Chapter 9: The Admission

As soon as Hermione entered the shared living quarters with Harry, she dropped onto the cream couch and buried her head in her hands. It had been a long day for the both of them. To start with, it was their first day of classes and their first class just so happened to include the Marauders. Then, she had to put up with all the questions about her attack and her scars, both visible and invisible. Then they had been summoned to McGonagall's office and had to deal with Dumbledore and his manipulative bullshit. Not just any manipulative bullshit, but manipulative blood magic bullshit.

Blood magic.

Not even their Dumbledore was stupid enough to dabble in blood magic. No, he just made sure that three teenagers – who were still in school, mind you – were sent on a wild goose chase across the country for almost a year for some of the darkest objects known to wizarding kind.

Hermione knew what Dumbledore was doing before she could stop Harry, but it had been too late. Yes, they were desperate for help to be legitimate in this universe, but blood magic? If he didn't have that pardon from the Minister of Magic to allow him to do whatever he bloody well wanted, Dumbledore would have been thrown into Azkaban at the mere thought of doing blood magic on them without their permission.

She could feel her blood boil in her veins.

Hermione was certain that there could have been something else to be done to make Harry a legitimate child of Charlus and Dorea without the use of blood magic. She didn't even need to use blood magic for Merlin's sake, and she's a legitimate member of the wizarding community now. Gringotts' vault and everything.

No, Dumbledore knew exactly what he was doing when he had Harry sign that parchment without telling him exactly what that parchment did.

There was no way for them to go back to their universe now. They were permanently tied to this new world. There was no Time Line for them to jump forward in time to. Hermione didn't know how universe travel worked, but there was no longer a blood bond between the universes. Not now that Harry's blood was tied to Charlus and Dorea and not James and Lily. Sure, Hermione didn't have the same problem, but there was no way she was leaving Harry here on his own.

Using Blood Magic, Dumbledore had bound the two of them to this universe forever. And he expected them to be grateful for it.

Hermione could tell that Harry wasn't aware of the seriousness of their situation, that he didn't know what Dumbledore did to manipulate them even more. She needed to tell him. He had to know that there was no way back to Ginny or Ron now that Dumbledore effectively cut Harry's ties to their universe.

She felt the couch dip as Harry sat in the seat next to her. While she didn't lift her head from her hands, she could tell that Harry was debating with himself about what to say to her next. All she wanted to do was to reach out for him, to hold him and to touch him. He was all she had left, and she needed to know that he wasn't going anywhere.

She couldn't lose him.

"Hermione," Harry began softly, then paused. He heaved a sigh and Hermione could almost see him rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. There was a sudden weight on her back as Harry began to rub small comforting circles between her shoulder blades. She melted into his touch.

She couldn't help but feel like this was her fault, though. If she hadn't been wandering the halls after him, not paying attention to her surroundings, they wouldn't have been outside the Room of Requirement, and she wouldn't have led them into a room full of such unstable magic. They would still be with Ron, and Ginny, and their McGonagall, and they would have been able to defeat Voldemort before they moved on with their lives.

Hermione shook her head that was still buried in her hands, and finally let a sob escape her lips.

It was a heart-breaking sound that shook Harry to his core. He hadn't heard Hermione cry like that before, not even when Ron abandoned them on the Horcrux hunt. He moved his hand so that it curled around her shoulder and pulled her close to him as she cried. He held her tightly, his hand cradling the back of her head as she broke down.

Harry stroked her curly hair gently, letting her cry on his shoulder. His back started to ache from the uncomfortable position he put the both of them in when he pulled Hermione closer to him, but he couldn't find it within him to care. Hermione needed his comfort more than his back did. And frankly, she came before anything else, even something as selfish as sitting comfortably.

It didn't take too long for Hermione's tears to slowly stop. She didn't move, however, choosing to stare at a loose thread on one of the button holes on Harry's waistcoat. She could feel her face warm from her crying, and the embarrassment of doing so in front of Harry. If only she had waited a little bit longer before she broke down, she wouldn't feel so embarrassed.

If Harry hadn't said her name like that, and touched her the way he did, maybe she wouldn't have even started crying at all.

Maybe.

