Temporal Flux
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Memory
When Jared opened his eyes, he awoke to the sounds of Molly fussing over him. He was resting in a bed that was in one of the other guest rooms. The Weasleys didn't want to take up more room in the 12 Grimmauld Place than necessary, but it was suggested that Jared have a more quiet place to relax in. Molly pressed a warm towel against his forehead. "There, there. Now, don't get up yet," she whispered soothingly. Jared moaned as he tried to shift his head away from her. "Now, you have to rest. Don't be like that."
Jared was embarrassed about what had happened. Why did he have to hyperventilate like that? He passed out completely. He didn't want her asking after the scar on his neck. He remembered how he had gotten it in the first place. He swallowed. "Where's Ron?"
"He's outside with the others," answered Molly as she rung out the towel. "You gave us all a fright. I don't even know why Hermione is even here. Ron didn't say anything."
"I want to see m—" Jared stopped and closed his eyes. He almost ended up shouting that he wanted to see his dad. After he swallowed again and refocused, "I want to see Ron. Please."
Molly looked at him for a moment. She was about to say something else, but she reached her hand out and caressed Jared's cheek. "I didn't believe them when they told me. I wondered where they had gone. I'll go and tell your father that you're awake," she whispered gently. Jared was too tired to ask how she found out or rather who told her.
In less than a minute, Ron entered the room and closed the door behind him. He had changed out of his robes and was wearing jeans and a jumper. He strode over to Jared's side. "Are you all right?" asked Ron anxiously.
"I remember now. I remember how I got this," answered Jared quietly as he ran his finger down the scar. "It was from a dagger."
"A dagger?" asked Ron as he pulled up a chair. "How?"
Jared sat up a bit, but couldn't quite pull himself up. Ron helped him up a little. "It was during the winter holiday on my third year. Did I explain to you what you really do as an Auror? What level you're at?" Ron shook his head. "See, after Harry choose to leave the Aurors and become a teacher, you were offered another position. A new division within the Aurors was developed for violent crimes. You were selected to head up this task force. I mean by that time you had been an Auror for nearly twenty years. You started working as head of that task force when I started in Hogwarts, and Mum decided to go back as a full time Healer."
"And I was the one who went after Magus in the first place?" asked Ron. Jared nodded. "I was the one who took him down, but you didn't know how I did it in the first place."
"You try to leave your work at work as much as possible," confirmed Jared. "You didn't want to worry Mum or me. When I was younger, less than a year old there were various attacks on Aurors families that spanned over a year. You and Mum decided that it would be safer to go some place safe. I was six months old when we took shelter in Greece. Harry was our secret keeper. He was took off to travel on his own to Australia, the Caribbean, and the United States during that time. Nana and Papa had to come with us because you and mum were worried. They're just Muggles. It was like a year before we came back."
"But everything turned out all right. We came back to England and you continued working as an Auror. It wasn't until you became head of the task force. That's when a series of unsolved murders of Muggles, part-muggle wizards, and purebloods who sympathized with them were found dead. That was when Magus entered your life." Jared took a deep breath as he looked at Ron. "You were the only Auror who figured out that all the murders were linked. When Magus found out about you, he decided that you were the only one worthy of the game that he was playing. For the next year three years, capturing him consumed you. Mum got really worried about you. You were getting more and more distant during that time. I was away at school, but even I noticed it."
"Later on, it turned out that Magus was taking pictures of Mum at work and sending it to you at your offices. He even took pictures of me at Hogwarts over the first three years that I was there. I think that's why you were so consumed with it. Uncle Harry was keeping an eye on me. I wondered why he was pretty angry when he found me wandering out in the halls when I was too restless to sleep."
Ron could see that Jared found a memory of Harry yelling at him very amusing. The year before last, if Ron had to imagine Harry yelling at a child, he would have a hard time imagining it. However, Harry was going to be a very protective godfather.
"It came to a head just before Christmas," said Jared. "I was out with my friends Ari and Alex. We were going to just go out for a bit to have a snowball fight. You know that huge pond that was out near the Burrow? It's makes for a great place to have a snowball fight. It got very foggy all of a sudden. It was so thick that you could take a knife and cut a piece out of it. I got separated from my friends. At first I could hear them, but I couldn't hear them anymore after a while."
