Disclaimer: All Characters and things associated with Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. This writing is purely for entertainment only.
Summary: A tragedy unravels the Weasley Family and the Wizarding World forever, but with the use of a time turner can one Weasley save them all?
Chapter 25
Hermione woke up the next morning to find the spot in the small bed she was sharing with Ron at Shell Cottage empty. That meant Ron was already downstairs. She sighed, slowly sitting up and realizing that everything that had happened the day before had not been some bizzare dream.
Hermione glanced down at her pregnant stomach, her finger thumbing over the small bump and remembering that it held her daughter, whom she learned was named Rose the day prior.
It was weird to be pregnant with her first child already knowing what the final picture of her future family looked like. It almost felt like an outer body experience and in ways she felt robbed from enjoying her first pregnancy or the thought of any subsequent pregnancy knowing the bleak future that was currently ahead for her family.
Hermione sighed again, shaking her head. She couldn't let that happen. She had to fix the future for her family which meant she had to get downstairs and start working on ways to help Lex stop the prophecy and events they saw the day prior from coming true.
Hermione got out of bed and made her way down the stairs, finding Ron, Finn, and future Harry sitting at the kitchen table in silence over tea.
Hermione's brow furrowed as she glanced around the room looking for Lex, Scorpius, or future Ginny. She was about to ask about them when one showed themsevles.
Future Ginny came flying through the front door of Shell Cottage a little out of breath.
"I walked past the edge of the trees. No sign of Lex or Scorpius," Ginny said to the room.
"Lex never came back?" Hermione asked, surprised. She did not know her daughter extremely well but she had assumed once Lex had been able to wrap her mind around everything and cool off, she would have come back at some point during the night.
Ginny shook her head, looking slightly concerned.
"Sometimes she can take days to cool off," Finn said.
Ron glared at Finn, knowing what the boy had done to Lex, by choice or not, made Ron's blood boil. The longer he had time to think about it the more the idea of Finn touching Lex at all while she was under the effects of a potion angered him.
"She needs to come back soon. It isn't exactly safe for her out there and we can't stay here much longer," Harry said, anxiously as he stood from the table.
"Should we look for her?" Hermione asked.
"Not entirely safe for you all out there either," Finn mumbled.
"Can't imagine whose bloody fault that is," Ron glared at Finn, knowing full well it was Finn's father and by extension Finn, that had caused the problems they all faced now.
Finn looked up at Ron. "I'm trying to fix that."
"If we have to leave before Lex returns there are a few more things you all need to know," Harry ignored the potential argument between Ron and Finn as he looked out the window of Shell Cottage.
"Why do you need to leave?" Hermione asked, her eyes darting between Future Harry and Future Ginny as she folded her arms over her baby bump.
"We need to get back to our time to not draw suspicion and to monitor the future...should you be successful here," Harry said, a small smile on his face as he continued to stare out the window. He was watching something.
Ginny moved to see what her husband was staring at, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she turned back to the room. "Lex is back."
And as soon as the words left Ginny's lips, the door to Shell Cottage swung opened and Lex moved in with Scorpius on her tail.
Lex stood in the doorframe, a look in her eyes that caused nearly everyone in the room to grow silent, and Hermione felt a chill run down her spine. She was relieved to see her daughter but the mix of anger and hallowness in Lex's eyes, eyes that seemed black rather then the beautiful blue that matched Ron's, scared Hermione in a way she couldn't explain.
Without a word, Lex moved straight toward Finn, yanking him out of his chair and dragging him by his shirt back through the door of Shell Cottage and onto the beach, leaving everyone in the room shocked and Scorpius smirking.
"We walked in silence for a bit...but she spent most of the walk back talking about all the ways she wanted to deal with Finn for basically drugging her for over a decade," Scorpius explained Lex's behavior as he recalled their time the night prior.
Once they had gotten over the awkwardness of the conversation they shared, which had taken a few hours, Lex seemed to become her old-self deciding on ways to make Finn pay for his betrayal.
