"Hermione," Harry's voice whispered. "Hermione." She groaned and shifted in her small bed in the Hospital Wing. "Come on, please wake up." He glanced over his shoulder towards Madam Pomfrey's office. Harry leaned down, his fingers lightly brushing back the curls from her face. "Come on, 'Mione."
Hermione groaned again and blearily opened her eyes. She blinked as she focused on the raven haired teenager beside her bed. "Harry?" Hermione rubbed her eyes with one hand and leaned up on the other. "Why're you awake?" She paused. "How are you awake?"
The last thing Hermione remembered before Madam Pomfrey shoved a Dreamless Sleep potion down her throat was Harry passing out from magical exhaustion. Madam Pomfrey had claimed he would sleep for several days at least, the usual amount of time a witch or wizard needed to recover from such a problem.
Harry shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm starved."
Hermione looked at him incredulously. "You're hungry? You just - and you're hungry?" She shook her head, eyes wide. "Wake Madam Pomfrey." She moved to roll over and go back to sleep.
"I wanted to go to the kitchens," he stopped her with a hand around her waist. "Come with me." She shot him an arched look. "Please?"
Hermione sighed.
Harry smiled brightly and pulled back the covers on her bed. She slipped her feet into the slippers at the side of her bed before standing. Harry gave her a hug, one Hermione gratefully sank into.
"I missed you," she whispered. She tried not to think about him still and lifeless on the floor of the Great Hall. Hermione was sure the image would haunt her for the rest of her life.
"Me too." He pulled back and grabbed her hand. "Come on, then. I'm so hungry I could eat a hippogriff."
Hermione chuckled under her breath as they snuck out of the Hospital Wing. "I bet it'd taste like chicken." Harry made a face and Hermione laughed quietly. She yawned.
They didn't pass anyone on their way to the kitchens and the two were instantly greeted by a hoard of happy house elves. A large square table was set up at one end of the kitchens that the two sat in while they waited for the elves to fill Harry's request for food.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?"
Hermione waved her hand, her chin resting in her palm as she leaned on the table. "'m fine."
"Tired?"
She glared at him balefully. Harry grinned. "Madam Pomfrey gave me a Dreamless Sleep potion. It's definitely trying to get me to go back to sleep."
"Sorry," he grinned slightly. They both knew it was a lie.
"I said it's fine and it is." She blinked her eyes widely to wake herself up as she looked at Harry. "There's clearly something you wanted to discuss."
Harry looked down at the dark wood of the table before him. There was definitely something he wanted to discuss. "Dying." Hermione swallowed. She took his hand. Harry turned to her. "Have you ever heard of a horcrux?"
Hermione frowned in confusion and shook her head. Just then, the house elves reappeared with platters of food. Witch and wizard thanked them kindly. "Apparently, it's the darkest magic someone can perform. They kill someone and through the process of some sort of dark ritual, they can split their soul in half and put it into an object."
Hermione gaped. "What? But that's - why would anyone… Harry, where did you learn about this?"
"When I was dead… I went to this… I don't know, he called it an Inbetween? Like a transition place between life and death."
"Who did?"
Harry studied her for a long moment before he said, "Sirius."
Hermione blinked back the sudden slew of tears that rushed her. "My - you saw my dad?"
Harry wrapped an arm around his best friend, a move she gladly leaned into. "He sends his love. And his apologies."
"I miss him," she whispered.
"So do I."
They were silent for a long while. Harry went back to his stew and bread rolls.
"Why did dad tell you about that?" Sirius Black was notorious amongst those who knew him for his utter and complete disgust of all things dark. Hermione was surprised he'd even know about something like that, let alone tell Harry of all people.
Harry paused. He set his spoon down. "He - Voldemort has them."
Hermione pulled away from Harry's arm so she could see his face. "Them? As in more than one?" He nodded. "But…"
"I was one of them." Hermione's eyes widened. "The dreams? The possession? My scar hurting?"
"Harry…"
"I don't think Voldemort knew. He wouldn't have killed me if he had." At Hermione's confused look, Harry elaborated. "In the Inbetween, there was this… thing. It looked a bit like Voldemort before he transformed in fourth year." She nodded, completely absorbed. "Sirius said I could go with him or…" He stared into Hermione's warm brown eyes. "I couldn't leave you."
Hermione touched Harry's face gently. She pulled him down and kissed his cheek. "Good. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Harry grinned. "Probably stay out of trouble."
"That sounds terribly boring."
"Doesn't it?"
Hermione leaned her head against Harry's shoulder as he continued to eat. She yawned widely. "I wonder if he has more left."
"Definitely," Harry confirmed assuredly. "I think that's what it was all about. The prophecy, I mean. Dumbledore let me hear it." Hermione straightened immediately. "I was planning to tell you during your visit. It states that I'm the only one who can defeat him - Voldemort. It was between Neville and I and he chose me."
