Nell sighed. "Yes, you."
"Oh." Hermione stared a little more, before she shrugged her shoulders. "Ok. I'd ask you to tell me about the future, but, somehow, I get the feeling you won't tell me."
Nell smiled a wistful smile. "I don't think you'd believe me, even if I did tell you the future." Hermione smiled in return.
"So: what am I like as a grandmother?" Hermione queried.
"You're a great Nana. You're more like my mother than my mother is, mainly because you've always been there to talk to throughout my life. Well, mostly at school. I usually stay at school over the holidays with you. It's great. We research and experiment and laugh. I wouldn't trade you for the world." Nell smiled brightly at her grandmother, and Hermione laughed.
"Such praise! I'm sure that I only do those things because you've said that we do them- but then again, a lab partner is always good to have; I'll take this as volunteering."
Nell laughed, and the conversation moved on to other topics before the girls bedded down for the night.
"Hermione? Whom do the other beds belong to?"
Hermione grimaced. "Lavendar and Parvati. They only sleep here sporadically, favouring the beds of their most recent admirers." There was quite some distaste in her voice.
"Ah. Ok; well, at least you'll have me to talk to," Nell smiled. Hermione smiled back, and the girls subsided into slumber.