—————H—————

Hermione's mind was scattered as she headed for the Room of Requirement. She couldn't stop thinking about Severus granting Fred Weasley permission to ask for Aurora's hand, something Hermione had been absolutely certain would never happen. Or the fact that Aurora, Draco, Harry, and Ron were now somewhere in Albania, trying to make it to the small wizarding village the Bloody Baron had mentioned. And, of course, the mystery of how to destroy the Horcruxes, seeing as how Albus sodding Dumbledore did everything he could to hide what they needed.

If she'd been in her original timeline, she was fairly sure she'd have wanted to kill Dumbledore herself at this point. Assuming they even had all the information needed.

The door was right in front of her, and even though it was barely sunup, she still checked over her shoulder to make sure there wasn't anyone following. The only thing she spotted was a grey tabby cat with rim-like markings around her eyes that gave Hermione a little nod from the top of the stairs. Nodding back, Hermione opened the door, closed it promptly, and then took in the magnificent room provided.

It was larger than any room she'd ever seen inside. There were bunk beds along the back wall, six beds high, and more than she could easily count at a glance. She could see the full spectrum of house colors represented among the bedding, on the walls around the room, in the colors on the large canvas declaring the infractions and punishments at Hogwarts. Under that, a table covered in medical supplies, and beneath that, a large box that probably held the rumored goods sent by the twins.

She went to inspect it, finding herself oddly surprised to see that it was precisely as she expected. And, what's more, upon sorting through it, she found everything was for defense and healing.

"Hermione?" Neville's voice came from behind her, and she turned to see the young man sitting up in a chair, rubbing his eyes, staring at her in disbelief.

She smiled warmly, not having realized he was there. The front of the room was littered with various chairs and tables, and of course, he was in the one that wasn't visible from the door. She rose, a task getting more difficult as of late, and headed to an empty chair next to Neville.

"Hello," she huffed as she flopped down. "This isn't a terrible setup you all have."

"No," he said, still sounding unsure. He looked around the room, down at himself, to the fire for a long beat, then back at her. "What are you doing here? Sirius all right?"

"Yes, he's fine," she said. "But... Sirius needs to take over for me, so I'm doing the same for him."

"It's the baby, isn't it?" Luna said as she came over, yawning daintily just before she skipped over to an empty chair.

"How—"

"Don't worry, I didn't tell Aurora. I knew you and the Headmaster were keeping it from her and Leo."

"Baby?" Neville frowned. "With him?"

"You forget, Neville, both my other children are Severus' as well." She shook her head. "Can't you let it go?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I can't. I just... can't."

"I'm not sure why you won't let go, Neville. Your aura would be much clearer and brighter if you did." Luna smiled.

"I'll take it under advisement," Neville sighed. "So... you're pregnant, and you're here because...?"

"Potions and babies don't precisely mix, Neville. And someone has to hold the room as it is while you lot are in class."

"So, we're going to have a new Potions Master?"

"No, Helga will still be there. She's a Glamour, nothing more," Hermione said, hearing whispers off to the side. She turned and found not one, but three groups of students all looking at her in confusion.

"Professor H.?" Seamus said, and Hermione stood as he stepped forward. "Thought you were dead?"

"It's a very, very long story, but no. I'm very much not dead."

"Did I hear you're pregnant?" Lavender Brown asked.

"Yes," she said. "Too far along to be wearing a Glamour and teaching all of you Potions."

The whispers increased for a moment before Luna stood up from her chair and skipped over. She put her hand on Hermione's arm. "Can I ask why your name was never placed on the Muggle-born list?"

There was absolute silence, and a glance around the room showed that everyone was in shock or perplexed.

"Because the Ministry thinks I'm either in the States or was born to a pure-blood family on the continent." She gratefully took the opening Luna offered. "Hermione Granger either hasn't been at Hogwarts for the last four years or she graduated nineteen years ago."

