A/N: So this is the opening of 2.5. WOOT! I am eager to pound this one out. It'll be my first story that I have every detail planned out. YAY! Anywho, please enjoy my first attempt at a mystery.

Chapter 1

"But not a single one would I take back, as they led me straight to you."

Harry didn't even reach his wife knickers before a knock sounded on their front door. He burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, Emily, you really have Lucius under control there. The man didn't even last five minutes before he had to bug you."

"That blond toe rag better have a damn good excuse for being here." Emily had already started muttering obscenities to herself as she pull her wedding robes back on. Harry waited until she was decent and followed his wife downstairs. He figured it would be amusing to watch her blow off some frustration by yelling at the elder Malfoy.

The two made it to the front of the modest home, and Emily wrenched opened the door. The yelling did not commence, but instead it was a polite, "Can I help you?"

Harry, unnerved by this reaction wanted to edge to the side around his wife to see who was at the door. He found himself incapable, however, as Emily had already frozen him in place. Who ever it was, Emily didn't want him exposed to the person's view. This made sense, seeing as no one had any reason to come here.

The home was warded by curse breakers from Gringotts. Muggle repelling charms were standard, so at a bare minimum this person was not a muggle. However, at the same time, no one knew that they lived here. Emily made certain that no one could track their apparitions here, and the floo was highly regulated by the ministry and very private. So it was possible that a high level ministry official had come knocking, but then again, there was no obvious why.

Whatever the end result might have been, Harry didn't care. His wife was trying to keep him safe, when who only knew what threat may have been at the door. Harry began willing his magic to counteract the freezing charm. He was not as good at dispelling magic wandlessly as he was casting basic spells, but he could do this, eventually, with enough time.

The scene in front of him, however was not remaining idle. All of a sudden Harry heard a strangled, pained noise and saw the figure slightly as it dove straight at his wife. Harry panicked, and his magic surged, shattering a nearby vase as he ripped his wife's enchantment apart. He took two steps forwards, enough to see the shocked wide eyes of his wife as a young woman with startlingly familiar silver hair hugged her tightly from the front. This had been the woman he had briefly seen when he was dancing with his wife this afternoon.

His wife laid on the ground for only a moment before her face began to redden in anger. She then shouted, "Delphini Potter, what have I told you about time travel!"

Emily sat next to her husband on a settee as she watched their daughter try and pull herself together in a chair in front of them. The girl had cried against her chest for a solid three minutes on the floor before Emily lost patience with her. The girl looked to be almost Harry's age, she should be too old to cry like an infant. Clearly Harry had done a poor job in teaching his daughter how to maintain a certain sense of decorum.

Finally the girl calmed down enough to speak, though her words were interspersed with hiccups.

"M- hic- Mum, sorry abou- hic- t that." This only pushed Emily patience further to the edge.

"Stop snivelling." She waved her wand and calmed her daughter diaphragm. "I won't have my daughter being a water hose in front of me."

The girl nodded her head quickly, taking the sleeve of her robe and drying her eyes. Harry used this moment to speak.

"What's going on?" He looked at Emily. "How do you know this is our supposed daughter from the future?"

She scoffed at Harry. "A mother always knows her children, Harry."

He looked at her, mouth agape. "Woman, we don't have any of those yet!"

She gave him a cold look. That was rude. "Refer to me as 'woman' again, and I can assure you, that we never will."

He, paused, before nodding his head to her. "Sorry, but come on, you're speaking nonsense. We don't have kids, she looks nothing like us, so how do you know?"

Emily got up and knelt beside her daughter, lining up their faces to one another and they both looked at Harry. "We look nothing alike? Are you certain."

She saw Harry noticing the similarities soon enough. She didn't blame him for not noticing first hand. Her face was quite pale where as her daughter's complexion was a bit darker, more like her fathers. Also the girl had brown eyes, in the exact shade that Emily had at that age. Of course, those eyes were something Harry had never seen, only ever knowing the ruby pair she had now. But once you saw past those, and the silver hair with blue tips, things started matching up.

Their faces were almost mirror images of each other. The same nose, same chin and cheekbones. Even the length of their foreheads were identical. Harry, slowly started nodding. "Okay, I see the similarities now, but how did you know so soon?"

"When I was her age I had the same brown eyes. Also, when I opened the door, her reaction to seeing me screamed long lost child. It was a type of joy I'd never seen before. Once she started hugging me and crying I put everything together."

"So you put all the clues together and you came up with the answer of: time traveling daughter. I'm still not really convinced."

