To Chatch a Thief

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: And the Olympics in London open with James Bond and the Queen parachuting from a helicopter… One commentator described the opening as a Bilbo Baggins acid trip… (No. It was not me.)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: TO CATCH A THIEF

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10 th 1993

“So what we have are theories that fit the facts, but not the certain truth,” Harry said.

There was less than a week left in the thirty day Time Compression at Longbottom Farm and all of the residents and guests of the farm were present. Nymphadora Tonks was now known to all as “Dora.” For some reason, no one had thought of that derivation of her name before. Her parents called her by her given name which had been a point of embarrassment for years. At school she was either known by unrelated nicknames - which she chose not to reveal - or increasingly rude derivations of the first part of her given name which she absolutely despised. No one had ever called her Dora and when she was told that Dora is a common and accepted derivation of Theodora, Dorothy and Dorothea and is also a derivation of the ancient Greek word for gift, she came quickly to accept it in place of “Tonks” - at least within this group of family and friends.

Her mother and Sirius had been somewhat close before she had started Hogwarts and Andi always had some difficulty believing the things that had been said about him. She had no such difficulty believing about his pranks. But the idea he could be a Death Eater and betray the Potters had always seemed off to her. As a Healer, she had taken charge of seeing to her Cousin’s recovery from the ravages of Azkaban. She had praise for the efforts already done by the Elves of Potter Farms, but Sirius was her family. Aside from her Husband and daughter, he was the only family from her youth she had not grown to despise so he had become a project for her, not always to his delight.

She also had checked on Lily Potter who was now beginning to show. As a result of Time Compression, she was now around half way to her delivery date or would be once normal time resumed. There were no problems and she was far enough along to learn whether it would be a he or a she but the Potters decided to find out when it was born. All they did know is that it was an it and not a they, not that they had any reason to expect twins.

The Tennysons had been coaching all the young people in magic. Everyone was now studying occlumency under their tutelage. Sirius Black remained their primary teacher when it came to certain kinds of spell casting. Harry and his girls had come in working on the Patronus Charm but once the other Hogwarts students had learned of the Dementors that would most likely be about when they returned to school, all were now working on the spell. They practiced the spell every day and always at the end of any spell casting lessons due to its ability to tire them out. House Potter was already producing corporeal charms and working now at sustaining them. Harry’s was a stag, similar but larger to his father’s animagus form. Hermione’s was an otter. Luna’s a rabbit which she named fluffy. Ginny’s (second after Harry in producing one) was a horse. Hannah’s was a fox and Daphne’s was “some kind of cat” but not one that any recognized for certain although Luna thought it might be a panther of some kind. Not all the Longbottoms had succeeded yet, but those who had not were very close.

Aside from their training and just being a group of young people on Holiday, the other big project had been putting together all of the pieces of the puzzle. This involved everybody - mostly. Harry and his ladies decided the information regarding Sally-Anne should not be shared unless it was absolutely necessary so it was now under a Fidelius Charm. It turned out there was another with future memories in House Longbottom: Susan Bones. It was agreed they needed to figure out what might be going on and have a plan of some kind going forward. In the planning department, the immediate priorities after they left would be helping Frank and Alice Longbottom, a task that fell primarily to Andi Tonks, and the ultimate exoneration of Sirius Black which required more than just the capture of a rat but the rat was the key and at least until they returned to school, it was a task that only Ginny could hope to accomplish.

“I have left out a bit of the puzzle. I might be wrong to have done so, but it didn’t seem… It explains why some things happen but since we can’t do anything about it, it doesn’t help us change things. Still, you all need to know it. Ginny?”

Ginny then stood and wrote on a board that everyone could see.

“What’s that?” Neville asked. House Potter knew what it was as did the Tennysons, but Sirius, the Tonks and House Longbottom had not been shown it before. In Sirius’s case all he knew was that something like it existed.

“It’s a prophecy, Neville,” Harry said. “Don’t believe in such things myself. I mean if it’s real and certain to happen, why bother with anything? Why would we bother sending memories back? Doesn’t it make sense that some nutter of a fake Seer predicted that future? In reality, I believe they are all rubbish and yet they are all dangerous. Giving those who believe in any merit in Divination,” he said looking at Parvati, “they are not so much predictions of a certain future than statements describing a possible future. A prophecy is a possibility then and not a certainty. It can be a tool either to prevent that possibility or to turn the possible into the probable - if the right people or wrong people know it. That is what is happening here. My life and to some extent Neville’s life has gone the way it has gone because of this drivel.”

“Seventh month means July?” Parvati said. “This was made before you and Neville were born?”

Harry nodded. “We don’t know how long before. We know from the Tennyson’s uncapped future memories where they learned it that it was made by our current Divination Professor when she was speaking to Dumbledore about taking up that position.”

“We also know,” James said, “that he had no use for Divination before. When Sirius, Lily and I were in school, he openly discouraged students from taking it as an elective and was quite open about his plans to do away with the course altogether once the Professor who was teaching it retired. From Dora, we know that was not the case when she was in school afterwards. When we were there, he gave a talk to all the Second Years about electives and during that talk strongly suggested that we not waste our time with that course. Dora said her talk was from her Head of House…”

“So was ours,” Harry said.

“And ours,” Padma added.

“And ours,” Tracey and Daphne said in unison. “And Professor Snape said nothing about Divination one way or another,” Daphne added. “If he was derisive about any of the electives, it was Muggle Studies but that was because he knew it was so inaccurate and out of date that it was useless. He told us that while his mother never hid magic from him, he was raised in the Muggle World and knew that the course was useless. He said we learn more History of Magic sleeping through Binns classes than we could hope to learn about Muggles taking that course.”

