260 Going on 16
By SciFiFantasyWriter1
Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.
Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson
Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown
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Chapter 7
When the Saturday of the first week of term dawned Hermione awoke to find she was no longer sleeping on top of Harry but she was still touching him. She had her back pressed against him. He had his laptop sitting on his lap and was busily typing away. She sat up and stretched noticing his gaze admire her nude form as she did so.
"Good morning, beautiful," Harry greeted.
"You so need to teach me that spell you developed to absorb the energy from sunlight," Hermione grumbled as she sat up next to her mate and looked down at his computer.
Harry was maintaining chat windows with several people including Sirius and Alice, performing work for his company, and surfing the growing internet.
With a small grin Harry said, "I wish you could use it right now but until your body is properly prepared it wouldn't do any good."
It would take about a decade of special magical exercises before Hermione's body was developed enough to work with the spell based off of Kryptonian physiology.
"I know," Hermione said with a sigh of disappointment. "I wouldn't mind having your energy levels though and the extra reading time that comes with rising with the sun."
"You'll get there eventually, love," Harry assured. "There was an oil tanker accident this morning in the Indian ocean. Super-Man was there to deal with the problem."
"Hence why you are freshly showered," Hermione surmised which earned a nod from her boyfriend. "How is work?"
Hermione was inquiring about the state of her boyfriend's company.
"I'm disgustingly wealthy and getting wealthier by a considerable margin every second that passes. People love Potter Tech products," Harry answered.
"Mum mentioned as much to me last night," Hermione admitted. Hermione talked to her parents, her mother more so than her father, every evening via instant messaging. The Grangers loved their laptops and other gifts from Harry. The closeness they were now able to share was a huge plus in their life. "You're developing quite the following in the non-magical world. You should hear how much some of these girls drool over you on the forums devoted to discussion of you."
Harry said, "Do I detect jealousy, Miss Granger?"
"I have no reason to be jealous. Do I," Hermione said as if stating a fact.
"No you don't," Harry agreed.
"Mum and dad are looking forward to dinner tonight," Hermione stated.
"I'm looking forward to your mother's cooking. She was always a great cook," Harry suggested. "Sirius and Alice love her food too."
Hermione glanced at her boyfriend as he closed his laptop and set it aside, wondering at his tone when speaking of her mother. She was slightly suspicious of the relationship he had held with her mother during his previous timeline. There was too much intimacy when he spoke of Hermione's mum for her to be comfortable. That was a major reason why she had never asked about the relationship because Hermione didn't really think she wanted to know.
"Alice wasn't a bad cook either," Hermione pointed out.
"Not as bad as Sirius at least," Harry said with a grin.
Harry, Hermione, and Neville would be having dinner on Saturdays at the houses of the Grangers, Sirius, and the Longbottoms on a rotating basis throughout the school year.
"Should we invite Luna? Nym is going to be there," Hermione pointed out.
Remus and Tonks would be attending the meals even though the cooking rotation never went to them to cook. They generally assisted whoever was cooking the meal. Nym had a flat that wasn't big enough to host anybody and Remus was living at Grimmauld Place with Sirius.
"Well on the one hand we can't be expected to keep Neville's time with each of them balanced. Nym is always here at meal times when Luna is able to sit with us. So they get equal time there. Luna has an advantage with Neville during our practice time. So if Luna wasn't at dinners it would kind of even out. But I'm not too concerned about even time. I think we've played enough match maker," Harry said.
"You're right," Hermione agreed. "But from my perspective it's a bit different. I have become good friends with both Luna and Nym, despite the fact that I know you slept with both in your past life." Harry's grin was a bit sheepish at this point. "They both comment all the time how lucky I am to have you. But they also express how much they like Neville. I don't really know who likes him more."
"Don't kill me for asking but perhaps they might like to share him? The magical world has a lot looser ethics when it comes to that sort of thing and I know for a fact both Nym and Luna have bisexual tendencies," Harry suggested.
"You're too cute to kill…for something so trivial," Hermione teased. "I don't know. I'll have to give the situation some more thought. Now give a girl a back rub to get me in the mood for a quickie before breakfast."
They both knew Hermione didn't need any help getting in the mood but Harry did it anyway. Why would he ever refuse the chance to run his hands all over the nude body of his girlfriend.
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"This new wing of the house looks great," Nym praised after taking a bite of her delicious dinner.
"I still can't believe how little time it took Harry to do it," Emma mused.
"Bloody right," Dan said in a grumbling tone. "It always took me a long time to do renovations. He comes along and is done in minutes."
