"It is only with the past that we make the future."
Anatole France
Fabian transplants to the HQ hanging on his brother's arm. They had done quite well, but once again they had lost two of their colleagues. They didn't know them that well, they had spoken to each other two or three times at most, but even though they were almost strangers, they were all aurors. They were all working to make the world a better place, free of dark mages. As always, this was a blow to their morale. But they would soon rise again, as they always did. Surely there would be more deaths in just a few days. Whether it was aurors, the Order, or civilians. There were always deaths. The war was wearing them down.
He saw that Remi and Helena were by the sea, but they did not appear to have been treated. For once, Fabian decided to go and disturb them. Untreated wounds could become infected much faster than anyone thought, and the wizards' health was already far from perfect, so they might as well not make it worse.
Never when they approached the two wizards could they have imagined such a thing. It was so inconceivable. He could only let out a weak 'What?' of incomprehension at such aberrations. However, the decomposed faces of Remi and Helena were real. But they could not tell the truth. Knowing the future children of the Potters and Longbottoms? They were completely delusional. And so was he. He had to talk to his brother. Yes, Gideon would help him see things more clearly. He turned on his heels and ran as fast as he could to join his brother. He arrived in front of him, out of breath.
"Grace and Lucas..."
"Since when do you call them that?"
"Those aren't their real names. You have to believe me. They are not who they say they are."
"We suspected it, Fabian. It's not so surprising."
"You don't understand. They were talking about the children Lily and Alice are carrying."
"They're pregnant?"
"They were talking about children who have been hunted down and killed! By you-know-who and the Death Eaters! Children in the embryo state?"
"It doesn't make sense. They can't see the future or anything."
"We always wondered what they were hiding. There was way too much wrong with what they were saying. And worst of all, the woman called the man Remus!"
Her brother stood dumbfounded for half a second before he pulled himself together. Remus? That wasn't a very common name. Even more so in Spain. Why hide under false names if the originals were common? No, their names were rare. And the two aurors knew of only one other person with that name.
"Do you believe my theory at last? The one about time travel?"
"How could they? No Time-Turner would have the ability to send them more than a few hours into the past. And now we're talking about what? Years? Decades? But it's plausible. And then Remi, well Remus is a werewolf. Just like his counterpart. Even if he tries to hide it."
"We'll soon have the answer as to how they did it" Fabian finished, pointing with his head at the two wizards who were rushing towards them.
Lily and James had both gone upstairs to a room to think... the latest news. They were sitting on a bed, facing each other.
"How could we have been so reckless? I don't understand it. We both always took our potion, I had my period -James looked somewhat embarrassed at the mention- we were, we are careful!"
"Nothing is a hundred percent reliable, honey."
"How are we going to do this? I mean... a baby. Now. We're at war, damn it. Every day, we could get killed. I don't want a world where my child grows up in constant fear and without parents. We're only nineteen years old for God's sake! I'm barely adult and I'm pregnant!"
"I don't want that either Lily. Muggles and wizards alike are dying by the hundreds every day. We are part of the Order. We are exposed. I am a pureblood who is against them and disagrees with them. You're a muggleborn. I don't want this world for my child. And even if we don't die, the war seems to have just started, even though it's been years since you-know-who has been gathering supporters. I don't want a child who waits all day, wondering if his parents will come back from the war. I didn't want kids that young. I don't know how to take care of them, I'm barely mature."
"How can we even raise it? We're always on a mission or making new potions."
"I know, Lil's. Believe me, I know."
Both wizards had tears in their eyes at the bleak future that lay ahead for their child. If they knew the future... They were huddled together, their eyes staring into the distance. What would become of them? They had no idea. Sirius and Remus arrived a few minutes later and broke their bubble of silence.
"What happened?" Sirius asked, as the couple's eyes welled up with tears.
There was a blank. It was too long, and it didn't bode well for Remus. Before James could say anything, Lily did.
"I'm pregnant."
The faces of the other two marauders broke down in perfect harmony. They weren't idiots. Everyone knew that a baby in wartime was pure recklessness. And from the defeated faces of James and Lily, it was definitely not intentional and there was no doubt about it. This was not a mistake. They were going to be parents.
"How is that even possible?"
"You want to know how babies are made, Sirius?"
"But you protect yourself! You make sure that doesn't happen. I mean. You deliberately don't want a child in wartime!"
"It's too late to say that, Sirius. I have a living thing in my womb and there's nothing I can do about it. We're fucking soldiers who risk our lives every day! We could all die at any moment. What would happen if we all died and that baby had no attachments. What? What would happen to it?"
"Lily. There will always be someone to take care of that baby. The whole order is not going to die!"
"I feel it. I can feel that everything will never be the way we thought it would be."
"Calm down."
"I'm not going to calm down when I'm pregnant in the middle of a war! You're not the one who is literally going to be unable to do anything for the Order for months! Helena's right, I spend my days throwing up!"
"What does Helena have to do with this?"
"She told us, in a rather... violent way."
