Vicivium

Ron looked up at Hermione.

"What is that smell?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Oh... nothing..." Hermione replied evasively, discreetly stirring the contents of her cauldron. Hermione had been helping Ron with Potions all morning in the dungeons while she mixed her own concoction. Ron assumed it was some new recipe she'd found in the library and wanted to try out.

Ron glanced into Hermione's cauldron. The potion inside was a sort of faded pink or red that put him in mind of dead roses and dust. A smell not unlike old, musty flowers and dusty parchment emanated from the boiling stew. Ron couldn't help thinking of when they'd cleaned out the attic at Grimmauld Place--it was something like that cloying, dead smell.

"Do your homework," Hermione said testily. "It's nothing."

Ron wasn't so sure.

A few minutes later, Hermione announced that she had forgotten a vial and bustled off to get one from her trunk in Gryffindor Tower. Once he was sure she was gone, Ron snuck over to her cauldron and peered in. He could see himself reflected in the smooth surface...

Wait. That wasn't him. Or was it? Ron peered closer.... And closer.... And closer...

***

Suddenly, he was standing behind himself. Or... it was sort of like himself. Himself a lot older, for sure. He looked around. He was at.... Platform 9?? He recognized the cheery station, but it looked a bit different. New posters adorned the walls and a fresh coat of paint had been put on the benches. Suddenly, the older him started talking. Ron whirled to see to whom he spoke.

"You know, Hermione, I don't think you should have let Thea bring the dog."

"Oh, he's not doing any harm, Ron, and she really wanted the older ones to see him--he is her new puppy."

Ron turned his head and his mouth dropped open. There, beside him, was an older version of Hermione--complete with the bushy hair and a book under her arm.

"Papa, Papa, throw the ball for Fluffy again!"

Ron watched, still stunned, as a tiny girl with bushy auburn hair scampered up to the Other Ron. Other Ron took the little rubber ball she offered and tossed it gently toward a shaggy mutt a few yards away. The dog bounded after the toy, almost knocking over a man standing near him.

"Theodora!" exclaimed the Other Hermione.

The man smiled down at the dog good-naturedly and picked up the ball, handing it to the mutt. He glanced up at Other Ron and Other Hermione.

"Oy, mates!" he exclaimed, coming over to stand by them.

"Seamus!" Other Hermione greeted him with a smile. Other Ron shook hands with an equally aged Seamus Finnegan. A worried-looking witch in a bright green shawl trailed along after Seamus.

"Bridgit, these are the Weasleys. Remember them?"

"Yes, of course, Seamus," she said with an Irish burr, looking over her shoulder worriedly. "When do you think they'll be here, Seamus?"

Seamus put a jovial arm around his wife. "Don't worry, Bridgit. I'm sure Maureen's having the time of her life." He winked at Ron. "She's a little worried, see. Our littlest girl just went off this year and Bridgit's been worrying about her all winter."

"She's only eleven, Seamus, and she's so little--"

"Now, Biddy--"

Seamus and the green-shawled witch wandered away from Other Ron and Other Hermione, chatting.

"Well, wasn't that nice," said Hermione conversationally. "We haven't seen them since... Why, since their wedding, I think! Bridgit was in Ginny's year, wasn't she? A Hufflepuff, I believe."

Ron shuddered. Other Ron and Other Hermione acted eerily like his parents.

Other Ron shrugged noncommittally, looking around for someone else he knew.

"Oy! Look, Hermione, there's Neville and Ernie!"

"Let's go talk to them. I haven't seen Neville for ages--Thea, come with us. Yes, bring Fluffy."

"I really wish she wouldn't have named it that," muttered Other Ron.

Other Hermione smiled. "It does bring back memories, doesn't it?"

Ron followed as the Other Ron and Other Hermione made their way over to a small group of adults.

"Ron!" exclaimed Ernie MacMillen. He wore a powder blue business suit and a matching bowler hat. The ensemble put Ron distinctly in mind of Cornelius Fudge. Ernie's portly stature encouraged the parallel.

"Hello, Ernie," greeted Hermione cordially.

"Hullo," said Neville.

"Hannah! Luna!" called Ernie over his shoulder. "Look who's here to see us!"

A thin witch with greying brown hair and a sapphire cloak followed a willowy blonde-haired witch over to the group.

"Hello Luna, Hannah," greeted Hermione.

"Hermione!" cried Hannah, a huge smile spreading across her face. "How wonderful to see you!" She hugged Hermione effusively. "I declare we don't see each other enough. I've told Ernie we ought to have a reunion, like the Muggle schools--" she dropped her voice shamefully. "Our eldest is a Squib, you know, and she tells us all about those Muggle schools. She lives over with her aunt in the States." Hermione put on an appropriate expression of horror.

"Yes, poor Jane," interrupted Ernie. "But she is quite bright anyway, and is quite fond of her aunt. She wants to be an ambassador over there."

Hermione nodded encouragingly.

"But the other children are quite capable of magic," boasted Ernie proudly, the grave look disappearing from his face. "Why, Elliot is in his fifth year and Martha and Caleb are... oh, let's see--ah! Third year and second." Ernie pulled out a pocket watch from a pocket on his suit coat.

"Hannah! We need to be going if we want to be in the front of the station!"

The MacMillens bid farewell to the Longbottoms and Weasleys before jostling through the now-substantial crowd to the edge of the platform.

"Well, Luna, how have you been?" Hermione asked with a friendly smile.

