Hermione held her nausea as she watched Harry taking care of dementors with ease, a smile spread on his face. In fact the boy himself could hardly believe all of this was real. He was no longer alone in this hell of a time trap.

The boy occasionally glanced at Hermione's way, confirming she had a different expression than usual. In fact he hardly looked at the other shore of the lake, if he did he would have noticed a small blue light chasing the already fleeing dementors to another direction.

Their small experiment last night… or was it tonight? Last 'tonight'? Anyways, it was a success.

It felt surreal, even in the world of magic, even for her who already used a time turner every day at school. After all, rather than taking a detour in the past to have some time for an extra lesson, she was now truly back in time - she remembered this scene and 'her' of the past was not here, as if time truly turned back, rather than her travelling to the past.

It was not long before all the dementors had dispersed and the two sat near the shore for a chat.

While they did have to rush back to the hospital, there was a time frame to follow. After all, their past versions did exist at the time and they had to time their return right, just after they had disappeared in time but before Dumbledore locked the doors.

Harry was glad, finally having a friend who could remember, and knowing how smart Hermione was, perhaps she would even find a way out of the loop… eventually.

Without him losing his memories. Or at least with a foolproof plan to get rid of the dark lord, even before the fourth year ended.

The pair sat while Harry finally opened up and started telling his story.

Daphne rushed as she ran towards the other shore of the lake. Countless dementors were already fleeing away from that exact spot - it was not hard to guess where Harry was. A small blue butterfly flew around her in circles, glowing in blue glow as the dementors that happened to fly towards her, opted for another direction.

The girl finally slowed down as she reached the other shore - faint voices could be heard from nearby, hidden by the bushes, the girl recognized them as she quickly walked towards them.

The spells she cast before even leaving her room were still active, her steps silent in the night, her figure blurry, barely visible as a moving chameleon. If they focused on their surroundings more, they would have noticed her, but she managed to come close enough to eavesdrop as she leaned on a nearby tree.

Of course, she hoped, with all her heart that Harry remembered, that it was not only her stuck in this time mess, but she needed to confirm. Slyherins always considered the consequences of their actions. What if Harry had no memories of her? What if the time did not revert again?

She listened as he finished his talking of the first loop. Of the Harry she used to know, before encountering him in summer. Of the dark lords return. Then of him looping back, learning mind arts, then his decade of suffering against the headmaster.

The girl teared up, her father always warned her to be wary of the headmaster, and she always assumed him to be too paranoid… Now she knew the truth.

As the story progressed and the time he told of his lucky encounter in the knight bus, Daphne teared up. It was not the words, but the emotion behind them, the look and longing in his eyes as he told so, that made her undo her spells and rush to the boy.

Harry twitched and almost launched a spell at her. Almost. Thankfully his reflexes were not as good as they once were so recognising the rushing girl happened earlier as his abruptly raised wand lowered and eyes widened in shock.

"Daph! But"

He could not even finish the sentence as their lips overlapped and he gladly responded in kind. The reunited pair was getting more and more into it, forgetting the onlooking girl, gaping at them as well as the story she heard so far. It was only when their hands were starting to reach towards inappropriate places, a loud harumph interrupted them as they focused on the blushing bushy haired girl.

"Greengrass" - Hermione nodded to the girl in greeting, receiving a nod in return.

"Granger" - Daphne's voice sounded slightly awkward - back then she already was on a first name basis with the girl, it seemed like it would be some time until they got closer again.

As their heated moment passed, the pair sat in a hug as Harry finally asked his girlfriend what he did not finish before.

"How are you here Daph? How come you have memories… of the past?"

"I believe it's from the time you practised Legilimency. Some stray memories reached me which I dismissed as your bad dreams… And it turns out it was your nightmare, but not a dream - a real one…"

"Legilimency? That's illegal! You need a permit for that!"

"I assure you I had my reasons"

"But it's against the law! You shouldn't be doing that!"

"Don't you think getting out of this mess would require breaking a ton of rules anyway, Granger? If you want to be a sucker for rules, you should realise that it did not happen, yet - hence no law was broken."

Hermione could only fume in silence in reply. She was always somewhat a slave to rules. Surely she did break them once or twice… Or perhaps dozens of times… But only if she had a good justification for herself. Like that time she brewed polyjuice…. Perhaps Harry truly had a valid reason.

As if suddenly realising something, the girl checked the time as her eyes widened - "It's too late! Dumbledore should have locked the door by now!"

Unlike her Harry did not mirror her panic - "It's not a big deal, we will get chased, our minds read, and the loop would restart again."

"And you know this, because… ?"

