I have no opening remarks this time. However, it feels weird not to have anything up here. Hence, this.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

'I thought we had a plan!' admonished Ginny exasperatedly Monday night in the fire. Harry had written to her over the weekend explaining that he and Ron had successfully made friends with Hermione, and she had written back to reschedule their Floo chat so that she could scold him properly.

'We did, we did,' Harry chuckled. 'But things just sort of worked out on their own. Was I supposed to just turn down a chance to make everything easier?'

'Well, no,' Ginny conceded, 'but I don't understand. How did this happen? I thought you and Ron couldn't stand Hermione for the first two months of school.'

'Well, that's just it, isn't it?' Harry said. 'Obviously I don't dislike Hermione this time around, and however much I might have tried to pretend otherwise, some of that must have shown through and Ron picked up on it, so he wasn't as harsh on her either. Plus we've only been here a week. There hasn't been much time to work up any real amount of dislike, I reckon.'

'That sort of makes sense, I suppose,' Ginny said. 'But I still don't see how this all worked out so easily.'

'To be honest, I think we have Snape to thank for that,' Harry laughed. Ginny's look of incredulity only made him laugh harder.

'Snape?'

'Yeah. He was being his usual git self, trying to make a fool out of me by grilling me with a bunch of questions that no first-year should be expected to know in their first lesson. Of course I knew them all, so his plan backfired, but then he called me a know-it-all and took points off for "showing off".' Harry grinned and rolled his eyes while Ginny huffed indignantly. 'Thing is, I think Hermione thought I might be a kindred spirit or something, knowing all that stuff on the first day. She came up to us at lunch and said she thought it was really unfair, what Snape did, and I think Ron figured anyone willing to badmouth Snape couldn't be all bad. We talked about that for a bit and somehow it came up that we were visiting Hagrid that afternoon, and Ron asked if she wanted to come with us.'

'Ron asked her?' Ginny repeated, shocked.

'I know, I was as surprised as you. Not really sure what he was playing at; maybe he was just being polite, or maybe he's decided he fancies her now he sees she doesn't like Snape. I really couldn't say. Made things easier, though. We all went down to Hagrid's, and it was fun. We did homework together over the weekend, and she helped Ron out – it was like old times,' Harry trailed off wistfully.

'Old times for you,' Ginny said. 'But if things between them are starting like this, who knows how differently things will go this time.'

'Better, I hope,' Harry said. 'If we really are stuck here, which it's looking more and more like we are, I think I'd rather avoid all the rows and not-speaking.'

'Wouldn't that be nice?' Ginny agreed wholeheartedly. There was a short pause, and then Harry remembered something else he wanted to tell her.

'Oh, guess what else happened today?' he said.

'What?'

'Announcements for flying lessons were posted. We start on Thursday.' He grinned.

'Oh!' Ginny exclaimed, then she grinned as well. 'Do you intend to put in a repeat performance?' She was referring, of course, to his first flying lesson in which Harry had thoroughly shown up Malfoy, saved Neville's Remembrall, and earned himself a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team in lieu of punishment.

'I don't see why not,' he said, still smiling, 'as long as Malfoy acts as horribly as last time, which seems likely. Besides, it would be nice to play Quidditch again.'

'You're telling me,' Ginny moaned. 'All I have here are Bill and Charlie's old brooms that they left behind when they moved away, and they're terrible. On par with the school brooms.'

'I could send you a new one,' Harry offered.

'You're sweet,' Ginny beamed. 'That would likely lead to awkward questions with Mum and Dad, though. They'd surely want to know where I got it.'

'Right, I hadn't thought about that.'

'It's all right,' Ginny reassured him. 'If you can put up with your horrid relatives I can put up with not having a proper broom. What we do need to do is come up with a better way of talking to one another. Mum and Dad are bound to notice I've been filching Floo powder, even if neither of us is caught wandering around in the middle of the night.'

'I wish we had a set of two-way mirrors like Sirius had,' Harry mused.

'That would be nice,' said Ginny wistfully. 'I wouldn't even know where to look, though. Dervish and Banges might have a set, if you can manage to sneak into Hogsmeade to buy them.'

Harry gave her a look as if to say, 'Please.'

'Right,' Ginny chortled. 'Forgot who I was talking to.'

'Just what a bloke loves to hear from his fiancee,' Harry joked, pretending to be offended. 'That's a good idea, though,' he went on, getting excited about the prospect already. 'And if they don't have any, I can apparate down to Diagon Alley and try my luck there.'

'Oh, I wish I had a wand,' Ginny groaned. 'I could meet you there. I miss you so much.' Harry opened his mouth to say that as long as he was sneaking out and apparating across the country illegally, he might as well pop by the orchard out behind the Burrow while he was at it, but as soon as he thought of it he knew it would be a terrible idea. The possibility of getting caught would grow with every additional excursion he made, and he knew very well that if he saw Ginny in person, there was no way on Earth he would be able to restrict himself to a quick visit.

'I know, love,' he said soothingly. 'I miss you too. Painfully. But if we met up we'd never bring ourselves to split up again, and that could lead to all kinds of problems. Plus, we'll both have the trace on us again. They're not likely to notice anything out of the ordinary unless they're specifically looking for it, but every second I'm out there will be another second someone might notice something accidentally. I don't think we should push our luck any more than we have to.'

'You're right, of course,' Ginny pouted. 'I just really need to see you. I can't even get Ron to invite you to stay over Christmas, because Mum and Dad have decided we're going to visit Charlie in Romania.'

