Thanks as always to my beta, the fantastic nnozomi, who went above and beyond the call of duty for one of these scenes.
Once upon a time-no, that's been done.
Four times upon five-seems lacking.
Five times upon four-doesn't fit.
Twenty-one times around the sun the Earth whirled and sailed, as the star spun through the galaxy and space continued to grow. And in twenty-one years, a newborn child grew into a formidable witch.
Ginny Weasley tossed her red hair behind her as she glanced out the train window. It had been a long ride out of London, though she'd certainly made longer ones in the past. None of those, however, had been on the Muggle railways.
Still, she told herself, the uncertainty of dealing with the bumpy stops, the crowded compartment, the noisy jostling of suitcases-all of that, added up, wouldn't be a fraction of the worry poor Neville would have had to deal with if she'd insisted on them taking a trip by broom instead. Ginny caught his eye, in the neighboring seat, and smiled. He gave a weak nod as the train took another slow curve, and they continued northwards.
At last, the train pulled into the station, and Ginny sprang to her feet-it would be nice to get into the fresh air. It wasn't that the ride had been too long or noisy or anything, she'd just have preferred to enliven it by means of playing Exploding Snap, or reading a magazine that wouldn't distract other passengers by having the cover model wave at them. Neville was slower to rise, carefully adjusting his bag as if he'd been carrying some fragile plant within. "May I take yours?" he asked, with an over exaggerated wink.
"Oh!" she started, turning around to notice her own bag left under the seat. "No-sorry-I've got it." One of the other passengers gave her a look, and she blushed.
"Please," said Neville, "allow me, it is your birthday."
Well, she wasn't going to argue with that. Smiling, she disembarked, with Neville a few steps behind.
They ate dinner at a Muggle pub that George had recommended. Privately, Ginny didn't particularly care for the taste of the Muggle food, but she'd find something nice about it to report back to George. "How's yours?" she asked, nodding at Neville's plate.
"Grrrfs," he said. Since he didn't add anything after he finished the bite, other than saying "Excuse me" and taking a sip, she decided to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, assuming he was happy to be stuffing his face with the rest of the meal rather than complaining.
They paid in Muggle money, and Ginny was impressed by how quickly Neville counted his change. "It's not hard," he muttered once they'd gotten outside and the passersby were too engrossed in their own conversation or hustling to hear them, "a lot simpler than ours."
"Still better than me," she shrugged, as they made their way back to the train station to catch a shorter local route.
That train was slower, and Neville spent the first few stops trying to turn around and snap pictures out the window with a Muggle camera. "I don't think these'll turn out," he sighed.
"Aim it across to the other windows?" Ginny nodded.
"Too small. But these could just be blurry."
"Wait till it stops?"
"Nothing to look at, there," he smiled, and put it away before any Muggles passing through their car could criticize his aim.
Their stop was the second-to-last, that go-round, and they got off to find Luna sitting on a bench, nose buried very deeply in a book she held upside-down. She appeared to have been sitting there for some time.
"Er," Neville began.
She looked up and stared as if needing a moment to place him, then immediately snapped her book shut and tucked it under her arm. "Hullo there! Train ride went well?"
"Yeah," Ginny said, and Neville nodded.
"Do you have the-" he began. Ginny jerked her head off to the side, indicating they should follow her away from the other Muggles, as Luna idly fetched a small, rusty key from her robes. (She had worn full witching regalia, which paradoxically served to make her upside-down book seem more unobtrusive-people's eyes just slid past her.)
Ginny and Neville clasped hands over Luna's palm, her other arm squeezing the book closer to her, and in a few moments they were off. The Portkey deposited them amid tall grass outside a pair of adjacent buildings: one a squat, one-story house, and the other a long, narrow structure.
"Do you like living so far away?" asked Neville, as they walked up to the house, passing a few apple seedlings.
"I've gotten used to it," said Luna, "and I can Apparate after all, Harry's met me for lunch a few times. Being this far away helps reduce the amount of Chizpurfles and Dwillindrimbs. And I have to stay off the Floo, of course, as I'm hoping to get a flock of Hephoedals in and if they cross-breed with Ashwinders, it could be catastrophic."
"Who," asked Ginny, "is sending you these...Heffatels?"
"Hephoedals," Luna corrected gently, "it's a very reputable trader from Brazil, not at all like the 'connections' Hagrid came up with."
Ginny was about to interrupt, but Neville shot her a warning glance and she quieted down.
Inside, there were hints that Luna Lovegood was in residence but had not committed to staying there forever; tapestries of unicorns, manticores, and what appeared to be Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, though she hadn't bothered to repaint the off-white walls they hung from. "Dessert?" she offered.
"Need any, Ginny?" Neville asked. "I'm full."
Ginny shook her head. "I don't think so, thanks."
Luna nodded. "I'm afraid there's not much space, unless you'd rather stay in one of the stalls." She nodded out the window to the other building. "But I wouldn't. The Aethonans bite."
"We'll pass."
"All right, there should be everything you need in the study. I'll be up in my room if you need me, do feel free to wake me up-I like to go to bed early so I can wake up and get an early start. Besides, the Nargles are less intrusive at that hour."
"Right."
The study was, as promised, made up with cots and pillows, as well as a couple of small figurines that no doubt served some noble, protective purpose. "You heading to bed?" Neville asked.
"Think so, yeah. Unless you're going to stay up and take some more photographs."
"No, that's fine." He unzipped his suitcase and reached for a narrow box the length of his hand. "Just wanted to get this out of the way before midnight."
"Midnight?" Ginny echoed. "But what-"
"Happy birthday!" He handed it over.
She weighed it in her hand. "Neville, you shouldn't have."
"It was cheap," he said. Actually, it had been free-he'd found it in his mum's things-but he didn't want her to get the wrong impression from that. After the years of laughing and studying and fighting together, it had only been a few tentative weeks since they'd decided they wanted to try being a couple. So far all was going well, but no sense in rushing. Instead, he continued, "Besides, your parents paid for the trip for the both of us, I had to get you something."
"Well, in that case," she teased, unwrapping the paper and opening the box to find a pendant. She set the box on her leg, ignoring what seemed to be a few lines of text written in an unfamiliar hand on the inside of the lid. Then, she picked up the golden chain. "It's beautiful, Neville, thank you so much!"
