Temporal Flux

Chapter Eight: Busted

"I'm glad you got a good night's sleep, Jared," said Professor De Luca mildly. "I was up early this morning because it's Sunday. If I had been in my previous station, I would have had to do the mass at dawn. However, I had to settle for meditation."

Jared was trying to keep himself from moving about. "You were the one who figured out where, or rather when, I came from. How did you do it?"

"I have a sneakoscope that is set to vibrate. I also have the ability to sense evil, but I didn't sense it from you," replied De Luca smoothly. "Also, I took off the spell you placed on your transcripts."

"I'm not really that impressed, Professor," said Jared sarcastically.

De Luca smiled at him gently, touching his fingertips together. "Regardless of what you're really doing here, you missed your detention yesterday, considering what happened yesterday I am willing to allow you to make it up today. You will be here for a while."

"What do you want me to do?" asked Jared, now visibly nervous.

"You'll be helping me set up for the next class," replied De Luca as he got to his feet. "Come now, it won't hurt much."

Jared eyed him suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. "It won't hurt?"

De Luca nodded. "I think you can handle it. You are made from hardy stock after all." He placed his hand on Jared's shoulder to steer him out of his office. "What are you going to make me do?" asked Jared in a strained voice.

Harry stirred, slowly waking from his slumber. He was sort of glad that he was able to block Voldemort's latest intrusion. Madame Pomfrey gave him a dreamless sleeping potion as ordered by Dumbledore. Harry hadn't really converse with the Headmaster in months ever since their last meeting after Sirius died. What he didn't know was that the Headmaster visited during the evening to check up on him.

He was just waking up when he heard Ron and Hermione walking. "Good morning, Harry," greeted Ron.

"How are you feeling?" asked Hermione tentatively keeping her distance from Ron.

"Better," answered Harry. "I'm just glad I didn't see anything this time."

"Did you have these episodes over the summer?" asked Hermione.

"I was able to block them, but this one was too strong," answered Harry, looking up at the ceiling rather than at them. He sighed. "I didn't see anything all summer, but it was like he wanted me to see something for sure this time."

"You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," said Ron immediately, while throwing a look at Hermione to stop her from arguing with him. "We understand. But if you want to, then you can."

"I spent most of the summer working on figuring out ways to beat Voldemort," whispered Harry. Ron made a noise that signaled his dislike of Harry's open usage of the name. "I also had to make sure that I blocked him from manipulating me again. He exploited it. That's how Sirius died. I was so reckless. It's my fault."

"It's Voldemort's fault," insisted Hermione in a firm voice. "Not yours. He's the one killing all those innocent people. He's the one responsible for it. Not you."

"Sirius knew the risk he was taking. He wouldn't want you to blame yourself for it," added Ron in a soft voice.

"I swear if I ever become a godfather to anyone's kid, I'll make sure that I don't do anything that stupid," muttered Harry angrily. He didn't know why he said it. He was angry at himself, at Sirius, and more importantly at the whole thing. He was even angry at Ron and Hermione for not seeing each other clearly enough. How could two people who were relatively smart be so blind and stupid?

"Well, if I have a kid, you'd be my first choice anyway," offered Ron with a playful grin. "Not that I have a shot of having a kid anyway."

"Don't say that," said Hermione. "You might have a child one day. Of course, I fear for the world if you do. I mean I can't imagine anyone else like you walking around."

"What's that suppose to mean?" demanded Ron defensively.

"You heard me."

"What about you, Hermione?" interrupted Harry. "If you had a kid, would I be your first choice? Or would you pick, Ron?" The boys stared at her, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know," replied Hermione. "But right now, you're at the top of my list."

"That's just unfair," complained Ron. "You'd pick Harry over me?"

"Yeah, I'd rather have him as the godfather of my child than you," answered Hermione truthfully. "Because he's more responsible than you and you'd probably be a bad influence over my child anyway."

"I bet your kid would be studying all the time and would probably never have any fun."

"I bet your child would have a temper and pull pranks on innocent people."

"I don't pull pranks. Fred and George do that. Not me."

"You are genetically inclined for it."

"I don't even know what that means."

Harry started chuckling at them. He didn't want to say that this hypothetical child of Hermione's would probably be Ron's child as well. They glared at him. "Trust me, any child either of you produce will probably be weird," he told them. They gave him a stunned looked, but after a moment joined his laughter because it was too soon to be talking about children.

Harry made a promise to himself that if they were ever going to have a child, he would be the best godfather. He would do Sirius proud. He would anything to keep this child safe, even if it meant not being there. What he didn't know was that later on, this child would help heal some of his wounds.

Jared couldn't believe what De Luca had planned for the next class. After two weeks of Dark Arts history, De Luca had spent one week discussing the implications of wizarding conflict on the Muggle world. It was all very fascinating, but what De Luca was planning next was going to be difficult.

It was survival training. De Luca was going to force the students to figure out how to survey if they don't have wands or spells to protect them. Or if magic cannot be used. It was going to be a crash course in Muggle Studies combined with martial arts training. They were going to do a campout in the weekend after next. De Luca wasn't even Muggle born. He was a pureblood but with unusual training.

Jared's own DADA professor wouldn't have come up with something like this, and his professor was unorthodox. Jared did have some martial arts training, having taken some classes when he was younger. His grandparents gave the lessons as a gift; his paternal grandmother was uneasy about him taking the classes.

"You can't be serious," muttered Jared as he looked around at the set up that Hagrid and De Luca devised. "This is just insane."

"It will only be for three days," said De Luca calmly.

"This is still madness," insisted Jared as he waved his hands around the clearing. "You're going to make them spend the night this close to the Forbidden Forest?"

"This is a survival training exercise. It's educational," answered De Luca.

"It's bloody stupid," muttered Jared, almost slipping into his natural voice. "But fine. Whatever. What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to do a dry test run of the obstacle course," replied De Luca. "Actually, I need you to run it twice. Once without your wand and the second time with your wand." He held out his hand, and Jared sighed as he gave him a questioning look before surrendering it. "I'll time you for both. I just want to see if this course will do anything to you."

"What?!"

"The clock's ticking. I'd go if I were you."

Jared shook his head and swore under his breath before he took off his outer robes and went into the obstacle course. He stupidly charged into the unknown.

Harry was given a clean bill of health before he was allowed to leave with Ron and Hermione. The Trio went off for a late breakfast. One could suppose that it could be considered brunch by American standards. Harry had his appetite back and they had ceased talking about future children and godchildren. Ron and Hermione were more or less back to normally.

From across the table, Harry could see the dirty looks that Casey Levy was throwing towards Ron. Interestingly, she was sitting next to Cho Chang and Michael Corner. Relations with the Ravenclaws haven't been all that great lately. Everyone was siding with their own houses. After Casey's display the previous day, the Ravenclaws were tense, except for Luna who had invited herself to their table.

"Would you mind passing the pitcher of pumpkin juice, Harry?" asked Luna, unfazed by the glaring looks from her housemates who were probably irritated at her for sitting with the Gryffindors. Harry passed her the pitcher.

Ginny was nearly finished with breakfast by the time that her brother and his friends showed up. "I wonder where Jared is," she said out loud.

"He accidentally forgot about his detention with Professor De Luca, so he went to go see him early this morning," said Hermione as she cut her slice of ham with her fork.

"How do you know that?" asked Ron accusingly.

"I saw him come down the stairs when I was in the common room this morning," answered Hermione. "He was in a real rush, too."

Before Ron could say anything else, someone was staggering inside. It was Jared. He looked like someone or something awful had gotten a hold of him. He was pulling bits of twigs and leaves out of his shirt and there was a leaf in his hair. He plopped down next to Harry, across from Ron. "Pumpkin juice," he barely breathed. He was completely out of breath.

"What happened to you?" asked Harry as he poured a glass of pumpkin juice for him.

"De Luca," answered Jared as he took a long swig of the juice, draining the goblet.

"What did he do to you?" asked Hermione with genuine concern, which Ron snorted his dislike at her. Ignoring him, she asked again when she noticed that Jared wasn't responding, "Jared? Are you all right?"

Jared gave a nod. He was about to say he was all right, but he didn't trust himself to speak. He would either drop his accent or call Hermione by the title he knew her as. Ron was now chuckling at him, which Jared was too tired to care about. Hermione gave him a look of daggers. "You could show some compassion, Ron. Why are you laughing?'

"He looks so funny. He's got that leaf in his hair. It looks like an antenna," laughed Ron.

Jared narrowed his eyes at Ron, but made no move to remove the leaf. He definitely wasn't in the mood for any jokes. Ron's laughter was enough for Jared to make a slight recovery, "I hope you enjoy De Luca's obstacle course. He had me test it. I had to run it twice. Once without a wand and again with it. It doesn't make much sense either way. But I hope you have as much fun as I have. There are spiders in part of it."

Ron paled over. "S-spiders?"

"Big ones."

"You mean he's set up an obstacle course. Professor Lupin did one before, but judging by what happened to you, it's loads harder," said Harry, gazing at Jared who glared at him.

"He had Hagrid put in some of the creatures that we've been studying along with a few new ones," Jared informed him. "It's almost like a maze, but not really. It's wide open. You know where you're going and what your goal is, but you don't know what's going to pop up next. After running the course, Professor De Luca has been kind enough to shorten my detention. Now, if you excuse me, I'll be going back to the room and curl into a defensive ball. I'll be sleeping until next weekend if I can pull it off." He got to his feet and grabbed the stack of buttered toast off of Ron's plate on the way out. He staggered out of the Great Hall. Harry laughed, while Hermione tried not to.

Ron stared at the void on his plate that his toast once occupied. "He took my toast!" he exclaimed.

"Here," said Hermione, passing the plate of toast to Ron. "Just let him have it." She started piling more toast on his plate. "I'm more worried about the obstacle course."

"So am I, but it's got to be good training," said Harry almost brightly.

"But there are spiders," whined Ron before taking a bite of his toast.

That was what bothered Ginny at the moment that was quiet and in deep thought. How did Jared know that Ron was deathly afraid of spiders? Ginny would have heard something about it. She was sure of it. Or maybe, Jared found out in one of their classes. No, it was the way that Jared said it that made Ginny think otherwise. She was sure as hell going to find out the truth.

The following Monday, the sixth year class found out what Jared was muttering earlier. Jared had made a somewhat speedy recovery and he was now sitting sullenly with the rest of the class. He was actually enjoying the look on their faces as Professor De Luca explained what they were going to be doing over the next three days.

"The good news is that you won't have to attend any of the classes you have on the following Monday," Professor De Luca told them brightly. "It will be a regular Muggle camp out to see how we can learn to survive without our wands."

Hands were up in the other. The only one not raising his hand was Jared. He looked almost bored. Harry was the first one that Professor De Luca called, "You mean we have to give up our wands?"

"For only a brief portion of the campout," De Luca replied. He further explained, "Look, everything will make sense, starting Friday afternoon. Just be prepared to sleep on the ground and in tents. The tents will be divided by house and separated by sex. Each house will be receiving a grade as well as individual grades. And as always there are house points to be earned, so you will have to bond together if you want to survive and come out on top. Yes, Ron?"

"About the obstacle course, what's in it?"

"Oh, just a little bit of this and that. Jared tested it out earlier, so I modified it. Jared doesn't have that much of an advantage over anyone here," answered De Luca. "You'll be fine."

Jared groaned which earned him a look of pity from Neville. He shook his head and swore under his breath. It took one look from Hermione to stop him, while Ron maintained a look of utmost amusement. Jared slouched in his chair as he glared at De Luca whose smile never wavered.

The rest of the class was spent with them discussing the weekend campout. Almost everyone was happy because they were going to be able to skip classes on Monday. Jared was more concerned about his mission. He still wasn't getting anywhere. Admittedly, he was distracted. Looking at De Luca caused him for a fleeting moment to tell him about why Jared was really there, but that idea was quickly squashed.

When class was over, Jared got to his feet first and made a beeline for the door. Jared had a feeling he was running out of time. He knew who was after his parents, but what he didn't know was when he was going to strike. Even with time travel at Jared's fingertips, he still had to finish what he came for. There was no more time to be distracted by Ron and Hermione.

Jared's father had some powerful enemies. His father's reputation as an Auror was not based on mere rumor. Even after Voldemort had been destroyed, the Death Eaters were much harder to push back down. The death of Voldemort emboldened them and added with Fudge's incompetence, which resulted in a large number of Death Eaters worldwide. The US and French magical governments were the first to bring charges against Fudge as well as a good number of the people directly under him. It didn't matter in the end; Fudge disappeared only a few days after the fall of Voldemort and was found dead in a Muggle street.

Killing Voldemort was like cutting off one head of a hydra, several seemingly had sprung into place. Attacks had broken out all over the world. In less than a year, Ron and Harry were flying with the Aurors, but they weren't official Aurors. The struggle would continue in the next few years after their schooling. In the middle of it all, Harry and Ron underwent their Auror training, but with little to celebrate in the end. Hermione, who did not want to become a healer in the first, eventually stumbled upon it as her occupation. She was treating the Aurors in their private infirmary.

Together, Ron and Hermione started to date after a year out of Hogwarts and decided to get married at the urging of Ginny and Luna. The pair argued that some happiness should be allowed and that something would always come up, if Ron and Hermione waited long enough. So, they had a subdued private ceremony Ginny as the maid of honor and Harry as the best man.

Having children seemed like the natural progression, but it wasn't as easy as it sounded for Ron and Hermione. It turned out that Hermione's mother had complications as well as her mother. Therefore, Hermione founded out that she was going to have problems having a child. In fact, it was strongly advised against by her healer, which caused her to seek a second opinion with a Muggle doctor who said the same thing. That was enough for Ron to decide all by himself that he wasn't about to risk his wife's life to have a child. He settled with just having nieces and nephews, who were already driving him crazy.

It was probably the most strained period of their marriage. They argued all the time because Hermione really wanted to have a child, while Ron did not. Adoption was out of the question because it was rare that any wizarding child was without a family member to take him or her in, and adopting a Muggle child would not have worked for obvious reasons. Ron's job as an Auror also deemed them as unfavorable because the few wizarding adoption agencies wanted to risk placing a child in a family that could be disrupted with a possible death at any time. Ron's nieces and nephews only made Hermione long for her own child even more.

Jared didn't know the exact details of how he came about, but somehow his mother managed to get pregnant with him. His father wasn't overly thrilled about it. Although, Jared once heard that his mother had tricked his father into it. In fact, his mother knew that she was expecting Jared the morning after he had been conceived, but choose not to tell his father until eight weeks later. During most of the pregnancy, his father was disgruntled and worried about his mother's health. With good reason, by the third trimester, his mother was forced to stay in bed for the duration of the pregnancy.

Ron was spending the last trimester, catering to Hermione's food cravings. She insisted on spending time with her mother at her parents. After all, Hermione's mother had better luck keeping her rested. It was then that she was watching television and many cooking shows. Hermione started to have food cravings for international cooking, and Ron ended up Apparating all over the world to get everything from sushi to Philly steak sandwiches. Even now, Jared had a taste for international food, which Ron had to live with.

Jared was back in the moment as he continued walking along one of the more isolated corridors of the castle. He stopped when he realized that he was further away from Gryffindor Tower than he wanted to be. Sighing, he pulled out the map from his pocket and pointed his wand at it, whispering the incantation, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The map immediately appeared.

"Hmm, damn it. Six years and I still can't find my way around here," he whispered under his breath. He started to walk ahead without looking around. He rounded the corner and was back the staircase that led back to the tower. He put the map away without wiping it.

He entered the common room and went up the stairs. What was waiting for him was a total surprise. He paused at the doorway, seeing a flicker of a recognizable side of red. "Ron? How did you get back here before me?" he asked.

"I'm not Ron," corrected Ginny mildly. As she stood over Jared's open trunk. She had taken out the false bottom.

"Ginny," breathed Jared nervously. "What are you doing in my trunk?"

"I'll answer that if you tell me how you got my brother's trunk," answered Ginny as she gestured towards the one at the foot of Ron's bed. "Who are you?" she further demanded as she drew her wand, pointing straight at Jared's chest. He raised his hands defensively.

"I'm Ron's son," surrendered Jared, keeping his eyes locked with Ginny's.


AN: Looks like Ginny's caught on. Jared's family does have a bit of history involved. Post-Voldemort more things happened that cause Harry to make good on his promise. It's also amazing what exhaustion can do to a person, isn't it? As for Jared grabbing the toast off of Ron's plate, he's his child so he can do it, but Jared did it without thinking. Jared isn't afraid of spiders.

Now, I bet people are wondering how Ron got tricked by Hermione into making Jared. Is he still sore about it in the future? Not really. The fact that Jared can grab the toast off of Ron's plate is an indication of that.

I'm sorry for all the delays. The site is also acting up. Some stuff doesn't load. Does anyone else have the same problem?

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This story belongs to me and cannot be posted anywhere else without my permission.