History’s Future

DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you’ve seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$

A/N: This posting is two for the price of one. This is partly because this chapter ends in the middle of something and also because I’m now twenty chapters ahead.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: HISTORY’S FUTURE

Saturday, June 26, 1993

During the Time Compression Harry was able to spend time with the various families getting to know them as well. He did not spend all that much time with the Grangers seeing as he was about to spend a month or so with them in France. He was willing to, but Hermione and her parents suggested he used this time to get to know the others.

He learned that Hannah’s mother was a Muggle Born witch. She had worked in the Ministry Archives, but stopped working after she became pregnant with Hannah and had not gone back to work until after Hannah started Hogwarts. The Abbott estate was comfortable enough that she did not have to work for money. The time off was to be with her daughter. He had already met the Tennysons, but spent time with them as well. After all, from what they had told him in their first meeting they were soon to become another couple. Harry noticed that Ginny was spending a fair amount of time with the Tennysons as well. He learned that Ginny and Luna had been friends when they were little and it seemed they were both trying to get that going again. He learned that the Lovegoods were also well off. Luna’s Dad ran his paper and went on his expeditions to discover new magical creatures all on his own fortune. He had no paying occupation and few worries about money.

The Greengrasses were a little annoying. It was not the parents that were so, but three of Daphne’s sisters. Michelle, the youngest, seemed to think Harry was the greatest things since sliced toast. Fortunately, she was too young to think of or truly understand Daphne’s situation or that of Harry’s unusual family. Unfortunately, the next two were old enough to think about that if still far too young to truly be serious about it. Cynthia and Jenna both wondered openly and often whether Harry might one day marry them as well. Astoria was the only one of the sisters who seemed aloof about Harry. She was personable enough. But she did not seem to think Harry was someone she needed to hang out with and play with all the time - like Michelle - or that he was a future husband - like the other two. He knew that Astoria would be starting Hogwarts in the fall and when she spoke to him it was either about her sister Daphne and this new life (although clearly with no interest in being a part of it herself) or Hogwarts. She wanted nothing to do with Slytherin from what Daphne had told her and was trying to learn as much as she could about the other three Houses.

Daphne’s family was similar to Hermione’s - aside from the number of children. There was not much in the way of any inheritance. They were comfortable as a result of their own efforts and not the largess of prior generations and they were quietly proud of that. Even so, they would probably need to take advantage of Hogwarts' Hardship Scholarships for legacy families to send all of their children through that school.

From Ginny, he also learned more about the Weasleys. Prior to Ginny joining them, all he knew about that family was either from Ron or from the time he spent there the previous summer. Ron would have one believe they were poor. They certainly were not rich in terms of money. But from Ginny he learned they would not be considered poor either. The Burrow had sixty acres of land for their personal use which was quite a bit in England by any standard. They owned another two hundred that was let out to a couple of Muggle farmers although Harry thought they probably were selling themselves short on the rents. Their “poverty” was more a question of necessary frugality. Seven children was a lot. Seven children in the magical world was almost unheard of. (Five was almost unheard of, to tell the truth.) The Weasleys were “middle class” by wizarding standards - perhaps towards the lower end, but middle class nonetheless. After all, that contract was about sending seven children through Hogwarts - the offensive parts aside - which would be a stretch for many families of some means. But Hogwarts tuitions aside, they were not poor.

Harry and Ginny were walking hand in hand through the Fruit Gardens the final morning of Time Compression. Since the first day, the mornings had become family time for the other girls and in a way Harry did not mind. True, Hermione would be spending the next month or so with her parents, but so would all the others so this was their true Granger time. While the other three would see more of their families than would be the case during school, they would be spending far more time this summer away from them so this was their time as well. From Harry’s perspective this time was good for two reasons.

First, he knew Ginny needed to be with someone she trusted. This had become apparent her first night when the nighmares had driven her from her bed and her Elf had suggested joining the others. She spent very little time alone and even less if one did not count her morning shower and using the loo. She was not exactly clingy, but it was clear that the events of her First Year had seriously unnerved her and she needed to be with others. She needed acceptance. She needed to learn to be herself again. Harry and the others picked up on this (actually they did and told him) and as she was part of this family which meant they were going to help her sort through this as best they could.

The other reason Harry had grown to like the mornings over the past few days was because Daphne’s three younger sisters would not leave him alone. The youngest, Michelle, was too young to understand such things as boyfriends, but she clearly thought he was fascinating for some reason. Jenna and Cynthia seemed to think he was some kind of fairytale type and had turned their big sister into a princess and seemed to hope that magic would somehow rub off on them. Only Astoria seemed comparatively disinterested. Then again, this was only because she seemed tongue tied compared to her three younger sisters who would talk his ears off if they were allowed.

This time with Ginny was his quiet time. True, they did talk and more than just a little. But the talks they had were meaningful at least to him and he hoped to Ginny as well. One topic had not come up - two if one included Quidditch and Harry was grateful for that. With Ginny’s brother Ron, if conversation strayed from Quidditch, he had no interest or nothing to contribute it seemed. Truthfully, despite playing for two years Harry knew next to nothing about the game. After all, he was a Seeker. “Find Snitch, Chase Snitch, Catch Snitch:” what was there to know? But the one topic that had only come up once before was this past year at school. No one was pushing Ginny to talk about it and the other girls had told Harry not to. She would talk when she was ready and they needed to let her get there in her own time and let her know they were there for her when she was ready.

“Harry?” Ginny asked as they walked. “What do you think would’ve happened if… if V-voldemort hadn't… if your parents had not died?”

