Chapter 4: The Portkey? The Time Turner? The…?

Lily

Lily was the last of them to leave the Room of Requirement. Al and James were constantly making fun of her for being so slow (well it was mostly James but Al was reluctant to do anything his brother didn't) She couldn't help that she was much faster in the air than on land. Her father had always remarked that she reminded him of another seeker with slow footing but excellent flying skills. Lily had always assumed that this was a veiled remark and that he was referring to himself but then she remembered her father outrunning her Uncle Ron to the last treacle tart at their family picnic a few summer's ago.

Everyone had already turned the corner when Lily came out onto the corridor. Damn, she cursed internally. She had no idea which way they went. How could she not hear James' loud prattling or Hugo's huge feet? Lily made the quick decision and turned left. Her family had gone right.

She walked down the hall and then stopped when she saw a window splaying beams of sunlight onto the stone floor. It was most definitely night time. In fact hadn't even been midnight when she left the ball.

Lily wondered if she was still in the Room of Requirement. She looked out the window and saw that at least she was still at Hogwarts. In fact this window seemed to follow along the outer stone wall to….

The Gryffindor common room! Maybe that's where everyone went? It was better than nothing and since Lily couldn't find an explanation for why it was suddenly daylight, she headed there. Maybe she was delusional. A good nap would probably help.

When she rounded the corner she saw a girl standing in front of the Fat Lady. She was tapping her foot impatiently and Lily noticed she wasn't in her dress robes. In fact, she had never seen this girl before in her life even though she looked to be about her age.

"Hurry up! I'd like to get to breakfast before everyone else starts filing in," She sniffed as though upset at the thought of other people intruding on her meal. So Lily wasn't delusional, it really was morning. But they hadn't spent that much time in the Room of Requirement. Did time move differently there? She made it a point to ask James. He seemed to be in there constantly.

"Hold your hippogriffs I'm coming!" A voice replied Lily felt a wave of shock run through her. That voice was familiar.

Another girl exited the portrait hole and joined her friend. She had long red hair and Lily distinctly noted a gold G on her red jumper. Lily swayed on the spot. This couldn't be possible. She went back to the delusions idea. Maybe she fell asleep in the Room and now she was dreaming? Yes, that had to be it. There was no other explanation.

It wasn't easy to fool Lily. She held her ground on everything and rarely did she believe something without getting all of the facts. Her calm rationality stood in stark contrast to James' "act first, think later" attitude and Al's "well, if everyone else is doing it" motif. There was simply no way to justify why a girl who looked like and spoke like her mother was standing in front of her. Ginny Potter was 40 not 13.

Lily wondered if pinching herself would help. It didn't. Scowling in pain, she listened to the conversation and wondered if maybe she had taken one of Uncle George's daydream charms. He did say they were pinch-proof.

"Really Elaine its 8 in the morning. And its Christmas. I doubt it will be packed," the Ginny look-alike said with a yawn.

Lily was intent to study everything about her appearance. Already noting the jumper, which looking suspiciously like a Nana Molly jumper, she focused on other features. Her mother was not petite (well compared to Uncle Ron she was) but this Ginny did seem a lot smaller. And Lily just knew it was her when she looked at her watch. It was small and gold and looked very new. The watch she knew was burnished and the glass was cracked.

"Is that a new watch?" Elaine asked, although she seemed preoccupied with edging towards the stairs and hoping Ginny would follow her.

"Yeah, Fred got it for me. I didn't even know he had the money for it. He did say he bought it in the summer," Ginny said thoughtfully.

Lily already knew this of course. That was why her mother never got a new watch, even when the glass was irreparable and the wristband was prone to falling off at any moment.

"Well let's head down shall we," Elaine was now on the steps. Ginny looked up from admiring the watch and promptly followed her friend down the stairs.

Lily was definitely going to have to tell Uncle George about this. This was so realistic and it seemed to have transported her to a time where she didn't even exist. Imagine the possibilities of time traveling day dreams.

Comforted by this thought, Lily walked back down the corridor. Suddenly, she bumped into something. She assumed it was a suit of amour but she looked up and saw it was a man. Startled she jumped backwards.

"Hello. Are you lost?" His voice was warm and Lily saw his eyes glint with amusement. Noting the long silver beard and the half moon glasses, she knew who this must be, although she had never met him before. Her brother was named after him, after all.

