Broken Fate

Chapter Eleven ~ Back to the Beginning

Ron Weasley was going insane--or he felt like he was. All week, everytime he looked at Hermione, his mind went back to the stray thought that had flown into his head the previous weekend. Her lunacy is just one of the things that makes me love her so much. Everytime he tried not to think about it, it only came back to him more strongly.

He tried to act normally around Hermione, but she had to know that something was wrong with him. She kept shooting him concerned glances, but everytime she tried to corner him about what was the matter, he found an excuse to slip away. He had never been so glad that they were both so busy--as long as he could keep busy, he could keep away from Hermione, and away from the thought that was haunting him.

But Hermione wasn't the only one who noticed something amiss. Harry didn't seem to notice anything--yet--but Ginny did. That didn't surprise Ron; not only had she lived with him her entire life, but she was very perceptive. On Saturday morning, Harry pulled them out of bed for yet another Quidditch practice. It was beginning to get cloudy outside, and it was unusually chilly.

Harry ended the Quidditch practice when it began to rain. Ginny held Ron back in the lockers until everyone else had left, saying she wanted to talk to him. When the room was empty of all save the two siblings, she said, "What's the matter with you?"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked defensively.

"Ron, you're so distracted. You missed several really easy blocks, and you just haven't been yourself this week," Ginny said bluntly.

"I'm just busy, all right?"

Ginny sighed heavily. "It's about Hermione, isn't it?"

Ron stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Ron, I have eyes and ears, you know. Whenever we're all in the common room and you look at her, you get this really weird look on your face, and you stare at her when she's not looking."

Ron opened his mouth to protest that he did not stare at Hermione, and then realized that maybe he had been, without realizing it. "Look, Ginny--"

"You really like her, don't you?" Ginny cut him off.

Ron felt himself flushing, and cursed the complexion that made him turn red at every little thing. "She's my friend, of course I like her."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Ginny--"

Ginny interrupted him again. "You like her, and you've finally realized it. And now you're going to try to deny it and hide it, and it's not going to work. You have to talk to her about it."

"Ginny, I don't need you meddling in my--" Ron began furiously. Then he realized what he had been about to say, and his face grew even redder.

Ginny made a noise that sounded suspiciously like she was trying to hold back a laugh. "Your love life?" she teased, grinning. Before Ron could retort, her face straightened, and she said seriously, "She likes you too, Ron."

Ron again opened his mouth to protest liking Hermione, and instead found himself saying, "How do you know?"

"Oh, honestly, Ron, you are so thick! She's liked you for ages; anyone can see that you two are supposed to be together!"

"How do you know she likes me? Did she tell you?" Ron was experiencing a curious mixture of aggravation, nerves, and something akin to hope.

"You'll have to talk to her about it," Ginny said firmly. "So get to it."

"I...can't..."

Ginny gave him a very amused smile. "Ron, you have faced spells and giant spiders and Death Eaters, not to mention growing up in a house with Fred and George. Compared to that, facing Hermione Granger should be easy."

Ron's face turned from scarlet to pale white in a heartbeat. Ginny smiled comfortingly and stood on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "I know you have it in you." She left him alone in the locker rooms.

What is she talking about? She doesn't...I can't possibly...

Ginny seemed to know what she was talking about. What if she was right? What if Hermione does want to be more than just friends?

But what if she doesn't? What if Ginny was wrong? I couldn't face that!

Ron spent a good fifteen minutes pacing the locker room and debating with himself. He finally decided that he needed some more time to think, and wondered if he could find someone to play chess with him, so he could clear his mind a bit. He hurried through the rain back to the castle and Gryffindor Tower. Hermione, fortunately, was nowhere in sight. Probably at breakfast.

The common room was decidedly empty, and those that occupied it all looked busy. Then Ron spotted Will Warren sitting in front of the fire, rolling his wand between his fingers and staring into the flames. From what Ron noticed of him, he always seemed to be thinking--sometimes it seemed he was in a world of his own.

Ron plunked down in an armchair near the fire. "So...Will...know how to play chess?"

~*~

The thick gray clouds continued to drop buckets of rain on Hogwarts. Will had accepted Ron's offer to play wizard chess, and was seated in an armchair in front of the fire, staring at the board. He had learned to play wizard chess from his father, and was a pretty good match, but Ron could still best him. This was their third game--Ron had won the first game, and Will the second, but something seemed to be bothering Ron, and Will thought his distraction was the only reason he had lost the second game.

