As soon as the time traveler's eyes fluttered open, everyone in the room tensed. They were expecting her to react as she did earlier, but nothing of that sort happened. Daphne's eyes roamed over all of them before finally stopping on Julia Greengrass's face. Nobody spoke as the two women continued to stare at each other, but soon after, Daphne closed her eyes. Charlus was the one to take the lead.
"Mrs. Potter,..."
He was interrupted immediately as light blue eyes zeroes on him.
"What is the date?"
"26th of December, 1980."
Daphne closed her eyes once again, but everyone heard her mutterings.
"..that damn overgrown chicken."
As she moved to take a seating position, Dorea, Julia and Lily stepped forward simultaneously to help her but stopped when her wand appeared in her hand out of nowhere. With a wave, a bunch of pillows was conjured, which fell behind to support her.
"Before anything else, where is that bird?"
She frowned at seeing the confused looks being directed toward her."
"The Pheonix that you must have found along with me, where is it?"
Once again, Charlus was the one to answer.
"We didn't find any Pheonix along with you, Mrs. Potter."
"That's not possible. Fawkes was with me when we hit that barrier. Did you check thoroughly?"
"We did, Mrs. Potter. There was no Pheonix anywhere near when we found you."
Sirius interrupted whatever else Charlus was going to say in a sheepish voice.
"Well, there was a pile of feathers, but I thought that was some bird you fried on the way in."
"God, she is going to be grumpy. Fawkes must have turned into her baby form. Can you check on that pile and bring her in, Mr...?"
The Black heir gave an exaggerated bow.
"Black. Sirius Black in your service, Madamoiselle."
Recognition shone in Daphne's eyes as she nodded. Once Sirius had left the room, Lily spoke up in a cautious tone.
"Are you really..."
"Your daughter-in-law from the future. Yes, Mrs. Potter, I am."
"Call me, Lily. Why...?" Lily replied absently, her eyes moving over Daphne's injuries.
"I traveled back in time?"
At Lily's nod, the woman adjusted herself a little before answering.
"It was not my choice, Mrs. Potter, but in hindsight, I can see why it happened. Fawkes must have seen it as the last option to take such a big step."
"Fawkes as in Dumbeldore's Phoenix?"
A strange smile came on Daphne's face as she shook her head.
"In the future, she found someone better to accompany after he passed away, Mr. Potter." She answered to James, who had been the one to enquire. Any further questions were paused when Sirius raised inside the room, holding a small bird in his hand who was making a complete ruckus. He threw it in the time traveler's direction, who quickly grabbed it from the air. The Pheonix calmed down immediately and let out some long chirps. Daphne seemed to understand what the Pheonix was saying as she glared at Sirius once the chirps stopped.
"You walked past her last night and didn't notice her. Where were your eyes focused at?"
There were a lot of logical answers that Sirius could have given, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was.
"Fire..amm...water."
Daphne looked at him like he was mentally challenged, but fortunately for Sirius, Lily's maternal feeling could no longer be contained.
"Why are you here, Daphne? Where is my son, Harry? Why didn't he come with you? Is he alive? What happened to him?"
Instead of answering her, Daphne glanced at all of them before looking at the Pheonix. The immortal bird chirped for quite a while.
"Are you sure about that?"
The next few chirps made her go pale, making everyone in the room tense.
"Given that Fawkes agrees, I will try to answer all your questions..."
Sirius scoffed, leaning back on the wall.
"You want us to believe that you can understand a Pheonix, Mrs.. what should I even call you."
Daphne leaned back a little more while looking at Sirius with nonplussed eyes.
"I don't care what you believe, Heir Black. I can only tell you what should happen in the future, and understanding a Pheonix is a very small thing compared to what else would happen. Whether you accept it or not, that's not my problem. And regarding Fawkes, a Pheonix can choose who can understand them, and she has bestowed this gift upon me by her own choice. You are free to address me as Daphne, Heir Black."
Sirius huffed but didn't say anything back.
"This would be a long tale, so it would be better if you all take a seat instead of standing around me like I am preparing for a rampage."
"You did break a lot of magical bindings earlier, Daphne, and you did it quite easily."
"You will soon find that I am not just a simple witch, not anymore, Mr.?"
"Charlus Potter, Lord of House Potter."
Daphne's eyes widened once again, making it evident that she hadn't recognized him till now. The implications of that froze Dorea Potter's inside. She couldn't control herself to stop her next question.
"When? When did he die?"
