The Gangs All Here

Saturday morning had arrived, and Hermione felt a flutter of nerves in her stomach as she awaited the arrival of her guests. As the clock chimed ten, she heard the familiar whooshing sound of the Floo network, and hurried towards the living room. The first to emerge from the fireplace was Narcissa, followed by Draco, Andromeda, Harry, Ginny, Luna, and Neville.

"Welcome, please come in," Hermione greeted them with a warm smile.

She led the group through her apartment and into her library. Luna and Neville, having never been to the apartment, gasped in wonder at the sight of the towering bookcases and inviting armchairs.

"Oh, Hermione, this is incredible!" Luna exclaimed.

"I know, right? It's like something out of a fairy tale. It reminds me of that movie we watched last year. What was it, oh yeah, Beauty and the Beast. This seems like something Belle would've created," Neville added.

Hermione beamed at their compliments, happy to share her home with her friends.

They followed her through the library and into the secret passage that opened up into her laboratory. As they entered, everyone, with the exception of Narcissa and Draco, was shocked at the sight of the Way Back Machine and various magical instruments, items and books throughout the space.

"Whoa, Hermione, what is all this?" Harry asked, looking around in wonder.

"This is where I've been doing my research," Hermione explained, "and where we'll be conducting our investigation."

Everyone settled into the comfortable chairs and couches Hermione had set up, facing towards the Way Back Machine and a large whiteboard on wheels she had positioned near it.

Ginny, ever straightforward, was the first to speak up. "Alright, Hermione, what is going on? You contacted us with a vague message asking for help, and now you've led us to a secret laboratory. This is super cool, by the way, but what's the deal?"

Hermione gave a small smile and said, "Well, Narcissa and I have discovered that someone has been manipulating the timeline. We're currently in an alternate timeline."

The group sat in stunned silence, and Hermione could see the shock on their faces. She continued, "Everything started when Narcissa approached me about investigating how Bellatrix ended up the way she did."

"I am a natural Legilimens and was able to hear Bellatrix's thoughts at the moment of her death. It seemed like she was confused how she got there and what she was doing, and there was a sense that some dark spell had broken." Narcissa chimed in.

Hermione moved towards the whiteboard and began to sketch out the timeline, explaining everything they had discovered so far. She talked about how Narcissa and her went back in time and discovered Rodolphus using Amortentia on Bellatrix, and in another alternate timeline that only she and Narcissa seemed to remember, Bellatrix married Rodolphus despite not being interested in men and joined the Dark Lord, immediately after graduating Hogwarts.

She continued, "When we prevented Rodolphus' actions, the timeline adjusted closer to the original timeline. However there is a second point where Bellatrix fell under the influence of a compulsion. Given we are still calculating a large variance between this timeline and the original, we are still not in the original timeline. Shortly after this discovery we brought Draco into the fold and Draco discovered an artifact likely used by the person manipulating the timeline called the Dominion Ring."

Luna and Neville had listened intently, and Andromeda nodded thoughtfully throughout. Harry and Ginny became increasingly concerned throughout the explanation.

"Finally, Draco pointed out some of the dangers, like the risk of erasing his existence by going back to the original timeline. That's why we need more perspectives to avoid pitfalls like that, hence why everyone was invited here today." Hermione finished her explanation.

Luna's soft voice cut through the tense silence, "Have you considered Koala ex Machina?" The room fell still as all heads turned towards the dreamy witch, wondering what the heck she was talking about.

Ginny was the first to respond, "What in Merlin's name is that?" Her question was met with a collective groan from the group, knowing that it was often best to ignore Luna's more outlandish comments.

Luna continued, undeterred, "It was a technique used to resolve the 1134 war between Wrackspurts and Nargles. A giant koala showed up in the middle of a battle and distracted both sides. They all started laughing and forgot why they were fighting in the first place."

The group stared at Luna incredulously, Harry interjected before she could continue, "While I don't think a giant koala will solve our current problem, we can keep that in mind as a backup. Hermione, what do you think we should do?"

Hermione looked grateful for Harry's intervention and answered, "There are a few things we need to figure out. We need to determine who the time traveler is and their motivation, in order to prevent them from making any more changes. We need to plan how to revert back to the original timeline, assuming we can determine if that would be an improvement."

