A Future Threatened

A Future Threatened

by Winnie Matthews

* * *

Chapter Two

Staring up at the father that she had never known, Susannah slowly sat up, Harry helping her, making sure that she was all right. His green eyes were staring into hers, full of confusion.

Ron and Hermione--the past ones, but, blimey, did Jeremy look like his dad when he was their age!--were staring at her as well, but Ron had a suspicious look on his face. Hermione, on the other hand, didn't seem to be able to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked her gently as Susannah pressed her fingers against her temples. "You don't look so good."

"Gee, thanks," Susannah grumbled. "I think that I'm getting a headache, that's all." Harry nodded as both of them got to their feet. Susannah felt the room start to spin and sank down onto one of the couches. "It's just been one long day, that's all. Lot of travelling," she added to herself.

"Well, who are you, anyway?" Ron demanded, still looking suspicious of her. "Where are you from? And what are you doing here?"

Aunt Hermione, you were wrong. He doesn't seem to be so thick after all, Susannah thought humourlessly before saying, "Well my name's Susannah. Susannah--Ames," she added, giving her foster parents' name instead of 'Potter.' That would have been a little suspicious. "And let's just say that I'm from . . . well, I'll give it to you straight. I'm from your future."

Silence filled the room and Harry stared slowly at her. "The future?" he repeated slowly and Ron let out a disbelieving snort. Hermione, however, remained thoughtful. "What do you mean, from the future?"

"It's hard to explain," Susannah muttered, avoiding eye contact with her father. "But the future that I came from, Voldemort's in complete power, innocents are being hurt and killed every day, and all hope fell the day that you and Ginny were killed, Harry," she added, spotting his look of horror.

"WHAT?!" Ron yelled, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. Hermione shook her head and began pointing her wand at the walls and ceiling, making the dust disappear. "You mean that psycho maniac killed my sister?"

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said sarcastically and Susannah bit back a humourless smile. Then Harry turned his attention to Susannah, making her look up at her father. "All right, two things: one, I'm not so sure that I believe that you're not a Death Eater. And two, what is it that you want to do?"

Susannah sighed, brushing a hand through her dark hair. "To change the past," she answered and saw Hermione look of shock. "I know that it's against the Ministry of Magic laws, but I don't see any way other than this. It's the only way to save the future."

Harry slowly knelt down beside her, looking straight into her eyes and frowning slightly, looking as though he were trying to decide whether she was lying or not. Hermione had finished cleaning the dust and was now looking warily at Susannah.

"Just prove it, somehow," Harry said slowly. "Someway so that we know that you aren't a Death Eater . . . Susannah, was it?"

Nodding, Susannah tried to think. "Okay, let's see . . ." she said slowly, scrunching up her face in concentration. "Your parents were Lily and James Potter, you were born July 31^st and the three of you have been best friends since the first year on Halloween, when you saved Hermione from the mountain troll. She lied to Professor McGonagall to keep you out of trouble."

"Anybody could know that," Ron grumbled and Hermione shot him a warning look. Susannah gave him a humourless smile, conceding his point. "Say something that nobody knows, will you?"

"You're looking for the Horcruxes!" Susannah blurted out, upon sudden inspiration. No one but Ron, Hermione, Jeremy, and herself knew about that in the future. Not even Susannah's grandparents knew what they had been doing when Harry and Ginny had died.

"The day Dumbledore died," she added, spotting Harry's look of disbelief. "You went with him to find one of the Horcruxes that has Voldemort's soul in it. The locket that belonged to the heir of Slytherin--Voldemort--was a fake when you found it."

Even Ron looked stunned upon hearing this particular information, something that only they knew about. Harry slowly nodded, satisfied with her story now, but he still looked confused. "There's something that I still don't get, though," he said slowly. "Why? Why did you come here--all this way--just to stop Ginny and me from dying?"

Because you're my father. Four simple words that Susannah wished that she could say. But there was no way that she could, for that alone could change the future more drastically than she wanted to.

Susannah tried to think of a way to answer his question that was as close to the truth as she could get. "Because . . ." she managed to say, despite her sudden dry tongue. "It wasn't right, what happened to you and Ginny. No one deserves to die at the hands of that monster. Especially not after the lousy childhood that you had."

Harry chuckled at that and shook his head as he stood up. Hermione looked between the two of them before speaking for the first time. "You do realise, though," she said slowly. "That even though you might want to change it, there are some things that you just can't change."

"If it's meant to be, then it'll happen," Susannah admitted, understanding what she meant. "But if it does happen, then at least it will be because there wasn't any way for us to stop it. And at least my conscious will be clear." Hermione smiled, nodding as if she understood.

"Well, if you're going to stay here," Harry said, gesturing around Godric's Hallow. "Then you're going to have to help us. If there's something that you can't tell us," he added. "Then you don't have to. But if we're going to bring down Voldemort, we're going to have to work together. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Susannah said with a smile. Whatever happened, at least she would have the chance to get to know her father. She just prayed the she would have the strength to stop Voldemort for good, before he destroyed her parents.