Chapter 5: Repeating History

Once they got back to Gryffindor Tower, they settled into Harry's dormitories, waiting for Ron to complete the little charade.

"I'm back." Ron announced upon entering his dormitory. There he found Hermione reading from Hogwarts, a History, to a silently snoring Harry. It took all he could to stifle laughter.

*He's buying it.* Harry thought to Hermione with relief.

"So how was class?" Harry asked Ron.

"Don't worry Hermione, you didn't miss a thing, Flitwick didn't teach much today. He was to busy telling me about Harry's mum and dad.

At this Hermione shut up from her feigned sleep. "Flitwick talked to you about Har-my parents?" Hermione turned to look at Harry and gripped his hand.   

"So tell us what he said!" Hermione demanded.

Ron was quick to notice how Harry continued to hold Hermione's hand,  but he dismissed it as he needing a friend's comfort. However it looked like the wrong friend needed comfort….

Ron told them about Flitwick saying why Hermione was favored by McGonagall, and how she was probably the smarted witch to ever cross the Hogwarts' threshold, even compared to McGonagall herself! (Ron saw Harry beam) Ron also told them about the comparison between Harry's mum, who was also very smart, and how this brought on the nostalgic reverie of Harry's parents. Ron told them of how they met on the train (gasps abounded from Harry and Hermione at the coincidences) and how the 5 of  them were friends, and of the three within the 5. (More gasps) Ron opted, however, to not tell them about the James-Lily-Sirius triangle. He didn't really think it would relate to them. At least he hoped it wouldn't.

"So Flitwick was Har-my mum's confidant? Kind of like Hermione with Prof. McGonagall?" Hermione asked Ron.

"Right."

Ron watched Hermione turned various shades of pale.

"Hermione are you ok?"

Ron watched Harry turn to Hermione with a concerned expression on his face.

*Harry are you ok?*

*I'm fine, I'm fine. I just-*

Hermione reached over and cupped Harry's face with her hands. She saw how how hard he was trying not to cry.

*Oh Harry.*

*Hermione I'm fine. Really, I'm ok.*

Ron watched this play out silently. Harry and Hermione just stared at each other, various emotions coming off each other's faces at intervals. It was almost as if-as if they could read each other's minds.

"It worked didn't it?" Ron said, as he sprang to his feet. A clouded expression on his face.

"What did?" Harry and Hermione said together, as innocently as possible, not able to hide a guilty expression from their faces.

"The Concientus Potion, it worked didn't it?"

They both stared blankly at him.

"I don't understand it though. Why didn't you tell me? Did you think I wouldn't find out? I just watched you guys stare at each other for 10 minutes! Did you think I wouldn't put 2 and 2 together? Why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to feel guilty." Harry said.

"Guilty, why guilty? I…"

"Well, it didn't work perfectly, and we figured that if we told you and told you about the kinks it would make you feel guilty and we didn't want that!"

Ron thought about this for a moment. He finally accepted their answer.

He saw Harry's brown eyes glow in relief. Wait a second, brown?  He looked again and saw the brown become green again, but not before he Hermione's eyes. They were green.

"Oh-my-god! You guys switched, you guys switched bodies!"

Harry and Hermione turned to stare to at each other. 

*How did he find out?* Hermione asked Harry.

"Your eyes! Look at your eyes!" They turned to look in a mirror. Nothing, their eyes were normal. Hermione's were rich brown, Harry's bright green. They both turned to stare at Ron.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

Ron stared at them. "I know what I saw. You can't hide this from me. This explains everything! It explains why Hermione reacted the way Harry would've. Harry isn't Harry. Hermione is Harry. Hermione reacted the way Harry would because Harry is Hermione. It all makes sense." Ron turned to stare at Hermione. "It makes sense now, why you didn't want to tell me. It all makes perfect sense." Ron threw Harry a knowing look.

Hermione felt herself tense up. She felt left out.

"What makes sense? Harry, why did you really not tell Ron?

Harry stared at Ron.  "Its not my fault that this happened you know. You were the one that messed up the potion! I didn't tell you to protect you because I knew how'd you react! I didn't want her to find out like that!"

Ron blushed, and he turned to see Hermione flushing bright red. He knew she knew, she read it in his mind.

"Ron, I…"

Ron suddenly felt tired. He felt really tired, so he sat down.

"Hermione its ok, I didn't expect my feelings to be reciprocated. I knew it, I knew it all along. I didn't want to believe it until today. Until Flitwick told me." Ron sighed loudly. "He told me it wouldn't be me. He knew. He knew it would turn out like this. That is why he told me. He wanted to prepare me."

Harry and Hermione listened to Ron's incessant ramble.

*Told him, told him what?*

Ron turned to stare at them. "History repeats itself."

With this, Ron got up, and walked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*

They found him sitting on a rock, in the Forbidden Forest. They looked all over the place, the inside the castle and outside by the lake. They spent hours looking for him. Finally, they received an owl while they were on their way to call Dumbledor that told them where he was. Why he would ever pick to be here was beyond them both.

"Sit." He commanded them.

They sat down and waited for his story. The story was inevitable.

"I didn't tell you everything that Flitwick told me today."

