Hermione awoke to a gentle female voice calling her name, it was almost like her mother was calling to her, but that can't be right; the last she remembered she was at Gringotts sitting thru the annulment ritual. Besides the fact that both of her parents being muggles would have no reason to be, nor would they remember anything about Gringotts to begin with as they both believed that they were Monica and Wendell Wilkins, a married couple with no children living in Australia.
Cautiously Hermione opened her eyes, shocked to see Harry's emerald green eyes staring straight at her from a few mere inches, except Harry didn't have long red hair? And the hand that was now touching her face was soft and feminine, not at all like Harry's rough calloused hands from years of quidditch practice. Suddenly on high alert Hermione sprang up to her feet, a feat that felt much smoother than it looked apparently because the man that was standing just behind the mystery woman, who was almost a dead ringer for Harry, was laughing and shaking his head. "Lily dear, maybe we should introduce ourselves before we give this young lady a heart attack." The man said.
"Lily? As in Lily Potter, Harry's Mum?" questioned Hermione.
"Well my word you are quick as a whip, aren't you? Yes dear, I am Harry's mom and that crazy git over there is James, Harry's father. I have to say although we have been watching over Harry, I wasn't quite expecting you to be here today, I was more expecting my son." Lily said with a soft smile on her face as Hermione had that calculated look on hers.
"But… how? When? Where am I? Am I dead? Did something go wrong with the ritual? Why was Harry supposed to be here? Is he okay?" Hermione was near hyperventilating at this point.
"Slow down Hermione take a deep breath, and a seat, we will try to tell you everything that we know. Harry should be along in a few moments if what we believe happened is true." James said while taking a seat on chairs, that she could have swore were not there a minute ago, and she didn't see any kind of wand movements to conjure one. Hermione did as instructed and took a seat as she exhaled the deep breath then she counted to ten before she exhaled.
"Very good dear, thank-you. It wouldn't do to have you hyperventilate and pass out on us. Now I suppose we shall begin with where we are currently." James paused as he looked over towards his wife. "You better explain dear, both being as smart as you are you won't have to dumb down the words like you did for me." Lily, shaking her head while giving off a tiny little snort started from the beginning.
"For a lack of a better term we are stuck in Limbo, a vacant space of mind. In here we are able to communicate and explain things to our family who have yet to cross over but have for some reason found themselves with options available to them that others do not have." Pausing for a bit Lily gave Hermione time to digest that information.
"In your case, we believe that the ritual you were undergoing with Ron worked in your favor, your marriage was annulled but not because you and he were truly incompatible. We believe and it would seem correct as we are sitting her speaking with you, that you were destined to be with someone else." Smiling at this Lily continued, "We have believed for awhile now that you and Harry are soul mates."
Hermione found that she had tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't believe it; she was soul bound to Harry? Is that why we could always tell what the other was thinking or feeling without words? Is that why I was under so much duress when I thought about marrying Ron? Hermione could think up thousands more scenarios that would truly make sense if they were in fact a soul bonded couple.
Seeing that Hermione had accepted this, Lily once more continued. "James and I had taken every precaution we could when we found out we were being hunted by Voldemort, we spent hours going over our will and who would have custody of Harry if anything were to happen to us. Right before we were killed, I had completed a ritual that would allow James and myself to not fully cross-over but yet not become ghosts. We have, and still do, no wish to remain in the mortal world. Being a ghost would not only be painful to us, but painful for Harry too." All this said as a tear streaked down Lily's cheek.
"All that time was spent to set up safety nets for Harry, only to be ruined by Dumbledore in one foul swoop. I swear if I could rip every one of those ridiculous whiskers from his beard one by one… anyway, Harry was sent to live with my magic hating sister and her pig of a husband. It's no wonder Harry couldn't see, until very recently that the love of his life was you dear." Hermione shocked at the meaning behind Lily's words raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction. "Yes dear, please don't hold it against him he was very stubborn about it, just like his Mother was" James said with a laugh as Lily just rolled her eyes.
