Chapter Thirty

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Where Do We Go From Here?

Harry finally got his chance to do something about Heather the week before he was due to leave. An emergency meeting was called in the middle of the night, much to Harry's annoyance. The closer it came to September 1st, the harder the time travellers had been finding it to sleep. They were all wondering what was going to happen to them when they got back to their own time. The main problem they had been having was deciding whether they would be arriving at the time they left, or three years on. The thought of what their families would say if they had been missing for three years was rather disturbing, so they tried not to think about it too much. They preferred to think that no time had passed, and that they would find themselves in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express, with Hedwig in her cage and Peter Pettigrew locked in a jar. They had to consider all eventualities, though, and were prepared to arrive in 1998.

The other thing they found themselves worrying about was whether they would be going back to their own time this year. The book about the amulet hadn't been very accurate on that matter, saying that it could be three or four trips. They thought, though, that because they were so close to the time they left, it was unlikely they would make another stop. Harry couldn't help but worry that they would end up in 1981. He would hate to be sitting in a dorm room the night his parents were killed, knowing there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

When the call came in the middle of the night, the four made their way discreetly to the ball room of Domus Corvus Corax, turning themselves invisible before they entered through the main doors. They were some of the first to arrive, as they didn't have to floo or apparate in from anywhere. The only ones that were there before them were the Potters, Lolide and Gaerwyn. Harry made his way over to the eldest elf, and gently rested his hand on her arm to get her attention. She jumped slightly at the contact, but relaxed when she realised who it must be.

“ What's going on, Lolide?” Harry asked her in a whisper.

“ I'm not sure,” she replied, “ I just know that Albus seems to be very agitated. I think there's another attack, but I can't say for sure. It's the only thing that would get him this worried. You know how calm and collected he always is.”

“ I know. It takes a lot to make him visibly concerned.”

“ What's going on, Harry,” came a voice to the boy's left. He turned, and found himself staring into thin air. Concentrating a little, he could make out the magical signatures of three invisible people standing in a group at his side. He realised that the other time travellers hadn't understood his conversation with the elf, as they had been speaking in her native tongue.

“ We're not sure, Ron, but Dumbledore seems worried. I don't think we'll have to wait long, though. Most of the Order council's here already.”

Sure enough, as Harry spoke the last of the council members came in through the main doors and took their place at the round table. The four time travellers hid themselves in the dark corners of the room as extra cover and began to listen in to the conversation. After clapping to get everyone's attention, Dumbledore stood up to address the crowd.

“ Ladies and gentlemen, we have a rather serious situation on our hands. Our spy, Severus Snape, has sent me an owl informing me of an attack that is due to begin in the morning. The attack will be at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. It is a Muggle institute for sick children, and he plans to annihilate it. We cannot let this happen, for it would be a great tragedy for the Muggles.”

“ What are we going to do about it?” Eustace asked.

“ I think the best course of action would be full defence. If we move quickly, we might even be able to evacuate the hospital before any of the Death Eaters turn up. It would save us all a lot of worry, and we would be more likely to win. This is the big one, people. Voldemort will have more Death Eaters at this attack than at any previous to this. He doesn't know we are forewarned, so let us make the most of it. I want each of you to contact the members you are in charge of, and let them know about this. We need everyone we can get, as our numbers are dwindling. We will meet here in two hours. Dismissed.”

Everyone hurriedly left the room, heading out to contact their underlings. Each of the council members, with the exception of the Hogwarts students, was in charge of a number of lesser Order members. This prevented full Order meetings from happening very often, as only certain divisions would normally be activated at a time.

An hour an a half later, most of the Order members had been assembled. Some had been unable to make it, but all those who were available had been scrambled and briefed. They were now simply waiting for the word to go. Ten minutes later, after Dumbledore had made the final preparations, the fighters for the Light left Domus Corvus Corax and headed for Liverpool.