"It's all my fault," Hermione whispered, her throat thick and sore from her sobbing. She still couldn't find it in her to move from his warm, comforting embrace.

"Nothing is your fault, Hermione." Harry whispered back, resting his cheek on top of her head. He breathed in her wonderful raspberry scent and found himself relaxing with her.

"Of course it is, Harry. Everything's my fault. All of this… time and universe travel is all my fault. I should have listened to you when you told me to stay in the Great Hall with Ron. I should have helped Madame Pomfrey. I should have done something else. If I hadn't followed you, we wouldn't have been outside the Room of Requirement, and we wouldn't have been pulled here." Hermione sighed heavily, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall once more. "We could have defeated Voldemort by now, and you would be with Ginny again. But we're trapped here, Harry, and it's all my fault."

Harry knew that he had to tread carefully in case he said the wrong thing and upset Hermione all over again. While he knew that Hermione was a strong person, this seemed to have been coming for a long time now. Something happened while meeting with McGonagall and Dumbledore that caused it all to boil over. He wished he knew what it was, so that he could say the right thing to her, but Hermione had always been more observant than him.

"I didn't even think about it at the time, everything was happening so quickly, and I was so relieved that our cover stories were being legitimised," Hermione continued before Harry could figure out what to say to her, "It wasn't until we left the office when I realised exactly what Dumbledore had done."

"I'm confused," Harry admitted to her quietly. Hermione sighed again and pulled out of Harry's embrace. He immediately missed the warmth that her body gave him. She peered up at him through her eyelashes. He could see her sorrow in her honey orbs, but also a hint of anger. Was she angry at him?

"When Dumbledore gave you those blood adoption papers to fill in, he did more than make you Charlus and Dorea's son." Hermione paused, trying to think of the best way to explain the situation to Harry without confusing him even more. "He took away everything about you that made you James and Lily's son. Well, not everything because obviously you've not changed, but you aren't James' heir anymore. It's not his blood that runs through your veins, it's Charlus'. I don't even know how he managed that, seeing as Charlus isn't alive, but that's one of the things that makes Blood magic so incredibly illegal."

Harry frowned, watching her as she tried her best to explain everything to him. He wasn't James' son anymore? He had no idea how or why that worked.

"Because of this blood magic, he's tied you to Charlus and Dorea as their son." Hermione suddenly found the wall behind Harry very interesting. "Which means, you're their heir by both blood and magic. You belong in this universe now. If there was any way of going back, you wouldn't be able to because you belong here. In this Universe. In 1977."

"But… you didn't have anything like that did you?" Harry asked her, trying to remember if there were any blood adoption papers for Hermione to fill out.

"No, just the regular run of the mill forms. I'm still a Muggle-born here Harry, I don't have a magical family here to tie myself to. Nobody's blood and nobody's magic runs through my veins but my own. If the Universe fixed itself, I'd be the only one to leave because there wasn't any blood magic used to tie me to this Universe. Dumbledore knows that there is no way that I would leave you here on your own. He's manipulated this whole situation to work in his favour, so that we work in his favour."

Hermione forced herself to look at Harry again. She could see the confusion on his face easing as he began to understand what was going on.

"We're stuck here." Harry said to her. A heavy sense of dread filled his stomach. "Or I'm stuck here. Dumbledore is going to blackmail us isn't he? He's going to use the fact that you still don't belong here against us. I didn't even think Dumbledore was this manipulative."

"Dumbledore's always been manipulative, Harry." Hermione said to him with a sad smile. "Everything he ever did was to manipulate every situation in his favour, for the Greater Good. The difference here is that our Dumbledore knew his limitations. This Dumbledore doesn't. He actually got away with using illegal blood magic and will probably get away with a lot more. Not for the Greater Good, but to better Albus Dumbledore.

He knows that we know a lot more about the future than we've been willing to tell him, and he needs that information to make himself more revered in this world, to make himself more powerful. He had already killed one Dark Lord here, he wants to kill another but needs us to do so. Dumbledore is probably the only person in this whole world that knows if I can go back to our universe or not and is holding onto those cards so that we can be manipulated into working for him."

