Time Interned
Chapter 53: Hermione's Choice

A week passed after Hermione's decision was made for her. She expected to grow more agitated as her plan started to take shape around her, but she knew it would be alright. She just had to make sure of one or two details.

The night before she would make her final moves, Hermione refused to sleep, too worried that if she rested she might reconsider her options and her choice. She took a cold shower to force herself to stay awake and then went to breakfast. It was the day of the big Quidditch match against Slytherin. Ron was dressed in his uniform, but looked far from handsome. He looked sick. He hadn't managed to convince Harry to cut him from the team and he had no choice but to play Keeper.

Harry eyed Hermione and made a show of pouring his Felix Felicis into a glass of pumpkin juice and handing it to Ron. She had been through this once already when Sirius pretended to give James the Liquid Luck. She and Harry both knew it was illegal to use that potion in sporting events, and she could only assume that Harry did it so obviously and in her presence so that she would draw attention to it.

"Ron! Don't drink that! Harry put something in it!" she insisted, grabbing the glass with both hands.

Still smarting from her refusal to help him quit, Ron glared at her. He tore the glass from her hands and downed the juice in one gulp. "Stop bossing me around, Hermione."

Harry grinned and pulled Ron up from the bench. As they walked to the locker room, he told the Keeper about their luck in the weather and Slytherin roster changes. Ron's eyes widened and he flushed with excitement as he realised what Hermione had meant and what Harry had done. This was going to be his lucky day.

Still sitting at the Gryffindor table, Hermione grinned as broadly at her friends.

"Almost too easy, isn't it?" Rose commented as she shook her head, her fawn hair falling into her eyes.

Hermione looked to the girl and smiled. "Much too easy."

The skies were beautiful and clear, Malfoy was nowhere in sight and Ron's reflexes were better than they had ever been in his life. He kept every Quaffle from reaching the goals and even had time to fly a few circles in the air to show off his broom skills. A loud, whooping cheer came from the cluster of Gryffindor sixth years, drawing Hermione's attention away from the game; Parvati, Lavender and Rose shouted loudly for Ron. He must have heard them because he executed an impressive spin and grinned in their direction. Hermione was impressed what some confidence did for him, but she was too busy cheering as Harry and Harper dove for the snitch to pay Ron too much attention.

"Go, James!" She shouted and then realised what she had said. She looked around, only Rose seemed to have noticed but the girl made no rely though her blue eyes twinkled with an odd delight. "Go! Harry!" She tried again, though with considerably less enthusiasm as Harry caught the flying golden snitch and landed in triumph.

The Gryffindors rushed for the stairs, everyone wanting to be the first to congratulate their team. Only Hermione managed to make it through to the locker rooms. She found Harry smiling smugly as Ron went through the play-by-play of the game. Harry pushed his glasses up and waited for her to start on him.

"You were very good, Ron," she smiled. "It's amazing what a little self-confidence can do for your skills."

Harry's mouth fell open. Ron narrowed his eyes at her. "Thank you," he said suspiciously.

Hermione continued, "I'm curious to see how you do when the 'potion' wears off." As she made quote marks with her fingers around the word potion, Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his fringe and Ron grew red in the face.

"What do you mean by that?" Ron stood, angrily.

"How did you know I didn't really put it in?" Harry asked. He pulled the bottle from his pocket. They could all see it filled with golden potion and still sealed with wax.

"You didn't put anything in my juice?" Ron asked. "But…the weather… Malfoy… There was no luck potion?"

"I told you that you were a fine Keeper, didn't I? You don't need anyone slipping you potions to make you good," Hermione said with a satisfied smile. She turned and left them to change, receiving odd looks from Harry and Ron. Her smile only grew as she walked. They really were so much alike, Harry, Sirius and James.

The party in the common room was the rowdiest yet. The Wizarding Wireless blared out the latest hits and Ogden's was surreptitiously added to the available drinks brought back from the kitchens. All the male players were surrounded by admiring and hopeful girls, but none had a tighter or more competitive circle than Harry. He didn't seem displeased by the attention, but he also didn't seem interested either.

The whole thing felt to Hermione like the going away party the Hufflepuffs had thrown for her last week.

Ron, hero of the hour, pushed through his circle of admirers to find the girl he was looking for.

"Ron! You were fantastic," Lavender threw her arms around him. She stunk of firewhiskey and Ron pushed her off with a muttered 'thanks.' He moved purposefully for the bush fawn haired girl at the opposite end of the common room. She smiled when she saw him, which was all the encouragement the boy needed to pull her into a kiss. The Gryffindors cheered.