Harry watched from the sidelines as chaos descended on the battleground. Fortunately, the Order had arrived early enough to evacuate the hospital before Voldemort's dark forces turned up. The Dark Lord had been most surprised when he and his Death Eaters apparated in to find hundreds of light wizards waiting for them. Nevertheless, they set to their task with a grim determination. It was now ten minutes later, and bodies already littered the floor, both friend and foe. Harry, while helping to fight, had been searching for Heather. He knew she would be here somewhere, as she was never far from the action. He knew that she had recently been openly accused of being a Death Eater, blowing her cover. A young and inexperienced Order member had let it slip to a loyal Death Eater, so now she was simply kept as Voldemort's concubine. He never let her out of his sight, from what Severus had reported to the Order, so naturally she would be at the battle, fighting for the dark side.

Eventually, Harry spotted her across the battleground and started to make his way over towards her. Unfortunately, that included passing through a cluster of Dementors. The large silver stag bounding around the area caught the attention of Voldemort, who recognised it immediately and started to make his way over to get a closer look. This was both a blessing and a curse for Harry, who had to pass right by the Dark Lord without grabbing his attention. Luckily he managed to slip past and head over to where Heather had temporarily been left unattended. Slipping behind her, he placed a hand over her mouth and nose, blocking off her air supply until she passed out. Laying her on the ground, he was relieved that he had to spend the battles invisible, or he would have been caught quickly. Pulling open his cloak, he rummaged in one of his deep pockets before pulling out a stoppered bottle full of a curious looking potion. Pulling the stopper out, he positioned her head and poured the liquid into her mouth, stroking her throat to make her swallow it. He then quickly replaced the bottle in his robe pocket and stood up, moving a short distance away before waving his hands about in a complicated configuration. Immediately an illusion of Heather appeared next to the body, and a green light seemed to be heading towards her. The illusion faded as the image appeared to fall to the ground, right where the real Heather was positioned. The display had caught the attention of a returning Voldemort, who quickly ran the rest of the distance, placing his skeletal fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse. The howl of rage that came from him grabbed the attention of several nearby Order members, who looked over to see what was going on. When they saw the Dark Lord placing a conjured sheet over the body, the news quickly spread. Heather Evans was dead.

Harry watched in amusement as Voldemort went into a rage, cursing his own Death Eaters for letting something happen to his favourite plaything. The Order were having it a lot easier now that the Dark Lord was occupied with his own men, and the battle was quickly turning in their favour. While everyone was busy, Harry darted out of his hiding place and placed and invisibility charm over the body of his aunt and lifted her into his arms, apparating them both away to a deserted field in Surrey.

Laying his burden gently on the grass, Harry made both himself and his aunt visible again, before removing the sheet and pouring a second potion down her throat. Sitting back on his heels, Harry waited for something to happen. It wasn't long before the body in front of him started to move, and the glassy eyes sprang open. Harry immediately started chanting in the elven language, waving his hand over her head. Seconds later, her eyes cleared and her expression turned horrified.

“ How?! What?! Where?!”

“ Heather, calm down. You're safe now.”

“ Yes, it's me. You're safe, Voldemort can't get you here.”

Heather gazed around in a daze for a moment before her eyes once again rested on Harry.

“ What happened?”

“ How much do you remember?”

“ All of it,” she started, tears beginning to trail down her cheeks, “ I couldn't stop it. He put the Imperius on me, and I tried to fight back, but there was nothing I could do. I could see myself doing those horrible things, but I couldn't stop it.”

Harry placed his arms around the young woman as she began to sob, stroking her back and making soothing noises. When she started to calm down, their conversation began again.

“ Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spy on the Order.”

“ It's alright, Heather. We knew from the start, and were giving you false information. I wanted to save you, but Dumbledore wouldn't let me. He thought you would be the most use to the Order if you were feeding falsehoods to Voldemort.”

“ He left me there?! To be…raped…by that monster?”

“ I tried, I really did, Heather. You have to believe me. He wouldn't even let me come after you once your usefulness to the Order in that respect had been compromised. He didn't want to risk any more lives.”

