Chapter 2
::XX::XX::
Author's Note: There are actually some pretty significant changes in this chapter from the original one, so even if you've read and remember the original second chapter, I'd suggest reading this.
Do not expect chapter 3 to be posted tomorrow. I guess it's possible, but it's unlikely. This chapter was posted so quickly, in part, because I had nearly finished it when I posted chapter 1. I'm about half-way done with chapter 3 at this point.
::XX::XX::
"Something is very wrong," Harry said sternly. Hermione looked at him worried. Ron was looking on in a mix of frustration and impatience. Harry had convinced Ron to talk with him this morning, instead of seeing Luna. "This is the third time I've lived today."
"Uhhh..." Hermione just sort of gaped, while Ron seemed to get upset.
"Did you really stop me from meeting someone to tell me that?"
"It's true," Harry said, looking as sincere as he knew how. He snapped his fingers, an idea coming to him. "Today you're meeting someone down by the lake, right? That someone is Luna. She gave Ginny a note that said she liked the windswept look your hair got after a Quidditch match."
"Did you read my note?" Ron fumed, beginning to turn red.
"No," Harry said. "How would I know it's Luna? The note doesn't say who it's from. I know because I've already lived today twice."
"You mean like you've had visions about today?" Hermione asked.
"No, I mean like... this is the third time I've woken up and it's today. Every day starts with me waking up the same way, and both times so far have ended with me dying." That got their attention.
"What?" Hermione hissed. "What do you mean dying?"
"It's true," Harry said, nodding thoughtfully. "Both times Hermione and I have been killed by Voldemort. The last thing I see is the blinding green light, and then I wake up and it's today again."
Ron and Hermione gave each other a meaningful look then turned back to Harry. He knew that look. They were patronizing him. They thought he was crazy. Although, to be fair he wasn't sure that he wasn't crazy at this point.
"That's... uh... unusual." Hermione said evenly.
"Look," Harry started firmly. "Do you know of any sort of time magic that could cause this?"
"Time magic isn't very well understood," she replied, shaking her head. "Most of the time magic that is well studied involves things other than people, such as Stasis Charms for food."
"What about the Time-Turners?" Ron asked. "You used one in Third Year."
"They are all owned by the Ministry, specifically the Department of Mysteries." Hermione seemed to pause, looking between them. "I never told you two exactly how I got that Time Turner, but it was most unusual. It wasn't just to help me complete all my classes. There have been students before that wanted to take more classes than their schedule could fit, and they were all accommodated in a different way."
"Really?" Harry asked, intrigued. He had thought it odd that a Third Year student had been given such a device once he learned how rare and well-controlled they were. "Then why did you get one?"
"They were invented by the Department of Mysteries only two years before, when we were starting First Year, and one had been given by the Department to the Hogwarts staff to help study and understand its effects and limitations better. None of the staff had the, er, time to effectively test it, so late during the summer, before we arrived, Professor McGonagall asked the Department of Mysteries if she could have me test it instead." Hermione paused. "They were, uh, skeptical. But they told the Professor that I could test it for them if they could test me. It turned out the test was a small river stone, and all I had to do was hold it. Professor McGonagall was told that if the stone glowed blue then she could give me the Time Turner, and if it glowed orange then she couldn't."
"Hang on," Ron interjected. "You're telling me that the Department of Mysteries let you use an experimental time travel device if you held a stone and it glowed blue?" He looked at Harry baffled. "Mate, maybe it's not just you that all the strange stuff happens to."
"I was told only that it was a test, and what the outcomes might be, but not what I would receive if the test was positive, only that it would help me with my classes. Obviously the stone glowed blue, and I was given the Time Turner. Professor McGonagall had me write a report on its effects and my usage every two weeks, and told that me that the Ministry had only told her that it was limited in how far back it could go, and that it obeyed the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle."
"The Novi-what-now?" Harry asked, brows furrowed.
"Well," Hermione said with a sigh, "it's a theory that was developed by a muggle scientist about ten years ago. They've studied time travel too you know, although they think it impossible. One of the things that makes it very difficult is the possibility of a paradox, such as going into the past and doing something that prevents you from going into the past to make the change. The Novikov Self-Consistency Principle is just the idea that the Universe won't allow events that cause paradoxes to occur, even if time travel is involved."
"That's why you didn't want us to be seen," Harry said, understanding a bit better his brief trip with Hermione to save Sirius. "We hadn't seen ourselves from the future before we went back, so it couldn't happen after we used the Time Turner."
