Chapter 12

They all met at Hermione and Ron's house, because the living room was the biggest. That's where everyone was seated, and everyone was chatting amongst themselves about where they thought Voldemort was.

No one knew that Sirius, Remus, Molly (past), Arthur, and the rest of the people from the past were there. They had decided to keep it a secret.

"He'd obviously go somewhere unexpected," said Harry (O).

"Canada!" Victiore blurted out.

"Russia!" said Scorpius.

"Pig Farts!" James suggested.

They all decided to ignore the kids.

"Did you see the Muggle news this morning?" Astoria asked Ginny (O), who shook her head. "Well, there was this really suspicious murder in Florida -"

"- Florida?" Rolf, Luna's husband, spoke up, astonished. "Why there?"

"What happened?" Ron (O) asked.

"It was this family of wizards living in Stuart," said Draco. "All the Muggles found of their remains were their heads..."

It was silent, until Ginny (Y) blurted out, "That's absoutly revolting!"

"It is," Hermione (Y) agreed. "Maybe the Death Eaters are trying to recruit more people to join their ranks."

"Yeah," said Sirius. "That could be a possibility."

"The hard thing is going to be trying to get the Ministry to believe us," Harry (Y) said.

"Exactly," Harry agreed with himself. "What I want to know is what ever happened to Kingsley."

"Dissapeared," Dean Thomas said. "Didn't anyone tell you?"

"Bloody hell, no one tells me anything! You'd think people would keep me up to date with things, but no..."

"Sorry honey," Ginny (O) said. "We just forget."

"We should get an investigation over in Florida, then," Ron (O) said. "To see what's going on."

"I'll go," said Victiore. "Even though I'm not an Auror, I can investigate pretty well."

"Or me," said James. "I'm like Inspector Gadget."

"Yet you still couldn't figure out where the mop was..." Ginny (O) muttered. "You just didn't want to clean."

"What's a mop?"

"Okay, let's see about that investigation," Harry (O) said, getting up.

He didn't know that Cho Chang, who was sitting in the corner quietly, was working up a plan of her own.

*

Harry (O and Y), Ginny (O and Y), Ron (O), Hermione (O), Sirius, Remus, Molly (past), and Arthur were the ones going on the investigation. They were going to let James, Albus, Hugo, and Rose stay at the Potters' house by themselves, but they had a 'serious talk' before they left.

"We'll be back before you know it," Ginny (O) told James, giving him a hug, "so don't get too crazy and call me if -"

"I know, I know mother, call you if anything is wrong, don't destroy the house." He rolled his eyes. "I know."

"You missed don't kill your brother," Harry (O) said sternly. "Because if I come back and Al has some kind of cuncussion -"

"I'm not going to give him a cuncussion, Dad! That one time was an accedent..."

Albus snorted. "Accedent. Right."

"Keep Rose and Hugo in line though," Ron (O) said.

"Fleur is coming by tomorrow morning, so make sue you take the wards down when you wake up," said Ginny (O). "Al knows how. She'll call before she gets here too. Don't take the wards down unless someone in the family is at the door, and don't let random people in."

"The longest we'll be is about four days," said Harry (O). "Unless we call and say otherwise. Got it?"

"Got it," Albus said.

Hugs were passed around, then as they were about to leave, Ginny said, "Oh yeah, James, if any messes are made, you can clean them up."

The other children laughed, but James's jaw dropped.

"Bye."

*

There weren't any Apparation spots straight to Florida, and you can't Apparate out of state unless you were at an Apparation spot or you had a pass from the Ministry, and Harry felt like the Ministry hated him just then, so they had to drive to the nearest Apparation spot. It was about a four hour drive.

"Alright this is boring," Sirius said from the backseat twenty minutes after they left.

"My butt is numb," Ginny (O) said.

"Because we really needed to know that," Ron (O) muttered.

"I have a book with me," Hermione (O) said, "if you want to read it."

"You always have a book, Hermione," Harry, who was driving, said.

"What book?" Ginny (Y) asked.

"The Hunger Games."

"What's that?"

"Allow me to explain the concept," said Ginny (O) to her younger self. "It's about this girl names Katniss Everdeen who lies a lot -"

"She does not!" Hermione interupted.

"Yes, she does! 'Your name's only been in there once,' she said, 'They're not going to pick you,' she said, 'Nothing bad will happen to you if you have this, Prim,' she said. Well look what happened, Prim's name got picked, and then a whole bunch of bad things happened leading up to stupid Gale dropping a bomb, and her dyeing."

"Oh yeah..."

"Okay, as I was saying, Prim is Katniss's little sister, and there's this thing called the Hunger Games. If your name is picked you have to go and fight to the death in an arena. So Prim's name got picked, but Katniss was all like, 'I VOULENTEER!' and went in her place. So then she meets this baker named Peeta - I don't know why anyone would name their son Peeta -"

"I don't know why anyone would name their son Albus," said Hermione (O).