"You don't really blame Dudley." Suddenly the girl spoke. Emily watched her husband's eyes widen in surprise.

"What?"

"You don't blame your cousin for how he treated you. You know that his parents conditioned him that way. You won't ever really consider him family, but you don't blame him for his actions. You never told him though, you felt too guilty."

This was something that Harry had only recently realized himself. He had confided in Emily that he often thought of Dudley and Uncle Vernon now that his aunt was dead. He wondered how the two were holding up, but he didn't dare try and reach out to them. Not when the person who killed his aunt was her, his wife. She knew he carried that guilt and probably would for the rest of his life.

Harry swallowed thickly at her words. "Okay." He stared off into space for a moment, thinking about something she couldn't fathom. "I believe you."

Emily slowly stood and watched the two of them and noticed something rather queer. Her daughter had, so far, showered her with attention and love, but up until proving herself to Harry, she hadn't even given him the time of day. Emily would have thought the roles would be reversed. That she would be the one less loved by their children. That her time spent taking over the world would create a rift between her and her family, especially her children, and though they would still love her, her bonds with them would be weaker over all than their bonds with their father. A pit of worry opened in her stomach, was it possible, somehow, that Harry wasn't the father of her children? After all the girl didn't have any really identifying features from Harry. Though the girl had not objected when Harry had referred to her as their daughter, Emily couldn't help but wonder.

Emily didn't wish to open this can of worms just yet, however, so she chose a different topic to broach.

"I'm more than certain I have spoken to you, many times, of the dangers of time travel, Delphini. Why would you attempt to do something so reckless? Your very existence in the past, where you aren't even born yet, might I add, could cause major fluctuations and changes in the timeline."

Delphini met her eyes and her words almost took Emily's breath away. "I know, mum. I hope they do. I came back to keep you from dying."

Emily's eyes rounded and she gave her husband a quick glance. He didn't even meet her eyes, but she saw that his complexion now almost matched her own. The man looked as though someone had told him that he had hours left to live. Emily made her way back to the settee and wrapped her hand around her husbands.

Gently kissing him on the side of his face, she murmured, "Relax love, we'll figure it out." Louder, she addressed her daughter. "How did you travel so far back? As of now, the only reliable way to travel through time is with the use of a time turner and they are woefully limited in ability."

The girl smiled, "I stole a special artifact from the department of mysteries, one that doesn't exist yet. You would have been so proud of me, mum. Hermione Granger creates it two years af-"

"Stop!" Emily said abruptly. "Do not tell me of the future. I do not wish to know more than necessary about why you are here. Keep as much information to yourself as possible unless I state otherwise. Are we clear.

The girl nodded. "Good," Emily said, "Now, when does my death happen?"

"The last time I saw you was when I was seven. That's kind of why I broke down when I saw you. I'm sorry, mum." The young woman once again started tearing up, but this time Emily did not feel stressed by seeing it. This time, a strong urge came over her to soothe the young girl. Emily stood up, released her husband's hand and went to hug her daughter. She was starting to feel like a pendulum, making her way back and forth, trying to soothe both of her family members. It was an uncomfortable situation. Consoling people was not in her repertoire, but like anything else, she still excelled at doing it.

Harry, who finally had apparently pulled himself together, approached them. "What do we need to do to stop this? We can stop it, right? That's way you came back?"

"Yes, we'll go away. Far away so mum won't be in danger." Delphini spoke quietly, but her words were firm and they both heard her.

Emily was about to interject, seeing as she had no intentions of leaving Britain. Not when she finally had the fresh start she desired. The country was at her fingertips and all she had to do was take it.

"Okay, I'll start packing everything. I'll be back soon." Harry turned to go gather their things. The news of her impending death had rattled him enough that he was willing to just go along with anything he needed to, in order to keep his wife now. She could only watch him stupidly as he went towards their bedroom.

"No." A cold voice said.

Harry and Emily both turned to find Delphini holding a wand. A very familiar wand. A wand that was fabled and powerful. One made of elder. One that Harry also had tucked in his waistband. One that, if it truly called her its master, meant she had bested its previous owner.

"Delphini," Emily said slowly, not wanting to spook her daughter. "What are you doing?"

For right now, Delphini Potter had the elder wand pointed directly at Harry's chest. "Mother and I will be leaving alone, dad." Finally, Delphini addressed her father, properly. "The invitation does not include you."

Harry looked flabbergasted. "Why on earth not?"

Delphini sneered at him. "Makes no sense to run away, if we're going to take mum's murderer with us."