Chapter Eighteen - "Limitations"
The next morning, Hermione was awake before Ginny and was first downstairs. Flicking on the TV, Hermione set about getting some cereal and filled the kettle. Ginny came down about half an hour later.
"It's the airport today?"
"Yeah," said Hermione. "They keep busy all day so we won't miss anything."
"She has anywhere in London to pick and watching planes lift-off and land is her choice?!"
"It's completely alien to what she's ever seen," said Hermione. "She has a scientific brain, it makes sense she wants to actually see it for herself."
"Okay, say for instance," said Ginny, as she poured out some cereal for herself. "Someone from fifty years from now, drops in and takes you back with them. What things would you most want to see?"
"Things that are new," the brunette replied. "Advancements. How about you? Quidditch maybe?"
"It would be interesting as to how it has continued," the redhead nodded.
"Now, to anyone other than us, that would seem odd and dull."
"Hmm, there are other things I'd want to see, but it depends on the limitations of what we're allowed to see."
Looking at the TV, Hermione glanced at the clock on the corner of the screen of the Sky News channel; it was nearly 8.50am. The news was the usual round of depressing things, but she and Ginny liked to keep up to date with the latest headlines.
"The weather going to be okay?" asked Ginny, having finished her cereal and flopping onto the sofa.
"Yeah, should be dry."
They flicked news channels to see what other stations were reporting.
"Which terminal are we heading for?" asked Ginny.
"I hadn't thought," said Hermione. "They should have a terminal map online, to find a good viewing place."
The brunette got her lap top and opened it. She typed into google, information on Heathrow for viewing planes. She tapped 'Enter'. The official airport page popped up and she spent a few minutes reading to decide which place to choose, and she compared placements on the terminal maps, when she stopped. She hit the back button to look at the pages she had opened before entering her search.
She then looked at the clock at the bottom of the screen and looked over her laptop to the TV to check, and it was 9.10am now.
She put her laptop down and went upstairs.
"Where are you going?" asked Ginny.
"I need to check on Anne."
Ginny followed, unsure what the sudden interest was, she reached the landing as Hermione knocked on the door, and gently opened the bedroom door.
"Anne?" Hermone walked into the room, and Ginny heard her knock on the en suite door and open that. "Fuck!"
"What?" Ginny now walked into the room.
"Anne isn't here."
"Could she be in the other bathroom?"
They went along the landing and that bathroom was also empty, so they went back to her room. Her 1840 clothes were still hanging in the wardrobe, but most of the clothes from the day before were missing, and using one of the other shirts they had made for her. Hermione turned to look at the top of the chest of drawers, and couldn't contain a laugh despite the growing tension.
"She took the Spurs cap!"
"Where the hell is she? Gone for fish and chips?"
"We're so incredibly thick, incredibly insensitive and have completely messed up everything!" said Hermione, frustrated.
"Where's she gone?" Ginny asked carefully.
"You know we were just saying about the things we'd like to see, if we had the chance of being taken to the future. You said it depends on limitations, but when those limitations are just words and not written laws, then of course the first bloody place you'd go to is: your home!"
"You don't mean..."
"Oh yes, our bonny little traveller is on a train to Halifax! And that means she's on her way to Shibden Hall!"
"How?! She has no money."
Hermione rushed out and down the stairs and opened the drawer where the homeowner always kept the Oyster cards and credit cards. A small purse, which contained some odd loose cash, was missing along with one of the credit cards. It was likely an Oyster card had also been taken, but as there were always plenty of those it was hard to tell for sure. "We've been stitched up and we deserve it! So stupid!"
"How? How is she getting from here, this exact house, to Halifax?"
Hermione opened her laptop to the page that had been there when she opened it. It showed the route and stops and every step of the journey from their front door to Halifax.
"She needs to get to Kings Cross. Oh so handy that it's on the Victoria line, the next stop after Oxford Circus! Then from Kings Cross to Leeds, and from Leeds to Halifax." Hermione put her head in her hands, and rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "She might even have taken a taxi to Kings Cross!"
"Do we know what time train she might have been aiming for?" asked Ginny, sitting next to her.
"From this it was going to be around 7am. She's probably bloody on it?!"
"How do we rescue this utter shit show?" Ginny pleaded. "We can't easily just Apparate on to a public train."
"Let me think," said a very flustered Hermione. "We can track the trains, on the National Rail Enquiries site."
The brunette went to the website and decided to put in 'arrivals' Leeds from London. There were a few trains during the morning, so she clicked on the one for 7am. Her eyes frantically searched for the train being held up or where it had last stopped. "Bollocks!"
"Not good?"
"That train arrived in Leeds, two minutes late at 9.21am." Hermione looked at the time. "That was five minutes ago."
"Does she have to change trains?" asked Ginny.
"Err...yes, the connecting train from Leeds to Halifax is 9.31am. We need to get to Leeds station."
"We can't just drop in!? Public place and all that!"
Hermione tapped aggressively at the laptop keys and brought up pictures and satellite images of Leeds station. "Of course, the place has lots of lines and is huge!?" she exclaimed.
Ginny looked at the images. "It's much bigger than Halifax, many more lines...hey, what about there?" The redhead pointed to one of the many car parks, with this one bordered by some trees separating it from a river. "If we're unfortunate enough to land as someone drives into the parking place, we can pretend we climbed over the fence, no idea what for, but it's all I can think of."
"It will have to do, minutes are ticking."
Hermione quickly got her beaded bag, packed a couple of Oyster cards, just in case and one of the credit cards left. They went to Anne's room and Disapparated to the car park at Leeds Station. They both found themselves tight against the fence as the car parked in front of them was quite long and using all the space. They sidled out of the cars, not seeing anyone looking their way and ran to the station complex.
"Platform 11b, I think,"said Hermione.
Ginny was in front and dashing to the main area and finding where they had to go for the correct platform. Hermione managed to see a departures screen as she ran by. She shortly followed Ginny onto the platform to see the back end of a train curling around a bend a few hundred yards down the track.
"Was that to Halifax?" Ginny asked a station official on the platform."
"Yes, love. Don't worry, there'll be another in about fifteen minutes on the other platform," the man pointed.
"Thank you," Ginny said walking back with Hermione. "What now?"
"We need to see the route, but without my laptop...and not knowing the places. We need to aim for Halifax."
"We don't really know it now," said Ginny. "It's probably changed a lot since 1943."
"I know there's some trees near a car park again," said Hermione. "I got a glimpse once, recently, when I went to the library and had a walk around town."
"Was the journey about thirty minutes?"
"Yeah, depending which train, it looked like most took between thirty and thirty-five minutes. It will depend on any delays at the couple of stops in between."
Ginny looked up at the large station clock. "We have a little time. I suggest we go back to the place we arrived."
They both walked back to the tree-lined fence and Disapparated appearing almost 'in' a hedge at Halifax in another car park. Having checked that again they were unobserved, they brushed off a couple of twigs and leaves and walked to the station building.
"There's the Minster church," Hermione pointed to the square tower of the church as they walked along.
"If Anne sees that...which she will as it's hard to miss...she's viewing her own..."
"Grave," Hermione finished the sentence for her wife. "We'll get to it when we need to. First we have to meet up with her again."
"Looks like they still only have a couple of platforms which makes things easier," observed Ginny, as they walked into the building.
They looked at an arrivals screen and saw that the train from Leeds was on time. All they had now was time, as they walked to the right platform and sat on a bench. A lot less people were at this station than at Leeds.
"I suppose she's seen her own grave anyway," said Hermione. "When her father and aunt were buried there in 1836, she even remarked on it in her diary. She was supposed to have been buried in the same vault inside the church, or possibly nearby in the church, so she knew where she was going to end up...just not, how she got there."
"Or when," said Ginny.
"Everything, and I mean everything, could be rapidly going down the toilet," said a worried Hermione. "I'm sorry. I'm selfish, stupid and clearly live in a dream world."
Ginny got hold of her hand. "You don't have to apologize to me. I'm in it with you right to whatever end it has. But, don't worry about that yet. First, if and when, Anne gets off that next train, what is your plan?"
