A/N: I do not own Ben 10 or Harry Potter, so the lawyers had better stay from me. Do I LOOK like I'm making profit? Humph!

Crossroads – One

Future be Undone

Chapter 3 – Setting Things Right

Big Chill started laughing, Verdona looking on in bemusement. "What is so funny?"

"Seriously, they named the place after a hog's warts?" Then he noticed something, and the laughing stopped. "Oh, man, I wanted Jetray! Stupid thing…"

Verdona smiled and flew out the window while he was complaining to his 'watch'.

"Hey! Wait! Verdona- I mean, Grandma, whatever- wait!" He hastily went out of the window after her. Because of her, they made it in less than ten minutes. Due to the time difference, in England it was morning instead of before dawn.

"I had almost forgotten how beautiful this place is," she smiled. They were flying over the countryside, fast approaching a lake and some ruins. Verdona glowed extra bright for a moment, diving into the lake immediately after. Okay, maybe the entrance was underwater…

He followed her under the water, surprised to see her surface again. Once he also found the way up, he turned to human.

"Is there a way in?" he asked.

"Of course there is. I just wanted to have a little fun." She flew higher, making as if to dive but breaking at the last moment and instead dipping her hand into the water, watching delightedly as her speed made a line appear after it in the calm surface. "Don't you ever fly just for fun? Don't you want to just feel the air on your skin and the power on your fingertips?"

"I don't have time for that. I have to find Grandpa Max. That's the only reason I put on the watch again." He started swimming to the edge of the lake.

"Max is missing?" Verdona exclaimed.

"Yes. I guess you guys… eew… But aren't we supposed to be going somewhere?"

"And I'm sure that's not the only reason," she countered.

"Well, I do enjoy beating up bad guys…" He looked away, though, expressionless. He would have to get used to the feel of it again. It had been good while it lasted.

For five years, he got to forget all about the alien business. He could finally live like a normal person after the utter craziness of that summer. Okay, forget Eon… Now, everything was going by so fast again, as if putting on the watch was a switch that woke up the bad guys. 'Or,' he mused, 'they've never been gone. I just didn't notice them.'

Verdona took his hand and they rose to the air. For some reason, the sensation was no longer as enjoyable. Maybe because he knew he would not survive if he fell.

"I can use the Omnitrix to fly, you know."

"Yes, but technology usually short-circuits when it is very close to this place. I don't know about 20+ level that this device seems to be, but better not take any chances. See, here it is." She pointed to the ruins he had noticed earlier.

"It's just an old ruin. Whatever was here is long gone," he said, disbelieving.

His Grandmother shook her head, and lowered them both over the abandoned courtyard. With a wave of her hand the place underwent a major transformation in his eyes. The towers were standing again, and the protective walls were strong once more. Kids were sitting around, talking and laughing.

"So, still an old ruin?" she asked, smug.

"Did you turn time back?"

"No, I just allowed you to see what really exists here. The enchantments are strong, but not unbreakable for an Anodite. One of them, however," she pointed to the kids, "would be unable to touch them."

She changed his clothes to a black- cloak, robe, whatever that was- and they managed to slip into the school unnoticed, two students nobody had seen before.

"Why aren't they frozen?"

"It seems we have already succeeded, which means that this girl initiated the wave in the past, which in turn means that we should not expect to find her here, so we might have to find descendants."

"So, in this school, where do we go?" Ben asked, preferring to let her handle that stuff. The stone hallways shook him up a little, but the whole thing made him feel like a secret agent.

"We find the girl nicknamed 'Flower' and we find out what happened to her best friend. Our only chance is to try to change it, or better yet, prevent it altogether."

"But there must be hundreds of students-"

She motioned him to be quiet.

"Come on, Lily-flower, introduce him to me. How bad could it be? It's not like he's a professor…"

"I said no, James! Just go whine to Al about it, but I'm telling you only when I want to! And stop calling me 'Flower'!"

"Why, it's a nice name. Grandpa used to call Grandma that all the time! Dad told me."

"Okay…"

Two redheaded students rounded the corner. The boy was older and had blue eyes, while the girl had brown eyes instead.

"Excuse me," Verdona closed their way. She looked like a version of Gwen with blue eyes, so she could pass for a student. "Do you know if your Grandmother had a friend named 'Ali'?" Ben was stunned at her straight-forwardness. He was a to-the-point person but not like that.

The duo stopped bickering to stare at the two. James looked them up and down, probably wondering why he had never seen them before.

"Well, she had a friend named Alice, if that's who you mean. But you can't find any of them. Grandmother Lily is dead, and Alice is… not well…" the girl said, eager. "Why do you want her?"

"Lily!" James hissed. She shrugged, nonchalant.

"Is there anyone else who knows her?"

