My favorite comment about this story was on a forum that said this felt much more like a real story than a checklist. I hope everyone reading gets the same impression.

This story will focus primarily around Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione although will also spend time with many other characters (especially the Weasleys). Ginny will end up being a little more central than the other characters because of the set-up I ended using, but all 4 will feature prominently.

While I started this story a little before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it fits completely within cannon (outside of loosing the 2nd Battle of Hogwarts) with one exception. The Diadem of Ravenclaw and/or its location was altered slightly for this story. I needed one Horcrux I could leave a little more mystery with.

Thank you for reading.

Harry Potter and The Shadow of the Future

By Eric Upp

Chapter 1: The Lost War

The sun was shining on a thick layer of snow. The sight was almost blinding. A few years earlier, children would have been playing outside, but there were no longer any kids in this particular town. Ginny briefly wondered what had happened to make all the muggles flee, before deciding she didn't want to know. Ginny let the curtain fall over the window and turned to Hermione.

Twenty-three-year-old Hermione Granger, whom had been called the smartest witch in a generation, sat working at a desk in this small abandoned muggle house. Hermione let out a sigh, as she turned to her notes again.

Ginny was past the point of annoyance with this. Hermione had been going through the final calculations for the past two days and had yet to tell her or Ron anything. "Are you going to tell us what's wrong or just stare at that parchment all day?"

Hermione looked up. She'd been skeptical from the start that this plan was going to work. Once she'd done enough research and started her initial calculations though, she had allowed herself to hope. What she wanted to do should technically be possible. Unfortunately, she had needed a good deal more information (among other things). At that point, she'd involved the rest of her travel mates. It had taken 18 months of searching, hiding, and mourning, but she finally had everything. Unfortunately, she'd discovered a couple of snags that could mess everything up.

Hermione didn't want to go through this explanation any more than she had to. The last member of the trio, Ron Weasley, sat sleeping on a chair. He could have gone into a room with a bed, but he almost never left his sister or the women he loved anymore. Hermione walked to him and nudged him.

Ron jerked up suddenly, bringing up his wand as he did so. Softly, Hermione said, "It's OK. It's just me."

Ron's face was red, but at least he smiled a little. With virtually the entire wizarding world of Britain destroyed or under Voldemort's control, thinking of Hermione was one of the few things that could still make Ron smile every now and again. "Sorry." A little more enthusiastically, he asked, "Did you finish?"

Hermione nodded and sighed again. Ginny asked, "What's wrong then?"

Hermione started, "This is going to take even more luck than I thought. Even if we succeed at sending our memories back in time, there are a couple of issues. For one, the amount of magic we use has to be just right to send us exactly when we want to go. I thought if we were a little off it wouldn't matter, but we actually have to be more precise than I guessed before."

Ginny said, "What's going to happen if we're off?"

"It depends on how far off. If we add too much magic, we could send our memories to before our minds were developed enough to take in this extra information. If we add too little, we might not go back far enough to do any good."

"How close do you think we can get?" Ginny asked.

Hermione frowned. "I don't think we can hope for any better than a 3 year radius around where we're aiming. Even at that, this is going to have to be done nearly perfectly."

Ron nodded. "Three years is pretty good though. Even if we arrive after You-Know-Who's returned, we'll have a huge leg up this time." Thinking a little more, he added, "Maybe we could aim for a couple of years earlier. You know, just to make sure our memories arrive before he's been resurrected."

Annoyed, Ginny spoke up. "We talked about this Ron. We don't want our memories to get there before I get Riddle's diary."

Ron had not forgotten that. He had just never cared for the idea to begin with. Getting the diary away from Lucius Malfoy may be difficult, but if they were going to go through all the work of going back in time, why intentionally let Ginny go through any of her terrible first year? "Yeah, but it's still a lot better to get there too early than too late."

"We already have to break into Gringotts and find Ravenclaw's diadem or whatever the last Horcrux is. Breaking into Malfoy Manor and looking for a needle in a haystack is not something I'm interested in adding to our list."

"Ginny," continued Ron, but Hermione interrupted him.

"There is another problem."

"Of course," said Ron, sitting back down. "Story of our lives."

"You know I've have been spending a lot of time reading about memories and the brain since we finally found that last book?" The other two nodded.

Hermione thought for a minute, trying to figure out the best words to describe what she had to say. "We're sending back a lot of memories that should arrive all at once. Most minds simply can't absorb all that information in one go. One natural reaction of the brain would be to throw out all of this new data."

Ginny said, "So is this going to work?"

Hermione shrugged, "Hopefully." She put her hand into her hair, obviously frustrated. "There are too many variables to say with any accuracy what will happen when the memories arrive.. It depends on ours brains' reactions."

Ron asked, "Any good news?"

"A little. The mind should be able to absorb these memories best between 9 and 12, and that's right we're we are going to aim."

Ginny asked, "So we're still aiming for your 2nd year?"

"Yes."

Ron frowned at that, but didn't fight the point.

Ginny looked at the two of them. "I don't think we have a choice. It's the only way to stop You-Know-Who that we have left."

A day later, the last of their preparations were complete. The three stood in a circle. Around them were several magical objects. Hermione looked at the items and thought about how they had come into the possession of each one.

There was the wand of Phillip the Wise. That had been a pretty easy one. All they had to do was go grave robbing. It had felt incredibly wrong, but Hermione never questioned the decision to take it. My, how she had changed.

