Chapter 126: Future is Full of Uncertainties
"What do you think they're doing in the room for the whole day?" Sirius asked for what felt like the hundredth time that day. It had been about twenty hours since James entered Lily's room the night before. "Could they have dehydrated and died inside without anyone knowing?"
"Sirius, don't be so daft. Remember the people inside that room are million times smarter than you. They'll know how to get food and water without getting out of the room." Arabella said lazily. They were sitting in living room together after dinner. Remus and Arabella were reading while Sirius was fidgeting the whole evening. By now his energy level had depleted tremendously and at least he was not hopping around like an overactive rabbit which was how he behaved that very morning.
"But what can two people do in the bedroom for over twenty hours?" Sirius stood up and walked around the coffee table before sitting down on another armchair across Remus. "There is only so much you can do and so much sex you can have in one day. But I think James is quite.."
"Sirius, can you stop talking about sex?" Arabella threw the magazine on her table. "If you talk one more word about them, I'm leaving you two here."
"I would love to shut him up too." Remus looked up from the Daily Prophet. "But there's nothing I can do without my wand." He shrugged. After the entire day hearing Sirius rattling on and on about sex and James and sex and Lily, he was getting quite immuned to the topic and his voice as well.
"What are you three doing here?" Helen Potter walked passed and stopped by the room they were hanging out in. "Where's James and Lily?"
"Mrs. Potter, we beg you to cast a silencing charm on Sirius first before we start talking." Remus said pleadingly. Arabella nodded her head vigorously in agreement.
"Ha. Alright." With a wave on her wand, Sirius' voice was silenced immediately. "I guess you need your wand too." The two wands in Sirius' jeans pocket flew straight into her palm. "There you go." She passed both the wands to Remus before Sirius could get hold of it. They were watching Sirius' horrified expression when Remus got his wand back.
Remus was giving Sirius his devilish lopsided smile when he waved his wand. The last thing Sirius remembered was Remus' vengeful expression when he fell backwards onto the couch, losing consciousness.
"Thank you so much!" Arabella gushed. "Sirius was giving us a nightmarish day."
"Alright." Helen was laughing, with a sense of nostalgia. "So what happened to James and Lily? Hasn't seen them all day."
"We suspect that James might be proposing to Lily." Remus tried to put it across as mildly as possible.
"Ooh! Really?" Helen was astonished. "Since when did James understand something like marriage?"
"In times of uncertainties like this, we don't know what might happen tomorrow." Remus started. "I wanted to marry Stef, but now, I lost my chance. I don't wish to see two of my best friends suffering the same fate as me." He looked out of the window into the darkness outside.
"Yes, I understand what you mean." Helen said with a tinge of sadness. "Friends I seen not too long ago could be gone before I even know it." She closed her eyes, thinking back to the large number of funerals she had attended in the last few years, from her husband, to her close friends and to distant acquaintances. "Well, let them be. We don't know how much time we've left." Helen said with a sigh. "It's getting late; I better get ready for bed. Good night."
"Good night, Mrs. Potter." Both of them greeted politely. They knew that she must have thought about James' father and sister.
"You alright?" Arabella asked, joining Remus by the window.
"Yeah, I supposed. Can't help but thinking of Stef right now." Remus looked up at the half moon. Although Stef was gone for less than a month, it had felt like forever to him despite the pain was fresh as yesterday.
"I miss her too." Arabella said longingly. "I missed the time when everything was so simple and all we need to worry about was school and exams and teachers."
"I've one more worry than you." Remus laughed bitterly. "I've a 'furry little problem' as the way they always put it."
"Yeah, all the girls would think that it must be one of those rabbits you guys transfigured somewhere in first or second year."
"It would be so much better if it's just a rabbit problem." Remus grimaced when he said that. "I think I better get some sleep now." Arabella gave him a supportive pat on the back when left him alone and returned to her room.
