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Taylor: I didn't forget "Journey to the Past" (that's the song's name). I want to put it in but then it didn't fit into the story so I give up.
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Note: To avoid confusion, I will write down Jamie, Charles, Hermione and Harry's age here:
Jamie: 18
Charles: 12
Harry and Hermione: 25
Translation of the French dialogues:
Je ne comprends pas – I don't understand
D'accord – OK
Pas de problème – No problem
Qui étés-vous exactement – Who exactly are you
Allez, s'il vous plait – Go, please
Voici – Here it is
Chapter 6: Paris
"Here we are, France!" cried Jamie when they arrived to their destination. "Now all we have to do is to find a cab to Paris."
"Hm, Jamie, my clothes......" started Hermy, tugging her old-looking coat.
"Oops." said Jamie and he quickly looked into his money bag. "Well, I can only pay 5 Euro. We need the rest for food and cab's fare."
"Five Euro is enough for a sleeve." said Charles dryly.
A few rich-looking French walked past them, looking at them in disgust at their appearances. Jamie narrowed his eyes at them.
"Go to that boutique over there." he said, pointing at a small and neat shop at the corner of the street. "I'll catch up."
Charles took Hermy's hand and dragged her to the shop. Jamie, on the other hand, went to follow the French. A few minutes later, he joined Charles and Hermy at the boutique.
"Okay, I got......." he counted the money in his hand. "80 euro now. Now let's go in and get Hermy a decent dress."
"Where did you get the money from?" asked Hermy.
Jamie didn't answer.
Charles just smiled. "Don't worry, Hermy. Jamie has his sources."
A few minutes later, the trio came out of the shop. Hermy was wearing a pink dress (which reaches her knees) with a white sash. Charles and Jamie didn't buy any clothes for themselves.
Jamie stopped a cab and when it stopped, the cabdriver opened the door himself and smiled.
"Bonjour."
Silence.
Hermy asked nervously, "Does anyone of you speak French?"
Charles and Jamie shook their heads. "We only know some simple words." said Charles.
"But we have to try." said Jamie slowly and turned to the cabdriver. "Err, Bonjour. We want to go to Harry Potter's residence. Do you understand?"
The cab driver just stared at him blankly. "Je ne comprends pas."
"Harry Potter, do you know how to go there?" said Charles, taking out of an picture of Harry and showed it to the cabdriver.
The cabdriver looked at the photo closely. "Monsieur Harry Potter?"
"Yes, I mean, oui." said Jamie quickly. "Could you take us to there?"
The cabdriver looked confused. Charles thought for a while before he got the cab driver's attention, he pointed at himself, then at Jamie and Hermy. Then he pointed at the cab. He drew his finger in midair horizontally then pointed at Harry's picture.
The cabdriver smiled. "Ah! You, you, you," he pointed at the trio. "Go to," he pointed the photo. "Harry Potter, oui?"
"Oui!" said the trio happily, glad that the cab driver finally understood them.
"D'accord." said the cabdriver, gesturing them to get on board.
"Merci." said Charles, which was another French word he picked up back in England.
"Pas de problème." said the cab driver as he started driving.
Since none of them understood that word, the trio decided not to answer.
Meanwhile, in an elegant, big house somewhere in Paris, Harry Potter was sitting in his living room, listening to a woman talking.
Harry had changed in 8 years. He didn't wear his glasses anymore, his hair was messy, he looked older and more handsome. His scar had disappeared after Voldemort's defeat. His eyes were still brilliant green, but they had a bit of loneliness and sadness in them, which sometimes made him looked older than his actual age. He was tall and well- build and wearing a white shirt, trousers and braces showed off his body nicely.
The woman he was listening to looked like Hermione herself.
"..... Ah, yes. I remember now. Professor McGonagall was hurt when she was trying to protect Hagrid. She got five stunning spells on her chest in the end, I was so scared back then." said the woman with a pained expression on her face.
