A/N: Thanks for all the feedback!
Disclaimer: Still not mine!
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The kitchen door opened, and Harry appeared looking very determined about something. Hermione looked at him curiously as he dropped his coat onto a chair and sat down at the breakfast table with her and Ron.
"I'm telling Gia."
Hermione glanced at Ron and saw that he seemed just as confused as she was. In a slightly confused voice, she asked him to be more specific. "You're telling Gia what?"
Harry hesitated for only a second before shaking himself of whatever was holding him back and answering her. "I'm telling her everything. About Hogwarts and us and everything."
Hermione was certain that she had heard him incorrectly. Out of stunned disbelief, she stared expectantly at him. "You're kidding, right?"
"No." He certainly didn't seem to be joking. "I have to tell her. I can't take it anymore."
"Isn't that illegal?" It was the first time Ron had spoken; he looked at Hermione for an answer.
"It's not illegal," she said wistfully before turning her stare back to Harry and speaking very loudly, "but it's crazy!"
"You don't understand how hard it is," he protested narrowly. "So, save the lecture."
"Think about what you're saying, Harry!" she said immediately. "How do you think she's going to react to something like that?"
"She'll be shocked, but if she's the person I think she is, she'll accept it." He seemed to be quite set in his way of thinking.
However, Hermione wasn't planning on stopping until she got some sense knocked into him. "And if she's not the person you think she is? If she doesn't accept it?"
"Well, at least I'll know then, won't I?"
"Yes. And the entire city will know about me!"
Harry glared slightly in her direction. "So, this is all about you, is it?"
She returned the glare and spoke through tightened lips. "Well, no one knows you, do they? But everyone in this place knows my parents and me. Did you ever stop to think how this would affect us?"
"She wouldn't tell anyone."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You don't know that! She could tell anyone she wanted to, and then what? My own aunts and uncles don't even know about me!"
"Hermione, this isn't about you!"
"Yes, it is!" She was furious that he would even think about being so stupid. Didn't he realize what would happen if Gia told just one person?
"She won't tell!"
"She could!"
"She wants to transfer to St. Mary's!"
A silence filled the room immediately after this revelation. Ron, who had been watching the exchange between his best friends closely, was the first to speak.
"Are you serious?" It wasn't a profound statement, but it somehow calmed the intensity in the room.
Harry lowered his voice and turned away from Hermione to face the other boy. "Yes. She wants to ask her dad if he'll let her, and from what I hear about her father and stepmother, boarding school would be the ideal situation in their eyes. I really don't think they'd turn her down if she wanted to go."
Hermione could hardly believe what she was hearing. She'd known that Harry getting involved with Gia was a bad idea; everything was about to backfire. "But..." She didn't know what was she was going to say.
Harry turned back to her. "What else am I supposed to do, Hermione? If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."
Hermione almost suggested that he break up with the Muggle; it would certainly be the easiest solution. Of course, she didn't dare open her mouth and actually say this because she somehow knew that Harry wouldn't forgive her for suggesting such a thing. He liked Gia, really liked her, and Hermione had no other choice but to shake her head gently indicating that she had no better idea.
"She won't tell," Harry went on calmly. "I know she won't."
Ron smiled slightly and attempted to bring some humor into the situation. "And if she does, we can always practice 'Obliviate' on her."
The look Hermione gave him was unnamable.
He simply shrugged in response.
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Harry ran over and over the conversation in his head. He had his words down perfectly. The only problem was... he had no clue how Gia would react. He hoped, of course, that she would simply smile brightly and tell him that she was perfectly fine with the fact that he was a wizard and was attending a school that specialized in Potions instead of Chemistry. Of course, he also knew that hoping for this reaction was as illogical as hoping that Snape would wash the grease out of his hair.
He just hoped she wouldn't hate him.
As he watched her fuss with the loose threads on her comforter, he thought about the past three weeks. They'd been the best he'd had in a long time; for once, he was able to forget about Voldemort, forget about the damn prophecy, forget about everything. She just made him happy; he felt like he could actually be a kid with her- the kid he'd never gotten to be.
"Gia, I have to tell you something." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
She looked up and furrowed her brow a bit at the seriousness on his face. "What's wrong?"
