History Repeated

So, I don't own Harry Potter...Damn.

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1 August 2015

Hermione didn't know if she wanted to hex Neville the moment he heard those words come out of his mouth.

"I know where James' at," He had said the moment Hermione opened the door. The words played over and over in her head, and she only just heard them. She didn't have to ask who he was talking about, the only James they both knew was Harry and Ginny's little boy. Jimmy, they had affectionately called their only son, Hermione remembered as any remaining color drained from her face.

Wide-eyed, she pulled Neville into her home and slammed the door shut. With a finger pointed at him, and her other hand tightly clenched to her side, Hermione had no words to say as she thought of her nephew, and how the boy from Flourish and Blotts looked so familiar, there was no disputing he who he was. She knew there was something strange about him. How could he not see her best friend in the boy? The more she thought about the boy, the signs were all there. Harry's face and eye shape, Ginny's eye color, and freckles. Merlin, the boy had messy hair just like Harry! And was tall for his age, much like a majority of the Weasley's!

Merlin...How did she not see it?

Neville stared at her, his eyes cautious and wary of her next move, Hermione knew. As her hands trembled, she thought of what she wanted to say to her former friend. How long did he know? What about McGonagall? Why wasn't she and the Weasley family told? Where's James? Where has he been for the last nine, soon-to-be ten, years?

Finally, she lowered her hand and stared at Neville, angry, and upset, as a tear fell from her right eye. "I suggest you explain everything," She gritted out, pointing at the nearby settee. "Now."

Hastily, Neville obliged as he made his way towards the settee, sitting down as Hermione followed, though she stood across from him, glaring so hard she thought her eyes were going to jump from her eye sockets.

"First off, I want to make one thing clear," Neville said, his eyes still wary-looking but his face relaxing and contorting into a strange form of distress. "I wasn't Harry and Ginny's Secret-Keeper, and no, I don't know who was. They thought it best to keep the real one a secret while telling you and the rest of the Weasley's I was because I seemed like their last choice."

"You were," Hermione acknowledged, not caring if she hurt her old friend's feelings, not that he visibly reacted to her words. "We should have known better than to believe them."

Neville stiffly nodded his head, his hair falling over his forehead. "I knew their location, though, along with your family but I visited them often to make it seem like I was their Secret-Keeper. Making sure their wards were still up and the Potter's alive. On that day, I visited with Charlie for Jimmy's birthday."

Hermione frowned when Neville mentioned Charlie's name. "Charlie-"

"He wasn't the Secret-Keeper," Neville clarified. "Besides, if he were, James wouldn't have stayed with the Dursley's as long as he did, considering..." His voice trailed off as though something was caught in his throat. "Considering he was found dead months later." He said this, despite Hermione having known this for years.

She nodded, grimly thinking about her late brother-in-law. He had been in Romania, near one of the dragon pits when he was discovered. It was a loss the Weasley's, particularly Molly, still struggled with as years trailed off. First Fred at the end of the war, then Ginny years later, and Charlie mere months after. At times, Hermione often forgot about Charlie dying, because of how little he actually spent time with his family in England. Merlin, she knew there were days the other Weasley's forgot, too. It was always horrifying to hear and to witness the aftermath of remembering such a loss. It was always easy to remember Harry and Ginny and Fred. Fred, because he had always been at George's side, and Harry and Ginny because they had been around everyone for so long. Harry's first survival after the first war with Voldemort, that was hard to forget. Ginny being the only Weasley girl at the time, and a damn unforgettable witch, she had been. It was hard to forget them because they were around. Charlie, Hermione only really knew him by letters and his few sporadic visits throughout the years.

It wasn't fair, Hermione thought as she thought of her late in-laws, her friends. Time was too short for it to be fair. She never realized how short until it already passed and took her family with it.

"He's with the Dursley's?" Hermione asked though she knew it was useless asking that question.

Neville nodded. "Not with Harry's aunt and uncle. His cousin, Dudley," He said as he looked down at his folded over hands. "He and his wife have been good to him."

"I can tell," Hermione said before she could stop herself. "The boy from early, that was my nephew, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Neville stated as he looked up at her. "That was James."

