Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump

Chapter 2

A/N: Second installment to the Twin Travel Challenge on SIYE. Enjoy!


Harry woke up with a headache the next morning. As the summer morning light flooded into the room, he hid his face in his pillow, attempting to stop the pain in his head. Had it been Voldemort? No, his scar felt as normal as ever. It must have been the strange dream he had been having before he woke up; something about his children appearing from the future and Ron threatening him for shagging his sister. Harry shook his head, thankful it was all a dream.

"All right, Harry?" Ron called over to him from his bed. "Blimey, I had the weirdest dream."

"Yeah?" Harry yawned. "Couldn't be any worse than mine."

"You, too?" Ron asked as he grabbed his trainers from the floor.

Harry nodded as he pulled a shirt over his head. Standing up, he stretches his arms and legs, allowing his sleepiness to slowly drain out of his body. The pounding in his head lessened, but it did not keep his stomach from grumbling loudly.

Ron smirked. "Hungry, eh?"

"A bit," Harry lied.

"Come on, then," Ron said while he opened his bedroom door and motioned Harry to follow. Down six flights of stairs, the two boys trudged, letting their feet stomp on each step along the way. When they reached the kitchen, Harry and Ron found Mrs. Weasley standing in the door way, hands on hips and looking quite peeved.

"Are you trying to wake up the house?" she interrogated Ron.

"Who's still sleeping?" he returned with a yawn. His answer quickly came in the form of Lily and James at the top of the stairs.

"Daddy?" the two children said groggily. "Did you make breakfast?"

Harry and Ron spun around, identical alarmed expressions on their faces. "It wasn't a dream, was it?" Harry whispered miserably.

Ron shook his head. "Nope."

Mrs. Weasley ignored her son's comment while she motioned the twins into the kitchen. "In here, dearies," she told them promptly, but then added to Harry, "Sirius is waiting for you."

At this last remark, Harry and Ron could not get into the kitchen any faster. Sirius was occupying a chair at the end of the table and looked up from the Daily Prophet when boys entered. "Harry!" he beamed.

"Sirius!" Harry cried, both in excitement and alarm. "What are you doing here?"

The older man stood up to embrace Harry, giving the teenage boy a smile. "Can I not see my godson?" he asked.

"But what if someone sees you?" Harry contested. "What if--?"

Sirius simply waved his hand at the comments. "Arthur secured the fireplace—just for this morning, mind you," he explained, then after some hesitation, added, "I have been told that you have company."

Harry didn't answer straight away, but looked awkwardly down at his trainers. He still didn't know what to think, let alone how to answer. As if on cue, the two seven-year-olds appeared at Harry's side, each in awe of the stranger before them.

"Sirius Black?" James finally blurted out, unable to contain his excitement. "You're the wizard Daddy always talked about?"

"He can't be, James!" Lily hissed. "You know he can't be!"

"Yes, he can! We're in the past, remember?" James countered stubbornly.

"But he's dead!"

Silverware clattered against plates while eggs dropped from Ron's stunned mouth. A pot from the stove next to Mrs. Weasley crashed onto the ground, its contents being strewn across the kitchen floor. James turned wide eyes towards his sister while Harry could only stare, the expression on his face shouting denial. How could this be true? Sirius was Harry's godfather, a man who managed to break out of Azkaban and not only lived to tell the tale, but has managed to evade capture for two years. He looked more alive now than ever…and yet, what did Lily mean, 'He's dead?'

When Harry tore his eyes off his future children, he found Sirius looking away, deep in thought. His face was not screaming in denial, but contemplating the words. Did he believe them? The awkward silence in the room was broken by the thundering footsteps of people walking down the stairs. Moments later, Fred and George entered the room.

"What a night!" Fred exclaimed, stretching his arms above his head.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes narrowed as she surveyed her twin boys. "And where were you last night?"

"Around," George answered vaguely.

"Around?" Mrs. Weasley repeated suspiciously.

"We are of age, Mum," Fred added with annoyance. "We're allowed to—"

Harry never heard the rest of what Fred and George were allowed to do. When Mrs. Weasley's pursed her lips and her nose flared, Harry felt a pair of hands shoving him out the backdoor. "Anyone up for Quidditch?" Ron muttered as he steered Harry out into the backyard.

"Oh, me!" James and Lily responded, having followed the two outside.

Ron and Harry spun around on the spot. "You can ride a broom?" Ron asked in amazement.

"Of course we can," Lily chimed in matter-of-factly.

"We've been riding broom since before we could walk," James added proudly.

"Er, alright," said Harry, not knowing what else to say.

Ron, on the other hand, was ecstatic. "You can ride Bill and Charlie's old broom," he told them as they headed to the broom shed. "No one uses those anymore—they're ancient, but they work. I have my own broom, too, though it's not as fast as Harry's Firebolt."

The twins surveyed their father with enthusiastic eyes. "You have your Firebolt, Dad?" James cried. "Can I ride it?"

