Jade was exhausted, but after an hour or so after she went to bed, she decided to visit Leo, she couldn't sleep anyway and she hadn't seen him since Harry and Ron caught her travelling in time.
Jade saw the redhead boy in his bed, just waking up. Jade smiled and joined him for breakfast, even ate some of the fruit with him. She was still quite hungry.
Jade told him about her most recent adventure as it was something extraordinary and she couldn't quite believe it herself and she had no one to tell anyway, and he had asked why she looked so tired, so she explained it to him.
"Is that real or you are just making up a story to entertain me?" Leo asked, knowing Gringotts was basically impossible to break in.
"It happened," Jade said with a smile. "I don't know how we managed it but we did."
"Wow, that's really cool."
"I've got a question for you," Jade said after they finished eating. "I saw when you were taken, Leo… when they brought you here. Remember I told you I can travel in time with an object? Well, there was a little girl in the house that day. Do you remember?"
"No... " Leo said after a long minute of thinking. "Oh wait... yes. Saffie."
"Who is she?"
"I don't really remember," Leo said and looked down. "She was maybe three. She was quite annoying. I remember that. She always wanted to play with my toys. Mrs. Weasley loved her a lot."
"Was she her granddaughter?"
"Maybe."
Leo then looked down and closed his eyes. Jade didn't interrupt him. That was three years ago but little kids tend to forget stuff, especially when there are people brainwashing them.
Jade thought of invading his mind for a bit, maybe that would be easier. She also closed her eyes and saw lots of flashbacks that were blurry and fast. She could distinguish some faces. Sirius', Molly's, Ron's. But the scenes were very short and blurred. It was hard to tell apart details and things. Then it all stopped and Leo focused on one scene.
It was Ron in Grimmauld Place, he was probably ten years older than Ron back in her own time. Leo ran to him, he hugged him and then a little girl also got into the room. She was the only one who looked blurry. Sirius said something to Ron and he nodded at Sirius, he looked concerned. He grabbed the kids' hands and disapparated.
"Saffie..." Leo whispered and Jade opened her eyes. "She lived with me... and Sirius."
"Was she Sirius' daughter?" Leo shook his head.
"They told me I should say she was my cousin but she wasn't," Leo told her as he finally opened his eyes and looked at Jade.
"I'll be right back," Jade told him. "I'll figure out who she is."
Jade travelled to the night when Leo was abducted but hours before it happened. Leo was in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley. He was helping lick all the spoons Mrs. Weasley was using and he was stealing a couple of cookies. Jade, using the Disillusionment charm went to the living room, where she found Percy playing with a little girl. Jade could see her back. She had brown, straight hair that reached just below her shoulders. She was wearing a green dress and she was barefoot. She was giggling, the sound of it filled the entire house.
Ron was on a couch, looking at her, his face unreadable. She wondered if the girl was Percy's and if she was... why was she at Grimmauld Place? Had Percy asked Sirius for a favour? Were they in danger?
Jade grabbed the reality-turner and went back two years, and went to Sirius' place once again. There she saw him with a younger, crying red-haired little boy, begging for attention as Sirius had a baby in his arms.
"Kreacher!" Sirius shouted and the house-elf appeared in front of him. "Fetch Molly Weasley, I can't calm her down."
Within minutes, Mrs. Weasley got there and took the crying baby from his arms and with just some nice words, the baby fell asleep.
"Babies sense how you feel, even Leo can," Molly told Sirius. Leo also had stopped crying but he wasn't in a nice mood. He was cranky and jealous and throwing tantrums. "I know it's hard, Sirius. We can help."
"They were left in my charge, Molly," Sirius told her as Leo went to sit on his lap. He wrapped his tiny arms around his neck, his green eyes were shining with fresh tears threatening to fall down. "And you already got a lot to do."
"We miss them too, Sirius. They are all we have left of them," she said and Jade's heart skipped a bit. "I'm Leo's godmother, and we feel like you're all our family. We would be happy to have them and you too on weekends or every other day. You are always welcome, any day you want to come to our home and as often as you want. Also, Ron has offered to help, just like me and everybody else."
"Thanks, Molly, I appreciate it but I'd feel more comfortable if they didn't leave the house."
"Then we'll come until you feel comfortable," Molly said and then looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms, and smiled in a melancholic way. "Just look at her. She looks just like..."
"Like Harry," Sirius said quickly. "Harry looked just like her when he was only a few months old."
"Do I look like Daddy too?" Leo asked.
"You actually look more like mummy," Molly told him with a smile. "But you definitely have your daddy's personality."
Jade felt sick to her stomach. She kept listening to them but she couldn't understand... she died. Why was there a baby? Had she returned to the right reality? Or maybe Harry had cheated on her and got someone else pregnant. There was no other explanation. How could that baby girl be Harry's?