While everyone else was looking at her with confusion and fear, Daphne's face had a look of understanding.
"What I am about to tell you has all but a few moments of happiness..."
Her voice broke off as she couldn't find words to say.
"Only three of you would be alive two years from now, and one of those three would spend the rest of their life in Azkaban, dying soon after escaping that place. Ironically, every one of you would die trying to protect your child."
"There is no better way to die, Daphne," Markus observed in a determined voice. A mocking smile formed on the time traveler's face as she looked at her grandfather.
"The irony is not how you all died, it is in the fact that your deaths made the life of all your children a lot worse than it could have been had you been alive."
"Daughter, what are you talking about?"
The pleading voice of Julia Greengrass relaxed Daphne a little as she stared at her young mother. She took a deep breath before explaining.
"Although there are other things that have been going on for a long time before, our tale starts a few weeks ago, when Dumbledore went to meet a woman named Sybill Trelawney for the position of Divination Teacher. The woman gave a genuine prophecy during the interview.."
Daphne paused when she looked at the fear-filled faces of Potters. Her face went from confusion to realization to anger in less than a moment.
"You all know, don't you?"
The four potters acquiesced, and Daphne's fists tightened.
"And yet you chose to remain here. Why didn't you leave when you learned about it?"
Charlus Potter was the one to reply, as he had made the decision.
"We are Potter; we don't quit in the face of adversity."
Charlus held a lot of pride in him and his family, but at that moment, as he saw his grandson's wife looking at him with pity and regret, something broke in him. Daphne's eyes flickered over to Sirius and James.
"The saying, Pride goeth before a fall, is not wrong. I am the Lady of three houses, House Potter, House Black, and House Greengrass, and it so happened that all three of them fell because of their pride."
She looked at Sirius first.
"House Black fell because of their pride in their purity and their own self thought superiority. House Potter prides itself in standing in the face of anything, and they fell when they couldn't. Finally, House Greengrass prides itself for remaining neutral and not taking a side, and they fell when they were slaughtered despite it."
"No," came the muffled reply from her father, Henry.
"Two months from now, Charlus Potter and Dorea Potter would have died in a death eater attack while giving James and Lily Potter the time to escape. The Potter manor would burn that night, but there would be no arrests, for it was the Dark Lord himself who led the attacks along with his trusted followers. James and Lily would be the next, dying six months later by the hands of Volde..."
A number of no's and stop's rang in the room as Daphne paused before guilt appeared on her face.
"I apologize; I had forgotten about the trace. It has been a long time."
"The Dark Lord is dead in your future." Sirius inquired in an excited voice.
"Yes, he died when his own curse reflected back at him, 18 years from now."
James and Sirius hollered a little, but no one else joined them. Daphne continued on soon after, knowing her knowledge of the next few years was going to get some extreme reactions.
"Harry survived the Killing curse from the Dark Lord which sort of banished him, and no, no one is sure why it happened. Dumbledore said that it was due to his mother's sacrifice, who chose to defend her son despite being given a chance to step aside and live, but Harry always thought it was more than that."
She gave a smile to Lily, who had tears in her eyes.
"I never learned what exactly happened after your and your husband's death, but a day later, the newspapers had the front page filled with the declaration of the Dark Lord's death and Harry being called as the Boy-who-lived. A few days later, Sirius Black..."
Whether it was a coincidence or fate intervention, two people flooed into the manor at that moment, making Charlus Potter flinch. Daphne paused at that, but her reaction at the reason made everyone tense. As soon as Charlus had spoken about Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin's arrival, Daphne went rigid on her bed. The atmosphere in the room became heavy as the time traveler straightened in her bed.
"Could you bring them here, Please?"
While her words were soft, there was no mistaking the anger in them.
"Daphne..."
"Please, bring them, and don't inform them anything about me."
There was a command in her voice that made everyone shiver while James left to bring his friends in. No one said anything as they all waited. It was a testament to Daphne's nature of how imbalanced everyone except her was at that time. She had deliberately spoken in a manner that implied a lot of possible things but had refrained from confirming more than a few.
All of them looked at her as her wand started moving over herself, but only two people recognized the charms she was using. A smile came over both Dorea and Julia's faces as they spoke up together.
"You are a healer."
Daphne paused only for a moment before nodding.
"I am...or was supposed to be a Junior Healer by now."
"Was supposed to be?", Dorea enquired.
"Later. Hmm... these injuries are healing faster than they should."
