TIME


Chapter One


Harry could feel the wetness in his eyes as he looked over at his mentor. He was pale, weak and dressed in, as Albus called them, the most unfashionable and uncomfortable robes in the magical universe.

He was dying. And there was nothing that even the Boy-Who-Lived, Auror, Lord Peverell, Grand Sorcerer or Harry stupid Potter could do. It infuriated him.

Harry looked up into Dumbledore's eyes again to find the old man staring silently at him.

"Now, Harry." Albus began softly, "We mustn't allow our emotions to take over."

Harry rolled his eyes and chuckled lightly, wiping his cheeks from where the silent tears had rolled. Every time Harry visited him, that was pretty much all the ex-Headmaster told him, along with his mission.

"You're mad, you know that, right?"

Dumbledore laughed, but it turned into a raspy cough soon after. Harry reached over and handed him a glass of cold water from his bedside table. He nodded gratefully, but didn't take the glass, instead he placed his cold, frail hand over Harry's and looked into his eyes.

"You are the only way."

Harry nodded, used to this now, "I know, Albus."

Dumbledore shook his head almost childlike and drew his hand back to clasp his other, "No. You don't."

Harry leaned forwards, "Well, tell me then."

Dumbledore shook his head again but stayed silent.

Rolling his eyes, Harry placed the glass back on the table and stretched his arms out, "Okay." Harry looked at his watch, "Albus, I've got to be going, me and-"

Suddenly Dumbledore sat up and grabbed Harry's hand, "No. No...don't go. Not yet."

Sighing, Harry nodded and settled his free hand over Dumbledore's. The mans mood swings were more unsettling than anything else. One minute he was the care-free Albus Harry knew, and the next he was a nervous wreck.

"Okay, I'm not going anywhere."

Dumbledore sighed in relief and leant his head back onto the Hospital pillow.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dumbledore spoke again, "It is the only way. You know that, don't you Harry?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, I know what I have to do with Tom-"

Dumbledore shook his head frantically again, "No! No...no...no..."

"What is it, Albus?" Harry asked concerned, "What is it?"

Dumbledore turned his head to face Harry again, "The only way." he whispered, "You can fix it. Change it."

"What do you mean? What do you want me to do?"

Dumbledore smiled softly, "You'll know when you get there."

Harry frowned, "Get where? Where do you want me to go?"

Chuckling to himself, the older man ignored Harry in favour of his fruit pudding that had just appeared on his lap.

"Finally cracked hasn't he?" drawled a voice from the doorway and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Shut it, Draco."

Draco Malfoy crossed the room and leant against the wall next to Dumbledore's bed. The old mans eye followed him.

"I mean, I used to think that he was mental in my first year...but now-"

Harry spun in his chair and faced him, "Draco, I mean it. Be quiet."

Malfoy held up his hands in mock surrender, "Alright...alright."

"Draco Malfoy." said Dumbledore neutrally as he stared at a surprised Draco. Dumbledore only usually acknowledged Harry, this was a breakthrough.

"Yes, sir. Draco Malfoy." Draco nodded with a small smile on his face and Harry fought to keep his impassive mask on as the blonde boy quickly sat next to Harry and stared at the old man with terribly hidden glee.

"And...Harry Potter."

Harry nodded, "Yes, Albus. Harry and Draco."

"Apprentices..." the old man whispered, looking between Harry and Draco.

The boys both nodded, "Yes, sir."

Dumbledore looked pleased with himself and turned back to his fruit. Draco nudged Harry and raised a gloating eyebrow. Harry let the corner of his mouth curl up into a small grin at his friends antics.

Harry, Draco, Ron and Neville had been chosen by Albus to become his apprentices when they left school, and the two boys were the only ones left; Neville had been killed off my Death Eaters during his Auror duty's (Dumbledore had made them all become Aurors as well as his apprentices, something about it helping their training), Ron had been taken prisoner and tortured until brain dead at Malfoy Manor. And then that had left Harry and Draco. They hadn't originally wanted to work together, but when Albus had said that it basically was his way or the highway, they had agreed. In the end, they had bonded over which one of them got to kill Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, who was now residing in Azkaban Prison. They had completed their training about two years before Dumbledore got ill. Once Dumbledore died, they would be the only two Grand Sorcerers left in the Magical World.