"Harry loves me?" Hermione didn't mean to say the question out loud, but as it slipped from her lips she knew it to be true. She also knew that she irrevocably loved him too. It was always him.
Having perfect timing as always, Harry chose that moment to suddenly appear on a couch in front of them. "HARRY!" Hermione yelled as she launched herself towards the unconscious body of the boy who lived.
"What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" She pleaded towards his mum as she carefully checked for a pulse.
"He will be just fine Hermione, just as you were when you entered here, he is just knocked out by the force of magic that brought him here." Lily said as she brushed his hair out of his eyes and lovingly placed a kiss on his temple. Breathing a sigh of relief Hermione sat back on her feet and reached out to interlace their fingers. I love you Harry, please wake up soon.
Ron awoke to three people staring down at him, only one of which he knew. "Uncle Billius? What are you doing here? I thought you died several years ago? Where am I? Where's Hermione?" eyes scanning his long-passed names sake, Ron was getting a bad feeling deep in his gut.
"Ronald, you are here so we can hopefully talk some sense into you." Billius said. "We are the only family members willing to come and speak with you. These gentlemen are your Uncles from your mothers' side, Gideon and Fabian." Each one of his uncles waved as Billius said their name. "Just be glad that your Grandmother Cedrella chose not to come, even being a Weasley for several decades and being disowned from the family, Blacks still back other Blacks; and she was very unhappy with the way you had treated Harry, who she considers a Black as he is now head of that family."
Ron, still laying on his back, made no attempt to move as he was essentially stunned. "Nothing to say for yourself then I see, and to think you are Molly the motor mouths kid." Gideon said with a smile as he thought of his baby sisters nickname.
"But you lot are dead!" Ron screamed while finally moving to stand up. "Yes, very good Ronald, yes, we are in fact dead, as you so eloquently put it. Yet here we are to help you, that is unless you don't think you require our help?" Fabian was getting tired at the lads' lack of manners. "Help? Of course I need help, I'm stuck in this bloody place while my wife is trying to get away from me! How the hell am I supposed to slip her the potion again if I'm stuck in this place?" Ron meant to keep that train of thought internal but realized a little to late that every word of it was said out loud.
Disgust was displayed across all three faces of his uncles at Ron's tirade. After what felt like an eternity his uncle Billius was the first one to speak. "Ronald, I am ashamed that you have Billius as a middle name. Never in my life have I ever seen a more ungrateful, pigheaded, fowl mouthed, piece of rubbish hold the Weasley name. You not only bring dishonor to both sides of your family, but to the term wizard. How dare you believe it to be okay to use a potion to bend others to your will?" Breathing heavily Billius continued without letting Ron speak a word. "We have traveled the distance and disrupted our eternal happiness to come to this place and advise you on how to move forward, however after that appalling display of rubbish I no longer wish to help guide you forward on your path. May hell have mercy on your soul Ronald." And with that Billius appeared to disapperate away.
Gideon looked toward Fabian and shook his head. They both would have nothing further to add to Billius' comments, so with a shake of their heads they too disapperated away, leaving Ron not knowing where he was, or how to get back home.
"Shit" Ron shouted at no one.
Harry awoke in a similar fashion to Ron, the main difference being the feeling of love that surrounded him. He could tell that it was Hermione holding his hand, as he often awoke from an injury in the infirmary in a very similar position. Am I there now? Did I get hurt flying a broom? Harry was running over the last thing that he remembered. He was in Gringotts, he was speaking to a portrait of his parents! What happened that caused him to black out he wondered?
"Oh Harry, thank Merlin you're awake now." Hermione said as she kissed his cheek. "Hey Mione, how did the annulment go?" he asked trying not to think of how good it felt having her kiss his cheek, this was not something she did all that often. "Well technically I'm still in the ritual… I think?" her questioning eyes left his and slid over to his mum's. HIS MUM?! "Hermione…. Are we dead?" Her tinkling laugh let loose to a rather loud snort at his question. "Let's sit you up son, then we can explain what's going on." James choked out while attempting not to laugh, he couldn't help at noticing how ironic it was that both Potter men will ultimately marry women who snort when they laughed. Eyes crinkling as he watched his wife finally hold their son for the first time since he was in nappies, he didn't realize he was crying until his wife reached out an arm to include him in what was to become their first ever family hug.
