Chapter 6
Harry and Hermione poked their heads out from behind the trees to see the past versions of the three of us and Ron. Hermione lowered a branch in her way and I looked out from the other side of mine and Hermione's tree. I remember looking over here and seeing myself. "Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?" Hermione whispered.
"Hermione," Harry whispered and I heard a twig snap. I spotted Past Hermione, Past Ron and Past Me turn around. I quickly hid back behind the tree right after Hermione did so my arms were on the tree next to the sides of Hermione's face and my face was right in front of hers. I spotted her eyes go down to my lips and I smirked.
"Gods, I wanna kiss you so bad right now," I whispered.
"Why don't you?" Hermione whispered.
"What?" Past Harry asked.
"You haven't said I can. Consent is very important... If I kissed you... Would this be your first kiss?" I asked.
"I thought I just saw-" Past Hermione said. "Never mind."
"Yes," Hermione whispered. "Cassie... I want you to kiss me... Please."
"Let's go!" Past Ron said as I leaned in. I gently pressed my lips to Hermione's and she gasped. I pressed myself closer to her as my hands moved down to her waist to pull her closer too. A few moments later, I pulled back and grinned into her shoulder. I noticed the past versions of us were gone and Harry was trying to convince Buckbeak to move.
"Can you two help now that you're not kissing, please!?" Harry whispered to us so Hermione grabbed a dead Ferret.
Buckbeak, please! You need to come with us! They're trying to kill you!
Hagrid wouldn't let them do that!
He doesn't have a choice. Haven't you noticed him being sadder than usual lately? And chaining you up out here instead of keeping you in the forest? Please, Buckbeak! Please!
Fine. Buckbeak quickly followed us into the forest. We kept going further through the forest before leaving Buckbeak with the last of the dead Ferrets and then making our way to a spot where we could see the Whomping Willow. I sat down and zoned out and a few moments later, I felt arms around me.
"Are you okay, Cassie?" Hermione whispered in my ear.
"Mostly. That... That was my first kiss too, you know? Pansy and Daphne are gonna be pissed it wasn't one of them two but they were each other's first kiss so they can't complain too much." Hermione tensed.
"Do you... Do you like them?"
"Like... Do I want to date them?"
"Yeah."
"Yes. I do... But I like you too and I might like a few others as well... Things are different in the Wizarding World, Hermione. I haven't gotten to the courtship parts of our Etiquette lessons further than what was needed in the exam yet... A lot of Muggles and Mudbloods and those raised in the Muggle World are against gay people and/or polyamory but in the Wizarding World, it's very common. Weddings don't even need to be two people, they can be three of four or five or however many you want. Not that that matters to me. I don't ever want to get married."
"So you want to date me, Pansy, Daphne and probably others too?"
"Honestly, Hermione, I... Remember what I told you about Aura matches before?"
"You mentioned a person's Aura is their Magical essence. So the colour and strength of their Aura is the colour and strength of their Magic."
"Exact colour matches, like to the exact same shade, are very rare but those of us in the Black Family find them quite easily most of the time. If your colour matches exactly with another's, your Magic is 100% compatible. The higher the Magical compatibility, the higher the chance of a successful relationship and of having a strong Magical child. That's another reason why the Malfoys are so well known. The Malfoy Family Gift is the only way, other than someone with the Sight to find your exact match."
"All that Divination stuff's a bit--"
"Yes, I know how you feel about Trelawney, Mia."
"M- Mia? That's, er, I..." Hermione's face went red.
"So cute," I whispered as I kissed her forehead and she pushed me. I laughed and Harry chuckled. "The Sight is a real thing, Mia, but it can't be controlled. Trelawney's definitely given true Prophecy's before but she also gives fake ones to make herself more interesting, like predicting Harry's death. The Grim she saw was just Sirius' Animagus form. It was just a Dog. However, she made it out to be something more interesting... Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw girl in my year, has the Sight. She's bullied because of it. Those with the Sight are capable of seeing things that we can't so people think she's crazy. They call her Looney Lovegood. Even the other Ravenclaws bully her. She has an exact Aura shade match with Ginny, by the way. I know you're jealous of her, Hermione. She has a dark blue Aura. I have a light blue Aura. My Mom, Blaise's Mom, both of my Aunts, Alecto Carrow, Daphne, Pansy, Rita Skeeter, Professor McGonagall and you all have a light blue Aura too." Hermione's face, which had just started to go back to its usual colour, went a bright red again. I tilted my head in confusion and tried to hear her thoughts. Her Occlumency Shields kept me out until I forced past them and heard all about her crush on Professor McGonagall. "Oh... Aw, baby Mia has a crush on Professor McGonagall! You're such a bottom, Mia." Harry and I laughed as Hermione pouted.
"Oh, shut up, you two!" We sat in silence for a while.
"Hermione, Cassie?"
"Yeah?"
"Before, when we were down by the lake, Cassie, with Sirius... I did see someone. Two someones, actually... Those someones made the Dementors go away."