“Um… ,” Harry thought. He had such thoughts all of his life, but they lacked any true context he now knew. Until he learned about the existence of magic, he merely wished his parents had not died and were not the kind of people his Aunt and Uncle said they were. Deep down a part of him knew his relatives were lying and knew he had been loved once. Since he rejoined the wizarding world he still had such thoughts. But until the beginning of this summer he knew nothing about the family he had been a part of and lost nor had he known much about the times when they were lost. Since the summer began, however, he had learned a lot about his family and other things. Still, there was no easy answer to Ginny’s question.

“Do you mean if my parents had somehow lived and everything else had been the same?” Harry replied. “‘Cause if Voldemort had survived that night… he was winning, you know. Had that night not happened he may have won and that’s something I’d rather not think about.”

“Your parents live, he’s dead,” Ginny began.

“Don’t think he’s dead, not really, not as we understand it,” Harry said.

“He’s not?”

“I don’t think so. Dumbledore doesn’t think so either. I don’t trust Dumbledore when it comes to me and my House, but I don’t think he’d lie about something like that. He told me last year he didn’t think Voldemort was dead. A centaur told me the same thing, although not as directly. I think what happened to you is somehow connected and could not have happened had Voldemort truly died. Had Voldemort been defeated that night and either or both of my parents had lived, things would be different but some things would probably been the same.”

“How?”

“The compatible magic I share with Hermione and Luna has nothing to do with Voldemort at all. It would’ve been there had the berk never lived and so I could’ve wound up married to the two of them regardless. Mind you, I’m not complaining about that at all. But my life until now would’ve been different. Had either of my parents lived I’d’ve grown up knowing Hermione and Luna. We’d’ve been together for as long as we can remember. We’d’ve gone to school together and all of that. Even if we had no other friends growing up, we’d’ve had each other. That would’ve been nice I’d like to think.”

“So all this would’ve happened anyway?”

Harry sighed. “It’s not that simple. I wish it was. I wish this bond thing was something that would’ve happened regardless of anything else. But that’s not how it works as you should know. Had I grown up with Hermione and Luna, it’s possible I might have seen them as more like sisters than…” Harry shuddered at the thought. “Even without that, had things happened even a little differently in the week before we bonded it’s possible we might never have bonded. I had no memories of Luna, you know. I had no memories of Hermione from when we were very little. I had and have feelings for her, but had she stayed in the Library I might have… Well, I might’ve thought her feelings were different and I’d rather have her as a friend than nothing at all. I couldn’t risk losing her as a friend and wouldn’t’ve seen her as… as a girlfriend. Luna found me sitting alone outside and we talked. Who’s to say if that was meant to happen? I liked Luna from the start and it was from talking to her I that I learned what it was I was truly feeling about Hermione and realized she must have feelings for me. It was the feelings that awakened that week after what happened that allowed these bonds to form and had I not spent hours and hours talking with both of them, they might never have formed. I might not have thought I had those kind of feelings for them or that they could possibly have those kind of feelings for me. Had that week been different, we wouldn’t be here today. And it was as a result of us being together that I learned about the contracts and such. So, even as things were, it was that week more than anything that happened before or since that brought us all together here. And what happened that week… well, it wasn’t fate or anything like that. It happened. It could just as easily not have happened. Understand?”

“So this was not meant to be?”

“I refuse to believe in fate or destiny, Ginny. Nothing’s meant to be until it happens and you know it’s for the best. But until it happens, it’s not meant to be. I refuse to believe that the future is as fixed as the past is. We can’t change what has happened, but to think we can’t do anything about what might happen? I refuse to believe that. As for this? I have no regrets. Now that this has happened, it’s something I’m not willing to give up. But there’s nothing that will convince me this had to happen, that there was no other future out there. Of course, most of those other futures are not ones I would like for me, you or the others. But they could’ve happened. They can’t now, but they could’ve.

“I could’ve continued to see Hermione as just a friend. I could’ve been afraid to risk our friendship for the possibility that it might be more. I could’ve never become friends with Luna. I could’ve never bonded with either of them. Just ‘cause we share compatible magic doesn’t mean we’d ever bond. The bonding requires a closeness beyond casual friendship - although how close I don’t know except it must be one that leads to a -um - romantic interest I guess. For all I know, had we grown up together we’d’ve seen each other more as siblings and the bond never would’ve happened or I could’ve bonded with one but not the other. Had what happened not happened, it could’ve been the same way. And without the bondings, Hannah and Daphne would not be here and neither would you. Without the bondings, I might have been trapped by that contract between your parents and Dumbledore and lost… lost my heritage.”

“I’m sorry, Harry. It's… ,” Ginny said softly with pain in her voice.

“Not your fault,” Harry finished. “How could it be? You were only a couple of months old. I don’t really blame your parents either. I don’t think they’d’ve agreed to that if they’d known the details and somebody did tamper with their memories. I’m glad you’re here, although I wish it could’ve been for different reasons.”

“I’m glad I’m here too,” Ginny said.

“Really?” Harry asked. It sounded genuine and he was not expecting that.

“Please!” Ginny said with a sarcastic laugh in her voice, “can you imagine what this summer would be like for me at the Burrow?”

Harry did not know how to reply to that statement and chose not to.

