The paradox of trauma is that it has both the power to destroy and the power to transform and resurrect. - Peter A. Levine
Hermione watched as Ron lifted himself from Malfoy's body, he took baby Rose from her and holding her sleeping body to his shoulder, walked back into the tent without speaking a word.
She had seen that look many times before, he needed a moment, as Harry tried to follow him she held out an arm, and meeting his gaze she shook her head. "Let him calm down."
Rose moved forward her eyes still focused on Ron's receding figure, she unstoppered a small vial and placed it against Malfoy's bleeding lips. Almost immediately the swelling reduced and the abrasions left by Ron's fists began to clear up.
"What happened?" Harry demanded, "And why are you here Malfoy?" He said to the wounded blonde.
"I came here with this one, stood outside minding my own business, Weaselbee just went fucking feral, think he's got rabies…"
Rose slapped him hard across the face not flinching as he cried out in pain, "Shut the fuck up, I heard you provoke him. He is 20 times the man you will ever be…"
She took a deep breath before addressing them. "When I touch people or they touch me the timelines merge, and people see the parts of the alternative lives they would have had, that they maybe don't want to see…" Her face looked grey. "He just saw his death…"
Harry and Hermione shared a concerned look, "Was it bad…" Harry asked tentatively, Hermione suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. The dim one indeed.
Rose nodded before standing up, "I can normally control the merging, but when I get upset or angry it slips out sometimes, no one should have to see what he had to see."
"Well, you know what they say about Karma…" Malfoy sneered, his smug facade still on full display.
Rose's boot impacted his nose bursting it open for a second time.
"That's karma, now stay the fuck down and don't speak unless spoken to or to shout that He is here."
"Vat abut fenix tears"
"When you learn to behave like someone who has morals and empathy I'll give you the phoenix tears until then sit the fuck down and shut up, your true colours are shining Draco..."
Rose gestured for them to return to the tent.
Ron was sitting at the table, he had transfigured one of the dining table chairs into a rocking chair and was rocking methodically back and forth. Baby Rose was wide awake sitting on Ron's lap he held her facing him, his thumbs under her shoulder blades and his fingers supporting her head, she watched him intently smiling widely.
Hermione knelt next to Ron and placed a hand on his knee, his eyes red and painful, his skin pale under the freckles and specks of blood had splattered his face. He sniffed and hiccuped, it was clear he had been crying.
"Scourgify," Hermione whispered cleaning his face and hands. "I love you."
He met her gaze, his eyes bluer than she had ever seen. "I couldn't protect her, Malfoy was right I…"
Before Hermione could open her mouth, Rose appeared next to him on the other side.
"Don't you dare start believing anything Malfoy has to say, he has no idea what you are capable of. I only got 5 years with you, but you were… are my hero… everything that is worth knowing in life I know because you taught it to me… everything about family and love and friendship. You taught me how to do wandless magic… you taught me about the importance of strategy… you would have gone to the ends of the earth to keep me safe but I was too stupid to stay hidden."
Rose grabbed Ron's hand and his eyes rolled back as they had done moments ago. Seconds later Rose removed her hand and Ron met her eyes.
Hermione watched an unspoken conversation occur between the two of them and a pang of simultaneous jealousy and guilt formed in her stomach. Moments ago she had been told that there was a time when Ron had never returned to her, that he had been gravely ill to the point of near death, that she had given birth alone in the place of nightmares and died … no … was murdered moments after her daughter's birth, the implication of how hard her daughter's life had been after her death and all of this had been her fault because of a moment of weakness and wanting. She could only imagine what had happened to Ron and what was now being shared privately.
"You didn't know I existed until I was 8, but there wasn't a single day that you didn't spend making up for an absence that wasn't your fault… before you, I had never been hugged, I had never felt safe, I had never felt loved or wanted … after you, I knew that I could do anything and no matter what you were always there watching over me… there were so many things that just lined up… because of you… you were the best dad I could ever have hoped for even in death… so don't you dare let an insignificant cunt like Malfoy let you doubt that, even for a second."
Nothing was said in the tent for several minutes, the uncomfortable silence hung in the air like mist until with a sudden jerk of her arm Rose stood abruptly.
And suddenly He is calling me.
The pain sears through my arm and feels like I am on fire, the dark mark burns and sears my flesh constricting my throat, he's angry and I have something to repent for.
I should have 3 days… why would he be back now unless…
The realisation hits me like a train, Harry… the connection.
What if he had seen what I had said…
The world is suddenly rushing and the mark continues to constrict and suddenly there is no up or down or back or front, no light or dark, no noise or sound just the whooshing of my own frantic heartbeat in my ears and I cannot breathe as life ends and everything feels as though the world is crashing down on me. How could I be so stupid?
Harry screamed in pain and grabbed his forehead.
Rose looked as though she had been smacked in the back of the head by a bludger. Grabbing a wand from her pocket she pointed it at Harry and whispered "Imperio" before thrusting the elder wand into Harry's hand, with his eyes tightly closed he stabbed the wand into the back of his own neck and whispered several incantations before screaming out in pain a final time and then opening his eyes.
"What the hell was that,"
"You're a Horcrux, that's why he can read your thoughts and if he has seen any of the things I've shown you or knows I'm here we are all as good as dead"
The confirmation of what she had suspected about Harry's connection to He Who Must Not Be Named, took Hermione's breath away.
"The elder wand has the ability to sever the connection between the Horcruxes and the host, I believe you will still be able to see what he sees when you channel yourself but he won't be able to see through your eyes or put false memories into your head anymore."
