Chapter 4 - Somewhere Only We Know

"Took you long enough!" Catherine said impatiently, arms crossed in front of her. "I thought you would have decided even sooner!"

Harry had just shown up at Gryffindor tower to inform his two friends of his decision. They were already standing in front of the portrait of the fat lady with their luggage at their feet.

"Erm..sorry," said Harry sheepishly. "I had a little talk with Dumbledore first."

Catherine opened her mouth to say something else, but Teddy quickly interjected, "Well, we're glad you made the right choice, Harry."

Catherine nodded minutely, though she did throw small glare at Teddy for cutting her off. Instead of saying what she had intended on saying earlier, she asked, "So, how are we getting to wherever we're going?"

"Well, do both of you know how to fly?" Harry asked, his first reaction and choice, of course, being broomsticks.

Teddy cringed. "I don't want to have to ride a broom for very long, especially during the night."

Catherine's face brightened up. "Well, I could always side-along apparate you two."

Harry and Teddy both turned to stare at Catherine. "Why didn't you just lead with that?" Teddy asked, voicing Harry's question.

Catherine blushed. "I...er...I forgot," she admitted. Then she shook her head and looked up unashamed. "Well, we need to shrink our luggage first if we're going to do that."

Teddy and Catherine both shrunk their luggage to a manageable size and put their stuff in their pockets, and Harry patted his to make sure it was all still where he had stowed his away.

Catherine then said, "Secondly, we need to know where we're going." She and Teddy turned to look at Harry with interest.

This one really stumped Harry, and he froze. He hadn't thought of that. "I...erm...I have no idea where we're going," he admitted.

Teddy frowned, his eyebrows drawing together. "You mean you don't even know where she lives?" he asked, surprised. Harry shook his head. "Not even the city?" Teddy continued.

Harry coughed nervously. "Er...London?" he ventured.

Both Catherine and Teddy were looking at him like he was a lost cause. Catherine took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly, then said, "Well, we could always try London. Where should we stay at?"

Harry's hand automatically went to the back pocket of his jeans, where he had kept quite a large amount of gold during the war with Voldemort in case he needed it for anything at the spur of the moment. He was glad he had it, especially when he didn't know if his parents would support him doing this kind of thing. He definitely needed the money.

Harry cleared his throat and said, "Well, since we don't know where Hermione is, we should probably go to a hotel or something."

Teddy frowned, going into thought, and after a second his face brightened. "Hey, how about the Leaky Cauldron?"

Harry nodded, impressed. "That sounds good to me," he said, then turned to Catherine. "How about you?"

Catherine shrugged. "I already talked to my dad over the mirrors. He said we could stay with him if we wanted to."

Harry felt his eye twitch, and once again Teddy voiced his question. "Why do you keep letting us discuss all these things if you already have a reasonable solution?"

Catherine shrugged, and Harry could see she was trying to hide a grin. "I don't know," she said innocently. "Because it's fun?" She finally allowed Teddy to see her grin.

Teddy snorted. "You're lucky, Catherine," he said. "Out of the three of us, I'm pretty sure the only parents that would be cool with us not only staying at their house, but leaving school, would be yours."

Cat's grin became even more cheeky. "I know," she said teasingly. "And you pretty much just admitted my parents are cooler than yours."

Teddy blanched, then grinned and shrugged in agreement. "Yeah, Sirius is pretty cool."

There was a brief moment of silence, then Harry said, "Well, shall we get going then?"

Catherine nodded and Teddy said, "Can't wait to get out of this place!"

Then Catherine grabbed each of them with one arm and Harry said, "Wait, what about the apparation wards around the castle?"

Catherine drew in her brows as she looked at him in confusion. "Well...I think that there must have been apparation wards around your universe's Hogwarts because of the threat of an outside attacker. No such wards exist around this castle."

Before Harry could even acknowledge her logic, Catherine turned on the spot and Harry felt the normal apparation sensation of being sucked through a tube. He squeezed his eyes shut, and right when he was reaching the point that he knew he would have to take a breath, the sensation stopped.

Once it felt as though the ground had stopped spinning beneath his feet, he finally opened his eyes and was met with the sight of a house. Harry had been expecting number 12, Grimmauld Place for some reason, and this was completely different. It was a simple two-story house with a moderate front yard that contained a blossoming apple tree, and the grass was perfectly mowed.

