A/N:Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter! This chapter's a bit on the short side but I wanted to get a new one out sooner rather than later. This will focus solely on the 1997 side of things, and will move the plot along a considerable amount. I'm in a writing sort of mood, so hopefully you'll see another chapter up soon! Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful universe of Harry Potter, I am just a nerd who loves these characters way too much. : )

1997

With late afternoon sunlight drifting in peacefully around them, Hermione and Ron sat at Bill and Fleur's kitchen table. Fleur herself was leaning against the kitchen counter, clutching a cup of tea, and Bill was standing behind one of the chairs, his knuckles white as he held it in a death grip. Hermione fidgeted with her beaded bag. It was mostly empty, now - they had left most of their items behind when their campsite was attacked. But it brought her comfort, just to hold the bag. Her teacup sat abandoned in front of her. Ron had shattered his cup in a burst of anger and Fleur refused to give him another one, so he had resorted to holding his head in his hands.

"Well," said Bill, once they finished explaining what had happened to Harry. "I have no idea what to do now."

"We have to keep looking for him!" shouted Ron. He banged a fist on the table. "He's probably out there somewhere, trying to find us but he has no idea where to find us!"

"I know," said Hermione, biting her lip anxiously. "But we've got to be careful about this, Ron. We can't just...get caught because we're doing this rashly."

Ron's eyes went wide. "Caught. What if Harry's been caught? What if he needs to be rescued - "

"That's not what I said, Ron," Hermione argued, but she herself seemed so unsure. "I want to go find him, too, but...I think we need help this time."

Bill released his grip on the back of the chair and slapped it, hard, as he stood up. "Right. Help. I'll go contact the others in the Order."

"Thanks, Bill," said Ron.

When Bill left the room Fleur observed the two of them over the rim of her teacup. "I am glad the two of you 'ave come to us for help," she said. "You and 'arry 'ave been doing things on your own, no?"

"We had to," said Hermione awkwardly. "We can't tell anyone else what we're doing."

"Not even now?"

"No," Hermione told the woman dejectedly. "We're doing this on orders from Dumbledore. He told Harry to only tell us."

"Except 'arry isn't here anymore."

Ron stood and banged his fists on the table again. "He's coming back!" he yelled angrily.

"Ron!" Hermione pleaded as Ron stormed toward the doorway. The redhead was stopped, though, by his brother.

Bill caught Ron by the shoulders as he stepped back into the kitchen. The older man's face was pale, his ears bright red.

"What's wrong, dear?" asked Fleur, concerned.

"I can't get through to anyone in the Order," he said. It was obvious by his tone that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What?" Fleur asked. "Did you try Floo calling them?"

"But isn't the Floo being watched?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Bill, shaking his head. "We've got a secure network between Order safe houses. But the Floo call wouldn't go through. It was like the connection was cut off."

"To whose house?" Ron asked.

Bill sunk into a chair. "All of them." He met Ron's eyes. "Even the Burrow."

Just then, a silvery thing entered the kitchen in a streak. A silvery weasel came to life in the middle of the table.

"The Burrow's wards are under attack," the patronus spoke in the voice of Arthur Weasley. "Stay safe."

"What?!" screeched Ron. "How did they get in the wards again?"

"No wards hold forever. But they just said the wards are under attack. That means Mum and Dad are safe for now." Bill's voice was reassuring but his face looked sick. He gripped the table so hard that Hermione was afraid wood was going to crumble from the edges.

Before they could discuss it further, however, a second patronus shot into the kitchen. The silvery lynx stopped where the weasel had just been and spoke in Kingsley Shacklebolt's authoritative voice.

"Death eaters have been spotted around multiple Order homes. We suspect we have been compromised. Stay put unless you have to evacuate. Watch your wards. We will be in contact again shortly." The patronus paused and seemed to be looking straight into Hermione's eyes. "Stay safe."

The four occupants of Shell Cottage stood still for a second, shell shocked. The silence was broken only when another teacup shattered; Fleur, her face red with anger, barely seemed to notice the broken china on the floor at her feet.

"How do they know about our houses?" hissed Bill. "Who compromised us?"

Hermione was shaking, her own teacup seconds away from being the third to shatter. "Does it matter now? Shouldn't we focus on staying safe at the moment?"

Ron's eyes widened. "You don't reckon death eaters are here, too?"

Spurred into action by Ron's words, they all scrambled to the window. They squinted to search the beach, and peered up into the sky. "I think we're safe," concluded Fleur.

"For now," Bill said worriedly. He met his wife's eyes. "We need to go strengthen the wards. We won't make it easy for them, that's for sure."

Fleur nodded and took his hand. They hurried out of the front door with a nod to Hermione and Ron.

"Stay inside," Bill suggested. "We'll call if we need you."

As the door slammed shut behind them, Ron turned to look at Hermione, his eyes wide. But before he could say anything the door rocketed back open with a frightening velocity. Ron and Hermione were on their feet at once, wands pointed and hexes ready on their lips.

But it wasn't a death eater, coming to attack. Inside it was Remus Lupin, looking more haggard than usual. Bill and Fleur raced back in behind him.

"There you are," Remus said mildly when he saw Ron and Hermione, as if he weren't at all surprised by their presence here. "We figured you'd turn up sooner or later."

Hermione kept her wand up, pointed directly at her former professor. "Who led us out of the Shrieking Shack the night we met Sirius?" she demanded.

A slight smile graced Remus' features. "Crookshanks, of course."

Hermione sighed in relief and lowered her wand. Remus pulled out a chair and collapsed into it with a sigh.

"What's happened? Why are you here?" asked Ron.

"I was at Andromeda's," he answered. "But the death eaters managed to break through the wards. Kingsley notified you of the attacks?"

They all nodded. "Your wife -" Hermione started worriedly.

Remus reassured them quickly. "They all got out. She was the first, then her mother. They took the Floo - apparating's not safe for pregnant women. They're at another Order house. But we had to cut off the secure Floo network because the death eaters were coming into the house. Kingsley was there, too - had just come to inform me of the attacks - and we held them off." He ran a hand over his scarred face. "I hope he made it out. I left first. Came here because I knew your wards would let me apparate in."

"Thank goodness," murmured Fleur. "The attacks - do you know why they are happening?"

Remus turned his eyes directly to Hermione. "Kingsley and I came up with some theories. We think we may know why Voldemort's attacking."

Bill's eyes glinted dangerously. "Who sold us out?"

Remus looked mildly concerned. "Not sold us out. Voldemort got the information from Dedalus Diggle. Had to torture him for it. But he's had him locked up for months."

Something about the way Remus looked directly at Hermione was unsettling to her. She knew something bad was coming.

"Why now?" she asked weakly, holding eye contact.

"Because," Remus sighed. "When the death eaters attacked Andromeda's house, they were looking for you and Harry. Claimed that Voldemort had seen you, nearly caught you, but you disapparated away. Figured you'd come to the Order for safety."

"So he staged an organized attack on all the Order member's homes at once," Hermione realized. "To find us. To find Harry."

Remus nodded somberly. "Voldemort wants to end this. Now." He lifted his head, as if just now taking note of the people in the room. "Say, where is Harry? He's with you, isn't he?"

Ron sunk down in a chair, his trembling hands running through his hair. Hermione felt a tear run down her cheek. "That's just the problem," she managed. "He isn't with us. And we have no idea where he is."

"What?" shouted Remus. "What happened? Is he alone?"

Hermione opened her mouth to explain, but just then the sound of a loud explosion shattered the peaceful stillness of the beach outside.

Bill let out a string of curses. "Death eaters!" he shouted. "We never strengthened the wards!"

"How long do you think they'll hold?" asked Hermione. She was already on her feet with her wand in her, as was Ron. Even through the small kitchen window they could see dark cloaked figures dotting the sand along the edge of the wards. A few took to the air, too, on broomsticks. The explosion had created some kind of orange fiery magic, and it crept down from the sky like lava raining over the invisible dome of the wards.

Bill stood at the open door, his face slack. "That's...that's a combination of five different ward breaking techniques. The power that must take...I never thought they would be able to…"

"How long do you think they'll hold?" Ron demanded again.

Bill closed his eyes and shook his head in defeat. "Two minutes, maybe three. If I had time to reinforce them...but I don't." He looked at Fleur sadly. "I'm sorry, I never expected them to be able to break through."

"It 'es not your fault," she responded firmly. She stepped forward, lifted his chin, and pecked him on the lips. "This 'es our home, we will defend it. Together."

