The next two weeks went by slowly. They went to several pure-blood gatherings where they were trying to wed them off to one of their kin. Bumping into Agatha at some of their outings, Hermione tried to stay away from her since she found out she could have had a hand in the murder of Mrs. Diaz. But the older witch always seemed to find her. Every night they got home George did his nightly routine on their potion. It was now the Wednesday before they would meet Mason and George was relieved, he could start phase two of Felix. George sat in front of the cauldron while Hermione was crossing names and places of the map they got. They visited several counties nearby as well as the North Brother Island but no luck. If it doesn't work out with Mason they would travel south searching for the others on the list.
Hermione sighed as she pushed away the map. She looked over at George who was focused on the cauldron in front of him. She bounced off the bed and took her place on the desk next to George. She grabbed parchment and a quill, she thought about the sentiment for using that instead of pen and paper and started writing. She was on her second page when George spoke.
"Mione? What are you writing?"
"Oh. Mason gave me the idea." She put her quill down and turned to George. "There were love letters in that room full of old artifacts. And Mason explained to me how pure writing a letter like that was. So, I thought I'd write one to Fred but that's not the only thing I want to write. I would love to write down what we did in the time we lost him. Not per se for Fred to read but for us, to processes everything, you know? And if Fred wants to read them, later he can..."
"I think that's a great idea." George stood up and walked to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Give me some paper." He pointed at the stack of parchment. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "What? It may not be a love letter but I want to write to him too and I want to write down what happened and what it did to me. Maybe it would help with the nightmares. Like you said we need to process everything. Even if it works, we'll still have the memories, they won't go away like that." He snapped his fingers.
"Here you go." She smiled as she handed him a quill and parchment. "But don't start joking about us sleeping together."
"What!? Mione that was my first line." George whined. Hermione chuckled as she shook her head, bringing her attention back to her letter while George hopped on the bed and furiously started scribbling down.
They wrote several letters until late at night. The ones that included their plan and what happened to Fred they placed in special envelopes they had enchanted so no one could read them. Just before they went to sleep, they had two piles on the desk. Hermione had eight letters stacked as she bounded them together with unbreakable string. She handed a piece of string over to George who bounded his ten letters tightly together. When they crawled into bed, they both felt a little lighter and dreamed of better times.
It was the night Hermione and George would meet up with Mason, Hermione took a deep breath as she thought of the address and apparated into the wards. She opened her eyes as they landed. She stood in front of a large white wooden mansion with a porch that went all around the house, large windows that could let in all-natural light. The house stood on a very large piece of land. The edge of the property was full with beautiful dog wood trees in different colors. In the front garden stood a 5-meter-high Rhododendron tree in full bloom.
"How is it still in bloom?" Hermione whispered as she glanced at George who was looking around the property. He shrugged as he looked from the tree to her.
"Probably with a little help from.." And he waved his wand at her smiling. "Why are we whispering?"
"I don't know." She chuckled softly as she glanced around once more. "It's just so quiet here. Feels like we are intruding."
"But you're not." A deep voice came from behind them. George and Hermione quickly turned at the sound of the voice. Mason stood there in front of them carrying a small suitcase and smiled broadly at them. "I'm sorry I'm late. Didn't you ring the bell? Marnic would have let you wait inside."
"No..I – Euhm. We were just taking it all in. You have a beautiful home, Mason."
"Thank you. It's been in the family for decades. Let's get in and I'll give you two a quick tour." He smiled as he gestured them onto the porch.
"Mason, who's Marnic?" George asked as Mason opened the door. At that moment an old house elf popped up.
"Mister Diaz." The elf bowed. "I'm happy you are home. Let me get this upstairs." The elf snapped his fingers together and the suitcase flew slowly up the stairs.
"Good evening Marnic. Did everything go alright when I was away?" He smiled down at the elf.
"All good sir."
"Splendid. Marnic." He looked at the elf before gesturing to Hermione and George. "These are the Lovegoods, Hermione and George. I told you they would be visiting."
"Yes sir. I already made some tea and biscuits. I placed them in the library." Marnic looked to George and Hermione and bowed deep. "Nice to meet you Mister and Misses Lovegood."
"Nice to meet you too Marnic." They said in unison. Mason chuckled at that and Marnic disappeared with a crack.