“In a way, I was always an outsider,” Ginny said. “I was the only girl you know. A fact some of my brothers were more than willing to remind me of for as long as I can remember. Bill and Charlie weren’t too bad, I guess. But they’re a lot older and had been away at school for as long as I can remember. I was a baby when Bill first left for Hogwarts and not much older when Charlie did. Percy's… well, he’s Percy. Likes to be Mr. Perfect. He’s got more of an ego than the rest of us combined, if you ask me, and looks at the rest of us as something he must suffer through for now. Fred and George? There’s a rule that until you’re of age you can’t use a wand. You really want to set my Mum off? Get caught with a real wand before going off to Hogwarts. Probably a smart thing with those two, although lack of a wand never slowed them down a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I do like them. They can be serious when they need to be. But they also like to try out their new pranks and the rest of us at home are a captive audience. Ron - look I know he’s your friend, but he’d probably rather have things that saw me in my room all the time or somewhere else. To him I’m a girl and he thinks the lot of us are mental. He and Percy are the reasons I had to practice flying at night. Percy would rat me out. Ron would have a fit about girls and Quidditch which is the same thing in the end. Compared to the Burrow, this place lacks the drama, among other things.”

“Oh?”

“My family - or should I say my former family - tried to act as if the last year never happened. That’s what my parents said they wanted. I guess they figured if things went back to normal everything would be okay. The lot of them failed miserably. True, I was only home two weeks before coming here, but it was obvious to me that things were not the way they had been. Mum wasn’t acting herself. She spent a lot of time trying to make sure I was okay even if it meant ignoring the others. Dad went back to work as if nothing happened. Guess I can’t blame him ‘cause he’d have to take time off without pay otherwise. Percy? Well, if you ask me Percy has always acted a bit as if he was too good for our family. He seemed to be ashamed of what happened as if I had somehow shamed him. Never said anything to me. He basically was hiding in his room the whole time whereas before he was always keeping a close eye on Fred and George. Before, Ron either ignored me or insulted me. Now he just ignored me altogether. Fred and George were mostly themselves, but they seemed to go out of their way to make me laugh usually at Ron’s expense. Everyone seemed to act as if one misstep and I’d hex them all into the next century. That’s not the way things had been before and… and I don’t think it was helping me at all.

“How can you ignore the last year or even act like you are trying to? I can’t. I still have the nightmares. Something like that is bound to stay with you one way or another, don’t you think? What I needed was my brother Bill, but he’s off in Egypt and my parents weren’t about to ask him to come home ‘cause that would not be the way things were.”

“Bill?”

Ginny nodded. “My favorite brother. Charlie’s a close second. Maybe it’s ‘cause they’re so much older, I don’t know, but they’re the only ones who… well who were always nice to me. Fred and George usually are, but all bets are off if they’re in a pranking mood. Bill and Charlie were off at Hogwarts for as long as I can remember, you know. Bill started when I was a baby and Charlie not long after my third birthday. But when they were home it was like Christmas in a way. Bill used to read me stories every night before bed for as long as I can remember and even after I learned to read - he kind of taught me, you know. Well, I guess inspired is a better word. I was four or five when he said I should learn to read and write so he could send me letters from school and I could write to him and I learned pretty quick after that. Charlie was the one who’d ignored Aunt Muriel’s girl ban on brooms and taught me to fly. Of all of them, I miss Bill the most but he’s been gone since I was eight.

“Bill finished Hogwarts before my eighth birthday and spent the rest of that year here - well living at home - while he trained to become a curse breaker at Gringotts. He finished his training the next spring and he’s been out of the country for the most part ever since. My life changed when he left for good. Only Ron was still at home and I had already lost my only other friend. Since Ron and I don’t pal around at all and never have, I was all alone. Didn’t like it but there’s nothing I could do about it.”

“Who was your friend?” Harry asked.

“Luna,” Ginny replied. “She and I played together as far back as I can remember. It was nice to have a girl to play with, you know, seeing as I am one.”

“How’d you lose her?”

“It happened while Bill was still at home training to be a curse breaker. I had a fight or argument with her and I was really, really upset with her and before I could get over it or anything her Mum died. For whatever reason we never saw each other again and I never said I was sorry about that argument - not ‘til I came here. Then again, it wasn’t until very recently that I realized how wrong I was. It seems so silly now….”

“Oh?”

Ginny sighed again. “We got into that tiff ‘cause she said The-Boy-Who-Lived wasn’t real and I knew she was wrong. Then again, I was only eight at the time. Mum had always told me that Harry Potter was a real person. Thinking back now, Mum never said The-Boy-Who-Lived - the one from all the books - was real, only that there really was a Harry Potter. I didn’t see a difference then so when Luna said he was as make believe as Father Christmas, I was upset with her in part 'cause she was calling my mother a liar. There were other reasons, but that’s the only one that is justifiable even now. Course, it seems I misunderstood what my Mum was telling me which makes it all seem so silly now. But it was that - believing in The-Boy-Who-Lived - and the fact that all my brothers were gone to school that… well that made that diary seem so important when I got it.”

“But you got the diary just before starting school as well,” Harry began.

“And I was a bit of a mess then,” Ginny nodded. “If I had gotten it after starting school, if I had friends, maybe I’d’ve not been so keen to see it as a friend and maybe things would’ve been different. Can’t say for certain. But instead of making new friends or being friends with Luna again, I turned to that diary. By the time I realized it was not what it appeared to be… well, it had already started and that thing had a hold on me.”

Harry nodded. “Earlier, you thanked me for being here,” he began.