"Oh hush and be grateful," Emma said teasingly to her husband.
"I am grateful. I just think it's unfair he can do it so quickly and make it look so easy," Dan replied.
"It just means you have more time for other things, daddy," Hermione suggested. "Maybe you could take Sirius, Remus, and Harry hunting sometime."
"You wizards hunt?" Dan asked the males with an eyebrow raised in surprise.
"Only on the full moon," Remus joked a bit self-deprecatingly.
"Werewolf humor, how droll," Nym teased.
"I try to hunt every animal at least once and clean it myself. But I insist on eating the animal too," Harry said.
"Harry has a bit of survivalist in him," Hermione added.
"Survivalist…what does that mean?" Sirius replied in confusion.
"A survivalist is a person who prepares themselves for surviving in the wild with very little to work with," Remus tried to explain to his friend. "Imagine yourself lost in the woods with no wand and unable to transform into your animagus form. Learning to survive like that would be the task of a survivalist."
"That is a simplistic definition. I do that too but I also like to learn how to build technology and all the amenities you can think of both magical and non-magical as if I didn't have the support structure that modern society involves," Harry explained. "I find it somewhat fun."
"It can be a bit fun," Hermione admitted.
"But why do it?" Sirius questioned.
"I'll use an example you can understand, Sirius," Harry said. "If magical government suddenly collapsed and the Death Eaters took over what would you do? If you were hunted where would you go? And this time you wouldn't be able to live off the dregs of society in your animagus form. Most people can't transform into a dog that can scavenge for food."
Sirius was silent for a moment but then said, "I think I see your point. I would much rather try learning that knowledge now rather than later."
"There are all kinds of scenarios where those skills would come in handy," Hermione added.
"Well what would you do if Death Eaters took over the government, Harry?" Nym asked curiously.
"I'd kill them all," Harry answered simply which silenced the room.
Of course that wasn't true. Harry wouldn't kill them all. He would imprison his enemies in Fallen Prison and let their magic enhance his own abilities.
"Given what we have learned of these Death Eaters I can't say I blame you," Emma commented.
None of those present in the room even bothered questioning if Harry could kill the Death Eaters or not. Given his performances in the area of magical combat in the recent past his capability was not in question.
"Speaking of Death Eaters…I'm quite looking forward to your first class with Snape as a DADA teacher next week," Alice said.
"Oh you aren't the only one," Nym said with a feral grin.
Sirius was practically salivating in human form at the thought of what would happen to Snape.
"You know…I think I should find it offensive that you all make it sound like I'm going to kill him," Harry interjected.
Nym gave him a disbelieving look and said, "You took off his arm for his attempted sabotage of your potion."
"I didn't do anything," Harry corrected. "My ward did all the work."
"Right," Nym said in a disbelieving tone.
"If Severus Snape is foolish enough to use me in a demonstration that is his mental deficiency issue, not mine," Harry announced.
"Marauder generation one just tortured Snape. Generation two will end Snape," Sirius said proudly with a fake tear rolling down his cheek.
"Speaking of idiots," Neville spoke up. "What is going on with the two youngest Weasleys? Molly and Arthur must have run out of the good stuff by the time they got to the last two."
Some of Nym's drink must have gone down the wrong pipe at Neville's statement. She began coughing and spluttering. When she recovered her breath she was able to speak again.
"There is a huge fight in the Wizengamot going on right now concerning if their trial should be public or private," Nym explained. "Arthur has some friends in the Wizengamot but it's all he can do to keep his wife from being arrested. Ron and Ginny both immediately stated their mother had planned the theft against your line, Harry. Their punishment could be anything at this point. My money is on banishing Ron, Ginny, and Molly to the muggle world."
"How is something like that enforced?" Dan asked.
"Well in the case of the worst offenders memories can be removed of the magical world and replaced with fabricated memories. But that really isn't as punishing as a person might think. It's harder on the families than anyone. In this case the three would likely be spelled to secrecy, their wands would be snapped, and they wouldn't be served at any wizarding establishment," Nym explained.
"Molly would have the hardest time. The woman does everything with her wand," Sirius said, not displeased at the thought.
Molly Weasley had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way in her life trying to push her views onto them.
"At least the younger two would have their mother," Remus pointed out. "Though Arthur wouldn't be allowed to live with them or if he did he couldn't use magic for them."
"I think Arthur is more disgusted with their actions than the government is," Harry interjected. "That is what the twins have told me. Arthur will probably throw the lot of them out of the family."
