Broken Fate

Chapter Fourteen ~ Of Potters and Weasleys

On Tuesday evening, Harry sat at a table in the back corner of the Gryffindor common room with Ginny and Hermione. The Quidditch team had just finished another long practice, and he still had homework to do. Ginny was once again overloaded with homework, and Hermione was helping her sort through it all.

After a while, Ron came and sank down beside Hermione, smiling at her as he did so. Harry refrained from rolling his eyes. He really was happy for his best friends, but he was still a bit disconcerted by seeing them like this. Yes, they still picked at each other, but he was sure that was just a permanent part of their relationship. He just couldn't help feeling like the third wheel sometimes, even though they made a point not to leave him out of stuff.

Ron whispered something in Hermione's ear, and she laughed and pushed him. "Ron!...Hey, aren't you supposed to have corridor duties tonight?"

Ron looked at his watch. "Oh! Yeah." He sighed heavily. "But I really don't feel like it."

"Ron, you are a prefect. You have to do it."

"Yes, but really--who cares who's out wandering the halls after curfew?"

"You should," Hermione told him primly.

Ron sighed again, and then brightened. "Hey, I know! Harry, can I borrow the Marauder's Map? Then I can see who's out and about in the comfort of the common room."

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed.

Not wanting to get in the middle of any quarrel that might ensue, Harry said, "Um, sure." He jumped to his feet. Ginny gave him a sympathetic wink over her shoulder, which made Harry feel a little better. He hurried up to the dormitory, where Neville was caring for his Mimbulus mimbletonia. The plant was positively huge, and Harry wondered if it would soon creep across the entire dormitory and tangle up the boys while they were sleeping. It was also prone to spitting out bits of stinksap on occasion, which wasn't a pleasant thing to smell upon walking into the room. Dean had recently had the misfortune of slipping on a great pile of the gunk just before bed the other night.

Snatching the Marauder's Map from the trunk, Harry brought it back downstairs. It had been well over a year since he had used it, before he let the fake Professor Moody borrow it. At the end of his Fourth Year, he had gotten it back, but in the midst of seeing Voldemort return and Cedric die, he hadn't paid much heed to its return. He handed the map to Ron as he settled back at the table.

Ron bent over the map and whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I always thought that was the most horrid phrase to activate any map."

Ron's eyes roved over the map. "Not much activity in the hallways...Filch is prowling around on the fifth floor...Mrs. Norris is near the Great Hall...Peeves is bouncing around in the kitchens--"

"Peeves! Probably scaring the poor house-elves to death!" Hermione said indignantly.

"And...what in the..." Ron squinted at the map.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, looking up from her homework.

"Um...look." Ron turned the map so they all could see it, and pointed to a name moving along the dungeons. Seamus Longbottom.

"Longbottom?" Hermione hissed. "But Neville's the only Longbottom in school!"

The four of them watched as Seamus Longbottom entered the Slytherin dormitory, and his name was lost amid the sea of other Slytherin names.

It was Ginny that noticed something else. "Um, if you think that's weird, look at this." Her finger rested on Dumbledore's office. Inside were three names. Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, and...

Harry's heart leapt, and he blinked. No, it wasn't James Potter...it was Jamie Potter. Baffled, he looked up at his three friends. "Jamie Potter?" Sure, the name Potter wasn't all that uncommon, but Harry was definitely the only Potter in Hogwarts. And Jamie Potter? Wasn't that a bit too coincidental? And he still didn't understand why they had seen Seamus Longbottom.

"Look! It's Malfoy!" Ron said. He pointed to the name that was just outside of Dumbledore's office. "He's not moving at all...Maybe he has corridor duty tonight, too."

Hermione shook her head firmly. "I checked the schedule. He doesn't have it till Thursday."

Four pairs of eyes locked on the map. They watched as Jamie Potter left Dumbledore's office and headed down the hallway, followed at a discreet distance by Draco Malfoy. Jamie Potter headed down a corridor, and then stopped and turned around, walking back the other way. Draco Malfoy was moving, then stopping, then moving again, but he was definitely tailing Jamie Potter. After a minute or two of closely watching the map, it became apparent that Jamie Potter--whoever he or she was--was having trouble getting out of the castle.

"Whoever Jamie Potter is, Dumbledore knows him--or her," Ginny said.

"And Draco's definitely up to something," Hermione added.

"Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go check it out!" Ron said, jumping to his feet.

"Right." Ginny stood up.

"Not you, Ginny, you--"

Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother. "Honestly, Ron, I thought you would have learned by now."

"Wait. Ron and I can go out in the corridors--we're prefects. You two, on the other hand..."

"My cloak," Harry said immediately. "I can use it and follow you two."

"We can use it," Ginny told him pointedly.

By this point, Harry had learned it was pretty much useless to argue with Ginny Weasley, and he didn't want to waste time. He nodded quickly, then ran to his dormitory to get the cloak. Neville looked up, startled, as Harry threw things out of his trunk and onto his bed. "Something wrong, Harry?"

There it was. Yanking the cloak out, Harry shook his head. "No, nothing Neville."

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, just out of sight of the common room. "C'mon, Ginny." Harry motioned her over, and as soon as she was close enough, threw the cloak over both of them.

"Wizard," Ginny whispered as her body disappeared. She grabbed hold of Harry's arm so she wouldn't trip over him, as she was unable to see him.

With Ron and Hermione in the lead with the map, the four of them left Gryffindor Tower with no one the wiser.

"I think they're headed for the entrance hall," Hermione said. "Yes, they are."

They raced down corridors and stairs as quickly as they could. When they reached the steps that led down to the entrance hall, they stopped, peering down into the empty room. Hermione glanced at the map. "They're already outside. Malfoy's hiding by Hagrid's hut...Jamie Potter is...entering the passage underneath the Whomping Willow. You two can take off the cloak. No one's around."

Harry pulled it off, tucking it into his robes, and the four of them continued out onto the grounds. Hermione looked back down at the map. "Jamie Potter has disappeared, and Malfoy's nearing the Whomping Willow."

They quickly crossed the lawn, and were just in time to see Malfoy disappear into the still branches of the Whomping Willow. By the time they reached the Whomping Willow, it was moving again. Harry grabbed a long stick and jabbed the knot that froze the tree. "Come on!"

Harry entered the passage first, followed by Ginny and Ron, with Hermione bringing up the rear. They were just reaching the end of the tunnel when a girl's voice cried, "Stupefy!" Through the hole at the end of the tunnel, Harry saw the back of someone with black hair. He quickly pointed his wand and said, "Stupefy!"

The person who Harry had Stunned fell to the ground. He quickly exited the tunnel, followed by his three friends. They all stepped over the black-haired person, who was face-down on the floor. Draco Malfoy was spread-eagle on the ground nearby.

"They won't be Stunned for long," Hermione said. She stooped to pick up Draco and the black-haired girl's wands, while Harry knelt beside the girl on the floor with some trepidation. He had an unsettling feeling that his life was about to get turned upside down. Taking a deep breath, he rolled the girl over and stared at her face, stunned.

Ginny and Ron gasped. Hermione, tucking the wands into her robe, stepped over and looked down at the girl. "Oh, Harry..." she whispered. She knelt opposite of him, on the other side of the girl.

"Jamie Potter," Ginny whispered. "She looks just like you, Harry."

"She's obviously related to you, Harry, but the question is...how?" Ron said darkly.

"Let's find out." Hermione pointed her wand at the girl. "Ennervate."

Jamie Potter's eyes--green eyes, ones that Harry was used to seeing on his own face--slowly opened. She gasped, groping around for her wand.

"We have it," Hermione told her.

"Wh--who..." Jamie focused on the four faces in front of her, and her eyes grew huge. "No. Way," she breathed, quickly sitting up.

To Harry's great surprise, Jamie Potter's eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks. "Oh, this can't be happening," the girl whispered fiercely. "I am so stupid!" She looked around frantically, and her eyes landed on Draco Malfoy. "My wand!"

"I told you, we have it," Hermione repeated calmly.

"No...you don't understand...I left my cloak in Dumbledore's office...he must have followed me..." Jamie babbled, nodding at Draco. She seemed thoroughly shaken, and tears were still running down her face. "He can't remember seeing me. I have to do a Memory Charm on him."

"Now, wait just a minute," Harry spoke up. "While I completely sympathize with wanting to curse Draco Malfoy, we need to find out who in the world you are first."

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "And how Malfoy knew to follow you."

"And how you knew about the Whomping Willow entrance," Ron put in.

"How...how did you find me? Did you follow Draco?" Jamie asked. She got a hold of herself and wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

"No. We saw you on a map," Hermione replied.

Jamie closed her eyes for a moment. "The Marauder's Map. Oh, we're so stupid!"

