To Love or Not to Love

The match eventually ended after twelve hours. Harry had successfully caught the Snitch once England were one hundred and ninety points up, which Entwhistle was not entirely satisfied with, though Harry wasn't sure he was entirely bothered about this. He was glad to see Ron once again after he had changed, and followed his best friend to a quiet Muggle pub nearby, away from the roudy Quidditch fans who were heading for the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head where they could perform magic openly.

Taking a seat in a quiet corner, Harry sipped his beer thoughtfully, aware that he was technically breaking Muggle law, being seventeen in reality.

"How are you finding it?" Ron asked awkwardly. "Do you, y'know, know everything that the future you knows?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno, it's quite hard to get the hang of. Earlier on it seemed quite easy; I had memories that I needed for Quidditch and I remembered the other members of the team. But other than that, I'm finding it quite hard - I've been trying to remember things that have happened, but I can't."

Ron simply said, "Oh," and then continued to drink.

Harry realised that something bad must have happened to the future Ron, for he was not as cheerful as he remembered and he had so far refused to talk of Hermione. Maybe she had rejected him? Maybe she was with someone else? Whatever it was, Harry saw that he was going to have to do all the work in this conversation in order to find out; Ron clearly wasn't volunteering information.

"So what do I need to know?" he asked.

Ron did not seem enthusiastic. "It's not so good, mate," he sighed. "I think I should get the worst over and done with first." He paused, apparently taking a deep breath before speaking. "You-Know-Who is still at large."

Harry gasped and spat out his beer. "What? You mean we didn't defeat him? How come?"

"Never found all of the horcruxes," Ron replied, and then he mumbled something that Harry could, unfortunately, hear perfectly clearly: "I suppose it might have been to do with Hermione's death."

Suddenly feeling empty, Harry was dumbfounded. Hermione was his best friend - how could she be dead? She was such a brilliant witch, the best in the year - how could she possibly die and he and Ron survive?

"How did it happen?" he asked bravely, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

Ron shrugged. "The usual. You-Know-Who decides he's going to kill someone, he usually gets them." He sighed heavily, and Harry realised that Hermione's death was still very painful for him. "You and Ginny had a big bust up," he explained. "She said that first you were avoiding her and now you wanted protect her. I'll never understand everything that went on between you two; you'd have to ask her. Anyway, you really upset her for some reason, so Hermione stayed at Hogwarts so that she could cheer her up - she said she'd catch us up on our way to finding out about R.A.B. But she never did. You-Know-Who got her. Killed her himself."

Harry suddenly understood why Ron was so unhappy. Whatever was going on between Ron and Hermione back in 1997, it was obvious that they felt for each other, and losing Hermione was bound to take its toll on Ron.

"We were going out at the time," Ron explained, "Hermione and I. We were ..." (He gulped down some Dutch courage before continuing.) "We were doing really well - you and Ginny argued more than we did. Then he took it all away from us."

Shaking his head bitterly, Ron downed his whiskey and asked the Muggle waitress for another. When it arrived, he continued.

"Anyway, there's more to tell than that. People are still dying all the time - even the Muggles have noticed. Apparently the population's lower than it's ever been." Heartbreakingly, he started counting people off on his fingers. "Dumbledore - well, you know about him; McGonagall - You-Know-Who planned on taking over Hogwarts, but Snape stopped him -"

"Snape?" Harry interrupted. The last time he had seen Snape, he had killed Dumbledore, so why would he stop Voldemort from taking over Hogwarts? What was in it for him?

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that you don't know," Ron said dully as though it didn't really matter to him anyway, as though nothing mattered to him now that Hermione was gone. "Snape's on our side. He killed Dumbledore because Dumbledore made him - wouldn't take no for an answer. Saved Malfoy's life. Oh yeah, Malfoy's on our side now, too. And his mum. They're not very good with Muggle-borns and Muggles but they're still on our side.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so Snape saved Hogwarts, he made people feel safe there again - that was after we'd left, of course. Who else died?" he asked himself, as though it were an everyday occurrence. "Oh yeah, Lestrange killed Tonks - yeah," he added when Harry gasped, "they had a nasty battle, and Lestrange almost died, but she won in the end. Lupin couldn't bear it. Wanted to get his own back on her, to try and kill her for what she did to Tonks and Sirius - I take it you know about Sirius? - but the other Order members pointed out that he'd probably just end up turning her into a werewolf, which was the last thing we wanted.

