It's About Time

Chapter 3.


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“Are you two blind?!” Harry gaped at Ron and Ginny, “How could you possibly not have seen it?”

He stared in disbelief at his two friends standing in front of him. Growing frustrated at their identical bewildered expressions, Harry forced himself to remain calm. There was no sense in getting himself worked up and causing another… well, whatever that ‘episode’ was that had just taken place.

“Neither of you saw the blue light?” he asked again in a less threatening tone.

“There wasn’t any light, Harry. I think you need to rest. You’re getting upset about no-”

“It wasn’t nothing, Ginny” Harry interrupted, “It was Hermione. She was trying to tell me something. I know it.”

“Harry,” Ron began cautiously, “Don’t you think that if Hermione had just been hanging out in the Gryffindor tower all this time, she would have owled us ages ago? I mean… I’m just as worried about her as you are but it just doesn’t sound like her.”

Harry turned to Ron and opened his mouth, clearly ready to argue when Ginny jumped in instead.

“You’ve gotten yourself into such a state, Harry,” she began, the gentle, nurturing tone her voice held before was gone. “You’re trying to convince yourself that Hermione’s safe because it’s what you want to believe. We all do. Whatever just happened to you-” Ginny continued quickly when Harry made an attempt to interrupt her again, “It scared us to death, Harry. Just relax.”

Harry sank into a chair at the Weasley’s kitchen table. He knew she was right. They were both right. Hermione would never disappear without telling them where she was… especially now, when war was imminent. It felt so real though, he puzzled to himself.
Even more strange was that Hermione didn’t look scared… she didn’t appear to have been hurt for which he was thankful but there wasn’t even a sense of urgency in her message.

The only thing that made him firmly believe that she was truly attempting to contact him was the expression on her face. That strange smile on Hermione’s face… he’d seen it before.
Before he could contemplate the topic further, he could hear Ron addressing him.

“D’you really think she’s at Hogwarts, Harry?” Ron’s eyes were scrutinizing him, expectantly.

“I…I think so.” He replied, beginning to doubt himself when looking into Ron’s trusting face. Could he really have imagined it? No, he decided, definitely not. “She is at Hogwarts.” He stated confidently.

“It’s settled then,” Ginny said somewhat coolly, leaning against the counter, looking directly at Harry. “We’ll head to Hogwarts first thing in the morning. We should probably travel by broom, as a portkey would be too easily traced. I’ll alert McGonagall that we’ll be coming.” With that, she lifted her wand and without speaking a word, a burst of silver shot out of the end of her wand and through the open window.

Harry followed the silvery light with his gaze until it disappeared into the trees. McGonagall had taught them to send secured messages with their patronuses, a form of communication that was, until then, only known to members of the Order of the Phoenix… however, it still never failed to remind him of Dumbledore.

Harry rose from the table where he had been sitting. Ignoring the twinge of hunger he felt in his abdomen, he, instead, nodded to Ginny and Ron before turning out of the kitchen and heading upstairs for bed. He climbed the stairs slowly, he was drained.

If only Dumbledore were here, he thought… he’d have known how to find Hermione, he’d be helping him search for the remaining horcruxes, he… well, there was no sense in dwelling on it. Dumbledore was dead and the weight of the world fell upon Harry’s shoulders. He alone held the fate of the wizarding world in the palm of his hand.

True to his word, Harry had not returned to Hogwarts for his seventh year, neither had Ron or Hermione. It pained him not to go back to the castle he felt such strong ties with but he knew there was no way he could go back to school and ignore the task set before him.

He opened Ron’s bedroom door and walked across to the spare bed where he would be sleeping. Sitting down, he removed his glasses and rubbed his weary eyes.
He crawled into the bed, allowing his muscles to relax as he slid under the cool blankets. He waited for fatigue to take over but, instead, his mind began to wander again. No matter how tired he was, he could never turn off the constant contemplation in his head.

Ron and Hermione were the only ones who understood, he confirmed to himself… they kept him sane, or as sane as he could possibly be after all he’d been through, he thought darkly. In the months since Dumbledore’s funeral, the three of them had been researching dark magic, creating a timeline of Voldemort’s attacks and compiling a list of all the possible remaining horcruxes.

But then Hermione had disappeared and everything changed. She was the heart of the trio, not to mention the brains, and everything seemed so much more difficult without her. Her persistence had always compelled them to work harder… and without it, they had struggled to make any new discoveries at all.

