Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to Jo.

Chapter#10

A Change of Plans

It was after ten minutes or so that Harry, Ron and Draco regained consciousness. Ginny and Daphne had declared all three of them the biggest drama queens in Hogwarts and Ron had just swore in response which earned him a stern glare from Mrs Weasley.

"Now then, I believe you're the only one left Teddy." Dumbledore smiled at Teddy

"Okay" Teddy muttered nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck

"But I am afraid you will have to wait for your introduction Teddy. A rather stern matter has presented itself and needs to be dealt with immediately." Said Dumbledore kindly

Teddy seemed rather relieved to hear this as he let out a long drawn out breath

"What's the matter sir?" asked Victoire politely

"I think you'll know very soon Miss Weasley." Dumbledore then stood up, "Minerva, Severus, Remus, I need to talk to you quite urgently; come with me for a moment."

With that the four of them walked out of the great hall leaving the rest of them in an awkward silence.

"What do you think is happening?" asked Louis

"I don't know but Dumbledore did say that we'll get to know soon." James said appearing quite confused

They sat like that for a good few minutes, in complete silence. It seemed that the bizarreness of the past couple of hours had left them speechless. None of the time travellers nor the people of the present felt comfortable enough to say a single syllable, let alone make small talk.

It wasn't until Dumbledore came back that some of the commotion from before returned.

"I'm sorry that I kept you all waiting." Dumbledore turned to look at the people from the future, "I need the time travellers to come with me."

"Hey wait! Where are you taking them?" surprisingly it was Draco Malfoy who had raised the question

"Mr Malfoy, calm down. I just need to talk to them all privately for a bit."

Draco wanted to question further but stopped as he felt Daphne tugging at his sleeve, motioning for him to sit down.

All the time-travellers followed Dumbledore out of the hall except the little ones. Hugo was still asleep on the sofa with his head in Hermione's lap while both Lily and Lucy were sitting with Arthur recounting their favourite bed-time stories to him in hushed voices.

Dumbledore led the time-travellers to the nearest classroom. Just as they all were inside, he locked the door with a flick of his wand.

All the kids from the future shared questioning glances.

"Why did you bring us here sir?" Molly (II) questioned politely

Dumbledore sighed before answering, "As you all may very well know that your arrival here can significantly alter the space time continuum. Since nothing too drastic has happened, I can say that it hasn't yet BUT it surely can." Dumbledore looked around to see if they understood what he was saying, when they all nodded he continued, "Your sudden appearance in the great hall left me with very little choice as to the course of action to be taken. Too many people know about you and it will be very hard indeed to make sure that word about you doesn't go out, so it is for that matter that I have decided to obliviate the students."

"Why didn't you do it before, I mean when we arrived?" Dominique said

"As I've said before, there were too many people. Obliviating someone requires a high level of skill and only people with the specific training can rightly do it. I am not an Obliviator hence it took me some time to figure out a way to obliviate this many people. I think I have now though and the longer you all stay here the more difficult it will become to successfully obliviate them. The missing memory of this time in their mind will become larger and at this moment we definitely don't want a long time black out of the whole school to replace with fake memories."

"So you're suggesting that we go?" asked Teddy

"Yes"

"Where?"

"12 Grimmauld Place, you'll all remain safe there"

"Okay, and will our parents come or are you obliviating them too?"

"Oh no, nobody is obliviating your family. They are all coming with us."

"Sir, will my parents be coming too?" said Scorpius nervously

"Yes and so will be their friends."

"Really?" Scorpius was shocked

"I have seen the future through Teddy's memories and I believe that there are certain unexpected people that we might need to bring with us. In the end we will need to obliviate everyone from this time so why not let all of you have your whole family from this time be with you, and that goes for you as well Mr Malfoy."

"Thank you sir"

"Of course" Dumbledore nodded at Scorpius, "Now you must all stay here while I go and get your families."

He left then and it wasn't until ten minutes had passed that he returned, and this time with all of their families.

"Scorpius, I need you to go with Severus and explain everything to your parents and their friends. I don't think they'll take being shoved into a room full of Gryffindors very well."

"Alright sir!"

With that Scorpius hurried after Severus Snape to where his parents and their friends had presumably been taken.

"What is this place?" said Daphne in a disgusted voice, glancing around the bedraggled and ragged looking hallway

"I think I've already explained that Ms Greengrass" Snape answered flatly

"But it still doesn't make sense why we have to be here"

"Aunt Daphne, you are here because I wanted you all to be here and Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to give me permission to bring you." Scorpius looked all but frustrated having to answer the endless queries of his teenage family, "Listen, if anyone of you doesn't want to be here then that's alright, Professor Snape will take you back and have your memories wiped like the rest of the school."