"Next was Percy. He had just joined the Order when the Death Eaters got him," Ron explained, and Harry couldn't help noticing that he didn't sound as sad about this particular death. "Let me see ... oh yeah, Neville died trying to save Luna from some Death Eaters - he even managed to kill one of them. But they were out-numbered, three-to-one. Neither of them stood a chance."

He paused and frowned, as though trying to remember if he had forgotten anyone, saying it all so casually that anyone who overheard the conversation might think they were discussing who to invite to a party.

Finally, he said, "I think that's about it."

Harry shook his head in despair. He could not believe that so many of the people he cared about had been killed. He was glad to know that Neville had died fighting, for he knew the round-faced Gryffindor would have wanted such a death. Harry had always thought Neville braver than most, and he was sad to hear that he was dead, and that Luna had died with him.

"What about Ginny?" he asked, finally plucking up the courage to ask the question he really wanted to ask. "How is she?"

Ron sighed. "She's not brilliant. She blames herself for Hermione's death. She married Dean a couple of years ago, shortly after you and her realised that you could never make it work. But Mum says it was one of those marriages where people just elope because they're so scared. She reckons Ginny never really got over you and that Dean was just a substitute. She's happy enough, though."

Harry watched as Ron almost smiled for the first time since he had met him in this future. "She's got two really cute kids - Molly and Nymphadora. Lupin was really touched when she called the little one Nymphadora, he said it really meant a lot to him. She's working in the Ministry, which she isn't too thrilled about, but Mum and Dad wanted her somewhere where they could keep an eye on her, make sure she was alright. Anyway, Hogwarts closed after Hermione died - didn't reopen until a couple of years after - so she didn't get the NEWTs she needed for a decent job."

"What about Charlie? And Fred and George?" Harry asked.

"Charlie's married to this woman he met in Romania. She's British too; she was there on Gringotts business. Her name's Kate and she's pregnant - almost full term now, actually. And Fred and George are doing really well. You wouldn't think a joke shop would be so popular in dark times, but it really is. I s'pose people need some comic relief. Neither of them is married yet, though George is pretty serious about his girlfriend." He snickered. "Guess what her name is?"

Pleased to see the Ron he knew resurfacing, Harry grinned and asked, "What?"

"Georgina!" Ron chortled, spraying whiskey over the table, causing some young Muggle women at the next table to turn away disgustedly. "Nothing wrong with the name of course, just George and Georgina, sounds quite funny. Fred joked that he was gonna marry someone called Freda, but the only person he's met so far with that name is a friend of Mum's."

"Any romance in the air for Fred?" Harry asked.

"Sort of," Ron said, his smile still in place. "But I think he really likes this girl because he's afraid to ask her out. Do you remember Verity from the joke shop? Well, it turns out she's quite a laugh. I'm telling you though; Fred and George had such a big fall out when George started seeing Georgina. Fred said he was putting her before the shop, but I think he was just a bit jealous 'cause he and George have always done everything together."

Harry nodded, attempting to take in all of this new information. "So what happened to everyone? I mean everyone in the Order. Did Tonks and Lupin ever get married? How did Percy die and how was he persuaded to join the Order? I assume Bill and Fleur still got married."

Ron looked thoughtful before answering. "Tonks and Lupin were married," he said, his smile fading. "They were so happy. They've got a little girl - she's almost four now, actually - called Rebecca." A smile appeared on his face once again as he said, "Tonks refused to give her an unusual name, you know she always hated her name.