"Take her back to London...and...," Hermione stopped as she saw her wife shaking her head. "What then?"
"Instead of answering straight away, I'll take you to the answer a bit more gently," said Ginny, then failing to stop a crooked grin when she saw a confused look on the brunette's face. "What have we always said about big events in the past, when we've been back?"
"That they still happen, maybe altered slightly, but basically the same ending they always had."
"What did Jane say about the Riddles' deaths?"
"They were going to happen that year anyway."
"So, with that in mind, I think we owe it to Anne to tell her the truth," said Ginny.
"Hmm," said Hermione, her shoulders slumped. "How much truth were you planning on?"
"The fact she dies soon, back in 1840; the fact she's buried in that church over there, but we can also be truthful in saying that we don't know how it happened."
"But we do..."
"Not exactly, nor the absolute precise placing or time. From your books, most say a fever from a tick. You said yourself, once or twice, that it could have been a number of things that gave her a fatal fever."
"Yes." Hermione had her elbow on her knee, and her chin on that hand, staring at an ant crawling along the concrete near her feet. She looked up. "What about the diaries?!"
"Unless we absolutely have to, we don't say how far they have gone, and not about the code. We'll have to play that one as we go along."
"Do we take her to Shibden?"
"Yes, if she still wants to go there. Same with the church."
"All right," said Hermione, nodding. "We be as honest as we can, depending on what she asks, or sees."
"There is another course of action," said Ginny, in a very low voice.
"What?"
"Obliviate."
"No! Absolutely not!" said Hermione, sitting up and alert. "I promised I would not meddle with her mind. I can't do that to her. I can't do that to anyone, now."
"Okay," Ginny squeezed her wife's hand. "I understand. It was just an option. So, how long have we got?"
"About another twenty minutes."
Ginny looked past Hermione at their surroundings. A couple of people walked out onto their platform and a family of three were going to the other platform. She turned to glance at some more arrivals. "Oh shit!"
"What?" asked Hermione.
"We're in the shit. The shittiest of shit, that ever was shitted."
Hermione looked to where her wife was looking and saw Ron and Jane walking towards them. "Bloody hell! What the fuck?"
"Hey, Hermione, Ginny," said Ron. Jane put her hand up in a small wave of hello. "So you've either deliberately tried to test my trainee's ability with some decoy fun, or you've done something a little mental?!"
"What do you know?" asked Ginny, wearily.
"I should be asking you that," said Ron, but there was his usual half grin on his face.
"I'm sorry," said Jane, who then didn't look so assured and began to babble. "I recognized Anne yesterday. I was so bored and the aurors wanted things we'd observed and I thought I might have seen wrongly and I was working with your brother, so I didn't think it would matter as much, then we set a watch on the house you're staying at...and..."
"Brilliant!" said Ginny, sarcastically.
"She was doing her job," said Ron, but then continued in a friendly voice. "So what were you doing, bringing this Lister woman here?"
"Repaying a favour, in a way," said Hermione. "She risked so much for us while chasing after your...trainee."
"For which she's paying for the mistake," said Ron, nodding Jane.
"No, she's right," said Jane. "Had they not had Anne Lister's help, and were able to stay at Shibden Hall, they could have been in a lot of danger. You know they both got injured, in 1832."
"We can't all go transporting people around," said Ron in answer, and looked back at Hermione. "You two, of all people, know the risks..."
"If you're going to say: you're sooo disappointed with us, forget it," said Ginny. "Hermione had to do this."
"So, you're saying that she had to go back in time, bring back someone who doesn't belong here, and a muggle at that, to have a...what? Good time?" Ron was a little exasperated.
"I can't explain it," said Hermione. "Actually I can, but you wouldn't understand. Okay, you might, but...urghhh." She threw her hands up, stood up and walked down the platform.
"Something has been playing on her mind, a lot," Ginny said quietly to her brother. "She's spent the last few months only looking at deaths: the causes, the dates, the ages. And it always comes back to Anne Lister and her premature death. That woman helped her. Shortly before we got dragged into that mission she had been getting her PTSD problems again, as you probably heard via the family. Anne Lister helped her, in whatever minor way it might seem to others, she helped her. She wanted to see her one last time, and maybe feel better about the fact that woman dies when and in the way she does."
"She can't change that," said Ron. "She knows that. I don't want to have to take her into custody, but if she's thinking..."
"She's not. She knows she can't change it, even if she wanted to. All she wanted, was a chance to show Anne our world, the muggle world, not the magical."
"What's she going to do now? Jane has told me about this Anne Lister woman. Is she a threat?"
"No. I don't think so. She's just a woman wanting to see her home and I think we should let her."
"Whew!" Ron exclaimed. "You like increasing the complications, don't you?"
"Yes, we underestimated Anne's ability to adapt so quickly, and her deep resolve to see her home. But we now think we should be honest, as much as possible, and let her see it." Ginny paused. "Only, I think we have to do this alone."
"By rights I should arrest the lot of you," said Ron. "...get you to explain yourselves to Kingsley."
"We give her this day, and she goes back to her time," said Ginny. "Today was always the plan for taking her back. Please, let us finish this and mop up our own mess. Which, I might add, we were trying to do, waiting for her train from Leeds."
Ron looked at his sister and up the platform to the brunette with her back turned and came to a decision. "I'm as much a fool as you, but...I'll trust you to sort this out. However, I will be watching for your return to that London house you're staying at, and will check the house early this evening. If any more crap occurs, after that point, I'm sorry but I'll have to report it."
"We're going to report everything once it's over. Hermione doesn't know this, but I came to the decision when we set out on getting here. We will hide nothing. Deal?" she stuck out her hand.
With a moment of hesitation, Ron then nodded and shook his sister's hand. "Jane, you just witnessed that. However, you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Consider yourself bound by oath of confidentiality. You speak to no one about this, other than me, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
In any other circumstance Ginny would have made a funny comment about her brother being addressed as 'sir', but she wasn't feeling very humourous.
"The train should arrive in another five minutes," Ginny said, looking to the arrivals screen on the platform.
"Look, I know you probably won't need it, but if you need help, call on me," said Ron, seriously. "Or Harry, Bill and Fleur. Ask for help if you need it. Only, don't fuck this up more than it already might be!"
Ginny nodded. "Agreed. Perhaps it would be best to leave us now."
"Hope to see you later, with your guest, securely in the house in London," said Ron, as he and Jane walked away and back through the station building.
Ginny walked over to Hermione and told her of the agreement, with her wife immediately saying. "Sorry."
"We spoke about this, there's nothing to be sorry for, not to me, anyway," Ginny said and embraced her wife.
As they stood close together Ginny looked along the track and saw the front of the train appear down the line. She gave Hermione a little squeeze. "Let's hope she's on the thing and not taken the train to Scotland by mistake."
The train slowly pulled into the platform with the muffled station announcer stating the arrival. The doors slid open and a few people walked out, some with back packs slung over shoulders, a couple looking down checking their phones. And then they saw her; Anne Lister walked onto the platform confidently, and walked towards the station building, Spurs cap in hand. It was then she saw the two witches, she faltered a step, looked to the sky briefly, then carried on walking towards them, resignedly.
"You're here to thwart me?" she asked rhetorically. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."
"It was rather impressive, actually," said Ginny. "It took me a lot longer than you to adjust to modern train travel."
Anne gave a quirky smile to Ginny; a little proud, a little mischievous and then she looked to Hermione, and her face dropped, slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry. You must feel I have betrayed your trust?"
"No, we don't," said Hermione. "It's us who've been completely stupid, selfish and ignorant. Of course you'd want to come here. To not recognize that, was no better than dangling a carrot in front of you."
"She means...," Ginny began, unsure if the 'dangling carrot' analogy made sense.
"I understand the meaning," said Anne, holding a hand up. "Nonetheless, I apologize for any trouble I have caused you. Are you here to take me straight back...back to the monastery?"