Harry stared into the distance - "I might have tried escaping from school a few dozen times, you know, getting my mind read by Dumbledore and dealing with dementors every single day is quite mentally taxing… "

"My poor Harry…" - Daphne hugged the boy stronger.

Seeing Harry not minding the incoming reset, the trio just continued sitting on the shore, planning the next inevitable restart, to get somewhere more 'safe' for a longer chat - they did have much to discuss, and getting send back in time every few hours did not seem like a pleasant experience to either of them.

And just after they made arrangements, a group of aurors rushed at them, capturing them with ease. The girls looked scared, but Harry hardly minded the event - he had experienced this before. In fact, if he had done his reflex enchantment ritual he would have tried to fight against them, curious if his gained knowledge and experience would be enough to deal with them. Those aurors were quite competent after all - only the cream of the crop got assigned as Ministers of Magic bodyguards.

But it was not long before the headmaster intercepted the escorting of 'prisoners'. While shocked at seeing a Slytherin among them, it did not take long for him to do what he usually did - he read Harry's mind, and the loop restarted once again.

Daphne was back in her room, a sweet smile on her face. She was somehow getting used to the time looping back now - no sign of nausea on her face.

The girl was on cloud nine ever since she learned of Harry recognising her, having memories of their time together. And while the time loop issue seemed daunting and scary, she did not mind the challenge, not with Harry by her side.

Of course she was somewhat upset with him for keeping it a secret, but she understood him, if sharing meant the time to reset again… she would have done the same in his shoes.

Not wasting any time she dressed up, cast the standard set of sneaking out spells and headed out of her room - exactly the same as she did in the previous loop. Only this time, the girl did not rush towards the great lake, or even outside the school for that matter, she headed towards the kitchens.

While a lot of Hogwarts students, especially younger ones, believed in the 'magic' of their food just appearing from nowhere on headmaster's whims, as they got older all students learned the truth.

Magic is not able to create or transfigure food - while it might look like food, taste like food, once eaten, it would not provide the consumer with any nutrients, any calories, and eventually will revert to what it once was.

After knowing that, many more curious students had questions appear in their minds - if that is so, where does the food in the great hall come from? And after that, more curious ones would uncover the truth easily - either from one of the books in the library or just by asking around.

With silent steps, the girl was near the portrait, then her hand reached out to tickle the pear, and as soon as it started laughing and the door opened, she headed inside.

It did not take long for her to ask for some food and meals and then she was just waiting for house elves to finish cooking and bringing the supplies to her, before she headed for the room of requirements.

She was glad to have learned expansion charms - while non-permanent, it certainly helped her bring all that food to the room.

The girl sighed as she sat on the bed, a small pile of books near her. She had brought the food, the books from Dumbledore's vault Harry asked her to bring, and she also reorganised the room.

Now there were three beds and bathrooms, as well as various other areas designated for training, reading, eating and so on. It was fascinating to see the room provide anything that was asked for.

The girl picked up a book to read as she laid on her bed, unknowingly her eyes shifted towards the wall as blushed - she had asked the room to provide a secret door connecting her and Harry's rooms… and it did.

Pushing her face heating thoughts aside, the girl immersed herself in the book - she did not feel sleepy and there were still a few hours before Harry and Hermione could sneak out of the hospital wing.

Perhaps a time loop might be a curse in a way, but it was also a great opportunity for learning and experimentation. Daphne was determined to figure out a way to cure Greengrasses family 'curse' that so many had failed for generations.

And just a few hours later, they both arrived, then Hermione was just walking, fascinated with a magical room, testing it out, while Harry and Daphne were enjoying each other's company.

Eventually they got tired and went to sleep, deciding to postpone further discussion for the next day.

Headmaster Dumbledore entered the hospital wing in a cherry mood, early in the morning. He was glad Harry and Hermione managed to save not only Sirius Black, but hippogriff too! All while having perfect alibi intact, such good students!

Of course, being curious about their troubles last night, he was itching to read their minds of the events that happened. Going towards the familiar ward his eyes narrowed seeing two empty beds around a snoring Ronald Weasley.

Perhaps too much dementor exposure and they got put to another ward? Has something happened?

The old man rushed to meet Madame Pompfrey who would be more in the know.

"Good morning, headmaster."

"Good morning. Is Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger alright? I had not seen them in their beds, perhaps you discharged them early?"

The medi-witch had to frown in response - "I am afraid not, I was about to go check on them, you know I am not a morning person."

Headmaster's glasses twinkled as he was seemingly deep in thought, before relaxing and continuing the conversation.

"I confirmed they are still inside the school grounds, but I am not sure where"

"Well, they would get an earful from me for discharging themselves without telling me! It's dangerous to just walk around after such close proximity to dementors! What if they faint and fall off the stairs? You know just how dangerous this school can be, Albus…."