"To that end we need to determine who has been affected by the timeline and by how much." Narcissa added.

Everyone looked contemplative, each lost in their own thoughts before Harry finally spoke up, "What if we could use our own memories and compare them to see if we've all been impacted to the same degree by the changes in the timeline?"

Neville added, "It could help us pinpoint where and when the changes were made and how it affected each of us individually."

Harry sat forward in his seat. "And it would help us potentially narrow down the motivation of this unknown time traveler. Hermione, is there any way to use the variation calculations to determine how much someone has been affected by the timeline change?"

Hermione's eyes lit up with interest. "I think it's possible," she said, starting to rapidly draw on the white board and muttering to herself. "If we incorporate some numerology algorithms to my variation equation and account for the variation from the rough estimate of when Bellatrix's second compulsion occurred, we could likely have that ability."

"How long would it take to implement?" Draco asked, watching as Hermione's hand flew across the white board.

"A few hours," Hermione replied, not looking up from her work. "But it's worth a shot."

Andromeda, who had been quiet for most of the meeting, spoke up. "I hate to cut this short, but I need to pick Teddy up from the Weasleys. Can we reconvene tomorrow afternoon? It would give Hermione time to implement her new algorithms."

"Of course," Hermione replied, barely glancing up from her work. "I'll have the calculations ready by then."

The group began to file out of the lab, all lost in thought about the enormity of what they just learned. Hermione, however, was already engrossed in her work, typing furiously at the console.

Narcissa hesitated at the door, looking back at Hermione "Are you sure you don't need any help?" she asked, reluctant to leave the younger woman.

Hermione smiled brightly up at her. "I'm fine, Narcissa. Go home and get some rest."

###

The team had gathered in Hermione's lab on a Sunday afternoon, their anticipation palpable as they awaited the unveiling of her latest algorithm. Though Hermione appeared somewhat weary, her face glowed with excitement. "I did it!" she exclaimed, sweeping her arm towards the console. "I've incorporated the algorithms, and I've managed to adjust the system to use a single memory to track variations over a person's lifetime, rather than comparing a memory's variation against a baseline."

Everyone looked impressed, and Draco arched an eyebrow in admiration. "That's quite a feat," he remarked.

Hermione beamed with pride. "Now, let's get started." She pointed to the pensive attached to the console. "If everyone could contribute a memory, we can upload them into the system and get started on the analysis."

Neville looked apprehensive. "What kind of memory should we use?" he asked.

"It shouldn't matter," Hermione replied gently. "Whatever you are comfortable adding to the system."

One by one, they contributed their memories, and Hermione initiated the calculations. After a few minutes the console plotted the variation over time for each member of the group.

The results were surprising. Draco, Narcissa, Hermione, and Harry all showed high variation, with multiple significant spikes. Ginny and Neville both showed a medium level of variation over time. Andromeda had low variation for a long time until there was a substantial spike near the end, and finally Luna showed a steady low amount of variation.

Draco frowned at the results. "What does this mean?" he asked.

"It means that we've all been affected by the timeline change to varying degrees, except curiously enough, Luna" Hermione explained.

Luna just shrugged in response. "It's what I expected."

Hermione continued her explanation. "The high variation over time indicates that there have been many significant changes to that person's timeline compared to the original. While low variation means that the person has stayed relatively consistent over time and their lives have not differed greatly from the life they would've led in the other timeline."

Narcissa appeared apprehensive. "What does this mean for Draco?" she asked.

Hermione shook her head. "It's hard to say. But the fact that there is still variation for him with multiple spikes means that he does exist in the original timeline. We don't need to worry about accidentally erasing Draco from existence by correcting the timeline."

Draco leaned in closer to the screen and furrowed his brow. "There seems to be some similarities between our variations. Is it possible to add dates to this graph to help determine what events were either directly changed or affected by change?"

Hermione's fingers danced over the keyboard as she entered a sequence of commands. "There we go. The jumps in variation are now labeled with dates."

Narcissa leaned in to scrutinize the graph, her eyes widening at the sight of a few of the earliest dates. "My wedding day… and a date roughly nine months before Draco was born."

