When she arrived back home from visiting the Curio Shop, Hermione Granger realised her mood showed on her face. Her parents looked deeply concerned.

It hadn't been a productive visit, really. There were no new books, not even the phoney Harry Potter And His Charmed Life books or a book on advanced magic. She had bought such a book there, but her dolls had recommended it be given to Harry's dolls, and according to him, they were reading and taking notes in it non-stop.

She hadn't run into Aberforth Dumbledore, either. She didn't know a discreet way to visit the Hog's Head, being eleven years old. She would probably have to get even more indebted to the Lovegoods and have Xeno take her there with Luna. She went up and got her journal, then came down with it.

"I think I need to include Harry, if he's not being enslaved at the moment," she explained.

Then, another thought occurred to her, and she ran up and got Luna's letter. And Clumsy, the fastest writer. "She said she won't mind me dictating to her," was her further explanation.

Fortunately, Harry was in his room.

What's up?

Clumsy's writing down what I say, Harry. I'm talking with my parents because I saw something very disturbing at the shop today.

Hi there, Mr and Mrs Granger.

Hermione passed that on, and Clumsy wrote down their responses to Harry. Yet a third time, Hermione had a thought, and she was up and down the stairs again, this time bringing Plain under one arm and all four teacups stacked in the opposite hand.

Harry, have we talked about the Malfoys? By the way, Plain will read what you write out loud.

You just said they were evil and I should avoid them at all costs.

Good, I guess. Anyway, Mr Malfoy was at the shop. He was watching from behind a tree the whole time I was there.

Watching you? Why didn't you tell the lady that works there?

Not me, her.

After a pause, Hermione added I did warn her, and she thanked me, but she didn't do anything. He started watching her before I got there, I think, and he only moved when she went into the basement. I think he was looking for where it was and how to open the entrance. Harry, she looked so frightened, but she didn't do or say anything, really.

"What's the connection to the letter, Honey?" Mrs Granger asked, suddenly.

Making a command decision, Hermione told Clumsy to take down what all three Grangers said, with their names written before each bit of speech. Since it was quicker, Clumsy used "Ian" and "Jean" instead of Mr or Mrs Granger. Then she put a teacup in front of her mother and father, and one next to her. She put the special cup in front of her, and it filled with the tea her mother had been steeping in the pot in the kitchen before Hermione came in. She poured it out into all three cups, and all three Grangers settled back, just a touch more at ease.

Harry, my mother just asked about a letter I got from Luna, and got too distracted to read.

This is why you need to relax, Hermione. It's not even helping your save the world project.

Can we discuss this later, Harry?

The whole boyfriend thing is your idea, Hermione, but doesn't it give me any privileges to get you to do the right thing and stay healthy? Fine. What about the letter?

Mr and Mrs Granger looked startled. *Good Grief, Harry* she thought, *Not only spilling the beans, but we're having our first couple's quarrel right in the sitting room!* then she shrugged it off.

Ian: I wanted to ask that, too, dear. Is there a connection there?

Her mother nodded in agreement.

Yes, I think so. I believe Selene, the girl at the curio shop, is related to Luna somehow. Whenever I mentioned her to the Lovegoods, I got put off, and they said very weird things about her and the shop both. At any rate, I am going to read the whole thing aloud, and Clumsy will transcribe it for Harry.

Dear Hermione:

I figured out you were "A Friend" and you were warning my mummy about something you "saw." Don't worry, I sometimes see things too, and I had a bad feeling about my mummy before you wrote. It went away for a while, but it's back.

My father is gone to a magical animals meeting, and she's back to experimenting with things she doesn't know well. She's not paying attention to what's going on around her. Before she got fired from the Ministry she was working with things like time and life that are really dangerous.

I got half the story about Selene from each parent. I am not supposed to tell anyone. Mummy is not supposed to experiment with dangerous new things, and she's not supposed to work alone, but she is, so I don't care anymore.

Selene Trelawney was my great-great-great grand-aunt, I think that's how it goes. When she was only sixteen, a man attacked her at the shop she was working at. He hurt her very bad, and she died. She knew it was coming. Seeing things sometimes runs in my family, on my mother's side. My father is very magically sensitive, so they were both excited when I came along. They're both very busy, so they decided only one girl was enough to care for.

Anyway, Selene knew it was her fate, so she didn't do anything about it. I bet she saw some bad things happen if she tried to escape, or the man who hurt her would find her anyway. It was a big family tragedy, because she was the best at seeing things since her grandmother Cassandra Trelawney. Mummy's branch of the family wasn't nearly as good at it. The man hurt her and did things I am too young to ask about, and he also used magic on her that's really, really bad.

Anyway, I am afraid mummy thinks she can fix it. And I think she's trying to fix it before Daddy gets home, because he would put a stop to it.

I am going to beg her to stop, but if it doesn't work, I really need your help. This is more important than the stuff about Harry's cloak or the other stuff they won't talk about. I am sure if we don't get help there will be no one to do research for. And soon.

Yours hopefully,

Luna Selene Lovegood

She'd already let the better part of a day go by.

You have to help her!

I want to, but I don't know how.

Jean: I hate to see our daughter involved in something we already know is dangerous.