Jade went through events when she and Harry were still alive and she didn't find anything weird, not yet at least. So she went back to Leo, who seemed to be in the same place he was when she had left.
"Leo... think hard... is Saffie your sister?" Jade asked.
After some minutes of silence, Leo spoke. "I think so... but I couldn't say it because it was dangerous. There was one time someone visited, and he was told Ron was my dad and Percy was Saffie's. There were other kids. I think Bill's kids and George's. I think. That was what I had to say. Everyone told me to say that Uncle Percy was Saffie's dad but he really wasn't… I think."
"Gotta go again, okay?" Jade said and Leo nodded
Jade went back to the day that she was murdered, just minutes after Harry was killed too. Under the charm, Jade, completely invisible, approached the bodies. People were coming in to take them, the Order was there too.
"Don't do anything to her yet," Snape said."She's got a charm on. Something else is going on in here."
Jade then saw something she hadn't seen before, their funerals, and noticed something weird. They were burying Harry, but not her.
"They didn't find her body," a woman in her mid-fifties close to Jade muttered.
"People think she actually escaped," another woman whispered.
"No, her body was completely destroyed," a third one said. "There's nothing to bury."
"That's not true. Her body was stolen by the Lias family," a fourth said. "She will be buried in Greece."
"Everyone's dead," the first woman exclaimed.
"Not Finley's brother. He's still alive. He and his mother took the body to Greece, just like they took Finley's and Lexion's bodies."
"Stop that nonsense! Her aunt Bellatrix was so offended she was connected to such a traitor that she blew her up. No body now."
Jade couldn't keep listening to all the theories, she found it quite disturbing that old women she didn't know were making up all those stories about her, she wondered what others were saying. She noticed Snape was leaving so she followed him. He went inside a building nearby and went up three floors. There, Snape went inside a room that was completely white. There was a single bed, or it looked like a bed, in the centre of the room. And there she was, the other Jade.
Jade stayed for hours in the room, wondering why she was kept there when she was dead. She couldn't be brought back. Jade took the reality turner and went forward a week, then another week, and then two more weeks. Snape was there once again.
Snape sensed some presence was in the room so he turned around quickly and faced her and with his wand, he pointed at her and her charm stopped working. By the look on his eyes, Jade knew that she was no longer invisible.
"You aren't that surprised," Jade pointed out.
Snape was in a room with Jade's corpse but at the same time Jade was standing in front of him, alive. Anyone would be freaking out or trying to undo whatever charm she was using to look like someone that was dead, but Snape actually seemed relieved to see the person in the room was no one that could harm him.
"I was warned this would happen... but I had my doubts," he told her.
"Warned by who?"
"You... about five years ago," Snape told her. "Why aren't you dead?"
"Didn't I say?" Jade asked as she took some steps forward and saw the dead Jade. She was pale but even after being dead for about a month she looked preserved and like she was just sleeping. Jade was a bit ovwewhelmed to see herself dead but she tried not to show Snape how she felt. "I come from another version of our lives. I don't die there... Or at least so far, I haven't died."
"Why are you here?"
"To see my son," Jade admitted and then bit her lip, unsure if she was okay with telling that to Snape.
"Don't worry, I already know Leo is yours, and Potter," Snape said as if he could read her thoughts. "Not many people know so don't be sharing that with anyone."
"Why wasn't I buried?"
"You were pregnant."
"I know, but what's the point? Isn't the baby dead like me?"
"Before dying, Potter must have done a charm to protect the baby," Snape informed her, making her look up from the corpse to him. "A baby can only survive half an hour inside a dead body, if that, after that oxygen runs out and the baby dies. Potter did a spell to keep the baby alive."
"so,is it alive?" Jade asked, feeling tears filling her eyes, doubt and skepticism could be noticed in her tone.
"Yes. Only five people know, though. Sirius, a healer, Molly Weasley, Lupin and me."
"Is it healthy?"
"So far, yes."
Jade looked down and this time really looked. She could notice a small bump, she was, if she could remember correctly, four months pregnant when she died. That meant she currently was five moths along.
"The spell doesn't last forever, though. We must keep doing it every week until it's born. Another healer thought it would be a good idea to speed it up... You were...you know... dead... so you wouldn't feel it. We all decided it was the safest way to proceed."
"But?" Jade asked tentatively.
"The idiot must have done it wrong. He's been expelled from this and obliviated."
"What happened?" Jade asked, fear was obvious in her eyes.
"Instead of speeding up the process, the cells of the baby did something else... they got divided."
"What does that mean?"
"There are two babies in there now. It's like a clone," Snape told her. "But it has a soul. It's like a twin... but not really. We don't really know how it happened or why..."
