A Posteriori: Dreaming Of Andromeda [03/12

Chaos theory. For more than a century, Muggles had described the phenomenon as something similar to cause and effect – for every action, there is a reaction. In 1952, Muggle writer Bradbury wrote about time travel and the consequences of even the smallest of actions. Popularly known as 'the butterfly effect', in the wizarding world chaos theory differs from what the Muggles perceive it as. In the depths of the Ministry, for years, Unspeakables have been cataloguing changes – for in the wizarding world, every time a decision is made, a new world is created, each concerned with the consequences of the decision. The sheer magnitude of the task had led to the creation of an elite team of Unspeakables – those who monitored changes concerning the major players in the current times. Harry Potter, He Who Must Not Be Named and Albus Dumbledore each had held the distinction of having two Unspeakables assigned to them – the only ones to have attained such importance. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were quickly catching up though – the Head of the department was considering assigning more Unspeakables to the team. However, despite this, all those involved were still at a loss as to how the two had managed to change things so irreversibly.

A meeting was to be held soon – the time had come to make a decision about what to do about the time travellers.

(--//--)

The night before their first Potions class, Hermione talked Ron out of wondering how they could manage to poison both Snape and Malfoy.

"Murderous gits." Ron's grumble was barely audible in the cacophony of sound in the Gryffindor common room, but Hermione's heart still stopped for the briefest of moments.

"Ron, you know we can't do anything, not yet anyway – we could change everything, and then where would we be?"

"Happier?"

"What are the two of you on about now?" Harry collapsed onto the sofa, looking at them curiously. Hermione exchanged a glance with Ron, before leaning closer to Harry, her voice soft while she spoke.

"Harry, do you think you could meet us here tonight? Say, around eleven? We really need to talk to you."

Harry glanced between the two suspiciously. "Are the two of you together then?"

"What?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Honestly, boys. "No." Not anymore, anyway, she silently amended – whatever attraction that they'd held for each other had faded somewhere after the first time Harry had died. Oh god. That would never sound quite right.

"Bring the cloak, will you Harry?" Ron looked around and then dropped his voice further. "We don't want anyone to overhear, that's all."

"Sure – but there had better be a good explanation for this." Harry tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "Does this have anything to do with why the two of you have been so secretive lately?"

"Hush Harry, we'll explain everything tonight, I promise."

(--//--)

"Bloody hell," Harry's harsh whisper broke the silence. It was nearing two in the morning and Hermione had just finished recounting their story to him, Ron occasionally interrupting with things from his point of view.

"Trust me Harry; that comes nowhere near close to summing up the situation" Hermione said, a wry smile on her face. "Honestly – we didn't think you'd believe us, not really."

"Figured you'd think we were nutters, actually." Ron glanced around the deserted common room, huddling closer to the fireplace.

"So what do we do now?"

"We need to have a plan – we can't rush into things, not like we've done before."

"So I guess that cuts out killing Snape, huh?"

"We wouldn't have a chance against him Harry, and you know it." Hermione hesitated, looking between the two boys. "Besides – sometimes I think we don't have the whole story."

"Hermione!" She rolled her eyes – the boys were so predictable sometimes.

"I'm not saying that he's innocent – he's not. Just that we may be missing a few points, that's all." Hermione frowned, staring into the fire. "That's not what we have to decide though, not at the moment."

"Sirius."

"Don't forget Pettigrew."

"If only we could." Ron scowled, as he did whenever his erstwhile pet was mentioned.

"Can we go to Lupin?" Harry questioned, pushing his glasses up. Hermione smiled a little at the familiar gesture before shaking her head.

"I don't think we can, Harry." Oh, but how she wished they could. "Not to Dumbledore, either."

"I don't want to go to Dumbledore."

Well, then. That certainly changed things. She supposed hearing about Dumbledore's tendency to keep secrets was just as infuriating to him now as it had been in the previous timeline.

"Why don't we go to Sirius?" Ron asked, looking baffled. "He's the most likely to believe us, anyway."

