The Price of Victory Chapter Four

It didn't take Harry very long to come to the conclusion that he did not like this new reality at all. Once Malfoy had revived him using the water from the pitcher by the window, he'd told Harry more. Harry had learned that Peter Pettigrew had not betrayed his parents; that had been Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban was now at Voldemort's side. This information had come out when Harry had had the presence of mind to ask how he'd come to be invited at the wedding in the first place, and Malfoy had informed him that Pettigrew was his godfather. That, taken together with everything else, made him determined to go back to where he'd come from. The question now was how to go about it, and for that he'd need Hermione. Unfortunately, Hermione was rather put out with him at the moment and refused to speak to him.

Another matter Harry found troubling was the fact that summer term was almost over. In his other life, he'd been planning to return to the Burrow to spend the summer with the Weasleys, while he decided what he was going to do with his life. Malfoy's revelations about Ron meant that those plans would be out of the question here. Harry had no intention of ever returning to the Dursleys' now that he was of age—he'd left their house on his seventeenth birthday last year. And he most definitely refused to spend the holiday with Malfoy and Pettigrew. He wondered what his plans had been in this life. He supposed Hermione would know, but he couldn't exactly ask her now.

He realised that he really should explain to Hermione what had happened. If he could make her see that he really wasn't the same Harry with whom she'd been involved, perhaps she'd understand his actions and forgive him. But every time he'd approached her, she'd stomped off in a huff. Time was running short, and while Harry felt stronger as time passed, he was beginning to think he'd be on his own in resolving the situation.

And he had tried to find a solution on his own. He'd briefly considered searching out Voldemort and using the same spell to defeat him (if indeed the spell had defeated him). The problem with this plan was, he couldn't be sure that he'd end up back where he was supposed to be. He shuddered at the idea of going somewhere even worse: a world where he and Malfoy were a couple, for example. He wracked his brains but couldn't come up with anything better.

No, he needed Hermione's help with this or, better yet, Hermione and Ron. Together the three of them had formed a formidable team. The idea that they couldn't work together in this world saddened him. Ron was someone else he wanted to seek out and speak to. So far he'd only caught a glimpse of him at meals. He'd had the definite impression that Ron was going out of his way to avoid to avoid him. Harry supposed he couldn't blame Ron for that if what Malfoy had told him was true. Harry wondered if there wasn't more to the story than met the eye. He still couldn't imagine Ron betraying him to the enemy, ever.

Harry got up from the armchair he'd been occupying, as he mulled everything over for what seemed the hundredth time. He'd formed no new conclusions, and he was feeling restless. A walk outside was what he really needed. He scowled, as he noticed that Malfoy and Ginny had taken up residence on one of the sofas. He'd been so preoccupied, he hadn't noticed them come in. They were certainly in no position to pay him any heed at the moment. That was another good reason to go outside. He couldn't stand seeing Malfoy with his girlfriend. He missed his Ginny and longed to get back to her. Each time he saw her with Malfoy only served as a cruel reminder that all was not right here.

"Oi! Get a room!" he called to them irritably, as he passed.

"Good idea, Potter," laughed Malfoy. Harry heard Ginny give a throaty giggle. He definitely hadn't meant to put that idea into their heads.

Harry went out onto the grounds and spied Hermione almost immediately. She was sitting by herself near the lake, apparently absorbed in a book. Harry decided to give it one more go. He had nothing to lose now. The leaving feast was tonight; tomorrow they'd all be on the train.

"Hello, Hermione," he said when he'd reached her.

She looked up at him stonily. Then she stood abruptly and made to walk off once more. Harry grabbed her arm.

"Wait. We need to talk. This is important."

"There's nothing to say," she replied, tugging at her arm. "You've made your feelings quite clear."

"Hermione, you've got to listen. You don't know everything that's been going on. I don't have amnesia."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" She tugged harder at her arm.

"Will you please hear me out? It's going to sound a bit far-fetched, but you can go verify everything I tell you with Dumbledore."