"A twin? Someone messed up a spell and created a twin?"
"Yes."
"But I only saw one baby in the future."
"Maybe just one survived," Snape said. "Anyway, they are due at the end of March. Sirius, Lupin, Molly and I take turns to keep an eye on you and the babies and make sure no one finds out. We decided not to attempt to speed it up again, we must wait until March. The healer that didn't mess up comes and goes to check on you and them."
"Is Sirius going to take care of them?"
"That's the plan."
"Are you going to tell them... about me?"
"I avoid dramas, Miss Lestrange. You must tell him and anyone else you want to tell."
"Can I stay for a bit longer?"
"Stay as long as you need," Snape told her. "I'll be outside, make sure no one walks in on you, especially Mrs. Weasley. We don't want to give her a heart attak, do we?"
"Thanks," Jade whispered as Snape headed towards the door to leave.
Jade stayed for hours looking at the other Jade. At some point she couldn't keep her emotions in any longer. She cried loudly. Harry had made sure to keep the baby safe before he died. It was alive because of him.
Jade travelled all the way to mid-march, this time back with the charm to not be seen as she didn't know who could be in the room. Lupin was there that time. She looked exactly the same. Like if she hadn't aged one single day but the bump had gotten quite big.
After that she fast forwarded to the next day and then the next day, she didn't know when the babies were born so she had to check every single day. Then on the 21st, she noticed there were three people in the room instead of only one, like it usually was.
Molly was about to leave, Sirius had just shown up, when the healer told them something was wrong.
"The babies don't have enough oxygen, and one of them has a faint heartbeat. We have to get them out. Now!"
Jade's body was quickly prepared for a C-section. Molly and Sirius stayed and they even called Lupin and Snape for extra security. Molly and Lupin helped the healer with anything he instructed them, Snape stayed outside, keeping guard, while Sirius looked as if he was going to be sick at any moment but he kept around in case he was needed.
The blonde, young healer, got a small baby out and quickly handed it to Molly as the baby cried loudly, which was a good sign. Molly was trying hard not to cry too. Then a minute later, the healer had gotten the second baby and handed it to Sirius.
Then the healer held the first baby again and started to do spells on it. It seemed like that one was the one with the problems. After two long hours, the two babies seemed to be fine and they were sleeping. Jade had found out they were girls.
Jade stood in front of their incubators, staring at them. She wanted to hold them but she was scared, they looked so tiny and fragile. And touching them felt like it was forbidden for some odd reason. She was so focused on them she hadn't noticed her charm had lifted.
"You're back," Snape pointed out. Jade jumped and her heart stopped for a bit. She turned around to face the older man.
"I needed to see them," Jade explained once she recovered.
"The healer fixed baby A's heartbeat and the other one is fine," Snape told her, knowing she wanted to know that. "The first baby that is born is always the real one. She..." Snape said, pointing at the one wearing a red outfit. "Is the real baby. And she is the one that got created."
The second baby was wearing a blue outfit, completely identical to the red one. They also had a bracelet each, saying either baby A or baby B.
"Your body is getting ready to be buried. No one will know," Snape told her. "We will do it at midnight. We thought it would be best if we bury you next to Harry instead of burying you with your family, either the Lestranges or the Liases. Lupin and I will go while Molly and Sirius stay here to look after them. Have you thought of names?"
"Eh... I'm dead... so I guess Sirius should choose."
Jade knew one baby was called Saffie, but she didn't know which one and she still didn't know the second baby's name. She didn't even know there was a second baby until some hours ago.
Snape actually forced her to hold them. She repeated to him that she shouldn't but Snape insisted and it was hard to say no to Snape, especially when he starts glaring and looking like he is just done. Jade held B first, she felt like she would break her. She was so smal., Then she held A, who started crying when she was lifted from the incubator. Jade tried to calm her down but she was unable to do it.
With a spell, Snape got a bottle and made it feed her when Jade put her back on the crib. She felt like she made her cry. Snape quickly got a second bottle as baby B seemed like she was going to start crying too.
"They'll be fine," Snape said when he realised Jade was crying. "They are well protected."
Jade didn't want to go but she left, knowing it was time and she also knew it wouldn't be safe for her to stay longer. She was so overwhelmed that she forgot to go back to Leo so instead she went back to her own time and reality. She was still crying so she quickly wiped her tears but apparently Ron, who was awake, heard her sobbing.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," Jade said, wiping her tears.
Ron, instead of insisting, got her something to drink and they both sat at the table. Jade's eyes felt swollen and must be bloodshot. She wasn't even sure why she was crying. And Ron, obviously didn't have a clue, for him, only minutes had passed since she made him coffee and went to bed like the others.
