Chapter 6

Hermione woke up just as their car pulled into the Dursleys' driveway. She saw Heather through the window by the door, apparently having rushed downstairs when she saw them.

Heather had phoned Hermione's house the night before to say that the Dursleys were allowing her to leave to visit with Hermione.

Hermione and her parents got out of the car to go say hello to the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia came out to greet them, Heather following.

"Dudley, can you be a gentleman and get Heather's trunk?" Petunia said.

Hermione could hear Dudley whining, but he emerged with Heather's trunk. Hermione could see that he was already noticeably more muscular than he had been back at King's Cross.

Hermione's dad took Heather's trunk and loaded it into the boot of their car, Heather handed off Hedwig's cage, which he also put into the boot.

"Well… see you later then," Heather said awkwardly.

"You said the plan was for you to visit with those… Weasels afterward? For the rest of the Summer?"

Heather nodded. "Weasleys. And yes."

Her aunt nodded stiffly. "Well, then, I suppose we shall see you next Summer then."

Heather nodded. "Have a good year, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, Dudley."

"You too," Vernon choked out, somewhat forced.

Heather, Hermione, and her parents made their way back to the Grangers' car and got in to head back to the Grangers' house.

"They were rather pleasant," Hermione said after a bit.

Her mum nodded her agreement. "I'm surprised. I expected them to be more… not that."

Heather shrugged. "They like to appear normal. By all appearances, I am a young teenage girl. Having me do the heavy lifting of my trunk would seem not normal. Asking Dudley, the big strong young man, to help would, to them, be much more normal. They did know you two aren't wizards, after all."

Hermione's dad said, "that… makes a lot of sense, actually."

Heather giggled. "Actually, I just told them that my godfather would be unhappy if I was unhappy, and they currently believe him to be a convicted murderer."

Hermione's dad did a double-take. "What?"

Heather laughed. "He's not a murderer, of course. He's actually innocent of all charges. But the Dursleys don't know that."

"So, they're scared of him, then?" Hermione's mum asked.

Heather nodded. "And since the neighbors would find it strange that they have a young girl doing things typically expected of men and teenaged boys to be doing, like mowing the lawn and whatnot, I managed to convince them to have Dudley do that sort of thing, while I did the more quote on quote 'feminine' tasks, such as gardening and preparing food."

"Clever of you," Hermione said.

Heather snorted. "Uncle Vernon also agreed that it was probably about time to teach Dudley to do those sorts of things anyway."

Hermione's dad snorted.

"So, what will you two be doing for the next couple of weeks?" Hermione's mum asked.

"Well," Heather said, "Hermione said she wanted to help me with some studying."

"Also, I was thinking of maybe teaching her to swim in our pool." The Grangers actually had a pool in their backyard.

Heather's eyes widened. "Swimming?"

Hermione nodded, before leaning over to whisper in Heather's ear; "in the off chance that, despite all the precautions Dumbledore and I will be taking, you somehow still end up entered into the blasted Tournament, you'll want to know-how. One of the tasks involves swimming."

Heather nodded. "I mean, sounds fun."

Hermione smiled at her. "We have a pool in our back yard that I can teach you in. It's not too deep, and mum is a certified lifeguard."

"Oh, the Dursleys would be so jealous that you have a pool."

Hermione laughed.

"Anything else?" her dad asked.

Hermione looked at Heather. "You've never been to the cinema, right?"

Heather shook her head.

"So, there's that, then."

Once they arrived at the Grangers' home, Hermione led Heather up the stairs to the guest room.

"So, you'll be staying here, Heather."

"It's cozy," Heather said.

"I suppose," Hermione replied. Hermione frowned. "I guess you probably don't have your own swimsuit?"

Heather shook her head.

"I didn't think so." She examined the old clothes Petunia had given her. "We should probably get you some new clothes. Key word being new. And of course, a swimsuit as well. And I imagine you'll also need bras sooner or later; the effects of male puberty should be fully reversed by now."

Heather shrugged. "I mean, I guess. I mean, my voice doesn't crack at all anymore. And that little bit of mustache I had is gone."

"You had a bit of mustache?"

Heather giggled. "Guess it wasn't that noticeable then."

Hermione shook her head. "I suppose it wasn't."

"So…. now what?"

Hermione shrugged. "Dinner will be in about an hour, so we don't really have time to go pick up some clothes for you. I could start teaching you Occlumency, however. Probably for the best. If we start now, I should be able to get you good enough by the time we get back to school. If you keep practicing, you should have it mastered by next Summer."

"Ok then," Heather said, "how do I do this?"

Hermione sat down on the bed, and Heather sat with her.

"For starters, it's probably best if you're sitting, or even laying down. As a beginner, you're going to be in and out of consciousness as we practice it. You could fall over if you were standing."