"Precisely," Hermione said with a smile. "I was told that the Department of Mysteries had tested the device extensively before giving it to the Professors, and that any time they purposefully tried to violate the Self-Consistency Principle strange and unexplainable things would happen to prevent it. If you'd been truly intent on being seen by yourself Harry, even though you hadn't seen yourself, something would have happened to prevent it. If you were very persistent, you might have slipped and broken your neck or something. The warnings I was given made it sound almost like the Universe was... alive, and unhappy about such violations."
"Well..." Harry trailed off, thinking about what he'd been told. "If it was so dangerous, why did the Department of Mysteries agree to a student testing it?"
"I think..." Hermione paused, looking between them. "I think that they agreed to have me test it for two reasons. First, I think they figured that if anyone could accidentally violate the principle it would be a child using it. Second, I believe they were uncertain what the long-term effects would be of using it, and they didn't want to test that on one of the Unspeakables." She paused again, glancing at Ron. "Honestly I think being Muggle-born helped me that time. It made me expendable enough to test it on."
Both Harry and Ron flushed at that observation, neither happy with the implication Hermione was making.
"So then," Harry started, pushing his frustration aside, "even after thousands of years, the first time travel device made was invented only six years ago? Time magic must have been studied before recently."
"Oh yes, of course," Hermione replied. "But none of that study had been made with the Self-Consistency Principle in mind. The Department of Mysteries created a new research group after learning of the idea from one of their Muggle-born members, and invented the Time Turner shortly after. It seemed that restriction was crucial in the creation of any sort of time travel device, and it was one that had just never occurred to wizards before."
"But then, how could this be magic?" Ron asked. "Harry said he's died twice. How is that not a paradox?"
"I don't know," Hermione offered. "Perhaps the reason the time travel is occurring in the first place is that his death creates a paradox, but I've no idea how that could be the case."
"Hang on," Harry said. "Wouldn't that only make sense if Voldemort was traveling back in time to kill me?"
"Yes," Hermione replied nodding. "Did he seem... to know that something was different or off the second time?"
"No," Harry answered slowly. "In fact he'd even known that I'd 'seen' the day before where I'd died the first time, and yet he completely dismissed my knowledge as, er, the visions of a man close to death."
All three were silent for a few moments.
"So then, Voldemort isn't traveling back in time to kill you," Ron summed up, letting out a visible sigh of relief. "Doesn't explain how you keep waking up on the same day though."
"Well," Harry said, "I don't know if it's magic or not. I mean, I would imagine it would have to be. But all the same, why in the world do I keep dying? I'd always thought that if I died that was it."
"Maybe this happens to everyone that dies," Ron offered.
"No," Hermione replied immediately, shaking her head for emphasis. "There would be at least one record of someone who cheated death and told their tale. This certainly doesn't happen to everyone."
"Then why me?" Harry asked. Hermione gave him a thoughtful look.
"Well, assuming that's what's happening, and no offense Harry but I'm not convinced it is yet, I would imagine that it has something to do with how you die. Maybe the magic that kept you alive when you were a baby is causing our timeline to malfunction."
"You mean Voldemort is doing this to me?"
"Inadvertently." Hermione nodded. "I doubt he'd want you to experience the knowledge you could get if you could just live this day over and over."
"Knowledge?" Harry asked, confused.
"Oh yes." She nodded vigorously. "If you were stuck in some sort of time loop, you could do so many things without a care about the consequences. You could read books day after day, or work on new spells, or improve your own magic, or learn an instrument, or... well... the possibilities would be nearly endless."
Harry hadn't thought about that. If he was stuck in some sort of time vortex, then the least he could do is use it to make him a better wizard. Actually, he could use it to be better at anything. The thought was quickly exciting Harry.
"But how would I know that tomorrow was sure to be today," he asked, stopping short. He had a fleeting mental image of walking confidently to his death because he wanted to practice summoning charms, only to never wake up.
"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "I guess if it resets every time you die, then not dying would stop it from resetting."
"Wait..." Ron remarked quickly, "are you suggesting that Harry just throw himself at You-Know-Who, hoping to die so that he can read more books? Only you would suggest that."
"No," she said quickly. "I don't even know if I believe that's what's happening. All I'm saying is that, if it were, the only way to make sure that I woke up and it was today again would be to end the day the same way I had before. And from what Harry said, it ended with him dying."