Ginny (O) scowled. "Shut up, Hermione. Okay, then Peeta has to go in the arena too, but the guy with drinking problems gets this amazing idea to have them act like they're dating, so that they both would win. Then in the arena Katniss fights mutant bees and a crazy guy, and some really weird looking dogs. Then Peeta disguises himself with frosting -"

"And then they win," said Hermione, taking over. "So in the second book they have to go back into the arena for some odd reason, and before they went Peeta was being a stupid idiot and he told everyone in the world Katniss and him were married, and then said Katniss was pregnant when she really wasn't."

"Then they got shot by a lightning bolt in the arena," said Ginny (O). "And Peeta got captured by the ugly Santa Claus guy, and Katniss was mentally ill, and when she finally got better they told her Peeta was captured then she got mentally ill again, then wouldn't stop screaming her head off. Then there was this big war and when they got Peeta back he was really creepy and tried to kill Katniss. Then they won the war and Katniss and Peeta got married and had two kids."

"Sounds..." Ginny (Y) said 'great' at the same time Harry (Y) said 'violent'.

"It is violent," said Harry (O). "The movie was so graphic, twelve year-olds getting stabbed with frickin spears.."

"Whoa" was all Molly (past) could say.

"Okay let's not talk about the Hunger Games," said Ron (O).

It was quiet for about a minute before Ginny (O) got bored and turned up the radio a bit. A woman's voice sang softly along with a piano keeping the rythem.

"And it took so long just to feel alright, remember how to put back the light in my eyes.

I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed, cause you broke all your promises!

And now you're back... You don't get to get me back!

And who do you think you are? Running 'round, leaving scars?

Collecting your jar of hears! And tearing love apart?

You're gonna catch a cold, from the ice inside your soul! So don't come back for me. Don't come back at all!

And who do you think you are? Running round, leaving scars?! Collecting your jar of hearts! Tearing love apart!

You're gonna catch a cold! From the ice inside your soul!

Don't come back for me! Don't come back at all!

Who do you think you are?

Who do you think you are?

Who do you think... you are?"

"That song is morbid," Sirius stated.

"You're morbid," Remus counterd.

As the next song came on, Ginny (O) realised something. "Harry," she said carefully, "what ever happened to Teddy?"

"Um..."

"Oh crap." She started digging through a bag at her feet, and found her phone. "I'm calling James..."

"Mum, you can relax, Albus is not dead," he said as soon as he answered.

"James, what ever happened to Teddy?"

There was a pause.

"Teddy Lupin?"

"Yes, Teddy Lupin. Is he in his room?"

"No..."

"Call Victoire and ask if he's with her, then if he's not... just call us back."

"Okay."

"That kid is really testing his boundaries with me..." Harry (O) muttered.

"It's your fault for having so many stubborn kids," Ron (O) said, grinning.

"Pfft, because they aren't related to you at all." Ginny (O) rolled her eyes as she set the phone down again.

"Or you!"

"That's debatable, I created them. Well not Teddy, but still..."

Harry (O) snorted.

"Come on guys, we're almost there, let's just have a nice argument-free drive!" Hermione (O) suggested. "So be quiet, I love this song..."

*

It was late at night, and they still weren't there yet. Harry (O) was dead tired from driving all day. Through the headlights he saw they were winding down a abandoned dirt road; the map that they had enchanted was pointing him there.

Mostly everyone had fallen asleep, except maybe Sirius. Ginny (O) was even snoring slightly. Hermione had dozed off reading The Hunger Games, and the book was open and resting on her lap.

When they stopped at the train tracks for a particularly long train, Harry (O) took the opportunity to shrug his sweater off and drape it over Ginny (Y) and give her a kiss goodnight on the head. That's when it started to rain, and they sat there for another five minutes for the train to pass.

Harry (O) drove a little while more, and then stopped when they reached a lone lamp post on the side of the road that was giving off an ere blue light - the Apparation spot.

Harry (O) breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it and pulled to the side of the road, shutting the car off. Arthur woke up immeadietly, asking drowsily, "Are we there yet?"

"Yeah," Harry (O) said, yawning.

"Merlin's left saggy -! Oh, we're here..." Ron (O) yawned loudly.

"Well spotted," Hermione (O) said as she sat up, snapping her book shut.

"I didn't expect us to get here so late..." Molly (past) said.

"Me neither," Remus said. "This is the Apparation spot?"

"Right here, yeah," Harry (O) said.

"What a fascinating road trip!" Arthur exclaimed. "I've always wanted to ride in a Muggle car - can you teach me to drive it, Harry?"

"Arthur," Molly (past) said sternly.

Now everyone was awake except Ginny (O), who was still snoring.

"Why don't we wait until morning to go?" Ron (O) suggested. "I'm bloody tired..."

"Me too," Harry (O) said. "And if I know Ginny at all, a bomb will go off and she won't wake up..."