Disclaimer: Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling and blah, blah, blah. You know FA has a very nice disclaimer, I think that I'll copy and paste here one day… Then maybe I'll have to add the disclaimers for that disclaimer as well.

A/N: So, I felt like starting a new story. And here I am, even if I've currently other two WIPs, I can't really wait until I post this chapter, I'm so excited, then, maybe nobody will like this story. Okay, before you start screaming at me that they don't have their wands or that Apparition is always followed by a 'pop', I can tell you that I will explain everything in the future chapters, so don't worry and have faith, will you? Oh, by the way, this is the first time that I try something like a time-travel fic, so I really hope that there won't be too many strange things. One last thing… I don't like Ginny a lot, and especially I don't like her with Remus, but I wanted to try something different, I really hope that you'll enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

To Lyndsie Fenele: Thanks a lot for the great work you did, I love the way you beta-read.

The Prophecy

The future: nobody in the whole magic community would have ever expected it to be so dark. The Last Battle between the Dark and the Light had taken place twelve years before, and the Boy Who Lived had found his death in the worst way possible; that time nothing saved him from the Avada Kedavra curse.

Most of the wizards and witches that until that very moment hadn't joined Voldemort's ranks of Death Eaters had three possibilities for escaping a slow and painful death. The first one was easy, and chosen by lots of Purebloods and Half-Bloods: they offered their services to the Dark Lord. He accepted their requests, and showed an unusual pity for them.

The second chance was harder to realize, but nonetheless some people tried it as well; it was common knowledge that outside of the United Kingdom the reign of terror of the Dark Lord had not yet reached other countries, so lots of people tried to escape. Unluckily, only few of them actually arrived in a place where they could start a new life.

The last thing that they could do was create a resistance. And this was up to the bravest wizards and witches, who were still faithful in their belief in a victory. These were all former Aurors, or ones that had been very close to Harry Potter. They had to live underground, after they discovered that the dungeons of the Ministry of Magic spread under all England and consisted of some grottos linked to each other by some small, long, and devious galleries.

And it was in one of these grottos that lived three people, all three of them struggling constantly for their lives in one way or another…

---

Ginny woke up in the middle of the night. Her breath was quick, her forehead was covered with sweat, and her heart beat frantically against her chest. She looked around in the dark hall that they used as bedroom and found it empty. She shook her head slightly, trying to clarifying her thoughts and remembering why they weren't at 'home'.

Right. They were out. They had something to do near Hogwarts, something that concerned saving a woman. They hadn't brought her that time, in her condition she would have slowed them.

She felt a pain in her stomach. She pulled away the sheets and touched her wide belly.

"Hey, are you not going to let me sleep?" she asked her child, sitting up.

Ginny snapped her fingers, said, "Lumos," and walked until a small door that lead to the only other room in that place, something that they used as kitchen and office at the same time. There was also a bathroom, but it was so small that a person could have barely stood there, and with her eight months of pregnancy, it was getting every day more difficult for Ginny to enter it.

She sat down on a chair near the table and listened. The night was so silent that she was starting to hear her own heartbeat, and there were no noises of a battle on the surface, which was extremely strange. The Death Eaters controlled that place so near to the Ministry, because they were aware that the most important members of the resistance lived there. That silence meant only one thing: the Death Eaters were somewhere else that night, and it was not a good sign because also they were somewhere else.

She held her breath and closed her eyes. 'They would never do something so dangerous, not in a moment like that, when I need them so badly,' she thought, and in some way she felt reassured.

She opened her eyes and froze. In front of her stood a couple of hooded figures. She couldn't see their faces, but she heard their breath. It was quick and difficult.

One of the men brought his hands to the hood and made it slide down his head, letting it fall on his shoulders.

"Ron!" screamed Ginny, trying to get to her feet despite the wide belly, "you scared me to death."

Ron tried to smile, but all he could do to make her understand that he had heard her was nod.

"How did it go?" she asked, eyes wide with apprehension.

Ron didn't answer. He sat down on a chair across from Ginny and stared at his hands blankly. Ginny followed his gaze and found his hands covered with blood. She felt the urge to be sick, but, clapping a hand on her mouth, she shut her eyes.

"The Death Eaters knew about her. They were there," answered the other man.

Ginny looked at him horrified. "Remus, you aren't telling me that she's…" her voice trailed off, for it was useless to even finish that sentence. She already knew what happened.

She saw the hood wave up and down, in a silent nod.

"Remus, what happened? I want to know everything – why aren't you taking off your hood?" she asked suddenly.

She heard him sigh deeply. Remus slowly took his hands to the edges of the hood and made it slide down his head.