"But how is this possible?" Harry asked as he was enjoying every moment spent in his parent's arms. "I thought you guys were just a picture?" Blinking Lily thought back to what he was referring to. Of course, she thought before he was brought here, he was speaking with our painting in the vault. "No dear, that painting only holds our memories and can update with information given, we are physically here now as we have always been, watching over you from a limbo like state." Lily didn't want to confuse him, as he was very much like his father when it came to understanding things. Brilliant minds no doubt, but a little slow on the uptake.
After they caught Harry up on everything they had just told to Hermione, they were now seated around a coffee table having a bit of tea. Harry and Hermione on one love seat and James and herself on another. Harry took the news that they were soul bound quite well, Hermione thought, maybe he too saw the dots connecting after he found out? "So, I love it here, everyone I love is in this place, but you said there were choices to be made." Harry said, nervous about where this was heading.
Sighing James took the lead this time, "Yes son, we, that is your mother and I, will remain in this place until we can once again be reunited with you in the afterlife. This gives us a chance to watch over you and 'help' so to speak with things from our side."
"Help?" Hermione caught the clue right away. "Yes, there are things we can accomplish from this place that ghosts or people who have passed on cannot, such as protecting Harry from that horcrux that was inside his head." James took a break to look at the scar on his son's forehead. "When you got hit Voldemort's killing curse it was supposed to be us who met you at Kings Cross instead of Dumbledore. I'm still not sure how the hell he conned death into that." James punched a throw pillow just to his right as he spoke. "No matter, we are here now and accomplishing what we should have back then." Harry was still confused at what they were set out to accomplish, in fact he still wasn't entirely sure he wasn't dead.
"What are we accomplishing exactly?" Hermione asked with a confused look on her face.
"We have been given a second chance to rewrite all the wrong that has happened due to Voldemort and Ronald Weasley." Lily spat Ron's name with more contempt than even Dumbledore's received. "Too many good witches and wizards died too soon during the second part of the war, this was mainly due to Harry not reaching his potential early enough in life." James then took over for his wife, "You see kids, as a soul bonded couple you have certain advantages together that you wouldn't normally have as individuals. You two are SO much stronger as a team then you are apart. We believe Ronald could sense this and, not wanting to be placed as the tag along in the 'golden trio' decided to make sure that he would be the one to marry Hermione."
"THAT PIGHEADED PILE OF HIPPOGRIFF SHIT" Hermione shouted while standing up abruptly ready to let loose a hex or three on Ron. Harry grabbing her hand and interlacing their fingers he pulled her down onto his lap and wrapped his other arm around her. "Settle down love, we are here, and we are now together… I hope?" Harry seconded guess the last half as they have yet to properly put a name to what they were. Hermione meanwhile was in a near catatonic state, Harry just called me love! He isn't afraid to use pet names! I'm sitting on his lap! Smiling, James' laugh broke the awkward silence that Hermione's' freezing up had caused, enough to bring her out of her musings to answer Harry with a kiss.
"Well then, that settles that, lets move along shall we" Lily said quite loudly for the third time before the new couple heard them. Both the kids turned beet red which amused James to no end. "Yes, you two love birds, its about time you figured out what we did several years ago."
"Sorry Mum" the two of them said as one at the look that Lily was giving them. She couldn't help but laugh as she got up and squeezed in next to the children to give them a hug. "Now then, let's go over a few things before we start in on a plan." James noted the nods and continued, "First things first, we have been given the opportunity from Death to allow you both to go back in time and right some wrongful deaths that had occurred. I would highly suggest in doing this as it will get you both out of a rather complicated situation you will no doubt find yourselves in, on top of that I can't allow for both of my best mates to be killed, Remus had finally found a woman for Merlin's sake!" Harry laughed at his fathers' humor, he would give anything to stay here forever with his parents and Hermione. But he knew the amount of good he could do by going back and saving several people who were never meant to die.