What can I do to change the history? There must be some use for my powers. But what exactly is it? Remus thought as he started heading back to his room. "Belle, what are you doing?" Arabella was walking out from Sirius' bedroom with a pillow and blanket.
"For Sirius." Arabella shrugged. "Just thought he might need since we're having our sweet revenge on him tonight."
"Ahh, I see-" -the love and concern written all over your face. Remus chuckled. "Good night."
"Good night and sleep tight to you too." Arabella said before Remus closed his bedroom door. Then she walked passed Lily's bedroom and laugh quietly to herself. Haha, those two are really something. See how long can you guys hide from us. In the hall, Sirius was lying in an awkward position on the two-seater sofa. She placed his pillow underneath his head and moved him to a more comfortable position before throwing the blanket over him.
"Serves you right for doing that to us." Arabella said and pinched his nose for fun. Sirius stirred and the blanket slipped onto the floor. She picked it up and threw it over his long body. "Hmm.. wonder why I even liked you that little bit in the first place." Arabella laughed at her own silliness. "Good night sweet dreams." She pushed back the hair covering his face, pecked his forehead before leaving the room with one last look.
X
"Hey, wasn't that sweet?" Lily whispered to James. Both of them stood up together underneath James' invisibility cloak. He had gone back to his room earlier via his wand to fetch his invisibility cloak before leaving Lily's room.
"I don't know about that sweetness. But I'm feeling a strong sense of stupidity." James commented. Lily had suggested that they should get out of the room to spy on their friends, by being invisible. So after dinner, they left the bedroom silently. No one knew that her room door was even opened.
"Ssshh. Not so loud. Shall we go back now?" Lily said in an annoyed tone. James' temper had always not been good, and after hiding for such a long time, he was getting more irritated.
"I thought you'll never say that." James muttered and they walked back to the bedroom in silence. Within five minutes they were back to visibility in Lily's bedroom.
"So how was that?" Lily asked, looking rather excited like a little girl.
"What is the 'that'?" James asked in a tired tone.
"That little spying expedition?"
"I think it's dumb. I've to be invisible to move in my own house and spy the guests who are staying here. I don't know about you but I felt pretty stupid why I need to be invisible in my home." James blurted out. He walked straight to Lily's bed and climbed in.
"Oops, didn't know it was that terrible for you." Lily looked rather sheepish. "Sorry about that."
"Never mind about it." James shrugged off. "As long as you're happy."
"Jeez, thanks for the company. By the way don't think I didn't notice that expression on your face when Remus was talking to your mum." Lily teased. When Remus was telling Mrs. Potter about what James could be doing, his face suddenly turned a few shades redder than normal with a horrified look.
"No such thing." James denied it flatly. Due to his big ego, he would always deny anything he had done that would affect his masculinity.
"Yeah, right." Lily went into the bathroom to wash up a little before going to bed. "Aren't you brushing your teeth first?"
"After you."
X
"Oh no!" Arabella yelped and dropped her fork on the table with a 'clang'. "Look at this!"
Latest Attack by You-Know-Who's Supporters
Last night was another terrible night for most. Seven Hogwarts muggleborn students lost their families overnight. More than 30 muggles found dead in their homes at one in the morning. Aurors had caught five deatheaters and were sentenced straight to Azkaban without trials.
"That's terrible news." Remus frowned after reading the article. The muggleborn students were not named in the Daily Prophet to protect their identities. "More children lost their families by the week."
"There must be something we can do." Sirius banged his fist on the table and shouted in frustration.
"What happened?" Lily asked. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that the two of them went missing in action for forty-eight hours straight.
"Hogwarts muggleborns' families killed by deatheaters." Remus told the two of them who joined them at the breakfast table.
"Oh." Lily gasped. Several years ago that had happened to her, and suddenly it just felt like yesterday to her. "Oh no."
"What else did it say?" James asked. His voice was deep and filled with anger. Sirius passed the papers over to him.
Two aurors, named Frank Longbottom and Alice Larson, had been caught by the deatheaters last night at Dover Street on duty. There had been no news from them since then.
