The corridor outside the hospital wing was quiet, moonlight spilling in soft silver puddles along the floor. Lily held the Invisibility Cloak tightly in her fist, eyes flicking from Al to Hugo.
"You're sure about this?" Hugo whispered, voice barely audible over the faint hum of the castle.
"No," Lily muttered, "but we have to try. We can't just sit and wait for something to happen to Nova."
The three ducked beneath the cloak and crept away from the hospital wing. They waited until the hallway twisted past the Charms corridor before pulling the cloak tighter around them and making their way to the library.
The huge doors creaked open with a reluctant groan. The library was darker than usual, only lit by the faint glow of a single lantern near the entrance. The trio slipped in and shut the doors softly behind them.
"Madam Pince is in the staff room," Al whispered, "I heard her grumbling about McGonagall calling a meeting."
They pulled off the cloak and crouched beside the lantern. Rows of ancient books stretched around them like looming shadows, and the Restricted Section sat ominously at the back, locked by only a fragile spell Al quickly dispelled.
The books were heavy, dusty, and some nearly crumbling at the edges. Lily pulled one titled Temporal Loops: A Study of Magical Entrapments, and Albus found Chronomagic and Its Curses. Hugo silently flipped through The Time-Touched and the Doomed.
"I found something," Lily said, running a finger down a page. "'Magical birthmarks may appear on those entangled with time magic. They are drawn toward chronal ruptures instinctively, often unaware until the loop solidifies."
Al frowned. "That sounds like Nova."
"And here," Hugo added, "says only someone not part of the loop can break it. Someone... 'awake.'"
Before they could process that, footsteps sounded outside. Someone was coming.
They froze. But it wasn't Pince.
Fred entered, Marauder's Map in hand, eyebrows raised, but his expression oddly calm.
"I figured it was you lot," he said quietly, pocketing the map and walking toward them. "You're lucky it was me who saw."
The three looked up guiltily, but Fred didn't shout.
"You shouldn't be here," he said, softer this time, "but I get it. You're trying to help Nova."
They nodded, eyes wide.
Fred sighed and sat down beside them on the cold floor.
"There's something I never told anyone. Not even George. Not even Alicia." His voice trembled slightly. "When the time unravelled last... we lost Daisy. We lost Minerva, too. But… I came back."
The silence grew heavy.
"I was dead," he whispered, eyes distant. "And then I wasn't. It was like... I'd been yanked back into a time that no longer knew I was gone. George cried. Laughed. Hugged me like he'd never let go." Fred's voice wavered. "At first, I thought it was a second chance. And maybe it was. I stayed. Because how could I leave him again? Because we'd all lost too much.
He rubbed his eyes, and the kids didn't dare interrupt.
"I stayed. Because George was happy. Because the war had already taken so much. And then… Alicia. We got married. And Nova... she was born with magic sparking off her fingertips before she could even talk, and from the moment she cried, things weren't normal anymore. "
He chuckled softly. "Once, she hexed George into growing feathers."
Albus blinked. "What?!" Lily and Hugo gave a small laugh.
Fred smiled. " She hexed George at two days old—gave him frog legs. She could make things float by thinking. Laugh, and every light in the house would flicker." Fred's smile slowly turned upside down. " But there was something else—her magic felt... ancient. Like it didn't belong to our world alone."
"But I could control her magic," Fred continued. "Somehow. Like we were linked." He hesitated. "Then… I had a dream. A dream I never told anyone. Not even Alicia."
He looked at them seriously now.
"There was a woman. She said, 'Because you stayed, because you chose life over death, your daughter is the one who walks between timelines. A protector. And then she said something I'll never forget- 'Born of a man who defied fate and a woman who survived war. She alone is awake. She alone can end it.'
Lily's breath caught. Hugo's eyes were wide. Al's mouth opened, but no words came.
"I've never told Alicia. I didn't want her to worry. But lately… Nova's been remembering things she shouldn't know. She draws clocks in her sleep. She wakes up speaking names like Minerva, like Daisy. I think she remembers. Deep down, she's connected to them. To everything that's happening."
