Disclaimer: The name on the Harry Potter books is "JK Rowling." The name on this story is "PA Mills." Given that the books are far better selling (and hit the market first), I'd say it's safe to say that I'm the copycat, and that none of this stuff is mine.

Chapter 2
-OR-
"I Don't Think I'm In Hogwarts Anymore"

Ron Weasley heard the bang and saw the blue light and felt himself flying through the air. He hit the wall hard and crumbled to the floor like a sack of flour. When he tried to shout out to his friends, the words died in his throat. He tried to pick his head up and look across the room, but his neck screamed with pain, and Ron fell towards the floor again. Although he could not see anything, he heard voices.

"Oh my God!" said a feminine voice. It was very familiar to Ron, but he could not quite place it. It was subtly different from whoever he knew with a voice almost like the one he heard.

"Ron?!" said a second voice. This time, Ron was able to place the voice immediately. "Harry?" he tried to say, but the words came out as a strangled gurgle. No, not Harry, he thought. It's not quite right. Ron heard footsteps running towards him then felt someone lifting him from the floor. "UNGGH," Ron moaned. Every movement hurt.

"Harry, don't, you're hurting him," said the first voice. This time, Ron managed to connect it with Hermione, but couldn't explain the difference in the voices. "Ron, is that you? Are you all right?" asked the not-quite-Hermione.

When the person who had picked up Ron finished turning him around, Ron was able to see that the two people were indeed Harry and Hermione--but they were different. Harry looked like he either was trying to grow a beard or he needed a shave, and Hermione had longer, tamer hair. Ron knew there was more to it, but he couldn't think of it. His head hurt too much; he tried to speak again, but could not.

"Ron..." started Hermione, "you're hurt. I'm going to put you to sleep for a while. When you wake up, you'll feel better. I promise." As she started to wave her wand, Ron noticed that the machine was still standing on the platform. That's odd, thought Ron, I thought the machine was destroyed. Before he had time to truly ponder this discovery, however, sleep overtook him.

When Ron woke up again, he was much more comfortable. He must have been moved to the infirmary, because he was in a bed with blankets piled high all around him and a massive pillow supporting him from behind. He tentatively tried to turn his head from side to side, and, to his pleasant surprise, he found that doing so no longer hurt. He studied his surroundings. Wherever he was, it was not Hogwarts's infirmary. It looked more like a bedroom...

"The Wheezy is awake!" said a squeaky voice at the foot of the bed. "You is feeling better, sir?" Ron looked down at the foot of the bed and saw two large eyes staring back at him.

"Dobby?"

"Yes, yes, it is Dobby, sir, it is! Is the Wheezy better now? Is you wanting to see your friends now?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, Dobby, but first..." Ron's voice trailed off as Dobby ignored his question. The house-elf sped out of the room, leaving Ron with the room to himself. He surveyed the room around him. It definitely had the comforts of home, and was decorated with a great many pictures. Smiling wizards and witches chatted with each other, apparently oblivious of Ron's presence. He thought he recognized some of the people in the pictures, but before he could get a better look, he heard someone approach the door.

"Ohmygosh," said Hermione breathlessly as she poked her head in the door, "Harry, he's awake!" She quickly rushed over towards Ron. "How do you feel?"

"Uh...better, I guess. Where am I? And what's going on here? You and Harry...you're different..."

"Listen, Ron, we'll explain, I promise. Just give us a moment," she said. Harry (he was different, but how?) walked into the room.

"Ron," he said simply.

"Harry, what's going on here? What happened? With the arch...and weren't you hurt, too? And where am I?" Ron fired off the questions in a single breath. His two friends returned his eager look with rather worried expressions of their own. Ron's stomach sank even lower. When his two best friends were this serious, there had to be bad news. "Harry? Hermione? What's wrong? Where is everybody?"

"Ron," started Hermione, "this is tough, but..."

"Ron," interrupted Harry, "that day, when we first found the Aeternus Gateway..."

"What do you mean 'when we first found'? Wasn't that yesterday or something? Or did Hermione's sleeping charm work too well?" He faked a laugh at his joke, but his friends only smiled weakly . Hermione took a deep breath.

"Ron, keep in mind we don't know exactly what happened..." she started.

"What do you mean?"

"Ron, will you please let me finish?" said Hermione. "Today...isn't when you think it is. The day we destroyed that arch...that was ten years ago."

Ron just stared at his two friends. It's got to be a joke, Ron thought, Harry's just trying to have a laugh...but Hermione, she wouldn't play along, would she? His friends' faces were still grim, though.

"What?" he managed to stutter. "Ten years?"

"I know it's hard to believe--but it's true. Don't we look different? And this," said Harry, pointing at the surroundings, "this isn't Hogwarts, is it?"

"Okay, guys, you win. You get your laugh. The joke's over," stammered Ron. "Really, what happened?"