“The point is,” Harry said, “something happened to change what Dumbledore opinions of that course and it happened around the time of this Prophecy.”

“Seventh month’s July, right?” Neville said. “We were born at the end of July. I could’ve been…”

“We don’t know that for certain, Neville. We don’t know that it means July or that July or something else entirely. But what we do know is that there are two wizards who believe that and have been working hard based upon this drivel: Dumbledore and Voldemort. We know Voldemort knows part of it and Dumbledore all of it. Voldemort was coming for both of us probably to kill whoever this One was before he had a chance to be a problem.”

“Albus Dumbledore was the one who told your parents to stay at the Manor, Neville,” Augusta said. “That was after they refused to consider his first option which was an out-of-the-way and unknown place under a Fidelius Charm.”

“But they went under one,” Neville said.

“That was later. After a near all out attack on the Manor.”

“We agreed to that Fidelius option,” Lily said. “We were certain we’d be safer at a Potter property, but it would mean that Harry, Hermione and Luna had to be kept apart and you three were already close. We later learned Dumbledore slipped us both a loyalty potion. We had an access trunk at our hideaway just in case, but that was before I came up with my plan. Once that plan was set up…”

“We’d still go to the Valley for some peace,” James continued. “We were less concerned about using it as a bunker or some such. Again, as Lils said, we now think that was the loyalty potion.”

“I’m certain Voldemort was after both of us, Neville,” Harry said. “He obviously was after me. He certainly didn’t stop by that night for a polite cup of tea. Bellatrix LeStrange was the worst of his bunch and they had to drop the wards at your property to even get to your parents. That attack occurred less than three days after the one on my parents suggesting a plan was already in motion. Voldemort wanted both of us dead and Dumbledore wanted both of us safe - or at least under his control more or less. Who knows? Maybe he made those attacks possible somehow to find out who this One was? It doesn’t matter. The point it we have two powerful wizards believing in this Prophecy and acting on it and since they think we have something to do with it, for that reason it’s important to us. The good news is it seems Voldemort is now fixed on me alone. I can’t say the same’s true about Dumbledore given what happened in the weeks following the attack at Godric’s Hollow.

“We don’t know what Dumbledore’s long range plans were before my parents supposedly died. We are fairly certain they changed that night. As you know, by that time my parents had already begun seeing to it that Hermione, Luna and I grew up together.”

“We were thinking of including Daphne and Hannah as well,” Lily said. “We would’ve if things had not been as dangerous as they were.”

“The marriage contracts had already been signed as had the Longbottom contracts with the Patils, Perks and Davis families.”

“And Neville had those girls as playmates as well,” Augusta added. “I had forgotten that. After Harry told us about a lot of this back when we all first got together here, Neville, his Ladies and I poured through the journals we have here. They’re not many as most are in the Manor. But there were references to visits between those families for the purpose of getting the kids together back in 1981. My Frank and Alice had taken precautions such that I thought the risk was acceptable…”

“We also learned some details from Madam Longbottom we did not know until we came here,” Harry said. “The morning after my parents supposedly died, Dumbledore asked for and received temporary guardianship over me. That’s not so unusual. I certainly could not take care of myself and wills take time to sort out. But what followed is suspicious. We had assumed that Dumbledore somehow hid my parents' wills.”

“Which was not truly the case,” Augusta picked up. “The day after the funeral, which was the day before the attack on my family, Dumbledore petitioned the Wizengamot for permanent Guardianship over Harry Potter. We all knew he had no grounds or so we thought. We had all seen the Will. I held the Longbottom proxy even then because it was not safe for my Frank to take his seat. Dumbledore was not listed as an option. The list included the Grangers, Lovegoods, Greengrasses, Abbotts and us.”

“In other words people who were either unknown to Dumbledore,” Harry said, “or political rivals of his faction.”

“At least in issues not related to Death Eaters and Voldemort,” Augusta nodded. “And even there I had disagreements since Dumbledore seemed most opposed to the use of force to deal with the problem. But he seemed to be the only one in a leadership position who had been willing to treat them as a threat from the first. Anyway, we had at least seen the Will and I could think of no reason to grant Dumbledore’s Petition and neither could anyone else - aside from his own faction who pretty much vote however Dumbledore votes. He wasn’t fool enough to think it would be granted simply because he was Dumbledore and had asked politely. In the end, he did a very good job of convincing us that will was either a fake or a fraud.”

“How?” Lily asked. “That’s pretty much what we set out about Harry. More important, we made it clear he was not to have any contact with what was left of my side of the family under any circumstances!”

“He told us you left a substantial amount of money to a known Death Eater and a Werewolf,” Augusta said. “He said you may not have known about the Death Eater, but you certainly knew about the Werewolf. Naturally, he said, a Head of an Ancient and Noble House would never leave money to such dark recipients. He never said who those people were, but everyone thought by then that Sirius Black was at least the Death Eater in question. Everyone could imagine that an Imperius Curse was involved. And those who could care less about leaving money to a Death Eater were also the ones who could not tolerate leaving a Knut to a Werewolf. No one voted against Dumbledore’s Petition. I abstained, which means there was no vote one way or another from House Longbottom. The Will was ruled invalid as it was procured under fraudulent circumstances and Dumbledore got his Guardianship.”

“There’s every reason to think that Dumbledore knew he would succeed in having my parents' will tossed into the rubbish bin,” Harry said. “I was already with the Dursleys. He had already set up the Wards on the place.” He then described the wards and what they did.

“But if the Wards are based on your mothers sacrifice… She didn’t die,” Sally-Anne said. “She had to die for them to work, right?”