Fred paused, and his shoulders trembled slightly. "And the more I see it… the more I realize, maybe I shouldn't have stayed. Maybe I caused this. Maybe Nova's in danger because I was selfish."
Unbeknownst to Fred, the adults had followed him. Ginny. Alicia. George. Ron. Hermione. Dean. Luna. McGonagall.
Alicia had her hand over her mouth, tears slipping freely. Ginny held her tightly, also crying. George stood still, pale as snow, shock plain on his face.
Fred's voice cracked. "It's my fault. I should've gone back. I should've never stayed. Because I lived, Nova's in danger. She—"
"Stop it."
Alicia's voice rang out suddenly as she stepped forward, cloak forgotten.
Fred turned, stunned.
"You gave us Nova," Alicia said fiercely, wiping tears from her cheeks. "You gave George his brother back. You gave me a family. Don't you dare say it's your fault."
The others came into view one by one, silent but deeply moved. George was still speechless.
Fred stood slowly, his eyes locking with Alicia's.
"You weren't selfish." The words burst out of George like they'd been trapped for years. "I was."
Everyone turned.
George stepped forward, face pale, eyes wet. "You were gone, and I—I couldn't live with that. When you came back, I didn't question it. I didn't care if time was breaking or if it meant something worse was coming. I begged you to stay. I—" His voice trembled. "I wanted you to stay. So if anyone's to blame… It's me. I kept you here. I told you it was okay. And I didn't think that it could harm the future."
Fred shook his head, stunned.
"I should've helped you figure it out," George said. "But I was too scared of losing you again."
Alicia rushed forward, tears streaming now, wrapping Fred in a hug so tight it stole his breath. "Don't ever say it was your fault," she whispered fiercely. "Nova is here because of you. She's not cursed. She's chosen. That's not a burden—it's a gift. And we're going to protect her."
Fred didn't respond right away. He just clutched Alicia back, like he'd fall apart if he didn't.+ The kids were silent, stunned, their entire world reshaped by the truth they'd just heard.
"But if she gets hurt—"
"We'll protect her," said Hermione gently. "Together."
Fred's hands trembled, but Lily stepped forward and held one.
"We will protect her, Uncle Fred. That's why we came."
Fred looked at the three of them—Lily, Al, and Hugo—and finally smiled through the tears.
"I guess... I'm not the only one marked by time.
And somewhere in the shadows, McGonagall wiped her eyes too.
George couldn't hold it in anymore. His breath hitched, and before anyone could react, he fell to his knees right there on the library floor. "It's my fault," he choked out. "It's my fault, my niece—my little Nova—is in danger because of me." His voice broke completely. "I asked you to stay, Fred. I begged you. I should've let you go. I should've thought about the magic, the consequences—but I didn't care. I just wanted my brother back." Tears streamed down his face as he sobbed openly, shaking. "I was selfish. I—I traded Daisy, Minerva, maybe even the future—just to have you with me again."
Fred knelt beside him, pulling him into a hug like only a twin could. "No, George. Don't do this. I stayed because I wanted to. We made that choice together. We didn't know… We couldn't have known."
"But I should have—" George's voice cracked. "I'm- I should've protected you. And now… she's suffering for what I wanted."
The rest of the adults were silent, standing in the golden hush of lantern light, tears quietly slipping down their cheeks. Even McGonagall looked shaken, as if some unspoken prophecy had just cracked open before her. Alicia clutched Fred's hand, her other pressed over her heart.
"I'm so selfish, my niece's and nephew are in danger because of me, my friend's child disappeared because of me..." George broke down, and Fred tried to console them but failed. Ultimately, both twins spilled their hearts out to each other.
And then—
Suddenly, the air shifted. It was like a silent pulse ran through the castle. A heartbeat. A warning.
