Chapter three
Harry's summer kicked off to an amazing start. Hermione had gone behind his back and arranged for him to spend time with her family in London. Originally, Harry had planned on going with the Dursleys, then sliding out that night and returning to the Leaky Cauldron by way of the Knight Bus. Hermione, though, had told her parents about this, and with the story that Harry's relatives were very religious and strongly agreed with King James on the matter of Magical people - 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.'
Hearing this, and that Harry was planning on using some money he inherited to book a room at a magical BnB, Mr. and Mrs. Granger had arranged for him to spend the summer with them. Apparently, after Hermione had given the Dursleys her parents phone number and her assurance that her parents were perfectly ordinary dentists who ran their own practice in London, Uncle Vernon had been willing to call the Grangers, who had then gotten permission to keep Harry for the summer.
The drive back to the Granger home was a lot shorter than the one to Surrey Harry had previously experienced. But then again, if they wouldn't have had to carry their heavy school trunks, they wouldn't have even needed the car, as the Grangers only lived about 45 minutes away from King's Cross on foot. Living with the Grangers was like night and day compared to the Dursleys. For instance, the Dursleys barely ate anything if it wasn't deep fried or drowning in butter (or sometimes even both). The Grangers, however, didn't even own a deep fat fryer and ate a lot of healthier foods. The Grangers were warm and kind to people, whereas the Dursleys were always trying to keep up an image of being important and successful.
It was by far the best summer he ever had, after the first week anyway, as Hermione had insisted that they get their homework out of the way first. For Harry especially, it was also a summer of opportunity. For the equivalent of about two pounds, the Knight Bus could take them anywhere on the island of Great Britain. So, with the gold Harry had access to, the two travelled around the country while the elder Grangers were fixing teeth. They visited Godric's Hollow first, letting Harry visit his parents properly this time instead of skulking around and being interrupted by a snake in a Bathilda Bagshot suit. Hermione used some of her allowance to buy a few flowers from a local greengrocer and they laid them on the grave.
"Hey mum, hey dad. Sorry I haven't been here before now. Or have I, I don't know how time works where you are? Maybe you saw everything that happened and how Hermione and I came back. This is Hermione by the way. She is amazing, some call her the smartest witch of our age. And she is, but I don't tend to call her that. Not because she doesn't deserve it, she does, but to me she is the most amazing person I have ever met. She has stood by me when any sane person would have run away screaming. If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would have survived as long as I have."
Hermione, who had been standing there throughout his speech with a blush colouring her cheeks, butted in. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter, don't listen to him, Harry is plenty amazing himself. I have stood by him, yes, and because I did, I have seen the stuff he has done. He truly is an amazing person, one I feel privileged to stand next to. You made a son to be proud of." That got Harry blushing and he switched the subject, telling whatever remained of his parents the story of his life.
They didn't just visit morbid reminders of the past, though. They also took the opportunity to visit more fun locations; the beach was a regular favourite, as apart from travel it was a free day out, especially if they brought drinks and a packed lunch instead of buying lunch at an overpriced beach side shop. They did often find enough money to buy themselves an ice cream, though.
They also made some plans for the coming year. First, and most important, was getting their hands on the diary. Once they had that, they would have a lot more room to move. Harry once again got a visit from Dobby in the middle of the night, telling him it was too dangerous to return to Hogwarts.
"Dobby, I need you to answer me a question. I promise it is about elves in general, not about your master, OK?" Harry asked, and when the elf nodded Harry continued. "If I told you something, something that wouldn't hurt your master but would mean something that your master has planned would end up not working, would you or any elf be able to not tell your master about what you were told?"
Dobby looked thoughtful for a moment. "Dobby is thinking he would have to tell. Even if Dobby is not wanting to," The little guy answered sadly.
"Damn it. Look Dobby, I know you'll have trouble believing this, but it's safer for me at Hogwarts. I need you to understand that I know things that you don't. I promise you I won't die in school, no matter what plan your master has."
