Disclaimer: "Harry Potter" and all other aspects of this fic that you recognize (unless they're from any of my other fics) all belong to J.K. Rowling, and not to me! The storyline and the ideas involved in this story, however, do belong to me!
Summary: A dark force haunts the trio. When the dead come back to life, can you deal with what they might have to tell you? This is a story about loss, damnation, and a dead man's second chance at redemption ...
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Road to Redemption
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Chapter Six: In the Black Beyond
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Sirius was unaware of how to describe his previous sensation. It was as if he had been spinning and been flung through a liquid-like space. Hermione felt the same way, utterly dazed and completely bewildered about what was happening.
But now they both knew for a fact that they were falling. The liquid feeling was gone. Sirius came streaking out of the sky, managed to catch a glimpse of stars and moonlight twinkling in a black, velvet expanse above (and this told his mind that it was still night-time), and he landed with a colossal thud on uneven terrain: rock, damp grass and insects. He gasped, trying to regain his breath and was just about to push himself up with his hands when Hermione landed on top of him, her elbow connecting with his shoulder, and her shoulder ramming hard into his chest so that he fell right back onto the ground beneath him. Needless to say, he was not happy.
"Ouch," he groaned, when he managed to find the breath to form words. His ribs hurt.
Hermione rolled off of him. "Sorry."
"Oh, no problem," Sirius said sarcastically, "After all, dead men don't feel any aches and pains!"
She sat up and looked around. Lower down on the sloping land was the shimmering, moonlight-reflecting surface of a lake. Around her was familiar territory. She was utterly baffled and picked up her wand, lying on the ground beside her, and stared at it in perplexity.
"This is Hogwarts ground," she said to Sirius, forgetting that she was supposed to be angry with him, "We're near the lake – look! But ..." she hesitated, frowning as she looked around, "It looks rather different, this area. Rather more ... overgrown and just ... different. But I don't understand – how did we get here? From the common-room stairs to this area?" She rubbed her head, and stared at her wand again, wondering. "This is strange."
"What kind of spell did you cast?" He demanded.
"I didn't," she protested, "I fell down the stairs and my wand sliced through the air, I think. But I don't see how we've done this. I mean – magical transportation? I've never heard or read of this form of doing it. And you can't Apparate or Disapparate – "
"In Hogwarts grounds, I know," Sirius finished for her.
She suddenly smiled. "You're probably the first who does," she said dryly.
He climbed lightly to his feet and stretched out a hand to help her up. He was looking around him in some confusion, and didn't release her hand. Hermione glanced down, and didn't let go either. "You're right," said Sirius thoughtfully, "Things do look rather different. Come on: we'd better get back to the castle. Look at the moon. You know how to read time from the position of the sun and the moon, don't you?" He sounded baffled. "Well, the position of the moon tells me that it's not more than nine o' clock ... but that's not possible ... when we left the common-room, it was two in the morning!"
"Oh, Merlin," Hermione gasped, "It's true! Have – have we come back a few hours in time somehow?"
"There's only one way to find out," said Sirius grimly, "We've got to go back into the castle and make sure you don't let anyone see that you've come in from the grounds. You're not supposed to be wandering about after dark."
"Right," Hermione huffed, and started making her way up towards the castle.
Sirius followed.
It took them ten minutes.
As Hermione walked in through the castle entrance, with the unseen Sirius walking along beside her, she saw at once that something wasn't right. The first thing she saw were the hour-glasses depicting House Points. Last she remembered, Ravenclaw was in the lead, with Gryffindor and Slytherin tied in second, and Hufflepuff last. But the hour-glasses in front of her showed that Gryffindor was in third place, Slytherin in second, and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tied in first. The number of points for each House, furthermore, was at least a hundred points below the levels Hermione remembered. She stared, her mouth falling open. But when she, Harry and Ron had walked past this area at about half past nine this evening, these had not been the House totals.
That could only mean one thing ... they had not come back a few hours. They had come back a few days, a few weeks, a few months ... she gulped ... perhaps a few years. "Oh, Sirius," she whispered, "I don't know what we've done! Look at the hour-glasses; the containers themselves are different. We've come back in time much more than a few hours. In fact, I've never seen hour- glasses quite like this in any of my years."