He hesitated for another moment before swallowing his nervousness. "It's really important, and you just have to hear me out, okay?"
Her face fell immediately. "If you tell me that you have a girlfriend at school, I swear I will not forgive you." She was being quite serious and staring at him meaningfully.
A girlfriend? If only that was all it was... He shook his head to answer her question, though. "No! It's nothing like that. I swear."
She knitted up her forehead and studied him. "Harry, what is it?"
The nervousness was back, and he was suddenly hit with a million and one possible reactions to his news. None of them seemed too pleasant. However, he had no choice, so, scurrying up some of that Gryffindor courage, he cleared his throat and started the conversation in the same manner that he'd been going over in his head.
"Do you remember when you said strange things used to happen whenever someone would pick on Hermione in primary school?"
"Please don't tell me you're dating Hermione..." Her eyes proved that her suspicion was a legitimate one.
The sound of that sentence was almost enough to make him sick, and he wrinkled up his nose in slight disgust. "Of course I'm not!"
"Then what?" she asked anxiously.
He tried again. "Do you remember when you told me that?"
She still looked confused beyond help, but she nodded vaguely. "Yeah..."
He nodded, too, and took in a deep breath. Knowing that the next words would change everything, he summoned all of his nerves and said, "Well, that's because Hermione's not normal." He swallowed once more. "She's a witch."
Silence hung heavily in the air around them. The blank look on Gia's face stayed for several moments before slowly turning to a bewildered one. "A witch..." she repeated vaguely.
Harry nodded again. "Right. She's a witch."
"Is this supposed to be funny?" Gia asked with slightly narrowed eyes. "If it is, I don't get it."
"It's not a joke," he said honestly. "I'm being serious."
Gia was silent for another long moment before pursing her lips slightly. "A witch? As in broomsticks and cauldrons and cackling and warts? A witch?" She was speaking very calmly, as if she couldn't quite believe she was actually hearing this.
Harry shrugged. "Well, Hermione hates flying, so she only gets on a broom when it's absolutely necessary. She does use cauldrons quite a bit, but she's usually partners with a really clumsy boy who always ends up melting theirs. And... I've never heard her cackle, but she does giggle sometimes, though not as much as most girls. And she did have a wart on her finger when we were twelve, but our nurse magicked it away."
Gia raised two eyebrows in silent disbelief. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally closed her eyes, opened them, and shook her head. "Please tell me you're joking."
"I'm serious," he said again, this time with a little more urgency. "I know it's hard to believe, but I swear I'm not lying."
She opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it abruptly. After going through this process several more times, she finally managed to say, "So, she's a witch, huh? Okay, then. How did you find this out?" The tone of her voice made it incredibly evident that she didn't believe him for a flat second.
"We don't go to St. Mary's," he said, not knowing how else to explain this away. "We go to a special school that teaches magic."
Gia turned her lips inward and nodded slowly with slightly widened eyes. It was clear that she was trying to decide what in the world to say next. "So, if Hermione's a witch, what does that make you? A warlock?" The tone of her voice gave away the fact that she was simply humoring him at this point.
However, he kept trying to make her understand. "A wizard," he said simply. "Warlocks aren't very nice people."
At this, Gia burst into a high-pitched, almost hysterical laughter. "Oh, my God..." she said airily. "You're being completely serious... You're crazy." She let out another wistful laugh. "I should have known better... I knew you were too perfect. Celeste tried to tell me. She said, 'He's got to have a flaw,' but I didn't believe her... I said, 'No, really. He's perfect.' And... and you're crazy." Her forehead dropped into her hand, and she shook her head, completely stunned.
Harry didn't know what to do now. She thought he was mad; she thought he was insane. And he realized that anyone who tried to tell a story like the one he was attempting would be met with the same reaction. "Gia, I'm not crazy," he tried to defend himself, but was cut off when she suddenly looked back up at him with huge eyes.
"I can't believe it," she said with a trembling voice. "Why didn't I know it was too good to be true..."
"Gia, listen," he begged. "I know it sounds crazy, but just please try to believe me!"
"Believe you?!" She looked at him wild-eyed. "You think you're a wizard! You think you can do magic! I... I just don't know why I thought it was possible to be as perfect as you seemed to be... I should have known..."