"Happy birthday," he blushed, as she tried to clasp it around her neck. In front of her hung the pendant, a gold half-sphere with several nested shells inside it as if a frustrated artisan had given up halfway through five different hollow Snitches.
Behind her neck, Ginny's hands blindly fumbled for the clasp. "Help me out?"
Neville leaned in, one hand gently lifting up the hair from her neck while the other secured the metal. "There you are, all-"
The living room vanished.
So too did any pretense that they were in a building.
Instead, the field stretched out before them, a few bugs flying by. There was no sign of Luna, or anyone else.
"Neville?" Ginny called, twitching nervously.
"What happened?" he gasped. "I'm an idiot, that thing could've been cursed, should've had it investigated..."
"It's not a Portkey?"
"No. Or, it wasn't supposed to be."
"Then where are we?"
"Do I look like I know? I should've-"
"Neville. Calm down. Do you have your wand?"
"Course. Do you?"
"Yeah. So. Let's just Apparate home, and-you think it was this necklace, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Well. Actually. Let's try taking it off first, see if that helps."
"Okay," he said hesitantly, removing the clasp...but to no effect.
"That's all right!" Ginny said quickly. "Apparate home, then we'll just owl Luna and tell her there's been an issue."
"I guess. Sorry, didn't want to ruin all your gifts."
"It's okay. The Burrow, yeah?"
"Yeah."
They departed with simultaneous cracks...
...and found themselves outside an equally empty field.
"Merlin's beard..." Ginny whispered, while Neville immediately opted for Muggle curses.
"Okay," said Ginny, placing the necklace in the box, "Neville, where'd you get this?"
"It was from my Mum's stuff. I thought it was just jewelry, but for all I know she found this on Auror work. What's it say?"
"What's what say?"
"The box, there's words."
She squinted; sure enough, there were a few lines of text written in a squinting hand on the inside of the lid.
Though elementary it may seem
Or just a glimpse, a passing dream
Of what may happen through the years
Take care to honor separate spheres.
"I swear this wasn't there before," Neville muttered.
"Well, that doesn't matter. Just a passing dream?" Ginny glared, pinching herself. "It's a convincing one."
"What are we going to do?"
"Don't panic. I mean-" She turned around, taking in where her home should have been. "Panic. But, I don't know, we can Apparate-somewhere else?"
"Oh that's helpful!"
"Well, it hasn't hurt us, so far. Try Luna's again, without the necklace, then back here, yeah?"
"I guess," Neville muttered, but sure enough, they were unscathed-though alone-when they Apparated back and forth.
"Hogsmeade?" he ventured. "There'll be something there, it's not warded off." Or someone, looking for...survivors of whatever's going on.
"I reckon," said Ginny. "Ugh, I wish we'd taken supplies with us, this could take forever."
"We have this cursed necklace. Literally."
Ginny nodded, opening the box again. "Wait, Neville, hold on, it-"
But before she could finish, he'd Apparated ahead, and she followed after.
Hogsmeade looked wrong. Peaceful, prosperous even, but wrong. There were too few buildings, all huddled close together, and the smell was abysmal. "I don't like this," she muttered.
"Well, it could be worse, couldn't it? Nobody's throwing Unforgiveable Curses at us."
"That's one way to look at it."
"Come on," he said, pointing towards a tuft of smoke, "Three Broomsticks, should still be open."
They knocked hard on the door, and a witch with thin white hair whom neither recognized came to the door. "Is everything-all right?" Neville asked.
She snapped back at them in a thick accent, difficult to make out.
"We need a place to stay the night."
She shouted more vigorously, pointing at each of them in turn, a look of shock on her face.
"Please, do you understand me?"
"Neville," Ginny interrupted, "the words are different. Look!"
She opened the box again. The four lines had vanished, replaced by:
Where wyȝts woo warloks, vse your wyles,
Where kniȝtes stond on knots across the myles.
þere, bi your trawþe, bring not to birth
Noþing but þat what walkez the erþe.
"What?" Neville held the necklace up, offering it to the landlady. "Do-do you recognize this?"
But Ginny impulsively snatched it out of the air and fastened it on. "Hullo then, do you understand me?"
"Why, of course, dear. Such a pity about this lunatic, it's no wonder..."
"He's not a lunatic, he's just-we're-cursed, somehow."
"Oh, I should say so," she nodded knowingly. "Separate bedrooms, then?"
"Er, yes, of course."
"And if I may ask, where are the children? Somewhere safe out of sight, I should hope?"
"The-what's happened?"
"What do you mean? The dragon isn't expected until early tomorrow. I'll wake you up early so you can Apparate to Ireland or somewhere safe, the sooner you're out of here, the better."
"There's a dragon? Destroying Hogsmeade?"
"It hasn't destroyed anything yet, ma'am, although with your fool of a husband taunting it all the way here it shouldn't be long. The sooner you leave him, the better."
"...I don't think you understand. I'm Ginny Weasley. This is Neville Longbottom."
"Oh goodness, I'm going blind as well as deaf in my own age. Well, come along, Madam...Weasley? That ninny Cadogan has abandoned us to our fates like the coward he is, I suppose."
"Hold on." Ginny took off the necklace, rounding on Neville. "Did you understand any of that?"
"Not really. I mean, some, if I paid attention-someone's in Ireland? And you had to introduce us, just now."
"She talks about Cadogan as if he's a contemporary."
"As in Cadogan's pony?"
"I think we've travelled in time."
"Backwards? But how do we get back?"
"I'm not sure. Hogwarts should have been built by now, maybe we can ask the Headmaster or whoever's in charge?"
"Seems as good a plan as any."
Ginny slipped the necklace back on. "Excuse me, we don't mean to intrude. Is there any way we could get up to Hogwarts, tonight? Or tomorrow?"
"Maybe you are a bit of a lunatic," the landlady snapped, "did we mention the dragon flying about the place? Mrs. Cadogan or not, I think the safest place for you is off to Ireland or somewhere. I'll find the Floo."
"No, please. That is-we don't belong here-but we need some very unusual magic to get back home. If there's any way?"
"It's late enough, you ought to stay out here till it's safe."
"We can Apparate away," Neville ventured when Ginny had removed the necklace once again.
"What, and leave these nutters to a dragon? Let's wait a day and make sure the real Cadogan shows up."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then we can leave."