"Happy Christmas Professor Dumbledore!" Lily said cheerfully. Well if this was a dream, she might as well enjoy it. Interact with the people in it and such.

Dumbledore looked perplexed. "Ah, Happy Christmas to you to Miss…" his voice trailed off.

Lily promptly finished the thought, "Potter. Lily Potter" she beamed.

Now it was the Professor's turn to be startled. He jumped back, and seemed visibly anguished. That was a strange reaction, Lily thought, He must not know he's in my dream.

"Miss….Potter? How…You're here….but you are so young?" Dumbledore seemed lost in his own thoughts. Lily frowned.

"I'm thirteen, that's not so young," She pouted. Then she realized how childish that made her sound.

"Are you sure you are Lily Potter?" He asked gravely. Lily stared.

"Um, yes, Professor. That's my name," Shouldn't they be talking about the twelve uses of dragon's blood or all the trouble her father got into at school? Maybe these time travel day dreams were too realistic.

"You're not Lily Evans?" Dumbledore asked. Lily was surprised to here some desperation in his voice.

"No sir. Lily Evans was my grandmother," she said carefully. Dumbledore turned white. He began mumbling to himself and Lily could hardly hear anything he was saying. She managed to hear "prophecy" and "I was wrong." Before Dumbledore straightened up and the twinkle in his eye returned.

"Ah yes, well then I think the next logical question would be, what year is it?" He asked. His voice was calm but Lily could sense urgency in the tone.

"Well, I think that this is, er" Lily thought to how old her mother looked and took a guess, "1993?"

"It is in fact 1994. But that is not what I am asking." Dumbledore said in a jaunty tone. Lily looked very confused. "I meant to ask, what year are you from my dear."

"Oh" Lily said, her smile returning. "2021" Dumbledore couldn't hide his shock. He seemed to be examining every inch of her, from her fiery red hair down to her pale pink robes.

"And are you accompanied by any one. Your…parents perhaps?" Dumbledore seemed to carefully weigh his words. Lily wondered why he seemed so shocked by the fact that she had parents. Didn't he know her father well? Isn't that why Al was named after him?

"Well the last thing I remember was standing in the Room of Requirement with, well…everyone," she finished lamely. Dumbledore frowned at the phrase "Room of Requirement."

"This room you were in, does it exist in Hogwarts?" he asked puzzled. Lily was very confused now. She could have sworn her father mention that Professor Dumbledore was the first person to tell him about the room. How could he not know that it was in Hogwarts?

"Yes. It appears on the seventh floor corridor. Right around here in fact," Lily said.

"And you believe this room brought you here…back in time?" Dumbledore was contemplating this new discovery. Lily was now anxious. Weren't the day dreams supposed to be fun and silly. This Dumbledore was far too grave to exist in her dream. But if it wasn't a dream…

"Oi, Lily! There you are!"

Lily spun around and saw James leading the rest of her cousins plus Teddy and Scorpius. They were all wearing the same clothes they had been wearing at the ball, just like her. Well that settles it, Lily grimaced, I would never include James in my day dream.

Dumbledore examined the new comers with a wary look. Then he spoke, "I see that you have quite a large party. Would you all perhaps like to step into my office. I wonder if we could sort out this predicament," He quickly moved down the corridor.

James gave Lily a look of astonishment as he watched Albus Dumbledore walk down the corridor. Lily just shrugged and hurried to keep up with the old man.

Freddie

"Now that we are all settled could someone please explain to me how you have ended up here?" Professor Dumbledore asked politely. Rose volunteered and started to spout off the whole tale, starting with the Yule Ball and ending with the daylight discovery.

Freddie slumped down in his seat, not listening to his cousin. He examined the room full of strange devices and decided that Dumbledore must have indeed been off his rocker. He was sucking on a sherbet lemon, that had to tell you how eccentric this old man was.

He couldn't say he was happy to be in the past. He had heard Dominique whisper excitedly to his sister that she couldn't wait to see how her mother looked at seventeen. James was spouting off, as per usual, about how he might get to meet one of his namesakes, the infamous Sirius Black when Scorpius shrewdly reminded him that he was on the run at this point in time. Of course, Teddy seemed dazed. He had the most to gain: meeting the two parents who had died before he ever had a chance to know them.

