Standard disclaimer: No, I am not J.K. Rowling, and I do not earn anything from this. I simply enjoy typing up alternate scenarios for my and others' enjoyment, and that is completely legal.

I bet you all thought I'd abandoned Temporibus! Haha no. I just got writer's block.

...A long writer's block.

I know this is short, but I've been kind of busy. Rest assured, I have my pen back up and am starting on chapter two! Hurrah!

The Temporibus Retroactis Trilogy

Part Two
Before the Storm

Chapter One:
Operation Intact

It's time to begin, isn't it?

—Imagine Dragons – It's Time

[Al]

Even though his situation was getting grimmer, Al's mood during the break alternated between Lily and Rose.

Some days he was hurrying around the Burrow with Lily, helping with chores and being cheery—being the sort of shoulder to cry on. Lily was, in a way, paying back their debt to the Weasleys, but Al would always decide that he wasn't strong enough for that. On other days, he was with Rose, with determination and a sense of urgency. They pored endlessly through books until Al would decide that he needed to get out or start screaming.

Al was pretending that it was a Lily day when Harry arrived. He had told himself that he was going to go out to feed the chickens when he couldn't sleep at almost one in the morning. He ended up resting his hand against the coop, staring blankly into space, catching sight of an owl or two.

He probably would have spent the entire morning like that if he wasn't jolted out of it. The crack of someone Apparating brought him back about twenty minutes in, and he dropped the bucket full of grounded corn. He stared at the coop, trying to decide whether he should feed the chickens or go investigate the backyard, where he could hear the gate swinging, and some hushed voices.

He stayed like this for ten minutes, until he pulled out his wand and crept around the house to the source of the sound.

It wasn't a very big surprise when he saw Harry and Professor Dumbledore pushing out of the broomstick shed.

He raised his wand, ready to fire if either of them turned out to be impostors. "You first," he told Harry. "What did I give Harry Potter for Christmas?"

The other boy blinked, as though he wasn't expecting this question. "Seeker's Feints and How to Spot Them," he answered, giving Al a questioning look.

Al simply nodded. "And you, sir, what was Albus Dumbledore's last message to me before he went into hiding?"

"I'll keep trying."

It wasn't just the fact that they'd answered his questions correctly that made him lower his wand. The sincerity in Dumbledore's voice disarmed him, and until now, he knew that the promise was still valid.

"For future reference," he said, his voice shaking ever so slightly, "the broom shed isn't a good place to talk. There are too many spiders."

"Right," said Harry, eyebrows still raised. "Why're you up so early, Al?"

"I didn't- I mean, I was feeding the chickens. Anyway, I'm not the only one awake," he said defensively. "Mrs Weasley is too, and Tonks is here, and-"

As if on cue, Lily burst out of the back door, an envelope in her hands.

"Al!" she said, and he jumped. "Why weren't you at the coo-" Her eyes moved to Harry and Dumbledore, and Al felt that he had to snap her out of it.

"Professor Dumbledore- this is Lillian, my sister, the one I told you about in my letter. Our cousin, Rose, is asleep…?" he trailed off, looking meaningfully at Lily.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, realizing that Al was asking her a question. "No, she isn't—she's trying to draw up a plan. I wonder when Au—Hermione's going to notice that her books are disappearing?" She let out a forced giggle.

Dumbledore was taking this in stride. "Good morning, then, Ms Prentice," he said, nodding courteously. "I would have come to meet you earlier, but I'm afraid that there is plenty to oversee."

"Er, no, it's all right," said Lily, her eyes begging Al for help.

He shook his head. Just go with it.

The older man held out a hand for Lily to shake. "Alexander has told me quite enough about you."

No, actually, Alexander hadn't. He had simply sent a cryptic note, basically stating Lily and Rose's presence. Not that Lily knew—which is exactly what made her reaction perfect. She turned beetroot red, making her currently-blond hair and currently-blue eyes stand out more vividly. Al was almost pleased; this would probably erase any connection between her and Ginny in Harry's mind.

Lily shook it, and then rather rudely pulled away. "Is- is that so?"

Al jumped in. "Yes- I did. I needed to," he lied effortlessly. "And, Lily- Lillian, this is Harry Potter."

It was almost disturbing, how Lily deflated at the sight of her father. "I know," she said gloomily.

He elbowed her. "He's a real nice bloke," he hissed. He could feel Harry's stare piercing him once more.

She only repeated, "I know."

He made a mental note to convince Rose to give her acting lessons.

"So, er, Harry, Mrs Weasley made some onion soup, and it's still hot," continued Al, watching his sister at the corner of his eye. She seemed desperate to make a good impression, but her jerky movements hindered her from success. He vaguely wondered if he'd been the same in his first few months. "And there's a bit of bread, too. I think she was worried you'd be skinny as a stick when you got back."

He wasn't about to admit that he had been worried, too.

Harry smiled. "She hasn't been all over you?"

Al had the distinct feeling that Harry knew exactly how it felt to be fussed over by Molly Weasley. Of course, he had probably been even more alone than Al when she first met him, so he supposed that made sense. "She has taken pretty good care of us," he admitted.

"Molly has good intentions, I'm sure," remarked Professor Dumbledore, smiling serenely. "At any rate, it would not do to keep her waiting."

Lily was still fidgeting nervously when they arrived at the door.

