Movements Against Gray
"Normal speech"
:Telepathic speech:
"Hurry up, we're going to be late." Harry groaned as Sirius took forever to get ready. Remus and he were waiting for Sirius, who had decided that now was the time to over prepare. Once he came down, Sirius was wearing a rather flamboyant looking suit. It took a full minute of Harry and Remus glaring at him to convince him to change into a more subdued outfit.
They finally were all wearing slightly formal clothing; Remus wore a white button down shirt without a collar and black slacks, Sirius a dark blue shirt and black slacks, and Harry was dressed similar to them in a dark green shirt.
Hermione and Harry had already discussed the dress for meeting her parents for the 'first' time and had settled on a relaxed formal attire. They apparated to her house and transfigured a toy car to give the illusion that they drove. Ringing the doorbell Harry said to them, "remember they don't know about magic yet. Remember, simply say that you two are private investigators." Sirius looked slightly put out at this. "Please Sirius, this is important to me."
Mr. Granger opened the door and greeted them. Remus introduced the three of them. Harry thanked whoever was listening that Remus was really good at keeping up the illusion that they were normal. Remus and Sirius went and talked with Mr. Granger, while Harry sat waiting for Hermione.
Hermione appeared wearing a simple dress that accented her eyes. Remus and Sirius greeted her and introduced themselves, as they had settled into playing their parts well. Harry smiled and greeted her rather reserved compared to how he usually would have, he held her hand instead of hugged her. He could see the woman she would grow into standing before him, the woman it took had taken forever to admit he love.
They all sat in the dining room, Mr. and Mrs. Granger at either end, Remus and Sirius facing each other, and Hermione and Harry facing each other. As the meal progressed, the conversation turned from business to personal.
"So how come this we have only met you so recently Harry," asked Mr. Granger.
Harry smiled and took a drink. "It had been only recently that I was able to make it over here sir."
Mrs. Granger seemed surprised. "Why couldn't you come before?"
He cut Sirius off with a look. "I used to live with my mother's sister and her family. I have recently been reunited with my godfather and Remus." He saw that Hermione wanted to help him, but he had told her long before that when it came up he would to deal with it alone.
Hermione's parents seemed curious about his comment, but didn't push the matter. Supper was finished soon afterwards.
As they sat outside to enjoy the stars and warmth outside, Remus started talking with Mrs. Granger, while Sirius talked with Mr. Granger. Harry and Hermione sat alone together watching them get to know each other.
"I miss you Harry," Hermione whispered. He placed his hand on hers and looked into her eyes.
"Darling, it feels like an eternity since I last saw you." He really wanted to kiss her right now, but he noticed her father watching. They sat in comfortable silence for a while until it was time for them to leave.
Hermione watched her other family leave and went into her room to get ready for bed. Before she could more than gather her clothes, she heard a knock on my door. "Yes," she called.
"Hermione, its mom. Can I come in?"
She opened the door and let her in. Hermione's mother sat on the bed and said, "is there something you're not telling us Hermione?"
"Why would there be?" Hermione wasn't lying, but she was being evasive.
"I'm just wondering why you suddenly seem more relaxed than you usually are. A few days ago, you wouldn't have brought anyone over. Now you suddenly invite a friend over, who appears to have more than friendly intentions, and you just seem different."
Hermione shrugged her shoulders, she was never really good at lying. "We met awhile ago at the library. I spent sometime getting to know him. For some reason I feel very relaxed around him."
The next day Hermione decided to work on my magical strength. Even with the benefits of having Dumbledore's knowledge it was still a stretch to even do a few simple things. She slowly worked on the mental discipline that she used to prepare herself for using wandless magic constantly. If her guess was correct, then both Harry and her held a great deal more power now than we had originally which was why they could perform so much .
The next few days had Harry Remus and Sirius moving into Grimmauld Place, which allowed Harry and Hermione to constantly visiting each other. They both practiced their Occlumency until they were fairly certain that they could stop any attack from outside. Hermione's parents got used to having Harry over all the time and they spent most of their time together just being with each other.