"And now…"
"Neville will have to do it… I think…? The prophecy has to be completed, right?"
Hermione shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know, Harry. Prophecy isn't my area of expertise. I can look into it." He nodded. "Do you think he has them in this world too?"
"I don't know."
Hermione yawned again. "I'm sure we'll find out." She glared at the table. "Voldemort has done a spectacular job of making sure we have massive targets on our backs." She laughed bitterly. "I'm quite positive that was his point, though."
"We can't go back to our world if this world kills us first."
"Exactly." She rubbed her face tiredly. "At least this world's war isn't as bad as it was in ours. In either our time or the 70's, really." Hermione made eye contact with Harry. "I think we have a little time yet, before we have to worry about him."
Harry looked unconvinced. "I won't hold my breath."
Hermione silently agreed with his comment. Things did not look good for the two. Harry glanced at his tired best friend and got up. He found a house elf and asked for him to conjure something for them to rest on. A luxurious looking red couch appeared by the side wall. Hermione smiled at Harry gratefully and the two settled in together. Hermione tucked herself into Harry's side. He drew his arm across her shoulders as she curled into him. Harry stared into the middle distance as he thought. "I met my father today."
Hermione smiled, her eyes closed. "He's lovely, isn't he?" Harry smiled. "Lily is too. They've been wonderful since I arrived."
Harry nodded. "Good."
"Sirius was a prat."
"Oh?"
She rolled her eyes. "I didn't tell anyone I was a Black. He didn't like me very much." Hermione sniffed, unaffected. Harry's brows drew together. He didn't have to look at her to know how bothered she was by what she'd said.
He kissed the top of her head. "Clearly didn't know you very well, then. You're impossible to hate."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Tell that to Malfoy." Harry narrowed his eyes and wisely decided not to say anything about the crush Harry knew the Slytherin Prince had on his best friend. Hermione traced her finger down the front of Harry's white sleep shirt. "Why didn't you tell me?" her voice was small in the loud emptiness of the kitchens.
Harry sighed. "Another thing we were going to talk about during your visit to Privet Drive." He looked down and Hermione's head shifted so she could see him without having to get up. "My lessons with Dumbledore didn't start until the summer."
Hermione couldn't help but be impressed. "You learned Elemental Magic in one month?"
Harry made a face as he looked away. "Technically, just the theory of it. I mean, I was supposed to be practicing but it wasn't working… at all." His eyes met hers once more. "The first time it actually worked was with that wall. Trying to protect you."
A warmth filled Hermione's chest at his words. She smiled up at him. "It definitely worked."
"Yes."
She narrowed her eyes as she got up, placing a hand past him on the arm of the couch to steady herself. "But if you think for one second, Mr. Potter, that you can just throw yourself between another Killing Curse and me like-" Harry cut her off with a kiss. Hermione made to pull back but he caught her face in his hands and drew her in closely. His lips moved softly against her own, soothing her ire. Finally, he released her. She pulled back only a fraction, her forehead resting against his. "You can't just kiss me, Harry. We made rules."
He nodded. His eyes half lidded in an impossibly attractive manner. He kissed her quickly. "Yeah, in an alternate reality," his fingers threaded through her hair, "your rules don't apply here." His next kiss was much longer than the last.
"Says who?" she mumbled against his lips. Hermione pressed closer to him. Harry slid back until they were laying together, Hermione half on top of him.
"Me," Harry replied with a happy grin.
Hermione smiled at his childishly happy expression. She knew she'd never seen that expression on his face before. She wasn't opposed to it. The young witch eyed her best friend and sometimes snog partner with interest. She was thinking about the horcrux. Maybe it had been having a more noticeable effect on Harry than the Voldemort related problems.
She pressed a kiss to his chest. "We'll see, Mr. Potter."
:::
Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall reached the Hospital Wing at the same time. They raced in at full pelt. The doors were thrown open, banging against the stone walls loudly. Madam Pomfrey jumped and looked over as the two professors stopped in the middle of the Hospital Wing, eyes wide and out of breath.
"Have they been found?" Professor McGonagall asked quickly. Madam Pomfrey silently shook her head. McGonagall looked to Dumbledore.
The Headmaster let out a frantic puff of air as his eyes looked first at the empty bed of Harry Potter and then Hermione Black. The covers were messy, but the occupants were missing. "Have you told anyone else, Poppy?"
"Of course not, Albus." The healer sounded offended at the notion. "Only us three are aware."
"What of the enchantments on the beds you normally place?"
Madam Pomfrey's lips pursed. "Mr. Potter should have slept for days, close to a week. I had a light one on Miss. Granger," she breathed out heavily through her nostrils, "I mean Miss. Black, but it was dismantled last night."