Ginny looked at him, horrified. "What happened?" she shrieked as she followed the deep cuts that trailed down Remus' face.

"Neville," muttered Ron darkly.

Ginny turned her attention towards her brother. "What--Neville?"

"Dead," answered Ron.

Ginny's eyes filled with tears. "What?" she whispered. "How?"

Both Ron and Remus didn't answer. Ginny's desperate face turned into and angry one. "What happened?" she repeated. "I have the right to know."

Remus walked towards her and kissed her softly on the forehead. Ginny looked at him expectantly, but when Remus opened his mouth to speak, the only thing that came out was, "How is my child doing?"

Ginny was beset by a myriad of emotions. Anger. Pity. Angst. Love. She smiled involuntarily. "He's fine. He kicked."

Remus smiled back, but Ginny's faded away. "Remus, what happened?" She felt her voice shaking.

Remus sighed and sat down next to her. "They knew about her. Somebody must have informed them."

"Do you mean that there's a spy within the resistance?" asked Ginny, feeling sick at the thought.

"I don't know," answered Remus. "But it could be." He grimaced in pain and brought a hand near his heart.

"Remus, are you alright?" asked Ginny alarmed. He looked at her and for a moment met her eyes.

"I'm fine," he said stiffly.

"No, you are not," she replied. "I want to know what happened."

Ron took a deep breath. "Ginny, why do you want to know? You've been lucky not to have witness what we have," he said bitterly.

"Because I want to know," she answered stubbornly.

"Fine," snapped Ron. "Read my mind."

Ginny shook her head. "I want to hear it from you," she said.

He looked into her eyes with an unreadable expression and took another deep breath. "Yesterday afternoon, Neville had been told that there was a woman near Hogwarts, she needed help, she was running away from the Death Eaters. But we didn't know anything else."

Ginny nodded. "Sybill Trelawney. You told me that."

"Yes. In fact, she was hiding in the Forbidden Forest right behind Hogwarts; it took us a lot to find her, but eventually we managed to discover where she was." Ron sighed. "You wouldn't have recognized her, Ginny. She was thinner than usually, and her hair was more similar to a bush than normal hair. Her clothes were all torn off and her glasses were half broken. When she saw us, she seized our arms so tightly that we still have the bruises that she left us."

Ron rolled up his sleeve and showed his bruised arm to Ginny.

"Do you want me to heal it?" she asked, looking at him with her eyes wide.

He shrugged. "It's not like it hurts," he said, putting down the sleeve again. "Anyway, we tried to take her away, but she was – well she was out of her mind."

"More than when she taught at Hogwarts?" asked Ginny, while a soft smile appeared on her face.

Remus looked at her in disapproval, but he didn't say anything.

"Believe me, more," said Ron so seriously that Ginny's face was back to normal in no time. "She kept on screaming, and Neville had to place a Silencing Charm on her while Remus and I kept her still. We carried her for a long time, and, since she'd calmed down during the travel, Neville removed the Silencing Charm. At that very point she told us that there were Death Eaters on her track and that they knew where she was, even if she had communicated it only to the resistance."

"But, why should the Death Eaters rage against her? I mean she's not evil, and that's a thing they despise, but she's not very dangerous for them either. They could have taken her at the first village where she stopped," stated Ginny.

"She had something with her. Something that the Death Eaters, and above all You-Know-Who, wanted more than anything," answered Ron darkly.

"What?" asked Ginny in a bare whisper.

Ron opened his cloak, and from an internal pocket he took out something that looked like a crystal ball. He placed it on the table in front of Ginny, who looked at it with her mouth open. "It's more than ten years that I've not seen one of those," she said.

"I know, since the day that they entered into the Ministry and crashed down all the others," stated Remus.

"What does it say?"

Ron shook his head. "We don't know. We have not yet listened to it; as you can see it's still intact," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Well, Professor Trelawney didn't tell you anything about it?" asked Ginny annoyed, because she had already noticed that the prophecy was still intact.

"No, the only listener to this prophecy is died two days ago," said Ron.

"Who was he? Somebody we knew?" asked Ginny concerned.

"Actually, yes. Colin Creevey."

"Colin?" shrieked Ginny. "H-how?"

"We don't know, and Professor Trelawney didn't know as well. Anyway, he apparently took the prophecy from the Ministry of Magic and left all alone – because we can't really consider Professor Trelawney as a help – and they were going up to the north," said Ron.

"North? Why?" asked Ginny. "Shouldn't he have brought it to us or someone else in the resistance?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why they were going north. But they were caught before they could reach their destination, if they even had one."

"How did they catch you?" asked Ginny.