Far across the castle, in the stillness of the hospital wing, James Potter sat up with a gasp, eyes wide but unfocused. Rose Weasley twisted in her bed, her head tossing side to side. Then they both began to shiver. Tremble. Madam Pomfrey rushed forward, panic rising. "No, no—not again," she muttered, trying to steady Rose's thrashing shoulders and James' violently shaking frame. "James! Rose! Stay with me—come on, now—stay with me!"
But they weren't there anymore.
They were somewhere else.
In a dream that felt more real than breathing.
Soft light surrounded them. Cool, like moonlight but thicker, like water. They were lying on stone, but warm hands were pressing over their wounds—healing them, soothing them. A red-haired girl knelt between them, green eyes bright with worry. Her hands glowed gold as they hovered over their hearts.
"Stay with me for some time… please," Minerva whispered, her voice trembling. "Don't die. Don't come here yet. You're not ready. You're too young. You have to go back." Her eyes filled with tears. "Please, have patience. I'll heal you as much as I can, and then you'll return. You'll be strong enough to help Nova. You have to help her… so she can bring us back. So she can end this. So she can kill her."
Behind her, the shadows grew darker.
A faint voice echoed—Daisy's voice. She lay on the ground behind Minerva, breathing faintly and shallowly. Her skin was pale, and her lips were turning blue. "I can't… hold on much longer," she murmured. "The curse… It's inside me. Why did you bring them here? This will make not only their life but also ours worse."
Minerva clenched her jaw, tears slipping freely down her cheeks. "No. No, I'll fix this. I have to. Just a little longer."
Back in the real world, blood had started to trickle from James's nose, Rose's lips. Their bodies twitched. Madam Pomfrey's spells did nothing. Panic flooded the room as Professors arrived one by one. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, and even Dean were suddenly there. And Lily, Albus, Fred, George, and Hugo, fresh from the library, were standing frozen at the door, watching in horror.
"They're not waking up," Pomfrey whispered, her voice cracking.
Then, in one sudden moment—James gasped.
Rose bolted upright, eyes wide, mouth open like she'd screamed in another world.
Their body finally stopped bleeding after days.
They blinked rapidly, like they'd been underwater too long.
And then they began to cry. Quietly. Wordlessly.
"They're alive," Madam Pomfrey exhaled. "They're alive…"
"James, Rose, what happened?" Ginny finally recovered from the shock.
"She tried to heal us....." a crying James said to Rose, then to anyone else.
"Who?" Bill asked even though he knew the answer.
"The one beside her, was she cursed?" Rose asked him, tears still trickling down her face.
"I guess so," James said with a sob, "It was because of us."
"What are you two talking about? Who was cursed, and why was it because of you?" Hermione said with a whale.
"Why did she take us there?" Rose continued crying, ignoring her mother. "Because of us, she is in danger. We could handle the bleeding, but they have been stuck there for 18 years."
"I know," James said while he was crying uncontrollably. "Did you see her lying there? Her lips were blue, it looked like she was poisoned. Why did she bring us there? It was all our fault."
Suddenly, in between of their conversation, Lily screamed.
"Enough, what is going on? What is your fault? Tell us."
Both James and Rose looked at her. Tears still streaming from their eyes.
"Minerva- she took us into a forest, where she and Daisy were in her realm-," She was sobbing uncontrollably that she could barely say the sentence.
"She was healing us, she asked was begging us not to die, not to come to where she was. And- and beside her, Daisy was lying on the ground, her lips were blue, she said that the curse was now inside her, that Minerva shouldn't have brought us there..." his words faded into his renewed sobs.
Everyone wen't still Ron was gripping a glass so tightly that it smashed in his hands. Harry collapsed into another chair beside Ginny while Ginny also smashed her glass, which was in her hands.
But Nova… Nova wasn't there. Neither was Seamus
Nova was still peacefully asleep in the Gryffindor Tower. Oblivious. Unaware.
Seamus is in the Room of Requirement, reading bundles of burned books, trying to find something.
And somewhere far away, time ticked.
One second closer to the next unraveling