A/N: Finally, another chapter! Thank you guys so much for hanging in there with me, even though I keep accidentally going months without posting. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this story! And special thanks to stillplayingpretend, who's review just a few days ago reminded me that I needed to update this story! I appreciate all the support and hope you all enjoy chapter 10!
Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter, I just have too much fun writing and reading Harry Potter fanfiction when I should be doing more productive things.
1997
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny barely fit under the invisibility cloak, but, despite a few close calls, they managed to make it out of the Hog's Head and past the border of Hogsmeade. They found a dirt path that led them up the rocky hillside above the town, and started the nerve-wracking journey up to the Order's cave hideout. The tree cover was heavy, and it was unlikely that they would run into any Death Eaters out here. But they were too scared to remove the cloak. They shuffled along in silence, only the sounds of their weary breathing piercing the still forest air.
"I think that's it," said Ron finally, ducking out from under the cloak and pointing up at the hillside. Above the trail, a hill shot up so steeply it was almost a cliff. Large, black rocks stuck out at jagged edges from beds of green moss. Hermione peered at the rocks, but couldn't make out any sort of opening.
"How are we supposed to find the cave?" Ginny asked, lifting the cloak over her head and handing it to Hermione.
Hermione quickly folded it into a tight square and tucked it back into her bag. "Tonks described the place over her Patronus. She said they'd send someone out to meet us once we made it this far."
And sure enough, they saw a flicker of red in the air about ten feet up the hillside, and suddenly Fred Weasley was beaming down at them with his usual wicked grin.
"Fred!" yelled Ron. Ginny ran to embrace her brother.
"No one said you'd be here, Gin," Fred said, catching her and squeezing her tightly. "Not that I'm complaining."
"Where's the cave?" asked Hermione, looking dubiously at the shimmering spot of air that Fred had just appeared from.
"Mum would have my skin if I didn't ask the questions first," said Fred, his grin slipping slightly. He turned to Ginny, who still clung to him tightly. "What was the first prank George and I ever caught you pulling?"
Ginny smiled. "Putting a fake spider in Ron's bed, duh."
"That was you?" Ron shouted angrily, but Fred just laughed. He grabbed Ginny around the waist, swung her around, and suddenly she disappeared through the shimmer of air.
"Oi, what did you do to her?" Ron asked, and suddenly his wand was in his hand.
Fred's eyes widened, and he threw up his hands quickly in self defense. "Ron -" started Hermione.
"It's okay, Hermione. He's right to be cautious." Fred looked appraisingly at Ron. "Go ahead, ask me a question."
Ron realized what he had done and relaxed his grip on his wand, but kept it ready as he sized Fred up. "What was the first prank you and George ever helped me pull on Ginny?"
"We helped you get your hands on some muggle hair dye and turn her hair green."
"Hey, I heard that!" came an offended shout from the other side of the shimmering ward.
"See?" said Fred. "She's fine." He stepped aside and gestured flamboyant at the shimmering air behind him. Once Hermione and Ron looked closer at it, they could see that it resembled a shape slightly like a doorway. "I opened up this entrance in the wards, just for you three. Right this way, after you…"
Ron rolled his eyes at his brother and bounded through. Hermione trekked the remaining feet up the hillside but stopped short of the door, staring at Fred.
"You're going to let me through without asking me a security question first?"
Fred raised an eyebrow. "If you were with Ron and Ginny, I figure you'd be you, wouldn't you?"
"You can never be too cautious when you're protecting the Order headquarters."
Fred stared at her for a moment. "You want a security question, then?"
Hermione nodded.
"Alright, then. What's the first ingredient in the Draught of Living Death?"
Hermione stared at him incredulously. "That's a third year potion, Fred! Anyone would know the answer to that question!"
"Not everyone." Fred raised an eyebrow. "Everyone who paid attention in Potions, maybe. And I hate to say it, Hermione, but you are in the true minority there."
Hermione rolled her eyes, didn't bother to answer the question, and stepped through the doorway amidst Fred's laughter. At least she knew he wasn't a death eater - none of them would have that kind of sense of humor.
