Ch-80

"Hermione! Wait!" I shouted while running behind Emma. "Hermione, will you please tell me what it is we are doing?" She stopped behind the corner of a wall and I saw six people standing together. The actors portraying Ron, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were the real ones, while two body doubles were wearing clothes similar to Emma and me.

"That's us," I whispered in realization. "This is not normal."

Suddenly, Emma grabbed me and pushed me against the wall in an attempt to make sure no one saw me. She took out the pendant on her necklace from under her pink hoodie and said, "This is a time-turner, Harry. McGonagall gave it to me first term. This is how I've been getting to my lessons all year."

"You mean we've gone back in time?" I half-asked.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Dumbledore obviously wanted us to return to this moment. Clearly, something happened that he wants us to change."

Seeing her body-double punching Malfoy in the nose, I grinned and said, "Good punch."

Emma smiled back, "Thanks." Then she became serious, "Malfoy's coming." And then she grabbed me and together we stepped back and hid behind a different wall as the three boys came running towards us, badmouthing Hermione.

"Come on," Emma beckoned me forth and together we stood on the top of the small hill from where the set of Hagrid's hut was visible. This was the best part about Alfonso's direction that he had made Hogwarts real by creating small tracking shots from Hogwarts, all the way to here, making it seem as if all of this was real and present on the same set when in reality, they were different sets entirely.

"Look. Buckbeak's still alive," I commented happily.

"Of course, remember what Dumbledore said, if we succeed, more than one innocent life could be spared. Let's go." With that, the two of us ran away from the cameras.

"Cut!" Alfonso's voice rang out on set. "Perfect job, everyone. Let's move on to the next one."

Emma and I turned to each other in unison and smiled. This was the first time we had shot this scene, and by now we understood each other's physical cues so well that it was second nature to shoot a scene and be in perfect sync from the get-go. The same thing applied to Jamie as well.

"Shall we go down for the next scene?" Emma asked me while pointing towards Hagrid's hut downhill.

"Sure," I nodded enthusiastically, but before we could, makeup people ran up to us to make sure everything was perfect. Meanwhile, the two of us were handed the script pages for the next part to be shot. Although I remembered everything that I had crammed last night, I still read my lines while walking towards the set of Hagrid's hut.

"What have you changed in this film?" Emma asked out of the blue.

"I'm sorry?" I asked in confusion.

"You told me last year that the enhanced roles of Ron and Ginny in the second film were because of you," she explained. "What have you changed this time around?"

"I don't have the power to change anything," I said as a matter of fact. "I can only make suggestions."

Emma rolled her eyes before saying, "And what suggestions did you make this time?"

I shrugged, "Nothing major. Just a few, like the opening scene of the film where Harry was doing magic at home, which is illegal. Just that, and the inclusion of the Marauder's backstory, and the Fidelius Charm."

Emma gaped at me. "They were excluding the Fidelius? Then how would they explain the betrayal of the Potters by Sirius Black?"

I grinned, "That's what I said! You know, great minds think alike. It took a lot of convincing Eric and Dad. They argued that the film was already so long. But finally, Alfonso agreed with me that we needed to include the Fidelius explanation."

"Thank God he did," Emma breathed out. "It would be such a big plot hole otherwise."

"We would've made it work still," I said. I knew that the original [Prisoner of Azkaban] was one of the most acclaimed films of the series, but in my opinion, this was the best film. This was the cinematic peak of [Harry Potter], where everything went right. But when I have the advantage of hindsight, why wouldn't I make this film perfect?

"Can I run my lines with you?" I asked Emma, turning the conversation away from the changes in the film. I really needed to practice my lines, and what better person than my co-actor?

"Sure."

(Break)

Emma was engulfed tightly in my embrace as we acted as if a great werewolf was attacking us. I wish there was more to the scene, but all of the fantasy elements would be added using CGI. Like Lupin in his werewolf form attacking us, or Buckbeak saving us by thwarting the werewolf Lupin's attack on us.

"That was so scary," Emma whispered against my chest.

"Poor Professor Lupin's having a really tough night," I commented as large fans started blowing wind in our direction. Dried grass and leaves on the ground started blowing over to us as we looked up in the sky where a horde of dementors were supposed to be flying. (Again CGI.)

"Sirius," I said in realization. "Come on!" I took Emma's hand in mine, and together we ran off to a different part of the set, the camera following our movement precisely.