"I hope you are right, Great Harry Potter sir, but I am afraid for you." With that the elf popped away. The next day, Harry told Hermione about the visit, and they started working out a way to free the elf.
By the start of September Harry could honestly say he had never had a better summer. They had gone to Diagon a few days ago, unfortunately once again arriving the same day as Lockhart's book signing. Harry picked up a Nimbus 2000 from Quality Quidditch Supplies. He considered getting the 2001, but he knew he didn't need it and the 2000 was 100 Galleons (approximately 500 pounds) to the 150 Galleons or £750 for the 2001 it just wasn't worth it. Of course, it didn't stop Harry from debating the choice for 45 minutes, causing Hermione to start muttering about 'boys' under her breath, much to the amusement of her parents. Though, Harry did get Hermione laughing not 20 minutes later when Gilderoy Lockhart tried to manhandle Harry into a photo opportunity, and Harry put the pompous git on his ass and started loudly saying how some stranger tried to grab him. Harry had to admit, the sight of the overdressed peacock on the floor was pretty funny.
A few of the people were surprised that Harry didn't know who Lockhart was, but the crowd was mostly on Harry's side when Harry pointed out that for all Harry knew the strange man could have been a sympathiser of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named who was trying to grab the Boy-Who-Lived. Lockhart was forced to give Harry an apology that unfortunately still ended up on the front page of the Prophet, but at least this time the headline was 'Lockhart tried to grab Harry Potter'. A little sensational but true, and the story was a good retelling of the truth.
Harry felt his heart stop when he saw Ginny with her family. He hadn't seen her the previous year, and she looked just like he remembered her from this time. Small and fiery, yet still shy; not the force of nature she would become in a few years. Though if he was successful, she may not become that woman he fell for. If everything went to plan, Ginny wouldn't be spending her summers living in hiding with a bunch of vigilantes, she wouldn't be conducting raids into the Ministry of Magic or fighting Death Eaters who had gotten into the school. She would never be his Ginny again. Harry watched her from a distance as Hermione hugged him while he mourned the loss of the girl she might have been, even if this was better for her. However, Hermione did have to hold Harry back when Malfoy Senior, lord of the long flowing locks of shiny silver hair, got into a scuffle with Arthur Weasley as a cover to slip the diary into Ginny's new school supplies.
September first arrived, and with it the return to school. King's Cross and Platform 9 ¾ were as chaotic as usual. The owls were squawking, the cats were meowing, and of course the weasleys were late. Harry and Hermione spotted a few familiar faces; some happily (like Luna and Colin), others less fondly (like Romilda Vane). Harry got to see the sorting this time. He had been worried that Dobby would try to seal the barrier again, but the way had remained clear. Soon, the headmaster was giving his start of the year speeches and sending them off to bed.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry passed Hermione one of the vials of potion they had prepared over the summer. Apparently the Trace couldn't detect potions, and as they had their potion kits there was quite a lot they could brew, though her mum had complained a couple of times when one of the things they were brewing filled the kitchen with a foul odor.
Hermione slipped the vial into her robes pocket and made her way up to her dorm room. Lavender, Pavarti, Fay and Lilly were already there changing. "Hey guys. Good summer?" Hermione asked; she hadn't been sitting close enough to them during the feast to gossip then.
"Pretty good, I had to visit family in India for part of it but that wasn't too bad." Pavarti answered. "How was yours?"
"It was good. Harry spent the summer at my place. We spent a bunch of time taking the Knight Bus to the beach," Hermione admitted.
Lavender jumped on that information immediately. "Your parents let you have your boyfriend over the whole summer? My dad would flip if I asked for a boy to stay over."
"Harry's not my boyfriend." Hermione protested.
"Oh please, the only people who don't think you are a couple are you and Harry. You're always together, you obviously care about each other. Sooner or later the two of you will just have to wake up and realise it," Lavender teased but in a good-natured way.
"Harry doesn't see me like that," Hermione insisted, as she pulled her night clothes from her trunk. He liked pretty, sporty girls like Cho and Ginny. She knew this from the previous timeline and that just wasn't her.
