Fate

Chapter 7 - You Will Be Erased

"It seems our greatest question now is which method to use," Dumbledore said calmly, his eyes flickering over to Sirius and Remus as both the younger men looked at him in confusion.

"Well, I can tell that the two of your have reached a certain point of 'truce' with each other about this project and with that obstacle conquered, I feel we should move onto the next." He said it in such a matter-of-fact tone that both the remaining marauders gaped at him openly.

"Did we, or did we not find a body behind the veil last week, Albus?" Sirius said cautiously. "Shouldn't we figure out that before we move on?"

Dumbledore seemed to be seeing right through Sirius and looked at him deeply. "I believe that in working on that particular problem right now, we will not get any answers. But I do believe that we can get answers for that problem if we deal with Sirius's hypothesis about the veil."

Sirius and Remus both gave each other bewildered looks but ended up turning their full attention back to Dumbledore, as they knew he had a great chance of dealing with this then they did.

"You said something about methods?" Remus prompted their old headmaster.

Dumbledore smiled secretly and peered down at the paper in front of him. "Indeed. There are, to my knowledge and the knowledge of some of my friends back in the Department of Mysteries, two different scenarios to accomplish this task."

"One," he began, looking up and seeing that he had both the other men's attentions, "Is to, in fact, travel back to a point in the past and change something."

Sighing, he set the paper down and looked at them both very sternly. "The repercussions on this scenario are not enjoyable. The change that you would make could be for good or evil. It could cause quite a large change, or a change not big enough for something like this that we are trying to accomplish. Also, it is highly dangerous to the future of the younger generations on this world right now, not to mention extremely illegal in the eyes of the ministry."

Sirius' eyes were wide and Remus looked like he was trying not to burst out with a million questions.

"You said there was another option?" Sirius said timidly.

"Precisely, though it is no less risky," Dumbledore said in warning before looking back down at his paper. "Our other option would be to actually go back through the veil, find them, lead them back out of the veil, and hope for the best."

This time is was Remus' eyes that were bulging and Sirius looked as if he needed to go run a few laps to get out his pent up energy.

"I, for one, am not too keen about the second choice," Sirius finally said. They both turned to him and so he continued. "There's too much chance that we won't be able to get back out again, and I am not going to do that to Harry."

Dumbledore sighed and looked at both of them seriously. "What you two need to understand is that there is a huge risk in this, no matter what course we take. Victory would be incredible for all of us, more so for Harry. Defeat, while hard to think about, will bring about another stage of depression in Harry that I doubt anyone will be able to deal with."

"I'm willing to take the chance," Sirius said shortly.

"For yourself or for Harry, Sirius?"

"How dare you!" Sirius stood in anger, glaring at Dumbledore. "How dare you ask me that!?"

Remus, trying to calm his friend down, held up a hand. "Padfoot, calm down. He didn't mean it like that."

"Indeed, Sirius, I do not wish to trample on your memories of Lily and James, but there is a distinct possibility that in the course of the next few weeks you will be forced to choose between them and Harry."

Sirius' face looked ashen as he heard those words, though Remus could tell that he had probably already realized that fact. No one spoke for a minute or so as they gave time for Sirius to sort out his thoughts. Remus was also having a hard time comprehending the thought of choosing between them. It was a choice he would never want to make.

"Which of these plans would help us with Sirius and the body we found?" He finally asked.

Dumbledore's face brightened a bit, as if he was pleased that Remus had brought it up and he started to speak as Sirius sat down in his chair again.

"I believe the first option would cover that nicely. Changing the situation, on say, the night in the Department of Mysteries would assure Sirius' survival in the first place, making no need for a body. Changing the situation even farther back in time, even with Lily and James, would set off a chain reaction that would ultimately, I believe, change our entire situation here."

"You believe? What does that mean?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore sighed and laced his fingers together, resting his hands on the table. "Alas, there are not all who share my optimism about this choice. I, for one, think it is a great deal safer than the second option, but several workers in the ministry have warned me of serious repercussions."

"Such as?" Remus asked, not really wanting to hear but knowing that it was necessary.