Harry imagined the place looked even better in the daytime, and couldn't wait to see it the next day. But even more than that, he couldn't wait to see...

"Sirius!" Harry said excitedly, glad to see his godfather alive and well. Yet another reason to love this new universe.

"Harry!" Sirius said. "Catherine! Teddy!"

He tightly embraced his daughter before holding her back at arms' length, a stern look on his face. "I'm very disappointed that you left school early...is what your mother wants me to say," Sirius said lightheartedly. "It's good to see you three again!"

"Dad," Catherine said, embarrassed. "It's only been a week."

"Regardless of that fact, I'm happy to see you," said Sirius. "Your mother, on the other hand," he added quietly, giving her a look that Harry knew meant they were in for it. Surely this couldn't be as bad as a Mrs. Weasley outburst, could it? If so, Harry wanted to go back to Hogwarts right now. Sirius sighed. "Let's just say she's waiting for you in the sitting room."

Catherine stiffened, then turned to her friends and sighed. "Well, let's go in then, guys."

Harry entered the Black residence with trepidation, making sure to stay behind the other two to make sure he wasn't taking the brunt of the fury they were about to be facing. Teddy through a worried glance back at him and he shrugged. Teddy shrugged back and scooted a bit closer to Catherine.

Harry couldn't help but appreciate the homey and welcoming atmosphere of Sirius's home. Everything was lit well and there was faint music playing in the background. When the four arrived in the sitting room, it became apparent that the music was coming from the record player sitting on one of the two tables in the room. There were two lounge chairs and a sofa, one of the chairs occupied by a beautiful blonde woman.

She looked to be a couple years younger than Sirius and had smile crinkles at the corners of her eyes, and honestly looked like the nicest, most motherly person Harry could possibly think of. Harry had thought the same of Mrs. Weasley previously, but Mrs. Black took the cake. Harry shuddered at the thought of how bad this tirade was going to be.

But he knew that no matter how bad it got, this woman cared for all three of them, for there was a smile on her face as she stood up and embraced her daughter.

In fact, she didn't seem all too mad at all.

"Catherine, Teddy, Harry!" she said, embracing them all in turn. Her hug was full of love, just like Lily's. "I'm so excited that you're going to be staying here! Ever since you three grew up to be teenagers, I just haven't been able to see you as often! I already have cookies baking in the oven for you three. Did you apparate here?"

Teddy frowned, confused, and turned to Sirius, who was trying to suppress laughter. Harry then rolled his eyes as he realized he had been played by an original marauder, and started grinning. He relaxed a little, glad he would have a good first impression to go on concerning Sirius's wife.

"Hey Aunt Amelia," Teddy said. "Thanks for letting us stay!"

"Yeah, thank you," Harry said. "Now we don't have to stay in the Leaky Cauldron."

Amelia put her hands on her hips. "Oh, you know I wouldn't allow you three to stay by yourselves in a place like the Leaky Cauldron! Go on upstairs to the rooms; I'll bring the cookies up when they're done."

She shooed them up the stairs and Teddy led Harry to what he figured was a guest room that had two beds, no doubt Harry and Teddy had stayed there multiple times, and Catherine went into what Harry assumed was her own room.

A few minutes later, Catherine came into Teddy and Harry's room wearing muggle clothes instead of her robes and she said, "Well, now that that's over, we should probably discuss what we're going to do next."

They both looked at Harry expectantly, and he faltered again. "Well...I...I don't really know to be honest," he said. At the disappointed look in his friends' eyes, he continued by saying, "I'm more of a spur of the moment type of guy. Planning things and following that plan to the dot are definitely not my fortes."

Catherine scowled and Teddy grinned. "Harry, how do you ever get anything done without planning it ahead of time?" Catherine asked. "Taking everything second by second can only take you so far."

Harry blanched, then, seeing where this conversation was going, changed the subject. "Anyway, we shouldn't be arguing about that at the moment. What we should be doing is figuring out what we're going to do next collaboratively. You two said you would help me, and I think the greatest help you two can be at this moment is by helping me figure out what the next step is."