This seemed to placate her somewhat. She relaxed, Harry released her, and she sat back down. Harry then told her how Dumbledore had come to see him in the hospital wing and explained the conclusions he'd drawn. "So you see," he concluded, "I'm not the same Harry, and for me you're not the same Hermione. Nothing's right about this place for me. I need to get back, and maybe once I've gone, you'll find out what happened to the Harry who belongs here. But I'll need your help to do it. Ron's, too, if I can get it."

At the mention of Ron, Hermione blanched. Harry had avoided mentioning him up until now. "You'll never get it," she said. "Do you know what he did to you?"

"Malfoy said he betrayed me over you. I don't believe it. The Ron I know would never do any such thing. Of course, where I come from, you're with him, not me." Harry knew he was treading on thin ice now, but it was better that she knew the whole truth. He hadn't mentioned Ginny yet, but he'd have to bring her into this eventually, as well.

Hermione was laughing harshly, but something about the sound rang false in Harry's ears. "Me and Ron?" she said at last, sounding incredulous. "I think I was ready to believe your story up until now, but now I'm sure you've just gone mad." But there was something about her tone of voice that indicated to Harry she was trying to convince herself more than anything else.

"Go ask Dumbledore, then. He'll tell you everything I say is true."

She looked at him for a long moment. "All right. Let's just say for argument's sake that I believe you. I will go check this out with Professor Dumbledore later, mind you. But me and Ron? Never! We'd fight all the time."

"You don't," Harry informed her. "Not really. Sometimes I get the impression that you like to put on a show for each other, but I can't remember the last time you two had a serious disagreement."

Hermione was biting her lip. It was obvious she didn't much like what he was saying to her. "In your world, perhaps. Things are different here."

"Things are wrong here!" said Harry vehemently. "They're not as they're supposed to be. You and Ron are supposed to be my best friends. There's nothing we wouldn't do for each other. Well, almost nothing. And I know there has to be more to the betrayal story than what Malfoy told me. Can you tell me what you know about that?"

Hermione looked away from him, and Harry knew in that moment he was right, that there was more to it than met the eye. She seemed to be hiding something.

"Come on, Hermione. Whatever it is, you can tell me. As far as I'm concerned, I'm Harry your friend, not your boyfriend. I'm not going to be jealous of anything between you and Ron, I promise."

He heard her sigh, and Harry knew he'd struck in the gold. "I always knew he liked me, not as a friend, but he liked me. But I also reckoned that he was too immature to ever express it properly. He couldn't even ask me to the Yule Ball fourth year. And so I figured it could never work out between us, that we'd always argue. My parents never argued, and they'd always seemed happy enough." She stopped here and swallowed hard. Harry noticed she was speaking in the past tense and waited for her to continue. She stared at the sky and blinked a few times. "They separated in the middle of last year. It came as a bolt out of the blue for me. And, well, you helped me through it--I didn't think Ron would understand--and besides, we were all split up by then." Harry realised she was referring to the abolishment of the houses. "So out of that, I suppose, we developed feelings for each other, and Ron didn't take that well."

"He still loved you."

Hermione looked at him, her expression indicating she did not want to believe him. "Liked me," she corrected.

"No, he loved you. Bet he still does."

"Please don't tell me that."

"Why not? It's the truth."

"Where you come from, maybe."

Harry had to concede that point. He'd not seen enough of Ron in this world to be able to ascertain his feelings. "All right, so then he betrayed me, because he was jealous, just as Malfoy said."

Hermione was nodding. "That's pretty much it." Her cheeks were going pink. "Towards the end of last year, it was pretty much assumed that you and I were together. Ron wasn't happy about it, of course. God, this is such a mess!"

She paused, and Harry had the feeling she was about to confess something she'd never confided to anyone else. He saw her swallow and fix her gaze on the ground a few feet in front of her.

"This all happened before we actually got together," she informed him.

"As far as I'm concerned, we've never been together."

