Chapter 7: Two-Way Streets - Summer 1992 (the final summer chapter!)

Ron, Harry, and Hermione sat together at a small table in front of Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor. They each ate a treat out of their own small dish.

The rest of the Weasleys were finishing their shopping, so the only adult supervision was from Mr. and Mrs. Grangers, who sat at the next table.

Harry asked Ron, "Did you get everything you needed, then?"

"Yep. Ready for school." Riddle's diary is gone, no complications. Ron had to fight to keep his enthusiasm in check.

Hermione echoed the redhead's sentiment but added, "I'm a little apprehensive about going back, if I'm honest. It doesn't feel like there's quite enough time to do everything I had planned for the summer."

Hermione followed that with some bland school talk that Ron translated as, She didn't get to brew the potions we talked about, but she bought some that we can use for now.

"We could help you when we get back to school. Flashcards, or something," Ron offered his and Harry's help with brewing.

Hermione nodded. "I'll let you know, thanks."

To Ron's eye, Harry looked a bit lost. Their adventure required careful language, and that was always going to be hard for Harry. Ron would try to fill him in again once they weren't in public.

Ron decided to change topics to something innocuous. "I plan to spend more time on Charms this year. I bet Professor Flitwick would know some wicked ones, if I asked."

"How many charms do you think there are? Thousands?" Harry questioned absently.

"More than that. I think I've seen mum use a thousand household ones, easy. Lockhart's got a whole book of them."

"Him." Hermione said with contempt. "He did not impress me today."

"I remember my mum mentioning his spell guides before, but I didn't realize it was almost… a crush." The corners of Ron's mouth turned down, but he couldn't put a word to his sentiment.

Hermione scornfully re-enacted Lockhart from earlier: "Photographer, photographer! Come and take a photo of me and Harry here. Harry Potter, you know!" Hermione drew out every third word. "I'm sure the Prophet's readers will want to know that Hogwarts will be getting Magical Me this coming year. I'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts as favor to the esteemed headmaster, who asked me to take young Harry under my wing."

Harry mimed clapping at her performance. "Spot-on impression."

Ron asked, "Do you reckon it's true? That bit about Dumbledore, in particular."

Hermione said, "A 'favor' could be close to the truth." Blackmail, she mouthed. "I suppose he could be intended as a sort of lesson in extremes."

Harry frowned. "He might be able to teach me the perils of fame, I guess. But at what cost? He seems like a total idiot."

Ron agreed with that. Lockhart was a menace, and it was even clearer with adult eyes.

Hermione's eyes flashed at Harry. Ron intuited her message, My parents are probably listening. Be careful with how bad you make Hogwarts sound.

Harry appeared to catch on, because he added, "At least the rest of the professors are top notch, we know." Then, Harry shifted to another topic. "I actually saw one of them recently. Professor Snape came to visit."

Harry. Harry! Ron could have screamed. Why didn't I already know about this? You've been at my house for several days already!

Instead, Ron joined Hermione in staring intently at Harry. Say more, they willed.

Harry spoke slowly. "A house elf found me in an alley to ask for my help because of my… undeserved reputation. I didn't really understand what he wanted, so I told him to talk to Headmaster Dumbledore. He's a lot more powerful than I am."

Ron thought that Harry had done a fair job at a sanitized description in front of Hermione's parents, although his words felt too careful.

Hermione looked like she wanted to interrupt, but didn't. Ron knew that she was boiling internally about changing the timeline in this way without having discussed it.

Harry continued,"The headmaster then sent the professor to tell me that he was on top of it. Thoughtful of him, since I was worried about the poor elf. He seemed really upset."

Ron was certainly concerned that Dumbledore and Snape were newly aware of at least some of what Dobby knew. That could certainly complicate the trio's plans. But, Ron also was fairly certain that he could think about it more that evening.

So, he prompted the trio back into conversation reviewing their shopping trip.

They talked about their parent-approved purchases, the classmates they saw, and wizarding fashions seen around the Alley.

