Hey guys! I just wanted to say that I read every single review, and your feedback has really helped to keep me motivated while writing this story. So, thank you! I also saw an interesting question that paulaa90 posed: did Fuhrman volunteer at the Easter Cleanup Event? She did, actually. Even though she did not fight at the Battle of Hogwarts and never went to Hogwarts, her 'origins story' has to do with her involvement in the War. I'll leave it at that.
So, without further ado…Chapter Ten!
Chapter 10: The Archives
Older Ginny stepped out of the fire in the Field's living room. Night was falling quickly outside. "The kids got to Hogwarts safely."
All thirteen of them had left the Shrieking Shack. Ginny had taken the kids back to Hogwarts for their safety, while the others had apparated in groups back to the Field.
"What did you tell them?" Older Harry asked.
"That if there are dark wizards out to kill us, then the safest place for them is at Hogwarts, and that they shouldn't be involved in all of this time travel business."
Older Ron smiled wryly. "I'm sure they were really happy about that."
"They were fuming, but there is no question about it. They can't come with us. We're not risking their safety."
"Exactly," Older Harry agreed. "Although, knowing our children, I wouldn't be surprised if they escaped school."
"Way ahead of you. I told McGonagall to keep an eye on them."
"McGonagall is still headmistress?" Younger Ron asked, biting into one of the apples from a nearby fruit bowl.
"Still going strong," Older Ron answered, "Our kids haven't made her retire yet!"
Older Harry shuffled some papers on the coffee table in front of him, examining them closely.
"Remind me why we have to infiltrate the DMLE archives for employment files?" said Older Ron, "Can't you just make your secretary Jason do it for us? It's more of a risk if we all go."
"Jason doesn't have the clearance to access some of those files," Older Harry noted, still staring at his documents. "If we want to find out who that woman is, I have a feeling it's in a restricted file relating to previous criminal records or workplace incidents. We all need to stick together, and we need multiple people to comb through several years worth of files without mysteriously removing them from the archives."
"Security has increased since the War," Older Hermione explained to the time travellers, "Even as head of the DMLE, Harry is limited as to the number of files he can check out at a time. If he took all of the work incident and criminal reports from the past several years, he would get caught. The same rule applies to me."
"How are we going to get in there, though?" Younger Ginny asked, "The four of you can just waltz in to the Ministry because you work there. But we can't. We can't even use Disillusionment Charms because a hall full of trained aurors will see right through that, right?"
"Ron and I don't work for the Ministry," Older Ginny interjected.
Younger Ron's face fell. "Wait, I won't be an auror?"
"Will I ever be a Quidditch player?" Younger Ginny asked hopefully.
"Well, you see," explained Older Ron, "Ginny and I-"
"Focus, everyone!" Older Hermione huffed. "Ronald, we can't give them explanations right now. This infiltration is time sensitive."
"Right, we need to get the metronome back as soon as possible," Younger Harry agreed.
"It's not just that, Harry," Older Hermione said, producing two vials from her robes and placing them on the coffee table. "Ginny was right. We can't use Disillusionment Charms this time; the aurors are good at detecting them. Harry and my younger self are going to take Polyjuice Potion to turn into Weasley cousins- only these hairs are just from redheads in nearby villages. We get to the Ministry, and if anyone asks we'll say that the four of you are Weasleys visiting from out of town who wanted a tour of where Harry works. They won't notice Ron and Ginny from the past because they'll blend in. The later it gets, however, the more unusual that tour excuse becomes, which is why we need to leave soon."
"How did you get the potion?" Younger Hermione asked.
Older Hermione blushed. "Ever since Harry disguised himself as 'Cousin Barney' at Bill and Fleur's wedding, I decided that I was going to keep some redhead Polyjuice on hand, just in case."
"You wouldn't believe how many people fall for it," Older Ron added.
Older Harry stood up. "Drink up, you two."
Younger Harry and Hermione eyed the vials disgustedly, but obeyed nonetheless. Younger Harry felt the familiar feeling of nausea before he turned into a skinny redheaded boy, while Hermione turned into a short, curly-haired girl.
