Chapter 10

The rest of September passed by rather quickly. Hermione spent most of her time trying to find names for her new pets. She already knew that for her otter, she wanted kind of a stone name.

"At first I was thinking of kind of a flower name, like Harry's mum," she admitted, "Until I remembered that he was a male otter."

She looked over a list I provided her with, of all the different masculine stone names and settled on the first one she saw; Jasper. With an otter being a river creature, it just seemed to fit as far as Hermione was concerned. Hagrid liked the name enough anyway, so from then on, Hermione's otter was named Jasper.

For her lion cub, she felt it had to be much more exotic. Also, she remembered that the cub was female this time. She borrowed Harry's book on famous African witches and wizards, but none of the names in there seemed to be right.

"I just need some inspiration," she thought to herself.

One day, she found Harry and Ron sitting on the sofa in the Common Room, comparing wizard and Muggle comics. One of the titles Harry had was about a jungle princess… a sort of female Tarzan, if you will… called Sheena. While the boys weren't watching, she flipped through the comic and inspiration struck. She then picked up her cub and said,

"Sheena it is."

The cub seemed to like her new name. Haidar seemed to like it as much as he liked her. Hermione smiled at the two of them playing together, expecting their feelings to change as they grew, which they did fast. By the end of September, they were both five months old and they'd grown so much that Harry and Hermione almost couldn't pick them up anymore.

Hermione also made note to try and get more issues of the Sheena comic book, leaving us to assume that it's sparked a few more interests.

Anyways, over the course of October, Umbridge still had not been seen teaching any classes. She was too busy waiting for the right moment to strike again. Fortunately, she found several opportunities to do it over the course of the month… Unfortunately, none of them worked out.

The first chance was one day when she saw Harry and Hermione outside Hagrid's hut. Jasper was resting on a rock by the lake, Hedwig was perched up on Hagrid's roof, Crookshanks was nestled in Hermione's arms, and Haidar and Sheena were on the floor, play-wrestling. Umbridge made her way down to Harry and Hermione and cleared her throat.

"Lion cubs and an otter for a pet," she reprimanded. "Doesn't seem like something we'd allow here at Hogwarts, does it, Ms. Granger?"

Hermione just shook her head at Umbridge, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere.

"How dare you shake your head at me, young lady!" she shouted. "I'll be confiscating your so-called 'pets' for the rest of your days, and one hundred points from Gryffindor for…"

But before she could finish, Haidar and Sheena started clawing at her legs and chomping at her feet, workin their way up to the rest of her body. Before she knew it, her body was completely covered in scratches and her clothes, shoes, and socks were completely chewed away, leaving her no choice but to walk back to Hogwarts barefoot, wearing tattered clothes with her knickers showing.

The second attempt came one day, later in the month when Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were leaving the castle to go record their first Seekers album. They were carrying their equipment down the stairs from Gryffindor Tower, but Umbridge was waiting at the bottom with her arms crossed, wearing a smug, vindictive grin.

"Mr. Potter, Messers Weasley," she reprimanded. "I do believe it's against the rules of a Hogwarts to be leaving at any time without the approval of a professor."

"We do have…" Harry begun impatiently.

"Do not back-talk to a professor, Mr. Potter!" Umbridge interrupted. "I especially do not approve of three naughty children leaving to record a silly album!"

She stepped forward and snatched their cases.

"I'll be making sure your foolishness will stop and reminding you that you are all nothing but stupid, petulant little children who deserve to be punished…"

Trying to be another Snape, are we Dolores?

"How dare you compare me to that…"

Before she could say anything else, I saw some Lion gargoyles guarding the entrance to the tower. Naturally, I made them come to life and roar so loud, they made a tremendous breeze, blowing Umbridge down through the corridors with tremendous force, back into her "secret lair", all the while blowing all of her teeth out.

The Lions Strike Again.

I figure with Umbridge's third attempt to blackmail them, some more of that Narnia stuff could come in handy… in ways even you couldn't imagine.

It was Halloween when Umbridge was about to make her third attempt. It was the middle of the day and Harry, Ron, Fred, and George, with Hermione's help, carried all their instruments and other equipment to the Great Hall to play at the annual Halloween feast, which was to be broadcast live on the nationwide Wizarding Wireless Radio.

What will they think of next?

Umbridge was blocking their way, yet again… how original. Right behind them was Susan dragging Peter to follow the boys. But Umbridge hadn't noticed that they were all in front of the doors to a room known to most of you as the Room of Requirement.

The door to the room suddenly turned into a large, familiar-looking wardrobe and a light came through the crack… and so did a familiar roar.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a recognizable lion burst through the door and jumped out at Umbridge.

"I thought the Professor said we couldn't get back in that way," Peter muttered.

"Harry! Hermione!" Ron shouted, "Is that one of your lions?"

"It can't be, Ron," Hermione answered. "Haidar and Sheena are still growing."

The lion pinned Umbridge to the floor, but she whisked herself away to a safe place. When she was gone, the lion turned to Peter and Susan, smiled, and winked at them… before jumping back into the wardrobe and disappearing.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron demanded.

The boys and Hermione disappeared quickly, wanting to avoid any more of this strangeness. Susan, on the other hand, was too busy smiling. Peter stepped in front of her, clearly wanting an explanation.

"What's all this about?" He demanded. "First, you drag me out of the Common Room to do something I seriously don't want to do… especially seeing how I've done nothing of interest for the past few months… next, Aslan and the wardrobe mysteriously appear out nowhere… somehow saving us from that walking pink pillow… then, you somehow let the man of your dreams get away and you just stand there, smiling!"

"I know," Susan replied, still smiling. "Isn't it great?"

"Isn't what great?" Peter demanded.

"What this world has to offer, and what this narrator can do," Susan replied. "This narrator can somehow bring us from a Second World War to a time period without any wars going on whatsoever, all the while introducing you to a whole other world you never thought could exist, but most of all, introducing you to the man of your dreams!"

Peter stood there, still confused.

"But that's not all," Susan added. "Not only does this world lead you straight to the man of your dreams, but there are some things that bring you closer and closer to getting your hands on him!"

"I still don't understand…" Peter muttered.

"A life debt!" Susan exclaimed.

"A What?" Peter asked.

"A life debt," Susan explained. "If a witch or wizard saves another one's arse, they owe him/her a favor."

"And exactly how did you save Harry's life?" Peter asked.

"I summoned the entrance to Narnia from the Room of Requirement and called for Aslan to get Umbridge out of the way," she explained. "Now Harry must do whatever favor I ask of him… come back to Narnia, marry me, and be my Prince!"

"And how do you expect him to agree with you?" Peter asked. "Whenever you're around him, he just backs away and runs off with Hermione."

Peter thought for a minute.

"In fact, how are you so interested in boys, all of a sudden…

And how is there so little mention of our story…

And of Narnia…

And why have I, Edmund, and Lucy done nothing of interest over the whole course of this story…

And why have I gotten so little time in the story compared to you…

And what effect will this have over the rest of the original timeline of our story…

And why are the Room of Requirement and Life Debts brought out so suddenly here…

And why does this whole story almost feel like a complete retread of the first story…

And most importantly…

Why am I even asking all these questions?

Come to think of it, I have a million more questions coming!"

Believe me, Peter, there's a reason for all of that. It may make so little sense now, but it's become the driving force of this whole story. I think I made that clear when I made myself known to you and brought you here.

Besides, you didn't expect me to believe that some lovesick or vengeful attempts at snagging or putting kids in detention was enough to carry a whole story, did you?