The group seemed to all at once move to the front porch of Shell Cottage to find Lex having pinned Finn down into the sand with a spell. He was immobile while she moved around him like a wolf stalking its prey. Finally, Lex waved her wand, and Finn flew towards the water edge where Lex pounced on him, her hands around his throat. She dunked his head into the oncoming waves, lifting it only to let him barely catch his breath.
"You son of a bitch!" Lex screamed, choking Finn while he gasped for air and then ducking his head again into the saltwater. She was not sure what had overcome her, but upon seeing him, the only thing she could think to do was kill him. It was as if she had seen red and that all the years she had been under his spell and all of the things that they had done both physicallt and emotionally had finally caught up. She was embarrassed and ashamed for herself, but also felt so violated.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Finn gasped.
"Sorry? Sorry for what? For lying to me? For drugging me? For...for...raping me?" Lex could barely get the last part out as her eyes swelled with tears of anger. The word felt dirty on her lips, and she wasn't even sure if it was the right word to use. In all their years together, Finn had never forced himself on Lex. In fact, most of the time it had been the opposite, but now Lex knew, even when she had initiated their intimacy it had not truly been of her own free will. It had been because of the love potion. It made her feel week, ashamed even.
The word had a similar effect on Finn and he instantly stopped fighting her off, as if he was now fine with the idea that she may just drown him there on the beach.
"She's going to kill him..." Future Ginny mumbled more as a fact then anything as Hermione stared on in complete shock.
"Let her," Ron said back, his hands balled in fists. He certainly wasn't going to stop Lex, not after all they had learned about Finn.
After another minute or so of dunking Finn's head into the water and then letting him up to breath, Lex stood, dragging Finn by his collar to dry sand. She then let him go and paced around him while he desperately spit salt water out of his mouth.
"You drugged me...you...you used me..." Lex accused.
"I know...I'm sorry..." Finn sputtered out.
"Sorry?! Sorry doesn't take back what you did to me. I had no say in it..." Lex seemed somewhere between tears and rage.
"I know I can't take any of it back, and I know there is no excuse. I was scared for myself...but that doesn't make it okay..." Finn explained.
Lex ignored him, pacing a bit more before finally stopping and looking down at him again.
"How long did you know?" Lex finally spoke, rage clearly in her voice.
"What?" Finn sputtered out.
Lex charged at Finn like a crazed bull and it immediately brought fear to his facial features.
"Know what?!" He cried desperately.
Lex stopped short, towering over him. "About all of this? How long did you know the truth?! That my mother wasn't bloody crazy?! That your dad helped distort all my memories?!"
Lex pointed to Hermione as she spoke, causing Finn to glance briefly at the group watching before turning his eyes back to Lex and sighing.
"I only found out after you came back here...after they sent me back here and I realized it had all been a ruise to just get you back here to kill you." Finn explained.
Lex glared at him.
"Its true...he came back to the future to tell us when he found out. He's what triggered me to go see your Mum at the hospital...its how I got all of the real memories from her," Harry explained to his niece.
Lex turned her attention to her uncle, her expression softening a bit. "So Mum really remembers everything?"
"Sometimes...yes. They did a good job trying to make her even think she was crazy," Future Ginny added.
"What?" Lex was confused now.
"Come inside...we can explain the rest," Harry said, motioning for everyone to follow him yet no one seemed to move until Lex eventually took a step and followed her uncle.
The group assembled into the small kitchen again with Finn filing in last, staying on the far edge of the room, away from Lex. He rubber his neck where she has choked him, feeling a small bruise already forming.
"What else could you possibly have left to tell us?" Lex asked her uncle once they were all settled.
"Maybe the most important thing," Harry said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket and putting it on the table for all to see.
Everyone looked down at the paper, confusion on everyone's faces except Hermione's. Her face was as white as a sheet.
"What is that?" Lex asked.
"It's my handwriting..." Hermione said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Ron turned to look at his wife. "What?"
"That's my handwriting," Hermione repeated, the coloring moving back to her cheeks as her finger tapped the paper and she looked up at Harry. "What is it?"
"Those are the ingredients to help make the counter curse potion for Lex. You were so close..." Harry said.
"I thought in the memory it was lost in the fire?" Hermione questioned.