"This is horrible," Emma commented, referring to the scene where past-Harry and Sirius were being attacked by Dementors. Harry was played by a body double for obvious reasons.

"Don't worry, my Dad will come!" I said with utmost belief. "He'll conjure the Patronus." I waited for a few more seconds, but nothing happened. "Any minute now." I brought forth some desperation. "Right there. You'll see."

"Harry, listen to me. No one's coming," Emma placed a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged it off, "Don't worry, he will. He will come."

After a few more seconds, Emma said, "You're dying. Both of you!"

Seeing nothing happening on the scene, I decided to take matters into my own hands as I ran forward on the edge of the lake and raised my wand while shouting, "Expecto Patronum!"

This was a special wand with an LED fixed on the tip of it which glowed brightly to show that the spell was working. I panted while holding on to the wand for a few minutes as different cameras recorded my expressions before I looked around in amazement.

"Prongs," I whispered in awe, finally realizing what my father's Animagus form and Patronus were. The same one that would be placed in front of me using CGI. A stag.

This scene was omitted from the original film, which I felt diminished its impact a little. Conversations were also changed in the rest of the film so that all of the Marauders' names were attached to them. This was a little pet peeve of mine in the movies, about inconsistency like Voldemort calling Peter Pettigrew 'Wormtail' in later films, or Harry telling Snape that 'Padfoot' is in danger, but it was never explicitly stated who was who. This film was the best place to solve that problem.

"Cut! Print. Check the gate," Alfonso called out in quick succession before walking over to me. "Good job, Troy."

"Thank you, Alfonso," I nodded at the Mexican. "Do we need to shoot anything else?"

"No, we are done for today," he looked down at his wristwatch. "And earlier than we were supposed to."

"All because of you," I flattered him a little.

He chuckled, "We are behind on our overall schedule. We should've already begun [Goblet of Fire] by now."

Only then did I realize how much time had passed. It was the middle of December 2002, and as per the original plan, we should be done with the third film by November. But as they say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and shooting was our only enemy here. Alfonso had shot some of the supporting scenes of [Goblet of Fire] during [Prisoner of Azkaban] itself. Mostly they were scenes that didn't involve child actors or involved no-name extras; that's why the production had stretched a little.

I would turn 14 in a few weeks, but that's not very relevant here. [Prisoner of Azkaban] would finish shooting in less than a week, and because of the delays in the film production, the team had decided to postpone shooting the main [Goblet of Fire] until after the holidays, thus giving everyone a little break of two or so weeks.

"Man, you've grown so much in the last few months," Alfonso commented idly as he looked me over. "I can't believe you're the same kid who began shooting this film."

I felt a little happy hearing that from him. It was such a relief for me that I had finally grown in height. A small part of me had this irrational fear that the Harry Potter role was cursed or something, and I would remain a midget like Daniel Radcliffe. Thankfully, I had had my first growth spurt a few months ago and had shot up from 5'2 (157cm) to 5'9 (175cm). Now, I was taller than Jamie, who was only 5'7 (170cm). Given that I was barely 14 at the moment, it was likely I would grow some more.

"And I can't believe you're the same director we began working with," I joked back, hinting at our differences when we began shooting the film.

He laughed good-naturedly at that. "I deserve that. I believe we both have grown a lot with this film, no?"

I inclined my head in acquiescence but didn't comment on it.

"What're you guys talking about?" Emma asked while walking over to me, taking my hand and putting it over her shoulders casually as she stood against me. She looked tiny at her height of 5'1 (155cm).

"Nothing serious," I said. "Just about the next film."

"If that's not serious, I don't know what is," Emma retorted while putting her arm behind my waist and snaking her hand in my left back-pocket.

I raised my one arm in surrender that she was not holding, "You got me."

Alfonso looked between Emma and me not-so-subtly and said, "I just remembered that I had to decide tomorrow's shots if we have to finish the shoot this week. See you later." And with that, he walked back over to the crew who was winding up the scene. Since Jamie did not have a scene today, it was just the two of us from the main cast who were present.

I disentangled my arm from Emma's grasp and asked her in a serious tone, "What the hell was that, Emma?"

"What was what?" she asked innocently.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," I deadpanned. When she didn't speak for a few moments, I continued, "Do you want rumors to spread about us on the set or in some sleazy tabloids?"

"There are no reporters here," she said meekly.

