Dumbledore smiled down at Lupin and Cara, a twinkle in his eyes as he waved a hand and made the ropes binding them disappear. "I am Dumbledore, but I feel at a disadvantage, as I do not know who you are, or what it is you are doing here?"

Dear Merlin, Cara thought, it's Dumbledore!

Lupin was still awe-struck, so Cara – again – shook herself of her wonder and dug around in Lupin's pockets, retrieving the prophecy, handing it to Dumbledore. "I don't know whether or not you'll believe me sir, but you sort of sent us on a mission for the Order."

Dumbledore frowned, "I'm sure I would have remembered such a thing."

"Well, you haven't actually sent us yet," Lupin said clearing his throat.

"Lupin-"

"We're from the future."

"Lupin!"

Unsurprisingly several of the Order members in the room burst out laughing, muttering things like 'they're crazy' or 'how stupid do they think we are?' It was really starting to annoy Cara. Frowning, Cara tugged around her neck and pulled out the necklace Hagrid had given her. Merlin I hope this works, she thought, holding the necklace out for Dumbledore to see. "Hagrid gave me this to borrow, to prove we aren't lying to you sir."

Dumbledore looked at the necklace in her hand, smiling a little with a nod.

"I believe you." That sure silenced the room. "But you have yet to answer my questions. Who are you, and what is your purpose in being here?"

"This is Caroline Gernet, and I'm Teddy Lupin," Lupin said, ignoring the shocked looks on the faces around him at the familiar surname. "We came back to save some people, but we sort of-"

"We're a bit further back then we intended to come. It was an experimental spell anyway, so I'm just glad to still be in one piece really."

Dumbledore nodded again, before speaking. "Can we help you?"

Cara shook her head, "It's not necessary, we'll just-"

"Maybe- can we stay here?"

Cara blinked for a second, before grabbing Lupin by the arm and smiling to Dumbledore. "Do you think we could have a few minutes in private sir?"

At a nod from the wizard, Cara dragged Lupin out into the hall with her and cast a silencing spell on the door just in time for her to explode.

"What the hell Lupin?! We have to do the spell again, properly this time. Mission, remember?"

"I just thought... maybe I could..." He sighed, and Cara watched his hair turn a million different colours before settling on red as he stared almost angrily down at her. "Why can't we stay? It wouldn't make a difference really would it, Gernet, when we complete the mission. Because we'd still be going to that time frame. Why can't we just stay here, now, and- and wait? Or are you too much a goody-two-shoes to even think of being a little spontaneous?"

Cara growled at Lupin. "I am not thick, so tell me the real reason or so help me I will hex you so bad you'll wish you were in Fifth Year again."

She smirked when she saw the momentary flicker of fear in Lupin's eyes, before he returned to his usual turquoise hair. "I just thought that, maybe we were meant to come here, now. Maybe we're being given an opportunity to help more with the Order, protecting Harry, or guarding the you-know-what, or-"

"Or maybe you want to spend more time with your parents?" At the guilty look that clouded Lupin's eyes, Cara knew she had hit the nail right on the head. "If you had wanted that, why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

"Erm, hello? Not born yet, hence they don't know they're parents yet. They'd probably freak. Also didn't think you'd agree with the idea."

Cara frowned at him, "You aren't going to tell them?"

"I don't know yet."

"... I know we don't like each other much, or get along, but if you want to talk-"

"Oh don't go all mushy on me Gernet, I don't know how to handle a sentimental you." He said, so Cara punched him not too softly on the arm. "So... are we staying?"

Lupin whooped at Cara's nod, turning to open the door to the kitchen again only to have several people sprawl at their feet, apparently eaves-dropping. Lupin burst out laughing as Cara smirked at the group, consisting mainly it seemed of redheads and one distinctly pink head. Cara reached down and helped Tonks to her feet, getting a grin as thanks. A grin Cara noticed to be very similar to one she had seen Lupin give fairly often.

"Thanks, Caroline right?"

"I prefer Cara actually, awful name Caroline." Cara said.

Tonks nodded her head to her. "I understand. Are you any future relation to Sam Gernet?"

Cara blinked, nodding her head. "He's my father, how did you know?"

Tonks grinned, "Lucky guess, you don't look anything like him."

"I know, not exactly a tall blonde, am I?" Cara said with a laugh. "I look more like my Mum."

"Who did Sam end up with? I left a couple of years before him."

Cara smiled nervously. "Erm, you probably don't remember her."

"No, tell me, I want to know. I didn't really hang out with your Dad, but he seemed nice."

"... Lena, my Mum's name was Lena. She was in his year in-"

"Gryffindor!" Tonks smiled again. "I remember her! Only 'cos she was a Potter though, it surprised me hearing that name at the sorting."

