wade in the water
Harry Potter woke up believing that he was at Hogwarts in his first year of schooling. It was shortly after the incident with the troll in the bathroom where he, Hermione, and Ron first made the team that they did and took down the troll together. When he woke up in an entirely unfamiliar bed, he was confused. He was more than confused really. No
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"I felt that already, and I've only recently gotten friends of my own, but it's better, and I'm glad we're able to be friends."
At first, they weren't really and he went on avoiding her like Ron did, but he didn't want to see her hurt by that troll and she stood up for them after she was scared. It's good to know that doesn't go away.
"Really? I'd like it if I got up to right around here," Harry says, pointing over his head at how tall he'd like to be. "I bet they've got... potions for that. Snape would know those."
He grimaces as he says the name and then looks up at her, nodding and smiling.
"Good, that's how it should be I think," Harry says finishing his crackers and wiping his hands clean of the crumbs. "So you don't think I'm stuck here then? The lady that spoke to me when I was confused said I'd stay here. I'd rather like to go back to Hogwarts and for you to get your older Harry back whose taller even if he's not tall enough yet."
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Looking back on things, on what feels like so many years ago, she isn't surprised they weren't friends from the start. Her social skills were subpar at best, and she didn't know how to relate to people, whether they were her age or not, the way she could relate to books.
She felt out of place, insecure, in an entirely new world, and it pushed her to be driven and not friendly.
It was Ron and Harry that taught her of the more important things.
"I believe you're just the right height," Hermione claims loyally, glancing at the picture before she places it back in her journal. He needn't be taller or shorter, in her opinion.
"I don't believe so, no. The Rifts work in peculiar patterns, I'm afraid, and something about it must've turned you back into your younger self. I'm almost positive it's only a matter of time before it reverts itself," Hermione says, sounding as confident and knowledgeable as she alawys does.
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He hasn't experienced it for long, but it's delicious! He wouldn't mind having a feast like that right about now, inviting all the people in the Tower to see what it would be like to eat at Hogwarts.
It's much better than making your own food, he thinks, than having to make food for everyone else too. Not that he has to do that here thankfully, and he swallows down half the drink before setting it back down again.
"...well, thanks," Harry says as he looks up at her with a smile before looking at the picture as she places it back in the journal. "Still wouldn't mind it if I did grow a bit more."
He looks at her as she explains it, and she does sound knowledgeable. He'd almost believe that she read it in a book and wouldn't be surprised if she did!
"That's good then. I don't want to miss out on what you told me about," Harry says as he looks up at her. "The adventure everyday, things like that. I liked taking down the troll... after we realized we weren't going to die that is."
Even the near dying part was sort of fun.
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It would be quite something to wake up to, not just for the both of them, but for everyone else that would get to partake in that Hogwarts experience.
Pumpkin pies galore.
"You're quite welcome," Hermione says with an amused laugh, giving him a stern look as he says he would rather grow a bit more.
She honestly believes everything is perfectly fine in terms of how Harry grew up.
She quiets for a moment, as she would never lie to him, or want to give him a wrong impression. "There's always an adventure to be found, surely, but Harry... not all of them are the fun sort of adventures. I can't tell you everything, as it could very well scramble with whatever you'd face when you get back. It's a part of growing up, I suppose."
And it's not all fun. Near the end there isn't much fun at all, if any.
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Plus, if you're part of the trio, there is always an adventure or two or three to have to contend with on top of everything else.
Harry sees that stern look, and he shifts his gaze away from her. "Well, if I'm happy with it then..." It shouldn't matter so much what he thinks now though he did always imagine himself growing a bit taller than that.
However, her opinion is not about to be changed and he senses that so he'll drop it! At least they're all friends and have adventures, which is important no matter how tall he is.
"Oh," Harry says after a moment as he looks over at her. It's not that he looks disappointed exactly, but he seems to understand without understanding. "I don't think it can always be fun, can it?"
It hasn't been his life so far.
Even becoming a wizard, it hasn't all been good.
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There is so much that awaits him, and Hermione forgot what Harry could look like while he was still innocent.
Without that heaviness on his shoulders, like the whole world is pressing down on him.
At the visual reminder, right in front of her, she smiles past the ache, fingers brushing the unruly hair out of his forehead. "You have never said anything to give me evidence to the contrary," is what she answers with, small, disbelieving smile still on her face.
Hermione releases a breath at his understanding. "I'm afraid not," she says, placing an arm around his shoulders. "But whatever happens, Harry, you're never alone. That's quite something, isn't it?"
Wizard or not, he found something far more powerful.
More powerful than any threat that came his--their--way.
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He has no idea about it all, and there isn't any way that he could know about it, that any of them could have known about it.
There is no weight though. He hasn't had the best childhood, but there's no guilt, no weight. There's a very quiet joy for simple things, a happiness that comes really naturally, and an excitement for new things.
Harry smiles a bit at her answer, shaking his head at the fingers in is hair and reaching out to pet Hedwig again. "That's good to know," he says back to her. No idea that one day Hedwig would die for him either.
He looks back at her at what she says. "I was alone for as long as I can remember before this," Harry says. "I think whatever happens, it's everything."
In his mind, it is.
He can't think of anything worse than being alone again.
In comparison, with his friends at his side, he thinks they can handle it. He hopes so.
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To let him be a child, as that's all Herimone would want for him.
To have moments of respite from it all, to come out of it on the other side unscathed.