"Ron," said Hermione, "this is just as strange for us as it is for you...we had no idea that you'd come out of this Gate...but you're ten years in the future."

"Prove it. Prove that you aren't two sixth-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, trying to play a joke on your poor old friend Ron," Ron said. It can't be, he thought, I'm waiting for the punchline....

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, as if they were trying to agree on how to answer Ron's challenge. "Well," said Harry, "we look different, don't we? And we don't sound the same, I'd bet."

"True, but you could have used an Aging Potion or something, couldn't you have?" countered Ron. "I just can't believe it. I just can't."

"Here," said Hermione, waving a newspaper at Ron, "it's today's Daily Prophet. Check the date."

"Uh-uh," said Ron. "That's easy enough to fake."

Hermione looked frantically around the room. She pointed to a photograph, and Harry picked it up and gave it to Ron. In the picture, Ginny Weasley, in a bridal gown, wore an enormous smile, outclassed only by the smile worn by Neville Longbottom, who was sitting in the seat next to her. Harry and Hermione were also in the picture, looking very much like they were enjoying each other's company. The bride and groom kissed, and Harry and Hermione clapped in the background. Ron dropped the picture into his lap. "D'you mean to tell me," he said incredulously, "that my sister marries...Neville Longbottom?"

"Well, yeah, she did," said Hermione, "they're really quite happy together, and..."

"Faked," said Ron. "It's faked. Let me see them and ask them. No, wait, even then..."

"Look, Ron, I know this is difficult for you to swallow. It must be very, very strange for you...but imagine how we feel. We thought we'd never see you again. And here you are," said Harry. "We've sent a letter to your parents; they're on their way right now." An awkward silence settled over the room.

"Okay," said Ron, "let's say that what you say is true. I am in the future or whatever. Can I ask some questions?"

"Shoot," said Harry, with a smile.

"Where am I?"

"Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Our summer home," said Hermione.

"Doesn't look the same...much cheerier. Wait a second! Our?"

"Yeah," said Harry, who was smiling again, "our." He took Hermione's hand and held it up so Ron could see the ring around her finger. "Five years this month." Ron just looked at the two of them, searching for some slip of the face, some twitch of the eye--anything to tip him off that this was just a big joke.

"Sirius left everything to Harry," said Hermione, "so we live here in the summers. During the rest of the year, we're at Hogwarts."

"Hermione, there's no way you've flunked for ten years. Harry, maybe, but, you?" Ron smiled weakly.

"No, I teach Transfiguration," Hermione smiled warmly at Ron.

"Youngest teacher in Hogwarts history," added Harry, "and I'm married to her!"

"What about you, Harry?" Ron asked, "What do you do?"

Harry paused before answering. "I guess you could call me a sort of a bum. I don't really have a job..." Seeing Ron's confused look, Harry tried again. "I do some assorted jobs for Hogwarts, but most of the time I...research."

"You? Research for a job?" Ron couldn't believe that Harry, even in a joke, would pretend to study for a living.

"It's a long story," conceded Harry. "I promise I can explain it later. But now's not the time"

Disappointed, Ron decided to change the subject. "So you don't know how I got here?"

"Nope," said Harry, "I've already got some theories, but I can't be sure. Be patient."

"Well," said Ron, "if you are telling the truth--and I'm not saying I totally believe you yet--now what?" Harry and Hermione exchanged another look. This time, it was Hermione who broke the silence.

"Ron, however you got here, we do know that there's no way to go back..."

"We don't know that," interrupted Harry.

With a hint of impatience, Hermione continued, "we think there's no way to go back, and even if there was, you shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"If you went back...you would change things--history. That would be really, really bad," said Hermione. "So, I guess, you should start to get used to this being the present. I know that's hard, but..." The sad smile returned.

"But that's what you have to accept," finished Harry.

Another prolonged silence fell over the room. Ron looked back and forth between Harry's and Hermione's faces, both of whom looked back at him. All three made an effort to smile; none of the three entirely succeeded. Ron's attention turned to the photographs on the wall, recognizing now many of the people in the pictures as older incarnations of his friends from school. Ginny and Neville, of course, and a few of Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil, his classmates at Hogwarts. A few of the members of the Order of the Phoenix were scattered throughout the room; Ron noticed Mad-eye Moody twitching nervously and eyeing a glass of punch nervously in one picture, taken at a party of some sort. He shook his head in amazement.

"We can tell you more later. You need to rest," Hermione said finally.

"But..." started Ron.

"No, Hermione's right. You should rest," said Harry. "Besides, you'll have a lot of questions, and I'm not sure that I'll be ready to answer them."

"If you need anything, just ask Dobby. He'll be in and out of the room," said Hermione as she headed for the door. Harry followed. Ron watched the empty doorframe for a few moments, then turned to look out the window. What the hell is going on? he wondered.

"Is this for real?" he asked the empty room.

"You better believe it, sonny," answered Mad-eye from his picture.