Temporal Flux
Chapter Three: Meeting with Dobby
Hermione kept stalking down the hall, almost everyone moved out of her way. Harry and Ron chased after her, trying to calm her down. They had never seen her lose her temper at someone like that before. "Hermione, calm down," pleaded Harry.
"You said so yourself before, schooling isn't everything," added Ron. "And this whole thing has taken you to a dark and scary place."
"Hermione, he didn't really do anything wrong. You can't be mad at him just because he's answering questions, too."
"It's not like he knows any better. Hermione—"
She ignored them as she shouted the password at the Fat Lady, "Pixie Dust!" The Fat Lady looked like she was going to scold Hermione for being rude, but taking one look at Hermione's face stopped her. Hermione stomped through the portal with Harry and Ron practically in tow. "What are you going to do?" asked Ron, looking at her face. "I don't like that look on your face. What are you thinking of doing?"
"I'm going to study," answered Hermione, having regained some of her composure. "With everything that's been going on, I've gotten soft. After getting the O.W.L results, I took a little break and that was a mistake."
"Uh-huh," muttered Ron with a nod as he looked over her to Harry. "So, you think that Jared spent the summer studying? That's how he's able to keep up with you."
"Of course, he studied over the summer, Ron!" exclaimed Hermione with a wave of her arms, realizing she was losing it again she closed her eyes to calm herself. "I mean it's obvious that the Americans aren't as laid back as I thought they were. So, that means that I should get back to work and take things more seriously."
"You weren't taking things seriously before?" asked Harry amazingly. Hermione whirled around to glare at him and stalked off to her favorite corner of the common room to study before dinner. To her agitation, someone with wavy, short brown hair was already sitting there. "Jared!" she said loudly.
He was too engrossed in what he was doing to acknowledge her. Harry and Ron strode over to her hurriedly, when they got there, Jared had turned his head. He looked startled. "Yes, Hermione?" asked Jared.
"Don't act like you don't know what you're doing!" she sputtered. "Ah! Crookshanks! What are you doing with him?"
"Keeping my lap warm," answered Jared, wondering what was wrong with her. He was looking at her with very innocent eyes. His eyelashes were kind of long and curled perfectly. When he was a child, almost everyone said he was like a doll. "Did I do something?"
Hermione was seething as she tried to calm herself. She licked her lips and said, "You're sitting in my spot and you have my cat in your lap."
"This is your spot?"
"Yes."
"I didn't know that. No one told me that it was."
"Well, I'm telling you that you're in my spot."
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Really?"
"Yes!"
Harry decided to stop them. "Jared, keep studying. Hermione, why don't we go for a walk?" he said in a soothing tone. "You're having a bad day."
"Yes," agreed Ron hurriedly. "Let's go and take a walk. We'll come back later and Jared will be done, won't you?"
"Sure," answered Jared. "Actually, I'm almost done with my homework. But I don't remember how many inches of parchment that Professor McGonagall wanted for her essay? I'm up to roll."
"That's due next week. And you're almost done?" asked Hermione as she breathed deeply. She was looking at it. "I was going to start it tonight."
"Actually, it's just a rough draft," corrected Jared. "I have to edit it before I turn it in. I like it to be perfect."
"Don't we all?" muttered Ron. "Hermione, let's go."
"But, he—" started Hermione.
"He's not doing anything," interrupted Harry. "Let's go." The boys were on either side again and guided Hermione out of the common room. The rest of the common room had heard the exchange and were intrigued by Jared even more. Ginny and Neville started talking.
"What happened to Hermione?" asked Ginny as she shot a look at Jared.
"He's what happened," replied Neville. He told her everything that happened in all the classes he had with Hermione and Jared. By the end, Ginny was laughing hysterically. Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati eventually joined them and added to the recall of the day's events.
"It was the funniest thing I've ever seen," laughed Seamus. "No one has ever raised their hand faster than Hermione."
"I loved it in DADA class when he started asking those really weird questions," added Dean with a chuckle. "And when the professor said, 'That's a very good question, Jared,' Hermione looked like she wanted to hex him."
"I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. Look, you know that I like Hermione, but sometimes I just think that she needs to be taken down a few notches," said Lavender. "I mean just now, look at what she did to Jared."
"He's so cute and he's smart, too," said Parvati as she looked towards Jared's direction.
