Chapter Two: Timeturner

Harry slept on the floor that night, and the night after that, and for the next three nights thereafter. On the sixth night, when it became apparent that Ginny was not going to let him back into their bed chamber anytime soon, Ron offered to let Harry have the couch in his and Hermione's apartments. Harry had taken it, feeling the absence of his wife at night more keenly with each passing hour.

The worst part of it all was that Ginny wouldn't so much as talk to him either. She wouldn't even let him touch her, a fact that was slowly driving Harry insane. Ginny was his comfort; just touching her skin was enough to make him feel at ease at the worst of times.

Ron tried to talk reason to her and failed. Hermione, who was next in line, tried and ended up on Ginny's side so that now both wizards where without beds at night. They ended up sleeping rather haphazardly on the benches in the dinning hall.

And, to top it all off, the whole mess was made public to everyone when Ginny and Lily both got up from the table and left just as soon as Harry had pulled out his chair to sit down. Harry had sat, fully aware of the mutterings going around the hall. Ron had given him an apologetic look as if that could make up for his sister's or niece's foul mood.

Harry remained miserable for the rest of the week, and because Haven revolved around Harry, so did everyone else.

XXX

Minerva MacGonagal had watched the drama of the past week with a permanent smile plastered on her ageing face. Like so many of the others she had had quite enough of Harry's the-world-revolves-around-me attitude and was quite pleased with his wife and daughter's reactions. Minerva supposed that it was really Albus' fault for the boys slightly inflated demeanor, but couldn't really blame the boy for his ideals; he'd certainly been through enough.

Despite not really being able to blame Potter, Minerva was still especially pleased with Lily's handling of the affair. Lily was a joy, truly and completely for more reasons then most were aware of. Minerva was not old, not by wizarding standards, but she had seen her fair share of troubles and delights. But in all her years since the beginning of the Second War, there was no greater joy then that which was Lily.

And it was for a reason that she had only recently fully excepted for what it was. It was also a reason that she could share with no one, not even Lily herself. At least, not yet.

When she had been in her seventh year at Hogwarts Professor Dumbledore, her then Transfiguration teacher, had offered her the chance to continue her studies as his apprentice after graduation. Minerva, who had been a studious girl with an abnormal thirst for knowledge, was tickled pink with the prospect and had accepted the offer before he was even done speaking.

Albus had smiled at her and waved her off. Minerva had returned to Hogwarts the year after her graduation expecting to devote hours and hours to study. She had not counted on meeting the girl that would later become her greatest friend.

Minerva had been a solitary witch when at school and had made few friends. When she first met Lily Claire she had had reserved opinions of the girl; but after meeting her, no one could help but like her. Lily Claire had been a legend from the moment she had stepped foot inside Hogwarts. That she should choose Minerva with which to share her friendship was an honor indeed.

Minerva smiled to herself as she sat quietly in her study, an old worn parchment laid out on her desk. It was a letter that she had received some time ago from Albus. You see, Lily Claire had disappeared long ago on graduation day 1945, and no one save Dumbledore knew where it was that she had gone.

But, as the letter explained, Lily had not disappeared to a where but to a when. Leaning forwards in her chair she re-read the words she had carried with her for more then half her life:

Minerva,

While I know that is hard for you to understand, I must tell you of a matter that concerns all our

fates. On September 1st, 1944 a young woman appeared in the headmaster's office with a time turner

about her neck. Her name was Lily and she come from a time long after ours. A time

wracked with war and destruction. You will see her again one day, and you will know her for

your friend. All I ask is that you send her back to me so that her job may be done. She alone has

the will that will save us all. One can not change time Minerva, what is done is done. But what

was done may save us all.

Albus

Minerva had never fully understood the meanings of that letter until she had seen six year old Lily Potter come bounding over to her; a large grin on her face at having sugessfully transfigured her water goblet into a mouse. It was then that she had known what was that needed to be done. She sighed heavily when she heard the knock upon her door; getting up carefully she ushered Ginny, Severus, and Draco into her quarters and gestured them to sit.

"Good evening all," she stated in her usual crisp voice, having resumed her seat behind her desk; locking the door behind her "I have asked you all here today because I believe that we have the power to greatly improve our future."

She watched carefully the reactions of the three people in front of her. All of them looked hopeful for the briefest of moments, before cautious disbelief settled onto their faces. There really was so little hope left in the world that any promise of it was first dealt with, with utmost caution. Such a sad state when one could not even trust hope.

Severus was the first to speak as Minerva had known he would be.

"How?" Severus asked looking slightly perplexed and stiffly stoic, "We've tried everything."

