Temporal Flux

Chapter Thirteen: Temporal Flux Theory

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Harry had to spend that time as a buffer between Jared and his parents. Of course, he was starting to come to the conclusion that when two stubborn people reproduce, the end result would be an extremely obstinate offspring. Harry wondered how he didn't notice before just how much Jared resembled his parents and why he hadn't made the connection then.

Jared sensed the tension between himself and Ron and Hermione. He was sure they were suspicious of him, so he kept his distance from them. Part of him was glad that they seemed closer together than they did before, but another part of him didn't like the fact that they only bonded against him. His own conclusion was the one that most children had in regards to their parents: they're strange people.

There was also Ginny to think of. Jared wondered how far along she had gotten in her investigation of Magus. Did she get anywhere? Truth be told, he had almost completely forgotten about her all together. He told Harry that Ginny was looking for Magus and Harry agreed to help them out as soon as the weekend was over.

The best thing Harry could do was keep Ron and Hermione distracted for Jared, which he was more than willing to oblige. After all, he was going to be Jared's godfather. He was sure that Ron and Hermione would forgive him soon afterwards if they ever figure out what was really happening. Above all, Harry didn't want anything happening to them.

When the weekend was over, Jared and Harry decided to meet with Ginny together so that Ron wouldn't get suspicious of Jared meeting with Ginny alone. They would have to compare notes because Harry got almost the fully story of what happened in the forest from Ron. Unfortunately, there wasn't much news.

"You mean you couldn't find anything on him?" asked Jared.

Ginny nodded solemnly. "I tried, but I just couldn't find anything on him. I feel like we're running out of time or something. And after what happened during the campout, we know that he's getting closer and closer."

"They're obviously not safe on the school grounds," agreed Harry. "The best thing we can do is make sure that they don't get into a trap. Do you have any other clues?"

"I have my mum's journal," replied Jared. "She kept one throughout her time in Hogwarts. During her first few months her, she considered it the only friend she had until that Hollow's Eve you fought that troll."

Harry smiled ruefully. "Ron called Hermione a nightmare and said that was the reason why she didn't have any friends," he said fondly. "He said that after he got partnered with her in Charms when we were learning how to do levitation spell. Hermione was able to do it before everyone else in the class and she didn't come from a wizarding family."

"I was able to do it first, too," said Jared almost cheerfully. A grin never made it to his face instead he looked almost sad.

"We'll find out how he's getting so close and we'll find a way to stop him before he does anything. If we don't, you won't be born," said Ginny as she placed her hand on top of his. "I won't get to see how cute you'll be."

"Actually, you can," said Jared as he pulled out his mother's journal. "He must have slipped it in here. It's his favorite baby picture of me. He normally has it on his desk in his office at the Aurors." Jared opened the journal to where the picture was. He handed it to Ginny to look at. "He's not even in it."

Ginny smiled a little as she looked at the little baby with his mother. "Ron took this picture, didn't he?" Jared nodded. "You look so cute and your mum looks like she's positively glowing. How old are you in this picture?"

"I think I'm a week old," answered Jared as Ginny passed it to Harry. He looked at it for a while, too. "That's in front of the house that we live in. My dad bought it before he and my mum got married." He was currently speaking in his natural voice because it was easier on him and it gave him break from doing his American accent. "He said it was a wedding present."

"Ron gave Hermione a house as a wedding present?" asked Ginny with utter surprise. "I didn't know Aurors made that much money."

"Actually, when they start, they don't. You never got the feeling that the Ministry pays its employees enough money. I mean Granddad had to make the money stretch among the lot of you. There was seven of you after all," pointed out Jared. "I'm a rarity in the family for more than one reason."

"Well, you're already so unique," said Ginny.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry with genuine curiosity.

"I'm an only child and the only half-blood in the family," replied Jared. "Of course, I have tons of cousins, so it's never very hard to find a playmate."

"That is weird," snorted Ginny. "I would have thought at least more than one of us would have married out or mated out if that would be the case. Who do I end up with?" She leaned forward at Jared who pulled back from her. "Never mind. I don't think I want to know."

"Yeah…anyway, I'm an only child because my mum couldn't have more than one. She almost died having me. My dad was dead set against having any kids if it meant my mum risking her life, so he was so against it that he said he didn't want any kids at all. Mum wanted to have a baby of her own. She wasn't happy watching everyone else and just being an aunt. Of course, she wanted to have a baby with my dad, so she had to gain his cooperation."

