Rachel, Ashley and Draco were all staying at Malfoy Manor. After hearing that Ginny was, indeed, going to try and turn herself in, Sirius had gone with Remus to try and stop her from making a big mistake. Lucius, Narcissa and Severus were all pacing the living room, worriedly, waiting for some kind of response from the two Gryffindors. Jack and Miranda Potter had stayed with Harry at Sirius' place, knowing that Sirius couldn't take Harry with him and they also wanted to get to know their grandson.
"Hey, look what I found in mum and dad's room the other night" Ashley said with a mischievous grin on his face as he pulled out an old, blank piece of parchment. Rachel raised an eyebrow at her brother, while Draco furrowed his brow.
"Why would your dad have an old blank piece of parchment on him?" He questioned.
"I dunno, but I think it's got something secret on it, Whaddya think?"
"I think you're mad!" Rachel insisted, looking annoyed, crossing her arms over her chest "Why would something like that catch your interest?" Ashley shrugged.
"I just think that there's more to this than what meets the eye" Rachel snorted with laughter, while Draco eyed the parchment with interest.
"Hmmm … it does seem kinda weird that your mum and dad would keep a blank piece of parchment for so many years, don't you think?"
"Maybe …" Rachel said, starting to feel unsure of where this was heading.
"Maybe we need to open it?" Ashley stated, his eyes lighting up. Draco smirked and nodded, whilst Rachel rolled her eyes.
"I can't believe this! We're all eleven years old and we're acting like five year olds!" she snapped. Draco grinned.
"C'mon, let's try and open it!" he yelled, taking the parchment from Ashley and mumbling a few words with a wand in hand. Ashley stared at him, a loss for words.
"Where did you get a wand?" he whispered.
"Dad bought it for me for my birthday, why?"
"Lucky!" Rachel said, looking envious We can't get our wands until the day before school!" Draco merely shrugged and tapped his wand on the parchment.
"I, Draco Malfoy, command you to show yourself!" he ordered. Nothing happened for a short while, until …
Draco Malfoy? You wouldn't happen to be Lucius' Malfoy's son, would you?
Draco dropped the piece of parchment in shock, when suddenly; a blinding white light engulfed the entire room. Rachel screamed in fear and grabbed onto her brother, who, in turn, grabbed Draco. A few seconds later, they had disappeared from the room …
Lucius, Narcissa and Severus burst into the room, wildly looking around for the children.
"They're not here!" Narcissa cried "They were here a few minutes ago. The screams came from in here, I'm sure of it!"
Severus strode forward and picked up the blank piece of parchment, the colour draining from his face as he watched the white light die down.
"I have a horrible feeling …" he said slowly "that the Lupin twins and Draco aren't here anymore"
"What do you mean?"
"They've gone somewhere else" he murmured. The white light and the parchment seemed so familiar. Narcissa burst into tears, while Lucius paled.
"Remus and Ginny aren't going to like this … in fact; I think they might kill us!"
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Remus stopped running, trying his hardest to catch his breath. Ginny shouldn't-couldn't go to Azkaban! Didn't Albus even try to stop her when she'd told him of her decision? Of course not! Remus gritted his teeth on remembering Dumbledore's words.
I'm afraid it's her choice and her choice alone that matters Remus. If she wishes to go to Azkaban so it can clear her conscious, then so be it. I'm sorry, I know that this isn't what you wish to hear, but …this is Ginny's decision, not yours.
Sirius grabbed his friend by the arm and tried to haul him inside of Azkaban prison. They weren't too late to stop her! Just as Remus rounded a corner, he saw a red-head with puffy red eyes.
"Ginny!"
Ginny whirled around, her eyes widened in fright on seeing Remus and Sirius.
"What are you doing here?" she cried. Remus walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Please Ginny, I'm begging you. Don't do this! The children need you, I need you! You don't deserve Azkaban! What you did was self defense and I understand that you want to clear your conscious, but going to Azkaban isn't it! It'll make you feel even worse. Please … j-just try to reconsider. I can't live without you and if you go … I won't know what to do. I'll be so lost." Remus pleaded, unshed tears forming in his eyes. Ginny couldn't look him in the eye. He looked so … helpless. She bit her lip to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. Remus was right! She couldn't go to Azkaban! She'd go in there to get rid of one bad memory and come out with a dozen new ones!
"A-Alright. I-I won't" she whispered, averting her gaze to meet his eyes. Remus grabbed a hold of her and gave her a bone-crushing hug. Ginny smiled a watery smile at Sirius, who was looking extremely relieved.
"Thank you" he mouthed.
"C'mon. Let's go pick up the children from the Malfoy's and we can go home and have a nice night in" Remus said, smiling broadly. Ginny smiled and gave her husband a light peck on the nose.
"Love you" she whispered.
"Love you too"
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"Well, what do you suppose we do?" Narcissa challenged "I can't think of anything that can explain the children's mysterious disappearance. They're going to get suspicious anyway!"
"Look, Draco's gone too, so they might just believe us when we say that they've gone to sleep upstairs." Lucius told her.
"What, until tomorrow morning? How long do you think it'll take for the children to get back from wherever they came from? They might not even come back!" she yelled, unable to control her anger.
