DISCLAIMER. None of the characters used are a creation of mine. They belong solely to JK Rowling.

'You're from the future,' he mumbled, dumbfounded.

Harry stepped up to explain upon seeing the terror in Hermione's eyes, afraid she would lose her brother's acceptance. 'We came here from the year 2000.'

All colour drained away from Rab's face, 'Voldemort is still alive? Twenty three years later and he's still alive?'

Harry nodded solemnly, 'He vanished in October 1981 but returned in the year 1995.'

Rab was in denial. 'No, none of this makes sense.' He turned his gaze towards Hermione who was standing stock still onto the side, her body drawn in on itself. 'Mi, you were born into our family. How could you have possibly travelled through time? It's against the very laws of nature.'

Hermione cleared her throat, plucking up the courage to tell him, this man she loved so much, the reality of it all. 'There was never a Hermione Lestrange in the original timeline. We used an incredibly ancient ritual to get here that simply created an entirely new life for us that would prove to be the most practical and useful for our mission.' She sighed, 'My nightmares started when I was nine, remember?'

Rab nodded his head absently, 'Was that when you woke up in my sister's body?'

Her heart broke at the rejection. 'Yes, that's when I woke up in your sister's body.'

Rab was grasping at the edges now, 'But.. does that mean that my sister.. my Mi, is she.. is she gone?'

'No, she.. well it's just me in here. I'm her and she's me,' she said, begging him with her eyes to look at her.

Rab fell into a chair, his fingers clutching his head tight as his mouth tried to form the words he needed to say.

Hermione squeaked, her voice quivering as a sob built up her throat, 'It's still me, Rab..'

Rab looked at her sharply, 'Where did my sister go when you got up? Where did the girl I read bedtime stories to go? Where did the girl I fixed the ouchies for go? Our parents died so young.. my sister would always keep asking me to let her sleep with me and I never once refused. Where did my little girl go?'

Tears trailed down her cheeks as her throat tightened. She fell into a disheveled heap onto the floor as her chin trembled.

Harry's heart broke as he took in the sight of his helpless friend. He intervened, standing boldly in front of the older Lestrange, 'She is your sister. You would never have had one if not for the ritual. Your sister only regained her true self when she turned nine. Your sister is still here and she needs you right now more than ever before.'

Rab's eyes begged the man before him to understand, 'But my sister.. she was.. how can she.. my.. my sister is supposed to.. no, no..'

Rab's own tearful gaze moved over to the girl, his pride not letting him let go of the pressure building behind his eyes in the presence of a strange man. He felt his breath catch as he took her in.

Her wild mane of curls and her little nose. The same rosy cheeks and the same heavy lashes.

She was his sister but.. not?

He saw her wring her hands in worry. He had never before seen her so out of place.. so uncollected. She mumbled incoherent things as she sobbed, 'Please, don't throw me away, Rab.. I love you.. I'm still me.. please, don't make me go.. I can't.. not without you.. I love you..'

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Harry smiling at him sadly, 'That's her whether you believe it or not. She's not just the girl you took care of when she was a child. She's also the girl that held your hand when you saw your Papa die. She's also the girl that gathered you when your closest friend was on the brink of death. She's also the girl that has loved you for as long as she's known you, the girl who learned to love once again after having been stolen of everything. The lonely girl who found in you her brother.. her family. And today she needs you.'

Rab's shoulders dropped in resignation. Tears spilled over the sides of his eyes as he stood on his shaky legs, dragging himself to Hermione.

He dropped to his knees, nudging her chin towards him and touching his forehead against her, feeling her cold and clammy skin. He pressed feather light kisses against her eyelids and whispered, 'I am so, so sorry, Mi.. you must think I'm a terrible man. I.. you.. I love you, sister. I have been so ignorant. Please forgive me for having been swayed away by the rush of such strange knowledge. Nothing could ever shake my love for you. Nothing could ever make me forget you.

'Mi, hear me out,' he said, making her look deep into his eyes, 'I am your brother and you're not getting rid of me this easy. Okay?'

