Sunday, November 1st, 1994
Ron Weasley was a man on a mission. But first, he really needed to use the toilet. As he pissed, he started going over his mission. He was going to make Harry Potter pay for what he had done the previous night. The rotten traitor had lied to him! Harry had put his name in the Goblet of Fire, without telling him! And somehow, he had become the second Hogwarts Champion, in addition to that prat, Cedric Diggory! The fact that Harry's name came out in addition to Diggory's name was proof – solid proof – that Harry had found a way around the Goblet's enchantments, and gotten his name in. And he had done it in a way that assured that his name would come out of the Goblet! That he'd be named Champion! And he had said nothing about this to Ron!
That rotten git could have told me how he did it, and helped me put my name in too! Ron thought, darkly, We could have both been in the Tournament. Or I could have been chosen as the Fourth Champion instead of Harry. But no! That traitor wants more fame and more money than he already has! He wants more and more of it, while I have none of it! Bloody traitor! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind! When I get done here, I'm going to wake him up! Bloody coward… didn't even have the balls to come back to Gryffindor Tower, or our dormitory, until I was asleep! He skipped curfew, but probably got permission to do so because he's Harry Bloody Potter, the Fourth Triwizard Tournament Champion!
Ron had stayed up for an hour after Neville, Seamus and Dean went to bed, waiting for Potter. During that hour, he had been cursing Harry's name for taking so much time to get to his dormitory. The git was probably still partying with the other Gryffindor traitors who dared to be happy about Harry being a Triwizard Champion. Ron had thought about going down to the Common Room, confronting Harry and yelling at him. But the thought of doing that in front of all the other Gryffindors… especially if they supported Harry instead of him. They would all turn on him, Ron Weasley, and that thought scared him. He wanted Harry to be the pariah in Gryffindor, not him! So no… he had to wait to yell at Harry in private.
Ron had gone to sleep before Harry returned, dreaming about him being in the Tournament, and winning fame and a thousand Galleons, and bragging about it to Harry that he finally had something the traitorous git didn't!
Of course… then there was the other strange thing that happened last night. Those two people falling out of a portal.
It sounded like they had called themselves Lord Harry James Potter and Lady Hermione Potter, Ron mused, But I must have heard wrong. I must have been hearing things. Because there is no way Harry would allow Hermione to become his girlfriend, much less his wife! Harry knows Hermione fancies me, and he'd never betray…
Ron's eyes widened, as he realized: Harry had already betrayed him! By putting his name in the Goblet of Fire without telling him! So why couldn't Harry betray him again by becoming Hermione's boyfriend, then husband!
Ron then recalled overhearing Seamus and Dean's discussion last night about this Lord and Lady Potter. They theorized the two people might be from an Alternate Universe.
Hey, that's a good point! Ron mused, Maybe this Lord and Lady Potter are from an Alternate Universe! They looked like they were in their late teens or early twenties. So maybe they came from an Alternate Universe where Harry and Hermione were born earlier, so that would make them older than their version of me. Since that alternate version of me was younger than them, of course Hermione wouldn't fall in love with me. So she fell in love with Harry! Well, phew! At least in this universe, Harry and Hermione are my age. Hermione will fall in love with me, and Harry will fall in love with Ginny. Mum said that was going to happen. She promised me!
Ron then realized… the older Lord and Lady Potter had asked Harry and Hermione to accompany them to Dumbledore's office.
I bet I know why Lord and Lady Potter wanted to talk to Harry and Hermione! Ron mused, Lord and Lady Potter wanted to assure them that just because they were married, it didn't mean that Harry and Hermione had to fall in love with each other! I bet their Ron and Ginny were good friends of theirs in their Universe, and they wanted to encourage Harry and Hermione to give me and Ginny a chance instead of having to get together with each other! Yeah, that sounds about right. I need to talk to Harry and – after I yell at him for being a traitor – find out what he talked to Lord and Lady Potter about.
Ron frowned. Or maybe… maybe I should ask about Lord and Lady Potter before I yell at him for being a traitor. After I yell at him, he might ignore me and mope around for a while until he decides to apologize. He won't tell me what he talked about with Lord and Lady Potter then. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Talk to him about Lord and Lady Potter first, then yell at him! Glad I figured that out before I did something stupid.Ron finished and pulled up his pajama bottoms, then walked out of the bathroom, and over to Harry's was likely still deep asleep given the fact he had returned so late after partying with those traitors who thought he deserved to be a Hogwarts Champion. So Ron was sure he could yank the curtain, completely destroying whatever enchantment was on it. He gave it a great tug, and suddenly found himself tumbling onto the ground.
"What's that racket?!" Seamus said, waking up and sitting up. "Oi! Weasley, what are you doing?"
"What's it look like?" Ron asked, grinning, "I must have underestimated my own strength pulling that curtain off, given the enchantments on it."
"The enchantments aren't active right now, Weasley," Seamus said.
"Yeah, cause I just destroyed it when I pulled it down!" Ron said, grinning.
"Weasley, if the enchantments were still active on the curtains," Seamus said, "the curtain would have shocked you as soon as you touched it. The enchantments are inactive because Potter never returned to his bed last night. He slept in Private Quarters for the evening."