James began to recount the conversation they had had earlier with the young woman. While Sirius wondered how she always knew everything, Remus wondered about the few details that had allowed him to find out. Whether it was about Alice and Frank, a hand on the stomach every now and then, seriously? Or James and Lily. Lily didn't spend her days throwing up, it was no exaggeration either. And then discomfort, everyone has discomfort, not just pregnant women. He was suddenly pulled out of his reflections by Lily.
"Speaking of Helena, something strange happened during the battle. Alice and I were fighting, that's what started it all" she pointed to her belly, "but when she pushed us so we wouldn't get the pain, she got it. Full force, I mean. And she didn't move. She didn't fall down, she didn't scream, no sound came out of her lips except a 'hello' addressed to you-know-who. She just stood there proudly, as if nothing had happened. How can this be?"
"Nothing can counteract the pain of a cruciatus" Sirius said darkly. "Not even a potion or a shield or anything."
"But what about it?"
"I'm not finished. There is a legend in my family. When you are exposed to too much cruciatus, I mean hours of torture, by one person, you go mad. The damage is irreversible. It is unfortunately proven. Among the Blacks, it is said that when one has been tortured for hours, by the same person, at the limit of madness, the border is terribly thin, when the person who tortured relays the cruciatus to the tortured person, this one is immune to this cruciatus."
"You mean..."
"I think that Helena has not finished telling us all her secrets, but that yes, she was tortured by Voldemort to the brink of madness."
"Does that mean she's immune to all pain?"
"Not just Voldemort's. And maybe Bellatrix, I don't know. It could be probable" he finished with a grimace.
Hermione and Remus faced the two aurors, who had closed faces. Their gazes were cold, waiting for answers.
"How did you get here? No Time-Turner would allow such a journey."
The two Chosen Ones glanced at each other briefly before nodding.
"We'll talk on our floor. Away from prying ears."
They led the two brothers hesitantly to their quarters. Remus undid the charms that prevented anyone but him and Hermione from passing. It took a few minutes longer than expected, but they made it. Hermione hesitated between the two rooms on the right, but finally pointed to the memory room. The twins entered with a determined step, but they stopped together when they saw how many pictures there were. All the walls were covered, you could barely see the paint. There were many, many people, but some came up more often than others.
Gideon was looking at a picture of himself that had never been taken. The date stamp was 1981, however, Emmeline was in it, as were Caradoc and Sturgis, and Remi and Helena were not. Fabian was staring at a photo with nine people in it. He recognized his sister, of course, she was several years older, but she was recognizable. He also saw Arthur, like Molly, he had gained a few years. Then he looked at the other seven children. Well, children... The older ones were no longer children. The oldest one must have been Bill, he had changed a lot. He recognized Charlie without much difficulty, the shape of his face and his laughing eyes were identical. He deduced that the one on the right was Percy since the other two were twins. The twins looked somewhat like him. It was disturbing to see his family like this, a few years later. He didn't know the last two. The boy must have been the child his sister was carrying and the girl must have been a year or two younger. Did he know these children? What they liked to do, what they hated to eat. He had no idea. There was no date on the picture, so he couldn't really tell.
"It was in 1993" Hermione began." Arthur had won the Daily Prophet's galleons Lottery. Bill was working in Egypt, so they went to see him. He was a curse-breaker at Gringotts. He was very good at what he did, he loved his job. I think he missed Egypt when he had to come back to London."
"Tell me about them" Fabian murmured weakly, under his brother's reproachful eyes.
"Bill, as I told you, worked for Gringotts, I didn't know him very well, but from what I've heard, he was very easy-going, had a great sense of humor but was also serious about his studies. He was a Head Boy, and like all Weasleys, he was very brave. Molly couldn't stand that he had long hair and an earring. He returned to England in June 1995. He was attacked by Greyback in 1996, but was not transformed. Half of his face was destroyed, but that's all. He married Fleur Delacour, a French witch in 1997. Then Charlie, he is the one I knew the least, I only saw him a few times, he was working in Romania, he was taking care of dragons, it was his passion. Molly often complained because she didn't see him often enough, but he wouldn't have left his job for anything. He was the best seeker of his generation and could have made the national team if he didn't love dragons so much. He was also very brave. He didn't hesitate to leave everything to come and fight. Percy was the most ambitious, he went to Hogwarts with me, so I got to know him a little bit more. He needed, I think, to be recognized for what he was doing. His brothers didn't always understand that, but I think he was mostly very lonely. So he took refuge in his studies. Becoming a prefect and head boy was a real accomplishment in his life, he was finally given importance. He turned away from the Weasleys, because he blindly followed the Ministry, but he regretted it. Although the separation lasted several years, he eventually came back and was no longer a power-hungry, disloyal Ministry-worshipping jerk to his family. It was Fred who called him that, but that didn't stop him from welcoming her back with open arms."
Hermione paused, her eyes misty with tears, and her head full of ghosts from the past.
