Chapter 21

The grateful weepy pile was exchanged for an angry, scared mob once the time travelers returned to Grimmauld Place that evening and had been attended to by Madame Pomfrey.

"How could you even THINK about going there, knowing what would happen?" Hermione scolded with her hands flying around in an aggravated wave as she shifted her frightening gaze from one youth to the next.

"Hermione's right," Remus chimed in. His expression was calm but there was an undercurrent growl vibrating through his voice. Clearly it was taking all of his willpower to keep control of the wolf attempting to rise to the surface. The thought of his cubs, both biological and in spirit, being in such danger brought out the fierce protector in him. "You could have all been killed, or tortured!"

"But Mr. Lupin, we had to-" Rose began, only to be cut off by Ron.

"Oh no, I don't think so young lady!" Ron chastised, his ears as red as his hair. "I don't care what excuse you have. You threw yourself head first into danger without a thought about the consequences! Do you know how foolish that was? I thought you were supposed to be smart! You and Hugo are both grounded for a month!"

At that point, the twins couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Boys, this is not funny!" Molly fumed, rounding on her sons with tears in her eyes.

"We know that Mum-," George admitted, sobering slightly.

"But you have to admit-," Fred continued.

"It's a bit ironic that Ronniekins is yelling at his daughter-" George added.

"Who is a year OLDER than him, by the way, for doing exactly the same thing he did!" Fred finished.

"Talk about the cauldron calling the kettle black!" they chorused together.

"They've got a point," Sirius admitted from the couch where he was recovering from his head wound and the skelegrow Madame Pomfrey had administered to repair his fractured skull.

"Oh Merlin, our kids grow up to be just like us!" Ginny cried with a smirk.

"We're rogered!" Ron added with a genuine look of fear on his face that broke the tension of the room. Arthur couldn't hold back a chuckle, which spread through the rest of the group. Molly didn't laugh, but she did crack a smile through her tears. Harry was still stoic, feeling the crushing guilt of having led not only his friends into grave danger, but also his future offspring.

"Dad?" Lily asked softly, noticing how pale and sad her father looked. "It isn't your fault."

Harry's eyes widened as the redhead spoke to him, her hazel eyes pleading to him to listen. He shook his head sadly, knowing that the girl was wrong, despite her good intentions. It was his fault. If he had used his brain instead of just rushing in like an idiot then Ron wouldn't be burned and scarred all up his arms, his friends and family wouldn't be battered and bruised, and Sirius wouldn't have nearly died!

"It is my fault. If it wasn't for me you would all be safe! Voldemort doesn't want you all, he just wants me. It isn't fair of me to keep putting you all in the crossfire! Sirius, you almost died today! You've just become free from prison and tonight you almost lost everything because I had to play the hero again! I never use my brain and today it put all of you at risk! I can't allow that to happen again. I-I think it's better if I just go."

"Go where?" Arthur asked in confusion.

"I don't know, just...away. Somewhere that I won't put everyone I love in danger anymore!" he shouted angrily, pulling at his hair.

"You can't do that Uncle Harry," Hugo objected calmly. "If you do it will create a paradox and change the future."

"So?" Harry countered. "Maybe it will change it for the better."

"And maybe it will mean that we're never born," James stepped up, despite his aching muscles, and pointed out sharply. "I just got my chance at life back, literally. I'll be damned if I am going to let your overblown guilt complex take it away from me!" James shouted, showing a glimpse of his famous Weasley temper. "You don't let me take the blame when we lose a match and I sure as hell am not going to let you blame yourself for today, or anyone else getting hurt. The only one to blame here is Voldemort. He's the one trying to kill innocent people. You are the one trying to stop him, Dad. And you do. I know you hate being called the Savior, but facts are facts, and the truth is that is what you are. You save the Wizarding World, Dad...but you only do it because of the help of your friends. You can't change that now. Without them, there is no way you'll beat him, and then everyone here will die."

"He's right, Harry," Ginny agreed softly as she laid a hand on his shoulder. Even if you disappear, none of us are going to stop fighting him. Do you really think if you leave he'll just leave us all alone? He wants to conquer everything, and anyone in his way will be a target. We won't stop opposing him because he is wrong. We stand by you partly because we love you, but also because it is the right thing to do," she explained passionately, not realizing what four letter word she had just let slip out of her mouth. Her kids noticed, though, and they shared a secret smile at the budding feelings.