Harry looked horrified at the idea. "No," he answered at once.

"But, Dad! You always let us ride your Firebolt!" Lily said pleadingly.

For some reason, Harry highly doubted that he would ever let two seven-year-olds ride his prized broomstick. Just the idea left appalling images in his mind of two whiny children and his beloved broom shattered on the ground and he cringed. "No," he said more adamantly.

James pouted, but his mood was short-lived when Ron appeared with two brooms for the twins to ride. "Slow as a snail," he muttered to Harry as he mounted his own broom which was only slightly faster.

"Right," Harry said, watching the twins hold their own brooms with eager eyes. "My broom is in my trunk. I'll be right out."

He ran off towards the Burrow and entered through the back door to the kitchen only to find the area vacant except for Sirius who was still sitting at the table sipping tea. "Sirius!" Harry cried, nearly having forgotten his godfather. "I'm sor-"

Sirius waved off the apology and took another sip of tea. "It's fine, Harry," he answered. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Going to my broom-"

The conversation was interrupted by an ear-splitting scream. Harry's head snapped towards the direction he had just come from. There was the thud of heavy footsteps getting closer to the kitchen and then pounding on the door. Death Eaters? Apparently Sirius was of the same mind as his godfather pulled out his wand and opened the backdoor, ready to duel the first person in sight.

"HELP!" James screamed, nearly collapsing on the floor when the door opened.

Harry and Sirius looked beyond the seven-year-old boy to Ron who was carrying Lily back towards the house. "I thought you said you could fly!" Ron cried. His face was white as a sheet and it was apparent why. Lily's left arm was sticking out at in a place that arms don't usually go. Once he reached the kitchen, he set the small girl in a chair while Sirius looked at her arm.

"It's broken for sure," he stated as Mrs. Weasley came rushing in. "You're going to need to take this one to St. Mungo's."

Mrs. Weasley's face rivaled Ron's. "We can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Sirius returned. "Molly, her arm is broken-"

"Apparently!" Mrs. Weasley yelled in exasperation. "But she isn't supposed to exist!"

"What's going on?" Ginny interrupted, having heard the commotion and followed it to the kitchen with Hermione in tow. She bent down to look at the arm Lily was holding tightly to her chest while sobbing uncontrollably. "How did this happen?"

"She was riding on Charlie's old broom and—"

"You let them ride brooms?" Hermione hissed to Ron and Harry in astonishment. "What do you think you were doing?"

"It was their idea!" Ron protested. "They said they knew how to ride a broomstick!"

Ginny's sharp eyes shifted towards the raven-haired boy who was still standing next to the backdoor. "And you let them?" she repeated with concern.

"What's the big deal? They're only seven!" Harry argued, throwing his hands in the air. "They said they could ride a broomstick. It's like riding a bike, isn't it?"

Another loud wail from Lily took the attention off of Harry and onto more important matters such as how to repair Lily's broken arm. While Sirius volunteered to accompany the family to St. Mungo's, Mrs. Weasley wouldn't hear of it. "This is already a tricky matter without pulling you into it!" she had told him.

Sirius backed away into the corner of the kitchen, appearing quite morose, but Harry had to agree with Mrs. Weasley. As much as he pitied his godfather and the lack of freedom he was given due to his perceived criminal status, the situation was already high-risk just having two children from the future on their hands.

"You stay here," Mrs. Weasley ordered the crowd in the kitchen. "Ginny, stay out of sight of the floo at all costs until I return. If this works, I can pass Lily off as my own daughter."

Ginny pursed her lips, but did not dare disobey her mother. They watched as Mrs. Weasley gingerly picked up her future granddaughter and disappear into the fireplace. Once they were gone, Ginny rounded on Ron and Harry. "This is your fault!" she hollered.

"Our fault?" Ron and Harry chorused. "It was an accident!" Ron added.

"That's enough," Sirius said before Ginny could respond. "What's done is done."

Hermione took Ginny's arm and pulled her towards the door to the kitchen. "Come on, Gin," she murmured in the redhead's ear. Ginny followed Hermione unwillingly, but not before casting a glare at the two boys before disappearing.

"Why is Mummy so upset?" James piped up causing Harry and Ron to jump. In all of the commotion, Harry had forgotten that his future son was still in the room.

"I don't know," Harry answered truthfully.

"Oh," James sighed and then after a moment, asked, "Can I go for a ride—?"

"No!" Ron and Harry shouted together.

James' eyes fell miserably before running from the kitchen and up the stairs. Harry felt a small urge to follow the boy, but held back as Sirius laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's noon. I should be going," Sirius said, sounding just as gloomily as James. He gave Harry a heart-felt hug and turned towards the kitchen door. "See you again soon, alright?"

Harry nodded and watched Sirius leave through the backdoor and disappear with a small "pop!" This day most certainly wasn't on his side as for the following few hours while Mrs. Weasley was away, the girls gave the cold shoulder to Ron and Harry, who couldn't understand why they were so upset. It wasn't as though either of the boys wished this to happen. How could they be blamed for being irresponsible? They weren't even of age! What was going on?