"Hmmm..." Ron pondered, a glint in his eye. "No consequences you say? So we could, say, do something awful to Professor Snape? Or Malfoy? And never have to worry about detention?"
Hermione looked at him sourly.
"Yes, I suppose, if it really were happening." She seemed a bit disgusted at the suggestion. "But what a waste! Think of all the things you could learn! You'd have all the time in the world."
"Hermione..." Harry said cautiously, reaching out and laying his hand on her shoulder. "I'm telling the truth. The last two days have been today... and both times... I saw you die..." Ron was silent as he watched and listened, an uncomfortable thought crossing his mind.
"Why..." he began, hesitating. "Why wasn't I there? Why just Hermione?" Harry turned and looked at Ron.
"Just dumb luck I guess," Harry offered. "The first time you were completely beat and went ahead to go to sleep while me and Hermione went to get my wand. The second time you left for dinner early, so me and Hermione were alone walking to dinner." Ron seemed relieved at this explanation.
"You know I wouldn't leave you alone, right?" Ron asked. He seemed a bit ashamed for not dying, which Harry felt was rather amusing.
"Ron, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind before." He turned to face them both, glancing between them. "Anyway, I'm not sure what I should do. Last time I told Dumbledore and it actually made me die sooner. Voldemort has spies that somehow relayed nearly everything I told Dumbledore."
"Well," Hermione said thoughtfully, "you could always study. If you are caught in a time loop maybe you could learn so much magic that you could defeat Voldemort outright." Ron snorted. Harry had to admit, the idea of him simply becoming more powerful than Voldemort was a tad ridiculous.
"Umm... where would I even start?" Harry asked her. She pulled out a piece of parchment and began scribbling. Harry peered over her shoulder, wondering what she was writing.
"Here," she said, handing it to him. "This is a checklist of areas of magic to study. Just go through it each day, learning something new. Before long you'll be much stronger." Harry looked down at the parchment in his hand.
"Er, Hermione... how am I going to use this checklist tomorrow? You won't have written it yet."
She looked at the parchment, a bit stumped, and then snapped her fingers.
"The memory charms!" She dived into her pack and pulled out the charms book Harry used to do his homework the last two days. "Here, learn this first," she said, pointing to a section in the chapter they were studying.
"A Pensieve? But... I haven't... and it's so advanced..." Hermione seemed to ignore his protests, and was talking to herself.
"First we'll have to learn how to create the basin. It's a fairly simple rune arrangement, although getting that much moonstone might be a problem." She nodded to herself. "Yes, that'll work..."
Harry turned to Ron seemingly exasperated.
"This is crazy, right?" he asked. Ron shrugged.
"Not as crazy as claiming to have lived the same day three times."
Harry snapped his mouth shut.
"Ah, yeah, good point."
"Don't you see Harry?" Hermione asked. "If we can get you to learn how to use a Pensieve not only can you remember things, but you can prove what's happening."
"You mean..." Harry's eyes lit up. "I can prove to you that I'm telling the truth?" Hermione nodded, and Harry broke into a huge smile. "Well let's do it!"
"But we don't have a basin, and if you really do only have until this evening, I'm not sure we can learn it all before the day's over." Hermione seemed to despair at shooting down her own idea, but Ron simply shrugged.
"What about the Room of Requirement?" Ron suggested casually. "I bet you could get a basin there." Hermione gave Ron a quick hug, obviously excited, and looked at the bewildered boy.
"That's brilliant Ron!"
Within a half hour, Hermione, Ron and Harry were sitting in the Room of Requirement, with a book from the library on using a Pensieve. A large basin to hold the memories with the correct runes was on the table in front of them, and Hermione was pouring through the volume, looking for the right way to do the spell.
The wand work was surprisingly simple, Harry thought. Most of the Pensieve's difficulty came from figuring out the right memories and getting the basin, which was made entirely of moonstone, a very difficult substance to come by and work with.
But with the basin in front of them, it only took Hermione about two hours before she was able to pull a memory from her forehead. The three of them explored the memory, which was of the conversation they'd had earlier in the common room, before getting back to the Room of Requirement.
It took Harry nearly the rest of the day to get it work, but just a few hours before dinner, Harry was finally able to pull a memory out. It was of his first conversation with Ron, on the first day he woke up.
"Well," Ron said, "I guess that's how you knew..." Hermione was just staring at the basin, perplexed.
"This is amazing, Harry. You really are living the same day over and over."