"Just like the forest," murmured Ron. He remembered how Hermione and he called out for the others.
"I was all alone. I didn't know that was on top of the pond," continued Jared. "Suddenly I heard someone slam something on the ice. I felt the ice give way under me and I sank into the water. I was wearing heavy clothes to keep warm. I couldn't move and I was sinking. That's when the fog cleared. I saw him. I saw Magus standing over me." Jared was having some difficulty keep him breathing steady. Ron reached out and placed his hand on top of his. "He just pulled me out of the water. I think that Ari and Alex ran back to the Burrow to tell you what was happening. Because I could hear you shouting."
"You told him to let me go. Magus had a dagger in his hand. He tried to slit my throat, but I managed to moved just enough so that he couldn't get the blade deep enough. He let me go into the water and I sank back in. It hurt a lot and I was screaming my head off. The water was so cold and I was losing blood. I passed out."
"The next thing I remember is that you were pounding on my chest to get the water out, but it's all hazy. I think you carried me back home and Mum had to look at it. I ended up waking up in the hospital. There were all kinds of tubes and stuff attached to me. At the time, I didn't remember what had happen and I had missed the first week back from school. The most important thing was that Magus had been brought in and was sentence to Azkaban."
"You don't know how it happened?" asked Ron as he got to his feet. "I don't understand why you would have to stay at the hospital for so long. But I did figure out something. Magus is an Animagus. He can turn into a raven."
"So, that's how he can make it like he's appearing one moment and disappearing the next," said Jared. "Actually, the dagger was made out of an alloy. It contained lots of iron and something else. Someone developed it and it was something that he used to kill the purebloods that he hated. I had blood poisoning from it. But being a half-blood is what kept me alive. He knew that Mum was a Muggleborn witch, but even half-bloods have a fifty-fifty chance of survival if cut by that alloy. And children are even more likely to die. I had to continue taking potions to prevent a relapse for a year. I hated going to Madame Pomfrey getting it, too. She'd give me long lecture every time I was late. And since I couldn't remember what had happened, I was pretty upset about not being able to play Quidditch."
Ron sighed and shook his head. "That would be enough for me not to let you play Quidditch. So, when did you get to be on the team?"
"My fifth year," answered Jared. "But I was asking the year before that because a beater position had opened up. Last year the keeper position opened up and after a whole summer of asking over and over again, Mum got you to at least let me try out." There was a pause as Jared went on again, "I just didn't remember what had happened until now. My friends didn't really know either. Ari and Alex said it was pretty scary that there was blood all over you and me. But Grandmum sent them out of the room before they could see anything."
"It's my fault something happened to you in the first place," whispered Ron. "You're lucky that Hermione's going to be a Healer."
"Ron, what did Grandmum say? She knows who I am?" asked Jared suddenly. "Did you tell Hermione?"
Ron shook his head, but his eyes widened. "Hermione doesn't know. I didn't say anything to her, but my mum knows? Who told her? Maybe you're right, no one in this family can keep a secret. I just left her out there with them." He got to his feet again. "This is getting to be too much. Magus was at the Grangers' house just yesterday evening."
Jared's eyes widened at that statement. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know," muttered Ron. "You said before that I learned how to do some of the Auror spells. Which ones do you know about?"
Jared's brows furrowed in thought for a moment. "There's wand transfiguration. You can change a wand into different objects."
"Why would that be something worth learning?" asked Ron. "I mean you can throw spells in a duel with a wand."
"Not if you erect a barrier with talismans," explained Jared. "It's not that hard to do. It happened in the Ministry of Magic over twenty years ago. It was covered up. I don't know exactly what year it happened, but parts of the Ministry were blown apart. Someone had put a barrier that kept the Minister officials from getting inside. The problem with wizards is that they are trained to rely upon wands too much. They don't train themselves properly to fight in hand to hand combat. At least your average run of the mill wizard doesn't. The transfiguration of a wand is difficult to do, but if a certain type of a barrier is up, the spells can be absorbed by it."
"You're learning this in your DADA class, aren't you?" asked Ron. "That explains something though." He glanced at Jared. "A big section of the Ministry was taped off from the public. It wasn't the same places where the summer incident happened. It happened sometime in November. I haven't seen the damn itself, but it was enough for the Prophet to cover it. The Ministry is writing it off as a remodeling job."