"She's right," Remus asserted with a soft smile.

"Of course she is; Mum's always right," Al added with a goofy smirk that finally got Harry to smile the slightest bit. "That must be where I get it from," he added with a wink, making Harry burst out into laughter. Scorpius gave his boyfriend a fond look while also rolling his eyes.

"Well, that settles it then," Teddy affirmed. "Harry's not going anywhere, except to bed, which is where you are all going.

"Hey! You can't tell us to go to bed! I'm your Godfather!" Harry protested.

"Yes, but right now you're also a decade younger than I am, so I say it's bedtime," Teddy retorted.

"Plus, he has us to support that command," Molly added, effectively squashing any further arguments. "Tomorrow you'll all go back to Hogwarts but for tonight you'll stay here to rest and recover."

Her order was met with a chorus of resigned "yes, mum's" as the teens all wearily trudged upstairs.

"Time travelers," Sirius called out, "not so fast. I think we need to have a little chat."

The group of kids all looked at each other warily, not looking forward to the conversation they suspected was coming. James, in particular, turned a sickly shade of green when Rose shot him an angry glare.

Reluctantly they all gathered in the living room, taking seats on the sofas and chairs surrounding the one that Sirius was lying upon. He wrenched himself up into a seated position once they were all accounted for, letting a grumbled curse escape his lips at the pain that shot up his neck and settled into a pounding rhythm in his head. A few minutes passed with them all just looking at one another, waiting for someone to take the first step.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a soft, sad, sigh. "I was meant to die tonight, wasn't I?" Sirius whispered reluctantly. He was looking at James when he asked the question, but all the boy did was fidget nervously in response. Sirius turned his attention to the bushy haired red head instead, knowing that her more pragmatic attitude would make her less likely to tell him platitudes.

"Yes," Rose reluctantly replied after a moment of silence during which she debated with herself how to respond.

"Rose!" Al chastised, seeing all of the, admittedly little, color drain away form Sirius' face.

"What? He already suspects it and that is what was supposed to happen!" she retorted hotly, shifting her attention from the younger Potter to the older one.

"How can you be so heartless?" James spat with disgust.

"I'm not being heartless!" she cried, her countenance warring between anger and hurt. "I didn't want Sirius to die! I don't want anyone to die!"

"Hey, hey, that's enough!" Teddy interjected, seeing that the conversation was going downhill rapidly and Rose was on the verge of tears. "Rose, we all know you don't want anyone to die, and James, we all understand why you did what you did, but the truth is that in our timeline, yes Sirius, you did die tonight. Bellatrix's curse hit you and you fell through the Veil. You were lost."

Sirius nodded solemnly, having suspected as much. He had felt himself being pulled towards the mysterious object when he fell and was quite surprised when the second blast hit him. After all, why would a Death Eater waste their time on an enemy that was already going down? When he woke up and found out that James had sent the curse his way, he knew there had to be an explanation. James had become one of his best friends over the past few months; there was no way he would have sent a Blasting Curse his way without good reason. "Did Harry...I mean, was he..."

"It tore him apart," James answered the question the older man couldn't get out. "He blamed himself, of course, and to this day, every time someone says your name he gets this hurt, guilty look in his eyes. I couldn't let him feel that pain again, not if I could prevent it," he vowed stalwartly. "Besides," he added with a smirk, "you're way too cool to go out like that."

Sirius shot him his trademark rogish smiling, momentarily lightening the mood. "Thanks, kid, you're not so bad yourself."

"So what do we do now?" Lily interjected after a moment. "I mean, we did just create a paradox, right?"

"I don't think there is much we can do except hope that the change didn't alter the future too dramatically," Rose mused, trying to recall all of the theories she had read regarding time travel. She did actually have a backup plan to combat any paradoxes, consisting of traveling back to before the paradox occurred and stopping it from happening, but it was a worst-case scenario type of plan so she only wanted to reveal it if there was no other option.

"Well perhaps we can help that along," Hugo added thoughtfully. "After all, we still all remember how things originally went, so we can take measures to make sure that they stay that way despite this little, uh, ripple in the time stream."