Harry's heart sank. He had been hoping for a chance to spend Christmas at the Burrow, though he knew he hadn't done so during his first year the last time. He'd forgotten why until just now. 'Well, there's still Easter hols,' he said in an effort to cheer the two of them up.

'That's true,' said Ginny, but she still seemed rather down. 'I'll have to remember to drop some hints to Ron once winter term begins. Do you remember why you didn't visit last time?'

'I don't,' said Harry, who had just been trying to recollect that very thing. 'This is incredibly frustrating. I need a Pensieve like Dumbledore's got.'

'If two-way mirrors are hard to find, that's got to be near impossible. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking,' said Ginny.

'Something else to put on the list then,' Harry said with an attempt at a smile. 'We should go now, though. Much as I'd like to stay here looking at you and talking to you all night long, we're sort of pushing our luck as it is. I can't believe how deserted the common room has been every time I've come down here so far.'

'You're right,' Ginny sighed. 'I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but wait until the weekend to sneak out to look for those mirrors. I can hold out until then if you can. I'll want a letter telling me how flying lessons went, though.'

'Anything you want,' Harry promised her. 'Love you.'

'Love you.'

And she was gone. Harry buried the disappointment and loneliness and trudged back up the stairs. The prospect of procuring them a set of mirrors to talk through buoyed his spirits a little, but the fact was that ever since they'd come in contact again, it had become even harder to sleep without Ginny as opposed to easier. Harry now put a silencing charm around his bed every night. The nightmares that had started coming back over the summer were reasserting themselves in full force and had become almost a nightly occurrence. Harry did not doubt that he would soon be waking himself up screaming again – something that had not happened since Ginny had permanently moved in a little over a year ago. He sincerely hoped she was not having the same problem, but if he were completely honest with himself, he rather thought she probably was. That tore at him as much as anything. His own suffering he could endure – he'd certainly done it before – but to not be able to comfort Ginny when she needed him was the worst kind of torture. Almost as bad was the knowledge that she was most assuredly thinking the exact same thing about him.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The second week at Hogwarts went much quicker than the first. Now he had both of his best friends back – in a manner of speaking – Harry found his situation was mildly easier to bear. Every time he thought that though, he felt guilty, since he knew Ginny was cooped up at the Burrow alone without even a wand.

Additionally, Harry was convinced he was right about Hermione considering him something of a kindred spirit. Try as he might to look as though he were being challenged, it truly was rather difficult to hide just how easy the assignments were for him in every subject. He knew that to an outside observer it would definitely look like things just came naturally to him, and that he paid very good attention in class, because the only one outperforming him on anything was Hermione. This had the entirely unexpected side effect of causing Ron to try harder in classes than Harry could ever remember him doing before. It would seem that having not one but two best friends at the top of the year had a galvanizing effect on him – or perhaps he just didn't want to appear simple in comparison.

Harry's academic success had an effect on Malfoy as well, so that by the time the Gryffindors met the Slytherins for their first flying lesson on Thursday, he was being outwardly hostile to just about everyone who crossed his path.

Still, he was nothing if not predictable, and when Neville lost control of his broom and had to be carted off to the Hospital Wing by Madam Hooch, Malfoy picked up his dropped Remembrall and laughed.

'Give it here, Malfoy,' said Harry quietly, knowing full well that he was only goading the Slytherin. The rest of the class fell silent, and Malfoy smiled nastily.

'I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?'

'Give it here,' Harry said more forcefully, holding out his hand. Malfoy instead leapt onto his broom and took off into the air, exactly as Harry had known he would. He had to suppress a smirk.

'Come and get it, Potter!'

Harry casually grabbed his broom and was about to swing his leg over it when Hermione grabbed his elbow.

'No!' she shouted. 'Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get us all into trouble.'

'Just me,' Harry shrugged. 'And I'd rather I get in trouble than let Malfoy push people around.' Hermione blinked as though this had never occurred to her, and in her moment of distraction Harry took off into the air.

It was his first time flying since coming back in time, and it felt like a balm on his soul. As had always been the case, all his worries and troubles seemed a little smaller when he was up in the air, free as a bird.

Malfoy, for his part, looked stunned. Harry couldn't blame him. However good he'd been his first time on a broom, he now had about thirteen years of experience and practice under his belt, and unlike his school subjects he wasn't making much effort here to mask his ability.

'Give it here,' said Harry in a calm fury, 'or I'll knock you off your broom.'

Malfoy was visibly unnerved, but managed to collect himself within a second or two.

'Oh yeah?' he sneered, trying to sound tough but not quite pulling it off.

Harry made a dash for him, making sure to leave enough time for Malfoy to only just get out of the way. He heard a collective gasp from the class on the ground.

'Last chance, Malfoy.'

'Catch it if you can, then!' Malfoy cried, and tossed it high into the air before shooting back toward the ground.

Harry followed the Remembrall's arc with his eyes for a moment before diving after it. He seemed to remember making more of a vertical dive when he'd done this before, but whether it be from experience or just different positioning, he had a slightly better angle this time around, so that when he caught it a few feet off the ground he was able to level off and make a smooth landing. The class erupted in cheers, followed almost immediately by the bellowing voice of Professor McGonagall.

'HARRY POTTER!'

Harry faked a wince and did his absolute best to look terrified and contrite as his head of house hauled him off, knowing that if he appeared even the slightest bit pleased with himself she would change her mind and decide to punish him after all.

Despite his housemates trying to explain the situation (for which he was grateful – he was quite fond of them all, truly), McGonagall dragged him into the castle just as she had done before, and by that afternoon Harry was once again the youngest Seeker in a century. At least one thing had gone the way it was supposed to, he thought, as he crafted a blow-by-blow letter to Ginny and gave it to Hedwig with the usual instructions to only deliver it when no one else was around.