Jared pulled himself up a bit more with a slight wince. "What part?"
"The courtrooms," answered Ron as he folded his arms over his chest. "The big meeting that the new Minister had with the world delegates had to be moved the following day. I mean how many people plan on doing remodeling in the middle of important meetings like that. With what's been going on, I didn't think it was that important. In fact, this is irrelevant right now. What we're talking about is something that is going on outside current timeline and that's what we have to focus on. It's about you and Hermione. And me." He paused again. "It's all my fault that this is happening."
"I didn't listen you back there," said Jared quietly. "You said that there was no way you would send me back warn you about it. I left with very little information. I was also angry with you for not trusting me."
Ron straightened up and gazed at him. "Did it even occur to you that I might have been trying to protect you? Look at yourself. You've got a scar on your neck because of me." He shook his head and was going to say something else, but he didn't want to get angry with Jared. Instead he went to the down opened it and left. He let it swing close behind him.
When Ron came back, he saw that everyone was looking at him expectantly. He noticed that Ginny and Hermione were gone. "Ginny is lending some clothes to Hermione," said Harry, knowing Ron's question before he could ask it. Ron nodded.
"You were saying that you knew about Magus," continued Harry. "What did you figure out?"
"He's an Animagus," answered Ron. "This isn't the first time that he's gone after them to get to me. That scar on Jared's neck is from the first round. There are going to be some amazing and disturbing advancements in the ways that we try to hurt each other. Where did Mum go?" He looked around and saw on his brothers and Harry.
"She's waiting for Dad," answered Charlie. "She just left after she told you that Jared want to see you. It was Fred who let it slip."
"Magus is out there," said Ron. "It's not his real name. He just pulled his name out of the word for what he is. He's the raven that was out in the forest and he knows where the Grangers live. We have to make sure nothing happens to Hermione's parents." He looked at each one of them and they looked back at him expectantly. "Look, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm not anything yet."
"But you have the potential," pointed Harry. It seemed that the boys had discussed it among themselves, and Harry had been elected to speak for the group. "Magus can't get to you, even now. He knows the only way to get to you is through them. I think we have to tell Hermione what's going on, even if she doesn't believe a word of it."
"No," refused Ron coldly. "We aren't telling her anything. Too many people already do."
Molly and Arthur walked in that moment. Ron stopped talking and turned around. He walked out of the room and back towards the room that Jared was staying in without saying a word. Arthur immediately went after him.
He wasn't entirely surprised that the door had been locked with a spell. "What did he say?" demanded Arthur loudly without turning around. He repeated when none of them gave an answer, "What did he say? I will not continue having these kinds of secrets in my family, do I make myself clear?"
Jared looked at Ron with alarm when he heard what Arthur had said. "What the bloody hell does that mean?" he asked. Jared rarely heard his grandfather raise his voice like that.
"I have no idea," muttered Ron. He kept his back on the door for a moment longer and stepped forward "How are you feeling? Are you well enough to move?"
"Yeah," answered Jared with a nod. "Why?"
"Because you need to go back to Hogwarts," answered Ron. He heaved a sigh at the end. "If you're gone, Hermione won't be asking as many questions. If you two stay in the same place, it will be too easy for him to find you both."
"What kind of plan is that?" asked Jared with great apprehension.
Ron heard his father knocking on the door, giving him a chance to open it "It's not," whispered Ron. "Get up and get dressed. There's a bathroom through that other door." He referred to the one on the left. Jared got up slowly and went to the bathroom after grabbing his clothes were hanging on the other door, which led to a closet. He was just in his boxers and a shirt. As soon as the bathroom door was closed, Ron opened the door to let his father in.
Arthur had his hand raised to hit the door again and was a little stunned when Ron opened the door. He was confront with his son who was nearly as tall as him and looking straight into his eyes. "I did what I had to do," said Ron quietly as he gripped his wand tightly. He knew that Jared was listening at the door.
Arthur closed his eyes for a moment. "I already lost a son," he whispered quietly. Ron didn't know what to say about that. No one else in the family other than himself and Ginny knew that Percy was dead. Ron was starting to wonder just if his father already knew it. "Then, you know why I have to do this," whispered Ron back to him.