“You and the others don’t treat me like I'm… like I’m somehow damaged or different. I can’t say that’s how my family’s been treating me, but it sure felt like it. You don’t blame me for what happened this past year and you could’ve. Hermione especially could’ve seeing as she could’ve been killed you know. You also don’t judge me for what happened. You neither ignore that it happened nor do you go on and on about it. You don’t expect me to talk about it and when I do, you let me rather than try and… I don’t know… interrogate me about it just ‘cause I opened up. I talked about it once - when my parents came to take me home and it seemed like they spent the entire time scolding me for something I didn’t understand - couldn’t understand - and couldn’t control. You and the others here don’t do that and for that I’m grateful. It’s healing in a way. Course at first it didn’t seem that way.”

“Oh?”

“As we discussed, it’s not as if making me a concubine is considered a friendly thing to do,” Ginny giggled. “I didn’t understand why you did it ‘til you told me so I thought it was about what happened this year. I now know had this year never happened the way it did, I would still be here. That was about that contract made when I was a baby and not about anything I did whether I knew I was doing it or not. Still… Harry? What would’ve happened if you hadn’t saved my life? What if there hadn’t been a life debt to make me a Potter before we married? I… I couldn’t live with the idea that I was a part of destroying your family! Not now!”

“It would’ve been more difficult, but not impossible to get around or out of that contract,” Harry said calmly. “The easiest way would’ve been to flee this country and hide until I was twenty-one and therefore untouchable that way. But that would be easier said than done. Where would I go, for example? I suppose with this trunk I could live okay, but I’d need someplace for it. Guess I could also hide out here until then. But what about the others? Can’t trust Dumbledore not to have tried something unless they were here as well and if they’re here what about their families? What about their educations? I can’t take that away from them even if it’s in my interests to do so. It' not right. We talked about that option and as tempting as it was, it’s not right by them at all.

“The other options would be the Honor Debt. Knowingly or not, your parents did attempt Line Theft and that can create a magical debt that would’ve allowed me to bind you to me as a concubine in payment of that debt. But, also that’s easier said than done. If they both conceded the debt - which we couldn’t count on before I talked with them - then I could call it in. If they did not, I’d have to get the Wizengamot to declare them as Line Thieves. With Dumbledore as Chief Warlock that would’ve been very, very difficult but not absolutely impossible. The problem is not so much that Dumbledore could prevent it, but that he could delay it and delay it giving him time to… well…”

“Have us potioned-up, shagging like bunnies, getting preggers and hitched before you could fix things?”

“Exactly,” Harry replied. “The Life Debt was the easiest way around a lot of less than ideal or effective possibilities.”

“I’m glad I’m a Potter,” Ginny said. “I’m happy it worked out this way.”

That afternoon, Harry gathered everyone in the main room or Great Hall of the Manor. He made sure they were all comfortable and that drinks and snacks were available before he stood before them.

“Right then,” he said getting their attention. “Tomorrow morning we return to real time and it will be Sunday morning, June 27th. There some things that Luna, Hermione and I want to tell you all before then. I don’t like keeping secrets from family. This involves Hermione, Luna and me, so they know this too, but…”

“Harry?” George Tennyson (Nicholas Flamel) began.

“Yes?”

“While I’d agree you shouldn’t keep secrets unless you have to, some need to be kept safe. Have you and the others begun studying Occlumency as we suggested?”

“Begun? Yes sir,” Harry replied. “Reading the introduction and first chapter was what we all did once we concluded our research into the contracts and each of us completed our summer assignments. We began with basic meditation on what was Wednesday for you and have asked Daphne, Hannah and Ginny to do it with us once they joined us. But that’s about it. Ginny read the introductory parts yesterday for us after her last paper was done.”

“Mary and I have been talking,” George continued nodding. “We still think you should continue to learn that art…”

“What this occamacy?” Rose Granger asked.

“It’s occlumancy,” Mary Tennyson said gently, “derived from the verb occlude. It is a technique that occludes or shields the mind from magical intrusion.”

“It is also a difficult art to master,” George continued after a more in depth description. “Yet even the novice and those who for whatever reason cannot master it to its fullest extent can gain benefits from it - such as a better memory and greater ease in learning. But after talking with Harry and Luna, Mary and I now think that while you should continue with such studies, certain of the things you have learned and will learned cannot wait for you to - hopefully - master the art. There is certain information that has been revealed to you three,” he said indicating Harry, Hermione and Luna, “that you know cannot become known to certain individuals…”

“Dumbledore,” Harry all but growled.

“Among others, yes,” George/Nicholas agreed. “At the same time, to hide it from the rest of the family - especially as the Grangers are aware of it - is also not a wise course. But, even with your Time Compression, there is not enough time for you to master the art between now and your return to school. And more critically, even with that skill there remains the chance that regardless of your intentions you may let it slip. I’m not saying you’d do so on purpose, but we cannot allow for the possibility of any accidents.”

“You’re not going to obliviate us, are you?” Hermione asked remembering what Dumbledore had done about the contracts.

“That would hardly serve the purpose,” George said. “Besides, that’s a clumsy way to protect information, one might even say amateurish. You need to know this information to use it and your family should know it so they can offer help, advice and support, don’t you think?”

The three nodded.

“There is another way,” George/Nicholas continued. “It does not require that you master occlumency in a matter of a handful of months (which is all but impossible) or rely on a near paranoid caution thereafter to prevent any accidental revelations. Short of obliviations - which will not serve our purposes - it is as close to fool proof as possible and, we suspect, will not be suspected at all. Have any of you heard of something called the Fidelius Charm?”