She moaned out, 'I have been lying to you for so long, I swear I wanted to tell you, Rab but I was so scared. I love you, big brother.'

Rab smiled at her and caught her in a tight embrace, revelling in the familiarity of her presence. He rubbed soothing circles on her back as he murmured, 'Forgive me, Mi, please. Never again must you think I could abandon you without a second thought. You just caught me by surprise, that's all. I love you.'

She smiled at him timidly, the two helping each other up and wiping away the tears that they had shed.

Harry turned around to give them a moment, feeling grossly like an outsider. Never before had the full meaning of loneliness ever crept upon him. He didn't rue Hermione the family she had to tether her but he couldn't entirely be sure about feeling no envy towards her.

If only he, too, could run to his parents and bury himself in their warmth. Sighing to himself in his silent misery, he smiled warmly at the pair.

'I suppose you have many questions to be answered,' he said to the man.

Rab shook his head, sitting close to Hermione, 'This still sounds so ridiculous.'

'It's a lot to take in, I understand.' He pulled out a vial of the truth serum and gulped down its contents.

Rab gasped, 'Harry, I trust my sister and so I trust you. You needn't have gone this far.'

Harry merely waved away his complaints, 'It's easier this way. There will remain no doubts.'

Hermione took a deep breath and called for Blinky.

'Missy Hermy, how may I help you? Should Blinky serve dinner? Everything is ready already, Missy Hermy.'

'No, Blinky, I believe dinner will have to wait. Can you bring us some tea and biscuits?'

The trio spent the next few moments in silence, each recollecting their thoughts before they were startled into action as the little house elf appeared balancing a tray laden with tea and treats. Blinky placed them on the table.

Rab served the hot liquid to the two friends. He sipped from his own cup and asked, 'So, what is your story?'

Hermione sighed, 'There was another prophecy in our time that claimed Harry to be the Chosen One. He was meant to be Voldemort's downfall. Voldemort plagued his life for years before the final battle. The war dragged on for roughly four years. It was only in the last few months that out desperation grew so intense that we had to resort to such grievously unstable magic. We used Elladora Black's ritual to get here.'

Rab frowned and looked at Harry, 'Are you related to James Potter in the future?'

Harry smiled inspite of himself, thinking of his father's messy hair and his mischievous eyes, 'I'm his son.'

'That explains a lot. You look exactly like your father.'

Harry broke into a quiet laughter, almost transported back to simpler times when he had only just heard it so many times how uncannily similar he looked like his father. 'I have heard that one time too many.'

Hermione threaded her fingers with his, comforting him with her warmth.

'I am Harry James Potter, son to Lily and James Potter,' he said wistfully.

Rab chuckled, 'So he did manage to woo the pretty redhead eventually. She will do well to balance him out.' He turned to Hermione, 'Were you a Black, then, since you used Elladora's journal? I'm assuming you had access to the Black library so you must have been one.'

Harry saw the hesitation in Hermione's voice as she refuted his guess, 'No, I wasn't. I wasn't a Black.'

Rab laughed wholeheartedly, 'Thank Merlin or I'd have gotten really worried about the nature of your more than friendly feelings for Sirius then.'

Hermione chuckled, uncomfortable. Harry knew she was terrified of admitting her heritage to him. He balked at the idea of her hiding her identity from Rab. She underestimated the extent of her brother's feelings for her.

Rab asked, 'If you couldn't finish Voldemort back in your time what makes you think you can do it now?'

Harry sighed, 'Voldemort made sure he would survive even at the event of his death.'

Rab looked mortified, 'A horcrux?'

The corners of Harry's lips lifted in morbid humour, 'Horcruxes.'

Rab looked scandalised, 'More than one? How is that even possible?'

'You're overlooking just how evil Voldemort truly is,' Hermione mumbled under her breath, her fingers rubbing against her neck absently. 'He's not one to shy away from deeds so terrible.'

Harry, too, shivered as he noticed where her fingers went. He remembered the night she'd received her scar on her neck all too well. He shut his eyes to rid himself of possibly the worst memory he had.

