Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor its characters. They belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling.
July 11th
The past week has been pretty boring for Hermione. After Dumbledore's first visit, she has been all alone for two days. Without any book or any television she was alone with her thoughts and it was in those moments she missed Harry and Ron the most. She even wished that Fred and George would be with her to make her smile. But none of them were even borned yet, and it made her feel so alone.
She was used to be alone before Hogwarts, before she met Harry and Ron. But now, she was used to be surrounded with friends. For years, she was only friend with those two boys, and a lot of time she wondered how they were still friends with her with how bossy and rule sticking she was. It was really a wonder but they accepted her, even if they had their share of fights. But then, what friends didn't fight?
She thought they would be her only friends but then, as the years passed, she befriended the twins and Ginny. And she was really happy that she did. Ginny was one of her only female friends, and with Harry and Ron around, she needed a girl friend – as long as it was not someone like her roommate, Lavander – and Ginny welcomed her as a sister. The twins always teased her and even if she always snapped at them, she was truly happy to have their attention. Plus, they were geniuses, even if she didn't approve some of their products and especially their testing on first years, their products were amazing.
Then, there was Neville, who, in fact, was her real first friend. And finally there was Luna. She had troubles to get along with her in the first place. She thought she was weird with her beliefs but soon found that Luna was genuinely nice. She looked past her funny beliefs – she still didn't know what narggles were – and was in fact impressed how she assumed who she was.
They all accepted her and her bossiness and she missed them so much.
In those two days, all she thought about was her friends.
But thanks heaven, Dumbledore came back with a woman. A beautiful woman who introduced herself as Dorea Potter. Dumbledore explained her that Mrs. Potter and her family would be the ones that will be taking care of her. Dumbledore also told her that Dorea knew about her situation and recommended to tell the woman everything about her. Well, at least what she was ready to tell. He then left the two women alone, after he told Hermione he would send her an owl sometime during the summer about school.
There was an awkward silence for a little while before Dorea started talking. She introduced herself once more and told her about her family. She told her about her husband Charlus, and about her two sons, James Potter and Sirius Black.
Hermione smiled when she mentioned Sirius as her own son. She was also relieved, knowing that James and Harry looked alike. It would probably hurt too, in the future, but at least she would have a familiar face around. Even if it wasn't Harry.
Hermione told Dorea very little about her. Her name, her age, what house she was in before the accident. Mrs. Potter didn't push her to tell her anything else and Hermione was grateful.
After that, Dorea would come every day for an hour or two. She would come with her husband sometime and the more they came, the more Hermione felt at ease with them. She opened up a little, telling them about Harry. Not too much though, just that he was her best friend, that he was their grandson and that he was so brave.
When she talked about Harry, she thought of the last words he told her. "I love you". Harry had never said he loved her before, and she didn't know in what way he meant it. She thought it was as a best friend, or as a brother even. She couldn't imagine him in love with her. But then, there was always that little doubt, as everyone thought that they were dating. Maybe they saw something she didn't see?
She will never know.
But as soon as these thoughts came, she pushed them at the back of her mind. Today, she was finally being released from the hospital and she needed to get dressed. Dorea gave her a change from her own wardrobe, but she would need to go shopping for her own clothes. It made her sigh. She wasn't looking forward for a day full of shopping. And she didn't want to know how much different Diagon Alley was in 1976.
James looked at his parents during breakfast. They have been talking between each other a lot for the past week, even locking themselves in a room so they wouldn't overhear, him and Sirius. But with his invisibility cloak, he always managed to eavesdrop a little. That's how he discovered that the Harry Potter he had heard of earlier in the week was in fact his son in the future. He didn't know how to take that. He was happy that he would have a family of his own, but he really hoped that it would be with Lily Evans. Though, it would be next to impossible with what happened at the end of their OWLs.
With the help of Sirius, he has been organizing a room for the girl – Hermione. He wanted her to be at ease, especially since it would be very disorienting for her to be in such an unfamiliar environment. So he hoped it could help to have a room where she would be at ease. He didn't miss the smiles that his parents sent him at dinner after he spent the day in the said room.
He couldn't wait to meet her. She had been alone most of the week, except for the couple of hours a day when his parents visited her. He know he would have turned crazy, being alone like that for a room. And without any of his friends. He wanted to visit her, but his parents prohibited it. They didn't give him a reason, but he listened to them nonetheless.
But today was finally the day she was coming over, and he swore in his mind that he wouldn't ever let her feel lonely. He hated to be alone, and he would never want someone to be alone. Well, maybe not Snape. But he had his reasons.
He heard them arrive in the fireplace and it took everything in him to not run to welcome her. He heard Sirius chuckle by his side and he knew he made a terrible job at hiding his excitement.
