'No!' Tonks cried softly.
Remus pulled her tighter into his chest. He rested his chin on top of her head as they both fought tears.
'H-how?' Tonks asked, her voice choked with tears. She lifted her head slightly.
Teddy couldn't answer. Albus replied, 'The Second War. Fighting, like Fred.'
'I was a month old,' Teddy whispered.
Wiping her eyes, Tonks reached out an arm towards her son. Teddy didn't hesitate in walking over and embracing his parents. Victoire squeezed her husband's hand as he left her.
Teddy, Ginny and Mrs Weasley were the only ones crying quietly now. Everybody else seemed beyond tears. It surprised Harry that Ginny was still crying – he realised he'd never seen her cry before, and perhaps assumed that she simply didn't cry. But she did, when it concerned her family. Harry hadn't known Fred, or any of her brothers, had meant so much to her. He was learning more about her in these few minutes than he had in four years.
'I must make it, don't I?' Sirius asked, trying to ease the tension in the room. Or that would be his excuse if anybody asked. He knew deep down he was really trying to get over the fact that his last best friend was going to die. It was his way of covering up the tears in his eyes, because he couldn't go and comfort Remus at the moment. He needed his family. 'The world just wouldn't be right without m-me.' His voice cracked on the last word, and Sirius inwardly cursed himself.
His heart skipped a beat when he didn't get an answer immediately. 'I – I do, don't I?' he tried again uncertainly. 'Of course I do – I have to be there for – for Harry.' The silence from the time travellers was as good as an answer. That, and the fact Lily couldn't take it anymore and broke down. James hugged his little sister tightly. She was only thirteen; this had to be worse for her than everyone else, especially as she was close to Teddy and it hurt her to see him cry so much.
Tears didn't even come to Sirius' eyes. His gaze was fixed on his godson, who looked shellshocked.
'Harry?' Sirius said tentatively.
Harry's head snapped to his godfather. Cold anger flashed through his green eyes. 'You can't die!' he shouted. 'You can't! This is – this is all my fault, you can't die, you're the only one I've got left!'
'Harry, don't,' Sirius pleaded quietly. 'I'm here now. I'm here.' Without another word, he strode over to his godson and pulled him into a firm hug. By the time they pulled apart, everybody else had somewhat recovered. The Weasleys sat in one corner of the room around Fred, Remus, Tonks and Teddy sat together, Harry stayed with Sirius, and the future children were in their group in the middle of the room, having been joined by Victoire.
'Well,' Sirius said eventually, his voice gruff but strong, 'we can't sit here and mope all day.'
'I'll make some tea,' Victoire volunteered, jumping up, her blonde hair swishing behind her. Rose suppressed a giggle. Fluent in French she may be, but if there was one thing Victoire had learnt from her English grandmother, it was that when in doubt, make tea.
'I'll help you,' Bill offered, following her out of the room.
'So… Teddy seems like a good guy,' Bill said, as Victoire filled up the kettle and flicked her wand to start heating it up.
'He is,' Victoire smiled, before her eyes narrowed. 'We're not having a conversation about if he's good enough for me in which you play the role of the over-protective father, if that's what you're aiming for. Remember you're technically only two years older than me right now.'
Bill held up his hands in surrender. 'OK, OK,' he grinned, happy to be able to talk with his daughter. He did, after all, need something to take his mind off Fred. 'At least tell me he asked for my permission to marry you.'
'No, he most certainly did not!' Victoire said, and Bill was taken aback. 'He proposed to me a total of eighteen times, and he didn't ask your permission any of those times. That tradition is old-fashioned – it was considered 'proper' when women were practically owned by their fathers. In modern day England, in the wizarding world and the Muggle world, that tradition doesn't help at all in the development of independent young women who want a life of their own to choose. And Mum, Aunt Hermione and Rose agree with me.' She finished her speech, and was surprised to see Bill smirking. 'What?'
'You just reminded me so much of Fleur – er, your mother then,' Bill said, finding it strange to call Fleur the mother of his children but also pleased. He'd only known her a short time, but if there was one thing he'd learnt about her in that time, it was that she could be feisty, and clearly her daughter was just the same. Must be the Veela genes, Bill decided in his head.
'People say that all the time,' Victoire sighed.
'You don't like that?' Bill questioned.
The young woman shrugged. 'It's just hard sometimes, for all of us. I'm expected to be as perfect as Mum, because people think she's perfect. Dom's expected to be a tomboy, because she looks exactly like you and acts more like you. Louis is looked down on because he's somewhere in the middle. It's worse for James, Al, Lily, Rose and Hugo. Their parents are the members of the Golden Trio. Photographers for Witch Weekly and the Daily Prophet even used to camp out in their gardens trying to get pictures of them and Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, Aunt Mione and Aunt Ginny.'
'I can understand, I would hate that,' Bill said. 'You're all expected to be like your famous parents.'
Victoire nodded. 'It's gotten better. I remember when I was little, and Teddy came round to Shell Cottage, and these photographers arrived out of nowhere. You and Mum were furious, and I didn't have a clue what was going on. It's not like that anymore – or at least it wasn't, until a few weeks ago.'