"No," said Hermione. "We're under orders to take you back later."
"Ah, so that girl saw me and recognized me yesterday?" When the two witches nodded, Anne looked down to her feet. "I won't need this any longer, then, nor these." she handed over the Spurs cap to Hermione, the purse with loose change, the Oyster card and the credit card. "I'm sorry."
"Okay, here's a new rule," said Ginny, suddenly. "From here onwards, no one says 'sorry' for any action that has brought us here to Halifax station, right?"
"Yeah, fine, whatever," said a distracted Hermione.
"Yes," Anne replied simply.
"You used the credit card?"
"Yes. It was much easier than I anticipated. Alas, I won't be able to pay you, or the card owner back."
"It doesn't matter," Hermione brushed off, before asking. "What did you want to do here? Specifically?"
Anne took a deep breath. "See Shibden, of course, even if it's just a glimpse at a distance. And perhaps...visit my aunt's resting place at Halifax church, though from what you have told me that could be dangerous, possibly?"
"In what way do you think it's dangerous?" Hermione asked carefully, wanting to hear it for herself.
"Well, because that's most likely where I'm buried. Therefore it must be strange for a living person to be in the same pace as their corpse." Anne inclined her head at the last sentence, then saw Ginny wince. "Have I said something bad? Or was I seeking the impossible?"
"Do you have to say 'corpse'?" said Ginny, still with a grimace.
"It is what it is," stated Anne, not understanding the discomfort.
"I know...urgh, don't mind me," Ginny flapped a hand.
"I don't know what the risk is of appearing in the same place in two different forms," said Hermione. "We've never had the difficulty of facing that dilemma. However...," she stumbled over the words, on how to approach it. She pointed to the benches and got them all to sit down.
"What are you thinking?" asked Ginny of her wife.
"About whether bigger things can be altered...you know..."
"Oh! Yeah, we seem to see enough proof for it to be the case."
"Anne, you know that we've said big things in history do not appear to be able to be changed. Like in 1832, at least three of those men, if not all, would have died that year anyway. And we were sure that the boy couldn't have been killed for one reason or another. Do you understand that big events, milestone events, probably can't be changed, no matter how hard a person might try to do that?"
"I remember our conversations on this, and I agreed that perhaps things set in stone cannot be altered, only small circumstantial things."
"It's the setting in stone that is important, because to visit Halifax church would be to possibly know your own death date," said Hermione, unable to hide the glumness she was feeling.
"Ah, I see," Anne nodded. "And you have known this, all along? When I pass over from my life?"
Ginny answered for her wife. "She's known from the start. It has been so hard to have that knowledge and to keep it from you."
"We can go to the church – it's actually called Halifax Minster now – but if you do go, you have to know that some things could be revealed to you, about your future. It could change how you think from the moment you gain that knowledge." Hermione looked straight into Anne's eyes to show her sincerity. "But, we will no longer hide that, if it's something you really want to do."
"And Shibden Hall? Might I see a glimpse of that?"
"Yes. The parklands and Hall are open to the public, but it might be best if we stuck to the parklands," Hermione suggested.
"I agree to that," said Anne. "In my thoughts last night, the thing that bothered me most, was if I somehow had access to go inside, that it would vex me terribly if it has been changed too much, or there are things in the wrong rooms, or displayed in the wrong ways. It would be utterly too stressful on my normally strong constitution."
"I agree on that, and I'm relieved too," said Hermione, thinking that any information on the diaries was less likely to be out in the grounds, but was certain to be highlighted in the house. "We will take you to the parklands around the Hall."
"I hate to give the impression of a complainer," Anne said. "But, I wish I had asked you about this last night, it would have saved a lot of trouble."
"And we would have refused, in our selfish, ignorant turdishness," explained Hermione. "This way we were forced to evaluate our faults."
"Dear lord! 'Turdishness', is that a common phrase?" Anne inquired.
"It's new to me too," said Ginny, staring with contentment at her wife's new choice of vocabulary. "I think it basically means our inadequate crapness."
This actually made Hermione laugh, properly, for the first time that day. "Look, let's get a taxi to Shibden and go from there. But, be warned that there might be information posts, or signs, that might betray something about you and your future."
"I'm ready for anything, now." said Anne, resolutely.
The taxi they had taken from the station was on its way to Shibden. Anne was looking all round, trying to find landmarks she recognized. Once out of Halifax, and the very familiar towers of the church and the Piece Hall not far from the train station were out of sight, things were not so familiar to her. The roads, the buildings and traffic and the people. She looked a little crestfallen, and Hermione noticed it.
"Changed a lot, I expect?"
"It would appear so," Anne replied flatly. "If it wasn't for the church back there, I'd hardly know which direction we were heading. It doesn't look how I imagined, from viewing the map."
They passed several tourist sign posts for Shibden Hall ahead, which the two witches were sure would have some effect on Anne, because it had an effect on themselves.
"You realize we haven't been here in modern times," said Ginny. "We didn't go there...the other time. This is new to us too."
"I could never bring myself to go there," said Hermione. "My research didn't take me there and any information was at Halifax library." What she couldn't say was that, there were no diaries at Shibden so she had no need to go there, along with the changes time had placed on the Hall that would have made it difficult to see, having known what it really looked like in Anne's time, with a living breathing Anne there too.
The taxi pulled into a car park, from which more open parkland and trees could be seen. Having paid for the fare, they all got out of the car and walked along a path that pointed towards the Hall. A little way along, Anne stopped, closed her eyes and lifted her head, as if sniffing the air. She was sniffing the air. When she opened her eyes again, she then looked around her and settled her gaze on Hermione and Ginny. "It nearly smells the same, under the...whatever the smell is."
"Pollution from the road, probably," said Hermione.
"No, it's not like the London I left this morning, more like it lacks something," said Anne curiously. "Smoke...there's no smoke. I know London didn't have it either, but here it is more noticeable in its absence."
"Oh," Hermione realized. "There's less people with open fires now and no factories or mines." She looked at some signs and directed them on a path that led into the parkland rather than to the house. As the Hall came into view Anne stopped still again, swallowing very hard.
"It's changed a little," Hermione offered.
"Yes, quite a bit, but...," Anne tailed off as she continued to stare at her former home. "It's nearly how I envisioned it. Nearly. The pictures didn't quite give me the feel for it."
"Better or worse?" Ginny asked.
"Neither. Some bits I like, some probably don't work as well as I hoped," said Anne. "Can we walk a bit more in the grounds?"
"Of course," replied Hermione, watching Anne's face. "Are you all right? It's a lot to take in."
"I'm always all right," said Anne, with that quirky smile she liked to employ. "It feels very strange. I can feel the place in my bones, like it's echoing in the marrow."
They walked to the edge of the parkland, for a fantastic view sweeping down to the house, and the visitors wandering around it. "I'm sure that is not something you can get used to," said Hermione. "All the people walking around and inside."
"I'm trying to avoid looking too closely at them," admitted Anne.
"A good idea," the brunette agreed.
They found a bench and sat down, still with a nice view; Hermione always having a flask of tea in her beaded bag, brought it out for them all to have a cup.
"I remember us doing this eight years ago," said Anne wistfully. "Eight years ago to me, at least."
"Yeah, we did," said Hermione, remembering it.
"Does your Ann like it here?" asked Ginny.
"That is something I'm not sure about. I don't think she hates it, but it isn't quite up to the standard she's used to," Anne explained. "Even when she leaves for a day or two to visit her properties she always comes back. She doesn't have to, really."
"If it was me," said Ginny. "I'd prefer to stay here rather than being in one of those large square, boring Georgian houses. All have the same windows, all have the same porticos."
"The thing is, there's always a draft here at Shibden. Ill-fitting windows, then rooms that get too hot from the fires below."
Hermione laughed. "Believe me, Ginny would always love this place, makes her think of home."
"What?" Anne broke her gaze from her home to look at her companions. "I thought your house was a cottage?"
"Oh, it is," said Ginny. "My parents' house is all bits and pieces, with drafts and squeaks in some places, and all manner of things in other places."