"He's right," Teddy said, backing Harry up. "For some reason Harry believed that Hermione may have come from London, though I think that was just an educated guess."

"Uneducated guess, actually," Harry mumbled.

Teddy and Catherine pretended not to hear even though they faltered for just a millisecond. "Well, London has a pretty large population," Catherine said. "If this were a small town, we could go door to door."

"There's always the phone book," Harry said.

"That's right!" Catherine exclaimed.

"Phone book?" Teddy said, confused, as if the words were foreign for him.

"It's...er...like a directory," Harry said. "It has everyone's names and phone numbers."

"The only problem is, of course, that not everybody is in the phone book," Catherine added.

The door opened at that second and Sirius and Amelia came in, Amelia with the cookies on a plate. The smell of them reminded Harry that he hadn't eaten since lunch. The plate was passed around and Harry wolfed a few down, and before any of them knew it, every single cookie had been eaten in silence.

Amelia told them to not stay up too late, bade them good night, and left the room, leaving the three teens with Sirius.

"Dad?" Catherine asked. "What are you-"

"Listen to me closely," Sirius interrupted in a low voice, throwing a furtive glance over his shoulder, no doubt to check if his wife eavesdropping. "I did some digging around at work and found something about your girl, Harry. Hermione Granger, eighteen years old, right?"

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore had sent me the name and I found out what I could in the muggle government's database. Turns out her parents own a house on 12447 Sycamore Lane, which is on the opposite side of London."

"Wow, Sirius," Harry said in awe. "Thank you so much for the help."

"I didn't help you," Sirius said, grinning as he threw another glance over his shoulder at the door. "You knew where she lived all along and suddenly remembered...remember?"

Harry grinned back before nodding. "Yeah, that's right," he said.

Sirius stood up right as Amelia came back to the door of the room, a confused look on her face. "You coming to bed?" she asked.

Sirius stretched and said, "Yep." As he began walking out of the room, he said, "Oh, and we'll leave some money for whatever you need tomorrow downstairs in the kitchen when Amelia and I leave for work tomorrow."

"Thank you," the three teens chorused right before Sirius's and Amelia's bedroom door closed.

The three of them looked each other in the eyes and, in unison, said, "Tomorrow, then?"

They laughed at saying it at the same time, then Catherine stood up and said, "I'll make sure to get you up bright and early then, okay boys? Good night!"

"Good night," Teddy and Harry said back, watching her leave the room.

Teddy and Harry then proceeded to get ready for bed themselves, and when they were finally lying down with the lights off, Teddy said, "How do you feel, Harry?"

Harry let the question stew for a second and let the words flow from his feelings. "I feel...kind of nervous, actually, and I don't know why."

"Oh?" Teddy said in return. "You don't know?"

Harry swallowed and licked his lips as he thought of how to respond. "I mean, she's just my best friend, isn't she? My best friend...who I can't seem to function properly without...and who I...who I miss more than I thought I ever would." He felt hot tears in his eyes as he remembered her lifeless body lying on the Hogwarts grounds. "I don't know, man," he said, his voice gravelly from his burning throat. "This...t-this isn't how I should be feeling about a friend, is it?"

He didn't know why he was unloading all of this on Teddy, but he did know that it felt incredibly good to be getting all of this off of his chest before he went to see Hermione tomorrow. It would probably be better to have all of his feelings sorted out now rather than when he was faced with her directly.

"Harry," Teddy said seriously. "I think you have to ask yourself one question: Where do you envision your relationship with her ten years from now? Do you want to be her best friend, and be there for her wedding as she gets married off to another man, or do you want to be the one by her side always?"

This one really caught Harry off guard. "Marriage?" he choked out. "Who said anything about marriage?"

"Harry, just think about it," Teddy said with such conviction that Harry couldn't help but do so.

Could he watch as Hermione became the sole attention of another man and he was pushed to the side?

Honestly, the thought alone sent shivers down Harry's spine and a spike of fear lancing through his heart.

And now came the hard part. He knew that when these next words came out of his mouth, there would be no turning back. "I...I think I love her, Teddy," he whispered, though the words seemed to echo around the room and settle on him with such weight that he knew them to be true. At the same time, they lifted a lot of pressure and confusion from him.

