Disclaimer: JK owns HP; Always

1989

Chapter 14

Hermione spent the next hour filling Charlie in on the details of how she'd arrived to the past. She told him about the night Harry, Ron, and her arrived at Hogwarts, and how they had split up to look for a long lost artifact; though did omit the fact that it was the diadem of Ravenclaw. She revealed only that they had been given information on an item that could help them defeat Voldemort for good, and then insinuated that they were still only in the process of looking for it.

She told him about being attacked by a death eater while on the hunt for the artifact, though left Malfoy's name out of it completely, as she worried that would cause Charlie to want to do something about it between now and then. She also told him that the same death eater was the one who had broken her wand during a duel, and how she then had no other choice but to use the time-turner as a means of escape.

That led her to telling him about the tripping jinx, and how it had resulted in her time-turner breaking mid travel. Which in turn caused her to have to explain all about time-turners in general, as he had never even heard of them before. And lastly, she'd had to explain why exactly she herself had known how to use one; only revealing her class schedule as the reason, and omitting the night they'd saved Sirius and Buckbeak completely.

Charlie continued to ask question after question about her life as they lounged in Charlie's favorite spot by the lake, with his head resting on her lap as they treated themselves to the box of sugar quills previously dropped to the floor.

"Okay so I get the time turners, and I get that because you and my brother are friends with Harry Potter you could easily be dragged into some mission to defeat you-know-who once and for all." He twirled a second sugar quill between his fingers as he spoke. "But why was there a death eater in the castle to begin with?"

Hermione grimaced, more at herself than at him. The conversation had finally come to the line she didn't know if she should cross or not. Sure, she had told him she wasn't going to lie to him anymore, but was it really safe to tell him about the war?

In the end, she decided that it was time to tell him the rules of knowing her secrets.

"I promised you I wouldn't lie to you Charlie, and I intend to keep that promise." She said nervously. "But in return you have to know the rules and then promise me that you will not act on the more important parts of what is in my past."

"Okay." He agreed simply.

"Charlie, this is very serious." She wanted him to be completely aware of the situation. "If, at some point in the next eight years, you do something that ends up changing the things I tell you about right now, that can, and most likely will, change my past."

"Yeah, I get it." He agreed looking a little taken aback. "I'll make sure things stay as you say they were."

"I have to make sure." She continued her warning. "Because any little thing might change the outcome of something very important. In fact, I've already changed your future at least a little just by being here and getting to know you at all." She stroked her thumb across his cheek bone. "But the real issue is if you change things from my past, you might accidentally make it so I never travel back in time to begin with."

Charlie gulped, hating the idea of her never coming here this year. It was the only reason he was getting to know her like he had the past two months. "I swear Jean." He paused and shook his head. "Hermione, I mean." He corrected himself.

"No, it's actually probably better if you keep calling me Jean." She smiled down at him, running her fingers through his hair. "It wouldn't look good if you slipped up around other people."

"Right." He agreed, looking happy to have his head inadvertently scratched. "Well I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure things stay as you say they happened."

"It won't be easy Charlie." She continued. "You'll have to live the next eight years of your life knowing people you love are going to end up in horrible situations before they get in them. You'll have to know these things without being able to stop them."

Charlie gulped and sat up to look at her at eye level. "What are you saying? Are you saying…" He looked almost scared to finish his question. "Are you saying someone in my family is dead?"

"No!" Hermione didn't realize how horrible she had made things sound. "God's no!" She reached out to squeeze his arm. "But, well, I guess there have been a few close calls."

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as I know everyone ends up okay I think I can manage to let whatever bad things are coming happen."

"It's a lot to ask of anyone." She said, "But if you are sure you can handle this, then I will tell you all about the death eaters and the mission Dumbledore is going to set Harry, Ron and I on." She pondered the situation for a second before continuing. "In fact, we could probably use your help."

