Chapter 2: It was the Summer of '69, Those were the Best Days of Our Lives

Several days later, Hedwig returned with a letter from the Weasleys. Harry had written to Ron, Hermione, and Neville to let them know he was back in England. Ron had been asking his parents to let Harry come over since summer began, so now that he was back, arrangements were made.

Curiously, he had received a letter from Remus, apologising for being unavailable over the summer, but suggesting that the two may meet rather soon. It left Harry scratching his head, but he and Sirius were too busy cleaning, and he soon forgot about it.

With about a week left before term started up again, Harry would be staying over with the Weasleys. Hermione had asked her parents to come, but they had turned her down. Neither of them had gone to boarding school, and hadn't ever considered sending her until she turned out to be magical. Harry had grinned at the letter, it seemed her parents were missing her through the school year. It probably didn't help that she would have been sleeping under the same roof as the weird boy who had given her all the books for Christmas.

He was flung out of the fireplace into a pile of throw-pillows.

"How thoughtful!" Harry mumbled around his knee, towards the ceiling.

"Oh dear! I thought Ron and the twins were being silly with those, but you really don't floo well, do you? Are you alright dear?"

"Fine, thanks, the pillows helped loads."

"You're finally here!" Ron helped him up, while the twins threw the pillows back on the couch. "Took your time, didn't you?"

"I was meeting my godfather, and anyway, I didn't want to overstay my welcome."

"Bill and Charlie brought friends over for summer break all the time, didn't they mum?" a twin asked.

"Very true, Harry, don't worry about that," Mrs. Weasley said smiling. "Are you hungry?"

"I ate lunch before coming, but thank you."

"Of course. Arthur is at work, you'll get to meet him properly before dinner. Ginny is with her friend Luna down the village, and Percy is probably in his room."

Harry nodded, they had all met briefly on the Hogwarts Express platform, but it had been two or three minutes at most. "Great, and thanks again for letting me stay over."

"Not a problem at all, Harry dear."

"Come on, let's get on the brooms. Also, I've got your birthday present for you. How was I supposed to get it to you in America? Owls can't do that!"

Harry chuckled, and let Ron lead him away.

•••••••••••••

As much fun as it had been seeing sights with Sirius, staying with Ron and his family brought back so many good memories, as well as making plenty of new ones.

"Well, go on. Open it up."

"All right, all right, I'm opening it." Clearly Ron was annoyed about Christmas still, and had come up with a birthday gift.

Harry opened the box and pulled out a stack of magazines. They had moving covers, like practically all wizarding entertainment media.

"I thought you might not have had time to try these," Ron explained.

Harry nodded, looking at the covers. "Oh! You were right. Let's see, Adventures of Merlin, It Came from Tir na Nog, Tales of Mystery, When Sidhe Attack!... these are brilliant!"

"I suppose muggles have something similar, but they don't move. Some are serials, that one there is a one-off." He pointed to Beedle the Bard's Tales.

"Thanks, I hadn't ever gotten into this stuff before." He gave Ron a hug.

"Thank goodness, it took me forever to think up this. Now, I should give you a tour."

Harry smiled, "Please."

"Great!" So we're in my room, obviously-" Ron began showing Harry around. After about ten minutes they ended up under the attic entrance. " ... and if you hear some odd sounds from up here, especially at night, it's just… you already know all this." Ron looked hurt as the thought dawned on him.

Harry looked around quickly before glaring at his friend. "Only because you've described it so well at school."

Ron blinked, then nodded. "Right. Well, that's the tour. Um, it's not much, but it's ours."

"It's brilliant, Ron. Want to go flying?"

Ron grinned and nodded, before the two raced down stairs.

•••••••••••••

The two slowly soared through the air. Slowly, as the Weasley brooms were all old, mostly bought second hand. A stiff breeze could nearly double your speed, or almost halt it, depending.

"Mum says it's so we stay safe, and don't try to run off and join a circus. Probably more to do with not affording anything better," Ron said, slightly glum.