"Well, Harry?" asked Ron, who was now an Auror as well. "What do you think?"
He was living with Harry because he had been transferred from England too. When Harry started searching for Hermione, he was the one who examined and questioned all the girls who claimed to be Hermione Granger. This time, Ron thought that he had gotten the real Hermione.
Harry sat for a while in his comfortable armchair, his eyes staring steadily at "Hermione". Then he stood up and asked, "Qui étés-vous exactement?"
Ron frowned. Harry had learned French when he first came to France a few months ago. Unlike Harry, Ron didn't study French, because he didn't see the need to and thought that learning another language was too troublesome.
"Hm, Harry? I don't think Hermione knows French." said Ron.
Harry ignored him. "Oui?" he asked "Hermione".
The woman looked uncomfortable. Finally she said, "Marie, Monsieur."
Ron's mouth dropped open. "Hey wait a minute, you told me you're English!"
Harry closed his eyes slowly. He turned his back to the woman and said, "Allez, s'il vous plait."
Seeing that Harry was upset, Ron quickly ushered the impostor out of the room, saying: "Err, I think you'll have to go now, yes..."
Harry shook his head slowly. "No more, no more...."
He looked at the well-polished table and found an empty teacup that he had drank from that morning. Angrily, he snatched it up, turned around and threw it to the door.
Ron came in and saw immediately a teacup flying towards his direction, he ducked and the cup hit the doorframe, smashing itself into pieces. "Whoa!"
Harry dropped into his chair and sighed deeply. He rubbed his temple as if it hurts.
Ron looked guiltily at his best friend. "Harry, I must say I'm so sorry but I'm so sure that one is real. I mean, she's real as in she's human of course......" he looked at Harry carefully, seeing whether that comment would make him laugh.
Harry just stared into space.
Ron sat down on another armchair. "But we won't be fooled next time, Harry. I'm going to think of some really hard questions......"
Harry snapped out of his trance and looked at Ron. He said sharply, "No!"
He suddenly stood up, which was a quite impressive move because Harry was so tall. He stared grimly at Ron. "Ron, my heart can't take it anymore. I will see no more women claiming to be Hermione."
Slowly, he placed the smiling photo of Hermione on the table facedown. Then he walked past Ron as if he was in a trance. Ron thought of following him but then decided not to as Harry might needed some time alone, especially now.
"Voici, Monsieur Potter's residence." said the cabdriver a few hours later when he drove up outside a big house.
"It's beautiful." said Hermy in awe when she got out of the cab. The house was painted white while the roof had blue tiles. In the neat garden, there were flowerbeds with lilies planted in them.
"And elegant." said Charles.
The cabdriver said, "30 euro," and he held out his hand.
Jamie quickly paid him and the cab driver drove off.
"Well, come on." said Jamie and they pushed open the iron gates.
They walked to the beautifully craved white oak doors and Jamie knocked. A maid in a French maid uniform opened the door.
"Yes, Monsieur?"
"Err, good afternoon, we would like to see Mr Ronald Weasley please." said Jamie, quickly retied his long blond hair to make it neater. "And if it's okay, we would like to see Mr Harry Potter as well."
The maid nodded politely. "Certainly, would you and your friends like to come in and wait in the drawing room?" she said, stepping aside.
"Thanks." said Jamie and the trio went in. "Whoa, this Harry Potter is no poor guy."
The trio looked at the quiet front hall in admiration. The long, rich red carpet was on the floor. The vase full of red roses was sitting on a small table at the side of the room. Golden gas lamps were pasted on the walls to light up the room.
They followed the maid to a room beside the living room and went in. Hermy gasped. The drawing room looked exactly like the Gryffindor common room, at least she thought it would look like the drawing room before it was destroyed by Death Eaters. There were red, squashy armchairs, old tables and a fire crackled merrily at the fireplace.