“We don’t think it was that extreme,” Lily said. “I was willing to die to protect Harry. I had that plan in place, but did not know if it would work. Magic is intent based. Hence, since I intended to risk my life to save Harry, and did in fact do so, that may have been all that was necessary.”

“The day that Dumbledore gained permanent Guardianship over me,” Harry continued, “was the same day Neville’s parents were attacked. We don’t think the two events are truly related. We don’t think Dumbledore set it up. But we can’t say he didn’t have something to do with it either. What we do know for certain is that in the week following his getting his way in the Wizengamot, there was a rash of amnesia. The Grangers and Lovegoods forgot all about me and their contracts and that their daughters shared compatible magic with me. According to what Neville, Sally-Anne, Padma and Parvati have told us, it seems the same happened with their families. Madam Longbottom may not have known about those contracts before the attack…”

“I sure would’ve looked into that sort of thing afterwards,” Augusta said. “We can assume that I did and suffered a similar attack of amnesia as you put it.”

“We think the Weasleys objected to the contract they signed for Ginny and suffered a similar, although not identical fate. We know why Dumbledore did what he did to House Potter. The Contract for Ginny makes that clear. He wanted to make sure I could and would never become a political rival. He has made no effort to teach me anything about my family or what that all means. Best way to keep me in the dark about it would be to place me in the custody of my Muggle Aunt and her family who knew nothing about it. They were quite surprised at who I really am when they found out earlier this summer. Whether they now regret the way they raised me is another question…

“What we don’t know with any certainty is why Dumbledore also messed with House Longbottom although I have a guess.”

“And that is?” Augusta asked.

“My parents told me that Neville’s parents told them that Neville shared compatible magic with two witches about his age and my parents told Neville’s the same was true for me. As you know, Madam Longbottom, House Potter and House Longbottom have been allied for close to a thousand years and have intermarried something like ten times…”

“Indeed. It’s been a few generations since the last one. Both Houses preferred to wait a few generations between such matches. One might say it’s high time for another one, and there may have been a betrothal between the Houses had one family had a girl instead of a boy.”

“More often we serve as each others' godparents,” Harry said. “At least this has been the case with the heirs. Dad is Neville’s godfather and Neville’s Mum is my godmother. By law and custom, unless a Will says otherwise, custody of an orphaned child goes to a godparent and a godparent can exercise control of a proxy. My parents Will did not exclude either Sirius or your family from having custody over me, but it said that would only happen if the Grangers or Lovegoods could not do so for some reason. Apparently, the same was true with House Longbottom. Had Neville’s parents died, custody would be given to one of the families of his bondmates. My parents did not know who Neville’s were nor did Neville’s know who mine were, but they knew of it and it apparently was agreed that they would support that arrangement.

“That means the Longbottoms knew I was supposed to go with another family - one mentioned in the Will. We think this may have been true of the Perks and Patils as well. My parents told me that the Grangers and Lovegoods knew they had a godson who might come to them who was… well who also had two potential bondmates. It was therefore necessary for Dumbledore to erase all memories of that. No one was to find out that they were supposed to have custody over me. With Sirius in Azkaban, Neville’s parents in St. Mungo’s and the other memories capped, there was no one left with a legitimate claim to my custody or guardianship.”

“But it was not known then that the Longbottoms would not recover,” Andi offered.

“It’s possible he zapped their memories too,” Harry suggested, “and certain that he would’ve done so had they recovered.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Padma said. “What does this have to do with the Prophecy?”

“It seems very little,” Harry conceded. “The Prophecy was what led to this, it’s what got him interested in Neville and me. This, however, we think he came up with when things went all pear shaped. He saw my parents' death as an opportunity. When he first spoke to me about Voldemort, while he did not say it outright, he certainly left me thinking that he always though the bastard was not dead and had returned. But this was after there was no doubt about that. Voldemort had survived and had tried to return.” Harry then recounted the important events of his First Year for those who had not yet heard about it.

“I think that shook him up a bit,” Harry continued. “His plans for me do not make much sense unless he believed I had already fulfilled the Prophecy. Obviously, he now thinks otherwise. Perhaps he set things up that first year as a test of some kind - a test of the Prophecy. Perhaps last year was another such test.” Harry then recounted the last two years events.

“But as to what he did to me a dozen years ago? That was an opportunity that fell into his lap. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would’ve done that regardless of what he still believed about the prophecy. Long term, his plans for our world cannot come to pass so long as the Moderates continue to block his attempts in the Wizengamot. Madam Longbottom currently exercises the House Potter votes and he has made little progress towards his idea of an ideal society in that time.”

“If anything, he seems to have given up,” Augusta nodded. “Everyone thinks it’s because he’s old.”

“But it could be because that’s what he wants his opponents to think,” Harry said. “Had we not dealt with Ginny’s contract, he would have that as a secret weapon. He would have thirty-four votes handed to him on a silver platter as soon as Ginny and I were married assuming I was at least seventeen and therefore capable of changing my Proxy Holder.” Harry had already explained Ginny’s contract to everyone. “Under his indirect control, I might well drag House Longbottom’s thirty votes with me. Loss of Potter votes alone would be a major blow to the Moderate Faction and we would be replaced by Dumbledore’s Liberals as the group that tends to control things. House Longbottom’s votes might well give them a majority.”

“And how would that happen? I can’t see House Longbottom just changing sides that way,” Augusta countered.

“That’s speculation on my part. But, if our House alliance remained, it then becomes possible if not probable that it would remain in the Wizengamot as well. He went after House Longbottom for a reason and that reason is connected to why he did what he did about me. I must think he intended at the very least to keep House Longbottom from interfering with his plans to gain control of my House votes and maybe, through that control, then have some influence in how House Longbottom votes.”