"Yes," Draco spoke out, his expression mirroring that of his former Professor's, "What else is there?"

"What was done is done and can not be changed," Minerva intoned, "We have not had the means by which to do anything until now." She looked at each of them in turn, "I went to school with Tom Riddle, you know, I was a year ahead of him, but still. I knew him then, before he become Voldemort."

Silently she willed them to see the truth in her words. Seeing the confusion in their eyes she sighed, "Have any of you ever wondered why Tom Riddle is so evil?"

"The question has never crossed my mind really," Ginny admitted, of all of them (excluding herself) she had had the most experience with the teenage Dark Lord, "I am more concerned about the fact that he simply is, not how he got that way."

Minerva sank into her chair and gave a startling laugh, "Yes that's what most people say. Now I know all of you are familiar with what a timeturner is, well it can be used to go back as well as forwards."

"And just how is this relevant?" Severus asked in his usual bored tone.

"That, Severus, is easily answered,"

The three of them whipped around to find Albus Dumbledore standing in the shadows of Minerva's rooms. Slowly he stepped forwards. He was not a young Dumbledore, but he was not the Dumbledore of Ginny's years either.

"How?" Draco sputtered.

"And you are?" he asked.

Draco started, "Draco, sir, Draco Malfoy."

"Ah, so Emily was able to save at least one of her descendants, good, good," he chuckled, "Last I saw of you Miss Weasley you were but a year old."

"Potter sir, I am Ginny Potter now," Ginny said slowly.

"Ah, but this is wonderful news, that would no doubt make you Lily's mother then?"

"Y-yes," Ginny stammered, "Excuse me sir, but how is it that you know not of Draco or myself but you know of my daughter?"

Dumbledore smiled, "You are indeed a credit to your family Mrs. Potter. I know your daughter because I had the pleasure of teaching her some seventy years ago."

Minerva glanced at Ginny, Severus and Draco and could not help but laugh at their expressions. Albus smiled at his former apprentice and colleague, his eyes twinkling.

Having regained her composure, Minerva continued, "Now, I remember asking you if any of you wished to know how Tom Riddle had become so evil and the answer is that Tom Riddle is not evil; Lord Voldemort is."

"But they're the same person!" Ginny exclaimed still somewhat bewildered by what was happening.

"No, my dear they are not," Dumbledore said sadly, "Evil dose not have the ability to love, and Tom Riddle most certainly did love. He loved your daughter, Lily, very, very much."

"What!" the three of them demanded.

Dumbledore sighed. "I have used a timeturner to come forwards in time to tell you of something that happened long ago. In the year 1944 a girl by the name of Lily Claire Potter materialized in the headmaster's office with a timeturner about her neck."

He pulled a huge volume from a hidden pocket of his sky blue robes. "Within these pages is a day to day record of her time at Hogwarts. You will find that Tom Riddle is very much a part of this story. Your daughter was sorted into Slytherin under the name Lily Claire, I dare say the lot of you have heard that name before?"

At his announcement all three of them gasped, although Draco made more of a choking noise. Lily Claire was the wizarding equivalent to King Arthur. She was, is, and had been the most brilliant witch of any age surpassing even Rowena Ravenclaw herself with her wit and intellect. Her knowledge and power had surpassed all that had tried to compare to her and she had redefined what an accomplished witch should be. To this day mother's held their daughters in comparison to the Lady Lily Claire.

While it was true that even Severus had heard her name, knew the weight behind it, it was Draco and Ginny who could fully grasp the importance of the name. To pureblood's Lily Claire had been almost a goddess, a legend that mother's told their daughters to get them to try harder and to dress properly. To wizards, the closer in comparison your wife was to Lily Claire the better off you'll be. She was worshiped and praised.

To find that her daughter was to be the most wondrous witch to have ever lived caused Ginny to reconsider all of her own shortcomings. She was too boyish, and had no more curves then a wand. Her manners were slightly lacking, and …she was the mother of Lily Claire! All of her shortcomings could go hang themselves. She was the mother of the most revered witch in history.

To Draco, his goddaughter was now dearer to him then ever. Her name meant all the more to him then the others because it was he who had named her. It was not uncommon among purebloods for boys to be compared to her talents, it certainty wasn't an insult for a young wizard to be told that his spell casting was comparative to the Lady Claire's. Draco had once been told that he dueled will enough to have perhaps dueled Lily and lasted; although Draco had known that if such a thing were to actually happened she would win. Just the thought that he was good enough to have dueled her had made him grin foolishly for a week thereafter.