"You've been using that thing a lot," Ron pointed out, she still had the object in her hand, which was shaking a little bit. "You haven't been... messing with the future, have you?"
"No. Just checking it."
"You aren't hurt, are you?" Ron asked, concerned. "Did someone hurt you? Are you alright, Jade?"
"I'm okay," Jade assured him.
Jade thought about the little girl that was at the Burrow when Leo was taken. Why was she there and not the other one? Where was she? Was she baby A or baby B?
Before Jade could stop herself, words came out of her mouth, telling Ron a little bit of what she's done and seen. She didn't mention she had been speaking to Leo but she told him that she had been checking on him and also told him that this Harry had been upset with her because she was pregnant in the other reality and she was reckless when she decided to go to the mission and keeping it a secret. Ron was shocked and a bit confused.
"So you were pregnant when you died?" Ron asked.
Jade nodded and then told him what she had found out last night, little bits though, as she knew that she would have to repeat the story to Harry.
"I've got to tell you something, Ron," Jade suddenly said. "We were wrong. Dumbledore was wrong... about the prophecy. We didn't prevent it, just changed it."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"I was a fool for not seeing it... Dumbledore told me to not focus on the baby part because he didn't exist in our reality so that wasn't important but if it happened, it would only lead to another prophecy, he didn't tell me anything about that one. And Firenze mentioned something too but I was too blind to see it. I was such a fool, I should have noticed it way earlier."
"What are you talking about, Jade? You didn't have a kid though, you are seventeen now and no kid... you stopped it, didn't you?"
"That's what I thought, as that was what Dumbledore made me believe but we were all wrong."
"You are scaring me. Wrong about what? Don't tell me the prophecy will become true."
"He never really cared about that prophecy… Dumbledore… he only intended to prevent the one specifically about me, that's why he never even bothered to tell me what the other one was about, he only told me it was bad… if it became true."
"So what are you saying? I'm very confused here."
"Ron… Leo doesn't exist here, right? So, now Daryl is the child of the prophecy."
"No..." Ron repeated in disbelief. "You are wrong."
"I'm sorry," Jade whispered as she closed her eyes tightly and buried her face in both her hands as she rested her elbows on her lap. She wished she was mistaken, she wished she had gotten everything wrong.
"No...No! Not Daryl!"
That woke up the other two, as Ron shouted. Everyone was always on alert that any noise would wake them all, no matter how loud or quiet the noise was, and Ron wasn't actually being quiet. They both got their wands ready but then saw they weren't really in danger. It was only Ron pacing franctically fron one side to the other and Jade, looking broken as she glanced at Ron from her place at the table. The other two quickly glanced at each other before approaching them.
"You are so wrong, Jade." They heard Ron exclaiming as he stopped right in front of the brunette, and then continued his pacing.
"It makes sense. It's supposed to be a boy, coming from at least two pure-blood families, and the mother must be underage. Both of your families, from your mum's side and dad's side are both pure-blood and Luna, well, I'm not sure but if I'm not mistaken her family is also Pure-blood, both sides, or at least one, and she…"
"But Luna is seventeen," Ron interrupted Jade.
"She is now... her birthday was in February. She had him in January. She was still sixteen," Jade told him. "That's why I was having dreams about him. I saw Daryl in my dreams every night, probably since the day he was born until I knew of his existance and figured out the truth. I thought it was Leo as they are both redheads but they don't really look the same."
"How do you know it's him? It can't be him."
"There are two kinds of prophecies. Mine was specific, there was no doubt it was about me. But the one about Harry wasn't. Right? If You-Know-Who had chosen Neville instead of Harry, then Neville would be the Chosen One. This prophecy is like that one. When we didn't have Leo, anyone could become the child of the prophecy. Imagine in another fifty years, someone does have a kid while still being underage, then that kid would be the one of the prophecy. Don't you really see? We never prevented anything."
"So, are you saying that by not having Leo, now Ron's kid is going to have Leo's fate?" Harry asked, he got a bit paler after the words escaped his lips.
"Yes. Apparently, we were only supposed to prevent the first prophecy. Dumbledore never wanted us to prevent the second one. He didn't even care about that. He didn't warn me this could happen."
"But it's my kid!" Ron shouted. "And you knew and you didn't tell me! I need to warn Luna. I need to keep them both safe."
"I figured it out recently, Ron, I'm so sorry. I didn't tell you because we were breaking into Gringotts. We needed to be a hundred and ten percent concentrated on that. One mistake and we'd die. I told Bill though, I explained and they will all keep Luna and Daryl safe. I'm sorry..." Jade quietly muttered, her voice broke at the end and a tear fell down her cheek. Even when she knew nothing was her fault, she kept apologising. She didn't make the prophecy, she didn't change things so they could now affect Ron. She only did what Dumbledore told her.