As the afternoon wore on, Harry's thoughts wondered more and more onto the female redhead barricaded in her room with Hermione. He became bitter that Ginny would hold him and Ron personally accountable for Lily's incident. In fact, she hadn't seemed quite happy from the beginning. Was she upset that she was going to end up marrying him and having his children? For years, Ginny had been incredibly infatuated with him. What had changed? Why now?

The more pressing question that Harry eagerly wanted to know was how he got involved with the youngest Weasley. He had to admit, he had never regarded her as someone he could eventually marry. She wasn't anything like his current crush, Cho Chang, who was sweet, pretty, and an excellent Quidditch player. No, Ginny was like a sister—she was Ron's sister. How did it develop into more?

Compelled to find some answers to his questions, he went in search of James but to his disappointment, James was nowhere to be found. "Great," Harry muttered as he checked Percy's old room for the third time. "Just what I need: something else to be blamed for."

It was nearing dinnertime and Harry had felt that he had searched the entire Burrow five times over, but still had not found James. Mrs. Weasley finally returned with Lily in tow who was looking quite excited despite having been in tears the last time the group had seen her.

"It was so much fun, Mummy!" she exclaimed while skipping towards Ginny. "Healer Paige was so nice! And it didn't hurt at all!" The little girl held out her arm proudly for her mother to examine and Ginny smiled in relief.

"Where's James?" Lily asked, noticing that her brother was not among the crowd to greet her.

Ron and Harry shrugged. "Haven't seen him all afternoon," Harry admitted, though holding back that he had already gone hunting for the boy.

"He's probably up in Percy's old room, sulking that we didn't let him ride a broomstick," Ron assured them.

Hermione and Ginny, however, did not appear assured. With their current track record, Ron and Harry ought to be banned from any form of fatherhood until they were fifty-years-old. "I'll go find him," Hermione volunteered and left the kitchen.

Harry's stomach cringed slightly. For several minutes, he awaited the cry of alarm when Hermione would not find the boy inside the Burrow and then the whole blame game would start again and Harry was getting annoyed.

"JAMES!" someone shrieked from one of the upper floors.

Everyone in the kitchen made a bolt for the stairs and climbed three flights before stopping in front of Fred and George's room where Hermione had her hand over her mouth and was talking to what looked like a small spotted beach ball with tentacles. Mrs. Weasley was the first to rush to the beach ball's side.

"Merlin!" the Weasley matriarch cried. "You didn't—?"

But it was quite apparent to everyone that he had. A handful of multicolored wrappers rested on the floor a foot away from him that Harry knew did not come from any sweet shop. They were experimental products for Fred and George's future joke shop.

Mrs. Weasley was seething as she gently picked up the beach ball that was her grandson and marched down into the kitchen, followed by Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and then Ron. Harry waited for the cold remarks that were sure to come from the female Weasleys, but to his surprise, they were silent. Hermione and Ginny were so shocked by the transfiguration that James had undertaken that they had forgotten to blame the whole situation on Harry and Ron.

"When I get my hands on those two," Mrs. Weasley muttered when they reached the kitchen and she pulled out several of her spell books. However, especially spell she tried seemed to have no effect on James. By this time, Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie had arrived home and were gathered around the kitchen table where the beach ball was rolling around.

"How did this happen?" Charlie asked, poking one of the tentacles with his wand.

Mrs. Weasley scowled. "Take one guess," she replied.

The kitchen door opened for the last time to admit two identical Weasleys. "Dinner ready?" Fred said with George in tow.

"No," Mrs. Weasley snapped. "I've been too busy resuscitating a beach ball that is supposed to be my grandson!"

Fred and George joined the crowd around the table. "Wow," George exclaimed. "Those tentacles turned out brilliant!"

"Brilliant?" Mrs. Weasley screamed, her eyes bulging out of their sockets.

Harry felt someone tug on his shirt and this time, it was from Ginny motioning him to follow her upstairs along with Ron and Hermione. They could hear the volcano erupt several floors below them, but when they reached Ron's room, Ron and Ginny burst with laughter.

"You're not worried about James?" Hermione asked uncertainly, mixed between amusement and concern.

Ginny waved an arm carelessly in Hermione's direction. "He'll be alright," she reassured her.

"Fred and George's stuff," Ron added, "well, it's dangerous, but never life-threatening. And with Fred and George as his uncles, they should have remembered to be more careful."

"But James never met Uncle Fred," a voice piped up from the doorway. Lily Potter had followed the four up the stairs and was now peeking from behind the door.

Ron, Harry, and Ginny looked simply confused while Hermione's expression was one of alarm. "What do you mean?" Ron said slowly. "You…you never…what?"

Lily took another step into the room. "We never met Uncle Fred," she said again.

"Why not?" Harry asked, although he was beginning to guess at the answer.

"Uncle Fred…h-he's dead."