"Neither have I," said Sirius decisively, "That means we're neither in your time at Hogwarts nor in mine. Perhaps we're somewhere between? But the real issue now is: you've got to hide. You can't show up here, a stranger from the future."
"I'm going to get into so much trouble," Hermione moaned, "How did this happen?"
Sirius eyed her with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "Getting into trouble is hardly your concern right now, my dear Hermione," he said firmly, gripping her by the shoulders, "So stop thinking about that and figure out a way to hide yourself instead. Pity we don't have Harry's Invisibility Cloak anywhere with us. That's a real pity, in fact. It's useful."
"Can you do the Disillusionment Charm?" Hermione asked Sirius, her brains working again, "You're a fully-grown, powerful wizard. It's the camouflage one ... you can do it, can't you?" She looked at him hopefully, at a loss for any other idea.
He nodded, sighed and took the wand from her. For a moment, he wondered if he could do magic. After all, he was dead. But as he waved Hermione's wand, he saw that he could indeed still work magic. How eerie and odd, he thought. If someone was to enter the Entrance Hall now, they would see a wand working magic by itself! Smiling to himself, he tapped Hermione hard (particularly hard – she had just crippled him out in the grounds) on the head and watched as the Charm worked. Hermione looked down at herself, registered that she felt extremely weird, and took her wand back. There had been no need to hit her so very hard, she thought.
"There ... you're all set," Sirius said. "I do wonder what St. Peter will think when he can no longer locate me on the plain of earth he sent me back to."
"I wonder what Harry and Ron will think," said Hermione wryly.
"They won't."
Unable to repress a giggle, Hermione managed to shoot Sirius a reproving stare before she made her way towards the Great Hall, from which sounds of loud conversation and laughter echoed. As she reached the doorway, she caught sight of the glowing pumpkins and black bats fluttering, and glowing ceiling sky. It looked like the specific time they had come back to was Halloween. As she looked around, she saw that almost all the faces at the various tables were unfamiliar. Certainly not either Sirius's or her time. But there were some familiar faces ...
Professor Dumbledore was in his usual Headmaster's chair – strangely enough, looking rather tired and older than Hermione had ever seen him. What worry was preying on his mind at this time? Professor McGonagall was at his right hand, and looking rather drawn as well. There was no sign of Hagrid, but Snape was in his usual chair. Hermione squinted at him. He looked older from the distance she was standing at, across the Hall. A sudden pang of alarm struck her. She was beginning to notice a pattern here ... she looked at the faces at the teachers' table – Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Madam Hooch, Professor Trelawney, all looking like they had somehow aged a good few years. There was no sign of Firenze the Centaur ... Hermione's eyes moved to the last member at the table – the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Impossible, she thought incredulously, staring at the untidy black hair, the tired expression, the green eyes and familiar spectacles ...
"Sirius," she whispered, "It – it's Harry."
His eyes widened. They started to move between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, staring fixedly at the young man sitting in at the staff table. Yes, it was Harry. Harry Potter was a professor. Hermione saw that he looked much older than he had last time she had seen him. He was, at the very least, thirty years old! It was unbelievable.
"So," Sirius said, his voice oddly constrained and full of amazement, "We haven't travelled back in time. We've somehow wound up in the future. Merlin's beard."
"But – but how?"
"Who cares about that," shrugged Sirius, still staring at Harry with a kind of proud wonder, "Clearly your wand cast an accidental sort of spell." He grinned suddenly. "That's my boy, Harry! He made it. He must've won the war – and he's the Man Who Lived now."
"Yes, perhaps he has won the war and he survived," Hermione said, smiling, and then sighed, "But we don't know who didn't."
Sirius's expression darkened. "Good point. We can find out."
"What?" Hermione grabbed his arm. "How?"
"Ask Harry."
Hermione stared at him in disbelief, and then slowly, an idea sank in. Why not, she thought. They had somehow gotten here, fifteen years into the future or thereabouts ... so why not find out the reality of history from Harry? Her conscience pricked at her. They weren't supposed to interfere or mess with time. The consequences could be devastating ...
But something else – a compulsion – was stronger than her conscience. She wanted to know. And there was a strange sixth sense inside her and told her she and Sirius had come forward for a reason ... and that it was important that they find out what had happened during the war.
"All right," she said, "We'll ask him."
Sirius looked startled. "Uh – are you sure about that, Hermione?"