As the air shimmered around her, Hermione could suddenly see everything that the wards had been hiding. The cave mouth was still quite hidden, but a sliver of light was now visible between two craggly rocks. At the mouth stood Molly Weasley, already suffocating Ron and Ginny with a hug - although neither of them seemed to mind too much. Standing just feet away from her was George, an exasperated look on his face as he greeted Fred, who crossed through the doorway behind her.
"You didn't keep them long enough for our prank to go into play!" he said to his twin.
"You had a prank planned?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Well, not really," answered Fred. He raised his wand and murmured something under his breath. Hermione watched as the air stopped shimmering.
"We were hoping if it took you lot long enough we'd come up with something," George finished.
Hermione nearly reprimanded them for being so flippant, but when she got a closer look she could see that they were under a great deal of stress, too. There were bags under their eyes, and their mischievous grins, well pasted on, slipped every few seconds. George was glancing back and forth from Hermione to his mother, as if checking to make sure she was still safe. Hermione realized that they weren't using humor to ignore everything that was happening; they were just trying to cope.
"Great, you all made it," called Remus, peeking his head out from the cave's entrance. "Come on in, it's a nice place!"
Hermione followed Fred and George the remaining distance up the hill, and was pulled into a hug by Mrs. Weasley. She struggled not to crumble under the comfort of a mother's hug, and instead let Mrs. Weasley lead her into the cave.
They had to duck to get inside. Hermione straightened and frowned, finding herself in a small, moist cave with barely enough room for their small group to stand. A single glowing orb of light, not unlike those from Ron's deluminator, lit the space.
"Where are all the others?" Ron asked nervously.
"Well, there's me," said a gruff voice. Hermione looked up to see Charlie Weasley peel himself away from the wall. He picked up a heavy, moss-covered rock and shoved it in front of the opening. He looked over at Fred. "You sealed up the wards?"
"Yep."
"I reckon it's safe, then." Charlie turned to his mother. "You want to do the honors?"
Molly Weasley nodded, and tapped her wand on the wall at the back of the cave. "Lemon drops," she whispered.
All at once, the cave wall burst into movement. Much like the brick entrance to Diagon Alley, the wall started to break down into individual stones, which rolled away from the center like a scroll. Slowly, an archway took shape, revealing the new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
The tiny cave turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Through the doorway was another room that stretched for meters.
More of the orb-like lights hung in the center of the room, but they weren't entirely necessary, because daylight streamed through a handful of windows. They seemed spelled onto the walls, showing images of beaches and quidditch pitches. A woman Hermione recognized as Hestia Jones stared longingly out at an image of a rolling cornfield. The floor was covered in a thick, luscious carpet that might or might not have been made of moss. The windows were draped in green and white curtains that matched the carpet, and the stone cave walls looked cleaner than Hermione would've expected.
"Each of us has got a sleeping palette behind one of those stone dividers," said Fred, pointing to a row of five foot high stone walls.
"Andromeda whipped up some real nice chairs for us." George pointed across the room to a sitting area. Tonks waved from a heavy wooden rocking chair. Remus had quickly rejoined her, sinking onto a cushioned lawn chair.
"Here's some tea for you, Nymphadora," said Andromeda Tonks, carefully shuffling across the room with a mug of steaming tea. Hermione craned her neck to see where Andromeda had come from.
"Oh yeah, that's the kitchen there," said George. "Mum had some real fun with that one."
The kitchen, as it turned out, was an old-fashioned wood stove with a pipe billowing smoke. The smoke funneled upward neatly to a hole in the highest point of the cave ceiling. A few cupboards seemed to grow out of the stone floor, and sponges danced merrily in a large bowl, spelled to wash the dishes all on their own.
"Come, sit down, sit down," said Molly, gesturing Hermione, Ron, and Ginny over to the seating area. They all settled into the assortment of comfy chairs, quickly greeting each other once again.
Hermione looked around at all of them. Molly, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. Remus and Tonks. Andromeda. Hestia. She had heard the names listed off before, but it hadn't truly struck her until she was here, sitting in front of the tiny group.