"Private Quarters?" Ron asked, then he growled, "Of course that git has Private Quarters now, now that he's Hogwarts Champion!"
"Harry isn't Hogwarts Champion yet, Ron," Seamus said.
"What?" Ron asked, "His name came out of the Goblet of Fire!"
"Yeah, and then the older versions of Harry and Hermione fell out of that portal, because the Goblet summoned them," Seamus said. "If you'd have been in the Common Room partying with the rest of us, instead of moping up here, you'd have seen McGonagall come in and give an announcement."
"What announcement?" Ron asked.
Seamus sighed. "The Goblet of Fire hasn't chosen the Fourth Champion yet. It will either be Harry or Lord Potter – the older Harry. McGonagall hinted we won't find out who the Champion is until this evening. Apparently there is going to be a big announcement at breakfast about an event tonight."
"So Harry's not the Champion yet," Ron said.
"No, and he might not be," Seamus said. "Harry's fourteen years old, Ron. The Goblet might pick the older Harry since he'd have a better chance against Diggory and the other Champions."
"Oh," Ron said.
"You forgot what else McGonagall told us, Seamus," Neville said, from his own bed; he had opened the curtains earlier when he heard Ron and Seamus talking, "Harry didn't put his own name in the Goblet of Fire, Ron. Someone else did. That's another thing that's going to be announced at breakfast. We'll find out who did it."
Ron blinked. "Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire?"
"No, Ron, he didn't," Neville said, glaring at Ron, "Is that why you wanted to wake him up? To yell at him about putting his name in the Goblet?"
"Um… yeah," Ron muttered, his ears going pink for being so easy to read, by a nigh-on Squib, no less!
"Well, you're lucky he wasn't here for you to yell at then," Neville said, "He might not have liked the fact that his best friend accused him of something he didn't do. Your friendship could have ended because of that argument, and it would have been all your fault."
Ron blushed a deep red. "Um… yeah, I suppose so."
"Now if you excuse me," Neville said, "I need to get dressed. I want to be in the Great Hall for those announcements."
"Me too," Seamus said.
"Yeah," Ron muttered, getting to his feet. "Good idea."
Ron sighed and walked over to his bed. Bloody hell… Harry might not have put his own name in the Goblet of Fire? Then who did! And the Alternate Harry might be in the Tournament instead of Harry? I suppose that might be fun to watch. I can see what older Harry knows when it comes to magic spells and skill! Then maybe he can teach me, Harry, Ginny and Hermione! And when Harry and Hermione start spending more time with Ginny and I, Lord and Lady Potter will tell Harry and Hermione that their guesses were correct, and that Ginny and I are perfect for their younger selves, romantically! Hmm… I guess I really should talk to Harry and find out what happened last night.
So, thanks to Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan, Ron had barely saved himself from being the cause of a brutal break-up of the Golden Trio, thanks to his jealousy.
At least… for now, that is. Another opportunity for Ron to put his foot in it was going to take place in the near future.
Sunday, November 1st, 1994
Lord and Lady Potter stepped out in the largest area of the Private Quarters, and found that their younger Doppelgangers were sitting at a round table near the Sitting Room that hadn't been there the previous evening. Judging by the parchment and books on the table, Harry and Hermione were working on their homework.
Hermione was the first to notice them. "Good morning Lord Potter, Lady Potter."
Harry greeted Lord and Lady Potter, then blushed pink when he saw Lady Potter, and turned back to his homework. Lord and Lady Potter greeted the younger two, and headed over to the table.
"Is my Mini-Me crushing on you, love?" Lord Potter asked.
"I think he noticed that the outfit I chose is doing nothing to hide my curves," Lady Potter said, "He hasn't realized that my younger self has curves too, because he hardly sees her in casual wear. Those damn school outfits hide our bodies so well."Lord Potter had to agree with that. His wife had found a beige button-down shirt, and tight-fitting jeans to wear, and – as she said – the outfit did nothing to hide her curves. Harry was wearing a similar outfit. White button-down shirt and jeans.
"Oh, I nearly forgot!" Hermione said, as the older pair approached, "When I came out, I found a letter on the table here for you, Lord and Lady Potter. I don't know who it's from, or how it got here. There's no windows for an owl to get in here. Here it is!"
Hermione picked up a scroll of parchment, and offered it to her older Doppelganger, who took it. Lady Potter unrolled the scroll and read through the letter.
"It's from Minerva," Lady Potter told her husband, "She wants the four of us to have breakfast here and… oh, dear."
"What?" Lord Potter asked."She told me to summon her House-Elf, Sasha," Lady Potter said, "So we can request what we want from the Kitchens for breakfast. My Mini-Me isn't going to like that.""Oh, great – we're smack-dab in the middle of your SPEW phase," Lord Potter said.
"Professor McGonagall has suggested we have breakfast here," Lady Potter said, as she and her husband sat down at the table, "But before that happens, there's something I need to talk to you about, Hermione."
Hermione looked up from her homework, and turned to Lady Potter.