Hermione took a step back and smiled as her friend finally found the courage to make a move. Rose really was perfect for him.

oOo

It was so early in the morning that it was still considered night, but Hermione didn't care. This work was better done in the dead of night. She snuck up to the sixth year boys' dormitory in her socks, her trainers in her hand so she would make as little noise as possible. Hermione was going on forty-eight hours without sleep, and questioned the wisdom of her current action, but she knew that if she stopped to sleep on her decision, she would change her mind, and the only other option would leave too much wanting.

By the dim light coming in through the windows, she found the bed she sought. She looked down at the cherubic face of the chubby boy, narrowing her eyes at him. She hated to trick anyone, but knew he could not keep any memories of her. She pointed her wand at the sleeper and erased herself from his mind. With all the memory charms she had been performing lately, she found she had gained a tiny bit of respect for Gilderoy Lockhart. The amount of mental focus necessary to remove only certain memories while leaving others in tact was remarkable.

The sound of a boy stirring sent her rushing from the room. She had done what she intended to do and now she could finish the rest of her plan. There were just two spells left to perform, but they couldn't be done here or at this hour of the morning.

She retreated to the common room to wait until a decent hour chimed. She sat at the window and watched the dark grounds below. Around five in the morning, the centaurs came into the field to practice their long range archery skills while there were no humans to gawk at them. There was light enough for them to see their targets and hit with deadly precision, but when the light grew too much they retreated back into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. With their removal, she stood.

Her muscles were tight, as much from sitting on the narrow windowsill overnight as from being wound tight with stress for the past ten days. She was confident that it would all be worth it, though.

On battered trainers, she marched from the common room to the entrance hall, stopping at the girl's lavatory on the first floor to clean herself up. How she presented herself to the Headmaster would be everything. If she could not convince him, then all her planning, charms and sleepless nights would have been for nothing. A few passes of her wand had her looking presentable within minutes and she left to find the Headmaster.

She walked until she came to the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office.

"You again," it grumbled. "What are you doing here? And so early, too?"

"I'd like to speak to the Headmaster , s'il vous plaît. Is he in yet?" she asked.

"Yes, but he's busy."

"Thank you, that's all I needed to know." She pulled out her wand and cast her final spell.

oOo

No one was looking forward to Herbology today. Professor Sprout had told them to bring their thickest dragon hide gloves and to be prepared for a few nips from the Snap Dragons, which had grown pot-bound and needed replanting. The tight roots had made them rather surly and quick to bite, the plump professor informed them.

"Mr Potter," she called. "Come help me with this demonstration."

The boy pushed his glasses up and trudged forward. He was miserable at Herbology and hated when she singled him out to demonstrate. He inevitably got bit, stung or oozed on by whatever it was he was supposed to be re-potting or milking or grafting or whatever torture the woman had in mind for him. He secretly suspected she enjoyed watching her plants cause him physical pain. He even went so far as to think that she had somehow managed to train her plants to attack at certain seemingly-innocuous verbal cues, but everyone told him that was stupid.

"A Galleon says he's cursing inside three minutes," Sirius pulled a coin from his pocket.

"Two," Peter said.

"You two," Lily glared at them. "He'll last at least five. What do you think, Remus?"

Her green eyes turned to him, but he was staring off into space again. In the two weeks since Mione had left, they noticed that his eyes would glaze over during the times the girl would have been with him. Her spell wasn't clean enough to leave him free of her, and in the back of his mind he knew there was something missing. He was trying and failing to figure out what it was.

A hand tapped his shoulder, "Pardon me, I can't see."

"Sorry," Remus muttered and stepped aside to let the girl stand beside him.

"Merci," she said and glanced at him. The glance lingered long enough to turn into an appraisal of the tall sixth year boy. He shifted a bit uncomfortably, but whatever she saw made her blush and smile. It took a great effort to tear their eyes away and watch James try to pry the Snap Dragon off his arm with a string of curses. He glanced back at the girl. She was giggling and held a delicate hand over her mouth.

"You're Mione, right?" he asked quietly.

She smiled. "Yes, I've seen you in class, but haven't had the chance to speak to you."

"Yeah," he said, fighting a grin. She had seen him. That meant she noticed him. It was his turn to blush.

"If you are free tomorrow after lunch, would you mind helping me catch up on what I missed while I was away?" she asked.

Did he want to spend the afternoon sitting with her? Was she stupid? Hell yes, he wanted to. He wanted to spend the afternoon, evening, night, morning and the rest of the term sitting next to her, the rest of his life. "I'm free. I'll bring my notes."

"Merci."

The Beauxbatons stayed beside him through the entire class to talk. Their conversation primarily focused on Herbology and what they had learned in the time she had been in France, but it occasionally slipped into the personal. He found she was quick to confide in him, which he supposed was a good thing.

She sighed, "I'm just happy to get away."

"From France?" he asked as he pulled his hand away from the Snap Dragon. Its tiny teeth left holes in his gloved.