The time until school started back up was spent refining their abilities at ordinary things that were taught in school, writing, reading, math and such.
School was boring, as they had both already done this once before. They spent a great deal of time simply being with each other as they planned to take out some of the death eaters that were in Azkaban. While Remus and Sirius thought that it wasn't a good idea to assault Azkaban, they became much more convinced when they learned about the havoc reaped by the ones who got away.
Sirius had made a raid on Tom Riddle Sr.'s grave so as to deprive Voldemort of another way to return. Sirius had gained a good place within the Ministry, second to Ms. Bones in the hierarchy of the aurors. He made a small raid on Crouch's house and discovered that a person supposedly dead was alive and well.
There was some outrage, but even more came because it turned out that it was justified. The Ministry was given more power, which was a bad thing, to try and detect those who would do harm. Harry and Hermione were collectively responsible for twenty arrests of former death eaters. Unfortunately people like the Malfoys were out of reach by the hand of the Minister.
A year passed and Harry and Hermione met Neville. While Neville didn't say anything about what Harry had done, the look on his face whenever he was around his parents was thanks enough. They met Ron and Ginny at a function, as Hermione was staying at Harry's since her parents were going out of town on business, and got to know each other again.
Neville and Ginny hit it off fairly well, which was a good thing if they couldn't prevent Malfoy from getting to her. Ron was as blustery as they remembered him to be when they were younger, and he was constantly talking about the Cannons.
They all decided to keep in contact, after a long explanation about how to use non magic letter carriers. Even though Hermione knew that they were asking for trouble by bending the rules as far as they had, Harry had no problem with exploiting their knowledge.
Soon enough, to soon if you were to ask Harry or Hermione, the Hogwarts letters came. Harry and Hermione could easily take the N.E.W.T.S. at any point and pass with flying colors, after all they had done it before, but decided that if Voldemort, or any dark wizard, was to attempt to take power, they struggle would be most pronounced at Hogwarts.
Harry had long since stop using the name Harry Potter. It was not well known that Harry had been adopted by Sirius and became Harry Black. Most of the wizard world assumed they were two separate individuals. Hermione had become known only to those who had association with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, the exception being Ron, Ginny and Neville.
Harry and Hermione had taken care that all three Lestranges, Dolohov and every other death eater that escaped when Voldemort broke them out so that they seemed to die of natural causes. While there was some speculation that Dementors had sucked their souls out, it could not be proven or refuted.
So far they knew that they had the upper hand in both knowledge and ability, but they would now be attempting to hide in plain sight. Harry had said that they should just be home schooled in magic, so as not to arise any suspicion about their level of skill. Hermione was absolutely in refusal, "what about Ginny? If we're not there then who will save her? No one but you and Tom were able to speak Parselmouth."
Harry agreed and they soon were on their way to purchase to purchase the supplies they would need for Hogwarts. Remus and Sirius, now free of the restriction about talking about magic, filled the Granger's in all the things that made them unique.
Harry and Hermione gathered several books to read on advanced theory, more than they expected to read in a few years. Harry went to Eeylops Owl Emporium to purchase Hedwig, who seemed to recognize him, while Hermione convinced her parents to allow her to get Crookshanks. All in all, it was a good time to renew old friendships with their non human friends.
Hermione's parents spent sometime with their daughter and learned what she knew about the wizard world. While they were upset that she had kept things from them, they acknowledged that she had a good reason.
What was most interesting about the changes were noticeable in Hedwig and Crookshanks. Hedwig had flown straight to Harry and landed on his shoulder, and tried to bite anyone who tried to remove her. Hedwig knew that Harry was hers, at least in her line of thinking, and no other owl would be allowed to take her place.
Crookshanks was similar in that he immediately went to Hermione. Crookshanks was always far more intelligent than most suspected and proved it by recognizing Hermione right off the bat. The person minding the store said how he had never done that before.
As the days grew closer to the departure to Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione convinced Sirius and Remus to try and begin reaching out to various groups that were most likely to side with Voldemort and some that had been key to winning against him.