The night had brought pain deeper than that he'd felt even at seeing his beautiful Ginny's lifeless body sprawled against the white snow.

Get a grip on yourself, he chided himself.

Rab questioned, 'How many does he have?'

'He had five before he vanished. Seven after we fought him last,' Hermione replied.

Hardy continued, 'But we can't tell how many he has currently. We will have to wait for as long as we obtain all five before we can strike at him or the entire plan will fail. It could take as long as 1979.'

'The Cup is one of them.'

Rab rose his brows, 'The one we received after the McKinnons were murdered?'

'Yes,' Hermione mumbled. 'We will retrieve it as soon as I leave Hogwarts.'

'I could get it for you. It wouldn't be difficult.'

'No,' she said with determination. 'You aren't going anywhere near it. A horcrux is very dark magic, Rab. I and Harry have lived with one for months. We can tolerate its effects. You could say we have been desensitised to it. Even then it is difficult to fully suppress it. We don't know how susceptible you would be to its magic. All you're supposed to do for now is keep a track of it although we're pretty certain it will stay in the vaults for decades to come like it did the last time.'

Rab complained, 'You can't tell me what to do. I'm the big brother here, young lady.'

Hermione chuckled, 'Actually I'm close to thirty, technically speaking.'

Harry laughed, 'Damn, Mione, we're old.' He shook his head fondly, looking at her with reverance. 'I've loved you for fifteen years.'

Hermione shrugged, 'I've loved you for nineteen.'

'That's not fair!'

Rab waved his hand before the duo, 'Wait, hang on. Love? That's a pretty strong emotion to just throw around.'

Harry grinned at the protectiveness in his voice, 'Don't worry. She's like a sister to me.'

Hermione smiled gently at Harry and got up. She perched on his armrest, leaning her head onto his shoulder.

Rab wondered, 'So how do you fit here, Mi?'

Harry beat her to it, 'All my trials.. every last one of them.. I was accompanied by my two best friends. Ron and Hermione.'

'The other bloke you kept calling for,' Rab realised.

Hermione nodded her head sadly, 'Yes.' She was glad he didn't ask where he was now. Surely, he'd understood.

'When did it all start?' he directed the question at Harry.

Harry sighed, squeezing Hermione's hand softly, seeking courage, 'I was eleven when he first tried to come back.'

'Eleven?,' Rab said, aghast.

'Eleven, yes. He tried every year after that except our third till before he finally regained a mortal body at the end of our fourth year. I suppose every year was somehow filled with threats to my life in one way or another. It's been a tediously long journey.'

'Surely, James and Lily would have tried harder to keep you safe and protected.'

Hermione gasped.

'What is it?,' Rab asked, looking at the listlessness in Harry's eyes. 'What's wrong?'

Hermione sighed, not sure if there was even a way to break it to him lightly, 'Voldemort murdered Harry's parents when he was just a year old. As a result he grew up with muggles.'

Rab felt an icy chill creep up his back. James. The lively boy he'd seen grown up.

He pushed himself up on his feet, 'You can't be serious. Muggles could never keep him safe. I'm certain the Death Eaters would have come after him following Voldemort's demise..'

'Dumbledore had him under his protection,' Hermione said, quite oblivious to the hollowness in her voice.

Harry cleared his throat, 'It doesn't matter anymore. We can change it all. They don't have to die this time around. They won't. I won't let them.'

Rab regarded the man before him carefully, his respect for his bravery multiplying tenfold.

'But you must only have been teenagers when the second war broke out?'

'I was seventeen,' Harry replied numbly.

'Seventeen and the weight of the world on your shoulders,' Rab muttered. 'How could Dumbledore allow this to happen?'

'Dumbledore was dead.'

Another shocked silence fell as Rab considered everything. 'Just how much did you two lose that it sent you hurtling back to a strange time with stranger people?'

'Everything from our family to our humanity,' Hermione whispered, her mind picturing a handsome blond man begging her and Harry to end his life just so they could have another chance at restoring the goodness in the world.

'Who else knows?'

'Nobody.'