"Yes, you are right… I will go bring them back for a checkup"

Frowning Albus left the ward and headed back to his office. There he had a complex ward which allowed him to track any person in school. In fact, it was this very ward that Marauders somehow managed to key their map into.

Of course the school personnel were numerous so the headmaster rarely bothered to look at all the numerous students, pets, rats, ghosts and all the numerous creatures in the school, rather he just focused on two names - Harry Potter and Hermione Granger as the hologram of the school appeared, yet he frowned, not seeing the boy and the girl anywhere.

A wave of a wand later, the hologram shimmered and countless shades of students appeared, then quickly walked backwards and backwards, until eventually two of them started glowing in a bright cyan light.

Headmaster paused the playback as he realised where they were. The two glowing holograms were wandering near the poster which displayed a wizard teaching trolls how to dance, up on the seventh floor. He murmured, deep in thought - "the room of requirements…."

Now that has complicated things. The room was so elusive it was not even fully in the wards. But the only entrances out of it were back on the seventh floor… or in his brother's tavern - which thankfully had a ward at the entrance, he would know if they used it, if they even knew of its existence.

Which meant they would come out on their own once they run out of food… Or he could go and guess the room they were in - even if it was some complex scheme like his own password vault, just thinking something like 'Dumbledore's secret room' would actually materialise the door - it was that it was locked for those that did not meet the conditions specified, and would disappear upon even the slightest damage - at least that was as far as headmaster himself had tested.

With that thought in mind, the headmaster stepped out of his office, and rushed towards the seventh floor.

'The room Harry is in' - such a simple sentence, but enough to materialise the door. Yet it was locked. Albus knocked for a minute, but no one opened from the other side. Unknowingly for him, Harry had cast silencing charms from the inside, a dozen minutes later with no response, the headmaster could only order one of the elves to watch over the door and notify him when anyone got out before heading back to the great hall.

Unfortunately for him, this was only the start of his problems that day - later in the day he was notified that besides Harry and Hermione, one other student was missing - a Slytherin student, Daphne Greengrass.

It took nearly the whole day for Harry to retell the important parts of his time travels to the listening duo. There were various interruptions, giggles, shock, and tears, but he was finally done with the story. Thankfully most of it was about the last long loop he had - where Daphne could fill up most of the details besides the things he hid from her - mainly the time loop related things… and the horcruxes.

Still the boy was glad to speak about it. It was that good feeling of just someone else knowing your problems, someone else caring, that made it all the better.

The girls were tired from such nerve-wracking knowledge and went to bed early, Harry meanwhile, just read the books from Dumbledore's vault before doing the same. It was enough talking for the day.

As the next day arrived, Harry was amused finding Daphne in his bed - she certainly made good use of that 'shortcut' in the wall. Some time later, the trio all were awake, and eating with more discussions among them.

They talked of the future that is to come. How to best utilise their time. How to 'survive' encounters with mind readers like Dumbledore and Severus Snape around. As well as their goals for what they wanted to achieve.

They all agreed that getting rid of the dark lord was a pressing matter - regardless if they found a way to escape the time loop with Harry keeping his memories or not. Besides those two goals, Daphne also wanted to find a way to cure her sister's illness - the so-called 'curse' of the Greengrass family.

After much discussion they figured out a way, a way to escape the school - which was a pressing concern, with three of them they would run out of food in a few weeks or so.

Of course, just repeating the food hoarding and staying inside the room was an option - but eventually they would get bored of the place. Eventually there would come a time when they needed more resources. Either for potions or for rituals, or even more books, not ones from Hogwarts library, the ones the room could not provide. As well as more varied combat training - as good as the dummies provided by the room were, they could never be as smart as an actual wizard.

For Daphne it was simple - being a pureblood heir, neither headmaster nor her head of house tried to enter her mind as she did have somewhat decent occlumency shields - no doubt they could if they tried, but they simply had no good reason to do so and attract

Hermione was the weakest link of the group, luckily for her there was a good book on mind arts in the room, as well as her two other friends to help her learn, then Harry offered to lend his cloak to her, so she could bypass Dumbledore the same way he did.

As for the boy himself, he figured he was good enough… To just escape the school. Yes, he did agree to research more about artefacts and their links, as well as meditate, to perhaps, one day sever the link with Elder wand - or at least make it not trigger with Dumbledore reading his mind.

After all, they still had no idea just how many horcruxes Voldemort had made, and only knew the identity of four of them - one of them being a potentially accidental one in Harry's forehead.

And so days had quickly passed, with the trio spending time together, reading, training, chatting, preparing for the next loop, which hopefully would be much longer.