That evening at dinner, after Harry had related the full tale of his conversation with Wood to Ron and Hermione, and the twins had stopped by to congratulate him, Malfoy came by to taunt him, clearly under the impression that Harry had been expelled, or at the very least given detention.

'Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting back to the Muggles?'

'You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you,' said Harry coolly, gesturing to Crabbe and Goyle with his fork without even looking up from his mince pie.

'I'd take you on any time on my own,' said Malfoy. 'Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?'

Harry inwardly started. He'd completely forgotten about this fiasco. Before he could reply telling Malfoy to get stuffed, however, Ron answered for him.

'Of course he has,' he said, wheeling around. 'I'm his second, who's yours?'

Malfoy sized up his two cronies for a moment before deciding on Crabbe. 'Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked.' He turned and stalked off without waiting for a reply, Crabbe and Goyle thumping along in his wake.

'You can't be serious,' Hermione chided angrily from across the table. She narrowed her eyes at him. 'You already got lucky once today; it's practically a miracle you didn't get in trouble for flying without permission, let alone got rewarded for it. But this would be serious rule-breaking.'

'Hermione,' Ron started, annoyed, but Harry waved him down.

'Of course I'm not going,' he said off-handedly, turning back to his mince pie. It was hard to say whether Ron or Hermione looked more shocked at this announcement.

'But…' Ron sputtered, 'You can't let Malfoy – '

'I'm not letting Malfoy do anything,' Harry said firmly. He remembered now exactly how this had played out – right down to their accidental discovery of Fluffy, and if he could keep his friends out of that whole affair altogether, so much the better. 'Do you think he's actually going to be there?'

Ron was taken aback by this question.

'What?'

'Think about it, Ron,' Harry explained. 'What are he and I going to be able to do besides shoot sparks at each other? He knows that; and I'm betting he was counting on Gryffindors to never turn down a challenge. My bet is he tips off Filch or Snape or somebody that he heard some students talking about meeting in the trophy room tonight, hoping to get us in trouble.'

Ron thought about his for a moment, before a light seemed to switch on in his brain.

'That little…!' He growled. 'That is the sort of thing he'd do, isn't it?'

Harry nodded. 'I just figure, why play into it? We act like we're going to go, and then tomorrow morning we just come to breakfast like nothing's wrong and get to see him try to figure out why we don't have a dozen detentions.'

'What if he does turn up and we don't, though?' Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. 'Who's he going to tell? His Slytherin mates? Not like they think much of us as it is, yeah?'

Ron seemed to accept this line of reasoning, albeit grudgingly, and Hermione looked very impressed.

'You had me worried for a moment,' she finally said.

'Come on,' Harry grinned, reaching for an apple tart. 'If I'm going to get in trouble for being reckless, it's not going to be because of Malfoy tricking me into it.' The derision with which he spoke the Slytherin's name made Ron laugh, and even Hermione managed a small smile.

Sure enough, when they came down to breakfast next morning, Malfoy seemed utterly shocked to see them looking so cheerful. Ron laughed and clapped Harry on the back, congratulating him for predicting Malfoy's plan.

'He was kind of obvious,' Harry said modestly, knowing full well that his younger self had fallen for the deception completely.

'It really was rather clever of you, Harry,' Hermione said, sitting down with them at the breakfast table. 'For a moment you had me worried you were going to be all hot-blooded like this one.' She gestured with her spoon to Ron, but Harry thought he detected a hint of teasing in her voice. Now that was interesting.

'Oi!' said Ron indignantly. 'I was just trying to back him up is all.'

'I know, I know,' Hermione placated. 'And I'm sure Harry appreciates it. But perhaps in future you should think things through a little further before jumping in.'

Ron grumbled, but sat down and dug into his breakfast rather than argue.

'He's got us for that,' Harry said casually, buttering his toast.

At that moment a distraction came in the form of Neville, who showed up late to breakfast looking distinctly haggard, and with streaks on his face as though he'd been crying.

'Blimey!' exclaimed Ron after gulping down a mouthful of porridge. 'What happened, Neville?'

'I couldn't remember the password to get into bed last night,' Neville explained miserably. Hermione gasped in sympathy and Harry closed his eyes in guilt. He'd completely forgotten that Neville had been with them when they first discovered Fluffy, and hadn't even noticed that the blond boy hadn't been in their dormitory the night before.

'Where did you sleep?' Ron asked. 'The hospital wing?'

Neville shook his head as he sat down. 'I probably should have gone back there, but I didn't even think of it. I just slept in the corner outside the portrait.'

'Oh, Neville,' said Hermione sympathetically. Ron turned a snort into a cough. Harry felt terrible.

'We're sorry, Neville,' he said, including Ron in his apology. 'We should've noticed you weren't in the dormitory.' Harry had of course known he wasn't down in the common room either, having written his letter to Ginny down there.

'You should try to make sure to always come up with someone else, to be safe,' Ron advised. 'I mean, I know you were coming from the hospital wing by yourself this time, but in general.'

'I usually do,' Neville said. 'But I couldn't find anyone last night.'

'Well, if it ever happens again, we'll be on the lookout,' Harry assured him. 'If you're not in by curfew, we'll come out to check, okay?'

'Thanks, Harry,' Neville smiled wetly.

They offered to wait with him while he finished his breakfast, but he waved them along, saying that he needed to run back up to the tower afterwards anyway, as he'd forgotten his textbooks. After making sure he knew the password was 'pig snout', they left him and went off to class.

