Here's a shorter chapter, but something that will hopefully prove to be interesting for a number of you. Special thanks again goes to the best friend who is constantly willing to edit these for me and point out what I don't need to be typing. You're actually a lifesaver! Please leave me a review when you've finished reading if you can!

Chapter Six
The Future Comes Knocking

"Fred?"

The way in which he basically pinned her against his side was beginning to hurt a little as the entered the gardens, a far more tranquil setting than the one they had just left behind in the den. It was only when they had wandered away from the house that the tension in his arm disappeared and Destiny was free to distance herself from him, pulling her shoulders back a little to stretch out the muscles in her chest that had temporarily been squished in his hold. His posture seemed to slump forward a little as he let her go, a sign of his exhaustion from everything that had happened. She couldn't really blame him; he'd been pretty strong from beginning to end and now he was growing tired. After all, he had managed to escape the hands of the Deatheaters and then put himself in a position of openly standing against a good portion of the Order. She doubted that had been an easy task given how many members of his family were now involved.

Fred did not immediately speak to her, but instead plopped himself down on the small garden bench that Mrs. Weasley had installed beside the rosebush and motioned for her to take the space beside him. The brunette hesitated for a moment before she allowed herself to perch on the very edge with her weight sitting forward on her feet in case he chose to press her for answers the way that the others had inside. But it was the soft smile that lit up his face that began to take away her apprehension, though only just enough to make her feel as though he was not the immediate danger she was so worried about. Nevertheless, Destiny had the feeling that his rescue of her wasn't without cost and she could see in his eyes that there were a number of questions he wished to ask – questions she probably wouldn't answer. Not because she didn't want to, mind you, but because she knew that she couldn't.

"Do you plan on tell-"

"Look," Destiny began, cutting him off quickly. "I appreciate what you did in there, you need to understand that I probably shouldn't even be talking to you right now. The more we meddle in the past, the more we affect our future, and I don't know what kind of consequences this conversation could have."

She swallowed hard as she took in the look of curiosity he gave her. This had all become so much harder than she had expected it to be. She knew so much, but could say so little. Every move had to be carefully calculated and there was only one person who could really help her with it. And she was barely conscious at this point. But even as he looked at her, Fred could tell that she was a lot tougher than she looked. He could see it in the depths of her eyes despite the darkness that surrounded them. Yet he found himself wondering what it as that she was holding onto, what secrets she clung to with such force that she was willing to put her own life on the line in order to come back to another time and set things to rights. And even then, what had happened that would cause her to make such a dangerous decision.

"Can you tell me anything?" he asked quietly. "To prove that you come from the future?"

At this, the girl smirked lightly. "Frederick Arthur Weasley, born on the first of April and the younger of the twins, though most people don't know it. You caused quite a bit of trouble in your seventh year at Hogwarts for a woman named Umbridge, you never graduated and you're still seeing Angelina Johnson. When you can, that is."

The expression on his face went from curious to dumb founded in a matter of seconds, causing a soft laugh to fall past her lips for the first time since her arrival. That probably hadn't been the kind of proof that he had been expecting when he asked, but it certainly appeared to have done the job. Nobody aside from George was aware of the fact that Fred was still quietly seeing Angelina, the girl that he had grown to love since asking her to the Yule Ball in their sixth year. Despite her initial misgivings, the girl had agreed to go with him and they had been rather smitten with one another ever since. But of course, it wouldn't do for people to think that Fred had gone soft, nor Angelina for that matter. She had quite the reputation for being stubborn and sometimes harsh when it came to Quidditch; an image that she did not intend to change so that people could see her with a practical jokester. And thus had the two kept their love a secret.

"How-?"

"You'd be amazed at the things your brother has told me about you."

Fred scowled. "George?"

"Don't be upset with him," she told him gently. "He'd never betray your secrets on purpose. I went to him before I left to ask for something that might help in a situation like this. George remembered that he was still teasing you about it now, so he thought it was the best piece of information to give me that might get you to trust me. Not that you really need to, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

A soft sigh passed her lips. "I won't be staying for too long. If Kyra isn't well enough to travel before the wedding then she'll stay here until I can come and get her to return home. If all goes as I think it should, I'll only see you once more…in this time at least."

"What do you think of those two?"