Freddie remained silently during this excited talk. Lily had asked him as they were walking down to Professor Dumbledore's office who he was excited to see. Luckily Hugo butted in how he couldn't wait to see his father and Freddie didn't have to answer. Because truthfully the answer would have been no one, although Lily would have expected him to name someone in particular.

What could he say, that he was as excited as James to meet his dead namesake? He had it a thousand times worse than James would ever know. Sure there was some sadness associated with James, Lily and Albus but not nearly to the extent there was with Freddie. It was why he insisted on Freddie; Fred Weasley was dead but Freddie Weasley wasn't.

Of course now he wasn't dead. He and his father were alive, probably causing some sort of mischief as they sat here in Dumbledore's office. Freddie wasn't happy at the thought of seeing his father either. He would be too exuberant, too happy. He didn't like to see his father upset but he had become accustomed to the tight smiles and the wary jokes.

Everyone always assumed he loved being Fred because he and James pulled as many pranks as they possibly could. James was his best friend, yet even he didn't understand Freddie. James pulled pranks because he enjoyed making people laugh (or making them upset); Freddie pulled pranks because of some desire to stand out. The more destructive the better. Maybe one day he would cause so much damage that people would stop seeing him as a comedic genius and start seeing him as a delinquent who should be punished far more severely than he ever was.

When Rose concluded her tale, Freddie looked up to see Professor Dumbledore's reaction. He seemed to be weighing the options, whatever those might be. Finally he came to a conclusion.

"So you have no idea what might have occurred in the room to send you back in time?" They all shook their head. Freddie noticed that Teddy's was more vehement than the others.

"Then I think the best option would be for you all to return to the room. Perhaps it can provide you with a way back?" Freddie frowned. The most clever wizard of the age couldn't figure out how they had done it so how were they?

"So then we're just going to go back?" James asked. He seemed quite put out.

Dumbledore chuckled at the expression on his face. "It's remarkable how prominent genes can be. I clearly remember seeing this look from your grandfather after I had to cancel a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin." James perked up at being compared to his grandfather. Freddie wouldn't have been so happy to be compared to a dead man.

"Professor Dumbledore…sir?" A small voice piped up and Freddie saw Rose was timidly trying to get the current Headmaster's attention. She was obviously in awe of the man. Freddie liked him well enough but thinking back to the sherbet lemons he couldn't help but think the man was only human.

"Why yes Miss Weasley" Dumbledore knotted his fingers and politely turned to her. She blushed.

"Is there any way we could stay here? Maybe for a couple of hours. We wouldn't interfere, it would just be observation…" she trailed off. Freddie thought this would be the best time to speak up.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Rose. What if we mess up something and change the events of the future," he pointed out. Everyone looked at him and he saw Roxanne give him a bemused look. Freddie was very prone to causing mischief but rarely did he ever voice an opinion on anything. In fact he was so quite people were shocked to learn of all the trouble he got up to at school.

"I believe that Mr. Weasley….er…." Dumbledore seemed at a loss to remember his name. Considering they had all bombarded him with their names at the first opportunity, he couldn't say he was surprised.

"Freddie." He said and Dumbledore nodded. Freddie was grateful he didn't mention his uncle as he had mentioned James' grandfather.

"Yes well, Freddie is correct. I'm sure you would all love to see what your parents were like at your age," He said with a small smile, "But I cannot allow you to remain here much longer. I'm afraid I've already learned too much about the future already." His last words seemed to echo through Freddie's head. If only he knew that in a little over two years he would be dead.

"Of course we understand Professor Dumbledore," Lucy said in a very prompt tone. She was always the most rational one, if a bit on the sarcastic side.

They made their way out of the office in twos, as not to attract too much attention. Freddie ended up with his sister.

"Oh Freddie wouldn't it have been great to see dad and mum and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny and Uncle Bill…" she rattled off the names.

"Roxy Uncle Bill wasn't at Hogwarts during the Yule Ball," he pointed out. Roxanne gave him a look that screamed, don't ruin my fun.

"Yes, but he was at the Three Broomsticks with Uncle Charlie and Teddy's mum!" she exclaimed. Freddie raised an eyebrow. How on earth had she found that out?

She answered his question immediately, "They carved their names into the bar along with the date. I didn't think Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie would do that. It seemed like something Dad and Uncle Fred would have done. Oh! We could have seen Uncle Fred! Wouldn't that have been great Freddie?" she beamed.

