Chapter Fifteen

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Chapter Fifteen

Hermione opted to talk to her dad in the end, and Harry waited outside his study whilst Hermione talked about a geometry text book that they needed but was only at Pembury Library. She came out a moment later grinning. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it," he said mischievously.

They bundled up into coats and scarves, and stepped back out into the freezing wind. Harry indicated they should walk left and they began their journey back to the public Floo station.

Hermione pulled a rectangular box-like object out of her pocket and started to push buttons on it clumsily with gloved fingers. Harry suddenly realised it was a mobile phone she was turning on. "Erm," said Harry, "I don't know if you'll actually be able to use that."

Hermione looked at him. "Why not?"

"Well, magic interferes with electrical things like phones or CD players, they just sort of hiss and fizz and you can't do anything with them."

Hermione looked stricken. "Oh, but, I told my dad I'd be able to phone them." There was a slight pleading note in her voice, like she was asking Harry to change the laws of magic.

Harry grinned. "You can owl them if you need to," he said reassuringly. "Don't worry."

"Owl them?" So Harry explained about owl post, and told her that his owl, Hedwig, was exceptionally good at delivering letters. Hermione seemed quite charmed by the idea of owls flying through the air with letters tied to their feet and forgot all about her phone.

As they were walking past the tree house with the pirate flag (it had managed to hang on still) Hermione broke the silence. "So, you said we were best friends," Harry nodded. "And that there was another boy - John was it?"

"Ron," Harry corrected as they walked down the steps.

Hermione nodded. "So what's he like, in this world I mean, is he Muggle-born too?"

"No," said Harry, "definitely not Muggle-born. His family's one of those old wizarding families, they're really great, we spend the summer holidays there a lot," he allowed himself to grin. "There's nine of them."

"Nine?!" said Hermione shocked.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, it's a bit mad." He thought to himself. "Let's see, there's Charlie, Bill - no, sorry, Bill then Charlie, um, Percy, Fred and George - they're twins, then it's Ron and the youngest is Ginny. I don't know how their parents cope. And we're always over there every summer, I'm not sure how Molly feeds us all, but she certainly does and then some. "

"So he'd be more or less the same in this world then," guessed Hermione, smiling to herself. "I'd love to meet him." But Harry's face fell, and Hermione saw it. "What's wrong?"

Harry stopped walking. They were outside someone's front garden; there was a colourful little windmill spinning madly in the breeze and Harry could see the blue glow of the owner's television coming from their front room. "I never defeated Vol-" he stopped himself, thinking of his mother's reaction earlier. "You-Know-Who." Hermione just watched him, so he carried on. "So he kept on killing people, growing in power. The Weasley family, I guess they represent the opposite of everything he does. They're kind, they love Muggles, they're true and loyal."

He sighed, shakily, and found himself sitting on the small wall running across the front of the garden they were by. "They were murdered," he said, his voice cold and empty. "All of them."

Hermione was pale. "Oh Harry," she said quietly, "I'm so sorry." She sat down by him and put her hand on his arm. Harry gazed at the quarter moon.

"I met my parents for the first time today," he said, still staring at the moon, the lump rising in his throat again. "I was like you growing up, I never knew I was a wizard - my aunt and uncle hated me because they were so scared of the magic, so they bullied me and made me sleep in a cupboard."

Harry ignored the aghast noise Hermione made and carried on, worried if he didn't get these words out now he would never be able to. "And then when I found out the truth, about Hogwarts and everything...I also found out my parents weren't killed in a car crash. They were murdered trying to protect me from him. It's my fault they're dead." The tears were rolling down his face without him even really noticing, hot and salty as they crept into his mouth. "And now I've got them back, but Ron's dead, the world's a mess and all I'm focusing on is getting home but I'm running away from my family." He turned to her. "I have a sister, a real, live sister. Her name's Sarah and she's great. She covered for me so I could come here and she has this turtle that I'm slightly worried about but she loves him and there's all these unicorns." He shook his head. "My mum is worried about me, she thinks I'm her son and she's worried about him. But when she relaxes she just sings, all the time, she's terrible but I love it, and my dad - my dad is just as much of a trouble maker as I always hoped he was." Hermione bit her own lip and Harry dropped his face to stare at his lap.  

"I know it's not right, I have to go home. But, this is everything I ever wanted."

Hermione's hand was rubbing his back. She let him cry it out, their roles reversed for the second time that evening. "I can't imagine what you're going through," she said sympathetically. "I want to tell you it's all going to be okay, but...it's not." He looked up at her, the wind cutting through his wet face. "You're right, this isn't where you belong and you can't stay." He tried to swallow, but he was so choked it came out as a sort of cough.

"But can't you see," she continued, "You being here is such a miracle? Now you know, that somewhere out there in the universe your parents are alive, and you'll never forget that, no matter what reality you're in."

Harry let that sink in a minute, and a small smile pulled at his lips.

"There's another Harry," Hermione continued. "And this is life. You can't steal it from him, you have to give it back. But," she added, wrapping her arm around him. "There's nothing to say you can't borrow it a while."

Harry hugged her back, and was vaguely aware of the curtains being twitched in the house behind them. "I'll never forget this," he said in a muffled voice, his head buried in her scarf. "You're right."

"And I'll never forget you Harry Potter," she pulled away and took hold of his shoulders. He looked at her, and sense of calm seeping through him. This is why he'd wanted to find her. She always knew the right path.

"Do you want to know why I made that science lab explode?" she asked him, and he shook his head, wiping his face with his glove and inhaling the icy night air. "That girl I mentioned, Jenny. She saw me fix a jar of honey I cracked in Home Economics, it was right in my hand, I looked at it and the crack disappeared. I didn't realise she'd seen me do it until her and her mates grabbed me by the hair a week later and dragged me into the lab. She started smashing test tubes, they were all pushing me around, demanding I fix the damage. They got me the floor, she...she had a bottle in my face. She said if I didn't show her how I did it she'd cut my face and they could all see me try and fix that." It was Harry's turn to be horrified, instinctively looking at her face for any scars.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't know I was doing it, not really. But the windows, the light fittings - they all exploded. The Bunsen burners, every one of them turned on and the flames almost reached the ceiling. The sprinklers completely doused us but the fire were still going.

"At the time, I felt powerful, they all ran screaming. But then the terror set in, I couldn't explain what I'd done, and it wasn't long before Jenny's boyfriend showed up to blackmail me." She pulled Harry to his feet and tucked her hair behind her ears to stop it blowing in her face.

"From what you're telling me, I could have had a happy life, with a best friend like you. But I've been tortured," she spat out. "Lonely and ashamed of who I was. I've lost years of my life because I was too afraid of what I was, what they could do to me. Of how they'd hurt me. But you've saved me, Harry!" She laughed and turned around on the spot, extending her arms and talking to the stars. "By being here you've given me a new life. You, this Harry, you've done that." She looked back down at him, tears edging at the corners of her own eyes. "And when you go back home, you'll know that, just as you'll know your parents love you, and you got the chance to know that, to know them."

"Hermione," he said, lost for words. "You're amazing. Thank you." He hugged her once again, and she laughed, emotion breaking through the sound.

"Well that's what friends are for isn't it?" She took his hand and they started walking down the path again. "Now tell me all about this Ron."

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