Professor McGonagall looked slightly alarmed at that thought. "You didn't notice?"
Pomfrey's expression was pinched. "It was done very carefully."
"Or powerfully," Dumbledore added. Both witches looked to him curiously. "Something I believe the young Mr. Potter would have easily been able to do."
Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "That's impossible, Albus. Mr. Potter was completely magically exhausted. Even if he managed to wake up, he wouldn't be able to cast magic or the very precise kind needed to take down my wards - let alone wandlessly."
Dumbledore nodded his head easily, eyebrows raised. "Yes, it does seem highly unlikely doesn't it?" McGonagall sighed heavily. She knew that tone. That tone meant he thought it was perfectly likely and exactly what had happened. Less than 12 hours and the younger Potter and Black team were proving just as troublesome as their elders. "Twinky?" the Headmaster called. A house elf popped into existence before him. "Have you or any of the other house elves perhaps spotted the young Mr. Potter and Miss. Black?"
Twinky's ears flopped as she nodded. "Yes, Headmaster, sir. Both Mr. Potter and Miss. Black be in the kitchens, sir."
Dumbledore smiled brightly. "Thank you Twinky, I will be down momentarily." Twinky nodded again and disapparated. The Headmaster nodded at Madam Pomfrey and McGonagall. "Mystery solved. I will see you ladies at breakfast?"
Madam Pomfrey was immediately incensed. "I will see you when you return my patients to the Hospital Wing, Albus, and not a second later."
Dumbledore smiled easily. "Of course, my apologies, Poppy." He inclined his head before he tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robes and departed. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall exchanged a look. They sighed collectively.
Dumbledore moved steadily through the empty halls of Hogwarts in the early November morning. He appeared composed, but his mind was racing. He did not like being lied to. No one enjoyed being lied to, but ever since his youth Dumbledore had always taken it as an offence of the greatest sort. People got hurt when others lied. People died. He liked to have a policy that others remain truthful towards him. How was he able to help if they did not?
Hermione Black's lies were great. He'd thought he was helping a young and lost muggleborn. Dumbledore was not foolish, he knew there was more to the young girl's story. How had she gotten into the Department of Mysteries, into the Rem Room, and then accidentally fallen through the Door to an alternate reality? No, Miss. Black had not been entirely truthful. That he had known, but deemed the circumstances of her arrival trivial as long as she swiftly returned to whence she had come. A future alternate reality, however, was something else entirely.
Time travel was dangerous and unruly. Even if it was another world's time, Hermione was so closely related to students of this time that problems were bound to arise. With just how incredibly intelligent Hermione Black was, Dumbledore knew that she knew this as well. Therefore, he took her inaction as a personal offence. The repercussions of such a decision had yet to be decided but he was leaning towards a mild scolding of some sort. As long as she understood the ramifications of her actions more clearly, he was confident she would learn from them. The larger ramifications of her actions, however, were beyond his control.
Now, he had two unknown factors from an alternate future, powerful and intelligent each, and both already causing a massive shift in the war. They were targets, he knew. It would not take long for word of their abilities to reach Tom Riddle. The image of Harry and Hermione's Voldemort came to mind. Dumbledore shuddered. He could not allow Tom to become that. He must be stopped before anything like that were to happen.
Dumbledore paused when the portrait to the kitchens swung open. And there, laying on the couch together and fast asleep were what the old wizard was sure was his best shot at making sure Tom Riddle didn't become that monster. But they were just children and the thought of the dangers they would soon surely face did not ease his worries.
He loudly cleared his throat as he further entered the kitchens. House elves were hopping about, feet pattering against the flagstone floor as they prepared that morning's breakfast spread. Harry and Hermione stirred but did not wake. He coughed into his fist.
Harry frowned and his head twitched to the side. He shifted on the couch and Hermione grumbled, her face pressed close to his neck. Harry yawned widely and cracked an eye open. He jumped when he saw Dumbledore. Hermione startled awake with a gasp. She fell against the back of the couch as Harry shot up into a sitting position.
"Headmaster!" he squinted and searched for his glasses. Dumbledore kindly picked them up from the floor and handed them to the young wizard. Harry blushed and thanked him as he put them on. He glanced over his shoulder at Hermione as she too sat up, wrapping her robe tightly around herself as her cheeks turned pink.
"Good morning, Mr. Potter," his eyes turned to Hermione, "Miss. Black." Hermione's face turned a darker shade of red. "You've given us quite a scare this morning." The two teenagers mumbled out low apologies. "Oh, no harm done. But I do believe that Madam Pomfrey would like to have a look at you each before she sends you off to breakfast. So…"
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. The latter leaned forward hesitantly. "Sir? Is that all?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "All?"
