Chapter Title: A Sneaking Suspicion
"So Ginny, you've been here for a while and we feel like we still don't know anything about you," Marlene idly flipped through a Witch Weekly while the seventh year girls, minus Hermione, sat around the fire in the Gryffindor common room.
"Well I mean, there isn't much to know, is there?" Ginny tucked some of her hair behind her ear and continued writing her charms essay. She tried to present the image that she was busy and not up for talking, but the girls continued on. She scrunched her nose at the sound of Marlene ripping open a pack of cauldron cakes. The crinkle of the plastic was soon covered by Mary's dainty voice.
"Oh come on! There's lots to learn! And there's a best way to do it, too!" Mary jumped up off the the chair she had been sitting on and dropped down on the couch next to Ginny. Ginny looked up at her briefly before turning her eyes back to her paper.
"Oh Merlin, Mary. Ginny's normal. She isn't going to want to have a girls night. Don't put her through that!" Marlene tossed the magazine onto the table and laid her head along the back of the couch.
"Marls, don't be such a downer. I'm sure this time will go smoother," Lily wrapped her arms around her legs and sent Marlene her best "I don't care if you don't want to, this is for Mary" look.
"Ugh, fine. But there better be something to eat this time," Marlene continued speaking over Mary's attempt at interrupting. "And no, Mary. Cucumbers are not food. Especially when they've been on your eyelids. I'm talking cauldron cakes or something else fattening. I want something real to put in my stomach."
Mary glared at Marlene before turning to Ginny, "So…. Are you in, Lewis? I swear Marly doesn't bite… Well, except for that one time."
Ginny laughed at Mary's comment before reluctantly agreeing to the girl's night. "And with that," Ginny spoke, rolling up her essay, "I'm off to the library. See you guys later."
Ginny tried to keep her cool as she left the common room, but couldn't keep up her solid demeanor on her way to the library. She didn't care how mad everyone was at each other. This was important. Before reaching the library, she made a pit stop at the Room of Requirement and dragged Harry along with her.
"Ginny, why are we going to talk to Ron and Hermione?" Harry rubbed his wrist from where Ginny had yanked his arm as they trecked down to the library.
"We have to have a discussion. We don't have to make amends or something, but it's important that we settle a couple things, okay? Now move away from me," Ginny smirked at Harry's affronted face. "Ron doesn't know about us, remember?
They found Ron and Hermione at a table by the muggle literature section, Hermione working and Ron doodling on his parchment.
Ginny stopped about two feet from the table and awkwardly clearing her throat. Her pseudo-confidence fading in the presence of her fellow time-travelers. "Uh, hi."
Hermione carefully closed the textbook in front of her and looked stiffly, politely up at Ginny and Harry whilst Ron's ears turned red and he muttered a hello in Harry's direction.
"Look, I get that none of us are happy with each other, but we need to figure some stuff out, okay? Hermione. I need your advice."
"Oh, so now you want my advice? Funny, you didn't seem too keen on it a couple days ago."
"No I wasn't. I'm sorry, okay? We all really need to talk some things out, though. You out of everyone should realize how important this is."
Hermione pursed her lips and nodded, her bushy hair bouncing with the motion. "I suppose you're right."
Ginny pulled a chair over from a nearby table and Harry followed suit, sitting slightly closer to Ron.
"So what's this about, then?" Ron pushed his parchment and quill to the side, letting his arms take their place on the table top.
Ginny laid her hands on her lap and took a breath before starting, "I think that people are starting to get suspicious of us."
Hermione's eyes grew larger and Ron felt a flush starting up his neck, "What?" Ron asked. He was hoping that he might have misheard his sister.
"People are starting to ask questions and I don't have infinite ways to deflect them. I'm being forced into a girl's night with Mary, Marlene, and Lily tonight. It's not good. I think that the Marauders are planning to lightly interrogate Harry, too. But you all know Remus-he'll cause us to slip up without even realizing it. We need to decide on a solid backstory with a few details so that we have something to say, okay?"
"Well Professor Dumbledore told everyone that we were foreign exchange students from France, right? We should just play into that." Hermione pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and started to take notes on what they already had planned out.
