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Chapter 11: Aftermath, Christmas and a Dinner
Silence ran through the room after Draco's confession. That was until everyone seemed to unfreeze enough to make their thoughts known. A very vocal red head got his say before the rest however.
"You! You disgusting ferret! What the hell did you do to my sister to make her say yes to you? Besides that she likes Harry not some dirty Slytherin!" Ron was furious. He may not be able to yell at Hermione yet for her lack of common sense, but Ginny was still in the here and now. How to of the Slytherin's in the room thought they could have his sister and his (not so secret) crush had another thing coming!
"Ron, Ginny hasn't liked me for a while. Not since our forth year at least," Harry said. He was not too worried about Ginny's choice of boyfriend; he had noticed her acting a lot happier lately and her sneaking off. Putting two and two together he figured she was with some one and left her to, not wanting to bring the anger of either of his red headed friends forward.
"Either way Harry, what about everything his been saying about everyone? How can she just ignore everything he's done and is doing now!?"
"We Slytherin's are very good at hiding emotions, Weasley. Something I'm afraid that I can't say for you. I acted the same to avoid exactly this from happening," Draco said calmly.
"Well Draco," Lucius began, before Ron had a chance to retort. "I, at least, am glad that you can look over blood and house conflicts. Also I would like to have a word with you later, Albus," he added, looking at the beaming Headmaster.
"I believe that can be arranged."
"Your one to talk about blood conflicts, Malfoy!" Sirius finally joined in with the argument, defending Ron's actions as he had with his own. "Took the Mark didn't you?"
Lucius went pale.
"Some of us, Black, can not escape what waits for us. Most in my year who joined the Dark Lord did it out of their father's wishes and not their own. After that what they do starts to become them. Why else did you think Hermione befriended me in our time?"
"Becomes you, what ever Malfoy. It is you!"
"Enough."
Everyone turned to face Remus in surprise. Never had they seen the werewolf look so angry before. Nor had they ever heard the disappointment in his voice as much as it was now.
"We are clearly getting no where with some thing we should be embracing, rather then pushing it away. Ron, Sirius grow up. What had happened has happened and I think that, when she gets back, you should both apologise to Hermione. Yes, you too Ron. I know that she hasn't seen your reaction but I do know that she would be very upset if she had. Harry, thank you for being mature enough to understand that peoples decisions are their own, not what others wish them to do. I'm sure both Ginny and Hermione will be grateful for your support."
Sirius and Ron both looked down, the force of Remus' words hitting them a lot harder in his calm voice then yelling ever would. While both still believed themselves to be in the right, they were less sure of their actions, both recently and in the past.
Harry, on the other hand, was very pleased that he didn't voice his first thoughts on Hermione's friends of the past. It did take him a while to get used to the idea and he was still not completely sure of her actions but then again, she was the smartest of their group and would not do anything with out a good reason. Hermione, unlike himself and Ron, did not have the typical Gryffindor recklessness and thought things through and more often then not came to the right conclusion. Besides that, the only reason he was ok with Ginny's choice was that if he could be calm of Hermione's relationship with Snape, he was sure that Ginny and Mal– Draco could be no different.
"Severus, Lucius, I am also glad that neither of you have seemed to forget who, and what, Hermione was to you both. If you can over look the past few years, as I'm sure she will, it will be very good for all of you."
Both of the Slytherin's in question did nothing to acknowledge what Remus had said to them, though Lucius did slightly title his head in Remus' general direction.
"And finally Draco, while I'm pleased of your maturity, I would like to know why you decided to send Hermione into the past," Remus finished with a faint note of curiosity in his voice.
The others all turned to face Draco too, none understanding why he did what he did while dating one of the Gryffindor princess's. Draco looked up with an almost blank face, only showing some of his unsureness.
"While I may like Ginny it does not mean that I like any of her friends. I may have liked to try but I knew, or I thought I knew, the reactions I would have gotten so I stayed quiet. I don't really know why I did what I did; I saw her enter a room and quickly followed to see what she was up to. Something just, I don't know, pulled me into doing what I did. I can't really explain it."
"I believe," Dumbledore started, looking at the youngest Malfoy thoughtfully. "That as no one else was there at the time to send her back a slight push is required to get her going. As she was in the past it means that she must be sent again, as to not disrupt the time line. Time is a very difficult thing to understand and is impossible to change. If you were sent back once and are known in that time you must be, in the future, sent back again."
Everyone got the gist of what was being said, even if some didn't understand it completely.
"Now," Dumbledore said, standing. "I believe that we should all be going back to our rooms. Lucius, Sirius and Remus, please feel free to stay the night or, indeed, until Miss Granger returns."
The three men nodded their agreement and left with the others. Many of them doubted being able to sleep that night.
