Hogwarts classes were about as expected—intense, rigorous, and filled with an ever-growing pile of assignments. The professors wasted no time in reminding students that OWLs were approaching, leading to constant reviews, an increase in homework, and a noticeable rise in stress levels among the fifth years. Even first years weren't spared, as the pressure to build a strong foundation became apparent in nearly every subject.
Prefect duties took a bit of time out of Ryan's studies, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened outside of catching students sneaking off to do things they shouldn't. The rumors about the manticore and raven patronus continued to circulate, which made patrols amusingly easier—students were more hesitant to risk getting caught when they believed ghostly enforcers might materialize out of nowhere.
Fleur and Serenity had taken to sneaking into Ryan's room at night, sometimes for cuddles, sometimes for simple affection. Serenity, ever the silent presence, melted into his side without a word, while Fleur often chattered about her studies. She had been working toward a mastery in enchanting, and from the way she spoke about it, she was making remarkable progress.
But the biggest change came when Ryan finally sat Hermione down for a proper talk.
She had long been suspicious that there was more to him than he let on—his strength, his abilities, the way he always seemed to know things that no ordinary student should. And, given how close she had become with Yue and Rachel, it was inevitable that she would start asking questions. Rather than letting her pry the truth out piece by piece, Ryan decided it was better to lay everything out at once.
To say she was shocked was an understatement.
The moment he finished, Hermione simply sat there, staring at him, her brain clearly overloading as she tried to process the sheer absurdity of what she had just learned. The fact that Ryan wasn't just some random prodigious wizard, but someone far beyond what Hogwarts—or even this world—could contain, left her struggling to comprehend it all.
"You're… not joking?" she finally managed to say, voice almost weak.
"Nope." Ryan leaned back, giving her time to absorb everything. "Crazy, right?"
"That's one word for it!" she huffed, rubbing her temples. "You—you can't just drop something like this on me and expect me to—ugh!"
Yue, sitting beside him, smirked. "You did want to know, didn't you?"
Hermione shot her a glare, before groaning and slumping in her seat. "This completely changes how I view everything—you, Hogwarts, magic itself—"
Ryan chuckled. "Yeah, that happens."
Rachel, flipping lazily through a book, added dryly, "Welcome to the chaos."
Hermione let out a dramatic sigh, still looking overwhelmed. "I need time to process this."
"Take your time." Ryan smirked. "But, uh, just a heads-up… once you get used to it, you're never going to see things the same way again."
She groaned again, but the slight gleam in her eyes told him that, despite her initial shock, her curiosity had been well and truly ignited.
That revelation brought everyone I wanted to know about my secrets into the fold.
The thing that upset her the most, though, was not knowing that Serenity, Fleur, and Luna had been sneaking into my room over the years, alongside Yue and Rachel.
Even the fact that she was a character from my world seemed insignificant in comparison. After reading the Harry Potter books, she felt physically ill, but not for the reasons one might expect.
"Ron? I ended up with Ron?" she almost gagged, clearly disgusted. She had never gotten along with Ron at all. "Please, tell me you're joking!"
"Nope," I smirked. "That would have been your fate if I hadn't rescued you or come to this world."
She stared at the books in disgust, but slowly, other pieces started falling into place in her mind. "The Death Eaters at the World Cup," she asked softly.
"Killed them."
"Professor Snape?"
"Yes."
"The Ministry break-in?"
I simply nodded. "You can either do what's right or what's easy. Death Eaters deserve no mercy from me. None of them. Dolores Umbridge went on to create Hitler-style concentration camps for Muggle-borns, half-bloods, and 'dark creatures.' She also tortured children. I won't lose a wink of sleep over them dying. As for deciding who lives or dies and judging them for crimes they may or may not have committed? You've seen how the Ministry handles things—they're more corrupt than most criminals. It's like the dilemma of traveling back in time to kill Hitler before he rose to power: you know what he's going to do, and you can stop him. Would you kill him, even as a baby?"
Hermione didn't have an answer. What would she do?
"I'm not asking you to do any of those things, though. Your job is simply to enjoy your life at Hogwarts, without worrying about dark wizards and witches or some insane Dark Lord. Fighting evil wizards should be left to the adults—like Dumbledore." I gave her a gentle kiss on the head, letting her gather her thoughts.
"Can you tell me all the changes you've made?" she asked, wanting to know more.
So I patiently explained everything we had done and changed. Hermione listened closely to every detail.
Were the things I did right or wrong? There wasn't a clear answer. Had things turned out better than they would have? Certainly.
Hermione was just conflicted, torn between her moral uprightness and her healthy respect for authority.
That and finding out her boyfriend and her close friends had all killed people was a bit jarring.
Once her mind sorted through the facts she realized however that it didn't matter much, Ryan was still the same person she had fallen in love with. Even with these secrets it wasn't like his personality changed or something.
Now she just knew the reasons behind everything. Hermione was a logical person after all and once she got the answers she needed she was satisfied.
Besides Hermione was a bit crazy when it came to breaking rules. If she started breaking rules then she would do so to the best of her ability including breaking laws.
In the stories she brewed polyjuice a ministry sanctioned potion, stole ingredients from Snape, helped smuggle an illegal dragon out of the castle, lit a professor on fire, used time travel to help a wanted criminal escape from the ministry and broke into Gringotts.
Once Hermione let loose there was nothing she wouldn't do.