Ginny Weasley gave the guard her ticket and stepped on the Hogwarts Express. As she walked down the train to look for the compartment where she and Luna had left their things, she thought about the odd encounter she'd just had on Platform 9 3/4. A cute little girl with red hair of a slightly different shade than the standard Weasley red had hugged Ginny tightly, as if she was afraid of being taken away or never seeing her again, and had called her "Mummy." It was very strange; she'd never seen this girl before, although she could see the resemblance to pictures of her younger self, so she could sort of understand how the girl might have mixed her up with her mother. But really, she looked a little old for that sort of thing.
And then there was the other girl, who looked like she had cast a spell at Mum. What was that all about? Ginny would have said something, but her mum didn't look too annoyed or angry, so she had let it go in favor of having the time to say goodbye properly. She'd have to ask if her mum ever found out more about the strange girls in her first letter home.
When Ginny found the compartment where she and Luna had left their things, she was unsurprised to see Neville sitting with Luna, but she was surprised to see what looked like a first year girl and one a few years older, neither of whom Ginny recognized. They were deep in conversation with Neville, and Luna was listening intently. They all stopped talking suddenly as they heard the door open, but as Neville looked up and saw it was Ginny, he relaxed. "You'd better come in and shut the door behind you. Lucy and Rose here have been telling us a pretty unbelievable story."
…
Neville Longbottom sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, talking with Luna Lovegood about how they had been harassed by the Ministry-appointed (Voldemort-appointed) "security guards." The door to the hallway opened, and they looked up, expecting to see Ginny, but instead it was two small brown-haired girls, each of whom seemed to be trying to hide behind the other as they peeked around the door. When they saw who was in the compartment, the younger of the girls lost her shyness and bounded inside, a smile on her face.
"Oh good, we found you. Mummy told us that if we had trouble at Hogwarts, we should look for you."
"Me? Your mummy told you to look for Neville Longbottom if you had trouble?" Neville was dumbfounded as both girls nodded vigorously. "I'm not even a prefect!"
"No, you're better than a prefect!"
"Rose," the older girl said warningly.
"They did a Leg-Locker Curse on Al, but Teddy's there so he'll be alright, but they took Fred!" Her voice reached a high note with the last word.
"They took Fred? The men in dark cloaks who were checking our tickets?" They nodded, looking stricken. Neville sighed. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do."
"Is Fred your brother?" Luna asked.
"No, he's our cousin." Neville realized with relief that that meant that even if Fred was taken for being Muggleborn, there was still a chance these girls weren't.
"Are Fred's parents magical or Muggles? And what about your parents?" Neville asked.
"All of our parents are witches and wizards, but blood purity doesn't matter," Rose said, taking on a lecturing tone that reminded Neville of Hermione when she went off on one of her rants about house elves.
"Of course it doesn't," Luna said. "We just want to find out why Fred was taken. Why did they take Fred if he's not Muggleborn?"
"He said You-Know-Who's name," the older girl finally spoke. She glanced around anxiously before continuing. "The Ministry put a Taboo on the word since it's mostly just members of the Order of the Phoenix who weren't…who aren't afraid to say it. When Fred said the name, a bunch of Death Eaters Apparated onto the platform, and when he couldn't explain who he was or who his parents were, they took him."
"Why couldn't he explain who his parents were?" The two girls looked nervous, and Rose leaned into the older girl's ear. She whispered, but with nobody else talking in the compartment, Neville could hear her ask,
"Should we tell them?" The older girl whispered back,
"Maybe we should ask Molly or Victoire first."
"Who are Molly and Victoire?" Luna asked sweetly. The two girls jumped a little, surprised at being overheard. "And who are you? You look much too grown-up to be a first year, but I've never met you before," Luna addressed the older girl.
"Uhh…well…uhh…"
"Lucy, let's just tell them! We know we can trust them!" Rose said, exasperated.
"If you're sure…"
"We're from the future," Rose said. "Or, well, not really. It's more like an alternate universe that's farther along chronologically than this one but otherwise the same, since you can't change the past with time travel but we've done enough here that the future is probably different now."