"I must admit I have always been uneasy around Molly," Hermione admitted. "It was like she gives you a few hugs and you spend part of one holiday at her house and you were one of her children. There was no room for doing anything but what she wanted."
"I feel the same," Harry agreed.
"The whole Weasley debacle is also being pushed to the wayside by the decision on who will replace Fudge and then Fudge's trial," Nym informed her dinner companions. "I've heard talk of nominations for Rufus Scrimgeour. But I've also heard a lot more talk about Sirius' chances."
"First the idiots imprison me and spend years hunting me but then they want to elect me to lead them," Sirius grumbled in disbelief.
"Amelia seems to support you," Harry suggested.
"Damn that woman. I wish I could stay upset with her for longer," Sirius replied.
Sirius and Amelia seemed to be romantically interested in each other. They were dancing around each other and flirting. They routinely talked on instant messenger. Amelia had been helping Sirius to get his settlement from the Ministry for his wrongful imprisonment.
"You and Amelia would make a great couple," Hermione informed Sirius.
"Agreed," Harry added.
"Yes…well…we'll see," Sirius said, appearing uncomfortable with that line of topic.
"You've gone and made him blush," Remus said teasingly while grinning at his friend.
"Stuff it, Lupin. What about you? Who are you interested in?" Sirius probed.
"You know my circumstances, Sirius. Don't bring that up please," Remus replied.
"I do know your circumstances. And I tell you it shouldn't matter," Sirius said in a tone that suggested this was an old argument.
"Remus," Emma spoke up. "Do you have self-confidence issues because you turn into a werewolf once a month?"
"Yes, he does," Sirius confirmed.
"You may not want to look at it this way but if you were to become involved with a non-magical girlfriend who knew about magic I should think the benefit of having a boyfriend who can do magic outweighs the necessity of him being locked up a few nights a month," Emma suggested.
Remus appeared thoughtful and was silent for several moments.
"That is actually a brilliant point," Dan agreed with his wife. "Having seen what magic can do and being non-magical ourselves we have a unique perspective."
"I don't know," Remus said. "I've been told I am undesirable so often and so long that it is very hard to think otherwise."
"Remus, could you come with me? I think I can do something about this," Harry suggested. "Dan, Emma, can I borrow your living room for a few minutes?"
"Sure, Harry," Emma agreed.
Remus hesitantly stood and followed the son of his friends.
"What are you up to?" Hermione sent curiously.
"I'm bloody good at the telepathic arts. I believe I can lessen the influence on his emotions the memories Remus has of being put down verbally," Harry suggested.
"I suppose this is one of those future abilities that redefines what I know of magic. Because what I know of magic says that a legilimens shouldn't be able to make much headway in the mind of a werewolf," Hermione sent.
"As I've mentioned before, a telepath is so much more than a legilimens or an occlumens. It combines both skills and goes much further into the astral realm. There is a bestial or primal mind that hinders a legilimens from entering a werewolf's mind. We telepaths have more finesse and can slip past the primal mind," Harry explained.
"Another skill you'll have to teach me," Hermione sent.
"All in good time, love," Harry replied. Aloud he said, "Remus, what I am going to do is lessen the effects on your psyche of all the times you have been put down. Please lay on the couch and relax."
Remus looked doubtful but didn't verbally object. Remus had the same knowledge as Hermione regarding legilimens and werewolves but after all the brilliant feats Harry had performed Remus wasn't going to question Harry's capabilities at this time. Harry sat in a chair across from Remus and stared at the werewolf. Within moments Remus had his eye closed and was slipping into a semi-conscious state. Harry's eyes also closed as he performed his work on Remus. At the speed of thought the process was only a few minutes long but in that few minutes Harry grew angry on Remus' behalf. The way Remus had been treated throughout the years had Harry ready to go kick some ass. This version of Harry had much better control of himself than he did when he had really been seventeen. Remus' tormentors would still receive punishment but in a much subtler way than an overt arse kicking.
Remus did seem a changed person for the rest of the evening and was open to the idea of dating. The other guests remarked at the remarkable changes several times.
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When Snape swept into the DADA class on Monday morning there was an anticipatory mood in the classroom. Snape only had one full arm in which his wand was held. He tried to mask it but Snape kept on glancing at Harry as he began the class. It didn't take Severus long to get to what he really wanted to do.
"For our first lesson I would like to demonstrate how a duel between wizards works. Since our resident celebrity Harry Potter is such an obviously skilled dueler I would like him to duel against me during this demonstration," Snape announced while gesturing towards a dueling platform that appeared as a rune sequence was tapped on his desk.
The space at the front of the room had been expanded when the platform appeared.