It was Dumbledore that had brought them together, and it would be Dumbledore's legacy that would keep them together.

"Did you tell Kingsley that we would be late?" Harry asked as Draco nodded.

"Yes. Although he said that we didn't have to go in..."

Harry shook his head, "We have to. Scrimgeour needs us to take the prisoners to Azkaban today."

Draco shivered and Harry turned to look at him, "I know that you don't want to be around your-"

Draco's eyes burned white and Harry knew him well enough to take it as a 'shut your mouth' signal.

Sighing, Harry leant back into his wooden chair and Draco watched Dumbledore chew happily on his pudding.

Once again, the room fell into a comfortable silence, well, apart from Dumbledore's cheerful humming.

After about ten minutes the door to the room opened and in came two women dressed in lime-green robes with an emblem of a wand and a bone crossed; healers.

"Lord Peverell, Lord Blake." the healers nodded to Draco and Harry as they walked over to Dumbledore.

Harry rolled his eyes whilst Draco looked smug at his new title. The last of the Blake's had died off so Draco had inherited the title, once that had occurred, he had been officially booted out of the Malfoy House hold.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Marie? It's Harry and Draco-"

"Lord Blake." interrupted Draco and Harry rolled his eyes again as Draco continued, "Or Grand Sorcerer. Whichever you prefer."

"Call him ferret-"

"Call me ferret and I'll kill you."

"I'd arrest you."

"I'd like to see you try."

The healers watched the two most powerful wizards in the world with amusement as they bickered back and forth. They only stopped when Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Gentlemen, I believe we have company."

Draco and Harry nodded, sheepishly, and kept their eyes on the floor. It was crazy that Dumbledore could still make them feel them silly school children. Even with his rapid changing moods.

"How are you feeling, Mr Dumbledore?" asked one of the Healers.

"Perfectly fine, m'dear." Dumbledore beamed at her as the two 23 year olds next to him scoffed their disbelief.

The Healer chuckled and took his temperature, "Well, you do seem to be in a normal mood and you are acknowledging others now. Has he been this way all day?"

Harry shook his head and Draco answered, "No. He's been like a whinging baby-"

"Draco!" snapped Harry as Dumbledore's cool gaze swept over them.

"Well, he has!"

"He recognised Draco earlier as well." added an exasperated Harry.

The Healer nodded and gestured to her companion who took notes of what they had said.

"We'll be back in ten minutes."

And the two women left, closing the door behind them.

"I have not been whinging like a baby." stated Dumbledore and the two boys rolled their eyes.

"You've been having mood swings like one..." muttered Draco.

Dumbledore chose to ignore him and began drumming his fingers on his white bedsheet while humming an unknown tune.

It took about half an hour for something to happen next.

Suddenly, Dumbledore stopped humming and his head snapped to a rather startled Harry and Draco.

"It is time." he said firmly and gestured for the boys to come closer.

"Time for what, sir?" asked Draco hesitantly as the old man grasped their shoulders tightly.

"Time for change, young Draco, what else? It had originally been just for Harrison, but why not yourself also?" rambled Dumbledore, his blue eyes burning brightly with unused magic.

"Uh, Healer!?" called out a nervous Harry but he was stopped from speaking any more by Dumbledore's hand over his mouth.

"Silence. I cannot do it if they are in here."

"Do what? Albus, what's going on? Time for what?" asked Draco.

"Time for change." repeated Albus firmly.

Quick as a flash, Dumbledore brought his hand up off of Draco's shoulder and gestured towards the door. It flashed gold along the edges and soon enough, a bunch of people tried the handle. They could hear the Healers trying to get in.

"Albus, what're you doing?" asked Harry and Draco nodded once weakly in agreement.