"But surely he knows that we don't trust him." Harry said to her, leaning forward on the sofa so he could be closer to her. "We know how to defeat Voldemort and will do it without him ever knowing anything."

"That's the thing though, Harry. He will know something, he's the Head Unspeakable. Merlin knows what that man has access to. He barely even knows us, and he knows exactly what to do to manipulate me. He knows that I would never leave you here on your own, so he's doing what he can to make sure I don't stray from his path." Hermione's eyes flashed darkly in her anger, her hair crackling with her magic as she battled with her emotions.

Harry gently took Hermione's hands in his and rubbed circles onto the back of her hands to calm her down. He could sense that something bad was going to happen if she didn't calm down soon.

"He doesn't know that we know what he's done." Harry said to her softly. He needed to take her mind off of Dumbledore's manipulations before something blew up. "The best thing we can do right now is play his silly game and let him think that he's won. I'm so sorry that I signed that blood adoption form without speaking to you about it first. We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for me."

"Oh Harry." Hermione turned her eyes to him and smiled softly. She took her right hand from Harry's grasp and placed it on his cheek gently. She could feel his stubble underneath her fingers and found that she quite liked it. "You didn't know, and I didn't know until it was too late. The blame lies solely at Dumbledore's feet. Please don't feel guilty about this."

"Then you shouldn't feel guilty too." Harry threw back at her, leaning into her touch. He didn't know if she was aware of him reacting to her but hoped that she didn't move her hand away yet. "We agree that this is all Dumbledore's fault. We'll continue doing what we can to stop Voldemort and better prepare these students, okay? Dumbledore doesn't need to know what we're doing, and if he does we'll tell him the bare minimum. I won't let him manipulate you like that."

Hermione smiled brightly at Harry and made the same promise back to him, her hands falling back into her lap. She already knew that there was no way she would let Dumbledore get to Harry like that, and she was pleased that Harry felt the same about her. They would get to the bottom of the Universe issue when the time came. Right now, they had more important things to worry about.

Namely, destroying a Dark Lord before 1981.

Harry remembered something else that Hermione had said and thought it best to clear the air before Hermione got carried away with trying to get him back home to Ginny. He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling warm in his suit. He undid the buttons on his waistcoat and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows. Hermione looked at him curiously, her eyes watching him roll up his sleeves. For some reason, she found the movement mesmerising.

"I need to tell you something, before anything else is said or happens." Harry admitted to her. Hermione nodded slowly, sitting back. Before she could lean too far away, Harry grabbed her hands once more and gave them a soft squeeze. "Earlier, you said about me finally being able to be with Ginny again."

"Yes, because that's what you want, isn't it?" Hermione felt her stomach drop as the smile slowly slid from her face. Whatever she was expecting him to say, it wasn't that. She tried to pull her hands away from him, but he held them tighter. Not tight enough to hurt, but enough to keep her attention. "To be back with Ginny?"

"Ginny and I…" Harry looked down at their hands and marvelled in how well they fit together. He loved how small her hands were but knew how powerful they could be too. "When we broke up at Bill and Fleur's wedding, it wasn't because of the hunt or to protect her or anything like that. It was because we knew we weren't right for each other."

"I don't understand." Hermione whispered. That awful sensation was back in her stomach, but this time it wasn't out of fear of what she would hear, but rather hopeful of what she could hear.

Emerald green met honey as Harry stared into Hermione's eyes. He needed to summon his Gryffindor courage to finally admit his feelings for Hermione. They were alone in this universe together, it wouldn't be fair to her for her to believe that he still cared about someone else, even if she didn't feel the same about him. He needed to be honest with her.

"I don't love Ginny." Harry said to her. He swallowed heavily as he continued to stare into her beautiful eyes. How many times had he dreamed about saying these words to her before, when they were at school or on the hunt but didn't have the guts? "I've never loved her, not in the way people wanted me to. Besides, she's mad for Neville, so it wouldn't have worked anyway."

"Neville?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yes, Neville." Harry smirked lightly at her, "Since the Yule Ball, but he didn't have the guts to ask her out so Ginny's been trying to make him jealous with everyone she could think of. Including me."

"So… you and Ginny aren't…?"

"No, me and Ginny aren't anything, Hermione. Ginny's feelings for Neville is one reason. The other is my feelings for someone else."

