The Time-Meddlers [Harmione]

13. Finishing Up the Holidays

The rest of Christmas Day passed happily, with Winky popping up later with gifts - a dozen huge platters stacked with Christmas cookies for Harry and 6 large cakes for Hermione. All the cakes were decorated with pictures of Christmas scenes inside different houses. A small Santa would set gifts under the tree in one house, step into the fireplace while throwing powder into it, the flames would turn green and he'd appear in the fireplace of another and start spreading out more gifts. Each of the houses looked different and had a different toddler sleeping on the couch that would occasionally be woken up.

It was the next day that Hermione had one of the most awkward conversations of her life.

❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾

"Hermione," said Marissa Granger.

"Yes, mum."

"Since your father is out picking up dinner with Harry, I thought it might be a good time for us to have a little chat."

"Oh," asked Hermione, "what about?"

Marissa sighed. "You seem to have changed quite a bit since you went to Hogwarts."

The twelve/nineteen-year-old girl got nervous. "Really?" she said, trying to look nonchalant. "In what ways?"

"For one thing," the woman said, looking into her daughter's eyes, "You seem happier."

"I am," she replied. "I really like it there a lot more than any other school I've been to." She sighed and honestly admitted, "I've finally got friends."

"I'm happy for you." The older woman seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. "Which brings me to Harry. You've called him your best friend."

"Oh, absolutely. You saw that we became friends before we even got on the platform, and he's helped me make other friends. Without him, I don't think I'd have any other friends, so I wouldn't enjoy my time at Hogwarts at all."

"Is he just your best friend?"

Hermione coughed at this question as her cheeks involuntarily colored. 'Oh, no,' she thought. 'I'm about to get the talk.' In the previous timeline, she'd avoided this until just before her third year. She decided to misunderstand. "No, he's good friends with other people as well. I think Neville Longbottom would also consider Harry to be his best friend, too."

With a slight grin on her face, Marissa gently countered, "That's not what I mean, and you know it." Hermione swallowed. "If I must spell it out, I'm asking if you fancy him."

The young woman in a girl's body couldn't stand how this younger body was responding to this inquisition. Whereas before traveling through time, her eighteen-year-old body had stopped blushing at these kinds of questions, this twelve-year-old one couldn't help it. She didn't say anything as she desperately tried to keep her expression under control.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about," assured her mother. "He's a nice boy and has been good to you. He's also cute, don't you think?"

Hermione absolutely hated the stupid grin that forced its way onto her face with that question. Deciding she had to say something, Hermione decided on being a bit honest. "Er, yeah, a bit, I suppose." It was partially honest. The truth would've been a much stronger statement.

Marissa giggled just a bit. "And those eyes..."

"Um-hm," Hermione replied, not trusting herself to say anything, such as describing how looking into those emerald eyes makes her want to do things that no twelve-year-old should think about, at least in her opinion.

Taking a deep breath, her mum continued. "I was going to wait a few years for this, but since you're already close friends with such a fine young man, I think we should have this discussion now. You see, you're just on the threshold of your feelings about boys, er, expanding to the point where you'll want to...do things with them."