“ But you saved me anyway? How…where are we? The last thing I remember is being at a battle…”

“ We've just come from there. I distracted Voldemort and went to get you. After knocking you unconscious, I gave you a Draught of Living Death.”

“ Clever. You made him think I was dead…”

“ Him and the Order. They won't be bothering you again. Then, when no-one was looking, I apparated us to Surrey.”

“ Because Petunia lives here.”

“ Petunia?! As in my sister Petunia?”

“ The very same. We need her help.”

“ Petunia won't help us! She hates magic.”

“ I know, but this is the only place I could think to bring you. You do realise that to the wizarding world, you are dead. You have two choices from here. You can either live the rest of your life as a Muggle, or you can change your name and leave the country. Both, if possible. It would be too risky to have it any other way. I'm sorry.”

“ You have nothing to be sorry for, Harry. You've done a lot for me, and I don't know how I can ever thank you. Any life I can have from now on will be better than the one I have just left behind. Even if I do chance it and go back to the wizarding world, as soon as someone sees this Dark Mark on my arm, they'll throw me in Azkaban without a trial.”

“ About that…”

Harry gently lifted her left arm onto his lap and pulled her sleeve up, revealing the hideous tattoo. Heather winced as she caught sight of it, but watched in fascination as Harry placed his hand over it. She could feel a slight tingling as Harry muttered under his breath, and openly gaped at her companion when he removed his hand, revealing pink, unblemished skin.

“ How did you do that?!”

“ Just a little trick I picked up last year. It's quite useful.”

“ I bet. Thank you.”

“ You're welcome.”

“ Harry, why are you helping me? You said you argued with Dumbledore about rescuing me. But why?”

“ I just don't like people to be enslaved…”

“ No, it's more than that. Tell me.”

“ Well, you remember that my friends and I are from the future…”

“ Yes, you mentioned that last year.”

“ Well, let's just say that we're related…”

“ Related, how?”

“ I can't say. Really. It's a security risk. Everyone else that knew has had their memories altered, and the spell won't be lifted until my friends and I get home. As you weren't there, you're the only one apart from three others that still remembers. I really don't want to have to make you forget me. If I tell you more, though, I'll have to. I'm sorry.”

“ I understand. So we're related, that's why you wanted to save me.”

“ Not that I wouldn't have saved anyone in your situation, but I did have more of a motivation because of it.”

“ So, you know Petunia?”

“ Yes. That's how I know she lives in Surrey.”

“ I wouldn't have known. When she left with that boyfriend of hers, she never left a forwarding address.”

“ Well, I think we'd better get going. We should walk from here, as I don't want our magic to be traced.”

“ I understand. Anyway, shouldn't you be getting back to the battle? I mean, you are one of your best fighters…”

“ They had everything under control when I left, and they still have Ginny, Ron and `Mione.”

“ Are you sure?”

“ Of course. Now, let's get going.”

As Harry strode up to the door of number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Heather following right behind him, a flood of memories nearly overwhelmed him. Although he had always thought he hadn't been overly affected by the time travel, the emotions he felt going up to the house he had grown up in were rather strong. He had always believed he had hated the Dursleys for the way they had treated him when he was a child, but now that he hadn't seen them in three years he realised that they were one of the few constants in his life. After a moment, it occurred to him that he had been staring blankly at the brightly painted door, and Heather was giving him a quizzical look. Harry shook his head to dismiss the memories and knocked sharply on the door. A moment later, the large form of a rather young looking Vernon Dursley pulled the door open and grinned falsely at the newcomers. When he caught sight of their disheveled appearance and wizarding robes, though, his expression turned to one of distaste.

“ Who are you, and what do you want? If you're selling something, I'm not interested.”

Harry steeled himself and looked confidently into his uncle's eyes.

“ We're sorry to disturb you, Mr. Dursley, but we wish to speak to Petunia Evans.”

“ There is no Petunia Evans here.”

“ Petunia Dursley, then.”

“ And what do you want with my wife?”