"Harry doesn't see any of us like that yet. You know boys take longer to mature," Lilly slipped into the conversation. "Give him a few months, a year tops, and he will. I bet you'll be number one in his head, Hermione."
"That's true, Harry is the youngest in our year. You just need to be patient, Hermione," Lavender said as she slipped on her nightgown.
Hermione gave up trying to convince them; they had made up their minds already, and only seeing Harry with someone else would convince them. She knew Harry didn't like her that way, she wasn't going to let herself be hurt again hoping for more. She finished getting changed for the night, hanging her dressing gown by her bed where she normally kept it in case she had to visit the ladies room in the middle of the night. The castle was way too drafty not to have one. And she slipped the vial of potion into the pocket of her gown.
Hermione then pulled out a book (unfortunately one of Lockhart's, but she needed to go over it again if she was going to tear it apart) and settled in bed to read. However, she wasn't just reading for the sake of it, she was waiting for her roommates to fall asleep. Eventually, at quarter to midnight she felt confident that she could slip out unnoticed. She pulled on her dressing gown and her fluffy slippers, and after pulling the curtains on her bed in case one of her roommates woke up to use the bathroom, she slipped out of the room.
As quietly as she could, Hermione made her way down the spiral staircase until she reached the dorm for the first year Gryffindor girls. She opened the door as silently as possible and slipped into the room. She took the potion vial from her pocket and opened it. Immediately, the potion started to give off a vapor that filled the room with a slight haze. She set the vial down then slipped back out of the room to wait. The potion she was using was an illegal version of a sleeping draught; the vapors would put anyone who breathed in enough of them to sleep for between four to six hours. The potion was illegal not because of its effects, but because it was mostly used by people doing exactly what she was about to do (though she was doing it for a less selfish reason than most).
After five minutes she slipped into the room and checked on the first year girls, and as assumed they were fast asleep. Hermione walked over to Ginny's bed, pocketing the now empty vial along the way. She pulled out Ginny's trunk, opened it, and started looking through it for Tom Riddle's diary. The problem was...it wasn't there. Hermione racked her brain trying to work out where the diary could be, then face-palmed for being so stupid. She slid her hand under Ginny's pillow and felt the warm softness of a leather-backed book. She pulled it out, and her eyes fell on the diary she remembered from so many problems ago.
She pocketed the book and slipped out of the room. Instead of going up to her dorm, she went down to the common room and then up the boys staircase. She and Harry had planned a lot over the summer and also discussed how things could go wrong. As only Gryffindor girls could have stolen the diary from Ginny, her and the other girls' dorms were the logical place to search if someone (either Ginny or a professor) were looking for the lost book. So she put the book in Harry's trunk, and they would hide it somewhere safe in the morning. Somewhere no-one would find it.
-ϟϟϟ-
The first thing Harry did when he woke up on the first day of term was check his trunk. He smiled to himself when he saw the little book on top of all his things. He quickly went through his morning routine and got dressed. He slipped the diary into his pocket along with his invisibility cloak and went down to the common room to look for Hermione. She was there, dozing on a sofa. She had been up half the night getting the diary, so that made sense. He gently woke her up and handed her a wit sharpening potion. They had brewed a whole bunch of simple potions over the break and the wit sharpening was one of them. The effect was similar to a muggle energy drink, only stronger and without the jittery essence you could get from caffeine. It also lasted about eight hours, so it was perfect for a school or work day if you had little sleep. Harry had all the potions because he had the room in his trunk, as Hermione had filled her extra space with books she had picked up at Flourish and Blotts.
"Harry?" A sleepy Hermione asked as he woke her.
"Yep, drink this." He handed the potion to her.
She drank it down without even thinking about it, pulled a face at the taste, and Harry watched as her face went from sleepy and cute to wide awake in seconds. "Good morning Harry. Sleep well?"
"Yep." He didn't return the question because he knew she hadn't. Instead he said in a low voice, "I see you had a productive night."