"Have you heard the complete prophecy?" Granger asked.
"No... And it's in another language," Jade told her. "Firenze just told me bits. If Harry fails, the baby will kill You-Know-Who that's for sure. But the tricky part is that when he becomes of age he will have to choose between good and evil."
"What happens if he chooses evil?" Granger asked, Ron quickly glanced from her to Jade.
"He will kill You-Know-Who and become the new Dark Lord, he will be even worse. He will rule for many, many years and it will be a very dark time for everyone."
"And if he chooses good?" Harry asked.
"He will kill You-Know-Who but not to replace him but because he wants all of this to be over, like we are now," Jade told them.
"So, if Harry dies and he doesn't kill him and we fail, that means all that Dumbledore told you was a waste," Ron commented. "I mean, what was the purpose of keeping you and Harry separated so you wouldn't have Leo but now we have Daryl, and he became the Leo of this reality? What's the purpose?"
"Maybe we can do something," Harry whispered.
"I mean, he could have kept quiet, you know? Not mess with our lives and once Leo was born he could have told you about the danger and keep you all safe, right? Tell Jade to not go on that mission because she would get herself killed and then Harry as well. It was that simple, but now we are back to square one and now we are all affected in different ways by his choices. No one but Harry mattered to him. He probably just didn't want the Chosen One to stain his reputation and mess up as badly as getting someone knocked up while being in school. "
Harry rolled his eyes at him but Ron was right, Jade usually felt as if Dumbledore treated her life as a game that could be manipulated and changed, without importance. And now not only her life had been affected but Ron's and Luna's too.
"Daryl doesn't exist in the other reality," Harry said and then glanced at Jade to make sure, she shook her head to confirm his words.
"I love him, I think you two can understand how much I love him and how I am feeling right now but I think it would be better if he didn't exist than what this twisted game has given him for a destiny. Maybe I wouldn't end up with the girl I love if things hadn't been changed but at least she wouldn't have this burden."
"Daryl is not a burden, Ron," Granger said.
"But the prophecy is. It is a burden to her, to Daryl, to me, and even to you three," Ron told her. "Haven't you heard, Hermione? Leo was kidnapped by Vold…sorry." he stopped quickly when the other three opened their eyes wide and were ready to break his speech off. "You-Know-Who, only that thought makes me shiver… can you imagine what he made poor Leo go through? Everything Jade went through with her parents must look like a joke compared to what he did to poor Leo. And Daryl is in danger of going through that. And on top of that I'm being told that my son one day can be even worse than this mad, heartless monster that has killed hundreds of people. He killed his own father, Hermione! Harry saw that in those memories. He is pure evil and Daryl can become worse than that. You don't understand as you don't even have kids and you haven't been in our shoes. Jade and Harry understand though. Jade preferred to be hated by Harry, criticised by you and even me and risked so much in her life so she could prevent all that but here we are."
"I'm sorry Ron but I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself, I truly doubt that either Leo over there or Daryl here can choose evil, I mean, I just don't see that happening."
"Well, I can," Jade finally spoke again, she let Ron get everything out. But she needed to speak out now. The three of them turned to look at her.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "I'm pretty sure my son won't become bad."
"I saw with Leo that You-Know-Who and his followers tried to make him hate us, telling him things like we abandoned him, that we didn't die. That he was such a good person because he took in an orphan and looked after him. And we were the bad ones. He wanted Leo to be filled with hatred and resentment," Jade said. "He probably didn't know about the other prophecy, otherwise I think he would have killed Leo but he probably wanted him as his right hand, as a loyal follower."
"What?" Harry asked. "Have you seen if Leo becomes…bad?"
"No," Jade said and shook her head. She actually felt a bit dumb for not thinking of that but she was also scared of what she could see. "But I know he is trying to twist the truth so Leo can hate us in the future."
"How do you even know that?"
"He told me himself. He thinks his dad abandoned them both and then later on, his mum abandoned him," Jade said with a very deep sigh, all the truth was coming out. She didn't even dare to look at Harry. "I've been visiting Leo, quite often And we've talked… a lot. And that's not all... I've just found out something else earlier today."
Jade finished explaining to Ron everything she knew about the prophecy. He looked so pale and sick. She knew exactly how he felt because she had been there so many times. Jade felt really angry at Dumbledore once again, she had felt like he betrayed her, somehow, and all that talk with Ron had reminded her of that awful feeling. And she knew Ron felt the same way. They were both like chess pieces. Little pawns that could be sacrificed in order to keep the queen safe.
