Yesterday is Tomorrow (Everything is Connected)

Twelve: Scar Tissue

Yesterday is Tomorrow (everything is connected)

XI

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If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don't. It's like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don't hurt it. Not even major surgery if it's done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make.

- Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

*

Diagon Alley was one of Hermione's favourite places in the Wizarding world. She didn't appreciate it much when she was younger, in her first life, due to the enormous attraction that Hogwarts' library held for her - all that knowledge - but as she grew, and embraced more of wizarding culture, she had come to appreciate Diagon's quaintness, its quirkiness. She appreciated the ambiance of the narrow, cobblestone paths with light, fluffy snow lining wooden shop signs or overhangs, with the Yule stock on display in the windows, and even the very Victorian feel of fur muffs and coats and carolers on the corner.

Both Barty and Regulus, when she met with them, wore traditional wizards' outer robes with fur lining the collar and sleeves; Regulus' were of better quality, in a dark, inky black that reflected the same blue tinge his dark hair had whereas Barty's were brown, tailored, and a bit more contemporary with their wide lapels and looser fit.

Hermione made a face. Of all the fashion statements, she thought, the 70s could have been one of the most awkward decades. You're either Ian Drury or Sonny Bono.

She was beginning to dread the day her male friends began to grow more than wisps of facial hair.

"Hermione!" greeted Barty, frantically waving an arm high above his head from where he and Regulus stood next to Flourish & Blotts. It was their usual designated meeting space, and the Alley was rather crowded with others doing their holiday shopping.

Hermione gave both Barty and Regulus quick kisses of greeting on their red cheeks. "Shall we?" she asked, eyes already skipping over to the front entrance of the bookstore.

"Flourish's last," both teens stated, making Hermione pout.

Their first business was Gringott's for Barty, leaving Regulus and Hermione to wait outside the bank. There, they compared shopping lists and discussing Barty's present.

"What are you going to get him?" asked Hermione, looking up at the youngest Black.

"Probably a book," he said, shrugging. "I think he was interested in some theoretical texts that aren't easily found in Britain - you know, Fillory; Mryddin; Greybeard -, so I was going to ask for my French relatives to find one of them for me in Paris." He paused. "Or maybe our Italian relatives to search a bit more afield."

Hermione stared. "Sometimes, the way you go out of your way to find things drives home how ridiculously wealthy you are."

Regulus held back a preen behind a tiny smile.

Barty exited the bank then, saving Hermione from admitting she didn't know what she was going to get her best friend to Regulus. The three quickly left the dour stares from the goblin guards that stood just outside the doors, moving from their line of sight and toward the nearest shop that caught their fancy.