Disclaimer: I own nothing, see prologue.

Chapter Eight

Even though they had the next day off, they agreed to spend it researching in Gryffindor's study. After breakfast they made their way to the library. James let out a low whistle.

"This is even worse in the daylight; it will take us years to work through it." Harry and Ginny nodded.

"Don't be silly, it won't take us that long. I told you I had a method for doing this. Lily set about giving them instructions and assigning them areas of the room to work from. They all got down to business - there just had to be a way home.

The only noise in the room the entire morning was the sounds of scraping chairs, turning pages and frustrated sighs. Harry found himself looking out the window rather than the pages in front of him. The last two times he found James doing the same thing. They shared a knowing smile and went back to work.

At lunchtime Hannah came and found them all reading books and not speaking a word to each other. She told them that they had to take a break to eat lunch. They all tried to lunch in the study, but she was adamant. They had to have a proper lunch, so they obediently followed her to the dinning room.

"Ah, there you are," Gryffindor greeted them. "You should enjoy the sunshine." They all looked as if they were about to argue when he shook his head. "I understand."

Everyone was served lunch and silence fell on the group for a few minutes before Hannah asked, "You were all buried in parchment; have you found anything that interests you?"

Harry and James both responded quickly with a definite, "No!" Lily just politely shook her head. Ginny on the other hand surprised them all.

"Actually, I found something. Will we have lessons tomorrow or will we be back out at the building site?"

"Both child. I have a new potion that's I'd like to show you."

"Excellent. Perhaps we could look at this potion I found."

"Of course."

The rest of lunch passed nicely, and the four teens returned to their task. Unfortunately the remainder of the day passed just as the morning had. After a long day they went to bed feeling defeated.

The following morning, the girls were back in the kitchen. Hannah was to teach them a potion for healing open wounds, but it was a bit tricky, as they had to enchant the aloe. Before they could get started, Ginny wanted to discuss the potion that she had found. They sat at the small table in the kitchen quietly waiting for Hannah to read the parchment.

"Did you find anything else written about this potion?"

"No, just that."

"I know this potion; the people working on it are from the village I lived in as a small child. It's supposed to keep a shield around a warrior so that he would only need to worry about fighting."

"Did it work?" Lily asked.

"No. It faded rather quickly and wasn't any protection against stronger curses." She handed the parchment back to Ginny.

"The theory seems solid, maybe if I keep working at it."

"Feel free child, but why the interest in this potion?"

Ginny and Lily shared a look and without knowing it shared the thought, "Voldemort." Hannah looked between them.

"Well," Ginny started, "on our journey here we were robbed by bandits."

"Godric told me."

"Harry and James hid us and fought with the bandits the best they could. But they were outnumbered. A potion like this could have kept them safer in that fight. And, we have to make that journey back, so they will be faced with similar dangers."

"Hang on to that parchment - maybe a fresh set of eyes will solve the problem. For now let's work on the potion that we have planned for today."

Hannah began telling them about the potion and its healing properties. Once they were set up to work she taught them the charm to purify the aloe gel. Lily and Ginny each had a small sample of the gel to test the charm on. If they were successful the gel would glow for a moment, and then it would be ready to add to their cauldrons.

They both whispered, "Expurgo" and tapped the bowls. Nothing happened. They each tried a few more times before they were successful. Quickly the potion was simmering. They need to cook it for thirty-four minutes before allowing it to cool for bottling.

"If I might ask, why do you lasses whisper all of your incantations?"

"That's just we have always done it," Lily responded.

"Yes, I suppose that makes sense." With that Hannah stood to check the potion and the girls shared a grateful grin. Returning to the table Hannah continued, "So why don't you lasses tell me about your lads?" With that they spent a pleasant morning preparing and bottling additional potions, while recounting fun stories and happenings involving their mates. After lunch they packed up their vials and headed for the construction site to aid anyone who was injured.

That evening the four teens returned to the study to continue their search for a way home. They spent a silent evening making no progress.

As they made their way back to their rooms, Lily hung back. James knew from the look on her face that she was afraid; he took her hand and gave it a slight squeeze encouraging her to talk.

"You know Ginny will probably be a potions master. She's quite good at it."

"We saw you out there today. I'm glad you decided to focus on healing."

"Hannah's a great teacher."

"Are you going to be a healer?" Harry asked. Lilly and James stopped short as they didn't realize that Harry and Ginny were waiting for them.

"Well, I haven't even taken my NEWT's yet, but that's the plan."

They fell into silence until they reached the boys' room. Harry opened the door and waved the others in. They sat in the chairs as they had the first night.

"What's bothering you, Lils?"

"We've been here a week!" A tear slowly ran down her cheek and she whispered, "I'm scared."

James hugged her closer. Harry stood and kneeled on the floor before his parents.