"Very," Hermione said smoothly, smiling.
"Good girl."
She had to keep her voice very low, so that none of the students at the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw tables could hear her speak. She was under Disillusionment, but by no means silenced from other ears like Sirius was. She looked around. "So we wait here," she said quietly, "Until Harry leaves. Then we follow him. Hopefully, he'll go to his private office or something."
"Sounds like a good plan to me."
And so they waited. Hermione looked around her. If they were in the future, she thought with a flicker of interest and excitement, there was a good chance ... she stopped short, staring at the Slytherin table. A redheaded boy with a very familiar manner and cut of features ...
"Malfoy," she said dryly.
"What?" Sirius turned around, looking.
"That's Draco Malfoy's son; I'd stake my life on it."
Sirius cleared his throat, sounding amused but there was a hint of disgust in his tone: "He's got a very distinctive shade of red hair ..."
"Oh, my!" Hermione gasped. "GINNY?!"
"Looks like it ... couldn't have been any of the boys, could it? And I highly doubt Molly ..." the thought seemed to cause Sirius a great deal of amusement. "So ... Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy. Can't say much for her taste."
"He's just like his father," Hermione said with distaste.
Hermione looked away from Malfoy Jr. and tried not to contemplate what could have happened that had brought Ginny together with Malfoy, whom Ginny had always hated. There's a fine line between hate and love, Hermione thought with a flicker of humour. Well, who would have thought it! She continued to look around, spotted a girl who looked so much like Luna Lovegood that it was almost uncanny. A great shock came in the form of a second-year boy with startlingly green eyes, an animated expression on his face, unruly black hair and a thin frame. No glasses, however ... Harry had a son? Who was his mother? She was amazed.
However, her greatest astonishment came in the form of a blond-haired girl who nonetheless had plenty of freckles and familiar enough features to make Hermione blink and look again to make sure it wasn't really Ron. So Ron had a daughter ...
"Whose Miss Weasley's mother, do you think?" Hermione asked, smiling.
Sirius stared. "Probably you," he chuckled, but there was an odd note in his voice.
"I think not," Hermione said with conviction.
"You and Ron are SO obvious – "
"I may have had a small crush on Ron at one point," Hermione said wryly, laughing, "But I've grown out of it. And so has he. Whatever jealousy he may have had over Viktor Krum was mere possessiveness over a girl who previously spent little time with anyone but him and Harry. I look at him in the light of a slightly thick-headed brother. You can't take early teenage crushes seriously. No, Ron's found someone else." She was actually enjoying herself. "Isn't this fun? I mean – being here – "
"With me?" asked Sirius, looking directly at her with his rakish grin.
Hermione's heart flopped. "Don't flatter yourself," she smiled.
He might have pursued the topic, but fortunately, the end of the feast arrived at that moment, and the students climbed to their feet and started streaming towards the door, laughing and talking and just plain enjoying themselves. Hermione hurriedly got out of the way – she doubted she was intangible – and caught one shrewd-eyed first-year boy eyeing the spot on which she was standing with some curiosity. She grinned and moved away.
She and Sirius spotted Harry leaving the staff table. He exchanged a word or two with Dumbledore, who was smiling at him about something, and then he started off towards the doors. As Hermione and Sirius unobtrusively went after them, Sirius nudged Hermione in the ribs. She looked in the direction in which he jerked his head and saw a boy getting up from the Gryffindor table and hurrying after Harry. Shrugging, she murmured that it was probably a student wanting to clear a few doubts with his professor. They followed the boy, who followed Harry up to the office that had been Lupin's in Hermione's third-year. Harry had just gone in when the boy reached the door and knocked quietly. Hermione heard Harry's voice – slightly deeper and more mature, but undoubtedly Harry's voice – call out "Come in" – and the boy opened the door. He went in, and Sirius and Hermione slipped in after him before he could close the door. Then the boy shut the door behind them all.
"I thought it might be you, Reed," said Harry, smiling at the boy. Hermione couldn't help noticing how tired he looked. It wasn't the tiredness she knew now – borne of worry. This exhaustion was a weariness of all that he had experienced. There was a hint of sadness beneath his carefree exterior as well. "What can I do for you?"
Hermione and Sirius exchanged a grin. Harry was more like an uncle than a professor.
