DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.
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A/N: I'm sorry about Chapter 20 (Part 30). I didn't know what was wrong because after I uploaded it, I checked my email and there was a notification. The link even worked! But then, viola1701e messaged me and told me about it. I tried deleting the chapter and uploading it again, but the same thing happened. I hope this is just temporary, and FFN will be back to normal.
Thanks ever so much for your support!
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Chapter 30: Hermione's Loyalty
"'YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!' shrieked Snape. 'HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT -'
'That will do, Severus,' said Dumbledore quietly. 'Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?'
'Of course not!' said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. 'I've been with them ever since you left!'
'Well, there you have it, Severus,' said Dumbledore calmly. 'Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further.'"
-J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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1994
(Cedric and Hermione's past)
It would be Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor again. Ravenclaw beat Slytherin, and Gryffindor won against Ravenclaw (thanks to Harry Potter's Firebolt). Now, Cedric was getting worried. Ian suggested Ced get a Firebolt, but his Nimbus 2000 was just new. He didn't have the heart to ask his parents for a Firebolt.
He wanted to win. He really did. He knew Hermione and the rest of the Hufflepuffs (his godmother, included), would not take it against him if Harry Potter caught the Snitch first and they wouldn't get the Quidditch Cup.
But he wanted to prove something - that Hufflepuffs are not duffers and lax. He wanted to prove that even though they were not cunning, brave, or witty, they could win because they were the most hardworking students in Hogwarts.
He sighed and slumped on the sofa in the common room. Hermione was sitting across from him, reading a book, and looked up to give him a small smile. She probably heard his heavy sigh.
"Stop worrying, Ced," Terrence, from his left, tried to cheer him up. "We're going to win the Quidditch Cup!"
"Mate, you'll never fully understand because you're not on the team," Ian quipped.
Terrence gave them a sympathetic look. "You're right. So, tell me, what's the best way to beat the Gryffindors? Cho Chang was a great flyer. I saw her play against Malfoy, but Potter beat her."
"Because she was riding a Comet Two Sixty and it looked like a joke with the Firebolt around," Ian explained carefully.
Terrence frowned. "What's the fastest broom in the market these days?"
"In Britain, Firebolt," replied Ian. "But in Japan, the Falcon 2010. It is dubbed as 'the bullet broom of Asia'."
"Really?" Terrence didn't sound convinced. "I don't know anything about the wizarding in Asia." Then, he turned to Hermione. "Hey, midget, ever heard of Japan?"
Cedric looked up to see Hermione's reaction.
"Of course! We studied geography and history in the Muggle school, you know."
"So, what do you know about their stuff?" inquired Ian.
"Oh, they are the best! Their Muggle technology is great and more advanced - and everything that's made in Japan is of high quality because they ensure this so-called 'zero factory defect'. And the best thing I like is Okinawa - the healthiest people in the world live there..."
"All right, all right," Terrence cut her off and laughed. "I get it. Japan is great." He stood up. "Excuse me, I forgot to write a letter to my father."
Cedric frowned. Just like that, Terrence left them.
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A week before the Quidditch match, Cedric was awakened by shaking and calling from his two best mates. "Wuz goin' on?" he asked sleepily.
Ian was sitting on the edge of his bed, close to his face. He was grinning as if Christmas arrived early. "The impossible has just happened, Ced!"
He slowly sat up. Terrence was sitting on his own bed, giving them a small smile. He gestured towards Ian's bed and there, two wrapped presents were lying. By the looks of it, they looked like broomsticks.
He turned to Terrence in shock. "Who?" he asked.
"Terrence, of course!" Ian exclaimed. "You think only Draco Malfoy's father could afford brooms for the entire team?"
"Don't exaggerate, mate," Terrence said. "I didn't buy for the entire team."
"But why?" he asked, puzzled.
Terrence smiled kindly. "No more birthday and Christmas gifts for the next two years, all right? The next presents will be after Hogwarts. Well, enjoy flying... and practicing. And I'll be on a date by the lake with my beautiful girlfriend."
But before Terrence could exit their shared room, Cedric and Ian tackled their friend for a 'manly hug'.
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"I can't believe it!"
"A Falcon 2010!"
"Terrence must be out of his mind for buying them for you!" joked one Hufflepuff.
Hermione smiled as she watched Ced and Ian show everyone their broomsticks in the Hufflepuff common room. But they also asked everyone not to tell students from other houses about it. When most of their housemates left for lunch, Ced went back to her side and placed an arm around her shoulders.
"Happy?" she asked, grinning.
Ced flashed his crooked smile. "Perfectly happy. How did I get so lucky - having such a kind and generous best mate?"
"Well, you're a good person - a good friend. One wouldn't mind losing or spending their money on friends."
"Terrence said he did it because we're a family."
"You and Ian are his brothers. Blood doesn't define family, you know."
Ced nodded in agreement and pulled her closer to him.
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July 2020
(the present)
"With just being an Unspeakable, even if I became the head of the department for five years and the huge amount of money Hermione earned from her and Severus's potions inventions, it would take twenty years to buy a house like this!"
"So, it was Mr. O'Brien who bought this property?" Al asked. They were outside the house. Ced took a day off after Al was released from the hospital. Tonight was also Neville's birthday party, and their attendance was required.
Ced nodded. "Right after Hogwarts, he volunteered to loan us money for my dream house, knowing that I wouldn't be able to afford a furnished house in two years - by the time Hermione was finished with school. Pay when able, he said."