After several minutes, James and Sirius slowly descended the stairs and walked into the lounge. There, they saw James' parents with a girl of their age who had an incredible mass of curly hair.
"Ah, Jamesie, Sirius," greeted Dorea, "here is Hermione. Be nice to her, alright?"
The girl turned around and they saw her face for the first time since they entered the room. She was pretty. Not drop dead gorgeous like Lily Evans was, but she was pretty. A discreet beauty like Remus liked them. She had wild curly hair that gave her a, well, wild look. It suited her and they couldn't imagine her with straight hair. They were long, ending at the end of her breast. She had beautiful eyes, though. They were brown, but like chocolate with a bit of caramel in them. Sirius noted that she didn't have a lot of breast but she had nice shapes to compensate.
James walked toward her, extending his hand with a big smile on his face.
"Hi, I'm James, nice to meet you."
Hermione gave him a little smile and shook his hand.
"Hermione Granger. It's nice to meet you, James."
Sirius then introduced himself, telling her that he wasn't a Potter but was living with them because of his family.
Dorea smiled as she watched her two sons trying to get to know Hermione. She knew it would take time for her to open up to them, but then, James and Sirius weren't know to ever give up when they wanted something. She saw that Hermione was getting a little uncomfortable – she suspected that it was to see Sirius so young and James who everyone in her time said he looked just like James – and decided to help the poor girl.
"James, dear, why don't you show Hermione her room," she smiled, putting a hand on her son's shoulder. She then turned her eyes on Hermione. "You will love your room, Hermione. James worked on it all week with Sirius help. Don't worry, he has an excellent taste in decoration."
James blushed a little at that, but took Hermione's hand. "Come on, let's get you settle." He then dragged her upstairs. Sirius didn't follow them as he heard him his mother if she needed help with the dinner.
They entered the room and James was blushing a little, looking at her face, waiting for her reaction. He really wanted her to feel at home.
Hermione looked around her in awe. She was really surprised how good the room was. She was a little afraid at first, she almost expected a room with ping everywhere. But not at all. The room was painted in a light blue like her own room was back at home. There was a double bed that seemed really comfortable, with a lot of pillows on it. There was a white and fluffy carpet on the ground, and she couldn't wait to walk barefoot on it. There was a simple white wardrobe and a desk in the same color where a set of quills lied.
She looked at James and gave him one of her warmest smile that made him smile in return.
"It's really great, James! I really like it. Your mother is right, you have great taste," she smiled, "thank you for doing that. You didn't have to."
"Nonsense! I wanted to do it," he exclaimed. He smiled at her, gesturing at the room. "Well, I'll let you settle. I'll be downstairs helping for dinner."
He walked toward the door, before stopping and turning around, a smirk on his face.
"Oh, and tomorrow, we're going to Diagon Alley. I heard that you need a brand new wardrobe," he saw her expression fell and laughed, "don't worry! It will be only me and Sirius! Mum is a nightmare when she's shopping, I'm saving you. And I have great tast in clothed too, you'll be amazing!"
He was going to leave before he stopped again.
"Oh, and a friend will be joining us too, is that alright with you," he asked. When she nodded, he smiled. "Great! If you ever feel uncomfortable meeting him, just tell me!"
With that, he left.
Dinner at the Potter's was really convivial. Everyone was chatting and there were a lot of laughters. It reminded her of the Burrows, and she almost expected Moly Weasley to enter the room with her so delicious turkey. She almost expected to see Ron dig in the first and she almost expected to hear the loud laughters of the twins.
But it was not the Burrow.
Dorea Potter was an excellent cook, though. She refused to let the house eleves cooking, it was something she was adamant to do. Charlus Potter was really interesting and had a lot of stories to tell, and James and Sirius were really funny. They told her about the pranks they had done at Hogwarts during the five last years and it made her laugh a lot. After Umbridge, she has sworn to let go a little. She didn't want to become like that woman.
That night, she laughed for the first time since she awoke. She was at peace, not thinking of anything of her past life.
She's also sworn to herself that night, that she would do everything in her power to save James and Sirius.
Hi!
So here is the third chapter! I'm sorry that the story is taking so long to take place, but I don't want to rush anything. I want Hermione to settle in 1976 and it always take time to get use to an unfamiliar environment. I don't know about you, but it's always at the beginning that I think non stop about my friends.
So she met Sirius and James in this chapter. Isn't James a cinnamon roll in this chapter? I always thought that when someone was in that kind of situation, he would do everything in his power to help them settle.
Anyway.
The usual, leave a review to tell me what you think of this chapter.
Also tell me if you see any grammatical or spelling mistake in there. English is not my mother language so there may be a few.
Love,
Elie.