"Okay 'deer', you have my attention, what can we do?" Harry waited for his father's reaction on his play of words, he wasn't kept waiting too long. James ended up rolling on the floor as his wife had pushed him off the love-seat that she once again was seated in. Rolling her eyes, she continued to give them the information they needed, as it seemed James was going to be a bit. "We need to select a time that would give you the most bang for your 'buck'…"
Okay she couldn't help herself; she hasn't seen James laugh so hard since he was around the other Marauders. James had just gotten his giggle fit under control when he turned his face towards his wife with wide astonished eyes, "Did I just get two Prongs jokes back to back from my loving wife and son? That's it! My life is complete; I can die a happy stag!"
James, who was trying very hard not to break down into a laughing fit again, lost the battle as Hermione asked Harry, "Do you think he realizes that he died already? Maybe he's like that singing fish in the America's, that's not to far off from a stuffed singing deer head mounted on a wall … right?" At that James once more fell to the floor laughing, yes, his life was truly complete, his daughter in law was everything he could have ever wished for.
"Okay" Hermione started, "We need to figure out a time when we could do the most good, however if we go back too far and change everything, we will have no idea if certain things might have a ripple effect." Harry agreed with Hermione. "It's not like we can go back to before we started Hogwarts or even before year three, we wouldn't be able to explain how we knew about the rat or who Moony was." Hermione understood why Harry would want to go back to before Hogwarts but agreed with his reasoning's not to. "Okay what about end of third year or beginning of fourth? Either one of those options would allow us to save Cedric, and hopefully come up with a plan on how to get Sirius freed from being a fugitive." Harry thought about both the options, Hermione was right it really couldn't be later than fourth year because of Cedrics death, however he suddenly thought that third year wasn't early enough. No matter how much they despised Ron now, he could never hate Ginny enough to want her childhood robbed by a crazed teenage Riddle. "What about the summer after first year?" before anyone could say anything to dispute his thought process Harry continued, "Yes we would have to be careful with our knowledge, and patiently wait for things we know to have happened like Moony coming to teach in our third year; but I just can't get Ginny's possession out of my head. I know now that Ron is a lost cause, but I don't think that means we have to lose our entire Weasley family." Hermione sucked in a breath, everything Harry said was one hundred percent true, she always loved going to the burrow and counted Gin as one of her closest girlfriends. "I think your right love, we really should try and save her all the pain and torture that she never got treated for in the first timeline."
Lily was impressed with both of her children, to think of others so deeply and the need to help them is not always something a person possess. Ronald Weasley being a prime example. True there are always going to be good people, but there are rarely ever truly selfless people in the world, and here she just so happened to have two that she calls her own. "Okay so we have a when and will work out the where as soon as we figure out what we all want to accomplish." Lily glanced at her husband in hopes that his prankster heritage would come in handy. Catching her drift James started to think up some plans, damn he wished that Remus was here … he was always the best at this stage in the planning.
"Okay let's start at the beginning and make a list of things you two would like to change." As he said this a piece of parchment and a quill popped from out of nowhere. "Oh I could definitely get used to this" Hermione shaking her head at James as he laughed and started to write things down, Hermione said what was on her mind, "I think we should really focus on getting Sirius free, if we are able to accomplish that we would have some support to complete our other tasks."
"Good idea Mione, do we have any idea how to get Sirius a proper trial? Going back means that that useless git Fudge will sill hold the title of Minister." Harry never liked Fudge so his disgust at the man was made plain on his face. That's when Harry had a thought.
"Dad? When I was talking to your portrait right before coming here you had mentioned your shock at me not claiming my head of house status earlier. If I remember correctly you said I could have taken up the mantel in my fourth year?" Harry asked just now remembering his conversation with his parent's portrait.