Ginny had somehow sensed this and had shown up at Grimmauld Place one evening, two weeks ago, her trunk in tow. She had given Harry and Ron a knowing look, daring them to argue with her, at once they knew that she would be with them from then on. They’d filled her in on what they knew thus far and were shocked that Ginny was able to make some very revealing connections that they had overlooked. Though they both felt extremely protective of her, knowing that she would be in extreme danger with them, they also knew there was not a chance she’d ever leave their sides as long as there was a war to be won.

They were, quite frankly, shocked that Mrs. Weasley had allowed either of her children to leave school to join Harry, but she had. In fact, she’d seemed almost… proud, Harry remembered fondly. Ginny, seeing as she was underage, was only permitted to leave Hogwarts on the condition that she completed coursework set forth by the newly named Headmistress McGonagall.

Ginny… that was treacherous territory, he thought as he smiled sadly in the dark. As much as he didn’t like to let his mind wander to the subject of Ginny, still, he often did think of her. He swore silently to himself for the thousandth time, that if he made it out of this war alive, he would marry her and never give himself the chance to let her get away again.

The door opened just then and he heard Ron come in and climb into bed across the room. For a while they both laid in silent contemplation then Ron’s voice broke through the stillness.

“I hope Hermione’s at Hogwarts,” he said partly just to himself, “I hope you’re right, mate.”

Harry didn’t answer. This was the first lead they’d had towards finding Hermione… and it was a vision Harry had seen when he’d collapsed in the kitchen. It sounded ridiculous when he thought of it that way… but still, he kept envisioning the smile that had been on Hermione’s face. It was the last thing on his mind as he faded off to sleep.

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After James had disappeared into his dormitory Hermione sat up late into the night, curled up in her favorite armchair in the Gryffindor common room, watching as the fire slowly burned down to glowing embers.

She had really tried not to care about James. Distancing herself from he and his friends as much as possible, she usually kept to herself… which was difficult considering that everyone in school wanted to meet the “new girl”. The Marauders, though, proved hard to avoid and they were as curious as they were charming.

She found Remus the easiest to accept, as she knew him and greatly respected him in the future. The two of them had shared a few nice chats about Arithmancy and Ancient Runes during meals, he was so intelligent and very easy to like. Sirius was, not only, extraordinarily handsome but extremely warm and genuine. In spite of this, Hermione hadn’t really let herself warm up to him… The youthful twinkle in his eyes was unsettling… such a stark contrast to the haunted appearance they would take on years later. He had become aware of her reserved approach to him, she knew, and seemed to go out of his way to wink and smile at her when he’d catch her eye. But then there was Peter. She’d not yet said a word to him. She couldn’t bring herself to so much as look him in the eye as his betrayal was unforgivable for Hermione, regardless of whether or not he’d committed it yet.

The other seventh year Gryffindor girls were friendly, but being friendly with them meant being friendly with Lily and Hermione felt overwhelming guilt whenever she was faced with the Head Girl. This was Harry’s mom… and every time her eyes met Hermione’s, it was as though Harry was staring back at her. But Hermione was always pleasant to Lily, who took the time to show her around the school believing she was a transfer student and introduced her to all of her friends, which was practically the entire student body.

Lily did not spend a lot of time with James, Sirius, Remus and Peter… she was actually just beginning to warm up to James after years of turbulent yet moderate friendship, but when she was around him, it was plain to all that she just lit up… she smiled a bit wider, laughed a little louder. If Hermione wasn’t biased, she might admit that it really was very endearing seeing the two of them together.

Hermione knew the implications of her feelings for James… aware of how much she could actually change the future; she’d vowed to stay away from him. No one would ever notice that she watched him a bit more often than was appropriate…but then, he’d often watched her too, hadn’t he?

He had… she’d seen him. Out of the corner of her eye she’d noticed his eyes following her as she walked through the Great Hall or passing him in a corridor… a thrill would pass over her body, followed immediately by a surge of remorse which would have her rushing straight off to the library to research another book on time travel that she would stare at while day-dreaming about James.

Pathetic… and so unlike her. She wasn’t the type of girl to lose her sense of self whenever she fancied a boy. In fact, she’d never been the type who fancied a different boy every week… not like Lavender or Parvati. Of course, she’d entertained a few crushes; Gilderoy Lockhart, Viktor Krum, she had even allowed herself a childish fascination with Sirius for some time, she laughed aloud… but they never compared to Harry… nor James now. But James, she thought ruefully, was meant to be with Lily. And Harry was meant to be with Ginny.

Only once had she ever defied her self-restraint, thrown caution to the wind and acted upon her emotions. But she didn’t like to think about that night…

Pushing the thought out of her mind, Hermione got up from the armchair and stretched her arms out with a great yawn. Gathering her books, she took one last look up at the boy’s dormitory and trudged up the stairs to her own.
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