A/N: A big THANK YOU to my reviewers and readers. I'm greatly encouraged by your kind compliments, I'll work hard to write stories that will be worth your time reading!! Chapter 2 will be in Harry's time. Let me explain some background details first.
Dumbledore was killed by Snape, the Order was now under the command of Mad-Eye and Remus. Voldemort had been organizing killing sprees of muggle-borns, squibs etc. He now controlled most of the Wizarding World, and everything seemed hopeless to those who stand against pureblood supremacy. But they all held the same single thread of hope, because the Boy-Who-Lived was still alive and fighting...
Disclaimer: Characters belong to J. K. Rowling.
Chapter 2: The Plan
Red and green curses flew in every direction. The castle was set aflame by the Death Eaters, students and teachers ran for their lives. Screams and crashes were accompanied by the cackling flames and falling debris...
Death Eaters raided Hogwarts on this particular day, in the middle of night. Wizards in long, black cloaks and masks strided into the castle, and started firing curses every where. The Order of Phoenix arrived just in time to save most of the students by getting them away from Hogwarts with an emergency Portkey. However, some of them were injured, lost, some even died. The ones of age battled their hardest, but they were no match against the Death Eaters. Our favorite trio, of course, fought alongside the Order. They were dueling a dozen of Death Eaters together.
"Expelliarmus," Harry refracted a stunning spell, and rolled over to avoid another.
"Good one, Harry! Reducto!" Ron panted.
The Order's numbers were quickly diminishing. The Death Eaters were unbeatable. The enemies fired Unforgivables excessively; a lot of strong warriors had fallen. Voldemort didn't even raise his wand, he just stood in the middle of the battlefield, silently smirking at the chaos around him.
Mad-Eye Moody was one of the fiercest fighters, he shot down many Death Eaters, but in the end, it took a dozen Death Eaters to take him down. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley were killed at the hands of the haughty Lucius Malfoy. Bill and Charlie and Percy fought a brave fight, but was horribly killed by Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. Fred and George died together at the claws of Greyback and McNair. Tonks and Remus fought side by side, and took down many, however, Tonks was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, who cackled madly because, quote, "I KILLED THE BLOOD TRAITOR'S DAUGHTER, THE WEREWOLF'S MATE, HAHAHAHHA!" Remus tried to avenge his lover's death, but was put into a fierce duel against Severus Snape.
"Prepare to die, werewolf," Snape drawled, "For SO many years, you and your PRECIOUS friends tormented me, you separated Lily and I, dragged my life into mud."
"It was NOT my fault, Severus," Remus reasoned.
"Doesn't matter. Crucio!" Snape cried as Remus writhed in pain on the floor.
"Snivellus..." Remus uttered, gritting his teeth in pain, "Sirius and James are twice the man you are. You chose the way of a Death Eater, Lily was NEVER in love with you. She confided to me she loved James ever since fifth year. How could you kill Dumbledore? How could you fight WITH the MONSTER who killed your so-called only love?"
"Because there was no reason for me to live without her. And I'm going to give you the liberty to die at the hands of your BEST friend. Wormtail. Come." Peter Pettigrew appeared next to Snape.
"Only silver can kill a werewolf. Strangle him," ordered Snape, and left, joining the duel between Lucius Malfoy and Dedalus Diggle.
"Peter, please," pleaded Remus.
"I'm… so… sorry, Moo… Moony, I have no… choice…" he held out his silver hand, and a horrible strangled scream followed.
Harry was dueling behind Remus, as he stunned a Death Eater, he saw Remus killed by Peter Pettigrew, the same person that betrayed his parents, he yelled, voice thick of rage and fury, "NO!" And ran towards Peter Pettigrew, ready to commit a murder.
Hermionie stopped him and said to him, "We have to retreat. Our numbers are quickly thinning, and we have to save the rest of the students. Harry, listen to me, we have to RETREAT now."
Reluctantly, Harry followed Hermionie and apparated back to the Order headquarters.
There were not many survivors, the Weasleys suffered a terrible loss. Neville, Ginny, Luna and the trio sat around the living area, gazing at the dancing flames ahead. There were tears, injuries… but no one spoke for several hours.
Suddenly, Harry stood up and said, in a defeated tone, "It's no use. Even if Voldemort's RIGHT here, we can't kill him. The horcruxes cannot be tracked down, we only found 4 out of 7 of them. And destroyed only two. Nagini may be one. And I destroyed the diary and Dumbledore destroyed the ring, and we still can't find the real locket. The Hogwarts artifacts are nowhere to be found. The last time anyone saw them, was sixteen years ago."
"So… time travel back sixteen years ago, and tell that bloody git who had the artifacts last, to destroy it." Ron muttered.
"Ron. Stop joking around. This is no joking matter…" Hermionie stopped mid-sentence, "Wait… that might actually work."
"What?" Ron and Harry simultaneously exclaimed.
"Look. I've read a book."
"Big surprise," Ron sniggered.
"Shut up, Ron. I've read a book on time travel, since you know, I needed the time-turner in third year, and I wanted to know more about it. It is impossible to time travel back more than 24 hours…"
"Then WHAT'S THE POINT IN MENTIONING THIS?" Harry asked.
"Can you two let me continue? But soul transference is possible with a certain ancient spell."
"Soul transference?"
"Yes, you can transfer your soul back to let's say, your body eighteen years ago and vice versa, then you can warn the ex-Order to keep an eye on the artifacts and destroy it. Even if we can't track it down right away, there will be 16 more years for the Order to track down all horcruxes."
"Why can't we tell them to kill Voldemort right then? Why do we have to wait 16 years?" Harry asked.
"BECAUSE remember the prophecy? Neither one shall live while the other survives. It HAS to be YOU who kill Voldemort. AND I DOUBT your magical abilities will be THIS advanced when you were a baby. Your physical body and magical development will not be sufficient to kill a DARK LORD."
"Okay, okay, I see your point…" Harry's eyes suddenly lit up, "Hey! If I can travel back, I'll… see my… parents…"
"Yes. Harry, that would be the idea," Hermionie smiled.
"Hey, Harry, YOU can tell them about the traitor Pettigrew, and your parents can live!" Ron exclaimed animatedly.
Harry's mind swirled with happiness, he might even save all the lives of those who fought for the war. His parents, Sirius, Remus, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George…
"No, Harry. You can't tell your parents that," Hermionie said.
Harry's fantasy shattered. "WHY NOT? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY LIVES THAT WE COULD SAVE? RON, YOUR FAMILY! MY FAMILY!"
Ron was on Harry's side this time, "YES! YES! WHY CAN'T WE DO THAT?"
"Yes. I meant that we could save other people's lives. Yes. That would be precisely the plan. But we can save everyone else, including Ron's family, Sirius, Remus, Tonks… but not your parents, Harry."
Harry shook with fury, "WHY NOT?"
"Harry, I'm sorry, if… your mother doesn't die… you won't be protected by her blood and love, and you won't "have the power the Dark Lord knows not". You know you can't, Harry. You can't tell them about Pettigrew's betrayal. If we could find and destroy the artifacts early on, we can kill Voldemort when you were, perhaps, in fifth year, or something. But you just CAN'T stop the betrayal. Harry, please…"
"THE PROPHECY? Since when did you believe in BLOODY prophecies, Hermionie? WHO WAS THE ONE WHO RAN OUT DURING DIVINATION CLASS? WHO WAS THE ONE WHO SAID THE DIVINATION IS JUST A USELESS SUBJECT? WHO WAS THE ONE WHO SAID THAT THE WOMAN WHO MADE THIS PROPHECY WAS A FRAUD?" Harry slammed his fist on the table.
"I KNOW what I said. But prophecies that were recorded in the Department of Mysteries are different. There is a REASON for them to be recorded in the Ministry, and even DUMBLEDORE believed it. Please, Harry, for other hundred people we love and care about."
"If I may say something," Ginny spoke in a small voice, "I would say that transferring souls is a cool idea, but what are we 16 years ago? BABIES. Who in their right mind would believe in a couple of babies? They might think that we're possessed or something."
"Look. I've thought it all out," Hermionie explained, "Harry and Ron will go, as their parents will probably be the closest to the Order, I'll stay here at the headquarters with Ginny and Neville and Luna, and then we use the Time Window spell to show the original Order what's going on in the future and that'll be enough proof."
"I want to see my parents as well," Neville whispered.
"And I WANT TO see my parents ALIVE too," Ginny stomped her feet.
"Yes. It will be very interesting to go back in time, my father always said that there were many more nargles in the past than now, they're starting to extinct, you know?" Luna said in her dreamy voice.
"Don't you think I want to go as well, who knows what these two will be like when they're back in their one-year-old bodies, probably pooping in their diapers…" The others sniggered, "but it is a risk, sending them back, I don't know if the spell might actually work. The teachers who survived are too old to travel back and I really really think we should stay here, if something happens to them, we can send reinforcements. Neville, Ginny, Luna, if you want to see your parents, you'll see them through the Time Window spell, and talk to them, right? And if anything happens to them, we'll send you guys first, okay?"
Neville, Ginny and Luna nodded unenthusiastically.
"People, we haven't even decided if we're going, and WHAT we'll be saying if we're really going?" Harry said.
"Let's put it to a vote then," Ron said, "Those who think we should do this?"
All of them, including Harry, raised their hands.
"And should we tell them about Peter Pettigrew's betrayal? And their deaths? So that everyone will be put in an morbid mood, or might think of us as hooligans, or ultimately, not able to kill You-Know-Who?"
"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! If you put it like that, I guess we can't tell them about the betrayal, nor their deaths…" Harry finally gave in.
"Great," Hermionie clapped her hands, "There're much to prepare…" she muttered, scurrying away to write down a list of things to do before the soul transference.
"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Ron asked Harry.
Harry shrugged dejectedly, "I don't know. I really don't know."
A/N: Ta-da! Chapter two. A rather serious and heavy chapter. But after this chapter, it will be more light-hearted, and definitely funnier! Next chapter, Sirius the nanny, in action!