"We walked as long as possible into the Forbidden Forest, but the Death Eaters were waiting for us out there. Neville gave up his life to protect Professor Trelawney, but his sacrifice was in vain because while she screamed and ran away, the Killing Curse hit her in her back. Luckily it was me that had the prophecy at that moment," said Ron, nodding towards the ball.

Ginny stared at it for a long moment, before raising her eyes and placing them again on Ron's tired face. "Should we break it?" she asked anxiously.

"I don't know," answered Ron. "Remus?" He looked at him as he would have done when they were at school and Remus was his teacher, more than sixteen years before.

"I think that we should surely break it. At least we'll know what is in there, and it will never fall into the Death Eaters' dirty hands," stated Remus slowly.

Both Ginny and Ron nodded in agreement. Ron stood up and took the prophecy into his hands; he raised it high above his head and prepared to crash it on the floor when Remus said, "No, Ron. It's better if we wait until tomorrow morning, now we are too tired and weak and we'll also need something for taking notes about what it says."

"I'm not tired or weak," claimed Ginny. "And I can take note of what it says," she collected a quill and piece of parchment, waving her hand in their direction.

"No," said Remus calmly. "Tomorrow morning. Now we all need to rest," he said, looking into Ginny's eyes.

She lowered her eyes and nodded. "Okay," she said, stretching out an arm towards Remus, who stood up and helped her get on her feet.

"Ron, aren't you going to bed?" asked Ginny, looking at her brother.

Ron looked at her and smiled softly. "I need some time for myself," he whispered.

Ginny nodded. "Okay, but don't be late, you look tired and-"

"I understand, Ginny," he snapped, cutting her off. "And you are not Mum," he growled.

Ginny bit her bottom lip, and Ron saw her eyes filling with tears before she turned away. "Fine," she said in a shaky voice. "Stay here all the time that you want. But crying on Hermione's pictures won't be of any help for you--it'd be better to get a good night's sleep."

Ron opened his mouth to reply something very nasty, but she was already gone when he started to shout against her.

Remus looked at him in a very paternal way, something that annoyed Ron terribly, because, even if he and Ginny weren't married, he should have been his brother-in-law and not a paternal figure to him. "Ron, she's nervous, you know-"

"Yes, I know," answered Ron rudely. "The pregnancy in a time like this has stressed her terribly. Well, there is some news, she's not the only stressed here."

"I know, but she's right, you should try to sleep a little bit, instead of watching old pictures of Hermione," said Remus matter-of-factly.

Ron didn't answer, but he moved towards a small cupboard and picked up a box. From the way he placed it on the table it could have contained something very fragile, but when he opened it there was only a pile of old moving pictures, all with the same small girl on them. She had bushy brown hair and chocolaty eyes, and she was smiling. He started to look at them intently, stubbornly avoiding Remus' eyes.

Remus sighed deeply. "Good night, Ron," he said before disappearing into the bedroom and joining Ginny.

Ron raised his eyes to the closed door before turning back to the pictures.

---

The next morning, when Ginny woke up, she did her best to sneak out of the bed without waking Remus up. She climbed down the bed with great difficulty, but finally managed to place her feet on the bare rock of which consisted the floor and walked out of the room.

When she entered the other room, her eyes flashed with anger. She walked toward the table and sat down across from Ron, who had his head on it. Hermione's pictures lay under his head and arms.

"Ron," she said rudely, shaking his arm. "Ron! Wake up!"

Ron grunted and raised his head slowly. He looked at his sister, trying to focus on her and on what she was saying.

"Luckily you just had to 'take some time for yourself'. Not to pass your whole night on the table," she said bitterly.

He rubbed his eyes. "What?" he asked sleepily.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You should have gone to bed. You were tired and you still are."

Ron nodded. "I'll be to bed right now," he said, standing up.

"No," said Ginny hastily. "As soon as Remus is up we'll be listening to the prophecy, then you'll be able to go to bed and sleep properly."

Ron glared at her, but didn't say anything. He collapsed again on the chair and started to pick up the pictures of Hermione and place them back into the box.

Ginny took up one of them and looked intently at it. Hermione was smiling and waving. She stood right next to the Burrow, and by the length of her hair – right up her shoulders – it must have been the summer of Bill and Fleur's wedding.

Ron gaped at Ginny, who was staring at the picture. "Were you starting to forget what she looked like?" he asked.

Ginny raised her eyes and looked at Ron. "A little bit," she admitted. "I like her hair in this picture," she added, handing it to Ron.

He smiled. "Yeah, well, I preferred her with waist-length hair."