After Jade's detailed explanation, Granger took watch and Ron was given something to calm down and rest. He hadn't slept at all since Gringotts. Harry went to sit next to Jade on the bed so she could explain a bit further what has been going on. Jade told him that she had been careless and made a mistake and Leo saw her and she couldn't just disappear and since then she hadn't been strong enough to stop herself from visiting him.
"Does he know... who you actually are?"
"Yes, I told him. He doesn't call me mum and I understand. But he knows. He's really smart. He's nine."
"What else have you found out?" Harry asked.
"Our baby, Harry... our baby survived."
"No... you died... so it died. There was no way to save it."
"Actually...you did save it. When we saw that you knelt in front of me after I was killed, you did an enchantment on it and Snape luckily figured it out. He and some other people kept the baby alive."
Then Jade explained everything she knew and even told him that they actually had two girls and why and based on Mrs. Weasley, they looked just like him, which made him smile a bit.
Harry asked her if she could see them too and she nodded. Harry went for his invisibility cloak and without Granger or Ron noticing, they travelled.
"Why are we at Hogwarts?" Harry asked as Jade took the cloak off.
"Give me a few minutes, there's something I must do."
Jade knocked on the door of one of the potions' classrooms, it was empty but Snape was there, grading some parchments.
"Miss...Miss Lestrange is that you?" Snape asked, shocked.
"Yes, I'm just here to tell you something," Jade said. "In the near future, in a few years, I'll die. When that happens, you'll be visited by me... I'll be dead but I'll come to you asking you about something personal in my life."
"What? Miss Lestrange have you lost your mind?"
"Don't freak out, please, it'll be me. So, don't try to kill me."
"How do you know?"
"I come from another version of this reality. I saw my future. Dumbledore gave me the object to do it, I'm pretty sure you can notice I look a bit older than the Jade over here" Jade told him. "So yeah, I just wanted to tell you that."
"How can I trust you?"
"I guess you'll just have to wait and see."
Jade then left and rejoined Harry and got under the invisibility Cloak once again. Jade had a hunch and she followed it. They were once again in Hogwarts but it looked slightly darker and it was hotter. They both sensed the change in temperature.
They both took off the Invisibility Cloak and Harry put it in his pocket. Seconds later they were spotted by a slightly older Snape. It was barely noticeable.
"You should be careful," Snape told them with his cold, monotone voice and they both froze. "If anyone sees you, they would freak out or arrest you... as you are supposed to be dead. Miss Lestrange I didn't think I'd see you again and I see you brought company."
"He wanted to see them," Jade said simply.
It was extremely hard for Harry to see Snape there and not kill him. He had to remind himself this Snape hadn't killed Dumbledore and he actually helped keep his kids alive.
"You are in luck... I happen to have a meeting with Sirius in twenty minutes. I suppose we can all go now."
"Thought you liked to avoid dramas," Jade said with a mischievous grin.
"He won't believe it if it doesn't come from me."
The three of them apparated outside Grimmauld Place. It was midday and it was very hot. Harry and Jade weren't dressed properly for that weather. Snape knocked and Kreacher opened the door. Snape told them to wait there, as Sirius might faint at the sight of them or even try to attack them.
"Are you playing with me, Snape? That's not possible!"
"If I'm not mistaken, you escaped from Azkaban because some students went back in time and got you out. I'm telling you... it's them. Trust me."
Sirius walked to the hall where they were waiting. Sirius looked like he was going to pass out. Jade and Harry just stayed there, smiling awkwardly at Sirius, and Harry waved. Sirius couldn't keep it in any longer, tears started to roll down his face and then he approached them quickly and embraced them both tightly. Harry cried too.
They all went to the living room, there, Jade explained everything to Sirius, Snape had said something to Sirius quickly and then left to let them have privacy. Before Jade could finish, they could hear a kid going into the room. They both hid their faces as it wouldn't be healthy for a kid to see them and Sirius knew. He jumped from his seat, picked him up and walked out with the child in his arms. Seeing them there would just confuse Leo and cause him even more pain.
Then they heard Sirius calling Kreacher and telling him to take him to Ron. So they would be alone with Sirius.
"So what's the date? For you?" Sirius asked.
"Nineteen ninety eight," Harry said. "I think it's the end of April, we haven't really kept track the last few weeks."
"Here is two thousand... end of June. You died back in November. So... what brings you here?"
"Dumbledore... where we live, told us about Leo. We don't have a kid over there," Jade said. "But he didn't tell us we would have more kids."
"Oh yeah, quite a surprise. I couldn't believe it when Snape told me, I guess Snape is always telling me things I can't believe at first," Sirius said with a sad smile. "There was an accident, I'm sure he told you." Jade nodded. "I'll go for them."
