Chapter 10

It was after several days that Hikari felt comfortable calling herself Hikari. Yes she had used the name in the first place but it still felt odd. Miya however helped out a lot. The two girls often left the café together and Miya would should Hikari around. Hikari felt so very odd though, she knew almost nothing about her new friend which was the opposite of what Miya knew.

One early after, after the lunch crowd had left and before the dinner crowd would start coming Miya and Hikari sat at a table. Hikari was in the café's uniform and people now knew the story about Mr. S's niece coming for an unexpected visit. They all bought it and left Hikari alone. Still it was extra nice to be in an almost empty café, Hikari had and smile to herself as she sipped some coffee and listened to Miya talk about Salem.

As Hikari listened to Miya she could not help but feel like she was hearing something. Finally Hikari asked, "Miya do you have an accent?"

Miya blushed a light pink and stopped her random chatting about one of Salem's historical sights. "Yeah, I have a bit of an English and Australian accent."

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "English and Australian?"

Miya nodded, "Yeah ya see, I was born in England but moved to Australia as a child. It's a long story. But either way since I in both countries for a long enough time I managed to get a bit of both accents."

Hikari nodded. It then dawned on her why Miya's last name seemed so familiar. After a pause Hikari asked "Um… Miya you aren't Hermione's sister, are you?" No that could not be possible, could it?

Miya's cheek turned even darker pink. "Yeah, how did you figure it out?"

Hikari started to think. In book seven Hermione had sent her family to Australia to keep them, but it was only her parents, the books never mentioned a sister. Then Hikari remembered reading, (was in JK Rowling's website?) that mentioned that Jo had planned on writing in a sister for Hermione but never had a chance to place in the books, or something like that. Hikari shook her head. "I think I read something somewhere that Jo wanted to write something about Hermoine's sister."

Miya sighed. "Uh-huh. Well you see part of why I was never written into the books was because I was born shortly after Hermoine started school at Hogwarts. I was… well… sort of a mistake. Hermoine only saw me during summer breaks and she did not really remember me all that much. The summer that she made our parents forget I was in Austria visiting with our aunt and uncle, and when I saw our parents I freaked out since they did not remember me either. I came to America hoping to find something that would make my parents remember me but instead I found Mr. S, and he took me in. So that was how I got here."

Hikari nodded slowly, listening to what Miya was telling her. It was so strange, hearing about the past like this. Her dreams that she seemed to share with Harry did not share any sort of information like this. No wonder Snape tried so hard to keep everyone safe.

Hikari was about share some condolences when the front door opened. Hikari and Miya both stood, each sharing a relative bright fake smile on their faces. "How may help," "you?" Miya was the only to finish the sentence. Hikari was rather taken about by what she saw. The three people that had entered made Hikari's heart began to pound. Standing at the door was a bushied hair brunet, and a pair of redheads that must have siblings.

"We would like a table and some menus please." The bushied hair brunet said calmly.

"Of course, right this way." Miya said brightly, picking up some menus and leading the party of three to a table. Hikari just stood there. Then she walked with forceful strides into the kitchen in the back.

Kero was floating around Snape's shoulder watching the older man chopped some sort of vegetable. Miss White and Miss Black seemed to be out. Hikari sat at the kitchen counter and waited patiently for Snape to finish his chopping.

"What is it?" He asked, not looking up from his chopping.

"Um…" Hikari was not sure what to say. She was sure that was Ron Hermione and Ginny there at that table. But Harry had said in her dreams that Ginny had been taken. But then again, she had to remember what Harry had said. "They think they have the real one…" Hikari muttered quietly.

Snape raised an eyebrow, "Who does who think is the real one?"

Hikari sighed, "I…"

Miya walked into the kitchen, she looked ready to cry. "Their here." She muttered.

Snape nodded. "I see. Here…" He pulled out his wand from under his vest and waved it at a cup that was sitting on the counter. "Drink this. It will calm you down."

"Thank you." Miya said and began to sip her tea.

Hikari looked at the swinging door and sighed. She needed to tell them what she knew. "I need a minute of your time." Hikari said simply and pulled out the bird's head key from under her dress. Slipping out of her seat she stood "Key that hides the power of magic, show your true power before me. I, Halina, command you under our contract. RELEASE!" Hikari pulled a card out of her pocket and held it up. "Time card, freeze this moment till we need to return to now, Time!" twirling the bird's head wand over her head she hit the card as it was thrown into the air. Everything went all sepia.

Snape blinked, Kero flew over to Hikari's side, "Was that really nessary?" Kero asked calmly.

Miya let out a yelp, "How did you do that?"

Before Hikari could answer Snape said, almost coldly, "That is an ancient spell, no modern wand could do something like this. How were you able to do it?"

"Well…" Hikari said with a shrug, "The cards that Kero is supposed to guard have magical powers. The Time card is able to stop time and take people back in time, but only for a short time. Kinda like a Groundhog Day scenario." Hikari explained. "And it was the only way I could be sure that the people at the table would be able to hear us." She walked over to the swinging doors and looked out the little window. The three people at the table were sepia like everything else. The only ones who seemed to have any real color were Hikari, Miya, Snape and Kero.

Finally Hikari turned back to Snape and Miya. First she said giving Miya a sorrowful look, "Hermione does not know who you are does she?"

Miya nodded "Like I said, she barely knew me as a child, ten years later she really has no idea who I am."

Hikari nodded, that got that question out of the way. Now to share the info she knew. "That is not the real Ginny." Snape raised an eyebrow, Miya just looked confused. Hikari continued. "I have another card that let's me have more controlled dreams. So at some point in time I had a dream and was able to connect with Harry Potter. He told me why he joined the Deatheaters and everything. The Ginny that the Order's has is an imposter. The real Ginny is somewhere that Harry could not and cannot save her from. That is why he is what he is now."

Snape finally nodded. "That all makes sense now. Ginny is the only one who ever gave me a second look when the Order set up shop in Salem." He looked up thoughtfully. "That might also explain why the Deatheaters took their sweet time coming to Salem. Gives her more time to give them info and what not."

Hikari nodded. "I needed to tell you this in a way to make sure that the Order didn't find out. Harry already to explain this to them but since they had Ginny that is apparently such a good actress they did not believe him."

Miya frowned. Kero looked at Hikari with a worried eye. Hikari felt herself get a little drained. Shaking her head she sat down again and muttered, "Return." Color slowly returned to the world as the card reformed in her hand.

Snape and Miya exchanged a look. Hikari was frowning. After a moment Hikari stood up again. "I'll go check on if they are ready to order something. And with Hikari left Snape and Miya to think about what she had told them.

Kero floated over to Snape. "She promised Harry that she was going to help him. Part of why she came to Salem was to see what the Order was doing.

Snape snorted, "They are not doing much. Come and try this." He added as he moved back to a pot filled with vegetables.

Hikari returned a moment later and said calmly, "Two cups of black coffee and an herbal tea. Miya, you want to take over now?"

"Sure." Miya said; they needed to act as if what Hikari had told had not happened, but they all now knew the truth. It was going to be harder keeping a calm face when looking at Ginny now.

End Chapter 10

I am back and better than ever. Two chapters of two different stories in two days. I must be nuts. But a friend asked for this one and I wanted to return to the other story so here you go.