She looked at him rather peevishly for a moment before returning her eyes to the spot she'd been staring at. "All right, you've made that clear. Everyone thought we were together before we actually were, you know. When the houses were abolished, it broke up the three of us. You and I naturally spent more time together, and people just assumed… Well, anyway, one evening you were at Quidditch practise, and Ron came and found me in the library. He told me he wanted to talk to me privately, so we went up to the third-floor corridor. You know, where Fluffy was first year." She paused.

"That's your spot," Harry interjected into the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Where I'm from, that's where you and Ron go to snog."

"Oh." Hermione was even pinker in the face now. She still didn't seem to be able to look at him. "Well, when we got up there, Ron told me he didn't care what was going on between you and me. I tried to tell him nothing was going on, because at that point nothing was, but he wouldn't listen. He never listens!" This was said with more vehemence than she'd meant to let on, Harry was sure. "Then he said he was in love with me," she continued slowly. Harry wanted badly to tell her he'd told her so at this point, but he didn't want to interrupt her. "I told him that was ridiculous. It would never work out. We'd fight constantly. And he went on to prove me right, because he started arguing immediately. And well, then we had one of our typical arguments."

Harry had the distinct feeling she wasn't telling him everything. Her face was beet red, and she still couldn't look at him. "Hermione, I think there's more to it than that, or there'd be nothing to tell."

She let out a shuddering sigh and bit her lip. "Yes, there's more," she said in a whisper. Harry had to strain his ears to hear her. "I don't know how it happened. One minute we were shouting at each other, and the next we were snogging." She looked up at him at last, and Harry could tell she'd been feeling guilty about this. He wanted to laugh, but he restrained himself. "That's not so bad, is it?" he asked.

"That much wouldn't be so bad if it had ended there…" she looked away again.

Part of him couldn't believe they were actually discussing this, but Hermione seemed determined to unburden herself fully now that she'd started. "Are you saying you and Ron…"

She cut him off. "NO! It didn't go that far, although it might have. I couldn't do it. I was scared. It was all so overwhelming. With you I always felt, I dunno, comfortable and calm, but this was huge, and it was frightening. Unfortunately, Ron misinterpreted things. He took it as confirmation that you and I were a couple. He accused me of lying to him when I tried to deny it. It got very ugly and only served to reinforce to me that he and I wouldn't work out. I think he was jealous of you from that point. Before he'd only suspected, but now he had it in his head that you and I were together. He thought he had proof."

"And so he betrayed me over you?"

Hermione nodded. "I think so."

Harry shook his head. "I still can't bring myself to believe it. There's got to be more to it than that."

"No one but Ron really knows what happened when he was taken by You-Know-Who not long after that."

"And I don't suppose he's likely to want to tell me about it."

Hermione shook her head. "He's kept to himself all this year. Ever since he was released, really."

"Damn. And tonight's the leaving feast. There's no time to get through to him." This brought another problem to Harry's mind. "Hermione, what were my plans for the summer? Where I came from I was supposed to go to the Burrow, and that's out of the question now. I can't go back to my relatives'."

Hermione looked very concerned. "But you have to. You-Know-Who's still powerful. You need your relatives' protection.

Harry was adamant. "No. I won't go back. Voldemort may not be defeated in my world either, but I never had any intention of going back there. I'm of age now. I can do as I like."

"There's always your godfather."

"That's just as bad. And I'm not spending the summer with Malfoy. I see too much of him as it is."

"We had talked about you coming to my house for part of the summer, but that was if You-Know-Who is defeated, and he isn't."

"We'll find a way to do it then, or at least to set things right. But I need your help. Really I need you and Ron." And Ginny, he added in his thoughts, but he didn't dare voice that aloud yet.

"You won't get his help."

"I still may if I had time. If I come to your house, perhaps we can work on a solution to the Ron problem. How far are you from the Burrow, anyway?"

"Not very close. Harry, I don't know about this…"

"Do you have any brighter ideas?"

"No."

"What are your parents going to say about me turning up?"

