Author's Note: You will notice that Alice will know practically nothing about the war and the people who fought it. This is due to her living in the United States all her life, and having very little contact with what was happening in the UK. She would hear her parents talking about a thing or another, but it was never a big concern of hers.

Anyway... I hope you're enjoying. Reviews would be welcome!

Alice smirked to herself at her friendly-yet-witty reply, and was about to close the book, when she noticed, abruptly, words forming right below what she had written.

Chapter Two:
Marriage and Kids

'Even if this whole thing is some elaborate scheme, the thought of that place being undone brings a smile to my face. I thank you for that, whoever you are.'

Alice couldn't help but gasp as the words formed. She pulled the book closer as more words seemed to write themselves right in front of her.

How was he even doing that?

She ran her fingers through the page, but it was as if the ink was writing itself dry.

'While the the thought of a mysterious woman going through my teenage bedroom is disconcerting, I am torn between inviting you to see my adult bedroom in the future, or to go out now and burn the bloody house down so I can be sure it's not standing twenty years from now...'

Alice scoffed at his childishness. She was trying to come up with a dignified retort when more words begun to appear.

'Do tell… What do I look like as a 42 year old?

Love,

Sirius'

'Bald…' She wrote back, 'And you kind of smell.

Love,

Alice'

'Somehow, I don't believe you…

Or this whole future-thing.

At all...

- S'

She laughed out loud, nodding.

'Well played, you caught me... We've never met, you and I. I have no idea what you look like.

In fact, I am still convinced this whole thing is some kind of prank that I don't quite understand.

Why my clients would do this is beyond me… But it's the only possible explanation I have.

- Alice'

'I assure you this is no prank,' Sirius wrote.

'Pranks are supposed to be funny.

This? This is just strange, and very confusing! - S'

Alice thought to herself that maybe he had a point.

'Maybe this is a charmed diary for lonely teenage girls? They write and have the illusion of having a friend? - A'

Sirius seemed to waste no time in replying. Their back-and-forth started to resemble a conversation with every exchange.

'That... Is very bizarre (if not extremely profitable)!

No, I am very much a real person. The reason I keep on writing back is out of the deepest scientific interest…

Oh, and concern for your mental health, of course. - S'

'Of course. Such a concerned citizen! - A'

'And some curiosity, I'll admit as much. - S'

One glance at her muggle wristwatch was enough to make Alice bolt into action… She had missed over half an hour writing on the book, and there was still too much work to be done. When she finally reached the basement there was a new message on the page.

'I know how we can settle this! Are you at Grimmauld Place right now?'

Alice frowned and wrote, 'Yes.'

'What time is it?' He asked.

She looked at her muggle wristwatch.

'10:08 a.m'

'Good. So if this whole thing is true, we're exactly twenty years apart. At 10:10, future-Sirius will ring the doorbell and say hi.'

'You'll wait twenty years just to prove a point?'

'I'll outlive the earth itself to prove a point,'

'That's healthy,'

'And you haven't even met me. Yet.'

This was very weird, but still Alice waited, suddenly feeling very nervous. At 10:15 she wrote back:

'10:15. You didn't show.'

'Maybe I am running late?'

'It is twenty years in the future… I don't blame you for forgetting.'

She thought to herself that even if this was true, it's very unlikely that anyone would remember a specific date and time they are supposed to be twenty years in the future. Her train of thought was interrupted by the doorbell ringing, loud and clear.

"No way!" She exclaimed at the book, as if Sirius could hear her from the other side.

'Someone's at the door...' She scribbled in a hurry before running off.

Alice crossed the hallway nervously. The portrait of the screaming woman started going at it. In quick strides, she silenced her and rushed to open the front door, to find two red haired men standing out front. One of them had long hair that ended just above his jaw, with a bored sort of look on his freckled face; his companion was taller and looked just like a rockstar - dragon hide boots, a chain earring with a fang, long hair cut just above his shoulder blades and a leather cloak over a warm looking white shirt.

