Chapter 13 of 16
Breaking tradition
Peter watched Professor Geller's retreating back. There was something about him that made Peter nervous. He had stayed chatting with Fabian and Frank for a while and Peter couldn't shake the feeling that he knew him from somewhere. He hadn't been able to see his face because of the dark but his gestures, the way he held himself, were familiar. The man said he was muggleborn but his manners were aristocratic, just like most of the old pureblood families. But then again muggles had aristocrats, didn't they? That didn't matter, what mattered was the mystery of Joey Geller.
They arrived by portkey he said, that was easy to trace. For once his boring job at the ministry would be useful; he could chat up the witch at the magical transportation permits office and find out where the portkey was coming from. Then he could ask one of the Death Eaters about an attack on that area. Only a few selected Death Eaters from You Know Who's inner circle knew about him but they would do. He wouldn't ask the Lestranges, they were deranged lunatics that liked torturing anyone, but Lucius Malfoy was safe. He liked to keep appearances. He wouldn't risk torturing a wizard that would be missed, a muggle on the other hand.
Sirius walked back to the castle itching to wash his hand. He had to shake the traitor's hand! He couldn't believe what he had just done! But he did just as Dumbledore told him. Told the portkey and attack story that Dumbledore made up. Why, he had no idea. The only good thing was his chat with Fabian and Frank. He missed them, they were good people. They were a couple of years ahead of him in school. Poor Frank! He had been a prefect and had tried to rein the Marauders, but how do you keep pranksters that have an invisibility cloak in check? Fabian and Gideon were pranksters themselves, a little more subdued than James and Sirius but pranksters nonetheless. They were twins and their twin nephews took after them. No wonder Molly could keep the twins well behaved, she had had plenty of practice with her younger brothers. They too had become aurors. Frank was one of the best. Sirius thought it was funny how Frank that was usually awfully clumsy could be perfectly precise and stealthy in the field. Remus said, that was because of the adrenaline involved in the battle, and the same happened to Tonks. According to Remus Neville took after his father in the clumsiness area. He had seen the boy from far; he looked just like Alice. Remus said that he was talented, what he lacked was self confidence and Snape didn't help at all terrorizing the students instead of teaching. Sirius laughed as he remembered the night he told him that. He had stopped by Remus' place to check on him before he left the country and Remus had ranted about Snape for hours. How he was a git that couldn't let go of a school boy's grudge. Remus fancied himself the polite one but that night he was right down furious and speaking of furious look who was there sulking by the stairs. He sat down next to the boy and asked:
"Bad night?"
"She's flirting with that, that, Ravenclaw!" he almost shouted. "He's like at least fifteen years older than her!"
"Moony is thirteen years older than Tonks and you don't seem to mind."
"That's different."
'Why?"
"Because they are from the same place, and she's going to be heart broken when we leave. That's irresponsible."
"Ah, somehow I don't think responsibility is the issue here."
"And wasn't she going out with Krum?"
"No, they broke up right before the end of last term, something about long distance relationships. They're just friends."
"How do you know?" Ron asked gobsmaked.
"You learn a lot from listening to the girls talk to each other. You know, Hermione is a pretty, smart, nice girl, if you don't make a move she's going to find someone soon."
"No, I don't, that's not, we're just friends"
"Right."
"Yeah, and we fight all the time."
"I had a friend that fought with this girl every day in school. Once she said and I quote "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid.""
"What happened?"
"They are inside dancing," at the boy's lost face he added "Harry's parents." Pulling the boy up and, putting an arm on his shoulders he said, "What we need here is a different approach," and he lead Ron to the grounds of the castle.
Oh, my God! Couldn't he talk about anything but himself? How smart he was, what a great quidditch player he was. She hoped Gryffindor flattened Ravenclaw after this. She was almost thinking of stalling the research for a way home to make sure of that. Now he was going on on how his parents had high expectations for his one year old brother because of him. She remembered his brother, he was a Gryffindor one year ahead of her, Cormac she thought his name was. He was as obnoxious as his older sibling, she should have remembered that. But now she couldn't back off, she had seen Ron's face. And she also didn't want Ginny saying: I told you so.
"Excuse me, may I cut in?"
Ron, what's he going to do? Is he here to save me.?
"I thought you might be hungry or thirsty," he said handing them a plate with snacks and two butterbeers "I noticed how you two have been entranced in the conversation here for so long and haven't eaten. Arthur Weasley, my pleasure," he finished extending his hand to the Ravenclaw.
"Duncan McLaggen."
"Well, I won't bother you any more then. Have a nice night," he said leaving but turned again "Oh, but I would love at least one dance before the end of the night, ok?" She was shocked, how thoughtful. The McLaggen jerk hadn't been that thoughtful. She had been starving and they were as far from the tables as possible and he hadn't given a break for her to eat.
Ron walked away from the couple and Sirius gave him the thumbs up. Young Remus asked Sirius "What was that all about?"
"Strategy my friend, stra-te-gy," He said smiling to his friend, "So, did you like the flu potion Amy sent you?"
"Oh, yeah. I felt almost as if I didn't have the flu."
