Okay, I have to warn you; this chapter has just this little bit where the story is slightly AU. Please don't overreact after reading it, I have explained everything in the Author's Note at the end.

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to Jo.

Chapter#12

Dinner Conversations

Dinner was a quiet ordeal, with everyone trying particularly hard to focus on the normality of the task that was eating rather than the unusually bizarre circumstances which had led them there; they finished before than usual, not interested in eating more than they required.

After dessert had been finished and the dishes taken for cleaning, the most significant question came round for the time-travellers to answer, "Now, can anyone of you tell me what happened before you got here?" Dumbledore asked

Before anyone had the chance to speak, "It was their fault." Dom pointed to James, Fred (II) and Louis

"Don't you think you're being a tad too harsh on us Dom?" Fred drawled sarcastically, "It wasn't any of us who stumbled and fell on Molly."

"In case you've forgotten, it was your bloody potion that did all of this!"

"At least I hadn't been sleeping and..."

"Oi!" Victoire cut across both of them, silencing them effectively, "That's enough both of you."

"I think you should explain what happened Miss Weasley." Dumbledore said

"I'm not really sure but I think it had something to do with Hugo's accidental magic..."

"Do continue Miss Weasley."

Victoire then continued to recount the whole incident that had ended up in them being thrown twenty-four years into the past; when she was finished, Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking again, "So it was the potion and Hugo's accidental magic, in your opinion, that managed to send you here."

"I reckon so"

"That does make sense..." Dumbledore quieted again in silent contemplation, before standing up, "You all will have to excuse me for some time; I need to discuss this matter with Severus and Minerva."

"When will you be back Albus?" inquired Arthur

"I'm afraid I can't be certain of the time that I might need to resolve this matter, but not one of you is to leave this house before I return; it is far too dangerous." With that Albus Dumbledore turned around and left, leaving the occupants of the room in an uncomfortable silence

They sat like that for a couple of minutes until Molly spoke up, breaking the awkward, tense silence, "So, tell us about your time, how are things there?"

"Oh it-it's great...everything is wonderful." Teddy was, to say the least, sceptical about discussing the future

"When does the war end?" everyone turned to see the person who had spoken and were shocked to find that it was Draco Malfoy.

He had asked the question in such a quiet tone, his voice soft; sitting there staring intently at his folded hands placed in his lap, he looked almost like a scared child who was afraid of the reality he would be introduced to once the explanation of his query was given to him.

It was confusingly surprising; this was such a contrast to his usual arrogant, harsh self that for a moment most of the people in the room forgot that it was actually Draco Malfoy speaking.

"Summer of 1998" Teddy answered equally quietly, but then in a very firm voice, he added, "And that's all I'm going to tell you about the war, I cannot talk more about it, so don't try to ask anything more regarding the subject."

There was silence once again as everyone seemed to take in that piece of information.

Of course, they wanted to ask more about the war; they were living through their worst nightmares every day, the fear of losing their loved ones constantly looming over their heads like a dark cloud.

They wanted to know when everything would be over, they wanted to know if everyone would make it to the other side, wanted to know what they would have to lose in exchange for the end of the consuming, abhorring darkness surrounding them.

That was all they wanted to know.

But it just wasn't all that simple, regardless of their driven curiosity they were bound; there was a daunting path to cross the line between their questions and the answers to them.

In fact it was not daunting at all, it was undoable, the answers were unattainable and the consequences were irreversible.

So, they just sat there, cursing their helplessness in the matter, until Hermione broke the silence by posing another question,

"I'm still curious about one thing though."

"We're not going to tell you anything about the war aunt Hermione, whatever you hav..."

"No, no I don't want to ask anything about the war. It's about something else actually."

"Oh...alright then, ask away." Victoire smiled

"Why did Lily, Lucy and Hugo call Lavender their aunt?"

At this point everyone was again listening in curiously; Ron looked oddly nervous and embarrassed as if it would somehow have to do something with him.

Lavender on the other hand looked inquisitive, waiting for the question posed by Hermione to be answered.