The trio sat in stunned silence, their tea long forgotten as the grey clouds rolled over the countryside, the thunder rumbling like a monster beckoning them to fight.

Harry perked up suddenly, hell bent on breaking out of the gloom that had settled in, 'Remember how we were supposed to go spend a day somewhere in Muggle London after we'd got the ring?'

Hermione mumbled, 'But things never work out the way we want them to, do they?

He smiled wryly, 'We could go now. I bet,' his gaze shifted to Rab, 'you will enjoy yourself too.'

Rab seemed a little hesitant, 'Will it be safe?'

'Nobody would recognise you in Muggle clothes even with your aristocratic manners,' he snorted. 'Let me rephrase. Nobody would expect you to be out and about in Muggle streets.'

Rab shrugged his shoulders, 'At this hour?'

Hermione laughed softly, 'Muggle London doesn't go to sleep at eight in the evening, dear brother.'

She waved her wand, transfiguring the men's robes into simple cargo shorts and t-shirts and turning her own into a dress.

Rab chuckled, 'Well, this is strange. I bet Rodolphus would flip if he saw us like this.'

'All the more reason to do it.'

Harry led the two outside, holding out his arms to the siblings and Apparating them away to a dark alley. A temporary escape sounded like the best thing in the world at the moment.

Harry smirked, 'Let's go show Rab how the other side lives, eh?'

Hermione felt truly excited in a very long time. She almost jumped up in her exhuberance, following Harry out to the bustling street.

Rab hesitated only a moment, smiling to himself at the fondness in Harry's voice, and falling into step behind the duo. He had been to Muggle towns before but never at night and certainly never when the air was brimming with such intense emotions of cheerfulness.

The crowd almost terrified him, their boisterous cries shutting away everything else. He felt for his wand, unable to explain to himself the terror he felt at being so misplaced.

He slolwy eased himself back into comfort as he followed Harry who led them to the entrance of what seemed something like a fair. Rab had only heard of carnivals but never really been allowed to attend one given the status of his family. So it came as a wonder when he entered the grandly lit place and lost himself in the beautiful display of lights around him.

Sure, there were no flying broomsticks or singing canaries or glittering fairies like he'd heard about but a Muggle carnival, he realised, was no less magic than the one you'd expect in the wizarding world.

He stared at his surroundings in awe. He had never seen something so jubilantly alive. Grandiosity was certainly not a new concept but happiness at such silly things definitely was.

Harry chuckled, sweating profusely, 'Scorching hot summer day. Typical for a trip to a fair.'

Hermione giggled, 'Come on, Rab!'

She pulled him deeper into the crowd. Faint music could be heard from beyond. There were occasional gleeful screams that would suddenly pierce the air. Looking at their source Rab realised that he didn't quite know what the massive structures in the distance were.

Harry laughed at his befuddlement, 'Those are rides. Almost as exhilarating as Quidditch, or so I imagine.'

Hermione nudged Harry's shoulder lightly, and answered the unworded question in Rab's eyes, 'You could say it's the first time for both of you. The Dursleys, the muggles Harry grew up with, never really let him go out all that much.'

Harry pointed out each ride, 'That is what you call a rollercoaster. There's the ferris wheel and the helter skelter. And way over there behind the fountain is what you call a..'

The night sky was painted by the vibrant stalls and booths on either side of the trio. Rab walked up to one of the stalls, making his way through the queue and picking up three glasses of mulled wine as Harry paid the man selling the glasses with Muggle money. He took the few bills Harry pressed into his palm for later.

Hermione bought them some cotton candy and ice cream. Her ice cream wobbled perilously over the cone and dripped down her fingers as she twirled round and round. Harry munched onto the balls of sugar strands that dissolved on his tongue, sticking to his teeth better than glue.

'This is delicious,' Rab muttered, stuffing himself with the treats.

They soon lined up to await their turn at the Ferris Wheel standing amidst mindless chatter. The normalcy of the night almost unnerved Hermione but nothing could chase away the twinkle in her eyes. She hadn't felt this free in almost a decade. It felt good to prop herself onto the railing and tip her head backwards, feeling the wind ruffle through her hair. Not even the queasy feeling in her belly from the enormous ride could quench her thirst for adventure that night.

