Chapter 5 (Explorations)

The following morning, Harry awoke, wondering to himself whether this had all been a dream. "Neville, watch out." he tensed as someone stepped over him. Harry sat up and realized he was laying on a plush purple sleeping bag with a soft feather pillow.

He reached for his glasses and put them on, watching as his world came into focus. He saw his Dad making his bed and, yawning, Harry stood up. "Morning." he mumbled, walking over to James. James turned around and smiled.

"Morning. Hey--there is a Quidditch practice this evening. If Dumbledore hasn't found a solution to your problem, you should come and watch."

Harry grinned. 'If we're still here, Hermione and I would love to come and see you."

James nodded. "Let's go down to breakfast. Your friend is probably waiting for you." They headed downstairs to the common room and sure enough, Hermione sat with Lily waiting.

"Good morning dear." James helped Lily to her feet and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"Good morning, James. And Neville."

Harry blushed a little, before linking arms with Hermione. "Shall we?" he asked. They headed to the Great Hall together and joined the rest of the Gryffindors. It was very strange to look at the table of Slytherins and not see Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe or Gregory Goyle.

Harry recognized Snape, though he was much younger. When he looked back at his plate, it had filled up and he saw everyone begin to eat, so he did as well. Hermione got into a conversation with another girl from Gryffindor about classes.

"What's your favorite course?" asked Hermione with interest as she piled some ketchup onto her fried potatoes.

The girl thought for a moment. "I would have to say Arithmancy..."

"That's my favorite too! Well...at least my second favorite. I like Transfiguration also..."

Harry smiled from his seat beside his Dad and listened thoughtfully at a conversation between James and another Gryffindor boy about the upcoming Quidditch match. Harry secretly hoped that Dumbledore wouldn't figure out the time-turner problem till after the practice--Harry desparately wanted to see how good of a seeker his father was. 'He won a few medals after all...' he thought, remembering the trophy case.

When breakfast ended, Hermione led Harry back to Dumbledore's office. "Lemondrop!" she cried, walking through the door before it even opened all the way. The headmaster sat at his desk, looking at the time-turner.

"Professor?" asked Hermione, causing Dumbledore to look up.

"Hello. Ms. Granger, the time-turner has not been fixed yet. I am still trying to figure out exactly what it needs."

"How long d'you think it'll take?" asked Hermione, not looking too pleased.

"I am not sure...I promise I will let you two know as soon as I fix it." Hermione looked at Harry.

"What should we do till it's fixed?" she wanted to know. Professor Dumbledore smiled at them.

"You two can just relax in the common room...I do not want you sneaking into the classrooms and causing panic..." "Do we HAVE to stay in the common room the whole time?" asked Harry.

"Har-ouch! NEVILLE." Hermione warned, rubbing her arm which Harry had whacked with his elbow.

"Well...unless you two can think of a way to keep yourselves hidden from view, then you may explore I suppose, though I am sure you already know what is around the school since you go here."

Hermione nodded. "Thank you, Professor. Come on, Harry." she drug Harry out of the office, and they made their way into the corridor. When they were alone, Hermione turned to him.

"Harry...you can't argue about stupid things right now...we're in a bit of trouble. I don't know what kind of an affect the time turner had on us..."

"I know, Hermione...I was just thinking..." "What were you thinking?" Hermione's voice came out a little bit bossier than she had intended. They continued walking down the corridor in silence till they reached the set of stone steps. Harry felt like he and Hermione had stepped back in time, or rather forward to their third year when they had gone through the hallways trying to figure out how to save Sirius Black, Harry's convicted but innocent God father.

It was the only other time he could recall sneaking aorund during the daytime. All the other times had been during the night or late evening. It felt strange to be in the corridors while other classes were going on. "GET THAT TOAD!"

Hermione heard a teacher shout and an uproar of cries and shrieks came from a classroom on

the left. Harry chuckled and looked at her. "Do you want to see what some of the other students are learning?" he asked. Hermione gave him an indignant look, and Harry quickly got the point at once. 'You're asking ME if I want to learn?' "Stupid question," Harry mumbled.

"It would be great, but you heard what Dumbledore said...we're can't be seen by anyone but the other Gryffindors."

"If only we had my Dad's invisibility cloak..." Harry paused, his lips curling into an evil smile. Hermione saw this and gasped.

"Harry Potter, you had better not be thinking of stealing--"

Harry cut Hermione off. "We wouldn't be stealing. Technically it will be mine...and we're just borrowing it for the time being." Making an abrupt 180 degree turn, he headed back towards the Gryffindor common room.

Once back inside, Harry raced up the stairs to the 7th year corridor and then to his father's trunk with Hermione hissing insistently how bad of an idea this was. Luckily for Harry, the invisibility cloak was stashed in the same compartment Harry would have used so he didn't have to go digging through his father's things.

He tucked it underneath his shirt and once outside of the common room and away from the eyes of the Pink Lady, Harry wrapped the cloak around himself and a protesting Hermione.

"Where are we going exactly?" asked Hermione. "Defense Against the Dark Arts," Harry replied, vaguely remembering his father saying something about having that first. Hermione sighed, figuring it was better to go along with Harry's wicked plot rather than protest. "Fine," she said. "Let's go."