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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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."

"I would guarantee that she didn't plan on us remembering anything," Harry said, watching the quill list everything down and felt his mouth curl up in a smile. "it would make sense that she would retain her memories though," he agreed and that thought simply infuriated him even more.

"No, this isn't completely her. Considering she didn't have access to either of us before the train. This has Dumbledore written all over it. He, through Hagrid, did have access to me," he said and thought about their options. "I'd prefer there to be no tracking charms on any of our things and simply cast another that would give the illusion of the charms still in place." It wasn't completely unheard of and wouldn't be expected of two first years. "Thoughts?"

"But when will she realize? We've already changed things but she may not realize we know," she points out. "She will when we start moving on things though, and when we start changing the past. We'll need to watch for sweetening charms and set wards. She'll try it all, and if Dumbledore already is on things, we'll need to be extra careful."

She sighs, because they're not going up some angry pureblood. They're facing one of the most infamous witches, but what she knows from her research is that he's not the most powerful. Not by magic but by name and position.

"We'll work the illusion charms, set the wards for charms and hexes. On us, our things, and watch our things. We know how curses can be put on clothes and jewelry," she says, shaking her head. "We need others on our side, Harry. How do we make them believe us and follow us?"

Harry gave that some thought. "We haven't been here long. She has no reason to believe at this moment that we remember. He's always been rather lazy so I doubt he'd have tried to get in touch with her yet. And I haven't heard him try to get into the compartment yet so he probably hasn't bothered yet. The earliest I give it is late tonight when he owls her that he's been sorted and he doesn't mention his new best friends. The latest... tomorrow. We still have time," he assures her with a smile.

"It's Dumbledore that I'm more concerned about since she can't truly do anything not being at Hogwarts. He, on the other hand, can and has no qualms about meddling in our lives."

He nods in agreement to her plan. "We will work on it then during the trip. We can't be sorted into Gryffindor," he said, automatically when asked about how to make others believe them and follow them. "We'll have to be sorted into other houses this time and grow our allies. There are a few Gryffindors that I feel we need to approach though - Neville is one of them."

"If he doesn't remember, like a spell like that should work, then there's a good chance he won't realize anything is off. Not by that much." Hermione stops for a minute, eyes going wide. "Harry, what if it's the potion we were taking to counter the love spell? Is that's it, Ginny would remember."

It's hopeful thinking, not knowing how these things would even work. Even she hasn't done research on such things but logically it makes sense. If they remember, then why wouldn't she? If that is why they're remembering at least.

"And we'll know fairly quickly that we're not like he expects us to be."

She sighs, just thinking about it. Nodding though at that comment. "We never should have been, Harry," she says, giving him a hard look. 'I should have been Ravenclaw. I was glad to be with you and Ron but I was shocked otherwise. And you..." She gives him a small smile. "You really do look much better in green."

Harry nodded. "Agreed. There's a very good chance that he isn't even aware of anything being different other than he's not sitting with the Boy Who L- "

Just as Harry started to say it, he spotted a shadow stand in front of their compartment and attempt to open it. Hermione's spell held true though and didn't allow the door to open. He grinned and turned to look at Hermione again. "Next he'll probably go have to sit with Fred and George or find another helpless person to sit next to," he said. "I really hope that it's not Neville - that poor boy."

He considered the rest of Hermione's words and hummed. "If she is aware, because of the potion, then she'll likely get a hold of us sooner rather than later." It was hopeful thinking but either way, they would make sure they did what they could to protect the younger girl from her mother's manipulations this time around.

"No, we shouldn't have," he agreed with a wry smile. "But I didn't know any better in that life - at least as an eleven-year-old. Now, we do and we can start working on everything we were discussing back at Grimmauld Place. Our sorting is only the start. We need to start making a list of everything we want to change." He was absolutely sure that Molly Weasley did this so that she'd have a leg up. He was bloody grateful for... whoever or whatever saw fit to have them remember - for this second opportunity.

He had so many plans and ideas! It was... surprising even to him, honestly. But he wanted to get started as soon as they possibly could.

The moment she sees a shadow outside the door, Hermione goes quiet. She even reaches out for the quill, stilling it as if Ron can hear the scritch of a quill on paper through the door. After a while the shadow moves along and she only realizes then that she had been holding her breath, exhaling with a loud sigh.

"Wish we could protect Neville but we'll look out for him later," she says, gesturing for the quill to begin writing again and getting things in place for their plans.

She nods at that. "We should be aware, in case, because she might realize quickly how careful she needs to be as well so that Molly doesn't know the truth."

"We knew what they teach. Even from the upper echelons of wizarding culture they teach that Gryffindor is good, Slytherin is evil and the others are, what? Cannon fodder?" It's the way they act though.