Hermione continued to examine the graph, her eyes widening at two particular dates. "Wait… the date of my birth is one of the dates of variation. But what's more surprising is that I share a date with Harry and Neville… October 31st, 1981."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "The first defeat of Voldemort? The date I lost my parents."

Neville looked somber. "And in a different way, I lost mine."

Draco continued to examine the graph. "The four of us who started Hogwarts in 1991 share September 1st. It looks like we, along with Ginny, share many dates throughout our time at Hogwarts. It appears that we experienced Hogwarts quite differently in this timeline"

Hermione nodded in agreement. "And everyone except Luna shares May 2nd, 1998… the Battle of Hogwarts."

The group fell into a heavy silence, each of them processing the implications of what they had just learned. Harry's voice was strained as he spoke up first. "Does that mean… if we manage to revert to the original timeline, Voldemort wins?"

Andromeda's eyes, on the other hand, grew bright with hope. "It might mean my daughter survives," she said softly.

Narcissa's hand went to Hermione's shoulder, and she turned to look at her. "What do you make of all this?" she asked, her gaze searching.

Hermione's expression was troubled. "I'm not sure," she said slowly. "But it does seem like these dates are significant, and that they have been affected by the deviation from the original timeline. Whether that is indirectly or potentially interfered with directly by our time-traveler, is unknown. We need to figure out what exactly happened on those dates in the original timeline."

Narcissa nodded in agreement. "We should start investigating each of these dates in detail," she said firmly. "We may be able to uncover something that will give us more clues about who we're dealing with."

Luna cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention. "I have an idea. Maybe we should collect more data points. Perhaps we should ask others for a memory to donate."

Harry's eyes lit up. "That's a great idea. I think we should explain as much as we feel is necessary to the person we're asking for a memory, we can't just spring this on them without some sort of explanation"

Ginny nodded, her eyes scanning the room. "Bill, George, and my parents could be good choices. But who else?"

Hermione sighed, a pained expression on her face. "Ron would've been a good choice."

"If he wasn't a complete and utter bastard," Ginny added with a snarl, earning a growl of agreement from Narcissa

"I think we should also ask Fleur and Kingsley," Harry suggested. Andromeda blushed at the mention of Kingsley and said she would talk to him, which piqued Narcissa's curiosity.

Luna said she had someone in mind, but preferred not to reveal the name just yet. "They can be trusted," she added.

Draco spoke up, "I can talk to Pansy. She'll have a different perspective and is very discrete. And we should include Saul. Although, I think Hermione should join me for that conversation. He will definitely want more information."

Neville said he could talk to his fellow professors, which was met with approval from the group. Narcissa and Hermione exchanged a look before nodding in agreement.

"That's a good idea, Neville," Hermione said. "But Narcissa and I should talk to McGonagall. It's a bit more delicate of a situation."

Neville looked confused "How come?"

Hermione cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, during our investigation we discovered McGonagall had been romantically involved with Bella before the time-traveler interfered."

Andromeda cackled in glee. "I knew she would be successful. Though Narcissa, why didn't you tell me?"

Narcissa just shrugged. Meanwhile everyone else looked taken aback at the thought of McGonagall in a relationship.

"I really didn't need to know that," Ginny exclaimed.

Ginny's comment caught Hermione off guard. "What do you mean, Ginny?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's like finding out your parents had sex, Hermione. It's just… weird."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Ginny, with seven children, it's pretty clear that your parents have an active sex life. There's nothing weird about it."

Ginny grumbled something about magical storks as the group finalized their assignments for the week. They agreed to reconvene the following Saturday with any additional memories they had uncovered.

As the group dispersed, Hermione took Narcissa's hand and led her to the kitchen. "Stay for dinner," she insisted, "it'll give us a chance to catch up properly."

Narcissa hesitated for a moment before nodding her agreement. "Alright," she said softly, "but only if you promise we'll see each other again before Saturday."

Hermione smiled, pulling Narcissa into a tight embrace. "Of course we will," she reassured her, "we'll have to meet with McGonagall before then at the very least."

Narcissa looked up at her with a mischievous glint in her eye. "That's not exactly what I meant," she teases.

Hermione's cheeks turned pink as she realized what Narcissa was implying. "Oh," she stammered, "I, uh, well, I mean… I would like that."

Narcissa chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to Hermione's lips. "Good," she murmured, "because I would too."