"Oh, marvelous," Luna said. "Who are your parents? Wait, don't tell me." And she stared intently at Rose until she started to fidget uncomfortably.
"You don't actually believe this, do you?" Neville said. Wait, what am I saying? It's Luna. Of course she believes it.
"Of course! It makes perfect sense. That's why I've never seen them before and why Rose looks like a combination of Ron and Hermione."
"What?"
"You figured it out!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you."
"It's okay," the Lucy said quietly. "I don't think you've met my mum."
"So I have met your Dad?"
"I think so, but I'm not sure." The door opened and they all stopped talking. When Neville looked up and saw that it was Ginny, he relaxed and invited her in.
…
"You'd better come in and shut the door behind you. Lucy and Rose here have been telling us a pretty unbelievable story." Ginny nodded, stepped inside the compartment, which was starting to get a little crowded at this point, and shut the door.
"Something weird happened on the platform. A little girl I've never seen before ran up to me and hugged me, and I could swear I heard her call me 'Mummy,' but that doesn't make any sense."
"What else would your daughter call you?" Luna asked. Ginny sputtered,
"What? I don't have…I couldn't…I'm too young."
Rose spoke up. "Aunt Ginny, we were just telling Neville and Luna, we're from the future."
"What? But how? That's ridiculous! I've heard of time-turners, but I didn't think they could go back that far!"
"Why are you asking me? I'm just eleven; you're the grown-up." Ginny just stared in disbelief.
"Why are you here?" Everyone turned to look at Neville, who had just spoken. "Did something bad happen in the war that you wanted to change? But why would a bunch of kids come back instead of, of Harry or Hermione or something?"
"We didn't come here on purpose! We just walked through the wall to get to Platform 9 3/4 and ended up here! And now we're in the war, and Fred got taken away by Death Eaters, and how are we even going to explain who we are or why we're on the train?" Lucy couldn't seem to stop talking now that she was starting to panic. Ginny awkwardly tried to comfort her with a hug, which she melted into, and Rose hugged Ginny from the other side.
"Shh, don't worry, we'll figure something out. It'll be okay," Ginny said, as she thought, Am I going to spend the entire day hugging little future girls? Then she thought of something and started to panic a bit herself. "That girl on the platform didn't look old enough for Hogwarts. Did I just leave my daughter all alone?"
"Don't worry, Aunt Ginny. Lily and Hugo are with Teddy. He's training to be an Auror, he'll take care of them," Rose reassured her.
"That's good, I guess," Ginny said. "Who is Hugo? Do I have a son too?" Rose started to answer, but the door opened again.
"There you are! Oh, and you've found," the stunningly beautiful blonde girl at the door seemed to think better of what she was about to say and switched to a different topic. "Where is Dominique?"
"She went the other way to look for an empty compartment or people we knew, since she knew we wouldn't all fit in one. And it's okay, we've told them we're from, well, you know," Rose said.
"She means you're all Weasleys from the future," Luna clarified brightly, while Ginny groaned internally. Wasn't that supposed to be a secret? "Although I suppose Ginny's children probably have a different last name," she trailed off, then brightened again. "You must be Bill and Fleur's daughter. Their wedding was delightful! At least until the Ministry fell." Victoire looked to be in shock for a second before she pulled herself together.
"How…?" She turned to the crowd of students walking behind her. "You'd better go the other way and look for Dominique. Molly's in charge. Stay safe, and don't make a scene. I'll explain our cover and come find you." Then, she stepped inside the compartment, closed the door, and cast the Muffliato Charm on it. The compartment was quite full at this point, but Lucy and Rose seemed happy to remain cuddled up with Ginny for the moment, so they weren't as pressed for space as they could have been. "I guess we should start with introductions. I'm Victoire Weasley, although for the time being I'm going by Delacour. As Luna said, my parents are Bill and Fleur. Girls, have you introduced yourself properly yet?
"I'm Rose Weasley, and like Luna said, my parents are Ron and Hermione."
"I'm Lucy Weasley, and my parents are Percy and Audrey."
"Percy?" Ginny hissed.
"That's enough!" Victoire said sternly. "Uncle Percy had a change of heart before the war was over, and there's no need to act like Lucy's father is terrible." Ginny felt terrible and hugged Lucy to herself more tightly.