The door opened and Jared peeked out a bit. "Come on Jared," said Ron loudly without turning around. Jared shrugged and closed the door behind him. His shoes were at the foot of the bed, so he grabbed them and exited the room. He had neglected to put his socks on as well. Ron let him exit out first.
Molly had gotten in their way. Jared looked at Ron. "Where are your socks, dear? Your feet must be cold," she told him.
"It's all right, Mrs. Weas—"
"Now that's not right," Molly chided. "I don't know why I didn't see it before. You have your father's bone structure. And your feet looks like just like his and so do your hands." She lifted them up to look at them. Jared turned his head to gave Ron a pained look.
"Mum, leave him alone. Ginny's doing a good job keeping Hermione distracted. Jared has to go back to Hogwarts," said Ron as he smiled slightly. He said as he put his hand on Jared's shoulder. "Put your socks on before Hermione gets back here." Jared shrugged and sat down on one of the chairs and puts them on. "So, you do listen to me on occasion?"
"When I feel like it," said Jared using his American accent again. Ron sighed.
Arthur put his hand on Ron's shoulder. "You'll have the patience. Parents grow with their children," he told him knowingly.
Jared got up when he got his shoes on. Hermione came back wearing some of Ginny's clothes. They all went quiet when she came in they all went silent. "What's going on? Jared, why are you up?"
"I'm feeling better. I just got a sudden call from my relatives here in England. I'm not that close to them, but they've invited me to see them for Christmas. Looks like I won't be joining you after all," he explained smoothly. "Oh, by the way, before I forget, I have your Christmas present in the other room. I'll go get it." Jared went pass her. Hermione looked directly at Ron with a perplexed look, but he looked straight at her and shrugged.
"You still didn't tell me what's going on Ron," said Hermione quietly.
"Trust me," said Ron as he walked passed her to join Jared in the other room.
Hermione turned her attention to everyone else. "Why am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on here?" She looked at Harry who looked away from her. "This has something to do with Jared, too, doesn't it? Look, either someone is going to tell me what's going on or I'll figure it out on my own." She sighed when she saw that none of them held any expression of giving in. "Harry, can you lend me Hedwig? I have to write my parents."
"Sure," said Harry as he got to his feet. "Ginny, come with us." He needed to make sure he wasn't alone with Hermione too long because he was afraid he'd cave in. So, Ginny followed along.
"Well, this is all very interesting," said Charlie, breaking the silence. "I mean it's not like we're not saying something important to them."
Bill looked at their parents. "It's not like we can explain it because we don't know what really happened, do we, Dad?"
Arthur shook his head.
Ron helped Jared pack up his things. "I don't know if this is such a good idea," said Jared softly. He paused. "Maybe we should tell her the truth." He glanced at Ron.
"You were the one in the first place who didn't want to tell her anything," pointed out Ron. "This is the best I can come up with. I don't think that anyone could have come up with something better. I wish I had a better on."
Jared sat down on the bed. "It will be the first time I've ever had a Christmas without any family. I normally go home every winter holiday. I don't even know how I'll get back onto the school grounds. Aren't they closed for the holidays anyway? How am I supposed to explain it?"
"You mentioned that Dumbledore already knows? So does De Luca. And Snape probably has a vague idea. It won't be that hard for you to get back to the school," answered Ron. He gave a chuckle, which made Jared look at him funny. "I didn't think I was capable of thinking like this."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. I always thought that Harry and Hermione were so much smarter than me. I'm the sidekick that offers all kinds of sarcastic commentary."
Jared laughed. "Actually, when you're sarcastic, you tend to be right. At least from what I've noticed. You make good observations that way." He picked up the bag from the bookstore. "I didn't get time to wrap it, but I guess she won't mind."
Ron picked up Jared's bag and carried it out. "I just wish you'd trust me more, Ron. I can take care of myself."
"I do trust you," said Ron at the door. "It's the rest of the world that I have a problem with. You know I really should apologize to my parents for being a pain."
AN: Jared and his father are very close. It is the incident in his third year that kept him from joining the Quidditch team for two years. Ron became very overprotective of his child. The part that the rest of the family was discussing tie into the next fanfic. Ron wants to protect both Hermione and Jared. He also starting to notice that the more annoying qualities that Jared possesses come from him.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This story belongs to me and cannot be posted anywhere else without my permission.
