A/N: There is going to be Astoria Greengrass here. I know she's a Pureblood Slytherin. But, I just had to make her a Half-Blood Ravenclaw. And Voledmort does not die!
Draco Malfoy, 16, was currently standing in the Drawing Room in The Malfoy Manor with his father. He had been performing, or rather, attempting various dark curses for about three hours now without a break, and now that they've gotten to the Unforgivable Curses, he was having difficulties. He looked over at his father for a second, wondering how much longer would he have to do this.
Lucius was getting tired of this. "Concentrate, Draco!"
"I'm trying, if you'd just let me rest after three hours." Draco turned his wand over in his hand, exhausted and annoyed. Lucius glared at him. "One more time, and I'll give you a break."
Draco sighed slightly, knowing his father doesn't care if he likes it or not, he turned around and tried to concentrate and feel actual hatred for the spider he was forced to practise on. Draco felt like a failure. "Crucio!"
"That's right, Draco. We'll be practising killing curse after your little break. Every Death Eater needs to master these as soon as possible."
Draco turned around, somehow getting furious that his father can't realise that this is not what he wants for himself. "I can't hate a creature that's not even human. If you want me to get this, let it happen in a real life situation! Someone I actually hate, at least in the moment."
"I'll see what I can do about that. But, for now, this spider is all you have. Pretend it's a Mudblood."
At the word 'Mudblood', everything came back to Draco, his childhood memories, then, somehow, he wasn't able to control himself, anymore. "Why don't I make decisions for a change?" He pointed his wand at Lucius. "Making your son's childhood a living hell doesn't account for much attention. Crucio!"
Lucius was shocked. He fell onto the floor, screaming and yelling his lungs out, hoping someone would hear him, and then it stopped. Draco raised his wand off him, his hair falling into his face. There was a long, long pause, and then he said quietly. "I'm done." He turned and ran straight up the stairs.
Lucius got up and rushed after him. "Draco!" He yelled. "So is this what you choose for yourself?! You Blood-Traitor! You are no son of mine nor Narcissa's!" And with that, Lucius left to tell everyone what just happened.
At those words, Draco froze on the stairs, so in the spur of the moment that he couldn't even think of what would happen at the time. His breath was shaking and his hand holding on to the railing, then suddenly, he realized this is it, this was the end of his life as he knows it, torn from the family he cared about through everything they did to him. He slowly walked upstairs and sat down in the first chair he saw, his mind was screaming.
Lucius had a real job finding everyone else in The Manor, but then he stopped as he saw the Dark Lord. "My Lord." He addressed. "Draco is leaving us all, My Lord. A Blood-Traitor. He is no longer son of mine."
As Draco kept sitting, trying in vain to collect his thoughts, he felt his Mark burn painfully. His first reaction was to get up at once and Apparate downstairs, but he forced himself to keep sitting, feeling both hatred and pride of himself for his defiance.
Lucius told Narcissa everything, she was in tears. She rushed upstairs to find Draco. And she did, she found him sitting on one of the chairs. She walked up to him. "Draco?" She said softly.
Draco looked up at his mother's voice, his eyes not steel as they always were, but stormy grey, although completely dry. He was shocked at her standing there, so he got up, taller than her. His voice meant to be sharp, but it came out questioning and naïve. "Came to tell me how much you despise me for defying the family, Mother?"
"I want to tell you that I want you out of here, tonight. The Dark Lord knows, he wants to kill you." She said softly and pulled him in a hug. "Go to Hogwarts, and stay there, safe."
Draco's eyes widened slightly as she said it, and he hugged her back lightly. "Mother, it's no use. If he wants to kill me, he will find me." He pulled back and glanced down. "I never meant any of it. I hated this life."
"I'm really sorry, I was such a terrible mother. You are still my son, regardless of what Lucius says."
Draco shook his head slightly. "You were, and still are, the best mother a boy could ask for. If it wasn't for you, I'd… I'd have left of free will a long time ago. There were things you never knew, things that happened when you were out, I-" He trailed off, realizing he may be giving away too much. Narcissa didn't seem to notice it. She started to cry. Draco frowned slightly, glancing down then back at her. "Mother, stop it, please. You know I can't bear to see you in tears, please." He stepped forward towards her, and dried her tears with his sleeve like he has many times before.