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
He cut her off this time by reaching into the pocket of his coat and drawing out his wand. With a quick swish and flick, a book that had been resting on her bedside table floated several feet into the air. Harry knew that he was breaking several wizarding laws by performing the simplest of charms, but he didn't care right then. All he was worried about was making Gia believe that he wasn't insane. Her head whipped around on instant after he uttered the words, and she gasped in shock at the sight behind her.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, keeping her eyes on the book and scooting further away from him.
"Proving that I'm not crazy," he said determinedly.
Gia watched in complete shock as the book was lowered back to the table and resumed its inanimate activity. Slowly, she turned back to Harry and studied him for several minutes. "How did you do that?" she whispered finally.
Harry glanced down at the wand he was still holding. "I tried to tell you..."
"Do it again." She didn't hesitate in voice her reply.
"But I could get in serious trouble," he explained quietly. "I'm not supposed to be doing any magic away from school."
"Do it again," she repeated, obviously not caring that he was breaking the law to adhere to her request. "But to something else, that way I know you didn't rig it." She looked around her room in search of something else. Her eyes settled on an oversized stuffed dog that sat in a chair across the room. "Make him float," she instructed simply.
Harry sighed but finally gave in. "How's this?" he asked, pointing his wand at the toy and saying, "Accio, Dog!" Within seconds, the stuffed animal had shot through the room and was resting gently between them.
Gia looked positively terrified. Her head shot around as if to make sure no one was listening in, and she spoke in a very heated whisper. "How did you do that?" she demanded.
Harry wanted to pull his hair out. "Gia, please!" he tried desperately. "I'm not lying. I swear to you, I'm telling the truth."
"But this can't be real..." She spoke in a tiny, timid little whisper that almost sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. "It's just... impossible."
He let out a low breath. "I can't do anymore. I could get expelled from school if they find out."
She just looked at him with those huge eyes she'd recently acquired. "But this just cannot be for real. It just can't be."
"Look, I know it sounds crazy. I couldn't believe it, either, the first time I found out."
"What do you mean, the first time you found out?" Now, she looked even more confused. "Haven't you known your whole life?"
Well, at least it was beginning to sound as if she believed him. That was a plus. Harry shook his head. "No, I grew up with Muggles."
"Muggles?" she asked immediately, before he even had a chance to explain.
He was suddenly quite nervous but struggled to make everything sound somewhat believable. "Muggles are people with no magic in them." He hesitated for a second. "Like you're a Muggle."
"A Muggle," she repeated slowly. Then she looked back up at him. "So, your aunt and uncle aren't... whatever?"
He shook his head. "No, but my parents were. I just never knew until I got the letter telling me I'd been accepted to Hogwarts- that's the real name of our school, by the way."
"But Hermione's parents are dentists! They're not..." It was as if she couldn't quite bring herself to say the words.
Harry understood, though, and shook his head again. "No. Hermione's Muggle-born; she's the only witch in her entire family. No one in her family even knows about it except for her parents and grandparents."
"Well, why isn't your aunt... a witch?" she finally managed.
"My mum was Muggle-born, too. She's the only magic on that side of the family. My dad came from a pureblood family, like Ron's. His whole family is magic." He prayed that he was making sense.
Gia just looked at him silently for a long moment before leaning forward and placing her face into her hands for the second time. "I don't know what to say," she mumbled.
Harry was quiet, too, before finally gathering up enough words to make his sentence coherent. "I know it's a lot to handle. And if it's too much, I... understand." He swallowed something funny in his throat. "I just didn't think it was fair to keep lying to you."
Gia slowly looked up. Her voice was extremely quiet and her face quite pale. "Are you breaking up with me?"
He noticed that she always seemed to jump to the worst conclusions, as if she'd been given nothing but bad news all her life. Maybe she had. Assuring her that he wasn't breaking up with her, he shook his head. "No! I'm not. I mean... I thought that maybe you... would want to because..." He couldn't make his brain function properly. He hoped that she wouldn't; he was finally happy for once, and he didn't want anything to come between that. But he wouldn't stop her if she did because he understood how difficult it must be for her.