"Yes, Lord Greengrass helped by channeling some magic in you."
Daphne paused, her eyes focusing on her grandfather.
"That was...risky."
"Anything for family, Daphne.", came the simple reply.
Daphne didn't say anything, but the gratitude was evident on her face. Lily made an observation as she relaxed a little.
"Three generations of women in Harry's lives become a healer. How did Harry react to that?"
Only Henry and Julia realized the hidden undertone in Daphne's answer.
"He was quite happy when he realized it for the first time. It was also the first time he had learned more about his grandparents than their name."
"Why didn't he know..."
Dorea Potter's following words were interrupted when James walked into the room with the other two marauders. Charlus and Markus were the only ones who got the warning before Daphne's hand jumped in action. Without any word, Remus Lupin was bound and stunned, while Peter Pettigrew was bound and stuck to the wall. She had also managed to summon his wand along with those of James and Sirius.
"What the fuck"
"How dare you."
She didn't pay any attention to any exclamations, as it was clear she had pushed herself too much. Dorea moved immediately, rebuking Daphne for her action while at the same time trying to get her to drink a few potions. The time traveler did as she was asked, except returning the marauders wand and releasing them.
"Enough. You both need to calm down immediately, or I will throw you both out." Charlus Potter's thundering voice stopped James and Sirius in their tracks.
"But father, she.."
"I can see what she did, James, and I am sure she has a good reason for it."
"Oh, I do, I very much do," Daphne commented in a panting voice as she straightened back. She tried to move her wand once again, but Dorea grabbed her hand.
"No, not anymore. You are harming yourself trying to perform magic in your condition. I will not allow it."
Daphne's eyes flashed as she focused on the elderly healer.
"You will not allow it?"
"Yes, I will not. I am a senior healer, Lady Potter, the eldest living female of House Black, and your husband's grandmother. I outrank you in every way possible, Daphne, so you will listen to me." Dorea replied with equal steel in her voice.
"And I am your mother, with the same words. You have to stop forcing your magic to perform; your core is not the condition to do so."
Daphne rolled her eyes before handing her and other wands over. A whisper that Dorea and Julia only heard left her mouth as she turned to look at Peter.
"Peter Pettigrew, everyone knows you as the non-impressionable members of the Marauders."
She shifted her hand in a thinking position, but nobody missed the cold smile that appeared on her face.
"I wonder how many people know the real truth about you. I guess less than ten people, given that it would have been only a few months that you gained your new identity."
The small man bound to the wall kept trying to move, but the charm held strong.
"Don't bother rat, the charm to stop an animagus transformation is much easier to learn than now. Mrs. Potter, could you vanish the clothes from his right hand."
Realization dawned on many faces as Lily performed the charm with a shaking wand. The clothes vanished, and the Dark Mark was visible for everyone to see. Daphne waved her hand as if she was showing some grand prize.
"I introduce you to Peter Pettigrew, the recently christened Death Eater, and the reason behind the attack on Bones Family. He was also going to be the reason behind the slaughter of the Mckinnon family, the Prewetts, Charlus, and Dorea Potter., Dorcas Meadows, John and Mary Evans, and a lot of others. His crowning achievement, although, will be when he would betray James and Lily Potter and inform their location to the Dark Lord after being appointed as a secret keeper, framing his other best friend, Sirius Black, for that crime which would end up with Sirius spending 14 years in Azkaban, and finally, helping the Dark Lord to come back when Harry reaches his fourth year."
Daphne had judged Sirius and James correctly, but she had underestimated the other people in the room. Julia did manage to immobilize both James and Sirius as they ran towards Peter, but she was not fast enough to stop Dorea Potter.
"Crucio"
The cruciatus curse stuck the bound man straight on his face, and even in a bound state, the man's muffled screams filled the room. Daphne would have let it go, but she needed Peter sane and alive, at least for some time. She snatched the wand from Dorea.
"Not right now, Lady Potter. Your family needs you more than you need the revenge."
She pointed towards Charlus, who seemed to have gone in shock and looked ready to faint. Julia was pointed towards Lily, who had fallen on the ground and was sobbing heavily.
Daphne knew she could have informed them less painfully, but it was necessary. They would soon be learning some bitter truths, and Peter's betrayal was just a start.
Review Replies:-
Vihar:- Harry would be appearing after some time, but it would not be the usual time travel
Hank 1967:- Nope, In a way this story is more about the generation before Harry, his parents and grandparents.
Guest:- Thank you