"As you can probably imagine, Hermione, Harry," Lady Potter said, "Until the moment, Lord Potter and I fell out of the portal last night, everything you've experienced in your lives, we experienced the very same things."
"Yeah, I figured that out when you said you were from the future and not an Alternate Universe," Hermione said, and Harry nodded in agreement.
"Well, like you, Hermione," Lady Potter said, "I, too, went through the whole – as my husband likes to call it – "'SPEW phase.'"
Hermione's eyes brightened and she grinned. "Were you able to succeed with it in the future? Should I keep doing what I'm doing?"
"No, Hermione," Lady Potter said, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you need to stop everything you're doing with SPEW."
Hermione's jaw dropped. "What?! Why?!"
"I'm sure right now you believe what you're doing," Lady Potter said, " – or what you're planning, I should say, for the House-Elves is the right thing to do. Believe me, when I was your age, I was thinking pretty much the same thing. But that is because I was getting bad information when it came to House-Elves. I was reading the wrong books. Simply because, at the time, none of the right books were available to me."
"I'm going to regret saying this," Lord Potter said, "But would it surprise you to know that my wife and I have several House-Elves at our home, back in our time?"
Hermione's eyes widened, and her eyebrows narrowed. "You own House-Elves?"
"'Own' is a pretty harsh term, Hermione," Lord Potter said, "We consider the Elves part of the family. In fact many of them have been a part of the Potter family since before my father was born."
"Wait," Harry said, "Where are these House-Elves now? At this moment in time?"
"In three of the houses the Potter family owns," Lord Potter said. "They're following our father's last orders to them. 'Keep the houses clean and orderly, and keep living your lives like normal, until a Potter returns to give you new orders'."
"We have houses?" Harry asked, "Why do I not know this already?"
"We can explain all of that later, Harry," Lord Potter said, "Right now, we're talking about SPEW and House-Elves."
"Fine," Harry said, "But I want to know about these houses and… whatever else I'm missing about our family!"
"I promise, we'll get to that," Lord Potter said. "Right now, Hermione, at this age, you have a pretty low opinion on house-elves. Not low in the sense that is how you look at them, but low in the sense that you know very little about them."
Hermione frowned. "I've been doing my research. Reading books..."
"Not the correct books, Hermione," Lady Potter said, "I already said that, didn't I? Some books about House-Elves don't shine the greatest of lights on them. Simply because the Author of the book didn't write it to give a good opinion of House-Elves, they wrote it for the money. They didn't bother with unbiased opinions or facts. You rarely ever find books that tell the best things about House-Elves. Most of the information I know about them, I didn't get from a book. I got from having a few conversations with some of the Potter Elves. They told me quite a lot, and what they told me changed my mind about SPEW.
"For example... did you know Hogwarts could be considered sentient in some ways owing to how much magic it has? Think about Hogwarts' defense system with the various coats of arms. Magic like that has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?"
"The castle's been around for a thousand years or so!" Hermione argued, "With how much magic is cast every single day in this castle, there is no reason why it wouldn't collect some of that magic to power its own defenses, wards, et cetera and so forth."
"Listen to yourself, young lady," Lady Potter said. "You just said magic gets cast every single day. Students go home for the summer. So does much of the staff. Who, then, is giving the castle magic to sustain itself during that time?"
Hermione frowned, then her eyes widened. "The House-Elves? You mean all the House-Elves in the Kitchens?"
"Those are just the Kitchen elves," Lady Potter said, "Most of the time, you won't see the other Elves around Hogwarts. The ones who clean your clothes, make your beds, deliver your Christmas presents when they arrive in December. Et cetera and so forth. In fact they do a lot of work around the castle that Mr. Filch doesn't do."
"Hogwarts just doesn't have a large number of house-elves because they can cook food and clean, Hermione," Lord Potter said, "House-Elves unconsciously sustain magical residences, with little to no harm to themselves. The magic they donate, they regain while they sleep. The British Ministry of Magic has two or three times the number of House-Elves stationed here, because it is so big."
"Hermione," Lady Potter said, "Why do you think the Weasleys are so poor?"
"Didn't Malfoy once say the Weasleys have more children than they can afford?" Hermione asked. "I mean… it sounds harsh, but I can't say I disagree."
"It isn't just the children," Lady Potter said. "They don't own a House-Elf because Molly Weasley doesn't want one. And yet, their House has to sustain magic, or it would probably fall over. Wards are expensive, even with Bill – a Curse Breaker and Ward Builder – doing much of the work on them a few times a year. Remember when he was over at the Burrow this summer, to go to the Quidditch World Cup? He probably tended to the enchantments while he was there. The Wards they have to use to power not only the defense of their residence, but the magic to sustain their own home, are quite expensive. They would save a lot of money by buying a house-elf to do one of the Ward's jobs for them."
Lord Potter nodded in agreement. "That is why you find it common for most rich Houses to have one, if not several House-Elves. Our family owns several, not only because we live in a large Manor, but also have two holiday homes as well."
"We own a Manor?!" Harry asked.
"Later, Harry," Lord Potter said, "As I was saying… witches and wizards need House-Elves as much as House-Elves need us."
