Now I will proceed to do a very bad thing to my least favorite character and I wouldn't have needed to if JK hadn't… anyway, you'll see what I mean. I used to like her, so don't kill me it's JK's fault… end of rant.
Disclaimer: As you can probably tell from the above rant, I'm not JK Rowling. If I was, things would be different.
Recap
Hermione pursed her lips. "Did Harry defeat Voldemort?"
Gin sighed, and though she spoke quietly her words rang throughout the room. "No."
End of Recap
After a moment of uncomfortable silence Ron spoke. "Well," he said. "We can see why you would want to change it."
"I suppose you do," Gin said.
Hermione swallowed and spoke. "I just talked to Tonks. She's coming to check on you-"
"Tonks?" Gin repeated, her voice icy.
"Yeah," Harry said, looking at Gin's face. Her eyes had hardened immediately; she looked angry.
They didn't have to wait long for Tonks to arrive. "Well," she said, with a welcoming smile on her face, either not seeing or choosing to ignore Gin's clear hostility. "We've been wondering when you'd-"
She didn't get to finish. Gin had stood up. "Let's take a walk, Nym," she said coldly.
"Are you sure you should-" Harry asked, worried.
"Oh, it's all right, Harry," Gin said, giving Tonks a frosty smile. "I can walk for this. Come on."
They were gone for about fifteen minutes, and when they came back Tonks was white as a sheet and Gin had a strange, mirthless smile locked on her face. When they were standing very close to Harry, Ron and Hermione, Tonks spoke, her voice quivering a little. "Well, I'm not quite ready for it to end like this," she said.
Before anyone could really act she'd pulled out a wand and began, "Avada-"
She didn't manage to finish. A voice from the door shouted, "Petrificus Totalus." Remus Lupin entered the room, holding Tonks' wand as well as his own. "Now," he said, a little breathlessly, "What is going on?"
Gin, who had pulled out her wand and was staring, a little pale herself, at Lupin, said. "She's a Death Eater. Give her Veritaserum, you'll see."
"What?" Lupin whispered.
Gin sat down on her bed, looking drained. "It didn't go so neatly last time," she said softly.
"Neatly," Hermione repeated, looking around.
Gin looked around numbly, seeming not to notice everyone else's shock in her own thoughts. "I'm already changing things, at least." She looked up at Lupin. "She did it for you. To protect you, if that's any comfort."
"It isn't," Lupin answered. He was silent for a moment, then, "Forgive me, who even are you?" he asked, his eyes closed and his face still a little shocked.
Gin turned to look at him. "I'm from ten years in the future. That's how I know all this. I was cursed and sent back here. Someone knew that the day I came back was a turning point." She thought for a moment, and then looked up sharply. "Harry, where were you going when you found me?"
"Well," Harry stammering. He'd thought no one would find out. "We were just- well-"
Gin smiled knowingly. "You were leaving."
Harry nodded sheepishly.
Gin laughed. "That's it, then. I can fill in the rest from here. You're headed to Hogsmeade, you don't find me, and so you keep walking. Of course, to get to the passage, you have to pass Remus and Nym's chambers. Hermione makes a decision. She slips by while you aren't looking, and tells them what you're doing. She's worried about you. And then it starts. You see, for a while what remained of the Order considered time travel, to undo the past, but no one knew where to start. We couldn't keep James and Lily from dying, that would leave Voldemort to go undefeated for years, keeping him from ever existing would have been too difficult, given no one would know where to begin… Remus decided it was impossible to decide when any one event began, there were too many little pieces, too many possible beginnings, but," she said, turning to Lupin, "You may have been wrong about this one event. It was the beginning of a great many things we'll all regret." She shook her head, laughing a little, and looked at the ground. "I'm proud of you, Draco Malfoy. You did it."
"Draco Malfoy?" Hermione repeated.
Gin looked up at her, then Harry and Ron, and then at Lupin. "All right. Tomorrow we'll get all the Order who can come, and I'll describe everything to the extent that I know it. In this case, I think my abilities will come in handy."
"Abilities?" Harry asked.
"Now and again, I can transfer memories by touching. We'll get around to why," she added. "It works something like this." As she walked passed him, she brushed Lupin's hand. He had been looking at Tonks' frozen figure, but after a few moments of staring blankly into space his head whipped around and he stared at Gin.
"But… I don't…" he whispered. "I don't…"
She put her hand on his shoulder. "Not now. But I didn't love you once, either. Things change." She squeezed his shoulder, and Harry noticed a gold band on her finger. Then she walked slowly out of the room.
Author's Note: There you go. Now, thou shalt review, or I shall not write. I have better things to do. I swear.