"Mum." Lily looked at Harry with sad eyes. She ran her hand through his messy hair. Harry couldn't help but close his eyes. Taking a deep breath he started again, "Mum, I promise we will get home. All four of us."

"How can you be so sure? Maybe we've created an alternate timeline?"

"I'm sure because of something Ginny taught me." He glanced over his shoulder at Ginny, and they shared a smile. "I'm sure because I believe it."

"It's not that easy."

"Of course it is. If we created an alternate timeline then my memories of your past wouldn't be intact. Until proven otherwise, I believe we will get home and it will be the same as when we left it."

"Maybe you're right." Harry went back to sitting at Ginny's side. "James, will you walk me?"

"Of course."

Lily gave Ginny a hug goodnight then gave Harry a hug and a kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight son."

"Goodnight mum."

James walked Lily to the girls' room, and once inside he hugged her. "Alright now?"

"Better."

"Good." James used this thumbs to wipe away tear tracks and gently kissed her. She returned the kiss and they remained in each other's arms for quite a while. They had no idea how long it had been when there was a knock at the door causing them to jump. And then laugh at their silliness.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Ginny here is no fun to kiss when she's asleep." Everyone laughed, and Ginny smacked his arm.

"Oh, you'll pay for that Harry Potter!" She then shoved him back into the hall.

James gave Lily a quick kiss good night and followed Harry out to the hallway. When the door closed behind him both boys could hear the girls laughing. They just looked at each other and shrugged.

It seemed that their time in the past was getting worse. They had spent the following two evenings continuing their research. They found nothing to get them home, and Ginny failed to find anything to aid her in developing the warrior's potion.

The following day would be the worst. Lily and Ginny arrived at the building site when there was a thunderous crash. A pile of stones that were being added to the building had shifted and fallen. Hannah, Lily and Ginny ran in the directions of the screams and nearly screamed themselves when they saw the gruesome pile of stone and men.

Within moments the rest of the workers were there carefully removing each stone. As each stone was freed the three medics would tend to them. After a short a while, they started feeling a sense of relief as none of the men they had found so far had been injured terribly. But at the same time the sense of dread grew, as they had not found Harry or James.

As the last stone were cleared away, they saw them. They were lying between where the pile of stones had been and the building. Without thinking about it Lily ran to Harry, and Ginny to James. They were both hurt pretty badly.

James' chest was horribly bruised, and Ginny suspected that he had some broken ribs. She used a charm her mother had taught her when the twin had fallen from a tree one Christmas. It checked for internal bleeding and organ damage. The charm showed that James was fine. She scrambled to Lily's side and quietly taught her the charm. It worked and cleared Harry of any internal injuries. Ginny returned to James and set and mended his broken ribs.

Lily worked quickly and efficiently to tend to Harry's injuries. She applied the potion that Hannah had just taught them to a gash on his shoulder and then mended his broken leg. She cast a quick cleaning charm on his face. Watching his chest rise and fall she ran a hand through his hair.

"Harry."

James started to stir. Ginny held his shoulders so that he wouldn't try to sit up. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"The stones started falling. Harry screamed for everyone to cast shield charms. He probably saved a lot of lives."

"He did. We found you two last. It was amazing that no one died here today."

James smiled with pride for his son and looked over to his right where Lily was lovingly tending to Harry. Then looked back to Ginny, "Why is he still unconscious? How badly is he hurt?" His voice full of worry.

Ginny wanted to smile in happiness for Harry that he got to experience having parents who loved him. It was amazing how the seventeen year old who lay before her sounded just like her father when one of her brothers was hurt. "James relax. I saw Harry. I think it's just a broken leg. He is going to be fine. You are another matter."

He tried to sit up, but Ginny shook her head at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"No kidding. That hurts."

"Well now that you're done worrying for your son, would you like to know your injuries?" James said nothing, except to drink the vial that Ginny put to his lips. "This is for the pain. You had three broken ribs and most of your chest is a lovely shade of purple from the bruising. You're going to be sore for a while.

Harry groaned and tried to move his arm to touch his head in a vain attempt to stop the pain, but the wound prevented his movement.

"Harry, just lie still."

"Mum?"

"I'm here, son. I'm here. Can you open your eyes?" Slowly Harry complied and looked up at Lily.

"How bad is it?"

"No too bad. Your leg was broken, but that was easily fixed. The rest of your injuries are minor, including your shoulder."

"No, I mean how many died?"

"No one died, Harry."

"Really?"

"Yes, everyone survived this." Harry sighed with relief. Lily put a small vial to his lips, and he drank without question.

Godric and Salazar arrived with wooden planks. They eased Harry and James onto them and floated them back to the house. Hannah and Helga checked their injuries and put them to bed. That evening Lily and Ginny continued their search for a way home. Only this night was spent in the boys' room watching them sleep.

A/N: My continued thanks to Cliodne for her awesome beta work and to all my readers.

Expurgo roughly translates into purify in Latin.