"Now something so sad has hold of us that the breath leaves and we can't even cry."

― Charles Bukowski

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"I missed this place!" I beam, and my grandmama smiles at me.

"I missed having you here." She grins and gestures me in for one of her hugs.

I loved her hugs. They made me feel safe and warm and at home. She was the only true family I had contact with so I adored whenever I could come for a visit.

"Come, my child. Tell me what happened. Why are you in this timeline?" She asks, worried, and I sit down on one of her plush couches.

"Albus told me I could undo all the deaths and prevent the two wars that happen in the future. He asked me to go to the place where Tom Riddle was weakest and kill him." I admit. My grandmama's eyes narrow in anger.

"That old boggart!" She demands, and I gape.

"Grandma!" I chuckle at her in shock.

"You are but a mere child! If he wanted to reverse what had happened, why didn't the old crone go back himself!" She scowls, giving me a protective look.

"I didn't expect him to send me back in time, though. That was a surprise. I almost fainted then Professor told me I'd travelled 59 years back in time." I admit, and she asks.

"Of course, you almost did. Time travel takes a toll on one's mental health, my darling." She pours me a cup of tea, handing it to me.

I glance at the goblet in my hand, and I cringe. "I also left the goblet back in the 1990s," I admit, but Helga merely smiles.

"That goblet is an ancient relic filled with immense magic, Val. It wouldn't have accompanied you either way." She tells me. My mouth pops open.

"Oh," I say, silently causing her to give a chuckle.

"My dear child.... you know you must find it before Tom does." She tells me, and I nod.

"I know. I just need to retrace the entirety of Wizarding history, I guess." I grumble.

"Val, you know it could only be with the Smiths. My other descendants." She informs me with a grim look, and I groan.

"Why? Grandmama!" I whine, making her shrug.

"They are my descendants as much as the Evans are." She winces.

"How are my parents?" I ask her, and she gives me a gentle smile.

"As good as they were the last time you asked me, child." She says, and I relax a bit.

"Good. And my sister?" I ask, eyes wide.

"She and James are well." My grandmama tells me, making me grin in relief.

"That's one positive, at least." I breathe.

"Val... I'm worried about you." My grandmama admits, and I look up to see the worry in her stunning blue eyes. "I can't see your future anymore." She tells me. I look at her with wide eyes.

"When you were at Hogwarts, I could see you married and happy with children, caring for Ettie and Harry like your own." She tells me. "I can't see you anymore, my sweet." She chokes up. "Every time I try.... I see a pit of darkness." She admits, seeming saddened by this.

"So if I remain here... on the current path I'm on..." I stop, and she nods grimly.

"You'll die." She admits, and I nod slowly.

"Things have already begun to change in the future, my child. The other spirts and I were perplexed, but I see now that the reason is you." She says.

"What changed?" I ask.

"Anything bad?" I demand in worry, sitting on the edge of my seat.

"No... just small things love. Nothing too drastic yet." She says slowly.

"Is he a bad person as a child?" I ask my grandma, taking a sip of the tea she loved to serve her guests.

"No. Not necessarily. He hasn't done anything murderous or downright evil yet." She tells me. "He is still only thirteen years old." She reminds me.

"A powerful thirteen-year-old," I mutter bitterly.

"Hypocrite." My grandmama teases, and I blush.

"I don't grow up to kill people!"I demand, and she shrugs.

"Says the girl who went back in time with the sole purpose of killing someone." She points out. I grow silent.

Tears prickle at the back of my eyes. I set the teacup down roughly, in a fit of anger.

"He grows up to cause two wizarding wars and kills my parents. He leaves so many kids orphans! Do you want that to happen!? Do you want Harry to end up with the Dursleys? Do you want to see Neville's parents lose their minds!? They don't even recognize their own son!" I demand.

My grandmama takes off her slipper, throwing it at my head.

I shriek, ducking to the floor. "Grandma!!" I demand, and she looks furious.

"VALENTINE EVANS! Don't you DARE take that tone with me!! I would never wish that to occur!! But I also don't want my GRANDCHILD to become a killer!" She booms and I sit back down, stunned.

"I never chose this grandma. I don't want to kill someone. I didn't want to grow up in an orphanage abused and hated." I choke, tears brimming in my eyes, and her stare softens completely.

"I'm just trying to live with what cards the universe dealt me," I tell her, and she moves to sit beside me, wrapping her arms around me.

"Tom's cards are almost identical to your own sweetest." She informs me in a whisper, and I lean into her embrace.

I mull over her words in my head, realizing that she was right. Oh, she was so right.

"So, what do I do?" I ask her.

"Albus sent me here to kill him," I admit, and she scoffs.

"Screw Albus Dumbledore. That man has his head so far up his arse; he wouldn't see the truth even if it punched him in the face." My grandmama says bitterly, and I gape at her, a grin spreading on my lips.

"You just swore," I say in amazement, and she chuckles.

"I'm no angel, my darling." She bops my nose with her index finger.

"First... find my goblet. I did not give that thing to you for it to go back into the Smith's clutches." She scolds me, and I groan.

"I'm sorry!!" I demand, and she shakes her head, handing me my cup of tea, moving to get her own.

"Not your fault. It's that prim, prissy, blonde hag's fault." She mutters talking about Albus, making me almost choke into my drink.

"My goblet is your priority right now. In the hands of someone that is not my descendant... that could be dangerous." She says, talking in a tone that told me she was in one of her Seer trances.

She grabs my palm, and I realize she was trying to see my future again. It always worked better when you were touching the person you were doing a reading for, which was what my grandmama was doing. She was a very talented Seer. She had told no one of her powers, considering how much danger she knew she'd be in if she ever revealed to anyone of her powers.

Her eyes open, and she stares at me for a second, with a soft smile.

"Befriend the child, my dear." She tells me. I look at her in shock. "Befriend that person that killed my parents!?" I stand in a fury.

"SIT!" My grandma booms, and I sit down quieting instantly. I loved my grandmama, but she was frightening when angered. I pitied anyone who angered her and faced her wrath.

"I thought you were a smart witch, Valentine." Grandma Helga muses, wrapping an arm around me, pulling me back into her embrace.

"Tom hasn't killed your parents here. They haven't even been born yet." She tells me, and I shake my head.

"But he will. He will kill them, and I'll be all alone." I say bitterly.

"So don't let it come to that. That boy has been through pain too my child." She informs me, and I sigh.

"I'll think about it," I tell her after a second. She beams at me.

"That's all I ask, my sweet Val. That's all I ask."

I stayed with my grandma for another hour before I say goodbye, being lowered out of her portrait with her help. She blows me a kiss, laughing heartily before making a heart with both hands and disappearing back into the spirit land.

The scene replays in my head again and again like deja vu; I find myself freezing in surprise, rushing to grab my necklace. I clutch the compass attached to the gold chain and open it.

Instead of seeing my grandmother's laughing face again, I see the restricted section in the library. My blood freezes over and I turn the compass over... around and around in my fingers.

Could it be that this compass could tell the future.... like a Seer could... like grandmama could.

I pause in place before, closing the compass and tucking it away in my robes.

It looked like I was heading to the Restricted section tomorrow, but tonight I was helping a certain Diggory with her Charms homework.

You may find that if someone pours water all over you, you are damp and distracted, but not cured of your sadness, the way a fire department can douse a fire but never recover what has been burnt down.
― Lemony Snicket