"Fatality, for one thing," Dumbledore said bluntly. "If we do, by chance save them once, their deaths could still happen, even more deaths than theirs could still happen."

"Like, we could go back, change something, and then come back to find that we're all dead anyway?" Sirius said bluntly.

"Understanding the laws of time are not always easy, but I warn you now: If the change you make results in your death, you will not even be around to jump forward in time again."

"You will be erased."

Both men seemed frozen to the spot. Erased? Permanently....no chance of fixing the mistake again...

"Albus, that second option..." Remus hesitated. "It doesn't sound like it has anything to do with time travel, merely luck and a whole lot of miracles..."

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "It also gives us no answer for the problem with the body behind the veil. If we want to hit two birds with one stone, we must try to accomplish the first scenario."

They were all silent again and Dumbledore stood up slowly, walking over to the small model of the universe that sat on his desk. He smiled as he looked at it and then turned back to the two younger men who now had both stood up and were wearing equally determined expressions.

Sirius' statement seemed to sum up the feeling of both of them.

"Bring it on."

----

Harry didn't quite know what to expect when he opened the Room of Requirement the next morning, but whatever he had been expecting it definitely wasn't what he ended up seeing.

"What in bloody Merlin is going on in here!?"

Ron and Hermione both jumped in each other's arms, being rudely awakened by the yell and at once searched the room for the perpetrator. Both blushed deeply when they saw Harry standing in front of them, Ginny by his side, both of them sharing equal smirks.

Ron's embarrassment turned into a glare directed mostly at his best friend while Hermione jumped up out of Ron's arms, still rather embarrassed and started brushing the wrinkles out of her clothes that she had slept in all night.

At once, Harry and Ginny busted out laughing, eventually sinking to the ground because they laughed so hard. Ron, who was still glaring, was tapped on the shoulder by Hermione and he looked up at her quickly.

Harry and Ginny didn't notice when Hermione's head motioned to the door, and they didn't notice when Ron and Hermione both stood up proudly, marching out of the room.

But they did notice when the door slammed shut and the distinct 'click' of a lock was heard.

The both looked at each other quickly before rushing over and trying their best to open the door, even though they knew that with Hermione on the other side, they would never get out.

Finally, Ginny backed away, sliding down the wall and blowing out a resigned sigh. "Well, what goes around comes around, I guess."

Harry glanced at her curiously. "I'm getting the sense that Ron is actually pushing me towards his little sister." Ginny looked up at him in surprise and was pleased to see him smiling slightly at her.

She shook her head in exasperation, put it in her hands and sighed again. "Leave it to Ron to pick his best friend for me."

Harry smirked down at her and dropped beside her, both of them falling into a comfortable silence.

"Well, since we obviously don't exactly 'need' this 'time together'," Harry smirked and looked down at her as she looked up at him with a confused expression, "let's play with them a bit."

Ginny smirked, getting his meaning immediately.

"I just hope they remember we have classes tomorrow...If Ron leaves us in here too long...let's just say I've been practicing my Bat-Booty Hex."

Harry smirked and they both fell silent for the next long while, content to just sit together, neither quite sure why they felt so comfortable in one another's presence.

----

* Flashback *

----

"Ginny?"

She looked up from the homework, surprised to see Harry looking at her, his brow furrowed in his eyes worried.

"What? Is something wrong?" She asked in confusion. The day had been going so well. She got Harry's mind off of Sirius, spent more time with him than she ever remembered, shoved Ron and Hermione into the Room of Requirement, convinced Harry to help her with her homework and she hadn't blushed once. What was wrong?

He looked down, almost embarrassed and stuttered over his words for a bit.

"Well, I was just wondering, really..." he looked back up at her and she saw how serious he was. "Why did you do...all this?"

"What?" She was most definitely lost.

If anything he got more embarrassed but he still managed to get the words out. "It was really nice of you...spending some time with me and getting my mind off of...everything."

It was Ginny's turn to blush and she looked back down, trying to continue to work on her homework. "Oh...it was nothing..."