"Terms," Harry prompted.
"Anything goes but Unforgivables. I want to make this as realistic as possible," Snape said with a cold grin.
"Of course," Harry agreed.
The two wizards faced each other and saluted with their wands. Then they cast. Harry side stepped two sectumsempra cutting curses and leapt over a bludgeoning curse aimed at his knees and cast a single hex designed to create the feel of being punched. The punch was so hard directly to Snape's gut that the former potion's professor was hurled back into the stone wall to the side of the dueling platform with enough force to throw him for a loop and drive the air out of his lungs. Snape cast a spell at his chest and began breathing normally and another spell at his head. Harry was impressed Snape was capable of those spells with how hard the Slytherin had hit the wall, head to stone. That kind of battlefield magic though if not applied with full concentration would ensure the caster paid later in pain and nausea. Given Snape's condition Harry suspected the spells weren't cast fully correctly.
Snape glared at Harry perhaps a bit more warily. Both duelers had been casting silently, a fact that wasn't lost upon the audience. The next spell from Snape's wand tip was a stream of violet lightning that shot towards Harry straight on. Harry didn't try to dodge. He raised his left hand and caught the lightning. The energy pooled in the time traveler's palm in a gradually darkening ball of violet energy. Snape's expression was one of pure startled shock mirrored by most of the students watching. A few seconds after the lightning spell had been cast Snape attempted quite unsuccessfully to cancel the spell.
"Potter, stop this foolishness now!" Snape shouted over the hum of the spell as the length of the lightning bolt undulated and danced from side to side and up and down at random moments, covering the whole dueling platform.
"I'm not doing anything Professor but blocking your attack," Harry assured with his most sincere expression.
But Snape had a vantage point the students watching didn't. Severus could see it in his opponent's eyes. There was a predatory gleam in Potter's gaze.
"Potter!" Snape bellowed just before the lightning bolt intensified in brightness until the students were forced to look away or hurt their eyes.
They heard a strangled scream and then the room fell silent. They looked back to see a charred corpse lying on the ground where Snape had been dueling. Several students threw up. Harry pulled out his mobile and sent a text message to Amelia.
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This time Amelia showed up swiftly with only three Aurors and the recognizable cloaked form of an Unspeakable. She placed her pensieve on the instructor's desk and then gestured for Harry to deposit his memory inside before turning to address the class.
"Please return to your dormitories and do not discuss the incident you witnessed today," Amelia stated.
The students left the classroom with the exception of Harry, Hermione, and Neville.
"You can come out now, Nym," Harry suggested.
Nym came out from under her invisibility cloak with a pout and said, "How did you know I was there?"
Harry just gave a roguish grin but did not answer.
"I asked Auror Tonks to monitor Snape's class for the first couple of days in this position given the incident that occurred between you two that caused him to lose his potions making ability," Amelia told Harry. "Let's view that memory."
The memory was quickly replayed.
"It was a magical accident. Snape was using some pretty dark curses in that fight against a student no less. He was out for revenge," Nym stated after the memory had played.
The Unspeakable was on the dueling platform casting various detection spells and using enchanted objects to perform diagnostics. Periodically he kept on glancing at Harry curiously. It was probably because he didn't likely detect the magic Harry had been using to defend himself. Harry had become adept over the centuries at manipulating the traces his magic left behind to look like other magic or hide his magic completely.
"I agree," Amelia told her Auror. "Snape seems unable to control himself. He was a bully. As far as I am concerned this was an accident and Mr. Potter is at no fault, case closed. I think Dumbledore will be on his way shortly. I'm honestly surprised he isn't here yet. You three return to your dorms. I doubt this will be the end of it between you and Dumbledore, Harry. But I will have a talk with him and see if I can't encourage him to see the light."
"I appreciate it, Amelia," Harry replied.
The trio left the classroom to head back towards Gryffindor tower.
"Sirius is going to be so happy," Neville declared.
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Sirius didn't even have time to find out about Snape's death before shit hit the fan again. Classes had been cancelled for the day due to the death of a teacher. The school board was being called in.
Harry was sitting on the couch in the common room between Neville and Hermione while the twins prostrated themselves on the ground chanting, "We're not worthy."
Harry sensed the enraged Headmaster approaching the Fat Lady's portrait. When the portrait opened and Dumbledore came through the rage on his features was plain for all to see. The Headmaster's magic was roiling for even the weakest wizard to sense.
"You have gone too far this time, Mr. Potter. I won't allow another to go dark under my watch," Dumbledore declared with the Elder wand gripped tightly in his hand.
