"I know you all and will awhile uphold/The unyoked humor of your idleness./Yet herein will I imitate the sun/Who doth permit the base contagious clouds/To smother up his beauty from the world/That when he please again to be himself/Being wanted he may be more wondered at/By breaking through the foul and ugly mists/Of vapors that did seem to strangle him./If all the years were playing holidays/To sport would be as tedious as to work;/But when they seldom come, they wished for come/And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents./So when this loose behavior I throw off/And pay the debt I never promised/By how much better than my word I am/By so much shall I falsify men's hopes/And Like bright metal on a sullen ground/My reformation, glitt'ring o'er my fault/Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes/Than that which hath no foil to set it off./I'll so offend to make a offense a skill/Redeeming time when men think least I will."
Harry stopped and looked at Hermione. "Word perfect!" She announced. "And just over a minute. Well done!" Harry smiled and sat back next to her. "I think that this speech was made for you, Harry." She told him.
"I like it." Hermione smiled and curled up on the couch.
"It does fit you, Skywalker." Hermione assured him. "You and your people saving thing. Why do you feel the need to do it?" Harry shrugged.
"No idea. I guess that it is a part of what makes me, me." Harry decided to change the topic. "So, what were you Julie, and Michelle talking about?" Hermione closed the Shakespeare book and tossed it onto the coffee table. She fussed with the hem of her shirt and gave Harry a coy smile.
"You." She said with a giggle.
"Me?" She nodded, trying to hold her mirth in. "Why were you talking about me?" Hermione rolled he eyes and buried her face into her arms.
"You don't see it, do you?" She asked. Harry was more than a little frustrated at this point.
"See what?" He demanded. Hermione sat up and looked around the room. She found what she was looking for and stood. She grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him off the couch. "Mi! What?"
"That!" Hermione pointed to the mirror. Harry looked at it.
"It's a mirror." Hermione clenched her hands and sighed.
"And here I thought that only Crabbe and Goyle were this dense. Look at yourself in the mirror. Honestly." Oh, look in the mirror. Brilliant, Potter. Harry turned to the mirror and looked. What? "Different glasses do a lot for you, Harry. Girls are seeing it and they love what they see." Harry stared at himself, not knowing what to say. Small changes made big differences.
"Wow." Hermione smiled and messed up his hair.
"I've made you vain! Be careful, or I'll start calling you Lockhart." She teased, still trying to mess up his hair.
"Oh, you wouldn't dare!" Harry broke away from the mirror and turned to Hermione.
"I would." She smiled. "Now, back to Julie and Michelle." Harry stopped at the abrupt change.
"What about them?" he asked, afraid of what she was going to say. He collapsed back onto the couch and closed his eyes.
"They like you." She told him, lying down on the couch. She nudged him to make room for her head.
"So? I like them too." Hermione covered her face with her hands.
"Please, Harry. Don't be dense." She groaned. "They like you. They like what they see. They wanted to know if you had a girlfriend. Julie would like to be your girlfriend." Harry blinked. Hermione couldn't mean that…oh, no. Unfamiliar territory. Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
"Er…ah…" Hermione closed her eyes and smiled.
"Oh, good. You understand. Your brain just shut down." Harry looked down at Hermione. His mind processed what she had said. He just wasn't sure what to make of it. "You don't have to do anything about it now. Just let them adore from afar. If you feel the need to ask one of them out, just write me. I'll be happy to give you advice." Harry decided to take the easy way out.
"Ah, thanks. So, tell me what happens in Star Wars." Hermione opened her eyes and glared.
"No. You need to watch it." Harry pouted.
"Please, Mi?" Hermione shook her head.
"You need to watch it." She told him. "Ask Paul." A voice from the door made them both jump.
"Ask Paul what?" Paul stepped through the door.
"Harry wanted me to tell him the rest of Star Wars. I told him that he had to see it." Hermione sat up and ran her hands through her hair. "I mentioned that he should ask you." Paul smiled and appeared thoughtful.
"We might be able to arrange something, provided that your floor has their homework finished." Harry brightened.
"I'm pretty sure that they all finished. We had a study session last night. I can check at lunch." Harry told him.
"That's good, because it's almost time for lunch. Hermione, you're welcome to stay for lunch and the movie." Hermione smiled.
"Could I call my parent's mobile to let them know?" Paul nodded and motioned for Hermione to follow him.
"Oh, I love this stuff." Hermione said, diving into her spaghetti and meatballs. Harry smiled. "Why don't they serve this at school?" She asked Harry.
"I don't know." Harry told her.
"So, Hermione. Are you and Evan here going out?" Hermione smiled.
"I'm getting that question a lot today." She answered with a laugh. "No. We're just friends." She told the table.
"How did you become friends?" Bug asked, chasing a meatball around his plate.