"Her son works here, he's the Herbology professor. His office is on the second floor."

James dragged Lily away before she could say more. Verdona and Ben passed the Great Hall, leaving the Omnitrix bearer gaping, and she pulled him through the ceiling to the second floor.

"Someone could have seen us!" he exclaimed. She ignored him.

"Excuse me, but do you know where the Herbology professor's office is?" she asked a black haired, green eyed boy.

"Neville? That's his office," he pointed to a door. "But he has a lesson right now, so you might want to wait a few minutes."

"Thank you."

"What's Herbology, anyway?" Ben asked.

"It's the study of plants and their uses. It's a magical subject."

She left it at that, and he did not bother to ask further. "Okay, so what do we ask him?"

"Oh no, we just have to find out his surname so we can see when his mother lived." Verdona said, slipping inside the office.

"But we could have just asked that kid outside!" he said, exasperated.

"Oh, Ben, live a little! What's the fun in that?"

It turned out the professor's name was 'Longbottom'. Ben had a good laugh at that before they went to leave. But they were stopped by a man entering the office.

"Who are you? I don't believe I've seen you before. Do you want help in Herbology?"

"No, but we want some information," Ben told him, embarrassed at being caught. "It's about your mother."

His cheerful face faltered. He looked at them searchingly. "What do you want to know? I thought everybody knew already."

"What happened to her? My, um, friends don't want to tell me, though they all know."

"A few years after she graduated, she was… well she was tortured to madness by Death Eaters believing her and my dad knew where Voldemort was. That was after the first Wizarding War." Neville's calm façade was marred only by his hands, balled into fists. They thanked him and quickly left the room.

"I told you we would not ask him!" Verdona snapped.

"Yes, but you did not tell me that we may have saved that girl from death only to condemn her to madness some years later," he snapped back. "I'm not doing this!" he said stubbornly.

"You've already done it," she said gently. "And would you condemn that man we just saw to nonexistence? He has a wife, and kids of his own. All those photos in his office… would you do that to them?"

Ben looked down. "No," he sighed. "Fine, you win."

"Hold on. I have a sample close to her magical signature from her child." He got a hold of her arm, and suddenly they were flying through time.

The big hall of a house that must have once been whole lay in shambles before them. People in black cloaks were fighting against what looked like a family; most of them were already dead.

"There!" Verdona pointed to a girl no older than seventeen. The likeness between her and her son was evident in the shape of the face, and that same determination they had seen on Neville's eyes. She was still fighting, throwing jets of light (spells, Ben thought) at any black-clad person getting near her.

Quick as lightning, Verdona was beside her and he had become a new alien. He looked at himself; he looked like a combination between a monkey and a spider. How to name it…

"Spider-monkey!" He jumped amidst the chaos. "So… are you guys the same as the Death Eaters that I heard about earlier?" he stole a few sticks here and there (wands, maybe?). "Because if you are, then I have a question to ask! Is death tasty? Because, you know, you eat it right?" He shot web at a guy and watched in amusement as he lost his footing. Next, he was faced with a female Death Eater. "I don't like fighting girls, how 'bout I tell you a joke instead?" he frantically avoided her frightened spell-casting. "Says the witch to her wizard: Will you still love me when I'm old and ugly? And he answers: Well I do, don't I? Get it?" she growled, now angry, and fired a green spell at him. Not missing a beat, he webbed her up to the ceiling and stole her wand.

Every Death Eater was down. From the family, the only one still alive was Alice and an older lady. "Are you okay, Mrs Longbottom?" Alice asked her, evidently not realising what exactly had happened.

"Oh, I'm fine, and quite happy my son has such great taste. Who are you?" she looked at Verdona and Spider-monkey critically over her glasses. Alice also turned to them, expectant.

Verdona and Spider-monkey looked at each other, broke into uncontrollable laughter, and disappeared in a flash of mana.

They were still laughing when they appeared back at Ben's room, Spider-monkey falling onto his bed. When they were both spent and Spider-monkey could no longer breathe, he changed back to Ben. He went to the window and looked out. Normal… everything was right again…

"That," Verdona said out of breath, "was the most fun I've had in weeks! I should come here more often."

"Yeah," Ben muttered, downcast. "So much fun that people died."

"Now that alien, he was something," Verdona commented. "Spider-monkey, was it? He can push the sad parts out of his mind… They were dead before we got there Ben." Ben snorted without mirth. "Just keep the magical world secret please," she shook her head. "I'm afraid this is when I have to go search for Max, dear. But I will be back, with a proposition. Wait for me!"

"Bye-" But, even as he turned around, she was gone. Exhausted beyond belief, he fell onto the bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

A/N: That's it for the HP Xover. We'll see about the next one. I warn you it might be anything, from Twilight to Yu-Gi-Oh. Please tell me your thoughts!