Neville's misfortune had been the biggest reminder yet that Harry's memories were not perfect. He knew there were bound to be many more little things like that which would slip through the proverbial cracks. And of course eventually, things would be so different in this new timeline that his memories would do him little good even if he could recall them all. It was not a very cheery thought, but then again he had little of those these days. The only thing that brightened his mood was the return letter from Ginny he received late that evening. He read it in his four-poster by wandlight.

Dear Harry

You just couldn't resist showing off, could you?

Harry grinned, recognizing her teasing tone even in a letter.

Glad to hear everything went as expected. I wish I could watch you play. When will you be getting your broom, do you remember? It was a Nimbus 2000, right? Kind of a step back from a Firebolt, but we can't be picky, I suppose.

Were you planning to go out and look for mirrors this weekend? I want you to be careful, Harry. Quite apart from getting in trouble for being outside school without permission, we don't need people to realize how much magic you're capable of, nor that you have someone you need two-way mirrors to communicate with. I'm sure you've thought of all this already, you great Auror, you, but I still worry. Promise me you'll be careful. I mean, I know I won't hear back from you before you go out looking, but promise in your mind right now. I'll trust you.

Harry did just that, concentrating on Ginny and just how much he missed her, and swore to her that he would be as careful as humanly possible.

Mum's driving me spare. She's trying to keep up with my lessons on writing and maths and everything, which of course I already know. She's now under the impression that I'm very gifted, and that I've been keeping it quiet all these years so as not to emasculate my brothers. And of course she wants me to help around the house, but I've mostly avoided that by saying I'm really interested in all the household charms she uses and asking how they work, so she's been demonstrating a lot. It's a good way to avoid the work and I've actually learned a fair bit. I never really bothered with a lot of this stuff before. Why, I could end up being an ideal little wifey if I wanted, though you'd better not be getting any such ideas, mister. I'll teach them all to you as well. They're dead useful.

I miss you so much. I miss everyone, really. It's incredibly lonely here. I've thought of getting in touch with Luna, since she lives just over the hills, but I can't figure out how to go about it. We never really knew each other until Hogwarts, so I'd need some kind of excuse for going over there and so far I haven't come up with anything. Let me know if you have any ideas, because I miss her almost as much as I miss you.

I hope you find some mirrors. I can't wait to talk to you without having to sneak out in the middle of the night. I love you, and I know you'll keep your promise.

Love always,

Ginny

Harry sighed before carefully placing the letter in his trunk with the others. He went back to sleep, his head filled with thoughts of Ginny, but they'd morphed into nightmares again by the time he woke up next morning.

Giving Ron and Hermione the slip turned out to be harder than he thought. There was nothing he could come up with as an excuse to go off by himself. The only person he'd have reason to visit would be Hagrid, and any homework he had, they would have as well. He didn't have anyone to send letters to (that they knew of), and if he claimed to need the hospital wing they'd surely want to come along to make sure he was all right.

Finally, he just told them that he hadn't slept well the night before, and that he needed a lie-down, and that he'd join them out on the grounds later in the day.

'Don't worry about it,' he told Hermione, when she fretted about starting their homework without him. 'I can catch up. And if you really don't want to start without me, why not just have a walk around the grounds? Visit Hagrid? It'll be fine.'

Ron and Hermione deemed this acceptable, and went outside to enjoy some of the last good weekend weather they were likely to get until spring. Meanwhile, Harry darted to the large mirror at the end of a fourth-floor corridor which he knew concealed a hidden passage to Hogsmeade. He'd never used it before, as it had caved in before he learned of its existence, but he was curious where it let out, and Fred and George had seemed reasonably certain Filch did not know about it.

Wishing more than ever that he had his cloak and his map, Harry surreptitiously examined the frame of the mirror. He ran his hands along the ornate carvings, wondering if he would need a password. Suddenly he felt something like a mild depression, as though the place where his thumb now rested had been pressed multiple times over the centuries. He looked and saw that it was the head of a unicorn, and upon close inspection, there was the tiniest hint of separation from the rest of the animal's body. Looking around one last time to be sure no one was near, he pressed the unicorn's head, and the mirror swung back the slightest bit, so that it resembled a door that was barely ajar.

Quick as a fox, Harry pushed open the mirror wide enough to slip through – it was much easier with his smaller, eleven year-old frame – and dashed into the passage beyond, snapping the mirror shut again behind him.

'Lumos,' he whispered, illuminating the tunnel. He saw that it continued forward several yards before descending into what he could only assume was a staircase. Along the walls here and there were scattered carvings – the graffiti of several centuries' worth of Hogwarts troublemakers. Glancing at the carvings, wondering if he could spot anything Fred and George had left behind (for he was sure they would have done so), Harry stopped short when his light came upon a crude carving of four animals: one much smaller than the other three, and one with what could only be antlers coming out of its head.

A wave of emotion washed over Harry, and he wondered why Fred and George had never mentioned this to him before, before realizing that even if they had seen it, they wouldn't have known what it meant. It would have held no more significance to them than any other bit of graffiti in this place.

Tracing his hands over the three bigger animals, Harry allowed himself a sad smile before taking his wand and inscribing a small lightning bolt below the carving of the marauders. It wasn't close enough that anyone seeing it would think it was meant to be part of the same image, but he would know.

Not wanting to dawdle any more than necessary, Harry pressed on. The staircase leading down at the end of the passageway was rather long – which made sense as he was going from the fourth floor all the way underground – and filled with left turns. By the time he reached the straight corridor at the bottom, Harry reckoned he must have gone a full three hundred sixty degrees a good six or seven times. He took a moment to transfigure his hair light brown, alter the shape of his glasses and conjure a cap that would obscure his scar. Confident that no one who wasn't specifically looking for him would recognize him, he set off once more into the passageway.