"All right," Neville finally consented, and they climbed upstairs.
The bed was surprisingly soft, despite its outwardly coarse appearance. She didn't want to speculate how many charms had been cast to make it halfway comfortable. Maybe, she yawned, she'd wake up back at Luna's to find it had all been a dream after all...
But she woke to find Neville hovering over her. "Sorry," he muttered, "just, landlady wants us to get a move on out."
"Any sign of a dragon?"
"She thinks she can smell it."
"Compared to this town?" Ginny slowly climbed out of bed. "It's probably an improvement."
"Let's Apparate out. Try-I dunno, Stonehenge or somewhere out of the way, then sneak back to Hogwarts later on."
"I think we should deal with the dragon, first."
"You and I? We'd be charcoal."
"They think you look like Cadogan."
"I don't know what I'm doing!"
"If I remember correctly, neither did Cadogan. Couple Stunning Spells, from up on a broom?"
"Ginny, I'll-go up to Luna's with you, I'll eat Muggle food with you, I'll travel back in time with you, but I am not defeating a dragon from the back of a broom. Not in my century or any other."
"I wonder if a Conjunctivitis Curse..."
"You're mental!"
"I also don't have that much to lose. Look, if we're back in time-this is the Three Broomsticks, isn't it? I think if it had gotten destroyed by a rogue dragon, we'd know."
"And if it had eaten up two confused people from the future, probably nobody would care enough to write it down."
"That's one way to look at it, but hey, maybe Cadogan will show."
"He doesn't sound all that trustworthy, to be honest."
"As long as he gets this dragon dealt with, I'm not bothered," said Ginny, but she was flinching under Neville's glare. "Look, you stay back here, and if-you want to time-travel anyway, right? So if I'm in trouble, just go back and make sure we never get here in the first place."
"Is that even doable?"
"You can handle it."
"Yeah, all right," he rolled his eyes, "better than a dragon, anyway. Look-" he clapped her on the back, "you'll be fine, and then we can get out of here, yeah?"
"Right," she smiled, turning away from his hand. They looked at each other, awkwardly, as if their half-confidence was going to reflect between their eyes, magnified at each turnaround until she really thought she could do it.
It had been all well and good, to be sure, for her past boyfriends to compliment her Quidditch skill. But Ginny didn't think Harry would have taken half so well to a blithe proposition of "well, as long as we've stumbled into the past, do let me confront this dragon while I'm at it."
Dragon-slaying was an extravagant waste of time and, at least in eras when Dumbledore's genius was appropriately recognized, extremely valuable resources. Dragon-defeating, or distracting, or what have you, required much more finesse.
The first hurdle came in that there was nothing resembling a proper racing broom for Ginny to ride on. Flying carpets had not been banned yet, but there weren't any to be found in Hogsmeade, and Ginny decided that a few good hexes from ground level would do just as well.
She'd taken off the necklace, tucking it back inside the box-still bearing the strange new message-and left that within Neville's robes. Breakfast was perfunctory. Whichever century they'd landed in still had plenty of progress to make in the culinary arts. Yet, the residents of Hogsmeade looked healthy and well-fed. Just terrified.
"When's this dragon supposed to get here?" she'd asked, but they didn't have much to say.
Perhaps if it had reached even mid-day she'd have grown too nervous, but instead, maybe an hour before noon, something large came hovering into view, blotting out the midday sun. Ginny, perhaps a quarter-hour's walk out of Hogsmeade, cast a Conjunctivitis Curse.
The great creature's eyes filmed over, and it lurched side to side, but then-strangely enough-tilted as if it was going to stay upright. Confused, Ginny cast another spell, to little effect.
A Stunning Spell, maybe? This missed the creature entirely, and it pushed forward all the more, though slower somehow. Ginny glanced up at it-it didn't look like anything Charlie had described, though perhaps this was a species that had eventually gone extinct. Maybe she was pushing it over the edge?
Oh well. It couldn't have destroyed Hogsmeade-she hoped-and she cast another Stunning Spell. This one also missed. For a creature that should be blinded, it was managing to stay upright surprisingly well-
and then, Ginny caught sight of an even larger form approaching from the mountains, its snout much fiercer. She looked back, and saw a tiny shape on the back of the original beast, waving it this way and that with a bridle.
Gasping, she quickly focused her attentions on subduing the true dragon, but her spells bounced off its scales with no result. As the sun climbed high to noonday, the scales rippled in the brutal light. From behind her, she heard voices-the inscrutable villagers? Neville, come to find her after all? But all she could do was keep her attention on the beasts in the air above.
And then, suddenly, the first creature, nothing but a tame winged horse, turned to attack the dragon. It threw back its head, unseeing eyes pointing to the sun as its teeth surged forward to clip the dragon's wing. Absurd! Yet, the dragon recoiled in pain.
As the winged horse dug in, both creatures careened back and forward. The tiny speck that was Sir Cadogan must have decided he'd had enough, letting the bridle slip and carelessly plunging to the earth. Gasping, Ginny tried to cast a spell to break his fall-and this worked extremely well, bolstered by the identical efforts of Neville, whom she could then make out approaching her, gritting his teeth.
Cadogan slowly drifted through the air as the dragon and winged horse resumed their combat, landing on his feet and grinning before calling a cry of thanks Ginny couldn't quite make out.
She scrambled backwards. At ground level, he did resemble Neville-that same dark hair, the same blushing demeanor. Ginny turned instead to the true Neville, wand at the ready.
"Put this on," he said, handing her the necklace, "you'll want to translate."
Ginny nodded, pulling her hair back as Neville helped it on. "Brilliant steed!" Cadogan was exulting. "I could never get it to really fight anything, until today! Didn't turn from danger like some cowards I could name. Thank you so much!"
"Er-" Ginny began. Perhaps being able to recognize that it was fighting a dragon was actually an impediment? "I mean, yes, of course, it was the least I could do."
"Here we are!" Cadogan pointed up. The winged horse had bitten off the wing of the dragon, which screeched and took off towards the mountains. "Very well done."
"You're sure it won't be-coming back? To avenge itself?"
"Oh goodness no, they're quite touchy, really, won't be back for ages now it knows it's been bested. Although you should probably get out of here."
"Why?" she asked, keeping her wand out.