The kids from the future shared an annoyingly smug look with each other before Louis decided to take it upon himself to answer the question, "Well it's quite simple aunt Hermione...they called her aunt because she is our aunt." He then paused deliberately, for dramatic effect, "She is sort of married to Uncle Charlie."

There was silence for a moment...then,

"WHAT?!" everyone seemed to shout simultaneously

"I said Uncle Charlie and Aunt Lavender are married."

"We understood that...I mean what...how..."

"What Charlie here means to ask is-how did he manage to convince someone to marry him?" Bill smirked teasingly

Charlie just glared at him in response but said nothing, instead turning his gaze to where Lavender was sitting across the table. He watched as she stared wide eyed at the time-travellers and then turned to look at him, their eyes met for the briefest of moments before she averted her eyes again and resorted to look at the table intently. Charlie still kept looking, as Lavender turned a deep shade of red and would have continued to stare if it hadn't been for Tonks' voice distracting him,

"Oy mate, looks like you owe me five galleons!"

"What are you talking about Nymphadora?"

"Don't call me that Charlie!" she glared at him, "And stop acting like a troll, you owe five galleons from the bet we had on!"

"What bet are you two talking about and why am I not a part of it?" Bill raised an eyebrow accusingly

"You are not a part of it because you had left Hogwarts by then." She then turned to everyone else as if explaining a very complex problem, "You see, Charlie was quite sure that he would never marry and hence be the eternal bachelor. I on the other hand tended to disagree, he never was that type. So, we bet on it and as it turns out, I WAS RIGHT!"

"Why do you want them now, you're gonna take them in the future anyway." Charlie looked like a sulking child who had just been told he wasn't to have any chocolate.

"I think that is enough fun for all of you at the expense of Charlie and Lavender; let the two breathe." Molly said with a smile evident on her face

"Alright then, tell us how's our shop going in the future?" George asked

"Oh it is brilliant!" Roxanne said excitedly, "It's doing better than ever, we just opened a new branch in Japan."

"A new branch?! You mean our business has gone international?"

"Yup"

"How many do we have in total?"

"Let's see, there's two in England plus the head office in Diagon, then there's one in France and another one Egypt," Roxanne counted off her fingers, "two in America, one in Australia and the new one in Japan."

"Wow" Fred and George whispered in awe together while their mother cringed slightly, thinking about the havoc that their products might be causing.

"The branch in Japan and Australia was actually Uncle Ron's idea." Fred (II) put in

"Ron?!" the twins asked in surprise at the same time as Ron said, "Me?!"

"Yeah." Roxanne said looking utterly confused, "Dad and Uncle Ron are partners, he has shares in the business and it's been like that since before we were born."

"Are you sure it's Ron?"

"Of course she's sure! Do you doubt my daddy's abilities?" Rose narrowed her eyes at the twins and leaned over the table in a threatening manner.

"We did not doubt his abilities-"

"We were just making sure the information was authentic"

The twins clearly felt intimidated by Rose in that moment and that in itself was such an unusual thing that it was almost unnerving to see them act like that.

Rose on the other hand looked pleased with the answer and smiled sweetly before leaning back in her seat again.

"So I run the shop with the twins then?" Ron asked, still looking uncertain

There was a pang of deep sadness that the people from the future felt when Ron said 'twins'; they all knew how devastating the loss of Fred was to the family and even yet, after all this time the grief still lingered.

However, they also knew, they were not to discuss it in front of their young family at the moment, so they all gained back their composure quickly and it was Rose that spoke up to answer Ron's question,

"Yes you do dad, but it's not your full time job."

"It's not?" Ron looked quizzical.

"No it isn't. You basically work in the Auror office."

"You're joking, right?" Now Ron looked even more shocked.

"I'm not joking dad, you really are an auror."

"I don't believe this, you're kidding...I couldn't possibly be...I mean it requires very high qualifications and I can hardly get away with an 'Acceptable' in everything."

Rose was now beginning to lose patience with her father's uncertainty and almost non-existent faith in his capabilities,

"You and Uncle Harry got in the auror programme together, the Minister for Magic himself offered both of you the jobs."

"Sorry?" it was Harry's turn to look surprised.