Harry sighed. "Mate, we need to have a talk about money, and babies."

Ron gave him a look. "What are you on about?"

"You're parents aren't poor."

Ron looked at the broom between his legs, then pointed to a bit if his shirt that was off color. "Harry, I have a patch in my shirt. A patch. This shirt is older than I am. It's gone through so many brothers my mum had to add more fabric because the repair spell was starting to fail."

"And it is precisely because of your numerous siblings your family appears poor. Look around you. Your parents own this land. Is it an estate? No. Is there a mortgage? No. Your father is a department head in the ministry. One of the smaller, less prestigious departments, perhaps, but it gets paid nearly the same. And on that salary, he has raised seven children. Your parents aren't poor, they have different priorities."

"Different priorities? The two aren't… um, mutually exclusive? We are poor. Just because there are good reasons doesn't make it go away."

Harry sighed. Ron wasn't wrong, per say, but he still didn't get it. "That's fair, Ron, but I… I guess what I'm trying to say is, would you trade in Ginny for robes and a broom?"

"Of course not. Percy on the other hand… No, I get what you're trying to say, but it doesn't stop me from wishing we had more. Didn't your parents leave you a pile?"

"A fair bit, yes. Wasn't very useful, ultimately. Hah, you and I spent three days in a cave, living on rats once."

"How did that happen?"

"We were looking for clues to… well, it doesn't matter anymore. Needless to say things didn't go as planned. We got our wands back, and made it home alive though. I hope I never have to taste rat again. At least we were able to grill them."

Ron made a face. "If you were trying to convince me that things could be worse, you succeeded. Things could still be better though."

"You may have just described life in a nutshell."

•••••••••••••

Several days later, Ginny was still skittish around Harry. As was to be expected, he thought. They had seen each other for maybe 90 seconds while he boarded the train, and probably 5 minutes at the beginning of summer at the station again when Ron introduced Harry to Molly and Arthur. Harry tried to put her at ease, but didn't go too far out of his way to do so. It would have looked odd. Harry mostly spent time flying with Ron and the twins, and helped do the unlimited chores that piled up over the school year until the Weasley brood returned home. They also practiced occlumency together, the twins immediately latching onto the practicality of such a skill for pranking.

This basic pattern continued until the third day, when he caught someone following Ginny down the path as he went out for another flying session. Ron followed his gaze, "Oh, that's Luna Lovegood… but I guess you know that already."

"Loose lips Ron," Harry automatically said for the hundredth time. Ron was pretty good about it, but got careless when he thought they were alone. Not that Harry hadn't made the occasional slip, but he at least tried. Harry changed direction and wandered towards the girls, the twins going ahead to the pitch. Ron looked after his brothers, but followed Harry reluctantly.

As he approached, it seemed Luna gained a determined expression, and she seemed to angle towards him as well. "Maybe Ginny has been talking about me?"

"Hey Ginny! Hello, I'm Harry, are you a friend of Ginny's?"

Luna frowned. "I do hope you're playing at opsic Harry. I'm not cut out to be a resistance leader."

Harry froze. "... OpSec?" He asked, not sure if he what he suspected was a good thing or not. Or how it was even possible.

Ginny winced. "Sorry Harry, Luna's um… This is Luna Lovegood, a friend of mine from Ottery St Catchpole."

Both Harry and Luna looked ill. Luna started mumbling. "Gordon Bennett, I'm going to have to teach him everything. The ritual should have worked. I mean, saving Mum was worth it, but..."

"You remember?"

"... Oh, good. I won't have to save the world myself. That's a relief."

Ginny looked back and forth, completely confused, with Ron not far behind. Harry's mouth was open slightly, and he kept blinking. "Oh. Happy to help, Luna."

Ron watched as his friend, and self-proclaimed destined one, fainted flat on his face.

••••••••••••••

Harry came to, laying in grass. Something wasn't right; he couldn't remember what he had been doing. There weren't any of the noises associated with battle, so he decided to keep his eyes closed for the moment.

