"I knew you'd say yes!" Helen shrieked with delight and flung her arms around him.
"Of course you did." Richard laughed softly and leant close to kiss along her neck.
"Well, no time like the present."
Helen sighed happily, leaning into his touch. "We're going to miss our dinner
reservation."
"I blame the book."
There on the nightstand lay the open, well-worn book. At the very top, written in
faded lettering read, A Winter's Tale, and there on the open page was a passage that had
been read by Helen Granger at least one thousand times:
Who hast the memory of Hermione, I know, in honour,
O, that ever I had squared me to thy counsel!
Then, even now, I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes,
have taken treasure from her lips.December 23rd, 1978 - 11:03 PMThe empty flat remained silent in the late hours of the evening, its residents far away
in Godric's Hollow, snuggled together in the drawing room of the ground floor, sleeping
off the effects of firewhisky, brandy soaked trifle, and the euphoria of celebrating a new
engagement.
Deep in the Hogwarts trunk of Mia Potter, locked in a Muggle jewellery box with a
strong Notice-Me-Not Spell, lay an old Time-Turner. The blue sand was inside a carefully
constructed hourglass, wrapped in a silver casing with a thin chain hanging off of it like a
necklace. The bottom was engraved with a rune which meant predestination. All three
hundred and eighty-eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty-seven tiny, blue grains of
sand inside the Time-Turner sat frozen, just like they had for the past seven years, four
months, twenty-two days, one hour, and four minutes.
A single tiny blue grain of sand unfroze and fell to the other end of the Time-
Turner.
Three hundred and eighty-eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty-six remained.