"Good morning," She said nervously. Could any of them be that Sirius person?

"See, I told you she was fine!" The shorter - but still very tall - ginger told his companion, gesturing in her direction.

"'Morning! I'm Bill, and this is George. We're Ginny Weasley's brothers," He greeted her, ignoring his brother, and shook her hand politely.

Alice smiled. 'Of course it wouldn't be him!.'

"Hi, come on in…" She opened the door wider for them to come through, "What can I do for you both?"

"Ginny was concerned," Bill told her, "This place is filled with dark things. When she didn't hear from you for a couple of days, she asked us to check up on you."

Alice felt herself blush. "Sorry, I meant to write. My letter couldn't reach her, for some reason…"

"It's fine," He smiled kindly, "She was going to come herself, but the team practice is happening in the craziest hours now, and Harry is busy with auror training."

She nodded politely. She remembered the couple telling her that; Ginny was a Quad-Quidditch player, and Harry was training to become an Auror. Both probably had extremely hectic schedules.

"I'm sorry I made you guys come all this way," She apologized, "But everything is alright. I'm just getting started on the basement."

"Don't mention it," George told her with a smile and nudged his brother, "Bill needed an excuse to leave the house anyway."

Bill glared at his brother, who grinned in return. Alice couldn't help but smile.

"You guys could stay if you'd like… I've got some warm butterbeer down in the kitchen."

"That's partially the reason why we're here, actually-" Bill said, but was cut off by George.

"Why he's here… I'm just tagging along."

"I'm a cursebreaker," Bill said, "At Gringotts. I have a few days off, so I thought I'd offer some help. As I said, there are a lot of dark things in this house."

Alice nodded politely.

"I really appreciate it, but I've got it covered," she said.

"We both have today off-"

"What Bill means to say is please, pretty-please, let us hide out here while his wife's family is over."

Bill glared at George, and Alice laughed. George smiled at her, and he seemed to be years younger than before.

"If that's the case, I'm in serious danger right now," She smiled, "Please-oh-please, rescue me!

The three of them went down the stairs to the basement.

"We'll tell Ginny we saved your life," George said.

"Deal," She said.

Alice instructed the men on her plans: first, clean up and eliminate pests; second, remove and vanish the carpet and wallpaper, and finally, to shrink and put every single piece of furniture, silverware or durable goods inside the appropriate boxes.

She taught them some useful cleaning spells, and spider-killing ones, and they set to work. They didn't speak much at first, the three of them focused on the work. Then, the brothers started to make small-chat.

"Will you tell me what is the 'curse breaking' advice you wanted?" Bill asked George, as they held back about six giant spiders each, with the spell Alice showed them.

"Are you nervous about being a father?" George asked as Alice eliminated that set of spiders. She opened the dish cabinet, to reveal more.

"Not really… Fleur and I are very excited, actually," Bill smiled with affection, as he held up the following wave of spiders, "We've wanted this for three years. We are ready."

Alice smiled, "I bet you'll do wonderful."

"Thanks!" He smiled back.

"Why are you hiding, then?" George asked dropping his spell, and causing his spiders to run wild, "You didn't show up at the shop today just to 'check on me', I know you. You're not the kind of person who just shows up, no owl, no note, nothing. When Ginny stopped by to ask me to check on Alice, you practically jumped at the idea… And now we're here, helping clean up Harry's house, even though he's hired some girl to do it - No offense, Alice!"

"None taken," She said, hounding the spiders magically so she could get rid of them.

Bill looked at his brother, trying to assess if this was a serious question. George, in turn, stared him in the eyes very seriously. Meanwhile, Alice killed their spiders and vanished them.

"I'm not hiding," He confessed, "Fleur's parents and sister want to help her design the nursery. She's humoring them, and they're all picking patterns, colours, making lists of things..."

"You're giving her space. To be around her family," Alice noted, and he nodded.

"Don't get me wrong… They absolutely adore me," He said, "It's just that my french needs some more work, and when I'm with them Fleur always has to translate things back and forth - she doesn't mind, of course but I know it's exhausting. So sometimes I give them some privacy. She misses her sister a lot, too. It gives them time to catch up, and coo over baby things."

