We pulled ourselves out of the water cold and wet and decidedly unhappy.

"Albus Severus Potter," I glared at him, my teeth chattering as Scorpius used a drying spell on me. "You had better have a very good reason for having suddenly lost your mind."

I helped Scorpius dry his back and then turned my attentions on getting Albus dry. He was not dying of exposure before I killed him.

"And you are going to explain every bit of this to us before we take one more step." Scorpius put an arm around me. I was still shaking like a leaf and I was becoming more certain it had little to do with having been wet and cold I had been terrified. I snuggled in to Scorpius' side.

Albus looked up at me confused. "Hey, that didn't really… I am sorry Lils, you are the one who normally takes risks… I didn't think."

"Just start talking Albus." I tried to pull myself together as Scorpius led me to a large boulder and pulled me down next to him.

"Yeah OK. And look." Albus pulled out his bag and passed around sandwiches and apples. "Just like the first time. It all started last night. We got a couple of unusual visitors. Amos Diggory, he is the father of Cedric and Delphi Diggory, she is Amos' niece. She was sure something." Albus eyes got a far away look.

Scorpius and I looked at each other. "This better not be about some girl Albus." I warned.

"No, it isn't not entirely; just let me tell it my way." Albus got comfortable. "I couldn't sleep so I went to get a drink when I heard my Dad talking to someone. I sat down to listen because late night visitors are really not commonplace. And my Dad and Amos were talking about how my Dad wouldn't see Amos no matter how many appointments he set. The conversation as near as I can remember was like this:

"Amos, I understand, I really do, but I'm only just home and…" Harry said.

Amos cut him off "I've tried to make appointments at the Ministry. They say, "Ah, Mr. Diggory, we have an appointment for you, let's see, in two months." I wait. Very patiently."

Harry sounds a little annoyed firmly continues, "and coming to my house in the middle of the night, when my kids are just getting ready for their new year at school… it's not right."

Amos is not deterred. "Two months pass, I receive an owl, "Mr. Diggory, I'm awfully sorry, but Mr. Potter has been called away on urgent business, we're going to have to shift things around a little, are you available for an appointment in, let's see, in two months' time." And then it repeats again, and again . . . You're shutting me out."

Harry sounds just a bit guilty. "Of course I'm not. It's just, I'm afraid, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement I'm afraid I'm responsible…"

"There's plenty you're responsible for." The sneer is clear in Amos' voice.

Harry is a bit taken aback "Sorry?"

Amos all but hisses in his anger and grief. "My son, Cedric, you do remember Cedric, don't you?"

Harry's voice is full of pain and regret. "Yes, I remember your son. His loss…"

Amos cut him off. "Voldemort wanted you! Not my son! You told me yourself, the words he said were, "Kill the spare." The spare. My son, my beautiful son, was a spare."

Harry, sounding much older than when the conversation started, "Mr. Diggory, as you know, I sympathize with your efforts to memorialize Cedric, but…"

Amos scoffed. "A memorial? I am not interested in a memorial, not anymore. I am an old man, an old dying man, and I am here to ask you, beg you, to help me get him back."

Harry, astonished at this request "Get him back? Amos, that's not possible."

Amos sounding manic, "The Ministry has a Time-Turner, does it not?"

Harry says in a firm voice. "The Time-Turners were all destroyed."

Amos sounding more certain of himself contradicts this. "The reason I'm here with such urgency is I've just heard rumor, strong rumor, that the Ministry seized an illegal Time-Turner from Theodore Nott and has kept it. For investigation. Let me use that Time-Turner. Let me have my son back."

Harry's voice takes on a warning tone. "Amos, playing with time? You know we can't do that."

"How many people have died for the Boy Who Lived? I'm asking you to save one of them." Amos half shouted half pleaded.

Harry's voice hardens. "Whatever you've heard, the Theodore Nott story is a fiction, Amos, I'm sorry."

Albus paused in his narration to take a bite of his apple and drink some water to let this implication sink in. Scorpius and Lilliana were speechless. "That was when I met her. She has blue hair and she is funny and sarcastic and… well, a little older, but only a little."

Lilliana sighed. "Just get to the story Albus, please."

"Fine, fine, so as I was sitting there Delphi kind of sneaked up behind me. She must have gone looking for the loo. We talked. It was… brilliant.

Delphi leaning over Albus. "Hello." Albus jumps straight when she speaks. Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to startle. I used to be a big stair-listener myself. Sitting there. Waiting for someone to say something the tiniest bit interesting."

Albus trying to get his equilibrium back. "Who are you? Because this is sort of my house and…"

"I'm a thief, of course. I'm about to steal everything you own. Give me your gold, your wand,and your Chocolate Frogs!" Delphi looks fierce and then smiles. "Either that or I'm Delphini Diggory. Delphi. I look after him… Amos…well, I try. And you are?"

Albus with a rueful grin. "Albus."

Delphi sucks in a breath. "Of course! Albus Potter! So Harry is your dad? That's a bit wow, isn't it?"

"Not really." Sounds glum.

Delphi sounds contrite. "Ah. Have I just put my foot in it? It's what they used to say about me at school. Delphini Diggory, there isn't a hole she couldn't dig herself into.

Albus nods in commiseration. "They do all sorts with my name too."

Amos calls upstairs. "Delphi."

