===September 5 1993===
As Harry and Hermione walk towards the great hall for breakfast they hear the usual cacophony of noise they associate with it. As soon as they enter the noise level drops dramatically. They look around and see students elbowing each other and share a worried look as the room goes deathly silent. They soon can feel every eye on them as they walk towards their table and sit in their normal spot beside Ron. "Did we miss something?" Harry whispers.
Ron slides a copy of The Daily Prophet over to Harry. Harry feels the blood drain from his face as he looks at the headline:
The Indenties of the Heir of Gryffindor and the Heir of Ravenclaw Revealed.
"Bloody hell." Harry mutters as he passes the paper to Hermione.
She takes it and sighs. "Lovely."
"Excuse me." A voice says, breaking the silence. They both look over and see a boy standing there, neither of them recognizes him so he's probably a first year.
"Well, hello there." Hermione says.
"You two are the ones in the paper right?" He asks.
"We are." Harry answers.
"Can you allow my non-magical family to come see Hogwarts?"
Hermione's eyes light up, the idea of bringing her family here hadn't even occurred to her. Can they even do so? How would the muggles get here? Her mind was full of questions.
While Hermione was pondering, Harry speaks up. "What's your name?"
"Erik."
"Erik, while I love the idea of having families come and visit. I'm afraid it's not practical. Even if we could get them here they can't perceive magic." Harry explains.
"He's right." Hermione says, a hint of sadness in her voice."My first trip to Diagon Alley, all my parents saw were closed shops unless I held their hand."
Erik nods. "Same thing happened with me."
"They would probably just see a run-down castle if they came here." Harry says.
"That makes sense." Erik says as he heads to the Hufflepuff table.
"You two handled that well." McGonagall says.
"I hope this isn't going to become a habit." Harry says.
"It could very easily become an issue." McGonagall says.
"Ideas?" Harry asks.
"I think you should involve the Headmaster." McGonagall says.
"That's fine." Hermione says. "We need to talk to him anyway."
McGonagall nods. "Best wishes."
The heirs slip out of the room and go up to Dumbledore's office. "Mister Potter, Miss Granger, to what do I owe this visit?"
"We could use some advice." Hermione explains what had just happened with Erik.
"So, you're concerned that students are going to come to you instead of the faculty?" Dumbledore asks.
"Exactly!" Harry says.
"Yes, I could see that quickly becoming a problem." Dumbledore says. "What if they have a valid suggestion for you?"
"Perhaps we could put up a suggestion box outside the library?" Hermione suggests. "Can make general suggestions for betterment of the school. Then both the faculty and us can go through them and get back to anyone that has a valid idea."
"I can arrange that." Dumbledore says.
"Thank you." Harry says.
"While we're here we wanted to ask you something else." Hermione puts in.
The old wizard senses the change on her tone and lowers the feather he had grabbed as he eyes her speculatively over his glasses. She's in turn watching Harry, who's clenching his jaw. Even more interested now, the headmaster asks: "What's that?"
"Would you be willing to officiate our wedding?"
Her words leave him nearly speechless. After their disagreement on this subject this was not high in his list of probabilities. He shifts his full attention to the boy as he confirms:
"Do you really want me to do that?"
"We heard that you officiated my parents' wedding." Harry admits. "I think they would appreciate it if you did ours."
He omits Hermione's long list of perfectly practical reasons, political or otherwise; Dumbledore's head is filled with those anyway.
Smiling as if two or three Christmases had come as once, the great wizard agrees:
"It would be my pleasure."
None of them sees the tear rolling along his nose as they leave.
#####
"Hey Myrtle." Harry says as he sees the spirit float in her bathroom, her back to him.
Myrtle turns to him. "Hi Harry, I wasn't sure if you would keep visiting me or not."
"You're my friend, why wouldn't I come see you?" Harry asks.
"You really see me as a friend?" Myrtle asks. "Even though I'm dead?"
"Of course." Harry says. "You're still a person, it doesn't matter if you're dead or alive."
"I wish I'd known you when I was alive." Myrtle says. "Then I might not be here."
Harry nods. "True."
"At least I get to know you now."
"And I you." Harry says. "I came up for another reason, I'm sure you weren't there for Dumbledore's speech."
"I generally don't."
"The ministry has dementors patrolling the school grounds." Harry says. "I understand that they can pull the soul out of a living person."
"So they might be able to hurt a ghost." Myrtle finishes. "Thanks for the warning."
"Of course." Harry says. "Just make sure you and the other spirits stay safe."
"I'll try."