Gia frowned slightly; her eyes looked funny. In a very quiet voice, she shook her head and whispered, "I don't want to break up."
Harry let out a breath he hadn't been aware of. In an equally quiet voice, he breathed an airy, "Good." Then, swallowing down the last bit of anxiousness, he attempted once more to get a real opinion out of her. "Do you think I'm like a freak or something, though?"
Gia glanced down, and he was positive that she was going to say yes. A moment later when she looked up, though, she shook her head gently. "No. It's just... weird, I guess."
"I know," he assured her. "But it's not like we're not normal teenagers or anything. I mean, we are. It's just... we're not, too." He sighed loudly. "It's very weird."
Gia bit down on her lower lip. "I've known Hermione since I was five years old. We've never been close or anything, but still... I never knew."
"No one does," he said quickly. "And please, please don't tell anyone. No one."
She nodded absently. "Okay..." She looked somewhere far off, and her eyes glazed over slightly.
Harry watched her for a second before slowly getting up. "Look, I'm going to go back to Hermione's now, okay? So you can think and... stuff. And I'll call you tomorrow."
Gia looked up at him as he spoke. She nodded carefully and mumbled, "Yeah. Okay."
Harry looked at her for just another moment before turning around to leave. But she stood up and caught his arm before he could move. He spun around and saw that she looked scared again. With raised eyebrows, he asked her what was wrong.
"Nothing's going to change between us, is it?" she asked nervously.
"I hope not," he answered honestly. He kissed her cheek lightly before leaving her house and thinking about everything. He'd been completely truthful in his final answer to her. He wanted everything to be the same as always.
He hoped things never changed.
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Well, she knows... Now what? Guess you'll just have to wait and see, huh? Just two more chapters before they go back to Hogwarts, and then things REALLY start to change. Just a preview of what's to come in future chapters... The prophecy is explored full-force. Something that none of them expected is discovered about one member of the trio. A missing brother finally shows back up. The Weasley baby is born. And much, much, much more!
Next up: Ron and Hermione decide it's time to come out of the dark about their relationship.
PS- Don't forget to join the Yahoo! discussion group. The URL is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/when_things_change/
And, as always, please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: Still not mine!
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The kitchen door opened, and Harry appeared looking very determined about something. Hermione looked at him curiously as he dropped his coat onto a chair and sat down at the breakfast table with her and Ron.
"I'm telling Gia."
Hermione glanced at Ron and saw that he seemed just as confused as she was. In a slightly confused voice, she asked him to be more specific. "You're telling Gia what?"
Harry hesitated for only a second before shaking himself of whatever was holding him back and answering her. "I'm telling her everything. About Hogwarts and us and everything."
Hermione was certain that she had heard him incorrectly. Out of stunned disbelief, she stared expectantly at him. "You're kidding, right?"
"No." He certainly didn't seem to be joking. "I have to tell her. I can't take it anymore."
"Isn't that illegal?" It was the first time Ron had spoken; he looked at Hermione for an answer.
"It's not illegal," she said wistfully before turning her stare back to Harry and speaking very loudly, "but it's crazy!"
"You don't understand how hard it is," he protested narrowly. "So, save the lecture."
"Think about what you're saying, Harry!" she said immediately. "How do you think she's going to react to something like that?"
"She'll be shocked, but if she's the person I think she is, she'll accept it." He seemed to be quite set in his way of thinking.
However, Hermione wasn't planning on stopping until she got some sense knocked into him. "And if she's not the person you think she is? If she doesn't accept it?"
"Well, at least I'll know then, won't I?"
"Yes. And the entire city will know about me!"
Harry glared slightly in her direction. "So, this is all about you, is it?"
She returned the glare and spoke through tightened lips. "Well, no one knows you, do they? But everyone in this place knows my parents and me. Did you ever stop to think how this would affect us?"
"She wouldn't tell anyone."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You don't know that! She could tell anyone she wanted to, and then what? My own aunts and uncles don't even know about me!"
"Hermione, this isn't about you!"
"Yes, it is!" She was furious that he would even think about being so stupid. Didn't he realize what would happen if Gia told just one person?
"She won't tell!"
"She could!"
"She wants to transfer to St. Mary's!"