"Took you long enough," Teddy said, laughing. "Even before Cat knew of Hermione, she could see that you were in love!"

Harry felt his face heating up, and said, "Yeah, whatever." There was silence for several seconds before he added, "Thanks, Teddy."

"No problem, man," he said. And then after a few seconds more of silence, Teddy voiced a question Harry could tell he had been wanting to ask for a while. "Hey, were we friends in the other universe?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Teddy, your father announced your birth less than a month ago for me. I was your godfather."

"What?" Teddy exclaimed. "Godfather?"

"Yeah, and Catherine didn't even...Sirius was..." he sighed.

Teddy got up and turned on the light, then sat back down on his bed, facing Harry. "You should just tell me the whole thing," he said, thoroughly interested.

Harry took a deep breath, figuring this was better than trying to sleep when nervous, and said, "Well, it's going to be a long night then."


"Come on, wake up," Catherine said impatiently as Harry tried his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hmm?" he said sleepily, trying to block the light. He caught a glimpse of the clock beside him and saw that it was six in the morning. "Why are we up so early? It's a Saturday."

"You aren't excited to meet Hermione?" Catherine asked.

"It's not that," Harry said. What it really was was the fact that he had stayed up until around two in the morning telling Teddy the story of his life in the other universe.

"Then get up already, sleepyhead!" Catherine said, pulling his comforter off of him and exposing him to the cool, September morning air. "It'll take us awhile to get over there using muggle transportation."

"And why are we using muggle transportation?" Teddy asked groggily from the opposite side of the room from Harry. "Why can't we just apparate over there?"

"I already checked London's safe zones for apparation," Catherine said. "There aren't any within a couple miles."

Harry looked at her with his eyebrows drawn up in confusion. "Then why don't we apparate to a safe zone, thentake public transportation to get there?"

Catherine sighed. "Fine," she said. "Then let's get going already!"

Teddy and Harry glanced at each other and decided there was going to be no more sleeping until they went to bed that night. So they grudgingly woke up and got ready for the day, Harry nervously checking his appearance in the mirror to make sure he looked his best for when he met this Hermione for the first time.

He may have already known what she was like, but this meeting would be her first impression of him.

Catherine took the two of them to an excellent bagel shop down the street from where she lived before they apparated to the safe zone closest to Hermione's house. From there, they mapped out the route they would have to take to get to her residence, and after a couple minor disagreements, they decided that it would be quicker to walk there rather than take taxi or bus.

As they were walking, Harry fell a little behind his two new, though not new to them, friends, and fell into deep thought.

Would this Hermione be the same as the Hermione he had known?

The answer to that, of course, was no, for this Hermione grew up with different experiences than the other Hermione. The Hermione in this universe probably would have been the same up until about eleven years old (minus the accidental bouts of magic), around the time she had received her letter for Hogwarts. So her base personality and nature should be the same, he figured, but she could have blossomed in a completely different direction for all he knew.

She could have become popular in High School, or, Harry thought to himself with horror, she may have even found a guy to go out with and could have a boyfriend at the moment.

Harry honestly figured that to be unlikely, though, for she had never been the type to try to fit in. Harry didn't know much about muggle schools except for his stint in grade school, but he figured that it was the people who wanted to fit in that actually fit in.

"We're here!" Teddy said excitedly, stopping in front of a walkway leading up to a modest-sized house.

The lawn was perfectly kept and the exterior of the house just as pristine. Not a single thing was out of place. Just as Harry had envisioned. There was a small, cute sign halfway up the walkway on one side that welcomed them. This was a house that was loved and well-kept.

As Harry walked up to the house, Cat and Teddy sticking back on the sidewalk, he figured he would discover in which direction Hermione blossomed when he finally got to see her and speak with her again, which would hopefully be in the immediate future.

He went up to the door, which was painted burgundy, and knocked firmly, then wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. His heart was fluttering in his chest and he couldn't swallow for some reason. He looked back at his friends for support and they both grinned and gave him the thumbs up, and he gave them a weak one in return.

It startled Harry a tiny bit when the door opened in front of him, and he quickly switched his attention to the person who had opened the door. It was who he presumed to be Hermione's father.