"So what you're saying is," Hermione said, "is that SPEW would never become accepted, because it would be costly."
"SPEW would probably put Wizarding Britain into an era similar to America's Great Depression," Lady Potter said.
Hermione's eyes widened, and she uncharacteristically swore. "Oh bollocks."
"Aptly put," Lady Potter said, "And watch your language, young lady."
Hermione blushed, then looked down at her homework. "Alright. I'll do away with SPEW. Thank you for telling me this."
"You're lucky I'm around to tell you stuff like this," Hermione said, "I had to learn it the hard way. Next year, had I not been here to tell you this, you would have started knitting hats and stuff for House-Elves trying to free them. What you wouldn't know, however, is that Dobby took all the clothes instead, because the other Elves were avoiding Gryffindor Tower so they wouldn't trod across your hats and stuff. That is exactly what I did. Finally… after Professor McGonagall finally discovered what I was doing, she ordered me to her office, gave me a Detention, and lectured me. Basically told me exactly what I just told you. Then she made me write lines. Not an essay about House-Elves. Lines. As many as I could write until the detention ended."
Hermione blushed. "Um… yes. Thank you for preventing that from happening. That sounds really embarrassing."
"During this detention, Hermione," Lady Potter said, "I met one of Professor McGonagall's House-Elves. Yes, dear, even Professor McGonagall owns House-Elves."
Hermione had opened her mouth to basically ask the question that her older self just answered, then she immediately closed her mouth.
"The reason I am telling you about that," Lady Potter said, "Is because Professor McGonagall has requested that we call out one of her House-Elves' names, so they can help us with breakfast."
"And you told me all this so I wouldn't react harshly," Hermione guessed.
"Indeed," Lady Potter said, "Now, please put your homework away for now – ah, except for some writing material, you'll need it soon. We're about to have breakfast."
Harry and Hermione quickly stored their things in their backpacks (which had been summoned along with their trunks the previous evening), leaving out only some writing material on the table.
Lady Potter cleared her throat. "Sasha?"
Suddenly, a House-Elf that looked like a younger, prettier and saner version of Winky appeared out of thin air and popped in next to Lady Potter.
"Yes, Lady Potter?" Sasha asked.
"We would like to order breakfast now, please," Lady Potter said. "Is there a menu or do we just request what we want?"
"Anything that is available for breakfast usually in the Great Hall can be requested," Sasha said.
Then, almost immediately, four sets of silverware, napkins, and glasses appeared on the table in front of each person sitting down. Lady Potter requested her own meal, which appeared on a plate in front of her. Lord Potter, Harry and Hermione all did the same. Then various breakfast drinks appeared in jugs in the center of the table.
"That will be all," Lady Potter said, "Thank you, Sasha."
Lord Potter, Harry and Hermione thanked Sasha, and the House-Elf vanished.
"Now," Lady Potter said, "The reason I wanted you to keep your writing material out is this: Lord Potter and I are aware you have many questions burning in your mind that you want to ask the two of us. So, during breakfast, I want the both of you to write all these questions down. Put them down in two categories. The first category is for those questions that you want to ask the two of us. The second category is for – well – Hermione, I'm sure you have questions you want to ask me, but you might be embarrassed to ask in front of Harry. Harry, the same goes for you – questions you want to ask Lord Potter, but might not want to discuss in front of Hermione."
Harry and Hermione blushed. Lady Potter had hit the nail on the head when it came to the second category.
"Now, there's a twist," Lady Potter said, "Lord Potter and I will read through all your questions. However… any question we find that we feel we can't answer at the moment, will have to wait until sometime in the future when we feel you're ready to hear that stuff. Maybe weeks or months from now – if we're still here, that is."
Harry jerked his head up from his meal and looked at Lord and Lady Potter. "You think there will come a time when you won't be here any more?"
"Harry, they might not want to stay here," Hermione said, quietly, "They might want to go back to their time, if they find a possible way back."
"I don't understand," Harry said, "Won't your future be changed? Everything you're doing right now – and all the information you're telling us, and what you told Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. Won't that change your future? Doesn't that make it… well, almost impossible to get back?"
"We don't know, Harry," Lady Potter said, "Time travel is a very tricky thing. Maybe our future exists just how we left it. Maybe nothing has changed. Maybe, as soon as the Portal opened, the timelines split in two ways. Our timeline, and this one. We don't have any answers right now. Maybe we can't get back. Maybe we can."
"However, whatever happens, you can be sure of one thing, Harry," Lord Potter said, "I'm going to do my best to make sure that everything bad that my wife and I experienced in our timeline doesn't happen."
"People died, didn't they?" Harry asked, "Friends of ours. Between now and your present. No.. never mind. That is something I can put in my list of questions and you can figure out how to answer that later. If you want to answer that."
"I won't go into specifics right now, mate," Lord Potter said, "But yeah… we lost some friends between now and our present."
"But we're going to do our best to save their lives," Lady Potter said.
Harry and Hermione smiled and nodded, looking relieved. They began writing down questions
"However, something I want you to be aware of," Lord Potter said, "Even though we'll have restrictions about what questions we can answer – well, I'm not Dumbledore. I won't keep stuff from you, or tell you half-truths or even full lies. We just might not be able to answer some of your questions right now."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Lord Potter as he mentioned "Dumbledore", then she started writing more questions down.