"Merlin," Hermione said, her voice hollow as a burst of emotions escaped past her lips. She leaned forward and wiped away another falling tear as it ran down her cheek. "Why didn't you tell us, Neville? Why did you keep our last piece of Harry and Ginny from us? His own family?"

"McGonagall thought it was the best way to keep him safe," Neville said, his words becoming strained as his facial expression became more guarded, as though he were remembering something Hermione would never be able to decipher.

"Keeping James from the wizarding world," Neville continued as he continued to stare at Hermione, as though his life depended on it. "She thought it was the best way to keep him safe, even if it meant keeping him from you and everyone who loved him."

"Bloody Hell, I could kill her," Hermione said as she shook her head in disbelief as she tried to wrap her thought around Neville's words. "Did she...Did she think we had something to do with Harry and Ginny's..." Her hands flew over her mouth. She couldn't believe what she was hearing herself say. It was mad, to think something like that, let alone say it out loud.

"She didn't know what to think," Neville said, his voice more subdued. "With what was happening at that time, what still is going on today, she didn't want to risk his safety."

"And what about you?" Hermione demanded, her voice sounding course and brittle. "What did you think about leaving my poor nephew with people he didn't know? Without his parents? Without telling anyone?"

Neville's head hung against his shoulders as his breathing became louder, with his chest rising and falling quicker than Hermione could comprehend. "At the time, it was the only option. The moment everyone found out about Harry and Ginny...Do you honestly expect people would have left that little boy alone? Merlin, you remember how the media reacted to their deaths, they camped outside your bloody door for months, for fucks sake! Imagine if you and Ron had James. Or Molly and Arthur. Or Bill and Fleur. He wouldn't have had the childhood he got with the Dursley's."

"He would have had us," Hermione said as her voice broke. "He would have had his aunts and uncles and cousins. His grandparents and everything Harry didn't have growing up with his aunt and uncle."

"He didn't get that, though," Neville commented. "He got a normal childhood, one where he wasn't afraid for his life like our children know. The only deaths he knew about were his own parents, no one else. He didn't have to worry about anyone but himself and you can't get upset about that. Dudley and his wife, they raised him like he was theirs. Harry never got that, but his son did. I know it's not right, having kept him from you for so long but at least he had years not filled with death and fear."

"You should have told us," Hermione said, her voice becoming softer despite feeling as though she were going to strangle Neville. "You could have at least given us that. Or better yet, lie to McGonagall and let us see him. Merlin, Neville, there was so much you could have done."

"I did a lot more than you realize, Hermione," Neville said, his voice lowering with such gravity, it made Hermione's skin crawl. "James is safe because no one knew where he was. Some discovered his whereabouts but...But no one knows who they even are now because I kept an eye on him. It was easy because random wizards don't appear on muggle streets without a reason."

Neville didn't say anything after that, not that Hermione had any questions she wanted to ask. Some words, some actions, were better left unsaid, Hermione realized as she stared at the man who once was a clumsy, forgetful boy. What changed over the years? Hermione wanted to know but she would never ask, knowing she herself had changed since her years as a bright but naïve girl discovering the world of magic and the witches and wizards who took advantage of it. Some things were better left in the past.

James Potter, though, was not. Hermione knew she would have to be the one to reveal where her nephew was to the Weasley's, she knew they wouldn't react so well if Neville were to tell them.

First, she knew she had to see her nephew. She had to see for herself that he was taken care of and happy like Neville claimed him to be.

If not, she would happily leave Neville alone with the Weasley family to explain everything he just told her. Not to mention McGonagall, though Hermione didn't know where to begin with her. She was just as guilty as Neville was.

Merlin, was she guilty too? Hermione hadn't tried enough to look for James, she never even thought of the Dursley's. It should have been obvious, yet no one thought of them that should have.

2 August 2015

Throwing the shrunken box from one hand to the other, James idly wondered what was inside it. He had forgotten about the box until after Professor Longbottom left and James didn't know when he would return.

He was sitting on the ground of his room, his back pressed up against his bed as his new things lay scattered around him. With the exception of his new cat-like creature thing that nearly gave his Aunt Helen a heart attack when she first saw him. His new pet was by James' head, curled up at the edge of his bed, purring softly as he dreamed.