Dumbledore ignored the question and jumped out of his bed with the agility of a much younger and healthier person. He walked quickly to the centre of the room and waved both of his hands in the shape of infinity, creating a red burn on the floor - a rune - of the mark of infinity.

He quickly shoved shocked Draco and Harry into either of the rings on the floor and placed his glowing red hands on the floor.

Harry tried to move, but found his feet stuck to the floor. He felt Draco tense up beside him as he realised the same.

They could only watch as Dumbledore started chanting in what Harry guessed was Latin, and moved his hands about the floor in circular motions.

Then, Dumbledore stood, eyes ablaze, and smiled wickedly at them.

"This is it, m'boys. The end and the beginning. Enjoy yourselves, but remember your mission. Prevention, elimination, protection."

"What...Albus - what're you doing!?" yelled Draco, worry in his voice.

Dumbledore just winked and the two boys let out yells of shock and agony as they watched their mentor and guide drop to the floor without ceremony.

Wind seemed to come from nowhere as Harry felt his black robe billow around him, his hair whisking all over the place.

And before either wizard could do anything, they felt a sucking in the ground and the two boys were dropped through the ground. They had vanished.

It felt like forced apparition, only several magnitudes worse. His body twisted and compressed, there was pressure on all sides, and Harry would have cried out except there was no air left in his lungs. The sensations of pain and dizziness grew to almost unbearable levels, before abruptly ending as Harry slammed into solid ground. He lay face down in the dirt, gasping for air with his eyes squeezed shut, fighting off the wave of exhaustion and nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. It took a long moment for his stomach to settle and his breathing to even out, but eventually he was able to drag himself to his feet and look around.

Harry had to fight down a laugh at seeing a dishevelled looking Draco Malfoy laying face up and swearing at the top of lungs at Dumbledore.

"...crazy fucking old man! Stupid - insane -!"

"Draco! Shut it!" Harry snapped after a few moments and he reached down to help Draco to his feet.

Once the two boys were stood, they cast a wandless, wordless Scourgify on themselves, and looked around.

Their surroundings were vaguely familiar; they were standing in an empty Piccadilly Circus tube station. Harry wondered if he had dreamed it all, Dumbledore seeming calm, and then going crazy and collapsing right in front of them, before they were sucked through the floor. Certainly sounded like a dream. Harry whipped around, wand in hand, when he heard Draco's gasp of shock behind him.

"What? What is it?" Harry said quickly, his head peering around for any danger.

Draco said nothing, but pointed to a giant billboard in front of them. It was advertising a very 80's looking Buick, a crowd of people wrapped in coats, scarves and gloves even though it was summer time but what scared Harry the most was the date in the bottom corner.

December 3rd 1977.

1977.

Harry's heart felt like it had dropped to the floor, "But-but..that could be an old board..."

Draco raised a disbelieving eyebrow which contrasted against the fright in his eyes, "Knowing our luck, Potter, is that likely?"

Harry sucked in a shaky breath and ran his hand through his hair, "Well, what're we gonna do?"

Draco shrugged and turned around, but gasped again and fell to the floor, "My wand!"

Harry peered over his shoulder to see Draco's once whole wand snapped cleanly in two on the floor. He must've landed on it.

"That's not so good."

Draco spun back around, "Oh yes, thank you for your sympathy, Potter." he snapped. But then his mouth curled into an evil smirk, "Well...at least it's not just mine."

Harry's head shot down to his hand which held his wand, and he felt the air get pushed out of him as he saw his own wand was missing it's top half.

"Shit."

"My sentiments exactly."

The two wizards stood in the empty station for about ten minutes, thinking about what had happened.

"I bloody hate Dumbledore." said Draco eventually and Harry couldn't help but agree with him.

But what had Dumbledore said? Something like, 'Remember your mission. Prevention, elimination, protection.'

Then a lightbulb went off in his head, "I think I know what he wanted us to do."

"What? Other than get sent into the past by 27 bloody years!?" yelled Draco in frustration and Harry rolled his eyes at him.

"No. He said to us right before he...did whatever he did, prevention, elimination and protection."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Harry sighed exasperatingly, "Come on, Malfoy, think! Think back to the Tom Riddle lessons. What did he do in the late seventies?"