Heather laid back against the pillow. "This good?"

Hermione nodded. "Next you want to sort of clear your mind. There are techniques to it, and masters can do Occlumency without even needing to clear their mind, the thoughts they want hidden are already locked away, and all the intruder will see is mundane things. That's not something you'll be able to do yet as a beginner. And so, we start with the hardest of the obstacles, because once you're passed it, everything else is much easier."

"So, what are some of those techniques then?"

"Right, so, the one I used when I first learned this was probably the easiest – although it doesn't work for everybody, and I have practiced the other techniques so that I could teach them in the first place. Anyway, all you need to do is simply picture a dark room. Completely dark. No light, no sound. Helps if you close your eyes at first."

Heather closed her eyes. "How do I not fall asleep doing this?"

"Practice," Hermione said. "Like I said, no light, no sound, no smell. You can't even feel the floor beneath you."

"That's hard," Heather said.

"I know, thoughts keep popping up, don't they?"

Heather nodded.

"That's fine, I didn't expect anything different from that. No, what you want to do is find a focus. Not a memory, not a thought. A focus. An idea. One small sensation within this dark room you've constructed. A small candle. Or wait. Not a candle. A candle gives off smell and light, that's two sensations. So, a single ball of light. A dull hum. A smell, one you know. Not a smell you like, nor a smell you hate. Just a smell. Don't even think about the name of the smell, just imagine the smell. Just this empty, dark room and this smell, or this sound, or this small light. If it's a sound, don't change to the tone. It must be just one tone. Something that can fade into the background, not enough to distract you, but enough to distract others not used to it. Can you tell me what you chose?"

"Sound."

"Now, focus on this sound. Perfect it, make it a part of your mind. This is the background sound in your mind. If someone breaks into your mind, you want this sound to be the only thing they can hear." Hermione waited a couple of minutes. "Open your eyes."

Heather's eyes remained shut.

Hermione sighed. She reached over to poke her friend.

Heather woke up. "Oh… sorry."

Hermione smiled. "Don't apologize. That's normal. Happened to me a few times when I started. Want to try again?"

Heather nodded.

"Alright. Imagine the dark room again. With the noise. Maybe not the noise, maybe change it, if you'd like. A smell, perhaps."

After a few more attempts in which Heather fell asleep, she finally managed to stay awake.

"I did it!" she said.

Hermione smiled. "Good job, Heather."

"That was really hard."

Hermione nodded. "And that was step one. Next, you need to spend several hours trying to hold nothing but this empty room in your head while someone pokes at your mind with Legilimency, which is what I will be doing starting next session. As for right now, it is nearly time to eat, I imagine."

"Wait, how are you going to perform magic outside of Hogwarts?"

Hermione smirked. "Dumbledore sent me a signed note that excused me from the restriction for the purposes of teaching you Occlumency."

"He can do that?"

Hermione nodded. "He popped by yesterday evening with someone from the ministry. They tested my Occlumency and Legilimency skills, and now I am a certified master in both. The ministry examiner was astounded that someone as 'young' as I am managed to master both, but Dumbledore just said something about how I'm an 'exceptionally bright witch.' As a benefit, now I am exempt from the underage magic rule for the purpose of teaching either skill."

"That's really cool!"

Hermione nodded. "Those skills were one of the only things I managed to really keep on top of after I left for Canada in the old timeline."

"Are you going to teach them to anyone else?" Heather asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Probably some of our friends. I know I ought to tell them about me being from the future and all that. And if I'm going to do that, I probably should teach them to protect that secret too."

"You told me already."

Hermione sighed. "I did, yeah. I had always intended to tell you immediately. I just… I didn't want you to have to wait any longer to come out, you know. The sooner you could be yourself, the better."

Heather gave Hermione a hug. "Thanks for getting me to come out then."

"Hermione! Heather! Dinner's ready!" They heard Hermione's mum call.

Heather giggled.

"Come on, you," Hermione said, pulling Heather up off the bed. "We need to eat."

The next morning, Hermione was up early, as usual. Unlike usual, however, 'early' meant 5 in the morning. The reason for her early rise was unclear, but once awake, Hermione could never get back to sleep. So, she sat up and picked up a book from her nightstand, opening it to where the bookmark was. The book in question was a translation of the Iliad, something which she had been reading over the past few days.

She had just reached the part where Achilles died when she suddenly felt like she needed to check on Heather.

Hermione put the bookmark back into her book (with a marker on the bookmark to indicate exactly where on the page she left off, of course), and got up out of bed. She pulled on a pair of socks, then slipped out of her bedroom door. Her room was just across the hall from Heather's, so she quickly slipped into the room.