"Yeah, but talk about a bad day," he said. "It ends with me dead." Hermione looked at him, apprehensive.
"Let's take a look at that memory," she suggested. Ron seemed to cautiously agree, but Harry wasn't so sure.
"Umm... are you sure? You... die... you know?" He shrugged. "Might be a bit odd to see." Hermione hesitated before nodding firmly.
"We need to see if we can tell how he sneaks up on you," she told him.
"There's also a conversation between me and Hermione right before he shows up that, er, won't make much sense," Harry said, just remembering the conversation and realizing how awkward it would be. "It's the second half of a conversation from earlier in the day, and without context it, er, probably sounds a bit different than it is."
Harry looked at his two friends, willing them to somehow understand what he meant but knowing it was futile. Sighing, Harry performed the spell carefully, focusing on the right memory, of his first death, and slowly pulled it into the basin.
"Well," Ron started unenthusiastically, "let's go see You-Know-Who." The three of them cautiously entered the memory.
"There we are!" Hermione said, pointing to their other selves walking down the hallway. They watched as the other Harry stopped.
"Uh, I don't have my wand."
"What!? How could you forget that? I don't even recall you taking it out of your pocket," the memory Hermione stated.
"Both times I didn't have my wand," the real Harry told his friends. "Somehow it must have been taken out of my pocket."
"Neither do I," the memory Harry said. He checked the rest of his pockets. "It's probably back in the Great Hall."
"I'll go with you to get it," the memory Hermione said.
"Well I'm exhausted," the memory Ron chimed in. "and I've still got that conversation with Lavender to deal with. I'm going back to the tower, talking to her, and then I'm going straight to bed. Good luck with the wand." The trio watched as the memory of Ron slowly faded out of view.
"Is this it?" the real Ron asked. Harry shook his head, watching his counterpart.
"Not quite yet."
::XX::XX::
The trio exited the Pensieve with strange looks at each other. Harry had forgotten, until he'd already selected the memory, the conversation he'd had with Hermione right before Voldemort showed up, and while he'd given them a warning, both Ron and Hermione had looked at him and each other with an assortment of unreadable expressions. They glanced at each other, both their faces still red, before Hermione broke the silence.
"You were right," Hermione said to Harry. "Seeing yourself die... it's a bit flustering."
"Yeah..." Harry trailed off, not quite sure what to say. The Pensieve hadn't been very helpful at discovering new information. Ron's stomach growled noisily and they all glanced at his midsection for a moment.
"Just about dinner time then, right?" Ron seemed determined to talk about something more cheerful than the cold murder they'd just witnessed, and less awkward than the conversation before it.
"Right."
Dinner was much the same as Harry remembered it from his last few times living through this day. Harry chewed thoughtfully, wondering to himself if that would become an annoyance to him. He reasoned that some things he'd be locked into no matter what he did as long as this day kept repeating.
Harry took a drink of his pumpkin juice and pulled a face. It was a bit on the sweet side.
"Oy, is your pumpkin juice too sweet?" he asked his friends, eying his cup. They glanced at his cup, then back at him curiously.
"I suppose it's a bit on the sweet side," Ron said, giving his cup another sip. Hermione put her hands out.
"Let me try." Harry handed her his cup and watched as she took a slow gulp, her face contorting. "Yes, far too sweet."
"Ruddy elves," Ron muttered to no one in particular. Hermione glared at him, setting the cup aside and pouring a new glass for Harry, which he accepted thankfully.
They left as a group, making sure everything was in order, just in case they were attacked. The trio had waited until a large group of Gryffindors were leaving, and walked with them, hands inside their pockets fingering their wands.
Yet, nothing seemed out of place, and they arrived with the large group in front of the Fat Lady unharmed. Hermione gave him a significant look before he shrugged and stepped forward.
"Password," the portrait intoned bored.
"Hippogriff," Harry said. The effect was instantaneous. Him and Hermione fell to the floor, their lungs not working, and bodies writhing in pain. The group of students was unsure of what to do, and Ron frantically dropped to his side, trying to do something to help his friends.
Harry tried to say something but his voice wasn't working, and a taste began to rise in his mouth, similar to the Pepper-Up Potion. Of course, Harry thought grimly. The pumpkin juice. Looks like it's death by poison today...
Harry glanced over at Hermione's form, which like his was slowly starting to stop thrashing. Their eyes locked, and a silent apology passed between them as Harry's vision darkened. He felt like he was falling into nothingness.
