Chapter 3
"... as more children are admitted to magical hospitals around the world on the verge of death all we can ask is, who are these monsters mass affecting children with switching potions and how are they avoiding affecting muggles? What are your thoughts, Janette?"
Prometheus re-enters the world in stages, that being said it only takes one for him to realize where he is. He has been in St. Mungo's so many times, both for injury and to visit Draco, that he recognises it by smell alone at this point. Remembering why he's in St Mungo's though is beyond him at this point.
"Well, Lula, some are speculating that this could be the work of the terrorised group R. Whoever it actually is though has gained the attention of our world leaders, especially when the statements of the children who've woken up are taken into account."
Eventually, Prometheus can open his eyes, blinking against the harsh light in the ward he was in. On his left his parents sleep in uncomfortable-looking chairs and on his right are... ah fuck, Cleo is in so much trouble when he gets back to his time. On his right is the rest of his ward, filled to the brim with small children covered in blood and sobbing parents. Healers swarm around reassuring parents that 'Yes, re-administering the switching potion has stabilized their children.' and 'No, we don't know how they were given the first dose but please flag down one of them as soon as their kids started waking up so they could get an Auror.', several Aurors are also stationed in the corners of the ward to stay out of the way but be close enough to jump in if someone wakes up.
"None of the children so far remember who gave them the switching potion but have said that, if offered then they would have taken it. These are reports spanning all over the world by the way Lula."
"H-Hermione?" Prometheus sluggishly turns back towards his left and finds his father awake.
"Dad?" He mumbles in confusion because he still can't quite comprehend that this is really happening to him.
His dad bursts into tears and jumps out of his chair to lightly grip his face. "My baby, oh, my baby." His dad sobs as he clings to him. "Nothing's going to c-change. I promise! Boy or girl, you're still our little Einstein."
Now he's crying now too. He had lost his parents before he had transitioned and the small part of him that worried that they wouldn't approve had always dogged his steps, now it was dead and he was free. "Daddy!"
"If this continues then we may have a bigger problem on our hands, Janette. Because if all of these children wanted to transition then how did they all start switching back at the same time?"
It takes twenty minutes for the Aurors to be able to talk to him because his dad woke up his mom then she basically said the exact thing he did and Prometheus ended up having a moment, but they seemed used to it by now. Seeing as how most of the families were acting similarly when their kids woke up, except for a woman who need to be escorted (thrown out with extreme vengeance by Mad-eye Moody) out after her 'new' son admitted that he felt better as a boy and she tried to stab him. What was it with people and pulling knives? Prometheus was planning to adopt both the boy and the younger girl two beds from him whose parents were giving off 'you're dead as soon as we're not in public' vibes.
"Mr Granger, is there a name ya'd like us to refer to ya as?" Moody asks gruffly as he walks over, the *thunk* of his wooden leg managing to rise over the panic. The Auror next to him looks like Ron did after his first 'all-hands-on-deck' call, but he dutifully holds his notepad out in front of him.
"Prometheus." He answers, his voice scratchy from all of the crying he'd done since he woke up.
Moody nods like he expected a different name than Hermione but didn't like it. "Prometheus then. My name is Auror Alastor Moody and this is junior Auror Josiah Cubs, we've got some questions."
"Is now really a..." His dad starts but Prometheus' mental filter has been shot by everything that's happening and he ends up cutting his dad off.
"Don't accept the defence against the dark arts job." He feels his eyes widen when his mind catches up because fuck, the first rule about time travel was to NOT FUCK WITH TIME!
"That," Moody says as he (gently) pushes past his dad. "I have questions about that right there. According to Arther, Mr Weasely, ya not only knew who he was but ya also warned him about gettin' near snakes."
"Who?" Prometheus asks. He's calm on the outside but inside he's having a panic attack. Bullshit, Prometheus, bullshit like you have never before!
"Mr Weasley," Moody says with an assessing look which is clearly setting his mother off. "He's one of the wizards who figured out that re-administerin' the swappin' potion ya took would stabilize ya, somethin' he found out on ya actually."
Really? Go him. "I didn't take a potion." Which is true for his nine-year-old counterpart.
”Really?” Asks Moody while Josiah dutifully takes notes. "No one approached ya with a strange drink? No one asked ya if ya'd like to be a boy?"
"No." Also true, Prometheus had figured that out all by himself. He'd bought the potion himself too before he and Draco had spent five years mass producing it and giving it out for free, with Neville and Luna providing the ingredients. Ron had actually been forced to arrest them four times before Harry had gotten the motion passed that stated that the switching potion should be free. Never let it be said that Prometheus wasn't a rebel for change. "No one asked me that or offered me anything to drink. Mommy and Daddy said that I should never take things from strangers."
"That's correct baby." His mom says as she pets his head, he spies the shattered look in his mother's eyes at how short his hair is but pretends he doesn't. She had always loved how long and free his hair was.
