Chapter 2: When Are We?
The flash of light that had surrounded the Clan disappeared almost as fast as it had appeared. Not understanding what had happened, the members of the Clan looked around precariously for any clues. What they saw shocked them.
About fifty meters ahead was the Burrow. However, it did not look like the Burrow they all knew. No, all of the additions were gone. Vanished. Not only that, but the Burrow, which was usually full of life and cheer, looked as though it had been through a war. It was droopy and grim, and there was no sign of life except the burning of a single candle that could be seen through the window of what must be the family room. The room that, not even a second earlier, the Clan had been in.
When they had left, the sun had just begun fading, but now, it was pitch black outside. This further confused the clan. Just what had happened with that single flash of light?
Inside of the Burrow, a meeting was occuring. The Order of the Phoenix was gathered around the family room of Arthur and Molly Weasley, discussing urgent topics.
"Has anyone heard from Harry, Ron, or Hermione?" came the rough voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt. His tall frame was sunken into the couch in the room, which normally would have been cozy had it not been for the severity of the conversation.
With a helpless look, Molly answered the man with a negative. It had been nearly a month since she had seen her youngest son or heard from him. The clock which contained the names of every member of the Weasley family was of no help. The hand with Ron's face on it was constantly pointed to "mortal peril".
Upstairs, with an Extendable Ear, Ginny Weasley was listening in on the Order's conversation. She was angry that she wasn't allowed in the meeting, deemed "too young for this sort of talk" by her mother. She wasn't too young. After all, it was her brother that was out there fighting for his life, alongside her boyfriend, or at least she hoped he was still her boyfriend, and her future sister-in-law, although Ron and Hermione were still too dense to realize that much. They were all only a year older than her, and they were constantly on the battlefield. They had been since they were eleven. She wasn't too young.
Her anger at the situation quickly evaporated, replaced with fear at the bright light that she had just seen coming from fifty meters away. Hurriedly she dropped the Extendable Ears and raced down to inform the Order.
"Ginevra Weasley, what exactly do you think you're doing down here? I thought I tol-" Molly began but was stopped when Ginny's face revealed her fear.
"Mum. Someone's here. I just saw a bright light in front of the house." Ginny explained, fear creeping down her spine.
Hearing this, the Order rushed into action. Ginny was ushered into a closet to hide, although she was told to be prepared to run as fast as she could. Arthur, Kingsley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, and Molly all prepared for a fight.
A fight, however, is not what came. Whatever it was the Order expected when they opened the door to the Burrow, it certainly wasn't a large group of horrified looking children, the oldest of which looked about to knock on the door.
"Who are you?" Bill Weasley asked. The group of teenagers looked around at each other, unsure of what it was they were meant to say.
"Um… Da-... I mean, sir. My name is Tori. And well, we've all got quite the story, and we'll answer your questions in a moment, but we were wondering if you could answer our question first." Victoire spoke quickly, avoiding her father's much younger face.
"And what exactly would that question be?" Charlie spoke up from behind his older brother.
"Yes, um… when, exactly, are we?" Victoire asked, as the rest of her family looked on at the people whose faces they knew so well but who looked so different.
The question had certainly caught the Order off-guard. It was a well-known fact that all Time Turners were under strict surveillance by the Ministry for Magic, which meant they were under strict surveillance from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. There was no possible way for the group of teens to be time travelers. It was a crazy idea. But even though it was crazy, the Order still had to take it into consideration.
Excusing himself, Bill quickly slammed the door in the Clan's face, knowing that the Order would need to discuss before they allowed the strangers to come into the Burrow. Ginny, having heard the door close, left her hiding spot and joined the Order in the family room once more. Molly, disconcerted by the amount of red hair that was in the group of teenagers, as well as the uncanny resemblance between many of them, did not tell Ginny that she was too young this time.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Charlie asked. He, too, had seen the amount of, well, Weasley red, in the group and was equally as shocked as his mother. "Should we really believe that they're time travelers?"
Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the few that had failed to notice the Weasley-ness of the group of teens outside, likely because he'd been too far back to see it, replied hastily, "I don't want to believe them. It's insane to even think that we should believe them. However, I also don't want to turn my back on anyone who may be in danger."
Everyone around the room agreed. Ginny, looking to prove that she was of value, spoke up, "Don't you have any Veritaserum, Mr. Shacklebolt? I mean… I know it's dangerous, but is it not worth it to ensure that we don't put ourselves or anyone into harm's way?"
The adults around the room looked at Ginny. They had all considered the Veritaserum as well, but no one dared to bring it up.
Eventually, Bill looked at his baby sister, far too young to be worried about a war, and then looked to Kingsley. "She's right, Kingsley. The only way we can be sure that everyone is safe is to use Veritaserum."
Kingsley nodded, knowing it would likely come to this. "Alright. Let's go get them, then. We'll each interrogate a few of them, as it is quite a large group. I say we ask them their names and ages. And then we ask if they're in league with You-Know-Who."
Agreeing on those terms, the Order stood up to greet their time traveling visitors once again.
Scorpius Malfoy was scared. He had every right to be. Although he was not like his father was in his teenage years, the same could not be said for his appearance. Scorpius Malfoy was the spitting image of his father, and surely the Order would see that and Avada him on the spot. Or something like that. He wasn't quite sure if the Order ever actually killed people, but he was sure that they wouldn't mind.