"What did you ask next? Oh yeah, Percy." He shrugged and said quite flippantly, "Oh, the Death Eaters realised that he'd joined the Order. You knew Percy, he was never subtle - he made it too obvious. Well, they couldn't have that. That's why they killed Tonks - her relationship with Lupin made it clear that she was on our side, and Voldemort doesn't want any potential Order members in the Ministry. As for how he joined ... well, I think he was quite shaken by the death of Scrimgeour -" (Harry gasped. Scrimgeour, the ex-Auror, was dead?) "- yeah, Scrimgeour was killed by a bunch of Death Eaters. There's a new Minister for Magic, but only certain Ministry members are allowed to know who it is - they don't want Voldemort to get the Minister again, see.

"Anyway, his death shocked Percy. I don't think he'd ever questioned his safety while he was working for the Minister, but obviously the Minister's death shook him out of his stupor. He decided he'd be safer with the Order. Obviously not."

Harry hated the shadow of a smile that he saw creeping onto Ron's face; apparently Ron had never forgiven his older brother for choosing politics over family.

"He was doing well with Penelope, though, I'll give him that," Ron admitted, speaking, Harry guessed, of Penelope Clearwater, the former Ravenclaw Prefect and Head Girl whom Harry knew Percy had been seeing at Hogwarts. "I think he kind of pushed her aside at one point, chose his career over her. But then when you didn't defeat You-Know-Who like everyone expected, well, I think he started to worry, like everyone else in the wizarding world. That posh jewellers in Hogsmeade said he'd been looking at rings ..."

This time, Harry noted, Ron's eyes had a hint of sadness in them, as he stared at his drink, stuck in another world.

"And Fleur and Bill?" he prompted finally, watching as Ron took another swill of his whiskey.

"Oh, yeah, they got married and they've got a couple of kids. Let me see, there's Raphael, he's six, and Philippe, who's three." Once again, Ron grinned as he said, "Fleur couldn't believe it when she found out that Weasleys are never women! Dad said that Ginny was the first girl he could remember in the family in years and Fleur just freaked - she wanted a little girl to dress in pink."

"What about your mum and dad? Are they okay?" Harry asked, for he had high regard for Mr and Mrs Weasley.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, yeah, they're fine. Mum was a bit sad when we all moved out - Ginny's living with Dean and I've got a flat in greater London. Anyway, she got over it in the end, and she invites us over for Sunday lunch. Now that the others have got families, though, she's started inviting some of us over on Saturday instead 'cause there's not enough room to have us all one day.

"What am I saying all this for, anyway?" Ron said suddenly. "I know a much better way for you to find all this out."

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Headquarters," Ron said quietly so that only Harry could hear. "Of course the Order doesn't officially exist anymore," he added meaningfully.

But Harry understood. Ron had used the word 'officially', which meant that as far as Voldemort and his Death Eaters were aware, the Order had given up. He assumed this was purely for safety reasons, so that the members of the Order did not become targets of Voldemort. However, he realised that this should not be said in public, and instead followed Ron as he casually asked the barman where the toilets were.

Ron led Harry through the smokey pub and into a carpeted corridor. Then, looking to see if anyone was around, he took out a rather expensive looking sneakascope. He seemed to be satisfied then, for he pushed it back into the pockets of his Muggle clothes before leading Harry into a parlour off the corridor. Shutting the door behind them, Harry made his way towards the fireplace, assuming they were using the floo network to get wherever they were going.

"What are you doing?" Ron questioned. "We can't Floo there - Voldemort's spies are watching the fireplaces. Besides, there isn't a fireplace where we're going. We have to Apparate there."

"Uh, okay," said Harry nervously, for he had not yet Apparated much, had only just passed his test, and did not even know where they were going.

Ron looked Harry up and down. "I suppose you're not a brilliant Apparator if you're only seventeen, and you need to be really good to get through all the barriers we've put up. You'll have to do side-along Apparition."