"I'm sorry Lucy, I just haven't talked to Percy for a couple years, but I shouldn't take it out on you."
"You mentioned a cover story?" Neville questioned.
"Yes. You two are going to stay Weasleys, but you're sisters along with Molly. We're going to say you're from an obscure branch of the Weasley family and you used to be homeschooled, but you had to come to Hogwarts this year because it's mandatory for the first time."
"How are you going to explain why you missed the attendance interview?"
"What?"
Ginny explained, "We all had to go to the Ministry and provide proof of our blood status, but you won't have that since you're not supposed to exist yet." Victoire swore.
"We'll have to say Rose, Lucy, and Molly's family was really isolated and that's why they weren't on any of the lists, and hopefully we'll be able to get some extra time to come up with documents. And maybe Teddy can forge some documents somehow. Dominique, Louis, and I are going to say we're Delacours who just moved here from France, so I'll have to make sure Teddy talks to them and hopefully they can come up with something. James and Albus are going to be Teddy's brothers, but I'm not sure how they're going to get away with claiming to be Lupins…oh, this is all pointless anyway. I need to talk to Teddy." She started to search through her luggage.
"Lupin? So is Teddy the baby Tonks is pregnant with? That's so weird!" Ginny said.
"Yeah, that's him."
"I can lend you Pigwidgeon if you want to send him a letter," Ginny offered. "He's really Ron's owl, but since Ron is home with spattergroit I've got him."
Rose looked horrified. "Dad's sick?"
"He seemed fine at the wedding," said Luna. "It must have been very sudden."
"No, it's just a ruse to explain why he's not coming to school this year. But publically he's at home, and very ill, or we'll all get in trouble."
"Speaking of getting in trouble, we all musn't say "Dad" or "Mum" or "Aunt" or "Uncle," anymore. It's "Ron" or "Ginny" or "Harry," okay? Aha, there it is! Thank you for the offer, Ginny, but I have a faster way." She pulled a small handheld mirror out from beneath a pile of clothes and said, "Teddy," then held the mirror up so everyone could see. Seconds later a young man with had messy black hair like Harry's appeared in the mirror.
"Hi, Victoire. I took the kids to Drakeshaugh, which is deserted, of course. I'm going to go find Mike Charlton, the neighbor, remember, and see if he'll watch them for a bit." Ginny moved a closer to the mirror. "Oh, you're not alone."
"Ginny, Neville, Luna, Lucy, and Rose are in the compartment with me. We told them we're from the future and the plans for our fake names, but Ginny said that everyone had to go to some meeting at the Ministry over the summer and show proof of blood status. What are we going to do?"
Teddy swore. "This makes things a lot more complicated. I was going to go explain the situation to Severus Snape as soon as I found some place safe for the kids to stay, make sure he accepted our excuses for why all of us are just showing up to Hogwarts this year, but…" He had to stop talking as Ginny's and Neville's outraged voices drowned him out.
"What!? You want to talk to Snape?" Neville said, emphasizing the name like it was a curse word.
"What!? Don't tell me you're from some alternate universe where Snape isn't a Death Eater! Do you know what he did? Please tell me you know what he did at the end of last year. Or did nobody ever tell you?"
"I know what Severus Snape did," Teddy said. "But…it's complicated. He was actually acting on Dumbledore's orders, and there was some sort of wandlore I can never remember, but the point is Harry says he was a good man. He even named his son after him, Albus Severus Potter."
"He what?" Ginny screeched. Lucy and Rose edged away from her and toward Victoire.
"I told you, Harry trusts him, so I'm going to go talk to him. Unless you have any ideas for how we're going to hoodwink the Headmaster of Hogwarts as well as the entire Ministry of Magic?"
Ginny sighed deeply. "No, I can't think of anything. You'll all just have to make sure you're prepared to run if he doesn't help."
"But you have to talk to him before we get to Hogwarts or they won't let us in. How could we get off the train?" Victoire said.
"I don't know, why don't you try to think of something? I've got a lot to do," Teddy snapped.
"Don't talk to me like that! You're supposed to be the adult here!"
