A loud crash of thunder rocked the castle causing bits of brick to crumble over the sides jolting Harry and Luna awake. Sitting up Luna glanced about the room confused before she cursed and jumped up getting tangled in the sheets which made Harry growl at her for disturbing him as she sprinted out of the room. Moving quickly she made it to the castle doors pushed them open and let out frustrated scream at the sight.
Rain, so much rain and the sky is pitch black which masked any idea of what time it was and the ground looks so soggy that, she's wasn't sure and she didn't want to test it, but it looked as if Luna would just sink down and get stuck.
"You've got to be kidding me." Luna took out her wand from a pocket in her footie pajamas and cast the tempus charm.
The bright digits in the air indicate that it's nine o'clock in the morning and she stomped her foot angrily before pivoting and stalking back towards the common room to wake Harry up.
As soon as she saw Harry still asleep she walked over to him cast Levicorpus on him. He screamed as he was dangled upside down completely unprepared for the assault on his person.
"Luna what the hell?" he asked starting to feel the blood rush to his head far quicker than should be possible.
"Oh I'm sorry is it still nap time, I thought we had a problem we need to fix!" she yelled at him hating that the plans she had laid out had to be altered.
She sighed canceling the spell and let Harry drop back down where he landed on his head before he looked up at her more ragged looking than usual.
Harry just glared at her and raised an eyebrow when she didn't get that he wanted to know what the huge problem is.
"It's raining." she said as if it's the most obvious thing on the planet," and we needed the sun and non soggy ground in order to do the ritual to go back."
"oh" he said understanding a bit more why she was so grumpy, "so we just move it back a day that's all, right?"
"Yes it should still work tomorrow," she conceded, she had just really wanted to do it all ready that's all.
Luna strode over to Harry and laid across his lap getting comfy, while he just eyed her contemplatively but decided she must've just be upset by the set back and laid back with her still in his lap.
"Sooooo," he yawned after a while, "I think we should actually come up with a set of goals to accomplish when we go back don't you?"
Luna huffed," Okay, what do you want to do?" she inquired.
"uuuhhh," Harry summoned an empty note book and pen, "okay lets start from the begging on all the things we need to change and prevent." he said as he opened the pad and sat up shoving her off his lap gently.
Luna stared at the ceiling after getting comfy again, "Well I should mention that I have no idea how far we will actually be sent back, but it should be at least just before we went on our trip." she stated feeling as if she should have mentioned that earlier and wondering why she hadn't.
"So that means we only have the ability to deal with everything after Voldy Mort attacked Hogwarts." Harry recited as he wrote that down.
"Which means we have to break in to the orphanage that Tom grew up in and steal the extra Horcrux he made and hid underneath the floor boards of his old room," she scowled "which I think is a complete waste of perfectly good teddy bear, like seriously what kind of a monster is he?" she asked tearfully.
Harry stroked her hair," I know sweetie he is a big bad ugly monster." he cooed at Luna before going back to writing.
"Then we need to find out who released Grindelwald from Nurmerngard." Luna finished sadly just thinking about it.
Harry paused pen poised to write but unable to because all he could see was the destruction they had all been unprepared for just a few months after the final battle.
His hand gripped the pen harder, he hated how they all failed, hated how he wasn't there to protect them.
Luna and Harry had been off looking for a new creature she had come across and he had gone with because she had forced him to go saying that the nargles were putting to much strain on him and he needed to leave for a while. So he had left a note with the Weasley's saying that he was going to be off with Luna leaving out where they had been going not wanting to be followed or pestered to come back.
He hated that they weren't anywhere near home otherwise they might of heard the news sooner, but they had been in the middle of the Indian Ocean far away from anyone. They had come back after six months empty handed to find the Burrow gone the only things left being broken wood and ash. From there they had gone Hogwarts only to find it abandoned and not understanding what had happened and freaking out they had raced inside trying to find anyone.
Nothing, it had been empty, not a single person anywhere but oddly everyone's possessions where left scattered in dorms and the Great hall had decaying food strewn all about the place. Thinking the worst they had gone up to the Headmasters office to find any clues, professor McGonagall maybe, but all they found was a clean room and empty desk. There was however a new portrait, and it was of the woman they had been hoping to find.
It was there they'd learned what had happened, someone, they still don't know who, had released Grindelwald who had immediately set about picking up Voldemort's old followers. From there he had done dozens of strike attacks on those in the face of the light starting with McGonagall, then the Weasley's leaving no survivor's. Picking people off one by one striking fear in to every last person and killing all those who defied him before moving out and taking over every country on the planet.
The worst part though was that he only ruled for all of five minutes when Voldemort appeared killing Grindelwald. Apparently he'd made another Horcrux, and the only reason they knew what and where it was is because it was the last thing Hermione had told to McGonagall's portrait before she had died.
The world had been taken over in only six months and they hadn't even noticed, but considering they'd only stuck to the wizarding world thus far it was understandable they hadn't noticed. He hated that all this happened, that all of their friends had died while they had been on an extended fishing trip.