The tunnel into Hogsmeade itself was just as long as either of the others he'd traversed – no surprise there – and ended in a low, sloping path that came to an abrupt halt at a near-vertical stone staircase. It was almost a ladder, Harry thought, climbing up until he reached what appeared to be a dead end. The last step was larger – almost a landing – but there was nothing beyond it. He was surrounded by stone on all four sides in a space no larger than a telephone box.

Wishing he'd bothered to ask Fred and George about this passage at some point – or better yet that he'd just taken one he was already familiar with – Harry began examining the slab of stone in front of him. It was hard to maneuver his wand properly in the confined space, but he managed to shine light on all parts of the stone and found nothing. No unicorn or any other such markings to indicate a means of opening a passage.

Thinking he'd try the obvious first, he placed his wand tip on the stone wall and quietly said, 'Aperio'. Apparently the opening charm was all he needed, since the slab immediately began sliding to one side. He carefully stepped out and looked around, finding himself in a small alcove just behind the entrance to the bathrooms at the Three Broomsticks.

Considering himself fortunate that no one had needed to pee at the exact moment he'd chosen to reveal himself, Harry charmed the door shut once more and made his way into the pub proper. It wasn't particularly busy, but he was able to make his way through it and out the front door without attracting attention to himself. Coming back this way might prove more difficult, as he was more likely to be noticed entering the pub than leaving it, but he'd worry about that later.

The village of Hogsmeade was much as he remembered it; not much had really changed over the years, even after the war. Still, there were enough minor differences – so minor he couldn't even pinpoint what they were – for him to tell the difference between this Hogsmeade and the Hogsmeade he knew from his own time.

He quickly made his way down the High Street, not wanting to take any more time than absolutely necessary. Entering Dervish and Banges, he looked around at the myriad artefacts and knickknacks they carried, and decided the most expedient thing to do would be to simply ask someone about what he was looking for.

'Excuse me?' he said to the middle-aged man behind the counter. The man looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading and greeted Harry with an air of confusion.

'Shouldn't you be in school?' he asked.

'I'm too young,' Harry said. 'I don't start 'til next year.'

'I see,' said the clerk, appearing to accept this. 'How can I help you today?'

'Well,' said Harry, beginning the story he had prepared, 'My uncle used to have this really neat set of two-way mirrors. He showed me once. He could talk to whoever had the other one whenever he wanted. And, well, my best mate's a year older than me, see, and he's already at Hogwarts. I was hoping maybe you had something like that I could use to talk to him?'

The man rubbed his chin. 'Two-way mirrors, you say? We have had a few pairs in here over the years. Not sure if we have any at the moment. Let me check.' He reached under his desk and pulled out a massive tome, which Harry could only assume was some kind of inventory ledger. He waved his wand over it and muttered a few words, and the pages flew by rapidly, the man's eyes darting back and forth across them like he was watching a tennis match on fast-forward. Finally the flipping pages ceased, and the man shook his head.

'Sorry, none in stock at the moment,' he said. 'They're not exactly common. If you like, I could special order them for you. I'm sure I could find a pair somewhere.'

The idea was appealing; it was much easier than doing all the legwork himself, anyway. The only downside was that he would have to wait however long it took for the man to track down a pair.

'That'd be great,' said Harry happily, playing his role. 'How long d'you think it'll take to find some?'

'That depends,' said the man, 'on who has them, and whether I have the good fortune of contacting them first. It will raise the price a bit, though,' he added, looking as though he thought this might concern Harry.

'That's no problem,' Harry waved him off. 'I got a lot of money for my birthday. No one in my family seems to know how to shop for presents, so I always just get gold.'

'All right, then. I can send word to you if I find a pair.'

Ah, now that was a snag Harry had not foreseen. He knew the man was about to ask his name so as to be able to send him an owl, and giving a fake name would not work.

'I'll send you my owl,' Harry said quickly, before the man could continue. 'She never has anything to do; she'll be excited. You can send her back when you find some and tell me the price, and then I'll send you the money.'

'All right,' said the man, a little shocked but not arguing the point. 'Who'll I be sending it to, then?' he asked kindly.

'Oh, right!' Harry exclaimed, as though this had only just occurred to him. 'My name's Vernon. Vernon Dudley,' he said, using the alias he sometimes used for undercover work.

'Okay then, Vernon, I'm Mr Dervish,' he said. 'Go ahead and send me your owl and I'll send her on back once I've found some mirrors for you.'

'Thanks a lot!' Harry cried, turning to run out of the shop as he imagined an excited ten year-old would. He started heading back toward the Three Broomsticks, but halfway there he decided it was a bit risky, so made for the Shrieking Shack, instead. The supposed "most haunted structure in Britain" was sealed up tight of course, but Harry had known for a long time how to get in and out, so didn't need to guess or deduce this time. He made his way along the earthy tunnel much easier than he ever remembered doing before, until he realized that was because he was so small he didn't need to duck or crouch under the low ceiling.

Reaching up to press the freezing knot on the Whomping Willow before poking out his head to surreptitiously peer around, he was unsurprised to see that most people were giving the tree a wide berth. Pausing briefly to transfigure himself back to his normal appearance, and praying that no one was looking out the window directly at him, Harry dashed out of the tunnel and away from the tree as quickly as possible, moving to blend in with the various students milling about on the grounds. In less than five minutes he found Ron and Hermione lounging under a beech tree and went to join them, pretending to have just risen from a very refreshing nap.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

That evening, he penned a letter to Mr Dervish, introducing Hedwig as his owl and thanking him for tracking down a pair of mirrors. Hermione was busy helping Ron with a Transfiguration assignment, so neither looked up when he left the common room headed for the owlery.