Obediently, Harry took Ron's arm, and turned on the spot once Ron counted to three. They were then propelled through the air, through nothingness, until they seemed to come to walls, walls that strictly speaking could not exist because they were in the middle of thin air. Harry supposed it must be a bit like this when one tried to Apparate into Hogwarts. However, unperturbed, Ron seemed to run his hands along the walls, until he found what they were looking for and they disappeared once again, back into thin air.

Finally, they landed on solid ground, and Harry fell to his feet.

"Wow," Harry said, feeling dizzy. "What was that?"

"You have to find the hole," Ron explained, pulling Harry up. "It's additional security. In normal circumstances, only the Secret Keeper can let you in, but you're one and Ginny's the other, and she doesn't know that you're not the same Harry. Dumbledore said that Headquarters should allow you in anyway because it's you."

As they walked towards Headquarters, Harry was given a chance to look around him. He realised that they were underground somewhere, for it was mostly darkness and he could hear the rattling of the Muggle tube train above them. In front of him, he could see what appeared to be an underground building, one that resembled the Burrow in that it looked as though magic were holding it up. It looked much like an old warehouse, and was quite oddly contrasted with the dry earth that lay all around it. Surrounding the building, Harry could see walls blocking them in, and guessed that behind the walls was simply earth.

As they approached the door, Ron cautioned, "Remember you're not supposed to tell anyone."

Harry nodded, trying not to feel nervous as Ron pushed the door open. Inside was one large room with a set of stairs near the back. There were numerous amounts of people crowded around the room and they appeared to be living here, for many of them were sleeping, which reminded Harry that it was by now almost midnight.

"What are all these people doing here?" he asked Ron quietly as they aimed for the steps at the back of the room.

Ron's brow furrowed for a moment, as though wondering why Harry didn't know, and then he remembered that Harry was not in fact the real Harry.

"They're living here," he replied. "They're all people that Voldemort has targeted, and either they survived an attack or they escaped before Voldemort came for them. The Order's become a sort of charity as well as everything else."

As they walked past a group of young witches, one of them, whom Harry recognised as being a First Year Hufflepuff in 1997, stood up and stopped them.

"Mr Potter," she said shyly, "I heard the match on WWN earlier - you were great."

"Uh - thanks," Harry said. Then, when she continued to stand there staring at him, he added, "Sorry, we've ... uh ... got things to do."

However, the Hufflepuff was not the only one to stop Harry and Ron as they walked past, for many people seemed to want to make requests for another sleeping bag or some more food, or else they wanted to know what the Order were doing to stop Voldemort. Eventually they were able to reach the steps, which they climbed and entered a room at the top of it that held the words 'Meeting Room' on the door and had two Aurors standing guard outside.

"Good evening, Mr Weasley, Mr Potter," one of the Aurors, a black wizard with dreadlocks, said, whilst the other one remained silent.

Harry smiled nervously in reply as he followed Ron into the Meeting Room.

Upon opening the door, Harry was pleased to see so many familiar faces. Every Weasley, except of course Percy, was there, as was Fleur, Lupin, Kingsley, Moody, Snape and even Mrs Figg and Mundungus Fletcher and a few people Harry didn't recognise. He was sad to see a few people missing - Dumbledore being the most prominent, and of course Professor McGonagall, Percy and Tonks. Other than that, everyone seemed to be there, which made him feel much more at home.

"Right, what have I missed?" Ron asked.

Ginny turned and glared at her brother. "And where in Merlin's name have you been? You've been gone all day, we could have used you!" She rounded on Harry, who flinched under her anger. "And you, Harry! I know you've had your stupid Quidditch match, but just because you're famous, it doesn't mean you can slack off afterwards to have drinks with your famous cronies!"

Harry was saved the trouble of retorting, however, by someone he didn't recognise, who did it for him.

"Leave him alone, Ginny!" she said in an accent that Harry realised was European, but he was not entirely sure which part of Europe she was from. "We all have to hold down a job or we wouldn't be able to afford to help all those people down there, and you cannot expect Harry to come straight here after a twelve hour match!"