"I understand what you're saying, but what if they ask us about France, Beauxbatons, or even try to get us to say something in French?" Ginny rubbed her temples.
"Do any of us speak French?" Hermione asked hopefully, already knowing that the answer would be no.
"Okay, there might be some sort of spell that we can use. I'll start looking and see what I can do," Hermione pushed her chair back from the table, but Harry put his hand on her shoulder to sit her back down.
"What I think our biggest problem is, is that we said we were from France, and we haven't been talking in accents…"
"Oh no," Hermione's cheeks flushed red and she brought her hands to her face. "Oh no, oh no, oh no. It's not even like we can start now! It's too late. It's no wonder they've been suspicious!"
"We just have to find a way to fix it, right? So we can change our story a little bit. No one will remember exactly what Dumbledore said, and it's not like he gave a full summary of our pasts in the first place…" Ginny wrung her hands together as she tried to think of a good reason that none of them spoke French nor had an accent.
Ron cleared his throat, "What about this? We are exchange students, but we aren't only from France. Our parents are all really close friends and colleagues and they work together, traveling from country to country. So they were originally from England and they all went to Hogwarts. Since we never stay in one place for a long time, we never picked up any other languages and accents. And since it's our final year of school, our parents wanted us to finish at Hogwarts-just like them."
As Ron spoke, the other three nodded along, agreeing with his idea. It was a clever and believable enough idea that they figured that the Marauders and the girls would accept it without too much trouble. And to be honest with themselves, it truly was their best option.
Hermione smiled at Ron and reached across the table to squeeze his hand before she turned her attention back to the group as a whole, "Okay I think that this will work. We grew up together as kids because of how close our parents were. They were all involved in the same research project so they traveled to different countries together to gather information on different magical and muggle species. Going with what Ron suggested, they brought us back to England for our final year of schooling. They're off in the states right now so that's why we'll be staying at the castle this Christmas. Oh and I wouldn't be surprised if they ask about what it was like to travel to all of those different places and where we've been. Just have some answers in your back pockets. And three places that we can say we've seen are France, Bulgaria, and Australia. How's that, then?"
Harry nodded, "That works for me."
Ginny also nodded her assent and started to push her chair back, but Ron stopped her. "Wait. I don't know why you and 'Mione are fighting or why none of us are talking, but it's pretty stupid. We are all in this situation together. We don't know when we will get back or if we even can, but we need to stick together so we can figure something out. What if we never can get back? We just stay here forever split up into two groups? Dumbledore hasn't found out a way to get us home yet. I think that we should reconsider my idea about searching for the you-know-whats."
Hermione rubbed her hands over her face and started to massage her temples, "Ron we've talked about this. We can't mess with time like that. It's dangerous. We don't know what consequences we will face if we try to do that. And we don't even know everything about them."
"That last part's not true. I learned a lot in my meetings with Dumbledore. I know what we need to know. And I think it's silly for us to not take advantage of the opportunity to end this war before more people die," Harry held eye-contact with Hermione as he spoke.
Ginny agreed with the boys, "I don't see why we shouldn't do this. It will save so many lives, magical and muggle."
"You all are too far connected to this to see clearly! Ron and Ginny, you have your uncles on your minds. And Harry I know that you want to save your parents, but what is going to happen to this version of you if we defeat Voldemort now? You won't get your mother's blood protection as a baby. You won't be marked as Voldemort's equal. You won't have the scar-"
"But I will have parents! You don't know what it was like Hermione. You don't know how horrible it was to live with the Dursleys. They didn't want me. They hated me. I cleaned, cooked, and stayed silent. They punished me for being magical-something that you and I both know I can't control. The things that they told me and lied to me about. I didn't even know that my parents were heroes. I thought they died in a car crash. I was told that my father was a worthless drunk. I LIVED IN A CUPBOARD! Why can't you just let me save them?"
"Harry it's not that I don't want you to save them I just can't see past the problems that changing everything will cause. If there is no chosen one then who will defeat Voldemort. And what will happen to these versions of us if we change the future? Will we just cease to exist or will the future versions of us disappear at the age we got sent back at? There's no answer to these questions. We don't know what we will be facing."