"That… is not what I expected," George confessed, "I honestly thought they drove you insane and you needed time off."

"Fleur needs this. I absolutely don't mind."

"That's very thoughtful," Alice complimented.

"And grown up," George muttered.

With a few elaborate twists of her wand, Alice opened the remaining drawers and doors of the china cabinet, and to their collective relief, there were no spiders left. They decided to make it a production line: Alice would magically clean the china and silverware, George would levitate them into the boxes, and before they could be placed inside, Bill would run spells to check them for curses or magic.

"Well, I don't suppose you have a few growing up tips to pass along before next month, do you?" George asked, as if making a bit announcement to the room.

Three things happened simultaneously: Bill lost his focus on the china, and snapped his head up to stare at his brother with his mouth hanging open; his abruptness startled Alice, who caused the plates and cups she was spelling clean to crash hard into each other, breaking most of them. George stopped concentrating and everything that was floating crashed to the floor.

"You're getting married?" Bill asked in shock.

"Shit!" Alice cursed as she assessed all of the broken plates on the floor.

"In a month?! Does mum know? Or dad?" Bill kept on asking.

George stared thoughtfully at Alice (who was freaking out about the broken china) for a second, before deciding she either was trustworthy, or she would be too busy with the broken things to care about whatever he had to say.

"I only just asked her last night," he finally said, sounding somewhat amused.

"I didn't even know you were seeing someone!" Bill said.

"I didn't know how to tell... well, anyone about her..." George confessed.

"Who are you marrying?" Bill sounded concerned.

"Angie…" He almost whispered, then raised his voice a little, "Angelina Johnson."

"Georgie, that's great news!" Bill smiled, but when he looked at his brother's frown he asked, "What's the big deal?"

"For one, she's Fred's ex girlfriend," Bill opened his mouth to speak, but George cut him off before he could say anything, "Also, we're living together… We've been living together for about four months now."

Bill didn't seem to find his voice, and Alice realized she had been staring so she set up to silently repairing the broken things.

"So this isn't out of the blue?"

"I don't know… We didn't plan any of this, really. After the final battle, things were rough for me. I didn't feel like opening the store anymore; the apartment was a mess... Some days I wouldn't even shower! I just… existed, I guess," George smiled nervously, "She would stop by sometimes, in between Ginny, mum and everyone else. But she wouldn't make me talk. Mum would insist on having these one-sided conversations about Fred, about the shop, about what Freddie would have wanted."

He took a deep breath, and he looked like he was trying to swallow something unpleasant. Alice kept on silently repairing things, and Bill just stood staring, lost for words. She guessed this kind of outburst wasn't common, and that the younger Weasley really needed to vent.

"What people fail to understand is that I was never alone before. Freddie was born with me, and we did everything together. And then he was not there anymore, and all I could think about was that I was supposed to have gone with him!"

"And Angie would come over, help me clean up the place, bring butterbeer and cake, and sometimes she'd just stay quiet with me. Then last year I finally was able to talk, about the war, about Fred, and about the shop… And she listened, she talked, she cried, and she just kept on coming back… Suddenly we weren't friends anymore, and she kept on coming back. Then one day she just didn't leave."

"And it felt so right!" There were tears on his eyes, but he didn't seem to be able to stop, "Then I wanted to tell everyone, but the timing was never right, and I just sort of faded into the background - as usual... Ron and Hermione got engaged, and then of course Harry and Ginny did. Then I would gather the courage to tell, floo over and guess what? 'Oh Georgie, Teddy and Andromeda are over, come say hiii'. Or Rita Skeeter would publish some crap about all of us..."

George was now pacing as he ranted.

"Things just got more serious between us, and the time was never right. Angie thought I was ashamed of her - can you believe that? - when I was in fact ashamed of myself! For being with Freddie's girl! For not being brave enough to tell everyone right from the start! And Merlin, you know mum! You know what she would say about all of this. And now with the baby-"

He cut himself off abruptly.