"Well, yes. I just mean… shouldn't we discuss everything that happened? What… needs to be done?"
"I'm not sure much can be done, Miss. Black. Had we been given the facts from the start, perhaps certain circumstances could have been avoided. We might have been able to protect your identity or where you truly come from. But alas, decisions have already been made and we must simply live with the consequences of our actions, mustn't we?" Hermione frowned down at the floor. Dumbledore let out a sigh. "There isn't much we can do now, my dear, we shall have to wait and see what happens. Until then," he turned his attention to Harry, "we shall get the young Mr. Potter enrolled and sorted at Hogwarts."
Harry made a face. "Shouldn't we use that time to find a way home instead?"
Hermione looked sidelong at Harry before she made eye contact with the Headmaster. They shared a sad look before Dumbledore explained slowly, "There is no way back, I'm afraid. The only option was when the Door reopened. It did. But it's closed now."
"Can't we just wait for it to open again?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, when I came through the first time it fell shut on its own. The Door automatically opens again at a later date, it's an enchantment to protect Unspeakables when they're studying an alternate reality. But if the Door is deliberately closed from either side, it remains closed. The next time the Door is opened it will be to a different reality."
"And, unfortunately," Professor Dumbledore continued, "Voldemort closed the Door when he left."
Harry looked near sick at that revelation. "I knew… I mean we talked about it last night and I guess I figured…" He looked up at the Headmaster. "I'd hoped you'd know a way home, anyways."
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Potter." Harry sighed. "Miss. Black? Perhaps I could have a word with Mr. Potter? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is already contemplating rushing down here to check on you both. You can tell her that Mr. Potter will be up shortly."
Hermione nodded. "Of course, sir." She squeezed Harry's hand gently in reassurance before standing and leaving them alone.
Dumbledore waved his wand and a cushy armchair appeared across from where Harry sat on the couch. He settled in his newly conjured chair and eyed Harry curiously. The young wizard shifted in his seat. "I must admit, Harry," he finally said, "I am quite astonished by you."
"Sir?"
"You shouldn't be awake. Even a wizard of such aptitude as yourself needs time to rest their magical core properly."
Harry shrugged. "I feel fine, sir. I was hungry when I woke up." He blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "Which is how Hermione and I ended up down here."
Dumbledore nodded with a small smile, he didn't appear upset by their disappearance. "Yes, I understand completely. I always keep a snack by my bedside in case the munchies strike me." Harry smiled. "But perhaps we'll save the midnight excursions for when you're not supposed to be in the Hospital Wing under lock and key? Poppy was quite distressed."
Harry grimaced and nodded. "Sorry, sir. Will do."
Dumbledore nodded once. "Good, good. Now, onto other business." He raised his eyebrows. "How, might I ask, did you learn Elemental Magic?"
Harry grinned mischievously. "Yourself." The Headmaster looked intrigued and amused by that revelation. "You started teaching me the basics about a month ago. I mastered Magical Sense pretty early on, better than Legilimency at any rate," Harry shook his head. He missed the Headmaster's stunned look. "Anyways, I learned Magical Sense but I'm rubbish at pretty much everything else. You've been trying to teach me the Water Element."
Dumbledore raised a hand to his beard to hide his utter shock. Magical Sense mastered in a month? Surely not. And he'd been taught the Water Element yet he'd demonstrated both Earth and Air instead? Though Air and Water were pretty similar, Earth had been the first Element that Harry had used and it was nothing like the teachings of Water. Dumbledore swallowed, fully aware that most Elemental users only ever learned one Element. Others, such as Riddle and himself had multiple inclinations to Elements but to find the same true in a wizard so young?
Harry Potter was something else entirely.
"Magical Sense?" Dumbledore finally asked him, deciding to start with the obvious. "Is that how you tracked down Miss. Black?"
Harry nodded. "I called her parents when they didn't show up to drop her off. She'd been kidnapped by some wizards and the Grangers hadn't been able to get word to you yet. I tracked her down through her magical signature using Magical Sense to the Department of Mysteries."
"And who did you tell of the kidnapping?"
"Just Remus. I sent a quick… not well detailed letter, I'm afraid. I don't think anyone will know what's happened to us." He looked down at his hands and frowned in frustration.
Dumbledore hummed and stroked his beard. "Mr. Potter? How would you like to continue your lessons in Elemental Magic?" Harry looked up, shocked. "Without proper practice, you may lose the ability." Dumbledore privately thought Harry would never lose such abilities, but the reverse might become true and Harry could lose control of them. With his power, it would be devastating the destruction he'd cause if he didn't properly control his Elements. Honestly, he'd be far more dangerous than Riddle could ever hope to be. It'd be much better to keep him controlled enough not to cause anyone any harm.
Harry smiled widely. "I'd like that, sir."