Will spent the week after the formation of the Hogwarts Coalition keeping a very close eye on his fellow members, and at the same time, wondering what on earth was taking Professor McGonagall so long to return the Gourl to Ron. How long could it possibly take?

He and Shay had planned to come to Hogwarts, deal with the Gourl, and get out quickly, before they meddled too much in their parents' lives. It just seemed that nothing was working out as they had planned. Already, due to Shay, something major had been changed. In the original timeline, there had been no Hogwarts Coalition. In fact, it had not been until their parents' Seventh Year that they slowly began to work with some of the Slytherins. Now, though, Shay had told Blaise to enlist Hermione's help, and Blaise had done so, resulting in all of the Houses working together.

While Will knew that some things were going to be changed--had to be changed, in fact--he was beginning to realize just how powerful an effect they were having on this time in many little ways. It was hitting home, and it was scary. There were some things Will didn't want to change, and he was afraid they would do something to really mess stuff up.

Will had also found himself being befriended by the other students, despite trying to keep distanced from them. Out of all of the people in Hogwarts, Will had made fastest friends with the person he had least expected: Neville Longbottom. Will certainly hadn't initiated it--he had kept to himself, trying to observe everything that was going on, while not becoming too involved. Neville, however, had gone out of his way to make him feel welcome.

Maybe it was because Neville had always been a misfit, or maybe he was just trying to be nice, but whenever Will was by himself, Neville always appeared and offered his company. As a result, Will had gotten to know the round-faced boy a bit. He couldn't help thinking that he shouldn't be the one getting to know Neville--it should be Shay.

And now, he was playing chess with Ron. The idea that he was sitting across from his father, who was the same age as he was, playing a game of wizard chess, was very strange to Will, regardless to what he had gotten used to in his time at Hogwarts. He couldn't believe it was only September nineteenth. In some ways, it seemed like he had been at Hogwarts for ages, and in others, it seemed he had just arrived.

Ron's queen was just shepherding one of Will's rooks off of the board when Professor McGonagall came into the common room. "Mr. Weasley. Just the person I was looking for." It caused Will a moment of panic before he realized she was talking to Ron, not him. She stepped up to Ron and held out her hand. "I finished running tests on this. Everything looks just fine." She passed the Gourl to Ron.

Will froze, his eyes locked on the round metal ball. Ron simply took it and stuffed it in his pocket. "Thanks, Professor." As Professor McGonagall walked away, Ron shot Hermione, who had come downstairs during their second game and was now seated on the floor surrounded by books, an I-told-you-so look.

That night when Ron went to bed, he tucked the Gourl into his book bag beside his four-poster. Will laid awake in his own bed as his roommates trickled in and drifted off to sleep. His thoughts were on the seemingly innocent object that was not ten feet from his bed.

It would have been much easier if Will could have simply written a letter to Dumbledore while McGonagall already had the Gourl. It would have saved him the trouble of stealing it from Ron. The problem was, there was a catch to finding the connections in the Gourl.

When Ron, Harry, and Hermione had realized that somehow it was responsible for the problems caused at the end of their Sixth Year, the Aurors had been unable to find anything wrong with it. It had taken the Aurors two months to find hidden protections that, when broken, revealed spells in it--and a magical connection to Nymphadora Tonks, and to a mirror in Voldemort's possession.

Will knew how to break the protections on the Gourl, and he supposed he could have written it out and sent it to Dumbledore, but he wanted to make sure it worked, and be one hundred percent sure this was the real Gourl. This was just the safest way to do it.

In order to do that, he had to physically hold the object. When Will was sure everyone in his dorm was asleep, he quietly slipped out of bed and pulled on the invisibility cloak. He had to be invisible while he did this, or Voldemort would see him.

Will crept over to Ron's bed and crouched beside his book bag. He dug out the Gourl and pulled it under his cloak. Gripping it tightly in his hand, he spoke in a bare whisper the words that would allow the hidden spells and connections within it to be found.

The Gourl grew hot in his hand, so hot that Will almost dropped it. Then, almost as quickly, it became cool again. Will let out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. That was it. It should have worked. He went back to his bed and pulled out a small box, tucking the Gourl into it. After that he snuck out of his dormitory and made his way downstairs to the common room. He heard voices and froze, then tiptoed into the common room.

Hermione and Ginny were seated at one of the tables in the corner, books spread about them. "...think the teachers are trying to kill us with homework," Ginny was saying, sounding frustrated. "And Quidditch practice is three times a week... I fell asleep in History of Magic and Charms yesterday." She rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Thanks again for helping me sort all this out."

"My pleasure. The key to it is planning out your schedule and sticking to it. I know it's exhausting," Hermione said sympathetically.

"At least I'm not a prefect," Ginny laughed. "I don't know how you and Ron handled it on top of everything else last year."

Will realized that if he left Gryffindor Tower now, Hermione and Ginny would see the portrait swing open, but he needed to get this done now. For all he knew, Voldemort might realize that the protective spells on the Gourl had been broken, and take some kind of action.

Tiptoeing across the common room, Will quietly pushed the portrait hole open, glancing over his shoulder at Hermione and Ginny. They had noticed the portrait hole opening. He quickly stepped through and fled down the hallway, making his way toward the owlery. He passed Mrs. Norris prowling the corridors, and Peeves blowing wads of bubble gum at the portraits lining another hallway.

When he reached the owlery, he pulled off the invisibility cloak and found an owl. He quickly tied the box containing the Gourl to its talon, along with a letter he had already written. "Dumbledore, please, as fast as you can. It's an emergency," he whispered to the owl. With a rush of wings, the owl was gone.

Satisfied that this much, at least, was done, Will put the cloak back on and headed back to the dormitory.

~*~

Sunday morning at breakfast, Hermione plunked herself down next to Harry and across from a freshly-showered, tired-looking Ron. She shot him a questioning look, and he nodded at Harry. "He decided we needed to get up at five o'clock this morning for an extra Quidditch practice. And of course it had to be in the rain, so we all got soaked."

"Our first game is in six weeks," Harry said in reply. "We have to get in as much practice as possible, and we needed a practice session in the rain--it could be raining on the day of the match. We have to be ready for anything."

Hermione refrained from rolling her eyes. She grabbed a muffin and began to butter it. "Say, Harry, were you out wandering the halls after hours last night? In your father's cloak?"

Harry frowned at her. "No. Why?"

Hermione waved her hand. "Oh, just wondering..." she said vaguely, taking a bite out of the muffin. She had been sure Harry had left the common room in his father's invisibility cloak--it was the only explanation she could think of for the portrait hole suddenly opening like it had.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged.

Professor McGonagall strode up to the breakfast table. "Have any of you seen Mr. Warren?"

The three of them exchanged glances. "He was still asleep when we went out for Quidditch practice."

"He's in the common room," Ginny said, coming up behind Professor McGonagall. She looked just as tired as Ron. "I think he's coming down for breakfast."

"Thank you, Ms. Weasley." Professor McGonagall turned and hurried out of the Great Hall.

~*~

"Mr. Warren, there you are. The Headmaster wishes to speak with you."

Will was on his way down to breakfast, but he froze at Professor McGonagall's words. "Um...do you know why?"

"I will let the Headmaster discuss that with you. Follow me, please."

Suddenly anxious--did this have something to do with the note and the Gourl?--Will followed Professor McGonagall to a statue of a gargoyle. "Chocolate frog," McGonagall told the gargoyle. It jumped out of the way, revealing stone steps that moved upward. Will followed her onto the moving stairs, and to a door that led to Dumbledore's office.

McGonagall knocked on the door, then pushed it open. "Albus, I've found Mr. Warren." She stood aside and motioned Will to step through.

"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said.

McGonagall shut the door behind Will. Will looked around nervously at Dumbledore's office. It was full of numerous silver contraptions and gadgets of all sorts. Portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses lined the walls, all of them apparently asleep. Perched on a stand beside Dumbledore's desk was his brilliantly-colored phoenix, Fawkes.

"Good morning, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, dropping the pretense of calling him 'Warren.'

"Good morning, sir," Will replied nervously.

"Please, sit down." He waved his wand, and a chintz armchair appeared in front of his desk. Will sat.

"I suppose you are wondering why you're here," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Um...yes."

"Last night, I received a most interesting package and letter." Professor Dumbledore pulled a piece of paper and handed it to Will.

Will blanched. In his own neat handwriting was a very short note.

Professor Dumbledore,

I know this won't make much sense, but enclosed is an object that

has spells in it. You will be able to find connections that will lead

you to a person who gave this anonymously to Ron Weasley so

that Voldemort could spy on Harry with a mirror that he has.

He had known, of course, that Dumbledore would probably guess he had sent it, but he hadn't wanted him to be able to connect him to it...what if he asked Will about it? What if Tonks had something here, in Dumbledore's office, to spy on them? What if...?

