Albus fell hard on the cold ground. He slowly sat up, vaguely aware of Rose next to him and Lilly and Hugo further away. He had enough time to take in the surrounding woods and hear what sounded like Hugo coughing up sand before a frantic voice yelled, "Stupefy!" And all went dark.
Hermione burst out of the tent and frantically fired off a stunner for each intruder, Harry and Ron at her heels. "How did they find us?!" She shrieked. "How? I put up all our safety wards! No one should be able to penetrate these spells!" She flicked her wand and heavy ropes appeared, binding all four of them.
"Slow down, 'Mione." Said Ron. "They're just children. Blimey, Harry, this one looks just like you."
"Must be a coincidence." Said Harry uneasily. He walked over to his almost-clone and slid the wand from his pocket, then moved to check the others. "The small ones haven't got wands. They must be too young, and they can't be much of a threat.
"Still, you can never be too careful." Hermione lifted her wand and levitated their bodies into the tent, then lashed them securely to four chairs with another spell. "I want to interrogate them."
"They're just children!" Ron protested. "They probably just wandered inside our protective spells by accident!"
Hermione wasn't listening. "Harry, get me the veritaserum, it should be in the bag next to the bubotuber pus."
"You have veritaserum?"
"I nicked some from Ron's dad before we left, just in case. Which one should we interrogate first?"
"I say we do the Harry clone." Ron replied.
Hermione stepped in front of him and pointed her wand in his face. "Ennervate." His eyes—green ones, Harry noticed—flew open; the child stared around the tent like a caged animal. "Who—what—how—"
"Look, it's all right. I'm just going to give you some veritaserum." Said Hermione.
"Yes, it's ok, I'm just going to drug you." Ron snorted behind her.
Ignoring him, Hermione opened the bottle, tilted the boy's head back, and poured some in his mouth. His eyes went slack and unfocused.
"Please state your full name." Hermione said calmly.
"Albus Severus Potter."
Harry choked on his pumpkin juice. "Albus what? Why is he named after Snape?!"
"Dumbledore trusted him, Harry."
"Dumbledore also enjoyed knitting patterns out of muggle magazines, Hermione!"
Hermione turned back to Albus. "Why is your middle name Severus?"
"My dad said it was because Snape was the bravest man he knew."
"And who is your dad, a mental patient?" Asked Ron.
"No, he's Harry Potter."
That shut Ron up.
"Please state your date of birth." Hermione continued calmly.
"June 9, 2006."
"That's not possible. It's 1998. How is it possible?"
"My brother, James, had a time turner that he stole from Dad's office. He dropped it and it broke, and we ended up here." Suddenly there was a loud vibrating sound.
"It's coming from his back pocket!" Ron cried.
Hermione reached into Albus's pocket and pulled out a small, flat object none of them recognized. She nearly dropped it when a voice started emanating from it. "Al, this isn't funny. If you're there, please answer your stupid phone. We're trapped in 1998 at Auntie Muriel's place. If you could please get an adult, preferably Dad, that would be fantastic."
"That's James!" Said Albus, the veritaserum clearly wearing off. "Look, you've gotten proof, can you please let me go now?"
"Not yet!" Said Hermione. "I have a few more questions. Who's the girl sitting next to you?"
"My cousin Rose."
"And the boy next to her?"
"My cousin Hugo."
"And the girl on the end?"
"My sister Lily."
"And who's your mother?"
"Ginny Potter, but you know her as Ginny Weasley."
This time it was Ron who choked on his pumpkin juice. "Harry—and-and—my sister! Three kids! Merlin's pants, Harry you—you had sex with . . ." He trailed off, seemingly unable to finish the thought.
"If you don't like that news, you're in for a much greater shock, Uncle Ron." Laughed Albus. "Just ennervate the girl next to me and ask her a few questions."
Hermione moved towards the older girl, casting a sideways glance at Ron. She had a guess as to who this girl's parents were, what with the wavy ginger hair, the ratty Chudley Cannons T-shirt, and a large book tucked under her arm. Hermione's guesses were rarely wrong. "Ennervate!"
The girl's head snapped up and she quickly took in her surroundings. "Please state your name." Said Hermione.
The girl smiled and said, "Rose Granger-Weasley."
Ron fainted.
