Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot of this story. Sadly...
I hope you will like this chapter, but before reading this, please read this author's not 'cause it's important.
First of all, I want to thank everyone who reviewed, those reviews made my day!
Some of you wondered why Dumbledore didn't recognize them at once. Well, only because you wouldn't expect your 3rd year students suddenly appear on the floor of the Great Hall, in their 24 year old selves.
I'm sure you've noticed that Harry introduced Hermione as Hermione Granger instead of Hermione Granger-Potter. Well, that was only because they are not going to tell everything about the future. Or not willingly, anyway. And this is the answer to some of you, who have stated that you don't go back to the past and simply state that you are from the future.
I've changed the year from 1994 to 1993 in chapter 2 'cause some of you stated that their 3rd year was in 1993-1994 instead of 1994-1995, and after a little calculation I had to agree.
Someone told me that Hermione's middle name was Jane, so I've changed that too in the 1st chapter.
Now, onto the story!
-.-.-
Conversations
"Excuse me?" asked Dumbledore, wondering if he could believe his own ears or not. Then slowly the whispering started, very silently, at first but it slowly became shouting, everyone asking if they heard right. "Did he say Harry Potter?" "He must be kidding! That woman can't be Hermione Granger. She's too beautiful" etc.
"Silence!" shouted Dumbledore, his voice strong, but Hermione still could hear the shock from it. "Please follow me to my office. Now." His voice was still calm, but commanding at the same time. Hermione looked into her husband's eyes and could tell right away that he had no desire to explain everything, but eventually they followed the older man out of the Hall (glancing towards the Gryffindor table, looking for a certain someone, or three, to be exact), up the stairs, and to Dumbledore's office. When they arrived, he gestured them to sit down and he sat down behind his desk and suddenly looked very old and tired.
"Explain." he simply said without his grandfatherly stile which Hermione was so used to, even eight years after his death. Hermione locked eyes with Harry once again silently asking him what to tell their aged headmaster. As if answering her question, Harry started to speak:
"As we've already told you in the Great Hall, we had a potions accident and somehow found ourselves on the floor of the Great Hall of 1993. There's nothing else to tell, really."
'Yeah, nothing my ass.' thought Hermione, and one glance at Dumbledore told her that he didn't believe them either, even though he let the matter slip.
"And you are claiming to be two of my students from the future, right?" he asked skeptically, clearly not believing them.
"No, we are not claiming it. We are stating it, because we are." came the answer of a slightly irritated Harry. "Believe me when I say that we have as much desire to be here as you want us to. And that's not much, but until we figure out what had happened exactly and find a way to go back to our time, you are stuck with us."
"You seem to be a little bit arrogant, don't you? This is my school and you have no right to tell me what to or not to do. You know where the door is. Please leave now and I don't wish to see anymore of you." As Harry was about to leave, his wife got up from her chair, grabbed her husband's arm while half shouting, half stating a simple word meant as much for Dumbledore as for her husband as well:
"No. This is war and we don't need to have arguments between people on our sides. You both will stay at your seats and discuss this matter friendly. First of all, we are…" upon hearing the word we Hermione heard Harry groan but continued her speech as if nothing had happened "As I was saying before, we are willing to take the Veritaserum to prove our point, in one condition: you only ask what you need to believe us, nothing about the future. Is it good enough for you, professor?" asked Hermione looking sharply at her former headmaster.
"There's no need to do it. I'm going to accept your word, for now, but remember, if I find anything suspicious, you will be out of here quicker than you can say the word Quidditch. Am I clear?"
"Perfectly clear." It seemed that Harry decided to stick with his so called "leader voice", developed with eight years of hard work. 'After the death of Dumbledore the reality of war came crashing down onto us, especially Harry. Of course we were aware of the war, the sacrifices, the victims, but that was the worst point of the war. For us, anyway. The Order of the Phoenix was without a leader, lost its only spy (even though we found out eventually, too late, might I add, that Snape was following Dumbledore's orders all along) , Harry hid away from the world, from all of us, most people thought that our only hope died, or worse, joined Voldemort. That was a dark time, the darkest of those eight years. A lot of people on the light side committed suicide after the disappearance of Harry or after the death of their loved ones.
We tried, and tried to find Harry, sent him letters, but no answer came. After a year we started to give up our hope, but someday, out of the blue he came back. He was dark and changed. He wasn't the boy I used to know. Something happened to him along that year that changed him drastically. He is still recovering, trying to find his old self, but I think some part of him will be forever dead, dead with Dumbledore, his parents, Sirius and so many more,' thought Hermione
"You'll be staying on the forth floor. Miss Granger, your room is behind the portrait of Loch Ness, the password is Nessie and Mr. Potter's behind the portrait of the Hungarian Horntail, and your password is Golden Egg. You will be eating breakfast at the Great Hall with the rest of the castle. I trust you know your way around. Good night." With that he signaled the end of the conversation and continued doing what he had to.
The two time travelers went all the way to their rooms in complete silence, until they arrived to their destination. Like a silent agreement they headed for the portrait of the Hungarian Horntail. After changing the password to Moldy-Voldy, they went in, sat down on the couch right in front of the fire and sat in silence for a long time, until Hermione decided to break the silence.
"Well, it could have been worse."
"Yeah? And how? He doesn't trust us and that's just as bad as being in a room with a Dementor and without a wand." Said Harry.
"But he let us stay. And that means he does trust us, even if just a little bit."
"No, that means he wants us here, right in front of his nose. Of course, he doesn't know that we could beat him in a heartbeat."
"Or you can, anyway."
"Don't be so pessimist. You are strong. Stronger than ever." Hermione heard Harry say. When Harry returned from his one-year absence he had powers, powers that no human should have. Of course, he needed them to defeat Voldemort, but still. Wandless and silent magic was just a few of those powers. He read more books in that one year than Hermione in her whole life, and that's something.
"We have to agree on the things we tell and don't tell them, you know." said Hermione, instead of telling him what she was thinking about the whole her-defeating-Dumbledore thing.
"I know, but why? Why did we have to travel back to this year? Why!? I mean we could save everyone. Everyone! But no, we have to shut our mouths and let them die. Is it fair? Tell me, is it?" He asked, finally letting go all of his frustration. "Why do I have to be the one who sacrifices everything? "He only allowed himself to be like this when he was alone with his wife, the only one who he trusted with his life and secrets. The only one who, he knew, wouldn't judge him, just try to help him.
"You don't have to. But you are like this. Always the hero." said Hermione sitting right next to Harry, pulling her husband closer "You have to learn how to be selfish, even just a little bit. Look, why don't we stop this conversation now and go to bed? We will have more than enough time in the morning. We both need some sleep. Okay?"
"Alright." agreed Harry with a sigh, letting his wife to lead him towards 'his' bedroom. As he was about to let her in first, she just shook her head no.
"You know that I have to go to 'my' room. Dumbledore isn't stupid and I would be willing to bet that he is watching us somehow. So, for now, until we find out how to avoid him, we have to sleep separately. So good night," she kissed her husband goodnight and left the room without looking back, as she knew, she would only find the closed door of her husband.
-.-.-
I hope you have liked this chapter and please leave me a review telling me your opinion.
I'm looking for a beta! Please, if you want to be the beta of this story send me an e-mail.
And any ideas for adventures or any other things are welcomed!
Thanks for reading: