Temporal Flux

Chapter Nine: An Assist

Ginny stared at Jared without blinking for a good minute. Marveling at the very sight of him, she took in very inch, every detail of his being. How could she not notice before? No, she did realize there was something familiar about him. But why didn't she connect Jared directly to Ron?" I know that this a lot for you to take in," whispered Jared very soothingly, praying that Ginny wouldn't hex him. Ginny was heaving as she lowered her wand. Jared breathed a sigh of relief as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay. Now that sort of makes sense. Or does it," she started babbling as she paced back and forth around Jared's trunk. "Wait!" she snapped, startling him, "What about your voice?"

"My American accent's fake."

"But why are you using it? Drop it. I haven't really heard Americans talk except for the ones I listened to at the World Quidditch Cup. Your accent's awful."

"Very well," agreed Jared, using his natural voice, "Too much bloody work anyway."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Oh my God! You sound just like Ron!" she exclaimed in a frantic whisper. "Put the accent back on!"

"Why?"

"Don't play around. It's just too weird. It's all just too weird."

"Aunt Ginny, just please calm down. At least don't talk so loud," pleaded Jared, resuming his false accent.

"Aunt Ginny?" squeaked Ginny. "I can't believe I'm your aunt." She put her hands on her mouth, then withdrew them. "If Ron's your father, who's your mother?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Ginny took another look at his brown eyes. "You have Hermione's eyes," she concluded, "All right. It's the only thing that really makes sense to me."

Jared had to get her to calm down and get her out of the boys' dorm before any of the others came in. He also had to close his trunk. "I don't think you should tell them," suggested Jared. "I don't know how they're going to react."

Ginny placed her hands on her hips as she looked at Jared more closely. "I can't see how they haven't noticed yet. Why are being so obnoxious to Ron?"

"I can't help it, if he's so immature right now. It's going to take a couple more years before he becomes the man who will become my father. Hermione's closer to being the person who's my mother right now. Look, I know that this doesn't make any sense."

"What are you doing here? I mean here as in now," asked Ginny.

Jared walked passed her and put the false bottom back in his trunk. He threw his things back in. "I can't explain right now," he answered. "You've got to get out of here before my fa—I mean before your brother gets back here and thinks there's something completely wrong going on here."

"You're right," agreed Ginny in a hushed voice. "I should get out of here before Ron gets back." She started to leave, but by then it was too late. Ron and Harry strolled in and almost saw her. But just before they could see her, Jared threw the invisibility cloak over her. "Don't make a sound," whispered Jared.

"What do you mean 'don't make a sound?'" asked Ron as he took off his outer robes and dropped them on his trunk. "Are you talking to yourself?"

"I was just reciting something that I was memorizing. You know to keep it fresh in my memory," replied Jared lamely. "Well, I got to go to the library. See you later." He made a dash for the door.

"What Hell just happened?" asked Ron out loud to Harry who merely shrugged.

On the way down the stairs, Jared nearly collided with Hermione who was on her way to her favorite chair. "I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I have to go to the library." He ran off before she had a chance to say anything. Ron and Harry came down shortly after. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I have no idea," answered Harry. "I don't know why Jared is in such a hurry."

"He said he had to go to the library," added R

"Yeah, I was about to ask him how he was going to study without any books or papers," pointed out Hermione. They all looked at each other. "All right. Now, I'm really curious," she said after a minute.

"So am I," agreed Ron as he paced around. It was then that Colin Creevey came up to them without his camera. "What do you want?"

"I'm looking for Ginny. She said that she would be here. The rest of our study group is waiting for her," said Colin in a timid voice. He was rather intimidated by Ron who seemed to tower over him.

"I don't know where she'd be," said Ron dismissively.

"I thought she was up here," said Hermione worriedly. "Aren't you worried, Ron?"

Ron shrugged, "I'm sure she's fine. She knows how to stay out of trouble. She's overly cautious."

"I'm sure that Ginny's fine, too. Aren't we talking about Jared?" asked Harry.

"That's right. What do you think he's really up to?" asked Hermione out loud.

"I guess we'll have to figure that out," answered Harry.

Jared crept into a dark, isolated corner of the library. "Ginny!" he whispered loudly. "Where are you? Aunt Ginny?" He seized up as his heart nearly stopped when she pulled off the cloak and he could only see her head. Ginny took the cloak off and handed it back to Jared. "You scared me."

"You did it first," countered Ginny, breathing deeply. "That was close." She looked frantically around. "I'm lucking no one ran into me on my way out of there."