A silence filled the room immediately after this revelation. Ron, who had been watching the exchange between his best friends closely, was the first to speak.
"Are you serious?" It wasn't a profound statement, but it somehow calmed the intensity in the room.
Harry lowered his voice and turned away from Hermione to face the other boy. "Yes. She wants to ask her dad if he'll let her, and from what I hear about her father and stepmother, boarding school would be the ideal situation in their eyes. I really don't think they'd turn her down if she wanted to go."
Hermione could hardly believe what she was hearing. She'd known that Harry getting involved with Gia was a bad idea; everything was about to backfire. "But..." She didn't know what was she was going to say.
Harry turned back to her. "What else am I supposed to do, Hermione? If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."
Hermione almost suggested that he break up with the Muggle; it would certainly be the easiest solution. Of course, she didn't dare open her mouth and actually say this because she somehow knew that Harry wouldn't forgive her for suggesting such a thing. He liked Gia, really liked her, and Hermione had no other choice but to shake her head gently indicating that she had no better idea.
"She won't tell," Harry went on calmly. "I know she won't."
Ron smiled slightly and attempted to bring some humor into the situation. "And if she does, we can always practice 'Obliviate' on her."
The look Hermione gave him was unnamable.
He simply shrugged in response.
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Harry ran over and over the conversation in his head. He had his words down perfectly. The only problem was... he had no clue how Gia would react. He hoped, of course, that she would simply smile brightly and tell him that she was perfectly fine with the fact that he was a wizard and was attending a school that specialized in Potions instead of Chemistry. Of course, he also knew that hoping for this reaction was as illogical as hoping that Snape would wash the grease out of his hair.
He just hoped she wouldn't hate him.
As he watched her fuss with the loose threads on her comforter, he thought about the past three weeks. They'd been the best he'd had in a long time; for once, he was able to forget about Voldemort, forget about the damn prophecy, forget about everything. She just made him happy; he felt like he could actually be a kid with her- the kid he'd never gotten to be.
"Gia, I have to tell you something." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
She looked up and furrowed her brow a bit at the seriousness on his face. "What's wrong?"
He hesitated for another moment before swallowing his nervousness. "It's really important, and you just have to hear me out, okay?"
Her face fell immediately. "If you tell me that you have a girlfriend at school, I swear I will not forgive you." She was being quite serious and staring at him meaningfully.
A girlfriend? If only that was all it was... He shook his head to answer her question, though. "No! It's nothing like that. I swear."
She knitted up her forehead and studied him. "Harry, what is it?"
The nervousness was back, and he was suddenly hit with a million and one possible reactions to his news. None of them seemed too pleasant. However, he had no choice, so, scurrying up some of that Gryffindor courage, he cleared his throat and started the conversation in the same manner that he'd been going over in his head.
"Do you remember when you said strange things used to happen whenever someone would pick on Hermione in primary school?"
"Please don't tell me you're dating Hermione..." Her eyes proved that her suspicion was a legitimate one.
The sound of that sentence was almost enough to make him sick, and he wrinkled up his nose in slight disgust. "Of course I'm not!"
"Then what?" she asked anxiously.
He tried again. "Do you remember when you told me that?"
She still looked confused beyond help, but she nodded vaguely. "Yeah..."
He nodded, too, and took in a deep breath. Knowing that the next words would change everything, he summoned all of his nerves and said, "Well, that's because Hermione's not normal." He swallowed once more. "She's a witch."
Silence hung heavily in the air around them. The blank look on Gia's face stayed for several moments before slowly turning to a bewildered one. "A witch..." she repeated vaguely.
Harry nodded again. "Right. She's a witch."
"Is this supposed to be funny?" Gia asked with slightly narrowed eyes. "If it is, I don't get it."
"It's not a joke," he said honestly. "I'm being serious."
Gia was silent for another long moment before pursing her lips slightly. "A witch? As in broomsticks and cauldrons and cackling and warts? A witch?" She was speaking very calmly, as if she couldn't quite believe she was actually hearing this.
Harry shrugged. "Well, Hermione hates flying, so she only gets on a broom when it's absolutely necessary. She does use cauldrons quite a bit, but she's usually partners with a really clumsy boy who always ends up melting theirs. And... I've never heard her cackle, but she does giggle sometimes, though not as much as most girls. And she did have a wart on her finger when we were twelve, but our nurse magicked it away."