'What happened a few weeks ago?' Bill asked.
Victoire blushed. 'I can't say, sorry. It's really up to Rose…'
'What did Rose do?' Bill pressed. 'Come on, I'm interested now! I'm not letting it go.'
'And I thought you were the easier parent to handle,' Victoire shook her head, smiling. 'Alright, but you've got to promise not to tell anyone. Anyone. Understand? Or Rose will absolutely murder me.' She shivered at the very idea.
'I promise,' Bill said. 'I'm a curse breaker and I work with goblins, remember? There are a lot of things I have to keep secret – I'm good at that sort of thing.' He grinned at her.
'Fine,' Victoire said. She took a deep breath. 'Rose and Scorpius have sort of been dating for six months.'
Bill's jaw fell open. 'That Scorpius? In there?' He jabbed a finger towards the living room.
'Last time I checked, there weren't many Scorpiuses around,' Victoire said thoughtfully, before her expression darkened. 'James swears he had nothing to do with it, which usually means he had everything to do with it. All I know is that one morning, it was front-page news on Witch Weekly – the daughter of two thirds of the Golden Trio and a Malfoy dating. I can't believe they don't have anything better to do than gossip about people's personal and love lives,' the blonde scoffed. 'So as if that overreaction wasn't bad enough, Uncle Ron completely blew up at Rose, banned her from seeing Scorpius ever again and grounded her for the rest of her life.' She rolled her eyes, and a smirk appeared on her lips. 'He would have jumped straight in the Floo and gone to the Malfoys' to personally kill Scorpius if Aunt Hermione hadn't cast the full body-bind curse on him. According to Hugo it was hilarious,' Victoire giggled.
Bill gave a low whistle. 'Ron's not going to be happy.'
'You don't think?' Victoire said sarcastically. 'Yeah, that's why you can't tell him. Or anyone else. If we all want to get back to our own time alive, in one piece and mentally stable.'
'I've got it,' Bill agreed. An awkward silence fell between them. The click of the switch on the kettle flicking back to its usual place told them the water had finished heating up, and seemed to prompt Victoire to say something.
'Um, Da – Bill,' she began uncertainly, because it felt wrong calling him 'Dad' when he was barely older than her right now, 'about Fred…'
'I'm fine,' Bill cut her off, not looking at her but at the mugs she was now putting teabags in. 'I still have nearly three years left with him, don't I? And besides, I'm more worried about George.'
'Of course you are,' Victoire said softly. 'Look, you should know – it's hard for George in the future. Really hard, of course it is. But just because it's the most difficult thing in the world for him to handle right now, doesn't mean it can't be difficult for you either.'
'I know,' Bill said awkwardly. 'I'm fine, Victoire. I'll – I'll manage.'
Victoire grimaced. 'Oh, sorry. Guys don't like to talk about their feelings, do they? Can you fetch the milk?'
'Oh – right, yeah,' Bill said hastily, caught off-guard by the casual change of subject. Must be a women's thing as well, he thought, as he fetched the milk from the fridge.
Later that afternoon, Mad-Eye Moody arrived. After hearing news of their deaths, the people that concerned had been acting oddly upbeat. This, of course, was no surprise from Fred, Tonks or Sirius, but several people had been expecting Remus to sink into a dark, depressed state. Teddy for one was glad he hadn't. The last thing he wanted was for his dad to be moody and silent during the whole of his one opportunity to meet his parents. As it happened, everyone had been getting along as if it was almost a normal day. Though the awkwardness was still extremely noticeable, at least Rose and Ron had something to talk about.
'… and their tiny faces, just glaring at you, like they want to eat you,' Rose was saying, eyes wide and hands clutched together tightly. 'And why do they need eight legs, anyway? It's not natural.'
'Centipedes have one hundred legs, shouldn't you be more scared of them?' Albus called over, looking up from his conversation with Mrs Weasley.
'They don't always have one hundred legs,' James pointed out. When Rose and Albus looked at him oddly, he shrugged and said, 'Well, it depends how many you pull off.'
Lily had very quickly engaged Ginny in conversation about what was fashionable in the future, and how well the Holyhead Harpies were doing, while Ginny simply sat there and gaped at her. Hugo tuned out after a short while, becoming bored with the girly talk, and began a game of wizard's chess with Bill.
A faint pop was heard in the hallway. Mr Weasley sprang up and left the room, returning moments later with Mad-Eye Moody in tow. His electric blue eyes darted around, staring unnervingly at the eight visitors who immediately fell silent, and froze, even Teddy.
'What's this we've got here, then, Arthur?' the old Auror asked gruffly, as if something like this was all in a day's work for him.
'These are our time travellers, Mad-Eye,' Mr Weasley replied. 'They came from – when was it you said?'
'2022,' Victoire said.
'Yes, 2022. They got transported here by a necklace we think must be cursed, and these two –'
'Time travellers, you say?' Moody interrupted Mr Weasley, his magical eye focusing on Scorpius, who immediately shrunk back in his seat. 'Sure they're not Death Eaters?'