"Evan and his best friend Ron saved me from a troll," Harry dropped his fork "of a boy in our first year." She did that so smoothly. "Friends from then on." She smiled. "Now I get to keep the two of them out of trouble and their heads in the books." She smiled at Harry. Harry just stared at her.
"Need I remind you about the club you started?" Harry asked.
"Well, that professor was completely incompetent." She looked around at the others gathered. "She was, trust me. It was only our grades, never mind she was so incompetent. And it wasn't a club. It was a study group with definite goals and purpose." She told Harry with her usual I'm right look on her face.
"You should be a solicitor. You sound like my dad." Bug told her.
"I've thought about it." Wow, that was news to Harry. "I'm drawn to several different professions. I'm still deciding." She smiled. "Pass the garlic bread, please."
"What do you want to do, Evan?" Harry looked up.
"An Au-, a police officer." Hermione kicked him under the table. Harry kicked her back.
"Why?" Sparky asked. Harry shrugged.
"My father and godfather were one." Harry took a deep breath.
"I think you'd make a better teacher." Hermione said. "You should have seen his patience with one of our classmates. He never grew cross with him at all." Harry glared at her. She smiled back.
"Is everyone finished?" Paul asked. The entire table stood. "Okay, guys. Down to the Rec room."
The scene at the rec room mirrored Harry's birthday party. There was a lot of pillow tossing and jostling for seats. Hermione found herself sandwiched between Harry and Bug. "All right, little Jedi. Settle down." Paul smiled and switched on the video.
"Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father." Harry stared at the screen. What was Luke doing?
"He told me enough." Oh, he was courting death. Well, either way he went was death, but still. Hanging on something like that was not helping his chances. "He told me you killed him."
"No." So Vader hadn't killed Anakin Skywalker? "I am your father." Harry's feelings matched his face. Absolute horror coursed through him.
"No. No. That's not true." Oh, Harry hoped it wasn't. "That's impossible!" Harry watched, afraid to blink.
"Search your feelings; you it to be true." Harry stared at the screen. It couldn't be true.
"No! No! No!" Oh, Harry agreed.
'Luke. You can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as father and son. Come with me. It's the only way." Harry watched as Luke made his decision. Oh, no. Don't jump Luke. Join him, but don't die! Harry was surprised to find Luke alive after his fall. Why would Luke risk death? Harry thought that if he were faced with the same decision, he would have done the same thing.
"Luke." Harry looked at the screen again. Oh, he knew those feelings.
"Father." Harry shuddered.
"Son, come with me." Harry could almost hear Voldemort mentioning bringing back his parents.
"Ben, why didn't you tell me?" YES! Why wasn't he told? Why? Harry watched as the screen shifted back to Vader.
"Luke…it is your destiny." Harry shuddered again. He hated those words.
"Ben, why didn't you tell me?" Why wasn't he told? Why did the old wizard keep such a secret from him? Why?
Harry watched the rest of the film in a daze. He understood the longing Luke had for his ideal father, the betrayal he felt, and the confusion. They each had been marked. It wasn't fair.
"Evan? Walk me out?" Harry nodded and got to his feet. Hermione held his hand the whole way down the hallway. She told the attendant at the desk that they would just be outside, waiting for her parents. "Harry, what are you thinking about?"
"If Voldemort shows up saying that he is my father, I'm going to Avada Kedavra myself." Hermione blinked before she laughed.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Skywalker." Hermione told him. "He would have been pretty old when you were conceived." Harry fought against a smile but finally cracked. "What?"
"Do you always think things like that?" He asked, sitting down under a tree.
"Mostly. I'm an insufferable know it all, after all. I have a reputation to maintain." She smiled and nudged him. Harry pushed her back.
"I thought you hated being called a know it all." Harry started playing with the grass at his feet. Hermione smiled again and joined Harry in building a construction of grass.
"I used to. Now, though, it's different. If I make it my own, no one can use it against me. It has lost the power over me." Harry thought about it before nodding. It made a lot of sense.
"I like your reasoning. Can I use it against the psycho one?"
"The Emperor?" She asked. "Sure!" Harry stopped his hand in mid-air, trying to work out who the Emperor could be. "Voldemort, Harry." Harry collapsed on the grass in laughter and Hermione joined him just a second later.
"The Emperor! That's great!" Harry rolled around in laughter. The two joked about Star Wars until Hermione's parents came to get her.
I've decided not to go back to Hogwarts this year. Mi has said that she'll keep me post on magical happenings, as long as I promise to keep improving. I don't know what she considers improvement though. Thinking about Sirius doesn't hurt so much now. The nice thing is that it's allowed to hurt here. No one looks at you funny if you're quieter than usual or if you look like you've been crying. They all do the same. It's nice, not having my friends look at me like I'm a puzzle, and then have them turn on me because I don't meet their expectations. Just…acceptance. It's something I didn't realize I needed until just a few days ago. I've always had it from Hermione and Ron too, except for that jealousy thing in fourth year. Now, I have it all the time.