Harry Potter: Beyond the Looking Glass by madscientist
Part 2

A/N: Here we go, catching up with a few old friends, along with a few plot clues...To those in the US, A good Memorial Day, take time to remember those who gave their all for you. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter, and as usual I really own only the plot, OC's random electrons, and possibly in some universe everything else...but probably not this one.

Chapter 21: A Flicker in Time.
***************************London************************************

November 13, 2015 (Friday night)
9:25 pm

Hermione slipped through the thick, milling crowd, ignoring the occasional looks of admiration, hate, or even lust directed towards her, as she sipped from a crystal flute handed to her by a passing white-suited server. Brown eyes slowly scanned through the crowd, watching carefully for any hint of raven hair moving through the clustered throngs of wizards and witches, most of who were here to be seen, rather than for any actual support of the cause celebrated tonight.

She sighed faintly, taking another sip of her beverage, as she stood in the midst of another unwanted Ministry event. Though as this one was ostensibly a charity event for the Foundation of Interspecies Cooperation, one of the Potter charities, she couldn't escape, especially since all the leads of the recent attacks had dried up. Hermione nodded as Gryphold Norton, a member of the Ministry's council on Interspecies Relations waved and turned back to the small blonde, thirty years his junior, who was evidently his date.

A faint snort disturbed the air, and Hermione stepped back, pulling a curtain of air around her and vanishing from plain view. She stood back, out of traffic, and sipped her drink. She smirked and shook her head as she scanned across the room, and found a large knot of young males, along with more than a few young females gathered together.

One of the young men moved, and Hermione found whom she had been expecting, having talked to her just the other day when she got back into London.

A young woman with long, silver-blonde hair stood in the center of the group, laughing at some comment one of the other young women said. The brunette who had made the joke took a step forward, the blonde took her hand for an instant, and the brunette seemed to melt into the floor. A long, floor-length silver dress was painted onto the blonde's curves, baring her shoulders and her entire back, to the very top of her bum, revealing a small tattoo of a phoenix with its wings spread at the small of her back. A long slit slipped up the left side of the dress, exposing just for an instant, a battered leather wand sheath.

She turned and looked around the room, and nodded faintly in Hermione's direction, and Hermione saluted her with her glass. Gabrielle smiled brightly, and took the brunette girl's hand back in her own, and then reached over, grabbing the hand of a tall, dark-haired man in her other.

A visible sigh seemed to manifest itself on the air, and the crowd dispersed around her, leaving Gabby alone with her two suitors. She kissed the girl, and turned, kissing the dark-haired man, pulling him down to her with force of will alone. She stepped back and the other two fell into each others' arms. Gabby squeezed their joined hands and made a vague motion in Hermione's direction and the pair nodded, dancing together as Gabrielle moved off with a small, happy smile.

Hermione relaxed back into the arms that wrapped around her from behind, black sleeves that crossed the fall of emerald silk that was her gown. Alright there, Love? Harry asked as his hands joined on her lower belly, possibly a touch too low for polite society, but neither cared about convention.

She looked up and back with small grin, reached backwards to grab his hair for a moment as she kissed him hello, Just Gabby, Hermione replied. She got back Wednesday from Tibet.

Harry nodded. Gabrielle Delacour had followed in her brother-in-law's footsteps, and had stepped beyond them. The diminutive girl had become Gringotts' premier "recovery expert", specializing in finding lost treasures and occasionally people, regardless of where or how they were lost or hidden. And there wasn't a riot this time?

Hermione reached up and back, and tapped him lightly on the back of the head, just as Gabrielle stepped around a large man deep in conversation with himself, and into view. "Hello, Hermione, Harry," Gabrielle greeted in nearly accentless English, courtesy of a year of intense training.