Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to Jo.
Chapter# 13
Consolation
It was very late in the night, around half past two if Draco's guess was right, and yet only an hour had passed since he'd lain down to try and sleep.
It had been a long, tiring and unusually bizarre day; in all honesty, he should have fallen asleep the moment his head had hit the pillow, but he lay awake, simply staring at the ceiling. Ironic as much this notion was though, his troubled thoughts were the very last thing from simple at the moment.
His brain kept questioning his believability, everything that had been dumped upon him this night and the implications that followed.
He had been connecting all the dots; the task he'd been appointed by the Dark Lord last summer, the consequences if he succeeded and the patent death sentence if he failed to comply. The former would ensure an iron-clad, perpetual rivalry with Potter and his friends, but that was exactly what he was unable to understand; it was as plain as day that Voldemort had fallen and Potter somehow had managed to win the war. If the word of the time-travellers was anything to go by, Potter, Weasley and Granger had managed to secure exceptionally high and powerful positions in the Ministry; had he actually succeeded in completing his task and Dumbledore's blood was indeed on his hands then he highly doubted that any of the three afore-mentioned wizards would let him live freely, in fact the most probable situation would be him rotting in a filthy cell of Azkaban.
Then there was the other way things could have happened, but that was even more impossible; encountered with failure in his mission and he would cease to exist.
None of it made any sense whatsoever and his mind was on the verge of exploding.
"Draco, sleep already!" Nott grumbled sleepily from the other side of the room, "I can practically hear your mind going into override."
But Draco seemed to pay hardly any attention to Theo's comment as he absently asked,
"Do you think they're telling the truth?"
Theo sighed before replying, "You know I didn't believe them at first as well and I know it's difficult to accept but think about it Draco...how else would've Scorpius known about your Dark Mark?"
"A lot of people know about that!" Draco's tone was harsh, "All the high ranking Death Eaters know."
"Yes they do, but nobody knows that you weren't willing to join, except your mother, Daphne and I." Theo calmly explained, "How could somebody have possibly known that?"
Draco didn't say anything this time, instead focusing his thoughts on what Scorpius had said earlier in the hall.
"Listen mate, just go to sleep right now, we'll discuss everything in the morning. And who knows, a good night's sleep might give you a fresh perspective."
Draco's mind felt numb and for once, he didn't have the energy to argue.
He just nodded into the darkness to no one in particular, turned over to his other side and gave himself away to sleep.
Teddy had just managed to fall asleep when his wrist for some odd reason started to feel very hot. He, in response just swung it sleepily a few times, as if that would make it alright again.
He had just begun to slip into unconsciousness again, when it happened the second time and this time he sat up in alarm. He was looking at his wrist as if he had just realised it was even there and that, in fact was the case but it wasn't the existence of his wrist that was the revelation rather the presence of a wide band wrapped around the said body part.
Teddy began to panic slightly as he looked around the room wildly; Hugo, Al and Scorpius were all sound asleep, he didn't want to disturb any of them, especially Hugo, the poor boy was sick after all.
So, he did the only reasonable thing that a responsible adult would do and ran out of the room, only to enter unannounced in the one next to his, which just so happened to be Molly and Dom's.
"Dom, wake up!" Teddy hissed loudly, "Molly you too!"
"Bloody hell...go away Teddy." Dom slurred out the words sleepily
"Get up...it's an emergency!"
He gained no response from either girl, so he strode towards Molly's bed and heaved the blanket off her,
"Merlin Teddy! What do you want?" Molly asked angrily as she tried to grab the blanket from Teddy's hand
Teddy just pointed to his wrist in response
"Yes Teddy, I can see your wrist perfectly well but that doesn't explain what the problem is!" Molly's infamous temper was starting to show slightly now.
"It's not my wrist Molly, it's the band!" Exasperation was starting to show in Teddy's voice as well.
"What about it?"
"Ron from our time is trying to communicate with us through this."
For a moment Molly looked at him dumbstruck, however she quickly gained back her composure and loudly said,
"How can he do that Teddy? We're in different timelines for Merlin's sake!"
"I don't know...but it's my Auror Communication Band and Ron's calling on it." Teddy answered uncertainly
That seemed to gain Dominique's attention as well as she sat up sharply in her bed and glared at Teddy before saying,
"Oh for Merlin's sake Ted, answer it!"
"Oh yeah...sorry." he mumbled as he tapped the band with his wand
The centre of the band shone brightly before going out and beeping once; from the other side came a man's voice laced with worry and concern,
"TEDDY! ...Teddy are you there?"
"Yes, it's me."
"OH THANK MERLIN! Oh my...Teddy are you alright? W-where are you and-and the kids...they're with you, yeah?" Ron was stuttering slightly, there was such unprecedented worry and apprehension in his voice, it almost sounded like he was on the verge of a breakdown, and that thought scared Teddy immensely.
