Challenge: Someone AKA Me's The Hunger Games: Fanfic Style Competition II (round 1) on HPFC
Philaria's 85 Shades of AU Competition on HPFC
DobbyRockSocks' Harry Potter Chapter Competition on HPFC
Lamia of the Dark's One of Every Letter [Challenge] on HPFC
Character: Percy Weasley; Draco Malfoy
Prompts: Word- petrichor/emotion- fury/Dialogue-"I...can't."/Character- Percy Weasley/Setting- The Burrow/Word count- 999/Weapon- a silver tongue.
Draco Malfoy; 14. Adopted/Raised by another.
Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 37, The Lost Prophecy: Alternatively, write about something unbelievable.
U.
Word count: 999
A/N: Draws on the 'many worlds theory' in Quantum Physics, which proposes that the universe divides every time a decision is made: our universe, where the decision that we think was made follows through, and a parallel universe, where the alternate decision was made.
Years ago, muggles devised a theory that states that every decision made splits the universe in two, creating parallel realities. Called the "many worlds theory", it's doubted by many muggles, of course, but then non-magical people have never been particularly open-minded.
Deep within the Department of Mysteries, a response to this theory has been hidden. It functions as a Penseive, allowing the user to step in and experience the reality first-hand. Percy Weasley discovered this by mistake, having ventured down to seek an Unspeakable the Minister had asked for. He approached what he thought was a Penseive sitting atop a desk, not acknowledging the dark sheen that marked it as something else entirely.
The vision within consumed him.
A bundle that Percy recognised almost instantly as an infant rested in the pale arms of the woman, who argued furiously with her companion, dependent on the rain outside to drown out the noise they made. The soft scent of petrichor disguised the abject misery of the situation, and the baby lay still, silent. At first, Percy wondered if it were dead. Then it tightened its' fist on its' mothers cloak, and he concluded that it must be alive.
"Narcissa, you cannot ask this of me. You've barely spoken to me for years, and to toss me into the mess between you and Lucius? It isn't fair!"
The mother, with her pale everything, shook her head, her near-white hair flying wildly around her thin face.; she must have been a younger Narcissa Malfoy to the one Percy had met once or twice. "Andromeda, life isn't fair, never has been, and it certainly won't start now. I'm asking one favour of you, one tiny favour, that could change the fate of our entire family. Are you honestly begrudging me that?"
"Not at all, but -"
"Andromeda, please, I am begging you. I will literally get down on my knees if that's what it takes. One favour, please, one thing, and I will never ask anything of you again, and I will ensure Bellatrix does no harm to your part of the family. Please -"
"You can't ask this of me; you can't ask me to raise him as my own!"
"I'm not! I'm just asking that you don't leave him with me. Lucius wants him to be a Death Eater, Andromeda, and I just know he won't survive. He might inherit the Malfoy gift of a silver tongue, but he won't survive being a toy for the Dark Lord. Please, Andromeda, save my son."
Percy wasn't certain what he was seeing, assuming it was a memory as Andromeda Tonks, who looked frighteningly similar to her evil sister, stared at the desperate blonde. The rain was starting to ease outside their private refuge, and both women seemed acutely aware of the need to end the argument. He adjusted his glasses nervously, hoping for an answer. Then the truth crashed into him.
"I'll take Draco, Narcissa, but you'll never see him again. Say goodbye to your son."
Narcissa stared at the boy, then pressed him into Andromeda's arms. "I...can't."
Narcissa Malfoy turned and vanished on the spot, but Andromeda stayed for the moment, staring down at the boy she'd unwittingly adopted.
"Draco Malfoy," she said, then stopped. "No. Draco Tonks." She frowned. "It just doesn't sound right, dear."
This never happened.
The Burrow rose in its' usual chaotic glory before him, and he recognised the night, though he had only heard stories: the night of the seven Potters, where six people had taken Polyjuice Potion to become Harry, in order to keep him alive another night. Alastor Moody had died that night, and his brother George had his ear cursed off.
A group was just moving to the house, a body pulled between them - George, Percy figured, carried by Lupin and Harry. The set hurried across the yard, then returned after some minutes to stare at the sky. Percy shrugged and moved closer, joining them, though they didn't seem able to see him, and listened as Harry reunited with Hermione, then with Ron, leaving Fred to meet with George.
Just as he was starting to fall asleep, another group emerged, this one larger than the others: a collection of four. Bill leaned down to kiss his then fiancee, embracing Fleur, and the limping form of Alastor Moody growled some warped compliment. But this isn't right at all.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, standing up quickly. "You were meant to be the fourth group back; why are you so late?"
"Bloody Malfoy was there, but the resident Slytherin certainly held his own against his uncle. Kept us alive."
Draco smirked. "Did you just say I saved your life, Mad-Eye?"
"Don't get cocky," Hermione scowled as the very confused Percy looked on.
"She's right," Harry agreed.
"She's always right; why else would she be called the brightest witch of our year?"
"Draco!"
"Hey, if he hadn't insisted on coming, Mad-Eye would've dragged Dung into this. I think we got the better deal."
"Ron, don't encourage him!"
Percy didn't bother trying to understand as the illusion faded away.
He groaned, rubbing his aching head. "What in the name of Merlin was that? That's no Pensieve; those things never happened."
"Quite right, Mister Weasley," the Unspeakable smiled thinly. "This is the magic of a multiverse visualisation bowl."
"That's not a simple name."
"It's not a simple concept. The first thing you saw did happen, though, Mister Weasley, I assure you. It resulted in a different turnaround, which created our universe as we know it today."
"Narcissa -?"
"Offered her son to her sister in an attempt to protect him, yes. I was assessing this vision, as the young Mister Malfoys' trial is rather soon."
"Next week."
"Precisely. I simply needed to determine whether his actions were a conscious decision, or forced on him."
"Can you do that?"
"There's no law saying I can't."
"But there're no records saying this is possible!"
The Unspeakable smiled. "Precisely."