Ian: At the very least, can Harry and her case the shop, and bring the dolls? Would they fight for the kids?

Marge is coming soon and the Dursleys need their slave.

No, they don't. We weren't making idle threats.

Mr Granger actually called the Dursleys right then. When Vernon answered, he identified himself and ordered him to give the phone to Petunia. Dursley blustered, but Ian simply said that if the Dursleys didn't want to die, together with his sister, he would give Petunia the phone now. Only he put bad language in front of 'phone." He explained to Petunia that people who killed magicless people like the Grangers and the Dursleys as a hobby were on the move, and they needed Harry's help with them, and furthermore, they had dirt on Marge, as well, in case the Dursleys were too stupid to recognise magical threats. Therefore, he said, a little less roughly, if they needed Harry, he was to be allowed to leave at a moment's notice, or the sky was going to fall on Number Four Privet Drive, and they wouldn't even need to wait for the Death Eaters.

Oh my God, your dad's brilliant, Hermione. I think even if you're plotting to have us get married, it won't be all bad.

Harry!

Thank Clumsy for me, she took down everything your dad said.

Both of her parents were laughing now. That was a good sign, but she knew Harry's "boyfriend" remark would come back to haunt her, and there wouldn't be a long wait, either. Especially since he'd followed up with something even worse. Although Hermione was having to deal with things way beyond her years, she discovered that she still sighed like an 11-year-old girl.

Hey, by the way, Hermione, I don't understand almost anything the dolls are writing, but I remember they told me that terrible things happen to people who mess with time.

Hermione reflected on what she'd learned from the seven books. You shouldn't overlap yourself and meet up. You shouldn't change something you already experienced happening. Apparently, the books, or the curio shop, or some combination, were an exception. Maybe visions weren't in the same category as the observed past. She'd already made enough changes that she didn't regard anything in them as "the past," except the events that occurred before she got the books.

Also, there was still a big "why" as to her having them in the first place. Was it an attempt by Selene to protect herself? Or Pandora Lovegood? Was the shop itself reaching forward in time to enlist her help, and giving her the chance to help Harry as a reward? Or was she really mostly helping herself?

Admittedly, she was exhausted much of the time nowadays, but that was surely better than nearly being killed by a troll, again by a basilisk, again by dementors, again by a werewolf, again by a Roman arena-style "task," again in a fight with Voldemort and his terrorists at the Ministry, again at Mr Malfoy's house being tortured by Sirius Black's cousin, and having her neck and chest permanently scarred, and no doubt having post-traumatic stress syndrome the rest of her days. Worse, those days spent with Ron Weasley, whom she still utterly despised. Well, maybe he was at least a good father. Probably not.

Harry was waiting for an answer, and no doubt her parents, as well.

Harry, we need to involve Luna, but she can't do anything overt, just observe. It's not real to us, but to her, it's family history - set in stone. I think we have some wiggle room, because I am convinced the man who hurt her is Mr Malfoy, and he changed things in the first place. So if anything terrible happens, it's more likely they'll happen to him.

I am going to send Mrs Lovegood another letter, tonight. I am going to tell her what we're doing about the curio shop, and that her daughter is also foreseeing her death. If worst comes to worst, we could help Luna steal Pandora's notes, or something.

Won't Mr Malfoy see us if we start hanging around outside the shop?

Yes. We need your father's cloak, we need to sneak into Hogwarts, and into the headmaster's office. If need be, we need to go to the Hog's Head for advice. And even if not, we need to figure out how to get to Hogsmeade, because there are several ways into Hogwarts from there. We also need to steal your father's map back from Mr Filch. Luna can't fight Mr Malfoy, because we want him to have the bad results if we change what happened. But we can. We can even BE the terrible results.

Ian: We can get you near the shop without parking in sight of it.

Jean: And Hermione can have a phone. In fact, we're getting one for Luna and Harry, too. And can you find another journal for Luna? Before you say she'll need two, both you and Harry have servants who will happily copy from one to another. The Granger residence can be the hub.

Get an early night tonight, Hermione. We all know you could scheme all night, but I think that's enough for us to think about.

Harry was getting bossy, she thought, but reflected that it was all because he was genuinely concerned about her. She didn't feel reckless, but her family and Harry clearly felt that she was. Her mother's comment about servants brought her up short. Was she like the magical people who enslaved house-elves? Well, that was probably the wrong way to put it; the ones that took advantage of their weaknesses, but some of whom treated them in ways that made them happy?

She had made her dolls, neither Harry nor her had made his, though; presumably, hers were grateful just to exist, but were Harry's like house-elves? Then she remembered "If you want someone to help you, you have to help them first," and was reassured. Even her dolls would have a discussion about their status, she resolved. And freeing Dobby would have a prominent place on her to-do list.

Her parents let her write her note to Pandora Lovegood, and didn't object when she said she'd take the bus to the nearest owlery with it. But when she returned, there was a note from Harry (dutifully read out loud by Plain).

Sweet dreams, and I mean it, Hermione. XXX OOO.

As Plain recited the Xs and Os, her parents leaned forward.

"We should probably talk about your boyfriend situation, honey," her mother began.