The most difficult problem to date
December 26th, 2018
Granger-Weasley Residence, Godrics Hallow
Harry Potter was angry, angry in ways he hadn’t imagined, angry because his children and his wife were missing due to a broken Time Turner that no one should have been able to get their hands on. This was thanks to the fact that Hermione Granger-Weasley, of all bloody people, had forgotten to place all the security charms she normally did. It was hard not to blame her for this, but the look of guilt and worry over her own children was the only thing that kept his anger at bay…for now. “So we have no bloody clue where or when they are?”
“No,” Hermione couldn’t look her husband or brother-in-law in the eye. “As far as I can remember, there isn’t any record of time travel with a broken Time Turner. So they could be anywhere, or anytime as far as I know.”
“Which means,” Ron looked sicker than Harry had ever seen him (even sicker than when he had to apologize to Hermione for running off during the Horcrux hunt). “We, at this moment, have no clue how to bring them back and no real place for us to start from.” This brought Harry to a stand-still because it was true. The Golden Trio had never had less information to work with at the start of their annual ‘adventures’ at Hogwarts; but that’s exactly where they were right now. They had no clue where to start their research as they had no clue on where to their wayward family members were.
“We can’t let Molly know,” Harry’s hand ran through his unruly raven colored hair. “Not only is her only daughter missing, but so arefive of her grandchildren. We absolutely cannot tell her, yet.” Neither Ron nor Hermione argued with this statement, they both knew it was true. At this point, he walked over to the floo connection to the Granger-Weasley Residence and disabled it; no one could know about this situation. It was critical that they avoid this becoming public knowledge.
***
December 26th, 1980
Potter Cottage, Godrics Hallow
Ginny Potter shouldn’t have done it, but she couldn’t help herself, the sight of her oldest son in a full body bind in her dead in-laws back yard was too much; she broke out into peals of laughter. She knew what had happened, Lily Luna had only been more than happy to tell her about her older brother’s poor behavior…but to see it was another thing. 17-year-old Harry was in the house with his Hermione and Ron counterparts, along with his father, doing their best to look after the splinched redhead. Meanwhile, the 12-year-old Ron and Harry had followed Ginny and the kids to the back yard; both looking around bewildered; the younger Harry kept throwing looks at his mother and Ron kept looking at the younger version of Sirius Black with absolute terror written on his face. It was all too damn funny for the nearly 40-year-old witch.
But it really shouldn’t have been all that funny. Her family had traveled back to the middle of the First Wizarding War, and Voldemort was still out there. To top it all off, that bastard Peter Pettigrew was still considered a friend of the Potters and very well could let the Dark Tosser know that they were here and rewrite history as she knew it. Which meant that Ginny’s priority was finding a way to prevent contact with the Rat without alerting the Potters to why they couldn’t contact him so that history could continue as it was supposed to. She’d sort out what to do with the two Harry’s after that.
But first, she needed to finish laughing.
“Uhhh, Aunt Ginny…are you okay?” The concern in Hugo’s voice helped her bring the laughter under control.
“Oh Hugo,” she said softly. “This situation is insane and seeing my oldest child in a body bind was just the kicker.” She then turned to Teddy, “You warned them about telling them too much?”
“Yes I did Aunt Ginny.”
“Good, this also goes for the younger copies of Ron and Harry here as well.” There were nods from the unbound kids in the backyard. Evans watched the older redhead with interest, the kids clearly respected her; which was going to be a problem for the 21-year-old redhead. Lily Evans wanted answers, the state the two Harrys were in meant that he did not live the life she had wanted for her first born and that concerned her. She had planned on wheedling out some information from the kids, but this Ginny seemed to have the kids even more under control than Teddy did. Obviously, she knew that meddling with time was a huge crime…but she would do absolutely anything to protect her family and ensure them the best life she could, even if that meant a stint in Azkaban.
“I don’t believe you’re really Ginny,” This was Ron, he spoke since 12-year-old Harry wasn’t looking at anyone but his mother. The defiance in his eyes caught her off guard, she didn’t think he’d speak up with the ‘convicted murder’ in the same yard as him.
Ginny quirked an eye at the younger version of her older brother, “Do you want to tell Gred and Feorge about what happened to their first broomsticks when you were seven or should I?” He paled at that comment and shook his head, all the defiance gone. However, the question caught the interest of Ron’s oldest and she wasn’t so easily quieted.
“What did Dad do to Uncle George and Uncle Fred’s first broomsticks?” Ginny started to giggle as the younger Ron became even paler when he realized that it was one of the children who spoke. Rose may have Ron’s eyes and a similar face…but her hair was all Hermione’s. She knew that her goddaughter had her mother’s natural inquisitiveness and there would be no way to wave off her question. It was bizarre to watch a 12-year-old Ron try to dodge his 12-year-old daughter’s question while his 10-year-old son watched with some amusement. But Ginny had just begun to understand the difficulty of the situation they had found themselves in.
She was unaware of any situation where anyone had traveled back in time as far as she and the next generation of Potter and Weasley children did; or any kind of situation where past versions of people would be transported to the same time. The worry began to override the humor of the situation, while Hermione was typically the brain behind the Trio, her husband was no slouch either; but Harry would be worried sick over his family, and something was wrong with her sister-in-law. Those factors were going to hamper the Trio’s ability to workout a solution to this time travel situation. It was possible it was going to take weeks or months for them to work it out. Unless she got a hold of Dumbledor…that was something she could work with.
Ginny had her issues with her old Headmaster, raising her husband so he’d sacrifice himself was one, but there was absolutely no doubt he was the brightest wizard of his time. If she could convince her in-laws to get them all to Hogwarts and to Dumbledore, it might be possible that everyone could be returned to their appropriate time with minimal impact on the past. Unfortunately for her, that’s when she caught her mother-in-law’s eye and saw a look there that showed a fierce protectiveness of her family…a look that clearly indicated why Lily Evans Potter would willingly sacrifice herself to protect her son on that Halloween night.
“Your name is Ginny?” Evans looked at the older redheaded woman. When she got a brief nod in response she decided to ask question that had been on her mind since she’d greeted them both formally, “You haven’t met us before you came back in time…have you?”