"When I saw this letter, I realized that despite all of my wishes, I was going to have to ask you some questions," Dumbledore continued. "And that I was going to have to explain several things to you...for your safety, and for others' safety. When I realized you and your friends were from the future, and asked you to come here to give you a safe place to stay, I knew you were here for a reason. I did not ever suppose that this--" he pointed at the letter "--was perhaps the reason you were here. I gave it great thought last night, and I realized that perhaps in your own timeline, something had happened where you believed Nymphadora really was working for Voldemort. So I must ask, Mr. Weasley. Did you come back to this time to reveal Nymphadora as a spy?"

Will blinked. How could he answer that? It might change...but you need things to change. Dumbledore doesn't believe that Tonks is working for Voldemort...he doesn't understand...you have to tell him. "Um, yes." Partly. "Tonks is part of the Order, but she's a double agent," he added.

Dumbledore didn't look surprised that he knew about the Order. He sighed and leaned forward, resting his chin on his fingertips. "That is what I feared. Time is a very complex matter, William. We have strict laws enforcing time travel, because horrible things have happened sometimes with wizards who have attempted it. In this case, I fear that in your own time, the truth about some matters must have been buried." He paused. "You see, Nymphadora Tonks is not working for Voldemort. She is, and always has been, working with me. However, we managed to convince Voldemort that she was working for him, but not as Nymphadora Tonks. She morphed herself into someone else, and went by a different name." Another pause. "Nymphadora did create the spells in the Gourl and to the mirror in Voldemort's possession, William, but she did it on my orders. It was to prove to Voldemort her good faith--or so he thought. I doubt he truly trusted Nymphadora's alias, but he wanted to spy on Harry, and she offered him a way.

"We gave Voldemort the mirror, which, as you know, fed him the images that the Gourl recorded. Voldemort believed that the images coming from his mirror were real. He believed that the Gourl was truly allowing him to spy on Harry Potter. He didn't realize that the images the Gourl fed him were fabricated. They were created by Nymphadora and myself so that he would believe the lie.

"In actuality, the mirror was a tracking device. Voldemort always had it with him so he could 'spy' on Harry, and as a result, we were able to follow his movements. The Gourl really did function as it was supposed to. Ronald Weasley was able to use it for school. However, it was also needed because it stored the false images that we were feeding Voldemort."

"So..." Will began slowly. "So...in my time, when the Aurors found what it had recorded, they actually found the false images?"

"Yes."

"But...the Ministry information in my time showed that before the--I guess the false images--from Hogwarts started, the Gourl had recorded a bit of Ron's room in the Burrow. We thought we'd be able to find it in his room."

A ghost of a shadow crossed Dumbledore's face. "Ah, yes. That was real. You see, the Burrow is used on occasion by members of the Order when they're in the middle of their work. Nymphadora stayed there the night she created the connections in the Gourl and the Mirror, and she might very well have stayed in Ron's bedroom. So the Gourl would have recorded a bit from the Burrow--perhaps Nymphadora even used those images as a test. You will have to ask her about it later. Those images wouldn't have been given to Voldemort, though."

All of the missing pieces, all of the things that hadn't made sense, began to click into place in Will's mind. "You and Tonks were the only ones who knew about it."

"Yes. The rest of the Order didn't even know that Nymphadora was spying on Voldemort."

That explained why no one ever knew. In Will's timeline, Dumbledore was dead and Tonks was missing-- probably dead, now that he thought about it--so no one would have known the Gourl was actually feeding false images. Perhaps if Harry, Ron, and Hermione had seen the images, they would have known, but they hadn't.

"What about the connections? Why did Tonks connect herself to the Gourl and the mirror?"

"It was unavoidable. The type of spell that was used in creating all of this was such that whoever set it up would be connected to both the Gourl and the mirror. No one was ever supposed to find them, though. Nymphadora and I put protections on the Gourl to guard against anyone finding the spells, and thus, the connections--to hide them."

"But I broke through them," Will said quietly.

"Yes. And when you did, not only was I able to find them, but Voldemort was immediately alerted, because the images in his mirror suddenly cut off. He knew that the Gourl had been discovered, and he found the hidden spells, and the connection to Nymphadora...he realized that the witch he thought was working for him was really Nymphadora Tonks."

Will flinched. It was all making sense now. He had ruined an undercover operation...but it still didn't explain some things. "You said the Gourl stored false information, and that's why it was needed. Why give it to Ron, then? Why not keep it?"

"That, I'm afraid, I cannot answer right now, for your safety as well as others."