Then Dumbledore was casting. The stunner was meant as an opening test shot for he suspected it wouldn't be easy to take Harry Potter down. Dumbledore never realized how right his suspicions would prove. Harry moved too fast for those watching to follow. Harry caught the ridiculously supercharged stunner in his left hand and projected pure force out of his right hand in a coherent beam that Dumbledore couldn't hope to dodge. Dumbledore managed to get up a partial shield in time but that only likely saved his life. Dumbledore was sent through the tower's stone wall hurtling off far out into the Forbidden Forest which bordered the school.
Everyone but Hermione and Neville was staring at Harry in shock and awe. Harry's two best friends still had quite surprised expressions on their features.
"Bloody hell!" George Weasley finally managed to say.
"Life is never boring around you, Harry," Fred added.
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"I want Potter expelled if he isn't going to be arrested! He likely just murdered the Headmaster," Lucius Malfoy bellowed.
The Board of Governors of Hogwarts was meeting with the Deputy Headmistress and the Head of the DMLE along with the rest of the staff to discuss the current situation at Hogwarts.
"A body has not been recovered so Dumbledore is assumed alive," Amelia stated. "Additionally I viewed several pensieve memories of the incident. Dumbledore attacked Harry Potter unprovoked. This was self defense."
"Potter responded to a stunner with grievous bodily harm," Lucius argued.
"That stunner was so overcharged it would have stopped the heart of most wizards and put a lot of stronger wizards in a coma," Amelia pointed out.
Lucius opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Bill Ogdens, the current chair of the board.
"That's enough, Malfoy. The DMLE's ruling is clear in this case and therefore Potter isn't to be punished," Bill said which received nods of agreement from many on the board.
Lucius could see he didn't have enough support to get his way so shut his mouth.
"What is to be done about Dumbledore?" Mena Harker, another board member, asked Amelia.
"Unfortunately despite the fact that the stunner was visibly overpowered we can't measure strength based off of a pensieve memory. The magic Potter shot passed through Dumbledore's stunner stream and disrupted residuals so we can't prove attempted murder. The best we can prove is assault on a minor. I highly advise the board to sack him and bar him from the castle," Amelia suggested.
The board got into a heated discussion that couldn't seem to be resolved easily. The board seemed to be divided. The majority appeared to agree that Dumbledore needed sacking but with Voldemort's return it was also widely believed that the dark lord might attack the school without Dumbledore as headmaster.
"We need a powerful magic user as the head of the school," Ogdens put forth.
"We could compile a list of possible witches and wizards," Mena suggested.
"I might be of assistance," a voice said strongly from the entranceway.
Everyone in the meeting shifted their attention to the doorway and several startled exclamations were let out. Many wands were drawn and aimed at the two new arrivals. James and Lily Potter stood in the doorway holding hands. They didn't look the same age they had died at in '81 but appeared to be the age they would be if they had lived throughout the time that had passed between. But there was no mistaking them for James and Lily.
"Who are you?" Minerva demanded, her wand held steady and an angry expression on her face.
"I assure you we are James and Lily Potter," James said while drawing his own wand carefully keeping it raised. "I swear on my life and magic that I am James Ogeradon Potter and that this is my wife Lily Rose Potter nee Evans."
Those present felt the somewhat infrequently experienced wash of magic that signaled a magical oath. James cast a lumos spell just to prove he was still magical and was alive. James was in fact Harry and Lily was in fact Hermione. Live a couple hundred years and faking a magical oath would be easy.
"May we join your meeting?" Lily asked the stunned group.
"But you're dead!" Ogdens exclaimed.
"We were but then we got better," James assured as he conjured a seat for his wife and then himself.
"What are you doing here?" Minerva asked the couple.
"You have two vacant positions Lily and I would like to apply for. I dare say that with Lily, myself, and Harry in the castle Tom Riddle should think twice about attacking," James suggested.
"You want to be our headmaster and teach Defense?" Flitwick asked in surprise.
"James would be a good Headmaster and I don't think I was ever considered a slouch at Defense," Lily pointed out. "Look, our family history is between ourselves and our son. As far as we are concerned the entire magical world knows too much about us. It's frankly nobody's business outside of the family. We are both qualified for the positions. We faced Voldemort three times and walked away before Halloween '81 and that night we disembodied him for a good number of years."
"They are qualified," Minerva agreed, putting her support behind her two former students.
"We need to discuss this and vote," Ogdens stated. "Would the two candidates leave the room?"