"It's not a Hall, like this?"
"No. Just a large, higgledy piggledy farmhouse and with our 'talents', other rooms can be added for family occasions. We got married there," the redhead said.
"Married at your home?" Anne was fascinated. "I never thought to ask where it happened."
"Most of her family get married there when the occasion happens," Hermione said. "We wanted to as well. It was all properly done with a registrar and witnesses and everything."
"So no clergy or priest?"
"No, that's not who we are," replied Ginny first.
"I'm interested, if that is the case, how do you...," Anne tailed off, thinking of the right words. "How do you have your, souls – for want of a better word – joined, if no prayers are said, no communion given at the time of joining yourselves?"
"Our vows were to each other, in front of, and witnessed by our family and friends. By pledging ourselves to each other, exchanging rings, trust, promises, oaths, we were as deeply joined as any other method of marriage could claim to offer." Hermione answered. "And we signed a marriage certificate too, seconded by a civil partnership in the non-magical world so we're legally married wherever we are."
There was silence for a time. "I'm not sure I could ever be that public, even if it was the done thing from my time," said Anne.
"It doesn't have to be public," said Hermione. "That's the beauty of choice here. You could quietly get a civil partnership, witnessed by a couple of random people and no big deal made of it."
"Freedom...of thought, of choice, of action," Anne muttered. "I suppose one doesn't know how one would be, if one were used to it."
"Going from 1840 to here is a bit of a shock," said Hermione. "Maybe too much...maybe..."
"No, I'm glad you brought me," said Anne, taking hold of Hermione's hand. "And I'm glad you're both with me."
They stayed for a while longer, with Ginny getting them some sandwiches from a coffee shop, with Anne not wanting to be out of sight of the Hall.
"I still can't quite believe that you looked up the information you needed on my laptop, got to Kings Cross station, got your ticket, using a credit card, remembering the PIN number, and got a train to Leeds, then changed for Halifax...all by yourself?!" Hermione was shaking her head.
"I'm a keen observer," Anne replied. "I'm good at improvising when I need to."
"You're a sponge," said Hermione, suddenly.
"Sponge?" Anne asked mildly confused. "Are we talking the living kind from the sea or a cake had with afternoon tea?"
"The former...you soak up knowledge, but really fast," said Hermione.
"I'm sure a Victoria sponge cake could soak up a lot too," said Ginny, with a raised eyebrow.
"I've always been that way," said Anne. "If one isn't taking in the world around them and the details and oddities, what is the point to anything?"
"When you put it like that..." said Ginny, nodding.
By mid-afternoon Anne suddenly sighed. "I know you have to get me back to London by tea time. Do we have time to see Halifax church?"
"Yes," said Hermione. "If that is really what you'd like to do?"
"It is," Anne nodded. "Though I can sense you don't want me to. You don't want me to know or..."
"Or, I'm also really unsure how any of this works," replied Hermione. "We've not experienced what you're going to do before."
"Well, let's get on with it," said Anne.
Back at the car park area they were fortunate that another taxi had just dropped off two customers and Ginny asked if he could take them back to Halifax near the church. As it turned out his next job took him back past there and he agreed to take them.
Anne gave the parkland one last wistful look, then turned her head and looked forward as they drove away again. Several minutes later they were dropped not far from the church and they walked the rest of the way.
The church was open and no service was taking place. "At least we won't be shocking a congregation by our appearance," said Anne, drily. "Unlike some people I know."
Ginny chuckled. "We did rather make a dramatic entrance back then."
A couple of people were in the church, either visitors or volunteers, but it was basically empty. Anne led them to the north west part of the church, obviously aiming for a particular place. She stopped, looked up at the wall and windows, then around at other markers and then looked down again. "Should be here..."
"Your aunt and father?" asked Hermione, knowingly.
"Yes. All of us. But I can see no marker, or stone. Did they move them or...the stone break..or perhaps never got placed properly...?"
Inside, both Hermione and Ginny were feeling slightly relieved, as it didn't reveal anything of the last resting place, and no inkling that Anne's own broken gravestone slab was propped up elsewhere. Hermione had never seen a grave marker there, but was unsure if what was happening now would slightly change appearances.
I think we're lucky, thought Hermione. No dates, and we might get out of here painlessly, after all.
"Well, they...we...should be under here," said Anne, pointing to the area under her feet. She briefly bowed her head muttered something too quiet for the witches to hear, nodded again and faced them.
"A bit disappointing, but that is time and change," Anne said resignedly, as she turned to make their way in the direction of the nave and the exit again. "Do you know...where Ann Walker was buried? Is she in here?"
Hermione experienced a feeling like an icicle poking down her throat and into her heart. "No, she's not here," she said carefully. "She was buried at Lightcliffe, but...," she faltered.
"What? You can't tell me?"
"The church was demolished, although it's known roughly where she lies, which would have been inside the church near the pulpit."
Anne nodded. "It makes sense. We had begun to frequent that church more. She liked it there."
They walked slowly up the aisle, when a woman with a name label approached. "Did I hear you discussing Ann Walker?"
"Yes," replied Hermione, getting a feeling of dread.
"Such a sad thing that the church is gone, there...all apart from the tower, anyway," the woman said, who was so obviously some sort of guide or warden of the church.
"And the Lister vault in here?" Anne asked.
"Oh it's here, approximately along the north to north-west side," said the guide. "Since the refurbishments and floor level issues, things were not exactly where we expected. We believe Anne Lister's aunt Anne and father are in the vault in the north west side, but we don't have a marker there, we're unsure if there ever was a marker."
Hermione felt a bit sweaty, and Ginny had grabbed her hand by their sides. Had they heard each other's thoughts it would have been: Shit, shit, shit!
"And Anne Lister, herself?" asked Anne, herself.
The other two women's thoughts had moved onto: Fuck, fuck ,fuck!
"We're not sure; her coffin is in here somewhere but we're still not entirely sure where," the guide answered. "Possibly the north aisle adjacent to the other Lister vault."
"Why is that?" Anne probed. "I would have thought she would have been laid to rest with her aunt Anne, her father and uncle?"
"The theory is that her coffin was too big and didn't fit into that particular vault. But it is definitely in here somewhere and most likely nearby to them."
"That's very interesting," said Hermione. "Thank you for all the information." She was hoping they could leave without any more damage being done, but then Anne spoke again.
"Why was it too big, and not the standard size?" Anne asked, not noticing that the colour had drained from the faces of her two witch friends.
"Again, it's a theory, but it's thought it was something to do with the way it was sealed for the long journey, possibly more encased and therefore the larger surrounding coffin didn't fit in the space that was left."
"Oh," was all Anne could reply, thinking hard, then she simply nodded her head. "Thank you."
Hermione was hoping that yet again they could edge away, but just as she was about to step closer to the exit end of the nave, the guide shoved the metaphorical icicle dagger further into Hermione's heart.
"We do have the remains of her gravestone slab, if you'd like to see?" the guide offered. "It was discovered during recent refurbishments, under some old Victorian pews."
"I'd like to see that," said Anne, turning to her friends and seeing their worried expressions. "We're all right to look?" she asked quietly. They nodded, but their looks told her how much they were dreading it.
The lady guide walked them along, and propped up against a wall was the fragmented broken stone of Anne Lister's last resting place.
"I can't see her name?" inquired Anne.
"No, not properly, but it can only be her stone," the guide explained.
"Because?"
"Because of the death in Koutais, now known as Kutaisi, in what is now Georgia. The partial date and the age, forty-nine."
"Ah, I see," said Anne calmly. "Thank you. We'll...we'll just have a little sit down, then we have to go again."
"If you need any other information, come and find me," said the guide as she left them.
They walked to some pews a short distance away and Hermione thumped her backside down onto one, and Anne sat next to her and in a bizarre turn of events it was Anne that took hold of the brunette's hand, trying to comfort her.
Hermione looked up into her face, questioningly, all too obvious what she was asking about, without naming it.
"I'm fine, Hermione. You're not looking quite so well, though," Anne said.