"With Patroni." We looked at Hermione, questioningly. "I heard Snape telling Dumbledore. According to him, only two really powerful Wizards could've conjured them."
"Sexist," I muttered.
"It was my Dad and Mum," Harry said. "They conjured the Patroni."
"Harry, your Parents are--"
"Dead. I know," Harry said, cutting Hermione off. "I'm just telling you what I saw. I got a better view of my Dad but I saw the red hair next to him. They saved us. They saved me."
"Harry, I don't think it was your Parents... I think it was us," I said.
"What?"
"Well, you're always being told you look like your Dad, right? And all you saw of your Mum was red hair and nothing else." I change my hair to red. "You saw us now. Your Future self and my Future self but, not knowing about the Time Turner, you assumed it was your Parents."
"So we can... We can conjure Patroni?" Harry asked.
"Well, we have been practising, Harry. Could you make out their shapes?"
"A Stag. I don't know the other one. I couldn't see it. Sorry."
"Here we come," Hermione said as the Past Harry, Past Hermione, Past Sirius, Past Pettigrew, Past Lupin, unconscious Past Uncle Sev, Past Ron and the past version of me came out of the tunnel. I watched as the past versions of everyone freaked out about Past Lupin turning into Past Werewolf Lupin. I saw the past version of me imprison Pettigrew and, when everyone looked towards Past Harry running after Past Dog Siri and Past Werewolf Lupin, I summoned the jar to me.
"Let's go," Harry said after I caught the jar. I put it in my backpack. I'm so glad I don't go anywhere without it. We ran to get a better view of the fighting Past Werewolf Lupin and Past Dog Siri. We saw Past Harry and Past Me facing Psat Werewolf Lupin. Hermione howled. Oh, shit, no! "What're you doing!?"
"Saving your life," Hermione said before howling again.
"Yeah, but after doing that, Werewolf Lupin ran towards the howling, Hermione! He's coming after us now!"
"Yeah, didn't think about that," Hermione said. "Run!" The three of us ran through the forest with Past Werewolf Lupin following us. We hid behind a huge tree and tried to make as little noise as possible. While Past Werewolf Lupin slowly rounded the tree, we did the same backwards. When we couldn't see him anymore, I knew something was wrong. I heard something behind us and we froze.
"Guys..." I slowly turned around and saw Past Werewolf Lupin coming towards us.
Liars! Fake pack members! Not one of us! He moved forward and I pushed Harry and Hermione behind me. They may be older and slightly taller but I've been working out for the past year, almost two with the Turner, and the year before so I'm stronger and faster. Right as he reached us and went to attack, Buckbeak ran him off.
Yes! Thank you, Buckbeak! You saved us!
You saved me first.
"That was really scary," Hermione whispered as she pulled me into her arms.
"Poor Professor Lupin's having a really tough night," Harry said.
"Harry, the Dementors! We need to go to the lake now!" The three of us ran to the lake and stopped on the side opposite Past Me, Past Harry and Past Sirius. Harry and I waited for the right moment and then ran over to where Harry had spotted us. I focused on the happiest memory I could think of and tried not to blush.
"Expecto Patronum!" We both yelled. Right in front of Harry, a Stag Patronus appeared that started letting out pulses to push the Dementors away as my Patronus flew straight out of my wand and towards the closest Dementors, pushing them further and further away. Right after Past Harry passed out, our Patroni disappeared and we walked back over to Hermione.
"I can't believe your Patronus is a Dragon, Cassie!" Hermione exclaimed as she pulled me closer. I grabbed Harry and pulled him into our hug.
"Well done, Harry!" I whispered to him. We quickly left the lake and grabbed Buckbeak. We went to the castle and watched as Macnair called the Dementors.
"We'll have to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius. I don't think the three of us and Sirius will fit so I'll stay behind since I'm afraid of heights and I hate flying," Hermione said. We flew to the courtyard and Hermione got off. We then started our flight to Sirius.
"You were right, Cassie," Harry said. "It wasn't my Parents we saw earlier. It was us! Your hair's still red, by the way. I saw myself conjuring the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time because... Well, I had already done it." Harry chuckled at his own words. "Does that make sense?"
"Yeah. I used the memory of kissing Hermione for my Patronus. I only knew it would work because it was the first thing I'd thought of, it hadn't happened when I tried last time so I'd never tried the memory before and you told me you'd already seen it so... How is my hair staying the same colour now? Even yesterday it kept changing!" We flew up to Sirius and I blasted the bars away. He climbed on behind me and we flew back to Hermione. Hermione helped Harry down while I used my Air Magic to get down. Sirius climbed down after us and I told him about Floo calling Madam Bones and getting him a trial. Hermione and I started making our way back to the Hospital Wing and about two minutes later, Harry caught up.
"He's gone. So's Buckbeak. How long do we have?" Harry asked. Hermione checked her watch, told us we only had a few minutes and we ran until we got there. Dumbledore had just shut the door and turned to face us.
"Well?" Dumbledore asked.
"He's free," Harry said.