While 'Reed' asked Harry a question about vampires (Hermione gauged him to be in his fifth year), Hermione studied the boy. He had an innate curiosity and intelligence that showed through in his eager and sparkling eyes – eyes as brown and as warm as chocolate. He was dark-haired, rather handsome, and built on lean but strong lines. Hermione guessed he was probably a Chaser or Keeper on the Quidditch team – he looked athletic, and was no doubt a troublemaker, gauging from the mischief in his eyes. A prankster who liked his classes? Amazing.
She was recalled to the conversation between professor and student by the boy's words: "Thanks a lot, Professor Potter." He was grinning as he said this.
Harry laughed. "Well, damn you too, Reed."
"I couldn't resist, Uncle Harry!"
Hermione shot a surprised look at Sirius. Uncle Harry? How odd ... she concentrated on what Harry said: "I suppose I can understand your compulsion to make fun of me at every opportunity, but give a little, would you, Reed?" He chuckled, and ruffled the boy's hair with a look of genuine affection on his face. "You look so much like – "
"My mother? My father?" asked Reed, raising his eyebrows. "People seem equally divided on whom they think I look more like. Personally, I think – "
"Of course you do," smiled Harry, a slightly twisted smile.
Reed looked up at him. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, a strange note of understanding in his voice. "I – I wish I had known – " He shrugged slightly, and then said, "I'd better get to bed, Uncle Harry. I'll see you in class tomorrow, I guess. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Reed."
The boy left the room, and Harry sank onto the edge of his desk, a strange expression crossing his face.
Hermione and Sirius glanced at each other questioningly.
As they stood still, they saw Harry point his wand at the bureau towards the side of the room and mutter "Accio Photographs" – and out of a drawer flew an album of photographs. He opened it, and looked at the first picture, and to Hermione's horror, she saw a single tear slide down Harry's cheek. He whispered softly: "I'm so sorry ..."
Sirius was staring at his godson with a look of pain on his face.
Hermione decided it was time to intervene. She cast a spell on her throat to make her voice sound a little different from its usual pitch and level, and cleared her throat. In the silence of the room, it echoed. Harry looked up, startled, and closed the album. Hermione stared at him, and said softly: "Harry? Harry, can you hear me?"
"What the – ?" He straightened up and lifted his wand higher, his brow furrowing. "Who's there? Show yourself, why don't you?"
"I can't let you see me, Harry, for – for certain reasons," Hermione explained, "But I'm an old friend. I can promise you that I am and I'll prove it if you like. If you want me to remove my invisibility, hand me a hooded robe."
Harry located this article, his wand this pointed, and tossed it into the air. Sirius caught it and handed it over to Hermione, who immediately donned it over her clothes and pulled the hood up low over her head and face. The robes were bulky enough to conceal the outline of her frame, and the hood large and dark. She glanced at Sirius for his opinion, and he flashed her a thumbs-up before taking her wand and removing the Disillusionment Charm.
"Merlin's beard," Harry muttered, startled, staring at her. His wand was pointed straight at her. "Now, tell me who you are. No funny tricks."
"I can't tell you who I am," she replied with a pleading note in her voice, "Please understand that. I'd love to tell you, but that would cause great damage. I assure you, there's nothing to worry about. I'm not here to bring warnings of new evil or anything. It's just a question of time, so please don't ask questions. If you want to assure yourself that I'm indeed an old friend, ask me a question only a very old friend would know if you want."
"This is all very suspicious," said Harry, frowning. "What's my Muggle cousin's name?"
"Dudley Dursley."
"With what incantation did Ron Weasley get rid of a troll's club in my first year?"
"Wingardium Leviosa."
"What is my son's name?"
Hermione sighed, and looked helplessly at Sirius. "Now would an old friend really know that?" she asked with a hint of indignation. "Sirius?"
"That's his middle name."
"James?"
Harry lowered his wand. "All right, you've proven yourself. But as to that last question, shrewd guess. I couldn't resist asking that. Yes, his name is James Sirius Potter." He grinned slightly, and moved the album on his desk to the side so that he could sit on the edge of his desk again. He indicated a chair opposite and Hermione sat down. Sirius leaned against the backrest of her chair. "Now, can you tell me why you're here and what you want from me?"