::XX::XX::
Harry was sitting on his bed, striking a thoughtful pose, contemplating his death. He'd woken up and decided against trying to explain anything to his friends, as he was frustrated at having to start all over on that front. Instead he found himself sitting on his bed, contemplating what to do.
Fate was toying with him it appeared. Or something. Harry wasn't sure what was going on, but yesterday Hermione had been right... it did represent an opportunity. In a sense, anyway. She'd even made that list for him... but he'd have to go by the Room of Requirement to retrieve that memory and take another look at the list.
Harry slowly pulled himself off his bed and glanced out the dorm window. Hermione was just about to have a go at Ron, which meant she'd be up here in a few. He grabbed his wand and then grabbed his Charms book and went down to the common room, waiting in one of the plushy chairs.
He'd actually been getting interested in the section he was reading on the mechanics of some new charms when he heard the portrait hole burst open, and a red-faced Hermione stomped into the room, completely distraught.
"Hey Hermione," Harry called out softly, setting his book down. A lot of the things that he'd avoided as a matter of course, like difficult conversations, or reading Charms books, seemed trivial now. After all, he appeared to have as much time as he wanted to read and do other things, and he had nothing to fear in difficult conversations, as no one would remember if he screwed them up. She looked up at him, startled at the voice. "I take it Ron's a prat."
"Yes," Hermione said, slowly walking over and taking a chair across from him. She pulled her knees into her chest and looked down at the ground between them. Harry was a bit startled. He'd never seen Hermione look or act so vulnerable.
"Would you like to tell me what's wrong?" Harry gave her a reassuring smile as she looked at him puzzled. It wasn't like him to be so... understanding and calm...
"Ron... just thought I was someone else," Hermione said. Harry nodded.
"He thought you left the note, right?" Harry grinned as she gave him a shocked look. "I'm his best mate, not much gets by me."
"Yeah," she said almost dejectedly. "He thought I left the note." She looked back down at the ground, obviously thinking about something.
Harry remembered... it was in his first reset, right? The conversation he'd shared with Hermione had revealed a lot about his friend that he hadn't really thought about before, including that her feelings for Ron were waning under the ginger-haired boy's efforts to, it seemed, drive her away. What with the fights, with Lavender, and now this. He considered briefly before deciding to gently let her vent once more.
"Do you like Ron?" Harry asked. Hermione looked up at him quickly, apparently startled by his question. "Fancy, I mean." She looked at him oddly before looking back at the floor, another dejected look occupying her face. It was several moments before she replied.
"No, I don't." She paused. "Not any more."
Harry watched her face, trying to pick out the things he'd seen that first day.
"Then don't worry about it," Harry said cheerily, giving her a warm smile. She looked at him, her features softening. "Whatever Ron said, it either wasn't true or doesn't matter. And he's probably going to be properly chastised by Ginny and Luna anyhow."
"Luna?" Hermione asked oddly. Her eyes widened. "You mean she's—"
"Like I said," Harry interrupted, chuckling. "I'm his best mate. Not much gets by me."
Hermione's fascination at this new information seemed to override whatever frustration or ill-will she'd been feeling, and her eyes seemed far off as she processed what she'd just been told.
"Yes... that makes sense. Well," she said much happier, "good for him."
"And good for Luna," Harry offered. Hermione gave him an odd look.
"Well... I'm not so sure about that," Hermione joked. They shared a light-hearted laugh at the joke, and Hermione wiped away her tears, the smile finally returning to her face. Harry noticed that this wasn't the first time Hermione had made a slightly sarcastic joke at Ron's expense during the course of this day, and it puzzled him slightly. Most of the time their fights involved Ron getting loud and Hermione getting frustrated, but she never really made fun of their friend, even in jest. Harry supposed, knowing what he did about Hermione, that her lack of similar comments before was due to the teasing she'd endured growing up.
Their snickering died down, and Hermione stared at him for a few moments, as if she had something else to say. Harry looked at her quizzically.
"Harry, there's something—" They were abruptly interrupted as the portrait hole opened and a rather worn looking Neville stumbled into the common room with an armful of parchment. He glanced at them, his eyes lingering on Hermione for a moment and her still-red eyes, before sitting down at a table at the far end of the room and pulling out a quill without a word. Harry shrugged and turned back to Hermione.
"What were you saying?"
"Uh... never mind," she said dismissively, glancing back at Neville. "Let's get breakfast."
