A/N: This is the kind of story you probably want to say you wrote one afternoon on a whim, but honestly it's been sitting unfinished on my computer since 2013 (admittedly, I did write most of it in one sitting). Anyway I greatly enjoyed writing it, so I hope it's reading gives you some pleasure...
It was their sixth year when Harry Potter started following Draco Malfoy, intent on exposing him as the 'death eater' he was sure he'd become.
It was at the end of their sixth year when Draco Malfoy failed to kill Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape succeeded.
It was what should have been their seventh year when the golden trio vanished, seemingly into thin air.
It was what should have been their seventh year when Voldemort took control of Hogwarts.
It was what should have been their seventh year when Draco Malfoy crossed the line, publicly declaring his loyalty to his family and in the process marking his home away from home and everyone in it his enemies. He had never wanted to fight.
It was what should have been their seventh year when Draco Malfoy chose the wrong side, when Voldemort was finally defeated, when Draco Malfoy was tried and eventually set free. Apparently he was so useless in the war it wasn't even worth convicting him.
It was the first month of what was their seventh year when Harry Potter refused to even look at him.
It was late October of what was their seventh year when Harry Potter seemingly went insane, offered his friendship and everything changed.
It was ten years later, after the birth of their first three children, that Draco Malfoy finally learnt why.
And promptly set a plan in motion.
He was a Slytherin after all.
Deep in the department of Mysteries, far beyond the veil room and the revolving doors, lies a small corridor of arguably even greater magical power. The walls, lined with dragon skin and every kind of spell in an effort to stop the magic escaping, make Gringotts appear to have about as much security as a child's lemonade stand. It is here that time turners are destroyed.
"Magic, similar to the laws of nature or muggle 'science' must be kept in a strict balance. Wands enable a wizard to focus their magical energy so that only a small amount is needed to perform a spell. Once the spell fades, magical balance is restored and thus magical energy from an individual is no longer needed. However a time turner continues to manipulate time even after the energy of the spell has faded. The rings provide stability to the hour glass, so much so that even a squib or muggle would be able to use one. As such when a time turner is destroyed, in order to restore balance, time is skipped. The exact number of years, days and minutes which had once been brought back are now moved forward." - a beginner's guide to time travel by Vadeo Flemmings
Remus Lupin wasn't sure how Sirius had once again convinced him that a trip to the kitchens was in order, especially at one in the morning. They'd all barely gotten rid of the callouses from their last set of detentions cleaning the trophy room, but here they were. All three of them squashed under James' one invisibility cloak, backs bent and feet constantly stepping on one another's toes. Peter, the lucky bastard , was deemed too deep of a sleeper to be woken for any impromptu night time escapades. That and four of them no longer fit under the cloak.
As such, cramped as they were, it was unsurprising that, when the Bloody Baron flew straight through them without warning and Sirius tripped and fell that all three of them managed to land in a pile.
"Oof- Padfoot, was that really necessary?"
"Well sorry Prongs, the ghost just came out of nowhere. We can't all be graceful fawns like you."
"Listen here dog breath-"
"Will both of you just shut up? He's probably still nearby" Remus' hiss cut them off.
In the flurry of movement, as three lanky teenage boys tried to simultaneously stand, push each other away and pull the invisibility cloak over their heads once more, no one noticed the chain of Remus' time turner break as James tried to use it to haul himself up. The didn't hear the soft clink as it hit the floor, bounced once, and didn't break. However, they certainly heard the squelch as it met the bottom of Sirius' shoe.
A flash of magic enveloped from under Sirius' foot, spread through the animagus' body, onto the invisibility cloak and down the arms of the other two teenagers also clutching the piece of fabric. With a pull on their navels, they were transported to… exactly the same position they were already in.
"What the hell happened?" James turned to his best friend with a scowl.
" How the hell would I know?" Sirius shot back "It's Remus' bloody time turner!"
"Yeah, well Remus wasn't the one who stepped on it!"
"Shut it, both of you!" Remus was once again called to step in, "there's someone coming."
And indeed, when the stag and dog stopped their quarrel and the hall was silent once more, they could hear footsteps and whispers growing steadily louder.
"Where was it again? Is it the next right… no that leads to the one eyed witch… isn't that where we're supposed to be… no, nearer to the kitchens… So to the right…. And then where… oh never mind, here we are…"
Sirius let out a small squawk, and between the three of them they managed to right the invisibility cloak over their heads.
Around the corner came three girls, either sixth or seventh years. Their ties couldn't be discerned in the darkness of the hall, but their features seemed to be, for all intents and purposes, identical, leading the Marauders to the obvious conclusion that they'd never seen any of them before.
"Who the hell are they?" Sirius murmered.
"No idea… what on earth happened to us?" James replied.
"You should go ask," Sirius began pushing his friend out of the cloak.
"No, you go! I don't want to get in trouble."
"You're head boy! Just tell them you're on duty."
With one final shove from both Remus and Sirius, James was flung out from under the invisibility cloak and into the path of the three girls. However, their reactions were far from the expected scream and run for McGonagall, and fortunately far less extreme.