"Your feelings?"

"For about four years now, I've been having some pretty intense feelings for a different witch." Harry admitted to her. Their voices had dropped to whispers now, as if speaking any louder would scare the other away. "Someone who is ridiculously intelligent, fiercely loyal, beyond brave. She is the most beautiful witch I have ever seen, and I am so proud to call her my best friend. I know she feels these same feelings for someone else, which is why I hadn't told her yet, but now I'm doing her a disservice by not saying something."

Harry took a deep breath and squeezed Hermione's hands once more. He could see tears in her eyes and hoped that she wasn't crying because he was about to ruin everything between them.

"Because you need this honesty, Hermione. Even if you don't feel the same way. Even if this ruins everything we have, I need to tell you this, Hermione." A tear rolled down Hermione's cheek and Harry wished he could wipe it away, but he couldn't release his grip on her hands.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest. She daren't hope that Harry was about to say what she wanted him to say. Of course, there was the fear that Harry wasn't actually talking about her, but who else could he be talking about? How long had she been daydreaming about this moment, when she would finally confess her feelings to Harry? Not once had she imagined that Harry would be the first to admit such feelings. She thought he was still in love with Ginny.

"Hermione." Harry breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. He readjusted his grip on Hermione's hands, pulling them closer to him. "I can't stop thinking about you. Every moment of every day, you're in my thoughts. You're in my dreams at night. You are the most amazing person I have ever met. You're the reason for my every action. All I want to do is make you happy. I want to make sure you're safe. Ginny and I can't be together because I love you."

Hermione choked out a small, incredulous laugh. Her eyes widened as she stared at Harry, begging to see the sincerity in his face. She couldn't see any hint of deception on his face or in his beautiful eyes, but she did notice the flash of hurt at her laugh. He tried to pull his hands away but this time, she was the one to tighten her hold on him.

"Oh, Harry." Hermione smiled brilliantly at him, more tears rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't believe this was happening. For so long she had wanted this, but never thought it would happen. Especially after her visit to Malfoy Manor and Greyback's present, she never thought that anyone would want to be with someone like her.

Especially not Harry.

"Harry, I…" Hermione suddenly found herself unable to speak, unable to say those exact words back to Harry. She pulled a hand way from his and rested it on his face once more. She stroked his cheekbone softly, gazing into his eyes. The hurt was gone and had been replaced by confusion and hope. She knew there was a better way at expressing her feelings than using words.

Slowly, so that she didn't startle him, Hermione brought her face closer to Harry's. She maintained eye contact, letting him know that he could move away if he wanted to. When he didn't, she moved even closer until her lips pressed against his.

Their eyes slid shut simultaneously as they shared their first kiss. Hermione pushed harder against his lips, smiling when he pushed back. He moved his free hand to the back of her neck, pulling her even closer to him. He could hear his heart thudding in his chest, his blood rushing to his ears. Yet all he could think about was Hermione's soft lips against his own.

Hermione was kissing him.

Hermione was kissing him.

When she laughed at him after he declared his love for her, he felt his entire world implode around him, thinking that she was rejecting him. He knew it was a risk telling her about his feelings, but he couldn't hold them back anymore. It had been eating at him every day, and he needed to tell her how he felt. Then, when she put her hand on his face again, he dared to hope that she felt the same way, but still braced himself for rejection when she didn't say anything to him.

And Merlin, when she leaned forward and kissed him, he thought he died and went to heaven.

He'd imagined this scenario many times before, both in dreams and in the privacy of his bed late at night, but never did he imagine he could feel like this. He felt his entire body tingle with magic as they kissed. He could feel her magic against his, he could feel how powerful they both were in that moment.

He could feel how right it was.

They were meant to be together.

Harry and Hermione.

Time-Travellers and Universe-Jumpers.

The Boy-Who-Lived and the Brightest Witch of Her Age.

He knew right then that it didn't matter what this unknown world had for them. He didn't care what happened with Dumbledore.

All that mattered was that he finally had Hermione, and there wasn't anything that could stop him from being with her until the day he died.

Not even a Dark Lord and a Manipulative Head Unspeakable could get in the way.