Their easy conversation came to an abrupt halt twenty minutes later, after Ron said, "I wonder what the shop next to the Magical Menagerie will be next. The windows were empty and the signs were gone. I think it used to be some sort of clothing store?"

Hermione stood up abruptly and turned to her parents. "Mum and dad, do you think I could go look at pets before we leave? A pet could be my birthday present, if I find one."

Soon after, the Grangers departed for the pet store, and Ron and Harry met up with the rest of the Weasleys.

By this point, Ron felt drained and completely ready to head back to the Burrow.

Harry, on the other hand, was more at ease than Ron had seen him in a long time. "That was fun."

Ron must have given an incredulous look, because Harry added, "Just… talking about nothing for a bit with some ice cream. All three of us."

Ron supposed that was true. The trio had spent most of their time together the last six months (measured from their own perspective) plotting.

But, Ron couldn't quite feel Harry's simple sort of contentment himself. Today had been very stressful for him personally, even though everything important had gone to plan. And, the trio still had so, so very much left to do to Save Everyone and Defeat the Dark Lord.

Ron's general sense of caution proved useful because Ron and Harry were soon subjected to a surprise interrogation.

Fred and George found the pair outside on the last day of August. George sat down in the dirt next to Harry. Fred stood directly in front of Ron.

"Are you up to mischief, — "

"Dear brother of ours — "

"And his charming friend?" Fred winked.

Ron was nonchalant, "You know there's no privacy around here." He hoped to put the twins off by pretending they couldn't tell them anything where their family could here.

George said, "It's already taken care of."

"Impressive," Ron allowed. He then tried to suss out what they thought they knew. "But what could two twelve-year olds possibly be up to?"

Fred eyed Ron straight on. "Did you, or did you not, purchase a new wand recently?"

Harry jumped in. "That's a gift from me. Christmas and birthday present."

"Generous." Both twins spoke in unison.

"I asked Harry to keep it a secret from mum and dad since I didn't want them to feel guilty about it."

"And I offered. Ron didn't ask." Harry acted nervous, which was part of their plans for this sort of confrontation. Deny, deflect, minimize, and act guilty when confessing their planned lies as their real twelve year old selves would have.

Fred looked at the wand in his hand as he said, "Perhaps two twelve-year-olds aren't up to anything bad. But how about three?"

Ron worried slightly when Harry's face fell minutely. It was always going to be hard for Harry to hide things from people he liked.

George stared Ron down. "Did you, or did you not, spend some time alone with Hermione shopping?"

Ron blushed reflexively. "She's a friend, yeah." Ron was surprised that the twins has caught on that he'd had a crush on Hermione by the end of their first year at Hogwarts.

Fred continued, "In Knockturn Alley?"

"We just looked at books. She, er, likes books. And I like her. As a friend."

The twins moved on. "And how about you, Harry. Do you like Hermione —."

"As a friend?" the other twin continued.

Harry's tone was flat. "Just as a friend, yeah."

George spoke, "Really? You looked awful cozy in the park, I thought."

Ron was impressed at Harry's non-reaction as he asked, "Park?"

"In Surrey. In the dead of night."

Ron was immediately dismissive, "I know about that. Hermione was just checking on Harry."

Harry's expression was shrewd. "And what were you doing in Surrey at 3 AM, George?"

"Trying to find you, so we could check on you."

Fred gave a dashing smile. "And attempt a daring rescue, if needed!"

Ron and Harry were taken aback. Ron realized that George must have scouted Harry out before they rescued him in the flying car during their original run-through of 1992. It was clear in hindsight that the twins had known exactly where to go. Heck, they were clearly knowledgable enough about the family car to help their father drive it.

Harry sighed and finally said, "Things could have gone worse than they did. I almost did something terrible to my uncle when he kept trying to needle me about his big business deal. I'm very grateful that your family invited me for the last two weeks of summer."

George accepted Harry's thanks with warmth.

Fred resumed their interrogation. "The conversation Georgie here described that night sounded an awful lot like code."