She and Ginny glared at each other and Harry wondered for a minute if maybe he was married to her. He looked across to Ron, who mouthed the word 'Fiance'. Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise; he had not considered this, about what would happen if he were with another person in the future. Now he thought about it, he was sure he would find it odd, when back in his own time Ginny was the only one he wanted to be with. How was he supposed to act around someone he was supposed to be in love with when in fact he barely knew her?

"Anyway, we've just found out where some of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters are hiding," Bill Weasley said, his flaming red hair shorter than Harry remembered it, his earring gone and his robes plain black. Apparently Fleur had tamed him.

Harry expected Ron to ask how they had found this out; the Ron he knew was always curious. However, he did not. Instead, he kept quiet and Lupin spoke.

"We think there's a group of them hiding in Wandsworth in London," he explained. "We're just trying to decide the best way of finding out whereabouts and how to prove that they're Death Eaters. We're not entirely sure any of us are suitable for the job - we're all too recognisable."

"I'm not."

Harry looked up to see who had spoken, and saw Dean Thomas standing near Ginny, a wedding ring on his finger. Harry felt the old jealousy he had felt last year return at seeing Dean and Ginny back together. Why had Ginny got back with Dean after she had already broken up with him?

He shook his head. He had known that he was not going to be with Ginny in one of the futures and it was important for him to keep his head on more important matters. If there were any way for him to help his friends, he had to do it.

Harry watched as the older members of the Order surveyed Dean, clearly wondering whether or not Dean would fit the job.

"You think you're up for it, boy?" Moody said at last.

"Do you realise what it would take?" Mr Weasley asked his son-in-law.

Mrs Weasley looked worriedly from Dean to Ginny, worried that her youngest child would have yet another death to contend with if Dean took on his dangerous job. Harry was willing to bet that if she had any say in the matter, none of her children or their partners would be part of the Order at all.

"I understand," Dean said. "But I'm one of the few of us they don't know. Amelie and Fleur would just stick out too much because they're not English and they've met most of the rest of you before." Then, seeing Ginny's concerned look, he added, "It's okay, I'll be fine."

Harry wished bitterly that he could help, but knew only too well how recognisable he was.

"So what do I have to do?" Dean asked.

"We need to know where in Wandsworth they are," Bill said thoughtfully. He then turned to his mother and said, "Mum, you don't need to be here. I'll sort this out with Dad, Moody, Remus, Snape and Charlie. The rest of you can go, get some sleep."

Mrs Weasley nodded, eager as always to get her younger children and Harry away from the danger of the Order business.

"Well, I think the rest of you should come back to the Burrow," Mrs Weasley decided. "I'm sure we could all do with a decent meal - especially you, Harry dear. How did the match go?" she added.

Harry was about to reply when Snape, much to Harry's irritation, stepped forwards and cleared his throat. "I would actually like a word with Potter before he leaves," he said, a sneer appearing on his face as he added, "though of course I wouldn't want to keep his - uh - fan club waiting."

Harry glared at Snape hatefully, but followed him nonetheless out of the room, waiting in the corridor until the others had descended the stairs. Both Harry's fiance (whom he assumed was to be the one Dean had called Amelie) and Ron paused as they went past, but continued when Harry nodded at them. Even (Harry's heart skipped a beat at this) Ginny paused momentarily, her eyes containing what appeared to be a little sympathy and worry, but she then seemed to think better of it and continued down the stairs, talking to a woman Harry did not recognise, but whom he recalled seeing earlier with Charlie and guessed was his wife, Kate.

Once everyone that was leaving had left, Snape turned to Harry, a menacing gleam in his eyes.

"So Potter would you like to tell me what's going on?" the former Potions Master demanded, proving that he had not changed a bit.

It took Harry a moment to realise exactly what Snape meant. Then it came to him: Snape was a skilled legilimens - he must have seen Harry's thoughts.