"It was...you gave me this when I visited you in hospital before I came back here...you'd been working on it since they sent you to St. Mungo's years ago," Harry explained.
"What?" Lex couldn't hide the shock in her voice now. She had never once seen that sheet of paper any time she had visited her mother over the years. "Where was it?"
"Probably easier to show you," Harry said, taking out the small device to share one final memory with the group.
Knowing what to expect now everyone watched the swirl of smoke from the device reveal an image of Harry walking into Hermione's room at St. Mungo's. Lex instantly recognized that her mother was older in the memory and it had to be fairly recent. Hermione, however, gasped slightly at the older version of herself. It wasn't that she hadn't aged gracefully, in fact she very much had, but seeing herself in the hospital, knowing why she was there was overwhelming.
"Hermione?" Harry said hesitantly in the memory.
Hermione turned from her seat at the window, surprise written on her face. "Harry?"
Harry smiled, seeming relieved. "I wasn't sure if you would recognize me."
"Of course I recognize you. You're my best friend." Hermione said simply.
Harry smiled and moved cautiously over to Hermione. "Hermione...I wanted to talk to you. I am not sure if you remember but Lex came by a few weeks ago to tell you she was going to try and save Ron, and Rose, and Hugo..."
The small smile on Hermione's face faded and she violently shook her head. "No! I told her not to go! I told her it wasn't safe!"
"Hermione, calm down..." Harry started but instantly the door swung open and two healer's came in, moving quickly toward Hermione.
"You're alright, Mrs. Weasley! Let's just take this!" One healer held out a handful of pills, trying to get Hermione to take them.
"What are those?" Harry asked.
"Ministry ordered...help keep her calm." The Healer stated.
Instantly, the color drained from Harry's face and he put his hand over the pills in the Healer's hand. "She's fine...I'm here and I would prefer to have her lucid."
"But Mr. Potter...the Ministry ordered this. Kingsley himself-" The healer explained.
"I work for the Ministry too. I am saying no," Harry was firm.
The healer seemed worries about going against orders but eventually nodded, leaving the room without giving Hermione anything.
Once they were alone, Harry turned back to Hermione who was now a bit calmer.
"They always give me those pills..." Hermione said slowly.
"They make you feel strange?" Harry guessed, wondering what the pills actually were if they had been ordered by the Ministry who he now believed was part of the reason Hermione was there.
"They make me forget...not everything...but a lot. Its like they make my memories fuzzy. I don't know what's real sometimes," Hermione admitted.
Harry nodded slowly. "Well...it is real...Lex has gone back to try and stop the attack on your family. Do you remember that?"
Hermione was on her feet instantly, nearly in Harry's face. "You and Ginny were supposed to keep her safe. Why did you let her go?"
Hermione turned her back to Harry and was rummaging through her books on the windowsill, confusing Harry who stepped forward. "Hermione..."
Hermione shook her head and then wipped around, pulling a small folded sheet of paper out of one of her books and handing it to Harry. "You shouldn't have let her go back."
Harry looked down at the paper Hermione had pushed against his chest. "What is this?"
"When I can remember things...I've been writing the ingredients down...it's for Lex...I was so close, but I was missing a few things..." Hermione said cryptically.
Harry glanced down at the piece of paper. It had a list of ingredients and was titled Counter Curse. By the looks of the paper, Hermione had kept it stashed in that book for awhile.
"Counter curse?" Harry questioned.
"If you are here because Lex went back then you have to know what we remember...it can't possibly be true, not the way we remember it. Lex is in danger..." Hermione rambled.
It was obvious in the memory things were beginning to click for Harry. "Do you remember things differently, Hermione? When it comes to your family?"
Hermione looked away, a sadness creeping over her expression. "I don't know. Sometimes...but it's so hard to keep track of what's real in my head."
Harry pulled his wand out and stepped forward. "Could you try? I may need those memories?"
Hermione realized what Harry was asking and nodded quickly, sticking her head forward and allowing Harry to extract a long silver trail of memories which he quickly transferred to a small vile he had brought.