"Oh dear," Lord Potter said, "I think I might have said something wrong, when I mentioned Dumbledore. Your Mini-Me noticed."
"We were going to tell them about Dumbledore anyway, love," Lady Potter said.
"Remember to eat, you two," Lady Potter said, "You can take some time thinking about questions. We're not going to be sitting down immediately after breakfast, and answering your questions, after all. Lord Potter and I have something we need to do before that happens."
Lady Potter looked at her husband.
"We need Dobby, Harry," Lady Potter said, "We can introduce ourselves to Dobby, though he might recognize us, immediately. You need to write a letter for Keeper Ragnok, and we can ask Dobby to give the letter to him. In the letter, I need you to give Dobby permission to get into our Family Vaults. Because I need our jewelry box. It has bracelets in the jewelry box that your mother made. They have similar protections that our Lord and Lady Potter rings have. These two need to start wearing those bracelets."
"Oh, very good idea," Lord Potter said.
Lily Potter (Evans at the time) had made several enchanted bracelets for one of her Ancient Runes projects, as a student at Hogwarts. They had all kinds of enchantments on them – Legilimency Blockers, Mental Protections against things like Obliviations, Protections against nefarious Potions (like Loyalty Potions, Attraction Potions, Love Potions, Lust Potions, Veritaserum, et cetera), and even some protections against minor Offensive Spells, Hexes and Curses.
There were a few of these bracelets in a large jewelry box in the Potter Family Vault. Albus' portrait was shocked when Lord and Lady Potter had revealed the bracelets to him. He knew nothing about them. Apparently Lily had made the Ancient Runes Professor, and her friends, take a Vow never to reveal what the bracelets did to anyone. So even Albus didn't know about them (Lily knew Albus was a Legilimens, and that made her not trust him enough to reveal the bracelets to him, because she didn't know if he had ever used Legilimens on her before).
"I have one more request, you two," Lady Potter said. "Until I say so, I don't want either of you to leave these Private Quarters. I'm going to give you two a gift when we have our question-and-answer conversation. I just have to… acquire them. I'll explain these gifts when I give them to you, and by then you'll know why I want you to stay here for now."
"Alright," Hermione said.
Harry nodded, as he chewed on a piece of bacon, and stared at his piece of parchment which only had a few questions on it at the moment. Hermione, on the other hand, had had to get another piece of parchment – she was writing down that many questions.
"You do know we won't be able to answer all of those questions, Hermione, right?" Lady Potter asked, kindly. "I don't know any of the questions you're writing down, but I can already tell you, we won't be able to answer them all right now."
Hermione shrugged. "Better to write it all down, instead of leaving something off that you might have ended up being able to answer."
"True," Lady Potter said.
"You're an older version of me, Lady Potter," Hermione said, "Surely you guessed why I was writing down so many questions."
"My mind's changed in the four years of my life that you haven't lived yet, dear" Lady Potter said. "Not too much, but things I've experienced made me think differently than you do at this moment in time. I'm more cautious, for example. And a bit more paranoid about certain things."
Hermione nodded, accepting that answer, and returned to her parchment. As Lord Potter continued eating his meal with his wife and their Doppelgangers, he looked over at the grandfather clock in the sitting room. Breakfast was already underway in the Great Hall. He wondered if Albus had made his announcements yet, and exactly what he was telling the students and staff.
Sunday, November 1st, 1994
Albus Dumbledore was sitting at the Head Table, with the majority of the rest of his staff, dining on his usual choice of breakfast foods. Like it was the previous evening, the Great Hall was practically overflowing with students sitting at their respective tables. Also in attendance were the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegates and their Champions – this time they were sitting at Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables respectively (last night they had been at the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables), as well as Madame Maxime and Igor Karkaroff who were also seated at the Head Table.
Beside Albus, Minerva McGonagall cleared her throat.
"I think everyone's ready for you to make your announcements, Albus," she said, "Shall I get everyone's attention?"
Albus drank a gulp of water from his glass and cleared his throat. "You may, Minerva."
Minerva picked up her spoon, and tapped it against her glass three times. Albus stood up, and walked around the table, then over to the podium. By this time, every head in the Hall was now facing him. Well, almost everyone. Ron Weasley, Albus saw, was still spooning down scrambled eggs, ignoring everyone looking at him. At least that was until Fred Weasley (or was it George?) threw an ice cube at him. Ron looked at his brother, who pointed at the Headmaster. Ron pouted, put his spoon down and looked at the Headmaster, who winked at Ron. Ron's face went terribly red, as he realized the Headmaster was watching him.
"Good morning, everyone!" Albus said, looking around at his audience, "I must apologize for making today's breakfast attendance mandatory. I'm sure many of you are still worn out from the exciting events that took place last evening. Now, I know that the gossip mills of Hogwarts have run rampant ever since those events have taken place. Many of you have questioned and wondered exactly what happened near the end of the Feast. Well, I am happy to relieve your minds of some of those curiosities.