"You're saying that only because it was me who cut her hair that summer," stated Ginny.

Ron shrugged. "I can't believe she let you do something like that. I've always thought that she had more sense," he said, smiling.

Ginny smirked. "I can be very persuasive if I want."

"I've no doubts."

Ginny looked at him and raised her eyebrows. "Well, maybe I'm overestimating myself. I didn't persuade you into going to bed last night."

Ron darkened. He took the remaining pictures and shoved them into the box. He stood up and placed it back into the cupboard. "Well, maybe you should stop worrying about me. I'm thirty years old, you know."

Ginny turned slightly green and then suddenly a bright red, but when she spoke her voice was calm and almost flat. "You're right," she said. "I should stop worrying about you. But you see, the fact is that I need you and I need Remus, so let's say that it's more a selfish act worrying about you." She stopped a moment before adding, "Breakfast?" And without waiting for his answer she stood up and set a small fire under a teapot, brewing the water for the tea.

When she felt a pair of arms turning her around, she thought that Ron must have Apparated because she didn't hear him walking towards her. He hugged her gently and placed his lips on her hair, kissing them softly.

"Sorry," he said slowly. "I didn't mean to be so nasty."

She buried her head in his chest. "It's all right. You must be nervous and tired." She felt him nodding. "And I know that I'm stressing a little bit about the whole Hermione thing and-"

"Definitely stressing," he pointed out.

She sighed and pushed him away, turning to watch the water that was going to boil. "It's just that she'd dead, Ron. It's almost thirteen years that she's dead, you should simply get over her."

Ron felt his anger rising again. How could he change his feelings so suddenly? Only Ginny had been able to do that in the last eight months -- was he pregnant too?

"I'm over her," he hissed.

"How many girls have you been with since she died?" asked Ginny, extinguishing the fire and pouring the tea into a couple of cups.

"There aren't many girls left," said Ron between gritted teeth.

"There are enough. But you don't even look at them," replied Ginny.

"If I don't go to bed with my professor it's not my fault," he snapped nastily, but he regretted it immediately.

He didn't even see Ginny's hand as she hit him on his cheek. Her face was upset and her eyes wide open.

He felt the spot where she had hit him becoming warmer. "Sorry," he muttered. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No, you shouldn't," she said.

Ron opened his mouth to answer, but at that very moment the door opened and Remus came up. All the cuts and wounds which covered his face the previous night were gone and Ron regretted not having let Ginny heal his own wounds as well.

"Good morning," he said to both of them.

"Good morning," answered Ginny.

"Hey," said Ron. "Did you sleep well?"

Remus nodded. "Yes. What about you, Ron?"

"He slept on the table," answered Ginny before he could answer.

"Thanks," he hissed.

"You're welcome," she answered airily. "Breakfast, Remus?" she asked, giving him the cup of tea that she had prepared for herself.

"Thank you," he answered, sitting down across from Ron.

Ginny smiled and started to prepare another tea. They sipped from their mugs in silence, without managing to find a subject which was not too depressing.

When their cups were empty, Remus cleared his throat. "So, should we get started?" he asked.

Ron and Ginny nodded.

"I'll collect the parchment and quill and take note of it," said Ron, waving his hand lazily. A quill and a piece of parchment flew towards him.

"I want to do something as well," protested Ginny.

"You'll have to listen," said Remus seriously.

Ginny snorted, but didn't reply, too impatient to listen to the prophecy to drag the argument on.

Ron took the orb from the table and raised it above his head, just the way he had done before. He glanced to Remus for his approval, and as he nodded Ron let the ball fall to the floor.

It crashed and some pieces of the ball made their way under the table.

The ghostly figure of a woman crept out of the pieces of glass. She was reminiscent of Professor Trelawney in some way, but this one was a lot more inconsistent than her.

Ron sat down hastily and took the quill into his hand just in time for the ghost to start speaking in a deep voice, which sent shivers down Ginny's spine.

"On the last day of the seventh month of the year,

A child, born that very day, will be brought here.

His power will be love,

His strength will be those who love him.

He'll be the only hope to you,

If you want to get rid of the Dark Lord.

He'll have to go look for him,

And when he'll be in front of his body,

Just the love that comes from him will defeat the snake."

The figure evaporated silently. Ron raised his eyes from the parchment, on which he had taken hasty notes of all the things that exited from the mouth of the apparition, and looked at Ginny and Remus.

Remus seemed to be concentrating on something, while Ginny stood there with her hands on her mouth. Ron re-read the prophecy, because he wasn't listening while he took notes, and gaped too.

Ginny's voice seemed miles away when she spoke, "She wasn't talking about Harry, was she?"