Freddie resisted the urge to yell at her. She didn't understand. Headmistress McGonagall never gave her a look of sheer pity when she ended up in her office. Dad never gave her a sorrowful look when she thought he wasn't looking. Nana Molly didn't randomly burst into tears when she said her name.

"Yeah, that would have been," he said through gritted teeth. Roxanne didn't seem to notice.

Sometimes Freddie thought that if he could just give her a little peace, he would be doing his job as a big brother. He didn't even get mad when she said she was taking Scorpius to the ball. What kind of brother doesn't get upset when his sister goes out with a Malfoy? Since Hugo seemed preoccupied with that Krum girl at the moment, Freddie wondered what his reaction would be to Scorpius dating his sister.

Freddie's train of thought was interrupted when he heard a sound coming from down the corridor. He turned to his left and thought he saw a figure moving in the shadows.

"Hello?" he called. Roxanne looked at him and he shook his head as though to say it was nothing. But it wasn't. Freddie thought he heard the clunk of something wooden against the stone floor. He walked with Roxanne down the rest of the hall but if he had turned once more he would have noticed a large electric blue eye, clearly visible from the shadows, following their every move.

Molly

Molly loved detective stories. She lived for a good mystery and lucky for her she had stumbled into one.

When they reached the Room of Requirement they found that the pseudo-infirmary was still intact, although the room had become substantially bigger. Molly noticed that their seemed to be a few large wardrobes and comfy arm chairs added to the room. She watched as her cousins examined the new furniture and turned her eyes toward the wall.

There it was. The spilt potion that Teddy had wandlessly smashed. She examined it closely. It seemed to be an ordinary Calming Drought. She saw that the stains on the walls were the same purple color and that the shattered glass remained on the floor just as it had fallen.

"What are you doing?" Molly spun around and saw Dominique was eyeing her with interest.

"Checking for clues," she said happily. Dominique sighed.

"Moll this was obviously some fluke. Do you really think that the room decided to magic us here on purpose?" She asked frowning. Molly shook her head.

"No, I don't think that the room can do that. But I did remember that in the Case of the Twisted Time Turner…"

"Oh, that book is just fiction Molly. None of that stuff is accurate. It's just rubbish written to entertain" Al scoffed from the corner. Molly glared at him.

"It's not rubbish. The Umbert Ulley, Ultra Unspeakable novels are incrediblely insightful," Molly sniffed. Al just shrugged, thoroughly unconvinced.

"Al might have a point though Molly. This isn't a detective novel. Besides there wasn't even a time turner in the room." Dominique pointed out.

"Wait, what's a time turner?" Hugo asked.

"It's like a little hour glass that turns back time but they don't even exist, E.N. Gerwig must have made them up." Rose answered for him.

Molly frowned. "That's not what I was going to say. In that case, Umbert had to narrow down all the time travel possibilities before he found the rare time turner."

"So what were the possibilities then?" Dominique asked.

"Well there was the Counter-Clockwise Clock…but we didn't have one of those…"

"Because they also don't exist…" Rose pointed out. Molly ignored her.

"Maybe it was a portkey!" Lily said. She seemed pleased at the idea but Molly shook her head.

"No, Umbert ruled that one out too. Portkeys are limited to manipulating space, not time."

"Well then, it could have been a potion. There are some over here," Scorpius pointed out.

"But we would have all had to drink the potion. Beside the Reversing potion is extremely rare and only sends you back minutes, not years." Molly said helplessly.

No one seemed to have any more solutions so they sat in silence. Molly paced around the room, hoping there would be something to get her on the right track. Her first chance to solve a mystery like Umbert Ulley and she was already failing miserably.

She remembered when her father bought her the books. It was her ninth Christmas and he said that a co-worker had been raving about them. They were the most popular books in the wizarding world and they appealed to both children and adults. It was the best gift she had ever gotten. Her dad had introduced her to them and she loved him for it.

Later she found out that her mother had convinced her father to give them to her. This made sense now of course. Molly wasn't nearly the daddy's girl that she had once been. No, she let Lucy fill in that role. She had far too much fun causing mischief with the boys to care what her father thought.

Her relationship with her father wasn't the best. He seemed to want to be there for her and Lucy but he was constantly busy with his job at the Ministry. Molly resented that the Ministry kept him away from her but she knew deep down that his political ambition trumped his love of family. And it always had.

