A/N: Thank you all for your kind reviews! Sorry about the long wait, I will try and be more prompt with updating in the future. School is taking up a lot of my time these days!
September 25th, 1990
For the last three days, I've been wandering around the house and Belle aimlessly. My parents were so concerned that they brought me to St. Mungos today for a check-up, but they didn't find anything new wrong with me.
While we were there, I asked Healer Pye a number of questions on leading causes of death for wizards. She was rather shocked to be asked, but answered promptly.
The most common cause of death (other than natural death or illness)for wizards was magic-related accidents at eight percent. (Just as Mrs. Lovegood had perished in the dream, many wizards experimented with magic beyond their knowledge or control and killed themselves in the process. Also, when wizards were particularly tired, or drunk, or ill, apparating could lead to a serious splinching accident, and almost instant death.) After 'natural causes' and magical accidents came homicide at three percent, then suicide at two percent and non-magical accidents at one percent.
I immediately ruled out suicide, and contemplated what could have happened. After convincing them to give Mira a thorough medical exam as well, I knew it couldn't have been some kind of genetic disease. It probably wouldn't be a terrible illness, because that would have caused a panic in the Wizarding community if it killed three people and could possibly infect others; the dream had not talked about such a calamity in the community at the beginning of Harry's first year.
So magical accidents and murder were at the top of the list.
But you know what? It doesn't matter what it is…I will stop it from happening.
Nothing matters more than protecting my family… Which I shall do, at any cost.
September 28th, 1990
Yesterday brought me an eagle owl carrying a threatening letter.
You will stop helping the werewolves or we will see you and your family dead.
I showed it to my parents, who were just as worried as I am, and agreed to let me pay for some stronger wards around the property that protect against magical accidents and intruders alike. I've also had better precautions placed on the floo; now, people can still floo call us, but only our close friends, who we've keyed into the wards – which can't be fooled by glamours or polyguice – can floo over when they like.
Our house is now Unplottable, which is very useful. Remus even cast a handy spell that removed the knowledge of where we lived from the minds of everybody who knew, excepting our closest family and friends (Aunt Christine, Uncle Oliver, my cousins Sydney, Dylan, Jillian, and Carl, Sirius, Remus, my mum's friends Samantha Green & Leanne Claypool, my dad's friends Edward Zabini and Devin Clearwater, Clara Lovegood, Zenophilius Lovegood, Luna Lovegood, Alice Longbottom, Frank Longbottom, Neville Longbottom, Miranda Humphrey, Darryl Humphrey, and Healer Pye).
The consequences of the threatening letter are more than I'm letting on. In the other 'future,' I had never had the dream, and hadn't been able to get as far with my plan as I did now.
So I hadn't been a known threat to anybody, and wouldn't have received threatening letters.
I had caused another threat to my family, in addition to whatever plagued us in the dream. I know guilt isn't healthy, so I refuse to feel guilty, but I just wish I could go back to the carefree existence I had only days ago.
October 16th, 1990
I can't protect all of them every minute of the day. It's simply impossible.
I've slowly gotten back into the swing of things, while still being on the lookout for any threats to my family. My potions skills have gotten good enough that I've been creating new potions based on the ones I've done. I've made several new lotions, and even a hair-removing potion that doesn't sting at all, and lasts for about a week. My mum thinks that the latter invention is a miracle (although I didn't need to hear my Dad saying how much he loved her silky soft legs... ew!), and is much easier and more long-lasting than the hair-removal spell. Luckily a lot of the wizarding world agrees with Mum, and the sales at Belle show it.
The most relaxing part of my days is going flying with Harry and Mira. There's something about losing yourself in the air that is like nothing else. It makes me feel completely free – and for a few hours, I can completely forget all my worries.
We've been practicing Quidditch with the full set that I bought in late September. Mira and I know we'll never be as naturally good as Harry, but we're quite fast, and can keep the Quaffle away from Harry, with Luna's help.
Luna has been coming over almost every morning since the incident with Mrs. Lovegood's potion. She isn't awestruck by me at all, which is a great relief. Luna isn't afraid to say whatever she pleases without caring about what other people think about her, and I admire that.
In some ways, she acts younger than the rest of us – she throws herself into whatever activity we do, whether it's studying, playing cards, cleaning, or racing on our broomsticks. But her enthusiasm just makes our activities more enjoyable for everyone – me, Mira, Harry, Luna, and Neville.
Neville Longbottom has visited with his parents quite a few times since I healed them. Unlike Luna, he was initially very quiet around me, unsure what to think of the girl who gave him back his parents.
I solved the problem by "accidentally" making one of my potions explode in my face, making Neville, the only other in the lab, help me out quickly by putting a healing balm on my skin. When he was finished, and the potion was cleaned up, I thanked him seriously.
"Now we're even," I said firmly, and he nodded slowly but firmly.
"All right."
Since then, he's gained quite a bit of self-confidence, and has become a part of our group. It's almost hard to believe we've only known him for a few weeks. Neville is shy on many occasions, but is never afraid to help us out, and often provides us with brilliant, albeit quirky ideas.
When we're together, Harry's usually the most energetic. His impetuousness has almost gotten him into trouble(like when he tries extremely difficult flips on his broom and almost falls off) several times, but we all agree that he has the most fun ideas for new games and activities. But he's still the sweetest boy I could ever ask for in a 'twin' – considerate of everybody's feelings and ideas.
Mira, as always, is the most good-natured of the five of us. She's laid-back, cool-headed, and never fails to make us laugh with her ironic comments. Although she and Luna have been friends for years, they seem to have gotten even closer recently. Mira is also the best at calming Harry down when he's a bit overenthusiastic about something. Their personalities are so different that you'd think they wouldn't get along, but they're really best friends.
Somehow I fit perfectly into this group of friends. A lot of the time, I find myself being the most serious one, and I lead the others in more serious pursuits like reading, or brewing potions (they are all getting quite talented at it, especially Neville, who picked it up quickly about hearing how the different plant ingredients interact).
But sometimes I let go of my serious side and have fun being a kid. I fly about with them, tease them, and sometimes, giggle for absolutely no reason.
I rather like still being ten.
October 25th, 1990
Of course, sometimes I feel the urge to go on with my plan.
Today I finished going through the memories of the last of the people whose minds I pieced back together at St. Mungos. It made me angry. Tara Crawford was twenty-three when she was caught in a Death Muncher raid, and tortured into a state of chaos (that's what I call it) by Walden Macnair. She lost twelve years of her life because of one man. Macnair was also the one to torture five of the other patients I cured.
He seriously deserves to die. I'm sure there's a way I can come with to get him out of the picture.
An hour later... I've had the most amazing idea. Hopefully it will work as well as I imagined it will...