"Hermione... Granger ?" Lavender said, creeping closer, taking in her features. Hermione wondered what she saw, seeing as how this witch hadn't laid eyes on her as a roommate for quite some time. And, in reality, the years had been kinder to some of Hermione's less flattering features.

"Merlin's balls, you are Hermione!"

"How didn't we see it before?" Seamus asked, squinting at her.

"You accepted that I was a thirty-something professor, and the girl your age left."

"How?" Lavender asked.

"An accident with a magical device. I went back in time twenty years."

"And you hooked up with Professor Snape, of all people?" Parvati asked.

"Severus and I are a tale for another day. Now, I do believe you need to trickle out to have breakfast."

"Any recommendations as to who I should be today?" Ginny asked, holding the potion bottle in her hands.

"Who do you think?" Hermione asked, and Ginny nodded before taking a swig of the Polyjuice.

Lavender cringed as she turned away, looking once more at Hermione as Ginny transformed into Aurora. "So... you're ... and Aurora is your daughter. But she's off with Ronald and the lovebirds, so... you couldn't be her so Ginny could be herself?"

"Aurora Snape would be expelled for getting pregnant," Hermione pointed out. "I'm already at the end of my first trimester."

"Do they know?" Seamus asked.

"We've known about Mione since the end of fifth year," Neville said. Then, smirking, added, "She came into the hospital wing to tear a strip off us."

"All right, enough. All of you out. Questions later. Right now, breakfast and class. I'll be here for the foreseeable future," Hermione said, shooing them out the door. She watched them file out, heading off morosely or nervously to breakfast.

She sighed, wishing the feeling of being completely free to acknowledge her identity was more liberating than it felt. As it was, it just made her more tired, more heart heavy, longing for her daughter so they could laugh at this together. She glanced at her wristwatch, hoping for more word from Rory and finding none.

—————A—————

"This was a stupid idea," Ron said, making his protests known for the dozenth time since their arrival in the small village four days ago.

It had been a long twelve days since they'd retrieved the locket.

Their first argument was about how to keep it safe, and Harry had suggested keeping it around their necks, taking turns wearing it. It wasn't long before that idea was vetoed by everyone after Harry had his connection to Voldemort enhanced. This was followed swiftly by Ron becoming irrationally jealous of Draco. It was then agreed that they would place it in a pouch and wear it around their neck, only after Aurora and Draco put any and all protection spells and wards they could possibly think of on it.

They waited in Britain for two days in case her father sent her a message about how to destroy the bloody thing, but when he didn't, they decided to go. It was easier to get out of Britain through Muggle means, though they were time-consuming. France wouldn't let them Portkey out of the country, but Germany did. It only helped get them into the country; the small village the Baron had spoken of was at the other end of the country.

With magical and Muggle methods combined, they finally found their way to the village just after dinner on yet another rainy night. They rented a room with two beds at the local inn, where a spat between Ron and Draco had exploded over the sleeping situation.

Ron didn't want to sleep with his brother's ex-girlfriend, knowing it would only be asking for trouble. He also didn't want to sleep with Malfoy. Harry was reluctant to leave his boyfriend, but also didn't feel comfortable sleeping next to Aurora. It left only one option where no one was particularly pleased, but none were overly put out.

Their last three days had been spent in the small library the village had to offer, going over any and all newspapers they could find dated after Voldemort had graduated Hogwarts. But the library was kept up by a very elderly witch who really did do no more than oversee things, which meant that the books and papers were all over and out of order. It had made for a frustrating hunt that only irritated the perpetually hungry Weasley, who was certain his library days had been over once Hermione had disappeared.

"Have you thought of a better one, then?" Draco demanded, giving Ron a side-eyed glare as he sat back in a chair and read a newspaper.

"Anything has to be better than this!" he protested, gesturing to the varying stacks of papers and books around them.

"Yes," Aurora said as she looked over an ancient Dark Arts text. "I suppose we could, I don't know, sit huddled in the tent day in and out, hoping to either stumble across the diadem or find some way of destroying the locket. You're absolutely right, Ron, that sounds infinitely better."