"Yeah?" I asked challengingly. "And where do these reporters get their anonymous sources from?" I pointed around at the set. "These are the sources. They may have signed NDAs, but if their names are not published, they can and will say anything and everything they witnessed on set. Sometimes even lies. If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile. Just because you want to cozy up to me doesn't mean that you should do it where anyone can see it."

I didn't think I said anything bad or too harsh. I still don't. Yet, I wasn't expecting Emma to get teary-eyed.

Before I could apologize, she said, "Would it be so bad if there were rumors about us? Am I that repulsive to you?" And then, without waiting for my reply, she turned around and ran in the general direction of her trailer. I kept standing there, a hand raised in her direction, wanting to stop her, but for some reason couldn't.

I'm such an asshole.

(Break)

"Troy. Troy! TROY!" Mum literally shook me out of my thoughts violently. "What has gotten into you? These last few days you've been acting weird. Everything alright?"

I didn't want to share with her what was going through my head, so I shook my head. "Nothing. Just something trivial on my mind. What were you talking about?"

She gave me a skeptical look for a few moments before dropping the matter. "I asked you what did you decide about next year? You'll finish the third movie tomorrow, and hopefully, we'll finish the fourth movie quickly as well because some of its scenes have already been shot. So from September onwards, you can join a university if you want."

"What is the schedule for the fifth film?" I asked.

"Not even in the question until after the fourth film has been released," Dad replied in place of Mum. "Given how we are planning to release the third and fourth films in Nov 2003 and Nov 2004, and given how long it takes for the pre-production, we cannot begin shooting before the summer of 2005 in any case. So you can go to university uninterrupted for two years. Or you can take my advice and go learn different skills."

"Right," I nodded slowly. "I have thought about it long and hard, and I have decided that I don't want the restrictions that a university will impose. So I will take up your offer for individual courses. Also, that gives me the freedom to take up more roles in between those films, if I want."

Dad smiled, "I had a feeling you would do that. I know you better than you know yourself."

I curbed the urge to roll my eyes at that. He barely knew anything about me at all. Especially my future knowledge.

I continued as if he had not spoken, "I will take up music, drama, dance, and martial arts classes. At least two hours a day, five times a week."

"Makes sense if you are doing it long term," Mum nodded in acceptance. "Truthfully, I wanted you to go to college, but I will support whatever you decide."

Then a thought came to my mind. "What about Evan?"

"What about him?" Dad asked.

"Will he go to school or will he continue what he's doing now?"

Dad sighed out loud, "Let us finish the fourth film first. I'll talk to him before the new session begins. It would be stupid of us to keep him at home for two years. All it would do is make him a recluse. At least right now he's on a film set that we know has a safe environment."

"That reminds me," I spoke up suddenly and fished out a piece of paper from my pocket. "I want you to purchase adaptation or filming rights of these." I offered the paper to Dad, who shared it with Mum as they read it.

"'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'?" Dad read the first name.

"Yup, the book was released earlier this year. It is damn good." Not to mention, it gives a lot of room to show your acting range because the lead actor has autism in it. In the original timeline, it was made into a very successful stage play rather than a movie, but I can always change that, can't I?

"Okay," Dad nodded before moving on. "'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'."

"Oh!" Mum perked up. "I have read that book. It's good."

"Yup," I nodded. "I really, really want to work in that. I loved the book and have read it like ten times already. Please make it happen." Not to mention, it was one of my favorite movies. When I got the déjà vu of the movie after seeing the title of the book, I started crying. That's how good the movie is.

"Alright," Dad nodded slowly before moving on, "What are these other books you've written here? Seems like names of writers rather than books."

"These are screenplays that Mum got for me last year," I said. "These five are the ones that I liked the most. If the writers agree to it, I want you to buy the script, and produce it in-house."

"All five?" he asked incredulously.

"No, that would be impractical. Not everyone would want to sell, or they may impose unnecessary conditions on the production. Any two will suffice at the moment. If the films are already in pre-production under someone else, offer them that I want to join the cast as long as production begins after [Goblet of Fire]."

"A month after [Goblet of Fire] ends," Mum amended my statement. "We will go for a vacation when it does."

"Alright," I conceded.

"Maybe we can ask Emma and Jamie to join our family this time as well," Dad said thoughtfully.

And that brought me back to the main problem. Emma. What was I to do with her now? These past few days she had been avoiding me. She would still finish her scenes with me professionally, but other than that, total silence.

I hated it.

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