Hermione glanced up at Joseph from her suitcase, where she was unpacking her things. "Sure, Joseph. I can keep a secret."
"Hermione, you are going to kill me, but I have been using something of yours." He began and her eyes widened with curiosity. "I borrowed your timeturner at the end of last semester –, "
"You borrowed WHAT?" She didn't sound mad, just more confused than ever. "Harry I don't have a timeturner. I never did. I've read about them, but I've never owned one!"
It dawned on Joseph that not every life time Hermione lived was going to be the same, especially since she hated him in the one before. "Hermione. This may sound really crazy and its really hard for me to explain it to you, but you did, in another life."
"In another life?" Hermione repeated. "Are you seriously wacked?"
"Hermione, this is what I've been trying to tell you. Voldemort killed my parents and –,"
"Voldemort killed your Dad, Joseph, but your mum is just downstairs. You know this!" she grunted in frustration. What had gotten into her friend, she wondered as she stood up and plopped onto his bed beside him.
"Hermione, I have lived three lifetimes in a matter of months. I was an orphan in the first one and you and Ron were my best friends, Sirius Black was my Godfather who was in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. In the next one I had both my parents living, You and Ron both hated me, I was friends with Malfoy of all people and was sprouting Muggle hating junk hurting everyone I loved. All I wanted to do was save my parents. My real name is Harry James Potter, but I went back and saw my paents and they let me name their new baby, that baby that was me. I thought having a different name would change things. I thought telling my parents about Peter Pettigrew, I would save their lives and Sirius, but it never works out the way I hope it to. Everytime I go back, I fix what I think needs fixing and it all winds up disasterous."
"Joseph," Hermione said putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I don't know why you're telling me all of this, because it all sounds too crazy to believe, but suppose it were true, don't you think, you were better off leaving things the way they were?"
"Hermione, no." Joseph was now the frustrated one, trying to make Hermione understand what his life had been about, when his parents were killed and Voldemort had been after him. "All I wanted was to be a normal wizard, with a normal family, two parents who love and my good friends to be okay. I didn't want Sirius to be stuck in Azkaban again, but it keeps happening."
They were both silent for a while. Hermione was studying Joseph's features, looking for a clue to figure out if the things he was saying were real. He looked too distressed to have made it up. "When you met with your parents, did you ever tell them who you were?"
"No, they wouldn't have believed me." Harry was beginning to think that was what he needed to do, this time around. He waited for Hermione to confirm what he was thinking.
"Okay," she said plainly.
"Okay?" Joseph screeched. "Is that it? What do you mean, okay? Should I have told them, or was I right, not to?"
"I'm not sure, Joseph." She was merely processing all she had learned from Joseph. What timeturner, she was still wondering, was he talking about? She thought back to the day she had found the strange object in her book bag on the last day of school. She had wondered what it was, who put it there and why it was in her bag. She had brought it with her to show Joseph, hoping he would help her figure out what it was. Was that the timeturner Joseph was talking about? She couldn't help being intrigued by the idea of it. Had she known about them, she would have gladly taken more subjects, knowing she would have all the time in the world to complete them. "I don't know what the answers are, Joseph, but perhaps Dumbledore will.
"I can't tell Dumbledore, I would get into so much trouble." Joseph exclaimed.
Hermione nodded in agreement, perhaps asking Dumbledore wasn't the answer. "Joseph, when do you plan to go back again?"
"I don't know, why?" he asked.
"I want to come with you." Joseph was stunned. The Hermione he knew wouldn't take such a risk. The Hermione he knew would have discouraged him from using the timeturner at all, for fear of getting herself expelled. "I want to help you, Joseph, help you figure this mess out." Then without thinking she leaned over to Harry and kissed him, quickly on the lips.
Stunned, he pulled away from Hermione. "Hermione, we can't do this." He stood up from the bed and began pacing the room. "I can't take you with me, it will mess your life up as much as mine." He knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself, if he had let her go with him back to his parents' cottage in 1980 and let her life suffer because of it. "You need to be here."
She began to cry, but she understood what he meant. "Did I do something wrong, kissing you like that?"
"Not at all, Joseph answered. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, un-necessarily. He bent down in front of her. What could it hurt, he figured. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Hermione, you are an amazing girl," he reassured her. He wished that this was the life he was meant to live and thought Ron was an idiot for not noticing her. The Ron he knew was as big a git as the one in this life. Joseph knew that now. Joseph also knew that he never wanted anything to happen to Hermione.