'No – Mad-Eye, I really think they are who they say they are,' Mr Weasley said.
'You can be sure of that, can you?' Moody questioned. His magical eye was still trained on Scorpius. ''Cause this one here looks a hell of a lot like a Malfoy.'
Scorpius' eyes narrowed, but he didn't dare say anything in front of Moody. Indeed, none of the time travellers seemed keen on offering their part of the story, especially whilst they were being accused of being Death Eaters. They, unlike the rest of the people in the room, had never met Mad-Eye Moody – and it showed in their faces.
'So?' Moody barked, making them all jump in their seats. 'Can you prove you aren't Death Eaters?' That was Mad-Eye Moody, straight to the point.
'Well – to be honest, do we look like Death Eaters?' Hugo said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. Everyone stared at him in surprise. Hugo had never dared to speak to anyone like that, especially to someone with as much authority as Moody. The old Auror simply glared at him.
'Funny, aren't you?' Moody growled. Hugo turned bright red. 'Let's see how amused you are when you're locked up in a cell in Azkaban.'
'Mad-Eye, relax!' Mr Weasley said exasperatedly. 'They're just kids.'
'Our kids,' Bill put in.
'Well, they certainly look like they could be,' Moody allowed, 'but is it really that hard to change your appearance or take Polyjuice Potion and alter it slightly? Many criminals have escaped the law that way, it's a clever method, just last month –'
'How many Death Eaters are Metamorphaguses?' Teddy cut in boldly, stopping Moody short of finishing a sentence in which he would explain how he outwitted yet another Dark Wizard.
Moody's eyes narrowed. 'A Metamorphagus, you say?'
Teddy changed his hair colour from black, through all the colours all the way down to pure white, before settling on turquoise again. 'How many Death Eaters have you caught that can do that?'
'You're –'
'My son,' Tonks said proudly, slipping into the kitchen from the hallway. She went to stand by Teddy, a beam on her face – it was if the exact thoughts running through her head constantly were, I just heard that I'm going to die in a couple of years time but hell, I have a son and I marry the man I've just realised I'm starting to love! Might as well make the best of it! It was a very Tonks-like response to the situation, and it was infectious.
'Nymphadora, I expected better of you,' Moody frowned, making his slightly mangled features look even more gruesome. 'Did I teach you nothing in your Auror training?'
'You taught me to trust my instincts, and this is me trusting my insticts,' Tonks replied defiantly. 'And don't call me Nymphadora.' At this, her hair turned crimson red.
Moody seemed slightly taken aback by his young Auror's answer, but years of practice covered this up. 'Well, you seem set on taking their word for it.'
'That's because it's the truth, Mad-Eye,' Tonks said. 'But if you want more proof, I'm sure they can give it. Right?' She smiled at the eight time travellers.
'Uh – sure,' Albus said uncertainly. He cleared his throat to make his voice stronger. 'I mean, yes sir. What do you want to know?'
'Tell me something that only your parents would know – at this point in time,' Moody requested, adding this last part in a tone that suggested he still didn't believe they were time travellers.
The eight people from the future looked at each other, silently trying to decide who should speak up. James shrugged and said, in his usual cocky, confident voice, 'I know that Mum – that's Ginny – was possessed by her diary in her first year, and I know that it was kept from the public and everyone else, so how else could I know apart from being related to her?'
As soon as he said this, Ginny's eyes took on a haunted look, and her brothers and parents all paled. Lily groaned and put her head in her hands. 'Sensitive as ever, James.' His cousins were glaring at him. Scorpius frowned – he hadn't known about this. Then again, why would he? It wasn't as if his family had been involved…
'Word gets around You-Know-Who's followers, you'd be surprised,' Moody said, dismissing James who immediately looked deflated, his arrogance vanquished. 'Not good enough.'
'I know,' Albus said quietly. 'When Dad – Harry – looked into the Mirror of Erised, he saw his mum first and then his dad, and nine other people who were part of the Potter or Evans families.'
Harry stared at Albus in shock. How could he know that? Only Ron and Dumbledore even knew about the mirror, didn't they?
'How did you know that?' Victoire asked. 'I've never even heard of the Mirror of Erised.'
'Er – well, I sort of went into Dad's pensieve,' Albus said sheepishly. Bill nodded slightly to himself. Of course, a pensieve. A memory like that wasn't something you were likely to forget.
'Wow, Al,' James breathed. 'I had no idea you were such a rebel.'
'I was eight, I didn't know what it was!' Albus protested. 'And – well, that's it. That's what I saw.'
'He's right,' Harry said. 'I noticed my mum first, then my dad, and there were nine other people standing behind them.'
'And Dad saw himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain,' Rose said randomly. She blushed. 'Just, erm, putting that out there.'
'Mad-Eye, judging by Harry's face, they're telling the truth,' Remus said.
Moody grunted, never one to admit he was wrong. 'Well, well,' he mused. 'What are we going to do with you?'