Sirius walked out the room and left them alone and a couple of minutes later they heard him walking down the stairs, which creaked with every step. He went inside the room again and they saw he had a little, sleeping baby in his arms and Kreacher had the other one. He handed the baby to Jade and Sirius handed the second baby to Harry.
Both were overwhelmed, they weren't even given a minute to process the fact they were holding their kids that shouldn't even have been born.
"Uh, what are their names?" Harry asked after two minutes of silence.
"The one Jade is holding," Sirius said, pointing at the baby dressed in yellow pyjamas with elephants. "Is Sapphire Hope. And that one," Sirius said, nodding towards the baby dressed in red with little green frogs. "Is Harlie Ruby."
"What are their last names?" Harry asked.
"We don't know yet. We thought Potter would be good. But we also wanted the three to have the same last name so Lestrange but both last names are risky... so we thought of Black too. My last name. But we aren't sure if that's appropriate, if you guys would approve of that."
"As far as they are safe," Harry said with a shrug.
"Who chose the names?" Jade asked. "And what do they mean?"
"Oh that's quite a story. Both have names starting with an H, for Harry. And the other names are related to you, Jade. You'll understand why," Sirius said. "Anyway, Luna chose Hope as she was a miracle. It gave us all hope."
"It fits her," Harry said.
"Mrs. Weasley thought of Sapphire... a gemstone, and a pretty name," Sirius said. "Leo calls her Saffie as he can't pronounce it."
Jade smiled, now understanding where the nickname came from. And it was a cute nickname too.
"Then Ron thought of Ruby one day when he was staring at the Sword of Gryffindor. It has some rubies, right?" Sirius said and they both nodded. "So, Sapphire and Ruby are names related to you, Jade."
"What about Harlie?"
"It's too similar to Harry," Sirius said with a shrug. "I chose it."
"I really like the names," Harry told him.
"Leo calls her Hallie, can't pronounce the r," Sirius explained. "He's adorable."
Eventually Harlie opened her eyes and Harry almost cried again when he saw his baby's eyes. They were a greyish green at the moment but Jade had heard they had gotten Harry's eyes so she knew their eyes would slowly get greener.
They fed their babies and for a moment everything was perfect. They had their baby girls, Sirius, their fatherly figure was with them and they knew that Leo was okay even when he wasn't there.
"Sorry but I'm curious," Snape said. "You said Leo doesn't exist where you come from or any of them, are you two together there as well?"
"No," Jade said quickly and Harry looked down at the floor, feeling very uncomfortable.
"Are you marrying Cassius then?" Sirius asked, as her adoptive father and being a Pure-blood too, he knew many, if not every detail about Jade's life. "He isn't good, you know?"
"I almost did marry him. It's complicated," Jade said. "Cass is actually a very good guy over there."
"So, are you dating someone? What about you, Harry?"
"I'm single," Harry told him. "The girl I love is holding on to someone else."
"Oh," Sirius said sadly. "Are you sure you love her? Like that's a strong word, Harry."
"I'm sure."
"I wouldn't say holding on would be the right way to describe it," Jade said, glancing at Harry.
"How would you describe it then?" Harry asked. Sirius was only looking from Harry to Jade, and then back to Harry. "I can't say she loves someone else as I know she has feelings for me. Maybe she's scared and that's why she's holding on to what is familiar to her."
"Anyway," Sirius said, interrupting them, sensing how tense things were getting. "That's very unfortunate but I'm sure you'll eventually find someone, Harry. And you too, Jade."
They spent the whole day speaking with Sirius. Telling him stuff about their reality and Sirius telling them stuff about his and comparing them and being with the girls, who were only three months old at the moment.
Then, after it got dark, Harry and Jade tucked the girls in and left just minutes before Leo was taken back by Ron. They stood outside for a bit, feeling suddenly empty.
"A part of me wants to go back inside and never leave," Harry admitted.
"Yeah, I feel like that too," Jade said.
"If we find a way... after we are done with the horcruxes... we could come and live here."
"Or we could come often, like I do."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
I've been doing it, at some point more than once per day and nothing has happened to me," Jade told him. "Do you think we can age here? If you decided to stay..."
"I don't know... and we can't even do research on it because Dumbledore made this object, only he knows what would happen."
"We don't have to worry about that now, once we're done with You-Know-Who and the horcruxes we'll have time to think about this," Jade said, looking around her. "Want to go see Leo now?"
"Really?" Harry asked with a smile, Jade nodded. "Yes, I do."
Once they got to Leo's room, they got the cloak off. Leo smiled instantly and was going to hug Jade but then he saw Harry. He stopped, staring at him, his smile dropped.
"He wanted to meet you, Leo," Jade said with a smile. "I hope that's alright with you."
The little boy didn't say anything, he just nodded at Jade. Harry, who had to take it all in at once was probably overwhelmed. Jade had found out stuff at different moments, she had had time to take in all the news, most of them one at a time while Harry did it all in hours and was still processing information.