"No, Ginny," He reached down and grabbed her hand. Her eyes dated towards his hand touching hers and then up to his face. He took his hand away quickly, but didn't break eye contact. "Really, thanks, a lot."

She couldn't hide the blush anymore and quickly looked away again, trying to concentrate on something other than the fluttery feeling in her chest. "I...I just knew how you were feeling, I guess..."She looked up cautiously and saw that he was looking curiously at her. "It's hard," she said softly, "Dealing with emotions that you can't control." He nodded slightly, almost amazed at what she knew. "I guess I just thought I would be able to help."

He smiled at her again and the butterflies went crazy in her stomach again. "You did help, Ginny. A lot. Thanks."

----

* End Flashback *

----

Lunchtime found Remus and Sirius combing through the restricted section of the library, for once, actually there with permission, though that didn't stop Madam Pince from glaring at them every time she walked by. About the 10^th time she came around, Sirius winked at her and Remus did a little wave, causing her to narrow her eyes at them and scurry away, this time leaving them in peace.

"It's like she still thinks we're going to blow the library up," Remus commented, shaking his head with a smirk on his face.

"Well I really can't blame her," Sirius added, not looking up. "James and I never really went to the library unless it was to pull a prank."

Remus snorted, remembering. "True."

The silence hung for the next few minutes as both of them became engrossed in their work. Sirius was the first to snap out of it.

"Did Dumbledore tell you about the spell he found?"

"Yes," Remus mumbled, trying to concentrate on the book he was reading but knowing that he had better answer Sirius. "It was in the book that I had."

"Really?" Sirius had finally looked up himself.

"Mumhuh..."

"How far back can it take us?"

"Dumbledore figured if you put enough power into it we could go as far as 20 years."

"Are you going to perform it?"

Remus finally looked up, giving in to Sirius' lack of tact when someone's trying to read. "I hadn't really thought about it. I suppose I could if you didn't want to."

"Dumbledore's not coming?"

"Not as far as I know. He didn't think someone as old as him would be able to handle the journey."

"What about Harry?"

"What about Harry?"

"Are we going to tell him?"

"If we do end up telling him, then he's going to want to come. You know that, don't you?"

Sirius raised one eyebrow, a smirk on his face. "More like he's going to demand to come."

Remus shook his head in exasperation. "So I guess you were planning on bringing him anyway, weren't you?"

Shrugging, Sirius turned back to the book he was looking through. "I really didn't see a way around it. Besides, I think he deserves to come."

"He deserves to come?" Remus asked in disbelief. "Sirius, if something goes wrong and we loose him-"

"Moony, seriously," Sirius said impatiently. "Will you quit being so negative about this? We're going to plan everything down to the last second."

"You obviously don't realize that we're playing with time, Padfoot. Nothing it going to come out like we think it will. We have to be prepared for slip ups in the plan."

Sirius just looked up at him, smiling cheekily. "That is why we're Marauder's, Moony, and in exactly one week we're going to pass back through that veil and change this bloody Hell into something that we can stand to live with."

----

Harry and Ginny both jerked around quickly as they heard shuffles outside their door, both of them springing up, forgetting their current chess game and giving each other knowing glances.

"Let the games begin," Harry said quietly, smirking. Ginny's smirk mirrored his and at once they vanished the game, the furniture disappeared, the room obviously noting what it's occupants required, and both Ginny and Harry moved to opposite sides of the room, putting on disgusted faces.

"Harry? Ginny?" The door swung open to reveal Ron and Hermione, both with grins on their faces that instantly dropped as they saw the two occupants of the room standing apart from each other, absolutely nothing else in the room but a slight aura of bitterness.

"Guys?" Hermione said timidly.

Right on cue, Harry looked up at them. A purely furious expression on his face, glared at them for a moment before rushing out. Eyes wide with surprise, Ron and Hermione turned at once to Ginny.

She turned to them as well, rolling her eyes in an annoyed fashion and calmly (but swiftly) stormed out of the room, turning in the opposite direction and walking off.

"Bugger..." Ron said finally. "What in the bloody world just happened?"