"I'm even luckier that Ron didn't find you there talking to me alone," muttered Jared. "What were you doing in my trunk?"

"What you said yesterday morning at breakfast. You knew that Ron was afraid of spiders," replied Ginny as she crossed her arms over her chest and smoothed her hair. "And there was a lot of other things. You know I never thought of my brother as handsome, but looking at you, I guess he is."

Jared raised his eyebrow at her, "Thanks….I think. I have my mother's coloring."

"That you do. I mean if you had Ron's hair and eyes, you'd definitely look identical to him. But that still doesn't explain what you're doing here right now."

"Let's go outside. I don't like it in here. Someone could be listening," suggested Jared as he handed back the cloak to Ginny. She gave him a perplexed look and realized that Madame Pince might have seen Jared coming in, but she certainly did not see Ginny come in. Ginny disappeared under the cloak as Jared led her out of there. They continued silently walking until they reached the tree by the lake.

Ginny took of the cloak and shook her hair. She handed back the cloak to Jared, who folded it carefully. "Where did you get that? It comes pretty handy, but these are expensive."

"My godfather loaned it to me," answered Jared. "Didn't you want to know why I'm here? Or would rather find out what other things I have, which is kind of pointless because you already looked through my trunk?"

"I don't like your attitude," muttered Ginny. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Why are you here?"

Jared too a long breath before he started explaining, "It's very complicated and it involves a bit of history that hasn't happen yet. So, I'll give you the gist of it. Someone has come back here because my father is vulnerable. He swore that he'd get even with my father by destroying him, and since my mother is here, she's also a target. I don't know if he'll kill my father or mother. Or both."

"Who is this someone?" asked Ginny in alarm. "And what did Ron do that someone would go after him?"

"Ron will become an Auror. He will be one of the leading investigators against the underworld of the wizarding world. I'm talking illegal activities that involve tampering in the lives of Muggles and wizards, but Ron will be the one to take this man out. Back in my time, he broke out of Azkaban, and all indications showed that he was planning on time travel. That's when things started changing. My mother put up a shield to protect us, including my godfather in our house in London. With another spell, Ron and Harry were able to figure out what time did Magnus traveled to—"

Ginny interrupted him as she rubbed her temples, "Wait? Magnus? He's the enemy of your father?"

"Yes, but like I said there's some history involved. And that's stuff that I don't know because my parents wouldn't tell me. I was home for the summer fresh from my fifth year and waiting for my O.W.L. results when it started. Magnus was put away during the beginning of my fourth year, but at the end of his trial he swore that he'd take everything that mattered from my father. He would make sure that my father would never be able to bother him again, and what better way to ensure that than to make sure Ron never becomes an Auror." Jared took a deep breath as he looked anxiously at Ginny.

"I thought only Harry made enemies who wanted him dead!" exclaimed Ginny in horror.

"My father is perfectly capable of making his own enemies," countered Jared sourly. "My parents are excellent magic users and they were able to figure out that this is the time period he was going back in. They were arguing with Uncle—I mean Harry—about going back and stopping Magnus. But it would have been too difficult to pull off, but I was the right age. Harry thought it would be a good idea to send me back and my mother agreed with him, but my father didn't want to send me back at all. So, while they were arguing about it, I took the initiative and completed the spell by myself."

Ginny's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that you came here by yourself? How did you pull forging all that stuff?"

"Oh please, you can't be the son of an Auror without learning a few things," replied Jared almost defensively, but there was definitely a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

"I guess it doesn't matter," surrendered Ginny as she ran her fingers through her hair again. She was now getting a vague idea how her father was losing his hair. "All right. So, I know, does anyone else?"

"Dumbledore and some of the staff, but I think it's really Professor De Luca. Snape may have a vague idea, but I don't think he fully knows otherwise he'd be treating me much worse," said Jared thoughtfully. "But I didn't tell them why I'm here, so you're the only one who knows. Maybe you could help me out."

Ginny nodded. "I'm still trying to swallow this though," she admitted. "All right. I'll help you. What do you need me to do?" It was fairly obvious that she was taking a leap of faith.

"I haven't got access to the girls' dorms. I can't even go near the stairs really without them turning into a slide. If Hermione experiencing any thing unusual, she's not going to tell me. I need you to get any information out of her that you can. I know that she didn't go to Hogsmeade during that weekend, but I need to know who Magnus will hit."

"Why wouldn't he try for both?" asked Ginny. "That's what I don't understand."

"It's matter of how much damage Magnus wants to cause. If he really wants to hurt Ron, he'd have to go after my mother. But if he wants to completely stop Ron, he'd have to kill him."

"Your parents don't even know they like each other," pointed out Ginny. "Although, they do argue like an old married couple. Ron's too stupid to realize he likes Hermione, but sometimes I swear I don't know what Hermione is thinking. She didn't really say or do anything when he went out with Casey."

"Yeah, about that. Hermione really was upset. I don't think he's too stupid to realize it, but later on when he does figure it out he doesn't go for it. It'll take him another two years to figure it out. It's very complicated. When he does, he'll realize that he really hasn't got much to offer her. My grandparents on my mother's side make a lot of money and my father felt like he had nothing to really to give her."

"That's ridiculous. Hermione doesn't care about that sort of thing. If she did, she would already be going out with Viktor Krum and not keep him as a pen friend. How long before you come along?"

"Um…about seven years. Give or take a few months," replied Jared. "My parents were married for about four, almost five years, before I come along."

"Wow. My parents had Bill by the end of the first year. I wonder what took them so long to have you."

"That's another story for another time," said Jared. "So, are you going to help me?"

"I'll see what I can do, but remember your class is going on that campout. So, I don't know how much I can do before hand. What are you trying to do with Ron?"

"All I can do is keep an eye on him," answered Jared with a shrug. "I'm having a harder time paying attention to Hermione because I simply don't have the access that you do. Besides you can do all the girl talk you want."

Ginny laughed at that moment despite herself. "Okay right now, you just sounded like your father. You really are Ron's son."

"Why do people tell me that randomly after I say something?" asked Jared, which only served to make Ginny laugh longer.

Ginny returned to the common room before Jared and immediately went to work with her study group without looking at Ron or Hermione. She was sort of happy to know that Hermione was going to be her sister-in-law and she was actually finding their bickering rather adorable. They were now bickering over Hermione's notes from the history class, but she refused to lend them to Ron and Harry. Harry accepted it, but Ron wasn't going to let it go.

"Why don't you just lend me the notes already?" argued Ron.

"Because it's a crutch. You need to study more," countered Hermione. "If you stayed awake more than five minutes in class, you'd have notes."

Jared walked in a quietly as possible and came back empty-handed. "I thought you went to the library for something," observed Harry out loud, causing Jared to freeze mid-motion.

"The book I was looking for was out," said Jared. "I was looking for Quidditch Through the Ages."

"I thought I returned that," said Ron.

Jared looked towards Ginny for an assist. "Oh! I have it. I borrowed it before you did this afternoon," she said, covering for Jared. "If you want to read it, I'll give it to you later. Or do you want it now?"

"No, you're on the Quidditch team, so you should keep it until you're done," answered Jared. "That's perfectly fine. I'll go up and um…take a little nap. See you later." He practically zipped out of the common room. Ginny quickly turned her head away from her brother who was eyeing her suspiciously.

Jared was back in the room after a quick look around, he opened his trunk and replaced the cloak under the false bottom. He folded his things carefully and reorganized everything, but took the diary with him into his bed. He closed the curtains and lit up the tip of his wand.

He flipped through the pages and read that some of the entries were starting to change. That meant that there was a possibility that the spell was unraveling. It was now imperative that he read the entries no matter how much it violated his mother's privacy. He read the entries for the weekend. But was disappointed to find that there wasn't much and realized that the entries wouldn't change until the weekend had passed. That meant that Jared might have more time and was probably panicking for nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Crookshanks padded into boys' dorm and went straight for Jared. "Hey, mate," whispered Jared, slipping off his accent briefly, as he rubbed Crookshanks' nuzzle who rewarded him with a purr. "I can't say how much I missed you. The house will never be the same after you're gone. Let's take a nap." Jared put Hermione's diary under his pillow and took off everything except his shirt and his slacks. He liked being free of the socks for a bit, so he tucked himself in, but didn't draw the curtains. Crookshanks jumped onto the bed and went promptly to curl up at Jared's feet.

"We should get ready for practice after dinner," said Harry. "Oops, I forgot that he went up here to get some sleep." He lowered his voice.

"I don't care," muttered Ron out loud. Jared almost smiled, remembering all the tiptoeing that his father used do just to keep him sleeping. "He's got Crookshanks with him. Why are the two things that irritate me together?"

"Because they're plotting against you," joked Harry, ignoring the glare from Ron. "But haven't you notice that they're attached to Hermione? Maybe that's why they irritate you so much."

If Jared's eyes had been opened, he would have seen how red Ron was. "Why are you telling me these things?" demanded Ron in an uncharacteristically high voice. Now Jared was having a hard time fighting off a grin. "Don't be so loud," said Harry with an added laugh.

Ron grumbled as he pulled out his Quidditch equipment. Jared shifted around a bit, causing Ron to sigh. He got to his feet and walked over to his bed. Ron pulled the curtains closed, but didn't say anything about Jared leaving them open in the first place. Before he closed the curtains, Ron took a long look at Jared and Crookshanks, but finally closed them. Shaking his head at no one in particular, Ron grabbed the rest of his gear and followed Harry downstairs.

Jared slept for about an hour before Crookshanks woke him up. "I'm up," he muttered impatiently as he tried to readjust his voice. He was speaking in his natural voice again, which was going to be a problem if anyone walked in. He was utterly shocked when someone yanked the curtains open. "Ginny! You scared me!" His exclamation was punctuated with Crookshanks' surprised yowl. "Don't do that!"

"You may want to put your bad American accent back on," she suggested. "Besides, it's not like you were naked or anything. I've got six brothers, too, so believe me I won't be surprise by anything I see."

"Am I back in my present time? Because you like to remind me how you used to change my diapers," muttered Jared with his resumed accent. "It's very embarrassing."

"Then you should be nicer to me," said Ginny as she handed him some sandwiches. "I got them from the kitchens. You didn't come to dinner again. Here's some butterbeer."

Jared gave her a lopsided grin, which now Ginny knew was Ron's. "Thanks," he said softly. He took a little bit of the meat and gave it to his naptime partner who received it with a purr of appreciation. He closed the sandwich again and took a bite. "You didn't have to bring me anything. I could have gone by myself," he told her in between bites.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now. You weren't in the common room earlier. They're now suspicious of you," pointed out Ginny as took a seat on his bed. "Especially Ron. If you wanted to get his attention, you've got it."

Jared sighed as he polished off his sandwich. He drank half the butterbeer in one gulp. "I guess I'll have to tone it down during the campout. You won't be able to find out anything Hermione might know in the meantime. This is just bad timing."

"So, what do you want me to do?" asked Ginny.

"I don't know," admitted Jared with a sigh. "Magnus hasn't shown up yet. I know that I was a bit early, but that's was part of the plan."

"How did your father catch him before?"

"I don't know. Those records are sealed in the Department of Mysteries. I don't really know how Magnus looks like either. He's a serial murderer. If it wasn't for my father, he'd still be hunting his victims."

"I thought he was the leader of an organization."

"He used a lot of tactics to manipulate people. One of his 'students,'" Jared used his fingers to emphasize quotations, "was killing Muggles using the same techniques. It took years to catch him. He twisted the minds of both wizards and Muggles. Leaving lots of bodies in his wake."

"And Ron went up against him."

"He was the only one who could. And there's no telling if Magnus was even his real name and there's a chance that he changed his appearance. He's a master of disguise and always had a large stock of Polyjuice Potion. He wouldn't need to conceal how he looks because no one would know how he'd look like right now. Except for me."

"Do you have a picture of him?" breathed Ginny quietly. "Maybe, I could do some research while you're away for the campout and figure out who he is right now."

"No, I don't have a picture of him with me, but I could draw one," said Jared as he got out of bed and went to his trunk. He pulled out a sketchbook book and some pencils. "I can draw realism really well. I used to doodle a lot when I was younger." He started to draw thin lines. "But I haven't seen the picture that much. I have no idea how my father figured it all out." In less than half an hour, Jared finished the picture and handed it to Ginny.

Ginny carefully studied the picture and shook her head. "I don't recognize this person at all. I've never seen him before," she said after a minute. "The library's only got school books in it. But it's a place worth starting."

"He's also probably been seen in the Muggle world," added Jared.

Ginny licked her lips as she furrowed her brow in thought. She got to her feet and carefully rolled the parchment. "I'll see what I can do. Looks like I'll be spending the weekend at the library. You'll just have to wait it out. I have to go. Ron and Harry went to the Quidditch pitch early, but the rest of the team's got to be there in ten minutes. I need to suit up."

"Keep that picture in a safe place," warned Jared as she made her exit. Ginny flashed a smile as she left him. He sighed as he got to his feet. He had homework to do and it was about time to do it. There was nothing to do, but wait.


AN: Stupid isn't posting stuff properly. That's why there have been delays. Thanks for your patience.

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