"You don't know how weird it is for Lillian to be this shy," Al informed Harry in an undertone. "She's usually the first to be friends- you won't believe how well she and F-"

Lily shot him a dirty look.

"Uh," said Al.

While the rest of the males in the house were utterly charmed by Fleur Delacour, Al just didn't appreciate her beauty-slash-grace. It was safe to assume that it was because he wasn't keen on being smitten with his aunt, especially since he was actually rather fond of her children.

"Who?" asked Harry, but Dumbledore chose that moment to knock on the door.

"Who's there?" said a voice about as nervous as Lily.

"Rose, it's me- Al. I'm with Lily, er, Lillian, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore."

Rose breathed out a sigh of relief, and then said in her staple calm voice, "Prove it."

"My alias is Alexander Prentice. I was born on 7 January 2006, in Godric's Hollow, West Country, England, to-"

"Spare me the biography," interrupted Rose.

"Open up, Rose!"

"Not unless you say 'Rose West is better at Gobstones than Alexander Prentice.'"

Al rubbed his temples. Seriously, sometimes Rose could be so childish.

"No."

And the door swung open, revealing the girl.

Harry did a double take upon seeing her, and Al resisted the urge to hit his head into something. Ron and Hermione hadn't suspected a thing when they met Rose, but in hindsight, it was probably due to denial. Harry's reaction proved that Rose was severely underdressed, so to speak.

Rose took this in much better than he did. Her blue eyes appraised Harry coolly, and then moved on to Dumbledore. She raised her eyebrows as though impressed.

She was a natural actor.

"Good morning," she said. "I realize Al's been keeping you out, I apologize on his behalf." She looked reproachfully at Al, who shrugged.

"Just let us in, Rose," Lily put in.

"Fine," she agreed, and pulled the door open wider.

Al marched in first.

"Alexander, what are you doing, out so early?" scolded Mrs Weasley softly. "Your sister was worried about you, you silly boy."

"I took out corn to feed the chickens, Mrs Weasley," said Al. "Anyway- you'll never guess who arrived early!"

After that, Molly Weasley had become preoccupied enough with Harry, and so Tonks and Dumbledore used this to mark their leave. Al excused them out of the room, and then dragged them back to where the chickens were.

"Now explain the envelope," said Al.

They were attempting to cover up their whispers with the indignant clucking of the chickens, which they denied food. Al supposed that it was cruel, but necessary.

He looked expectantly at Rose, but she was avoiding his eyes, and instead it was Lily who replied.

"It's a letter from Scorpius. It only just got through the defensive measures about an hour ago. It did seem suspicious," she told him.

"Oh," said Al.

He wasn't particularly fond of the Slytherin, whose motives had always seemed rather questionable.

"I still don't understand why you brought him along, anyway. It's not like he's a highly trained Ministry professional."

"We aren't either, Al," reminded Rose. "And it's not like this mission is Ministry-funded, or even approved. I doubt that Ministry professionals could help you anyway. It would be too suspicious, a highly trained, fully grown and paid person watching over a supposed transfer student."

"And," added Lily, "they have only got about as much knowledge about these things as us."

"If all goes to plan, we'll be back in no time," added Rose, more confidently.

"I still don't entirely understand this plan of yours, either," said Al.

"Don't worry, you don't need to," said Rose dismissively. Al opened his mouth to protest, but she continued, "But Scorpius should! Otherwise, he might do something to ruin any chance we have of getting out of here completely intact!"

"That might be a good name for this mission, then," said Lily thoughtfully, "Operation Intact."

"Whoa- so where is Malfoy, exactly?"

Lily handed him the envelope.

Al flipped the flap over, pulled out the parchment and began reading:

"Rose,

"I've just figured out why I ended up far from you. Knowing you, I suppose you'd know as well."

"Yes, a term for what time turners do is to 'obfuscate,'" remarked Rose. "To put it simply, it makes the universe confused, but only limitedly. So you end up at a different time, but the universe will try to put you back where it thinks you belong. In most cases, it means the closest genetic match to a person that is native to that time. That, of course, explains why you showed up near Harry, and why Lily and I showed up near Ginny and Hermione."

She said all this in one breath.

"Communication is dangerous in these times, especially where I am. But I would like to tell you that my actions aren't meant to harm. I believe they are for the best. Just trust me. See you at school."

"Well?" demanded Lily when Al had finished. "Don't you think it's ridiculous? Why should we trust him? He doesn't even tell us what he's doing."

It became clear that the two of them had spent the past hour dissecting every word of the letter. Perhaps a little too closely, as demonstrated when Rose pointed out, "He clearly does not trust the people he's with right now- he wrote the letter very lightly. It means he didn't want to leave an impression on whatever surface he had written it on, and that means he didn't want anyone to know he was writing to us."

"Who are the people he's with right now, again?" asked Al. Honestly, who could understand Rose when she was talking fast?

Rose huffed. "As I said, the closest genetic match-"

"Rose, there's an easier way of explaining," said Lily, and she turned the envelope over.

Al stared at the cream parchment for a few minutes, not entirely understanding why she had flipped it. But his eyes gravitated towards the lower left corner of the envelope, and caught sight of a crest that he would later wish had remained unseen.

Scorpius was at Malfoy Manor, with his sixteen-year-old father.

No, Scorpius isn't doing what you probably think he's doing. Around the chapter when I finally get around to showing you what he's up to, I'm going to hand out virtual cookies to those who guess right!