Hello Unresponsive Readers!

It's Friday and that means another chapter's here. I honestly love this one, though that might have something to do with the fact that I love writing Rose but really, I reckon everyone'll find this chapter truly interesting.

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to Jo.

Chapter #15

Late For Breakfast

Rose was fast asleep, when something or rather someone jumped quite viscously on her mattress. After almost six years of this disrespectful behaviour, Rose needn't even open her eyes to see who it was.

"Hugo...lemme sleep" she slurred out sleepily.

Hugo had been waking Rose up in this way since he could walk and work his way around to her room. After she had left for Hogwarts, he would often complain in his letters about how much he missed it and how worried he was that there was no one at Hogwarts to 'help' her get up in the morning and what if because of that she missed one of her classes.

"ROSEEEEEE, GET UP!" Hugo said energetically, bouncing up and down on the mattress his sister was sleeping on.

Rose just drew the blanket up over her head in response.

"Vic, ask Rosie to wake up, please." Hugo whined, making a face.

"You know Hugo is right, Rose. Its half eleven." Victoire said as she folded Lily's clothes and put them on a chair nearby.

Rose sat up so quickly; she almost threw Hugo off the mattress, her eyes wide and her hair resembling a bird's nest as she looked at Victoire accusingly,

"Why didn't you wake me up before, Vic? You know I hate sleeping in this late."

"Relax Rose, everyone slept in today. The others just woke up, in fact Al and Scorpius are still sleeping I think."

Rose seemed to calm a little as she tried to pull her hair into a loose ponytail, and looked around, "Where are Lily and Lucy?"

Just then Lily and Lucy popped their heads in, as if they knew Rose had asked about them.

"We're here" both of them said in unison.

"You lot!" Rose said pointing at Hugo, Lucy and Lily, "Go, wake up Al and Scorpius"

The little ones nodded and saluted as if receiving orders from a commanding officer then turned and started walking briskly towards the door.

They were almost out of the door when Rose called out, "Make sure you pour a decent amount of water on their heads before jumping on them."

Victoire shook her head amusedly as she caught sight of the smugly satisfied smile on Rose's face, "You're evil Rose!"

Rose just winked at Victoire before leaping out of the covers and rushing to get to the bathroom.

Rose was spreading some butter at her toast when a ragged looking Albus Potter entered the kitchen, his hair in absolute disarray, glasses skewed awkwardly and his sleepy eyes glaring daggers at his cousin.

"G 'morning Al! Such a fine morning, don't you think?" Rose said munching on her toast.

"If I wasn't feeling so tired, I swear I'd've avenged my beautiful sleep right now." Al muttered as he occupied a chair beside Dominique.

Rose just grinned at him, "Where's Scorpius?"

"Here" Scorpius said through gritted teeth as he staggered into the kitchen, looking miffed.

"Good morning dearest nephew!" Daphne said

Scorpius smiled at that, "Good morning Aunt Daphne."

Just then Molly came bustling in, "Does anyone need anything?"

"No, we're alright gran." Fred (II) smiled.

Molly proceeded to take a seat next to her husband, filling her own plate with food, "So, did everyone sleep well?"

There were several voices answering in the affirmative while others just nodded or hummed their agreement.

Once breakfast was done with, Teddy asked everyone to stay behind for important news,

"All right midgets, there is some brilliant news I have for all of you!" the kids all looked up at him with anticipation "I was able to contact your parents last night!"

"What?" Rose asked, looking delighted, "How?"

Teddy pointed at his wrist, "Communicator."

"What did they say?" James asked, looking worried, "How did they react?"

"It took a lot to convince them but, they took it better than I thought they would..."

"Their worry drowned out their anger." Molly (II) supplied quietly.

Nobody said anything for a moment until Teddy broke the silence, "The thing is I told them we would talk to them once you all woke up and since you've all had breakfast too, I think I should call."

The faces of all the children from the future lit up with joy at hearing this. They all wanted to talk to their parents, they knew how worried all of them would be. The same procedure of tapping the band with his wand was repeated by Teddy and after a few seconds they heard Ron's voice from the other side,

"Hey mate, is everything all right?" Ron sounded worried.