"First of all, I know many have questions about the fact that Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, possibly naming him as the Fourth Champion. Many of you are wondering how Harry Potter put his name in the Goblet of Fire, when every other student under the age of seventeen could not do so. Well, that answer is simple: Harry Potter did not enter his own name into the Goblet of Fire."
Murmurs and whispers were heard around the room, and more than a few noises of disbelief were heard, even though the statement they were disbelieving had come from Dumbledore's own mouth.
"I believe you'll all be happy to know that the culprit who did put Mr. Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire has been identified and caught!" Albus continued.
Everyone in the Hall once again turned their attention back to Albus.
"My dear students, I have some terrible news to tell you," Albus said, "Part of me wishes I didn't have to tell you this, because of the burden I'm laying upon you all. Know that I personally apologize for any grief and negative emotions you might feel after my announcement. You see, for the past two months, one of your Professors had a deep, dark secret. For two months all of you believed you were being taught Defense by Professor Alastor Moody. I'm sorry to say this is not true. Unfortunately, Alastor Moody was attacked in late August, and was kidnapped by Dark wizards. One of these Dark wizards impersonated Professor Moody, using Polyjuice Potion. That Dark wizard's name was Bartemius Crouch, Junior!"
Several gasps, and more murmurs and whispers were heard. Several students looked confused, most never having heard of Bartemius Crouch, Junior. Those that did however reacted much differently.
Cedric Diggory stood up. "I thought Bartemius Crouch, Junior was dead!"
"Indeed, Champion Diggory, that was the general assumption," Albus said, "Unfortunately the truth was much different. Bartemius Crouch, Senior who – up until last night – was one of our respective judges of the Triwizard Tournament, as well as Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and before that, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, broke his son out of Azkaban many years ago, and held him under the Imperius Curse ever since."
Several gasps and exclamations were heard.
"That is, until late August, when Bartemius Crouch, Junior was able to break free," Albus said, "Many of you may remember hearing about the Dark Mark being seen at the Quidditch World Cup Campgrounds this summer. This man was responsible for it. Soon afterward, he kidnapped Alastor Moody, and ever since then, until last night, was disguising himself as the man who I see as a dear, dear friend. It was Bartemius Crouch, Junior who placed Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire.
"However, shortly after the Feast last night, Bartemius Crouch, Junior was discovered, and captured. As was his father, Bartemius Crouch, Senior. Both are now in prison cells in the Ministry of Magic, and both will be facing justice for their crimes!"
Applause and cheers rang out around the Hall. Once again Cedric Diggory stood up.
"So does this mean there are only three Champions, Headmaster?" Cedric asked. "Harry Potter doesn't have to compete?"
"Unfortunately, Champion Diggory," Albus said, "I cannot say that that is true. However…"
Murmurs, whispers, exclamations and jeering were heard.
"Potter shouldn't have to compete!" a Ravenclaw student said.
"He didn't put his name in the Goblet of Fire!" Neville Longbottom said.
"He's too young!" a Hufflepuff student said.
"E's just a little boy!" Champion Fleur Delacour said.
Albus smirked at that last exclamation, recalling what Lord Potter had said about Delacour's similar comment in his story.
"SILENCE!" Albus roared.
The Hall went utterly silent again, almost immediately.
"However," Albus repeated. "There are certain facts that must be taken into acknowledgement. I'm sure almost everyone here in attendance – aside from our three Champions who were informed about these events last night – recalled what happened moments after Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. We all witnessed a portal open right here in the Great Hall. Out of that portal, two mysterious figures appeared. Now, ever since that moment, there have been rumors and whispers about who these two individuals really are. They have given me their permission to reveal their identities!
"The whispers and rumors are true. Our two mysterious guests are Lord Harry James Potter, and his wife, Lady Hermione Potter, of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. And they came here from the not-so-distant future exactly four years from now!"
"The future?" Fred Weasley asked.
"Not an Alternate Universe?" George Weasley asked.
"Our future, Messrs. Weasley," Albus said, "Indeed."
Albus glanced at the Weasley twins who, in turn, were glancing at their little brother, Ron. Ron, Albus noticed, had expressions of intense anger and jealousy on his face, which was changing colors alternately between red, white and green.
Oh, dear, I do believe Ronald Weasley isn't happy that his two best friends are married to each other in the future, Albus mused, I must wonder what chaos will spring from that?
"Now," Albus said, gaining everyone's attention again, "The best theory as to why the Goblet of Fire Summoned Lord Potter and his wife into our time is simple. Lord Potter has been selected as a possible contender for the Fourth Champion!"
Cheers and applause rang out around the Hall again. Albus silenced the Hall again.
"However!" Albus said, "For fairness sake, unfortunately we cannot just immediately choose Lord Potter to be the Fourth Champion. You see, Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, and there are two Harry Potters at this very moment! So tonight, right here in this very Hall, after another grand feast, we will have the Second Half of the Choosing Ceremony. Lord Potter and Mr. Potter will stand up here in front of the Goblet of Fire, and we will all witness who the Goblet of Fire officially names the Fourth Champion of the Triwizard Tournament!"
