Time Travel? Really!

We're off to see the wizards

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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Looking at the gleaming red of the Hogwarts Express, Rose Potter felt an unsettling mixture of anticipation and unease curl in the pit of her stomach. She had always seen the auspicious castle as a place of fantastical magic and wonder but it was no longer her home. Her home was The Pottery, and spending days chatting to the paintings of her parents and family, or visiting the muggle world with Sirius and Remus. They were her family and for once she felt content. She really didn't want to leave them.

Her summer had been great too, as she had been introduced to Neville and Susan and the three had become fast friends even with Rose being mentally older than them. Susan was calm and cheerful, with a witty sense of humour that was balanced by her fervent beliefs in the justice system and her strong desire to follow in her aunt's footsteps and become an Auror. She believed adamantly in working hard for the things that you wanted and it was clear why she had ended up in Hufflepuff in the future/past. (Thinking about things in relation to time travel wasn't getting easier at all.)

Neville was as shy as ever, but with the gentle coaxing of the two girls he had opened up immensely, especially as they weren't put off by his obsession with Herbology. Instead they were impressed by it and encouraged it, and with the new wand his gran had bought him (on the 'advice' of Amelia) his confidence was better than ever. He was still shy and reserved (he wasn't going to do a one-eighty so quickly), but he stuttered much less and spoke more openly with his friends.

Rose personally felt that he would do much better in Hufflepuff as they could help build his confidence in a gentler manner than Gryffindor. That wasn't to say that he wasn't brave, but Neville's bravery only seemed to appear in dire moments and the rowdiness of the lion's den didn't exactly help introverted people.

She and Neville had had a joint birthday party in the summer where both their families, the Bones' and the Tonks' attended. Sirius and Andromeda were closer than ever and Rose had been thrilled to see Tonks again. As per usual the girl was clumsy and loud, and enjoyed entertaining the younger children by creating animal faces with her morphing abilities (which Rose made a note of so that she could try a few in the future). She wasn't sure if she and Remus would get together this time around, and while she would be devastated over losing Teddy she could understand that reality didn't work that way. At the moment Tonks was only eighteen while Remus was thirty-one. He wasn't old in the slightest but he would easily have a problem being with a teenager. They had only gotten together before because there had been a war going on around them and they hadn't exactly thought things through.

She sighed as she turned from the train back to the two men with her. Both had dark brown hair and eyes and looked utterly unremarkable. Sirius had insisted they come in disguise as it would be like a joint prank, seeing as Rose still looked different to what others expected as well. (He was healing rapidly but he was still a childish prankster. Besides, Rose thought it was hilarious.)

Looking at the two men she considered the closest thing to living parents she had, she tried not to break down and cry. She would miss them a lot but she wanted them to be happy by themselves. They had decided to start a company creating joke and prank items, as well as creating other things to make life easier and modifying muggle items for magical use. She couldn't wait until she introduced them to the twins.

She stared at them before hugging them both tightly, relishing in the feeling of them hugging her back. People that love me. The train whistled in warning as there was only five minutes left before departure, so she summoned up what was left of her vaunted Gryffindor courage.