Chapter 10
Within two days and countless hours spent hiding under the covers reading rather than sleeping, Hugo felt he had a solid grasp on the workings of the TDD. He owled Albus and the 'mastermind' organized a meeting at the park down the street from the Potter and Weasley residences. James had been mostly in bed since playing his part in the plan, having exhausted himself by rising to his usual exuberant level of joviality for the benefit of the employees at the Ministry, but he still insisted on attending the meeting.
Once at the park, the five teens gathered in the tire fort that had been Rose's favorite playing spot and had the benefit of being easy to ward while granting a high level of privacy.
"I remember this place being a lot bigger," James murmured as he awkwardly pulled the last three inches of his leg into the tight space.
"That's probably because the last time you were in here, you were 12 and a lot smaller than you are now," Rose pointed out pragmatically.
"Touche," James replied as he gazed around the tire fort critically.
"So Hugh, what've you got?" Lily asked her cousin, getting the meeting back on track.
With bright eyes shining with enthusiasm, Hugo launched into a highly technical description of how the Temporal Displacement Disk operated. When he finished he looked around to his audience expectantly, receiving slightly amused smirks as his reply. Used to such a reaction, he reigned himself in and rephrased the explanation. "The basics are this: the disk can be programmed to any specific date by plugging variables into its mainline arithmetic equation. The time traveler stands on the disk, and a spell field is created to encapsulate the traveler. The disk then moves through the time continuum by means of a modified apparition spell, depositing the disk and rider in the programmed time. One can also expand the radius of the disk to accommodate more time travelers so, in theory, it could fit us all."
"That's awesome, Hugh!" James shouted triumphantly. "Way to go, little genius!" he praised as he gave him a nuggie.
"You've figured out the equation I take it?" Albus asked the younger boy.
"Yeah, it wasn't that difficult," Hugo shrugged.
"Sure it wasn't," Lily quipped, catching James' eye in particular. All of the kids were intelligent, but it was a well-known and accepted fact that Hugo, Rose, and Albus were on a whole other level when it came to smarts. James had always been more the athletic type, and Lily was always more talented in hands-on areas, particularly concerning magical creatures. Harry and Ginny had cringed a little when she was taken on as Hagrid's protégé, but neither could deny that she was naturally gifted in the subject.
"When can we launch the next phase of the plan, then?" Rose asked the group.
"I'm ready to proceed whenever you guys think is best," Hugo replied, looking between the four other people in the fort.
"Okay, first we need to decide the optimum time to return to," Albus replied.
"It would have to be sometime between the summer of '94 and May of '98," James pointed out. "That's the only time that the bastard was around. Unless, of course, we want to go back to grandma and grandpa's time."
"It would be cool to meet them," Albus mused.
"Although that's true," Hugo interjected, "the TDD has an inversely proportional relationship between stability and length of time traveled." The statement was met with silence. "The bigger the time gap, the less reliable the machine becomes."
"Oh!" rang out from the group.
"Between '94 and '98 it is then," Lily asserted.
"Plus we need to choose a time when we'll actually know where Voldemort will be," Albus pointed out.
"I'll do some research using the war texts and what our parents have told us, then formulate a list of the most specific dates we have with Voldemort's exact known location," Rose volunteered.
"Ok, great. We should also start to think about assigning roles for the next stage," Al stated decisively. "We'll reconvene tomorrow night at 6? I know Dad and Mum have that Ministry dinner to go to, so I assume Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron will be going too?"
"Yes, much to Dad's chagrin," Rose answered with a smirk.
"It's set, then. We'll meet in my room."
The next day the five teens, plus Scorpius, were gathered in Albus's room going over the research Rose had completed. She had a comprehensive list that was backed with a plethora of sources, but the dates with definitive locations were few and far between. Not surprising, considering all the sources they had were from the Light side who were hardly in daily contact with the Dark Lord during the war.
"Maybe we should intervene at the Tri-Wizard tournament and just stop Wormtail from using Dad's blood to resurrect Voldie in the first place. Think of all the lives we'd save!" Lily suggested.
The idea definitely had appeal; Harry would be thrilled to still have Sirius in his life, and both of Al's namesakes might still be around if not for Voldie's return. Not to mention the world of heartache that would be saved George and the Weasleys in general if Fred were still alive, and the fact that Teddy wouldn't have to be an orphan. Then there were all of the Muggle-borns that had been murdered, and the students who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. They could all be saved, along with the Potter kids, if Wormtail were stopped before the Tournament.
"I hate to be the Nundu at the party here, guys," Rose interjected reluctantly, "but we have to remember how tempremental time can be. The smallest change can alter things in ways we never imagined, and what we're talking about now is a MONUMENTAL change. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to save all those people, but what if we make the future worse?"
"How could it be worse without Voldemort being brought back?" Scorpius asked skeptically, obviously thinking of the psychological and emotional damage that his father could avoid if the Dark Lord had never been resurrected.
"For one, there is no guarentee that stopping Wormtail stops Voldemort from coming back," she pointed out. "What if some other Death Eater figures out the spell to bring him back after we leave, and for some reason, like Dad not personally witnessing it, this time, the Order isn't prepared. Voldemort could actually win the war and we might inadvertently kill our parents and write ourselves out of existence!"
