"Even with Ron?"
“Well isn’t this just fantastic!”
Hermione complained, pacing around the common room. Harry noted with a hint of comfort that the common room hadn’t changed all that much in the last decade.
Not much had changed about Gryffindor- it would seem.
“Dumbledore said to just sit patient, ‘mione. And isn’t that what you’re good at anyways?” Harry commented from in between the couch cushions. His eyes were growing heavy by the moment, and the cushion felt so nice against his achy back.
It was just the two of them in the common room. The other kids were still attending the opening ceremony and getting tours of the school.
After their wonderful talk with Dumbledore, the two scattered about before retracing the old-
New, steps of Hogwarts and into the sleeping chambers. Upon entering, Harry had immediately flopped onto the cushions by the fireplace. meanwhile Hermione was caught up with pent up nerves and energy.
At Harry’s comment, Hermione stopped her pacing. She flicked a frustrated glare towards Harry’s direction before taking a seat next to his sprawled out form. His feet made a thud as they were thrown off the couch by the girl.
“I just don’t understand how we can ‘blend in’, as Professor Dumbledore puts it.” She commented, crossing her arms.
Harry sat up slightly and adjusted his glasses, trying to get a better look at his friend. On the surface she seemed merely annoyed with their circumstance, but Harry new better. The anxiety and nervousness was written all over her face in a clear display. The boy could do nothing but comfort her- or try too.
“Its going to be alright ‘mione. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’ve faced scarier things than time travel.”
The said girl glanced up at him and sighed. “I know,” She lamented. “I’m just worried; especially about you and your…well-” she drifted off lamely.
“My parents.” Harry finished.
“Yeah, your parents.” Hermione spoke in a softer tone. “I just don’t want to mess anything up.”
It struck Harry then that he could lie to his friend. He could tell her that everything would be perfectly fine and that they would without a doubt not mess up the current timeline.
The truth was better though with Hermione, and even with himself too.
“I’m scared.” he admitted quietly.“I’m scared, but at the same time- I’m not.”
Hermione furrowed her brow.
“What do you mean?” she questioned.
Harry looked towards the carpet, huffing.
“I’m scared because It’s my parents, mainly. I’ve never truly met them, I’ve only dreamed about it. I’m also scared because i don’t want to ruin something from our timeline- like you mentioned.” Glancing up at his friend, he could see the worry she held for him in her eyes. Silently, she grabbed his hand.
Harry continued his thought. “-But I’m not scared because I know if we are in this together, then we can get through this together. I have faith in us ‘mione, and even in Ron, even if he’s not here.” Harry laughed lightly, and Hermione reluctantly cracked a grin.
“I suppose you’re right,” She laughed. “We can get through this together.”
“Even with Ron?” Harry questioned through his ongoing laughter.
Hermione sighed, failing to hold back her amusement.
“Yes, I suppose. Even with Ron.”
---
Laughter filled the morning air of the first official day at Hogwarts.
With fuzzy vision, Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes harshly. Reaching over to the table, he plucked off his glasses and fixed them on his face. Looking around, he took in the empty, and quite messy beds.
With a groan the boy stood up and made his way to his wardrobe.
After their talk last night, Harry and Hermione set off to bed early so that they could avoid seeing anyone they weren’t supposed to technically know.
Now, Harry wasn’t ideally looking forward to coming face-to-face with Sirius or his own father, but he wasn’t entirely scared of it either.
It was just a matter of time, he supposed.
After getting ready for the day, he booked it into the common room, scanning around for a familiar face framed by untameable curls.
While busy scanning the few kids still in the common room, Harry failed to take notice of the quickly approaching figure behind him.
“Oi! James-” A hand suddenly landed on Harry’s shoulder, roughly spinning him around. Harry blinked quickly and backed away from the person, trying not to flinch at the sneak up. When he finally gathered himself, he looked up to see who greeted him. It was a shorter man with blond hair, and pale skin. He was stubbier than the other boys, but he had a kind smile.
“Oh! Sorry mate, I mistook you for a friend of mine.” The boy smiled shyly.
Harry stilled for a moment then smiled back, awkwardly. “Oh- well, that’s alright.” He commented.
The strange boy smiled and held his hand out for a handshake. Harry took the offered hand, shaking in greeting.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Peter.” he spoke.
Harry felt his blood run cold.
‘It couldn’t be.. could it?’ He thought, anxiously.
Dread was filling his lungs and burning his throat. This couldn’t be that Peter, could it? This boy looked so nice.
There had to be other Peters’ in Hogwarts, right? How could this be the same person he saw in the room, not even two days ago?
‘The same person who killed my parents.’
Harry must’ve been staring for awhile, because Peter’s face started to drop.
“Are you alright?” The boy asked quietly, reaching out a hand to which Harry promptly dodged.
“I’m quite alright-thanks.” He spoke quickly, trying to find an out of this increasingly tense conversation.
Peter nodded and looked towards the floor. “Alright, well, sorry if I scared you. I’ll be on my way-”
“Pete? Who are you talking too?” A voiced interrupted the short boy.
Peter turned quickly and scanned the crowd. Finally spotting who called him, he waved, and Harry felt his stomach drop even more.
When he approached, Sirius clapped Peter on the back and turned to face Harry, to which upon gazing at the boy, his face lit up.
“Oh! It’s the boy from the other day!” Sirius exclaimed, smiling brightly.
“I didn’t know you knew this kid wormy!” Peter cringed slightly and shrugged the arm Sirius had thrown over his shoulders off. “I don’t know him.” He muttered.
“Yes, well, speaking of which- I’ll be on my way now.” Harry spoke briskly, turning to find Hermione again.