"Yes, that's why I'm out in the real world handling adult problems. You're the prefect, you figure out what to do with the students!"
"HEY! Let's all just calm down!" Ginny shrieked. Both Victoire and Teddy's face in the mirror looked chastened. "We're all stressed, but we all need to be the responsible ones. Teddy, you're right, you have stuff to do, so the rest of us will figure something out while you do it. But is there anything else we need to talk about first?"
"Should Molly still be in Ravenclaw?" Lucy asked. "Or should we all stick together in Gryffindor?"
"She won't be alone," Luna said. "I'm in Ravenclaw."
"It might be a good idea for not all of us to be in Gryffindor," Victoire said. She counted on her fingers and said, "It would probably look a bit weird for six new students to show up, and not a single one not in Gryffindor."
"I don't suppose any of you have any ideas for how to forge documents? What documents do we even need?"
"They just checked my birth certificate, but I think it was easier for me than normal because I'm part of a 'well-known pureblood family,'" Ginny explained. "You'll probably have a harder time of it since your families don't actually exist yet, but I don't know what other documents you'd need. Maybe just a really convincing birth certificate will work."
"If only I knew where to get one of those." Teddy sighed and covered his face with his hand momentarily.
"Didn't Uncle George…sorry, I mean, didn't George's friend Dennis's brother Colin forge a lot of documents for Muggleborns during the war?" Rose said.
"Maybe? I think you might be right," Victoire said.
"George's friend Dennis? Creevey?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, Dennis Creevey," Rose confirmed.
"George and Dennis Creevey aren't friends. I don't know if they've even talked to each other," Ginny said, bewildered.
"Oh. Do you have any idea how to find him?" Teddy asked. "He's Muggleborn, right? So he wouldn't be on the train?"
"Yeah, Colin's Muggleborn," Ginny confirmed. "It still might be worth it to talk to Fred and George. They mentioned something to me about helping to relocate Muggleborns, so they might know where he is."
"Okay, I'll stop in at their shop. It's always been on Diagon Alley, right?"
"Yeah. Be careful, we think the whole family is being watched."
"I will. Don't worry, Stealth is my best course in Auror training. And speaking of Fred, our Fred, the one who came back in time with us, was taken away by the Death Eaters guarding the platform. Do you think they took him to the Ministry where you head your interview?"
"Yes, with no proof he wasn't a Muggleborn, they probably took him to that Muggleborn Registration Commission they've set up. We don't know exactly what's happening to the people they've been processing, but it can't be good," Ginny said.
"Great, so I'll have to break Freddie out of the Ministry when I'm done falsifying documents for the rest of you. This is going to be a long night."
"You can't just break into the Ministry!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I'll talk to the Order first, get some backup and make a plan. Harry and you have practically beaten into me not to be as impulsive and reckless as he was." The compartment fell silent for a few seconds as everyone thought. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'd better start looking for Mike."
"Hogsmeade," Luna said.
"What?"
"You should talk to Professor Snape when the train has almost arrived to Hogsmeade. That way if it goes badly, everyone can escape. It will be much easier in Hogsmeade than on the train."
"The timing on that could be difficult," Victoire said. "We can ask around. Maybe someone has gotten impatient enough with waiting for the train to arrive to look up a spell that tells how long we have left until we get there."
Teddy looked skeptical. "Even so, I don't know exactly how long it will take to walk onto the grounds, find Professor Snape, and convince him to help out."
"It's worth a try at least," Victoire argued. "Just call me back before you walk into Hogwarts and see if we've come up with anything."
"I'll do that," Teddy said. "Goodbye, and good luck."
A/N: A Call to Arms by My Dear Professor McGonagall is an excellent fanfic about Ginny Weasley's sixth year at Hogwarts, and I'll be drawing heavily on it for characters, motivations, and possibly events for the Hogwarts portions of this fanfic. The attendance interview at the Ministry is an idea from Not From Others by FloreatCastellum, and I took one line of Luna's dialogue from there. I should also point out that I'm following Northumbrian's timeline for birthdays and other major events in the Next Generation, and everything in Northumbrian's writing up to the date of the epilogue should be considered canon for the future history of this story as well, unless I contradict it somewhere else.