The group all nodded their heads, except Teddy. Only Victorie noticed, though, and she decided to keep it to herself for now. She knew what her husband was thinking: if they kept things the same then his parents would die. He had seemed to make peace with that, well, as much as anyone can, when the rules about not changing the past were finite, but now that rule had been broken. Sirius had been saved and she was certain that he was thinking how unfair it was that he could be saved but his parents couldn't. Truth be told, Torie was thinking rather the same thing. She loved Teddy just the way he was and she knew he had a good childhood with Andromeda and Harry, but she also knew how much he regretted not having his true parents around. Having met them now it would only be harder for him to give them up. She hated seeing that lost and broken look on his face whenever his parents were mentioned and whenever he saw a family together. She wanted to save him that pain, consequences be damned!

Little did the Healer know that the rebellious animagus sitting across from her was thinking along the same lines. Now that he had a few minutes to assimilate the fact that A) he was meant to die today and B) his life had been saved, he realized that Teddy's capitulation regarding his vow a few months ago to save Moony's life had been so easy because the boy knew it was a moot point. He knew that Sirius himself would have died long before he could have done anything to prevent his friend's death. The thought caused anger to well up within him and he was in danger of lashing out at the boy, but he didn't want to reveal to his best friend and his cousin that they were fated to die in two years' time. Thus, he bit down on his anger and concentrated instead on fulfilling his original vow to prevent Moony and Tonks' deaths.

"Hey Hugh," Al called, breaking the tense silence. "How much longer do you think we'll be here for?"

The entire group turned to look at the boy, making him blush shyly. Despite the accolades his inventions had awarded him, Hugo was not comfortable being the center of attention. He wasn't anti-social, being so naturally likeable, but he preferred to direct the spotlight to the much louder members of his famous family. "Well, uh, I should have the TDD up and running in the next two weeks, if all goes well installing the temporal transduction capacitor."

"Ri-ight," Teddy commented with an exasperated smile.

"You're leaving so soon?" Molly simpered, wringing a tea towel in her hands as sadness clouded her eyes. Arthur came to stand beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Oh Grandmum, we'd love to stay, we really would," Lily explained with sincerity, looking at Teddy's parents and Fred in particular, "but we have to get back to our present with the blood so that the Healers can create the cure for Jamie."

"Can't Victorie do that here?" Remus asked, wanting to spend more time with his future son now that he had come to grips with his existence and the fact that he hadn't ruined his and Dora's lives with his affliction.

"I wish I could Mr. Lup-Remus," Torie sighed. "Unfortunately this curse is so rare that only a handful of Healers in the world know the treatment. We brought in a specialist all the way from Macedonia just to get the diagnosis. Healer Volchenkov is the only one on the continent capable of administering the treatment."

"We understand, dear," Arthur reassured her, sensing her regret that she could not facilitate it herself.

"Besides," Scorpius spoke up reluctantly, "as much as we would like to stay with you guys longer, and I really do mean that," he emphasized as he looked to Remus, "the longer we stay the more divergent the time stream will probably become. We've already catalyzed one major change, who knows what else could happen the longer we stay."

There was a loaded silence eerily reminiscent of the moment a pack of lions attacks a lone gazelle, but it was broken by the most unexpected of voices.

"I hate to say it, Mum," Ron said, revealing himself from his hiding place around the corner on the staircase, the extendable ear still draped over his shoulder, "but he's right. Not to say that I haven't liked having you guys here," he quickly reassured his future kids, "but having you all here completely changes the rules of the game. It's like suddenly allowing the rook to move diagonally halfway through a match. It completely changes the possible strategies and outcomes."

"Exactly!" Scorpius exclaimed with a genuine smile in Ron's direction.

"Oh, I know you are right, I just hate to see you go! There's still so much to learn about you all," Molly lamented.

"I know Grandmum, but in a few years you'll see us again, and you'll even get to change our diapers," James joked, breaking the tension. Unfortunately with the tension broken Molly came back to herself. "Ronald Bilius Weasley! You were sent to bed! Get upstairs young man, right this instant! And if the rest of you kids know what is good for you then you'll be tucked in tight before I round that corner!"

There was a scurrying and pounding of feet, paired with muffled giggles, then silence. The time travelers burst out into full laughter at the reaction. "Yep," Rose chuckled, "Gran you haven't changed a bit."