“That plan seems scuppered,” Neville noted.

“It might’ve been to a degree when Dumbledore learned that Voldemort was not well and truly dead,” Harry said. “We think dealing with that problem is a little higher on his list of things to do.”

“In the other timeline,” Geoge Tennyson said, “there’s some evidence that suggests that he may have continued to move forward on the Vassalage front, but it was not as aggressively as it could’ve been. Harry did marry Ginny to the exclusion of the other contracts. But that was after Dumbledore had died and the Liberal faction did not survive as a united block following his death. The fact is many didn’t survive the war that followed.

“Right now, Dumbledore seems well and truly more focused on Voldemort than his Greater Good as he called it since he cannot move forward on his plans until Voldemort is dealt with. In that other timeline, Harry and Ginny married after the time set forth in the Contract so it could be argued and seems to have been the case that the Vassalage clause became unenforceable. What did happen is Harry had no interest whatsoever in his House Seat and left it entirely to a Proxy. He had not been raised to respect that seat so it meant nothing to him. Over the next few years, he grew to loath politics and politicians - not all that surprising really. He had not learned to understand the importance of a seat or the agendas of the factions within the Wizengamot. He killed Voldemort and defeated that cause, but rather than capitalize on that politically, he took no interest whatsoever in politics. Effectively, he passed his votes over to the Traditionalists - for his chosen Proxy voted with them more often than not himself not being politically inclined and being wary of change. That meant meaningful change was not possible, paving the way for another generation of Pure-blood Supremacists to pick up that banner and start another war.”

“And how do you fit into this?” Ted asked.

“Messengers, I should think,” Mary Tennyson said. “It was our yet to be invented magical process that allowed to send information back from that future to this present. We ourselves do not know precisely how we got involved with Harry, Neville, Hermione, Luna, Susan and Padma. We know it was a long time from now when events had moved beyond any hope of changing or preventing the disaster that had befallen the world. We were given a more complete overview of that timeline, for we were not key players that could’ve made a significant difference had we acted differently whereas those six and especially Harry and Neville could have.

“We can’t say what needs to be done, only what needs to be prevented. The Pure-blood Supremacist ideals must be destroyed. It was that philosophy that brought about the end of all things. We can say that Dumbledore’s Greater Good is not the answer. It never matured in that timeline. He died before it could and no one chose to take up that banner. That leaves us with the Radicals, who no one apart from them listens to, and the Moderates or something else altogether.”

“Why is Dumbledore’s way the wrong way?” Andi asked.

“He would have us under a form of dictatorship. It would not be a solitary ruler, but a group or Council of them, but it would be a dictatorship nonetheless. That Council would not be hereditary or Pure-blood by design, but it would be a ruling elite nonetheless. It would be an oligarchy - old people. They would be like Dumbledore: having obtains multiple Masteries and having decades of accomplishments and accolades under their hats before rising to the ruling Elite. They and only they would have any say in how the rest of the Wizarding World lives. There might still be a Ministry to do the day-to-day stuff. If the Wizengamot still existed, it would become advisory at best. That council would do what it thought was for the best without regard to any other considerations. Even if it did improve things, even if it was benign, it would be despotism nonetheless and sooner or later some unscrupulous soul would join it and take over. Since this elite could not be countered or removed, there’s nothing to stop it from doing what it likes or to protect the rest of us from its avarice. Even the current system, as flawed as it is, at least has some form of check even if that is nothing more than the divisions within and between the various factions in the Wizengamot. History shows that as flawed and infuriating as it can be, an inclusive form of governance is better in the long run than an exclusive form. His is more exclusive than what now exists just as the Pure-blood Supremacists idea is more exclusive than what now exists. The only true difference between Voldemort and Dumbledore is their idea of who that ruling elite should be.”

“So we have to change everything,” Dora said.

“Not everything,” Harry replied.

“Everything’s quite a bit, don’t you think?” Luna asked. “I’m not sure we’d want to change everything, do you? I mean if we changed everything, Harry wouldn’t be Harry any more, would he? I wouldn’t be Luna any more and I’d miss me. I might not even be a girl any more! That’s not a pleasant thought. I like being a girl.”

“Still, it’s a bit much,” Dora continued.

“Yes,” Luna replied. “But it’s not like we have really change anything right away, is it? Besides, change is a good thing. Life would be pretty boring if everything remained the same, don’t you think?”

“Fortunately, we have time,” Harry said. “The changes… we don’t even know what they are. I’m sure we all have ideas of some things, but we have years to turn those ideas into a plan and then into the changes.

“Ever since the Flamels hit us with this, I’ve been wondering about a lot of things. Mostly, why now? Why not sooner? Why not later? I guess much sooner and I’d still be hoping to be normal. I was still hoping to be normal even at the end of last year, but last year showed me I’m not. A normal eleven year old doesn’t go after a Mountain troll. A normal eleven year old doesn’t hang out with a large man and his baby dragon. Not even in our world.

“For as long as I can remember, I was different somehow. It wasn’t my fault, I just was. I was different than my Cousin Dudley. He got a bed and his own room. I slept on a board in a cupboard under the stairs. He got to go out and play. I worked. I scrubbed floor, cleaned and later took care of the garden and cooked. He had friends in school. I wasn’t allowed to have any. Then I find out I’m a wizard which explained why I was different from them. I know you can’t really choose to be one. You’re born that way. To me, I thought well I’m not normal in that world, maybe I can be a normal wizard, whatever that is. That, of course, was before I learned of all that Boy-Who-Lived rubbish which set me apart again. The only ones who truly saw past that stuff are in this room. My best mate Ron learned to see past it, but not at first. Hermione did from the start practically and certainly after we became friends. Neville did as well. The rest of you? Well you weren’t all on about it like a lot of people.