"We're missing Potterwatch this far out. How do we know Fred and George are all right?"

"Fred's fine," she said absently, turning the page in her book and increasingly thankful for translation spells.

"How do you know?" Ron demanded.

"Just do," she said as she thought she spotted something in her text.

"Wait," Harry said at that same moment, and Aurora momentarily tore her eyes away from her page to see a wide-eyed Harry skimming a book. "I think I found something."

"What, mate?" Ron asked eagerly, scattering some papers on the floor in his rush to get to Harry. Aurora glanced down at them as she got up, holding her place in her book with her finger, noting that the pages Ron had been looking at were very old Quidditch scores.

"Here, right here! Look, ' Missing Local Boy Found in Forest: A young man who went missing from a seaside village in early summer this year, was recently found dead in a wooded area near the village. Villagers combed the woods many times in search of the young man, but it wasn't until recently that it could be found when some children's accidental magic reversed a Transfiguration spell on the body. Details of the death are being kept quiet, as it is too gruesome to report. The children who found him had to be Obliviated for fear of addled minds .' This is it! This is the incident! We just need to ask the villagers if he was here just before the summer of '46, before the boy went missing."

"And how exactly do you plan to broach that extremely delicate subject?" Aurora asked. "This village isn't very big, something like that isn't forgotten or passed off so easily that it's mentioned in casual conversation."

"But we won't be asking about the boy, just Riddle. This is a small village, Rory, and now we have fairly good proof he was here. They probably remember him."

"So, why didn't we just head to the pub to ask our first night here?" Ron whined.

"Because we're foreigners. British foreigners, at that. It's not as though our welcome was warm. There are spying charms on our room, for Merlin's sake, as well as wards that detect the Dark Mark," Draco griped.

"Just imagine what it would have looked like if we went in there and started asking about Tom Riddle, prior to knowing what we do now," Aurora said, gesturing to Harry's paper with her book. "We'd have been hexed on the spot, if not worse."

"What do you have, Rory?" Harry asked, looking at the text in her hand.

"Oh, it's a thing I was going through. Doesn't have anything, just mentions that Horcruxes are the evilest of magics and should never be used."

"How informative," Draco said, folding up the paper in his hands and setting it aside. He stood, adjusting his collar, then strode toward them. "Shall we grab some dinner, then? I have a feeling that once we get our answers this evening, we won't be much welcome around here."

—————A—————

They sat at the same table they had the past few nights at the tavern below the inn: in the corner near the back door, huddled together but alert. And they ordered the same meal. Various older wizards and a few witches eyed them warily.

"Where are we going after this?" Draco asked quietly, pushing the last of his meal around on his plate.

"Not sure," Harry replied. "Any suggestions?"

"I have an idea, but no one's going to like it," Aurora smirked.

"Do'tcawelonsisnofench," Ron said around a mouth full of food, and at Aurora's disgusted scowl, he merely rolled his eyes and clamped his mouth shut.

One of the barmaids was passing by, and Harry perked up as she did. "Excuse me," he said quietly, though since they were watched so carefully, she stopped very suddenly and turned. "We were wondering... was there once someone here, and I don't mean to be rude asking this, I'm not thinking that you're... anyway, was there a man that came here about fifty years ago by the name Tom Riddle?"

Nearby conversation ceased, all eyes on the four young strangers.

"Why do you want to know that?" an older man at the bar asked, his accent still heavy even with the translation charm in place.

Aurora tensed, palming her wand as she noted a few of the older wizards get up, glaring at them.

"We're trying to find a way to stop him," Draco replied when Harry seemed to realize the gravity of the situation. "We have reason to believe he hid something here."

"Only thing that man hide was our Lorik. Lorik was ... so in love. So smitten. And he murdered that boy for Dark things, then hid him," the barmaid said, her voice cracking.

"And we're looking to destroy those Dark things," Aurora assured. "We think he took something from here, something that might have once belonged to a founder of Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts," another man said in confusion. "We know that name."