The one who had gotten more attached to Leo was Harry, as he had actually interacted with him when he was a baby when the real Harry and Jade were gone. His excuse was 'He's young, he won't remember us and this way he won't miss his real parents as much.' They bonded while Jade built a wall to not get attached but now that wall didn't exist anymore. She was just as hooked.
And it also must be shocking to see a nine-year-old boy and knowing he was your son. Last time Harry saw him, he was four, and then briefly when he was seven, just when Death Eaters took him away.
Harry found it way easier to interact with a toddler than with a big boy, he wanted to break the ice but he didn't know how and soon things got awkward. Leo wasn't his usual self, as he kept quiet unless he was asked something.
"And you can't get him out?" Harry asked as Leo excused himself to go to the toilet.
"You can't disapparate. I've tried to leave this room and look around but there's magic around it. As soon as I stepped outside his room, this sort of alarm went off. And you can't leave by flying with a broom either, magic doesn't let you. He's trapped in here and he learns and does what the Death Eaters and him want. He's got no choice."
"We can get out and nothing happens, right?" Harry asked. "We can try to get him out with us. Take him to Sirius. We don't change the date, just the place."
"But we aren't exactly from here... I don't know if the alarm won't go off if Leo is with us or if something will happen to him. And we'd have to warn Sirius so he's got time to prepare. They would search his place and all the Weasleys' properties first. They'd be in danger."
"We could do that. Go back in time, maybe two weeks, visit Sirius, who already knows about us, tell him the plan and get Leo out and if it doesn't work we once again go back in time and we won't do it, so things stay the same."
"What if we can't? What if they take the object from me and we get trapped in here?" Jade asked. "I want to save him. The thought of getting him out of here torments me all the time but I'm scared of getting all of us killed, especially Leo. And can you imagine what You-know-who would do with such a powerful object? We would all be ruined."
At that moment, Leo came back so Harry and Jade didn't say anything about that topic anymore. This time, Jade helped to make them talk more and after an hour or so, Leo started making questions to both but mostly to Harry.
"So, you are together too over there?" Leo asked with a smile. Harry blushed and Jade looked down, feeling a bit guilty.
"Uh, it's complicated," Jade said quickly. "We didn't want you to end up here and we couldn't be together or we'd die like we did here."
"But after you aren't in danger anymore, you'll get together, right?"
"Uh, we don't know yet," Harry muttered.
"But you do love each other, don't you?"
Both turned to look at each other, feeling on the spot. Both blushed. Should they lie to not hurt the kid or tell him the truth? What was the truth anyway?
"Uh..."
"Yes, of course," Harry said, interrupting Jade. "We love each other. We just can't be together now."
"Well, that's awful."
"Eh... do you remember anything from when you were younger?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject. "Anything about us?"
"I don't remember you," Leo said. "I remember her a bit, though."
Then Harry told Leo all he did with him when his other self wasn't around, told him they played a lot but silently as Sirius was always around. But sometimes he was busy with the Order so they could have a lot of time without being interrupted.
Then Leo asked how their childhoods were. Jade didn't want to say bad things so she mentioned her brother a lot and how she would practice Quidditch with him or her best friend, which she didn't mention, but Harry knew she meant Draco.
Then Harry told him about the Dursleys, how his cousin and his cousin's friends bullied him and how awful his aunt and uncle were but also said how Dudley changed after the Dementor attack. Then Harry mentioned briefly that his parents had died and that's why he had to live with her mother's sister.
"You know... now that I think about it, you remind me a lot of my mother," Harry said. "I don't really remember her but I've got pictures. You do look a lot like her."
Jade turned to look at Harry. She had heard before that Leo looked a lot like Lily but she had never seen what she looked like and she was curious.
"Can you show me?" Jade asked.
"What?"
"A picture of her," Jade said, biting her lip and looking down at her hands. "I mean..."
"Yeah, of course," Harry said, interrupting her. "I can show you both."
Jade and Harry stayed with Leo for about two hours, during that time Leo was brought lunch by a young Death Eater so they got under the Invisibility Cloak quickly and he didn't see them. Luckily, no one else got into the room after that man left..
"Okay, we've got to go," Harry said, finally finding the courage to hug Leo.
"But you'll be back right?" Leo asked, looking up at him as he hugged him back. "Both of you."
"Absolutely," Harry said with a smile.
"Bye," Jade said, hugging him tightly and giving him a kiss on top of his head.
Jade took out the reality-turner from her pocket, she turned to look at Leo and smiled at him, then she looked down at the object in her hand. As she pressed the button to go back something else happened way too quickly that she couldn't prevent it.