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(In the Past – 1976)
Christmas time was approaching Hogwarts at fast pace. In fact, it was already Christmas Eve and Hermione was preparing for her first Christmas with out Harry and Ron, and though she found that a sad thought, she could not be truly sad. Between her new friends and her plans for the day she was sure nothing could make her sad in the coming day. Not even Sirius and James could ruin it, especially as neither had done anything to her rather then sneer or glare at her on the odd occasion since she punched Sirius in their last (and final) snow fight.
Yes everything seemed set and ready to Hermione and she was looking forward to the next day. The only thing besides Harry and Ron that may make her sad was that she would not be receiving anything from her parents that year. The thought that she would see them again when she went back to her time, however, made the sadness easier to deal with. That and she was determined to stay happy through the day, regardless of anything else.
When she awoke the next day, it was to the sound of laughter and talking. She lifted her head up to see the source of noise and saw Lily talking with Patricia Patil (who would become the Patil twin's aunt) and Alice Turner (Neville's future mother). Hermione smiled as she noticed the presents at the foot of her bed, and quietly got up and snuck up to where Lily stood.
"Hello Lily!" Hermione said in a cheery voice.
"Mione! Don't do that again! Not until we've opened our present's ant way," she added, looking over to her own small pile. It was larger then Hermione's though not by much.
Both girls grinned as they opened their presents with care, which Hermione found amusing; the last time she did this Ron threatened to open her presents for her if she didn't open them like 'normal people'.
Hermione had received a small journal with a spell lock that only she could set and a quill with it. Hermione smiled; she had mentioned to Lily that she needed something to put her thoughts into. The next she opened was from Remus who had given her a small, but beautiful orb which showed the mood of any of ten people she could charm the orb to recognise. Hermione opened a small present from Severus next and gasped when she saw what it was. A fine white gold chain with a small locket was sitting inside the box. The locket had a Pegasus engraved on top with six small diamonds decorating the edge and, when she opened it she saw on one side there was a picture of Lucius, Severus and herself, while on the over side held one of herself, Lily and Remus.
"Wow Mione! Who got you that?"
Lily had finished opening her presents and had gone to see what Hermione had gotten. Hermione simply pointed at the small card that came with the necklace and Lily quickly read it.
"So Severus brought you that? That must have cost him heaps; it doesn't look like he brought it like that," Lily said, smiling. "That's so sweet!"
"Don't let him here you say that Lily, he might curse you if you related anything to him as cute," Hermione replied, laughing.
"Let him try, I'm almost as good as he is with curses, after all, I've had so much practice! Oh and by the way," she added, picking up one of her gifts. "You wouldn't know anything about this would you?"
Hermione looked at the robe Lily held out; it was a beautiful, yet simple blood red dress like robe with a small design tracing around the edge.
"Search me. Who gave it to you?"
"Lucius Malfoy. Check and see if you've got one too."
Hermione looked over at the last parcel on her bed and carefully pulled of the wrapping. She, like Lily, had received a dress like robe from Lucius, though Hermione's was a forest green with a larger pattern that wove into a dragon like shape. With it came a small note, written in Lucius' hand.
Hermione,
I hope you like the dress; both Severus and I decided that
you don't have nearly enough green so I wanted
to rectify that. You will find that Lily also has a new
robe. This is for a dinner that myself and Severus
decided to host. It is to be in the R.o.R and a door
should appear automatically.
Yours Lucius
Hermione wordlessly handed the note to Lily who carefully read through it. When she was finished she had a look of confusion on her face.
Turning to face Hermione she said, "I can understand why they want you to go but, why would they want me too?"
"You're mine and Severus' friend and I guess that Lucius wanted to have all of our main friends there," Hermione said thoughtfully. "You are going to go aren't you?"
"I don't see why not. Besides I really want to have an excuse to wear this dress. I can wear that bracelet you got me too, thanks for that by the way."
"Same for the journal you got me. I really needed something like that."
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It took almost two hours for the girls to get ready for the dinner Lucius had decided to hold, and when they entered the Room they were glad they did. Gone was the lounge like room Hermione was used to and an elegantly decorated dining room had replaced it. The room, while not being overly big, looked huge as the light of a crystal chandelier reflected off the white marble walls. In the centre of the room stood a table that looked like it was from an expensive restaurant and, standing in front of it was Severus, who was wearing black dress robes, and Lucius, who was wearing a dark blue.
Dinner was very nice as was the conversation that continued through it. While it was awkward at the start, especially for Lily, the atmosphere relaxed more and more through the night, making it a very enjoyable evening. As Hermione watched Lily and Lucius talk she found herself again wondering what had changed the two men in the room to what they became in the future.
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Sorry for the lack of action at the dinner, it was more of a filler then anything. Please tell me how you think it went by… you guessed it! Reviewing!!!!!!!
Lady of Elysion