More cheers and applause rang out around the Hall. When it quieted down, Albus spoke again.
"One last announcement," Albus said, "I'm sure you're all wondering what is going to happen concerning the Defense Professor job. Unfortunately, the real Alastor Moody cannot be your Professor this year. His recovery from his plight will take too long. Therefore, I am currently in talks with the new Defense Professor, and those talks will be finished later today. Tonight, before the Second Half of the Choosing Ceremony, I will let you know who your new Defense Professor is! Thank you!"
Albus turned to head back to his seat, when all of a sudden, Minerva stood up and tapped her spoon on her glass three more times. Albus frowned at Minerva when she glared at him. She then looked around the hall.
"The Headmaster forgot one last announcement," Minerva said, "I'm sure many of you would like to ask Lord and Lady Potter questions, as well as talk to them. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that isn't possible. Unless you hear otherwise, or are given direct permission by me, none of you have permission to approach or speak to Lord and Lady Potter while they are here. If they approach you, however, you have permission to talk to them. However! They are very wary about answering questions regarding the future, so I would advise you all not to even think about asking them such things. Thank you. You may continue eating now."
Albus frowned. He did not 'forget' that announcement. He didn't want to make that announcement. He wanted Lord and Lady Potter to get hounded by questions, so that they might end up in some type of confrontation with one of his students. When they finally crossed a line with one of his students, he could legally kick them out of Hogwarts. At the moment, however, unless he got orders from the Ministry of Magic, he could do nothing against Lord and Lady Potter. Especially if Lord Potter became the Fourth Champion.
If that happened, he wouldn't be able to force Lord Potter to leave Hogwarts. If he did, the Goblet of Fire might take that as him interfering with the Tournament, and might harm him in some way – possibly even make him a Squib, or kill him. Ironically, if he did become a Squib, he'd probably die anyway. Most humans didn't live as long as he had. If he became a Squib, he'd likely keel over, after having a heart attack or a stroke. That was one reason he hoped Mr. Potter became the Fourth Champion. Sure, he might risk Harry becoming Emancipated, but he could fight against that! He couldn't fight against Lord Potter or his wife, especially if Lord Potter was placed under the protection of the Goblet of Fire!
There was also the fact that they knew a lot about the future, stuff they weren't telling him. He didn't know how well-defended their mind-magics were, whether or not they had Occlumency skills. So he didn't want to risk using Legilimency. He knew Lord Potter (same as young Harry) was basically immune to the Imperius Curse, so he'd likely have no problems dealing with blocking Veritaserum as well. The marriage vows they took probably protected Lady Potter too, especially if it was powerful enough to summon her to the past, alongside her husband. He couldn't do anything about Lord and Lady Potter that would cause them to not trust him. Not until they gave him more information. So he was going to have to wait to see what else Lord and Lady Potter could tell him about the future (or what would have been, had they not interfered) before he could do anything about them. They had all kinds of information he didn't have, and he hated that!
Instead of heading back toward the table to continue his meal, Albus headed out of the Great Hall. He had lost his appetite.
Sunday, November 1st, 1994
Meanwhile, someone else had lost their appetite… literally. Ron Weasley was throwing up his breakfast in a toilet in a bathroom on the same floor as the Great Hall.
His greatest fears – well, ever since his discussion with Seamus and Neville that morning, that is – had come true. Albus Dumbledore had confirmed that Lord Harry Potter and Lady Hermione Potter were from the future! The future of this timeline! That meant that Harry would marry Hermione in the future! His (former?) best friend had utterly betrayed him! This was worse than the idea of Harry putting his name in the Goblet of Fire – which he did not. This was much worse! Harry Potter had stolen his girl from him! His mother had promised that he would marry Hermione, and that Harry would marry Ginny!
So what the bloody hell had happened in the future that changed all of that?!
Suddenly a familiar voice screeched at him. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, get out here right now!"
Ron raised his head from the toilet. "G-Ginny? What are you doing here? This is a boy's bathroom!"
"I don't care!" Ginny growled, "Get out here, or I'll hex you so bad you'll puke up last night's dinner too!"
Ron groaned, wiped his chin off on the sleeve of his robes, flushed the toilet, and walked out of the cubicle.
"Gross, Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, "You have vomit all over yourself. Here!"
Ginny pointed her wand at him, and cast a Cleaning Charm on him and his robes. He looked down and sighed in relief when his clothes were clean.
"Thanks," Ron muttered, "You honestly don't know why I'm physically ill?"
"Hmm… maybe Fred and George pranked you?" Ginny asked, sarcastically, "Yes, I know why, Ron. Dumbledore basically told us that Harry and Hermione will get married in the future. That is exactly why I'm here right now! We need to talk!"
"What's there to talk about?" Ron moaned, "Whatever Mum and you have been plotting is obviously going to fail. It's over Ginny. It won't work."
"Not true," Ginny said, "Mum and I – we made a mistake. A big one. We wanted to wait until next summer to begin our plans. We should have realized we needed to enact those plans this year! Especially since an event is taking place at Christmas that will be our perfect opportunity to kick off our plans!"
"What event?" Ron asked.
"The Yule Ball!" Ginny said.