She is marveling at him without meaning to. The changes in him are simply stark, and she is certain if the eleven year old that she was suddenly came into the picture, she'd find herself in shock, as well. The maturity and understanding she has gained would leave.
There would only be the obnoxious, bossy know-it-all.
"I think so, too" she says to him, watching him pet Hedwig.
Hermione bites her lip before she glances around. "Now, Harry. There are several people that live here who know you. If they happen to come across you, they'll be wanting to speak to you, and I should probably give you a heads up about that."
Especially Trewlaney, ugh.
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He thinks they might get hurt sometimes. He thinks that they might have to go up against worse things, but he doesn't know how much death waits them, how much pain waits them, how they'll both be tortured by Bellatrix, by Voldemort.
Harry doesn't even know the meaning of the word torture at this age or why anyone would want to hurt either of them like that.
He would be equally shocked at the young Hermione coming through, amused and full of wonder at the differences. They seem so incredibly young, younger than they actually are at this age. Maybe it's more that they seem so much older than their actual ages, seventeen and eighteen.
Harry smiles at what she says, nodding in response.
"If you think it too, it must be true," Harry says firmly, loyally.
Harry looks up at her, leaning in at the words. "Really? I didn't think anyone that know me would be here. I'm not famous here, right?" That's a very good thing as it was all too strange to be famous. "Alright. I'd like that."
He folds his hands together, setting them on top of the table as he looks at her.
Seriously. Though he's smiling slightly too. It's a very smiley Harry.
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Another part of it was so that Harry wouldn't carry it on his own. It would be difficult for him to relay everything to her, and she hated that she made him relive those moments again but ultimately, he doesn't have to carry absolutely everything on his own, and this is a way that she can help him with the load, if only a little.
If only so that he knows she is there should he need it when it comes to that.
It's a sobering reminder, seeing Harry, the younger version of him. How quickly and brutally life can strip them away of that innocence. The loyal statement makes her smile that much harder, reminding her some things don't change.
"I do rather like the sound of that," she says to him, almost teasingly.
Smiley Harry is a very good thing.
Harry smiled so rarely from when she last experienced their own world. He was always so angry, and there's been so much--it is such a relief to just see him smile and be so unaffected by everything.
"Really," she confirms. And then she laughs and shakes her head in reassurance. "No, you're not Harry. It's people you meet later on. Several that we both meet. One of them was best friends with your father, actually. Remus Lupin. He's wonderful and I think you'll like him very much."
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Hermione can step in then when something happens, can know why something affects him the way that it does. In the end, it's not anything that he could have kept from her and he was grateful to be able to share it with her as it did feel lighter to say it. It feels less lonely.
There are some things that don't change though, no. Their friendship may have grown and developed with time and everything that they have been through, they are still best friends. Harry is still loyal to her.
There's something about taking down a troll that immediately makes strong bonds of friendship.
"Yes, I think you would, but from what I've seen, you're usually right," Harry says, nodding rather seriously. She does seem to know nearly everything or find it out soon after from all the reading that she does.
BAW, he is very smiley. There's no weight, and he's almost happy-go-lucky for Harry. Everything's new and interesting, and he doesn't have guilt weighing on him or anything else.
Harry smiles at this news. "That's good to know. I went from no one knowing me to everyone knowing me like that," he says in the blink of an eye practically. He went from a regular kid to a wizard to a famous wizard. "Oh? I would really like to meet him especially if he knew my dad so well. Why do you think I'll like him? I think the fact that he was friends with my father is reason enough actually."
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She would rather know the truth than be spared from it because it was a difficult truth. They got past the worst of it, from the very start, when he told her everything that night. Ever since, it isn't that it's easier to bear, but at least they can share the load.
As much as she can, that is. She understands that it would be impossible for her to share it the way Harry carries it, having been there, having been the one in the position and the need to make all those choices.
It isn't and never has been easy, the role he was given, well as he carries himself with it. She is very proud of him.
Hermione only laughs. He is rather serious, yes, she can tell. It's cute, okay?
"It all happened quite fast, didn't it?" she asks, almost in a low murmur as she studies him without appearing to do so. She remembers how uncomfortable it made him, how he didn't want the spotlight that many others would've craved. "The fact he was good friends with your father is one of the reasons, yes, but you get along extremely well in general."
And she also tells Harry of Tonks and Luna... and Trewlaney.
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It's too much a part of him, and they're far too close. Harry has kept secrets in the past, but he stopped doing that for the most part in that last year, because he knew he needed them. He needed Hermione and Ron, and he was as open as he could be with them both.
Usually, he kept secrets to protect them or because he thought they needed to be kept.
He knows she is proud of him and believes in him. There's nothing that has been more true to him than that even from that first year when she told him he was a great wizard, Harry. It hasn't happened for this mini Harry yet, but it's something that has stayed with him.
It's always helped him to know that he was never alone with any of it. His darkest moments, his angriest moments is when he pushed everyone away and felt alone, spent too much time alone.
Harry blinks a bit at her when she laughs, confused about what's so funny. However, the narration agrees, he is very cute.
"Yes, it did in like a blink I feel like it was," he says as he looks at her, adjusting his glasses and shaking his head. He didn't understand it at all, how people could recognize him, knew his name long before he ever knew them. "Oh, that's good as well then. I hope I do get to meet him before I go back to Hogwarts."
And Harry is quiet as he listens to each of these people, taking them in.
"I hope I meet them all! Except Trelawney." He makes a face. The narration can only imagine that no matter how polite Hermione tried to be about it, Harry can tell that they don't like her.
As a professor.
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