::XX::XX::
Harry jolted forward, panting heavily. He groaned. It was rather unnerving to wake up after being killed. This time he'd been hit with a cutting curse in the neck. It had been rather painful and gruesome. Fortunately, Hermione hadn't been there this time.
Harry looked up just in time to see Neville dash out. He glanced over at the nightstand and put on his glasses, thinking. He was certain now that this was going to continue. It appeared that Hermione had been right when she'd suggested he'd keep resetting as long as he died. Harry fell back on to his pillow and stared up at the ceiling.
That meant that he'd have to learn how to beat Voldemort in a fight, and he didn't relish the thought. In fact, he felt rather scandalized at the moment. What right did fate have to do this to him? Not that he wanted to stay dead or anything, but it was still rather annoying to be trapped in a loop with very little he could do to get out.
Harry sighed and put on his clothes before rummaging through his trunk and pulling out his Charms book. He supposed that if he was going to defeat Voldemort he should start with his school work.
Harry spent the day sitting with his book, mostly ignoring the drama that he knew was unfolding around him, and though he felt a bit guilty, he made sure to avoid Hermione so that he wouldn't be forced to comfort her. In his mind, it was a bit of a runaround, since she'd be right-as-rain tomorrow morning anyway and he'd have to do it all over again.
The day ended with him once again perishing at the hands of the Dark Lord, once more his wand missing though he'd been very careful to keep track of it.
::XX::XX::
"What are you reading?" Seamus asked Harry. He was sitting on his bed in the early morning with a large book, and that was highly unusual. Harry glanced up and showed Seamus the title before going back to his studying. "Our Charms book? But we're not even in that section of the book."
"Just reading a bit ahead," Harry said absently, not even looking up from the text. Seamus gave him an odd look as Dean began to stir, and before long the two had left to do whatever it was they were supposed to do that day.
Harry looked up from his book and glanced out the window. He supposed that he could get to know people rather well if he wanted to, what with them doing the same exact thing every day. If he had conversations with anyone, he'd know their reactions for whatever he said before he said it if he had the conversation enough times.
Harry raised an eyebrow at that thought. He had spent the last handful of days simply reading, not seeing much of a point in wasting time on anything else since it seemed he was a prisoner until he completed his task. He'd also discovered that as long as he didn't leave his dorm room after breakfast, he always got killed with the potion in his Pumpkin Juice, which was one of his favorite deaths so far, the alternatives being considered.
But this type of studying was wearing on him, and even though he knew that he wasn't really losing time, he found himself rather lonely and bored this morning. Sighing he put the book back in his trunk and decided to go get some breakfast. If he wasn't really losing time then he'd use today to relax and spend time with people. He could go back to studying tomorrow.
As he arrived in the Great Hall he noticed Hermione sitting down for breakfast as well. Of course, he realized. She'd been down by the Reading Tree when Ron had gone to the lake, which meant she'd gotten breakfast early today. He sat down across from her and gave her a friendly smile.
"Morning, Hermione." She looked up from the book she'd been entranced with and returned his smile.
"You're up early." Harry shrugged in reply, reaching for the bacon.
"Was getting a bit of studying in for Charms." Hermione's brow arched in disbelief. "Oh come on, it's not that crazy to believe I've been studying."
"I suppose," she replied, as if measuring out her words. "Have you finished to section on memory charms?" Harry nodded as he grabbed a roll and began making himself a bacon and egg sandwich.
"Yeah. The section on which parts of the mind they affect was rather interesting. I hadn't thought about it before, but spells like Obliviate only deal with experienced memory... none of the memory charms deal with learned skills."
Hermione's eyes lit up like it was Christmas, and she sat, a bit dumbfounded, unsure of how to reply.
"That's... yes, that's what I found interesting too. I still haven't found a charm that alters non-experiential memory, though I suppose there must be one. It would certainly be useful for learning new things."
"How's that?" Harry asked, taking a big bite of his makeshift breakfast sandwich.
"Think about it Harry," she said in her loving yet patronizing tone. "When you learn something new, like the motion for a new spell, or how to read a new language, it becomes part of your non-experiential memory. If you had a charm to alter that part of your memory, then you could directly affect what skills you had."
"That sounds dangerous," Harry said skeptically. Hermione looked a bit guilty before sighing.
"Yes, it would be terribly dangerous. Imagine accidentally erasing someone's ability to speak or understand speech. It would have other limitations too."