Sirius had other plans though, for he interrupted Harry’s abrupt exit.
“Hold on! I wanted to say that it’s nice to meet you again.” He smiled excitedly. Harry scrunched up his face at the too-happy expression.
“Yes-well, I’ve…uhm, I’ve got to-”
“Why don’t you walk with us to the dining hall?” Sirius cut him off.
Harry felt himself grew agitated. He looked around awkwardly,all the while trying to come up with a better excuse to ditch Sirius.
“See, I don’t exactly have time for that-”
“Oh come on!” Sirius interrupted again. He opened his mouth again to speak some more before being suddenly cut off by Peter.
“Padfoot, can’t you see hes uncomfortable? I think it’s best to leave it be.” The shorter boy commented quietly.
Harry felt his mouth drop internally.
Peter smiled at Harry and began to apologize. “Sorry about my friend! And sorry for bothering you mate!” Peter spoke kindly, offering a smile before grabbing Sirius’ arm, dragging him away.
While frozen in shock at Peter actually apologizing, Harry caught a bit of their conversation as they walked away.
“..Thought he was James-” Peter’s voice spoke from a distance.
“That’s ridiculous! I couldn’t..’
Harry snapped his jaw shut after at least a minute had passed. Adjusting his glasses, he shook his head and continued on his quest to find Hermione. In his opinion, trying to interact with the group in question as little as possible was the best course of action. It would save him all the stomach aches.
Though, Harry won’t deny the existence of that small spark in his heart at the thought of meeting his parents. A dream he always wished for, and yet could never quite reach. It rested in his palms now, and that thought terrified him.
Sighing harshly and shaking his head again, Harry made his trek to the dining hall.
---
Hermione was already in the dining hall when Harry arrived. The girl was sitting nearest the entrance, clearly keeping a watchful eye out for her friend.
“Harry!” She spoke harshly, waving him over.
Sliding down into the seat next to her, Harry took in the books that she had no doubt searched the entire library for.
Pushing his glasses up and reaching for a piece of toast, Harry questioned lightly. “What are you looking at?” He spoke, taking a bite of the crunchy bread.
Hermione glanced at him before grabbing the book nearest to her. Flicking her bangs out of her eyes, she pointed to a paragraph.
“Well,” she started. “I’ve been doing research on Time turners. I know how they work on the surface, but I wanted to see if there were any accounts of incidents’ like ours.” She finished, sparing the boy another glance.
“Oh yeah, the little incident.” Harry commented sarcastically.
Hermione shoved him in the shoulder, causing him to choke on the toast he had bitten.
“Knock it off!” She chastised.
Harry coughed on the piece of bread he had been chewing, “Sorry ‘mione.”
The girl just flicked her hair and continued on.
“As I was saying, I grabbed almost every book I could find on magical items. The time turner has showed up in most of them, but there is something odd about this one.” She sighed, clearly frustrated.
“Well, show me.” Harry spoke, putting down the rest of his bread that he had no intention of finishing. Hermione slid the book closer towards the boy, but still keeping it within her reach. “Look here,” She pointed towards the last paragraph on page one-twenty four.
“This is where the book talks about the time turner. The only problem; the next two pages have been ripped out.” Hermione finished, flipping to the remains of the next pages.
“Well,” Harry started, taking his time studying the page. “What’s to say that this is the only page about time turners? What if the next page was something else?”
Hermione shook her head, flipping to the contents of the book.
“Here it says that the pages one-twenty four through one-twenty eight talk about the time turners and time travel altogether.”
Harry stared back at his friend. The frustration he felt was nothing compared to the frustration she must be feeling now. Hermione sighed again and flipped the pages back to the last paragraph.
She began to read. “Time Turners are historically known as the hourglass charm. With the ability to go back to any time the user pleases, these magical charms are used to help and or fix whatever the user needs. In turn, these charms can be seen as dangerous if fallen into the wrong hands.” Flipping the page, the two were met with torn paper and the next magical item in the book.
“I just don’t understand,” Hermione sighed, squishing her cheek against her palm. “What did the next pages say to where they needed to be torn out?”
Looking down at the torn paper, Harry thought it over in his head. Nothing made sense to him-not anymore.
“Why don’t we just wait for Dumbledore?” Harry questioned.
“That would be absurd!” Hermione jumped out of her seat, voice rising an octave. “How can we just accept being stuck here?”
The thought of sitting and waiting played in his mind again. It would be easy, letting Dumbledore do all the work- but Hermione was right. The two needed to find a way out before they messed something up.
Turning back to his friend, Harry sighed. “As much as I agree, the best course of action we have is to wait until Dumbledore has something for us.”
After a moment of thought, Hermione nodded reluctantly.
“You’re right.” She sighed.
Harry knocked shoulder with her, trying to raise her spirits. He spoke, "Just because we should wait doesn't mean we cant still do research."
Hermione smiled, flipping through the book again.
Once students started rising for their first classes, Harry and Hermione took that as a means to pack up and leave. Harry grabbed a couple books from the table and turned to leave. Hermione caught him by the shoulder, making him turn to see the confusion written on his friends' face.
“Harry…” She trailed, clearly caught in her thoughts. The boy in question called her name-waiting until she spoke again.
“Do you.." She whispered, "Do you feel like someone is watching us?”
Harry looked around the dining hall, but no-one was looking at the two of them. To him, it seemed everyone was engrossed in the array of food on the table.
“No-" Harry laughed, "I think the time travel is getting to you ‘mione".
“Oh, yeah" She agreed warily. “..Maybe it is.”