Narcissa slowly stopped crying, realizing he couldn't stand her crying. "I'm sorry, I'm just so worried, Draco."
Draco made an effort to keep his voice from shaking. But more for her sake than for his own. "I'm going to be fine. I'm not a boy anymore. I can do this. We'll reunite someday and then we can live by the river, like you always wanted…"
"Good luck, Draco. Just go to Hogwarts and stay safe, until it's all over. Please." Narcissa took out her wand and gave it to him. "Take it, just in case."
Draco looked at her wand as she gave it to him. "But… But I still have my wand."
"Just in case. In case you break yours."
Draco shook his head again, and gave it back to her. "If anyone finds out about this, you'll be defenseless. Absolutely not."
"Yeah, you're right. Now go pack your things. You need to get out of here."
"Everything's already packed by magic and sent away." He hugged his mother one more time. "Goodbye, Mother." He turned around and walked down the stairs, knowing he can't Dissaparate within the walls of The Manor.
Narcissa couldn't stand it anymore, she ran out of the room into her bedroom. There was no way in hell that she would let Draco go just like that. She thought about it and came to a conclusion. She'll go to Hogwarts tomorrow morning. She hates this place, and the fact that her life will be ruined if she stays.
As he reached the foot of the stairs, Draco looked around quickly, making sure there was no one there. He heard his father's voice coming from the dungeons, and Draco quickly walked out of the door, closing it behind him. He turned around, intending to run to the gates and Dissaparate, but came face to face with The Dark Lord, instead.
"Going somewhere, Draco?"
Draco stepped backwards instantly, against the door he had just closed. "P-Perhaps…"
"Where are you going, Draco? Silly Draco, you think you could get away?"
Draco didn't answer anything, his eyes slowly changed from stormy grey to silver, his breath was shaking, and the in one second, the realization hit him. He was going to die, he instantly became terrified.
"Too bad, Draco… Avada Ked-"
"Expalliarmus!" Narcissa yelled, not believing she just disarmed The Dark Lord. "Not my son." She spat, threateningly.
As Draco heard Narcissa shouting the spell, he turned into a complete shock, his hand still closed around the doorknob of the front door.
"If you're going to kill him, fine. Go right ahead. But, you'll have to get past me first." She said and started circling around, and stopped in front of Draco, protecting him.
In a second, Draco pushed her out of the way, refusing to let her shield him. "Never in million lifetimes."
My son is mad, Narcissa thought. "Draco, don't you even dare to mess with me." She said, and The Dark Lord already started firing spells at her. She blocked them, and ducked. Draco grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him, still holding his wand in his hand. "I'm not letting this happen!"
Narcissa ignored his madness, and fired all the spells at The Dark Lord she could think of. "Draco, step aside." She ordered.
Draco avoided nearly being hit by one of her spells, then pulled her behind him again. "You are not dying. Not now, not today, not until you're really old because you deserve it, leave this-"
"Draco, I'm your mother, just remember how Lily and James died for Harry!"
"I don't care. I love you, Mother. But, you are not dying for me. Not until the hell freezes over."
Narcissa didn't listen, but pointed her wand, and casted the killing cure at The Dark Lord. "Avada Kedavra!" She said.
Draco gasped as she did it, unable to say anything. The next thing happened way too quickly. The Dark Lord did some sort of spell that rebounded the killing curse. Narcissa prepared herself to die, but nothing happened.
Draco immediately looked at his mother, expecting the curse to hit her, he realized it wouldn't happen, and then understood what would. He hardly had the time to brace himself, then everything went black, his silvery-grey eyes became empty, his fingers slipped from Narcissa's hand, and he fell to the grass. Dead.
Narcissa opened her eyes. The Dark Lord was gone. But where was Draco? She didn't have to think. She looked down and saw his lifeless body laying on the grass. "NO! NOT DRACO!" She screeched to particularly no one and sank on the ground over Draco. Mentally cursing herself.
Draco's lips were slightly parted , his eyes shining, but empty, his hair was falling into his face and his wand was still in his hand.