Hermione reached for Harry's hand.

Ron saw this and sighed. He told them everything, about James, Lily, and Sirius, about Sirius wanting Lily, about James not wanting to break the friendship, about James and Lily being in love without acknowledging it, about Sirius staging asking Lily for a date to infuriate James and acknowledge the true nature of his feelings.

"…Sirius sacrificed his love for Lily. He knew Lily loved James, and he knew James loved Lily and he knew that there was nothing that could change that. He settled himself with seeing his friends happy. I guess I must do so as well."

Hermione and Harry squirmed under Ron's stare.

"Ron, Hermione and I aren't…"

"You are your father's son aren't you? Of course you are! You have been ever since first year! I have never heard a single negative word about Hermione come out of your mouth! I was the one who hated her remember? You went all knight in shinning armor and saved her from the troll. I didn't even want to go remember? And you!" He turned to look at Hermione in Harry's body. "Who was Krum jealous of? Harry. Why? Because you talked incessantly about him? Tell me the truth now, why were you jealous of Fleur Delacour? It wasn't because of me was it? She never expressed any sort of interest in me, and yet you remained jealous, why?"

Hermione stayed silent.

"Because she did express interest in Harry. Harry, who went all knight in shinning armor AGAIN and saved her sister. And face it, you were also a little peeved when you realized I was the one person Harry would miss the most. How do you even know if that is totally accurate?"

Hermione was about to open her mouth but shut it quickly when she saw the look on Ron's face.

"Let me tell you something, did you really think the one person Krum would miss the most was you? Sure, you were his date to the ball, but he barely knew you and you barely knew him! There wasn't anyone else he seemed to have gotten close too since he got to Hogwarts so of course the officials chose his date, there was no one else! The officials thought Harry would miss me the most because I am his best friend. But did you ever stop and think why Harry hesitated before he came straight to me?"

Harry blushed. "I…"

"Harry I didn't it mean it like that, but fess up, weren't you indecisive?"

"Ron, both of you are my best friends!"

"You aren't getting it Harry. The point is you knew who it was you were going to go down and get, and you still had to contemplate it."

"But it wasn't just the two of you, I stayed for everyone…"

"Because you are a Gryffindor, that's why, but who were the first two you contemplated? Don't tell me it was Cho, another pretty face. And you barely knew Fleur's sister. It was between Herm and I, wasn't it?"

Harry gulped. When did Ron become such a master of interrogations? Probably been hanging out with Hermione too much… *Ouch! What was that for?*

*Hanging out with Hermione…what balderdash!*

*Balderdash…now I know you and Ron have been hanging out together way too much…*

"Can you please communicate verbally? Thank you."

Harry and Hermione had a sheepish look on their faces. "Sorry." They apologized.

"Back to what I was saying. Harry, what would you have done if the situation had been real?"

"ENOUGH!" Harry yelled in Hermione's loud voice. "You are both my friends and I would rather die saving you both then save one and leave the other!"

"All right then Harry, prove it now."

Before Harry could ask what on earth he meant, two large Acromantulas appeared out of nowhere, each one attacking one of his best friends.

He didn't think, his first instinct was to take out his wand.

He heard her scream first "Harry!".

"Hermione!" he yelled. He ran to the spider that had taken himself, Hermione, away. 

"Petrificus Totalus!" He yelled, in Hermione's clear voice. The same pronunciation as the night she Petrified Neville Longbottom before entering the trapdoor way back in their first year. Once petrified, he went to the spider and took Hermione, from its arms and laid her down. She was out cold.

Is this the way I'll look when Voldemort kills me? Harry thought, slightly thinking off his task.

He turned to look at the spider; it was gone.

The spider had…disappeared? What in the…? At that moment Harry realized something, and  turned around. He didn't find his best friend being taken away by a big hairy spider. He was sitting on his rock, calmly, waiting for Harry.

"I told you so." He said, with a smug, yet grim look on his face.

Harry lunged at Ron and hit him with all his might. Hermione's frail frame was on Ron's, giving him the hardest punches that Ron ever felt in his life.

"I almost had a heart attack!" Harry yelled at him, blow after blow. "I didn't know what to do!

Harry stopped abruptly, and what were harsh blows became silent tears. He got off of Ron and turned away.

"I'm sorry Ron." Harry said silently between long sobs. "I didn't…I never…I couldn't have…"

"Harry, its ok. I knew."

They gave each other a very rare hug, of course, boys never like to show their true feelings, even though at this moment one of the boys was physically a girl. Their intimate moment was broken by a very angry Hermione.

"Ronald Weasley I could kill you!" 

The boys both turned around to find Harry, no, Hermione in radiant anger.

Harry stepped away from Ron and went to stand by Hermione.

"How'd you pull that off anyway?" Harry asked.

"It was a Glamour, wasn't it Ron?" Hermione said, annoyance evident in Harry's voice.

"Yes it was, Glamours aren't that hard to pull off. 'Course Harry didn't really take long in making his decision."

Harry blushed, but regained his composure. "A Glamour, what is that?"