"Please wait here, I'll go and get Mr Weasley and Mr Potter." said the maid and she left.
Charles sat down on a chair excitedly like a child. "Wow, this place is great!"
"Manners, Charles." warned Jamie gently.
"Sorry. Hey look, there's a photo on the mantelpiece."
Hermy was about to sit down when Charles pointed out the photo. She looked and noticed that the girl in the picture looked awfully like her. Before she could get closer to have a better look, a tall, thin and gangling man came in. He had red hair, freckles, big hands and feet and a long nose.
Charles stood up immediately at Ron's presence.
"Good afternoon." said Ron politely. "I'm afraid that Mr Potter is not well today. He can't see you all."
"Well, it's okay." said Jamie, smiling. "Actually, we want to see you first."
Ron looked confused. "Why?"
"Because," said Jamie patiently. "We have found the one Mr Potter has been looking for."
He pulled Hermy's hand and steered her to his front to show her to Ron. "May I present, Miss Hermione Granger."
Ron's eyes widened when he saw Hermy's face. "Bloody hell. She certainly looks like Hermione." His eyes narrowed slightly. "But so do the rest of the impostors. Well, whoever you are, all women who claimed to be Hermione must answer my round of questions. Sit down."
All of them sat down. Ron settled himself comfortably before he asked Hermy seriously, "When you were born?"
"September 19th." said Hermy immediately.
"Correct." said Ron but his expression remained serious. "And um, do you like skiing?"
Hermy frowned. "Skiing is really not my thing."
As time past by, Charles counted Ron's questions. So far he had asked over 30 questions and Hermy answered all of them correctly.
Ron thought carefully at his next question. This woman was tough, she had answered all his questions! Finally, Ron had thought of something that only he, Harry and Hermione would know.
"Okay, the next few questions are about our last semesters in some of our school years. In year one, what is exactly under Quirrell's turban?"
"Voldemort." said Hermy after a while.
Ron shivered slightly at the name, even though Voldemort had been defeated. "Correct. And what happened to the Stone in the end?"
"It has been destroyed." said Hermy.
"In our second year, what did we use to get into the Slytherin common room?"
"The Polyjuice potion."
"Correct. In our third year, what exactly happened to Sirius in the end?" asked Ron carefully.
"Escape on Buckbeak." said Hermy.
Charles and Jamie looked at each other in surprise.
Ron smiled and got up. "Well, she answered every question. Correctly, I might add."
Despite of their surprise, Charles and Jamie were pleased at Hermy.
"You heard that? You did it!" cried Charles and he and Hermy hugged happily. "So, when is Mr Potter well enough to see us?" he asked.
"Err, I afraid you can't see him." said Ron slowly.
Jamie felt like someone had splashed cold water on him. "Come again?"
"I'm sorry but Mr Potter simply won't allow it." said Ron apologetically.
Charles let go of Hermy and said, "Oh come on, Mr Weasley. We come all the way from England to see Mr Potter. You can't just let us to go back like this. Isn't there any way to see him?"
Ron thought for a while and said to Hermy, "Err, do you like plays? There's one performance tomorrow night at the Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, called "The 7 Last Days of Marie Antoinette". Mr Potter and I have been invited there as guests. And we," Ron looked at Jamie. "Never turn down an invitation." He winked at him.
Jamie caught the hint. "Ah, oh! I got it, thanks for the invitation."
"We did it! We did it!" cried Jamie when he and Charles got out of the house.
The two friends hugged together and Jamie said excitedly, "We are going to get the ten million Galleons!"
Charles nodded, his eyes shining brightly. But then he asked, "Jamie? When did you teach Hermy about the Quirrell guy, the potion and Sirius Black?"
Jamie frowned. "Wasn't you the one who teach her those?"
Charles shook his head. Jamie was just about to speak when Hermy came out of the house, saying in delight, "Ron wants to take all of us out for the play! Shopping in Paris, can you believe it?!"