Will sighed to himself. There are things I'm not telling Dumbledore, and things he's not telling me, because we're both trying to protect people. What if I've just made it worse, though? Because of me Tonks' cover was blown...what if we had just come to Dumbledore in the first place? I know we thought Tonks was spying on him, but...if we had just come to him, he could have explained this to us...and Tonks could still have her undercover operation.

The problem, Will realized, was that they had been caught up in things they saw as problems. They hadn't wanted to change certain things; they hadn't wanted information getting back to Tonks, because the thought she was guilty; they hadn't wanted to reveal themselves in this time, and now, it looked like that was all for nothing. Too many things had been changed already, some things Will had never expected. He could no longer pretend that they weren't going to majorly influence or meddle in their parents' lives; they already had.

It's not up to us whether our parents' get married. It's not up to us whether we're ever born in this timeline. It doesn't matter. We're in this time, we're always going to be in this time, and no matter what we do, we're going to influence it, Will thought.

"But..." he began, then trailed off.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Yes, Mr. Weasley?"

"But...if Tonks isn't a traitor, then..." He wanted to tell him everything. He wanted to tell Dumbledore that someone had murdered him at the end of this year, and if Tonks didn't do it, he didn't know who had. He couldn't tell him, though. So many doubts filled Will's mind. What if they told Dumbledore about it, and that somehow caused his death in this new timeline? What if someone else was spying on Dumbledore?

With a feeling of dread, Will realized that he, Shay, and Jamie now had nothing to go on.

Dumbledore was watching him patiently.

"Why...why go to such an elaborate scheme? With the Gourl and the mirror and all?"

"This 'scheme' allowed us three things. It allowed us to track Voldemort, it allowed Nymphadora to work her way into Voldemort's ranks as a spy, and it allowed us to mislead Voldemort as to what Harry was doing. As long as Voldemort believed he was seeing what Harry was doing, there are ways we might have been able to work against him even more."

"Oh." But now Voldemort might try other means to spy on Harry...and get revenge on Tonks...

"I hope that in the future, if you have questions or doubts about something, you might come to me before attempting to change it. As I said, Mr. Weasley, there are laws on time-travel for a reason. I'm sure there is more to this that you are not saying, but know that I am always here to help."

"Yes...thank you." Still feeling bemused, Will left Dumbledore's office, one thought on his mind. I need to talk to Shay and Jamie.

~*~

"You have to be kidding me."

Will had finished telling Shay and Jamie about his conversation with Dumbledore.

"Tonks can't be innocent," Shay stated.

Will sighed. "That's what I thought at first, too, but I heard everything Dumbledore said. I think at the end of this year, someone murdered Voldemort, and something happened to Tonks. Due to unfortunate circumstances, everyone thought she was guilty. But she wasn't." He looked at Jamie and Shay significantly. "If Tonks is innocent, Voldemort has to have someone else that's going to kill Dumbledore."

"Great. Just great." Shay threw his hands in the air. "So we've spent all of this time chasing down the wrong person? We stopped the Gourl, thinking we stopped Dumbledore's killer, and now we find out that she really wasn't the killer?" He shook his head and looked at Will and Jamie grimly. "Looks like we're back to square one."

"Maybe we should tell Dumbledore that in our time, he was killed at the end of this year," Jamie said tentatively. "He might be able to prevent it better if he knows."

"Or our telling him might cause his death," Will said.

"We don't know who kills him," Shay replied. "Anything we do or don't do might change things. We just don't know. We have to do everything in our power to keep an eye on Dumbledore, to look for anything out of the ordinary. What if we've changed it so someone tries to kill him sooner than the end of the year? We don't know. But it matters that we still keep our cover. We don't need the whole world knowing we're from the future. We don't need to change everything--we don't want to change everything."

Jamie twisted her fingers together. "Yes, but that's a little difficult, seeing as we don't know what's changed in what ways now!" she said with agitation. "And this means you two are going to have to stay at Hogwarts! Molly and I can't stay here for very much longer, you know. It's getting colder and we were freezing last night...rain was leaking through the Shack in cracks I didn't know existed, and I think Molly's coming down with a cold!"

Will heard her unspoken words--she had been here for three weeks, and she was bored and lonely. "We'll have to figure something out for you and Molly this week, if you can hold out for a few more days," he said tiredly. "And in the meantime..." he trailed off, not sure what to do 'in the meantime.'

"In the meantime, you two had better keep a very sharp eye out. You need to learn all you can," Jamie instructed. She let out a forlorn sigh. "And don't forget about Molly and me. If I can do anything, tell me." She pinned them with her eyes. "We can't fail on this. Dumbledore has to live."