The younger Ron listened to his future self with burning ears and wide eyes, there was nothing much anyone could say as their reactions were almost identical to his own. He had hardly been able to wrap his head around the idea of these children being from the future and furthermore two of them in fact belonging to Hermione and him, but listening to his own voice from the future was just something beyond comprehension.

"Yeah it's okay...don't need to sound so worried, I told you I'd call in the morning."

"I know you said morning but I didn't think you'd call this early."

"Its half past noon, Ron!" Teddy exclaimed confusedly.

"Teddy, I am quite sure its quarter to four in the morning."

Molly (II) was the one who spoke next, "Uncle Ron, can you tell me the time when we last called?"

"Yeah...it was around eleven, I think."

Teddy, Molly (II) and Victoire shared worried glances, before Molly (II) in a slightly shaky voice said, "Uncle Ron, it was quarter past three in this time."

There was a long pause, then, "This means that our time is going twice as fast as yours...I reckon I ought to ask Hermione about this. Wait just a couple of seconds, everyone else is downstairs..."

Bounding footsteps were heard as Ron presumably ran down the stairs to tell everyone this new piece of information. A few moments later, they heard Ron's voice again, informing the others of the newly discovered fact. This was followed by a small discussion which none of the children could make out from listening through the communicator. Finally they heard someone's voice again and it was Ron,

"Guys, are you still there?"

"Of course" Victoire replied.

"Fortunately, there is nothing to worry about. We've just found a book that says that time in different timelines, may work at different paces, when time-travelling; it's nothing unusual." Ron said sounding relieved, after a sigh he added "Now tell me, are Rose and Hugo awake?"

"Daddy!" Both Rose and Hugo shouted together.

"Forgotten mum, have we?" Hermione's voice was thick but she sounded happy nonetheless.

"Of course not mum! I mean, I'm quite sure my facial features resemble to you a lot or so I've been told." Rose had a cheeky smile on her face, "Considering this, and every time I look in the mirror, it would be really hard for me to forget you."

The older Hermione laughed lightly at that and everyone else smiled too.

"But on a more serious note mum, we're all okay." Rose stated in a firm tone, "Hugo's fine and so is everyone else."

Hermione knew that her daughter was trying to put her at ease and take away some of the tension that she was sure her mother was feeling. And honestly, it felt good to hear Rose joke, it convinced her just a little bit that everything was indeed, all right and that her children were dealing well with their predicament.

"I know you can handle this Rosie, just promise me you'll stay out of trouble, yeah?"

"Of course, mum." Rose smiled

"And Hugo, should I expect the same from you?"

"Yes mum!" Hugo said and then as an afterthought asked, "Can I talk to daddy, please?"

"Yes Hugo?" Ron's voice answered.

"Daddy, when you go on missions you ask me to take care of mum 'cause she worries too much...now I'm not there and you're with mum. Can you take care of her for me? She sounds really worried I think."

"Sure thing, mate" Ron smiled as he hugged Hermione -who had started crying after listening to Hugo's words.

On the other side of the table Roxanne and Fred (II) had been sharing nervous glances with each other from the moment Teddy had announced that they would be talking to their parents. There was nothing wrong with that of course, they were concerned about their mum and dad and they wanted to know how they were doing but they were both, also more than aware of the cruel situation that their parents would have found themselves in after hearing of their time-travelling accident. Fred and Roxanne were both mature beyond their years, they knew what went through in their house when April came around and how it ended at the second of May when their parents would drink and cry themselves to sleep. They knew that their dad still found it hard to look in the mirror and that their gran would occasionally burst into tears when looking at George or calling her grandson, Fred. They knew everything and they knew all too well. Hence they had been feeling highly concerned since the start of the conversation.

Roxanne finally decided to brave a question,

"Uncle Ron, can I talk to mum and dad?"

"How are you dearest daughter of mine?" George's jovial voice floated through but both his children could sense the underlying sadness in his words, "And what about Freddie, he's faring all right?"

"We're both marvellous, dad!" Fred (II) answered, "I hope mum hasn't had to be given a calming draught?"