She giggled as she took in the expression on Rab's face. She wouldn't deny how he looked just like a kid who'd been gifted with a lot of candy.

They bundled into the car, sitting down side by side. Harry was overcome with giddiness as he stuck his spectacled eyes against the window, his hands pressed against the glass. Rab was no different. As the wheel moved and took them higher and higher, Hermione, too, couldn't help herself. She got up on her feet, staring down at the tiny dots of light that whizzed past across the roads.

Everything was so miniscule.. so small. She felt peace at last. So far away up in the sky. Not even her fear of heights prevailed. All she knew was she was away from the darkness that was always waiting to strike.

She was away from Voldemort and his scheming ways.

She was with her family. Her two brothers she loved more than anything in the world.

Harry whispered, 'Is this what it feels like to be happy?'

'I wish every day was as magical as this,' Hermione agreed.

'So says the witch,' Harry snickered.

Rab mumbled, 'Muggles can fly!'

Hermione's soft tinkering laughter filled the car. 'Muggles have done things wizards haven't even begun to think about. They have taken humanity over to the stars, Rab.'

She hummed under her breath, an old tune her mother used to listen to, 'Fly me to the moon.. let me play among the stars.'

Hardy waved his wand and saw her eyes light up as the voice of Frank Sinatra filtered in, enveloping them in a warm embrace of the summer night.

With a jolt the wheel moved again and the trio helped each other out. They walked around the park in circles, letting Rab devour everything he saw.

They made a beeline for the bonfire when they found themselves somewhere in the middle of the carnival. There was loud music playing as people danced around the burning fire, holding onto each other.

Rab looked up to find a petite redhead smiling at him shyly. He let her drag him away, hesitantly wrapping his arms lightly around her waist.

Harry laughed at the strange sight, pulling Hermione along too. Flames rose boldly against the black sky casting a red and gold glow to the people milling around it. The wind glided away with the grey plumes. The fragrance of the woody flame invaded Hermione's nostrils as she began swaying to the music.

Rab once again gravitated towards them as the sky was suddenly lit with hundreds and hundreds of sparkling lights. The burning colours drew for them a beautiful visage.

The war couldn't reach the hubub that night. The fiery blooms free and unbridled in the moonless night sky.

Untouched. Untainted. Unmarked.

Hermione felt her fingers entwine with those of Harry's and Rab's.

'I wish we could stay here forever,' she murmured.

Harry looked down at her, 'Maybe one day, yeah?'

She nodded, 'One day.' It was a promise.

Rab maintained his silence and lightly pulled them away. He hated himself for bursting their bubble but real life wouldn't wait for them forever.

As the trio made its trek back to the dark alley there was not a word that was spoken. The three spun away into the darkness, once again arriving at the French border under the still rumbling clouds.

Blinky appeared before them, offering dinner but they politely declined.

Before the night ended, however, Rab asked the one thing that had been haunting him since the moment he'd found out the pair's secret.

He looked apprehensively at Hermione and whispered, 'Was I a good man?'

Her lowered gaze filled him with dread. He couldn't help but wonder if he himself had some unfortunate day tormented his sister. Did he truly have it in him to be so cruel?

He shut his eyes tightly. He didn't know what to think anymore. How could he ever look her in the eye again?

Harry cleared his throat, 'I should leave now. It's getting rather late.'

Hermione asked, 'Alright, will you come over often now?'

Before Harry could answer her, Rab moved forward to clasp Harry's hand in his. He said with conviction, 'No, Harry, mate, you don't have to be by yourself anymore. This family is yours too now. Stay the night.'

Harry felt his eyes brim with tears. Could it be? Could he truly belong somewhere?

Rab hurried to cover his display of raw emotion, 'It would make Hermione very happy, I'm certain.'

Harry smiled at him gratefully. He couldn't mistake the concern in Rab's eyes for anything else. He had just been accepted into their abode as a brother.