"Of course, I'll do anything I can to help you guys out." He agreed, sitting back against the bench. "Okay, so why don't you start at the beginning and then you can let me know what I, or future I, can do to help."

"Aright." Hermione brought her feet up onto the bench so she could sit cross legged facing him. "Well, how much do you know about Harry?"

"Potter?" He asked to clarify.

Hermione nodded.

"Not much, just what everyone else our age knows."

Hermione snorted. "Yeah about that, you do realize that I'm not actually your age right? I'm actually almost seven years younger than you."

"Shit. That's right." He chuckled softly. "So much for me liking older women huh?"

"Why do you think I laughed so hard the night you told me that?" She smirked at him.

"I have to be honest, there are a lot of things you have said over the past two months that make a lot more sense now." He tilted his head at her. "But we can get to that later I guess. Anyway, all I know about Harry Potter is that You-Know-Who killed his parents and then tried to kill him, but somehow his spell backfired and he got hit instead. Harry is pretty well famous for unintentionally ending his reign of terror before he could hardly walk."

"Okay, while that's mostly true, did you ever wonder why Voldemort went after a child that young?"

Charlie flinched at the name, but didn't complain. "Several times actually."

"And did you ever wonder why Professor Trelawney actually got a job here even though she's obviously full of shit?"

"Yeah." He chuckled, though looked confused as well. "But I don't see how those two things relate to one another."

"So it turns out she's not a complete fraud after all." Hermione revealed as she took another lick of her sugar quill. "Up to my time she has actually made two accurate prophecies."

"Prophecies?" He asked. "That doesn't sound like her usual preferred methods of telling the future."

"Well she doesn't actually know she's made them." Hermione grinned with glee, knowing that he enjoyed a good dig at Trelawny as much as she does. "Apparently she goes into some kind of trance."

Charlie laughed boisterously. "So she doesn't actually know she's not a fraud then? I love it!"

"I do too!" Hermione laughed along with him, having to cover her mouth with one hand.

Once their laughter subsided he took a deep breath before getting serious again. "Okay so I'm guessing that means our least favorite professor made some prophecy about Potter and You-Know-Who."

"Yes." Hermione confirmed. "A child born as the seventh month dies, whose parents have defied the dark lord three times. And the dark lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the dark lord knows not. For either must die at the hand of the other, as neither can live while the other survives."

"Woah." Charlie looked impressed. "No wonder you lot got dragged into so much trouble."

"You haven't heard anything yet." She warned him that there was still so much more to come in her tale. "So remember how I warned you that he was just biding his time to make a comeback, you know that day when you asked how I got my scar?"

"Yeah."

Hermione grimaced at him. "Well...He is back."

Charlie's eyebrows raised very high on his forehead with a look of horror.

"Shit!" He cursed before looking away from her to stare out at the lake instead. "Shit, shit, shit!" He continued with his favorite curse word. "How!?"

"He had help from two of his old followers along with a dark potion made from Harry's blood." She cringed. "Blood of the enemy, if I remember correctly."

"How long?" Charlie asked, looking uneasy. "How long do we have until this happens?"

"Spring of 1995." Hermione revealed, determined not to hide anything from him as promised.

"Shit." He uttered again. "That's only five years away."

"I know." She placed a comforting hand on him. "Harry almost died that night. The moment I saw him shout the words 'he's back' was the most terrifying two words I'd ever heard in my life."

"So he's been back for three years?" He wanted to confirm. "I see now why you warned me about not being able to change things."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, but we are very close to taking him down for good. If he dies this time, he won't be coming back."

"And you're sure none of my family is dead?" He asked, clearly worried. "I mean you said you'd been on the run for several months when you ended up here, so how do you know for sure? I mean my family is considered to be a big group of blood traitors-"

"Because we had just left Bill's house that morning as we had stayed with him for a few weeks while I healed from getting tortured and my scar." She interrupted him before he could think through a worst case scenario that wasn't true. "When we arrived there, he had said everyone in the family was still fine. I also just saw Fred, George, and Ginny not fifteen minutes before I arrived here."

