Running

Chapter 6

The very moment Potions was over, Harry ran out of the classroom grabbing Hermione's arm and dragging her along after him. He couldn't stand much more of Ronald. It was sickly how he fawned over Harry, chasing him around and constantly vying for his attention. Knowing who he would become made it all so much worse.

"Harry, slow down!" Hermione panted, it seemed her 11-year-old body wasn't nearly as agile as she would have hoped.

"Sorry, I just needed to get out of there.."

"It's ok Harry. I saw how Ron was suffocating you. Let's head back to the common room." Just as they began to head for the Gryffindor tower, they overheard snickering and a small voice.

"Is that all you've got to say for yourself?" Draco's voice carried through the hallway, and as Harry and Hermione turned to look, they saw him and his lackeys towering over a shaking Neville. "Why are you even here, Longbottom? Everyone knows you're practically a squib anyways." Harry cleared his throat loudly, announcing his arrival, interrupting the raucous laughter coming from Crabbe and Goyle. "Potter," Draco said, chin high, "Got a problem?"

"Not at all," Harry shrugged, "Looks like you do. Jealous that Neville's better than you in Transfiguration? Really, there are better outlets for envy, like gaining some actual skill of your own."

"I have actual skill," the young Slytherin turned to Harry, clearly affronted by this accusation.

"Any social skills?" Hermione answered. Draco stepped forward, but before he could say anything else, she said, "I just mean, if you're struggling to make friends, this isn't the way to go about it." She shrugged nonchalantly. Draco stuttered for a moment, unsure of how to respond. "Whatever," he pushed past them, his boys falling in stride behind him.

"Are you ok Neville?" Harry said, turning to his friend.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks guys."

"Don't listen to them, ok Neville? You're worth a thousand of them," Hermione smiled at him.

"You don't have to say that, I'm terrible at magic. And they're right, my own family thought I was a squib for the longest time. They didn't even think I'd get a Hogwarts letter."

"Who cares what they think if they're wrong?" Harry said assertively, "I say, you're a great friend and incredibly talented. No one gets everything right on their first time, you'll do great things here Neville."

"Thanks, Harry," Neville said with a sniff.

The three of them headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, smiling and chattering as they traversed the school. When they arrived, Neville went up to the boys' dormitories to write his first letter home.

Alone, Hermione finally turned to Harry with something that had been playing on her mind. "It's strange Harry," she paused, unsure of how to explain herself. "I feel like, sometimes we're acting like children but we're both adults, in our late 30s technically. I mean we aren't even acting like we are 19 or 20, which would make sense considering the potion, but, I don't know, it is like we are actually 11."

"I think that might be a side-effect of coming back here. Maybe because we are now 11 years old our brains act like it. I'm not really sure how we time-travelled, just that we did. Either we ended up in a universe that is simply slower than ours and stole the bodies of 11-year-old us, or we ourselves have rewound the universe going back to this point. I'm not really sure, but if it's the former, it would explain why we sometimes like kids. The fact is, we are."

"I guess so," Hermione shrugged and flopped backwards on the couch. Since they had come back, she had been so tired all the time. Even Harry seemed a little gone out, but it had only been a few days, perhaps the exhaustion would wear off.