'When he sends you back, it's going to be addressed to Vernon Dudley, but that's me, okay?' Harry explained to Hedwig as he tied the letter to her leg. She gave a soft hoot to show she understood, and then Harry stroked her feathers and carried her to the window where she took off into the twilight.

He did not hear back from Mr Dervish for several days, which turned out to be a good thing, as he discovered that Thursday morning. The post came during breakfast as it always did, and everyone's attention was on the long, thin package that several owls were carrying to Harry at the Gryffindor table, so nobody noticed the letter Hedwig dropped for him at the same time, addressed to Vernon Dudley. Momentarily panic-stricken, Harry snatched it out of sight hurriedly as Ron and Hermione bent to look over what he knew to be his new broomstick.

He briefly read the note that came with it, then passed it to Ron and Hermione, who were looking wildly curious. Ron groaned when he read it. 'A Nimbus Two-Thousand! I've never even touched one.'

Ron was eager to unwrap the package, so they finished breakfast quickly and headed back upstairs, but were waylaid by Malfoy – flanked as always by Crabbe and Goyle – who snatched the package from Harry's hand and felt it.

'That's a broomstick,' he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of spite and envy on his face. 'You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first-years aren't allowed them.'

Ron couldn't resist taunting Malfoy about what type of broom it was, and Harry (and Hermione too, he noticed) had trouble not rolling his eyes at the argument that ensued. It was quickly broken up by the appearance of Professor Flitwick, however.

'Not arguing, I hope, boys?' he squeaked, looking between Ron and Malfoy.

'Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor,' Malfoy said at once.

'Yes, yes, that's right,' said Flitwick, beaming at Harry. 'Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?'

'A Nimbus Two-Thousand, sir,' fighting back a laugh at the look on Malfoy's face. 'And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it.'

The three friends continued upstairs after that, no longer concealing their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.

'It is true, after all,' Harry laughed. 'If he hadn't been bullying Neville I wouldn't be on the team.'

'I still think you were incredibly lucky not to get in trouble, Harry,' said Hermione evenly.

'I'm not disagreeing with you,' Harry replied, though that was more based on how he'd felt the first time, since this time he had of course known exactly what would happen. 'But I still say it would have been worth it even if I had. I don't like bullies.'

'I suppose that's fair,' Hermione sighed. 'I just hope you don't make a habit of breaking rules, expecting to get away with it.'

'I make no promises,' said Harry, suppressing a grin. He noticed the ghost of a smile on Hermione's face as well, and felt a pang of sadness. It was her birthday, he knew, but he had no way of explaining how he knew that. He had hoped that she would have felt comfortable enough around him and Ron by now to have said something, but apparently he had been mistaken. He didn't like the idea that Hermione didn't feel confident enough in their friendship to mention her own birthday, and he had to wonder if it was because of what Ginny had told him about her being afraid to trust people. He had never known this side of Hermione, since by the time they had become friends before, she had no reason not to trust his sincerity. Maybe Ginny had been right, and the three of them did need something big to pull them together. Had he inadvertently ruined everything?

They met Parvati and Lavender on their way back out of the portrait hole from stashing the broomstick under Harry's bed.

'Was that another birthday present, Hermione?' Parvati asked. Ron jerked his head around and Hermione was looking suddenly embarrassed.

'Er, no, it was for Harry, actually,' she muttered.

'Ooh, what did you get, Harry?' Lavender asked.

'Haven't opened it yet,' he said simply, shrugging and nervously watching Hermione, who looked as though she wanted to crawl away and hide somewhere, and Ron, who was watching her shrewdly.

'Hope it's something nice,' Parvati said. 'See you lot in class.' The two girls climbed into the common room and Ron rounded on Hermione.

'It's your birthday?' he asked, sounding mildly flummoxed, as though he couldn't imagine why she had not shared this information. Hermione merely nodded. 'Why didn't you say anything?'

'Well,' she stammered, 'I didn't really think it was a big deal.'

'Birthdays are always a big deal,' Harry said. 'Well, except in my family,' he added. 'Reckon the best gift I ever got from them was a pair of old socks. But you should have mentioned it; we'd have gotten you something.' Ron was nodding in agreement.

'I didn't want you to think you had to, or anything,' she explained.

'"Had to"?' Ron repeated. 'Of course we don't have to. That's not why you get someone a birthday present,' he said, as though explaining a concept as basic as putting on trousers.

'Ron's right, we'd have gotten you something 'cause you're our friend,' Harry added. Hermione went – if possible – even pinker, but she now looked rather more pleased than embarrassed.

'Well it's too late now,' she said, sounding almost disappointed.

'No it isn't, we'll just get you something now and deliver it a bit late, is all,' Harry said.

'Right, no problem,' said Ron. 'We should go visit Hagrid again this afternoon, too.' Harry thought this was an excellent idea; Hagrid would want to wish her a happy birthday too. By the time they arrived at their first lesson of the day, Hermione was looking positively cheerful.

That evening, Harry asked Ron if he wanted to go in on a gift for Hermione's birthday.

'Sure, but,' he paused awkwardly, 'I haven't got, you know, much money.'

'That's all right,' said Harry. 'Just give me what you can and I'll make up the difference.'

'Have you got an idea, then?' Ron asked.

'I think so,' replied Harry, who of course knew exactly the sorts of things Hermione would like, and had in fact seen something perfect for her while in Dervish and Banges. 'It's not too expensive, but I think she'll like it. I can send Hedwig with some money to get it.'

