An eerie fog crept over the dirty river. Several streets of identical brick were lined up, giving the feeling that they were never ending. The full moon hung low and partially hidden in the starless sky. Litter filled grass was currently being trampled by three youths.

"Harry," came the frantic voice of Hermione Granger, "do you really think that we can defeat Snape? I mean, none of us have learned Occlumency yet, and you said it yourself; he knows what spells we're going to do before we use them."

"She's right, you know," came the voice of Harry's other best friend, Ron Weasley. "Just because there's three of us doesn't mean anything."

Harry inwardly groaned. He knew that Hermione was right, and that Ron was only agreeing with her because he was trying to get back in her good graces after he had abandoned them so long ago. "We need to get information from Snape," Harry explained. "We don't necessarily have to defeat him, so much as subdue him."

Hermione sighed. She knew how stubborn Harry could be. "Fine," she agreed. "Can we just go over the plan one more time?"

"Hermione, we've gone over it like a thousand times now," Ron said. He opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by a look from Hermione.

"No, she's right, Ron," Harry agreed and he stopped in his tracks. "We don't have any room for mess ups."

The three went over the plan that they had practiced many times before. Hermione had come up with many things that could go wrong, and the plan had to be changed many times. The final plan was for them to approach the house quietly and under the invisibility cloak. Hermione would cast an anti-apparition charm on the house, which would also keep them from going anywhere. They would then open the front door, effectively disrupting the wards and allowing Snape to know that someone was intruding. If he was in he first room they entered, Harry would stay under the cloak to keep the element of surprise while Ron and Hermione kept him busy while attacking him magically. Harry would then tackle him, hopefully knocking him unconscious. There wasn't really much glamour in the plan, but hopefully it would work.

"Are you sure on what you have to do?" Harry asked his friends.

"Harry, if we go over it again, I'll lose my mind," Ron joked, trying to ease the tension.

"I just need to make sure we're ready," Harry reminded them. "We only get one shot at this. If we mess up, well…" he finished. He did not need to remind them what would happen if they failed.

Quietly they approached the run down cottage that housed the murderer. They had been doing a lot of spying lately and had found out this is where he lived. They had watched him go in, and in they had been watching, no one had come out.

Once they were in distance, Hermione kneeled down and cast the Anti-Apparation jinx. She checked to make sure it had worked. Once they got up to the door, it was Harry's turn.

"Alohomora," he whispered from under the invisibility cloak. The door lock clicked and they were surprised that it was so easy to just enter.

Pushing the door open, they entered into what appeared to be a sitting room.

"I don't see anyone," said Ron. His voice was just barely above a whisper.

"Homenum Revelio" Harry whispered. The spell revealed that down below them was one person, whom they anticipated to be Snape. "Let's go," said Harry, spotting a stair case, half hidden by a book shelf.

Half way to the staircase, Harry stopped. "Wait," he said. "I have an idea."

"No," said Hermione defiantly. "We're not changing the plan."

"No, Hermione, listen," Harry pleaded. "If I go without the cloak on, Snape will think I'm alone. But if you two stay under the cloak, then we've definitely got the element of surprise."

His two best friends seemed to be trying to find something wrong with the plan. Though they did not like the idea of Harry putting himself at risk, they knew that if they acted quickly enough no harm would come of Harry.

"Fine," Hermione agreed. "But for the record, I don't like this plan."

"Of course you don't," Harry said, "you wouldn't be Hermione if you did."

They walked slowly down the stairs, Harry leading them. They reached the front door and Harry took a deep breath. "One chance," he whispered to his friends. He could hear his own heart beating in his ears and knew that his friends' were doing the same.

"Reducto," Harry shouted at the door. It exploded as he rushed in the room. He felt the invisibility cloak brush his leg as Hermione and Ron passed him.

"Potter," Snape said. His back was to them, and he was muttering over a cauldron of a pure white liquid. "Are Granger and Weasley here as well? Under that cloak of yours, I presume."

Harry fired off a spell, and at the same time, so did Hermione and Ron. Snape, moving like lightning, conjured a shield. The shock of the three spells on the shield knocked Snape backwards, knocking over the cauldron that he had been working on.