"Oh Merlin, not you too Uncle Harry!" Rose groaned loudly, "Honestly, you two have some serious self-esteem issues and to think that you are the best aurors the Wizarding world has ever seen."

"I'm sorry Rose but you'll have to explain everything in a little more detail or these two will keep asking stupid questions like imbeciles." Charlie said, though he was just as intrigued as the others to know the details.

Rose sighed in irritation as she explained further, "Well Uncle Harry is the Head of the Auror Department and daddy is the Deputy Head plus the In-Charge of Field Operations and Strategy."

It seemed that by the time Rose finished; Ron and Harry were both rendered incapable of uttering a comprehensible word.

Yes, being aurors had been their dream for a very long time but never had they, in their most surreal thoughts, imagined ever being so high up in ranks of the Auror Department; to say they were shocked, would be an understatement.

"Ignore these two idiots." Ginny said, looking suddenly excited with anticipation, "Tell us about the rest of us...what we are doing in your time?"

"Well mum and dad are still working in Gringotts, though dad is also affiliated with the Ministry." Louis told everyone

"Uncle Percy is the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation; Uncle Charlie is still working on the Dragon Reserve in Romania and Aunty Angelina is working with the Tornadoes as their coach." Dominique added.

"My wife is a professional Quidditch coach!" George jumped up and punched the air in excitement

"Your wife was also a professional Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies." Fred (II) grinned

If anything, George looked even more delighted, "Well match that! I'm sure nobody else in the family has a cooler job than Angie."

"I'm quite sure that my dad would tend to differ," Smirked Al, "considering my mum was a Chaser for the Harpies and she is now the Senior Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet."

Ginny squealed in joy as she jumped up and down in ill-contained excitement.

"Okay, calm down Ginny, I think we all know you're very pleased." Hermione said smiling amusedly as she pulled on Ginny's elbow to pull her back on the chair

Charlie grabbed Ginny around the shoulders and ruffled her red hair, "Who knew our Ginny had it!"

"UGHH CHARLIE GET AWAY!"

Everyone laughed in response before Hermione eagerly asked, "You haven't told me...where do I work?"

"You used to work at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and then you moved to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Rose smiled proudly, "And you're the Head of the latter as of 2016."

Hermione just looked on wide-eyed, making it very clear that she was not expecting this much.

At that exact moment, Hugo stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes with one hand and holding in place a small blanket around his shoulders with the other.

He looked over at everyone, his gaze coming to rest on Rose, "I'm hungry."

"C 'mere Hugo." Rose called, "You sit here with James and I'll get you something to eat."

"I'll help you!" Al said as he ran after Rose.

James helped Hugo up the chair and adjusted him so that the blanket would not fall off his shoulders but instead stay firmly tucked away under him.

"Hey mate, how're you feeling now?" James said, placing a hand on his forehead, "That's good...the temperature's gone down."

"I'm better now" Hugo smiled.

Rose then returned with food and placed it in front of Hugo who proceeded to devour it hungrily.

Lily and Lucy too left their positions to join Hugo and started to chatter away quietly, presumably filling him in on everything that had happened during his nap.

"Oh who's left then?" Dom said as she looked over at everyone, "Aunt Lavender, of course! ...Right, so you work as an Obliviator for the Ministry."

Lavender looked positively disgusted at this, "Why in the name of Godric did I decide to become an Obliviator?!"

"Dunno...you never told us."

Lavender felt terribly scared at the moment.

What in the world could've forced her to do that with her life?!

No matter how much she thought about it, she never could quite picture herself pursuing this dull and plain career.

Lavender still looked disgruntled but understood that pursuing the matter further would be futile, since none of the children would know the reasons behind her life choices and just shrugged as an approving gesture.

"Alright Scorpius, I reckon you should take over now." Al said.

"Yeah...right." Scorpius nodded, "Okay, so dad does what we've been doing for generations, except we now work with Muggle companies as well; dad expanded the business, so now dealings are done both in the Wizarding and Muggle worlds."

Draco was stunned, bewildered, horrified, curious and aghast all at the same time; Scorpius had clearly stated that he was working with Muggles and Merlin knows that even if Salazar's ghost showed up one day, told him he had an option between dying horrifically at the hands of the Dark Lord and dealing with Muggles, he would choose the former in a heartbeat.