Tonks had taught Lily to brew the Wolfsbane. They couldn't go public but that didn't mean Remus couldn't take it in secret. They had decided to wait until the date Tonks told them of the release of the potion in the original timeline. If something happened here and Damocles Belby didn't discover the potion Lily would come out and say she developed it. She would have had years to figure out the steps that got them that potion and if someone could do that, it was Lily. Slughorn had always said she was a genius with potions. Her and Snape. He shivered. Lily and Snape on the same sentence was just wrong. No, let's go back to pleasant thoughts; playing cupid with the kids. He walked to the band and had a whispered conversation with one of the singers.
James approached young Remus and asked "What's Sirius doing?"
"I have no idea, but he is having way too much fun for my peace of mind."
The night was almost over when a romantic muggle song started playing. Ron smiled and went towards Hermione and the McLaggen fellow. He extended his hand. "You promised me a song, I chose this one." She smiled and took his hand leaving the Ravenclaw behind. He probably wouldn't even notice and would just keep talking to the air.
They started dancing and she asked, "Did you ask for this song?"
"Yes, well actually Sirius did the negotiation with the band. I'm not good at that."
But she didn't care, he'd gone through the trouble of asking Sirius and he had the thoughtfulness of choosing a muggle song. She just enjoyed the dance. Nothing happened. They just danced but that had been the best dance of her life.
All the time-travellers were seated by the stairs on the Entrance Hall doors.
"Good party! But I feel like something is missing," Fred said.
"Tradition is missing. Nothing went wrong," Hermione said.
"Tradition?" Tonks asked.
"Yes, since I came back to the wizarding world something always happens on Halloween" Harry said, "Troll in the dungeons first year," he started ticking off his with fingers.
"Mrs. Norris petrified, second year," George said.
"Deranged lunatic attacking the Fat Lady third-"Ginny said but Sirius interrupted outraged, "Hey, watch who you're calling deranged!"
"Sorry," she said "lunatic attacking the Fat Lady third year."
"That's better" he nodded, Remus shook his head
"And Harry's name popping out of the Goblet of fire on fourth year," Ron finished. This year nothing happened."
Harry smiled, yes, this year Halloween had been perfect, that was one tradition he didn't mind breaking.
November started in the same fashion as October and our time-travelers had their hands full. In addition to all the work they had been doing now they had regular training sessions with Tonks, Remus and Sirius in the room of requirement. The room would change depending of the lesson of the day. From a class full of books were they learned theory behind new hexes and curses to a mock battle field where the adults divided them in groups and staged fake battles. Harry's schedule got a little lighter after Dumbledore decided to cut down on the amount of Occlumency lessons. He said Harry was making good progress. He was able to throw Dumbledore out almost instantly, but not stop him from entering. Remus had a try once and he couldn't penetrate Harry's defense. Harry was not surprised to learn that Remus was a Leggilemens. More than once he had had the felling that Remus knew what he was thinking.
Gryffindor won the game against Ravenclaw with a score of 200 to 0. The score was in great part due to Ron's great savings and the best part of the game was when the team came down to meet the rest of the Gryffindor and Hermione kissed Ron in front of everybody. After the kiss she flushed furiously and ran for her life. Ron had a goofy grin on his face for the rest of the day and disappeared in the middle of the after game party. Ron and Hermione where seen afterwards coming from somewhere, no one knows where, both grinning from ear to ear and holding hands.
After an exhausting training session Harry was laid down on his bed thinking:
"And one shall kill the other…"
Could he? Could he knowingly and deliberately take someone else's life? Maybe in a life and death situation, in self defense or defending others. But could he take someone's life planning ahead, entrapping them? Somehow he thought he couldn't, even Voldemort's.
"Oh, shit!" he said.
"What?" came Tonks voice from the door.
"Oh! You were there. Sorry," he said sitting. He frowned and asked "You're an auror?"
"Well, I certainly hope so, or the last four years have been just a dream," she said entering the room and sitting on the edge of the bed, "more like a nightmare." She scrunched her face in concentration and her head took the features of a bald black man and in a grave voice she said, "Auror Tonks, hold yourself straight. Auror Tonks, the purpose of this mission isn't to wake the whole neighborhood."
They laughed and Tonks changed back to the look she'd been sporting in this time. Harry was glad, a man's face on a woman's body was a little disconcerting.
"May I ask you something?" she nodded "Have you ever killed someone?"
She considered him for a moment then answered, "No, but I've been trained to if the need arises. But, I've been a graduated auror only for a year now and auror work isn't what it used to be when Voldemort was in full strength. Now it's mostly dealing with minor purps."
"But do you think you could?"
"To save mine or someone else's life, yes. Are you worried that you won't be able to kill?" He nodded. "We are too."
"Then what's the point of training me?"
"To get you ready, besides, we're not sure what you have to do."
"Ah, it looks quite clear to me: And one shall kill the other…"
"Words can be interpreted in many ways Harry," and she left winking at him. He was even more confused now.
Now, Peter was definitely confused. He found no trace of a portkey to the Burrow in the last year or heard of any attack on Geller and his friends. Malfoy had never heard of them. Who were they, and why were they familiar?
Training, classes, research continued and by the end of November Harry was able to successfully keep Dumbledore out of his mind. Harry had to admit that even though they were in the middle of a war and news of attacks reached Hogwarts every day he had never been happier. He liked being with Ginny, they had loads in common. When he first started noticing girls he had worried that when one of the trio got into a relationship they would drift apart, but Ginny just became a part of the group as if she'd always been.
One day, when he was enjoying some time alone with Ginny by the lake, Hermione arrived with Ron carrying an enormous book and said excitedly.
"I found the spell we needed!"