"No, that was good thinking Ron, Mum would've gone pear shaped and sent him to St. Mungo's or something," said a voice. Harry realized it was one of the twins.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" demanded Ginny.

Harry risked a peek. Everyone was standing around his body in a circle, and they seemed to be on the Weasley's quidditch pitch. Well, extended backyard really. Only Luna seemed to be looking at him, the male Weasley's were looking at Ginny, who was busy glaring back at them.

Harry slapped his hand onto Ginny's foot and cast a stunner. It wasn't easy, but he could manage a silent, wandless stunner, especially if he was in direct contact. Ginny dropped like a sack, and Harry groaned and sat up.

There was a pause as events caught up to everyone, then one of the twins spoke. "Harry, you'd better have a very good reason for doing whatever you just did to our little sister, or else all the hyphens in the world aren't going to save you from getting the shit kicked out of the-boy-who-lived-t0-the-age-of-twelve."

"I'm calling an immediate emergency meeting of the Ashes of the Phoenix."

The twins shared a puzzled glance. "Oh… that's kind of important, I guess? What did you do to her anyway?" the other twin asked.

"Yay, meeting time. Should I get the secret meeting hats?" Luna asked.

"Not now Luna. I just did a stunner. She'll be fine."

"You can do a stunner wandless? And why didn't you do it to Luna?"

Ron leaned over and arranged his sister so she was lying more comfortable. Or so he hoped. He turned back to Harry frowning. Knowing Harry's propensity to grandstand, he wasn't quite sure that his friend didn't still require a few kicks.

Harry waved his hand back and forth. "It's not that hard. People just don't apply themselves. And it's Captain Luna to you three, she's apparently senior to everyone in this timeline, right?" He directed this last to Luna, who had a faint smile.

"Only if we go by membership time Harry. I don't think I'd do well giving orders."

Harry shrugged. "Nope. Ashes of the Phoenix are a secret subsidiary of the Order of the Phoenix, me at the top, now you, then these two knuckleheads due to their age and the fact that I didn't use proper OpSec around them," He paused after the pronunciation and gave a meaningful look at Luna, "then Hermione and Ron at the bottom until they're a bit older. That's everybody so far, and I trust that any orders you think are important enough to give are pretty smart ones to follow."

"Thanks Harry, but… I'm not quite as sane as I used to be."

Everyone blinked. "This would explain a lot, actually." Ron said.

Harry cleared his throat, "You're not as sane as you were last time? Actually, how did you… When I came back, that timeline should have collapsed."

"It did. Turns out the reason I've always been odd is that my timeline is anchored."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Explain it like I was Ron."

"Oy!"

"I always know when time's been messed with. It was just on an instinctual level before, but I had known something was up with Hermione your third year. Turns out that Crumple-horned Snorkacks used to roam all over England, until a witch tried destroying an artifact in Krakatoa. Last time, I could sometimes catch them in the corner of my eye, or if I was near those long muggle light bulbs. Anyway, since you pimp-slapped the time-space fabric with the ritual and sent yourself back, I've been much more sensitive. You ripped such a large hole in reality, that it sort of poked me in the third eye, metaphorically." Luna smiled all the way through the explanation, looking at a spot about two inches left of Harry's face, and Harry realised that all of the oddness he remembered as being quintessential to Luna was pronounced even more so now.

"But it was definitely worth it though! I saved my mother, and you can stop Riddle, and if I look 10 degrees off of reality, I can see Crumple-horned Snorkacks now! Oh, and you can relax about Wrackspurts, they're too far out of synch with our reality to bother us unless we summon one! Sorry, I didn't know last time."

Harry sighed, and rubbed his face. "Did we accidently give you the power to see Cthulian nightmares and angles not known to man?"

"Snorkacks are cute," Luna shrugged. "Wrackspurts… well, they don't have tentacles, but…" she frowned for the first time and her voice dropped to a whisper, "well, they're not as ugly as daemons."