"You see," Snape continued, "the Potter I know is well-practised at Occlumency." A sneer appeared on his face. "I would not go as far as to say that he is good, of course, but he performs it effectively in any case. The Potter that stands before me, on the other hand, has neither bothered nor considered using Occlumency. I therefore suggest that you are some kind of impostor."

Harry wondered how he could possibly explain the situation to Snape. Then, a sneer matching Snape's own, he said, "Well, if you're so good at Legilemency, why don't you find out?"

"While I thank you for giving me permission, Potter, I am afraid to inform you that I have already attempted to do so. It seems I have no access to memories earlier than your Quidditch match earlier."

"What does that suggest to you then?" Harry retorted rudely. "I'm sure you can work it out for yourself. I mean, I wouldn't go as far as saying you're clever but, you're not stupid."

Leaving the new Headmaster of Hogwarts fuming, Harry walked off down the stairs, a smile on his face. He met the others at the bottom, talking to a group of people living in the old warehouse. The group seemed to be comprised of an elderly wizard, a middle-aged witch and wizard and two younger-looking witches, all of whom seemed to be talking seriously to Ginny and Ron. Wondering what was going on and hoping that he would be able to remember any necessary memories if needed in order for him not to blow his cover, Harry approached them.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

Immediately, the oldest wizard turned to Harry, desperation in his eyes. "It's my daughter, Mr Potter," he explained urgently. "We believe that You-Know-Who is after her and her family. She works at the Ministry, you see. As did my other daughter -" (he gestured towards the middle-aged woman) "- which is why she and her family are here."

"Uh, okay," Harry said, buying for time. He wondered what on earth the Order planned on doing if they brought every person threatened below ground - were they planning on the whole of the wizarding world living underground?

Harry looked around for help and Ron caught on.

"Mr Wilcus, we'll do our best to help, we really will," Ron said sincerely, "but there are so many people out there being threatened by You-Know-Who that we can't take everyone underground. I'm afraid we will have to assess your daughter's case as with every other."

The elderly man looked crushed, but nodded anyway before he and his family turned and left.

"I hate it when we have to let people down like that," Ginny commented sadly.

Ron nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's not brilliant, but we have to do it." He placed his arm around the shoulders of his younger sister. "At least we help who we can."

Ginny sighed in response but nodded all the same and allowed Ron to lead her off towards a nearby witch who appeared to be looking after a group of children.

"Thanks, Penelope," Ginny said gratefully, and Harry realised that this was in fact Penelope Clearwater, who had been seeing Percy when he died.

Harry watched as two children ran to Ginny and hugged her, one of them almost as dark as Dean and the other completely white and almost as red-haired as Ginny - and, Harry realised with a jolt, green eyes. But which of the Weasleys had green eyes? Wasn't brown supposed to be the dominant gene in eye colour? Harry shook his head. This wasn't time to think about genes and eye colour.

"That's fine, Ginny," Penelope smiled. "It's nice to be able to do something to help, and Molly and Dora are adorable!"

Ginny smiled, though slightly preoccupied with her children, who had started a pretend duelling match with their toy wands. She groaned. "I told Dean he shouldn't have bought them these," she said angrily.

"Come to take Rebecca off my hands, Harry?" Penelope asked, suddenly turning to Harry, shocking him somewhat. "Merlin knows you're practically a second Dad to her!"

"Er -"

Harry glanced at Ron, who said quite pointedly, "Yeah, Harry, your goddaughter's mad on you!"

Catching on, Harry nodded and helped a mini version of Tonks into her coat. "I hope she wasn't morphing too much today," he said, suddenly receiving a memory that belonged to his future self which recalled that his four-year-old goddaughter had inherited Tonks' morphing power and that she sometimes used it more than she should.

He wondered why it was that he was given memories of trivial matters such as whether or not Lupin's daughter morphed too much but wasn't permitted memories of the important things, such as memories to do with the Order, the important things that had happened in his absence or even a memory of the fatal argument he had had with Ginny - or Hermione's death. He sighed bitterly; unfortunately, this world was determined to be cruel. erm