A/N/- Sorry about the delay. I finally got this finished yesterday, and then I forgot to post until it was quite late. This was a bit long in the making, but I hope it's too your satisfaction. Hey, if you're an NCIS/Tiva fan, please go by Sashile's profile and check out her series. The stories are long, but I promise you won't regret reading them. They're seriously the best fics I've ever read. Also, I you're reading my Doctor Who story, I'll try to be quick about the next update. I know what I want to do, but I haven't figured out how to make it work exactly yet.

Disclaimer- You are so lucky that I don't own Harry Potter. I guess I own Cribbins. I don't think I'll be using him for anything else though.

All the adults had gathered in the sitting room, and were now roughly composed, all by impatient. They were all staring at Hermione, who for her part, was pacing back and forth across the hearth in near tears. She wouldn't stop mussing her increasing bushy hair, and she flapped her hands hysterically every time Ron tried to grab them.

"Hermione! Will you please explain what the bloody hell is going on?" Harry hadn't meant to lose his temper, but he was all too aware that every moment spent at The Burrow was another that his sons, daughter, nieces, and nephews were spending in the hands of madmen.

Hermione sank into the nearest armchair and burst into tears. "It's all my fault! It's all my fault and now there's nothing we can do!"

"Hermione!" Ron interjected, "How can it possibly be your fault. You've been down here talking to Percy and Dad the whole time.

"But it is my fault! I was running out of yarn, so I asked Lily to go up to our room and get me some more. She must have found it and gotten distracted like she always does. She must've been playing with it without realizing what it was, and then brought it down to show the kids."

"Found what?" Audrey seemed to be the only person who had registered that "it" meant nothing to anyone else but Hermione.

"The Time Turner," Hermione choked.

"Oh my Lord," Mr. Weasley gasped. He seemed to have understood something the rest had not. Hermione nodded.

"Cribbins, from the Department of Mysteries said that the Minister wanted the Auror office and me informed of the new development, and what changes had been made," she looked at Harry, who didn't quite meet her gaze, "I was going to wait until after the Holidays to show everyone, but then I figured that I could bring it here and show Harry, Ginny, and Ron. I know it's against regulation," Hermione replied when Percy gave a disapproving snort, "but I thought it would be a good laugh. You know, Oh the Department of Mysteries is so mysterious that it's taken them 21 years to come up with a new Time Turner. I just never dreamed that one of the kids would find it!" At this, Hermione began to sob again. Ron went over to sit on the arm of her chair, not caring very much what his mother would say about his ruining the furniture, and put an arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"So, what your saying is…" Molly gulped, "You're saying that the children are lost because they have gone somewhere else in time?" Again, Hermione nodded.

"But even if Lily did find the Time Turner and used it, how does that explain the others' disappearance? You and I were both wearing the Time Turner when we went back in time to rescue Sirius. There's no way that the new Time Turner's fitted on a chain that's long enough to go around the necks of thirteen people." Hermione shook her head.

"It's not that simple Harry. The new Time Turner was designed so that the wearer could take everyone in the room with them."

"So we go to the Department of Mysteries, get a new Time Turner, and follow them," Ginny got to her feet.

"Ginny's right," agreed Ron, "when you and Harry used your Time Turner in third year, you went back through your own time stream. I'll bet that it was following the person turning it. Lily's only been alive 9 years, so that's the furthest she could've gone back. All we have to do is get another Time Turner, go back an hour and sure that no one touches the one that Lily's got."

"If that were an option don't you think I already would've thought of that?" Hermione snapped. "The new Time Turner is different.. It only does years, and it can still go both forwards or backwards, and it doesn't just do the wearer's time stream. It follows their direct paternal line backwards, and their direct descendants forwards. It attaches to the nearest direct descendant, or direct paternal ancestor and drops the wearer where that person was on the day the wearer used the Time Turner, x number of years in the past or future. If Lily's the one who found and used the Time Turner, the kids could be anywhere in Harry's direct lineage since before Merlin, or anywhere beyond Lily's great, great, great, great grandchildren."

Everyone let this news sink in. The children were God knew where, with a Time machine that only Hermione was able to wrap her head around, and there was nothing that their parents could do to save them. Andromeda, the Potters, and the Weasleys might never see their children or grandchildren ever again.

"So. Zere is nozing we can do?" Fleur voiced everyone else's gravest fear. Hermione shook her head, cover her face with her hands to hide her red, swollen eyes.

No, nothing." No one knew what to do, or say, so they just sat, stone silent, and waited.

A/N- DUHN, DUHN, DUHHHHH! Did you like my explanation of time travel? Please review and tell me!

Paz,

Sydney