Cara tried to ignore the now very curious stares at her, turning to face Dumbledore again. "Yes, well, sir, was there anything we could help you or the Order with while we're here?"

Dumbledore smiled down at her. "How good of a duellist are the both of you?" he received two large grins in response.


"Argh, how much longer? I'm bloody freezing!"

"Quiet Lupin, you aren't the only one who's cold here," Cara snapped at Teddy beside her, teeth chattering.

Together they patrolled Hogwarts' ground boundaries, and although it should have been a nice warm late August night, the cloudless sky had sucked out all the heat of the day, leaving a freezing cold night to guard the empty school. It seemed to only grow colder as the night went on, even now when the sun was only just peeking over the top of the distant mountains. No warming charms, because of how sensitive the boundaries were to magic, and the pair wanted to go as undetected as possible.

Impatiently blowing hot air into his cupped hands, Teddy frowned in thought. "Why are we here anyway? Nobody's here to be protected."

"Maybe there's something important we're protecting instead."

Lupin smirked, "You don't believe that... I bet they're just testing us."

"Testing our skills, or whether they can trust us?"

"Both."

Cara sighed, nodding her head. She had thought the same thing, but really, they had nothing else to do.

"Well at least it should only be a few more minutes before Moody and Vance take over. Then we can warm up by the fire back in headquarters."

He had barely finished speaking when the sound of someone – or two people – Apparating was heard, and Cara and Lupin both turned to see Moody and Emmeline Vance stood just outside the boundaries. Lupin whooped in joy, jumping over the invisible boundary and immediately Apparating away, Cara following after him. Both found themselves in only a matter of seconds perched on the doorstep of 12 Grimmauld Place, opening the door and hurrying inside to the warmth.

Molly Weasley, still up despite the late hour, had mugs of steaming hot chocolate waiting for them by the fireplace in the living room, before wishing them a goodnight as she went to bed. Most people were in bed asleep, as the house was very quiet.

Cara sighed in contentment as she relaxed deeper into the sofa opposite Lupin's armchair, the hot chocolate in her stomach warming her up from the inside. She didn't doubt that the hot chocolate offered by Molly had been a tasty cover for a suspicious Order member to check that Lupin and Cara weren't double agents and staying 'out' unusually late after their guard shift. She wasn't going to bring it up though, the hot chocolate was one of the few things Cara looked forward to after shifts. With her eyes closed and her head laid back, Cara fiddled with Hagrid's ring around her neck, and was just starting to really relax when she felt a body slump next to hers. Opening one eye, she was surprised by who she saw.

"Sirius?"

He grinned down at her, "The one and only."

"Padfoot, you had better not be harassing the poor girl." Remus said from the doorway, instantly grabbing Lupin's attention.

Despite being here over a week, Lupin had yet to decide what to tell his parents, or even work up the courage to properly talk to them. Some Gryffindor, Cara thought to herself. Lupin couldn't stop the small smile on his face though when his father sat in the chair next to him. Remus glanced at him curiously, but decided that there were many coincidences in life, and Lupin could be a more common surname than he thought. Surely no one would wish to be with him at least. Still, it felt nice to be bonded to this young man, even if only through name.

"I'm not harassing anyone, Moony," Sirius said with a wave of his hand, turning to look back at Cara. "I just wanted to talk, you don't mind right?"

Having been asked a lot of questions already from the young Weasley brood, Cara just nodded with a sigh. She hadn't really spoken to Sirius much, hadn't expected to either, but she got a good vibe from him.

"I was interested to know more about your Mum. A Potter, huh?"

"So it seems."

"Any relation to my old buddy James Potter?"

"Cousins."

Sirius frowned at her. "He never mentioned her to me."

"She would only have been a baby when you were in Hogwarts. I don't even know if they met."

"Hmm... think they would have liked each other?"

Cara simply shrugged. She didn't honestly know either James or her mother well enough to guess how they would have reacted to each other. She and Sirius sat chatting about nothing, and when Cara slid her gaze over quickly to Lupin, she had to smile when she saw him finally relaxing and having a normal conversation with Remus.

"So how long have you liked mini-Lupin?" Cara jumped in her seat, looking wide-eyed at Sirius. He chuckled, "That long, hey?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Deny it all you want, love," Sirius said, "But I spent years watching my best mate high on love with his Lily. I know the look on your face, no matter how hard you try to hide it."

"Love? I don't like Teddy Lupin, so I most certainly do not love him. Hah! Love Lupin, that's a joke, that is."

"Really?" Sirius said, smirking at Cara. They engaged in a stare-down, a long one, in which Sirius – to Cara's dismay – won.

Cara glared at him, "... No one is to hear of this."