Harry and Hermione shared glances.
"Does this mean if Harry is a Horcrux he is going to die?" Ron stood and placed baby Rose into the bassinet next to the recently extended bed.
Harry looked horrified as the realisation hit him.
Rose shook her head, "It should, but Dumbledore and I worked out a loophole… if the noseless wonder is the one who kills you he can destroy the part of his soul that is in you, but your body will be protected so you will survive."
"Why" demanded Ron.
Hermione noticed he was uncharacteristically standoffish.
"In the graveyard when he used your blood to create his new body, he inadvertently gave you a shield. You cannot use the killing curse to kill yourself, it goes against the laws of magic… because you both share blood…"
The tent fluttered open in a perfectly timed interruption and Draco appeared scanning the area for me.
"How do you not feel that? He is calling and we need to go now."
"I told you to wait outside, you've done enough damage…"
"He was the one who busted up my face," Draco pointed at Ron who looked well and truly ready to go for round two.
"I don't have time to deal with this you ferrety fuckwit, this is important."
"... and so is him not skinning us alive… you remember what happened to Rowenwaite…"
I shuddered, of course, I remembered.
"Please just give me a couple of minutes, I promise we will go soon."
"Remember it's not just you at risk if this goes wrong…" He looked at me pointedly before he left with a flourish again.
As Malfoy left the tent again, Hermione watched as Rose clasped and fidgetted with her hands. She appeared to momentarily dig her fingernails into the top of her hand before taking a sharp breath.
"Ok, short version, we need him to be the one who "kills" you in the end. The Killing curse from anyone else will not affect you while you have two souls but you can still bleed to death and all that stuff through normal methods, you aren't immortal so don't be a prick about it."
She continued to pace and Hermione began to feel dizzy watching her, muttering to herself she finally stopped in front of them again.
"I don't have time to tell you everything, but I don't want to do a Dumbledore and leave you with nothing… So have you got a pencil and a note book?"
Hermione scrambled into her bag and found both before leaning on the table awaiting further instruction. Her heart swooned at the thought of getting more information.
"Ok, so the Horcruxes are, the diary that was his, the ring of Marvolo Gaunt, the locket of Salazar Slytherin, Nagini the snake, the diadem of Ravenclaw which if I believe correctly is in the room of requirement in Hogwarts, you Harry and…"
She reached into her bag again
"The Hufflepuff cup, which was until recently in the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange."
She threw the golden chalice to Harry who fumbled before catching it.
"You do not need to go to Gringotts now, but I would suggest you plan for war. Dumbledore was very adamant before he died that the 2nd of May 1998 was an important date. I'm not sure why yet but I don't think we have enough time to work it out together."
Rose's hands were shaking as she reached across the table and picked up the music box.
"Give me the deluminator," She held out her hand to Ron, who refused to move. "I don't have time for this … please you have to trust me"
Ron handed the deluminator over eventually.
Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out her copy of The Tales of Beedle The Bard and Harry's Snitch and placed them both on the table.
Ron watched as Hermione placed the items on the table, without any warning the air rushed around the tent like a storm, Light swirled in fractured pieces before assembling in a ball in the middle of the table, when the storm settled an identical copy of the book Rose had thrown in front of Harry earlier was situated in the middle of the items. Rose snatched the book from the middle of the table, opening it there was a loud clatter of metal on wood as the time turner fell from the pages, she gave a triumphant cry before the spectral form of Albus Dumbledore burst to life in front of them. He stood on the floor in front of Rose, his presence dominated the attention of the room, his expression not caring, kind and calculated as Ron had always remembered, but angry and vengeful.
His focus was entirely on Rose, he pointed an accusatory finger into her chest
"You really are a stupid girl, Rose, what you have done cannot be undone, you will be the death of us all, and you will have to live with that for all eternity."
The light burst in front of her and Rose looked visibly paler before she swallowed and chuckled nervously "Well, that's not what he said last time"
"What did he say last time," Ron croaked his throat dry.
"It's not really relevant right now… but I fucked up the timeline and that's pretty much all I can be sure of, I'm just hoping it's for the better."
She grabbed her arm and took a sharp painful breath before rummaging in her bag again.
"I wish I could have stayed longer"
Rose pulled out a small bowl-sided piece of glass. "This is a pocket pensive I believe you used the full-sized one in Dumbledore's office Harry?" Rose asked quizzically.
Harry nodded.
She smiled a small smile before retrieving a brown wooden case and a large book from her bag. "These are a variety of memories, Dumbledore left the majority of them to me and the rest I have… "collected" throughout my travels, they are categorised and hopefully you will be able to piece them together, with the notebook that Dumbledore left and this…" she placed her hand over the large book, "...over the next few weeks and the blanks I left can be filled in."
She stood up and went to leave before turning.
"Don't take her into the battle with you, I know this sounds stupid… but please find a way to get her back home… to her Nanny and Grandpa… it's too dangerous for her." Ron knew she was meaning her younger self, who currently slept soundly as though she didn't have a care in the world.
She left with the same flourish as she entered leaving the trio sat in perpetual silence.
"That created more questions than it answered…" Harry whispered staring at the door to the tent.
"She had a Horcrux in her handbag…." Ron whispered watching the Hufflepuff cup.
"She had the fucking elder wand in her handbag" Harry whispered breaking his gaze to inspect the wand.
"She had a pocket pensive and an entire library of memories categorised by date, happiness rating and relevance to our mission…" Hermione whispered in complete awe running her fingers over the tiny vials of memories. "... in my bag."