“We have,” Mr. Greengrass said, “but how can that be of use? It’s used to hide locations not…”

“Indeed it is,” George replied. “But it was originally designed to keep secrets - any kind of secrets. The fact that few bother to use it except to help hide a location from non-magicals and other wizards does not change the fact that the charm is not so limited. The reason it is not used for much more than that has to do with certain limitations on the charm.”

“I never thought of using it that way,” Mr. Greengrass conceded. “Then again, I don’t know how to cast it. It’s supposed to be incredibly hard to learn and cast.”

Mr. Tennyson smiled. “That’s what you’re told and for the most part it’s not inaccurate. Not completely, at any rate. The charm itself is actually fairly easy. Under the right circumstances, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of our young people could cast it today if my wife or I taught them how.”

Hermione seemed particularly eager to learn and expressed her desire to do so.

“But,” Mr. Tennyson continued, “the difficulties are not in the spell itself, but the conditions under which the spell is cast. The spell ‘hides’ a secret for lack of a more apt description. Specifically, the secret is hidden within the magic of a designated individual called the Secret Keeper. That person and only that person can reveal the secret to others. Anyone else who knows of the secret cannot once the spell is cast. They will remember it, but can’t reveal it nor is there any known means to force it from them magically or otherwise. The difficulty is the nature of the secret and those who know of it before the secret is cast. The more complex the secret, the more difficult the spell is to cast. This is why it is most frequently used to hide a location. Locations are not abstract ideas or complex information. Likewise the more people who already know the secret the harder it becomes to cast unless everyone who knows of it is present at the casting.

“What will be revealed today is information and, to extent, rather abstract information and concepts. That will make this spell all but impossible for most witches and wizards to cast assuming they know the spell. Some of what will be revealed is known only to people in this room, so that will make this easier. But there is a bit known to two people who are not here. Sequestering information in another person’s mind is never easy. Doing so without their presence or consent is much, much harder. Still, it’s only two and one of whom no doubt would consent to this so I should be able to manage it.

“Right then. There’s a lot to this secret or, should I say, these secrets. I’m not about to reveal it piece by piece and cast the spell after each sentence which is one way to do it. It’s also too bloody hard. But there’s an easy way. Whatever is revealed during this meeting after the spell is cast that is not already known to everyone in this room right now is the secret!” Mr. Tennyson then drew his wand and waived it and muttered a series of intricate incantations. When he finished there was a flash of magical light. “Easy enough,” he said. “Would’ve been harder as a caster if I didn’t know it already. Right then. We need a Secret Keeper, someone who can keep this quiet and who is not a part of this secret in their own right. That rules out myself, my wife Mary, Harry, Hermione and Luna.”

“I’ll do it,” Mr. Greengrass began.

Mr. Tennyson smiled. “Ordinarily, I’d be more than willing to allow it. The same is true for your lovely wife or Mrs. Abbott. But there is one here who is a better choice.”

“Who?” a few voices asked.

“All that’s left are a bunch of kids,” Astoria began.

“True, but there is one young person who is the ideal choice, best possible really.”

“Who?” the others asked.

“Ginny.”

“Me?” Ginny asked. “Why me? Not that I can’t keep a secret if I want to but…?”

“You’re Harry’s Concubine, are you not?”

“For now,” she replied somewhat indignantly. “I’ll be his wife one day.”

“Indeed you will,” Mr. Tennyson continued. “And oh by the way, for you other young ones, her status as Harry’s concubine is also part of the secret we infuse - that’s the term of art - today. Why you, Ginny? Because should Harry order you to keep this secret, that order is binding on you until he releases the order. Some things or orders will not survive termination of your bond. But keeping your bonded’s secrets learned during your bond survives the bond if you’re ordered to keep such secrets. Even if he one day releases you as a concubine and takes you as his wife, that will not release an open ended order such as this. Harry?”

“Ginny,” Harry said, “you are ordered to keep the secrets revealed to all here today until such time as I release you from this order. You may only reveal the secrets to those I tell you to, okay?”

Ginny nodded. With that, Mr. Tennyson cast another spell at Ginny. “There,” he said. “She’s now our Secret Keeper and it’s time to tell the secrets. The first one will help explain the later ones. My wife and I were not born Mary and George nor were we ever Tennysons. That’s a name I chose years ago. We married long ago under our original birth names. We are, in reality, Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.”

“For real?” Daphne asked as some of those who had not already known this gasped.

“Indeed for real,” Mrs. Tennyson replied. “We’ve rarely ever admitted to as much after the end of our first identity. We can also reveal that the only person in this room who is not one of our distant or, in Luna’s case, not so distant descendants is Mrs. Abbott. George?”

He removed a small book from his robes and held it facing Harry. “Mary and I wrote this after our meeting with you last Monday. It’s an abbreviated family tree of sorts that lists for each and every one of you your ancestors from us to you. It’s not truly a secret, but we’d appreciate it if you kept it here.”

“Thanks,” Harry said meekly.

George then launched into the story. He told the others about their work in time magic which led to what Luna had called the “French Word Thing” and the “Life Flashy Thing.”

“You’re from the future?” Astoria asked.

“No,” George laughed. “None of us are from there. Mary and I are arguably from the past. All of us here are in a way. But we all got here from that past the same way: one minute, one hour, one day and one year at a time. What we have - or I should say - what Harry, Hermione and Luna have, is information from a possible future. This is not a future any of us would wish for. It’s dark; dark enough that avoiding it far outweighs any moral concerns about tampering with time.”

“If it’s only a possible future, then what’s the big deal?” Mr. Greengrass asked. “Seems a bit much to tamper with time if you’re dealing in mere possibilities.”