"You...you just saw...you know...," Hermione stumbled over her words, her eyes tearing up a little. Ginny sat on her other side, looking just as glum as her wife, and held her other hand.
"It had to be, didn't it?" said Anne, as if she was talking about an answer to a mathematical problem, rather than the fact of her own death being very near. "You were nervous and upset the moment you knew I wanted to come here, and the moment we set foot in the place you were strung as tight as a drum."
"Even so..."
"I guessed it might be; because of why you fetched me from where you did. There have been so many things you have said and done that told me that it had to be soon. I didn't know just how soon, but there it is."
"How can you be so calm?" Ginny asked, this time.
"Perhaps knowing in my way, and only having it confirmed now, was simply answering the question I already knew the answer to. It's confirmation. Do you know how it happens?" Anne looked into Hermione's face.
Hermione couldn't meet her eyes, sighed and was about to try and answer.
"Shot? Robbed? Accident?" Anne suggested.
"No," said Hermione, shaking her head.
"That's a shame," said Anne. "So I'm guessing it's food poisoning or..." She was watching Hermione's face to gauge the answer. "Or illness?"
Hermione was unable to mask a resigned sigh, desperately trying not to let any tears fall, and answered Anne without words.
"I see," said Anne. "Well, from what you've told me, Ann makes it back with my sealed coffin, why else would it be the wrong size if a long journey was involved? And I'm in here somewhere. And at least I was important enough that they've saved the gravestone pieces and have not thrown them away."
"Your death has been bothering Hermione, since before we ever met you in 1832," said Ginny. "And lately it's almost made her ill with sadness, to know that you die so young and so far from home."
Anne turned to Hermione and held both her hands in front of her. "Forty-nine isn't young, not by the standards of my time. I think I've probably done quite well with my time. As for the location. It is quite a beautiful place, despite the heat and obvious risk to health. Within sight of the beautiful Caucasus Mountains. My...Ann with me. Yes, there's always so much a person wants to do and never the time to do it. But we have to work with the time we are given, however long or short; it is the time we have been allotted and who am I to argue about it. The more minutes that pass, the more adjusted I am to this news. Don't be sad, I'm not." She wiped the tear trail from Hermione's cheek.
Hermione sniffled. "I'm sorry, Anne," she managed to say.
"What for, this time?"
"Everything, mostly for not being completely honest with you."
"You never really lied, did you? Modified the truth; manipulated the facts, perhaps?" Anne smiled, then patted Hermione's hand. "You meant well. You never meant me harm. And you seem to have respected that things are the way they are. You didn't try to change anything about me."
"Not sure it would work anyway," said Ginny. "You have a mind of your own and use it."
"I do have another question, if you're able to answer?" asked Anne, looking about them to make sure they were not overheard.
Hermione nodded.
"What happened to my sister, Marian? Is she in here too?" Anne indicated to the church.
"No," replied Hermione. "For reasons I could never really work out entirely, she's buried in a Lister plot at Southowram."
"Not completely surprising, that she was somewhere else. May I ask when?"
With a considering deep sigh, Hermione nodded. "I tell you with caution, not to be repeated to Ann or anyone that could pass the information along. Your sister dies in 1882 aged eighty-four."
"Married?"
"No."
Anne made a noise, which was close to a derisive amused snort, then she composed herself again. "She outlives the lot of us. Thank you for telling me. Now, you had better get us back to London. I assume this can be quick?"
They walked out to the churchyard, picked a secluded corner and in moments Ginny had taken them all back to Anne's room at the house in Victoria.
On sitting down on the bed after feeling a little wobbly on arrival, Anne said, "There are many other things I would like to ask you, such as what happens with Ann and anything that follows, but I know I should not know that, nor dates. It is enough that I know my own...journey. What happens after then I cannot alter, even if I wanted to."
Hermione and Ginny had looked tense, wondering if they were going to have to go back on their honesty policy and refuse the information, especially as Ann Walker's history after returning to England was not a happy episode. Anne smiled, seeing their relief. "The worry is over, I won't ask for more information on Ann. It is good to know she gets back safely, at least. I think perhaps I have been blessed with the knowledge people do not usually have. I am content with that."
They set to having a cup of tea and then flicking on the television downstairs, putting Sky News on. After five minutes or so, Anne suddenly sat forward, studying the screen, squinting slightly to read the ticker tape headlines.
"Is something wrong?" asked Ginny.
"I haven't made the news," said Anne.
"Were you supposed to? We were with you most of the time...oh hell, you didn't do something on the train to Leeds, or Halifax did you?" asked a worried Hermione.
"I felt sure that 'Anne Lister of Shibden Hall visiting her own grave' should have been a headline?!" said the lady herself with a crooked smile.
"Oh shit! Don't do that!" said Hermione, nearly wheezing with relief.
Anne Lister was laughing. "Your faces!"
Ginny starting laughing. "Hermione sooo thought you'd punched another train passenger or insulted someone!"
"I remember from our time eight years ago – well, for me – that you continually surprised me, rushed me, or were beyond predictable. It was time to reverse the situation." Anne, looked a little smug.
"Well, I had better not surprise you and go get the hottest curry I can find for your tea, dinner or whatever that meal will become," said Ginny.
"If I am to go back to the monastery in a couple of hours, I think I should refrain from added gastric disturbance," Anne said, slightly concerned.
"She's kidding you, now," said Hermione.
"I've waited eight years for my jape and you come back in two minutes?!" Anne exclaimed. "Hmm." She was smiling warmly though.
No one really felt hungry but Ginny said she's go to a bakery and see what she could pick up to at least have with a cuppa; but as Ginny got up to leave there was a knock at the door. She went to open it. "What the hell do you want?"
"Hi to you too," said Ron, standing on the doorstep. "Can I come in?"
"Must you?"
"I need to check, it was part of the deal."
"I thought you'd only be watching the house?"
"I can't tell everything from out there."
"Oh, come in."
Ginny walked back into the room with Ron behind her. "Big brother's watching us," she said.
"Ron?! I didn't know you'd be coming into the house?" Hermione said, surprised and immediately annoyed. He's not going to stay until we leave, is he? He fucking well isn't, if I have anything to do with it! She thought.
"That's what she said," he replied, pointing to his sister, who then waved as she went to leave.
"Well, Ron, this is Anne Lister," she pointed to their guest. "Anne, this turd...I mean man, is in charge of making sure we don't do something stupid, and he's also Ginny's brother."
Anne looked guarded at first, but then intrigued, looking the newcomer up and down, with her usual penetrating gaze, probably working out his weight and leg length. "Do you all have red hair?"
Ron groaned. "Like I haven't heard that lately?!"
"Oh, don't bother with him. Manners were never his strong point. Yes, they all have red hair," Hermione answered, getting a mystified glare from her former boyfriend.
"Extraordinary," said Anne, still looking at Ron, who looked uncomfortable.
"Is that something they do in 1840, stare at a bloke till he either goes away or melts?" Ron said.
"No, that's reserved just for you," said Hermione, sarcastically.
"Have you been at the vinegar today?" Ron said to Hermione. "You're very acidic!"
"Well, you have blundered in at a..."
"Blundered? Me? I'm not the one..."
"All right! We know why you're here. There is Anne, she is safe in this house. No, she won't be leaving the house again," Hermione explained feeling exasperated. "We will take her back in a couple of hours and return. On return we shall contact you and you can see for yourself. Anything else you need to know?"
Ron had gone a bit red in the face, but refrained from saying what was on his mind and instead said. "Fine. See that you do as we agreed. I'll leave again." He turned and left the room and they heard the door open and bang shut again.
"He was the one you used to court?" Anne asked, knowingly.
"Yes."
"I thought so. Were you always so...so prickly with each other?"
"Quite a lot," said Hermione, actually giving a chuckle. "It would never have worked, in any world, time or circumstance."
"I can see that," agreed Anne. "You were actually more prickly than I've ever seen in the short time I've been around you. Not even in crisis moments did I see you like that?!"