"Well technically you could have claimed your head of house at the age of eleven given your circumstances, most however would claim it at fourteen as that is usually the age when most would mentally be ready for all the paperwork and headaches that come with the title." James thought a bit on this, "However, with you heading back in time you would retain all the knowledge you have up until you make the jump backwards. This would give you an edge you wouldn't have had the first go around." Harry nodded, that was exactly what he was thinking too. "Mr. Potter…"
"Hermione, you may call me Dad or James if you must, but never Mr. Potter… It makes me feel so old." James said while making a face.
Hermione just smiled "Okay Dad, earlier you said that with Harry and I being soul bonded, we would have certain advantages, what kind of advantages are we talking about here?"
Smirking James answered Hermione's question with one of his own, "What do you think being soul bonded means Hermione?"
Without skipping a beat, student Hermione was back as she gave a text book answer "A soul bond is a rare, natural kind of phenomenon between two people, there are many different levels to a soul bond depending on if the couple are both magical, fifty-fifty meaning one is magical and the other muggle, or both non-magical beings. Fate normally plays a part in choosing the soul bonded couple as they normally turn up to balance out unnatural chaos. Once the pair find each other the bond is normally unleashed with a kiss, this kiss then seals the couple as a soul bonded pair, a love so pure that in the magical world they would be considered married with nothing being able to tear them apart."
James just nodded after she was done giving them her verbatim answer, "And what do you think being married to Harry will do to you in the eyes of the magical world?" Lily asked hoping that she could Lead Hermione in the right direction without too much effort.
"Of course" Hermione stated "We would both be considered emancipated and could do magic freely outside of school without having to worry about the trace, it also would allow Harry and I an apartment to our self at Hogwarts, helping keep us together without it looking so suspicious." Harry just stared at Hermione as she was listing off the benefits, "Mione how do you know about all this?" rolling his eyes at her answer of "I read darling" Harry could do nothing but feel amazed that this beautiful, smart, amazing woman was his.
"I would also like to point out that each bonded couple normally acquire some additional skills like telepathy, teleportation, and additional magical reserve. Now you both are rather powerful in your own rights, however when you complete the bond you will find your power to go up quite a bit." Lily said all this while writing a few things down on the parchment.
"Okay so how do I go about claiming my head of house at twelve years old? Do I have to go Gringotts or something?" Harry questioned. "No, its much simpler than that actually. All you need to do is state your claim while pointing your wand upward. For example, 'I, Harry James Potter, do here by claim the Head of House Potter, as I am heir to James Potter and have right by blood. So mote it be.' And that's it you will first feel magic accept your claim and then the head of house ring will appear on your pinky." James remembered when he accepted the head of house status, he was much older than Harry was going to be, in physical appearance anyway.
Harry was a tad nervous at one part of this situation, "Do I have to wear the ring? Or can I accept it and place it in our vault? I don't want too many people knowing my status. I assume my soul bond will cover up the fact that I am Head of House Potter being that it allows me to be married, and can be used as an explanation for a few oddities should they pop up; does everyone really have to know that I am head of house?" James understood his sons worry, "The ring will remain on your finger until you pass it onto your son, however there is a way to hide the ring from view, its old magic and not even Dumbledore would be able to see it."
"Okay, then Harry will take up the mantle of Head of House Potter, since he is wanting to keep this a secret, should he do this before or after our bond?" Hermione had grabbed the parchment from the table and made a few corrections to the order they needed to do things.
And they continued throwing questions back and forth, the parchment was getting quite daunting, and many things were bound to change due to circumstance and outcomes of other events. Obviously, they couldn't plan for everything, so they had to plan for anything. Several hours had passed when Harry had a startling observation.
"Guys, how long do we have in this space? I mean Hermione and I have literally been passed out on the floor in different parts of Gringotts for hours, now haven't we? Do you think they are starting to worry?"
Harry's parents started to laugh, "Silly boy, how much time passed in real time when you had that long-winded conversation with Dumbledore?" Lily asked still with a bit of anger in the background.