Hermione immediately noticed that Heather was not currently in bed. Instead, Heather's sheets were crumpled at the foot of her bed, and Heather was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed. She was clutching her abdomen, as if in pain.

"Heather?"

The girl looked up at her, a grimace on her face.

Hermione sat next to her. "What's wrong?"

Heather shrugged. "Dunno. Just hurts."

"What hurts?"

Heather waved her hand over her belly. "Just everything around here I guess."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Heather…" oh Merlin, this was going to be an awkward question. "Is there blood in your underwear?"

Heather's eyes widened. "What? Nonomino!" She shook her head vigorously. "I uh… don't yet have everything down there, uh… it's not changed yet…" she trailed off, blushing furiously.

"Ok, well… that doesn't exactly rule it out, I just needed to make sure."

"Doesn't rule it out? What-"

"You can still experience cramps and whatnot. Is this the first time?"

Heather nodded.

"Right. I wasn't expecting that to happen so soon, but I suppose anything's possible." Hermione took a deep breath. "I'll be right back, you wait right here."

"Where are you going?"

"Just going to get something to help. Don't worry."

Hermione got up and slipped out of Heather's room, quietly walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed an empty water bottle out of a cabinet, then filled it up and sealed it. She turned to head up the stairs, but stopped.

Her mum was standing in the door to the kitchen, her hair messy, but she was just as alert as Hermione. "Hermione? What are you…" She noticed what Hermione was holding. "Oh."

Hermione let out a breath. "It's for Heather."

Her mum nodded. "Is it her first time?"

Hermione nodded. "I found her sitting on the floor."

"Alright. You should probably get back to her then."

"Ok, mum."

Hermione walked back up the stairs and re-entered Heather's room. "I'm back."

Heather looked up at her from where she was now laying spread eagle on the floor. "What's that?"

Hermione sat next to Heather, handing over the water bottle. "Hot water bottle. It's supposed to help.

Heather took it. "Thanks." She sat up, leaning on her bed again. Hermione sat facing her with her legs crossed.

The two girls sat in silence, Heather occasionally letting out a small sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much, Hermione."

"What are friends for if not to have each other's back when one of them starts her first period?"

Heather made a grunting noise. "But there's no bleeding."

Hermione shrugged. "Still technically a period, Heather."

Heather scowled. "I don't like it."

Hermione laughed. "No one does."

Heather sighed. "Worth it."

It wasn't long before Heather drifted off back to sleep. Hermione, however, continued to stay awake, sitting on the floor and reading her book. She had pulled the blankets and pillow off of Heather's bed for her friend to use (Hermione figured she probably couldn't lift Heather back into the bed).

Eventually, Hermione heard a light knock at the door. She put the bookmark back into her book before getting up and stretching. She opened the door to find her mother just outside.

"How is she?"

"Asleep."

"That's good. Breakfast should be ready in a few minutes."

"Ok. I'll wake her up then."

Hermione's mum left as Hermione closes the door behind her. She knelt next to Heather, and gently shook her shoulder.

Heather groaned, her eyes opening slightly. "What time is it?"

Hermione glanced at the clock on Heather's nightstand. "Around 9."

"Back hurts."

"You fell asleep on the floor. I can't pick you up to put you back in your bed."

"Oh."

"How about…"

"Still hurts, but less now."

"Good." Hermione stood up. "Mum said breakfast is nearly ready."

"Not hungry."

"Are you actually not hungry or do you just feel like you can't eat anything right now."

Heather shrugged. "Hurts too much."

Hermione sighed. "You'll be fine. Come on."

Hermione quickly went into her room to get dressed. After she was done, she found Heather standing in the hallway in jeans and a t-shirt.

The two girls walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. They each grabbed a plate and loaded it with toast and bacon before sitting at the kitchen table.

Hermione's parents sat with them; their own plates similarly adorned with food.

"So, what's the plan for today?" her dad asked.

Hermione put down her half-eaten piece of bacon. "Not sure. I think we should get Heather new clothes sooner rather than later."

"Probably a good idea," he said.

"I can drive you two out to a nearby store this afternoon," her mum added.

"Sounds good, Mrs. Granger," Heather said after swallowing a bite of toast.

After they had finished eating, Heather offered to help with the dishes, but Hermione's parents declined.

Hermione grabbed Heather's hand and pulled her out to their backyard. Heather eyed the pool. "Well, what am I supposed to do, then?" she asked.

Hermione smirked. "What do you want to do?"

Heather looked confused. "I dunno."

"You gotta be able to think of something."

Heather sat in one of the Grangers' lawn chairs, staring at their small garden. "D'you have any suggestions?"

Hermione sat in another chair. "Well, we can't do any swimming until we get you a swimsuit. I mostly spend my free time reading. So, if you happen to like doing a lot of reading…"

Heather shook her head. "Reading's fine, but not all the time."