Sirius just smirked before nodding to her as he slung an arm around her shoulders. "I think this is the start to a beautiful friendship."

Cara just groaned, only imagining how this friendship would end up with me with grey hair and a high blood pressure from stress.


Days passed like this, and then the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months.

Cara felt no progress had been made mission-wise, as Lupin and she had yet to be trusted by the Order members to actually assist in anything other than guarding an empty Hogwarts and helping to clear out Headquarters of pesky magical creatures. Cara was about as fed-up with tackling Boggarts by now. I am an Auror damnit, not a cleaner!

Non-mission-wise however, quite a few things had happened.

Lupin still had yet to explain his parentage, but had at least made friends. Teddy and Remus growing steadily closer when the latter was actually around at Headquarters, Tonks there just as rarely. Their visits were steadily growing less and less often, leaving Cara to deal with a moping Lupin. They too had become friends from all their time spent together, but their fights had yet to dwindle, especially as Lupin's moping grated on Cara's nerves. And through it all, Cara was beginning to understand the cabin-fever she suspected Sirius felt, from being unofficially restrained to Headquarters or the Hogwarts grounds. Cara supposed that she wasn't supposed to be here anyway, and the fewer people that saw her, the better.

It seemed too quiet. Then again it could have been due to the fact that Cara wasn't allowed to do anything.

Still... Cara thought it was all definitely too quiet.

Something was tickling the back of her head. She couldn't quite remember what it was, but she was sure it was important.

Huffing in frustration, Cara gave up her pursuit of the runaway idea and flopped back into the sofa beside Sirius, dropping her head on his shoulder. Despite all the teasing from Sirius about her feelings for a certain Lupin – and it wasn't Remus – Cara felt quite close to Sirius. Like he was an annoying uncle she couldn't help loving anyway. She liked listening to stories from Sirius, his story-telling truly captivating. He certainly didn't mind the company, hating to be alone after all his time in Azkaban.

Sirius abandoned the book he had been pretending to read and turned to look at her, "What's wrong love?"

"I have a feeling something bad is going to happen, and I know what it is, but I can't remember!" Cara groaned, burying her face into his shoulder. "We had loads of lessons to cram on the time period immediately before when we were to arrive, and only a brief overview of longer before. I hadn't expected to come this early into the year, so I didn't pay as much attention. But this feeling is so annoying I could kick myself!"

Sirius chuckled at Cara's put out face. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing the Order can't handle, and if it is really important I'm sure you'll remember whatever it is." Cara nodded reluctantly, closing her eyes to think again. "Anyway, Christmas in a week and the holidays in two days," Sirius said, a grin growing on his face, "I can't wait to see Harry again! I'm so bored here."

"Oh, I feel so appreciated now."

"You know I don't mean you, love," Sirius said with a chuckle. "I loooooove you."

"Bite me." Cara said. Bite me... wait... she shot to her feet suddenly, eyes wide as she saw how dark it was getting. "Sirius, what's the date?"

"What?"

"This is important Sirius, the date!"

"The 18th."

"Shit!" Cara raced out of the room, bumping into Lupin as she ran down the corridor.

"Gernet, where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"It's tonight, Lupin!"

"What is?"

"Nagini! She'll be there tonight! I have to go and help-"

Lupin's eyes widened as he too remembered what was to occur tonight, before his eyebrows pulled down into a frown. "Are we supposed to interfere this early in-"

"We can't just sit here with what we know!"

"Alright, but you know the Order will never let us out by ourselves."

"Damnit Teddy, I don't care right now, I need to help-"

"I never said you couldn't go." Lupin grinned at her look of surprise. "Go, I'll cover you for as long as I can."

"You aren't coming?"

"How much more suspicious would it look if we both left?"

Cara nodded, before both turned to see Sirius with a puzzled look on his face. Before Sirius could get a word out, Lupin had flicked his wand and cast a Petrificus Totalus on him.

"Sorry Sirius, I'm just glad there aren't many members here tonight." He turned back to face Cara. "Go already. I've got your back. You will be fine without me, right?"

Cara smirked slightly, "I'm an Auror too Lupin, I can handle anything you can."

Lupin nodded, a careful expression still on his face.

Hesitantly, he pulled Cara into a quick hug, before releasing her just as quickly.

"Try not to attract too much attention, and be careful. I don't want to find out you got eaten by a snake. Although you are snack-size I suppose."

Cara shoved him away from her slightly, flushing at his quiet chuckle. The sound of footsteps hurrying down the stairs alerted them to the fact they needed to hurry. Cara glanced at Lupin one last time, sending an apologetic look over at Sirius still frozen on the floor, before Apparating in a whirl of her cloaks.

Lupin turned to face the stairs, sighing to himself. "Good luck..."


Edited 14/12/15