"My parents aren't going to say anything. We'd only have to convince my mother."

Harry cringed inwardly. He'd forgotten what she'd said about her parents separating. "Sorry," he mumbled. "So what will your mum have to say about it?"

"I think I can talk her into it. But it'll be dangerous. As a Muggle-born witch, I'm already a target. If You-Know-Who finds out you're there, too…"

Harry laughed harshly. "If Voldemort turns up, I know how to deal with him. Come on. I can show you the spell. You found it, actually."

Hermione brightened. "What book was it in?" she asked, her interest showing on her face.

"Erm, I don't remember now. It was in the Restricted Section, though. I think I can find it."

As seventh year students, they no longer needed to worry about having a signed note from a teacher to access the Restricted Section in the library. Madam Pince gave them a curious look when they came in, however. The place was deserted. The other students were all occupied with packing their trunks or enjoying the day. There was no reason for anyone to be in the library this late in the term. The librarian, however, withheld any comment. Perhaps since this was because Hermione was with him.

Harry headed straight for the rope which cordoned off the Restricted Section and stepped over it. He was fairly sure he remembered what the book had looked like, even though he'd forgotten its title. He went to a likely-looking stack and began to scan titles, but nothing seemed to ring a bell.

"What are we looking for?" Hermione asked quietly beside him.

"Really thick book, red cover I think."

"Yes, but is it a general spell book, a history book, what?"

Harry stopped to think. "Bugger. I don't remember."

"Don't swear, Harry."

Harry looked at her askance, torn between bursting out laughing (since he'd sworn in front of her before, and she'd let it pass) and feeling odd over what she'd just said to him. She was supposed to say that to Ron, not to him. If she were about to say any more to him, she quickly shut her mouth and began scanning the books of the opposite stack.

A few hours later, they'd looked at all the red-bound books in the Restricted Section, but none of them had seemed familiar to Harry. To be certain they hadn't missed anything, they'd even looked up the incantation but hadn't found it anywhere. It was growing dark, and Madam Pince was sending significant looks in their direction. Hermione looked at her watch. "It's almost time to go to the feast," she said in a disappointed tone.

"Why can't I find that bloody book?" Harry asked in frustration.

He looked at Hermione, almost daring her to admonish his language, but she merely pursed her lips for a moment. "Maybe it doesn't exist here." At some point she must have decided to take him at his word. The time had long since past for her to seek out Dumbledore. "Maybe you're not supposed to defeat You-Know-Who that way in this world."

"Well, I still can. It's not as if I don't remember how to do it."

Hermione considered for a moment. "Are you sure you want to risk it again? Who knows where you'll end up if you do."

"I've already thought of that," Harry replied glumly. "I'm not sure I do want to take the chance, but if I've got no choice in the matter, if it's a question of life and death, I'll use it. But if there's another way of defeating Voldemort, I don't know about it."

"You don't even know that the spell defeated him."

Harry couldn't argue with this observation. Madam Pince cleared her throat quite loudly, and they took the hint and left the library. They headed straight for the Entrance Hall, where a long queue had formed. Students were waiting for the doors of the Great Hall to open to admit them to the leaving feast.

Harry thought wistfully that he was down to his final twenty-four hours at Hogwarts, and he wasn't even in the right world. He looked up the queue and saw Ginny standing with Malfoy. She turned suddenly and caught his eye. The look she gave him was curious, speculative, almost appraising, as if she might be reconsidering her opinion of him. It was better than the distaste she'd thrown at him the other day, but it was also a nasty reminder of how wrong all this was. He was supposed to be standing with her, not Malfoy. He felt his fists clench.

Beside him, Hermione looked around her, and he heard her emit a small gasp. He turned to see Ron standing directly behind him, looking at the two of them with a set face. Harry opened his mouth to say something, anything, but at the same moment, the doors to the Great Hall were opened, and the students began crowding in. Harry couldn't seem to move from where he was, however, and Ron pushed past him and into the hall without a word.