The Difference in Reality [A Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Year 3: Chapter 10

It took an entire pot of tea and a lot of encouragement from both Hagrid and Willow for Hermione to calm down. She word-vomited about her classes to the both of them, which concerned Willow even more. Hermione was taking far too many classes to fit into her schedule...how was she managing all of them? More importantly, how was she managing to get to all of them?

"Hermione, I'm sorry to bother you with this question, but Ron was mentioning something to me the other day that I've noticed, too," Willow piped up. "How have you been getting to all your classes? You've been attending two at once for quite some time now, but how?"

Hermione looked at her sharply. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Hermione, come on now," Willow said. "I may be incredibly dull- I can't see things happening right under my nose half the time- but I can always tell when someone is keeping a secret. It's okay to tell me. You know I don't go blabbing about personal things."

Hermione sniffled. Hagrid handed her another tissue and poured her some more tea.

"Thanks," she mumbled. She blew her nose, then wiped her eyes. "I guess I can tell you...I signed up for a lot of classes. Like, twice as much as I can physically attend. The Ministry agreed with Professor McGonagall that my intellectual potential was great enough that I should be given the opportunity to attend them all, so they gave me this."

Hermione pulled out the old, half-rusted necklace she always wore. Willow raised her eyebrows, which prompted Hermione to explain. "It's a time-turner. As long as I'm careful and follow the rules of time, I can go back a few hours at a time and attend all my classes that occur at the same time. I don't always manage to get back into the same exact position as I left off, though, which is why Ron's been noticing my weird disappearances that coincide with me reappearing across the room." Hermione bit her lip, a fresh wave of emotion passing over her. "He's so dull, I swear! He never notices anything! I've tried to hint to him time and time again that Professor Lupin is a werewolf, but he doesn't understand that, he only notices my disappearances- "

Hermione's eyes flew wide open. She clapped a hand over her mouth, then sagged on her chair, covering her face with her hands. Willow stared at her in disbelief.

"Wait, did you say- ?"

"Yes, but that was supposed to be a secret!" Hermione moaned. "I'm giving away everything tonight!"

Willow mentally did a double-take. She suddenly gasped. "That makes so much sense! Every time he gets sick, it's around the full moon! And one time- you're never going to believe this- I saw a werewolf walking around in the Forbidden Forest, but it had hazel eyes- exactly like Lupin's!"

"Don't tell me yeh've been runnin' around in the Fores'!" Hagrid cried.

Willow shrugged. "Just the outskirts. I'm safe, anyway. I've got plenty of warnings from my powers when something's coming." Hagrid shook his head, obviously not believing her. She cleared her throat to diminish the awkward moment. "Hermione, don't worry about it. I've had my suspicions. Now, I can help keep Lupin's secret."

"An' it wasn't that much o' a secret, Dumbledore let summat the staff know, jus' in case," Hagrid said.

Hermione looked up at them tearfully. "Really?"

"I wouldn't lie to yeh, Hermione," Hagrid promised.

Hermione half-smiled. "I guess that does make me feel better..."

"Hermione, you can confide in us anytime," Willow said, taking the curly-haired girl's hand. "You've overloaded yourself, and until you can get rid of that workload, you have to unload your emotions on someone else. It'll keep you sane- and healthy."