Albus had never been to 12 Grimmauld Place.

He had heard about it. His Uncle Ron, especially, loved to tell stories of their time in the War. His father, though, didn't talk about it much, and he definitely didn't take them to that house. From what he knew, the house had been sold shortly after the War ended.

It wasn't what he expected it to be.

It looked… normal.

Despite the fact that the house appeared out of nowhere as its name was read, there wasn't anything remarkable about it on the outside. It looked to be four stories tall, skinny, old and worn, and exactly the same as the other houses around it.

Dumbledore gestured them forward and Albus fell in place towards the back of the group, beside Scorpius. His hands shook, so he stuffed them in the pockets of his robes, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that they had actually done it.

They were back in time.

A handsome man with dark hair approached them as they entered, looking concerned, "Professor?"

"Do not worry, my boy," Dumbledore said cheerfully, right as Albus recognized who the man was: Sirius Black, "They mean you no harm. I have met this remarkable group of people and I think that they may be the key that we need to win the war."

Sirius blinked in surprise, eyes flickering over the group of sixteen, "They're children.

"They are," Dumbledore agreed, but said nothing more on that subject, "I've already called the Order and told them to come here as soon as possible. Would you mind taking them to the kitchen?"

"Dumbledore, are you sure about this?" Sirius asked, fingers itching towards his wand, pale, "What if they're-"

Dumbledore interrupted, holding out a hand, "I've interrogated them under Veritaserum. Everything will be explained once the Order has arrived."

Albus noticed James staring at his namesake with wide, awestruck eyes and held back a snicker. James had always idolized the man. He'd always listened attentively whenever Harry told stories about his godfather.

"We are going to help you," Lorcan said airily, "You can trust us."

Freddie snorted lightly at Lorcan's words, "Lorcan, mate, what did we talk about? You got to work on your creep factor. Too high."

"What he means," Molly's voice was drawn out with annoyance, "Is that we know you're innocent, and we know how to stop Voldemort. We are going to help you win the War."

Sirius stared for a moment, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but then nodded sharply, "Okay, follow me."

The ground floor of 12 Grimmauld Place was bigger than it looked on the outside, and it was rather gloomy. He wrinkled his nose lightly as he saw cobwebs in the corner of the walls and peeled wallpaper and thin carpet. A portrait began to scream her head off when they passed, screaming about more mudbloods and blood-traitors being in her house.

The kitchen was absolutely cavernous, dark and gloomy but smelling of fresh pancakes and eggs.

The woman in the kitchen had him stopping, though. She was younger than Albus knew her, more plump and rosy-cheeked, not knowing the death of a child yet, but it was undoubtedly her.

His grandmother.

"Albus. Hide under the bed. Don't come out for anything. No matter what you hear. You'll be okay."

"Molly, we've got an emergency Order meeting," Sirius said as they entered, not noticing the shift in emotion among the group, "New developments, apparently. These kids have something to do with it."

Mrs. Weasley's eyes flickered over the group, concern and surprise evident on her face. Albus' eyes flicked over, noticing Lily's bottom lip trembling, and he reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it lightly, both to offer reassurance and to receive it.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes rested on Roxanne, who was being practically carried by Teddy due to her ankle, and immediately, all suspicion went out the window.

"Oh, you poor thing. Bring her here," she said, pulling out a chair at the table and gesturing Teddy over, "What's injured?"

Roxanne bit her lip. Tears welled up in the twelve-year-old's eyes, "My ankle. I think I sprained it when was running down the stairs."

Mrs. Weasley tutted, shaking her head as she pulled out her wand, softly muttering a spell as she ran her fingers over the girl's ankle. Albus shuffled his feet, fingers fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

Roxanne rolled her ankle once the spell was over and then, suddenly, she threw herself at Mrs. Weasley, arms wrapping around the woman and burying her face in her shoulder.

"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, surprised, and Freddie quickly ran forward, pulling Roxanne away from her.

"I'm sorry about her. She's had a hard day."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, smiling kindly, "No worries, sweetie."

Albus knew his grandmother. She could smell a hurting child a mile away.

She moved from Roxanne to James, casting a spell to knit up the cut on his arm, then healing the gash on Dominique's forehead, and Louis' broken arm, before frowning heavily at the wound on Teddy's arm.

"What is this?"

Albus hadn't even realized that Teddy was injured. They were all a bit beat up from the explosion and running from their attackers, but Teddy has not once complained. Now that Albus was paying attention, however, he could see that Teddy's sleeve was bloody, and his robes were ripped, showing a large gash on his arm that was still bleeding sluggishly.

"Teddy!" Victoire exclaimed in horror at the sight, reaching over to gingerly grab his arm, "You were shot! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Shot?" Sirius barked from where he was standing nearby, watching the scene curiously, alarmed, "What do you mean you were shot."

Teddy waved it off, wincing lightly when Victoire touched the wound, "It's just a graze. I'm fine."

"You were shot," Victoire said firmly, glaring at him, "That's not fine. You should have said something."

"I kind of had other things to worry about," Teddy said, a bit snarky, and Victoire's glare deepened.

James, sensing a fight brewing, stood up and quickly pulled Victoire away from Teddy, "Okay, you two love birds. Let's just take it easy."

"Shut up, James," they both said in unison.

Despite their annoyance, Albus saw a smile grace James' lips. It had been a while since things had felt so normal.

Mrs. Weasley tutted at their behavior, but she waved her wand over the wound on Teddy's arm, and the skin slowly knitted back together.

Albus turned his head as Arthur walked into the kitchen, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "I told the kids to stay upstairs. What's going on?"

"We're going to say everything once everyone gets here," Molly said, frowning lightly as she glanced at him briefly, "There is too much to go over now."

Dumbledore entered, causing everyone's head to swivel towards the man. He was followed by several people that Albus recognized only from pictures: a woman with a heart-shaped face and bubblegum pink hair, a tall man with amber eyes and a scarred face, another heavily-scarred man who was missing an eye and a leg, a tall, pale, greasy-haired man with a hooked nose, and a red-haired man that Albus recognized immediately at his Uncle Bill (Louis, nearby, sucked in a sharp breath at that).

"I'm afraid no one else will be able to make it on such short notice," Dumbledore said as he entered, taking a seat at the edge of the long table. He waved his wand and the table grew even longer, a dozen chairs suddenly appearing, "Everyone take a seat, so we can begin."

Albus glanced nervously at Scorpius, but the blonde boy just gave him a smile and squeezed his shoulder, gesturing to the chairs. Once everyone else began to take a seat, Albus followed their lead, sitting between Scorpius and Louis.

"What is this about, Professor?" asked Remus Lupin, who Albus had recognized almost instantly. Teddy had a picture of his parents that hung up in his room, after all, which is how Albus knew that the pink-haired woman was Teddy's mother.

"Yeah, and what are you wearing?" Sirius asked, a slight smirk on his face, but it didn't hide the confusion and nervousness from having sixteen new people sitting in on the meeting.

Dumbledore held out his hand, a fond smile on his face, "I was on holiday at the beach when I received an alert that a group of people," he gestured at them, causing Albus to sink low in his seat self-consciously, "had entered Hogwarts, which was, as you know, empty during the Summer. That's where I found them, and they told me something that may give us an incredible advantage in the war. And-" he held up a hand as Alastair Moody spoke up to protest, ("Constant-") "I have already interrogated them on Veritaserum and performed Legilemency. What they say is the truth."

He nodded at Teddy, giving him the cue to begin talking, and then settled back in his seat. Albus bit his lip, eyes flickering over his grandparents and his uncle and Teddy's parents, and the man whom he knew to be his namesake. The latter was watching them, face stoic, and Albus quickly looked away.

Teddy cleared his throat awkwardly, trying not to look at Remus and Tonks, and began to spoke, "Um, my name is Teddy Lupin, and-"

"Lupin?" Sirius interrupted, turning to Remus who sat next to him, "Do you know this guy?"

Remus looked just as confused as Sirius, shaking his head, but Dumbledore spoke up before he could, "Please do not interrupt."

Teddy nodded lightly when they fell silent, looking his lips, and Victoire reached over and grabbed his hands. He continued, "My name is Teddy Lupin, and I was born on April 7th, 1998."

There was a moment of silence, of confusion, before the room erupted into chaos.

"What do you mean 1998? Are you sure you don't mean 1978?"

"Constant Vigilance, Albus! They are obviously lying."

"That's impossible. That's almost three years from now!"

"Sweetie, I think you may be confused."

Dumbledore coughed, the simple sound enough to silence the barrage of questions and alarm.

Once they had quieted down, Teddy nodded shakily, "I promise you. I'm not lying. I was born, or will be born, in 1998. Early today… or… in twenty-four years, Hogwarts was attacked. We used the Silver Time-Turner, a recent invention, to escape. Life… isn't good in our time, and it all starts here."