Narcissa cried and cried her eyes out, literally, for what seemed like an eternity. The Dark Lord was nowhere in sight. She knew what to do. She will avenge Draco, she took his wand, and headed for The Manor, only to be stopped by her sister, Bellatrix.
"What are you doing out here, Cissy? Shouldn't you be diverting attention from Draco, idiotic sister?" She hissed.
Narcissa started crying her eyes out again at the mention of his name. As soon as she stopped, she spat at Bellatrix. "I'm about to avenge my son, Bellatrix, get out of my way." She said dangerously. She never said anything like that before.
Bellatrix grabbed her arm, forcefully. "What do you mean 'avenge your son'? No time for that, just get him out of here safely-"
"He's gone, Bella. And so is The Dark Lord."
"THE DARK LORD IS DEAD?!" Bellatrix almost screamed. Narcissa nodded, and showed Bellatrix Draco's wand.
"It's Lucius's fault." She said.
Bellatrix was boiling with anger. "It's LUCIUS'S fault The Dark Lord is dead?! After everything we've hoped for?!" Bellatrix didn't even notice Narcissa was talking about Draco.
"NO! I mean, it's Lucius's fault Draco is dead!" Narcissa sobbed. "It's a long story. I casted a killing curse at The Dark Lord… And… I-I don't know what happened…"
Bellatrix opened her mouth slightly. "Draco is dead? Well, Cissy… You have to admit, he brought it upon himself-"
"Don't say a word against him! He never wanted this, and neither did I. And Lucius will pay, eventually."
"Draco never wanted what? To be part of this? To serve The Lord?" Bellatrix became furious. "Then he deserves everything he got, and you better get your priorities straight before you end up like him."
"I'd rather end up like him, then continue this madness!" Narcissa was pissed.
"Madness, Cissy?! How dare you… You unworthy…"
"Unworthy what, Bellatrix?" Narcissa challenged. "Disgrace? I don't care. I'm done. I'm sorry, Bella, but we are not on the same side!" She yelled.
"Well, enjoy getting yourself killed!" Bellatrix turned crisply, and slammed the door behind her.
"I will." Narcissa muttered and left for her room.
On the staircase, Lucius was quickly coming downstairs, hurrying down as obeyance to The Dark Lord's orders. He brushed past Narcissa, hardly noticing her.
"Lucius!" She yelled as he brushed past her. She pointed her wand at him. "I hope you're happy now." Was all she said, before she left, changing her mind and escaping to Hogwarts, instead.
Lucius stared at her for a moment, wondering what on Earth was she talking about.
Narcissa didn't care if he was confused. She ran out of The Manor, apparating in the Frobidden Forest. Both her and Draco's wand in her hand. She started walking.
She came to Hogwarts. She'll ask for help. She went inside, and the first thing that came to her mind was reading, to take her mind off of the things. So, she headed for the library.
As Narcissa got to the library, the rows and rows of the dusty books seemed different somehow. The window was open, although, it never usually was. It seemed like there was some movement in the library, even though no one was there.
There was something very odd in the atmosphere. She held both wands tightly in her hand, and started to walk around. "Who's there?" She asked casually.
"Someone who's not breaking the promise of not leaving your side." A voice sounded from a distance away, a young man's voice.
"Draco?" Narcissa was shocked and broke into tears again.
Draco came out to see her, his eyes looking at her. "Mother, stop crying, for goodness sakes… There's no draught, we still have water in the country…"
Narcissa stopped crying, she reached out for him, but her hand went right through him. "Does it hurt, Draco? Dying?"
Draco met her eyes, paused for a moment, then shook his head slightly. "Not much."
Narcissa nodded. "How did you know I would be here?"
"I didn't. I just, well… I spent a lot of time in here at Hogwarts, I suppose… I never thought you'd come."
"Well, of course I'd come. I couldn't stand your father and his madness for a second longer."
Draco crossed his hands. "Mother, may I ask you something? Why did you marry him?"