"So that was Marnic. He has been our house elf for about thirty years now. He's getting a bit old but he still wants to work. I told him he could retire but he doesn't want to. He was very fond of my mother." Mason looked at the spot where the elf disappeared and shook his head. "Now the tour."
He gave them a small tour of the downstairs, showing them the large open kitchen, a ball room and living area before heading into the library.
"So..-" Mason started as he sat down and poured them a cup of tea. "What did you want to talk about?"
Hermione twirled nervously with the turner as she looked at George. George nodded and looked at the man in front of him. "We haven't been completely honest. We are here to search for something but it isn't long-lost family member. We are here looking for a time turner. Specifically, the one your aunt has."
Mason furrowed his eyebrow. "The time turner? The black and silver one? Why?"
Well.-" Hermione started. "We aren't actually brother and sister. You remember I told you I lost someone special to me in the war?" Hermione looked up at Mason, who was just staring back at her. "That was George's brother, his twin. Fred" She took in a deep breath and continued. "Neither George or I can live without him and I vowed I would do anything in my power to bring him back. All the time turners were destroyed in England so we couldn't use it to save him. By the time I found this we couldn't go back in time. But someone told us there were other turners, like the black and silver one that could go back further in time but they were very rare and hard to come by. She suggested we start here, in America."
Mason looked from Hermione to George and back, leaning back in his chair, processing everything they just told him. He was just about to say something before George spoke up again.
"But there is something you need to know." George leaned forward over the table looking in Mason's eyes. "Your aunt lied."
"Lied? Lied about what?" Mason sat back up with wide eyes.
"Mason." Hermione turned his attention to her. "The turner isn't just for lovers. Anyone can use it. You could go back to save your mother."
"What?" Mason whispered.
"Yes, what your aunt told you was a lie. I don't know why she would tell you something like that but you can use it."
"Why are you telling me this? Why didn't you just grab the time turner and go save Fred?" He frowned at the both of them.
"Because we couldn't do that. You have every right to have your mom back. We still have time to find another one. You only have a couple of months before your time is up to go back."
Mason opened his mouth and closed it again. He did that a couple of times until he found the words.
"You would throw away your chances to save your twin? Your love? For me, for my mom? You don't even know me or her."
"We know you aren't like the others, what happened to your mother was horrible and we wanted to give you a chance to make it right."
"I-I need a minute." Mason stood up abruptly and stalked out of the room. The sound of his feet going up the stairs echoed in the large house.
Hermione looked worried to George. He reached over and squeezed her hand gently. "Give him a chance to sort it all out. It's a lot of information in such a short time."
"Yeah." Hermione said absently as her gaze fell on the empty doorway.
Half an hour later Mason decedened the stairs and walked to the back of the library holding an envelope in his hands. He handed it over to Hermione without saying anything and dropped back in his chair. Hermione raised an eyebrow at the man in front of her.
"Mason?" She asked quietly.
"I-" His voice was hoarse; he cleared his throat before speaking again. "I found this letter about a year ago. I mean Marnic found it behind my dresser while cleaning. It probably fell back there with the wind or something. It's a letter, a letter from my mom. I think she wrote it a couple of days, maybe weeks before she passed. But at the time I was road tripping around South America with some of my friends. By the time I got back the letter was already gone." He sighed as he looked down at the pendant on his neck.
"My mum was dying. A couple of years before she died, she had been hit in the chest by an unknown curse. She never told me and over the years the curse ran through her body. She looked everywhere for a cure but couldn't find anything. Her heart was getting weaker by the day and she wouldn't have lasted long."
"I'm so sorry Mason." Hermione said quietly and reached out and held his hand.
"Marnic knew but my mother made him a promise not to tell anyone, he was the one who helped her when she was weak or sick. He got her to the healer appointments and such. So even if I do get back and save my mum and would only be for a couple of weeks."
The room went quiet as Hermione gently held his hand. Mason was twirling with his pendant and after ten minutes he finally looked up.
"I know I can't save my mom." He looked between George and Hermione. "But I will help you get Fred back."
"What?!" Hermione and George said in unison.
"Not that we aren't grateful but why would you help us-"
"You don't even know us." George continued.
"Something good has to come from it. I can't save my mum and if my family will use it.. I doubt it will be for something good."
"Mason.. are you sure?" Hermione asked carefully.
"100%!" He beamed at the both of them, still twirling the necklace in his hands. "So how do we start?"
George and Hermione looked wide-eyed at each other before looking back to Mason.