'All right, as long as it's not too expensive,' said Ron, handing over some silver. 'I don't want to say it's from both of us unless I'm actually helping to pay for it.'

Harry sent Hedwig off with Ron's money, as well as his own share of Hermione's present and the gold Mr Dervish had quoted him for the mirror. He included another letting explaining his second purchase, and this time remembered to repeat his instructions to Hedwig to make the return delivery to him and him alone. He then had to run down to the Quidditch pitch for his first training session, which he'd almost completely forgotten about. Wood would be 'showing him the ropes', and Harry privately wished he could just say he already knew all about Quidditch, but knew that would cause more headaches for him in the long run.

He listened attentively as Wood explained the rules to a game he'd played for half his life, and dutifully chased after thrown golf balls until it was too dark to see. He was pleased to be flying again, which was good, because otherwise he was sure he would have looked bored. In any case, Wood was practically skipping when they returned to the castle after packing up.

The following day seemed to drag – in part because he was stuck in double Potions again – but mostly because he hadn't spoken to Ginny in nearly a week, and he couldn't wait for night to fall so Hedwig could deliver his mirrors. Then he still had to wait for her to get one to Ginny.

Snape was being his typical nasty self, but by this point Harry had become quite adept at tuning him out. As long as he answered questions when directly addressed and brewed his potions properly, the lessons didn't really bother him as they once had. In fact, he found his experiences from much more advanced Potions lessons simplified the process remarkably on such basic brews, and he was able to concentrate on the theory for what felt like the first time in his life. He found himself actually understanding why certain ingredients did what they did, and absently wondered if this was what Hermione felt like all the time.

That evening, Hedwig returned while Harry was up in the dormitory getting changed, Peeves having dumped a bottle of purple ink over his head on the way back from dinner. She brought with her the mirrors and Hermione's birthday present.

'Good girl,' Harry said fondly as he stroked her feathers, fed her some owl treats and gave her some water. 'Do you think you can manage a trip to Ginny's tonight after a short rest?'

She hooted disdainfully and gazed at him in indignation that he would doubt her abilities. He couldn't help but chuckle.

'What am I saying, of course you can,' he said, and she appeared mollified. 'I just meant that it would be okay to take a break if you wanted to.'

In reply, she held out her leg, as if to say that she most certainly needed no such thing. Harry laughed again, and after rewrapping one of the mirrors and attaching some hastily-scribbled instructions on how to use it (he was sure Ginny knew, but just in case), he retied it to Hedwig's proffered leg.

'This'll probably be the last one for a while, so you can stay the night with Ginny if you want or come back to the Owlery if you'd prefer.' She hooted again, nipped his finger affectionately and took off out of the window she'd flown in through only minutes before.

Harry then went back down to join Ron and Hermione in the common room, carrying Hermione's present with him.

'You've still got a bit in your hair, mate,' Ron chuckled, referring to the purple ink. Hermione suppressed a giggle.

'Maybe I'll keep it,' Harry grinned, sitting down in the armchair across from them. 'Makes me stand out a bit, yeah?'

'Because you've always had a problem doing that,' said Ron.

'I know. Completely anonymous. It's like I don't even exist. Happy birthday, by the way, Hermione,' he said, handing the wrapped package to her.

'Oh, thank you, Harry!' she exclaimed happily, taking it from him.

'It's from Ron, too,' Harry explained. 'Hedwig just now turned up with it while I was upstairs.'

'Thank you both,' she said, turning to Ron and giving him a brief hug, which caused his ears to go red. Harry fought back a smirk.

'Open it up, then,' said Ron, in what Harry thought was a valiant effort at keeping his composure. Hermione did, and unveiled a circular magnifying glass with no handle.

'It's a Spelling Glass,' Harry explained. 'When you look through it, it'll reveal any spelling mistakes, and even things like punctuation and grammar. It's supposed to be great for essays.'

'Oh, this is wonderful!' Hermione cheered. 'It'll make looking over my homework so much easier. Thank you!' She smiled brightly at the two of them and Ron's ears went pink again.

'I wasn't actually sure about it when Harry suggested it,' said Ron. 'It's not like you ever make any mistakes anyway.'

It was Hermione's turn to go pink this time. 'Oh, of course I do. I try to be careful, but sometimes I just write too fast. This will be so much nicer than having to read through everything a second time to make sure.' She held it out over her homework on the table and began to look over it at once.

They went to bed after finishing the rest of the homework they'd been assigned (Hermione was so excited to try out her new Spelling Glass that she even helped them finish it so that she could look over it for mistakes). Harry made sure he had his mirror with him when he silenced his bed curtains. He then cast impervious, imperturbable, and unbreakable charms on it. He planned to keep it under his pillow, and didn't want to accidentally break or otherwise damage it.

He thought he'd have to go to sleep and wait for Ginny to wake him up, but it turned out she was just as impatient as he was.

'Harry,' called her voice from under his head. He very quickly sat up and reached under the pillow to retrieve the mirror. Putting on his glasses, he looked to see her beautiful face staring back at him.

'Hi,' he said breathlessly.

'Hi,' she replied in kind. 'Merlin, it's good to see you, Harry. And no fires or anything else. I can talk to you from my room for as long as we want.'

'I know,' said Harry, unable to keep the face-splitting grin off his face. 'I'd better be careful, though. I'm sure people would start to notice if I showed up to class half-asleep every day.'

'True. And Mum would likely notice as well. Should we institute a two-hour limit?' Ginny suggested.