For Severus there could be no deeper love then his towards the Lady Lily Claire. His comparison to her brilliance while at school had saved him the scorn of many and had sheltered him throughout his seven years in Slytherin house. He would not have survived the cruelties of his housemates had it not been for the resemblances of his own genius to that of hers. Mayhap it was this shared intellect that bade Severus recover first.

"This is all well and good, but what does this have to do with Mr. Riddle?" he asked, his face still shinning in admiration and shock.

Albus smiled. "Although her time at Hogwarts was brief she conquered every avenue she was confronted with. She even outsmarted our head boy. A fact that Tom resented with every fiber of his being. In fact he spent most of the year trying to prove that he was worth something to her and by in by, although he tried very much not to, Tom fell in love with her. "

Shocked, stunned, and utterly flabbergasted silence met this announcement. Where before the three of them had been stunned, they were now simply and completely floored.

"He loved her enough to make her a horcrux by way of a necklace, for her to keep with her at all times," Minerva said quietly, and had to fight laughter as their jaws advanced farther towards the floor.

"In the olden days horcruxes were made as part of the average wizarding wedding ceremony as a sign of the ultimate affection," Dumbledore intoned, "By freely giving another person part of your soul you were bound to them forever. The objects the soul fragments were embedded in were traditionally rings or pendants. Tom gave Lily his half his soul and his heart; when she left on graduation day to come back to her own time, she broke it."

Ginny let Dumbledore's words wash over her and take hold in her mind. Ginny remembered talking to diary Tom all those years ago, she had once asked if he had ever fallen in love. He had hesitated to answer her but when he had his words became softer and his handwriting smoother. He had told her that he had no heart, for it belonged to a Power greater then any other he'd ever known. Knowing now that it was Lily Claire that held his heart it was no wonder he had referred to her only as a Power.

A sudden, sickening thought came bouncing into Ginny's numbed mind. "My daughter is the reason that Tom Riddle became Voldemort," Ginny whispered, her eyes shinning.

Dumbledore looked saddened but he could not deny the mother the answer now that she sought it, "Yes, she is."

The rest of the group digested this. Then, after a moment in which there was nothing but the most choking silence, Draco spoke, "You want us to sent her back in time," he said evenly.

Minerva nodded, "You have no choice."

"But if we know what will happen if we do then why do it?" Draco demanded, "Wouldn't it be better if we didn't?"

"No," Severus said, they all looked at him, "We need to do it, we have no choice. To alter time is a risky thing, but by sending her back in time we ourselves had assured our future."

Dumbledore nodded, pleased.

"But why? Why knowingly give her this burden?" Ginny asked.

Slowly Draco understood, "Because we need the other horcrux," he looked at Ginny, "Harry couldn't kill him because we didn't have the last horcrux. We didn't have it because Tom gave it to Lily and she hasn't gone back yet."

"We never found it because it's been lost in time," Severus said evenly and without emotion.

"Exactly," Minerva said happily, "Also, I have reason to believe that once she gets back and Voldemort realizes she's here he'll-"

"Be so distracted with her that his empire will crumble," Severus finished.

"Yes, good," Dumbledore smiled, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go backwards now to inform my 1944 self to expect company. I have to because I've already done it." He turned, paused, and turned back. "Oh. I almost forgot, here," he held out a small silver hourglass, "It's already been set. I'll see Lily in five days."

With a small spin of his timeturner, he was gone.

"Well," Draco said happily, "At least we know now what power Harry has that Voldemort doesn't."

"Yes," Severus mocked, although silently he'd never been prouder of the boy "He reproduced."

"If only the rest of us got to save the world by having sex," Draco murmured, "I'd be a Saint."

The company snorted as they realized that this was, in all honesty, probably true.

XXX

Harry walked down the corridors until he came to Lily's door. He'd never been more nervous in his life, not even when he'd purposed to Ginny. Nor had he ever been more weary of rejection. Slowly, hesitantly, he raised his hand and knocked upon the wood.

"Who is it?" the teary voice of his daughter drifted through the door. He winced at the sadness of her voice. He had hoped that given a weeks time, she would come to forgive him. But she had not, so Harry had taken it upon himself to seek her out.

"Me," he replied, pressing his ear to the door. He heard the faint hiss of a quickly drawn breath and could almost see her stiffen at her desk. He pressed closer and waited for her replay, wanting nothing more then to hold her and tell her how sorry he was. How important she was to him.

A few moments passed before he heard her voice again. "I have nothing to say to you, go away," came the reluctant but emboldened reply.

Harry visibly sagged. "Please Lily, let me in," Harry pleaded, "I want to apologize." He heard the scrape of wood on stone and three angry footsteps. For one wild moment he thought she was going to throw open the door.

