Weasley-Granger
- "I don't understand," Ron said, looking bewildered.
- "It's very clear," Harry said, adjusting his glasses. "We have to go to a specific number of places before returning, and touching the shiny thing takes us to the next one."
- "Huh? No, I wasn't referring to that. How did your daughter know your godson was going to propose just by seeing him nervous?"
- "But it's super obvious," Hermione said wearily. "Why would he be nervous if it's clear he frequents Harry and Ginny's house? He wanted his gloves. Why, if it's obvious he's not working today? What is he looking for? Some valuable jewel from a dangerous home? And did you see how he was looking at Harry and Ginny's fingers? Clearly, he must be looking for something similar for a ring. And why would he want a ring?" Hermione's long narration continued, while Harry just felt scared by how incredibly detailed she was. "Those are just some of the obvious details, add 2 + 2."
- "Stop overwhelming my Roro," Lavender said, interjecting. Perhaps she hadn't acted earlier out of embarrassment for Ron's parents, who were the center of attention for having been in Harry and Ginny's house before, or perhaps she was just flustered from the trip. The point is, this action finally moved her to return to the arms of her beloved Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes and stepped away.
Then a car crossed the street where they were all standing, and they all instinctively tried to move aside, forgetting that they were intangible now. The car was a beautiful recent sports car. How did they know it was recent? Well, nobody recognized it, although, in general, nobody there knew much about cars. The car entered the garage of an elegant house, and from it emerged a redheaded adult.
- "Oh, now it's our turn," Lavender said cheerfully. Harry became nervous, and he wasn't the only one.
The adult Ron entered the house with bags in his arms, went to what seemed to be an elevator, pressed a strange combination of keys, and then appeared in what seemed to be a long hallway with several doors. Did that house have a strange and powerful expansion spell? Is it an underground place? Who knows. The redhead continued to a door with a yellow sign that read "Rose's lab" and entered.
- "I'm back," he said with a smile. "Oh, thanks, Dad," said a redheaded girl in protective gear as she took the bags from him.
- "So, what exactly are you doing, dear?"
- "It's a homemade particle accelerator," the girl explained, taking out cables and other strange objects from the bag, possibly spare parts for something she had broken.
- "Oh yes, of course. And what's that?" the father asked, confused.
- "A particle accelerator. It's a device that collides atoms at high speeds to study matter and energy," the girl said enthusiastically.
- "Logical. And how?" Ron asked, not understanding anything, and to be honest, neither did Harry and the other visitors from the past.
- "Well, first I have to assemble the particle accelerator, connecting the tubes, magnets, and cables. Then I have to inject a beam of protons into the tube and make it circulate through the magnetic field. Then I have to make it collide with another beam of protons coming in the opposite direction. This will produce collisions that generate new particles. Some of these particles could be evidence of dark matter. To detect them, I have to use a Geiger counter and a mass spectrometer," the girl said, pointing to the instruments on the table. "Of course, unlike Muggles, I have magic to facilitate and accelerate the process."
- "Ah, of course. And isn't it dangerous to do all that?"
- "No, Dad. Don't worry. I've taken all the necessary safety measures. I've lined the room with aluminum foil to prevent radiation. I've put a fire extinguisher in case of a fire. And I've calculated that the power of the particle accelerator will not exceed 10 megavolts, which is the limit allowed by law," the girl said, reassuring him.
Harry quickly related all that unintelligible jargon to what he had heard recently, so he moved as far away as possible from the current Ron and his partner, just in case.
- "And what does your brother do?"
- "He fills a sticker album."
- "I'd better help him. Good luck, dear."
The adult Ron left, and after walking for a while, he reached his son's room.
- "What's up, champ?" he said to the brown-haired boy sitting there.
- "Hi, Dad. I'm pasting my Arsenal FC stickers. This year, if we win an international title, you'll see."
- "Ha, whatever you say. But I still don't understand how you can like a sport where they don't fly."
Father and son did the activity together, in a touching scene. Harry could only cover his mouth with his hand to avoid laughing, while Ron looked uncomfortable, and Lavender admired how fraternal his future version turned out to be. The rest had a mix of these three feelings until finally, they heard a door opening, which seemed to be from the main room.
Lavender went to see excited and expectant, but she would crumble when she saw some tousled brown hair peeking out. Ron, who followed her behind, could only feel a slap on his cheek as she left in tears uttering nonsensical phrases.
Confusion descended upon the visitors, and it grew even more when they saw what seemed to be an adult Hermione appearing in the hallway, met by the adult Ron. They greeted each other with a kiss.
- "How did the best Prime Minister in the world wake up?"
- "Tired, I've been working late as usual, there's so much paperwork even for me," she said with yawns. "Thanks for everything, sometimes I feel like I don't say it enough, but I know it can't be easy to have left your Auror position to be a stay-at-home dad who takes care of our little ones."
- "And here we go again. I told you I'm fine with it."
Draco prepared to make his typical ironic jokes, but everyone was too shocked to pay attention. George gave Fred a Galleon.
- "Did you bet on whether he would stay with Hermione?" Harry asked.
- "No, we bet on how long it would take."
- "Wow, so you're Prime Minister, Harry is Minister of Defense, and I'm just a stay-at-home dad?" Ron said with a slight annoyance.
- "Is that what surprises you?" Hermione asked, trying not to stutter.
- "Why? Does it bother you that we... Well...?"
- "Th-that... No, it's just that, I, well, this, I thought that..." Hermione tried to say, but it seemed like she couldn't articulate a coherent sentence, finally just burying her face in Ron's arms, who now was truly confused.
- "The damn Mudblood is Prime Minister!? We're screwed," Draco said offended.
- "Mr. Malfoy, quiet down or I'll have to punish you," McGonagall said.
- "We'll all lose our memory, and you can't do anything to me now," Draco argued.
Then Rose entered, greeted her parents, and asked for advice on her experiment, repeating her strange explanation.
- "And have you thought about using a Cherenkov detector? It could be more sensitive to high-energy particles," Hermione suggested.
- "Oh, that's a good idea. Thanks, Mom!" the redhead said, returning to her laboratory.
Young Hermione couldn't process everything, as a strange feeling of happiness surged through her neck. It was then that Draco sighed with relief upon seeing the bright spot again.
- "Finally, this place is too sugary. I hope now we go to something interesting," he said as he pressed the thing, and once again, the same sensation from the beginning returned.