Bill had answered Tori's question before he slammed the door in their faces. "1997" he had said. 1997. One prank-gone-wrong and the Clan had landed themselves right in the middle of a bloody war. No wonder the adults had looked ready for a fight when the door had opened.
Scorpius was vaguely aware of the people standing around him, discussing what it was they should do.
"Surely we can't tell them our actual names. Wouldn't that mess up some form of the space-time continuum or something, right?" Jamie Potter was talking. Nobody had forgotten that it was partially his fault, along with Frankie and Freddie, that they were here in the first place, but the matter at hand was far more important. What were they going to do?
"I'm with Jamie on this one. I don't know about you all, but I know as soon as the word 'Malfoy' escapes my lips, they'll kill me on the spot." Scorpius jumped into the conversation. He and Jamie did not agree on most things, for no reason other than they were just two completely different people, but he did not like the idea of an early death. Not at 17. He had just been accepted into St. Mungo's training program, after all.
"I don't know, Scor" This was Lily Potter. The youngest Potter differed from her two brothers in many ways. Sure, she was a girl, and that's a significant difference, but she was also the only one of the three to inherit the distinguished Weasley red hair. She was also far calmer than either of her brothers, especially Jamie, and had a way with words that would make anyone do just about anything for her. Scorpius thought of her as his own sister, even though the two were not related, and she shared the sentiment. "If we don't tell the truth, and they discover we've lied to them, I'd hate to see what happens. We need them to trust us, and the only way to gain a person's trust is to be truthful."
Lily Potter was right. She was almost always right, which was rather frustrating for the Clan, but their frustrations were quickly forgotten when her sage advice helped them out. It was no different in this case when the door to the Burrow was reopened, and Bill Weasley stepped out.
"Alright, you all. We've decided we can't trust you yet, but we've also decided that we can't leave you out here if someone were to come after you. So we've elected to use Veritaserum on you all to make sure that your facts check out. Afterwards, well, I'm not sure, but this is the only shot you all get, so don't screw it up."
With that, Bill allowed the Clan inside the Burrow, and the interrogation process began.
The interrogation went with few hiccups. Of course, when the idea that the time travelers were, in fact, Weasleys was revealed, it took Molly a while to calm down when she discovered just how many grandchildren she would receive. The Order decided not to ask who the parents of each child were, as they didn't want too much to be given away, but Ginny noticeably stiffened when the three Potter children were introduced, especially Lily, as the girl was a carbon copy of her mother.
The interrogation of Scorpius Malfoy was also quite eventful, as, of course, the Order only knew the Malfoys to be evil scumbags, which at the time was entirely true. However, when Scorpius answered that he was not, in fact, working with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, the Order could not throw him out, although they did warn that they would be watching him for any funny business.
After the interrogations were over, Molly, still enthralled by the idea that she would one day have twelve grandchildren, sent the teens to bed upstairs in the newly transfigured beds she had magic'd up, and the Order members settled down once again in the family room of the Burrow.
"I'm still not entirely sure I know what to do with this information." Bill Weasley began. He, too, was enticed by the idea that some of these children may in fact be the result of the love between he and his new wife, Fleur, who was certainly waiting up for him back at Shell Cottage.
The rest of the Order nodded their heads, but Charlie couldn't help but take the mickey out of his brother, "Surely you would know which ones are yours, eh, Billy? I mean, I suppose it would be the three with the French names. You know, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis? That would make sense, wouldn't it?"
Bill smiled. He had considered those three to look a lot like Fleur and himself. However, Dominique, or Nix, as she had called herself, had bright purple hair, and he couldn't imagine Fleur to allow that.
"As delightful as this is, what are we to do with them?" Kingsley spoke up. "After all, we can't just have nineteen children in the Burrow. It wouldn't be fair on you, Molly."
Although Molly said she would be delighted to get to know her future family, Arthur spoke against it. "Molly-Wobbles. As much as I, too, would love to be able to get to know these kids, we can't keep up with nineteen of them. It's just not safe enough here. There's too many."
The Order all agreed on this. "So what will we do with them, then?" Remus asked. He was slightly disappointed that none of the children had been named Lupin, as Nymphadora had recently been quite ill, and he was hoping that she may have a child on the way, although that thought scared him, too, as he feared that any child of his would be cursed by his ailment.
Tonks, seemingly hearing Remus's thoughts, reached up and grabbed his hand from where she was sitting on the couch. "I think I may have an idea, although it is a crazy one."
The Order looked at her expectantly. Any idea was a good one at this point.
"Well, there's a room Ginny told me about. It's called the Room of Requirement. At Hogwarts."
Ginny, who was still reeling about the fact that she and Harry may end up married after all of this is over, looked up from the chair she was lounged in when she heard her name. "Yes. The Room of Requirement. That's a great idea, Tonks!"
After discussing it, they decided that Ginny would need to go to the Room of Requirement and set up a Floo connection with the Burrow. The connection would be untraceable, and the teenagers could easily slip into Hogwarts unnoticed.
After nearly everyone had left or gone to bed, it was just Molly and Arthur sitting in the family room.
"You know, Arthur. These children showing up here, they've given us something I thought we'd never have again." Molly began, thinking about the nineteen children fast asleep upstairs.
Arthur looked over to his wife, wondering what exactly she was talking about. "What is it they've given us, darling?" He asked.
Molly looked up and smiled. "Hope."