Harry nods and leaves the bathroom. Hermione is standing there waiting for him. "So how's your other girlfriend?"
"She's good, we have this spiritual connection, you wouldn't understand." Harry grins.
Hermione chuckles and kisses him lightly. "And our connection?"
"Everything?" Harry asks.
Hermione smiles. "Nice save."
"Thanks, did you bring the broken compass?"
Hermione pulls a compass out of her pocket and hands it to Harry. "Here."
Harry takes the compass and holds it in his right hand. "Lily-Belle." The needle spins for a second before setting in one direction. "The command word seems to work."
"Let's find a map." Hermione says.
The compass leads them back to the Gryffindor common room. "I think Padfoot is pulling an elaborate prank on us." Harry says. "I expected the compass to lead us to Filch's office."
"Then why didn't we start there?" Hermione asks.
"Do you know where his office is?" Harry asks.
"Point taken." Hermione says. "We might as well follow Padfoot's prank and get it over with."
Harry nods. "Might as well." They continue to follow the compass until it leads them to Fred and George. "Why am I not surprised?"
Hermione shakes her head. "They must have lifted it from Filch's office."
"True." They walk up to the twins.
"We'll, if it isn't Gryffindor's power couple." Fred says.
"What can we do for you?" George asks.
"Do the names Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs mean anything to you?" Harry asks.
Fred starts speaking "How do you"
"Know those names?" George finishes.
"We had the privilege of spending a month this summer with Padfoot." Hermione says.
"He told us Prongs was my dad." Harry says
George pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I guess this is yours."
"If you can prove you know how to use it." Fred finishes.
Harry takes the paper. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
Harry tucks the map into his robes as he and Hermione turn from the twins. "Shall we go to the room and train?" Harry asks.
"You head that way, I'll go ask Neville if he wants to meet us." Hermione says. "Even if he hasn't summoned his sword yet we could have the room provide practice weapons."
Harry nods. "Good idea, try not to get there too far before me."
Hermione nods as she finds an alcove and activates the time turner.
Harry continues to the room only to find the door already there. He opens it up and finds Hermione, Neville and Hannah looking over weapon racks. "Hannah?" Harry asks, surprised.
"I don't plan to fight, but I want to be able to defend myself." Hannah says.
Harry nods. "Let's start."
===September 8 1993===
Harry and Hermione enter the classroom for ancient runes. They watch the rest of the class come in and take their seats.
After a few minutes they all start to wonder if the professor is going to show up when the classroom doors open and a middle aged woman walks in. To all of their surprise she's not wearing a robe. Instead she is wearing a pair of khakis and a white men's dress shirt covered by a brown leather jacket. A brown fedora completes the outfit. As she passes the students they can't help but notice the bull whip on her left hip and her wand clearly visible in a holder on her right hip.
She gets to the front of the classroom and speaks. "Class I apologize for my tardiness. I am your Professor Bathsheda Babbling. But please call me Cheshire." She gives a grin like her namesake.
"Welcome to your first year of Ancient Runes. Runes are very important in our world. They have many uses from enchanting items to creating powerful wards and everything in-between." Cheshire says.
End of class the students are packing up to head to their next class. Hermione whispers to Harry. "You head on, I have another class to attend."
Harry nods knowing she's talking about using the time turner. "See you after." He heads on knowing that she'll catch up with him, or him with her depending on how her other class went.
Meanwhile Hermione finishes packing and approaches Cheshire. "Pardon me Professor Cheshire."
"Just Cheshire, please."
Hermione nods. "Cheshire, are you familiar with a muggle film franchise revolving around a man named Indiana Jones?"
Cheshire chuckles. "Good Ole George, just can't stand a strong female lead."
"I'm afraid I don't follow you."
"I've spent some time in Hollywood and met George Lucas and his wife, a nice couple, we swapped stories. Indiana Jones is based on the muggle version of my life."
"Really?" Hermione asks.
"I collect magical artifacts that muggles find, and transport them to the ministry for safe keeping." Cheshire says. "I actually dropped one off on my way here, hence my tardiness."
Hermione nods. "I can't believe it. Wait until I tell Harry."
"Harry Potter?" Cheshire asks. "I saw his name on the roster."
"That's him, he was sitting next to me in class. I'm Hermione Granger."
"Pleased to meet you Hermione."
"And I'm pleased to meet you." Hermione says. "I'd like to stay and chat more, but I really need to get to class."
Cheshire nods. "When you have time I'd love to talk to you more, and Harry too of course."
Hermione nods. "Sounds like a plan." She heads out of the classroom and finds a niche in the hall to hide in while she activates the time turner.