"It's a noble steed, but I do spoil it, and I'm not sure it can handle the weight of the wing. If you'll excuse me," Cadogan began running towards the descending horse, panting heavily as it drew near.
Ginny nodded. "Right, thanks. C'mon, Neville, up to Hogwarts we-"
As she took his hand, the tired horse let go of the wing entirely. It hit the ground with an enormous thud, spraying dirt in every direction. Past the approaching Cadogan, over towards Ginny and Neville. A clump of the dirt hit Ginny's necklace, and then-
-the path outside of Hogsmeade was still clear, Neville was still at her side, but the winged horse and Cadogan were gone.
"Where...?" she trailed off.
"I don't think it's them," said Neville, "I think it's us. Us or this ruddy necklace."
"Back to Hogsmeade? See how things are there?"
"That sounds good, aye."
Neither suggested Apparition-the short walk up to the village gave them time to hope. But just before the last turn, Neville scowled. "You were right."
"About what?"
"This box, there's something strange. This wasn't here before." He held it open to reveal a new message:
The bitter water in the salty sea
Is that which in the lake is clean and free.
So too the same rich potion that thou drink
Is that which causes bodies great to sink.
"So it keeps changing? Well, maybe we have come back," said Ginny, rounding the turn again.
Her breath caught in her throat-Hogsmeade was very much alive and well, and there were no signs of a dragon infestation. The Three Broomsticks was piping away, but it had sprawled out some more. That was not Cadogan's time.
But nor was it their own. There was no Madam Puddifoot's, not even a train station.
"All right," Neville sighed. "Up to Hogwarts, then?"
"Lunch first," Ginny declared. "I don't think I've eaten in years."
The Three Broomsticks was almost as smelly as they'd left it, but the bartender was more understandable even without the necklace to aid understanding. Just a couple of Knuts stashed within Neville's robes got them surprisingly far, thanks to the mundane magic of inflation. (The previous owner they'd met had accepted a Sickle for the rooms, but then just kept turning it over in her hands as if unsure what to do with it.)
It would have been tempting to walk around Hogsmeade, take in the antiquated wares, and splurge on the rest to burn their bridges and pocket money. But instead, they trod up to Hogwarts-hopeful that the new, or old, head would be of some assistance, but clinging to the rest of their funds, just in case.
They had not remained in August. School was in session, and perhaps it was late in the academic year-students were enjoying themselves outside, reading in the grass, chasing each other around the green, even wading in the lake. It was one of those waders who dropped the rock she was skipping, turning to face Ginny. "What is thy business at Hogwarts?"
Ginny and Neville exchanged glances. If the school was anything like it had been in their day, the students were probably right to be wary of intruders. "We need to speak with the Head."
"During the school day?" she asked, skeptically.
Before Ginny could respond, a boy sprawling in the sand spoke up. "Let them be, thou dost not want to get in their way."
She looked from Ginny to Neville, and back again. "Are you two...still..."
"We were on our way upstairs," said Neville.
"Hath a jinx damaged thy voice?" the boy asked. "Thou mayst wish to visit Bonham's, the Healer is busy."
Ginny and Neville exchanged glances; Mungo had presumably not yet been canonized. "We could try the Ministry," Ginny muttered, "if you think they could deal with-this."
"The Ministry?" the girl repeated.
"Let the Selwyns be," said the boy.
"The Selwyns?"
It was the girl who'd blurted it out, rather than Ginny or Neville, who tried to regain their composure as the boy blushed and sat up on the shore. "Begging thy pardon," he muttered, "Anna, this is Elizabeth and Cenfus Selwyn, you know, Margaret's sister-" Neville began to cut him off, but neither of the students were paying attention. "Cenfus, Elizabeth, this is Anna Johnson," he concluded.
"Margaret's sister?" Anna blurted, having parsed it a second ahead of Ginny yet again, "from William's year, married one of the Slytherins?"
"It's the Selwyns, thou fool, Cenfus was in Gryffindor."
"Well, no," Neville began, "well, yes, er, actually, well technically, no, er-"
The students were paying no attention. "All right, all right," Anna said, splashing some more.
"Dost thou wish to look a fool?" the boy asked. "Thou must learn the important families, who is who-"
"When I want to learn, I will go to class."
He was too shocked to reply, and Neville tried once more to cut in. "Look, we're not-"
"I knew it," he crowed, "thou cuckold, she does love that Mudblood!"
Neville reached for his wand.
"Oh go on then, defend thy little-"
"Neville," said Ginny, "we need to-"
"She's not my wife," said Neville, "but even if she were, you don't call someone a Mudblood."
"William said that Magbobs are-" Anna began.
"William is an old fool," said the boy, "when Mudbloods ensnare our Pureblood women, they do deserve-"
A tickling charm caught him in the legs, and he began to twitch madly. Ginny reached for Neville's shoulder. "Neville, this is not our fight-"
The boy's flailing legs made a splash, the water droplets spilling about. Past Anna, still wading, onto the shore, around Neville's wand, over to Ginny's necklace-
-and they found themselves on an empty shore, by night.
"Okay," said Ginny, "we have got to get to the bottom of this."
"I'm sorry," Neville said, his teeth chattering. "I didn't-"
"I know, it's not your fault, but-can we get rid of this thing somehow? It's got to be the problem."
"We seem to be following it around, though, like a Portkey. If we get rid of it, how will we ever get back?"
"There's a point in that," said Ginny, opening the lid up again. "Wait, what does this-"
Lots of talk
Is just hot air:
impossible
to rise above.
"They used to be poems, didn't they?" said Neville. "I mean, I couldn't read that second one very well..."
"I think you're right, yeah," said Ginny. "But so what?"
"Maybe it's a hint. The last two times we went back-something hit the necklace, right? The water splashed, and then that dragon wing was kicking up dust. So do we need to literally go up above something to make it work?"
"Hopefully whoever's at Hogwarts understands. Well, hopefully wherever we are this time is advanced far enough that they stand a chance..."
"We went forward, right? Cadogan to the time of the...Selwyns? Hopefully we've gone further still."
"Yeah, Cadogan would have been very early, with the other knights. The Selwyns..." she shuddered, "what was that all about?"
"Oy," said Neville, looking down, "I quite liked being compared to Sir Cadogan."
"Well, until you saw him, he was a bit-unimpressive."
"Oh, come on, you've seen him in the portrait, haven't you?"