"And how exactly are we going to meet up with him? He's on the run, isn't he?" Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure that it wasn't Black who betrayed my parents?"

"Of course we're sure mate – he's your godfather, you know."

"Yes Ronald, we did mention that." Hermione sighed, contemplating their choices. "We need the map."

"What map?"

"The Marauder's Map, Harry." Ron grinned. "It's brilliant, mate."

"It's a map of the school, Harry. If you know the password, it'll show you everything and everyone in the school."

"And all the secret passages and everything!"

"Sounds great – only, where do we get such a map?"

Ron's face fell. "Oh. They haven't given it to you then."

"They gave it to him just before the first Hogsmeade trip, remember?"

"Uh, who?"

"The twins, Harry." Hermione looked at him apologetically. It was weird having Harry not remember such little things. "Fred and George have the map at the moment – in the original timeline, they gave it to you on the day of the Hogsmeade trip. Only, we can't wait that long this time. Hogsmeade isn't for another month."

"So what do we do then?"

"We have to get it away from them somehow."

"Steal from the twins?" Ron snorted. "Have you gone bonkers, Hermione? The last time somebody tried to take something from Fred and George, they ended up covered in purple and yellow spots for a week!"

"Well what else do you expect us to do then? We need that map, Ron."

"..."

"Yes, I thought so." Hermione smirked at his lack of response before sighing. "So how are we going to do this? The twins can't find out what we know."

"Well, it'll have to be Hermione who takes it."

"What? Why me?" Hermione scowled at Harry who shrugged in response.

"Face it Hermione, you're much more sneakier than either me or Ron – and we're going to need sneaky if we plan to put one past the twins."

"He's got a point, 'Mione."

"Hermione, Ronald, my name is Hermione."

"It still has to be you who does it."

"Hmph."

(--//--)

Hermione made her way down the stairs from the girls dormitory, fighting back a yawn. Four hours of sleep was not nearly enough, but she'd gotten into the habit of waking up at six, so she hadn't really had a choice.

"Morning," Harry called out, Ron mumbling next to him.

"Morning." Hermione and Harry shared a grin over Ron's bleariness – she'd forgotten that he reverted back to Neanderthal when he first woke up. "First day of classes – we've got Divination first."

"You mean we have Divination while you have Divination and Arithmancy, don't you?" Harry shook his head, confused. "I'm still not sure how that works really."

"How it works isn't important, not really. Just that it does!" Hermione frowned. "Divination – ugh. I can't believe I have to sit through that drivel again!" She looked up at Harry, just remembering. "Oh, by the way – don't get too freaked out about this, but she's going to predict that you're going to die."

"What?" Harry's face drained of colour. "Hermione, the reason the two of you came back was because I died!"

"Er, well, yes. Though that was four years later – and anyway, she's only really made two real predictions in her life. Or will."

"But all the other times you went back, I died then, too!"

"That was because of what we'd changed, Harry, not because of anything else. The first time, Ron knew not to drink the mead – so he didn't, and you did. The second time, I didn't cast silencio on Dolohov because I knew what he would do to me anyway – but because of that, he cast the killing curse and it hit you." Hermione shifted uncomfortably – it felt incredibly morbid to be discussing this.

"Oh – but what about the last time?"

"I'm not too sure about what happened there – neither Ron nor I were in the graveyard with you and Cedric. All I know is that we told the both of you that the cup was a portkey – I don't know why either of you picked it up."

"Morning Hermione. When did you get down here?"

"Oh, you're awake then, Ron?" Harry sure turned an interesting shade of red when he was trying not laugh, Hermione noticed. "Let's go down to breakfast then, otherwise we'll be late for Divination."

"That's a bad thing, why?" Ron shrugged at their questioning looks. "I'm not one to pass up food, but the old bat is barmy!"

"C'mon Ron, we're not going to be late on the first day of classes." Hermione pulled the two along behind her, occasionally looking back to make sure that Ron was still following.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do – you know, with the map?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas."

(--//--)

This was torture – absolute torture.