"I came to ask you some questions. There are things I need to know about the past ten or so years, that I don't know at the moment. It's nothing to worry about ... it's just you could say I've missed a great deal. Call it amnesia if you will. I'm a friend, Harry," she repeated, to reassure him.
"I don't know why, but I trust you," Harry sighed, and looked at her closely. "All right. What do you want to know? My history's out in the open anyway," he added with a hint of bitterness. "What did you want to ask me?"
"Did he kill Voldemort?" Sirius asked at once.
Hermione repeated this.
Harry smiled, looking a little surprised. "I'm surprised you don't know that. Yes," he said quietly with a bit of hardness in his voice, "I killed him – about a year after I graduated from Hogwarts."
"How old are you, Harry?"
He laughed. "I was thirty-two this July."
Sixteen years into the future ... Hermione exchanged amazed looks with Sirius.
"Who is James's mother, by the way?"
"Before we got married, she was Parvati Patil."
Sirius gaped. Hermione uttered delightedly: "I should have known at the Yule Ball!"
"You were there?" Harry asked curiously.
"Uh – in a manner of speaking, yes," Hermione said hastily, smiling slightly, "James looks just like you, by the way. He even inherited his grandmother's eyes. Before I get to the history, there are actually a few more children-matters that need clearing up. James is cleared. Did Ginny Weasley really marry Draco Malfoy, Harry?"
Harry smirked. "They were married for about a year. He claimed to have renounced the Dark Arts, and put Ginny under a strange love spell to get inside information from the Order. This was after Voldemort was killed – some of the Death Eaters were still out loose back then. They had a son – just like his father, don't you think – and then Ginny broke out of the spell and realized he was a traitor. Draco was killed by one of the Order members in a violent duel," he explained, shaking his head, "And Ginny raised their son as best she could. He'll grow out of his arrogance, I think. But he's a Slytherin, which is rather disturbing. Good thing his grandfather's dead."
"And Ron's daughter?"
"Which one?" asked Harry, smiling.
Sirius burst out laughing. "Ron's been busy, hasn't he?"
"He has more than one daughter?" Hermione asked incredulously, shooting a repressive look at Sirius, who was unfortunately irrepressible.
Harry laughed. "He has twins. They're not identical, of course. One looks just her mother – that would be Molly, who is in Ravenclaw." His tone changed slightly, subtly. "Hermione Weasley is in Gryffindor. Both girls have their mother's blond hair. Ron married, of course, Luna Lovegood." At Hermione's gasp (and although unknown to him, Sirius's shout of laughter), he grinned and said, "Yeah, it came as a shock to me as well when it happened."
Hermione was rather flattered that Ron should name one of his girls after me.
"Any other children you're curious about?" Harry asked, clearly more at ease and in a mood to talk some more now.
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, ask him about the one who called him 'Uncle Harry' – Reed?"
"The boy who was just here," Hermione said, "He had dark hair, good build, good-looking, brown eyes – he called you Uncle Harry and I think you called him Reed? Who is he? Clearly, he's not just a student to you, of course."
"No ... no, he isn't," Harry admitted, his eyes darkening for the first time. "He's my godson."
"Good grief!" Hermione gasped. "Really?"
Harry smiled slightly. "Well, of course really. It feels strange, of course. I've got a godfather, yet now I have a godson. And a son, of course ... it makes me responsible and makes me control my temper and volatility more – something I was never able to do." Instead of a joking note being in his voice, there was only a sad regret. Hermione stared at him. Then he looked up, blinking sharply and said: "Yeah, that's my Reed ... Hermione's son."
Sirius nearly fell over.
Hermione stared in shock. In the future, she had a son? That intelligent, handsome, mischievous, clever boy was her son? Her mind began to spin. It was unbelievable ...
"Hermione Granger?"
"Yes."
"So – so Hermione's married to Reed's father?"
Harry looked up, startled. Then his expression softened, and he shook his head. "No, of course not. I keep forgetting that you don't know any of this. I mean – you didn't even know Voldemort was dead – has been dead for years, in fact. So of course it makes sense that you don't know this." His voice broke, and then he said in a fiercely controlled whisper: "Hermione died thirteen years ago."
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TBC.
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A/N: Chapter Six up and Chapter Seven coming up soon! Did this chapter come as a shock? Please review an let me know what you think of how the story is going ... I'm waiting on the edge of my seat, hehe! Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story and I'll update as soon as I can!