"Frank and Alice." Lily mumbled, her eyes feeling watery. They had been schoolmates and colleagues all the way since Hogwarts. It was devastating to learn that their friends had been caught by Voldemort's supporters.
Alastor Moody, Head of Auror Department, commented "We'll do our best to rescue Frank and Alice." Their chance of survival would be slim as so far no one had managed to escape from You-Know-Who's hands alive.
"Is there really nothing we can do?" James practically yelled. "It could be any of us who were there on duty and gotten caught? But why Frank and Alice?"
"Prongs, calm dowm." Remus placed his hand on James' shoulders. "I can assure you that they'll get out of Voldemort's hands alive."
"How do- oh, you know." Lily suddenly realized that Remus must have seen them whenever he traveled to the future. Remus had been trying his best to find a solution to defeat Voldemort. But so far none of their plans even seemed remotely feasible.
"This might be a lame idea." James said suddenly. "But do you think you can get er.. Harry.. back from the future?" His face suddenly turned rather red. No one was in the mood to tease them about their proposal at this point of time.
"Honestly do you think I never try that?" Remus asked exasperated. "I've been trying to figure out how I can get him back. I've spoke to Harry before. But the tiny problem is that every single time I meet him, I'll have to explain to him everything from the beginning. Things are constantly changing due to us constantly adjusting the present. It alters the future. Harry was one person in existence that rarely changes in the future." He drank a gulp of water before continuing. "I've thought about the time-turner. But there are side effects. It's nearly a twenty-year lapse. What if something goes wrong? And by the time he returns to whichever time he turned back, he would have been at least forty!" He took another deep breath and continued. "Not to assure anyone or what, but he defeated Voldemort finally when he was eighteen."
"What!" Everyone shouted.
"But that's like twenty years later; so many innocent people would have died by then." Arabella shook her head, not wanting to believe what Remus said.
"Yes, and the innocent people included all of you." Remus looked away and avoided their eye contact.
"Us?" Lily repeated. "We all will be dead by then and it's caused by him?" It's not a good thing to hear that you would be dying so soon into the future.
"So far, this is one future that has been unavoidable." Remus went on. "I'm really sorry having to say all these."
"No, go on." James urged Remus. Despite the fact that he was too shocked to hear this coming from someone he trusted his life with.
"I've seen a range of different life paths so far. But Harry had definitely existed because James and Lily died protecting him." Remus continued, pausing to see everyone's reaction. "Harry was called the-boy-who-lived because at the age of one, he reflected Voldemort's killing curse."
"Oh my gosh!" Lily's hands flew to cover her mouth in shocked. She was not sure if she was surprised that her son could reflect the killing curse or she would only lived to see her son turning one. James placed his arm around Lily's shoulders, hoping to comfort her a little despite his own shock.
"Did Voldemort die?" Sirius asked in a very straightforward manner.
"Yes and no. I'm not even sure of the answer." Remus spoke. "I never stayed long enough to see too much, just fragments of the future. "Voldemort was killed by baby Harry, but he somehow came back to life around twelve years later. I don't know how and I don't know who helped him."
"It must be all those deatheaters." Sirius banged his fist on the table in anger. He was reminded by his supposedly pure-blooded family who could jolly well be deatheaters. Perhaps he had killed another Black at some point of time or another without knowing.
"I don't know." Remus said. "I tried doing something else. It was risky, but we don't have a choice."
"What is it?" Lily asked curiously.
"I approached my own adult self." Remus said with a loud sigh. "Of course every time when I return, he did not remember me. But I told my future self that he must come up with something to allow Harry travel back through time and defeat Voldemort before anything goes out of hand." He looked around at his friends who were waiting for him to continue anxiously. "Despite everyone's advanced magical ability, there was nothing he could do. So if we really manage to do it, which part of the timeline can we go to?"
"When Riddle is born." Sirius said certainly. "We can all kill him off easily if he's just a baby."