Harry shuddered. "Well, I'm glad you were able to save your mother. I can't believe we didn't think to do something about that. You should have mentioned it during planning."

Luna shrugged again. Harry wondered if it was just this conversation, or if she had developed a tic. "You had a lot on your plate, we were hoping you'd have half the war won by now… As callous as it sounds, I had been at peace with my mother's death for over a decade, it wasn't the same priority as saving the world. Speaking of, how's that coming along?"

Harry groaned. "You weren't the only one to come out of this with fewer marbles. Turns out stuffing my adult thoughts into my kid brain broke it for a few years, and it still won't work at full capacity for a few more years. Also, running a hopeless war during my formative years may have scrambled me a bit even before I came back. Honestly, I didn't do much until a few months before last school year."

Luna nodded. "Oh dear. So are things back on track?"

"Kinda? Ish? No, not really. I did bring in Dumbledore and Snape."

"You brought in Snape?"

"Where one goes, the other follows. What would you have me do, kill him?"

"Yes? ... Maybe."

"Well, I asked, but Albus vetoed it."

"Since when have you started asking permission for hits?"

"Since my mind was minced and squeezed through time into my tiny brain like a leek and pork sausage. I can't fully trust myself. We need to face facts. The plan is completely broken. We're going to have to deal with his lucky charms. At least we have foreknowledge."

"Ugh. We still don't know where they all are though!"

Harry shrugged. "I have ideas. If we get the one this year, we could do a contamination and contagion ritual to find the others. Perhaps."

Luna looked thoughtful, "Oh, that is intriguing." She paused. "Perhaps sounds about right. He would have taken precautions."

Harry nodded. "Of course. This was never going to be easy."

"Uh, guys? What the bloody hell are you going on about?" Ron asked.

Luna smiled. "We're doomed, Ronald!"

"Don't panic," Harry smiled back.

"It's so great to be back, isn't it Harry?" She jumped forward and hugged Harry when he caught her. He spun her around once before letting her back down to her feet.

"I guess. It means a lot of work though."

"As if it was a walk in the park back when we left things."

"You've got me there."

The two broke their embrace.

"So what do we do with our sister?" George asked.

"Um…" Harry started.

"Wake her up Harry, I've got this one," Luna said.

Harry shrugged, before pulling out his wand. "Ennervate."

Ginny took a deep breath and quickly sat up. "Wha-?"

"Oh good, you're awake too," Luna quickly began.

"I- oh, Harry's up? What happened?"

"Thukkles. They can cause fainting fits."

Ginny looked at her friend. "Thukkles? You've never mentioned them before."

"I apologise, I thought everyone knew? It's pretty easy to keep them away though, since they don't like pumpkins."

Harry gasped. "Is that why we drink pumpkin juice constantly at school?"

"Of course."

"Well that makes sense. I had milk for breakfast."

Ginny watched the two, unsure of what to make of this development. "I- I guess I had porridge and water," she finally admitted.

"I had pumpkin juice, didn't you?" Fred asked George.

"Only one glass. Is that enough?"

"Oh yes, George. Ron, did you have any?"

Ron looked slightly confused, as if he knew something was wrong, but couldn't put his finger on it. "Uh, not today? Dinner though."

"Oh dear. Since there's one about, maybe we should all go get the three of you a cup."

"It's already attacked us," Harry pointed out, "Will it strike again?"

"True. Ronald, run along and get some pumpkin juice. You don't want to fall unconscious on the broom, do you?"

Ron blinked, and scowled a moment as it all clicked for him. "... I? No?" He slumped dejectedly before sighing and walking back to the Burrow. "Wankers," he murmured.

"How long was I out?"

"You woke up right after I did," Harry answered.

George smiled, "Just a few minutes, Gin."

"Do we have enough brooms for us all?" Luna asked.

"Someone will have to use the old Shooting Star."

Ginny winced. "Ugh. I guess since Ron's not here he's stuck with it."

Harry snickered. One day Ron would wise up. "Sounds like a plan."