She knew what the map was. How interesting. "We?" Harry raised his eyebrows. Jamie didn't look inclined to say anything, so he sighed. "Look, we already know your name is Jamie Potter. What we want to know is how you share my last name, and why..." He stared into her eyes, unsettled.

"Why you look so much like Harry," Ginny concluded for him.

"I...um..." Jamie looked down at her hands.

"And maybe you can tell us why the map showed a Seamus Longbottom," Hermione said. She set the map on the floor and smoothed it out. "You see?" She pointed to the castle. "There is Seamus Longbottom, in the Slytherin common room. You can barely make out his name, because the room is so crowded, but it's there." Her gaze fell on something else, and she frowned. "Ron, Ginny, what are your mum and brother doing in the hospital wing?"

"What?" Ron leaned forward and peered at the map. "Hey! They never told me they were coming!"

Jamie sighed heavily. "That's not your mum and brother," she said quietly. Now that she seemed to have gotten a grip on herself, Harry noticed that she kept shooting furtive glances at the four of them--more particularly, at him and Ginny.

Ginny looked at her suspiciously. "How do you know? It says, right here--Molly Weasley and William Weasley."

"Wait..." Hermione said, her eyes narrowed. She had a look Harry knew quite well--one that said she was running things over in her mind and pieces of a puzzle were falling into place. "You said you have a cloak that you left in Dumbledore's office. It wouldn't happen to be an invisibility cloak, would it?"

Jamie bit her lip. "Um..."

"It is," Hermione concluded, propping her elbow on her knee and resting her chin on her hand. "And...Ron, you found out your Gourl was missing on Monday morning. On Saturday evening, Ginny and I saw the portrait hole open, but no one went in or out...I thought Harry was using his father's cloak."

Harry remembered Hermione asking him at breakfast on Sunday morning if he had used it.

Hermione tapped her fingers on her cheek, still thinking, and then her eyes widened. "Long," she whispered. She stared at the map, then at Jamie. "Shay Long. Seamus Longbottom...they're the same person, aren't they?"

Jamie returned her stare for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes."

"And he came to school with Will Warren..." Ginny said. She frowned. "Will told me that he has a little sister. Her name wouldn't happen to be Molly, would it?"

Harry saw where this was going, and he felt chilled.

Jamie twisted her fingers together in her lap. "Look, I might not be the best one to explain this."

"Wait," Ron held up his hands, looking baffled. "You haven't been going to Hogwarts," he told Jamie.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron! Look at her! Do you know what would happen if she was at Hogwarts? Something's going on here that they want to keep secret."

"Have you been staying here in the Shrieking Shack?" Hermione asked.

Jamie nodded silently.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder at Draco. "Malfoy followed you, though. What were you doing in the school?"

"That's a long story, and it's not all mine to tell," Jamie said firmly. "I..." she faltered. "I don't know how he knew I was in the school, though," she said, nodding to Malfoy.

"He's been stirring up a lot of trouble in Slytherin lately," Ron snorted.

"Slytherin," Hermione whispered. "Wait! We saw Seamus--Shay, whatever--going through the dungeons and into the Slytherin House. Then we saw Malfoy waiting for you outside of Dumbledore's office. Could Malfoy have followed Shay out of the Slytherin House, and then followed you? Did you meet with Shay in the school?" she asked Jamie.

"In the hospital wing," Jamie replied. Her green eyes widened. "If Draco did follow him...who knows what he might have overheard? He can't be allowed to remember it!"

"Right. Then first, we need to take care of Malfoy," Hermione said, standing to her feet.

Harry knew there were still big pieces of this puzzle missing, but Hermione was right--Malfoy didn't need to know any of this.

He stepped over to Malfoy with Hermione, who pointed her wand at Malfoy. "Ennervate."

Malfoy groaned and opened his eyes. He saw Harry and Hermione and immediately groped for his wand.

"Don't bother. I have it," she snapped.

"Filthy little Mudblood," Draco spat at her, standing to his feet. "So you're in on this too, eh? Think you can hide your precious future children from the Dark Lord?" He glared over their shoulders at Ron, Ginny, and Jamie. "Oh, he'll find out about this once I--" He cut himself off.

"You followed Shay, didn't you?" Hermione demanded.

Malfoy shrugged. "He had it coming to him. Thinking he's better than everyone else."

"So you heard what was said in the hospital wing," Jamie spoke up, coming to stand beside Hermione.

Malfoy took a step toward her and thrust his finger at her warningly. "I heard enough. And you're a filthy half-blood. Potters and Weasleys--should have known they'd intermingle. Can't say they produced anything worthwhile, though," he said, looking her up and down scathingly.