Plus when they had tried to leave to immediately find out how to fix things McGonagall had stopped them telling them of a way to solve it easily. It had been so simple just go to the heart of the castle and it would fix everything, all they had to do was link their magic to the building and learn the way to save the world from some secret measure the founders had set up. Harry liked to think that had they not been so distraught they might have been able to see the look on her face, because when they had done what they were told the only thing that happened was that they could no longer leave the castle, she had virtually trapped them forever.
They had screamed and begged to know how to be released but she had said with how old the castle is, one if not both of them would have died in the process, but she said to look on the bright side that they could at least leave the castle for a few hours each day. However they would always be pulled back. She had said it was the only way to stop them from getting killed, that even though she was nothing but a painting there was no way she would have lived through it. Since that day they have still not spoken to her portrait and instead dedicated their time to finding ways to be released and staying out of the way while helping as much as they could protecting people. They also tried to blend in with the muggles as much as possible whenever they left, picking up much of the culture as they could from music to political figures thinking it could be useful to protect them all from wizards, and visa versa with wizards as much as they could.
They had spent years looking for ways but never found anything, and it was only when Grindelwald started to attack and destroy the muggle world to in 2040 that Luna had got the idea to find a way to go back far enough in time to be able to fix everything. So they set out on the journey to figure out how to travel back in time, content that with the castles wards masking them from the world they could spend as much time as needed to find a way. Even though it took until 2046 to find the answer it's not like they had many other options besides wait until they died from old age.
"Harry?" Luna asked bringing him out of his thoughts.
He looked down at her wondering when she had moved on to her stomach, and laid back again and closed his eyes.
Luna sighed and waited for him to stop his pity party knowing to give him a couple minutes to gather himself.
"Well aren't you a happy looking pair I almost hate to interrupt." a voice casually said from the entrance to the common room.
They both jolted into action standing up and pulling out there wands only to have them fly from their hands to the intruder who was the last person they expected to see because she was dead. There she stood though alive and well against all odds, Ginevra Weasley.
"What you look so surprised to see me, I mean it's been a while but jeez." she purred as she gave them a vicious grin.
She waved her wand and shot at them and bound them together in place unable to move as she stalked towards them
Ginny bared her teeth at them," Merlin you two have slow reflexes, but considering how long you've been here of course you've gone soft," she poked his stomach and he tried to flinch away but couldn't.
Luna had a million questions but the only ones that cam out were "Why? How?" whispered so brokenly she had wanted to kick her self.
"Why?" Ginny asked as she peered at her, "Well I don't think you should get an explanation, after all my family certainly didn't as me and Justin burned done the burrow with all them inside. "she said while turning back to Harry.
"Justin?" He croaked, "As in-"
"Yes me," the voice of Justin Finch-Fletchy answered as he pranced into the room and up to Ginny's left side where he then kissed her on the cheek, "Don't forget that we said we'd finish them off together Gin."
"I don't-" Harry tried to say but Justin silenced them both.
"Well Harry dear old friend you'd like an explanation right?" he asked mockingly, "The run down I suppose is you killed my father and I have been extracting as much revenge on the world as a can since."
He saw their confused eyes and grinned while Ginny giggled next to him.
"Well you see my father was one Tom Riddle, and yes I know that makes no sense you're a muggle-born, but really it makes the most sense because when you got rid of my dad the first time they had to hide me." Justin moved forward into Harry's personal space and only stopped when their noses were just barely touching.
He took a moment to take in the surprise and bits of betrayal that he could see in his eyes.
He continued in a whisper, "A couple of Father's pet Death eaters hid themselves as muggles, and they raised me knowing my role as the Dark Lords heir while keeping me safely hidden away so that I could one day return him to power which I obviously succeed in doing. "He finishes proudly organizing out his imperiously made pitch black robes before spinning towards Ginny and took her into his arms.
He leered at her bumping there noses together which made her giggle again," I found this little minx during our second year casting dark curses on a bunch of animals in the forest and she's been helping me with my goals ever since," he moaned looking lovingly at her before he glanced back at the two that they had tied up, "you know like releasing Grindelwald, resurrecting my father, and even getting your godfather killed Harry." Justin stated as he caught eye contact with Harry and as he saw the fire in those bright green eyes he felt deliciously happy.
Ginny stepped in at that point ,"Also did you actually think no one knew you were here, I mean come on why would this place be abandoned if it was so safe, we only left because we saw that you couldn't leave, "she points out, "It was very funny, but we agreed to step in since you've figured out a way to stop this by traveling back in time, were here to kill you," she said looking mildly sad.
The look left her face a second later though, "We don't want to kill you honestly your our favorite form of entertainment I mean we even cursed your brains to make them move slower and contaminated your food and water, but you still figured it out and you've finally become a liability."
Justin hummed in agreement," We have no room left for your games, we've been running this show for so long that it's come to the point where we can't risk you ruining all of our hard work."
So Ginny and Justin raised the wands and simultaneously cast the killing curse at them and the world went from green to black.