Hermione stood up and crossed her arms and went to the window, but not actually seeing where Ron was going to watch from. "I didn't want our final hours together to be shared with that...thing breathing down our necks and making stupid comments. He has nothing to do with this."
"And is he always so...charismatic?"
Hermione nearly groaned. "Oh yes, that's him all over."
"It seems to me, he's never been able to control you and that bothers him...or is it 'compete' with you?" Anne pondered. "He certainly seems to be experiencing pain at being inferior to you in some way."
"That was always a problem too," said Hermione. "He would never just work with me, or rarely. Everything always had to be argued and he'd imagine all sorts of stupid things that I never even indicated or...just too much of a fight the whole time."
Anne walked up behind the brunette and wrapped her arms around her and hugged her. "You made the right choice. Ginny is your equal. You're so natural in each other's company. You have conversations that don't even require words." Hermione made a funny noise in her throat pointing to obvious innuendo, which Anne quickly realized. "No, not that! I mean the kind in public, over ordinary things, you just connect your minds. I've witnessed this myself. I've always envied it."
Hermione covered one of the hands wrapped around her. "Ginny and I have known each other a long time. It's shared experience that threw us together, that and immense dangers, when all we had was each other and no certainty of even surviving. Other people have tried to break us, but they won't succeed."
"Oh...I'm...I never...," Anne loosened her embrace and backed away.
Hermione turned. "I don't mean you, or that time we...no, no. I meant other people here in this time." She went to Anne, kissed her cheek and hugged her. "Besides you sort of had Ginny's permission."
"I will never understand that."
"Don't try to. I had a hard time understanding it too."
"There's something else I want to ask," said Anne, leading Hermione to the sofa to sit down. "No, not anything about the future."
"Ask away."
"Firstly is it true what Ginny said about you making yourself ill, knowing about my death?"
"Yes, partly, at least."
"Why? It happened nearly one hundred and seventy years ago from here."
"I think it's because I see myself in you a bit. Intelligent, accused of being odd and not conventional about many things, and you have such vibrancy and positivity and..."
"This is the 'ooze' bit again, isn't it?" Anne interjected, trying to keep the conversation light.
"Yes," Hermione laughed. "You ooze plenty of things. Anyway, I was just a bit torn that all of that was...gone, too soon."
"I think we covered that earlier. I don't want you to be sad for me, for the things lost by death, embrace the things I did while alive. If there is any part of our short days of acquaintance that stand out to you for good reasons, other than our dalliance, then think on that. Don't mourn the things that can't be changed." Anne put her hand to Hermione's cheek, to get her to look directly at her. "I know you will be sad, as I will be on leaving you and Ginny and leaving Ann. But, there are so many good things to remember. You'll try, yes?"
Hermione nodded, feeling a bit emotional already. Ginny walked in and and set down her bakery bag. "Everything okay? Ron left?"
"Yeah," said Hermione, swallowing hard.
Ginny looked at her. "Hey, what's wrong."
"It's my fault," said Anne. That made Ginny looked at her confused.
"No," said Hermione. "It's mine."
"Okay, so synchronized blame established, what's the cause?"
"I asked her if she had really been ill because of knowing about my death," said Anne, softly.
"Oh," said Ginny, she got hold of one of Hermione's hands. "Yes, she has always been very down about that. Hey, let's eat, everything seems better with food."
"Spoken like a true Weasley," said Hermione, as Ginny kissed her forehead and they went to the table.
In no time Ginny had set out her purchases on some plates. "I got some cakes and cheese scones...sweet or savoury or both, whatever you want."
As they began to settle at the table with Hermione getting them some drinks, she said to Anne, "Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"
"If it won't make you too sad, there is another question I would ask following on from the first," their guest ventured. Hermione nodded ascent.
"If my death caused you so much pain recently and it isn't long from my return, back there, why bring me here. No, not just whim and curiosity, because I don't believe that's all there is, can you tell me?"
"I wanted to thank you," said Hermione.
"Thank me?"
"You helped me; what we spoke about the other night – but it was a lot more than you know," the brunette confessed. "I had begun to get symptoms again, as you saw...nervous attacks, after years with none. Talking with you...it made things so clear and obvious about what was happening and what I was to do and that I could cope with it again and beat it and trust myself again. You helped me to see how simple things were and how I could start to get order back in my life."
"I wasn't aware of that."
"No, but talking to you helped."
Anne looked warily to Ginny, but the redhead put her hand up. "Don't worry, I thank you too. Sometimes it needs someone outside to help make things clearer. I don't begrudge that at all."
"In that case, I'm pleased I could help you," Anne smiled, taking a sip of water.
"I knew you'd be interested in life here, however baffling it would seem and I wanted to give that chance to you. And at a time when you were not at so much risk, or pressures of life," Hermione said.
"Then I thank you both for that," said Anne. "And for helping me with Ann."
"I wasn't aware that I did? Or we did?"
"What you said in 1832, and the other night, about what were weaknesses and what were not and how you coped with your anxiety. Unfortunately, as you know, Ann has it more severely, though I suspect it's her upbringing and lack of society that is the cause of most of it. As you also know, I have had my patience tried more times than I care to count, and times when I thought that we would part and even now...well, I know that we don't part in that way, now, but I employed that patience and perseverance to my limits, because of how you spoke about such things and what I now know were warnings to be prepared. Eight years we have had, six with her living at Shibden and travelling with me. It's more than some people get."
"It has been so difficult to know and not say anything," said Hermione. "All we could do was hint."
"Well," said Anne, wistfully. "I intend to enjoy what is left and make the most of a bad job. Ann has enjoyed several parts of our travel, even, dare I say, better than me, especially when she's on horseback, something I was never completely comfortable with, but there it is."
"It's a shame we had to keep so much from you," said Ginny.
"It was for the right reasons," said Anne. "And it's irrelevant, now."
"Yes, as long as..." began Hermione.
"...I won't write anything down, nor tell anyone," said Anne, grinning. "I understand the protocol over that, by now."
"I admit we did check a few books when we got back to make sure nothing had been revealed wrongly. All clear," said Hermione, then she looked sheepish. "It's not that we didn't trust you, but so much happened, that sometimes things slip out, and maybe not from you; there were others that could have said a wrong word here or there."
"No offence taken," said Anne. She was about to say something else, then stopped and caught herself, but not before making a small audible sigh.
Hermione noticed it, though. "What is it?"
"Only something that would break a promise I made a short time ago," replied Anne.
"Something about the future? Your future?" Ginny asked this, watching carefully.
"Not about now, or perhaps not that distant, it's just a thought, as I won't get back to Shibden, or England again."
"Ask," said Hermione. "We can always say we can't tell you."
"All right," Anne nodded. "You may not even know the answer, but you seemed to have known a bit about me, and my life, however fragmentary. Have you ever read, or heard, anything about a Mariana Belcombe or Mariana Lawton?"
"Yes," replied Hermione. "What do you want to know?"
"Rather obvious, I suppose, only what happens to her? Do you know? What happens to her after this time, after 1840?"
"I've never researched her in much depth," answered Hermione, truthfully. "However, I did do some minimal work to find out about her. You want to know when she dies?" Anne nodded. "She died in 1868, aged seventy-eight."
"And her husband? Do you know anything about him?" Anne said in a quiet voice, hardly daring to voice the name of the man she had loathed for a lot of her life.
"He died in 1860, I think," Hermione said.
Anne laughed, and it was with genuine humour. "Oh Lord, my dear Mariana!" she laughed again, then looked at the slightly worried glances from her hosts. "She always said that, once he died she would come to me. Not that I would feel that way now, it is beyond repairing, but poor girl, the old man outlives me by twenty years. There is something beautifully ironic in that. We were always waiting for his death, and I go first."
"I know no other details, really, I don't think they had children," added Hermione.
"Well thank goodness for that." Anne's smile dropped. "I very much appreciate your answering my questions."
"There's no harm in that..." said Hermione before she was cut off by her wife.
"...unless you write to her before you die, and tell her she has another twenty years with him!"