Harry was just processing the fact that he had mentioned Potters and Weasleys intermingling when Jamie pulled back her fist and punched Malfoy in the nose. He put his fingers to his face, feeling the blood that ran from his nose. Without a word, he lunged for Jamie.

"Stupefy!" Hermione cried. Malfoy immediately dropped to the floor. "Mobilicorpus." Malfoy's body lifted off the ground. "I'll take him through the passage and modify his memory so he won't remember following Shay, or any of this. Then we'll talk."

Jamie settled against the wall, crossing her arms tightly against her chest. Ron shook his head. "This is nutters," he muttered. He remained standing, but leaned against the wall.

Harry and Ginny exchanged glances. Harry's mind was whirling as he thought about what all of this could mean. He kept thinking about what Malfoy had said--"Potters and Weasleys--should have known they'd intermingle."

What, exactly, had that meant? Jamie was obviously related to him...could she be from the future? And if she was, what did it mean? If she was his granddaughter or something, then sure, maybe Harry's kid and one of the Weasley's married. But Malfoy had said 'future children.' If Jamie was Harry's daughter...well, the only Weasley he could 'intermingle' with was Ginny.

That thought made him feel a bit queasy. Ginny was a good friend, yes...he finally felt like after being in her acquaintance for five years, he was starting to get to know her. She had a lot in common with him...and she was fun, honest, loyal, and had a lot of spunk...but the thought that they could have a daughter together was something else entirely.

Ginny was obviously thinking along the same lines, because when she looked at him, she had an extremely odd, disconcerted look on her face. She quickly turned her back on him and sat cross-legged on the floor.

Hermione returned and settled herself next to Ginny. "All set. Malfoy'll wake up on the lawn near Hagrid's cabin and think he lost in a late-night wizarding duel."

As soon as she was situated, Ginny spoke. "Now that we're the only ones here right now, why don't you start at the beginning. Starting with exactly who you are and how you're related to Harry. And let's not forget that part that Malfoy mentioned--about Potters and Weasleys intermingling. You're from the future, aren't you?" She wore a strange, determined look on her face.

"I told you--this isn't just my story to tell," Jamie repeated.

"It's Will's and Shay's, too." Hermione said.

"Yes," Jamie replied quietly.

"Look, I'm not going anywhere until I know exactly what is going on," Harry told Jamie severely.

A stubborn look came over Jamie's face, and Harry was even more discomforted. He had seen that look in the mirror on his own face. She shook her head. "I won't talk without Will and Shay. And Professor McGonagall is expecting me...she's probably waiting in the entrance hall already."

Hermione pulled out the map again. "Yes, she is. So she knows who you are? What exactly did Malfoy overhear in the hospital wing?"

"He heard us talking to Dumbledore and McGonagall," Jamie said. "And yes, they know who we are."

Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny exchanged glances. "Well, then," Ginny said, standing to her feet, her expression a stubborn as Jamie's. "Why don't we go meet with McGonagall?"

"Gin, she'll give us detention for being out here!" Ron exclaimed.

"I don't think so," Ginny stated. "Not if this has something to do with us." She waved Jamie to her feet. "Come on. We're going to get to the bottom of this, and if you won't talk without Will and Shay--well, we'll get Will and Shay."

"I--" Jamie opened her mouth to argue, and then sighed. "I have to get some things first."

"I'll come with you," Ginny said.

"So will I." Hermione stood to her feet. They followed Jamie out of the room. When they were gone, Harry and Ron looked at each other. "What do you make of it, mate?" Ron asked.

"I don't know."

"This is just bogus," Ron shook his head. "Do you...do you think she's really your kid?"

"I don't know," Harry repeated sharply.

"And what about Will and Shay? If Shay's related to Neville, he sure doesn't look it. And Will..."

Yes, Will. Harry and Ron had been sharing a dormitory with him for three weeks now. Harry remembered thinking that Will looked familiar to him, but hadn't been able to place it. Now he really thought about it--thought about him being a Weasley...he sure didn't have the Weasley hair...but neither did Jamie, if she really was part Weasley.

Harry shook his head. He didn't want to think about it anymore. Not yet. He needed to process all of this first.

Hermione, Ginny, and Jamie came back into the room. Jamie carried a makeshift bag, but it didn't look like there were many things in it. "Ready," she said resignedly.

