hogwartsexpressed | CLOSED: The WORST Double Date to Date (for: coreofdragonheart)

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CLOSED: The WORST Double Date to Date (for: coreofdragonheart)

Harry walked into the private dining room that Hermione had requested for their use that evening. He took a moment to search and take down any eavesdropping instruments he could locate and knew Hermione would or had done the same already. He didn't want this to get out to the public if they could at all help it. He had spent most of the day putting his Aurors through their paces and had perhaps had been a bit too hard on them but honestly, it wasn't any worse than what they could possibly face outside the walls of the Ministry. It was at that time that he regretted, again, that he hadn't sought further education and training from the ICW.

Once he was content knowing he'd taken down anything that could listen in on them, he cast his own set of privacy charms around the room that would allow their guests and waiter/waitress to enter but would not be able to listen in. He turned to look at Hermione and gave her a smile. Spending the evening talking with her and having dinner had probably been one of the best nights he's had in a long time. It had infuriated him to know Ron had been an even bigger arse in regard to Hermione's parents after the war. What gave him the right?

"Are you ready," he asked, walking over to her and watching her face closely.

He'd taken the potion already today and was glad that his intelligent and beautiful best friend had found something that would work. Harry loathed that they'd been treated this way after all they'd done for the Weasley family.

Ginny would be getting off work momentarily and getting cleaned up before she made her way to the restaurant. Ron... well he didn't give a rats arse. He was looking forward to knowing just how much the man knew.

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"Oh, if you're shocked by that then you will not even believe what I'm going to say once I get before the Ministry," she says, smiling so wickedly, already plotting the things she wants to do, the things she's going to say to them about the Weasley family. At least two of them. She is going to ruin them, and hopes the good members of their family come out on top.

They'll make sure of that as well.

"I don't, and I know that we're in that together as well. We have a fight before us, and we know we can handle it, and there's things we'll be able to fix. We have the freedom now to do that."

Hermione cups Harry's face, leaning in and kissing him tenderly as if she's just learned this amazing new thing in life and she can't help herself.

"I guess we should probably sleep off all this alcohol," she says, her fingers still stroking ovre his cheek.

"Oh now you must tell me," he said, the wine and the cake already forgotten for the time being and he held her closer to him. "So that I can assist you as much as I possibly can." Not that he wouldn't anyway but he really wanted to know what she was planning. That and so he could know just how much he could say that would help her plans.

Harry grinned. "We absolutely have a fight ahead of us but if there's one thing history has told me is that between the two of us? We're a force to be reckoned with," he said, leaning into her touch. He smiled when Hermione kissed him and let out a soft breath before kissing her back, tightening his hold on her gently.

"I suppose we should," he said, his voice soft as he lifted a hand to her cheek, sliding his thumb over the soft skin. "We do have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Even as he said it though, he leaned in and kissed her softly, simply enjoying this feeling of her close to him.

"Oh I plan on telling them everything we have about the Weasleys and this spell. All that Ron admitted today. I plan to let them know it was planned and since we were kids, and all they took from us and then..." And then the part that will be the worst since it is likely to catch trouble for them. "And that Dumbledore gave us away like we were chattel for his plans," she says.

Still he is a legend to most but she's not letting this go. They've been quiet a long time about what he had done to them, on this she won't be.

"I hope you're okay with me bringing that up." Because it will be bringing up things about Harry as well, and he is the only person she is willing and eager to protect right now.

Kissing him back, making no move to head out to try and get some sleep. No, not when she finally has this chance for kissing him, something she wants to linger on, to keep kissing him as long as she can.

Harry nodded at the plans she was laying out and smirked. "Oh I am absolutely okay with you bringing that up and had every plan to do the same, now that I know how deep and how long it had been played," he agreed.

"We will have some resistance, plenty still see him as some sort of second coming of Merlin." There was one thing to be certain of, now that Harry was fully aware, he wouldn't rest until things changed. Thankfully, because wizards live for much longer than muggles, they had a lot of time on their hands.

He smiled when neither of them moved and slowly deepened the kiss. He didn't notice the soft pops of the cake and wine disappearing back to the kitchen. His entire attention was on the woman right there next to him and his lips on hers.

"Him dying as he did means they aren't going to want to hear what we're saying. They have lied about so much, Harry, and they're going to want to keep lying and the truth? I'm done with it. I'm done with all of the bullshit and the lies," she says, feeling so charged with the truth and with wanting to make things better. For themselves, and for others.

Her whole life she's missed this without ever knowing she could have it. Missed the chances she should have had. Missed being with him as if that is what she's longed for her entire life and only just now remembered existed in the world.