She nodded. "Do you have them?" She asked, referring to the diary and the cloak.
"As we planned," he said as he nodded.
The two of them left the common room, and as they walked Harry slipped on his invisibility cloak. The cloak wasn't strictly necessary, but an overabundance of caution didn't hurt when dealing with Horcruxes. He could already feel it pulling at him to write in it. He wanted to taunt Tom, tell him how he knew the secret and how he was going to destroy the diary, but it was safer to get it out of his hands as soon as he could.
They walked through the school until they arrived at the second floor girls toilets and slipped inside. Moaning Myrtle was floating around the room depressed as normal. Hermione started talking to her trying to be nice while using the room for its intended purpose. Her ultimate goal, however, was to provide a distraction so Harry could open the Chamber of Secrets and toss the diary in. Of course, despite how friendly Hermione tried to be, Myrtle took everything the wrong way and dove into one of the toilets.
Harry ignored what Hermione was doing, and once Myrtle left Harry opened the way behind the sink and threw the diary in before closing it again. Hermione came out of her stall, washed her hands, and she left the room as Harry followed. Once they were away from the toilets and in a corridor alone, Harry pulled off the cloak and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Did everything go OK?" Hermione asked, seeing him appear.
"Plan worked perfectly. The Horcrux is in the Chamber and no one who is not me is getting in there for the time being." Harry replied.
The two conspirators made their way to breakfast, happy in a job well done. They were soon tucking into a full English breakfast, each deciding that they had earned the less than healthy breakfast.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry sat in the back of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class trying not to burst out laughing. Hermione had raised her hand at the start of the lesson and started asking questions about his books and Lockhart was getting more and more flustered as she went on.
"In your book Year with the Yeti, you say you spent the time between October of 1984 and August of 1985 in the Tibetan mountains with the yeti, correct?"
"Quite right, miss?"
"Granger, sir. If you were in Tibet with the yeti, how come in your book Holiday with Hags you claim to have been kidnapped by the hags in February of 85? The hag coven was in Ireland. You can't have been in both Ireland and Tibet at the same time."
"Ah, my editor must have made a mistake with the dates. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Miss Granger, 5 points to Gryffindor."
The pompous man was about to turn to the whole class when Hermione continued. "Well, you should probably find a new editor because they made the same mistake with Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, and Marauding with Monsters, in the chapter you dealt with the Japanese kappa gang who were emulating the yakuza." Hermione went on pointing out the inconsistencies, finishing up with pointing out that in his 8 years of adventures he had apparently had 102 months of stuff to write about.
Lockhart, after much spluttering, managed to get his class back on track and issue the test he had given the first time Harry had suffered through the class, and Harry had prepared his answers:
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
Silver, but only if it's shiny enough that he can stare at his own reflection
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
To be more famous than Merlin
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
Convincing the world he has enough talent to do any of the stuff he claims in his books
4. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite animal?
Unicorns, because he needs powered unicorn tail hair to make the hair potion he useds
5. How many times did Gilderoy Lockhart win Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award?
It doesn't matter, all of the awards should be removed as he uses potions to achieve the smile.
6. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's shoe size?
Size 6 but he uses charms to stick size 10 shoes to his feet so no one will realise how small certain body parts of his are.
7. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite type of quill?
One that can do the writing for him as he is lazy
8. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite book?
His photo album of himself
9. What is Gilderoy Lockhart favourite author
Himself, Gilderoy Lockhart hasn't bothered to read anything written by someone else.
Harry went on, filling out every question with a similar answer. By the time he was done, he was having trouble keeping from laughing.
50. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what would be his ideal gift?
If the professor needs us to remind him when his birthday is, maybe teaching isn't a career for him. As for a gift, he would love a poor sap to tell him of something they did so Lockhart can wipe their memories and claim he did it in his next book.
He sat back and waited for the other students to finish their tests. He Gemino'ed a copy of the test to show Hermione later and slipped the copy into his bookbag. Hermione had also finished, and she was looking at him confused at why he would make a copy of the test, but as there were still students taking the test, she couldn't ask him what he was doing.