"Okay, next question. If someone had offered ya the potion, and ya knew it would work without any side effects, would ya have taken it?" Moody asks gruffly as his magical eye wizzes over Prometheus' person.
"Yes, I would of." He says dutifully, neither Moody nor Josiah look surprised though his dad does choke back a sob and turn away. It hurts a tiny bit but he understands, his parents had spent years thinking that he was happy being a girl and to find out that was a lie would take some getting used to.
"Alright, lad. Why should I turn down the defence against the dark arts position?"
Super bullshiting mode activated! ... Hopefully ... "I don't know."
Moody's flesh eye narrows slightly. "What happens if I accept?"
"I don't know."
"Why should Mr Weasley avoid snakes?"
"I don't know."
"Do ya have any advice for Junior Auror Cubs?" Josiah looks up from his notes in interest.
"No." Josiah nods and goes back to writing.
"Do ya have anythin' to say about anyone in this room?"
"I don't..." Prometheus pauses when the family giving him bad vibes shifts, he spies the little girl swallowing but keeping a blank face. Like she knew what was going to happen when she got home... Like it had happened before. He studies her face and finds that he can't place her, even if he imagines what she'd look like as a boy. He's never seen her before but he can vaguely recall the faces of others from around Hogwarts. It's the same with the boy whose mother attacked him. He's never thought about all of the new bloods who never made it to Hogwarts, all of the little children killed by people who should love them before Harry had stepped in. He never let himself think about it but now, now it's staring him in the face.
"Well, lad?" Moody prompts, clearly seeing his lost look. Can he really do this? Should he? Time was supposed to be liner, one river moving one way. Could he really divert it? Did he have any right?
"All seems to be well with you Mr Maxene, we'll call your mother back in then you can head on back home." One of the healers says to the boy whose mother attacked him. Fuck!
"They die if they go home," Prometheus says quickly to Moody and Josiah. "Mr Maxene and the little girl two beds from me. If you send them home with their families then their families are going to kill them."
Moody nods with an assessing look. "Junior Auror Cubs, go stop Healer May Nightingale from gettin' Ms Maxene. Tell her to keep the Thomas family back as well."
"On it," Josiah says before snapping his notebook shut and jogging to May, who had just started her trip to the doors of the ward.
"So, how did ya know that, Mr Granger?" Moody asks again making Prometheus sigh and look to the ward's ceiling.
"I don't know."
"Hmph, yer one of those seers then. I'll note it down in yer file." Moody grumbles and fuck, Prometheus so didn't want people thinking that he was a seer of all things. It'd help, of course, since he couldn't seem to keep his fucking mouth shut for the life of him but it was still annoying. "Ya seen where those two little ones are goin'? Would save us a lot of time if we knew where they were goin' right away."
"With us." His dad answers before he can make any suggestions.
"Michael!" His mom cries in shock. "What are you... shouldn't we at least talk about this?"
"What's there to talk about Jean?" His dad says with a disbelieving laugh. "Our daughter is a magical boy who can apparently see the fucking future and if we don't do anything those kids are going to die. So let's do something." Ow.
"We can't possibly know that though! What if she's just confused? What if it's a side effect of whatever they gave her?" Double ow, he knows that it's going to take some time for them to remember to use the right pronouns but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt like a bitch.
"Jean." His dad says slowly. "She knew who that man was, the redhead."
"Well, she could have just..."
"She knew his name, Jean. And he had never seen her in his life."
"But..."
"You saw his face, Jean. You saw it!"
"Alright! Fine!" His mom cries out finally. "Our daughter is a boy who can use magic and can see the future! She's a part of a world we never knew existed nor will we ever be a part of and some asshole tried to kill her! Is that what you want? Is that what you want me to say!"
"Maybe," Josiah says sharply, cutting off his parents' argument. "You could start accepting this as your new reality by calling your son a he instead of hurting him by ignoring the first thing that's made him feel right in his skin?"
"I... crap. Her... I mean Prometheus. I am so sorry." His dad says softly as he kneels next to the bed and takes one of his hands into his own. "It's just a lot, very suddenly. I'll be better, I promise."
"It's okay," Prometheus says wetly, when had he started crying?
"It's not baby." His mom says as she sits on the side of his hospital bed. "We said that we accepted you and your choices and we do. We shouldn't be going back on that, even if this is a scenario we never thought we'd be in."
"Also we didn't even ask you if you wanted siblings. Do you even want to share? We know that we make more than enough to take care of three kids instead of one but do you want us to?" His dad asks.
Prometheus looks at both of them, he was really doing this, wasn't he? He was really fucking with time.
Well if he was going to do then he may as well go all in.
"Lyssa and Darell Granger, welcome home," Prometheus says to his two new siblings, he watches their carefully guarded looks and plans a family trip to Little Whinging.