"Anyone need a change of clothes?" Older Ginny asked.
"I'm fine," Younger Harry said.
"I'm not," Younger Hermione complained, her jeans hanging off of her, "This girl's smaller than me."
"I'll see if I can get you some of mine." Older Ginny trotted upstairs.
Minutes later, the group flooed into the Ministry Atrium. As it was a Sunday night, everything seemed quiet. One guard sat at a desk near the entrance to the lifts.
"Mr. Potter! Bringing the whole family?" he laughed.
"Cousins from out of town, Steve. They wanted a tour of my office."
"I guess they would, if their cousin was Harry Potter," he chuckled, "Go right ahead." The man waved them through without giving them a single security check.
The eight of them piled into the lift and Older Ron hit the button for floor two.
"Level Two: Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Wizengamot Administration Services, Auror Headquarters, and Muggle Protection Office," The cool female voice announced.
"Where are the archives?" Younger Harry asked.
"The Administrative Registration Department," Older Harry answered. "Through here."
He went through a set of oak double doors and entered a long hall. He led them past multiple closed doors until they reached a room with no door. Instead there was a large open doorway and a brass sign above it that read 'Administrative Registration Archives'.
Older Harry glanced through the doorway and jumped back, causing everyone to bump into him.
"It's just as I thought." Older Harry murmured.
Younger Hermione frowned. "What is it?"
"The Archives don't usually have security stationed at the front desk on Sunday evenings. They just close up the doorway. Unless, of course, some security guard has nothing to do on his weekend and wants to do overtime."
"So there's security now?" Younger Ginny guessed.
"Exactly. It's Jack." The moment he said this, Older Hermione, Ron, and Ginny cringed.
"Who's Jack?" Younger Ron asked.
"Well, he's like Neville before Neville was cool," Older Ron answered, "Except our age. And worse."
"How dare you compare him to Nev," Older Ginny chided.
"We need a distraction," Older Hermione said, "Any ideas?"
"Does anyone have a Decoy Detonator?" Younger Hermione suggested.
"I'm afraid we can't use those," Older Harry said, "They've become so popular in our time that everyone knows what they sound like. They're only good as toys now."
Older Ron smirked. "I know what we can do."
"Yeah?"
"We need a distraction. And we just so happen to have the person who distracts Jack the most."
Older Harry glared at him.
"No," Older Ginny objected, "I'm not doing it."
"What's going on?" Younger Ginny asked.
"Jack's always fancied Ginny," Older Ron blurted out.
Older Harry turned red, "So have several other men in the Department. I'm not letting my wife-"
"But Harry, it's the perfect distraction! Ginny talks to him long enough to let all of us sneak in, and then we can stay in the archives until the Polyjuice expires! Plus, she's a brilliant liar."
"I still won't-"
"Fine. I'll do it." Older Ginny shook her hair, straightened her blouse, and turned into the Archives before Older Harry could say anything. He looked after her in shock.
"Oh, hi, Ginny! Harry with you?" They heard a man's nasally voice ask. Younger Harry peaked around the corner. Although the man was in his forties, he had issues with acne. There were a couple of stains on his work shirt and his tie was too loose. Behind him were shelves and shelves of legal files.
"No, Jack. I'm here by myself. My husband's at home working on a case. We're both really into late night work. Speaking of- I really need your help with something."
"Anything for you, Love."
Older Harry made a quiet sound of protest and clenched his fists.
"I was hoping that the Archives were open tonight so that I could work on an article about criminal cases. It's about attacks on audience members or players at major Quidditch matches. Are those public record?"
"Well, no, only the newspaper clippings, really." Jack leaned over the counter, "But between you and me, I could let you in, take a look at the actual case files. How's that sound?"
"That would be lovely, Jack."
Older Ginny's shoes clicked across the floor as Jack guided her back amongst the shelves.