The second Harry finished, the door to Hermione's room opened and another healer came in with tea set up on a tray.
"Time for afternoon tea, Mrs. Weasley," The healer said.
Hermione gave Harry a worried look for a moment but then smiled at the healer, almost resigning herself to a fate Harry didn't understand. She took the tea from the Healer and tipped it toward Harry. "Cheers."
"Make sure you drink it all...you know it helps calm you," The healer told Hermione.
Hermione merely nodded and as she finished the cup, Harry saw her eyes almost glaze over. She then looked up at the man in glasses.
"Harry? So good to see you! Did you just get here?" Hermione asked innocently.
Harry looked at the healer who merely shrugged.
"Some days are better then others for her." The healer said.
And that was when it clicked for Harry in the memory and everyone in the room watching the memory. St. Mungo's was drugging Hermione per the request of the Ministry.
The memory ended and silence filled the room for a long moment before Lex finally spoke, tears seeming to threaten her eyes as they moved from Harry to Hermione to Finn.
"She wasn't crazy at all..." Lex shook her head, a wave of guilt hitting her as she thought back to all the times she had been so frustrated with her mother; all the times she had avoided going to see her mother, and all the times, had she paid better attention on the visits, she could have maybe saved her mother.
"No...the Ministry was just keeping her drugged...so we all thought when she spoke sanely that she was actually the crazy one," Future Ginny spoke now.
Lex turned to the younger, pregnant version of her mother whose expression showed pure disbelief at what she had just seen. "I'm so sorry..."
Hermione merely shook her head. She could tell that Lex was trying to apologize for so many things that were out of her control. In that moment, Hermione felt awful for her future daughter, and all the things that Lex must've been carrying.
"So that list Hermione gave you? Its for the counter curse?" Ron asked future Harry.
Harry nodded. "That, coupled with the memories that you gave us just put all of this together. There's obviously a few things missing from the list, but we have plenty of time to figure this out...or rather you all do. Lex isn't even born here yet...if you can sort out that counter curse, we believe Hermione could take it."
"If it's for me, why would that help?" Lex asked.
"Hermione could touch the prophecy as well..." Harry started.
"Which means its related to both of us...or rather the blood curse I potentially will pass to you. If we sort it out before your born, in theory, I would stop it passing on," Hermione's brain was now working in overtime, connecting all the dots.
Harry merely nodded, confirming Hermione's words.
"So let's get bloody started on it." Ron pushed away from the table as if their problems were solved.
"We can't stay to help. It has to be you all to do this," Harry told them and then looked at Lex. "And you can't come back with us. The time turner that brought you here had a charm on it and has to be the one to take you back and that..."
"Kinglsey has it," Lex remembered.
Harry nodded. "He wanted to keep you here."
"To kill me..." Lex concluded.
"If we are able to stop all of this it won't matter...you would just go back to the future...because this timeline wouldn't exist," Finn spoke for the first time.
Lex glared at him for a long moment and then turned back to her Uncle. "If we can create this countercurse...it fixes everything? There are no more surprises?"
"That's the belief," Harry nodded.
"So you believe the curse is real?" Lex asked.
Harry sighed. "That's not relevant...because regardless of what any of us think, Kingsley and Cormac do believe it. For what its worth...your mother never believed it."
Hermione glanced at Lex, trying to see if Harry's confirmation of her beliefs in the prophecy had any weight on Lex's reaction.
Lex nodded, looking down at her hands before speaking again. "It's probably real...it would explain all my anger issues, wouldn't it?"
"Or you could be angry from losing your family...being drugged for years by someone you should have been able to trust...general angst," Scorpius spoke up now, glaring at Finn as he spoke, silently blaming the other boy for everything that had happened to Lex.
"We figure out the rest of this counter curse and none of it matters," Hermione spoke up now, taking her hand written note from the future in her hands and reading over her notes. She could tell that she thought the cure was a mix of a potion and of some sort as well as a spell. It would not be easy to figure out.
"Well, then I suggest we get to that," Lex sighed and looked up at Ginny and Harry. "You have to go back?"
Harry and Ginny nodded at their niece.