"Bollocks," James swore, "she's right. There are just too many unknowns in that plan."
"As much as it kills me to say it," Rose continued, with tears shining in her determined eyes, "we need to keep things as close to the original timeline as possible. Ideally, we should look for a way to get his blood without him even realizing it has been taken."
"Sure, we'll just sneak into Voldie's bedroom and extract some blood as he slumbers, no problem," Lily quipped flippantly.
"That's a great idea, Lily!" Scorpius exclaimed with his blue eyes dancing.
"I was being sarcastic," she replied with mild derision.
"I'm aware, but that doesn't lessen the validity of the suggestion," Scorp answered easily.
"And how do you suggest we find a slumbering Voldemort?" James asked.
"Easy. We walk into the master bedroom of my house in 1997," Scorp replied with a smug smirk.
He received a cavalcade of confused looks for a moment, until realization dawned on Rose's face. "Oh!" she gasped, drawing the room's attention. "Don't you guys remember? For the year before the end of the war, Voldemort made Malfoy Manor his headquarters!" she explained.
"Of course," James confirmed, face-palming himself as he recalled the information. "How could we have forgotten? Dad, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Luna were all held captive in the basement!"
Al noticed that an ashamed flush rose to Scorpius's face at the reminder that his family had tortured Al's, so he snaked a hand over to him, gripping his reassuringly. Scorp gave him a small thankful smile, but there was still a layer of shame in his eyes. Al resolved to wash that away later, in private.
"Ok, so we know where he'll be for most of that year, but that doesn't solve the issue of how we are going to get to him,"Hugo brought up. "Particularly since Malfoy Manor was reputed to be one of the most heavily warded places in existence during that time."
"True," Scorp conceded, "but the wards have always been primarily blood-based, so members of the Malfoy family, and particularly residents of the Manor itself, have always been able to come and go easily."
"Wait, Scorp, are you suggesting-" Lily began.
"That I be the one to infiltrate the Manor and get Voldemort's blood," he completed, a look of utter dedication clear on his face.
"Alone?" Hugo asked in disbelief. "Scorpius, you can't! Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be?"
"Hugo's right; Voldemort is way too powerful to approach alone," Rose added in, trying to talk some sense into her best friend.
"You don't have to do this, Angel," Al insisted, trying to implore his boyfriend to see sense. Al knew that Scorp was so willing to volunteer for the most dangerous part of the mission out of some misplaced sense of guilt over his family's past, but the blonde had no penance to pay in the his mind. The sins of his father, and grandfather, were not his, and Al's entire family had come to know and accept that. "You don't have to make up for the past," he whispered.
"I know," Scorpius answered back softly, "but you have to admit that, logically, this is the most effective path. Just like getting into the Department of Mysteries, I'm the only one of us who can get access to the Manor."
"I still don't think you should try this alone, though," James chimed in, his protective big-brother streak making itself known. "Is there any way to get one of us in with you? I could take some Polyjuice to look like one of your cousins or something," James suggested.
At this, everyone looked at each other somewhat guitily.
"What?" James asked with suspicion.
"Well…it's just that…" Hugo began, only to trail off.
"We talked about it, James," Lily picked up, "and we're not so sure it's a great idea for you to come," she explained delicately.
"What?" James growled, his face flushing with anger.
"Don't take it personally," Al admonished, "it's just that we're worried about you. As much as you want to deny it James, you're sick. What if the strain of time travel, experimental time travel, is too much for your body to withstand?"
"Then I'll go to St. Mungo's and get some potions," James snapped waspishly.
"How?" Rose asked. "You don't exist in that time, James. Who are you going to sign in as?"
"Yeah, and bloodline curses aren't exactly common, so you showing up with one and knowing exactly which potions you need is certainly going to raise some red sparks," Hugo added.
"Then I'll pack some extra potions in my bag! Merlin, this is ridiculous! I am not letting a bunch of underage wizards and witches who can't even use magic outside of school yet just go traipsing through the past, up to the most dangerous and evil wizard of all time, all on their own! I'm going, and that's final!" he shouted assertively, folding his arms across his heaving chest to signal that the discussion was closed.
"All right, James," Al conceded. "You'll come too. We'll all go. Safety in numbers, right?"
"What? Al, you can't be serious!" Lily exclaimed in outrage.
"I am, Lil. I'm worried about him just as much as you are, but he has a right to come," he replied, boring his green eyes into hers intently, silently communicating something that she understood after a moment.
"Fine," she sighed, giving Al a slight nod. "But you'd better be careful, James, or this curse will be a Tickle Charm compared to what I'll do to you."
James laughed and pulled his little sister into a tight hug. "You got it, Lil."
"Ok, with that settled, how about we depart for 1997 this Saturday night? I overheard Dad and Uncle Ron saying that they were going to be on a stakeout all night, so that'll just leave Mum and Aunt Hermione to get around," Al suggested. "Scorp, you can ask your Dad if you can sleep over that night, and we'll depart late at night after everyone has gone to sleep."
"Sounds like a plan," Scorpius agreed, and the others all nodded as well. "Great, then it is settled. In three days, we go back in time."