Gia raised two eyebrows in silent disbelief. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally closed her eyes, opened them, and shook her head. "Please tell me you're joking."
"I'm serious," he said again, this time with a little more urgency. "I know it's hard to believe, but I swear I'm not lying."
She opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it abruptly. After going through this process several more times, she finally managed to say, "So, she's a witch, huh? Okay, then. How did you find this out?" The tone of her voice made it incredibly evident that she didn't believe him for a flat second.
"We don't go to St. Mary's," he said, not knowing how else to explain this away. "We go to a special school that teaches magic."
Gia turned her lips inward and nodded slowly with slightly widened eyes. It was clear that she was trying to decide what in the world to say next. "So, if Hermione's a witch, what does that make you? A warlock?" The tone of her voice gave away the fact that she was simply humoring him at this point.
However, he kept trying to make her understand. "A wizard," he said simply. "Warlocks aren't very nice people."
At this, Gia burst into a high-pitched, almost hysterical laughter. "Oh, my God..." she said airily. "You're being completely serious... You're crazy." She let out another wistful laugh. "I should have known better... I knew you were too perfect. Celeste tried to tell me. She said, 'He's got to have a flaw,' but I didn't believe her... I said, 'No, really. He's perfect.' And... and you're crazy." Her forehead dropped into her hand, and she shook her head, completely stunned.
Harry didn't know what to do now. She thought he was mad; she thought he was insane. And he realized that anyone who tried to tell a story like the one he was attempting would be met with the same reaction. "Gia, I'm not crazy," he tried to defend himself, but was cut off when she suddenly looked back up at him with huge eyes.
"I can't believe it," she said with a trembling voice. "Why didn't I know it was too good to be true..."
"Gia, listen," he begged. "I know it sounds crazy, but just please try to believe me!"
"Believe you?!" She looked at him wild-eyed. "You think you're a wizard! You think you can do magic! I... I just don't know why I thought it was possible to be as perfect as you seemed to be... I should have known..."
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
He cut her off this time by reaching into the pocket of his coat and drawing out his wand. With a quick swish and flick, a book that had been resting on her bedside table floated several feet into the air. Harry knew that he was breaking several wizarding laws by performing the simplest of charms, but he didn't care right then. All he was worried about was making Gia believe that he wasn't insane. Her head whipped around on instant after he uttered the words, and she gasped in shock at the sight behind her.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, keeping her eyes on the book and scooting further away from him.
"Proving that I'm not crazy," he said determinedly.
Gia watched in complete shock as the book was lowered back to the table and resumed its inanimate activity. Slowly, she turned back to Harry and studied him for several minutes. "How did you do that?" she whispered finally.
Harry glanced down at the wand he was still holding. "I tried to tell you..."
"Do it again." She didn't hesitate in voice her reply.
"But I could get in serious trouble," he explained quietly. "I'm not supposed to be doing any magic away from school."
"Do it again," she repeated, obviously not caring that he was breaking the law to adhere to her request. "But to something else, that way I know you didn't rig it." She looked around her room in search of something else. Her eyes settled on an oversized stuffed dog that sat in a chair across the room. "Make him float," she instructed simply.
Harry sighed but finally gave in. "How's this?" he asked, pointing his wand at the toy and saying, "Accio, Dog!" Within seconds, the stuffed animal had shot through the room and was resting gently between them.
Gia looked positively terrified. Her head shot around as if to make sure no one was listening in, and she spoke in a very heated whisper. "How did you do that?" she demanded.
Harry wanted to pull his hair out. "Gia, please!" he tried desperately. "I'm not lying. I swear to you, I'm telling the truth."
"But this can't be real..." She spoke in a tiny, timid little whisper that almost sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. "It's just... impossible."
He let out a low breath. "I can't do anymore. I could get expelled from school if they find out."
She just looked at him with those huge eyes she'd recently acquired. "But this just cannot be for real. It just can't be."
"Look, I know it sounds crazy. I couldn't believe it, either, the first time I found out."
"What do you mean, the first time you found out?" Now, she looked even more confused. "Haven't you known your whole life?"