After almost ten minutes, Lockhart had them all put down their quills and pass their tests forward. He started to go through the tests, commenting "Well, looks like you didn't read my books closely enough, almost none of you got more than a handful of ques…" he trailed off, reading what Harry assumed to be his test. He looked a little flustered as he stared at the answers on the sheet.
"Uh… uh…" was all Lockhart said as his brain rebooted, before he finally settled on a course of action. "Mr. Potter, can you please remain after class?"
"Yes sir."
The rest of the class passed smoothly, though that was more to do with Hermione, who immobilised the Cornish pixies before they had even left their cage, preventing the chaos that had been the defining characteristic of their first lesson.
When class ended and everyone left to get to their break, Harry packed up his bag but didn't leave. Knowing how free his professor was with memory charms, Harry kept his wand on his desk but where he could grab it quickly.
"Harry, I want to talk to you about your test answers," Lockhart said as he stood posing by his desk, trying to look impressive.
"What about my answers?" Harry looked right at the man unflinchingly.
"Look Harry, I like a good joke as much as anyone, but don't you think you went too far?" Harry smiled at that. He couldn't help himself. "But the whole test was a joke, wasn't it sir? I mean this is Defence Against the Dark Arts, right? What dark arts can be countered by knowing your favourite colour or when your birthday is?"
Lockhart sputtered at that but Harry pretended not to notice.
"Although, if you really feel I went too far, we can take the test to Professor McGonagall. I'm sure she will know what to do as soon as she sees it," Harry pushed, knowing that with Lockhart's age, McGonagall would have been his teacher when he was at Hogwarts, and Harry was betting that the pompous peacock didn't want her to see the self-centred test he had given out.
"I don't think there will be a need for that this time. Just take this more seriously next time, Mr. Potter." He tried to cover how nervous he was by being magnanimous, but the quiver in his voice was a dead giveaway. Maybe this time the moron would focus on teaching.
Harry slipped out of the classroom to find Hermione waiting for him, a slightly worried look on her face. "What was that about Harry?" she asked. Harry pulled his copy of the test out and handed it to her. Hermione's eyes quickly scanned his answers, at first smirking but getting more worried as she read on.
"What were you thinking Harry!?" She finally hissed at him angrily as she slapped the test back into his hands.
"That the ponce needs bringing down a peg or two hundred." Harry replied, not understanding why Hermione was so angry.
"And what if he had managed to obliviate you like he did to himself last time!? What would happen then? Where would that leave me? The only person who knows what's coming, me needing to find a way to stop Voldemort myself, me alone with no one who I can talk to! You need to be more careful, or everything we are doing is going to be destroyed before we even really start," Hermione lectured.
Harry now felt bad. Hermione was right, even if Harry was positive he could win against Lockhart, there was always the chance Lockhart could get lucky. He could have left Hermione with this burden, and for what? So he could score some cheap points against someone who doesn't even matter. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't think about it that way. I was just trying to score some cheap points against the man after what he tried to do to me a…" he almost said 'and Ron', but that was a sure way to get Hermione more angry. She was still holding a grudge against the redhead for leaving them.
"Let's just leave it Harry, I don't want to fight over this. Let's just go and plan what we are going to do next." Hermione relaxed and leaned into him. It wasn't one of her bone-crushing hugs, but she obviously needed to be close to him for a little while, so Harry put his arm around her.
Quidditch tryouts were the third week of term, and when Harry turned up with a Nimbus 2000 and showed off his skill at catching the snitch Oliver Wood practically begged Harry to join the team. He decided to do so, Quidditch was a good distraction from everything that was going on in his life. However, it didn't stop Hermione from lecturing him for taking time out of searching the castle for whatever Horcrux was hidden here.
A/N
thankyou to the people who support me on pat re on Lowten. And special thanks to the awesome person Jack Schriner
as always the pat re on has the next two chapters already
you can join my discord server if you want to chat /VECwTrGkst