She smiles, nodding. "I've got some ideas. We just need to find a way to stop this war before it ever happens."

"Agreed. We'll look out for him later," Harry said with a nod, watching the quill move before looking at Hermione again. "If Ginny is aware, I give it less than 24 hours before she reaches out to us somehow," he mused. "Hopefully, she'll realize how careful she has to be around her mother."

Harry nodded. "We'll just have to prove them all wrong," he said, with a smile. If there was anyone who could do it, it would be them. He had no doubt about it. "Which means, I'll take Draco's hand when he introduces himself later on."

"Agreed. If we can begin collecting the Horcruxes during breaks, then that at least won't be a hindrance later on." Harry paused and slowly smirked. "And, perhaps make a trip to the cemetery so I can pay my respects to Tom's dear old father." And by that, he meant burn whatever bones were left of Tom's "dear old father" so they couldn't be used in any sort of ritual their fourth year.

"There's so much I want to accomplish since we have this chance. I want to get Sirius out of Azkaban as soon as we can."

"I'm just thankful we contacted her before confronting Ron. It means there's a chance she knows what's going on. Though it means that maybe Ron does too," she admits, not liking that idea at all.

She nods at that. "And we'll have to get time to talk to him, or you will, without his father around and see if we can get him to our side. Maybe we can prove to him we're from the future and what we know. He may just be looking for a way out. We can only hope."

Otherwise, she's not sure what they'll do.

She snorts at that, smiling though it's a tight smile. "Sounds like a plan. Definitely have to get rid of them before he knows to go looking for them. But that is our priority. We need to get Sirius cleared, on our side, and taking over your custody so we can stay at Grimmauld Place on breaks and work on it all. I think he'll be the first to believe us."

"Ron never took a drink of the potion," he said, looking at her. "Unless Molly spent the precious few minutes she had before dropping them off at the station, I doubt he knows. Ginny though had the potion when we had dinner." Honestly, Harry wasn't sure which way he hoped it would go but either way, they'd make sure their real friends got through this a lot smoother than the first time around. "Besides, his own mother knows how much of a loud mouth he is. Doubt he'd be able to keep his mouth shut about any of it."

After realizing just how much Ron knew of their poisoning, Harry stopped even trying to be nice to his so-called-first best mate.

Harry nodded. "He won't have his father at Hogwarts so that should be clear for now. We'll have to make sure Crabb and Goyle stay away though," he mused. "I doubt we'll have much of an issue bringing him onto our side." He paused, thinking of her idea and hummed. "It would be a good option and if he does prove to be a good friend, then I see no harm in proving to him we're from the future."

"Agreed," Harry said with a chuckle and thought about that first year at Hogwarts. "So, what do we have in store for us - Professor Quirrel and the rather convenient trials leading to the Mirror," he said. "I vote we do not do that again, if we can at all help it."

She considers that, shaking her head. "You're right. He won't know then. She wouldn't do it. She has no way to believe my tonic spell would have done something else entirely, such as making it so that we remembered now ourselves. Like we're thirty in our eleven year old bodies. She couldn't have thought that would happen, or what would have been the point of it?"

Which again is there only defense in this. They have their memories and they know the one thing they hadn't known before. They're fighting more than one war at Hogwarts.

Her lip curls. "They're too stupid to fight their own wars. They'll do what they're told. Though we could, once we have him on our side, see if he could guide them to do what we need them to," she points out. "If they're eager to gain his favor because of his father,' she points out, and she knows that it is a possibility.

"Yes, lets avoid it. One, we should keep him from bringing in the troll. I think that would be a start. And get Fluffy on out side early."

Harry nodded in agreement with her assumption. "I bet she counted on us not knowing and simply following along with her plan like we did the first time around," he agreed and watched her with a little smile. He was very thankful that if they had to be thrown in the past that it was together and that they had their memories. It gave them a leg up and one he was going to take full advantage of.

He chuckled and sent her an amused smirk. "They will. I think one of them doesn't even want to fight in this war. The other... he probably does if only to prove to his Father that he isn't just a henchman. Depending on how the sorting goes, we can go from there."

"Absolutely," he said and took out a piece of parchment so he could start on a separate list of everything they wanted to accomplish. "Hagrid," he said suddenly, looking over at her. "What do we do about him?" He had fond memories of Hagrid but... the man was very loyal to Dumbledore and honestly, at this moment, he wasn't sure he could trust him.

"We were so busy watching out for others like Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and realizing that Dumbledore was never truly on our side, that we never thought to look for someone else working against us," she says with a sigh, leaning back against the seats with a grumpy sound. She's back in her eleven year old body but she feels older than her years before that. Too many lifetimes already lived and now about to relive this one.

