Chapter 1: The ritual
In a room at the end of the hallway of the large London house, two people sat studying complex numbers and drawings. Although they seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on their work, the man kept stealing glances at the woman in front of him. After a few hours of complete silence, brown eyes met green ones over the piles of papers scattered on the table.
"It's ready," whispered Hermione, "it's finally ready." She didn't exactly look happy, with a tired appearance that outshone any emotion. But her friend knew that she was extremely satisfied with the new development.
"Does that mean we can leave tomorrow?" asked Harry, just as expressionless, running a hand through his messy dark hair.
"No, it will take some time to prepare the ritual and the potion isn't finished yet," answered his best friend, "but with the calculations ready I can now say for certain this will work." They had been working on the plan for more than two years, believing in the instructions of an extremely disgusting dark arts book Hermione had found in Harry's Gringotts vault. As most of the books there, it used to be in the Black family vault until Sirius died and left everything to his godson, Harry, including the very same house they were in.
"All right, that will give me enough time to get some more supplies. Do you need help setting things up?"
"Just for the end of it, Luna and Neville will be here as well."
Harry made a face at this. "Are you sure that we can't do it on our own?"
"Harry, they are our friends and they are part of this, they deserve to be here as well. Besides, we need more power and Neville is the only one strong enough. You need to learn to accept help from other people," answered Hermione with a heavy sigh.
"If this works, I won't need to."
Ten days after that successful morning, four young adults and a toddler were waiting in another room of the same old house. Hermione kept glancing at her watch and then at the big cauldron simmering a green mixture. Suddenly, she reached out and waved her wand over it. She poured the concoction in two glasses and then looked up.
"It's time."
They all took their places around the drawing on the floor, Harry standing on the center carrying the little boy, Teddy, in his arms. Luna, a blonde girl with huge eyes, and Neville, a black haired guy with a face covered in scars, placed two trunks at his feet. Hermione then took a sip from an orange bottle and gestured the others to drink as well. Luna and Neville obeyed. They stood solemnly waiting for it to take effect.
"The ritual will work Harry, you shouldn't worry anymore," said Luna, watching him with her usual penetrating stare, that made him feel like she was seeing his very soul.
"I'm not worried about the ritual."
"You are worried about your role in the mission," stated Neville. "You'll do fine; we have planned everything to the last detail… Then again life is unpredictable, you will have to wing it and save the day as always."
"That's not funny," snapped Hermione, "but probably true."
"Gee, thanks for your confidence, I'm feeling better already," laughed Harry, releasing some of his tension.
The other three laughed with him until first Hermione and then Luna and Neville shuddered, showing that the potion was taking effect.
"Your turn Harry," said Neville, handing him one of the glasses. While Harry drank it, the scarred man muttered a few words to make the contents of the second glass appear directly in Teddy's stomach. It was not a pleasant sensation, but he was already dosed with a strong sleeping potion so he wouldn't feel a thing.
"Now we wait a couple of minutes," stated Hermione. An uncomfortable silence settled in the room. They had already said their goodbyes a few times and they had run out of words. What they were doing could potentially kill them all or hopefully, give them all better lives.
"See you in the next life Harry," sang Luna making the men smile and Hermione huff. "I know we'll become friends again."
"I hope you are right Luna," replied Harry, thinking of all the good times he had lived with them as well as Ginny and Ron. Strangely, thinking about them didn't hurt as much as it usually did. Still smiling, he felt the potion changing his body temperature and signaled the others.
"Goodbye Harry, Teddy," muttered Hermione, trying to keep the tears from falling.
"Good luck you two," said Neville with a determined expression on his face. Clasping Luna's hand with his right one and Hermione's with his left one he began chanting, quickly followed by them. Three lines later, a bubble appeared around Harry, Teddy and the trunks, while the other three started glowing more and more. They kept going, chanting over and over again until Luna fall to the ground. Without looking and without releasing her hands the other two continued chanting louder than ever. A few minutes later Hermione fell and Neville was alone, chanting with all his strength, his eyes focused on the bubble that was no longer transparent, so he couldn't see Harry and Teddy anymore. He could feel himself growing weaker by the second until he could barely keep his eyes open. But he didn't stop. He fell to his knees and kept going barely noticing when the bubble and everything inside disappeared with a loud noise. Neville then closed his eyes and dropped to the ground.