Everyone else had already left or gone off to bed, the only ones who remained awake and talking in the den were Harry, Ron and Hermione. The fire had begun to die in the hearth as they discussed the events of the past few hours without the interruptions of the other adults, knowing that it was finally safe for them to speak without being overheard. Hermione's mind was still working on accepting in the information that had been revealed to them in the den when Destiny had made her rather bold claim of being from the future. And somehow she was unable to shake the feeling that both girls were eerily familiar to her in some way. They seemed to be roughly the same age as the trio, though she knew for certain that they were not current students of Hogwarts as Harry had claimed they were in order to appease Mrs. Weasley. He'd already disclosed the details of their rather abrupt arrival: a heap of tangled limbs laying on his bedroom floor at some ungodly hour of the morning. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling of ease she had when they were around, and the internal conflict was making her uncomfortable.

Ron, on the other hand, seemed to have almost the opposite feelings about them. Despite the fact that Kyra had willingly taken a curse in place of his elder brother and endangered her life in the process, he was rather adamant that they could not trust her or her brunette companion. With the way that the Deatheaters were running around in the open there was absolutely no way for them to know what allegiance the girls really had unless they were put through some kind of magical test. Unfortunately he had no idea of what they could do. The Deatheaters would more certainly torture them for answers, but after Mad-Eye's pretender had put them all under an Unforgivable Curse in fourth year he knew he could never do that to anyone else. And it wasn't like they had a secret stash of Vertiserum anywhere.

Only Harry was absolutely certain that they were telling the truth, unable to come up with any other logical reason for them to stick their necks out like that.

"What we think doesn't really matter," he told his friends, emerald eyes reflecting the faint light of the flames that was fading fast in the hearth. "We leave in a few days. If they try to follow us then we'll have to do something about it. Until then, we don't say anything. I get this uneasy feeling that they're in just as much danger as we are."

"The entire world is in danger," Hermione stated, always the voice of reason. "But that doesn't prove or disprove their story…even if they know some of ours." She shifted uneasily from her place on the carpet, rubbing her arms with her hands as she drew her knees to her chest and cast a rather anxious glance at Harry. "What if-"

"No," he rounded quickly. "They're not coming with us."

"I second that," voiced Ron. "I don't trust them."

"You of all people should trust them. Kyra saved George," Harry pointed out. "I can't imagine what would happen if Fred was to lose George."

"She never said-"

"She didn't say a lot of things."

Leaning back against the couch, Ron folded his arms tightly over his chest and continued to grumble inaudibly to himself. If there was one thing he hated more than spiders, it was when Harry and Hermione both agreed on something and left him on his own without either of their support. Of course, this meant that they never needed to be concerned with a tie vote, as there was always an odd number, but lately it had begun to really irritate him. They were worried, he understood that, really he did. His entire family was at risk for helping Harry and being members of the Order, and that didn't even include the dangers that came from being named a "blood traitor" family. Ginny was set to return to Hogwarts in September, and though he wanted her to be completely ignorant of their mission he didn't want her returning to the castle either. Hogwarts wasn't safe anymore, not with Dumbledore dead. But what other options did they have? Keeping her at home would alert someone with power, someone like Lucius Malfoy who harboured a deep loathing for the Weasleys and would give quite a bit to see them fall completely.

The three of them fell into silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they pieced together what was to happen within the next few days. Now that they had successfully removed Harry from Privet Drive and he was safe at the Burrow they knew that Molly Weasley's mind would be completely taken up with the wedding of her eldest son, which was to take place only a short while from then. There would be no room for error or second guessing themselves. This was something they had signed on for almost immediately, knowing that with Dumbledore dead they were likely to be the only ones who were aware of the fact that the Horcruxes even existed. If they had a shot in hell of stopping Voldemort they needed to find those magical objects and destroy them, hopefully before too many more lives were lost.

A sudden crash came from the kitchen of the Burrow, a flash of light shining through the cracks in the doorway. All three of them bolted to their feet with wands drawn in self defense.

"What the bloody hell was that?" demanded Ron.

From behind the closed door they could hear a cacophony of noise. Footsteps pounded against the kitchen floor, coupled with the sharp scrape of the table as it was pushed from its place. A groan sounded as pots were knocked unceremoniously from their place and rattled loudly against every surface that they hit on their way down. An exasperated scream echoed loudly through the den.

More footsteps approached, this time from behind. George appeared at the bottom of the staircase with Kyra clinging tightly to his arm to keep herself steady. From somewhere behind them came Fred and Destiny, both of whom had drawn their wands in response to the rather sudden noise that had caught their attention out in the garden.

"I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!" shrieked the voice from the kitchen. "YOU BLOODY WELL BETTER COME OUT NOW!"

In that instant Destiny dropped her defensive stance and muttered a curse under her breath, pressing the heel of her open palm against her forehead. Kyra moaned in fear. Both recognized the voice.

"Oh, we are so busted," the blonde complained.