"All we can do is hope that they come back soon!" Lucius snapped. Severus clapped his hands to get their attention.
"I think" he whispered slowly "that we're just going to have come clean with them. Yes, they'll be upset, but they won't be the only one's worrying about their kids. Draco isn't here either, so you'll all be going through the same thing. Anyway, I think that piece of parchment belonged to Lupin, so we'll see what he has to say on the subject at hand"
"How did Rachel and Ashley get a hold of it anyway?" Narcissa questioned.
"Probably snooping around." Lucius stated.
"Must get it from his father." Severus retorted rudely. Narcissa shot him a warning look and he shut up.
"They're young and curious. We can't exactly blame them, but I am worried"
"Of course you are! We all are!" Lucius snapped "I can't believe those twins would do something so stupid! That parchment could contain dark magic for all we know!"
"Remus and Ginny wouldn't have kept anything if they thought it contained dark magic. Believe me" Severus said sharply.
"Hello? Is anyone home?" A voice called out from the fireplace in the living room. Narcissa gasped and rushed downstairs, only to find Remus, Sirius and Ginny standing there, looking curious.
"Oh, hello!" Narcissa said brightly, trying hard not to break down in tears.
"Nar … what's up? Are you alright?" Ginny questioned worriedly. Severus strode over to Lupin and thrust the Marauders map into his hands.
"What do you know about this?" he queried. Remus paled considerably as he looked to Sirius.
"W-Why?" Sirius croaked out, looking worriedly to the parchment.
"The children are gone!" Narcissa cried as she burst into tears "We found that on the floor. Rachel was screaming and when we entered the room … nothing! All we saw was a white light fading on that!" Remus paled, if possible, even more, while Ginny looked like she was going to faint.
"They've gone somewhere in time!" Sirius whispered softly "Only … I'm guessing that they've gone back to when we …" he trailed off, looking to Remus. Remus nodded.
"That's my guess"
"Why do we have to keep having dramas?!" Ginny screamed as she burst into hysterical tears.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"Where are we?" Rachel whispered, her eyes darting from left to right. She was scared.
"We're in Hogwarts" Draco stated simply "Only one problem … something tells me that piece of parchment has taken us somewhere in time"
"What makes you say that?" Ashley whispered tensely.
"Well, for starters, that notice board over there says it's seventeen years from our present time" He told the Lupin twins. Rachel gulped nervously.
"Maybe we should go and see the Headmaster …" She suggested, but was cut off by an exasperated sigh.
"We don't even know where to go!" Ashley snapped "We haven't even started at Hogwarts yet!" Draco nodded in agreement.
"He does have a point"
"Oh shut up!"
"SShh. Did you hear something?"
"What? N-" Rachel was cut off abruptly by Ashley clamping a hand over his sister's mouth. Sounds could be heard. Muffled footsteps … and they were drawing nearer.
"Moony, did you hear anything a moment ago?" A male's voice sounded out.
"No, Prongs … Padfoot, did you hear anything?" A soft male's voice whispered.
"Yeah. I think I did. Wormtail?" A deeper voice said.
"Yes! I did!" A squeakier voice whispered. As Ashley, Rachel and Draco hid behind a door, which ended up being a broom closet, the door was opened and four faces were staring down upon them. Rachel let out a high pitched scream, while Ashley clapped his hands over his ears. Draco merely stared at Rachel in shock, amazed that something so small could produce such a loud sound. The four male's grabbed the three time-travelers and hauled them out of the broom closet.
Ashley whimpered slightly as he hit his arm against the doorway on being pulled out.
"Wormtail, don't pull him too hard. He's just a kid!" A boy with messy black hair exclaimed.
"Leave my brother alone!" Rachel yelled as she tried to get to her brother. The other boy with raven hair kept a firm grip on her.
"Hold still lil' missy. We're not gonna hurt you!"
"Yeah, we just wanna know your names!" The boy with sandy brown hair added. Draco, Ashley and Rachel looked to each other worriedly.
"Well, I'm Draco Malfoy. These are my friends:"
"I'm Ashley!" Ashley murmured, while Rachel bit the raven haired boy's hand.
"OW! You little-" he whispered threateningly.
"I'm Rachel Lupin, and you'd do well to respect my name!" Rachel snapped. Draco smirked.
All four boys stopped dead in their tracks.
"What did you just say?"
"I said, I'm Rachel Lupin and-"
"Lupin? Lupin?" The sandy brown haired boy gasped. Ashley and Rachel nodded.
"Well, pleased to meet you. I'm James Potter. These are my friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew" James put in quickly. Rachel and Ashley looked to the sandy brown haired sixteen year old boy and gasped.
"Dad?" Ashley whispered, disbelieving. Remus raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Excuse me, but … who are you three?" Sirius demanded.
"Something tells me that that piece of parchment wasn't a good thing!" Draco muttered.
"Who are your parents? Maybe we can take you to the Headmaster and he can contact them"
"Um … our parents … well our dad is standing right in front of us" Ashley stated.
"Really?" Sirius questioned sarcastically.
"Well, tell us who they are anyway"
Rachel cleared her throat nervously and whispered.
"Remus and Ginny Lupin" James' eyes widened.
"Ginny?" he whispered in amazement, before turning to see an unconscious Remus on the floor.