Hermione checked the map to make sure Malfoy had gone. "Malfoy and Professor McGonagall are in the entrance hall. Looks like he was caught...all right, now he's headed for the dungeons. Let's go."

They crossed the grounds, keeping a close eye on Jamie to make sure she didn't try anything. Even without a wand, it seemed she wasn't defenseless, if the punch to Malfoy was any indication.

Professor McGonagall was standing in the entrance hall when they entered, and her forehead pinched into a severe frown. "Not you, too!"

They stepped aside to reveal Jamie. Professor McGonagall's expression cleared. "I see," she said in a calmer voice.

"This is Jamie Potter, Professor," Hermione said. "She said she knows you."

"She does."

"She also said she wouldn't give us any answers to our questions unless Will Weasley and Shay Longbottom are present."

If Professor McGonagall thought anything of Hermione using Will and Shay's proper last names, she didn't say anything.

"And we're not going to bed until we have some answers," Ginny said brazenly.

McGonagall's eyebrows snapped back together. "Ms. Weasley--"

"Please, Professor," Harry said tiredly. "We need to know."

McGonagall sighed. "All right. I want you to go upstairs and wait in my classroom. I will send Will and Shay along and inform Professor Dumbledore what is going on. Ms. Potter, when you are finished, come to my office--it's right beside the Transfiguration classroom."

They walked to the Transfiguration classroom in silence, and found seats among the desks. A short time later, Will Warren--no, Weasley, Harry reminded himself--entered the room. He looked around the classroom and blanched. "James?" he asked weakly.

Harry started at the nickname.

"Have a seat, Will," Jamie told him tiredly. "I'll explain what happened when Shay gets here."

Shay arrived a few minutes later. He froze when he saw everyone seated in chairs. "What's going on?" he asked tensely.

"We know you're from the future," Ginny declared.

Shay's eyes snapped to Jamie and Will. "They followed me," Jamie told him. "They saw my name on the Marauder's Map and followed me."

"The map!" Will said, startled. "I can't believe we didn't think of that...after all the times that we used it, we still didn't think about it."

"Actually," Hermione corrected, "We followed Malfoy following Jamie."

"What?" Shay snapped. "Jamie, how could Draco have followed you?"

Jamie twisted her fingers together. "I...um...forgot to put on my cloak...I left it in Dumbledore's office."

"You left it?" Shay asked in disbelief. "How could you--"

"I was distracted, Shay," Jamie snapped.

"What could possibly distract you that much? You know we have to be careful!"

"I met Remus," Jamie cut in.

Lupin? Harry thought. Of course, he was in Dumbledore's office, too...she knows Lupin, and she was so distracted by the meeting that she forgot the invisibility cloak. That was an interesting bit of information.

Shay looked startled, but then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. If we were always making stupid mistakes--"

"I'm sorry, okay? It was an--"

"Hey!" Will held up his hands. "What's happened has happened," he told Shay and Jamie in a quiet voice. "Dumbledore was right. He said they would find out eventually." He nodded at Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. "I know we didn't expect it to be this soon, but it's happened, and we might as well face it."

Harry was struck by the similarities between Shay, Will, and Jamie and he, Ron, and Hermione. How many times had Ron and Hermione been fighting, and he stepped in to break it up?

"Look," Ron said. "We just want to know what's going on."

"We know you're from the future," Hermione repeated Ginny's earlier statement. "But we don't know when. We don't know quite how you're related to...well, to Harry, and the Weasleys, and Neville."

"I didn't tell them anything," Jamie maintained.

"Malfoy sure let some stuff slip, though," Ginny muttered. Before Shay could say anything, she said, "He overheard some conversation you guys had in the hospital wing. Don't worry, though--Hermione modified his memory."

Shay relaxed the tiniest bit. He crossed his arms and exchanged glances with Will and Jamie. None of them seemed to know quite where to start.

"Why don't we start with the fact that you're from the future?" Hermione began. "First of all, how is that possible? People are only able to travel back hours at a time, not years. And what could make you travel back in time? Don't you know there are wizarding laws for the strict use of time-travel? It's dangerous traveling back in time--what if you changed things? One of the first rules of time-travel is that you're not to be seen."

Will sighed. "We know. In this case, though--it didn't matter. We came back for the sole purpose of changing things. Our future is already messed up. Of course, no one was supposed to find out who we were," he said, sounding a bit melancholy. "And as for how...well, that was your doing," he told Hermione.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "My doing?"

"It's a long story," Jamie said.

"We can stay as long as we need to," Ginny replied determinedly. "I want to hear everything."