"Then I have no ideas for you."

Heather groans in annoyance.

The two girls sat, having a staring contest until Heather looked down at the ground.

Hermione stood up and held out her hand for Heather to take. "Come on. I have something to show you."

She led Heather back up the stairs and to the end of the hallway, next to the bathroom. Hermione grabbed a rope hanging from the ceiling and pulled, a ladder popping out that Hermione unfolded.

"Up here." Hermione climbed up the ladder, with Heather following. Hermione pulled the ladder back up behind them once Heather was inside the small room in the attic.

Hermione watched Heather look around the small space. "What is this?"

"I sometimes come up here. It's very cozy up here." Hermione sat down on a beanbag seat near a window, grabbing a book off a bookshelf next to it.

There well a couple of dusty bookshelves, and a small pile of LEGO bricks in a corner. The small window was currently the only source of light, but there was a single lightbulb hanging from the roof.

Heather sat down on the floor.

Hermione sighed. "This is the first time I've been up here in over a decade."

"What?"

"Time travel. I actually was last up here the night before I left for Hogwarts this past year, but from my perspective it was over a decade ago since I was last up here, packing up my things to go to Canada."

"Oh."

Hermione sighed, sinking down into her beanbag. "I missed this place."

"You didn't come up here since you got home?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. I uh… I was busy."

"With?"

"Homework. I still need to pass all my classes, Heather. And I also never did my 5th year anyway."

The two girls could only just stand up in this small space, and Hermione stood and walked over to a small door in one of the walls. She opened it, revealing a small bin filled with LEGO.

"Wanna build something cool?" Hermione asked.

"Aren't you a bit old for that?"

Hermione giggled. "I'm 14, sort of. And besides, there is no such thing as too old for LEGO."

"Really? Dudley keeps saying he's too old for it."

"Well, he's an idiot."

"That's true."

"So, what do you want to build?"

Heather shrugged. "A castle? I've always wanted to build a LEGO castle."

"Castle it is."

They spent the next couple of hours putting together the walls of their castle and putting in some guards.

"Why would it need a king? Why not two queens?"

Hermione snorted. "I don't have 2 queens."

"That's dumb. There should definitely be two queens."

"Oh absolutely. But I only have one queen."

"Maybe we can have her execute the king and then add the second queen later."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Or we can just not include a king at all."

"Oh, alright."

Hermione heard her mum call for them.

"Oh, guess we gotta go," she said.

"Already?"

"Sounds like it."

"We can get the second queen when we head out then."

Hermione laughed. "If we have time."

Hermione dropped the ladder back down, and the two girls went back downstairs to Hermione's mum.

"Time to go get Heather some new clothes," she said.

They did, in fact, end up getting some LEGO. No second queen, however. Heather got distracted by the space-themed LEGO.

They also had some lunch while out.

When they got home, Hermione excitedly told Heather to get changed into her new swimsuit so they could go swimming.

Heather was in the middle of undressing when her reflection caught her eye in the mirror on the back of her door.

Her breath caught when she noticed small bumps forming on her chest.

Oh. I have boobs now.

She continued changing, quickly pulling off her jeans and replacing her clothes with her swimsuit – a one-piece with a small pair of shorts over the bottom (they made hiding things easier).

She sprinted down the stairs to where Hermione was waiting.

"Let's go!" she said, pulling Hermione out the back door.

The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, with Hermione teaching Heather how to swim.

Afterward, the two of them headed back inside to shower before dinner – first Hermione, then Heather.

After dinner, Hermione helped Heather practice her Occlumency.

"Ok, Heather. This time, I'm going to be trying to get into your mind with Legilimency. If I do manage to get past your defenses, which is likely, I will immediately be pulled out, so you don't have to worry about me seeing much of anything beyond some surface thoughts."

Heather nodded. "Ok."

Hermione waited around 30 seconds, before pointing her wand at Heather and saying, "Legilimens." Immediately, she got an image of nothing but darkness. She could smell a smell she couldn't quite place. She continued poking around until something shifted. She could suddenly see an image of Heather's face in the mirror. Hermione pulled right out of Heather's mind, causing Heather to gasp loudly.

"What-"

"I just saw your face in a mirror. That's it."

"Oh… that's it? Nothing else in the mirror?"

Hermione nodded.

"Good. That was… uh…" Heather blushed.

"Oh."

Heather shook her head as if trying to clear it.

"Wanna try again?"

Heather nodded.

They tried again a few times until Hermione could hold the spell for 5 whole minutes without getting to see anything beyond the void Heather had in place.

"Good job."

Heather sighed. "This is so hard."

Hermione nodded. "Very hard."

They did a few more attempts, but it was clear that Heather was starting to get tired, so they stopped.