Cupping his cheeks with both hands, no longer teasing and playing and just enjoying the one good thing she's been kept from for so long, and how much it promises moving on with her life.

"I agree," Harry said with a nod. "Then you and I are on the same page. I'm done with it too. It's time things start changing around here. Not only for ourselves but anyone else who comes along from an abusive home or from the muggle world."

If there was something he found himself truly passionate about, other than this feeling right here, it was getting justice for themselves and making sure it didn't happen to anyone else.

Harry placed both hands on her hips and brought her onto his lap, deepening the kiss further. He truly wished they could have had this all those years ago. "Merlin, 'Mione," he murmured, his voice low and thick.

She nods, not wanting to be too excited and yet she wants to do this. She wants to change the world like they had always meant to and now realizes why that seemed to fade from her thoughts.

"She took so much from us," she whispers. "I want to take it all back.

Just like this. Not just her passion for changing the world she found herself in but for the man holding her in his arms. Pressing in close to him, kissing him in ways she had only ever dreamt of. When he says her name like that her knees go weak and she nearly goes down as she clings to him.

"I want to take it all back and more," he agreed. He was pissed that the Weasley's and Dumbledore took so much away from them. He'd thought it before but it was one thing for Dumbledore to continue manipulating his life from beyond the grave but to drag Hermione into it... it drove him mad.

And, the worst of it was that he took this away from them. This connection with Hermione. Something they could have had the entire time but then, had it been left alone he likely wouldn't have been the perfect sacrificial lamb to defeat Voldemort.

Harry tightens his arms around her gently and presses a deeper kiss to her mouth then pulling away, his breathing a little rugged. "We'll burn it all to the ground then rebuild," he murmured before leaning in and kissing her again, not able to help himself.

They had found themselves back in their childhood and had known what they would do. Yet they haven't directly talked about this, about what they left behind. Just the world they were building now, that they would build anew compared to the way things had been in their childhood. Their first childhood.

They were meant to be best friends. She believes that now, and knowing how things have felt since the curse breaking, she knows it is how her life should have been. Friends. Maybe more. They're still learning how they truly feel, but they have all the time in the world now.

Smiling as she groans, leaning in against him as she kisses him, slow and deep. "The world the way it's meant to be," she whispers softly.

If they ever found a way back in time, there would be no shortage of things to take care of. The only question would be where to even start? But for now, Harry is focusing on this, right here at Grimmauld Place with Hermione and looking toward their future. "Exactly," he whispered before returning the deep kiss. He never thought they'd be here like this together. When he was younger, he can remember now that he had thought about it.

He exhaled a slow breath and tightened his arms around her gently, sliding a hand into her hair, deepening the kiss further. "Merlin," he murmured, huskily.

This is not how this evening should go. They've both been through so much and they're only just now learning that they have a chance to be together again. Again after so much was taken from them and now they just have this chance.

A chance like this, to stand in Grimmauld Place making out like school kids hiding behind curtains in Hogwarts.

The very sound of Harry's voice in that moment makes her knees weak, clinging to him as she cants her head to take more, to give him more in that kiss. "We should," she murmurs, panting softly. "Maybe..."

Nope, she doesn't want to stop things. She just wants this to go on.

"Maybe," he murmured but again, neither of them moved, and instead, Harry brought her in closer. Everything else was a blur outside of the way her mouth and body felt against him. He was beyond thrilled that they would, finally, have time to be together.

Finally.

As right as this felt, suddenly, something in his gut twisted and he frowned. Harry knit his eyebrows together and pulled back from the kiss. He didn't feel right. "Hermione, d'you feel that," he asked but as soon as the words tumbled out, he wasn't in Grimmauld anymore.

Harry squinted at the sunshine pouring through the window and could hear children and parents outside saying farewell. He looked around the compartment then outside and frowned.

What... how... he had so many questions. How'd this happen? He looked down at his clothes and frowned.

Merlin.

Remembering that day, he only had a matter of time before Ronald Fucking Weasley came in, setting them down that particular path. While he wasn't sure at all what was happening, he knew he wasn't going to allow that to happen again. Harry pulled out his wand and charmed his luggage so if he had to leave the compartment to get away from the redhead, he didn't have to worry about it being tampered with.

That first time, he hadn't known Hermione right away so he wasn't sure when she arrived. That didn't mean he couldn't go and search the train for her though - it was better than waiting. He stood from his seat and walked to the door, opening it and looking out both ways.

This was absolute madness. Absolute bloody madness.

All he'd wanted was a night with Hermione where they didn't have to deal with anything until he next morning - was that really too much to ask?