'Sounds like a good idea,' Harry nodded. 'Starting tomorrow.' Ginny laughed, and Harry's heart soared with the sound.

For the first hour, they just talked about how their repeat lives were going. Harry told her about Quidditch, and what her brothers were up to, and Ron and Hermione, and Hagrid, and everything else he could think of. She told him about life at the Burrow, and how she still hadn't come up with a good excuse for visiting Luna, and how if she had to practice handwriting one more time she was likely to jab the quill into somebody's eye.

After all that had been covered, they moved on to more important things. They still both agreed that waiting to deal with Quirrell until they could be sure of the location of the Philosopher's Stone was the best idea. At that point, Ginny suggested the easiest thing to do would be to simply come up with a reason to shake Quirrell's hand in front of Dumbledore and let Voldemort's inability to touch him do the rest. It seemed like a lot less hassle than dealing with Devil's Snare and potion puzzles and giant chess sets all over again.

'Is there anything else we're forgetting?' Ginny asked after they'd gone over it all. 'I mean, what else do you remember about your first year?' Harry took a moment to rack his brain.

'I know there must be other things,' he said eventually, 'but I just can't think of them right now.'

'Try working backward,' Ginny suggested.

'What do you mean?'

'Instead of trying to think of the order that things happened in from the beginning of the year, take the last big thing you remember and work back from there. It's easier to recall what led up to something than it is to pick out memories at random.'

'Where did you hear about this?'

'It's a trick Bill taught me. He uses it when puzzling through ancient ruins and such, but he used to use it to write History of Magic essays. It really works.'

'All right, let's try,' Harry said. 'Obviously I remember going into the trap door to stop Quirrell – who we thought was Snape at the time.'

'What led you do that decision?'

'Well, we wanted to stop him, didn't we?'

'No, I mean why did you decide to do it that night when you did?' Ginny clarified. 'What happened?'

'Hmm, let's see…,' said Harry, thinking back. 'Dumbledore was out of the castle. Yes, that makes sense; I'm pretty sure we tried to tell him what we suspected about Snape. But why...Hagrid!' Harry practically shouted as the memory came back to him. It was a good thing he'd cast that silencing charm on his curtains. 'Hagrid accidentally told us how to get past Fluffy, and we'd worked out he must've done the same to Voldemort.'

'What made you think that?'

'There was something…' Harry strained his brain trying to remember. Suddenly an image of Hagrid's burning beard, the sound of a teddy bear being ripped apart, Malfoy's face in the window as they watched what looked like a floppy umbrella emerge from an egg, and his first ever detention at Hogwarts.

'Norbert!' Harry exclaimed. 'Hagrid's dragon! That was the other thing that happened – er, will happen – this year.'

'Oh right, I remember Ron telling me about that. Didn't you and Hermione deliver it to some of Charlie's friends and get caught out of bed?'

'We did,' Harry confirmed, remember. 'Got detention and lost enough points for the entire school save Slytherin to hate us.'

Ginny rolled her eyes at the fickleness of Hogwarts students. 'Well, that should be easy enough to avoid, at least. If you think of anything else, make sure to write it down so you don't forget all over again.'

'Aye, captain,' replied Harry, grinning.

'Cheek. I'll do the same, of course, but outside of going to Romania, I'm pretty sure nothing particularly memorable happened to me this year. It's next year I've got to worry about.'

'No, you don't,' Harry said, his face turning suddenly serious. Her tone had been joking, but he knew how much the episode with the diary still haunted her. 'We're chucking that thing in the fire the second Lucius Malfoy drops it in your cauldron.'

Ginny smiled. 'I love you, Harry, but you know we can't do that. For one thing, it's a Horcrux, so that might not even work, and for another, that would mean leaving a live basilisk down there under the school. There's no way you'll be okay with that; I know I'm certainly not.'

Harry remained adamant that she not get anywhere near Tom Riddle's diary or the Chamber or the basilisk, but he didn't want to argue, so he steered the conversation away.

'We don't have to work any of that out just yet,' he said. 'You said yourself it's not until next year. Let's talk about something else.'

'Don't think I don't see what you're doing, Mr I-Think-I'm-So-Sneaky. But all right, we can discuss it later. I want to hear what else you've been doing. You didn't tell me about how you got the mirrors.'

'Oh, right!' he said. 'That's kind of a fun story, actually. And there's something else I forgot to mention, too.' He told her about his trip into Hogsmeade to get the mirrors and his discoveries regarding the tunnel behind the mirror, which she was excited to try out. He told her about Hermione's birthday (she was just as delighted as he had been about Ron's behavior on that front), and her present, which Ginny agreed was perfect for Hermione.

What he very pointedly did not bring up was his ever-growing anxiety about Scabbers, a.k.a. Wormtail, or Peter Pettigrew. His gut kept telling him that now was not the right time to act, and he had learned to trust his gut, even when he didn't exactly like what it was telling him. If she hadn't remembered that detail yet, he didn't want to cause her any undue stress over it.

Eventually, Ginny noticed that the sky was turning from black to a velvety purple (Harry, contained within the curtains of his four-poster, could not see it), and they forced themselves to say goodnight. It was with a deep, contented sigh that Harry lay his head down on his pillow after replacing his mirror beneath it, and even though he was likely going to be incredibly drowsy the next day, he did not mind in the slightest.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Okay, that's chapter three. If I'm right, the pace should start picking up from here, though one can never be too sure with these things. The best stories (and characters) always have a mind of their own, and even when you know exactly where you want them to go, you don't always have complete control over how they get there. I love it.

Hope y'all are enjoying it, too. Leave me a review if you're so inclined. Thanks for reading!