A Tightrope of Time
Harry opened his eyes to find the beautiful Italian sunshine being filtered through his even more beautiful betrothed's soft brown hair as she rested her head on his chest while sleeping, what had caused him to wake?
He received his answer in the form of Emma Granger who approached the bed, ran her fingers through her daughter's hair before kissing both of them on the forehead before leaving.
"I don't want to wake up," grumbled Hermione, "this dream is to good, I'm in a beautiful Italian Château, lying in bed with my husband-to-be and my mum just came in and kissed me. This is my best ever dream."
"I think the future Lady Potter needs to create some better memories so we can improve the quality of those dreams," Harry replied, "and just for the record you're not dreaming, I don't want to know what's happening with mum but I hope dad is in the same sort of mood"
"Did Dobby get the package?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, little guy is working his sock off and I don't think I've ever seen him happier. Do you still think this is a good idea love?"
"Harry you know they are very independent people, once it sinks in what they have lost it could get ugly, this has the potential to go wrong but I still think it's a better option than what we would face a few weeks down the line."
"Ok, lets get showered and meet the problem like Gryffindors." He joked.
"Do you want to save water and save time?" she joked back.
Harry was actually embarrassed and their rings told Hermione the reason why, he had put on a lot of muscle and height by the time they had went to the ministry that fateful night and now he was back to being younger, shorter, skinnier and smaller.
Hermione took the boy she loved so much and kissed him with all the tenderness and love she possessed, "Harry I'm not exactly thrilled to be in my younger body either but it's still me, this is who we are now and we can't keep any secrets. I know you still find me attractive so you must know how I feel about you, we can start our training after Monday and at least get our fitness levels back up. Jogging on that beach should be so much more fun than running round a frozen lake in winter."
Harry held her tight, "sorry love, being in this younger body just brought back some of my old insecurities but we'll work on it, as much as I love the idea of sharing a shower we don't need to freak mum and dad out any more than we already have."
The sound of her daughter giggling brought a smile to Emma's face as she walked down to breakfast, this Hermione really was a different young girl to the one they had left at King's Cross Station last September and her mother wholeheartedly approved of the way her daughter glowed with happiness.
The fact that this was entirely due to the boy she wanted to marry on his fourteenth birthday couldn't be denied, she was honest enough to admit that, had the couple been their correct ages, she would be rushing around making wedding arrangements – even if it was only a trip to Gretna Emma would have been happy for them.
Her relationship with her husband had become a physical one for the first time since Hermione's birth and while both had enjoyed the experiences immensely there was something sorely missing, love! Both had built barriers over the years to protect themselves from the heartache that was their marriage, she supposed that it was understandable that these barriers wouldn't come crashing down after only one night.
At the moment Emma felt as if she was involved in an extra marital affair with a friend and that was not what she wanted, she needed her husband back and couldn't believe she was going to ask her future son-in-law for help.
There was only four of them sitting down to breakfast as Remus was back in Britain handling Potter business all day, this would give the four a chance to get to know one another.
Emma asked a question that she really needed to know the answer to, "Hermione and Harry, can you tell me what it felt like to share each others memories and why would you do that, wasn't there a danger of you not liking something you seen and it changing the way you felt about each other?"
The raw emotion that both were suddenly displaying made Emma wonder if she had probed to far, Harry's use of mum hinted that she just might have.
"Mum, I have faced a Basilisk, the meanest dragon your ever likely to see and the most evil Dark Lord in the world on more than one occasion but nothing, and I mean nothing scared me as much as waking up and wondering if Hermione still loved me. The others could only kill me but Hermione turning away would destroy me totally, my life before Hogwarts was pretty unpleasant and your daughters love is the one good thing in my life, it defines who I am and I couldn't survive without her."
By the time he was finished speaking his voice was barely above a whisper and only Hermione's arms wrapped around him had granted Harry the strength to finish his answer.
Hermione answered the rest of her mother's question, "I was terrified that Harry would see me for who I really am and not find me worthy of him, we now know that those fears were groundless but they were certainly real enough at the time. The reason for taking this chance was two fold, the second is one of our biggest secrets but we think you deserve to know."
"Dumbledore and Snape can read minds, it's highly illegal but they do it all the time, while we wear these rings no one can penetrate our minds except each other so our secrets are safe. The second is a bit harder to explain, when Harry died it released something behind the scar that Voldemort gave him and now everything that Voldemort achieved or learned is stored in Harry's head like a vast library containing all the knowledge we need to destroy him for good. These rings allow me access to that information."
"Your daughter in research mode is a force to be reckoned with and Voldemort has been called many things but none of them was stupid, evil psychopath – definitely! He was a genius who could have used his power and knowledge for good, becoming a great and respected wizard; instead he wanted to be worshiped using his considerable talents for pure evil."
"We are working on a plan to take him out with minimal risk but it's very tricky, there are certain events that we want to happen but if we change too much it could negate our knowledge of the next two years, we are walking a tightrope and after Monday hope to have as little contact with the wizarding world as possible to keep the time line intact." Harry had his emotions back under control; events that they had put behind them years ago were now fresh in the others mind, leaving the young couple a little frayed around the edges.
Harry continued, "you asked how it felt well the only way to describe it is being there while seeing, hearing and feeling every emotion of every situation, watching Hermione lay in her bed at Hogwarts, crying because I was bloody stupid over a broomstick nearly ripped my heart from my ribcage, watching as she fell in love with me was better than anything I've ever felt before. The reason I keep slipping into mum and dad is I know you as well as Hermione does and she never calls you anything else."
"So this Voldemort can be killed, for good?" asked Dan.
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