James wished he was the creature right about now, sleeping and dreaming about whatever it was the magical animal dreamed about.

Glancing at his window, the sun was dull as it refused to rise earlier than it wanted to. James imagined the sun liked its routine, moving about the planet day after day, with the moon following in its wake. It was simple in nature, and he envied the bright star for it. All the sun had to do was, to him, rotate around the earth and try not to kill anyone by dropping itself onto the planet. At least, that's what James thought. He wasn't the best with astronomy, though it intrigued him. Astronomy was one of his Hogwarts classes, he wondered if it was similar to the non-magical version or not.

He knew men had gone to the moon, but did wizards? Did they know if there were any alien species out there? Were there magical elements non-magical astronomers didn't know about? They had to at least know if there were any aliens, James thought as he glanced at his new pet, wondering if the creature was from another planet or not. His new pet looked like it but he could just be one of the many mysteries James had yet to discover within the wizarding world.

James had yet to name his new friend. His Aunt Helen had threatened to give the creature to scientists and claim it was a new species of a cat if he named the animal Red Hood. James had wanted to argue with her, and for a while he did, before saying he would think about another name that didn't revolve around a "gun-toting maniac", as his aunt proclaimed the character of Red Hood to be.

James wondered as he smirked if the name Deadpool would change his Aunt Helen's mind.

There was a knock at the bedroom door, causing him to snap his head towards it and the cat-like animal to raise its own head and moan.

"Come in," James said and the door opened. Uncle Dudley stood at the door, dressed in his normal suit and tie attire he wore to work.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" James' guardian asked.

"Did you know that my new school has a secret chamber with a killer beast inside it?"

"What? Where'd you hear that?"

James held up his copy of Hogwarts: A History he had gotten at the bookshop yesterday. Professor Longbottom had said that it was an outdated book but it still peaked James' interests. He wanted to know as much as he could about his new school, outdated book or not, it was one of the few he had seen without his father being mentioned in some capacity. Professor Longbottom had prevented James from buying any of them, though.

"Most, especially the ones by Rita Skeeter, aren't completely truthful," The professor had said when James asked why he couldn't buy any of them. "Besides, if you have any questions about them, we'll talk about it tonight."

Unfortunately, both James and Professor Longbottom had forgotten about their planned talk.

"Blimey," Uncle Dudley said as he looked at the book. "Mind if I see that when you're done?"

"Sure," James said without any hesitation. "Why, though?"

"If there's a monster in the...secret chamber, then I want to know what kind of school I'm sending you to," Uncle Dudley said, which James thought was a fair enough point as he shrugged his shoulders and put the book back down next to him. Though, he wondered if his uncle was actually going to read the book or not, he never had much interest in literature. His Aunt Helen was more of the reader in the Dursley family, attributing to the bookshelf downstairs in the hallway that was filled up completely with her books.

"Right," Uncle Dudley said when James looked back up at him. "Try and clean this mess up before your aunt sees it. You know how she gets when something's out of place around here."

"Yeah," James agreed as he smirked.

"And try and sleep," Uncle Dudley warned. "You'll be dead on your feet the entire day, otherwise."

James nodded and his uncle glanced at him once more before he left the bedroom, closing the door along the way.

At his head, James' new pet made an irritated-like sound, causing him to look at the animal.

"You're really perspective for a cat," He said as his new pet lowered its head, purring when James began to scratch its ear.

He grinned when his pet began to nestle its head into his palm.

"Hmm, I want to call you Red Hood but my aunt says she'll give you off to some scientist if I do," James said to the creature. "And I doubt I can call you Deadpool without her asking where I got that name from. That name's kind of worse than Red Hood, but he's really funny. What should I call you?"

Unsurprisingly, the creature didn't answer back but it did flash its red eyes at him for a moment before they closed again.

Turning away from his pet and releasing his hand from its head, James looked back at his new things and grinned. In a month, he would be off at a wizarding school, learning about magic and whatever else came along with it.

He grabbed another book that was nearby, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. Despite feeling tired, James began to read the textbook and settle in for the day. At least until he found himself using his new book as a pillow and the ground below him as a bed. Before slipping away into his dreams, James hoped he wouldn't have another nightmare.

