The office looked exactly the same except a bit more lively with Dumbledore's and Fawkes' presence. The occupants of the portraits were not surprisingly pretending to be asleep.
After taking in their surroundings, they turned to look at Dumbledore who was eyeing them curiously.
"Mr. Longbottom, Miss Lovegood, Miss Weasley, to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you at this late hour? Especially with a patronus' notice? " he asked.
"We apologize for intruding at this late hour, Sir. But there is an issue of utmost importance that we had to discuss with you that couldn't be kept for later," said Neville.
Noticing the serious looks on the faces of the three students in front of him, Dumbledore sat forward in his chair, leaning on his table.
"Why don't you three take a seat first?"
They did.
"Now, go on."
"Sir, this might sound, to put it bluntly, weird to you," Ginny started hesitantly. "But what we are going to tell you is the truth and we can prove it."
"You see, Sir the three of us are not from this time," said Luna.
There was a moment's silence. Then,
"I'm sorry Miss Lovegood. Did you just say that you three are not from this time?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yes Sir," the answer was from all of them.
"We are from what is to be the potential future," said Ginny.
"We're time travellers," said Neville.
There was absolute silence in the office for a few seconds. Then,
"I apologize in advance if I sound rude but are you three feeling fine?" asked Dumbledore anxiously.
The three before him cracked a smile.
"We totally understand your need to enquire about our sanity, Sir. But this is the truth. We are indeed time travellers from the future," said Neville.
Seeing that Dumbledore was going to raise an objection, Ginny intervened abruptly.
"Sir, we know about the horcruxes and the prophecy."
Dumbledore stilled.
"Horcruxes?" he asked with a horror-struck expression.
"Yes Sir, horcruxes, as in more than one. Seven to be precise," said Luna.
"Oh dear Merlin!" Dumbledore breathed, still looking shocked. "I knew he created one because of last year but to create seven. Seven murders! "
"Yes Sir," said Neville quietly. They were watching their headmaster anxiously now.
Dumbledore finally seemed to pull himself out of his stupor and looked at them.
"So, if you three are indeed time travellers, how did you end up here?"he asked.
"We sent ourselves back, Sir. We performed a ritual through which we sent our memories and soul into our younger selves."
"You sent yourselves voluntarily?" he asked surprised. Then his face went grave. "Things went bad in the future, didn't they?"
"That's an understatement, Sir," said Neville wearily.
"There was a war?"
"Yes Sir," Luna answered.
"And he won?" There was no need to specify who 'he' was.
"No Sir. We did. But at the cost of the entire wizarding world. There were hardly any left alive. The three of us were lucky to have survived," said Ginny.
"Was it so bad that you three had to resort to time travelling?" he asked.
"Yes sir," all three answered at once.
"Alright. I trust your judgement," he said finally.
The three looked at him in surprise.
"You trust us? Just like that?" asked Luna voicing the thoughts of the other two.
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Yes dear. I believe you. You three have a put a lot of trust in me by confiding in me of this ordeal. I think it is only fair that I put some of my trust in you too. And if I am right, this probably explains the appearance of two corporeal patroni in the Hogwarts express?" he asked humorously.
"Yes Sir. We conjured it," said Neville with a sheepish smile.
"But I do want to know what exactly happened in your time," Dumbledore said seriously.
"I told you in the beginning that we have evidences for every claim we make," said Ginny. "Could you lend us your pensive Sir? We are willing to show our memories of our... previous life. "
"Of course," Dumbledore said standing up to retrieve the pensive.
The next few hours were spent viewing the memories.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A very wary Dumbledore settled onto his chair. He looked every bit his age now. Neville, Ginny and Luna looked anxious too, waiting for Dumbledore to say something.
After a long pause, Dumbledore began, "You three are the most extraordinary teens I've ever met. After everything you went through, you still took the risk of traveling back in time when you could've just walked away from the world that took away all your loved ones. By coming back you have given me hope that there is a chance we might win this time around if we rectify the mistakes we all made in your past timeline. I know that you wouldn't want to reveal the truth to the world so I thank you on behalf of our world for coming back to save us. "
"We don't know about that yet, Sir. For all we know we might mess it up again," said Neville.
Dumbledore smiled gently at them.
"Well then, we just have to make sure we do our best, don't we?"
"Yes Sir," the three whispered determinedly.