"Such as?"
"Well," she began thoughtfully. "If you were directly implanting skills into that part of someone's memory, then the person performing the charm would have to already have that skill. Additionally, if it were a skill that required muscle-memory, then they'd have to have almost identical body types and dimensions for the skill to be of any use. Otherwise it would result in clumsy actions."
Harry nodded, taking another bite. That made sense. He didn't miss how such a charm would help him speed up his current predicament, but the limitations seemed to make it somewhat useless to someone stuck in a time loop. Even if he did discover such a charm, he'd have to teach it to someone with the necessary skills, and have them perform it on him in a single day.
Additionally, Harry knew from what he'd read in the text book that adding memories was monumentally more difficult than erasing them, and he imagined that adding things to the skill memory would be just as difficult.
"Well," Hermione said, setting down her glass of orange juice. "I'm going to go have a read. I'll see you later Harry." A thought crossed his mind and he acted on impulse.
"Wait," he said as she was standing. "Don't go down by the Reading Tree."
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
"Just trust me," he said, setting down the rest of his sandwich and walking with her towards the Entrance Hall. "Ron is going to come down looking for a secret admirer in about an hour, and if you're by the tree he'll think it's you."
Hermione's eyes widened and she stopped walking for a moment before scurrying after him to catch up.
"How do you know that?"
"I'm his best mate, nothing gets by me." Harry shrugged. It was astonishing how many things that excuse seemed to explain for Hermione, he decided.
"Well who's the secret admirer then?" she asked, following him outside to a good vantage point where they could see the lake shore but weren't obvious from the castle.
"Luna," Harry said, dropping down onto the grass. He smiled up at her and patted the spot next to him. "I promise this will be interesting."
Hermione slowly sat down next to him, her attention on the entrance.
"An hour you said?"
"About."
Hermione nodded absently and opened her book, though it was apparent to Harry after a short while that she wasn't actually reading. That is, unless she was reading the page about a dozen times.
"Something on your mind?"
Hermione startled at the sound of his voice, apparently forgetting that he was there. She looked at him, her mouth opening and shutting several times before looking back at her book then glancing at the entrance.
"I was just imagining how difficult it would have been if Ron had come down and decided I was a secret admirer." She paused. "He's a bit insensitive at times."
"Yeah," Harry said, thinking of the many days that had turned out just like that. "Don't worry about it though. I'm sure Ron and Luna will have a brilliant day, and we'll avoid that whole mess." Hermione nodded.
It was a bit longer before they noticed the blond haired Ravenclaw exit the school and head down by lake. From the distance they were at it was difficult to tell exactly what she was doing, but it appeared as if she was simply staring at the water.
A few minutes later Ron came out the doors and inspected the shoreline. Without Hermione under the tree, Luna was the only student out there at the moment, and the look on his face as he realized who it was turned first to disappointment, then curiosity. After all, any boy is interested in finding out what it is that a girl likes about him.
Their conversation, whatever it was, seemed to go well, and before long they were walking back into the castle. Along the way, they spotted Luna reach out and grab Ron's hand as they walked, and they could see the blush on his face all the way across the field.
Harry smiled. This was indeed a relaxing day, and he'd have to make it a point to have off days that he simply spent with his friends. He was quickly discovering the monotony was his worst enemy. Days were rather dull when you knew what was going to happen.
::XX::XX::
Harry sat bolt upright, and nearly flew out of his bed, grabbing his glasses in a single motion. The move was so sudden and startling that Neville, who had been walking out the door, fell backward as he turned around at the sudden movement with a yelp.
"Sorry Neville," Harry said quietly, looking down at his trunk and pulling it open without another glance over his shoulder. He had spent the last four loops learning as much as he could about spells that affect the memory, and during his research yesterday he'd come across a potion that he was interested in trying. Supposedly it helped the person who took it keep a more ordered mind, which had the dual effects of making Occlumency easier to execute and making memory recall easier.
It had several drawbacks though. First, it was only effective for 36 hours, but Harry didn't feel that was much of a problem for him. Second, while it made Occlumency easier to execute it didn't increase the imbiber's skill at the craft at all, only increasing the effectiveness of the skill they already had. Third, two of the ingredients were extremely rare and he wasn't sure where he could get them from other than stealing them from Snape. The ingredients were rare enough however that he wondered whether even Snape would have them. Lastly, and perhaps most relevant to Harry, the potion took two weeks to brew.