Could this really be all that was left of the Order?
The sentiment, unspoken, quickly spread to the rest of the room. Any cheerful, albeit forced, laughter from the twins was gone, and the wonders of the remodeled cave didn't seem all that great when compared with the pressing, hard reality they were facing.
"Remus told us about Harry going missing," Fred said after a moment, sounding so somber that Hermione almost didn't recognize his voice.
"What did you find out?" asked Remus, looking at Ginny.
Hermione started to open her beaded bag, where she had stashed all of the books that Ginny had given them. But what was the point? If Luna was right, then they already knew what had happened to Harry.
And they knew what they had to do next.
Hermione should've been the one to say it. One look at Ron told her he was far too afraid to explain what they were going to do, so she would have to be the one to explain. But before she could get her words in order, Ginny's soft voice broke through the expectant silence.
"Harry irreversibly traveled back in time," she whispered. "And we're going to follow him."
Silence seemed to resound throughout the cave. Andromeda and Hestia stared at Ginny. Hestia's eyes were wide, Andromeda's were narrowed. Mrs. Weasley's face was contorting from emotion to emotion rapidly, and Hermione had to force her eyes away. The twins exchanged a meaningful look, unreadable to anyone but each other. Charlie's hand flew to his mother's shoulder. Remus's expression was unreadable, and Tonks tilted her head to the side thoughtfully.
Remus, folding his fingers together and leaning forward on his elbows, broke the silence. "Are you certain about this?"
Ron swung to stare at Hermione, asking for confirmation. But Hermione wasn't sure, either. Or maybe she was sure - she was just too afraid to say so.
"We're sure," said Ginny. She stared seriously into Remus' eyes until he offered a small nod. Then her eyes turned to her mother, her gaze slipping.
"But it can't -" started Molly, her expression finally settling on dread.
"Luna figured it out. I trust her judgment on these things," Ginny said seriously.
The statement might've been strange in any other setting. But now, no one argued with Ginny.
At other times and places, in other situations, people might've accused them of joking. Or accused their theory of being absurd. But no, not here. Here, they all trusted that each other wasn't lying. There was no room for lies at a time like this. There was no room for bringing up absurd theories without being absolutely certain first.
"Ginny, you can't…" Molly's face was quickly losing color.
Hermione sagged in her chair and looked across the circle at Molly. The woman was worn down, exhausted, grief stricken: exhausted from the war, from being on the run, from hiding. Grieving her husband, and her son, and utterly drained from hoping that they might still be alive. Somewhere.
And now she was being told that Harry, her surrogate son, was missing, too. Forever.
And that Ron and Ginny might be about to disappear, too.
Ginny leaned into the circle, and set her hand on her mother's knee, her eyes filled with anguish. Molly stared back, her eyes growing dark.
"How did Luna figure this out?" Tonks asked loudly, straightening in her chair. Hermione sent her a grateful smile. She doubted that Tonks actually cared - she of all people would take Luna at her word. But Tonks also recognized the need for a change of topic. Tears were beginning to stream down Molly's face and Ginny was close behind.
Ron threw Hermione a concerned look before heading over to join his sister in comforting their mother. The other Weasleys were there, too. Hermione bit her lip and turned to Tonks, who was waiting expectantly along with the others.
"Well, we saw Harry get hit by these three spells…" she started hesitantly. She retrieved the books from her beaded bag and stacked them in her lap. As she launched into the explanation, she realized just how little they knew about Harry's brand of time travel. She fingered the covers of the books anxiously. It couldn't hurt to do some research of her own.
There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to go after Harry. She was sure that Ginny and Ron would, too. But they could take all the time they needed to be with their mother.
She still needed to figure out how on Earth to time travel, after all.
A/N:Hope you enjoyed! If all goes according to plan, I should only have one chapter left in this story. I am planning on an epilogue, too. Let me know what you thought in the reviews! I'd love to hear if anyone has any theories about how this story is going to wrap up.
Until next time!