“ I'm sorry, let me introduce myself. I am Harry Anguifer, and my companion is Heather Evans, Petunia's sister. I'm afraid we're in a bit of a pickle and need her help.”

Vernon eyed them skeptically before reluctantly moving to one side and ushering them into the living room.

“ She's upstairs, resting. Wait here, and don't touch anything.”

The large man vanished out of the door and Harry and Heather were left alone. Heather seemed lost in thought, and Harry was preoccupied with his former home. The living room itself looked the same as usual, with one exception. There were no photographs of Dudley gracing every surface. The room looked relatively Spartan without them. There were still the usual ornaments, but the wallpaper was different. Harry froze when he spotted the cupboard under the stairs through the gap left by the partially closed door. Both newcomers were brought out of their thoughts when Vernon and Petunia came through the door. Harry looked up at his aunt, noticing the shocked look on her face as she stared at Heather.

“ You! Get out of my home, witch.”

“ Petunia, calm down…”

“ I will not calm down. Your kind isn't welcome in my home. You'll contaminate it…”

“ Contaminate it? I seem to remember a time when you would have given anything to be one of my kind.”

“ Temporary madness! I am a normal person, and I will not have you bringing your abnormality into my house.”

“ Abnormality! Why, you…”

Everyone looked at Harry in shocked silence. He was stood in front of them, anger on his face and a slight glow emanating from him. Vernon was staring at him in disbelief, obviously not understanding what was going on. Eventually, Petunia recovered the power of speech and pointed a shaking hand at Harry.

“ You're one of them!”

“ Yes, I am. Now I want everyone to shut up and listen to me. Vernon?”

“ If you don't understand what is going on, I suggest you ask your wife later. Basically, I am a wizard, and Petunia's sister is a witch. Magic is real, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Vernon gaped at the young man before turning to Petunia for confirmation. When she gave him a reluctant nod, he promptly fainted.

“ Well, that takes care of him,” Harry said, “ As for you, Petunia, you will sit down and listen to what your sister has to say.”

The horse faced woman looked cowed, and took a seat opposite her sister as Heather began to explain the situation. When she had finished, Petunia thought over everything that had been said before coming to a decision.

“ I'll help you. But only on one condition.”

“ Once we are rid of you, you will never bother us again.”

“ Very well. If that's what you want.”

“ It is. Because of you turning up, I'm going to have to explain to Vernon about witches and wizards, something I had hoped to avoid. You can stay with us until you get yourself established.”

“ Thank you, Petunia.”

Heather turned to Harry, who was watching the other woman thoughtfully. After a moment, she cleared her throat to gain his attention and gave him a smile.

“ Thank you, Harry. For everything. Look me up when you get back, alright? I'll leave my Muggle address with Petunia.”

“ I will. I'd better be getting back. The battle will be over by now, and I might be missed. It was nice to meet you, Heather, and I hope to see you in about twenty years.”

After giving his aunt a hug, Harry pulled out a portkey to Domus Corvus Corax, and disappeared from the Dursleys' living room with a slight *pop*.

September 1st finally rolled around, and the time travellers were running around the castle trying to get everything together before they left for Hogwarts. They were due to leave in an hour, and they still hadn't spoken to Lily and James. Harry's parents were due to portkey to Domus Corvus Corax and from there floo to Hogwarts only half an hour before they were to leave forever. Harry hadn't wanted a lot of time, because he knew it would likely be upsetting, and if he had a long time to talk to them, he would probably tell them the future and ruin everything. When the four were packed, and had checked Harry's home three times over to make sure they had everything, they flooed to Harry's secret room at Hogwarts, from where they went to the Great Hall to wait. Placing their trunks and assorted pets in the middle, they sat on their luggage and chatted about what they would do if this was the trip that took them home. Ginny and Ron had missed their family terribly, as had Hermione. Harry also confided the rescue of Heather Evans to his friends, something he had until then kept to himself. Hermione, as expected, had been horrified, but Harry soon talked her around. Before they knew it, James and Lily were walking through the doors and across the Hall towards them.