"THERE'S A BABY?" Bill yelled. Alice cringed. George seemed to lose the ability to speak.

Alice took that moment to finish with the broken china and have them fly into the box. Then, she spelled some chairs to clean themselves.

"I think we need a break," She stated. The brothers didn't seem to notice her, so she apparated away.

She appeared on her parent's house, and summoned the good firewhisky from her dad's cupboard. As an afterthought she checked the kitchen to see if her brother had drunk the hot chocolate she had left for him, grinning when she saw that he hadn't - the spell to keep it fresh was still going, so she packed that away and apparated back.

Bill and George had sat down on the freshly cleaned chairs. Bill had his face on his hands, and George's face was the colour of his hair.

"Here we go…. Irish cocoa," She told them with a wink, pouring the cocoa in three flying mugs, along with a healthy dose of the liquor.

They each grabbed one and thanked her, and she turned around to give them some privacy.

"Wait, Alice?" George asked tentatively, "You don't have to go."

"I don't want to intrude," She said apologetically.

"Please, intrude!" He smiled, "It's better not to talk about this one-on-one. Don't know if it makes sense."

Alice nodded and sat down. The brothers both sipped on their drinks, and a comfortable silence settled in. She took that time to check on the journal again, and found a new message there.

'On a scale from 9 to 10, how good looking am I? - S'

'It's not you. You didn't show. - A'.

She put the book away as the men finished their drinks.

"So now it's out," George said, "I'm marrying my twin's girlfriend and we're having a baby. Just wait until mum and dad knows!"

Bill smiled and clapped his hand on George's back.

"I wish you told me sooner but I'm glad you opened up, man," He looked intently at his brother, "George, you can always tell me whatever you need to. Mum will fuss… She always fusses about everything! But it will be alright."

George nodded.

"I feel like I'm betraying Fred," he said, " Like this should be him, and not me. Running the business, marrying Angie, having a baby with her…"

"You're not, though," Alice said, surprising even herself, "Look. I might not have known him, but I'm pretty sure he would want you both to be happy and move on."

"Maybe he would be mad at you for a second, but then he'd joke about your child looking just like him and things would go right back to normal," Bill added with a smirk.

George laughed, "I hope the kid looks like him. He was the good looking one!"

He finished his drink and sighed.

"This whole marriage and kids thing just comes so naturally for you. I'm terrified I'm going to mess everything up."

"Oh, you will. About ten million times…" Alice laughed, "But then you'll pick yourself up, learn your lesson and become a better husband."

"Sounds about right!" Bill laughed, "The first few months of marriage were chaos. Eventually, Fleur and I found balance."

"My dad married his brother's ex-girlfriend, you know," Alice told them, "Uncle Benjy was weirded out at first, but it turned out just fine… Mom says they worked better as friends anyway,"

"You do look like a well adjusted person," George said, nodding at the firewhiskey bottle in appreciation. They all smiled.

"When is Angie due?" Bill asked.

"End of June, or the end of July, we think," George said, trying to count the months on his fingers, "She's about two to three months along…"

"Good. That means I'll have a couple of months worth of experience to pass along to you!" Bill smiled proudly.

George didn't say anything, and just refilled his cocoa. His ears were still red, but he had a smile playing on his lips.

"How come you have so much to say about marriage, Al?" He asked, suddenly.

"I was married for about two years." She smiled sadly, "Then I decided to move here and he decided to stay. The end."

An hour later, the basement was bare. All the furniture was packed away, the stone walls and floors felt very clean - no wallpaper or carpet remained. That bare room felt a lot like being inside of a cave.

Alice thanked them for their help, and packed her things.

"Here's what we're going to do," George said, rubbing his hands together, "We'll have dinner at the Burrow tonight. I'll walk in, hand in hand with Angie and announce that we're getting married."

"If any distractions show up, I'll make sure you have the floor!" Bill promised, "I'll tell Fleur and the in-laws to come about two hours later. We'll make a celebration of it!"