"We've been great, Hermione," Neville interjected. "Amity just went off to school this year, you remember her. She's just the same age as... As ..." Neville trailed off with embarrassment, his face turning pink.

Hermione grinned. "Lionel."

"That's right!"

Other Ron patted Neville on the back. "Tough luck, mate. Three girls." He shook his head in mock-disapproval. "You can come and borrow one of the boys any time you need to."

Luna giggled, a sound not unlike tiny bells. "Oh, but I don't think we would know what to do with a boy," she said airily.

Neville smiled at her fondly, picking up her hand in his. "Yes, I think we wouldn't. Our girls are quite enough for us."

A shrill whistle cut through the murmur of the platform.

"Oh, look! They're coming!" Ron followed Other Hermione and Other Ron to press against the crowd as the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station. Children hung out the windows, waving at their waiting parents.

"Ooh, Arsenios--is he going to be in trouble--look at him, Ron, hanging out of that window--"

Other Ron wasn't listening. He had pulled Thea up onto his shoulders, where she hooted and crowed at the children coming home from school. Fluffy yapped and barked at Hermione's feet until she picked the wriggling mutt up in her arms, a pained look on her face.

A group of seven freckled, redheaded children pushed their way through the crowd to where Other Ron and Other Hermione stood.

"Mum, Mum, look what Augusta Longbottom gave me, Alice said it used to be Uncle Neville's--"

"Look, Dad, see what Uncle Fred gave me in Hogsmeade--"

"Mummy! Lionel is hurting Fluffy!"

Hermione smiled at her children and gave them all hugs. "Welcome home, children--yes, Lionel, that is Thea's new puppy--no, you may not hold it like that, give it to Thea--oh, come here, you!"

Two identical girls wandered away from the family group as Other Hermione and Other Ron caught up on the other children's school year antics. They met up with a gaggle of other girls about their age and began to say their goodbyes to one another. Ron wandered over to listen.

"Oh, goodbye, Jyotsana, we'll see you soon--"

A dark-haired Indian girl waved over her shoulder as a grown-up Parvati Patil hurried her along with what must have been Parvati's husband and two more children, an older boy and a younger girl.

"Rasheed, ask Indira to carry her own bags--no, Indira, don't make your brother carry them--" Ron heard Parvati say in the direction of her family. "Come on, now, Jyotsana, you'll see them all next year--"

"Bye, Alice, we'll miss you!" Ron saw one of the redheaded twins give a girl holding a Rememberall a good-bye hug. Her round face reminded Ron strongly of Neville.

"Goodbye, Daphne!"

"Goodbye, Augusta!"

One by one the girls drifted away, until only the twins, a girl who must have been a Finnegan and a dark-haired girl with green eyes were left.

They huddled together and whispered to each other. Ron leaned in closer to listen.

"Don't worry, Kathleen, he'll definitely hang around with us if you come over this summer--he is my brother--"

"Who? Sirius? Aw, Kathy, don't go for him, he's a jerk..."

"Well, I don't think so."

"You wouldn't now, would you, Daphne?"

"He is our cousin, Laurel--"

Ron jerked away. Cousin?

"Lily!" a familiar voice called from the crowd. A head, a shoulder, a quick glimpse of Harry was all Ron could catch of the adult counterpart of his friend.

"Laurel! Daphne! Come on, girls, we've got to get going if we're stopping by Harry and Ginny's tonight--"

Ron's head began to spin; he caught a glimpse of what he thought was his mother, only with brighter red hair and less grey. And her face looked remarkably like--

***

"Ron! What are you doing?"

Hermione, the real Hermione, was standing behind him, outraged. "I told you to stay away from my potion!"

"Hermione--how--what--what is this?"

Hermione's face flushed, but she didn't back down. "If you must know, it's Vicivium. It's a potion used to See the future."

"How reliable is it?" Ron asked horrified. If looks could kill, Hermione's glare would have had the effect of an atomic bomb. "Er--"

"Less than ninety percent," she snapped. "Now come on. We're leaving." She pinched his ear, which really did hurt, and dragged him out of the pink smoke and back into the dungeon.

***

Ron shook his head groggily. He felt like he'd been asleep for hours. As he looked up into Hermione's fuming face, he felt his dream--or whatever it had been--come flooding back.

"Aungh..."

"What did you see in there?"

Ron looked back at the cauldron, the pink now fading and the steam losing potency.

"Oh, nothing..."

"Tell me!"

Ron shuddered. "It was like... the future or something and..." He stopped, shaking his head and squinching his eyes shut.

"Ron..."

"We were muh-muh... marriedwithliketenkids," he mumbled, shuddering.

"And?" Hermione prompted.

"Er... Neville and Luna and Harry and somebody who really looked like Ginny--" he paused. "It was horrible."

Hermione glared at him and pulled out her wand. "You really should have listened to me, Ron," she said evenly.

"I'm sorry, Hermione--" Ron began to apologize sheepishly.

"Obliviate!" Hermione cried, jabbing her wand at Ron. Ron fell over backwards and his head thunked on the dungeon floor.

"It was five kids," she muttered. "Not ten."

***

Ron opened his eyes to see Hermione looking at him.

"Whuhappened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

That was an odd question. "You just went out to get a vial--"

Hermione held out a hand to help him up. "Come on. Let's take you up to the infirmary. Looks like you had a pretty nasty fall."

For the rest of the week, Hermione was cool and distant with him, but for the life of him he couldn't remember why.