By the time they managed to revive Ron, the younger two children were exploring the tent and Rose was loudly describing the time turner incident and making wild gestures with the large album in her hands. "And then the time turner broke and spilled sand everywhere, and I told James off for getting sand all over the album, and then we ended up here!"
"Now that Ron's awake," Said Harry, "Why don't you all tell us a bit about yourselves? Who'd like to go first?"
"I would." Said Rose. "I'm going to be a third year in the fall, I'm in Gryffindor, I'm going to try out for the quidditch team but I don't know if I'll make it because there's lots of older students who play, and I'm also taking lots of classes next and Professor McGonagall might even give me my very own time turner."
"You are such a mix of both your parents, it's actually quite scary." Said Harry.
"That's what everyone says." Said Rose, looking slightly annoyed.
Hermione smiled warmly at her daughter. "If you're finished, Rose, why doesn't Albus introduce himself next."
"Why are you named after Snape?" Harry asked immediately.
"You said it was because Snape was the bravest man you ever knew. I think it had something to do with him being a double agent and somehow protecting you at Hogwarts, but I don't know the exact details."
"I bet Ginny loved that." Said Ron, who seemed to be warming up to the idea of Harry and Ginny being married.
"I've been told she made Dad sleep on the couch for a week after he decided to name me that." Albus replied.
"Your middle name aside, what else should we know about you?" Said Hermione.
"I'm same year as Rose, also in Gryffindor, my best friends are her and Scorpius, and so far my favorite class is herbology."
"What about quidditch?" Asked Ron.
"I like it okay, but I don't know if I want to play on the house team."
"Harry and Ginny's son doesn't want to play on the quidditch team?" Ron asked incredulously. "Harry, you might need a paternity test."
"It's just that quidditch causes many injuries, takes up lots of time, and Sam Wood's captain and he's absolutely insane!" Albus replied.
"Definitely gonna need a paternity test."
"Anyway, Lily why don't you introduce yourself." Said Albus hurriedly, hoping to avoid more quidditch talk. His phone started ringing again and he disappeared into the back of the tent.
Lily came over and sat down at the little table. "I am Lily Luna Potter and I am your youngest and best child. I start at Hogwarts in fall and I'm hoping to be in Gryffindor. Hugo, you go next."
The boy who could almost be Ron's clone came over and sat down next to Lily. "I'm Hugo Granger-Weasley, Rose's brother. I'm also starting at Hogwarts this fall."
"Hugo, I have a question for you." Said Harry. "How did your parents get together?"
"I've been told that Mum made the first move, at the battle of Hogwarts. Dad said that you'd forgotten about the house-elves down in the kitchens, and then Mum dropped all the basilisk fangs she was holding and kissed him."
"Why was I holding basilisk fangs?" Hermione asked.
"To destroy horcruxes with."
"Harry, Ron, we gotta go to Hogwarts and get some basilisk fangs!" Hermione cried.
"No! You don't gotta go to Hogwarts! There's literal death eaters working there!" Said Rose.
"And how is that any different from our other years, honestly?" Said Harry. "There was Quirrell, there was Umbridge, there was Barty Crouch as Moody . . ."
"I don't suppose you could tell us what the other horcuxes are or how they got destroyed." Said Ron.
"We shouldn't, it might reveal too much of the future." Said Rose.
"But Professor Longbottom killed voldy's snake!" Said Lily.
"Neville? He's a professor?" Said Hermione.
"Herbology professor. He's the best; literally everyone's favorite subject is herbology now." Rose replied.
"Hey guys. Guys!" Albus had hung up his phone and was evidently bursting with news. "James said that Victoire said that we all ended up with a parent, and that we need to go to Auntie Muriel's so they can get to the bottom of it!"
"James—what?" Said Hermione.
Albus took a deep breath. "He said we should go to Auntie Muriel's because it's a safe house under the fidelius charm, and that the order will figure it out."
"Sounds like a plan." Said Hermione. "Harry, Ron, help me pack the tent up."
While they packed up, Harry took out the invisibility cloak and threw it over the children, still reeling with the revelation that they were actually his, that they had survived, and that the great evil in their world was gone. As he took a firm hold of Al and Lily to apparate, he realized that they truly did have something worth fighting for.