James and Lily left and stood outside the door. Harry immediately erected powerful privacy wards and Hermione sighed with relief.
"That was pretty nerve wracking," Hermione sent to her boyfriend mentally.
"You did brilliantly," Harry praised her.
"In there maybe I did alright," Hermione allowed. "But I don't think I'm ready to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for all seven years of Hogwarts."
"I think you could handle it easily despite the fact you haven't had all the years of those classes. But you won't have to. You will have a part time teaching assistant, a TA, to handle years six and seven," Harry assured his mate. "Because he is a TA and not the professor his werewolf status shouldn't be an issue."
"Remus is a brilliant teacher. That's such a relief. But won't he be too busy with Potter Tech issues?" Hermione queried.
"No, his hours are flexible and he can hire on an assistant if it becomes necessary. Plus I have access to Kryptonian AIs that can do a lot of his work for him if he wants," Harry pointed out.
Harry had recently been telling Hermione about Kryptonians and some of the amazing technology of the future.
"I think it will be a long time before I get used to the technologies you have available to you," Hermione mused. Harry didn't point out to her at that moment that she would have that time. Harry didn't think Hermione was ready for the conversation yet where she would be informed that if she desired she never had to die. Immortality would take some getting used to. "What did Remus and Sirius think of this whole plan for us to assume your parents' identities?"
Harry had sprung the idea of teaching under different identities on Hermione only that very day.
"They thought it was a prank worthy of the Marauders. I don't think Remus has realized quite yet he has to see us fairly often in these forms," Harry replied.
"Yeah…that will be hard," Hermione said with a wince.
Just then the door to the meeting room opened up and McGonagall requested, "Would you please rejoin us?"
Harry and Hermione entered the room and took their seats.
"Dumbledore has been sacked and banned from the school. We would like to offer you two positions here," Ogdens stated.
"Let us talk salary negotiations," Harry replied. "Perhaps the teaching staff should take their leave."
"Yes, of course," Ogdens agreed. To the staff he said, "You are dismissed."
When the staff had filed out and the door had been closed Ogdens made his initial offer.
Harry snorted and said, "That was honestly insulting."
"You have no teaching experience Mr. Potter nor does your wife," Malfoy pointed out, barely restraining a sneer at the term wife when referring to Lily.
"You have a dark lord problem. Voldemort would attack a weak Headmaster and most likely drive away your candidate. With my family in the school that won't happen," Harry countered.
"Additionally my husband and I know how to break the curse Riddle put on the DADA position," Hermione put forth.
There were definitely eager looks from some of the board members at this revelation. But they would do their best to maintain stoicism for the length of the negotiations. It was a dominance game and a matter of respect. The board didn't want to admit they needed the Potters too badly in order to assert control over the Potters and also to line their own pockets. The yearly budget also paid board member money to the board members. The more that went to the teachers and Headmaster the less the board members received. It would be a sign of weakness if the candidates were hired in at a low salary. After that information was revealed the real negotiations began.
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Becoming the Headmaster of Hogwarts had been the hard part. Actually being the Headmaster was sort of anticlimactic. Harry had been headmaster in his previous life and had spent time filling in for each of his teaching positions briefly while finding new professors. The time travel aspect of leading two lives didn't actually need to be used that much. Harry created duplicates of himself and Hermione similar to what he had used to kidnap Umbridge. These duplicates were a little more sophisticated in that they were capable of simulating the appearance of more advanced spells. These duplicates involved a lot more Technomancy than Riddle's duplicate did. It was actually the duplicates who spent more time in class than Harry and Hermione. The person most likely to discover the ruse was Neville. When even Neville couldn't tell he was interacting with duplicates of his friends Harry and Hermione felt pretty confident they would pull the deception off without resorting to time travel.
Neville had of course been told soon after about the duplicates. Neville, Alice, and all of Harry and Hermione's close nit family and friends of the family were told that James and Lily really hadn't returned from the grave. But that was a closely guarded secret. Harry and Hermione had just tested the duplicates out on Neville. The really strange part for the couple was the letters. Letters of all sorts began pouring in from fans and other individuals. There were several letters from old friends of James and Lily. Sirius, Remus, and Alice proved invaluable in answering these letters because the three had been best friends of James and Lily and knew all the mutual friends. The face to face interactions with old teachers though proved to be a bit tricky to manage.