Ginny cut in, "But we do know what we will be facing if we do nothing and change nothing. How can you spend time with all of these people and get to know them, only to let them follow the paths that kill them or worse. Can you really stomach watching Alice lose her sanity, or Peter going dark. James and Lily dying? Marlene dies too. And we don't even know what happened to Mary. These are people, Hermione. These are lives, not pawns of the future or collateral damage. Perhaps we were meant to be sent back. I don't know. But I do know that I won't just sit and watch when I can do something to help. We have the resources to do a lot of good. And ending the war now won't only save people who died in the first war, but the second as well. Teddy could have parents and Andromeda a husband. This isn't a game-it's a chance."
"Ginny you aren't listening! Teddy might not even exist if we change things! What if saving Marlene means that Remus will fall in love with her and not Tonks? Or what if Alice still loses her mind, but because of her occupation instead? There are far too many ifs. We risk too much if we start meddling in the past."
"But look at how bad the future is! Sirius goes to Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, so many innocent people die. Why shouldn't we take the risk? Things can't get much worse," Ron slammed his fist down on the table as he made his point so that he could make sure the emphasis was present.
"What if saving someone you don't know could mean losing George in the future? Or your mom? Dad? Charlie? Bill? Percy? God forbid even yourself? This isn't some grand opportunity. It was a spell gone wrong and nothing more than that."
"Hermione, I love you like a sister and you are such an important person to me, so forgive me for this: I honestly don't care what your opinion on this is. It's three to one and three of us are on the right side. Pull your head out of your arse and stop looking at this as some kind of equation or problem. This time we have received is a blessing. I've gotten to know my real family. I'm not going to give them away for anything. You're either with us or against us, and I'm really hoping it's the former." Harry pushed his seat back with his legs as he stood. The shocked look on Hermione's face was completely expected and he only frowned as he turned to leave the table.
Ron and Ginny watched Harry leave with their mouths slightly agape. Ron collected himself before Ginny and he turned to his girlfriend, "As much as I hate to say it, 'Mione, I am on Harry's side with this one. It's family, after all."
It was official, Ginny decided, that she was in no way, a girly girl. The drinking was good enough, truth or dare was something she could handle, and yes, she would do her nails, but she really preferred to not have food on her eyes. The cucumber slice kept falling off her eye because of her inability to just "enjoy" the face mask experience. Honestly, who really gave a damn over exfoliation and pores? Skin is skin. And she quite liked the calluses on her hands.
"Oh for Agrippa's sake, Gin, your cucumber is out of place again. I have half a mind to place a sticking charm on it!" Before she could protest, Ginny felt Mary's nimble fingers brushing against her skin to fix the arrangement of the fruit on her face.
"What does it even matter? It's not like I look like I'm eighty or something!" Marlene coughed on her drink and Ginny's head shot up from the tiny silk pillow that Mary had made her use. The cucumbers launched from her face and landed about three feet in front of her on the ground. "What!"
"I didn't say anything!" Marlene's face was turning red and Lily and Mary had grown suspiciously quiet.
"Exactly! I don't look eighty!" Ginny's cheeks were now turning the same shade of red as Marlene's face.
"Well um not eighty, but not seventeen either…" Marlene's voice was small, but Ginny still heard it.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Marlene's desperation finally called Mary and Lily to her side. Lily took the lead.
"You just look so old for your age. It's a little weird, Gin. You just seem so weighed down by life and like you've seen so much more than you ever wanted to. Like Remus does."
Ginny was working up a retort until Lily said Remus' name and things clicked for Ginny. She knew that she had a lot of weight on her from the war, but Remus looked ancient for his age and if that's what the girls saw on her, she would need a whole new story to tell them. She grabbed a towel from the bed and wiped the mask off her face before shoving her wand in her pocket and leaving. She could hear them calling after her, but she didn't slow her pace and waltzed through the common room and out of the portrait hole.
A/N: I sincerely apologize for how neglectful I have been towards this story. I would promise another chapter soon, but I honestly have no inspiration for it. I will try my best to get back into gear with this story, but it's kind of a back burner right now. I will have a Teddy Lupin one-shot up soon, though. So sorry again! I promise I'm trying. Thanks for reading, guys. And please let me know what you think-good or bad, I want to know.