He heard a thump as she stopped just before reaching the door. "Go to hell!" she shouted and Harry had to take a step back at the loudness and anger in her voice. Sighing Harry walked away, knowing full well that her disposition was his own fault. He walked dejectedly along the corridors until he came out in the training rooms.

He looked around at the matted floors and walls and remembered his own auror training. He smiled at the memory of it and laughed when he remembered that Hermione had hated the running.

He sobered as he approached the trophy case. The students were given awards for their advances in their schooling. He noted with pride that half of the twenty or so medals and awards had his daughter's name inscribed on them.

Lily had been the top in her class. Her dueling skills alone were enough that Harry, had she been allowed to fight, pitted the death eater that had the misfortune to run into her. He also knew that that would never happen, he would die before he let Lily meat a death eater. While he might concede to allow her out of Haven, he would never allow her into battle.

She had excelled in other areas as well and was as eager to learn as Alastor was to teach. Snape loved her (a contradiction in terms according to Ron, ironic if you listened to Hermione) she was his favorite pupil by far, surpassing even his own knowledge.

She had even mastered what he could not; she had become an animagus by age fourteen. He smiled as he remembered her trying to think of an animal that she would like to become. In the end she had become a fox, appropriate considering that her coat was the same deep red as her hair.

"What am I to do with you," Harry said out loud, turning around the room.

"Talking to ourselves now Potter, that's never a good sign."

Harry didn't even turn around, "Hello Malfoy," They had been friends now for some twenty years. And while in thought Harry called him Draco, by spoken word they rarely called each other by their given names. It was their testament to their long dead rivalry and part of an on-going joke.

"Hello yourself," he mimicked Hermione, "So who aren't you sure about what to do with?"

"Lily," Harry signed, "She's so ambitious, she wants so much, I don't know what to do with her."

"I suppose letting her have it is out of the question?" Draco asked even though he already knew the answer. Draco had never been more disappointed at that moment that Harry wasn't a pureblood. If he had been then Draco could just say, 'Oh and by the way your daughter is Lily Claire' and that'd explain everything. But why should anything in life be that simple?

"Do I even have to answer that?" Harry asked. Draco glanced at his one time rival and thought that he'd never seen him look so lost. "I want to keep her safe Malfoy."

"Yeah, well, she'll get her chance Harry, you can't tempt fate without getting burned," Draco muttered, not entirely meaning for Harry to hear.

Harry looked puzzled, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, ignore me."

"I usually do."

Draco pretended to look hurt, "You wound me with your cruel words sir Potter."

Harry laughed, "Good, now go away so I can think."

"Fine," Draco muttered, "I have somewhere to be anyway."

"Is what's-her-face demanding your attention again?" Harry asked.

"Ha, ha," Draco said scathingly, "And her name's Abigail, Abby, Potter, even you should be able to remember that."

Harry waved at his friend's retreating back before he turned back to gaze at the wall.

XXX

Lily was napping when she had heard the soft rap on her door. Whipping the sleepiness from her eyes she had opened the door to find her mother standing there with an expression on her face that Lily had never seen before, but that caused her instinctive worry.

"Mother?" Lily asked cautiously as she stepped out into the corridor, fully aware of the tense strangeness of the whole situation.

"Do you have your wand?" Ginny asked her daughter and when Lily nodded she sighed, "follow me."

Lily followed her mother through the corridors down deeper and deeper until she was sure they must be below the libraries by now.

"We are actually below the lake," her mother said, as if reading her mind, a feat that Severus had told her time and time again was impossible.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked, almost afraid to disturb the silence.

Her mother didn't answer until she had led her to a bolted door. Lily watched in fascination as her mother pressed her hand to the door and it melted away to reveal a small object no bigger then her palm.

Her mother picked it up and held it out to her, it was a tiny hourglass.

A timeturner.

"What?" Lily began but her mother shook her head to silence her. Nodding to her left her mother led her to a stairwell and began to climb. After what seemed like forever they came to a door, her mother opened it and Lily gasped as they appeared in a clearing above the crater.

Lily looked to her left and saw that the door from whist they had come was hidden inside a tree trunk. She looked up and saw nothing but a clear sky.

"Oh," she gasped.

Ginny smiled at her daughter before leading her farther from the clearing to a secluded area. There, waiting for them were Minerva, Severus, and Draco.

"What's going on?" Lily asked.

"Well, little one, seems to me that you just got handed the world," Draco said, nodding at the timeturner.

Lily gave him a questioning look.

"What he means, Lily," her mother began, "is that not so long ago Dumbledore told us a story, just us, your father doesn't know."

