A/N This chapter is a bit short, I expect the others will be a fair bit longer. Also there are characters in this story who would not have been at Hogwarts at the same time as Tom Riddle, but I altered things a little bit to fit my story. Sorry if that bothers you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.
It felt as though the world had come crashing down upon Cassiopeia Black's head, so why wasn't she dead? Everyone she loved was gone. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Fred, George, Ginny, Charlie, Aunt Molly, Uncle Arthur, her parents, and most of her professors. All dead. She looked up from behind the hunk of stone she was hiding behind. Voldemort was standing over Harry Potter's lifeless body while her cousin Bellatrix Lestrange laughed and danced around them. Death Eaters were cheering all around.
A hand yanked her down and she looked into the face of the only person left in the world she loved and trusted, her cousin Draco Malfoy. He was whispering but she couldn't hear anything, it was as though someone had pulled a fishbowl over her head. She stared up into his grey eyes so like her own, there was a cut across his forehead and his lip was split and bleeding. His pale blond hair was matted with blood and soot.
She looked down at her own golden tresses that were singed and stained with blood. There was a long tear in her jumper across her stomach and she knew there was a cut there that was still bleeding.
Draco's large hands grasped her shoulders and shook her.
"Peia!" he hissed. She looked back up at him, her eyes lifeless. "I have a plan."
There was a spark in his eyes that so reminded her of Harry, but Harry was gone now, there was no point in having a plan. Unless he was planning on the two of them running away. They could go to America, live as Muggles. Their parents were all dead so no one would look for them. Maybe Bellatrix, but they could hide from her.
"Peia, are you listening to me?"
She blinked up at him and shook her head. He sighed, exhaustion etched in the lines of his face, his eyes red from lack of sleep. He reached up and slid a gold chain around both of their necks, grasping the pendant in one hand and one of her hands in his other. She blinked at him again in confusion.
"This is Granger's time-turner. She gave it to me before she d-died. Last resort." Tears shone in his grey eyes that she knew were mirrored in her own over the death of her best friend and his lover. "We're going to go back, stop all of this from happening. We're going to destroy the horcruxes before the prophecy is made. We can end this before it even begins, Peia."
"O-okay," she croaked. Her throat was raw and her voice sounded scratchy. She heard Bellatrix's screeching cackles coming closer to them. "Hurry Draco, they'll find us."
He nodded; spinning the time-turner so many times she lost count. How far back were they going? Peia didn't have time to ask before they were sucked through time and spat back out on the cold stone of the Hogwarts courtyard. It had been dawn when they left their time, but a quick look at the sky told Peia it was a few hours later in the day in whatever time they were in now.
She groaned as she pushed herself onto her knees. Every bone felt broken, every muscle torn, the sleepless nights of the last months were finally catching up to her. And she didn't even know where she was.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked, reaching down to pull her to her feet.
"Yes," she lied. He looked at her through narrowed eyes as her knees shook under her weight. "When are we, anyway?"
Draco gave her one last narrowed gaze and sighed. "I think we are in 1949."
Peia started. "You think? Are you mental, Draco?"
He snorted and smirked down at her before looking over her head toward the castle. His entire demeanor changed instantly. He went from somewhat relaxed to stiff and guarded, pulling his wand out of his robes and shoving Peia behind him roughly.
Peia peaked around her cousin's shoulder, gripping tightly to his arm. She saw a boy walking toward them, he was tall and slim but she could see that he was well muscled under his robes, not unlike her father and cousin. In fact, he looked an awful lot like her father, as he got closer she saw his shoulder length pin-straight black hair and sharp aristocratic features that were so like her own.
"D-dad?" she breathed when he stopped a few yards in front of the cousins. "Draco, I think that's my dad! You didn't take us back far enough!"
"Excuse me," the raven-haired boy said politely. "Are you okay? I saw you two basically fall from the sky."
Draco looked down at Peia who had moved to stand almost next to him so she could see this seventeen-year-old version of her father. Her face was completely white.
"We're fine," said Draco curtly. Peia nudged him with her elbow; she was constantly reminding him to be more polite. "Are you Sirius Black?"
The boy snorted. "No, Sirius Black was my grandfather. I'm Orion Black. Do I know you?"
Peia's mouth dropped open. This boy was her grandfather. He had died the year before she was born so she had never known him. Everyone had told her that her father and Uncle Regulus looked just like him, but she didn't realise they were the spitting image of him in his youth.
The cousins shared another meaningful look. Did they tell him who they were? Peia knew that her grandfather had been a close "friend" to Voldemort when they were at Hogwarts together, but that he didn't exactly agree with everything Voldemort stood for, though he was one of the first Death Eaters. They had to make a decision, should they trust him? Or more importantly, would he trust them?
"We can't really answer that right now, we need to speak with Professor Dumbledore," Draco spoke with authority. "Can you take us to him?"
Orion arched a brow at the cousins, first looking Draco over as though he was sizing him up and then over at Peia.
"You're both bleeding," he said quietly. "I think you should go to the infirmary."
Draco snorted. "We've both had worse. If you won't take us, we'll go ourselves." He grabbed Peia's hand and led her toward the castle. "He was the Transfiguration professor in this time, I'm assuming his office will be in the same place as McGonagall's."
Peia made a soft noise of affirmation as she struggled to keep up with her cousin's long strides. Her stomach wound seemed to be worse than she originally thought, and it seemed like her ankle might be sprained.
"Draco," she panted. "I'm having a really hard time walking."
He stopped walking immediately and sighed, reaching down to pick her up. Even though she had lost a significant amount of weight over the past year, Draco swayed under the added weight, he was weak an injured too.
"Here," Orion had caught up with them; he pulled Peia out of Draco's arms. "I'll carry her to Dumbledore's office but you have to promise to go to the infirmary after you speak with him."
Peia didn't hear what her cousin said to her grandfather because she was too lost in his appearance. He had precisely the same eyes as her father and Peia wondered if Orion would notice that she also had exactly the same eyes. Draco's were the same colour, but Peia's were even the same size and shape as her father and grandfathers. She noticed that he smelled like sandalwood and aftershave, she sighed contentedly and buried her face into his chest. She was almost instantly asleep.