When Dudley got to the office that morning, he hadn't expected to find that Longbottom man and a woman with bushy brown hair waiting for him at his desk.

"Apologises for dropping in unannounced, Dudley," Longbottom said when Dudley entered his personal office. The wizard stood from his chair, while the woman remained seated, though she was now looking at Dudley, her brown eyes narrowed and scary-looking.

"No, it's quite alright," Dudley lied as he made his way over to his desk, standing behind it but not completely ready to sit down in his office chair. "Is there a problem?"

"As a matter-of-fact," The brown-haired woman said, her voice clipping in anger with each word, as she stared directly at Dudley, who suddenly wanted to run out as quickly as his legs could carry him. "There is," She continued. "My name's Hermione Granger, you may not know me but I'm well aware of who you are."

"Something tells me that's a bad thing," Dudley said, his blue eyes glancing at Longbottom before going back towards the Granger woman.

"Right," Granger said. "That depends on your treatment of my nephew."

"What?"

"About, this high," Granger said as she raised her hand past her head. "Messy brown hair, went to a lot of wizarding shops to get his school supplies for a magical school in Scotland? Does that sound like anybody you know?"

"Yes?"

"Good," Granger said as she lowered her hand and leaned forward towards Dudley's desk. "My husband's sister was James' mother. Your cousin, Harry, named me and my husband James' godparents, yet he was given to you. Why?"

"Er...That's a good question, actually," Dudley said, glancing again at Longbottom before going back to Granger. "Maybe because it's not safe in your world?"

Granger frowned but didn't appear to disagree with Dudley's words. "I want to meet James if there's no objection on your part."

"O-of course," Dudley said, momentarily hoping he said the right thing. He couldn't tell if the witch had her wand on her, though he wouldn't blame her if she did. "Today?"

"Preferably," Granger said, her facial expression becoming softer as she continued speaking. "I didn't know about him being with you until yesterday. Merlin, I saw him yesterday and didn't even recognize him."

"That's not your fault," Dudley said, warily as he sat down in his seat after remembering that he was still standing.

Granger nodded but didn't appear to believe him. "He was talking about a...red hood? He seemed rather excited about it."

Despite feeling as though his heart was going to jump out of his chest, Dudley laughed. "Red Hood, right," He said. "That's a character from a movie comic-thing he likes. My wife Helen hates it though, it's too violent for her liking." At least, that was how James was introduced to the character. He had bought the boy a Batman film, Under the Red Hood, for his birthday a couple of years ago. He hadn't realized what the movie was about until he watched it with Callum and James. Luckily, Helen didn't know there was a film out about the character, she had been horrified by the comics version enough to ban the name from being used as James' new cat-pet-thing. He could only imagine what Helen would do if she saw the movie.

"Is the...Character violent?" Granger asked, frowning as though she disapproved of the subject already.

"Yes but he's mellowed out quite a bit, I believe," Dudley said, though he didn't truly believe it. "In the comics, though James doesn't have all of them. He's more interested in superhero films and television series."

Granger nodded. "Does he have any other interests?" she asked.

"Reading," Dudley admitted. "He stayed up all night, reading his school books. Is it true that there's a monster in a secret chamber at his new school?"

Dudley frowned when the witch and wizard looked at one another.

"It's carcass is in the chamber," Was all Granger admitted, and that was all Dudley wanted to hear about that.

"Right," Dudley said uneasily. "I can call my wife and tell her you and Professor Longbottom are coming if you would like to go over there today."

"That would be lovely...Thank you."

Dudley nodded and made a note in his mind to remember to call his wife and tell her not to panic if she ends up being interrogated by the witch in front of him now.

"Brilliant," Granger said as she stood, though her eyes hardened as she stared down at Dudley. "I truly hope my nephew didn't experience anything his father did while under your parent's care."

The witch glanced at Longbottom before she walked out of the room.

"I apologize, again, for coming without any warning," Longbottom said as he stood.

"It's fine," Dudley said as he looked from the wizard to the door. "Is she normally that terrifying?"

"Only when she's angry," Longbottom admitted before he gave his goodbyes and left Dudley with a lot to think about.

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