"Reparo," she waved her wand at his hand and the glove healed. "No, I love France. I'm happy to be free of my father. He's insufferable, an absolute tyrant."

"Thank you," he said, flexing the gloved hand. "I take it you won't be leaving again anytime soon. You're…um…boyfriend can't be too happy about the distance." He watched her from the corner of his eye to see her response.

She blushed and ducked her head. "I don't have a boyfriend," she admitted quietly. She glanced over at him as he tried not to look pleased. "You, of course, have a girlfriend, no?"

"No."

"Pity," she said, but sounded anything but sad for him.

Everyone was surprised to see Mione back in class. Her presence caused more than a few unnecessary Snap Dragon bites to distracted students. James, Lily and Sirius were bit more than most; the trio knew where she was really from, where she had really gone and that it ought to have been impossible for her to return. They were dying to ask her what happened to bring her back to the past, but every time one of them looked up to speak to Mione a Snap Dragon latched onto them.

What little attention they could divert went into noticing how Remus wasted no time in flirting with the girl. His memories were gone, but apparently the feelings remained.

"Mione," Remus said. "These are my friends Sirius, James and Lily." He pointed to each in turn, then pointed through the open window, "And that's Peter."

The chubby little sixth year blushed furiously. "Hi," he said. "A-are you seeing anybody?"

"I'm seeing Remus this afternoon," she replied politely, biting back a small smile at the boy's inept attempt to ask her out.

James snorted and shoved Peter back from the window. "Wormtail, you know she's Moony's girl," he whispered.

"What? Since when?" he protested. "He's had months to make a move on her and hasn't done anything! Why can't I have a go?

James shook his head at the boy's stupidity and turned back to Mione. As the introductions lead to slightly awkward small talk, they struggled to keep their faces straight, knowing that to Remus this really was the first time he was meeting Mione. It was like having a friend with Alzheimer's, everything had to be relearned and re-experienced.

"Wait a moment. Sirius, James and Lily…Sirius Black, James Potter and Lily Evans?" Mione asked.

Sirius thought her acting had gotten better in the two weeks she had been away. She really did seem like she didn't know them. "Yeah," he said.

"I have a letter addressed to you," she said. "I think it is from the Headmaster, but I'm not sure." She dug into her ink-stained bag and found the folded and sealed parchment. Lily accepted it from her and turned it to see the recipients' names written in a tidy hand. She didn't recognise it as Dumbledore's but nodded anyway.

"Mione!" Edlyn ran over and hugged her. The Hufflepuff girls squealed for joy and hauled the girl away from her new acquaintances. Mione glanced back to smile at Remus before they managed to pull her from the greenhouse.

"She's gorgeous," Remus said.

Sirius ignored him. They all knew he would get the girl, so there was no reason to pay any attention to his swooning. "Who wrote the letter?"

"I don't know," Lily said and wasted no time in cracking the wax seal and unfolding the parchment. "Hermione Granger. Was that her real name?"

"Only Remus knew," Sirius looked at the werewolf, who was walking off on his own to the Great Hall, drawn by the beauty of Mione Garnier. "Pointless asking him."

They leaned in and read the letter to themselves, assuming it might contain information that shouldn't be said aloud.

'Dear friends,' Hermione wrote,

'If you are reading this, then Dumbledore has seen fit to allow me to return to classes with you. If I have passed his tests, then I have to ask you not to mention the truth to me. I have removed my memories of the future, but there is a chance that something might remain and your questions might bring it to the surface. I don't want to remember. If I remember, I will become a threat to the future as I know it.

'Your plan to lock away his memories worked, but it couldn't keep us together. Remus' sense of propriety was too strong, and he couldn't deal with the age gap. Losing him twice was too painful. Remaining ignorant of the truth is the only way Remus and I can be together.

'I delivered your letter to Harry, but I don't know what his reaction was. Harry is alive and in good hands. I've been assured that I'm not the only witch in the world who can learn a spell or wave a wand. Even

'Please honour my wishes and do not place us all in danger with unnecessary inquiries.

'Yours,

'Hermione Granger, 1996'

James waited until Sirius finished reading before he punched him. "You wrote him the letter anyway!"

"Too late to get angry now," Sirius dodge his second punch. "The damage is already done. The letter is delivered." Sirius sent him a rude gesture and ran up the lawn.

"Get back here!" James ran after him.

Lily smiled and shook her head, trying to imagine what information a letter from Sirius to Harry, her son, might contain. She was not looking forward to finding out. More worrying still was the reference to Harry's fight against Voldemort. Hermione wrote as if he were fighting the dark wizard personally. Lily would have loved to ask, but there was no chance to now. She would have to wait and see what the future held for her son.