He was middle-aged, and wearing his dental outfit, along with rectangular spectacles that seemed to be too young to properly go along with his face. His greying hair was styled casually, but what caught Harry's attention the most was the cold, superior look in his eyes. It reminded him of the Malfoys.

"What do you want?" the man asked, the look on his face suggesting that he was looking at a pile of rotting dog droppings.

Harry swallowed hard. "I-Is Hermione here, sir?" he asked. "I'm her friend-"

"Friend?" the man asked coldly. "So that little brat finally managed to make a friend, did she? You must not be much of a friend if she didn't even tell you that she ran away from here several weeks ago."

"Ran away?" he asked, surprised. Why would Hermione ever do such a thing?

"Now please get off of my doorstep, you're infecting it with your filth," Mr. Granger said. He hesitated in closing the door, and smiled at Harry sarcastically and said, "And when you see her next, please thank her for running away from here. Bloody took her long enough."

And with that he slammed the door, leaving Harry stunned on the doorstep. No he wasn't so surprised that Hermione had run away. Her father certainly wasn't a pleasant man.

"Harry?" a voice asked hesitantly from behind him. It was Catherine. She and Teddy had come up to check on him.

"I'm going to kill him," Harry said under his breath, his hand subconsciously going for his wand in his pocket.

Teddy grabbed his arm firmly, though, and said, "Leave it."

Harry tore his arm from Teddy's grip and knocked on the door hard, not caring when his knuckles throbbed from the force. He was seeing red, and when Hermione's father opened the door again, a sneer on his face, Harry shouted, "Where is she?"

The man scoffed. "She's at the corner of piss off and get off my property before I call the police."

He slammed the door in their faces again, and this time Teddy and Catherine had to drag Harry back to the sidewalk and hold him there as he calmed down.

"It's okay, Harry," Teddy said. "We'll find her."

"How dare he!" Harry shouted. "How dare he talk to her and treat her like that!"

"Calm down, Harry, you're waking the neighbors," Catherine whispered, furtively looking at the people staring at him.

"I don't care," Harry said with a little more control. He took a deep breath and said, "Let's leave before I do something stupid."

Teddy and Catherine nodded their agreement and calmly walked back out of the residential area to the safe apparation zone. They apparated back in front of Catherine's house, and Harry kicked one of the decorative stones as hard as he could, hissing in a sharp breath at the pain in his foot, which only made him even more angry.

"Harry," Catherine said comfortingly, laying a hand on his arm.

"Just leave me alone for a minute," he said roughly, turning away from them. He didn't like losing his cool in front of people, but he just couldn't help it. He had never been so angry in his eighteen years of life.

How could anybody, let alone Hermione's own parents, treat her like that? Hermione had always loved her parents and was a strict rule-follower; something really bad must have been going on to make her run away like that.

"God...son of a...mother...urgh!" he shouted as he walked down the street alone, unchecked anger still boiling inside of him.

He walked up and down Catherine's street as a way to relieve his anger several times, slowly but surely calming down. On his sixth or seventh time past the Black residence, he heard a quiet voice ask, "You alright yet, son?"

Harry whipped around at the voice to snap at them for speaking at him like they were his father, then froze when he saw that it was actually his father!

"D-dad?" he said, all of his anger forgotten. Just like with his mother, he was rendered completely immobile and thoughtless by the presence of his father in front of him.

He looked just like Harry had always imagined. Messy hair, round spectacles, high cheekbones, and piercing Hazel eyes. Everything was exactly how he looked in the book Hagrid had given him

"Cat sent me a letter," said James. "She said she's never seen you so angry, and I must say that I quite agree."

"I am," Harry said, his previous anger flaring in him.

James slowly nodded. "Well, how about you tell me over some tea?" he asked, gesturing back towards the house. "No use in sitting out here in the sun."

Harry deflated again. He just couldn't keep the anger up now that it had ebbed. "Yeah, let's go inside," he said tiredly.

They headed inside, where there were already two cups of tea waiting for him.

Once they were settled, James took a sip of his tea and asked, "Now, why don't we start with why you three really left Hogwarts. The only thing Cat told me in the letter was that you were angry."

Harry blanched. "Dumbledore...didn't...?" he asked feebly, knowing he was a terrible liar.