"Well, I don't sneak out of my house at 3 AM just to talk openly about how much I dislike my relatives." Harry said with more nonchalance than Ron knew he felt.

Ron added, "Hermione was helping him, and the details don't really matter."

Fred and George looked suspicious.

Ron said, "Look. We trust that you were watching Harry with good intentions. Can't you trust that Hermione and I are doing the same?"

Fred looked convinced, but George had a follow-up question: "Why do we all need to be so secretive about it? Your muggles aren't exactly the best of the bunch, but mum won't hear a word against them."

Ron decided that it was acceptable to tell them this particular truth. "We think it goes back to Dumbledore. We know from Hagrid that he ordered Harry to be put with the Dursleys."

Harry pouted, "And we don't know why, really. I tried bringing it up with him and he brushed me off. I don't know what would happen if I really pushed, but I'm a bit intimidated by him." He spoke the last bit in a whisper.

"I don't like it at all, but at least it's just summers." Ron looked at Harry as he said, "I'll try to bring you 'round as much as I can manage, though."

Fred said, "I suppose it could be worse. You could be living with our Aunt Muriel."

George added, "Or Snape."

Harry's face strained minutely. "I suppose."

Even when Ron didn't know he was Harry's mum in disguise, Ron thought that Snape would still be a better guardian than his aunt and uncle. The redhead didn't like how the mention of Harry's relatives made him go quiet. Whereas Harry had never been quiet about the person they knew as Severus Snape.

Ron distracted the twins from the Durselys and their own questions by asking Harry about what it was like to live in a muggle household.

Harry talked about shopping, cleaning, and cooking for a while. "Well, I can't chop vegetables nearly as fast as your mother, but I've only ever cooked for… four people." Harry almost said three, Ron knew.

George probably also suspected that when he extended an offer: "If you need help with them, please let us know."

"We're good at revenge."

The twins gave matching smiles.

Harry laughed uncomfortably.

Hermione needed several days to pack for school. Not only had she made more purchases this time around, but her parents had given her numerous gifts memorializing their summer together.

She carefully nestled a few t-shirts, a carabiner, a plastic water bottle, a model of the solar system, several pieces of jewelry of varying quality, a framed photo of their family of three amongst her magical school supplies. She didn't want to hurt her parents' feelings by leaving the items at home. Maybe I can use them for some sort of enchanting project or something.

Before her original second year, Hermione withdrew from family outings in favor of studying for the upcoming year. She knew that she would only succeed if she was the best given her blood status.

That hurt, but it also hurt that she didn't feel like she could tell her parents that. They still were in awe of magic, and it was too hard for the almost-thirteen-year-old to break the bad news then. Later, Hermione realized that her parents would have pulled her out of Hogwarts if they had known how dangerous it had been for her personally.

In the past timeline, secrets piled on secrets, which became an uneasy silence.

This time, she was committed to staying connected to her parents, as well as her extended family. If the trio was successful in defeating Voldemort before war broke out, she would never need to cut ties with her muggle relations out of fear of making them targets.

Hermione thought this would be a gratifying and easy change. She didn't yet grasp that open communication flowed in both directions.

She realized her mistake the night after their trip to Diagon Alley. She thought about that conversation as she packed:

"You're adopted."

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. What? This conversation never happened last time.

"Your father and I love you very much, and we're glad you're ours."

Her dad cut in, "And we still think of you as ours."

They had explained that the young witch was adopted by the Grangers as an infant. The identity of her birth parents was sealed until she turned eighteen by muggle legal agreement.

Her parents had been quick to repeat assurances of her place in their lives and explain that this was something they had never wanted to keep secret. They were hoping that she was now old enough to come to them with any concerns or questions.

After Hermione had some time alone to think, she decided that this new knowledge didn't affect anything.

She hugged her mother and father goodbye on Platform 9 and 3/4 and headed off for (her second chance at) her second year of magical education. Her beloved ginger cat with a squashed face was in the basket in her left hand.

A/N: So you know, the Hermione adoption storyline will be very minor but has a purpose and won't resolve soon.

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