“Then there’s this summer when I learned of my true heritage. If none of this other stuff had ever happened to me, if Voldemort had never existed and I had grown up with my parents; normal by any definition except one that I make for myself was never in the cards, was it? I was heir to an Ancient and Noble House with a seat on the Wizengamot and ten percent or more of the votes, not to mention a fair bit of money apparently. There’s only one person I know who’s like me: Neville. And like me, unless you knew that about Neville, you wouldn’t know ‘cause he didn’t make any kind of deal about it at all.

“We learned about compatible magic and more about betrothal contracts than I probably ever wanted to know about and other things. Then, arriving here we learn we’re not the only ones. This summer, what happened to me happened to Neville as well. Like me, he shared compatible magic with two other witches about his age. That alone would have made either of us somewhat unique. Our research showed that sharing compatible magic with anyone is extremely rare and ultimately bonding with them rarer still. Until Neville and me, no one had two bond mates. Throw in the other betrothals, however they came about, and… when was the last recorded plural marriage?”

“Over eighty years ago,” Susan said. House Longbottom had done far more outside research at places like the Ministry over the summer. “That was a… um… simple case of a Line Continuation. It’s been much longer since there’s been one with more than two wives. Although our laws allow for it, it’s seldom ever done.”

Harry nodded. “So, Neville and I were born different than anyone else for some reason. Had nothing happened back then, we’d still be different. I’d still be at least betrothed to four witches as would he. We would’ve been raised knowing that and being encouraged to accept that. We would’ve shown up at Hogwarts knowing that. School stuff aside, we wouldn’t’ve been normal Firsties at all. But in that other timeline we now know we never knew about that - or at least not until a long, long time later when it was too late to… Well, bonding can only happen when we’re young. If it doesn’t happen by our mid-twenties or so it will never happen. It didn’t happen in that timeline.

“Things began to happen differently the morning after I went down into the Chamber to find Ginny. The first thing for me was I accepted Dobby as my Elf. I know that didn’t happen before. The next happened when Hermione was off studying and exams were cancelled and I spent hours with Luna down by the lake. We became friends years before we did in that other time. Luna then went home and Hermione went with me to that place. She kissed me at some point, something else that hadn’t happened before. We didn’t bond then, but I was determined to see her and to see Luna during this Summer. Didn’t know why at the time, aside from the fact that spending any time with them was a much nicer idea than spending it at the Dursleys…”

“My change happened about that time,” Neville said. “Sally-Anne had been part my… um… study group for Herbology and stuff. She kissed me to thank me before I left for home. She wasn’t the only one. Parvati and Susan did as well. Although it was on the lips, it wasn’t really like a boyfriend - girlfriend thing, but I knew I wanted to see them all, and especially Sally-Anne this summer. Didn’t know anything about the bonds. I knew I was betrothed. But those were not arrangements that… well, it was like if I didn’t marry before I was twenty-five and had no… well no real serious girlfriend, then I was to marry Astoria and Susan provided they were not married as well. Twenty-five is considered somewhat old to still be single in our world, you know…”

“So, here we are married at twelve or thirteen,” Harry continued. “This gets back to why now? We can’t even begin to really do anything about that future until we’re old enough to take our seats in the Wizengamot. Even then, even with the sixty-four votes between House Potter and Longbottom, even with the sixteen votes of House Bones and Abbott, we’d only have about a quarter of the votes so we’d have to work on getting others to agree with us and that takes time as well. And that assumes we went in with a plan.

“My first memory uncapped and it was about Sirius and the truth about him. I definitely wanted to help him. I did the last time. I probably would in any time and probably would even if he wasn’t a cousin or my godfather or my Dad’s best friend. He was innocent and no one wanted to believe that and that’s wrong! Still, why help him at this time? Keeping him from dying a few years from now does not seem to require me to know about him now, does it? I was tricked into doing something foolish then and Sirius came to help me and died. If I didn’t fall for the trick, that wouldn’t’ve happened and I certainly don’t need to know that now, do I?

“Then there was the incident at Gringotts and I began to see why I sent that stuff back to me now and not later. That incident never happened in that other timeline. What it showed me is a way to get started on the ultimate plan.

“Our first priorities are getting rid of Voldemort and getting Dumbledore out of our lives. But our long term goal is preventing the Wizarding World from starting its own destruction. Our whole society is the problem and doesn’t even know there is one. Sirius’s little adventure will begin to show people that things aren’t right. I’m guessing my plan in that other future was showing them that they had thrown an innocent man to the dementors. That too will not go down well. That he’s also almost the last of an Ancient and Noble House will not go down well. If the Minister’s stupidity with the Goblins and Sirius’s innocence were to come to light at about the same time, a lot of people who otherwise would not think about such things would start to question everything.”

“Probably would be the end of Fudge as Minister,” Susan said.

“Not to mention that House Black has twenty votes of its own which have always supported the Traditionalists,” Sirius said. “I shift them to this group, and you have a third of the votes right here in this room.”

“That’s not as important as the questions these things raise,” Harry said. “For whatever reason and whether you believe that prophecy or not Neville and I were born different. You could say we were born having access to the tools to make this world better and all we lacked was… well, we didn’t know that or anything last time. We know it now. So, the immediate plan is to get the people to begin to seriously question the supposed leaders and everything else. The Goblin stuff cannot stay quiet.”

“Once the I.C.W. hears about it, things will be very hard to hide or dismiss,” Hannah agreed.

“In the meantime, we move forward with our original plan for Sirius, except now with the backing of House Longbottom. The truth needs to come out this year and preferably early this fall.”