Harry and Hermione last thing that they did before they left for Hogwarts was to make and take a power sharing potion. Since they both took it, they would have the ability to hear each others thoughts which would allow them to be able to aid each other in times in which they were separated, which tended to happen when Harry faced off against Tom.
As they boarded the train to Hogwarts, they sat in a compartment waiting for their friends to arrive. Harry quietly sent to Hermione:this is going to be so boring. I no longer have the desire to play Quidditch.:
Hermione smiled at him:poor baby, looks like you can keep me company on all those long trips to the library.: Hermione noticed the devious look in his eyes and sent:and we're not doing that, not yet at least.:
Harry gave her his best puppy dog eyes, which caused her to laugh. They were interrupted by, "what's so funny?" turning they saw Ron standing in the doorway looking at them confused.
Shaking his head Harry replied, "nothing important Ron, just a really old joke between us." Ron took this at face value, which disturbed them because they were so used to him constantly questioning things. They leaned out the window to greet Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They were both pleased that Ginny wasn't shy around Harry, though it was more that he was known to her as Harry Black, not Harry Potter.
Soon they were greeted by the sight of Neville and his family. Although he had explained to Hermione about giving the cure to Neville's family, they were surprised that his grandmother recognized Harry, even though he looked more like a cross between Remus and Sirius, and gave him a grateful smile.
Harry smiled back and talked with Neville's parents, who were underneath Sirius in the auror ranks, but not by much. Harry liked the Longbottoms, even in the crippled state they were in when the potion was developed and given to them in the other timeline. They soon had to say goodbye as the train began to pull out of the station.
Soon the trip was begun, a slightly nostalgic experience for Harry and Hermione, and they talked about what house they wanted to be in. Harry and Hermione kept a running commentary between the two of them while discussing the benefits of each house.
"I want to be in Gryffindor," Harry said calmly. :Which I will be if you don't somehow end up in Ravenclaw or something.:
Hermione nodded, "yes, of all the houses I believe I would do best there as well." :Like I would go anywhere else.:
Neville and Ron started talking about the houses they wanted to be in, which turned out to be Gryffindor as well. They started talking about quidditch and the status of the teams they backed. Harry placed a discreet hand on Hermione's. :It looks like this will be smooth sailing from here.:
Unfortunately for the four of them, he had spoke too soon. The door opened and in walked Malfoy with his two goons. It took a lot of self-control not to deck him right where he stood for what he might do to Ginny in the future. Malfoy looked around before looking straight at Harry. "You are Harry Black correct?" When Harry gave a slow nod, Malfoy smiled and held out his hand. "My names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Ron sniggered at his name, which caused Malfoy's face to turn red, "think my name's funny do you? No need for you too say who you are. Red hair and a hand-me-down robe, you must be a Weasley."
Ron's face turned red, while Malfoy turned back to Harry, "you'll find that some magic families are better than others. I can help you with that."
Harry smiled, "I think I can handle on my own thanks." Harry could have laughed at how he was not Harry Potter, yet Malfoy was still here trying to offer an alliance. The fact that Harry had his wand trained on Malfoy helped to accent the point.
Malfoy noticed the wand and left with a sneer on his face. Soon enough the trolley with snacks came and Harry bought some for everyone. The rest of the trip was spent in playing various games and eating chocolate. Harry was amused when the first card he opened was Dumbledore's, but wrote it off as pure coincidence.
Sooner than Harry and Hermione would have liked, they were informed that the train would be pulling into station in ten minutes and to leave their luggage on the train. Harry had a suspicion that Dumbledore had remained to quiet, he had kept his hands out of the affairs of Harry and seemed to have faded into the background.
As they sat in the boats on approach to Hogwarts, Harry knew that they would have to be in for the long haul.
A/n: 2588 words. (Bows) sorry for the delay, the phrasing for events just would not settle down enough for me to write down (also other plots decided that I had ignored them and were rather loud). Thanks to all the reviews, you always increase my desire to write.