Ginny laughed. "Ron can be pretty stubborn if he wants to be. How'd Hermione pull it off?"

"I'm not sure to tell you the truth, but I believe that my dad was tricked into it," replied Jared with a shrug. "My dad was pissed off after he found out. To put it mildly, but he gave in before I was born. I think my Papa straightened him out."

"Papa?" echoed Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, my mum's dad. I call my maternal grandparents, Papa and Nana. I call my paternal grandparents, Granddad and Grandmum," revealed Jared as he continued explaining. "Papa and Dad get along great, especially after they decided to get along against my great-grandmother. They don't like her, but she does tend to be a bit overwhelming. She doesn't like anyone who marries into the family. No one's good enough for her daughter or granddaughter. Muggles aren't that different from wizards after all."

"Does she know about the magic?" asked Harry. He sort of laughed, "Does she like you?

"Nope, they decided not to tell her. Papa said that she'd probably blame him for her granddaughter being a witch. She happens to adore me. I'm her blood relative after all. She calls me her little prince."

Ginny shook her head. "If you ask me, you're a little spoiled. I mean look at you. You're wearing much newer clothes than most of us Weasleys."

"My clothes are my mum's doing. She drags me off to go clothes shopping before school every year. We wouldn't have to do it every bloody year if it wasn't for the damn growth spurts that I got from my dad. Did you know he's still growing? Everyone keeps telling me that I'm going to be as big as him."

"Aw…poor baby, having to go clothes shopping," teased Ginny.

"It's embarrassing and the worst part is Dad lets her drag me shopping," exclaimed Jared, while Harry spent that part of the conversation laughing. "He says I should be happy to have new clothes. I just want to go shopping without her. Stop laughing, Harry."

"I'm sorry. Let's go back to the business at hand, shall we?" asked Harry. Jared was just as sensitive as Ron when it came to teasing, so Harry decided to give his godson a break. They were currently meeting in the Room of Requirements because it had everything that they needed. Jared got up and started looking around until he found something that he needed. "What is it?"

"I need a Sugar Quill," answered Jared as he smiled at the box he found. "I have a sweet tooth." He opened it and took out a quill.

"What are we going to do next? We need to find Magus before he tries again," said Ginny, switching back to a serious mode. "We can't just wait around for the next move to happen. Maybe we should tell your parents that way they could help us."

"No, absolutely not," said Jared firmly as he shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. And they probably don't know anymore than we do anyway."

"How do you know that?" asked Harry as he flipped through Hermione's diary. He wasn't really reading it, but he was paying attention to the dates to figure out which part to read. "How is this diary supposed to help us?"

"Temporal Flux Theory, Harry," stated Jared in an almost bored tone. "It becomes one of the pioneering fields of study in the wizarding world. The ideal that time is in a constant state of flux or movement. If this happened before, that means that I've been back in the past because I'm from the future."

"Okay, that makes sense," said Ginny sarcastically.

"I think I understand. You're already here, and this is the past for you. That means that any odd things would be somewhere in this journal," said Harry as he looked through it. "Here's something about you."

Jared said, "I already read that. I'm a little uncomfortable reading it. It's my mum's journal after all."

"I really don't want to read this either," agreed Harry as he skimmed it. "I feel like I'm invading her privacy or something."

"Oh for the love of Merlin, give me that," exclaimed Ginny as she grabbed the book out of Harry's hands. He was staring at his once occupied for moment as she started reading it. "I don't have any problem reading this thing."

"I don't want to read anything personal about my mum," muttered Jared defensively. He shifted uncomfortably.

"You don't want to know your mum's a woman," said Ginny knowingly. "You're just as bad as your dad. It took Ron four years to realize that Hermione was a girl."

Jared retorted, "She's not a woman. She's my mother."

"Um...isn't that one of the reasons why your father married her?" asked Harry jokingly. "It's not that he didn't notice she was a girl. He just noticed when it was convenient. I'm not even going to ask how long it took to sort it all out. What we need now is a plan."

"I'll keep reading this journal for right now and I'll keep it out of sight from other people," said Ginny. "Halloween is coming up, so we'll have some time during the celebrations to come up with something else. Another weekend at Hogsmeade is coming up. During that weekend, maybe you can take a trip to London."

"I could go with you," offered Harry. "I can travel back and forth between both the Muggles and wizards."

"There are some advantages to being half-bloods," agreed Jared. "But I think they're going to notice that we're gone."

"Not if I have something to do with it," said Ginny confidently. "You two worry about how you're going to get through and find out how are you going to do it."

"So, what we have here is a half plan?" concluded Jared. "I guess half a plan is better than no plan at all."

"That's optimistic of you," observed Harry. "Okay, now let's get our stories straight for when we go back there. Ginny, what are you going to tell your brother?"

"I was in the library studying for the O.W.Ls," replied Ginny. "And what were you two doing?" She asked this question as she put Hermione's journal into her notebook.

"I'll be coming back from the pitch," said Harry. He was dressed in his practice clothes and had his broomstick. "Jared was out near the lake. You do like to hang out there." Jared nodded. "Who should get back there first?"

"Um…I think I should go back first and get their attention that way you can come in. We'll keep them both distracted, then Jared can slip in unnoticed," answered Ginny.

"I never you had such a sneaky streak, Ginny," complemented Harry. "I probably shouldn't be surprised. You are a Weasley after all. Which makes me wonder what happened to Ron."

"He's the honest one," said Jared. "I'm not saying that I'm more Weasley than he is, but remember I've inherited the ability to be a smart alec from my mum."

"They do make a beautiful couple," said Ginny with a sigh as she wore a dreamy expression. She shook it off immediately when she looked at Jared who was giving her a blank look. "Anyway, let's head back now."

The next few days were quieter as Ginny read Hermione's journal. Most of the entries weren't that exciting at first, but Ginny carefully read them. She was reading all the way back to the beginning of the school year. They got interesting as Ginny read along. One of the entries was about Hermione's reaction to Ron's date with that Ravenclaw. That was what piqued Ginny's interest.

Soon Ginny found that she was reading the passages about Hermione's still developing feelings. There was a lot of self denial going on and from Ginny's perspective it wasn't just going on with just Hermione. Ginny didn't know that Ron had gotten Hermione a birthday present. Unlike Harry, Ginny held no reservations of spying on her brother's love life and she already knew that Hermione was going to become her sister anyway.

The passages about the Forbidden Forest were almost exactly as Harry had told Jared and Ginny, but Hermione and Ron had left out what was happening between the two of them. As Hermione wrote:

I'm tired of Ron putting himself down. He does it all the time. He's always thinking about how having no money will keep him from getting anything. I would like him to see him just as I see him. This is so stupid. He's stupid.

I'm not that shallow and I'm not that much into having things. There is only a few things I want, but he can't see that. There's no hope for him.

Ginny wanted to laugh at that last part. Obviously, Hermione didn't mean it. If anyone out there had faith in Ron, it was her. She was just frustrated with him. The hardest part of the whole thing for Ginny was keeping such a juicy secret. She wanted to tell Ron just to see his reaction to it.

But Ron wasn't going to find out, if Jared could help it. He was avoiding Ron, but it wasn't that easy to do. They were sleeping in the same dorm and they inevitable ran into each other regular. It came to a head at the stairs the following evening.

"I'm sorry," said Jared on his way down the stairs, running to Ron who was going up them.

"Yeah," said Ron. They both shifted aside to let the other pass, but they had shifted in the same direction. "Do you mind getting out of my way?" Ron's voice sounded a bit angry at that point as far as he knew Jared was monopolizing Harry's time.

"I was coming down first," pointed out Jared.

"No, I was going up," argued Ron.

Jared rolled his eyes as he normally did when his father said something infuriatingly stupid. He responded stubbornly by putting his arms outwards, blocking Ron's way almost entirely, "We're halfway on the stairs. And I was going down them, so I have the right of way."

"You don't have the bloody right of way," growled Ron. Jared being well acquainted with Ron's temper looked unfazed. "Let me through."

"You let me through first," muttered Jared.

"For the love of Merlin!" exclaimed Ginny as she stalked up to the bottom of the stairs. "This is stupid. One of you should be nice and let the other through." She looked at them. At that moment, they were remarkably similar. She sighed as she said, "Jared, let Ron up now."

Jared glared at her because he felt like he was winning, but he moved aside anyway. Ron went up the stairs, stomping all the way. "I knew you were going to take his side," said Jared in a low voice as he went down the rest of the steps.

"That was pointless, Jared," said Ginny. "You're as bad as he is. Why didn't you just let him through?"

"He should have let me through," argued Jared.

"Argh!" exclaimed Ginny as she threw her hands in the air and walked back to her books. "You're impossible!"

"Which one?" asked Jared, truly perplexed.

Ginny shouted back, "Both of you!" She continued to mutter under her breath. It sounded something like, "Just what I need. Two of you."

Harry and Hermione looked up from their books. Harry was snickering while Hermione was shaking her head at the situation. She was starting to get the feeling that she was being left out of a really good joke or something.

Meanwhile, Ron was up in the dorm to get something. He was also muttering under his breath about how much of a prick Jared was. He had to dig through his trunk for an extra quill because he had broken the tip off his. Jared spent most of his time up in the dorm studying away from everyone else. He only came down every once in a while to stretch his legs.

Ron noticed that Jared had left some of his homework on his bed. Ron walked up to the bed, not knowing why he was doing it exactly. Jared's handwriting was neat and looked as easy to read as Hermione's. His spelling was excellent, but there was something off about it.

Ron knew that Americans had a tendency to spell certain words differently from British English. He noticed that Jared had spelled the words in the British style and his grammar was the same way. For someone born and raised in America, Ron thought that was a bit unusually or perhaps Jared had adapted quickly to England.

The thing that jumped out at Ron was the some of Jared's notes were the abbreviations. They were identical to Hermione's. After years of borrowing her notes, Ron recognized them right away. Jared's abbreviations were exactly the same, and Ron hadn't seen him borrow anything from Hermione. Not once. Ron shook his head at his paranoia. He was looking into things too much. Ron grabbed his quill and went back down.

Jared was sitting by the fire when he came back down. Ron went back to Hermione and Harry. "Hermione, did you lend any notes to Jared?" Ron asked in a low voice, so that no one else could really hear him.

"No. He never asks," replied Hermione as she shook her head. "Why?"

"Nothing," answered Ron as he went back to his essay.

Harry almost stole a glance at Jared, but kept his head to his work. He had a feeling that Ron was closer to figuring out who Jared really was than anyone would have expected. Ron wasn't someone that should be underestimated. True, his grades didn't reflect it all the time, but Ron was better at school that Harry was. Harry always had other things on his mind though. And Harry was starting to think that Ron was just playing dumb to get Hermione's help on things and to spend time with her. It wasn't until recently did Harry notice that Ron was constantly doing things to get Hermione's reaction and attention. Whether it was on purpose or not could be debated.

Knowing about Jared gave Harry more insight on his best friends. He wasn't out of the loop by no means. In fact, he was always going to be in the loop. He was going to be the first person that they were going announce their engagement to, and he would be the first person to know about Hermione's pregnancy. He would be the first person alerted for almost any family crisis they would have and he would be Jared's godfather. All these things, kept Harry reassured and secure in his role as their best friend. Harry wasn't going to be on the sidelines looking in. He was going to always be a key player in their lives. In fact, he was closer to them than any brother could be. They were his family. And he was going to do everything in his power to protect them, even if they were never going to hear about it.

Some time later, when everyone else had gone to bed, there was another meeting. "Okay, did you decide how you were going to get out on Halloween?" asked Ginny.

"I think I know how we're going to get out of here," replied Jared. "Lucky for us, Halloween just falls before the Hogsmeade weekend."

"Then, you can leave Hogsmeade from there, but it's going to be tricky to do it. Any possible information on Magus would be in the Ministry and that's in London," pointed out Ginny.

"Or we could try something that won't get us expelled from Hogwarts," argued Harry. "I'm not saying that I'm willing to take the risk, but I thought you didn't want us to draw that much attention, Jared."

Jared raised his eyebrow at him and asked, "Then, what do you suggest?"

"We know people on the outside," replied Harry. "People we can trust."

"Who?"

"Remus Lupin. He might be willing to help us out."

Jared shook his head, "Moony's cool, but I don't know about telling him things."

"Moony?" asked Ginny with a raised eyebrow.

"I couldn't say Remus when I was younger," explained Jared.

Harry interrupted before the conversation could veer off into another topic again, "I think it would be safer for us and if we leave, they might catch us for sure. The only time that we can move around is when the holidays come up, but that's a long ways off. And there's something else that's bothering me."

"What?" asked Ginny and Jared in unison.

"I think that Ron's getting more and more suspicious. I think he might figure it," answered Harry.

Ginny laughed and scoffed at the very idea, "Please Ron wouldn't be able to figure it out in a million years." Harry shrugged as Jared didn't say anything. However, this would be one time that Ginny would be totally wrong.


AN: Most children have one parent that they have a harder time getting along with over the other. In Jared's case, Ron is the parent that he doesn't get along with so well because they are far too much alike. This chapter is just a tension building one between Ron and Jared. I think it's sad that only one person thought that Ron would be the one to find out next, but the fun here is how and when he gets

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