Maybe the Death Eaters should have taken notes from Trelawney. Hermione sighed, glaring into her teacup. Neville had already broken one, so Lavender and Parvati were completely enthralled by the fraud. Beside her, Ron struggled to keep a straight face, while Harry disguised a snicker by faking a coughing fit.

"Hermione!"

She glanced up, keeping one eye on Trelawney and slightly angled her body towards her best friends. "What?"

"This can't have been as bad the first time, right?" Ron looked at her hopefully, his voice barely above a whisper. "I mean, I didn't willingly sit through this for four years, did I?"

"Ron!" Honestly, she couldn't believe him sometimes. "You can't say things like that! What if someone overheard?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry."

"Hey, what do you think that looks like, Ron?" Harry motioned to his teacup.

"A goat?" Ron grinned at Hermione, who stifled a laugh. The rumours about Aberforth Dumbledore abounded even now. "Dunno, Harry – could be a hippo, even."

"A hippo?" Hermione snorted, smothering a giggle.

"Let me have that cup!" She groaned as Trelawney approached them, her arm thrust out dramatically. She snatched the cup out of Ron's hands and gasped, her face a theatrical mask of shock and dismay. "Oh dear! Who's cup is this, quick, tell me now!"

Hermione snickered. "Shouldn't she know that?" she whispered under her breath to Harry who couldn't hold back his laugh.

"Uh, mine, Professor," he said hastily, hoping she hadn't heard the laugh.

"Oh, my poor boy," she moaned out, before her eyes narrowed. "Mr. Potter – well, I should have known. Do you know what's in the cup, Potter?"

"Uh, no Professor."

"A GRIM!" Like the first time, the majority of the class gasped in unison. "It's a portent of death, child, a portent of things to come!" She reached to Harry, stopping just short of touching his shoulder. "I do not want to be the one to tell you this, Potter, but you are going to die!"

Again, the class gasped. Hermione thought she saw Lavender swooning and rolled her eyes. Honestly.

"Not to be rude, Professor, but I'm pretty sure that at some point, everyone will die." Harry said, his tone almost apologetic, though Hermione could hear the undertones of laughter in his voice.

Trelawney sputtered a bit, obviously unused to such a calm reaction from her students. "I see that I cannot expect such young children to understand the intricacies of the Inner Eye, but heed my warning, Potter, before the year is out, your life will be in danger."

"No offence Professor, but Black's already after Harry!" Seamus Finnigan piped up, exchanging a glance with Dean Thomas. "Ye can't get any more dangerous than an escaped murderer!"

"Yes, well." Trelawney spun around to face Seamus, a mutinous scowl on her face. "I trust you will no longer speak out of turn, Finnigan – otherwise I'll be predicting a few detentions in your future."

Hermione started, looking at Ron with wide eyes. That certainly hadn't happened the first time.

"Class dismissed," Trelawney sang out, seemingly back to normal.

Excited chatter broke out through the room as the students began collecting their belongings. On their way out of the tower, Hermione bumped into Lavender, who still looked a bit scared from earlier. Feeling slightly guilty for her churlish thoughts, Hermione offered her a comforting smile. "I really am sorry about your rabbit, Lavender."

The blonde girl spun around to look at her, eyes wide. "What? What about my rabbit?"

"Didn't Trelawney predict that your rabbit would die on the 16th of October?" Hermione questioned, her heart sinking. She couldn't have screwed up, not this early.

"No – she just said that what I was dreading would happen." Lavender frowned, looking uncomfortable. "Hermione, how did you know that my rabbit was sick? I haven't even told Parvati!"

Oh, bloody hell. And here she'd been worrying about Ron saying something wrong.

(--//--)

And for any one thing that changes, so does another – and then another, and another and so on. The effect cumulates, until it effectively spins out of control and there is no way to know what set of the chain reaction in the first place. There were many consequences to time travel, so many things that they did not understand yet. If what they believed about parallel worlds was true, did the two simply jump from world to world as they changed things? Or was this the only world that existed, and the two were simply creating chaos in the fabric of time? There was so much that they didn't know – and maybe it was time to get answers.

A trip to Hogwarts was imminent.