"Oh good, there he is."
"Father was right, he does always wander the halls alone at night."
The girl on the right stepped forward and held out an arm for James to shake.
"It's nice to meet you in person, younger version of our dad. We come with a message from the future."
James stared at them for a few seconds, in silence.
"Okay," he started, looking at three identical faces, and the Gryffindor tie he could see on the girl who stepped forward, "what's the message?"
"You need to give Malfoy a chance."
James spluttered, managing to choke out "what, why?"
"Because otherwise we'll never be born."
Silence.
"Excuse me?!" James all but shouted at them.
One of the other girls, with a tie of yellow and black, stepped forward.
"Lily, I think you're being too forward. Sorry dad, we should introduce ourselves. This is Lily," she gestured to the Gryffindor "this is Vincentia," she gestured to another girl in Slytherin "and I'm Alba Malfoy-Potter. We're you're daughters, and we've traveled from the future to tell you that unless you and Malfoy make a truce you won't get together and nothing will turn out correctly."
"Ummm, I'm sorry, think you've made some sort of mistake" James gave a stressed laugh "see, me and Malfoy are never going to happen…"
"Look, we know that he's your enemy and all, but you know by now that you're gay, and he's the only one to ever really treat you like just a normal person" the Gryffindor butted in.
"Hold up. This is not happening. This is never going to happen. I'm not…"
"Look, it's okay Dad," The Hufflepuff gave a sharp look at her sister before taking over once more, "Father told us it might take a little while for it all to sink in. If you just call a truce and give him a chance, you might be surprised."
Under the cloak, Remus and Sirius were leaning over each other, knuckles stuffed in their mouths to prevent the girls from hearing their laughter.
"I really wish we'd planned this." Remus muttered under his breath.
"We should do the same thing to Peter," Sirius muttered back.
The image of Wormtail's face if they pulled something similar caused them to double over in laughter all over again.
"We also have another message for you," the Hufflepuff continued. "Dad told us to tell you to tell you that quote 'those dunderhead best friends of ours are never going to get their acts together. I eventually had to shut them in a broom closet to make them get on with it and snog, so you might like to try something similar. They're so oblivious they'll never get on with it alone.'"
Under the cloak, Remus and Sirius glanced at each other, before trying to put as much distance between as other as possible while remaining hidden.
"Okay," the Slytherin girl started, "I think that's everything we had to tell you. Best of luck Dad, I suppose we'll see you when-"
However her words were cut off from a voice from down the corridor.
"Excuse me, who are you and what's going on?"
Everyone jumped and turned at the sound. Behind them stood one Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world, wand drawn, casting lumos over the group.
"Wait…" the Gryffindor looked between the boy behind them and before them "who are you?"
He looked at them momentarily as they were crazy. After years of being recognized even when he didn't want to, having someone ask that question was almost a welcome relief.
"Harry Potter."
"You can't be Harry Potter, that's…" the Gryffindor looked at the boy before them properly for the first time, "wait a second… who are you?"
James was still shell-shocked at the earlier revelation. "James Potter" he managed to croak out.
"Holy Crap!" The Hufflepuff exclaimed "We just gave the message for dad to our grandfather."
Harry stepped forward around the girls, "Dad?"
James looked between the four teenagers, all of whom had claimed him as their father.
"Okay, okay" he began, "why does everyone keep insisting they're my children?"
After a quick trip to Dumbledore and a long series of explanations, everything was finally set in place, and everyone returned to their own time.
Harry went back to Gryffindor tower for a sleepless night followed by an offer of friendship to one Draco Malfoy.
James slept brilliantly, dreaming of the meaning behind Harry's green eyes. Three months later the marauders pulled something similar as a prank on Peter. He almost cried the poor bastard.
The three girls left to their respective dormitories and each wrote a letter to their father, who had given them the date and time to which to return.
The Gryffindor's spoke of honour and the potential effect on the time lines.
The Hufflepuff's was a long lecture on the potential trauma to their grandfather, then a small section of the benefits of Harry getting to meet his father at least once.
The Slytherin simply wrote "Brilliant." and enclosed her memory of James' Potter's face when they'd given him the news.
A/N: There we go! The main thoughts behind this were:
1. People in stories seem to have twins (particularly identical twins) at far higher rates than the general population, so I figured, why not identical triplets? (Yes Harry and Draco did end up collecting the entire Hogwart's house set. The girls have a younger brother in Ravenclaw)
2. I had a bit too much fun naming them. From the Epilogue, it doesn't sound like Harry is super imaginative with names, so I went with the theme of naming them after their dead friends. Obviously there's Lily, and Alba (named after Dumbledore). I imagined Draco would object to all of their children being named after Gryffindors, so they named their other daughter Vincentia (after Crabbe). Their son is of course called James (on a compromise, his middle name is Scorpious rather than Sirius, but Harry likes to pretend it isn't the case).
3. This is kind of a parody. That I got way to into. I'm not sure whether it's a parody anymore.
Anyway, let me know what you think!