"Alright. Now, I believe you three have already made some plans about what you will do once you are here? "
With that they disclosed the plans and decisions they had made. Dumbledore agreed with them when they told that they will not be disclosing their secret with anyone except Sirius and Snape.
"If I may, why Severus and Sirius?" asked Dumbledore curiously.
"Professor Snape will be risking his life by being a spy. It is only fair that he is made aware of this. As for Sirius, well he needs to be informed because his assistance is required for what is to happen this year and also because I'm a bit biased. Sirius and I had a close friendship. He was my closest confidant before he died," said Ginny.
Dumbledore nodded.
"And it's absolutely necessary to resurrect Voldemort?"
"Yes Sir. Hermione had mentioned that he had to be in his mortal form after the destruction of horcruxes for us to destroy him," said Neville.
"Ah... The horcruxes. I believe we need to begin the hunt soon?"
"Yes Sir. I reckon we should take it slow though. We know the locations and we have time till the end of next year. I don't want us to rush into things and disrupt this timeline any more than it already is with our return," said Luna.
The others agreed.
After Ginny disclosed her plans on how to approach Sirius and Snape to Dumbledore, they drew their discussion to an end. Soon, the trio descended the stairs and disillusioned themselves to not be caught. They first went to the Ravenclaw common room where Luna bid them goodnight and went to her dorm. Ginny and Neville were silent on their way back to the Griffindor common room. Once inside, Ginny went to stand by the fire grate. Neville stood beside her.
They stood staring at the fire for a while, until Neville broke the silence.
"Everything is going to be fine, you know."
"I hope it will be. We've got lots to do while making sure we don't mess things up. "
"It'll be fine, Gin. Trust me, I've got a good feeling about this. "
Ginny smiled, then-
"Alright then, I better go sleep. Don't wanna fall asleep in class tomorrow."
She turned and looked at where his voice had spoken from. They were still disillusioned. "Goodnight, Nev"
"Night, Gin"
With that they retired to their respective dorms.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
She was sitting by the lake on a hot sunny day, leaning her back on the beech tree. The war was closing in and as much as she hated to admit it, she was scared. The thought that she could lose her loved ones made her physically weak. She was brought out of her musings by a familiar voice.
"Sunbathing by the lake, Gin?"
She looked up to the grinning face of the boy, no, man, who had become her best friend and closest confidant in the last year. Never mind the fact that she was so in love with him.
She grinned.
"Missed me, Harry?"
"Oh yes, I did. Ron and Hermione were driving me nuts with their bickering. So, I made my escape as soon as I found my chance." He sat down beside her.
"Voldemort's attack on a yearly basis, you can handle. Your bickering best friends, you can't? Nice, Potter. "
He shrugged.
"So, what are you doing here?"
She looked towards the lake before answering, "Thinking."
"About?"
She looked back at him, then-
"The war"
No more words were needed. They understood what was going on in the other's mind. He sighed before saying,
"I wish I could tell you that everything will be fine. But no, that will be a lie. "
"A big fat lie."
"Yeah..."
"I'm sorry"
"For what?"
"Here I am, bringing down a sunny, bright day with my dark thoughts."
"You are just speaking of the inevitable. How long can we go without acknowledging what is to come?"
"Not long, I guess."
"No, not long."
They remained silent after that. Both facing towards the lake, lost in their own thoughts. Until-
"Can you promise me something, Gin?"
She looked at him to find him already facing her.
"What?"
"I know it's pointless to ask you not to fight in the war. But can you promise me that you will try your best to come out of it alive? "
She looked at him for a minute. Suddenly she couldn't help but wish that they were in a different world where they were not threatened by a war. She gave him a watery smile. She would not cry before him. She didn't want to and knew that it hurt him to see her cry.
"I promise," she whispered.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ginny awoke with tears running down her cheeks. She pressed her face down into her pillow. She was glad that she put silencing charms around her bed the previous night before going to sleep.
It was not uncommon for her to relive memories of the past. It had been happening since the end of the battle. But that didn't change the fact that it hurt. She missed him. Her Harry.
No matter how indifferent she was the previous day on seeing him, she knew it in her heart that Harry was the only one for her. The problem being, he didn't feel that way. And she was not going to force him into falling in love with her.
She promised him her friendship. Her feelings were destined to be buried in her heart. And she will make sure that they will be.