Memories of a love that hadn't died, but had merely been cursed away are flooding back to Hermione. Ones that started from the very moment she spied a shy boy in broken glasses on the train to the magical school she had been accepted to.

A moment that was so important because it's truly when her life changed in so many ways. In having Harry in her life. In becoming a witch. In going to Hogwarts. Certainly it led her to war, but that war would have waged anyway, and it likely wouldn't have been won without her there.

A moment when she had found the man she should have had a chance with, but had been taken from her with a love spell.

A moment she suddenly finds herself much more acutely away of, as she finds herself standing on the Hogwarts Express, by herself, wand in hand and... and...

She looks into the glass door of one car, seeing her frizzy hair and buck teeth and youthful face. No, not youthful as it had been moments before but young. Eleven years young to be exact.

"Bloody Hell," she growls, knowing in an instant what it must be. "You bloody horrible woman. I swear when I find you I will see you in Azkaban." Or dead, but she doesn't say that outloud. She's getting enough looks from students in robes passing her as it is and she realizes she might want to keep those thoughts to herself.

And find Harry.

So she starts hurrying through the cars, knowing where he'll be. she just has to get there before that bloody little ginger bastard does.

Harry started moving toward the front of the train, keeping an eye out for the other girl. Now that the shock had sort of worn off, he knew exactly who it was that caused this and he was pissed.

He exhaled a relieved breath when he finally spotted the familiar frizzy hair behind another older student. "Hermione," he called, waving an arm to get her attention. If luck stayed on their side, they could get back to the compartment before the bastard did and lock it. He apologized to an older student he accidentally bumped into before standing in front of her.

It didn't even cross his mind that this could be Hermione at eleven who didn't know him. He could only assume that this was his Hermione, the one that he had just been making out within their adult bodies.

"Hi," he said with a smile, there was a way to know quickly without being weird about it. "I solemnly swear," he started, but once he took a moment to look in her eyes and saw the furious look in her eyes, he knew. "I have a compartment."

Brushing past others, ignoring the looks she's getting and realizing she isn't one of those that others give way to, a close friend of Harry Potter. Though she nearly ruins that when she hears her name and she squeaks, pushing past another.

"Harry!"

She hears some whispering, wondering, and she flings herself at him. "How... how could she... What kind of magic..."

Thankfully her anger keeps her from saying too much, and realizing they need to talk about it, alone. "Is he there?"

On instinct, Harry wraps his arms around her in a tight hug. "I know," he murmured and tightened his hold around her.

"He wasn't when I left so let's get back and we can lock the doors," he said, grabbing her hand and moving down the length of the train to the compartment he had left his things in. He didn't give anyone else a second glance and paid attention to their mission of getting back before he got there. Which, if he remembered correctly, wouldn't be until the train started to move and thankfully they still had about five minutes before then.

They would have to come up with a reasonable excuse as to how they knew each other before school started but that was easy to come up with.

Practically dragging along her bag, holding tight to Harry's hand and not willing to let go. She has no idea what is going on but if this is real, they're in trouble.

"Have you thought maybe it's a dream? It could be that we're trapped in a memory, maybe?" She wishes she had a clue, that she was sure of that because none of it feels like a dream. It's feels so real and she isn't sure what to make of that. How it's even possible?

Hurry close to Harry, wanting to be behind a locked door, to be safe from all of this, all that it is. At least until they can try and make sense of any of it.

"I haven't," he admitted. "My first thought was to come and find you before he arrived." They finally got to the compartment and he opened the door, thankful that it was as empty as he'd left it. "He didn't get here until the train was starting to move last time so I imagine it'll be no different," he said, shutting it behind her once they'd entered. "What kind of locking spells do you think we can get away with?"

If they were truly... here in the past, then they had a lot of work to do and to discuss.

The train was one of those spots that were kind of between the muggle world and the wizarding world. They weren't at Hogwarts, but underage magic wasn't considered forbidden on the train. Unless someone was injured, or they complained, they were safe.

Shoving her back to the back of the compartment by the window, she turns to the door, considering.

She gives a flick of her wand, the lock slamming into place, then she dropped the tip and there was a clunking sound. "Oops, lock is broken," she says, collapsing on the bench seat. "What has happened, Harry? Could we really be back to year one?"

Harry stepped away from the door as soon as she locked it. His mouth quirked up before collapsing down next to her, exhaling a deep breath. "I don't know but I sure feel like we're back in year one." He lifted his hand where the old scar from Umbridge had left it's imprint and saw it bare. Which meant... he lifted the hand and traced the scar on his forehead, that was back.

"I'm not sure what happened but I imagine She did something that resulted us in being back here," he said with a frown, dropping his hand next to him then took her hand, clasping it in his. "Which means, we need to make plans. A list of everything we want to change and work toward. If we're stuck here, we might as well take full advantage of it."