"They're like Draco," she says, nodding. "They're doing this because they think it's the only chance they have, not because they want to do this. What other options did they have being raised the way they were? Maybe if we can give them another choice, they'll take it. We can hope," she says in a low voice, shaking her head.

Hermione winces, her expression pained. "We can't trust him," she says in a low voice. "Once Dumbledore learns we're off course, he'll use people like Hagrid to lure us back in and Hagrid will think he's helping us, because that's what Dumbledore tells him. We'll have to be careful."

"Growing up with the Dursley's you'd think I'd be used to people like her but...," he paused, considering his words before continuing. "But, I think that's why Dumbledore pushed them onto my path so that i'd be willing to overlook that because I'd be too grateful. Not this time." Harry was exhausted but he continued to write down everything they'd discussed before (starting with their sorting) and things they definitely had to consider now that they were faced with the reality of being back at the beginning. He too felt much older than his years before and now, reliving some of the more trying times of his life... well, he wasn't going to be their martyr this time. They'd be doing this by their own rules if he had anything to say about it.

"Exactly," he agreed with a nod. "We'll give them the choice and a chance at something different, like we will with Neville and others... but it's up to them if they take it." He won't force it onto anyone like Voldemort did.

Harry nodded. "You took the words right out of my mouth," he agreed. "Out of everyone at Hogwarts, we'll have to be the most careful with him. Dumbledore and Ron will be simpler to anticipate because their motives are their own. Hagrid... will do what Dumbledore tells him because he owes the most gratitude to him."

Harry paused and exhaled a breath.

"We may also need to try and reach out to Remus as well and beat Dumbledore to the punch." It did hurt to talk about this one but it needed to be said and if he was wrong, then great. "Like Hagrid, I think Remus feels a tremendous loyalty to Dumbledore for allowing a werewolf to be at the school and so he will go along with Dumbledore's plans even if they're not correct." Or what his parents would want for their son.

"But they were obvious and loud and she wasn't. She was sweet and helpful and friendly. She's well looked upon by any but the purebloods. She wasn't a threat in the way we've seen with anyone. It's why we never considered she was another threat in our life."

And that's the thing. They had so many threats presented to them that they never stopped to think about how many others there might be. Especially when her goal was love and marriage and not killing them and destroying them.

"What do you think we can do to try and make them believe us? I mean, I'm a muggle born and while you're Harry Potter, the boy that lived, what do you think we can use to get them to believe us?"

She's thinking about things they could know, could show them, to make them believe. She pauses and then adds. "What about McGonnagal? Do you think she would be on our side?"

Because having a teacher on their side would help, though she nods at Remus.

"We should contact him to go with us to get Sirius. He'd want to be there, and we'll need help while Sirius settles and gets back to being himself," she points out. "I don't think Remus will side with him if we have Sirius."

Harry nodded, agreeing with Hermione's assessment. "I wonder who else we might've missed," he muttered and continued jotting down the list of things they wanted to fix or change.

He paused and considered the question for a moment. "I think we need to be ourselves - not ourselves as we were then but as who we are now." Only, they'd have to tone it down a little bit, obviously. "Once we're sorted into our correct houses, we need to make an effort of befriending students in the different houses, not just our own. We could start a study group," he paused. "We didn't have anything like that in Gryffindor and obviously my studies weren't my focus. It could be a good first step at least."

Harry thought of McGonagall and smiled. "Yeah, I think she'd be on our side. We'll have to make sure she's not under any compulsions though before she'll believe us. We should be upfront with her - she'd be a very handy person to have on our side. We should really try to meet with her as soon as we can." Though, they may have a harder time since they weren't going to be in her house this time around.

"Agreed. We should just be careful," he said, looking at her. "Do you remember what he said that night? He truly thought Sirius was guilty... everyone did." Except, he was sure, Dumbledore. He'd known. "So we'll have to convince him that Sirius was innocent." He didn't want to be too cynical but he wasn't exactly sure how deep Remus' loyalty to Dumbledore went.

"Everyone has motives. We just considered only the deadly ones, the ones where they were following the Dark Lord. It was the biggest threat, so it was all we looked at. We know now the other things we need to look at. And do what we can to protect ourselves. That has to come first and foremost."

Otherwise they could end up in worse circumstances and they both know it.

"A study group would be brilliant, and we can start the things we taught in the DA earlier, get people prepared in case things do go bad. I can't live through all of them dying again," she whispers, shaking her head. "I still haven't recovered from the Great Hall covered in bodies. I just can't do that again."

Even as she says it, she moves to sit closer to Harry, leaning in and resting her head on his shoulder.

"We'll find a way to talk to McGonnagal, even outside of her house, and then... If we can get Peter to confess, Remus would have to believe him. If nothing else it keeps him away from being on Dumbledore's side. Maybe."

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