"We can't stay here...its too dangerous. We need to know what's going on in our time," Ginny said.
Lex nodded, understanding. She stood and moved to hug both her aunt and uncle. "Thank you for coming back...for figuring this all out."
Ginny pulled away and smiled gently at Lex. "I know you are angry...and you should be but...Finn did help. So just...use all your resources on this."
Lex nodded, understanding what her Aunt was saying.
Ginny smiled once more and then she and Harry turned to say goodbye to the rest of the group before taking their own time turner and leaving just as quickly as they has arrived.
Once they were gone, Lex stood and moved outside without another word to the group.
Lex stood out on the porch of the Shell Cottage, her eyes gazing out onto the ocean in front of her. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out the next move to make.
She knew they had to figure out the counter curse before she was born as well as keep themselves hidden and safe until they could sort that out. She knew none of that would be easy and truthfully she wasn't sure she fully believed that would fix everything. Part of her believed that the curse may actually be real and that it didn't matter what they did, that ultimately the only way to fix things was for her to not exist.
As she stood there, Lex decided if it came down to it, if they couldn't figure everything out then she would make sure she never existed in this reality. It was the only way to ensure the rest of her family survived.
Lex was so caught up in her own thoughts that she did not hear the front door to Shell Cottage open and she was surprised when suddenly the younger, pregnant version of her mother was standing there next to her.
"Sorry," Hermione said softly when she realized she had caused Lex to jump.
"No...no, it's fine. I just didn't see you there," Lex admitted.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked.
Lex stiffled a laugh at her mother's comment. "I feel like I should be asking you that."
"It's probably a fair question in both directions. At any rate, I'm not sure I entirely am...this has been a lot to process," Hermione admitted.
Lex nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Certainly a lot of information all at once..."
Silence fell between the mother and daughter for a long moment before Hermione spoke.
"There are so many things I want to ask you," Hermione finally said, her hands slipping to her pregnant stomach but her eyes on Lex. She had questions upon questions about the future, some important and likely information that would help then save their future family but other things were more personal, more things to help calm Hermione's nerves about becoming a mother someday.
"Well, from the sounds of it, I'll be here awhile, so you will have plenty of time to ask," Lex smirked.
Hermione responded with a simple nod and soft smile.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was when I told Dad...in retrospect that was dumb," Lex said, her eyes still on the ocean in front of her.
Hermione just shook her head. Given everything they had learned that seemed like the least important thing now.
"We should have told you...would have made the rest of this easier," Lex said, motioning to the house behind them.
Hermione looked down at her pregnant stomach and again shook her head. "It seems less significant now, given everything else we know."
"We are going to figure out a way to stop this. I am going to save Rose and Hugo and Dad...no matter what," Lex said quickly, turning to look at Hermione and catching her looking at her pregnant stomach.
Hermione looked up and gave a small smile to Lex, remembering Ron's words had been similar. "You sound like your father."
"I've been told that before," Lex gave a soft laugh in return. It felt odd and yet comforting to be standing their with a coherent version of her mother but she also felt terribly guilty. All those years thinking her mother hsd been crazy when, as her daughter, she of all people should have recognized that just wasn't true.
"Take it as a complement," Ron's voice filled the air as he moved out to join his wife and daughter.
"I do," Lex smirked back and then returned her gaze to the ocean.
"So...how are we going to fix everything?" Ron asked.
Lex sighed, her thoughts moving to the circumstances at hand. She wasn't even sure where to start. The only thing she knew was that they needed to start getting things together for the counter-curse, but even that would be proven difficult since she assumed they were still being hunted down from future Kingsley, Cormac, and Lucius.
"I am not entirely sure but we need to start somewhere," Lex said.
"We need to start with the counter-curse. It seems like it will take years to develop," Hermione said.
"Hopefully not...now that we have your notes," Lex told her mother.
"Still..." Hermione couldn't pretend to not be worried. If it had taken her years in the future to gather all of the information to merely almost make a cure she knew that meant that it could be a complex task. She wanted to get started on it right away.
Lex nodded, trying to figure out how they would tackle that first problem of gathering the ingredients while Hermione tried to work out the rest of our notes. Suddenly, Lex had an idea.