Harry and Hermione always went around with a nano-communications package (NCP) which was literally smaller than the human eye could see and hidden throughout multiple pieces of jewelry. This package had built in sensors that relayed audio and video to the receivers Sirius, Remus, and Alice had on their person at all times. With a particular signal from their magic Harry and Hermione could turn the packages on and feed their interactions with the professors to Sirius, Remus, and Alice. The response from whichever of the three responded was then relayed back to the NCP which didn't convey it to the wearer through discernible audio. The NCP conveyed the information across the surface of the skin and vibrated only the wearer's inner ear parts. So nobody present near the wearer could hear the communication. Additionally Harry's telepathy allowed him to probe the professor's thoughts without detection if Sirius, Remus, or Alice didn't know the answer when discussing some incident from the past.
Hermione's telepathy hadn't yet progressed to that stage though she was making progress. She could probe an unprotected mind but stood a good chance of being detected. This system seemed to work out pretty well. Harry was slowly introducing more and more technology from the future into the lives of his closest friends. He was also somewhat doing the same thing with Hogwarts. Potter Tech had donated several dozen computer terminals throughout the school. A large portion of the terminals were set up in the library. The muggle studies professor was being trained on them in order to incorporate them into her curriculum. In a way the computers would only promote Potter Tech products. Harry eventually hoped to get Hogwarts away from using parchment and quill and to instead using typed documents. It had happened in the future though it had taken a lot longer than Harry was hoping for.
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Hermione lay in the quarters behind the headmaster's office she now shared with her boyfriend. She was currently trying to catch her breath as she came down from a really good orgasm. She had rolled off of him and was still lying partly on him with his arm behind her neck, her head resting against his shoulder.
"I needed that," Hermione managed to state.
"So did I," Harry agreed. "You looked particularly fit all day in that outfit you were wearing."
That statement would have been creepy considering only conventional magical means of masking a person's form as another and the fact that Hermione was portraying Harry's mother. The method of form mimicry being used by Harry and Hermione utilized a tiny device to enhance the inherent telekinetic abilities of the user. It would take an immensely skilled being to bend the fields of force telekinesis worked through into the contours of a human form and then maintain that form for prolonged periods of time. The telekinetic flesh also had to be pliable in real time. Lily was differently shaped than Hermione. On top of the telekinetic fields illusions had to be layered. The mimicry device used a magician's natural talents to do all of this without any conscious effort being required.
Harry and Hermione could see through the illusion field layered around the form of one another.
"Circe but you looked gorgeous as Headmaster," Hermione replied. "I barely resisted grabbing your invisibility cloak and blowing you under the table at dinner."
"That would have been so hot," Harry admitted. "Remind me to teach you a spell for better concealment tomorrow."
"I love this new aspect of our relationship…being able to openly act on our feelings as adults rather than as school children," Hermione explained.
"It is pretty great," Harry agreed. "Having our own shared quarters without having to worry about someone barging in on us is a perk."
"Like anyone could breach those wards around our bed curtains anyway," Hermione pointed out with a small grin. "Merlin himself couldn't have done it."
"Maybe we can jump back in time some day to when Merlin was still around these parts and find out," Harry mused.
Hermione sat up and stared down at Harry with wide eyes as she suddenly realized something.
"We can go back and learn so much about history," Hermione pointed out. "I only just realized the implications of the time travel techniques you have discovered."
"Someone is excited," Harry observed. "But not in the best way."
"Oh I'm excited in that way too," Hermione bantered back with a smile. "Just give me a bit to recover from that last shag. You're not exactly little you know."
"I could fix that for you," Harry offered as his right hand glowed with blue energy that Hermione recognized as healing magic.
"No, no," Hermione replied. "This is a good kind of ache. I don't want it to go away. I just need a few minutes. In the meantime we can do other things that require no talking."
Hermione proved her point with action.
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It didn't take Voldemort long to respond to the apparent return of James and Lily Potter. Two days after their return to Hogwarts and the day after the papers had announced the news Lord Voldemort strolled into the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Harry had sensed Riddle's approach a few minutes before Riddle used magic to push the doors open forcefully and dramatically. The occupants of the Great Hall were silent as they stared in shock at Voldemort except for the Headmaster and his wife. Before the screaming could even begin students and staff disappeared.
Harry had used a bit of time travel to spell the Great Hall with a bit of magic that had been triggered by his magic and willpower. The space between the tables on either side of the door had been spelled to expand to the size of the Great Hall faster than the human eye could follow. This expansion caused the space on either side to be pushed outwards. At the same time new walls were erected with a one-way transparency charm. The students were sitting behind those walls watching the events happening on the other side. The staff had been tagged with portkeys which transported them into the new rooms behind the walls. Harry had excluded himself and Hermione from the spell but Hermione's duplicate had not been excluded. Harry wanted it to appear that the three Potters were facing the dark lord.