Waving a hand Anne replied, "No fear about that. I have kept my word about that, and always will."
They talked further and the time passed and when it reached six o'clock, they made their way upstairs. Anne freshened up in the bathroom and then they treated Anne to some more magic, by changing her back into the clothes she had arrived to 2008 in, with a flick of a wand, and then stood looking at one another.
"This is it," said Hermione. "Time to go back. And...I hate it! I hate Ron...I hate..."
"Steady on," said Anne. "While that strange young man I met, did indeed seem irritating to the extreme, I don't feel that any of our current predicament is his fault."
"This is of our making, Hermione," said Ginny. "We always said Anne would have to go back today."
"I know," answered Hermione, gesticulating with her hands more than she normally would. "I know. Just venting...something...and it might as well be aimed at him."
Anne walked over to them. "Meeting you and then coming here has been a highlight in my life and I'll think of it often over the next few weeks."
"We might not have much time, when we step back at the monastery," said Ginny. "So perhaps it's best to say our goodbyes here, properly. And..." Ginny walked to the bedroom door. "I'm going to give you a few minutes."
"What?" said Hermione, but Ginny only gave a smile as she left the room.
"She is a remarkable woman," said Anne, amazed again at the redhead's forethought and acquiescence to those thoughts, thinking only of her wife.
"I know," Hermione sighed.
"There are some things I would say," Anne began. "Don't make yourself ill again over a job or career. Do something you actually love, not which you found by accident, or which found you in the same way. Do something that will make you truly happy, not depressed and gloomy, however absorbed you are. I always want to think of you as happy."
"I have considered taking a break and perhaps writing a book or two," said Hermione.
"Do it," said Anne adamantly. "I always wanted to write a book, never really got around to it, other than those travel notes you found, which were obviously not in any polished state for publication."
"I think I will," said Hermione. "It means I'm floating around undecided again, but a book seems the most attractive option."
Anne brought her hand to Hermione's cheek. "You'll be good at anything you do, but never compromise your health or happiness. Not now."
"I'll try. I don't know what my own future will hold, but yes, I'll try to keep to that promise for you."
"Then there is this." Anne moved her hand to slide a ring off her right index finger. It was a silver band set with a black stone which glittered. "I had this made not long after you left in 1832 and I've worn it since. It's time I gave it back to you. The stone is the black diamond you gave me, the ring I had made was for me, so I give you back something of me."
Hermione felt it in her hand and looked at it. It was exquisite. She could feel a lump in her throat. "Don't you want to keep it with you?"
"Not now. Not now I know. I don't want it to end up in anyone else's possession," explained Anne curling Hermione's hand around it, to make sure she kept the ring. "It is a part of you, and of Ginny and a part of me, for our time together."
"You've worn this all those years?"
"Yes. A part of me always wanted to keep a little part of you. That little part that will always love you," said Anne, her voice husky and tight from trying to hold back emotion.
Hermione wrapped her arms around Anne Lister and their lips connected; a soft, slow and almost painful kiss, but ultimately chaste, of what was, what could have been and what was to come. As their lips parted Hermione held onto the other woman and whispered. "I love Ginny with my whole heart, but there is still a little piece of me that will always love you, Anne."
She felt the arms tighten around her. A few moments later they stood back, wiping stray tears.
"Now, if you don't mind, I would like to speak to Ginny alone too," requested Anne.
Opening the door, Hermione walked along the landing to their room and found Ginny sitting on their bed, who looked up when her wife walked in. "All done?"
"Not quite, she wants to talk to you, alone."
"Me?"
"That's what she said."
A bemused Ginny left, and Hermione sat on their bed to wait, her curiosity only matched by her sense of honour, about not intruding on her wife and Anne; she also knew she could ask about it later.
"You wanted to see me," said Ginny, as she walked into the bedroom Anne had been using.
"Yes." Anne moved forward and held both of Ginny's hands, surprising the redhead. "I can't describe what you've done for me. Generosity of spirit and other things. I know I don't even have to say it, but look after Hermione. Cherish every moment you have with her. You have a special bond and never let anyone break what you have. Promise me."
"That is an easy promise to make. You have my word on that." Ginny said without hesitation.
"Look after her, after we all part. Look after each other. I don't want her worrying herself and getting into a ghastly mess over this. She has to understand that knowing you are both happy and together is my ultimate wish for you."
"I'll look after her. We've always looked after each other. I hated to see her lately, getting so down about things, but she's very hard to steer away from a project when she's so consumed by it."
"I've told her this, but you also tell her that, my wish is for her to be happy and not sad over any part of this. Be glad of what we've all had and move on better for it."
Ginny nodded. "Again, an easy promise to keep. I will do my best to help her."
"There is one final thing I want to put right, though it opens me up to yet another scrape I might find myself in, even at this stage," Anne gave her quirky smile.
"I'm listening," said Ginny, eager to hear what this thing might be, or if it was something else that would need covering up.
"We're friends, aren't we?" Anne asked and when the redhead nodded readily she continued. "It would seem that you think I prefer Hermione and that she is the one I most gravitated to."
"That's a fair assumption," agreed Ginny.
"While that's true and she and I do meet on the same level, except when she's swearing with invented words, I need to be honest about you." Anne saw Ginny's face take on a perplexed defensive expression. "No, this isn't bad, I'm not about to insult you, my dear woman."
"Okay."
"The thing is – and it's hard for me to say this – but you scare me a little. Well, maybe not scare, and it's not quite intimidate, but I feel less." Anne put up a hand to quieten any protest Ginny was going to make, to let her continue. "You are just as intelligent as Hermione, we are on the same level too, within a little, and I find you incredibly attractive, and it mystifies me a little. I know on some level you...you allowed Hermione and I to be connected, and I apologize for having taken that offer. But it wasn't just opportunity and desire it was also because I knew I couldn't compete with you. Hermione will always be yours and you to her also. Whatever I did wasn't going to unbalance that, and that made me think that it was maybe why you allowed it, you didn't fear me as a true competitor for your wife's affections...I..."
"I am going to stop you there," said Ginny. "Listen, and listen well. I knew you were no threat to Hermione. You weren't going to hurt her, but you were also a part of her, quite a while before we even met and she'd found you in her research for the area. She wasn't sleeping with a ghost, exactly, but you couldn't harm us, and wouldn't. I somehow knew that from very early on. You are always going to be a part of her life and her heart, and I'm completely fine with that. You are also a part of mine. What you've done to help her and also for you just being you. A little piece of me will always love you too. And...and I've always liked the look of you...and been attracted to you. There, the cat is out of the bag."
Anne swallowed hard and was silent for a while. "Really?!"
"You know enough about us to know if we're keeping something back or not."
Studying Ginny, Anne could see that she looked vulnerable and a bit embarrassed and how a person looked when they had divulged a deep secret or spoken an honesty that had previously been hidden.
"I thought you were exactly like me to being with and I've been confused ever since. I don't know what the term is here, but they call women like me 'Jacks' or 'Toms'. I assumed you were too; playing sports, being a woman of action...although Hermione is fairly equal on action when it's required."
"I'm not really a 'type'," said Ginny, amused now. "I'm just me, who happens to have found a soul mate in Hermione and since then, yes, I've liked the look of other women purely because I am of that persuasion; you notice more when you are part of something like that. I think all kinds of women are attractive. History would tell us that you were masculine, but you know, you're nowhere near what we expected. There are plenty of women now that look more like men, yet whom are married to men, happily. Gender dressing and personalities are more fluid here. But I have to say a well dressed woman like you does get the heart beating a little faster, and the imagination. Possibly apart from some very butch ends of the spectrum, we all dream of a woman like you coming into our lives and whisking us off our feet...maybe undressing us...and...well, I don't need to draw diagrams."
Anne was utterly engrossed in what Ginny was saying, and with little thought walked forwards and pressed her lips to the redhead's; slow and questing, until they pulled back, a little stunned with each other.
"That's definitely put things right," said Ginny, with a lopsided grin.
"That's for you and for me. A little piece that loves you too," Anne said, deadly serious.