“Much as I do like my current living arrangements,” Sirius said, “I would like to go to a real pub and it’s not like there’re many… um… social opportunities on the Farm.”

“That true, Padfoot,” James said. “You better get yourself hitched! I really don’t want to be the one to repopulate House Black and I don’t think my son wants another wife either.”

Thursday, August 26 th 1993.

Ginny had arrived at the Burrow and found it empty. She knew her family had returned from their trip to Egypt the day before. She figured her Dad was probably at work but could only guess at where her Mum and older brothers were. She entered with her Elf Sunshine and an access trunk. Sunshine knew where her room was and immediately went up the stairs to put the trunk there. The elf would remain until the rest of her family showed up. She looked at her mother’s magical clock like thing that showed where all the Weasleys were. It had spoons instead of hands, each with the name of one of the family clearly visible. Instead of numbers it had stuff like “Home”, “School”, “Work”, “Travelling,” “Shopping” and others. Ginny saw her spoon was now pointing at “Home.” Her Dad’s, Bill’s and Charlie’s pointed to “Work” and all of the others were pointed to “Shopping.”

“They’re probably off getting their school supplies,” she thought aloud. She and the others had been to Diagon Alley a couple of days earlier to get their school supplies and new uniforms and such. The real highlight for her and the others was an otherwise unnecessary stop into a shop called “Magical Managerie.” Hermione said she wanted a pet, so they all went. They came out with several. Ginny fell for a black kitten, a female she named Sammy. Sunshine was probably setting Sammy up in her bedroom right now. Hermione had taken a shine to a fully grown cat that the owner said no one wanted. It seemed to hate everyone it met, except Hermione. It was a boy cat that already was called Crookshanks and it too found a new home. In fact, it joined a house that now had three other kittens.

Then she remembered her “mission.” She tore up the stairs to Ron’s room and went in. “Bugger!” she exclaimed. Beside the bed was the cage that held the Rat her family called Scabbers but who Ginny knew was really Peter Pettigrew. The cage was empty. That silly brother of hers probably took the thing with him for some reason. That had better be it. If the rat had run off or something, that would make things difficult. She went back down the stairs to wait for her family while her elf made her some lunch.

She was flipping through her “sort of” birthday present. It was a photo album of her summer. There were pictures of her and the others in France, London, at Windsor Castle, at the Grangers and the Farm. There weren’t many pictures of just her. Often she was pictured with Harry and if not then with one of her new sisters. There was a large picture from Longbottom farm of everyone she had met and spent time with that summer. That picture was taken at her birthday party which was held at Longbottom Farm since the thirty day Time Compression had actually gone past midnight so their last few days were actually happening on her birthday. She still had her pampering trip with Mrs. Granger and the others on the real day. She was at the center of the picture and there was a rather respectable pile of wrapped presents in front of her, including several from her family that had been mailed to her via Gringotts. She had liked all her presents, but two she treasured. They were both necklaces. Harry had bought her a very elegant and probably expensive one. She doubted she could ever wear it at Hogwarts, but Harry said there may be occasions to do it outside of school and he certainly hoped she would consider wearing it next summer when they got married. She liked that idea a lot, to say the least. Her brother Bill had also bought a necklace. This one was not as fancy and could be worn at school. It had a scarab on a gold chain (she wondered whether it was real gold). Bill’s note said it would protect her from all kinds of hexes.

There was another picture with her in it with her family and what looked like a huge field of Elves. That one had been taken a few days after her birthday when they all had gone to the new Elf Village on the farm. It was still under construction, but already many families had moved in to the finished cottages. That was the day when Harry had done his first true bit as Lord Potter. Hundreds of young elves needed their formal naming and bonding to House Potter. There were several elves that also needed their “marriages” to be formally recognized. Every elf on the estate, over two thousand of them, was there for that day.

She remembered the ceremony. There really wasn’t a set way to do those things, but Harry decided there would be at Potter Farm. For the Naming, the parents brought their child or children forward. Harry asked the parents their names and what they were requesting. When they said a name for their child, he then asked was there a name “by which your child is already known?” In most cases there was and that became the first of their Potter names. The “unnamed” children ranged in age. The oldest were from Old Farm and the oldest was not quite fourteen and already an Apprentice. The oldest from the Valley was eleven. Only the very youngest, one of which was only three days old at the time, had yet to have a name in which case Harry asked: “Is there a name by which you wish your child to be known?” In only three cases were the parents unsure and Harry was left to choose the name. “From this day forward, you shall be called Eric Carpyson Brewer Potter.” “From this day forward, you shall be called Margie Anniesdaughter Milker Potter.” The other names identified the young elf’s parents and what they did so that the full name became more personal and unique. Once the children were all granted their names, the weddings followed. When the last of the many couples was recognized as married, the entire household sat down in what would be the village square for a community dinner.

Ginny and the others learned that this was not the way many if any handled it. Harry’s parents had not done it this way. The new elf was brought to the cottage and named. Often only the mother was there as the father was off working. Marriages were just the two elves who asked to be mated and the witch or wizard said nothing more than “So be it.” James was very impressed with what Harry had done, making it a big deal both for the elves who were getting married or having their children named as well as all the other elves of the estate and all the human residents of the estate.

Harry explained at the time: “I married my girls at Gringotts. It was just me, them and their parents really. Only Luna had more of her family there. It seemed… cold. By magic, I am Head of House Potter and these elves are my family as well. This is our community. Naming an elf child is recognizing a new member of the entire community just as marrying a new elf couple is recognizing that. They should all be allowed to be a part of it because it touches all of them in a way, doesn’t it?”

No one was about to argue otherwise.

She heard a sound which she knew was the Floo. She thought of going over to see her family, but she was half way through the sandwich Sunshine had made for her and knew better than to leave it with Ron about. She sat at the table in the kitchen. She caught a glimpse of her brother Percy heading up the stairs muttering to himself and then her brothers Fred and George walked into the kitchen and saw her.

“Well, well,” Fred said. Ginny knew which it was. She was one of the few these two could not fool.

“Hey Fred,” Ginny said.

“The prodigal sister has returned,” George added with a smile.

“You’re looking good, Sis.”

“Thanks.”

“Mum didn’t say you’d be back,” George added.

“Didn’t say you wouldn’t, either,” Fred continued.

“Didn’t say much at all, ‘cept you were with a Healer or something…”

“…'cause of whatever it was that had happened.”

“What did happen?”

“We never asked that before.”

Ginny shrugged. “Dark magic of some kind. It was pretty awful and… well, I’m glad I had the summer I had to get over it.” She still had nightmares and knew she was not completely over it, but she knew she was a lot better than might have been the case. “Where’s Mum and Ron?”

“Still at Flourish and Blotts,” Fred said.

“Care of Magical Creatures Book’s a ruddy nightmare,” George added.

“Mum was all on about our…”

“Derth…

“Of electives…”

“What with Big Head Percy taking the lot.”

“She’s not so keen on it now.”

“Big Head Percy?” Ginny asked. “While I don’t disagree, what’d he do?”

“Made Head Boy, of course,” George said.

“We thought he was full of himself before.”

“We were wrong.”

“As strange as that notion may seem.”

Ginny chuckled.

“He’s still mad at us,” Fred said not in the least bit upset about it.

“Can’t understand why,” George added. “It’s been a couple of weeks.”

“What did you do?” Ginny gasped.

“You should mean which,” Fred said.

“There was the time we tried to seal him in a tomb.”

“After seeing ‘bout thirty of them, they became rather dull.”

“Needed to spice things up a bit.”

“Percy wasn’t pleased.”

“Neither was Mum.”

“But we think it’s his badge,” Fred finished. “He still hasn’t figured out how to change it back.”

“Okay… ,” Ginny drawled with a grin, “what did you do?”

“Well, it wasn’t really Percy, you know?” George said.

“All it said was Head Boy.”

“Seemed rather… pedestrian.”

“So we changed it so it was more…”

“Percy,” George finished. “Fits him perfectly now.”

“Perfect fit for perfect Percy.”

“How did you…?” Ginny began.

“Well, he’s not really Head Boy, is he?” Fred said. “Nothing like Bill.”

“So we corrected the oversight the school made.”

“It now says the truth…”

“There for all to see…”

“Big Head Boy!” they concluded together.

“I heard that!” and angry voice called down from upstairs. “So help me you two will be spending the year in detentions!”

“Yes mother,” they called back.

“You take that book straight upstairs and don’t open it!” Ginny heard her mother say.

“Why would I want to?” she heard Ron reply.

“And put Scabbers away! And then you best get started on those assignments you’ve been avoiding all summer!”

“But there’s days…”

“You’re not allowed to leave this house, touch a chess board or broom or even have second helpings until they’re done!”

“Fine!” Ron grumbled and Ginny heard him stomp up the stairs. This would add a complication. If he was stuck doing his assignments, he’d be in that room with the rat all the time. She needed to think about this.

“Can’t believe they’d assign such a book to children!” her mother muttered loudly entering the kitchen. Ginny knew which book her mother was talking about. She had been there when Hermione, Daphne and Hannah had to get it. Harry had gotten his copy as a birthday present from Hagrid so they already had figured out how to tame The Monster Book of Monsters, emphasis on the first “Monster.” The store had to keep the books in a cage of all things and until they saw their book list, they thought it was just Hagrid’s idea of a neat present. Somehow Hagrid knew it would be assigned for the course on Care of Magical Creatures. Ginny was tempted to tell her mother that all one had to do was stroke its spine and it wouldn’t behave like that any more - at least not to its owner and their friends. But she would then have to explain how she knew to Fred and George.

She heard a gasp. Her mother was standing and staring at her with a shocked but very pleased expression on her face. “Hi Mum!” she said. Her mother rushed over and hugged her despite the fact that she was sitting.

“It’s so good to have you home, Dear! Why didn’t you write us to tell us? Oh. Well never mind. Do you need to go shopping for your school supplies? How was your summer?”

“Mum! Please! I didn’t write you ‘cause they didn’t want me having anything sharp,” she said with a wink. Her mother understood this was not true, but said to keep the twins from knowing what was really going on and it was consistent with the cover story about her spending the summer in the care of a Mind Healer. “I already got all my school supplies and my summer was nice. France was wonderful.”

“You were in France?” the Twins asked.

“You were told she was being treated overseas,” her mother said.

“Yeah, but France isn’t really,” Fred said.

“Just across the Channel,” George added.

“We thought overseas meant the Americas…”

“Or India…”

“Or someplace exotic.”

“No, it was France. But it was really nice,” Ginny said.

“Heard that the French girls are really…”

“George! None of that!” her mother scolded.

“That was Fred, Mum.” Fred said although Ginny know her mother had guessed right.

“You both know who I meant!”

“French girls are really what?” Ginny asked hoping to sound innocent.

“Don’t you two answer! And don’t you encourage them, little Missy! I suppose that time over there worked,” she huffed. “The three of you are thick as thieves again and we only just got back!”

“Hey Ginny,” she heard Ron say. She looked up and there was her other brother. “I take it you’re not mental any more?”

“Ronald!” her mother scolded. “What a thing to say to you sister!”

“I was just saying I’m glad she’s home,” Ron protested.

“No,” Ginny said, “you said I was mental.”

Ron shrugged. “They said you were. Even for a girl…”

“Ronnikins, Ronnikins,” George said shaking his head. “Just ‘cause you think something…”

“Doesn’t mean you should say it,” Fred finished.

“For once I agree with your brothers, Ronald,” her mother said. “Why aren’t you up working on your assignments like you were told?”

“Can’t I say hello to my sister?”

“What’s that thing?” Ron asked. It was after dinner about which Ginny had mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was glad to be home for now and now her Dad was home as well, although he was complaining about how the work had piled up while they were away in Egypt. She had missed her family and until now had been the only one in House Potter who had not seen her family since that day at Gringotts. On the other hand, she had forgotten what life at the Burrow was like. It was loud. Now that she thought about it, it was rarely quiet. Someone was always yelling about something. The raised voices were seldom angry ones unless it was her Mum or more recently Percy who was tucked away in his room yelling at the top of his lungs about how it was too loud and he needed to work so shut it, thank you very much. The Farm was never this loud and not nearly as this chaotic even though it did have more people. That and there were always more than two conversations going on at the same time. While Dad complained about the pile of work, Percy complained about his brothers and Fred and George were trying to tell Ginny all about their trip to Egypt and all the pranks they tried to pull of Perfect, Big Head Percy. Ginny wondered whether this was the difference between having a house full of boys or girls.

“It’s a kitten, Ronald,” Ginny said. She was sitting on the couch in the living room and her black kitten was curled up in her lap. She had told the others that her Healer had suggested that having her own pet would be beneficial to her recovery.

“You mean a cat?” he practically shrieked.

“No. I mean a kitten. It’s still a baby.”

“You can’t have it!” he said as if he was in charge.

“What?”

“It’s a cat. Scabbers is a rat. Cats eat rats and Scabbers was here first!”

“It’s a kitten. It’s no bigger than Scabbers. And if you kept Scabbers in a cage like Mum’s always telling you to, then it couldn’t eat Scabbers even if it could although…”

“What?”

“Sammy’s a smart kitten. She probably knows that your rat would give her a real tummy ache.”

“Mum?” Ron bellowed. “She can’t have a cat, can she?”

“Ronald, you keep that rat where you’re supposed to and there should be no problem!”

“But Scabbers was here first!”

“Ronald! Go to your room and do your assignments like I told you!”

“But Mum!”

“But nothing. Never did like that thing! Filthy creature. Keep Scabbers in its cage for once!”

“Fine!” Ron stomped up the stairs.

Ron being all but confined to his room continued to vex Ginny. Unless Ron had really changed, she’d be lucky if he finished before they had to head off to school. Fortunately, she was able to spend the night in what she now thought of as her real room back at the Farm. That was the great thing about the Access Trunk and the other one being that it seemed try as they might, the thing totally vexed the Twins the one time they tried to take a peek at this new thing in her room when she was not there. So long as Ron was stuck in his room supposedly working on his assignments, Ginny could do nothing about the rat and this frustrated her. This was not their only chance at Scabbers, but in many ways it was their best one or at least the one that would result in the fewest suspicions from the rat’s so called owner. Ron was always letting the thing run lose around the Burrow. He was not so cavalier at school because it was crawling with cats. Many of the girls in Gryffindor had cats after all. When the idea finally struck her, Ginny was surprised she had not thought of it before. It was so easy! She went to sleep that night content.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 th , 1993.

“Good Morning, Miss,” Sunshine said. It was earlier than Ginny usually got up, but she wanted to be dressed and all of that earlier so that it appeared as if she had just woken up for the day when she came down to breakfast at the Burrow. “Your clothes are all laid out.”

“Thank you, Sunshine. And your task?”

“It’s done. It was no trouble at all, Miss. It’s in stasis now.”

Ginny smiled.

“Why’s that thing out of your room?” Ron asked icily at breakfast.

“What thing?” Ginny replied.

“That thing!” he said pointing at Sammy who was curled in her lap. She was at the breakfast table eating her plate full of eggs and bangers and such and passing small morsels now and then to her kitten.

“She needs her breakfast too,” she said.

“Fine! But put it away when you’re done. Scabbers is loose somewhere!”

“Ronald, I told you to keep that rat in its cage!” Mrs. Weasley scolded.

“He was in his cage! He got loose!”

“You have a bad habit of not latching that thing. I have no idea how many times you’ve been told and it still gets loose. You had better hope it’s still in the house, not that I want that! There are fox and hawks and such around here who would see your pet as a nice meal, Ronald.”

“Fine! I’ll find him after breakfast. But tell Ginny to put that cat away!”

“It’s only a kitten, Ronald. And I’m sure Sammy’d rather have bits of bacon and bangers as afters than your mangy, old rat!”

“I’m sure you’re right Dear,” Mrs. Weasley said. “Why I ever allowed such a thing as a rat… Percy Dear?”

“It’s not my rat any more!” Percy complained.

“I wasn’t suggesting it was nor am I suggesting that you help your brother find the beast. Not at all. What I was going to say was that your father and I are taking Ginny out for the day. I expect this house to be standing and things to be in one piece when we get back. We should be back for dinner.”

“What about lunch?” Ron complained.

“You’re old enough to make your own sandwich,” Mrs. Weasley said. “Besides, you have those assignments to finish.”

“But what about Scabbers?”

“I’m sure it’ll turn up. Thing’s like a bad Knut, it is. You need to finish those assignments. And Percy?”

“Yes Mother?”

“Your job is to see to it he does just that. He’s not allowed to see a broom, much less touch one. And if that means you have to get out of your own room, then that’s what you will do!”

“Yes Mother.” Percy was clearly disappointed about that.