"You mean he's a little scary," said Neville. "I don't know who's going to last here: him or Hermione. I thought that they'd get along because they seemed fine on the train. I thought if anyone was going to have trouble with Jared it was going to be Ron or Harry."
Ginny bit her lip as she thought hard about something. "What's wrong?" asked Neville. Her lips were in a firm line and she opened her mouth. She shut it again as if she was putting her thoughts in order before saying, "Okay, I was just thinking that there's something weird about him."
"Yeah, he's smarter than Hermione. Maybe not, he's just as smart as her," said Dean thoughtfully. "You know you're right. He fits right into Gryffindor and he hasn't even been here for a week."
"You know come to think of it, there is something familiar about him," agreed Lavender musingly.
"That's it. That's what I've been thinking," exclaimed Ginny. She lowered her voice again. "I mean other than the fact that he answers questions and does his schoolwork obsessively. There's other things about him. You know, he hasn't really asked for any directions. It's like he knows the school's layout."
"You're right," whispered Parvati. "When he came into the Great Hall he just sat down at our table without thinking about it."
"I think we're overthinking this," argued Neville. "We're not being very welcoming."
A shadow cast over them, causing them to turn their heads, Jared was standing just behind them. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked as Crookshanks trotted beside him. He leaned against the chair that Neville was sitting at. It had one of the higher, sturdier backs, rather than the soft cushioned ones. He had his hands folded over the other and his chin resting on top of them. Ginny asked a question that caught him by surprised, "How tall are you?"
"What? I—I'm an inch or two over six feet, and still growing. I had a growth spurt recently. Actually, I have a lot of those." answered Jared as he blinked at her.
"My brother was the tallest one here, until you came. You're the about the same height," observed Ginny. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he stared straight at her. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, you're built about the same. You could fit into Ron's clothes and he could fit into yours." Everyone else gave a nervous laugh as Jared turned and walked away.
"Ginny, what did you just do?" asked Neville.
"Nothing. I didn't do anything" answered Ginny. "And it's impossible. Isn't it?"
"What's impossible?" he asked, catching a look in her eye. She shook her head, "It's nothing."
Hermione calmed down while she, Ron, and Harry walked along the lake. After thinking about it for a bit, she realized how silly she had been acting. She started to laugh out loud. The two boys shook their heads and smiled. "I was being so ridiculous. Why didn't you two stop me?" she asked.
"It was too entertaining," answered Harry with a laugh. "Hermione, it's just a little competition."
"And it's healthy for you," added Ron. "It helps the rest of us know you're human, too."
"What about Jared? Do you think he's human, Ron?" asked Hermione playfully.
"I'm not so sure about that," he answered with a shrug.
"All I know is that he's really giving you a challenge," said Harry thoughtfully. "I've never seen anyone so determine to get to you without trying so hard. Not even Ron can do that."
"What does all of this have to do with me?" asked Ron with mock hurt. "I didn't do anything."
Hermione sighed as she rubbed her temples and laughed at herself again. "I guess I was just upset that I wasn't expecting it. It's like I got blindsided by him. Maybe, I should apologize to him for the whole thing in the common room."
"You never apologize to me!" exclaimed Ron.
"That's because you're partial at fault," retorted Hermione. Harry was partly glad that things were getting back to normal. At least they didn't keep asking about his summer because it wasn't that exciting.
Harry had spent most of his summer studying the books that Sirius and Remus gave him for Christmas. The most interesting thing happened the first week he was back at the Dursleys. After his uncle and cousin left the house, his aunt asked him about what was happening and what Dumbledore was doing. This shocked Harry, but for the second time in his life he had seen her very anxious. Harry was still angry with Dumbledore and mourning Sirius' death. He found some comfort in his aunt's anxiety because she knew what it meant for Voldemort to be back. There was something about Voldemort that she wasn't speaking about, and like other wizards and witches, she didn't dare speak his name.
Harry told her that he had seen Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic, which made her pale for several minutes. His aunt didn't ask if he was all right, but he had expected that. She merely nodded and went about her obsessive-compulsive cleaning, causing Harry to think that something had happened to her that made her clean like that. He didn't ask and she didn't offer any explanation. After that conversation, they went back to normal.
For the rest of the summer, Harry's uncle kept reminding him to send owls regularly to the members of the Order, but that was to keep them from coming to the house at all. Harry's cousin steered clear of him all together. Harry was reading his books, taking notes, and preparing for the school year. He was looking forward to regular DA meetings and had devised several forms of attacks and defenses. All the books contained historical facts about the Dark Arts, giving Harry a slight advantage over everyone in the DADA classes. However, Professor De Luca was better than any known historical textbook on the Dark Arts.