"Harry," said James with a look that told him he wasn't believing it. "I'm your father. I was pretty much you once. Is it a girl?"

Was it really that obvious? Harry couldn't help but wonder to himself. Catherine, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and now his own father.

He sighed. "Look...D-dad," he said. "I can't explain everything now, but I promise I'll explain everything to you and mum soon. Properly," he added. Now that was a conversation he wasn't particularly looking forward to.

James's lips thinned, but he sighed nonetheless and said, "Very well. I won't tell any of this to your mother." He chuckled. "She actually believed the school excuse Dumbledore used."

Harry chuckled in response. Now that was just wishful denial on his mother's part. And the mention of Dumbledore reminded him of something. "Oh yeah Dad, i forgot to thank you for the broom. Sorry I won't be using it for the team."

James shrugged. "It would have been pretty cool to see you flying up there, but it's alright." He leaned forward, took on a more serious tone, and said, "Now, about this girl of yours."

"I haven't even confirmed or denied it yet!" Harry protested.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," James said, giving him that 'you-should-know-better' look again. "Come on, now."

Harry sighed. "Fine," he admitted. "What about it?"

"Do you love her?" James asked.

Harry held James's eye as he firmly said, "Yes."

"Then be patient," James said. "As long as you stay patient and never give up, like how I went after your mother, good things will come of it."

"I don't want her to think I'm a git for six years before we get together," Harry said, confused.

James blinked, shrugged, and said. "Not really my point, son. What I mean is that as long as you never give up, she'll be yours." He gently punched Harry's shoulder. "So keep your head up, yeah?"

Harry slowly nodded as he realized that his father was right. He hadn't even been properly searching for Hermione for half a day yet. There was no point in being so angry. He loved her. Everything would work out in the end.

"I have to get back to work, though, so I'll leave now," James said. "And I look forward to hearing everything from you about all of this. So does your mother." Harry nodded. "We love you, Harry. And we trust your decision. Make us proud and prove us correct...alright?"

Harry nodded determinedly. "Right," he said with conviction.

James stood up and gave him a hug that Harry returned. "Thanks, Dad," he said.

"Anytime, son," he said before he stepped back. Before he apparated, he grinned and said, "You'll have to name your first born after me for this."

And then he was gone, leaving Harry alone at the table. Teddy and Catherine must have heard the sound of James apparating, for they came down less than a minute later.

"You alright, Harry?" Catherine asked tentatively.

"Yeah," Harry said, then smiled. "Sorry about making you two worry."

"Sorry about contacting your dad, Harry," Teddy said, fidgeting. "But you were seriously freaking us out."

"No, it's fine," said Harry, waving it off. "I'm glad you guys did that, actually. He really put things into perspective for me."

Though neither of them understood, Catherine and Teddy both nodded. "Right," Catherine said slowly. "Anyway, do we want to do some brainstorming at a cafe? There's a new one that opened a couple blocks down."

Twenty minutes later, the three teens found themselves at the new cafe, which was only about half full, it being a weekday and all.

"Nice little place, isn't it?" Teddy said, looking around at the mahogany furniture.

Neither Harry nor Catherine answered, and Teddy let out a little, awkward laugh before turning to Catherine and engaging her in conversation. Not that Harry cared, really. He was too busy thinking about the possible places Hermione could have run off to. Somewhere with books, obviously.

He was staring unseeingly at the wall opposite the one they were sitting at, when somebody suddenly broke his concentration by walking into his field of vision.

She was about five foot seven, Harry's age, had curly brown hair, magnificent chocolate-brown eyes, was wearing the workplace's apron, and had a smile that made Harry's insides flutter. She was the most beautiful girl Harry had ever seen, and he felt his heart stop as he really registered that what he was seeing wasn't a dream.

The waitress walked right up to their table, smiled a smile that made Harry's stomach churn pleasantly, and said,

"Thanks for coming to the Corner Cafe! I'm Hermione and I'll be helping you today."

A/N: Finally, Hermione makes her grand entrance! Look out for another chapter within the next week; I finally have some free time! Also, I know that everything is progressing incredibly quickly in terms of the timeline of the story, but it's all intentional...I promise!

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to see a review!