"This may come as a surprise to you but I wasn't the one in need of a calming draught, it was in fact Percy who downed a whole bottle within a single hour of hearing the news." Angelina said amusedly despite the intensity of the situation.

"It was just a precaution!" Percy defensively responded.

"Don't worry daddy, mum always says that it's better to be safe than sorry." Lucy, very seriously put in.

"Brilliantly said Lucy!" Audrey praised her seven-year old who had just quoted her mother in a very appropriate situation.

"That reminds me" Ginny stated quite furiously, "I have something to tell James."

James immediately seemed to sense what was coming as he very innocently said, "You don't need to say anything mum...I love you too."

"I do love you James but that only makes me want to be sure that you do the right thing and hence should be accounted for in your actions." Ginny said sweetly, "No quidditch for the next month!"

"Mum I swear it wasn't only me, Fred and Louis were in on it too." James pleaded.

"Well then, that is for Fleur and Angelina to sort out."

"Don't worry James, Fred will be joining you as well" Angelina said.

"You can't do this mum!" Fred (II) shouted.

"Louis, as much as I hate to do this, you've left me no choice; quidditch ban for a month. And you will not be allowed to touch any of the Wheezes' products as well." Fleur added.

"But mum, Molly and Vic have already forgiven us!" Louis protested.

"THE KITCHEN IS STILL FULL OF THAT HORRIBLE GREEN MESS, YOUNG MAN!"

Ginny too decided to join in again, "And don't think we haven't figured out what the potion in your room was. Even if this whole fiasco hadn't happened, you three were still planning to use an AGING POTION ON SOMEONE."

"You see mum...we weren't actually going to use it. It-it was just an experiment of sorts." James swallowed hard.

"I don't want any explanations, James." Ginny firmly announced.

"If you're all done, can I please talk now?" Harry sounded highly annoyed.

"DADDYYYY!" Lily screamed in elation.

"Lily! Are you okay? Did you sleep well?"

"I'm okay daddy and I slept really well and I've already had breakfast too."

"That's brilliant, love. You don't worry, yeah? We'll find a way to get you back real soon."

"Okay daddy and you don't worry too."

"I won't Lily. Now Al and James, I want you both to behave, stay in your limits and take care of yourselves including your sister and everyone else. I know I can trust you."

"Yes dad!" James said proudly.

"Of course dad!" Al agreed, and then added, "Mum, you keep yourself calm, yeah? I'm worried about you."

"Oh Al...I will, love and you needn't worry about me, just keep yourselves safe." Ginny's voice was thick with emotion.

"Yeah"

"Lily, you be nice as well."

"Okay mum!"

"Now, is Scorpius with you right now?" Ginny said, "His mum and dad want to talk to him."

"I'm here" Scorpius answered.

"Scorpius!", Astoria all but sobbed, "You're all right?"

"I'm fantastic mum! Don't cry please, I'm sure we'll get out of this problem soon."

"We will."

"Son, what have you gotten yourself into?" Draco's dejected voice carried through the communicator.

"I'm sorry dad."

"Don't apologise Scorpius, it really was nobody's fault. Just stay safe."

"Okay dad."

"Teddy?" Draco said

"Yeah?"

"Aunt Andromeda wanted to talk to you but she was going absolutely ballistic worrying about you. Astoria has given her a sleeping draught; I'll let her know you're okay when she wakes up."

"Thank you."

"Take care."

"You too"

With that the connection was terminated.

The air around 12 Grimmauld place could not have been any heavier and tense. The recent conversation had been so bizarre that almost all of the occupants were in a state of shock. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, George and Fleur felt almost unsettled and oddly horrified at hearing themselves twenty-four years into the future.

Draco on the other hand was stumped for entirely different reasons; his older self had just called the blood-traitor sister of his mother, aunt, and that too in no bad context. The world was definitely not changing for the better!

The feedback for the last chapter was almost non-existent and I really wouldn't know how good or possibly, terrible or stupid my story is if you don't tell me. So, please take out just the one minute from your -undoubtedly- very busy lives and share your thoughts about a chapter which you have clearly spared your time to read.

Leave a review, please!

Bye!