"Actually, I wanted to tell you about what we'll be doing in DA this year," started Harry.
Hermione and Ron stopped in their tracks. "You've already planned what we're going to do?" asked Ron.
"Yes," answered Harry. "After what happened in the Department of Mysteries, I decided we should focus more on offensive spells this time around."
Hermione ventured after some minutes passed, "Harry, about what happened in the Ministry, you haven't really talked about—" She stopped because Ron threw her a look to silence her. She turned her head away and gazed at the lake.
"Let's get back," suggested Ron. They went back to the common room, discussing their O.W.L. results, even though Harry knew what his friends got. It was not a surprise that he did well in DADA, but it was a shock that he had gotten one for Potions. It solved another mystery for Hermione, "I was wondering why we're all in the N.E.W.T. level class together."
"I want to be an Auror, so I don't really have much of a choice. I'll have to stomach Snape for this year and the next," said Ron. "What about you, Harry? Are you still interested in being an Auror?"
"I don't know," admitted Harry. "I don't really want to plan for the future yet. Maybe for the immediate, but not for the distant."
"Distant?" asked Hermione. "That's only two years from now, Harry."
"Let's see if I get out of here alive first, then I'll worry about things like a career," he said as they stopped in front of the Fat Lady. "Pixie Dust."
"That's nicer," said the Fat Lady as she opened up for them. The corner that Jared previously occupied was empty. Neville was finishing up his Herbology homework, devoting himself much more than before because of the high score he had received in the subject. Ginny, who was going to be taking the O.W.L.s later in the year, was busy talking to her friends. They were planning on setting up a study session. She was the most industrious Weasley since Percy. Hermione's eyes swept throughout the room.
"What?" asked Harry as he took a seat.
"Where'd Jared go?" asked Hermione.
"He went to the room after he was done writing his essay," answered Neville. "Crookshanks followed him."
"I thought that Kneazles were supposed to be loyal to their owners, Hermione," teased Ron. "I think he likes Jared better than you." Hermione turned on her heel and started to march up the boys' staircase. "Hermione! Where are you going?" asked Ron.
"To get my cat," she replied calm as she opened the door to the sixth-year boys' dorm.
"Honestly, Harry, I don't think it's very fair that the girls can go up our stairs and we can't go up theirs," commented Ron as he glanced at Harry.
"Now, Ron, why would you want to go to the girls' dorms anyway? Who's up there that you want to see?" asked Harry, causing Ron to turn bright red. Ginny started to giggle at him, obviously not too distracted by her friends. "Shut up!" Ron ordered her. "Before I give you detention."
Hermione walked around the dorm and spotted Jared sleeping on his bed with Crookshanks on the floor, napping as well. She was going to tell Jared to stop playing with her cat, but seeing him sleeping made her think otherwise. There was definitely something familiar and innocent about him at the same time. He was wearing only shirt and pants, having removed his outer robes, tie, shoes and socks. He had gone to sleep without pulling a blanket over himself.
Before Hermione was too angry with him to noticed just how handsome he was. She was too annoyed with him to notice his eyelashes, which were sort of like hers, long and curled. He looked awkward from time to time like someone who was adjusting to a growing body. His hands were on top of his Transfiguration book. Carefully, Hermione pulled it from him and grabbed the bookmark off the nightstand and saved his place. She placed it next to his wand. She could feel the warmth from him. His hair was wavy, but looked very soft, touchable. She didn't touch him anywhere else, but his hands. His hands were big, but finely shaped with long tapered fingers. He was right handed, judging by the smudges of ink and thick writer's callous. She hadn't noticed that either.
Sighing, she saw how he haphazardly placed the things he had removed on top of the trunk. She picked up the cloak and folded it, placing the tie on top of it. She straight the shoes and left the socks beside them, not knowing why she was doing any of it. When she was done, she picked up Crookshanks and left the room. She closed the door quietly behind her. Realizing what she had done, she didn't want to go back to the common room and explain herself.
Instead, she went to her dorm. Crookshanks woke up from his brief nap, yawned, and looked up at Hermione. She sat down on her bed with him on her lap. "You know something about him, don't you?" she whispered. "I wonder what you know about him." Crookshanks merely purred at her.