Then there was the Cup of Health. If someone drank from the cup while sick from common diseases, it would heal that person instantly. It was fairly redundant given existing medical magic, but had been developed long ago and contained a surprisingly high amount of magic. They'd broken into the Magical Museum of Wales for that artifact and been lucky to escape. Thirty seconds longer and 30 or so Death Eaters would have gotten to them.

Also from the museum was the Mirror of Susana the Beautiful. If anyone looked in the glass for more than an instant they would see themselves as the most beautiful person in the world and be unable to ever look away.

Scanning the rest, Hermione saw the Blade of Zachiera, the wands of the powerful wizards Benedict, Fredrick, and Timothy. They each had their own story, their own past, and their own place in her memory. Some of them they had obtained easily. Others had come at a cost. She had received a curse taking Timothy's wand. The others didn't know, but it would slowly drive her mad. Not that it mattered, it would take almost 10 years to fully affect her, and she didn't have to think that far into the future. If this worked, the curse wouldn't follow her, and if this didn't work, well no use thinking of that.

Ron looked at the cape of the unknown wizard and made himself forget about how they had gotten that particular item. That had been the item with the most difficult traps. They were deep underground and they made it past all the traps but one. On the last one, just before they found the cape, Ron had lost his left arm permanently.

Ginny stared at the final item sitting before them. It was the Hat of Knowledge and contained the memories of everyone who had ever worn it. Given all of the memories stored inside it, anyone who put it on would likely go instantly mad. Gaining this hat had had been the costliest. Five of them had broken into the Department of Mysteries and only three had left.

All of the objects now is a circle around them had one thing in common. Their magic all came partially from the feather of the varengan, a now extinct magical bird native to Britain. Before the varengan had become extinct, it had been discovered that its feathers were some of the most powerful magical items in existence. They could serve to greatly magnify the powers of witches or wizards using them. They also had known temporal properties. Hermione had theorized that through the right spells, they could use the little that remained of the feather in these items to dramatically increase their own spell. The only problem was most of the artifacts would be completely drained and useless afterward. This had to work the first time.

Very nervously, Hermione looked away from the items and toward the other two. "I think we're ready."

They looked at each other. They all knew how important the next few minutes were going to be. Ginny, while nervous about the moment finally arriving, was genuinely happy. She couldn't remember the last time she felt that way. She let herself smile and hugged Hermione. "Thank you so much for giving us this chance. I don't know of anyone else who could have figured all of this out."

Hermione blushed slightly. "It wasn't just me. It took all of us to get this together. I couldn't have done it without you and Ron or without Neville and Luna's sacrifices."

Ginny smile faded at that. Hermione forced a smile herself and more confidently than she felt said, "But when this works, the timeline will change, and none of this terrible war will ever have happened. Neville and Luna will never know of this horrible place. As soon as I hit the magic field with my last spell the instant it's fluxing 88 times per minute…everything will be fine."

Ginny held her tighter. When Hermione looked up, she was shocked to see Ginny grinning, almost laughing. Ginny managed to get out, "I think I actually understood every word you said." Hermione couldn't help it, she grinned back.

The two young women started laughing and it proved to be contagious as even Ron, whom had been looking at the two like they were mad, eventually lost it as well.

After they had all got control of themselves again, Ginny went over to Ron and gave him a hug as well. Much more seriously she said, "Thanks for being there. I never would have made it out without you. Now I know there was a reason for me to escape that day."

Ron didn't cry. He'd hardly had since Harry had died. Instead, he just returned the hug with his remaining arm. "We'll save all of them."

"I know," said Ginny.

After a minute, Ginny let go of Ron. Ron looked over at Hermione. He couldn't wrap his head around this whole temporal thing very well, but he knew that in many respects, this could be the last time he ever saw Hermione. Even if both their memories made it to the past, would this Hermione still really even exist? His heart wanted to break at these thoughts, and she seemed to be in a similar situation. They hugged tightly. Ron had never been terribly good at romance, but he wanted to say something now. "No matter what happens, I love you."

She choked out "I love you too." They kissed fiercely and Ginny looked away, giving them one last moment alone.

A minute later, they broke off and Hermione was looking over things one last time. She looked at Ron and Ginny. "You two know what you have to do?"

They both nodded.

"Good." She sighed. "Well, I suppose we better get started." Hermione waved her wand and started saying a complicated spell. An aura started rising up from the magical items. Slowly it encircled the trio in a hemisphere, starting at the ground and going up.

Once the magic field had completely encircled them, it started to spin. It brightness started to fade until Ron and Ginny started saying spells to keep the field stable.

Hermione switched to a new spell that was meant to allow their memories to take form outside their bodies. She felt herself weakening. This was the most magic she'd ever tried to use in such a short time. She wouldn't be deterred though.

The field went faster and faster. Keeping it under control became more and more difficult for Ron and Ginny. They didn't say anything for fear of breaking Hermione's concentration though.

At last, Hermione sensed the time was at hand and said the final words, "Vicis Eo!"

Original Endnote: I hope you enjoyed the 1st chapter. I already have most of Chapters 2 finished and will post it soon if I get reviews. I've always been a fan of long chapters, even if they come less often, so am aiming to get at least 3000 words per chapter (this one was a admittedly a bit off, but it was the introduction). Extra points to anyone who catches the quote that is based off a similar quote from popular 80s movie. Thanks for reading.