"No…you fool," he muttered. Snape's eyes bulged in anger.

Harry continued to fire off spells while Hermione and Ron tried to work themselves closer to him. Suddenly, their position was revealed as Ron stepped on the front of the cloak, pulling it forwards and off of them.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed. "Get him!"

Harry, thinking like a Quidditch player, decided that he would have to remove Snape's wand from him by brute force. Throwing caution to the wind, Harry rushed Snape.

He grabbed at the man's robe's and trying to wrestle his wand from his hand. Snape pushed Harry hard, and the boy's foot was in the liquid that Snape had knocked over. He thought that he would simply slip, but was shocked when instead of feeling anything solid beneath the liquid, his foot and whole body fell through the floor. The last things he heard were Hermione and Ron yelling his name.

000000

Darkness.

Harry stirred, his head throbbing, and his glasses askew. He opened his eyes and looked around.

"Where am I?" he asked, looking around wildly, talking to himself. He was in a field of grass, and none of the scenery looked familiar. There was a chill in the air, much more than there should have been for a spring day.

He looked around, finding his wand a few feet away. He tried to get a bearing of where he was, but could not tell. He saw no signs of either Ron or Hermione, or even Snape for that matter. The last thing he had remembered was falling through a hole at Snape's house.

He did not know where to go, as there was no contingency plan between them in the case of what would happen if they got separated. He did not know where to go, as he knew that they Weasley's were being watched and Hogwarts was off limits. He decided to try and go back to Andromeda's home, as he guessed some member of the Order would be there.

Appearing in front of the home, he looked around, noticing that a lot had changed at the residence in the few months since he had been there. He hoped that someone had been home and that the place had not been abandoned. It was far too easy for him to apparate to the residence. He decided that the best method was to knock on the door. If there were Death Eaters home, they would only expect a Muggle to use doors in such a manor.

After knocking, he waited. Someone would come to the door, he thought. He was quite shocked when a little girl opened the door.

"'ello," she said. She appeared to be about seven or eight years old. But the part that had shocked Harry the most was the fact that her hair had changed color twice since she had opened the door.

"Hello?" said Harry awkwardly, looking down at the bubble gum pink haired youth.

"Can I help you?" the little girl asked and Harry noticed that both of her two front teeth were missing.

"I'm looking for Tonks," Harry said, smiling weakly.

"Well," said the little girl brightly, "you're gonna have to be a bit more pacific about who, cuz nuttin' but Tonks' live here."

"I'm looking for Nymphadora Tonks," Harry said, trying to peer past the girl and seek an adult.

"I'm Nymphadora Tonks," said the girl.

"Excuse me?" Harry said. He was now bewildered.

"I am Nymphadora Tonks," She repeated louder, and Harry heard footsteps coming. "Who's there Nymph?" came a familiar female voice.

"I dunno," said the little girl.

Her mother came to the door and looked Harry up and down. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked. Harry noticed that she looked a lot younger than she had the last time that they had seen one another.

"Andromeda?" Harry asked, and he noticed that the woman's other hand was reaching inside her robes.

"Can I help you?" she asked again, this time a bit more forcefully.

"It's me, Harry," he said. "Harry Potter."

"No, sorry, don't know any Harry Potter's," she said, and tried to close the door. Harry put his hand up to hold it open and then apologized quickly

"Don't you remember?" he asked. "I was just here a few months ago with Hagrid. Death Eater's attacked my house and the Order was trying to get me away."

"You know about the Order?" she asked, still looking skeptical. "Then that means you know Dumbledore."

Harry gave her a puzzled look. "Dumbledore's dead," Harry said.

She looked at him, and quietly told Nymphadora to go upstairs to her room. "I don't know what you're playing at, but you'd best get away from here. Now."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, and his body shivered. "And why is it so cold? It's supposed to be May."

She looked at him even more quizzically. "May? Now, I know you're off your rocker. It's October, all month long," she said.

"What?" asked a shocked Harry. "Can you please tell me the date?"

"It's October 30, 1981," she said, slamming the door shut and Harry could hear her muttering spells behind the door.