"I suppose, but still-"
"You're probably descended from him two or three ways. I've got at least four," he shrugged. "Not that I go on about it."
"Well, he had, what, seventeen children?" It was really too bad they didn't go on more about the non-magical exploits of famous mages in History of Magic. People might have stayed awake.
"I think so, yeah. Three wives."
"Don't remind me, I wasn't keen on being taken for number one. Or two, I suppose."
"And who'd they think you were just now? Well, probably not just now."
"Elizabeth Selwyn? I've never heard of her, unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Well, I'm not sure when we were, exactly, but they sounded like 'Mudbloods' hadn't really caught on as a term-and yes, he was a nutter, but you can't hex someone out when you're trying to get back to your own time."
"I said I was sorry."
"Yes, well-the point is-I'm guessing that must have been just after the Statute of Secrecy was passed. D'you think Liz Utter was around then?"
"Lizzie Utter, what a nutter, ran away with a Muggle," Neville recited. "Brewed a potion, what a notion, something or other...skulldugger?"
"Nah, that's the next verse," Ginny shrugged, "bubble or something comes first. Whatever, it was quite a scandal."
"And you think she left her Pureblood husband? That actually might be right."
"Well, let's get up to the school," Ginny said. "Hopefully we'll stick around long enough to introduce ourselves." But she tucked the box under her robes, protectively, as they walked towards the castle.
Despite the late hour, every window of Hogwarts was lit up. "What if they're all asleep?" Neville asked.
"Then we'll walk back to Hogsmeade," Ginny shrugged as she rapped on the door.
But they weren't all asleep, and the door was quickly answered by a Prefect with a long braid. Well, probably she was a Prefect, there was no telling if the uniform patterns had changed. She wore a black sweater and slacks, rather than a robe, but her badge seemed to be the same. "Hiya?" she said.
"Excuse me," Neville said, "we need to speak to the Head, if possible."
She blinked. "Come again?"
It was recognizably their language, but heavily accented-as, Ginny supposed, theirs must have been to her. "We'd like to speak to the Head," she repeated, in case wearing the necklace would help, "or maybe the Charms professor," she threw out on the spur of the moment.
"M-maybe you can wait here," she said.
"Of course," Neville nodded.
She turned. "Sid? Hey, Sid."
There was no response, so she seemed to reach for something at her waist, raising it to her mouth. "Sid, c'mon, dockat main door eh? Quantel."
"Quantel?" Neville mouthed. Ginny said nothing. It had perhaps taken literally hundreds of years just to get into a building where people tended to have the answers: she wasn't about to push her luck.
"He'll be here in a centisec, eh," said the girl, turning to face them.
And sure enough, momentarily, Sid came into view-presumably another Prefect, in the same casual dress, his dreadlocks hanging in the light of a torch that gave steady light without ever flickering. His jaw dropped as he approached, taking in Ginny and Neville. "What?"
"Go find the Head, these...people just came in and want to talk to the boss."
"Can't you ping her?"
"Eh, maybe I lose ping-in-wards rights," she blushed, "not my fault I ping in Binns' class, he's too boring."
Professor Binns was still teaching? Well, that didn't narrow things down.
"Can't they ping her?"
She rolled her eyes. "Can you ping the Head?"
"Er, no," said Ginny, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"There you go."
Sid's jaw dropped all the more. "Who are you?"
"I'm Neville Longbottom," said Neville, grateful to have made it that far in the conversation.
But before Neville could introduce Ginny, both of the students' jaws dropped. "N-N-Neville Serpentsbane?" Sid stammered.
"Er...yeah, I g-I mean, no one calls me that-"
"Of course not," said Sid, "forgive us, we should have recognized you. This is the year 2222, an auspicious time to arrive. Who do you need to meet?"
"Oh let's show 'em the leaper, eh?" asked the girl. "And we can see their old skipper, too. Didn't know they had 'em in the Shacklepoch. You're Ginevra Potter, right?"
Ginny blinked. "I-I'm Ginny Weasley."
"And you married Harry Potter, and had his kids, and raised 'em, until Serpentsbane left his pub and you went in the twoth or threeth hopper to go and see the future, eh," she said confidently, "we're honored to meet you, but you'll want to see the Ministry. They'll need to see your skipper."
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Ginny, "I'm not married, Neville doesn't have a pub, and we've never heard of any-slippers?-skippers."
"But everybody knows who you are!"
"Jo, they're standing right in front of you," said Sid, "I'd trust their word."
The girl, Jo, blinked several times. "Okay, howzat. You bring your skipper, and just Apparate to the Ministry. They'll know who to talk to, all about your time travel."
"Are you sure?" said Neville.
"You're Serpentsbane and P-Weasley! Of course they'll know what to do."
"All right, I guess. Will they be open this late?"
"For you, yes."
"Give them some backup," said Sid, "they've just been on a long skip, they don't know what it's like."
"Sorry," said Jo, "this is all a big rush. Hey, can you auth my pinger?"
"And mine?" Sid blushed.
"I...I don't know what that means," said Neville.
"Oh just scan your finger, prove you've been here," said Sid, reaching at his waist for a small, transparent, rectangle. As he tapped at it, multicolored lights popped up on the sides. "You just touch the surface."
Shrugging, Neville complied; Ginny quickly followed, and they did the same for a grateful Jo. "Thank you so much," said the latter, "my friends would've never believed you came! You'll have to come back here, once you've got your business sorted out, talk to us all about the past."
"We really should get on our way," said Neville.
"It's not going to work, you can't-"
"Just go to the Ministry," said Sid.
"Maybe we can stick around," said Ginny, "we'll have to see how it works. Thank you for your help."
"Oh thank you for coming, it's such an honor!"
So they walked out of Hogwarts, out to where they remembered the boundaries of the Anti-Apparition wards, and Apparated to the Ministry. It was rather empty given the late hour, but a woman sat at the registration desk. Her clothing, too, was casual; she sported a bright blue blouse and no robes.
"Ministry for Magic and Miscellany," she said glibly, "good evening."
"Evening," said Ginny quickly. "I'm Ginny Weasley, and this is Neville Longbottom. I know this is-weird-but we were hoping you could get us back to our own time."
"Serpentsbane!" she immediately exclaimed. "And Ginevra, er, yes, it's quite an honor! Do take the lift up to Level Twelve?"