"It will be alright, George," Alice assured him, throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

They walked out together, and Alice said goodbye.

"You're invited to dinner, you know?" Bill said in amusement, his eyebrow raised.

"No, I couldn't… I feel like I've already intruded too much," Alice replied, feeling her face warming up.

"Ginny told me to invite you," Bill said, "You're not intruding."

"Are you sure? What about George?"

"Me? You witnessed my mental breakdown. You're practically family!" He said.

"Ok then… Are your parents set up for floo?"

She said she'd go home to get ready, and would meet them in a few hours.

Upon aparating home, she noted that the house was empty. Her brother was probably at work, and their parents wouldn't be back for another two months. The couple were working on a particularly tricky house in Ireland.

Alice showered, got dressed and opened the journal to find a few extra lines written,.

'I guess setting a date twenty years in the future wasn't a smart move.

What I can't get over is that time travel is complicated and difficult to achieve. There are too many rules and guidelines that can make life very difficult very fast.

It's hard to even get a person back with precision, even with a time turner.

To send a journal in the post like this? It shouldn't be possible!'

Alice agreed, but before she could respond, more words begun writing themselves. 'Ah, he's writing now!' She thought.

Just the possibility of me holding a book that doesn't belong in this timeline can alter reality in unimaginable ways. There are paradoxes, and events that would cease to exist, or happen differently…

Now, for instance: instead of taking the hot blonde from across the hall out for dinner, I am still in my underwear bickering with a book! I even sound like my best mate's wife!'

Alice nodded, and then smiled evilly.

'By all means, pick the blonde and not the book,' She wrote, amused, 'This whole thing is confusing the fuck out of me as well.'

'After all I wrote, all you care about is the blonde?'

'I'd ditch this book over a hot blonde any second now!' She grinned, teasing him.

'Ah, a girl after my own heart, I see...'

Alice decided to go straight to the point.

'Let's assume this is real, ok? What did you do to this journal so I'd be able to read what you're writing? Or is this just a simple predictable-writing spell?'

'I charmed it like a two-way mirror. We are, in fact, communicating.'

'That is not possible!'

'It's simple magic, really. If you apply a few Hogwarts-level charms, you can make it work,' His writing sounded very smug and she didn't know quite what to say, 'What? Hogwarts doesn't exist anymore in your decade?'

'It does,' She finally wrote, 'I've never been there. I grew up in America and attended Ilvermorny'

'I don't think I've ever talked to an American. At least not long enough to know where she went to school…'

'That's cute… And for the record: I am not American. I just grew up there.'

'How was it there?'

'It was home, for a long time.'

'It's not anymore?'

'I'm not sure. Maybe, in a way... I left a few friends back there, my ex-husband too.'

'Ex-husband? How old are you, Ms. Alice?' He wrote.

'I am 21. Got married way too young.'

'I'm twenty-two. Can't imagine myself settling down any time soon.'

Alice felt strange and silly to be writing to someone she had never seen, and who might not even be real. She thought to herself that maybe Bill was right… It was time she went out and made some friends, or just met new people in general.

'Alright, Ms. Fenwick… I have an idea!' Sirius wrote.

'That must be a first for you!' She teased him.

'Very funny.

Here's how we'll settle this: I propose a fair exchange. You'll tell me something trivial that will happen soon in 1980. Something meaningless, that can't be altered by me knowing it. In return, some time in the future I will hide something in the house, and only you will know where to find it.'

'Again, we are talking about something hidden for twenty years.' Alice reasoned, 'What if someone else finds it?'

'I will hide it very well,' He promised.

'Mr. Black, you have yourself a deal! Let me know where to look, and I will research some information to give you.'

'When I think of a hiding spot, I'll let you know.'

Alice closed the book softly and finished getting ready. She stopped by a magical beverage shop and bought two bottles of a fancy elf-made wine to take to the Weasley's. With a deep breath to settle her nerves, she flooed to The Burrow.