"In a short time, since we first met, I've grown to love and admire the woman you are," said Ginny.
They embraced again, then broke apart. "We'd better go," said Anne. "I don't want that brother of yours dropping in again."
"Me neither," said Ginny.
"I still find it hard that Hermione ever considered anything near commitment with him?!"
"I'd been telling her that all along!" Ginny laughed and went to the door and called Hermione.
Resignedly and with few words, Hermione put the Time Turner chain around their necks and got them both to hold onto her as she pointed her wand at it and stated the time and place. After several uncomfortable moments they landed on the spot they had left from before at the monastery in Georgia, with the heat beating down.
"One more quick question," said Anne, and seeing her friend nod, "In your research did you ever find any of my family with magical heritage?"
"No," said Hermione. "Sadly not. You don't need magic, Anne. You weave your own magic all by yourself."
"Flatterer!" Anne exclaimed with humour. "Well my friends, I must go back down and find Ann, before she comes looking for me. The sight of you two would probably sour things for days. Be brave, be true," she added, as she embraced Hermione and then Ginny. And as she walked away from them, she turned and said "Above all, ooze positivity!" She waved and was out of sight around the monastery wall and on her way down the slope.
The two witches were smiling and sad at the same time. With a last wistful look around from where they stood, as she was then out of sight, they went back to the house in London.
"What did she say to you?" asked Hermione, when they got back..
"It was more a confession," said Ginny, sheepishly. "That we both loved each other too. Similar to how it is with you. Only she was intimidated by me and thought I might be too butch underneath, or something. I think it got her gaydar screwy from the moment she first met us, thinking she suddenly liked butch women! Then, realizing I wasn't, and we both found the other attractive, she kissed me...a proper kiss."
"Whew! She does put it about a bit, doesn't she?" said Hermione amused. "I always knew you couldn't resist her, really."
"That obvious?"
"Yup."
They sought out Ron a little later, as they had promised, and gave a full account of what they had done and every place and thing they had encountered over the last three days.
"You'll be wanting us to visit Kingsley," Hermione said, not really asking a question and assuming the answer.
"No," said Ron.
"No?" Ginny questioned. "We must have broken lots of laws, and..."
"It's his directive," said Ron. "He wants all the details, but this report will be kept unofficially."
"So why all the drama?"
"I wanted to see what she was like," the red-haired man answered, shrugging his shoulders.
"What?" Hermione nearly squeaked.
"I heard so much about her from before, I was intrigued. So I offered to check things out, rather than from a distance, which Kingsley had advised when he heard about what Jane had saw. Then you made me leave the station in Halifax so this was the only way. I was keeping an eye on things too, but I was curious. And, bloody hell, does she look at everyone new like that?"
"Yeah, it's not just you," said an amused Ginny.
"She sent my mind back to a time Harry and me were under his cloak and Dumbledore saw right through it. Urgh...creepy!" Ron admitted. "And I really don't get why she had women falling over themselves to sweat in her shadow."
"Well, you'd never understand that," muttered Ginny.
"So we're not being arrested or charged with anything?" asked Hermione.
"No," Ron then saw the expectant looks he got. "I think Kingsley was interested in the experiment. He was prepared if things went wrong, but if anything he's even more convinced that the Time-Turners are in the right hands."
"Shit, he doesn't have some kind of plan for something else, does he?" asked a wary Ginny.
"Not that I know of," Ron replied. "You have to know, though, if anything ever kicks off, that you two will be the first on the list to go?"
"I suppose we should expect that," Hermione nodded.
Later that night as the two witches lay close together, physically and mentally exhausted Ginny asked, "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay. You?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I miss her," admitted Hermione. "But she's made it easier. Yes, I'm still sad knowing the ending, but I feel compelled to be how she asked. Be positive and glad that we met her."
"She's always going to be a part of us," said Ginny, kissing Hermione's cheek. "She's going to be that peculiar third person in our marriage that neither of us minds being there."
Hermione chuckled. "There's no way we could explain that to anyone."
"And we won't have to. She's our business and our secret."
"I'm going to do something else she wanted me to," said Hermione, giving a little yawn. "When I'm finished on the ancestral project, I'm going to sit back a little while and start writing a book, or maybe two."
"What subject?" asked Ginny.
"That's the thing. It could be practical magic, teaching manuals either for Hogwarts or the Ministry or it could be fiction about time-travelling. I have the title for any of those."
"Which is?"
"Echoes of the Past."
"I'd buy it," said Ginny sleepily.
"You wouldn't have to, we'd be sent copies from the publisher."
"Ohhh, we've got as far as a publisher?"
Hermione mock slapped her. "In time, hopefully."
"Is that another title? 'In Time, Hopefully?" Ginny asked.
"Now, that's a possibility," said Hermione, with a laugh.
"There and Back Again, by Hermione Baggins," said Ginny.
Hermione snorted with laughter. "I still think 'Anne Lister: My Life as a Cornish Pixie' could be ground-breaking for the lesbian community."
"We need to..."
"Sleep? Yeah," said Hermione resignedly, realizing they were talking rubbish. "There's just one more thing I need to do."
Ginny watched as Hermione got her phone, and with her wand, she made a copy of the selfie she had taken of the three of them in 1832, and finally transferred it to a frame, to the magical paper within. She then placed it on their dressing table.
"Yup, she's definitely the third person in our marriage," said Ginny.
"Well, you'll get another tick on your list," said Hermione.
"What?"
"Letting her watch...you know..."
Ginny laughed and then the pair of them shared a soft kissed and settled to a calm, dreamless sleep.
XXXXXXXXXX
Back down the slope at the monastery site, Anne was looking at the sketches Ann Walker had been doing.
"Where's your ring?" Ann asked suddenly.
"My ring?" Anne Lister asked vaguely.
"The one you've always worn, with the black stone? I've never seen you without it."
"Oh, that one. I..." she paused, thinking of a good excuse. "There was a little altar up there, where offerings were made. I left it there, to symbolize our visit."
"I really ought to leave something, too."
"No need, it's enough for us both. I said a little prayer for the both of us," Anne lied, although technically she was praying right at that moment. "Besides, we don't want to throw around too much jewellery or money. It didn't have great monetary value, anyway."
"I suppose," Ann thought and immediately moved on. "So which sketch do you like best?"
"This one has great composition," Anne said pointing to one of the sketches, while secretly saying a prayer for her two friends in 2008. God speed my friends, until we meet again in a better place. I'll be waiting...
Finis
A/N: Thanks for reading this piece of 'inadequate crapness'. It's one of my own small snapshots on Anne Lister and the possibilities, and only just scratching the surface of the wealth of things about that fascinating woman and her fascinating life. :) Were women swooning all over her? More or less, for most of her life, and certainly with flirting and suggestion. There was definitely something about Anne that other people locked onto. So I wanted to show a little of the magnetism and put in the 'strange' and strong reactions she provoked from both Ginny and Hermione; something that was just the Anne Lister factor. I also wanted to show the magnetism of Hermione and Ginny to Anne, because they would definitely meet on the same intellectual level.
I pushed a few little facts around to fit, as I'm not certain Anne's gravestone fragments were on display in 2008 and if it was a couple of years too early, nor if her likely burial placement had been surmised as in the north aisle(not far from her aunt and father) by that point, so I left it vague for here and not pinpoint accurate.
I could have played with a 'feeling' Anne knew where she was buried, but it wouldn't have added anything and been an extended tangent while turning her into a kind of sniffer dog. As one body is alive and the other is dead, could there be a connection felt? Or does visiting your own grave alive, mean you're not actually buried in that place at the moment you're visiting it? Too many tangled possibilities...if you think too much about it. :)
The ring was always in this story as just an object, but then the Gentleman Jack series showed Anne wearing a black-stoned ring(of which I have a lovely replica from the jeweller that worked on the show) and I couldn't not twist it a bit more for the story.
This could have been much longer, more intricate, more everything, but it's one of my thinking-out-loud things, and I decided to share it.