AN: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW POSITIVELY HAPPY I AM?!?!?!?!?!?!? THIS IS SO GREAT IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! I just happen to have 70 reviews for TWO CHAPTERS!!!!!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anywho, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you read this author's note. I'm terribly, TERRIBLY sorry, but since I got over 40 reviews for Chapter 2, I can't possibly do shout-outs for all of you. I can only respond to a select few of you. I WISH I could say something to all of you, but I can't. But before I do the few shout-outs that I have, I have a few "notices" to make.
1.) I AM SOOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING QUICKLY!!! I was away all weekend, and I'm doing school day and night, so I haven't had a chance to type this chapter until now!
2.) Several of you were wondering how Harry wouldn't know how to use a cell phone, since he was raised a muggle. That is explained in this chapter.
3.) Almost all of you were wondering if the pairing had changed from Hermione/Draco to Hermione/Harry. NO IT HAS NOT!
4.) Many of you are calling yourselves stupid and idiotic for thinking the "Stranger" was Draco Malfoy. YOU ARE NOT STUPID AND IDIOTIC! You were supposed to think it was Draco!
5.) A few of you wondered why Hermione didn't recognize Harry right off the bat. Just imagine how much someone can change in two years: Harry and Hermione both went from teenagers to adults, and didn't see each other for that time period. As a matter of fact, one of the guys I know is a senior in high school, and in just one week he went from looking boy-ish to manly- ish.
Now, on to the three shout-outs!
Maggy A. – You're reviewing this story AND Malfoy's twin! YAY! Anywho, you were wondering where Emily was in chapter 2: if you can believe it, I forgot to write her in! Let's just say she was sleeping, okay?
KitKat001 – I LOVE KitKat's!!!!! That is the best candy bar ever!!!!! And I will check out your story ASAP, and I have absolutely NO idea how I got so many reviews. It still puzzles me. Not that I don't like it, of course . . .
Severus' Wife – scary penname . . . anyway, you said that in 2006 Hermione would be 25 according to J.K.R.'s books. Well, in Ms. Rowling's books, there is NO year as to when it was happening, at least not in the American version. So, I assume that their 5th year is in 2003, since that is when the 5th book was released. Do the math.
And now, the moment, you've all been waiting for . . .CHAPTER 3!!! (it's kind of bittersweet)
Oh, wait, the Disclaimer, I forgot: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!!!!
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Chapter 3: Discussion
"Okay, I know I'm famous, but I didn't know that the whole magical community . . ." he trailed off. "Hang on, did you say that you had ridden a hippogriff, too?"
"Yes, Harry. Who else do you know that has ridden a hippogriff? Not many, I'm sure," said Hermione.
"Well, my godfather, and my best friend . . ." he suddenly looked at Hermione as if he had never seen her before. "Hermione?!" he said, shocked.
"About time. Yes, I'm Hermione," she said with a chuckle.
"I – I can't believe it! It's you!" exclaimed Harry.
"Yes, yes, that's all well and good. But there's something I don't understand, Harry. Why couldn't you operate your cell phone, and not even know who to call when your car was broken down?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, that," said Harry with a chuckle. "Well, the Ministry of Magic is kind of using me for a new test. They want to know how a wizard lives in the muggle world without any knowledge of it at all," he explained.
"But, Harry, you grew up in the muggle world until you were 11! You know all about muggles!" countered Hermione.
"Well, I used to. The Ministry put a memory charm on me so that I couldn't remember anything before my eleventh birthday," he answered.
"But what about summers? You were with muggles then, too!" said Hermione.
"Well, that's another thing I was a lab rat for. See, some of the people in the memory charm area were working on a new memory charm, one that allows the person performing the spell to choose what memories to erase," he explained.
"Wow, that's amazing! But what about Ron? Do you know where he is?" Hermione asked eagerly.
Harry didn't meet Hermione's eyes. He sighed deeply and sadly and said, "Ron was working with a new development in time travel: something that could take you into the future, rather than the past . . ."
------FLASHBACK------
"Devon – Devon, I think we've got it!" exclaimed Ron as he added the last ingredient to the potion.
"Really? You think so, Ron?" replied Devon excitedly.
"Yes, yes this is it! I know it!" said Ron, stirring the potion eagerly.
"But, Ron, wouldn't we need an antidote? I mean, a person can't just stay in the future forever," said Devon.
"Good point. But, before we make an antidote, we have to know that the potion works . . ." Ron trailed off, a look in his eyes that could only mean one thing . . .
"Ron, no! You can't go into the future unaided and without an antidote! It's too dangerous!" said Devon sternly.
"Devon, I'm the best friend of Harry Potter, I'm used to taking risks. I'll take the potion, then you can create the antidote while I'm gone, then come into the future and find me and give me the antidote so we can both take it and return to this time," said Ron seriously. Devon had never seen funny, light-hearted Ron so serious in his year of working with him.
"Well, all right, Ron, but if it doesn't work . . ."
"It WILL work, trust me!" said Ron, ladling some of the potion into a beaker. "Farewell, for now, Devon, said Ron, saluting his partner. Devon saluted back, and Ron drank the potion. When the last drop left the beaker, Ron simply disappeared. Where there had once been a healthy, living person, there was now only thin air.
------END FLASHBACK------
"So? What happened?" asked Hermione keenly.
"That was six months ago, 'Mione. A week after Ron, well, 'disappeared', Devon became seriously ill, and died a few days later. He was the only person who knew the exact ingredients of the potion Ron made. He wrote a letter to me, just minutes before his death, and he couldn't finish it before he died. I'm sure if he had finished the letter, the instructions to make that potion would be there, and Ron would be here today. Instead, he's somewhere in the future, waiting for Devon's appearance that will never come," finished Harry.
Hermione gasped. "So you mean, Ron's as good as dead to us? Oh my, Harry, that's awful," said Hermione, her voice quivering. Suddenly, Emily started crying in the backseat, as if right in cue. Harry was surprised to hear the cry, as he hadn't known a baby was in the car.
"Hermione, is that your baby?" asked Harry, concerned.
Hermione quickly got herself under control from the shock of hearing about Ron and pulled the car over so she could tend to Emily. "Yes, Harry. She's mine," said Hermione. She then got out of the car and opened the door to the backseat, where Emily was. Hermione picked her up and rocked her for a minute or so until she was sleeping again. (AN: See? I made sure to put Emily in this chapter!)
Once she and Harry were on the road again, Harry started up conversation once more.
"This may seem like a personal question, Hermione, but, how did someone at the age of nineteen come to have a newborn baby?" asked Harry.
Hermione sighed, and explained her story to him.
When she had finished, Harry just sat there in shock. When he finally did find his voice, he said with rage "That bloody bastard actually did that to you?"
"Yes. It's awful, I know. That's why I don't have a home. I'm tying to figure out where to go," said Hermione sadly.
Harry didn't answer for a moment. Then, all of a sudden . . .
"Hermione! Stop!" he said.
Hermione, thinking something was terribly wrong, slammed on the brakes. "What?!" she said.
"I think I know where we can stay," he said, pointing across the road. There, right next to them, was the Leaky Caldron.
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AN: See what I mean by bittersweet? So how was it? I won't know until my lovely critics (namely, YOU) tell me so in a review! So, what are you waiting for? REVIEW!!!!!