It was just after eight when Jared woke up. He noticed that the sun had gone down and sat up with a start. Heaving heavy breaths, he looked around and noticed that he was by himself. The first thing he did was put his socks and shoes back on. He detested wearing socks and shoes as a child, and even now he preferred to go barefoot. It exasperated his mother to no end, coming in with dirty feet. He saw that his things were arranged, but didn't think much of it. He didn't think much of Crookshanks being gone either.
He came down the stairs to the common room. He wasn't too concerned because he knew the way to the kitchens. He noticed that people were still playing games, but saw Hermione studying. Harry and Ron were playing chess, like most everyone they were distracted at the moment. Jared decided to make his escape and slip away unnoticed. He knew the shortcut to the kitchens and knew what routes to avoid.
He got to the picture of the fruit bowl and tickled the pear. The painting opened and he stepped inside. The house elves were busy working in their little tea-towels that were marked with the crest of the school. It was the first time that Jared had ever seen so many house elves in one place. One of the house elves wasn't dressed like the others, he was dressed in mismatched socks, a little maroon sweater, and shorts. He bounded over to Jared. "Oh, what's the matter?" he asked, staring at Jared with his large ping-pong like eyes. "Young man, hungry?"
"Yes, my name is Jared. What's your name?" asked Jared.
"Sir? My name is Dobby," answered the house elf. "Let me go and get you something to eat. Sit. Sit."
The other house elves came up to a little table and gave him a bottle of butterbeer. When Dobby came back, they ran off. He carried a huge platter of sandwiches and fruits. "Thank you," said Jared, remembering his manners.
"You're welcome, Mister Jared," said Dobby as he bowed and tried to leave.
"Wait, do you mind joining me? It's been a while since I've eaten alone. I'm not used to it," requested Jared.
"You want Dobby to join you?" squeaked the house elf in amazement as he made a stool appear with a pop. He took a seat next to Jared. Jared offered him a sandwich, which the house elf blinked at and accepted after Jared gestured with it. "These are good," said Jared after they were eating for a few minutes. He took a sip of the butterbeer.
"Dobby only eats with Harry Potter until now," explained the house elf. "Mister Jared good, too."
"I'm in Gryffindor, too," offered Jared. "Do you see Ron or Hermione?"
"Wheezy? Dobby likes Wheezy. He's a great one, very kind to Dobby. Hermy is good, too, but the other house elves don't like her as much. She keeps trying to free them, but they don't want to be free," Dobby told Jared the latter part in a lower voice. Jared had to get closer to hear him. "She and Wheezy like each other."
"I know that," whispered Jared with a grin. "I'm positive of it. Thank you for dinner and the company, Dobby. I'll see you again later. I have to go back before anyone notices that I'm gone."
Dobby rose to his feet and walked him to the painting. He also stuffed some pumpkin pasties into Jared's empty hands. "Take these with you," urged Dobby, refusing to let him leave empty handed. Jared nodded and accepted them. He walked off towards Gryffindor Tower and took the same route as before.
When he got into the common room, almost everyone had gone to sleep. Jared quietly went up the stairs to his dorm. Someone was sitting at the fireplace and watched him go up the stairs and shut the door quietly. She rose to her feet and walked up the stairs, but instead of going to her room she went to the sixth-year girls' dorm instead. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but lowered it in doubt. It took everything Ginny had in her to go back to her dorm and sleep away her theories about Jared.
AN: It's been a while since I've done a full on Ron/Hermione fic. I pulled away for a bit because I didn't have any ideas after Living Memory, but recently I decided to come back. It is some of the easiest writing I've done in a while. I also went for lesser explored characters to avoid plagiarism, but that didn't really work. This is not an invitation for anyone to copy and paste my work. It hasn't happened again. Why am I bring this up if it hasn't happened yet? Consider this a pre-emptive strike.
Jared hasn't pulled any pranks thus far. His mother didn't like him being baby sat by his uncles too much, but that doesn't mean that Jared isn't carrying a bag of tricks. His father has also been awry of the possibility of raising a prankster, not that he didn't find it funny. If anything Jared's got a couple of things from his godfather that will aide him.
By the way, if anyone wants to keep up with this story, I have author alert. Also, in the journal, I'll be posting some previews possible. I haven't decided yet. There are several chapters ahead of this one completed, but I'm posting slowly. I'd like to have some reviews before posting the next one.
kirikarin.livejournal.com
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This story belongs to me and cannot be posted anywhere else without my permission.