"Twelve?" said Neville.
"Well, yes, there've been plenty of changes since your day! You'll be wanting to know everything, I suppose. Here you are!"
She handed over two badges. Neville Longbottom and Ginevra Potter, they read, Journeyers in Space and Time.
"That's not my name," Ginny insisted, "I'm not married, I think there's been a misunderstanding-"
"Level Twelve will explain everything, I'm sure," the woman smiled, and they were waved off towards a lift that bore them upwards.
The entire department seemed to have been inverted, beginning with Levels Minus One and Zero in the basement and proceeding well beyond Level One, where they found themselves, to up above ground. "How's this going to work?" said Neville, as they passed Level Eleven (Department of Extramagical Relations) and continued. "The Muggles will notice."
"Maybe it's disguised as something else?" Ginny asked. She had yet to put the badge on.
Level Twelve was labeled the Department of Space Travel. "Will anybody be here at this hour?" Neville continued to worry.
But someone was, a bespectacled man in blue jeans and an oversized T-shirt, working late under a steady beam of light from the ceiling. "Hullo, can I help you?"
Neville sighed. "I'm Neville Longbottom. This is Ginny Weasley. We'd quite like to travel back to the year 2002, if you'd be so kind."
"Backleap? I-that's not my dep, you'd have to ping Mysteries, eh."
"Are they awake at this hour?"
"Unprob."
"Do you know who we are?"
"Weasley? You related to Hal in the Wizengamot?"
"...well, maybe," said Ginny, giving Neville a look.
"Hold on, you came here from 2002?"
"Indirectly," said Neville.
"Indir-well, you got an old-model skipper, eh." He paused, as if trying to concentrate. "May I please have a look at your spaceship?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Neville, "we don't have any of those."
"You don't-how'd you get here?"
"I think it's this necklace," said Ginny, taking it off. "it's cursed in some way."
"Curses? Oh man, I don't do no magic, you gotta go down to them wandies for that."
"What's that?" Neville suddenly asked, pointing up.
"What's what?" said the Ministry worker.
"The light?"
"It's a light fixture, don't you have any back in 2002?"
"Those are Muggle things," said Ginny, "they run on electricity, that shouldn't work here."
"20...oh," he said. "You got to know, this is the twenty-third century, eh. No more of you wandies hiding around, we work together. Wizards and the rest of us. All your wand-waving is nothing special, you know, just weighted quark theory. We're all the same, nobody's too roy, eh. So I don't do no jinky necklace, I build spaceships. Come and see," he waved a hand, "all your Lorentz gammas, eh?"
"If you can't help us, we'll try the Department of Mysteries," Neville blurted, barely taking in all that he was saying, "we just need a place to stay the night-"
"Look, you want to time-travel, I'll show you a new generation leaper. First-class, c'mon." He waved his hand down a hallway, still lit by those strange, blocky, Muggle lights. Dubiously, Neville and Ginny followed, the latter draping the necklace over her arm.
"When it's done we'll call it the Diricawl," he proclaimed, "none of this hiding about, just simple people trying to get off this jinky planet before we kill off any more species, eh. It'll take you to Alpha Centauri in a couple decades, super quantel. Course back on Earth it'll be different, eh, but that's gamma for you."
The hallway ended in a simple Floo fireplace. "I always hate this part," the worker sighed. "After me, then, Granthamsguild!"
Neville and Ginny, after exchanging glances, followed along with some powder left on the mantle. "Jinky magic. Hate it," the worker sighed upon arriving in a small, dark room. "Suppose it's easier for you. Myself, I rather like the quanty hyp, eh? Have all your atoms broken down and just replaced somewhere else. Here we are!"
And he threw open a door into a vast room, with an immense silver object sitting in the middle. It might have easily filled up the better part of a Quidditch field, it seemed, but the room had space to spare for all manner of equipment. Electrical wires trailed in every direction, though some items levitated in the air through what seemed like magic. Well, perhaps Muggle science had advanced a lot in two centuries.
"Can't go inside, I'm afraid, but it'll be a lot cozier than whatever you took-I mean, whatever the first skippers were like, eh," said the worker. "Do try on the spacesuits, eh?" He pointed to a pair of large, pale outfits sprawled on the ground. "Give you a taste of eva life."
"What are they?" asked Neville.
"Oh, they're just clothes, you can put 'em on over your robes, eh. Though, did anyone actually wear those things in any century?"
Ginny nodded.
"Jinky wizards. Go on, give it a try."
Neville gingerly picked one up, and found that he could rather easily step into one before zipping it up broadly.
"Pretty plush," the worker beamed, "much better than the old ones. The magic helps make it, I guess. Slip on your helmet, like that. You too, Ginny?"
"I suppose," she said, climbing in to the other suit as the worker raved on about the virtues of space travel.
"Go to the moon, you can jump so many times higher, the Quodpot is something else."
Ginny attempted to test the jumping capabilities, but only succeeded in bumping into Neville's suit-they touched hands, theoretically, through the thick fabric.
"Now you see the green button on the pinger-computer-thing?" The worker's voice from outside was distant, almost muted under the stiffness of the helmet. "Give it a try, eh, it'll pump in fresh oxygen. Perfect for your lunar stays, you need 'em for Quodpot, eh."
Sure enough, Ginny saw a green button at the corner of her view. Curious, she reached to press it. At first, nothing happened. At second, a hissing noise began, and at third, she took a sharp whiff of an air that seemed cleaner, more vivid, than the work room.
At fourth, the worker, the spaceship, and the entire room disappeared.
Two walls remained, coming to a corner, but the other two had crumbled into a thin dust. In front of them, similar walls and remnants of architecture spread out, forming a gray labyrinth against the brown dirt below.
Neville's mouth was moving from inside the helmet, but it was impossible to hear. Ginny took hers off, gesturing to him to do the same, and after a moment he followed suit before repeating, "Okay, this is not my fault."
"Never said it was," she muttered. "You think it's the necklace again?"
"Got to be, we've jumped even farther into the future, I'd reckon. And no one's thought to look after the building."
"But we didn't do anything! Just put on these ridiculous suits!"
"Well, let's get out of them, then, and see if the box has changed," said Ginny.
After a few moments of fumbling, they eventually stepped out of the bulky suits and she reached for the box. "What on earth..."
