"Don't worry," reassured James, "they'll be here soon...ah, there they are!"
Two figures, a man and a women, stepped out from the forest and into the light of the moon. The man was stooped forward, and the women's black eyes glared suspiciously at Ginny from underneath her low-pulled hat. James stepped forward to shake the man's hand and ask, "How's it going, Iain?"
"We have the goods," growled the man in a gruff voice, gesturing to a metal box held by his companion. "Hand over the cash, we have work to do."
"Ah, Delisa too! How do you do, madame?" James said, ignoring the man's order.
"No games tonight, Potter," said the woman, her piercing eyes shifting over to him. "Iain and I really do have to get going."
"Very well, I suppose there's time for chit-chat later. Here, come with me, we'll settle on something." To Ginny, James added, "Wait here."
She nodded, and watched nervously as the three of them stepped behind a tree. Minutes passed, and Ginny began to worry. What if they did something to him? she thought, her stomach clenching at the thought.
Just as she was about to move forward and check to see if they were still there, James emerged from the shadows. He carried the box with him, and was staggering under the weight of its contents.
"Help me with this," he grunted as he struggled to keep a grip on it. Ginny hurried over to him, and relieved him of part of his burden by taking ahold of one side.
"How much did you pay them?" Ginny asked curiously as they began to walk back to the castle. "It must have been a fortune."
"Oh no...I didn't pay them anything," James replied distractedly.
Blinking, she said with surprise, "Then how did you get this?"
"Well...you can't tell this to anyone. One of my uncles tracks rare creatures, and it just so happens that he managed to capture a living shroud the other day. Iain and Delisa - they're the two folks who I just got this from - have been searching for one for quite a while, without any luck. I simply gave them instructions on how to steal it from my uncle's place."
"But won't your uncle be upset?"
"Yeah, but he'll never know it was me who sent them. S'no matter, he'll find another one somewhere. Anyway, this is a pretty good deal on our part; these ingredients in here -" James gave the box a shake "- would otherwise have cost a few thousand galleons."
Ginny's mouth dropped open in shock. "Where do they get these things?" she asked uneasily.
"Oh, here and there," he said, not looking her in the eye.
She raised an eyebrow, suspicious of his behaviour. A twinge of guilt nagged at her, telling her that their actions surely had to be illegal, and that she shouldn't just let it happen. Although Ginny opened her mouth to comment on it, she decided against it. The Marauders must do this kind of stuff all the time and they've never been caught, she reassured herself before letting the issue drop.
"I think there's something Draco, Ginny, and I need to let you guys know," Hermione said nervously the next day. The Marauders, Lily, and Draco, Ginny, and her were gathered around the golden statue. The corridor was empty save for the seven of them.
"What is it?" Lily piped up curiously.
Hermione gulped, and looked at Draco and Ginny. Draco sat apart from everyone else, and was looking at the ground with an angry look on his face. Ginny was sitting to Hermione's left, and she kept shooting apprehensive glances at James.
"We're..."
The faces of Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily looked at her expectantly.
"We're not who you think we are," Ginny finished for Hermione. "We're not from Scotland, and most importantly..."
"We're not from this goddamn time period," growled Draco.
Hermione cringed, and tentatively raised her eyes to see how they were taking it. To her surprise, they all had slight smiles on their faces.
"Oh come on, you can do better than that," James said with a chuckle.
"We're serious," said Ginny.
"You're not," he argued back, although the smile was beginning to fade a little bit.
"You want to see?" she said softly. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the feather. Another few hairs had fallen from it overnight, and now a mere 5 or 10 hairs remained. "This feather brought us back from 1997. That's the year we're from...and we're not from Scotland, we're Hogwarts students."
"That's...not possible," Remus said weakly.
"I don't know how it is either, but it happened and I'm glad it did," Hermione said. "I...I don't know if it's a good idea to tell you guys this, but we had to let you know that we're going to be gone..." her voice trailed off, and tears sprung to her eyes as she struggled to get the next words out. "...tomorrow."
The disbelieving and shocked expressions on the Marauders' faces told her that they had finally realized she was not joking. Sirius was the first to speak up.
"Why didn't you tell us before?"
"I...we don't know."
The silence that fell following her words was heavy; only the quiet sobbing of Ginny and Hermione broke it. Draco appeared to be too upset for words or tears.
"I need some time to think this over," Lily said at last. She stood up, not looking either of the three in the eye. James, Remus, and Sirius all nodded in agreement. Silently, they stood up, and one by one, the four of them trailed out of the corridor. Draco, Hermione, and Ginny were now left alone.
"That was the hardest thing I've ever done," Ginny said, wiping tears from her cheeks.
"No kidding," muttered Draco.
"We're leaving tomorrow," Hermione said numbly, more to herself than the two other people near her. The fact had finally hit her head on when she said it out loud to the others. "I need to be alone right now. Bye guys."
"Me too," Draco added, turning around. He left without another word, and soon after, Ginny and Hermione did as well.