So Harry was definitely interested in trying the potion, as the benefits had some pretty clear applications to his current situation, however doing so seemed like an impossibility. For one, as soon as he reset the potion would be gone no matter how much time it had left, and for another he didn't have two weeks to brew a potion. No, the most time he could reasonably buy himself was 15 hours, and that was from the very moment he jolted out of bed until he reset.
However, Harry figured that if he studied why this particular potion with the ingredients and preparations it had caused this effect, he might be able to come up with something that would be a bit more workable for him. The jumble of nearly a dozen days that were all variations of the same day were starting to tax him mentally, and Harry was sure that he ran the very real risk of going mad if he didn't do something.
The potion used chacruna leaf harvested during a blue moon and ayahuasca harvested during the winter solstice, neither of which were plants that grew in Europe, let alone Britain.
Harry pulled his Herbology texts out, all the years he still had, as well as his copy of their Potions text complete with notes from the Half-Blood Prince, and marched out of the dormitory toward the Room of Requirement, intent on spending the rest of the day researching more about how ingredients imbued potions with their specific effects. He supposed this was the sort of thing that he should have learned more about by Sixth Year, but potions had always been his least favorite class for obvious reasons, and Herbology had never really held his interest.
Within minutes he'd reached the room and found a comfortable reading chair with a vine-looking plant behind it and a cauldron in front of it. Harry nodded his approval to the room before setting down and getting to work, thoroughly absorbed in what he was doing.
For hour after hour Harry poured over the books he brought, and those the room provided. He slowly began to put together a theoretical understanding of potions and plants that he'd somehow managed to avoid the previous six years, and he found the topic fascinated him. He'd always had to cook meals for the Dursleys, and when he'd first come to Hogwarts he'd been looking forward to Potions class as being something close to a skill he'd possessed.
Snape had made sure that his hope was short-lived, but as he read he began to realize that the comparison was more apt than he'd realized. Each ingredient could contribute one 'essence' per application to a potion. The strongest 'essence' in the ingredient always was the one contributed, so for ingredients that had multiple properties they could contribute, the different preparations like diced, crushed, and so on changed the relative strength of the different properties within the ingredient.
Knowing what preparation would bring out which properties in each ingredient was a time-consuming process for Potions Masters to discover. Most of the ingredients they used in potions were stabilizing agents to allow different properties to combine without interfering, increase the duration of the effects, or lengthen the amount of time that a potion would remain viable after preparation.
The stirs, particularly the direction of stirring and the number of stirs, allowed direct contact between the magic of the person preparing the potion and the different ingredients. The direction and number of stirs were important not so much because it mattered to the ingredients, but because like wand movements and incantations it shaped the potioneers magic into specific configurations that helped bind the ingredients in the desired ways.
He understood a bit better now how and why the Half-Blood Prince had made the notes he did, although Harry would not be able to make the same improvements himself. The study session gave him his first true appreciation for the craft that Snape had soured him to, and he idly wondered why this information wasn't covered during his previous classes. Maybe it had been and he just hadn't been paying attention? Although then Hermione would definitely have caught it. Perhaps it had been slated for N.E.W.T. level, and the change in professors had delayed it?
Whatever the reason, Harry found this new insight incredibly fascinating, and continued his study long past when he'd planned. He was so preoccupied that he missed all three meals, and before Harry even realized what time it was, he'd drifted off to sleep, safe in the unreachable Room of Requirement that he'd summoned to study potions plants.
When Harry awoke with a jolt in his bed, Neville slipping out the dormitory door only moments later, and the haze of sleep finally left him, he sat there completely unsure of what to do. He'd survived. There was no way Voldemort would have been able to get to him inside the Room of Requirement without knowing the exact room Harry had conjured; Harry had experienced the same problem trying to follow Malfoy. In fact, Harry wondered why he hadn't thought before to hide in the Room of Requirement and try to survive the day that way.
Still, this development was much more alarming than it was comforting, for Harry still found himself waking up in his bed at the beginning of Saturday, despite having definitely survived. All his theories, as crazy as they were, about the cause of the time loops he'd been experiencing were thrown out the window, and Harry decided that studying potions and memory charms and school work could wait. He needed to know more about what was happening to him before he went any further, as the problem he was experiencing was apparently more complicated than he'd thought.
Harry put on his glasses, grabbed his wand and his schoolbag, then headed towards the library. It was time that he put some serious effort into studying what exactly was happening to him.