"What was the story about?" Lily asked, her long hair blew softly in the breeze.

"It was about you," Severus said softly.

"Lily. Nobody can change the past, what will be done today has already been done, but what is to happen in just a few minutes will determine whether we have a future," Draco said heavily.

"What dose this have to do with me?" Lily asked. She was toughly confused at this point as she looked back and forth between her mother, Uncle Drake, Snape, and MacGonagal.

"Lily, you know the prophecy about your father," Minerva said and she nodded, "then you know that the only one that can defeat Voldemort is Harry."

Lily nodded, unhappily. Some how everything always had a way of coming back to her father. The whole bloody world revolved around Harry Potter. Lily sometimes felt like everyone else was just irrelevant.

Severus sighed, "Would you like to know what power your father has that Voldemort doesn't?"

Lily nodded a little more eagerly then she would have liked, despite herself. She and her friends had often speculated on the idea, but had never come up with anything plausible.

"You," her mother said softly.

"Me?" Lily echoed in sound disbelief.

Severus leaned against a tree, "Yes, you. Ever since you were a babe, you have been kept hidden, secreted away. Dumbledore knew; he told Minerva long ago, and he told myself, your mother and Draco five days ago."

Lily starred off into space before shaking her head to clear it, completely missing the 'five days ago', "Knew what?"

Severus looked at her, his more somber then she had ever seen it, "That if Voldemort ever found you, things would change."

"You have a chance to have the world, Lily, all you have to do is grab it," her mother said airily, "This timeturner that you hold in your hand will take you back to the year 1944, it was where you were meant to be. You are what wins or loses us this war."

"I don't understand," Lily said angrily, just yesterday she had been told again by her father that she was never to leave Haven, "you haven't told me anything!'

"If we told you more then that it would change history," Draco said walking towards her. He took the timeturner from her numb fingers and placed it around her neck.

"You will appear in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore will be waiting for you," her mother said as he gave the tiny hourglass a twist.

"What am I supposed…wait, Hogwarts!" Lily managed to squeak before she vanished, air rushing to fill the void left by her disappearance.

Ginny turned to the others; "Do you think we've done the right thing?"

Minerva nodded sadly, "You heard it yourself, we do this and we have a future we don't, well…"

"We all die," Draco concluded.

"But what will happen when she comes back?" Ginny asked. For the first time she began to doubt their actions. "Won't seeing what he's become kill her, after she learns that it's her fault."

"How do you know that she'll figure it out?" Severus demanded.

"Oh come now, the girl's not stupid. Of course she'll figure it out," Minerva said angrily.

The group was silent for a moment before Severus decided it was high time he mention something that the lot of them, himself included, had forgotten to take into account as they were planning this little venture.

"While this is lovely and all, you realize that we've all forgotten one very important detail," Severus said slowly. They all turned to look at him.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Well, because of the great distance she's gone back she'll be gone for a little over three months, how are we going to explain that to Potter?" he asked.

The others shuddered at the thought.

XXX

As it turned out however, they didn't actually have to tell Harry anything. Great attention to detail was never Harry Potter's strong suit and he was happily unaware of Lily's absence for a whole day, believing her to still be locked in her room.

His blissful unawareness came to an abrupt halt when; having grown tired of waiting for her to come out of her room and having decided to 'Reducto!' the door down, he discovered that she was not in her room.

At first he thought that perhaps she was simply not there and that he'd missed her. It wasn't until he'd walked every square inch of Haven (twice) that he came up with the conclusion that she was not there at all. Ginny had never seen him angrier in her life. He'd screamed and hollered and demanded to know where she went.

Of course, none of the four of them could really tell him where she went and they certainly weren't about to tell him when either. Luckily for the four of them, Harry never questioned them. Never in his wildest dreams could he imagine that his wife, two of his former teachers, and one of his best friends could ever have anything to do with his daughter's sudden and abrupt disappearance.

That is of course until he remembered what Draco had said that one day that hadn't made any sense at the time.

Harry had been half way through a triad when he'd stopped mid hop, Draco's word's floating into his brain. "Yeah, well, she'll get her chance Harry, you can't tempt fate without getting burned."

"MALFOY!" Harry screeched, causing Ron and Hermione to jump and look at each other before scrambling to follow Harry.

As he'd done when he'd searched for Lily, Harry carefully paced every square inch of Haven only to come up short. Malfoy was not there. Malfoy had gone back to his spy duties and Harry was left to his misery. Fuming.

Lily was gone, Malfoy was gone, and Harry felt that he wanted nothing more then to find a nice quiet corner and cry.