Ron sighed. "I read about it today in the Charms book after my talk with Flitwick. It makes you see things that aren't really there. I planned this little charade during the second hour of Double Charms. I wanted to know if the same fate suffered by Sirius would happen to me as well." 

Both Harry and Hermione looked guilty. "Ron we…"

"It's ok. I know."

The three friends hugged. As soon as they broke their hug, they found themselves no longer in the Forbidden Forest. They were in Dumbledor's office.

"How did we get here?" Ron mumbled, but was slightly disturbed when Fawkes came over and perched herself on Hermione's shoulder. Obviously, Fawkes knew Hermione wasn't Hermione. The most peculiar thing however, was that Dumbledor wasn't in the office. Instead, Flitwick was sitting in Dumbledor's place. Twinkling blue eyes staring at them were Flitwick's brown eyes would have been.

"Dumbledor?" Ron asked.

Instantly they saw Dumbledor standing where the tiny wizard used to be. "I knew you would figure it out sooner or later." He said, amusement in his voice.

"It was you wasn't it? You were the one that told me everything?"

Dumbledor nodded. "That I did. That I did. I figured it was time the three of you knew."  Dumbledor sighed, the sigh of a tired man. "The same thing that almost destroyed the friendship of James, Lily, and Sirius, was in danger of destroying yours. And Harry," Dumbledor turned to look at the bushy haired girl with Fawkes on her shoulder, "You need them with you with what's to come. You need her with you."

He turned to look at Harry. "And as for you Ms. Granger, look at what your scientific ambitions have led you to become?" Dumbledor tried to sound stern, but he immediately erupted in laughter. "Dissolvo Medicamentum!" He yelled with a wave of his wand.

Harry looked down at himself. "I'm me!" He yelled, relief in his voice.

"Professor Dumbledor, how did you do that? We couldn't find anything! We looked everywhere! We even looked in, 7,892 Most Erroneously Common Potion Mix-ups, and we still couldn't find anything to fix us! How did you know?"

"Ms. Granger, that was your mistake. You see, you read the old version of Erroneously Common Potion Mix-ups, the one published 10 centuries ago. The revised version is 9,723 Most Erroneously Common Potion Mix-ups. You're particular combination is found on page 7,042."

Hermione turned ten shades of red. I am going to kill Harry! She thought.

"Why?" Harry asked her…out loud.

*Harry, you can still hear me?*

Harry was silent.

"Professor Dumbledor! We can still…"

"Yes, yes Harry, I know you can."

"Why? Can't you fix it for us?"

"I'm afraid I can't Ms. Granger."

"Why? You must! We…"

"Ms. Granger I can't fix something that is beyond my control. This telepathy between you and Harry isn't something that was caused by a potion."

Ron stood back, watching and listening to what unfolded around him. He needed to remember something, something someone told him….

"Unfortunately Mr. Weasley, I can't read minds."

Then how is he-

"Then how can I tell exactly what you're thinking? Its written all over your face. Some of us don't have the power to read minds. May I continue?"

"Harry can read minds." Ron stated.

Harry gave Ron a confused look. Hermione looked intrigued. Dumbledor looked proud.

"You remembered Mr. Weasley!" He gave Ron a bright smile.

"Remembered what?" Hermione asked.

"Well, when Professor Flitwick, I mean, Professor Dumbledor was telling me all the things that happened to Harry's parents, I kept on getting the feeling he could read my mind. He was always a step ahead of me, answering questions that were on the tip of my tongue…"

"All right already! Where does the me being able to read minds thing come from?"

"Well, I finally asked him if he could read minds. And he replied…"

"Some of us don't have the power to read minds." Dumbledor finished for him. "Very well noted Ron."

"However Ron, Harry cannot read minds. He can, however, read a mind. It was something he inherited from his father. His ancestors have held the power to be able to read a certain person's mind, a person their mind chooses. The same way a wand chooses the wizard, a Potter's mind chooses another's mind to connect with. Harry's mind chose Hermione, and Hermione's mind responded very well. Why it took James' and Lily well into their 6th year until they were finally able to hear each other properly as well as you two hear each other."

The Trio looked at him wide eyed.

"This connection is what allows for you two to share your thoughts with each other, among other things."

 "So you're saying we're stuck with this?" Harry asked Dumbledor.

Dumbledor laughed. "Apparently so. But don't worry, as I'm sure you've figured out, personal thoughts can be blocked out."

The two of them blushed remembering the incident in the library.

*I never want to hear you mention that to anyone, you hear me Potter? *

*Loud and clear Granger. *

Hermione smacked Harry playfully on his arm.

Ron noticed this little exchange and gave an exasperated sigh. "This is going to drive me insane isn't it?"

Dumbledor gave Ron an amused smile. "Apparently so."

Harry and Hermione turned to Ron. "Ron we're sor-"

"It's ok," Ron said, "I understand."

"If you don't mind, I have some Ministry business to tend to." Dumbledor gave Harry a meaningful look. "Could you please excuse me?"

Harry answered for the three of them. "Its alright Prof. Dumbledor, I think its time we left to dinner a well."

The Trio left Dumbledor's office silently. Harry and Hermione tried not to think of anything as not to disturb the other. This was going to be a hard thing to live with.