Before leaving Delphi smiles at Albus. "We don't choose who we're related to. Amos . . . isn't just my patient, he's my uncle, it's part of the reason I took the job at Upper Flagley. But that's made it difficult. It's tough to live with people stuck in the past, isn't it?"

Amos cals again, louder this time. "Delphi!"

Albus, s0unding a bit dazed. "Upper Flagley?"

"St. Oswald's Home for Old Witches and Wizards. Come see us sometime. If you like. Delphi lays a hand on Albus' arm.

"DELPHI!" Amos shouts loudly this time, insistent.

Delphi comes to his side. "Yes, Uncle?"

Amos sneers. "Meet the once-great Harry Potter, now a stone-cold Ministry man. I will leave you in peace, sir. If peace is the right word for it. Delphi, my chair…"

Delphi pushes Amos out of the room. "Yes, Uncle."

All of us were silent when Albus finished talking. I even forgot to be shy about Scorpius still having his arm around me.

"And..?" I asked quietly. There was something more. Albus had a need to prove himself.

Albus looked at me weird. "And what, Lils? This wasn't enough?"

"Albus Potter, you are my favorite cousin, my best friend and I literally cannot imagine my life without you in it." I told him, making him blush. "Which means I know pretty much all there is to know about you. And I know when you are holding something back. What is it? You kept us from Hogwarts, so no Black Lake and we all know Scorpius won't take his turn and this will have to do. Spill it. Reality check time."

Albus sighed. "My Dad tried to give e this baby blanket he was wrapped in when he came to your grandparents. And I was… less than grateful."

I narrowed my eyes. "How much less?"

"I may have yelled at him about how much crappier a gift than what he gave to Lilly and James it was and threw it across the room spilling a love potion Uncle Ron got me as a gag gift all over it." Albus confessed.

Scorpius didn't say anything he just squeezed me with the arm he still had wrapped around my waist.

I nodded. "OK, bad, but fixable. You know you have to apologize for that, right Albus?"

He threw himself back on the grass. "Yeah, I know."

"So… what are we doing here, Albus?" Scorpius finally asked.

Albus looked up. The manic gleam back. "We can do this. WE can use that time turner and go back in time and save Cedric Diggory."

Scorpius held up two fingers. "OK two points. First we don't HAVE a time turner. And second, even if we did, what about Croaker's Law?"

I had no idea what he meant. "Croaker's Law?"

Scorpius put on his "Professor Scorpius" face. "Croaker's Law states and I quote: "As our investigations currently stand, the longest period that may be relived without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler or to time itself is around five hours. We have been able to encase single Hour-Reversal Charms, which are unstable and benefit from containment, in small, enchanted hour-glasses that may be worn around a witch or wizard's neck and revolved according to the number of hours the user wishes to relive."

Five hours…? "But this would require us to go back decades. That doesn't sound stable at all."

"It isn't." Scorpius agreed with me. "Which is why the time turners are all made with safe guards that don't allow them to go back that far."

"LEGAL time turners had those built in." Albus pointed out. "This is an illegal time turner."

"It doesn't matter which kid, legal or illegal. We don't have either." Scorpius pointed out. "No time turner, no travelling to the past no need to worry about Croaker's Law."

I was listening to all of this in a distracted way. In the past, that far in the past, my other would still be alive. I knew that trying to talk to her, change the time line and save her, those would be really bad things. I actually did pay attention to the things Scorpius said.

But what if I just saw her? What if I could find a place she would be at and sat close to her? Listen to her laugh and maybe even get a whiff of her scent…

OK, that last part sounded stalkerish even to me.

Would she have been at Hogwarts? She had to have been, right? I mean… unless she was a squib and then no. Then she would have gone to a regular school. But… I could look. I could go in to muggle London and visit a library. Hop on a computer and do a few searches. How different could the internet have been in the late 90's? I had got up to walk around thinking about all of this. Pacing. I hadn't noticed Albus and Scorpius stop talking. Now both of them were just watching me.

Albus looked at me worried. "What are you thinking Lils." The reality is, Albus knew he couldn't do this on his own. He knew that if I backed out Scorpius would too.

"How would we even get our hands on a time turner, illegal or otherwise?" I wondered outloud.

"You aren't seriously considering this…?" Scorpius sounded worried for my sanity now.

"Rose confirmed the raid. And the seizure of the time turner. Apparently my Dad was very brave. Again." Albus informed me. "We both know my Dad and Aunt Hermione. They aren't going to let that get very far from them. It will be somewhere they can get at it quickly. Not at home…"

"Their office maybe?" I asked.

"Lilliana we are supposed to be talking him out of this…" Scorpius took my arm gently.

I put my hand on his. "Scorpius, we are getting nowhere trying to find out anything about my Mum." I hated using his concern against him. "Maybe in the past… who knows? We might find something that will help. We would know one way or the other."

Scorpius took the bait. I felt awful. "Yeah, OK, maybe you have a point. But I still don't like it. You know what they keep saying about my Mum… and me…"

"I know, Scorp, but it isn't like we are going to tell anyone we did this." I reminded him "It is wildly illegal."

He nodded. Looking at Albus Scorpius asked "Where do we go from here?"

Albus looked relieved "Upper Flagley. St. Oswald's Home for Old Witches and Wizard."

I shook a finger at Albus. "I am warning you, if your adventure makes me late for practice you will need a time turner to hide from Marcus."

...