"Ron, the kids are all with me and we're all okay." Teddy tried to keep his voice calm
There was a huge sigh of relief from the other side before the sound of several deep breaths being taken could be heard too.
It seemed Ron had calmed himself enough because when he spoke next, his tone was angry and he sounded downright furious,
"Bloody hell! Where are all of you then?! We've been worried beyond anything...Mum said all of you just disappeared!
Ron was answered with silence from Teddy's side,
"ANSWER, TEDDY!"
"It-it's complicated Ron."
Ron swore loudly, "Teddy you're really testing my patience here! JUST BLOODY TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE!"
"Ron...I know this'll sound ridiculous but...we-we've time-travelled." Teddy tried to keep his voice as steady as possible.
There was silence and then,
"Teddy this is not a very good joke."
"I'm not joking Ron...ask Molly if you like."
"Teddy's telling the truth Uncle Ron." Molly said quietly
Molly was very responsible and hardly ever joined her cousins in their trouble-making efforts...surely, surely she couldn't be kidding with him.
There was a long pause in which Ron let himself be convinced by the truth in Molly and Teddy's voice while the others waited patiently for his response.
"Where are you?" Ron inquired sombrely, "Date and Place."
"22nd December, 1996...we're at Grimmauld Place."
Ron again swore loudly, angrily as he kicked the nearby tree with all his might.
"Bollocks! HOW THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO DO THAT?"
"Hugo's accidental magic and a potion." Teddy simply stated, too exhausted to explain it in any detail.
There was silence again for a very long time before Ron asked, "Are-are you all safe? Is there anybody with you?"
"We're safe, Albus Dumbledore left us here...all of your younger selves are here."
"Of course"
Again silence descended; Ron was terrified, in every sense of the word, he was lost for anything more to say.
"What do we do Uncle Ron?" Dom asked, truly innocently, as if scared of the answer.
"Don't worry Dom...we-we'll find out a way." Ron said with more confidence then he felt, "Listen, I need to tell the others, all your parents...we've been searching like mad for all of you." He took a deep, calming breath, "None of them actually know I'm talking to you right now, I just came outside to look for any clue to find you guys, and I guess I wanted to make sure all of you were okay before I told anyone anything. "
"You'll call us again?" again it was Dom who asked the question.
"Yeah, I will. Just let me explain the situation to everyone else, I reckon they'd want to talk to you after that."
"Okay."
There was a beeping sound once again as Ron terminated the connection and left, presumably to explain their whole predicament to the rest of the family.
Teddy, Dom and Molly just stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Molly slumped against the foot of her bed, "You know, I just didn't realise how much trouble we were in until talking to Uncle Ron just now."
"Yeah" Dom agreed as she too joined Molly on the floor
"I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!" Teddy kicked hard at the bed post, "We are in grave, grave trouble and I was BLOODY SLEEPING!"
"Teddy calm down, it isn't your fault. I think we were all too caught up with the eccentricity of the situation to think about anything else." Dom tried to reason with Teddy
"I'm supposed to be a fucking Auror, Dom! I shouldn't 've been sleeping, I should've been trying to find a way to fix this all and I also shouldn't have forgotten about the sodding communicator as well! But what was I doing? NOTHING...ABSOLUTELY, BLOODY NOTHING!" Teddy was fuming at this point, his face red with anger and frustration at himself
Dom was about to speak, probably to tell Teddy off for over reacting and being an arse, but fortunately Molly placed a hand on her arm to stop her from doing so and instead started speaking herself, "Stop blaming yourself Teddy and as Dom said; we were too baffled to get our heads around anything." Molly gave Teddy a meaningful look, "Now pull yourself together, yeah?"
Teddy took a deep breath to calm himself and then nodded, "Sorry", he mumbled.
"I reckon we should wake gramps and gran, they'll probably call in Dumbledore and I think our parents might want to talk to him."
"You're right." Teddy nodded, "I'll go wake Vic up as well, she'd want to know."
"Alright, we'll meet in the lounge then."
With that Teddy ran upstairs, as quietly as he could to wake up Victoire while Molly (II) and Dominique went in the opposite direction to get Molly and Arthur.
It was ten minutes later that Albus Dumbledore entered the living room followed by Molly and Arthur; Teddy, Victoire, Dominique and Molly (II) were already waiting there for them to arrive.
"I've been told you've succeeded in establishing a connection with your parents in your own timeline?" Dumbledore inquired as he sat down
"Yes" answered Teddy, "It's actually my Auror Communication Band, Ron'll call me on it once he's told the family."
There was silence after that; no one knew quite what to say.
"I think Ron's calling now." Teddy said as he took his wand out and tapped his wrist once with it like he had done before.