Without another word, Lex strode into the house, clearly on a mission by the way her jaw was set. Not knowing what to do, Hermione and Ron followed after their daughter.
Scorpius and Finn were on opposite sides of the kitchen table in Shell Cottage. Finn was sitting, his eyes locked down on his folded hands and his back hunched over in a mix of defeat and embarrassment for what he had done to Lex.
Scorpius, on the other hand, stood with his arms folded and his eyes locked on Finn. His mind raced with all the things he wanted to do to Finn for just how much he had betrayed the Weasley Family and for how much damage he had brought on Lex in particular, and how much baggage he knew Lex would now have from understanding the basis of her true relationship with Finn.
"I should kill you for what you did to Lex..." Scorpius said finally.
Finn looked up for a brief moment before returning his eyes to his hands. He merely nodded. "I know..."
"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Finn was outraged.
"Well, it's true...and nothing else I say will matter anyway. I know what I did to her...I always knew," Finn said, a hint of true sadness in his voice.
"If you feel so bad you can start making up for it now," Lex's voice filled the kitchen as she made her way in with Ron and Hermione close behind.
Finn sat up straighter in his chair, watching Lex carefully as she moved toward him. In one quick motion she swung his chair around to face her. He leaned away from her, swallowing hard in fear.
Ron stiffled a small laugh, proud his daughter could invoke that fear and causing Hermione to turn an eye to him, a small smile of pride dancing on her lips as well. She had hoped something she had done in the future was the reason Lex was such a strong woman.
"You are going to make yourself useful," Lex told Finn.
"Uh...right...sure..." Finn stumbled, not sure what he was exactly agreeing to.
"There is a list of ingredients my mother will need to create this counter-curse potion. From the looks of the list some of it will be harder to find then others...so you are going to go find them for us," Lex told him, motioning to the list her uncle had brought from the future.
Immediately, Scorpius stepped forward. "We can't trust him with that."
"We don't have to trust him," Lex stook her right hand out. "He's going to vow it."
Finn eyed Lex's hand as the realization of what she was proposing washed over him. An unbreakable vow.
"I need someone to bind it," Lex said, not waiting for Finn to verbally agree.
No one in the room moved at first, as if they were all unsure if this was the best move. Eventually, however, Ron stepped forward, his wand out.
"I'll do it...if you think this is the best way forward," Ron told his daughter from the future.
"I do," Lex shoved her hand closer to Finn who did raise his own hand back and lock it with hers.
Lex felt as if her hand was on fire. It was the first time Finn had touched her since she had learned that he had put her under a love spell, since she had learned that every physical interaction she had ever had with him had not been of her own free will. It was strange, knowing that this was maybe the first physical touch she had with him of her own free will
"Whatever it takes for you to trust me," Finn told ber.
Lex narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "That will never happen."
Finn's eyes dropped from Lex's face for a moment before he took a deep breath and glanced at Ron. "Let's do this."
Ron nodded and laid his wand on their intertwined hands. He then glanced at Lex, waiting for her to start.
"Do you, Finn McLaggen, promise to find every ingredient on this list no matter the cost or danger you face in doing so?" Lex said.
Finn hesitated for a moment but then nodded. "I do."
Instantly, the sparks flew from Ron's wand, wrapping around Lex and Finn's hands to ensure the unbreakable vow was valid.
"And will you promise to keep Shell Cottage as a secret location for us, not exposing me or Scorpius to anyone outside of this house?" Lex continued.
"I do." Finn responded quicker on that promise.
"And will you do all in your power to ensure we succeed in changing the future so that my entire family survives, regardless of the cost to you or your family?" Lex finished.
Again, Finn nodded. "I will."
Lex, seeming satisfied, let go of Finn's hand and the vow was sealed. She then silently moved to grab the list Hermione had made in the future and pulled out her wand, casting a charm to duplicate the list. She then handed the copy to Finn.
"You will probably want to head out sooner rather then later to find these things. Some look pretry rare." Lex told him with almost a smirk on her face, as if she fully expected him to fail and break his vow.