“It’s a possible future only that it has not yet come to pass and the future is by no means set from this point going forward. However, if nothing changes from that course of events, it will come to pass. The information that we have sent back is useless if it is not used to change events such that the future from which that information came can no longer be a possibility. The risk is not that we are hoping to destroy that future reality. Good riddance, if you ask me. The risk is that the more we depart from that sequence of events, the less useful information as to those events becomes. For now and probably for the next several years, most of the events will happen in one way or another regardless of anything we do. In some cases they have to happen in order for the worst possibilities to be eliminated. But, let me tell you about what will happen if things do not change.

“Neither my wife or I can tell you what these events in need of changing are. We were not a part of them and those alternate selves had no memory of them and it’s only memories that can be sent back in the way that we’ve done it. Many of those memories belonged to Harry and Hermione. They lived the events that need to change. A few belong to Luna and what that Luna went through needs change as well. I advise you not to ask them what these events are. They don’t know yet. Their memories will not awaken until the right time and even then only if the events begin to unfold as they did in that possible future. Something that happens regardless will trigger the awakening and until that happens they will know nothing about their futures.

“What I can tell you all now is an overview of the future that must not come to pass for my wife and I lived it. Don’t ask me why, but our memories of that possible future awoke when we read an article in the Daily Prophet about a donation to St. Mungos. For whatever reason and as unrelated as that might seem to what might happen, it was a memory that we used as a trigger for our awakening.

“About three years from now, Voldemort will return… ,” he was interrupted by gasps from almost everyone not already in on the secret.

“But how can he?” Mrs. Abbott asked. “He’s dead! Everyone knows this and not even magic can bring back the dead!”

“But magic can be used to cheat or avoid death,” Mr. Tennyson continued. “Mary - or should I say Perenelle - and I used one form of such magic. Despite rumours to the contrary, we are not immortal, just very, very old. With what everyone else calls the Elixir of Life, the two of us have been able to skulk about for almost six hundred and seventy years. That being said, if or when we die, that will be it. Even with that Elixir, death can happen and when it does, it’s final. But it’s not the only way to avoid paying the Reaper his due. There are others and most of them are very, very dark and vile. Voldemort used one in particular that’s about as dark and vile as you can get. It requires mutilation of the immortal soul. It also requires human sacrifice. Specifically, following a dark ritual it requires the person to mutilate their own soul and then kill another person for no reason other than to complete their magical task.”

“Still doesn’t explain how he’s not dead,” Mr. Greengrass said after a silence as what had been said settled in.

“The particular magic used does not prevent physical death,” George / Nicholas continued. “Perhaps he thought it would. The references suggest it. Bit of a nasty shock if he thought that was the case. What that magic does do, however, is anchor the soul to this plane of existence in such a way that under the right circumstances it can recover a physical form. Should that happen he will be back. It has almost happened twice within the last two years, most recently down in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts. One way or another, it will happen and he will return. Once that happens, his Death Eaters will return to him - most of them anyway - and the war all thought had ended the night Harry’s parents died will resume practically right from where it left off except this time most will not believe it is happening.

“About two years after he returns, the Ministry will fall to his minions. Thousands will perish in the aftermath. In that future, Harry kills him once and for all a little over nine months after the fall of the Ministry. Not that this helps the thousands who died in the time between his return and final demise. We’re not sure how much of that future can or even should be prevented. Perhaps it can be, perhaps the suffering can at least be minimized, but should it be?”

“Seems rather obvious that it should,” Mr. Greengrass said.

“Perhaps. And while that death is truly the end of Voldemort many would say the sooner the better. But what we can tell you is that while Voldemort’s return and the war and rule of terror that followed were horrible and that his death ended that, it was not the worst. All things considered, that was a minor discomfort compared to what later followed.

“With Voldemort dead his followers went to ground. By then they occupied many positions within the Ministry and those were left vacant. They were replaced by many who had opposed their views. Things seemed to return to normal and there were reforms and such that many hoped would change things for the better. They were wrong in the end. Most everyone thought that Voldemort and his followers were a disease and with his death the disease had been cured. They were not the disease, merely a symptom. The disease remained and in time returned.

“Do you think Voldemort could have gained the followers he gained or nearly succeeded the way he did if he were the disease? The disease is bigotry. The disease is believing you are better than anyone else not because of your accomplishments but because of birth. Our society seems to believe you’re lot in life is all but fixed at birth. Seats in the Wizengamot are mostly hereditary, but even to get an appointed seat you need to be from ‘the right’ family. Most positions in government of any significance require similar connections. Most magically raised witches and wizards believe they are better than Muggles and from that believe they are better than those of lesser birth however they define it. That attitude predated Voldemort and survived his demise intact. Meaningful reforms could not take root. Every attempt to open society up to Muggle Borns or others failed. Oh for certain laws were passed in that regard. But laws aren’t worth the parchment they’re written upon unless they are vigorously enforced. Token Muggle Borns were admitted into the government without regard to their connections. One such was Hermione. They even rose through the ranks, but never to the top and never to a seat in the Wizengamot in their own right.

“No effort was made to change the way witches and wizards thought. In time, Pure-bloods and others from ancient lines began to object to allowing their inferiors as they saw it such opportunities. Sooner or later, a leader would rise promising to undo the reforms and restore them to their rightful places. The fact that even today most of them are not in such places and cannot claim a recent or perhaps even a distant ancestor who ever held such a place never crossed their narrow minds. Every ten or twenty years these factions rose up often violently to oppress their lesser and try and take over. Eventually, one such rising caught the attention of the Muggles. The fools did not think much of the Muggles and did not consider them a threat. Society chose to forget the real reason for the Statute of Secrecy long ago. What you are taught in school is rubbish.