Narcissa never really thought about it before. She shrugged. "He was different. Completely different than he is today. I-I don't know. He was never involved with the Dark Arts before…"
Draco raised his eyebrows. "Him? Never involved with the Dark Arts? You're joking." Draco then suddenly realised something. "Damn, I forgot to introduce you to Astoria… Not that it matters now anyway…"
"I'm serious." Narcissa stopped. "Wait a minute… Astoria?"
"Yes, well, I… Uh… I'd rather you didn't find out like this… We've been together ever since our fourth year and I… Uh… I was planning to propose to her once she was seventeen and I'd be eighteen…"
Narcissa looked at him as though he was mad. "You WHAT? You had a girlfriend ever since your fourth year and never told me anything?"
Draco was slightly shocked by the way she reacted to that. "Sorry, Mother… It's just… There were reasons I didn't want it to getting to Father…"
"If you just told me not to tell anyone, I wouldn't… Hold on… Astoria who?"
"Astoria Greengrass… Well, it's just… She's not a Pureblood… I thought…" Draco trailed off.
"You thought we would… Oh Merlin, Draco! I would never do that! She's a Half-Blood?"
Draco nodded. "Yes."
Narcissa nearly facepalmed at this. "I really don't know what to say about this…"
"I'm sorry, alright? There were reasons…" Draco bit his lip and glanced down. "When I was a boy… Six or seven… He would torture for talking to Muggle kids from the village… For hours… If he would find out I was planning on marrying someone non-Pureblood parentage, I-"
"Your father did WHAT?!"
Draco looked up, meeting her eyes. "Now you know what I've hidden from you all these years, because I hated seeing you cry."
Narcissa was speechless. "You Father and I were planning to divorce when you were really young, but never did for your sake. Now I wish we did, so I could take you away from that lunatic…"
Draco shrugged. "He said it was for my own good. I was seven and believed him. I think the only way it has changed me is that I could not do the Cruciatus properly. Actually, he was trying to get me to learn it properly this morning."
"At least you used it on him." Narcissa smiled.
"Yes, and it got me killed. If I could go back, I… I'd probably be smarter about it… Knowing what he's capable of…" Draco now whispered. "I swore years ago, that if I ever have children, I would do the exact opposite of what he did to me… Of course, it doesn't matter now…"
Suddnely, an idea hit Narcissa. "Time-Turner." She thought out loud.
Draco frowned slightly. "What?"
"A Time-Turner, Draco, we can go back in time."
Draco understood now. "I don't think it will work, though, if someone was meant to go back and fix it, I wouldn't be dead…"
"Exactly, you wouldn't be dead."
"That's a time paradox… If someone had done it… It would have already been done… Therefore this." He gestured around. "Wouldn't be a reality…"
"It wouldn't. We would change the past and therefore the future."
Draco went speechless as he understood that his death could be rewritten. Narcissa figured out he got it. So she just had to ask him. "What do you say?"
"As long as you don't put yourself in danger, I dare you to find one person in the world who would say no."
"I won't put myself in danger. But the answer is easy, your Aunt Bella would say no…"
"So, if she died, she would refuse the chance to fix it? I seriously doubt that."
"She sometimes said she really wanted to die…"
Draco glanced at her, and decided not to reply to that. "Thank you."
"Of course." She smiled softly. "Are we going to go now?"
Draco nodded.
"Room of Requirement should do, right?" Narcissa asked.
Draco looked impressed. "I am still at wonder how someone that intelligent could fall into this."
"Falling into what?" Narcissa was confused, and she slowly began to walk out, towards the seventh floor.
"This situation, good luck." Draco left her as the doors closed behind her.
"Thanks." She muttered to herself and began walking on the moving staircases to the seventh floor. And as soon as she stepped onto the seventh floor, she heard someone walking.
"Who are you?" A weird dude asked.
"None of your business." Said Narcissa, and she brushed past him and his cat.
Jest beside the stretch of the wall hiding the Room of Requirement was a girl, about fifteen or sixteen, doing extra summer study work, reading a book Potions from the Beginning. She had dark, wavy hair down to her chest and almond brown eyes, completely consumed in reading.