Voldemort blinked at the suddenly empty room that had been full moments before and said, "Where did they go?"
"Don't worry about an audience, Tom," Harry said from his James form. "You don't want an audience for the arse-kicking you are about to receive."
"You are very brave impostor. You aren't James Potter. I killed James Potter!" Voldemort screamed, his tone going from calm to enraged in seconds.
"My, my, Tom," Hermione said from her Lily form. "You're awfully quick to change emotions. Dark magic can do that you know."
Horcrux creation could make a being even more unhinged than conventional dark magic.
"Shut up bint. I'll get to you in a moment. First I'm going to put down your brat and husband. You I think I will keep for a play thing. You may not be good for breeding because of your dirty blood but you would be good for screwing," Riddle stated matter-of-factly.
Hermione felt ready to vomit.
Harry's response was to send a series of curses at Riddle. Riddle shielded from several curses and sidestepped others. He responded with black magic curses in kind. Hermione cast the occasional shield spells for her boyfriend but it was more to mask the fact that he didn't need any help than anything else. Harry didn't yet want his ability to standalone best Voldemort to be revealed. Dumbledore and Voldemort had been evenly matched true but Harry was currently in the form of his father James and wanted the public to think James Potter was a bit weaker than Harry Potter. At the start of the duel the duplicate had disappeared and Riddle was too busy to look for him. Riddle certainly couldn't forget about the golem when it reappeared just as it was throwing a punch into his gut. The punch sent Riddle flying out one of the large windows at the back of the hall. Riddle kept sailing off into the distance.
"Well, I don't think he will be coming back today," Hermione mused.
The Great Hall reverted to its former state in that moment and a cheer rose up among the students and staff. Amelia and a team of Aurors stormed into the hall at that moment too with wands drawn. When Amelia saw that the threat appeared to have left she ordered her Aurors to spread out and search the school before heading towards the Headmaster. The three Potters and Hermione's duplicate met her at the head table and the Headmaster ushered them into the antechamber at the back of the hall.
"By Merlin what is going on? Hermione called me and told me Voldemort was attacking the school," Amelia said.
"You had best just watch the memory," Harry suggested from his Headmaster form.
Amelia produced her pensieve and Hermione produced a memory. Amelia watched the memory and came away pale. She looked at both versions of Harry with a new level of respect.
"Do you know how he got in?" Amelia asked.
"The wards only cover a short way into the ground," Headmaster-Harry pointed out. "He could have tunneled under them."
"We could excavate tunnels and use them to ward around the underside of the school," Amelia thought out loud.
"Too cost prohibitive," Lily-Hermione pointed out. "Besides, with James and Harry here that isn't necessary."
"You make a good point, Lily," Amelia replied. "But Harry and James can't be on guard at all times. I would rather not put the fate of all of these children on only two men no matter how powerful they are."
"Is Alastor still teaching at the Auror Academy?" James-Harry questioned, referring to Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.
"Yes, he is on a part time basis," Amelia confirmed.
"Move the Auror Academy to Hogwarts. We can section off a portion of the school that we no longer use. The elves would love to have that many extra people to take care of. We wouldn't notice their presence much. Between Alastor and the other Academy instructors they could probably run Riddle off if he comes back and gets frisky. Though I daresay they won't do it with as much style as Harry and I," Headmaster-Harry suggested.
"The idea has merit. We can try it out," Amelia said. "But don't you need to talk it over with the Board?"
"Yes, but that won't take me long. I suspect they will be overjoyed to have that many extra trained wands on hand. Do you think either your cadets or instructors would mind earning a bit of extra money by privately tutoring small groups of students? I'm talking about the students that show a particular aptitude for magical combat," Headmaster-Harry inquired.
"Do you have the budget for that type of thing?" Amelia questioned.
"Hogwarts just received an anonymous donation to fund just such a thing for the duration of the war," Headmaster-Harry said with mirth dancing in his eyes.
Potter Tech was doing really well. Funding defense tutors was nothing for Harry who was already approaching his first billion not including the money he had stashed away from the future.
"How fortuitous," Amelia said. "I think the cadets would be happy to earn a little extra pocket money and you'll get them for cheaper. Plus it will reinforce their lessons to teach combat magic to others."
"I will text you when I have confirmation from the board. You can begin moving in the Academy as soon as you are able to anytime after that. The elves will have everything prepared in time," Headmaster-Harry assured.
"Good day then," Amelia replied before taking her leave.
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Rev 0 Posted 11/9/2014