"Wow. He did the same for Mr. Fawley?"
He nodded. "We're family, after all."
Albus's facial expression fell. "Dad, my Aunt Mione, and Uncle Ron were almost the same. They were very close to one another. Sometimes they argue... I would hear Dad and Aunt Mione arguing, and Mum would tell off Dad and Uncle Ron for treating their best friend an unappreciated mother."
Ced frowned at that. "Unappreciated mother?"
"Well, Aunt Mione has always been the mature one and the brain of the group. Dad even said he would never have survived Hogwarts without Aunt Mione... same with hunting the Horcruxes. I've read in history books all the things she did to help Dad... My cousin Rose was also extremely brilliant, but I didn't want her around because... I don't know. Maybe I don't want her to babysit me; to tell me what's right and wrong... It's been a while since I thought fondly of her. I just realized how important she is when I arrived in an alternative universe and met Panju Weasley - my Uncle Ron's offspring with one of the Patil twins."
Ced didn't say anything. He just gave him a nod in understanding.
"I'm happy to know that here, Hermione Granger was appreciated, loved, and respected - and even protected - during her Hogwarts days."
"I guess here, she experienced something she never had the chance to have in your timeline: to be a normal teenager.
"Yeah," Al chuckled in agreement. "even with the time-turner here, she became a normal Hogwarts girl."
"Well, with the time-turner, almost normal."
Al frowned a bit. "What do you mean?"
"Tell me your timeline's version of the escape of Buckbeak and Sirius Black..." he asked instead.
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1994
(Cedric and Hermione's past)
Hermione left the hospital wing that night when she was sure that Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley were both in deep sleep. Aside from the shock caused by facing a werewolf, and the fatigue she experienced, helping Harry with the Dementors by casting the Patronus Charm, she was fine. There were just a few scratches, but she was fine. She had enough rest.
She needed to see Professor Snape. She owed him a lot and she respected him. He had to know the truth.
From the hospital wing, Hermione went to the dungeons and knocked at Professor Snape's office door.
The door was opened by a disheveled Professor Snape. His teaching robes were gone. He was now only wearing a button-down black shirt, trousers, and shoes. His hair was in a mess. He also smelled alcohol. But when he saw her, he ran a hand on his hair in an attempt to put it in place.
"Miss Granger," he said nonchalantly.
"Professor, there is something you need to know about what happened earlier..."
He snorted.
"Please, Professor."
"Does the headmaster even know you're here?"
Hermione shook her head. "Please, Professor, if you will just let me in - "
"I am drunk, Miss Granger. I'm afraid I can't do that. As your professor, it is inappropriate. Also, the fact that you're here after curfew."
Hermione sighed heavily. There's no other way, she decided. "The headmaster will surely not agree to this, but he broke rules himself- he made me break a rule," she whispered. "And I don't feel good about it."
"Hang on, Miss Granger," he said and waved a wand around them. "This conversation has to be private. Someone might still see us, but there's a fair distance between us, so it would be fine. Go on."
Hermione admired Professor Snape's gesture. He cast privacy charms around them. If for example, Mr. Filch or other Hogwarts staff or students would see them it would appear as if they were having a normal teacher-student conversation.
She reached inside her jumper for the pendant of her 'necklace'. "Upon arriving in school on the first of September, Professor Sprout gave me this - a ministry-issued time-turner to help me with my studies. Professor Sprout said it should only be for studying and getting enough sleep... This is why I could handle weekly sessions with you, Sir."
"And that," he spat at the word, "is how you and Potter managed to be in two places at once."
Hermione nodded. "I happen to be searching for my pet, Crookshanks. Weasley accused my cat again of eating his rat. I was outside when I saw him get dragged by a black dog towards the Whomping Willow. I called for help, but my pet also dragged me when Potter followed."
Hermione told him what happened inside the Shrieking Shack - the dog was gone and they found Sirius Black and he told them that the rat was Peter Pettigrew. Hermione also told her professor about the confrontation and the 'truth' Black and Professor Lupin talked about.
"And then you came..."
"And Potter knocked me out," he spat again.
"Because he wanted to know the truth - if Pettigrew was indeed an Animagus and if Black was really innocent."
She told him what happened next when the Potions master passed out until the events happened in the hospital wing.
"Professor Dumbledore asked me to turn five times and that I should take Harry Potter with me. At first, I didn't know what he wanted me to do, but then we went back to the time when the hippogriff was about to be executed. Harry Potter suggested we rescue Black as well because the headmaster said, we could save two lives."
"So, do you believe that Black was innocent?"
Hermione nodded. "It would seem so."
Silence. Hermione couldn't stand it anymore because she didn't know what Professor Snape was thinking. "Sir, I'm so sorry..."
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked softly.
"Because you deserve to know what happened! You still brought me and Potter back to the castle even though you dislike him so much. I respect you, Professor, and it feels like it's the right thing to do. What the headmaster made me do... it wasn't fair. He should've known that Peter Pettigrew was in the castle! He's supposedly the greatest wizard in the world... I'm sorry, Professor, but it felt wrong to send two teenagers to solve the problem."
Professor Snape inhaled sharply. "I get your point, Miss Granger. Thank you for telling me. Fifty points to Hufflepuff for displaying bravery and sticking to your values. I shall not tell the headmaster about this conversation so you won't be in trouble. Let me escort you back to the hospital wing."
Hermione sighed in relief. "Thank you, too, Professor. For everything."