Narcissa stepped in the Room of Requirement, it was filled with random things everywhere. Oh my, she thought. There were so many things here, she didn't even notice she wasn't alone. She began walking and started to search every corner of the room. After she got tired of it, she took out her wand. "Accio Time-Turner." She said, and a Time-Turner went flying towards her, hitting her in the back of her head. She bent down and picked it up, smiling like an idiot.
The girl looked up and put her book down, then walked over to Narcissa, her brown eyes looking at her. Her voice was sweet and melodic. "If you're going to use a Time-Turner, use this one." She picked one up from the floor Narcissa didn't notice, and handed it to her. "The other one's been broken for years, you tell them apart by the chain." She slowly took the broken Time-Turner from Narcissa's hand.
Narcissa jumped as the girl spoke to her. "Oh my God, you scared me." She took the Time-Turner the girl gave her. "Why, thank you, I didn't notice. How long can it go?"
"Let's see." The girl thought for a second. "I think the estimate is about a week, if you tried farther back, you'd be cutting edges…"
"Oh alright. Thank you, very much." Said Narcissa, who put the Time-Turner around her neck and started to walk back to the library.
"While, this one." The girl dangle the some other Time-Turner with her right hand. "No matter how far or how little you turn it, you will always end up in a random period of time with no escape. It's no fun." She didn't notice Narcissa leaving. "Wait, wait." She caught up with her. "No offence, or anything, but there are some serious risks you're taking if you're planning to use that."
"What do you mean?" Narcissa asked.
"I'm doing a Time-Travel classes on weekends. One little mistake and anything could go wrong, from killing people, to driving yourself insane, to destroying the space/time continuum…" She laughed slightly. "We had someone end up in Nova Scotia, Canada, and have no idea how it happened."
"I'm sorry, but I really need to use it."
"Well then, take someone who knows what they're doing with Time-Travel, you have no idea how much damage these things can cause. I can help you."
"How can you help? Because, it's really important to me."
"I can come with you. Trust me, your reasons for doing it will be entirely confidential." The girl looked up at Narcissa, looking very beautiful and intelligent with her deep brown eyes and dark, wavy hair, and a Ravenclaw tie over a neat, collar shirt.
"What is your name?" Narcissa asked.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? Sorry, that can happen. My name is Astoria. Astoria Greengrass."
Oh Merlin, not now, Narcissa thought, think, think. "Nice to meet you, Astoria, I'm Narcissa Black." Narcissa didn't want to say 'Malfoy', she didn't feel like explaining anything.
Astoria looked at her for a second, she knew perfectly well who Narcissa Black was, and who she got married to, and who her son was. "Isn't that Narcissa Malfoy, last time I checked? Although, if you hid it, there must be a reason, so I won't ask you any questions. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Narcissa swallowed hard, but didn't say anything. As soon as Draco is going to be alive again, I'm gonna kill him, she thought. Narcissa just smiled. "Can we go then?"
Astoria smiled very slightly. "Oh, I think you can figure it out what you're doing on your own, as long as your past self doesn't see you. If it's important enough for you to hide your last name, I'm clearly on the way."
"It's just complicated. It would be better if you don't know, believe me. How many times should I spin it?"
"Well that would depend on how far you want to go. One hour is one turn…"
"Okay, thank you." Narcissa turned to leave. Astoria put the Time-Turner around her neck.
"And one more thing. This room is the safest place to do this right…"
"Okay, then." Narcissa couldn't hide her happiness any longer. She started to spin the Turner. One… Two… Three… Four… Five… And six for good luck.
As Narcissa vanished, Astoria sighed and sat back down on a random sofa and continued reading her book, although she could no longer concentrate.
The Time-Turner, Astoria gave Narcissa was a special one, it takes her directly to the place where she wanted to be, her appearing six hours earlier in the main stairway in The Malfoy Manor…
Next thing Narcissa knew was that she was on the main stairway of The Manor. She no longer had Draco's wand with her. She had to be careful though, so she made her way to the Drawing Room, where Lucius had been teaching Draco Unforgivables.
Draco's voice was heard from the Drawing Room. "Well, I'm finding that a little difficult at the moment, alright? Imperio!"
Narcissa nearly jumped out of happiness. She came in the Drawing Room. "Draco?" She asked. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