"And then the twins... They drove me crazy, but I loved them very much, as did everyone else. They were the most popular people at Hogwarts. Everyone wanted to be their friend. Studying wasn't for them, much to Molly's chagrin. I couldn't imagine that before, because academics, authority even, was all that mattered. But Fred and George showed me that academic success was not the most important thing. They had bet their life savings on the Quidditch World Cup, they won, but they were given leprechaun gold. But they never gave up on their dream, they were the black market of Hogwarts, but at the end of their sixth year, they got a substantial amount of money, and they were able to open their store, without even their ASPICs in their pocket. Weasley & Weasley, a joke for wizards. Their store was better than Zonko's. They realized their dream, I've never seen them so happy. They were two sides of the same coin, never without each other. Gred and Forge, as they called themselves. They were extremely resourceful, in addition to all their pranks, they created the resistance radio. They moved all over the country to avoid being caught. They too came to fight without hesitation. And then, you don't know him yet, but this is Ron. He was... I can't even describe him to you."
Hermione burst into tears and turned her head away so that the three wizards wouldn't see her. Fabian and Gideon did not move, taking in what Hermione had just told them, but Remus approached her. He turned her to meet his eyes, hugged her, and whispered that she should take her time, that if he needed to, he could take over to explain things to the two brothers.
"Ron was my best friend. We met during our first year. We didn't like each other at first, but then on Halloween night, he and Harry beat up a troll, and we became friends. We were inseparable, the golden trio they called us. Of course there were fights, especially in third and fourth year, but we got through it. Many people envied our friendship. Ron stayed with me, until the very end, we were both still struggling. He had lost his whole family, but was still fighting for what he believed in. I was in love with him, then he abandoned us, I was very angry at him for leaving us alone in that mess, but I forgave him, of course I forgave him. The last one is Ginny. Ginevra, but she hates her name. She was Molly's little wonder, her only daughter, and she was tired of being overprotected. She was an amazing Quidditch player, when she was smaller she would break into the shed door to get a broom and fly. She made the Quidditch team, the first time at the same time as Ron and the twins. Fred and George were beaters, Ron was a keeper and she was a chaser. She could cast Bat-Bogey Hex like no one else, which is how she got into the Slughorn group. She, Neville and Luna were the leaders of the Resistance inside the school when Hogwarts was in the hands of the Death Eaters. She wanted to fight, but Molly wouldn't let her. But she fought. Everyone fights in the end."
Hermione finished her story about each of the Weasleys, her eyes unfocused. These words had certainly created more questions than answers for both brothers.
"Talk about fighting. The last time you mention was in 1997. You-know-who is still alive in 1997?" Gideon began.
"He was still alive in 2002" Remus replied. "But he disappeared in 1981, some people thought he was dead. But he came back to life in June 1994."
"He disappeared? But how? And why isn't he completely dead?"
Remus stopped her with a gesture and began to tell them everything. Harry's birth, the prophecy, James and Lily's death, and everything that followed. He recounted Harry's years at Hogwarts, at least what he knew, and every now and then Hermione would correct or add to what he was saying, but most of the time she remained silent. It hurt him to hear the summary of the last few years, his life at Hogwarts... It seemed so long ago, yet it was only a few years. As he moved on to the Time Jewels, Remus pulled out his necklace and Hermione showed off her ring.
Fabian and Gideon were shocked. They could not imagine the world as Remi, or Remus, described it. It was inconceivable. Fighting for so many years and in the end, it was useless... Their eyes met, and they knew, they knew they would fight to keep this secret hidden and to complete the mission.
"And what happened to us?"
"You died in March 1981. It took five of them and several hours to finish you off."
"You are now the guardians of the Jewels of Time. We were forbidden to reveal their existence to anyone except the third person who wears them, Minerva. We have broken our oath, which means that you are both Guardians of the Secret. If either Hermione or I die, it will be one of you who must wear the Jewel. They are connected to our lives. If you divulge the secret and it falls into the wrong hands, the mission will fail and we will all die."
The two brothers nodded, they had felt the magic seep into them, as if to make the oath official. They couldn't say anything to anyone. Not that they wanted to, because they couldn't imagine what a blow it would be to the morale of the members of the Order to learn that in the future they were all dead, that their sacrifices had been for nothing. It might give them more energy and motivation, but it could also have the opposite effect.
Fabian and Gideon left the headquarters and went back to their apartment, they needed to think. They would come back to the two Time Chosen with more questions, that was for sure, but for now, they needed to be alone to take in what they had just been told.
Hermione and Remus glanced at each other briefly, they were worried. Hel Hogwarts had strictly forbidden them to tell the truth about their role to anyone, but when the two Prewetts were in front of them, they knew they had no choice. But knowing the truth was not a good thing, they were putting Gideon and Fabian in danger, and they were both putting themselves and Minerva in danger. There was a reason only three people needed to know.
They didn't know the consequences of their actions, but they knew there would be. But which ones? Only time would tell. December was well underway, the year was coming to an end, and the next one would be unlike any other. 1980. The year Ron, Neville, Harry were born. The year of the prophecy by Trelawney. The year the Chosen One began. They both hoped that the prophecy would never be made, because to have done all of this, only to have Harry be Voldemort's target, was unthinkable. They didn't know what 1980 had in store for them, but they knew it would most certainly be worse than 1979.