That seemed to shut all of them up effectively; as miffed as they all seemed to be at being there, they were still more curious about the occurrences of the last couple of hours.

Severus then led them all to the living room where the rest of the children from the future and their families were waiting.

The Slytherins took their place on a sofa and a couple of armchairs, giving dark looks to the other occupants in the room.

They definitely didn't look all that happy sitting in a room full of people who they considered their enemies, in fact people of the other party felt probably the same way about them, if their scowls and frowns were anything to go by.

Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly, "I am well aware of the fact that not all of you are comfortable with this arrangement but trust me when I say that this was the only way. I'll try to explain everything that I can," he looked at Hermione and quickly cut across whatever she had opened her mouth to speak, "and yes Miss Granger, it was essential that Miss Brown be here."

Hermione blushed slightly, avoiding everyone's gaze and settling for staring at the floor.

"I don't understand why these snakes have to be here!" Harry scowled and gestured to where Draco was sitting

"Watch it Potter!" Draco glowered as he stood up from his place

"I don't think I need to Malfoy, since it's my house that you're standing in." Harry took a step forward

"You watch that tone of yours Potter!" Draco was now standing just a couple of feet away from Harry, "And what makes you think I would believe that this house, the legacy of the Black family would be in your possession."

"I don't think you realise but Sirius Black was my godfather and he left this house to me when he was murdered by your FAMILY!" Harry now had his wand drawn

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY A WORD ABOUT MY FAMILY..."

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" it was Dumbledore who interrupted the two seething boys before anyone of them could cause serious harm, "SIT DOWN...BOTH OF YOU."

The two boys were breathing heavily, reluctant to leave their positions, but one look at Dumbledore -whose eyes were gleaming with pure anger- made them effectively re-think their next moves. Begrudgingly and still glaring at each other both Draco and Harry backed away slowly before returning to their respective places.

"I suggest that all of us keep our tempers under control and try to tolerate each other, while we are here." Dumbledore looked at everyone in turn as if to stress his point, "These are extraordinary circumstances, defining the reason behind our presence here and I cannot stress this enough, but your refusal to co-operate might put these children and your possible futures in unthinkable jeopardy."

The whole room was silent and Harry had the decency to look ashamed of his unnecessary outburst, but Draco as usual, looked as if any such show of emotion was beneath him.

"I hope I have made myself clear?" everyone answered in the affirmative, "If anyone has got any questions, they can ask me now."

Daphne tentatively raised her hand

"Yes Miss Greengrass"

"Sir, we are supposed to leave tomorrow morning for Christmas holidays and I highly doubt we'll be able to get back before then."

"A very good question indeed Miss Greengrass. In fact I have Minerva working on it right now; we will send letters to each of your homes telling your parents that you'll be spending the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts."

"And what about other students, won't they be suspicious of our absence?" Theodore Nott put in

"They have just been obliviated Mr Nott, and it does tend to have some side-effects. I rather think, they'll find themselves sleeping in late tomorrow; amidst the panic of being late and the looming possibility of missing the Express home, I think not many of them would notice a few students missing, who might well have already taken the carriages."

"I suppose you're right." Nodded Nott in understanding

Dumbledore then turned towards Teddy, "Now then, I think it's about time you introduced yourself Teddy."

Teddy looked as if he'd rather do anything than introduce himself; even see a brawl between his teenage godfather and Draco. Nervously, he glanced at the people in front of him and caught Victoire's eye, who smiled at him encouragingly, Teddy could distinctly fathom the sympathy and understanding that they held for him at that moment and really, he was grateful for it.

Howsoever, he gathered his courage and stood up. He could feel his hands shaking and was almost certain that his voice would also be doing the same, once he tried to speak.

He took a deep breath mustering up all his strength and decided to come out with it, "My name is Edward, but people just generally call me Teddy...Teddy Remus Lupin."

Author's Note:

There were a few questions from the reviewers after last chapter:

One reviewer asked if the story, at any point could develop into a Dramione fic. The answer is no, I'm afraid this story never is going to be turned into a Dramione fic. The fic follows canon and there are very few things that I'll be changing, very few, all of which I'll hopefully make sure to mention in the author's note before or after the chapters.

There were other questions as well and I have to say that the answer to all of those would be found out during the course of the story; that does include Draco and Astoria's relationship.

Cheers!