"The – what?" Ron asked.
"The Yule Ball," Ginny repeated, "A social party, here at Hogwarts, with dancing and music and stuff. It's the perfect opportunity. We'll use Attraction Potions on Harry and Hermione so they'll go to the Ball with us!"
"Attraction Potions?" Ron asked, "What about Love Potions? Lust Potions? All that stuff Mum talked about?!"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "That can wait until this summer, when Harry and Hermione are away from all the public eyes. If we use Love Potions on them immediately, people will question why they fell in love with us out of the blue! Especially since there's clear evidence that Harry and Hermione might just fall in love with each other in the future. But this summer… when everyone has probably forgotten about Lord and Lady Potter, and Harry and Hermione are away from all the students and staff…"
"No one will notice when they fall in love with us out of the blue," Ron said.
"Right!" Ginny said, "Because they won't know what happened between us and Harry and Hermione this summer! They'll think it happened naturally! But the main reason they'll believe our relationships to be natural, is the Yule Ball. If Harry and Hermione are our dates at the Yule Ball, it will make it all more believable when we're couples at the start of the school year next September!"
"And the Attraction Potions will help us," Ron said, "They'll accept when we ask them to go to the Ball."
"Yes!" Ginny said, "Well, actually I want Harry to ask me, but yes!"
Ron frowned. "But what happens if people question why Hermione and Harry went to the ball with us, instead of each other, when everyone believes they're getting married in the future?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Just because everyone believes Harry and Hermione are getting married in the future, doesn't mean they're engaged to each other at this very moment, Ron. We can tell whoever asks that Harry and Hermione are still figuring out their feelings for each other. And until then, they're free to date someone else. We won't be officially dating Harry and Hermione after the Yule Ball, but that excuse will work anyway. Of course, what everyone else doesn't know is that Harry and Hermione won't marry each other, they'll marry us!"
"That's bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, then frowned. "Wait, why can't we date Hermione and Harry after the Ball?"
"Because, Ron," Ginny said, "We can't risk using Attraction Potions too much. And again, we can't use Love Potions or whatever then, either, because we need them to work away from the curious eyes of the students and staff here at Hogwarts.
"Anyway, after Harry and Hermione go with us to the Yule Ball, word of mouth will be the new strategy. Everyone will tell Harry and Hermione, 'oh, you two looked great on the arm of your respective Weasley!' Then we'll create some bets, without letting anyone know we did it. The bets will be… 'when will Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione become an official couple?' Once Harry and Hermione hear about these bets, that will get them thinking more about us, instead about each other! So, even with the influence of their future selves, they won't even think about wanting to date each other!"
"Again, brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
"Thanks," Ginny said, grinning, "I'm going to write to Mum, tell her about everything that's been happening. Especially about the time-travelers. The fact that Harry and Hermione apparently marry in the future will be the biggest reason Mum gets our plans underway."
"There's another problem, Ginny: how are we supposed to stop the future?" Ron asked, "It already happened! At least for the older Harry and Hermione!"
"The two timelines will split," Ginny said. "Their timeline where our plans failed, and our timeline where they succeeded! Hell, maybe Lord and Lady Potter will cease to exist when our plans succeed!"
"Yeah!" Ron said, "They'd deserve it. Deserve it for betraying our future selves! We'll give our future selves the justice they didn't get!"
"Right!" Ginny exclaimed. "Now, I'm going to get out of here before I'm noticed and write that letter to Mum. You… are going to try to figure out what is going on with your two best friends. And Ron? Do make sure they still treat you as their best friend. If you anger them, or get angry at them for anything, you are so quick to anger, that you might get into an argument with them worse than you did last year during the Firebolt incident.
"One more big fight between you, Harry and Hermione, and nobody will believe you're friends with them anymore. Then they'll know something's funny when Hermione accepts your date to the Ball so soon after such a big argument. If the Golden Trio breaks up, it will be a Golden Duo – Harry and Hermione. Do you understand me? You will be the one out of the Golden Trio. Then everyone will then EXPECT Harry and Hermione to go to the Yule Ball together. SO DO NOT ANGER THEM!"
"Fine, Ginny," Ron said, "I'll do my best. I'll be careful. I promise."
"You better," Ginny snarled, "We are on a precipice here, Ron. Harry and Hermione are all but guaranteed to get married in the future, unless we do something now. If you do anything to ruin this plan, we'll have nothing left to try. My life, my future, my dreams will be ruined because of you! And I swear to Merlin, if that happens, I will disown you as my brother, and I'll make sure Mum disowns you as a son! Ronald No-Name! That will be you! Do you want that? No?! Then don't fuck this up!""
Before Ron could reply to that threat. Ginny turned and left the bathroom. Ron sighed and looked at the spot his sister had just been standing in. Ron used to think she was as scary as their mother. But that was until she had been possessed by Tom Riddle's diary. Now she was so much scarier than their mother! He definitely had no doubts that she would go through with her threats if he screwed this up.
Right… he needed to find Harry and Hermione. How the bloody hell was he going to do that?He didn't even know where they were… and Harry had the Marauder's Map! Ron continued thinking about this as he left the bathroom.