"Many, many years ago."

"It is why the forest is cursed. Why we tell children not to play there."

"Death is in there."

"Lorik was one—"

"But many, many years ago, there were others."

"Two."

"Two?" Aurora asked the room in general.

"Young woman who came to village. British. Beautiful."

"And a young man, who wanted only to find her."

"He murdered her."

"Then killed himself."

"Was she a Ravenclaw? The girl?"

"Ay, yes. That was her name."

"And she was in the woods?" Aurora asked. "That's where she was killed?"

A few of the men exchanged glances.

"Big tree, hundred so paces from here. Hollow, old, said to be home of elves and pixies. She was found there. So was Lorik."

"What are the chances that he hid the Horcrux where he found it?" Draco asked.

"Not sure, but ... he did come to an Albanian forest after he tried to kill me," Harry said. "And the locals feel death is in the forest."

"He might have come here, to this forest," Aurora said. "Maybe even to try to find a way to activate the Horcrux in the diadem."

"You leave now," one of the men said, stopping their conversations. "You know what you need, now you leave. Leave us in peace."

"All right mate," Ron said as he got up. "We're gone. Let us get out things, and we're gone." He headed to the stairs, and Draco went with him, signaling Aurora and Harry to stay. It was tense while they waited, but no one fired anything at them. When Ron and Draco returned with their bags, the four of them left the tavern and headed out to the woods.

"A hundred paces from here," Harry said.

"Let's go get the diadem, if it's still here," Ron said. "Get out of here before someone hexes us."

—————L—————

"You're with child!?" Leo demanded of his mother, not even bothering addressing the fact that she was in the Room of Requirement instead of Uncle Sirius. Who, of course, was positively rubbish at potions, and how he taught classes Leo wasn't in was beyond him.

"Not the way I wanted you to find out," his mother grumbled, setting down the book she was reading. "It's not like we weren't going to tell you."

"I don't care how I found out, although hearing it from a group of Hufflepuffs wasn't the best, it's still the same in the end: you're with child! During a war! And when I'm already at Hogwarts!"

"So, what has you bent out of shape, darling? That you will no longer be my youngest, that the timing was off, or that you found out from the Hufflepuffs?"

"Mum!" he groused, and she had the nerve to chuckle. "Does Rory know?"

"No. No, Aurora doesn't know. We didn't want her out there, away from us, with one more thing on her mind."

Oddly enough, that made him feel a bit better.

It had been the same Hufflepuff boy who'd approached him when his sister left, Ethan something-or-other, that had given Leo the news by congratulating him on the news that he was to be an older brother. Which was confusing until he heard one of the older Ravenclaws not far from him gossiping about Hermione Granger now in her thirties and married to Snape. It had been amusing when, after they laughed in disbelief, she and her mates had turned to him, the product of that union, and paled. He merely waved at them, smirking all the while, finding great amusement in it all, and went back to his breakfast.

And then he understood what Ethan-the-Hufflepuff had said, and he promptly turned to glare at Professor Nikola. Who gave him a roguish grin and a slight wave.

"How is she?" he asked, sitting next to her on the sofa.

"Your father and I heard from her about an hour ago. They're starting their journey out of Albania, but they aren't sure where to go next. They had no luck finding the diadem and were nearly hexed and cursed for their troubles."

"I'm guessing Dad knows about this or are you keeping it from him as well?"

"Leo," she chided in a warning tone.

"It was a legitimate question," he assured. "You might have been worried about adding one more thing to his long list of troubles."

"No, he's known for quite some time. As it was with you and the children we lost, we waited to tell people."

He looked down at her abdomen. Something in his mind thought his mum was still too small to be certain there was a child in there. Yet, what did he really know about these things?

"Do you know what my new sibling is?" he asked.

She smiled, placing her hand low on her belly. "No, we didn't cast the spell to find out. With your sister, it was no surprise to me. Your father did the spell when I was sleeping to learn about you, and, well.... We didn't dare to this time. Not with so much unknown."