The laughs instantly ceased.
"How do you know?" She asked with a serious tone, not even thinking about denying.
"Not really hard to guess." Fred said.
"The way you look at Harry and Ron..."
"The way you fled the room last night, when Harry was being booed..."
"Or the fact that you knew it was an explosive fudge."
"Don't worry, your secret is safe."
"But we want to know the truth. What are you doing here?"
Hermione stayed silent for a moment, and then gave a look to Ed, who nodded.
"Not here." She said. "Follow me."
She got up, and left the room, followed by Ed and the twins. She took them to the requirement room, which had taken the appearance of her parents living room.
"Where are we?" Fred asked.
"My place." She replied.
Soon enough, a couple came into the living room, entering by another door.
"Hermione, darling! What a great surprise!" The man said.
"Who is it with you?" The woman asked.
"Mom, dad, this is Edmund, Fred, and George. They're my friends."
"Lovely to meet you, boys." Mr. Granger said.
"Can we get you something to drink?"
"Tea would be perfect, mom."
Mrs Granger left the room, and came back a few seconds later with a cattle and four cups. The teenagers sat on the sofas.
"Thank you." Hermione said. "You can leave us, now."
The Grangers smiled, took each other's hand, and then vanished.
"What was that...?" George asked.
"Nothing I'm gonna tell you must leave this room." Hermione warned.
"We swear. But how can we be at your home? And how did your parents recognize you?"
"We're not really home. This is still Hogwarts. This is just a projection. The tea is real, though."
And she started pouring the tea in the cups, with trembling hands.
"Let me...!" Ed offered.
And he took the kettle from her hands, and served the tea.
"But... but why?" Fred asked.
She let out a heavy sigh, and ended the spell that was changing her appearance. The twins had a moment of shock.
"Hermione! What happened to you?"
"I've been on the run for two years. Obviously it left some marks. This should have been going on for about less than a year. That's why the requirement room recreated my living room and my parents. It's been two years since I last talked to them."
"Are they... are they alright?"
"They're safe. They're in Australia, and they have no clue I even exist. I had to modify their memory. It was better this way."
The twins got on their feet, and took the young woman in their arms. She accepted the hug, and then invited them to sit back, and take their cup of tea.
"Tell us what's going on." Fred asked.
"Thing are gonna turn to shit this year, and then it will get worse and worse. Voldemort is coming back."
The Weasleys shivered at the name and the idea.
"Can we stop him?"
"No. it would create imbalance. The thing is, we can destroy him. In three years from now, meaning from the point in time Ed and I come from. I spent the whole year trying to find and destroy all the pieces of his soul. First with Harry and Ron, then only Harry, and then Ron came back."
"Came back? Are you saying he dumped you?"
Hermione nodded.
"Not the second time." Ed interceded.
"What an utter douch!" Fred reacted, outraged. "What an idiot! I mean I'm beginning to wonder if he is a true Weasley."
"Don't be too hard on him..." Hermione said tenderly. "The horcrux simply had a stronger effect on him."
"Second time..." George suddenly reacted. "You said he didn't do it the second time. It means you had to do it all again. Why?"
"Something broke the balance of the world." Ed explained. "Of every world. There's a creature lurking around. It was in Narnia, and here. We got rid of it in Narnia."
"You're talking about the dark smoke, right?"
"Yes." Hermione said. "But before I can tell you more about this, I need you to tell me something. What happened for you when you were on your third year?"
"Someone released a basilisk on the school, and Ginny was so scared she considered killing herself. Thankfully, Ed was there to stop her."
"And then Harry killed the basilisk."
"Did you ever find out who released the snake?"
"No, never."
"It was Ginny."
The revelation was followed by a long silence.
"What?" George finally said.
"No!" Fred exclaimed. "Ginny would never have done that!"
"Of course, not. Not on her own free will. She was manipulated by the heir of Slytherin."
"Wh... who?"
"Lord Voldemort. The diary was one of his horcruxes. Meaning it contained a piece of his soul."
"And Ginny worked it out. That's why she tried to kill herself, and get rid of the book. She didn't want to hurt people anymore. Especially after Hermione was petrified. And she didn't want anyone else to find the diary and end up in her situation."
"She... she gave us the diary. She asked us to hide it, and keep it safe. Are you saying we had a piece of You-Know-Who all this time."
"Yes." Hermione said. "And it shouldn't have happened. In my version of reality, Ginny has been taken to the chamber of secrets by the beast. Harry killed the snake when he went to save her, and he destroyed the diary. But when the entity invaded this world, it changed everything. To what I understand, it feeds from the chaos. The man who sent us showed us. Before we interfered, Ginny was dead since the end of her first year, and Harry was taken at the quidditch world cup and used to bring Voldemort back to life. And then Voldemort killed him. He took the power, and he managed to have Dumbledore killed, and gained control over Hogwarts. You..."
She stopped talking, unable to continue. It was therefore Ed who took over.
"You and your family ran away to try to escape his Death Eaters, and only Bill succeeded. Everyone else was caught. You were all held captive at Lestrange Manor. As for Hermione, to what I understood, she was in a delicate position in Malfoy manor, before she suddenly disappeared."
"A delicate position?" Fred repeated, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Do you really need more explanations? But don't worry, nothing of the sort happened to her."
Hermione had a weak smiled.
"The first thing I did when I came back here was to get you out. And then I took you to Grimmaurd place, and I had the surprise to find out Sirius was still alive."
"Sirius? You mean... Black?"
"He's a good man. And he's innocent. And without him, you wouldn't have had so much fun during your first three years. After all, what would be Hogwarts without Padfoot."
"Padfoot? As in Padfoot, Wormtail, Moony and Prongs? As in the Marauders?"
"Also known as Sirius Black, Peter Petigrew, Remus Lupin and James Potter. Peter was the traitor. You also know him as Scabbers."
"Ron's rat?"
"They were all animagi. Except for Lupin of course, who was a werewolf. If you see a big black dog, that's probably Sirius. I'm pretty sure he'll be around. After all, he's Harry's godfather."
"Are you aware that it's a lot of information to digest?" Fred asked.
"Do you want me to stop?"
"No!" The twins both shouted.
"What happened, next?" George asked.
"We went back to chasing horcruxes. We destroyed all of them except for two. First, there's the diary, as no one knew where it was, and then Nagini. Voldemort's snake. Now, the diary is destroyed. But Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort. So we went back in time, and we prevented his kidnapping. But the entity is still here."
"So you have to keep a close look on him, and make sure he stays alive..." Fred started.
"So he could kill V... Voldemort in three years." George concluded.
"That's it."
"And of course, this is an absolute secret."
"Of course."
Fred clapped his hands.
"Right. We'll help you, then. Isn't it right, Georgie?"
"Right it is, Freddie. First task is dragons."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure. Either that, or they're preparing for a firework. Charlie arrived yesterday with five dragons."
"Does Harry know about it?"
"Ron said he would tell him. As a way to make peace."
Hermione rolled her eyes, and had a nervous laugh.
"What? You think he won't do it?"
"Oh, he will. He will all right. I remember this moment. He sent me to tell Harry through way too many intermediary that Hagrid wanted to see him. His plan is that, when harry works out there's truly no intermediary, he will know Ron wants to make peace."
There was a moment of silence.
"That's... embarrassing." George stated.
"Blimey, how stupid is he?!" Fred exclaimed.
"He's a nice idiot..." she replied.
Another silence followed.
"We should get back to the common room, now." Fred said.
"You go. I'll join you later."
The three young men decided to leave her alone, and went back to the common room.