"Have you forgotten that the enemy is a Slytherin descendant?" Lily pointed out. "He would have thought of something like this."
"Yeah, and we take him from a kid and bring him up and guide him the right way." Sirius said in an annoyed tone. "As if that would avoid Slytherin from choosing another descendant."
"Actually you know what, that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Remus reasoned. "What do you guys think?"
"Ok, so let's take it we're going to do this." James spoke his thoughts. "Is it possible for you to check out what might happen in the future if we take this step?"
"Okay, give me a few minutes." Remus closed his eyes and disappeared from where he was sitting previously.
"I wasn't serious when I said that." Sirius argued. "Can't you all see I was just being sarcastic?"
"We don't know if that works either." Arabella commented. "Remus is going to check what happen if we actually continue to do this."
Suddenly Remus just appeared on the couch again, looking a little windblown.
"So what happened?" Lily asked immediately.
"That's not a good idea." Remus was panting a little. "Riddle seemed to be able to perform magic when he's still a baby. He seemed to be able to detect us or something and killed us all before we even know it."
"How about if we protect ourselves first?" James suggested.
"High risk too." Remus added. "He had the power to attack us when we're defenseless. In fact, there's a possibility of him killing us with his brain power. The baby Riddle was staring at me so intensely that I could feel a headache coming. I nearly died there." Everyone gasped.
"Told you that the idea was nonsense." Sirius muttered a little too loudly.
"What if we trace back earlier?" James asked. "We can prevent their parents from meeting. Didn't Dumbledore mention that the Riddles were very private people?"
"I try to check it out." Remus took a drink before disappearing to the past. They remained silent, all deep in their own thoughts, hoping to come up with a better idea. After what felt like five minutes, Remus appeared again on the same sport.
"So how was it?" Sirius asked first.
"The Gaunts, also known as Slytherin's last descendants, were private people who kept to themselves. At least that's what the villagers told me. Only their younger daughter, I believe is Voldemort's mother, ever came out of the house. But generally they were not very well-like and people isolate them thinking they were freaks. But on the other hand, the Riddle's family as quite well off and popular. Their only son was a good looking chap, very popular with the ladies in the village."
"So that means Voldemort's mother must have used dark magic on the poor guy. And years later, Voldemort went back to kill his muggle father's family." Arabella was trying to link the facts together.
"That's not impossible either." Sirius commented. "Voldemort must have inherited those traits from his mother side." Everyone turned to stare at Sirius while he thought he was analyzing.
"Isn't that obvious?" Arabella rolled her eyes. "How did you even manage to graduate from Hogwarts in the top ten positions? And even qualified to be an auror with such a low level of intelligence?" Everyone started laughing. Sirius was smart but could be quite silly at times.
"I'm a genius. Just giving this three a chance for the top three positions. I'm just not interested in studies as much as them." Sirius shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, we're brainstorming for Voldemort's defeat, don't try to change topic." He poked Arabella's head with his index finger.
"As if this will make you any smarter than before." Arabella said in a loud and clear voice. All of them just laughed at the two of them bickering like old times.
X
"Professor, what do you think we should do?" James asked. They had gathering in Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts to seek for his advice.
"I don't have as much power as you all do when it comes to Voldemort. I can keep him out of Hogwarts as long as I'm here. But to defeat him totally, I admit that I might not be able to do so." Dumbledore said wisely. "I strongly felt that Harry, James' son in the future, would be a key person in Voldemort's defeat, considering he had done it twice in his life in the future."
"By bringing him back, it might be able to reverse the whole situation." Sirius added.
"I don't doubt that suggestion at all, but even with a time turner, there is only so much we can do. And Remus had not been able to come into close contact with anyone not from the same dimension. We need something more advanced than just the time-turner." Dumbledore spoke while he tried to figure out what could be the best solution. The situation of Deatheaters and Voldemort was getting worse by the week. Just two weeks ago, seven of his students became orphans overnight.