Well, at least it was beginning to sound as if she believed him. That was a plus. Harry shook his head. "No, I grew up with Muggles."
"Muggles?" she asked immediately, before he even had a chance to explain.
He was suddenly quite nervous but struggled to make everything sound somewhat believable. "Muggles are people with no magic in them." He hesitated for a second. "Like you're a Muggle."
"A Muggle," she repeated slowly. Then she looked back up at him. "So, your aunt and uncle aren't... whatever?"
He shook his head. "No, but my parents were. I just never knew until I got the letter telling me I'd been accepted to Hogwarts- that's the real name of our school, by the way."
"But Hermione's parents are dentists! They're not..." It was as if she couldn't quite bring herself to say the words.
Harry understood, though, and shook his head again. "No. Hermione's Muggle-born; she's the only witch in her entire family. No one in her family even knows about it except for her parents and grandparents."
"Well, why isn't your aunt... a witch?" she finally managed.
"My mum was Muggle-born, too. She's the only magic on that side of the family. My dad came from a pureblood family, like Ron's. His whole family is magic." He prayed that he was making sense.
Gia just looked at him silently for a long moment before leaning forward and placing her face into her hands for the second time. "I don't know what to say," she mumbled.
Harry was quiet, too, before finally gathering up enough words to make his sentence coherent. "I know it's a lot to handle. And if it's too much, I... understand." He swallowed something funny in his throat. "I just didn't think it was fair to keep lying to you."
Gia slowly looked up. Her voice was extremely quiet and her face quite pale. "Are you breaking up with me?"
He noticed that she always seemed to jump to the worst conclusions, as if she'd been given nothing but bad news all her life. Maybe she had. Assuring her that he wasn't breaking up with her, he shook his head. "No! I'm not. I mean... I thought that maybe you... would want to because..." He couldn't make his brain function properly. He hoped that she wouldn't; he was finally happy for once, and he didn't want anything to come between that. But he wouldn't stop her if she did because he understood how difficult it must be for her.
Gia frowned slightly; her eyes looked funny. In a very quiet voice, she shook her head and whispered, "I don't want to break up."
Harry let out a breath he hadn't been aware of. In an equally quiet voice, he breathed an airy, "Good." Then, swallowing down the last bit of anxiousness, he attempted once more to get a real opinion out of her. "Do you think I'm like a freak or something, though?"
Gia glanced down, and he was positive that she was going to say yes. A moment later when she looked up, though, she shook her head gently. "No. It's just... weird, I guess."
"I know," he assured her. "But it's not like we're not normal teenagers or anything. I mean, we are. It's just... we're not, too." He sighed loudly. "It's very weird."
Gia bit down on her lower lip. "I've known Hermione since I was five years old. We've never been close or anything, but still... I never knew."
"No one does," he said quickly. "And please, please don't tell anyone. No one."
She nodded absently. "Okay..." She looked somewhere far off, and her eyes glazed over slightly.
Harry watched her for a second before slowly getting up. "Look, I'm going to go back to Hermione's now, okay? So you can think and... stuff. And I'll call you tomorrow."
Gia looked up at him as he spoke. She nodded carefully and mumbled, "Yeah. Okay."
Harry looked at her for just another moment before turning around to leave. But she stood up and caught his arm before he could move. He spun around and saw that she looked scared again. With raised eyebrows, he asked her what was wrong.
"Nothing's going to change between us, is it?" she asked nervously.
"I hope not," he answered honestly. He kissed her cheek lightly before leaving her house and thinking about everything. He'd been completely truthful in his final answer to her. He wanted everything to be the same as always.
He hoped things never changed.
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Well, she knows... Now what? Guess you'll just have to wait and see, huh? Just two more chapters before they go back to Hogwarts, and then things REALLY start to change. Just a preview of what's to come in future chapters... The prophecy is explored full-force. Something that none of them expected is discovered about one member of the trio. A missing brother finally shows back up. The Weasley baby is born. And much, much, much more!
Next up: Ron and Hermione decide it's time to come out of the dark about their relationship.
PS- Don't forget to join the Yahoo! discussion group. The URL is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/when_things_change/
And, as always, please let me know what you think!