His look of relief made her worry that she was downplaying how serious the upcoming war was going to be.

"Don't get me wrong." She backtracked, knowing he needed to understand. If he was going to get to know about the war this far in advance and be able to properly help them when the time came, he needed to know that not every family had been so lucky. "The war hasn't been without its tragedies. There have been several casualties, of people we know included."

"Like who?" He looked uneasy again.

"Alastor Moody, the auror friend of your fathers with the strange eye." She listed. "Ted Tonks-"

"Dora's dad?" He interrupted before she could tell him about Dumbledore's demise.

"Yeah, just before she had her baby." Hermione said sadly. "She named little Teddy after him."

"Dora's a mum?" Charlie asked, looking surprised.

Hermione nodded. "He was just born a few days before the battle started. I haven't seen him in person yet, but apparently he got the metamorphmagus gene from her."

"That really sucks about Mr. Tonks." He sighed. "But I'm glad it's been minimal so far, at least of people we are close to."

"I couldn't agree more." She said gloomily, deciding not to bring up the subject of Dumbledore dying at the potion master's hands. "We've been lucky so far, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"And that's where I come in?" He assumed.

"If you still want to after hearing what we are up against." She said, letting him know he could still back out.

"Of course I'll help." He confirmed. "But before we get into that, there are a few things I'd still like to clarify."

"I think I can help with that."

"Alright, well first off; the day we met...or rather the day I met you for the first time." He questioned. "On our way to Gryffindor tower you turned three steps before I did."

"Yes I did." She confirmed, seeing where he was going with this.

"The reason you already knew the way was because you'd obviously been there millions of times before. Was that strange for you to walk all that way pretending you didn't know me or where we were going?"

"It was the most bizarre moment of my life up until that point." She confessed. "And you talking up a storm about your family didn't help either."

Charlie laughed. "Okay you see there are so many moments similar to that, that make much more sense now that I know where you came from." He commented. "Like that next day at Ollivanders. That was the wand that got broken the night you came here wasn't it? The one you wouldn't touch?"

"Yes it was." She confirmed before suddenly laughing at him. "And you asking if I was into divination was laughable!"

"Well what was I supposed to think at the time?" He defended himself.

"I don't know, but I was a bit preoccupied that day." She claimed. "Do you know how weird it was for me to have to convince Ollivander that he would need to sell my own wand to a younger me a few years from now?"

"Godric, that must have been uncomfortable." He cringed. "Especially with me standing not three feet away."

"Speaking of something else from that day." Hermione leaned forward and grabbed his wand from his pocket without asking. "I never realized that this wand had once belonged to one of your mother's brothers." She looked it over, having not seen it in years.

"You recognize my wand?" He questioned with one eyebrow raised. "I thought we'd only met twice before you came here?"

"We had." She claimed. "But this is the wand Ron had the day I met him. He was trying to turn Scabbers yellow with it when we were on the train for first year."

Charlie once again looked shocked. "Okay, now I know you aren't just messing with me. Fred and George have no idea that this wand is going to be passed to Ron once I graduate and buy my own."

"Yes well, I'm glad it does." She added, getting ready to drop another bomb on him. "It apparently saved both him and Harry second year while I was petrified in the hospital wing."

"Petrified?" He stammered, eyes wide again. "As in?"

"Turned to stone."

"By what?" Charlie asked exasperatedly.

Hermione grit her teeth before turning away from him with a cringe. "A basilisk."

"A basa-" He shook his head in surprise for a second before glaring at her. "A fucking basilisk attacked you?"

"I did warn you that you were going to have to know about these things and let them happen anyway." She reminded him.

"I know, but a fucking basilisk?" He yelled before noticing her angry glare. He looked around after realizing he was being too loud to make sure no one was around, but luckily the grounds were still deserted. "You're right, I promised. Let's change the subject."