Her father had no idea that she knew about the falling out. In fact, she and Victoire may be the only ones who knew about it. They had overheard their parents talking once, mentioning how Percy hadn't been at Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's wedding. When Molly asked her mum about it, she broke down and told her but she was sworn to secretly not to tell Lucy or her father that she knew.

Ever since then her opinion of her father grew less and less. She couldn't understand how he and Uncle George could laugh over tales at the joke shop or how he and Uncle Harry could discuss International affairs (although Molly felt that Uncle Harry was just putting up with the conversation because Percy was his brother-in-law) After everything, how could Nana Molly embrace him? How could Grandad chat excitedly over confiscated magic lamps and her father joke about genies when there had once been such a great divide between them?

It was no wonder Molly lashed out. She knew Freddie liked to do the same, although he had no idea that she knew about it. Sometimes in such a large family, acting out was the only way to stand out. Especially when you were constantly playing against each other in Quidditch.

Above all, Molly could act out but never hate her father, never resent her family. She was loyal to the Weasley name, loyal to the red hair that she had inherited. She guessed that those were the marks of a good Hufflepuff. Though sometimes she felt that she was far more of a Slytherin than Al was. Although his snark over Umbert Ulley didn't seem out of place for the serpent house.

Then it hit Molly like a speeding bludger she worked so hard to avoid.

"I think I've figured it out. It's a spell!' She exclaimed. They all looked at her. All except Teddy. He was deliberately avoiding her eyes. She would have to get to that mystery later.

"What? How?" a few voices called out, Al prominent among them.

"It's a Time Bonding spell. Umbert thought this was what was causing the disappearance…well until he found Veritan with the time turner…"

"Oi, just tell us what a bloody Time Bonding spell is!" Freddie exclaimed. Roxanne hit him on the shoulder for being rude.

"It's a really powerful spell that transports a person and their surroundings to a moment in time that is special to them. It can be any moment, even a time before they were born."

"How could a time before you were born be special to you?" James scoffed.

"it's all connected to emotion. If the people or places you are most connected to are in that time then you'll go there. The thing is you can't control when you go. Wherever you perform the spell is where you'll end up, but you won't know how many years or months or days you've gone back in time."

"That seems so complex," Rose said. Molly nodded.

"It requires a lot of magical energy. But it's funny, it's kind of like the Cruciatus curse."

"How?" Scorpius asked flatly.

"You have to mean it. The spell is fueled by magical competence but also by emotion. The more emotion you pour into it, the more you can bring into the past with you.

"Like thirteen other people?" Dominique said, catching on.

"Yes, so I guess one of us must have cast the spell," Molly said.

"But we wouldn't even know the incantation. We haven' even heard of this spell til now," Rose said, halting the theory. Molly frowned.

"I guess you're right. But I think that the intention could potentially be enough to send you through time."

"Well if that were the case, then we would never know who cast it," Scorpius said logically.

"If what Miss Weasley says is true, then there is only one solution."

Everyone turned around. They didn't hear Professor Dumbledore return to the room.

"What would that be Professor?" Molly asked, happy to see he believed her.

"The only way to reverse the spell would be to find what you set out to find." Dumbledore said.

"You mean the person or place that your connected to?" Molly asked. Dumbledore nodded.

"Although in this case, I find that it may not be a single person but people. People you want to get to know, specifically at a time in their lives relevant to a time in yours." Dumbledore said quietly and Molly understood.

"You want us to find our parents,"

"Yes, or another loved one" Dumbledore added.

"But you said we shouldn't meddle with time Professor," Rose pointed out.

"In this case the spell is meant to clarify matters of the heart. Which means it does no lasting damage to time, only to the minds of the time travelers. I believe the window is 24 hours. In that time you must find the connection. After it had passed the day will be reset."

"So you will not remember this?" Molly asked and Dumbledore nodded. "But we will?" He nodded again.

"And if we don't do it in 24 hours?" Lucy asked in a small voice filled with worry. Dumbledore's expression echoed hers.

"I do not want to think of the consequences."

A/N – Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and favorites! I really appreciate it so much. The next chapter has the final POVs but then…well you'll see if you keep reading, haha.

BTW, the Chapters are all riffs on Goblet of Fire chapter titles. I'm having fun making them, lol.