No one said anything this time, quiet and listening. Teddy continued.

"The Silver Time-Turner is different than just any time-turner. Instead of simply sending you into the past, it sends you into the past and creates an alternate timeline. A family friend of mine created it once she realized that we were losing the fight. It was created for the sole purpose of getting her family out and to a safe place, where she could create a new, better timeline. But, she died before she could use it," Teddy's eyes flickered over to where Rose and Hugo were sitting, "She gave it to me before she died. I used it to get as many out as I could."

"And that's them," Mr. Weasley, frowning, said as he nodded to the rest of the group.

Teddy nodded, "Yeah. Family and friends. The people left at Hogwarts. In our time, most Witches and Wizards are dead. Our families left us at Hogwarts to keep us safe. We've lived there for the past two years, when things started getting really bad."

"Is it Voldemort?" Sirius asked, voice tight, "Is he still around?"

Teddy quickly shook his head, "No, actually. In our timeline, he actually dies about a month after I'm born, but not before sending the Wizarding World into absolute chaos. By the time he dies, only three of you are still alive: Bill, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. By our time, all of you are dead, " The group took in a sharp breath, faces grim, "The War also caused something unprecedented. As per Voldemort's actions, thousands of Muggles were murdered, particularly in England. Among Muggles, these attacks were blamed on a terrorist group, but in 2010, the English Prime Minister was told about Magic, and revealed it to the World, and another War started.

"Muggles were angry when they found out that those attacks were actually committed by Wizards. They ordered all Witches and Wizards to leave the country. Of course, this War quickly spread through the world as fear of Wizards grew and by 2014, every country was attacking us. They set up Wizard Camps that they shipped those that they caught to, where Witches and Wizards were either enslaved or killed. We underestimated them at first. We thought that our magic was more powerful than their technology, but they had technology that could nullify magic, and bullets that could pierce through shields and wards.

"It got really bad two years ago. Muggles invented technology that could detect wards, and those in hiding were killed almost instantly. Uncle Bill," Teddy trailed off, glancing at where Bill was sitting, peaked up in interest, "Uh, you were able to come up with a new type of ward that was untraceable to Muggles, at least at the time, and you put it over Hogwarts and sent your kids there and your nieces and nephews and some family friends. This was shortly after the Burrow was raided by the Muggle Army," his eyes flickered over to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, "And you two were killed."

Gunshots. Screams. Smoke.

Albus blinked furiously, pushing the memory to the back of his mind, trying to forget his Grandmother's lifeless face as she fell to the floor beside the bed that he was hiding under, a gunshot wound to her forehead.

"Aunt Hermione," the group perked up in interest at this, "gave me the Silver Time-Turner that she invented. She told me that if there was no other way, I was to get everyone to safety. Well, early this morning… or twenty-four years in the future… Hogwarts was bombed. I guess they found technology that could find even Hogwarts. The Army stormed the place and I knew that I had to get them out… so here we are."

Teddy fell silent, unsure of how to continue. He waved his hands unhelpfully and then dropped them to his thighs.

"Oh, you poor things," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed tearfully.

Moody was not so sympathetic, "Are you absolutely positive that they are telling the truth, Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore nodded, eyes twinkling despite the new information, "I do, Alastair. And I think that they have the information that we need to stop this."

Albus chewed on his thumb nail, eyes flickering to each of them, silent.

"On one condition," Teddy said suddenly, causing them all to look at him in confusion, "The children stay out of it. I'll help, and Victoire too, but if they're underage, they aren't helping. I know these kids, and they'll try to get involved, but I want them safe."

It wasn't the Order to protest. James, Freddie, and Dominique were immediately standing to their feet.

"Hey, come on."

"You can't do that."

"We can help!"

Teddy shook his head firmly, "No, you don't need to be involved. I can help. I'll tell you all that I know and help you fight," he glanced back at them, "but you guys are still children. I promised Uncle Harry that I would protect you. And that's what I'm going to do."

Albus let out a light huff from his spot, glancing at Scorpius briefly. He wasn't particularly eager to go running into danger. Of his siblings, he was the least reckless, which was probably why he was not in Gryffindor.

He knew, however, that telling them not to do something most likely meant that Teddy had just doomed them all to be involved.

Especially if James was around.

Yeah, they were doomed.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Leave a review and tell me what you think!

Next chapter will be the gang getting settled in and coming up with their cover story. Then things will really start rolling.