“ James! Lily! Glad you could make it,” Harry said as he jumped to his feet and gave them each a hug.

“ So are we, Harry. We're both curious about what you have to tell us. We've been puzzling over it for weeks.”

“ Come and sit down, both of you. We need to talk, and I'd rather not be disturbed.”

Harry led the two over to the Gryffindor table away from Ginny, Hermione and Ron so that they could talk in private. Once they were seated, Harry gave Lily a thoughtful look before leaning across the table and placing his hand on her stomach. Both she and James sent him odd looks, especially when he started to mutter to himself. Harry felt his connection to Voldemort's Dark Mark fracture and split as he transferred the properties of the link to Lily's womb. He let out a small smile as he completed the spell, knowing that any child she had would be given the same control over the Dark Mark as he had gained when he gave it to Tom Riddle the year before. Earlier in the year, Harry had figured that it was the reason he had survived the attack and defeated the Dark Lord. He knew that someone with the Dark Mark was unable to kill the person who put it on them. Therefore, if the baby Harry had the power to control Voldemort's Mark, the Dark Lord would be unable to kill him. The spell would backfire. What Harry had done was simply share the power, leaving himself still in control, as the part he had given Lily had always been present within him. Looking at the questioning eyes, he gave them a smile.

“ I'm sorry, I can't explain. Just trust me. It's a form of protection for any children you may have.”

“ Thanks, I think,” Lily said with a slight frown.

“ What did you want to tell us, Harry?” James asked.

Harry thought for a minute about how he wanted to phrase his explanation before starting.

“ You've always wondered how I seem to know a lot of stuff, and have met people you would never expect. James, you asked me about Lolide and Gaerwyn, and how I knew them so well. I'm now going to tell you.”

Harry took a deep breath before ploughing on.

“ I'm from the future. My friends and I have been travelling to different times, and in twenty minutes we will have to go home.”

Lily and James gave him a blank look.

“ You're having us on.”

“ I'm not, James, I'm serious. This is why there has been so much secrecy surrounding us. This is how I know Lolide and Gaerwyn, as well as your parents. I met Gaerwyn when she was a young child, and I was at school with your parents. I actually introduced them.”

“ You're not kidding? You really are from the future. Can you tell us about it?”

“ I'm sorry. You and Dumbledore are the only ones who know. I spelled everyone else to forget, so you can't mention us to anyone, not even the other Marauders or Sev. There is one thing I need to tell you about myself, though.”

“ What's that?” Lily asked.

“ James, Lily, come quickly,” Dumbledore yelled as he came running through the doors. Harry gaped at him, cursing his timing.

“ What's going on, Professor,” Harry asked the headmaster.

“ The Hogwarts express is being attacked. We need help.”

Harry nodded and started to head to the Entrance Hall when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“ Harry, you can't go. You need to leave in a few minutes, and you don't have time to get there and back. You can't risk being left here. I'm sorry.”

Harry looked mournfully at his parents as they each gave him a tight hug, before running out of the doors with Dumbledore. Harry watched them go, tears welling in his eyes as he finished what he was going to say to them.

“ I'm your son.”

“ Harry, we have to go,” Hermione's voice drifted into her friend's consciousness.

“ Coming, `Mione.”

The pair headed over to the trunks and sat down on them, Harry pulling out the amulet and holding it in his hand. The others had given him a few moments to compose himself as he mourned the parents he would never again see alive. He was glad to have been given the chance to get to know them a little, but the fact that he now had to leave hurt him a lot. Looking at the small piece of metal in his hand that had caused all of this, he thought how small and insignificant it seemed. For the first time in over three years, since the day he had received it, he looked closely at the markings on the surface. He was lost in thought as Ginny carefully took it from his grasp, and heard the words of the spell spoken in her soft tone.

“ Tempus Vehere.”

As a flash of light surrounded the group, his eyes widened as it suddenly occurred to him what the markings meant.