“We did not hide from them because they were making demands for us to use our magic for their benefit. We chose to forget that they considered magic - all magic - evil and the only way to purge such evil from a person was to kill them. For hundreds of years they tried. True, they focused almost entirely on witches, choosing to overlook the other half of our society and true, for the most part, the victims of their attacks were almost always muggles and not witches as all. For ages and ages, they could not kill a witch or wizard unless they either got very lucky or the witch or wizard was very unlucky. But that changed.

“We hid from the Muggles ‘cause they invented means of destruction we could not defend against in the open. Compared to today, the means back then are both crude and inefficient. Muggle have become expert in the art of inflicting death and destruction and despite what’s taught, our magic cannot protect us from them if they truly were to seek us out. A little over sixty years from now, if things don’t change, they’ll do just that. A Supremacist movement will go too far and awaken the Muggles to our world in a way that they will find intolerable. We will die in vast numbers, many never understanding how we could be so wrong or why. True, the Muggles will also suffer horribly. But there’re far more of them than there are of us. We didn’t stand a chance.

“It began with a foolish attack on Muggles. The perpetrators were caught by the Muggles and exposed our world. The Muggles retaliated. Not right away. They planned and prepared. Getting back at the handful of witches and wizards responsible for the attack was not enough for them. They wanted to send a message in no uncertain terms. One day, in less than one hour, every magical school in Britain was attacked. There were no survivors.”

“Oh my word!” Mrs. Abbott said as the others gasped. “The children?”

“Any child at school at the time of the attack died that day. There were other attacks on other places we thought they could not find. They wanted us to know they could find us and kill us and were more than willing to do so and there was nothing we could do to stop them. Naturally, the Supremacisits thought otherwise. Those who did would’ve learned they were wrong, but the dead are beyond learning new things. However, the worst was yet to come. A handful of us saw the attacks as the beginning of a war we could not win and had little hope of surviving. Five of us here were then a part of that handful. We retreated to a place that no one could find and cut ourselves off from the outside almost completely. Our only contact, if you could call it that, was listening to the wireless and monitoring other communications. What followed after we went into hiding is what convinced us to try and change - to eliminate that future.”

“What could be worse?”

“A virus,” Mary / Perenelle replied. “Specifically, a genetically engineered virus. It was invented by a brilliant genetic engineer whose daughter had been killed by a wizard. It was released a couple of years or so after the Muggles sent their message. We don’t think its release was part of a plan by any Muggle government. But it didn’t matter. The virus was one that spread easily through any human population and we think well beyond it to other animals. The vast majority of humans would only get a cold. But they remained carriers long after the illness went away. If you were magical, however… For us, it was lethal. Fewer than ten percent survived the active infection which did not manifest itself until weeks after the initial infection. Those few who did lost their magic altogether and were generally rendered sterile. We don’t know for certain when it was released. We do know that it spread through the world rapidly. From what we now know was the first case of it until it had run its course and all but exterminated magic took about a year. It wasn’t just witches and wizards who died in that epidemic. Magical beings and creatures and even plants were wiped out because the virus specifically targeted and destroyed magic.”

There was a long pause before Mr. Greengrass spoke. “Rather apocalyptic. How did you survive? I assume you and the others did.”

“It helps not being around when sickness strikes,” George said. “I believe I mentioned we and some others went into hiding well before?” After some nods he continued. “There’s an island far from anywhere my wife and I discovered a long time ago. Over the centuries, we brought some people there and warded it heavily. It was uninhabited when we found it. No one’s found it since.”

“Well, no one who we didn’t want at least,” Mary / Perenelle added. “We left for that island not long after the Muggles struck the schools. We were there long before the virus and never left. The virus could only get there if we allowed an infected person to come to the island. Since most who we allowed to come over the centuries settled there and never left and since it’s under a Fidelius Charm, no one came there after we moved there following the attack.”

“Most who are brought there never leave,” George continued. “We don’t prevent them from leaving. They choose not to. Then again, in most cases if you leave you can never go back. Right now, of the two thousand who live there or know about the island, only three can truly leave and return at will: Mary, myself and the current Secret Keeper. We live off island and return from time to time, sometimes bringing others with us but mostly not. The current Secret Keeper was born there and has no interest in leaving. But I suppose we’re off topic.”

“Of course,” Mr. Greengrass said. “My apologies. So - um - why send this information back at all? How can the five of you stave off that disaster?”

“It’s not five any more, is it?”

“So we’re supposed to stop it?”

“Five has already become fifteen and that number is bound to grow over time. Small changes in the near future can become huge over time and time is what we do have right now. The apocalyptic future will occur in these children’s lifetime and that of Mary and I, but not the Mary and George you now see. Among the children who died that day there were be great grandchildren and even a couple of great-great grandchildren of the children here today. Harry, Hermione and Luna knew what needs to be changed. They’ve already made some of those needed changes even if they did not know it yet.”

“We have?” the three responded.

“Indeed,” Mary said. “One change you felt was necessary was to ensure House Potter remained under Harry’s control. It did not in that timeline and was not at the time you came back. Percy Weasley was acting as Regent over House Potter and held the votes or at least he was before the outbreak of the virus.”

“So I married Harry then?” Ginny asked although she did not seemed pleased to learn this. “That contract…?”