"Come on," Older Ron whispered. One by one, the rest of them snuck past the empty desk and over to the shelves, Older Harry leading the way. Instead of turning left, in Ginny and Jack's direction, he turned right. There were no signs, just serial numbers for cases. However, it seemed that this was all Older Harry needed to navigate the shelves. At some point they seemed to have arrived at the right number, because Older Harry stopped and fingered one of the shelves.
"Muffliato." He murmured.
"One security guard?" Younger Ron asked, "I thought there was supposed to be more security than this in the future."
"There is," Older Harry answered, "Anyone that isn't me or Hermione or some other important Ministry official might sound an alarm. But we have clearance, so we can enter this area with guests without triggering the system."
"No, it's fine, Jack. I think I can handle it on my own." Older Ginny's voice echoed across the Archives.
"Well, if you're sure, then." They could hear the shuffling of his feet as he walked back to his desk.
Older Ginny appeared a few moments later. "Merlin, this place is huge. I didn't think I would find you lot. By the way, can I just say that Jack gives me the creeps?"
"Can I just say that this is the last time my wife will be around Jack?"
"Love, we've been over this," she said saucily, "Other men can look, but only you can have me-"
"Harry, we need those files!" Older Ron hissed.
"Right then. We've got the criminal cases of current and previous employees here." He handed a giant box of files to Younger Hermione, who almost fell under its weight. "And here we have the workplace incident reports of current and previous employees from the past several years." He handed another large box to Younger Harry. "Come with me."
They walked down the aisle, towards the back of the Archives. There were several desks hiding behind the shelves, like the ones peppered around the Hogwarts library.
"I need you to find anything that stands out," he said, "Any instances in which a DMLE employee had strong opinions about time travel. Any workplace conflicts with Department of Mysteries employees. Things like that."
The four of them sat for what felt like ages combing through files. It was completely quiet, except for the sounds of Jack slurping tea at the front desk or the occasional interjection.
"There's something here," Younger Ron exclaimed, "Some woman got a group of people to wear creepy hoods and walk around the Muggle Protection Office together! Could that be her?"
Younger Hermione examined the file. "No, it wouldn't. That was a Halloween prank that was pulled by one of the interns."
"How about this?" Younger Harry said, "A DMLE employee got dismissed for using a metronome… oh wait, she was just a noisy guitar player."
Older Hermione sighed, "We're coming up with nothing. Is there any other way that we can find the metronome?"
"Even if we found it," Younger Hermione reasoned, "How are we supposed to use it? Bode didn't give us any useful information. Use the right runes to go back so that you can see what the right runes are? That makes no sense!"
"Yeah, it's like a whole chicken and egg thing," Younger Ron agreed.
"Chicken and egg? Ron- you're a genius!"
"I don't get it," He said.
"Harry from the future says that time is like a circular loop, yes?"
"I did," Older Harry answered.
"And that whatever we experience, he has already experienced."
"Where is this going?" Older Ron asked.
"It means that, years ago, the four of us from the future already succeeded in getting back home!" Older Hermione answered.
"I get it. So that means that the future versions of ourselves have already used the metronome and used the right runes, even though they don't remember it!" Younger Ginny exclaimed.
"Which means," Younger Hermione concluded, "that we need to find someone who saw the metronome and the runes after our future selves used it."
Younger Harry turned to their future counterparts, "When the four of you left the storage room on the Easter of 1999, do any of you remember if there was someone who went into the room next? If you passed by someone on your way out?"
They shook their heads. Older Ron gave a sympathetic smile. "Harry, it's been over twenty years since the Cleanup for us. We hardly remember what we did that day, let alone if somebody passed us on the way to the storeroom."
Older Ginny gasped. "I do. I remember! There was someone who passed us, and that person was going into the storeroom. I remember we even talked to that person as they passed us!"
"And who was that?" Younger Harry asked. The time travellers were eying her excitedly.
Older Ginny bit her lip. "I- I don't remember who it was. I just remember that they were there."
"If only we had a Penseive or something," Younger Ginny added disappointedly.
For the first time in hours, Older Harry smiled. "As a matter of fact, we do."