That strengthened Bill's resolve greatly, and he adjusted his grip on his wand. "You two, leave!" he shouted at Ron and Hermione. "Before they get in!"

"What?" shouted Ron. "I'm not just leaving -"

"It's you two they're after!" argued Bill, already halfway out the door. He paused. "Remus, you leave too. Go with them."

"I can defend your home, too -" started Remus.

"No," said Bill sharply. "Maybe if we convince them that no one's here, that's it's just Fleur and I minding our own business, they'll leave us be."

"They're death eaters, Bill," Remus said sadly. "You know they won't listen to that."

Bill nodded, biting his bottom lip. "Go with them anyway. We'll buy you guys time to escape. Maybe you can help them find Harry...even if we can't."

"Bill!" Ron shouted after him, no longer in anger but in anguish. But Bill simply matched Fleur's expression, sad but resigned, and charged outside with his hand in hers.

Remus looked tempted to run out after them, but shook his head in resignation. He once again fixed his gaze on Ron and Hermione. "We'll have to apparate. The Floo for all the Order houses is completely down."

Ron and Hermione hesitated for a moment, but then another sound, this one like breaking ice, filled the air above the house. The three of them quickly stood and ran to the front door, opposite the direction of Bill and Fleur. They only hoped that they could make it to the boundary before the death eaters noticed them.

"Run for it!" Remus belted as they left the house. Giant, fiery pieces of what looked like ash fell down around them. Above their heads that same fiery lava substance outlined holes that were breaking open in the wards, slowly getting bigger and bigger as more fiery ash rained down. Hermione grimaced in pain as a piece grazed her arm; it burned like a thousand ant bites, and disintegrated into the grass below with a fizzling spark that killed all the grass around it.

"Hermione!" yelled Ron from somewhere ahead.

"I'm fine!" she called back. She grit her teeth and kept running.

Above them, one hole had grown large, much faster than they had expected, and a death eater on a broomstick dove in. Their mad laughter echoed through the invisible dome of the wards. They dove down toward Ron like a seeker toward a snitch, wand extended. Before the death eater could attack Ron, though, two spells had sent him crashing to the ground.

Hermione's wand was raised, but she hadn't uttered a word. Instead, she caught sight of Remus nodding to Bill as he and Fleur ran around the side of the house.

Bill caught the death eater's broom as it fell and hopped on, taking to the air above Fleur. Already another death eater was diving through the hole, and Bill, Remus, and Fleur all started firing spells at the robed figure madly.

"Keep running!" Bill shouted to Remus. The older man nodded and took off again for the boundary. Hermione was just paces ahead, Ron just paces ahead of her. They were thirty meters away, twenty, ten -

With a sound like shattering glass, ten million times multiplied, the wards fell completely. Fiery ash rained down on them harder now, tiny pieces filling every inch of the air. Hermione screamed as they burned her bare arms even more.

Worse than the falling ash, the death eaters on the ground had now entered the property. A line of them, twelve across, started forward toward Shell Cottage. Streaks of light flew from their wands as they fired offensive spells. Hermione watched Ron fall, hit by a light that she hadn't seen.

"RON!" she bellowed, and crashed to the ground beside him. She pressed her fingers to his throat, and old muggle trick that most witches would've never known, searching for a pulse. She gasped as she found one. He was alive, oh -

Remus dropped to his knees beside them. "I reckon we can apparate from inside the property now, can't we?" he remarked drily. "I know just the place."

He reached forward and grabbed Hermione's shoulder with one hand, Ron's limp arm with the other, and suddenly all Hermione was aware of was the suffocating sensation of apparation.

A/N:All patronuses are canon! I took some creative liberty with the wards, though. While I do have access to a copy of Prisoner of Azkaban, I do not have access currently to a copy of Deathly Hallows. It has been awhile since I read Deathly Hallows, so all locations and timeline elements may not be perfectly true to the book. However, I will fact check as much as possible! As you can see, the 1997 story is diverging from canon greatly, and will continue to spiral more and more out of control for our characters, but I am trying to reflect the events of the book as much as possible! It is very fun to take a pre-written plot, change one plot point, and see how it changes the rest of the plot!

Thanks for reading! If you have the time, I would love a review to know what you thought of it. Next chapter you'll see more of Harry in 1993, and perhaps some more 1997 chaos as well...