There was a light accompanied by a beeping sound, then, "Teddy?"
"Yes Ron, I'm here"
The next voice that came from the communicator was of Harry's, who sounded almost unrecognisably distressful, "Are all of you okay?"
"We're all okay Uncle Harry, everyone's fine." Victoire answered calmly
"Oh Thank Merlin!" he sighed with relief, "Vic, is Lily around?"
"Actually Uncle Harry, she's asleep; as are the rest of them. The only ones awake are Dom, Molly, Teddy and I."
"Oh right..." Harry trailed off disappointedly, before Bill's worried voice floated out of the communicator, "Who else is there with you?"
"There's gran, gramps and Professor Dumbledore here right now."
"Hello dears, you don't worry; we'll try to take care of all the kids as best as we can." Molly put in
"Thanks mum." Ron said, "Now, can any of you tell us how this happened? In detail, I mean."
Teddy and Dom then, proceeded to recount the events that had led them to end up in the situation they were in now,
"...before we knew it, everything went black and the next place we find ourselves in is the Hogwarts Great Hall." Dominique finished
"So you were in Louis, James and Fred's room, yes?"
"Yes"
"And you reckon it was Hugo's accidental magic that caused the potion to spill on all of you?"
"Yeah"
"Oh and there's just one more thing Harry." Teddy started tentatively
"What?"
"Scorpius is with us."
"Scorpius Malfoy?"
"Yes"
Harry groaned despite the situation, "This is just bloody fantastic! Now we'll have to explain this ridiculous situation to the Malfoys as well!"
"Are mum and dad there, Uncle Harry?" Molly asked hesitantly
"We are here, love." Percy quickly answered, "Are you okay? Is Lucy alright?" he continued in his worried tone.
"We're both fine dad. And mum, you don't worry either, okay?"
"Just keep out of trouble and keep an eye on Lucy and the others, okay. I know my daughter's responsible enough." Audrey's tone was very quiet and her voice laced with concern.
Harry then asked to talk to Dumbledore alone and since Teddy was the band bearer, he too stayed behind.
Molly, Arthur, Dom and Molly (II) returned to their rooms while Victoire waited for Teddy.
"Bill and Fleur want to talk to you, Vic." Teddy said as he came out of the lounge, and entered the hallway.
"Mum?"
"Victoire..." there was the unmistakable sound of an accompanying sob, followed by whispered words of comfort from Bill
"Mum, its okay...we're all okay...I-I promise I'll take care of everyone, you don't worry." Victoire too had tears in her eyes as she tried unsuccessfully to console her mother.
Fleur took several deep breaths to try and calm herself, before speaking again, her voice grave, "Victoire, you need to understand...the time you're all in...it's very different from the one you've grown up in." There was a long pause, then, "It's far too dangerous...and you can be unsafe anywhere."
"I know mum"
"Please, just please be careful, be vigilant and keep an eye on all your cousins as well."
"I will mum..." Victoire trailed off and Teddy wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders
"Can you do one more thing for me, darling?"
"Yeah"
"Make sure your sister stays out of trouble...I know you and Louis can handle yourself well enough, but you know Dom...she's reckless and with her in this condition...I just don't want anything to get worse than it already is."
"Mum, I know how Dom is and trust me, I can handle her."
Bill interrupted whatever Fleur had been about to say, "I think Ginny wants to talk to Teddy."
Indeed that was true because the next voice they heard was of Ginny, "Teddy?"
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?"
"Of course, Ginny...I'm twenty-two; you needn't be too worried about me."
"Have you met Remus and Tonks, yet?"
"Yeah...my introduction went quite smooth actually...well apart from the horrified look on my dad's face." Teddy talked so casually, as if meeting his now-dead parents was an everyday occurrence.
"Teddy, stop pretending...you've never been good at lying." Ginny sighed.
Teddy sighed too, but in frustration, "What would you have me do then? It's quite understandable that I'm upset!"
"I don't want you to do anything Teddy...I just...I want you to know that for Harry and I, you're our eldest son and...we love you very much Teddy."
"I know" Teddy said quietly.
"We can't do anything to change things, no matter how much we want to." Harry added, "You have to be brave, mate"
"I know that too", there was a pause then, "Listen Harry, just explain everything to gran, yeah? She'd be worried sick right now."
"Of course"
"Tell Ron I'll send a signal for a call in the morning, when everyone wakes up. I know you all want to talk to them, and they'd want to as well."
"That'd be fantastic."
"Night guys"
"Night both of you"
With that, there was a beeping noise and no more conversation followed.
Victoire just gave Teddy a hug, which he returned gratefully, holding her just as tightly. They pulled away after a couple of minutes and Victoire placed a kissed on his forehead before climbing up the stairs to her room.
I'll hopefully update on next Friday.
Take care till then.