"Probably a good idea." Hermione agreed. "So back to your inquisition of weird things I've said but now make sense."

"Oh, right." He said whilst trying to shake off his woes. "Um, your birthday-"

"Was one of the best ones I've ever had, yes." She interrupted with a coy smile.

"Ha! I knew it." He grinned victoriously.

"What about my birthday has you curious?"

"Well that morning at breakfast I asked you how old you were." He started as he slipped his wand back into his pocket. "and you said ten."

"I was just being facetious." She revealed. "Because technically I did turn ten on September 19th of 1989."

"Are you always such a smart ass?" He scoffed goodnaturedly.

"Yes." She flashed him a large grin. "Get used to it."

"Something tells me I'm not going to have a choice but to get used to it." He sighed.

"You'll learn to love it." She patted his knee before leaving her hand on it. "Your brother did."

Charlie fake laughed with a grimace. "Yeah, that brings up another thing." He sighed with his teeth clenched in nervousness. "Now I really hate to ask this last question. but I have to know." He scrunched his eyes together with another groan. "Your second day here, when we were in the library. You joked that you had 'never said that you were single' and then continued to joke that it was with my brother, but you hadn't made it official yet."

Hermione internally cringed; seeing red. She knew where he was going with this. She had known that she was eventually going to have to tell him about her shared kiss with Ron along with the rest of their history, but she had hoped that it wouldn't have come up so quickly. They were just starting to get together for goodness sake!

"That wasn't actually a joke was it?" He continued. "You and Ron had something before you ended up here by accident didn't you?"

Hermione slowly slid her hand off his knee and back into her lap. Her eyes dropped to stare at her fidgeting fingers just so she wouldn't have to look him in the eye as she confessed the one thing that would probably drive him away.

"Charlie." She started with a groan.

"Well, that answers that question." He looked down at his own hands gloomily as well.

"Why do you think I tried so hard to avoid you those first few weeks?" She asked, inadvertently confirming his theory.

"Fuck." He cursed and tapped the palm of his left hand against his knee several times in a row. "I was trying too hard to charm you, so you attempted to avoid me. You wanted to keep this exact situation from happening."

Hermione only nodded, not knowing what else to say; for he was right.

"Are you in love with him?" Charlie turned to look at her again.

Hermione finally lifted her head to look him in the eye, noticing how nervous he looked. She had promised she wasn't going to lie to him, but this had been the most difficult question yet, and it made her want to break that promise to spare his feelings.

"I thought I was." She admitted, keeping her promise after all. "But I'm not so sure anymore."

"Oh." He said simply before turning his head to look back at the lake.

After a moment of silence, Hermione decided it was too uncomfortable to continue to stare at him, and took to looking at her hands again as she picked at a hangnail.

In turn, Charlie leaned his head back, and groaned into his hands as he covered his face with them.

"We've been dancing around each other for years." She admitted after another minute of silence. "And I thought we were finally going to be together...You know, once the war was won-"

"Hermione, Stop." Charlie growled sternly, finally sitting back up. "I don't want to hear this."

"I'm sorry." She claimed sincerely. "I was just trying to be honest."

"Well you can stop now, I get it." He added moodily.

Hermione could tell he was frustrated, so stayed quiet so he could wrap his head around the situation for a moment. After another minute of them sitting in silence, she finally felt him stand from the bench.

"Where are you going?" She asked, surprised he wasn't asking more questions. "Don't you think we should talk about this some more?"

"No." He said firmly, turning toward the castle. "Right now I need to be by myself."

She stood as well, not only getting frustrated by his lack of communication, but wanting to jump on his back to stop him from leaving her. She still had so much to say. "So what? You don't want to be near me anymore?"

"No Jean, that's not it." He replied, still frustrated.

"Then why won't you talk to me?" She asked to his back while on the verge of tears.

"Because right now." Charlie answered, still not turning to look at her. "I need to think."