The parchment in Harry's hand shook, struggling to get free. Harry could feel the flames trying to pull him in closer and closer and he fought to lean back as to not become engulfed himself. As soon as he let the slip go, it was sucked into the flames. There was a white flash as the paper met the fire, and then, almost immediately after, the flames disappeared in a great whoosh.
Remus and Harry both stared at the now empty black bowl and then back and each other.
"Did…Did it work?" Harry stammered, attempting to sit himself upright. "How do we know it worked?"
"We don't," Remus said as he tried to catch his breath and slow his racing heart. "There's no way of knowing unless we're able to get the connection to last long enough for them to give a response. I'll have to revisit the potion and see what I can do."
Harry sighed, and slowly clambered to his feet. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that they hadn't immediately been successful. Who even knew if it had been sent anywhere, let alone into the future?
In the following week, Remus and Harry dedicated a great deal of their time going through different potions, all slightly adjusted in hopes of prolonging the Floo network connection. Harry began trying new locations and dates, as he had come to the sad realization that with a war going on, buildings and their fireplaces may not even exist anymore.
Eventually they were able to elongate the time the fire burned so it lasted as long as seven minutes, but as they sat there staring into the flames, they never received a response. As the purple flames died down for the third time that night, Harry began to feel his face grow warm in frustration.
"Why has no one responded?" Harry said through clenched teeth.
"Well, there are any number of reasons…" Remus began.
"No, we both know it's because it's not even getting there," Harry said, jumping to his feet and angrily ruffling his hair. "Someone would have responded now if hundreds of pieces of parchment were falling into their sitting rooms. They're not getting through."
"We don't know that…" Remus trailed off, as Harry strolled angrily to his book bag and took out a large roll of parchment. He threw it to the ground and summoned more jars of the potion. He poured the liquid into the stone bowl.
"Incendio!" Harry cried, purple flames coming to life once again. He kneeled down and began ripping up the parchment and in huge letters wrote:
HELLO?
"Geminio," Harry flicked his wand at the parchment and shuttered before a second copy sprung forward.
"Geminio, Geminio, Geminio," Harry cast the spell over and over until he had a large pile of scraps of parchment all with 'HELLO?' scrawled across the front.
"Gryffindor Common Room, June 30th, 1997!" Harry roared, before throwing the seemingly endless pieces of parchment into the fire.
"Hogwarts's Headmaster's Office, June 30th, 1997! Grimmauld Place, June 30th, 1997! The Burrow, June 30th, 1997!" Harry called off as he took more handfuls of parchment.
Remus watched, clutching tightly onto one of the crimson couches as to not be also pulled into the fire. Harry continued to furiously throw the parchment into the fire until eventually, the flames died out and the familiar vacuum feeling of being sucked into the fire also disappeared.
"Tomorrow, we're going to call again," Harry said steadily, despite feeling winded. "And someone is going to respond.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"Ginny! Ron!" Mr. Weasley cried, overcome with relief as he spotted them in separate beds in the hospital wing.
"I was so worried," he spoke, his voice shaking, and he wrapped his arms around his daughter, and then his son. "And Hermione, I'm so glad to see you again as well!"
"It's good to see you too, Mr. Weasley," Hermione said with a watery smile.
"Where's everyone else?" Ginny asked shakily. "Bill…?"
"Bill's fine, dear, don't you worry," Mrs. Weasley said soothingly, stroking her hair.
"What about Fred and George? Where are they?"
"They're sleeping dear, keep your voice down, they're only at the other end of room."
"I want to see them," Ginny said, tears forming. She tried to sit up, but Mrs. Weasley put a hand on shoulder and gently pushed her back.
"In the morning, I promise they're alright, you need to rest."
"Did…Kingsley?" Hermione began. Mrs. Weasley looked back sadly.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"Death Eaters attacked the Burrow, they probably thought Harry was with us," Mr. Weasley said, his voice void of any emotion. "We were able to fight them off, Dumbledore came right in time, scared them away pretty quickly."
"I saw Bill on the ground." Ginny said flatly.
"He was hit by a curse, but Madam Promfrey was able to heal him very quickly," Mrs. Weasley said reassuringly.
"The only person who didn't make it out alright was Kingsley." Mrs. Weasley swatted her husbands arm and gave him an angry look.
"Dear, we should just be honest with them, there's no point in being vague it only scares them more."
"Dad, have you heard anything from Harry?" Ron interrupted with a croak.
"Mum won't tell us anything," Ginny said with sad eyes.
"I don't think it's appropriate to talk about such things right now, Arthur." Mrs. Weasley said firmly. "All of you need to relax and take sometime to recover from what you have been through yourselves — "
"Mum, I can't relax without knowing where Harry is." It was clear from Ron's face he wasn't going to stop asking until he had been given an answer. Mrs. Weasley sighed, and gestured for her husband to speak.
"Well, I'm not really the best person to speak, as Dumbledore has been keeping everything quiet," Mr. Weasley explained as he scratched his neck. "I'm not sure whether they've found Harry or if they've just gained new information, but from what I can tell, Dumbledore knows something about the situation now. Both him and Sirius are back, and they wouldn't have come back without making some form of progress."
Mr. Weasley paused.
"However, I did head back to the Burrow today. I was try to see what was salvageable. Despite the fire damage, I think I'll be able to fix it up again good as new. It was mostly the upper floors that got damaged.
"I was looking through the sitting room, when I noticed it looked like the fireplace had been recently lit. I went to inspect closer, and I found this on the floor nearby."
Mr. Weasley reached into his pocket and slowly handed Ron a singed piece of parchment, the edges dark and curling. A familiar scribbled handwriting in dark black ink read the words, 'I'll be back soon'.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"I don't trust him," James mumbled under his breath, stabbing at his sausage as he watched Harry talk with Lily a little ways down the Gryffindor table.
"Why not, mate?" Sirius said cautiously.
"Look at him, he knows Lily and I are together, and yet there he is, chatting her up." James threw down his fork in annoyance. "You know, Peter told me he thought he saw them kissing."
"What?" Sirius said raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah," James growled, glaring over as Lily laughed at something Harry had said. "Just look at them together."
"James, he said he thought he saw them, it was probably someone else. Besides, Lily would never do something like that to you."
"He's probably slipped her a love potion."
"James…. That's ridiculous, you're being paranoid."
"Think about it, Sirius," James said, his eyes flickering between Sirius's and back at Harry and Lily. "We know nothing about this guy, he literally came out of nowhere one day and began living in our dormitory and we just let him. What if he's a Death Eater?"
"I… Don't think so," Sirius said awkwardly.
"And why not?"
"I don't know, he just doesn't seem like the type. You guys were getting along great before."
"That's what a great follower of Voldemort would do though, isn't it? Get on our good sides, act nothing like a Death Eater would in order to gain our trust.. And then take us down when we least expect it."
"By… Stealing your girlfriend?"
James glared at Sirius.
"Sorry mate, I'm just saying, you have no reason to believe he's a Death Eater. He hasn't done anything to suggest it, it's just circumstances."
"Just wait, Sirius." James said, taking a long sip of pumpkin juice. "Just wait."
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