"You look like you're back in year one," she says, giving him look. "And I think I do as well," she admits. "I was looking in the windows, because I can tell my hair isn't right. Neither are my teeth."

She sighs, collapsing on the bench across from him with a groan. "How can she be this powerful and we didn't know it? How?" She shakes her head. "I can't imagine I could have done this." Though she knows, maybe, if she tried. Maybe.

"I bet she thought we wouldn't remember and she could reset things."

Harry winced at even thinking he looked like that first year who came in malnutritioned with broken glasses. "Not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination," he said, looking over at her and pressed his head back against the seat. "On the plus side, if I can either find someone to prescribe them or find the ingredients, I can make some nutrient potions and not look like I've been starved for most of my life."

He exhaled and watched her. "I loath to think she's actually that powerful but... she did potion us for far too many bloody years. So... anything is possible."

"Oh, you could have. We could have, if we'd put our heads together." He probably hadn't been the most studious child at Hogwarts when he arrived. He wouldn't bother lying about that. However he would say he had enough power at his disposal and studied the subjects that interested him that really... he could have gone in any direction.

He snorted. "I bet she was banking on us not remembering so she could pull strings again. She'll be furious to know that not only do we remember every single thing but that we're not even friending her monster of a child."

"Least we know the things to fix our issues," she says, drawing her wand. Smirking at him, she gives it a wave. "Oculus reparo," she murmurs, nearly smiling at him as she does, fixing his glasses. "We'll get both of us where we need to be, and we'll figure this out."

She gives him a look. "I think part of that is you don't expect it. She's helpful and doting and outside of the purebloods, even if she is one. Except she is one," she repeats, making a face. "Not just in blood but thought. She's her ancestors, and we thought she was her parents."

She's quiet a minute. "We need to get the cloak," she says softly. "I need in the restricted sections. I... I read about magic like this but it's..." She's quiet, looking down and then up. "She would have had to offer a sacrifice for this. That kind of energy. But who?" She hates to think about it, about what she had to have done.

"I wish we could see her face. You think she told Ron to find us? Since she had to bypass the station. I bet there isn't enough magic on that side of the muggle world to have brought us back to then. She was looking for you at King's Cross," she points out. "When you first arrived."

The moment Hermione fixes his glasses, he chuckles and sends her an amused smirk. "Thanks for that," he said before nodding in agreement. "Which means we need to start a list of everything we need to do. Thankfully, we have around nine hours to plot and plan."

Hermione wasn't wrong. Molly Weasley was all of those things and doubly so with Dumbledore behind her. "Agreed, we need the cloak. I should receive it back come the holidays but... perhaps there's a way to get it sooner." He was, after all, the Master of Death after putting together all the Hollows.

He paused considering what she was saying and thought of it. "Herself? Do you think she could have sacrificed herself to achieve it, knowing she'd get a 'do over' essentially?"

"Definitely." There was absolutely no hesitation in his voice when he said it. "The first time around, the whole gang came through the muggle way, talking loudly about the platform and muggles in hopes that I'd overhear it." Honestly, Harry didn't recall how he'd gotten on the platform this time but he had assumed it was the same way. "If they'd gotten here later then, she definitely told Ron to be on the lookout. They want the gratefulness of an eleven year old Harry Potter to welcome Ron." There was not a single doubt in his mind that that's precisely what happened.

Now that the train had pulled away from the station, Harry withdrew his wand and whispered a spell that would reveal any tracking mechanisms on their luggage, not surprised at all when pieces started glowing. "Well that will not do," he said, considering the options. As an adult, it wouldn't take much to undo it but he had full use of his magic then. Now, he was a half starved eleven year old boy who didn't have full use of his magic.

Digging into her things, she pulls out a notebook and a quill. The book flips open without a word, the quill posing over the page. The quill marking the robe on the list, as well as notes about what's happened to them. She's not speaking them but they're going onto the page neatly in her precise print as does everything she does by hand. She had come into this with her knowledge of magic though, as a graduate and a survivor of the war, and she didn't need to dictate or work by word either.

Hermione goes a bit pale at that, even as her brow furrows. "You know? It's possible. It would make sense. Might also explain why we're still in possession of our memories," she points out. "But it also means she's in possession of them as well."

Hermione watches as he casts the spell, frowning heavily as she watches their luggage, her books, even the quill glowing. "That wicked witch," she mutters, rolling her eyes. "We have two choices. Try and counter it and risk her reaction, or we can leave it, and let him approach us, and when he does, turn him away. She can't force us to be nice to him."

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