There were no words at all, only a series of musical notes travelling up and down the wooden lid. "Can you read this?" she asked.
Neville shook his head.
"Me neither. What is it? At least the others told us something."
"They didn't say much. What was the last one, just a bunch of hot air?"
"Yeah," Ginny nodded. "Although-that bloke wanted us to breathe into the helmets, right? Maybe there's something in the air, that the necklace touched."
"So what are we supposed to avoid now, music? Shouldn't be too difficult."
"I guess not. Back to the Ministry?"
"Let's see what it looks like from the outside," said Neville, "I can't believe they'd have built it above ground. Did he really say the Statute of Secrecy was repealed?"
"We must have misheard. But yes, see if the normal entrance is still there, or maybe it's more straightforward..."
They Apparated into Muggle London, and turned around.
Where the telephone booth for gaining entrance had once been, a featureless grey building rose perhaps ten stories above the ground. But it had been graffitied over with patterns neither recognized. And beyond that, the city was deserted. The street was overgrown, with tall grass sprouting up from the middle and on the sidewalks. Several buildings had seen their upper stories crumble, with no attempts at repair. Above them, a group of small pigeons was diving into the grass, while a pair of strange animals-wild dogs? Crups? very small foxes?-darted across the street.
Numbly, Ginny rapped on the door of the grey building, which at least seemed to have its roof intact. There was no response. Neither did it open or yield to the Alohomora charm.
Neville walked down the block, avoiding a low-flying pigeon, as he tried the stairway to the public bathrooms. Both the men's and women's flights seemed to have been magically barricaded-no charm they could think of would let them through.
"What happened?" Ginny could only gape. They glanced down the street at the silent buildings-some bore similar unintelligible graffiti on the side, but it was impossible to gauge how long it had been since anyone had lived there. "We could try Hogsmeade..."
"D'you really think we want to go there?"
"Do you have any better ideas?"
"Well-not exactly-"
She Apparated without waiting for a response, Neville, flustered, following a half-second behind. But the view there was just as unfamiliar. Shops had been boarded over or abandoned entirely. The train station's roof had fallen in, and the tracks were rusted over until the line gave out. A swarm of whining pixies made the Three Broomsticks seem unapproachable.
"We could walk up to Hogwarts," Neville muttered.
They paced up what was left of the path, mostly as something to do. The path was taken mostly from memory than any semblance of a road in use. Thick weeds had grown up, and Ginny carefully adjusted her robes so as not to get any caught in her shoes. Several more of the fox-like dog creatures chased each other across the path, as well, but upon seeing Ginny and Neville approach froze in their tracks and ran off howling.
There were no turrets in view, nothing indicating the far-off castle until they took the last corner, and saw-little. Just another ruin, too short to be the school, and a sign in front. UNSAFE, KEEP OUT, it read, along with some official-looking bureaucratese.
"This is what Muggles see when they come by," said Neville. "Obviously we're no Muggles, we Apparated here-"
"I don't understand. This is Hogwarts! What could have changed anything?"
They Apparated to Liverpool and Ottery St. Catchpole, Glasgow and Holyhead, Dublin and Caerphilly, and everywhere was the same. Nothing human in sight, large and strange animals yelling at their approach and running away, buildings tumbled to dust, plants springing up everywhere. Eventually, Ginny collapsed on a park bench in what had once been Belfast. The other half of the bench gave way, and collapsed to the ground.
"Okay," said Neville, "that's enough Apparition, you need to eat."
"Eat what?" she yelled, starting to cry. "There's nothing here, everything in the houses will have gone to pot, we're never getting back!"
"There's trees all around, we'll find some fruit and just eat that," said Neville, avoiding mention of the animals. They'd be easy enough to curse, he supposed, but he was not going to chance the meat off any of those creatures.
"And tomorrow? And the day after that? We have no idea what we're doing, you're going to eat this rubbish fruit?"
"Ssh. We're too tired to think straight. Let's go back north, I think there were some proper trees up there. I'll Side-Along you."
"Oy," Ginny said, getting up from the ruins of the bench, "don't baby me, Cadogan, I can still Apparate."
He smiled. "C'mon, then, Lizzie. Or is it Potter now?"
"You git," she said, but she was smiling as they made their way north.
As promised, there were a variety of plum and apple trees growing amid a field of towering grass. The plums were tasteless but filling, and once they'd cursed away a few worms (they might have just flicked them away, but it felt satisfying to cast a spell), there were apples for dessert. "This is still rubbish," said Ginny, "there's no one who can get us out."
"Well, we're not being tossed around randomly."
"But we don't want to stay here. Did people die? Move to the continent? Take a Muggle machine to Mars?"
"Doesn't matter. We'll find a way."
"How? We can't stay here."
"I'll conjure us up a tent, watch," said Neville, waving his wand. Two large sleeping bags bounced out, one after the other. "We'll learn how to hunt these animals, get a little more variety in our diets, and then we can start going through the houses to find what still works."
"And if whatever killed off the people is still there?"
"We don't know they're dead, and you know what, we've fought off Death Eaters and all that. We can do it again."
"That was all the DA, with Harry and them, this is different."
"Yes, well," Neville said, "I love you, we can make it together."
"You-what?"
"Er," he blushed, "I mean-it's a bit-well, after all we've just done already, bouncing through time? I reckon that counts for more than your average birthday date."
"Well, then, I love you too, but I think our second date should be back in our own time and place where we belong."
"Maybe we should sleep on it-"
"Sleep won't help," she said, spreading the necklace out. "It needs something touching it, something strange. How about one of these rubbish worms? Or an apple core, huzzah, that's magic all right."
"No, there was some kind of pattern. Air, water, dust-"
"Not dust," Ginny gaped, "earth."
"What?"
"The lid said something about earth, I think. I mean it was all old, I couldn't read it, but-don't you think? The ancient elements, earth, water, air...and fire."
"This doesn't say anything about fire."
"Well, I can't read music, but-I dunno, maybe it's a different code. Or a language we can't read because there's nobody around to translate. Or...or..." As Neville cast her a skeptical glance, she cast about for another theory. "Maybe the humans have vanished, so the only clever beings or beasts around are musical...phoenixes. There you are, they're all about fire, after all!"
Neville raised his eyebrows. "Mum did have a couple books about phoenix song where I found the necklace, but that's a long shot."