The more these people talked about the future, the further Draco felt from the reality surrounding him now.

He wanted to voice his opinions, he wanted to yell and shout and deny everything that they were saying but he knew he had to control himself; he couldn't risk anything in a house full of his enemies, people whom he loathed, whom he detested beyond belief and against whom he was fighting a war.

So, he just gave Scorpius a curt nod and returned his gaze to his lap, clenching and unclenching his fists in frustration under the table.

Scorpius, on the other hand seemed satisfied with Draco's response, being used to his father's quite demeanour.

Before Scorpius could say anything else though, there was a loud thump as Teddy Remus Lupin fell swiftly off his chair and landed hard on the ground beside.

"Teddy! Are you okay?" Victoire left her place to crouch on the floor next to him

"Yeah I'm okay...I'm fine..." Teddy said

Victoire helped Teddy off the floor and he could see everyone laughing slightly as he settled himself back into his seat.

"How did you manage to fall off a chair Ted?" Molly (II) said smiling, "I mean, you weren't even doing anything!"

"I...uh...fell asleep..." Teddy explained sheepishly.

"It's okay Teddy dear, we understand and you've all had a long day." Molly smiled sympathetically at Teddy, "In fact I think this is enough for a day. We should all rest now."

"Molly's right, you all look really tired; we'll discuss everything else tomorrow." Arthur put in

Nobody protested or made a comment, indicating that they were all ready for some much needed sleep.

They soon received a bag full of clothes and a note from Dumbledore saying that these were to be used by the people of the future for the time they were stranded here. Molly then proceeded to transfigure the clothes into the correct sizes for them to be worn by her grandchildren and Teddy.

Mrs Weasley asked Bill to lead Draco and Theodore to a room which they were to share while she led the others to their respective rooms.

Grimmauld Place was in no way a small house; Merlin knows there were enough rooms in the ancient House of Black to allot everyone their very own room but sadly the condition of the house was such that the same couldn't be said about number of clean ones available, hence the division.

Astoria, Daphne and Pansy were given a single room; the room next to them was occupied by Hermione, Ginny and Lavender while the room across was being shared by Victoire, Rose, Lily and Lucy. Dom and Molly were put together in a room on the floor below.

The boys were divided in such a way that Teddy, Al, Hugo and Scorpius shared one room while James, Fred and Louis shared the other.

Author's Note:

I know that's a lame ending for a chapter but I couldn't really find anything else to wrap this up with.

Now for the important part: I know Charlie never married, at least not until the last update from Jo which covers everything till 2017. So, this little bit which might seem AU is not actually AU if you look at it logically, you could very well consider it, if you want, something as part of the future just like half the HP fandom reckons that Rose would end up with Scorpius, while no one has any evidence to support the idea.

And as to why it had to be Lavender that I chose to pair him up with...well it's complicated but...I'll try to explain it. Quite a while ago I read a fic (Leaning Slightly to the Left by The Steppy One, if you're interested in checking it out) in which Lavender had a minor but very significant role and the author wrote her so brilliantly that I couldn't help but like her.

Maybe the way she acted in HBP was just a phase and it passed once she was forced to live in the horrors of the war. Honestly anyone would mature after what happened to her in DH, mature being a lighter word in this sense; she probably would've ended up traumatised. The pairing between her and Charlie just started as an idea in my head but gradually, as the story progressed I could see potential. I might even write a back story for them if I'm able to develop a proper story line. Think about it, you may also like them together.

And now I want discuss a very, very significant issue.

It's almost been a week since I've been stuck in the middle of writing chapter 16 of this story, and it's been three days since I've been searching for a beta. Unfortunately, I've had to see the face of bitter failure mocking me, in both these tasks. I am very stressed out and I need someone to help me with writing this story further, so please if any of you feel interested or you think you may be able to help me somehow, feel free to hit me with a PM.

I'm looking for a beta but as luck has it, I haven't been able to find anyone.

THIS IS A CALL FOR HELP MY UNRESPONSIVE READERS AND FELLOW POTTERHEADS (a distress call, if you're a Whovian too)!

Night!