“Yes, that contract,” Mary replied. “It never got to the point of serious potions. You two became friends without such means and Dumbledore died before pushing such means. But you two did marry and as Mr. Weasley was bound by magic to enforce the vassalage clause. You and Harry did not find out about any of that until many years later when it was far too late to do anything about it. By then, Arthur Weasley was dead - killed in one of the later wars. You two were already grandparents, although your oldest grandchild was only six or seven. Hermione, on the other hand…”

“What about me?” Hermione asked.

“What do you mean it never got to serious potions?” Ginny added. “And why Percy? Why not Bill or Charlie?”

“I’ll answer your questions first. Hermione’s may take longer. You and Harry did receive potions for about a year. They made you no more than more open to the idea of a relationship. You didn’t truly get together because of them, but perhaps because of them you saw a relationship in your futures that you might not have seen without them. You did like each other without them. As for your brothers, they died in the same war that claimed your father. The two of you did love each other and under different circumstances, you might truly have been happy together. But remember, Harry shares compatible magic with two other witches and, while they were your friends, they never bonded. If they never had met things would’ve been different. If they never had become friends, things would’ve been different. But that was not the case. They had met and were friends and their magic called to each other, for lack of a better word. They would not have consciously been aware of any such call. But being close like that and yet apart they went through life feeling as if something was missing although not knowing what. It’s hard to be truly happy like that.

“Were it not for Dumbledore, it seems to us that it was likely that Harry would have eventually bonded with Hermione and maybe even Luna. Beginning about a year from now, Harry and Hermione were potioned. It was not a love or lust potion as most people would recognize and it had no noticeable effects for some time, but gradually they would see one and only one person as their intended. In Harry’s case it was you Ginny, thereby ensuring the contract came into force. In Hermione’s case it was another boy, thus ensuring she would not bond with Harry. We think Dumbledore began the potions in their Fourth Year when it seemed likely they were getting closer than just casual friends and reaching and age where they might begin to consider romantic possibilities. We don’t know that for certain, but the events the two described suggested that it began around that time. Ginny started getting dosed her Fifth Year when it seemed that while she was friendly with Harry and he with her, her romantic interests were elsewhere.”

“Under the contract,” George added, “such subtlety was no longer required and we don’t know why more powerful potions were not employed. Perhaps they would’ve been but Dumbledore died not long thereafter. We also think he did something to Luna as well, but we have no idea what that might have been or when except we think it’s safe to say it hasn’t happened yet. Still, by then the damage was done. What has already happened in the here and now is that Harry, Hermione and Luna have bonded. That actually began before Mary and I met with them on Monday. We would’ve told them about their potential bonds and recommended seeing those contracts through. Fortunately, that proved unnecessary and we think their solution to the contract about Ginny was both masterful and arguably the best thing for Ginny as well. Those are, however, but minor and possibly insignificant changes towards that future we hope to avoid as major as they may seem to us personally. Still, gaining control of House Potter, protecting the bonds, and building the alliances the marriages entail will be important in the end.”

Harry then took over explaining the politics as he had to Ginny earlier in the time compression. When asked for clarification on a few points, Daphne helped him. When she finished she turned to George and Mary Tennyson. “Do you know what happened to me in that timeline? Hannah?”

“No,” George said. “It’s possible we did not know. It’s possible we did not think it important - at least in regards to what needs to be done to avoid it. I can tell you your contracts with Harry were never executed. That’s all.”

“I think what has happened since we’ve left Hogwarts may have been what we intended,” Harry began.

“Is this one of those memory things?” Hannah asked.

“Don’t think so. A gut feeling and it makes sense when you think about it. The bonds were what our parents wished for us or at least hoped for us. My marriage to you and Hannah was also something my parents wanted. This was what was intended. Now as to how it will help with the future, I can’t say. But, the two of you have already been a huge help since you came here in sorting out what we do know and can find out. The biggest weapon we have against that future right now is the House Potter seat on the Wizengamot. With Hannah, we also gain the support of House Abbott. The way things were before is what led to the way things could become. We get a few more critical seats in our camp, and we can make sure that things change. That’s years from now, but long before the really bad stuff happens.”

“There’s still You-Know-Who,” Hannah began.

“Who won’t come back tomorrow,” George interrupted. “He must come back to be destroyed for good, but there are other things that should be done before then. What those things are I can’t say. For now, they are locked deep within the magic of the five of us and will only be revealed as needed when needed. What I can be somewhat certain of is that when the information reveals itself, there will be time to prepare before something needs to happen. You won’t know what the right course of action is, only what the wrong one is - the one most likely to lead to the futures you and the rest of us wish to avoid. I can’t even tell you when information will be revealed except to say something will be soon. We sent our information back to us at this time so there would be time to tell Harry, Hermione and Luna about what was happening to them. But we also sent it back not long before the first events. My guess is something will happen this summer, although I could be wrong. We wanted it to be soon. Too long a wait and you might not see the memory for what it is. We also wanted to do so in a way that would allow you to think your way through the problem so don’t expect to have a memory moments before you need to decide and act. But until a memory surfaces, our advice to you is to enjoy yourselves. This may seem like a lot. But our other selves knew this and planned things so you would grow into it, not be thrown in which is how things seem to have happened thus far.”

“There is one final thing we need to reveal that is part of the overall secret,” Mary said. “But I suggest we take a break for the time being so we can all be refreshed and, perhaps, so that one of us might finish her nap,” she finished nodding towards little Michelle Greengrass who had fallen asleep.