"We hold hands, I touch this necklace and cast a little flame at it, maybe it'll take us somewhere else!"
"If you think it'll work, I trust you."
"I'm sick of being here, and as chivalrous as you are, I'm not going to sleep in some tent you conjure up and eat plums for the rest of my life. It's worth a try."
"All right, then," said Neville, grasping her hand tightly and then, realizing she'd want both free, moving instead to put his arm around her shoulder. Ginny held the necklace with one hand, and used her wand to take aim. "Incendio!"
A tiny flame leapt across to the pendant, heating up the draping half-shells. Then, immediately, the flame winked out. But as it did, the shell swung closed, forming a complete sphere.
"It worked!" Ginny called, opening up the box. "The music's gone, the fire is what it needed!"
"Yeah, okay, but everything looks the same."
"Are you sure? Let's try London again!"
"I don't-"
But once again he followed her to find that London was much as it had been; ditto Hogsmeade, and there was no reason to look much further. "Wait a tick," said Neville, "let's go back where we were."
"Why?"
"Something I want to check up on."
Ginny acquiesced, and Neville squinted down at the roots of the trees. "There. Our apple cores, just as we left them. We haven't gone forward at all."
"But I don't understand! The writing disappeared, we must have done something."
"Maybe it's not enough fire."
"It was just a little of all the other elements. Hot and cold, wet and dry, nature in balance."
"Well, there's another shell, isn't there? Maybe fire's different."
"I'll try again," Ginny shrugged. Again, Neville grabbed hold of her robes as she sent the flame onto the pendant, but it snuffed itself out without taking hold.
"It shouldn't do that, it's metal, it should melt."
"This thing is rubbish. All of it."
Neville bit his lip. "Look, Ginny, I do love you."
"Yes," she grinned, "we'd established that."
"And this-being in love-is brilliant. But that's not all there is to love-I love Gran and you love your family, and I guess we love our DA friends-differently-what I mean is, we don't have any of that, here and now, and-brilliant as you are-it's almost not worth living if we don't have the rest of the world with us, that broader love."
"That's what I've been saying. We need to get back."
"You said it needed more fire?"
"I would think so, yeah."
Neville bit his lip. "It's a risk, but I remember Fiendfyre from when the Carrows were at Hogwarts." Ginny gasped. "If it doesn't make an impact on the necklace, nothing will. But if it destroys the necklace and it doesn't work, well, then we'll never get back home."
"But you think it might work."
"You want powerful fire, right? Worst trick I know."
"I trust you, too."
Neville blushed.
"Serpentsbane! You're apparently famous here in the future. I'd go for it."
"Okay. Well. Here goes nothing."
He spoke the incantation, almost under his breath, and a torrent of flame rushed from his wand to the pendant. Then it bounced off, with no effect.
Neville laughed weakly. "Well. That was-"
And then a beast of fire sprang forth from the point of his wand, a raging chimaera that leapt into the grass. Neville tried to stop his wand, but the flames were beyond his control-Ginny cast a hurried Finite incantatem and Aguamenti, but the chimaera only raced around them, until a dragon and other beasts flashed from its wicked tail.
"Go!" Neville said, "I can't stop it, Apparate out of here."
"And leave you?"
"Well, if one of us can-"
"You're mental! I'll Side-Along you."
"I can't stop it, it'll just follow me!"
"Drop your wand!"
Neville complied, but before Ginny could reach out to him, a fiery serpent soared forward from the ring surrounding them, blasting Ginny's wand away. Both swore; it seemed clear there was no escape.
"This is my fault-" Neville began.
"Oh shut up, it doesn't matter now."
"I should've never bothered. All these people in the different times had it right-we'd never have worked out, we'd have been like Cadogan and his wives or Selwyn and Lizzie Utter. You'd have been better off with Harry, I'd be just some bloke in a pub-"
"The rest of the world-" Ginny spread her arm wide, dismissively-"can burn. It's you I want, it's always been you-"
Neither was sure who began it, but they were turning towards each other and not because there was no grass left to stand on. They were kissing, flushed with heat, and the flames moved in-
"Hello?"
Ginny opened her eyes. Neville's skin was warm up against her, but the voice calling to her seemed a bit concerned. Human, really. More alive than she'd expected.
"What?" came another voice. No, that was Neville talking.
"You should come inside," said the first voice, "it's getting late, and I'd hate for the Dwillindrimbs to bite."
"Luna?" Ginny whirled.
The necklace lay in her hand, the last shell closed; it was a simple sphere, not seeming to have anything inside it. And Luna was calling from the porch of her house, wearing bright silver pajamas and looking a bit bleary-eyed.
"If you'd like to stay outside, of course, you're welcome. But you'd been out there half an hour already, I thought I'd hear you come in."
"Half an hour?" said Neville.
"Well, yes. If you had some birthday plans I didn't mean to intrude."
"No," he said, slowly walking towards the house, "no, we're fine. Aren't we?"
"I...feel all right," said Ginny. "Do-do you have your wand?"
"I-wait," he said, reaching for it in the grass. "Er, yes. And-this one's yours?" Ginny took it and nodded. "Blimey."
"Is everything all right?" said Luna.
"I think so," said Ginny. "We-that is-I-Neville—Luna, what do you know about the four elements?"
"The elements? Well, Muggles have discovered a hundred and some already. There's probably more. If you're talking about the classical elements, obviously everyone knows there's five."
"Five?" Neville blurted. "I mean, go on."
"Earth and air, fire and water. Wet and dry, hot and cold. Or, as you go out from the bottom of the universe, things get lighter, you see. Earth, water, air and fire."
"That," Neville said slowly, "would be four."
"Well, of course, the heavenly spheres are made of the fifth element, aether-the pure material that can never be corrupted or changed." Neville and Ginny gave each other a glance. "Of course there're lots of holes in every theory, really, it's all a matter of interpretation."
"...yeah," said Ginny, "I suppose you're right."
"Oh, look, it's after midnight," said Luna. "Well, I hope it's been a good birthday."
"I-reckon," said Ginny. "But I think it could be an even better year."
Neville leaned in a step closer, and she pulled back her hair, trusting him to place the necklace around her and have it stay put, the perfect sphere sitting in place. After a split-second of hesitation, he did so. And then, as long as he was standing close enough anyway, bent down to kiss her again.