Harry's face made a perfect 'O' shape, "A blink of an eye." Harry blinked, "So you mean to tell me they will only notice us go down for a few seconds before we pop back up?"
"Not really son, as from here you will be traveling back in time to just after first year." James said with a twinkle in his eye.
"So how long do we have in here? I don't know about you guys but I'm not ready to stop hugging my parents quite yet." Harry held his fingers crossed in hopes that he could spend a few years in here with them.
The twinkle in James eye faded as he answered his son, "Sadly son it doesn't work like that. Although we do not have a predetermined amount of time, we are still expected to do this in a timely fashion."
Saddened that his time with his parents was eventually going to come to an end here rather soon, Harry slid his and Hermione's couch a little closer to them, the space, which must have sensed his distress, molded the two love-seats to form one family sized couch. James got up from his position on Lily's left and swung around to sit next to Hermione, thoroughly squishing his children between them.
"Okay you two, lets go over the plan one more time, then I want to teach you a few things before you have to leave. I'm hoping to give you the base information to learn how to transform into an Animagus form." James said while squeezing his wife's hand behind Harry's head, "Padfoot should be able to help with the rest."
Several more hours had passed, how many they weren't quite sure, Harry knew their time was coming to an end. The space was already preparing them by having the couch disappear. Harry found himself wrapped in his mother's arms with her kissing his forehead.
"The last piece of information that I want to give to you, my love, is that you are forever free from the debilitating effects of the horcrux that is attached to your scar. Our love combined with Hermione's was far to strong for the hatred that is Voldemort to handle, there will be a protective barrier created by your bond that will protect you until it is removed. Please be careful, and know that we will always be with you, until the very end." Lily kissed her son's forehead one last time before passing him off to his father and wrapping her new daughter in her embrace. "Promise me you'll take care of him my dear. You are wicked smart and beyond powerful, always remember that you are now my daughter and I will think nothing less of you." Hermione squeezed her just a little more tightly as she soaked up her words. No matter how much she loved Molly, this hug, these words of love, were one hundred times better than she could ever muster. Hermione could feel it in her bones that these were her parents as much as Harry's. "I promise" she whispered into her mother's shoulder.
"Take care of her son, Merlin knows she's powerful, but she needs you to keep her grounded, just like your mother." Harry let out a small laugh as he embraced his father. "I solemnly swear so to do." James held him at an arm's length and smiled right before drawing him in and placing him in a head lock to ruffle up his hair. Harry made his escape laughing, only for his father to wrap Hermione in a tight embrace and simply said "I love you dear, please be careful." Hermione was choked up with emotion as she simply nodded and said, "I love you too Dad."
Ron was beyond mad, but his famous Weasley temper burnt out a few hours after his uncles left, and that was several hours ago. He was tired and hungry as he had tried walking in multiple directions, but he never found an end to wherever the hell he was. Maybe I should have listened to my dead uncles. Ron thought, way to late to make any bit of difference.
What the hell had his life become? He obviously lost Hermione, his uncles had made that clear, probably to Harry if he had to take a guess. Figures, Ron huffed, even my grandmother who I have never met loves Harry more than me! Sometimes life really wasn't fair.
"Why the hell does he get everything I want?" Ron yelled to no avail as nobody would ever hear it.
Merlin's sweaty balls he gets my family, my friends, my wife… Ron thought bitterly as he continued to walk, it's not like he had anything better to do. Quidditch captain, the best broom, being the boy who lived, … Ron was just getting started on his petty party when suddenly everything went to black. In this timeline Ronald Weasley was no more.
It was a shame really, Ronald Weasley was given a chance at repentance, but he spit in the face of the last people who have tried to help him. He will be sent back with Harry and Hermione, but he will know nothing of the future. His friendships with those he claims to love will most likely abruptly end, and he will never know why. Truly a shame, as deep down inside fate knew that he was a good person, you just need to break through all the petty, self-absorbed, childishness of it all. Maybe with time spent away from being part of the "Golden Trio" he will find his way. Only time will tell now.