A little ray of hope
December 27th, 1980
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The incessant pounding in Ginny’s head fogged her thoughts, and there was a rather important matter that she needed to raise. Her stress levels were through the roof, and the silence that echoed around the common room after Hermione’s worst case scenario had left those still in the room flabbergasted. It was a stark reminder for Evans and Sirius about what was at stake when you considered meddling with time and fate, which is what they were most certainly doing with the time travel and discussion of future events.
As time ticked on, the silence in the room became more stilted and tense. Which was not a fact that Sirius Black could abide by, “The future sounds unacceptable.”
“My children say otherwise,” Ginny practically spat at him. “I will not risk their existence Padfoot, no matter how uncomfortable some of my past (your future) makes you.” As much as Evans wanted to yell at the older red head, she could completely empathize with her point. She had a newfound respect for her future daughter-in-law at that moment as well; the women had found herself in the middle of war with her children, niece, nephew, and someone she clearly loved like her own child, and was now faced with completely altering the world she knew by saying too much. Which, if Evans was perfectly honest with herself, Ginny already had.
“I think,” Lily began, “that we’re at a point where significant damage has been done to the timeline.” Her voice shook as she said the next part, “I highly doubt that H-H-Harry was supposed to know he is a horcrux at 12, or at 17.” Ginny wanted to argue that Harry was 17 when he learned he was a horcrux in her time, but she knew that there was a big difference between finding out at the start of the horcrux hunt vs. in the middle of the Battle of Hogwarts. All she could do was huff, there was very little she could say to refute Lily’s point.
The awkward silence seemed to stretch on as tensions continued to mount.
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Meanwhile, in the bedroom off to the right of the common room, the next gen kids struggled to grasp the conversation they’d overheard. Ginny’s rushed attempt to get them out of the room hadn’t stopped them from learning about the worst of the Dark Arts or what their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents had been through. On top of that, they didn’t know how or even if they’d be able to get home. While they had the Albus Dumbledor on their side, he still had failed to accomplish anything close to what their parents had been able to do when they were just teenagers; since they had no way to communicate with Ron, Harry, or Hermione in the future the kids were just starting to grapple with the idea that they might not be saved by the trio.
And what made this situation worse was the fact that Teddy wasn’t in the room with them, he always helped them get a grip on the situations they found themselves in. For Lily Luna, this was too much and she started to cry no matter how hard she tried not to. This set off Hugo, which made actually served to break the tension as Rose went to comfort her brother and James pulled Lils into a tight hug. While James could be an absolute prat, he’d always taken his role as the biggest brother seriously; especially when it came to protecting his siblings. It was clear to Lily that he believed he had failed as a big brother when he accidentally sent the group back in time.
Albus was only a few moments behind his older brother as he came up and engulfed his siblings in a tight hug. Despite being the middle child, he was easily the tallest as it seemed he’d inherited Ron’s tendency for random growth spurts. His lengthy arms easily wrapped around his older brother and younger sister with room to spare.
The group of teens slowly returned to their equilibrium, of course it was Rose who broke the silence. “We, collectively, need to agree not to pester Auntie Ginny for any more information about the war until we get back.” With a great breath, she continued, “There’s a chance someone from the past could overhear us and shatter the timeline to pieces.”
“I-I-I just can’t believe how much they’ve hidden from us.” Hugo was sobbing in anger at this point, his voice cracked at random moments; “They didn’t even tell us they were famous for their effort in the war until right before Lils and I went to Hogwarts. Dad admitted to me that they were forced to tell us because James was entering his fourth year and that’s when they started to cover the First Wizarding War in History of Magic.”
At this James’s face completely drained of color as he realized that his Potter grandparents were less than a year away from their deaths. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how his mum was holding it together at the moment, let alone the two younger versions of his dad. The eldest Potter child felt a squeeze around his waist; at this he looked down and made eye contact with his younger sister, she had a look of concern on her face as she tried to get a read on what had made his skin pale. That look of concern deepened when he shook his head as in indication that they would not discuss what had caused him to brood.
She started to open her mouth, when a bright white light seemed to explode into the room before it took the shape of a brilliant stag. Once he recognized the patronus, Albus slipped out of the room to go get his mother’s attention. Meanwhile, the rest of the next generation stood stock still as they waited for it to pass on Harry’s message; “Rose, kids, if this gets to you please have your Aunt Ginny send a response to Victoire, Dominique, or Louis Weasley.” This shook Rose out of her shock and she began to scramble for a quill and parchment. “This is kind of a hail mary and we don’t know if this is going to work. In the response, we need you to supply us your current location as well as the date (year included) that you’re in so we can begin to figure out how to get you guys home. We love you guys, and miss you lots, but don’t think that you’re going to wiggle out of trouble James Sirius. This is a pretty big mess you’ve created.”
With a pop, Harry’s elegant stag disappeared after it finished its message right as Ginny and Dumbledore came into the room. The kids all wore bright smiles on their faces as they turned to face the adults…they now knew that they had a chance of getting home.