Draco rolled his eyes but thought back anyway, "Uh...oh. Oh! He rose to power in the late seventies!"

Harry nodded slowly, "So Dumbledore obviously wants us to prevent it!"

"But... this is early Voldemort. And we are in the past. How are we going to manage to kill him off? And what about the Horcruxes?"

Harry lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, "I'm not sure. But we've got to try-"

"We've got no choice but to try. It's not like we can just go and ask for a time-turner from whoever is in charge here." snapped Draco.

Harry ignored him and let out a deep breath, "So what first?"

Draco crossed his arms and peered around, thinking, "I suppose we should get wands. It's not like we need them, but..."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Okay, wands. But we'll need money first."

Draco huffed and ran a slightly shaky hand through his hair, all the while showing his Lordship ring, "Well...if you think about it, your still Lord Peverell and I'm still Lord Blake. And since there are no Lords for either of those Houses in this time, we can claim to Gringotts, show them our rings."

Harry smiled and slapped Draco on the back, "Good idea. But before we do that, we need new identities."

Draco rubbed his back, annoyed, and said, "Why?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Well, I can't very well go into Gringotts as Harry Potter. And you can't as Draco Malfoy. Our families and parents are here, Draco."

Draco looked slightly peeved but rolled up his sleeves all the same, "Fine. Glamour's then. I'll do you first."

Harry nodded hesitatingly and shut his eyes. He felt Draco's strong and undetectable glamour's cover him fully.

It took him a few minutes before he stepped back, pleased. Harry stepped forwards to do the same for Malfoy when he snapped out, "You better make them undetectable, Potter. I don't want Dumbledore or Riddle seeing through me."

Harry nodded with a raised brow and got to work.

In ten minutes they both looked completely different. Malfoy had short, brown hair with hooded black eyes, a crooked nose and a lopsided grin. He was about 6"2 and Harry had even transfigured his clothes so that he was wearing a tight dark blue button up shirt with a black tie engraved with the Blake Family Crest, formal black trousers and dark blue oxfords.

Draco had made it so that Harry had long, slightly curly jet-black hair that came down to his shoulders, amber, golden eyes, a straight nose and a charming smile. He was about 6"4, had a slight stubbled face, and a muscular physique. Draco had transfigured his clothes into a black polo shirt that showed off his new strong arms, a pair of black chinos and black oxfords.

"Very nice, Malfoy, I must say." Harry was surprised to hear how deep his voice was, Draco laughed at his friends wide eyes.

"I think you'll find that it is Hercules Draco Blake." said Draco smugly, with a lopsided grin.

Harry chuckled but then cringed, it would take some time getting used to this voice, "Alright, Hercules."

Draco dusted himself off and peered up at Harry, "Well? What's yours?"

Harry leant against the wall and thought for about twenty seconds about his new name before Draco snapped his fingers together, "I've got it."

Harry raised a thick black eyebrow, "Oh?"

"Taurus Harrison Peverell."

Harry crossed his thick arms and thought, "Taurus? Where'd you get that from?"

Draco shrugged non-committingly, "Mother wanted to name her next born that, but...well, y'know..."

Harry nodded and eventually said, "Alright...Hercules. What's first?"

Draco cleared his throat while Harry pretended to not notice the silent tear that had travelled down his cheek at the memory of his mothers death, "Gringotts. Let's apparate, I'll meet you outside."

Without another word, Draco, now Hercules, apparated out of the empty and degraded station, leaving Harry, now Taurus, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

He sighed and brushed his clothes off, "What have you done to us, Albus."

With that Harry apparated right into the middle of Diagon Alley. But he didn't find what he expected there...

He was still muttering to himself about his and Draco's situation when the building next to him exploded in a huge fireball that threw him through the air. He groaned and shook his head as he struggled to regain his equilibrium, his ears still ringing from the explosion, his back aching from where he had hit a brick wall.

Harry snapped his head up as he heard footsteps coming near, but he found it to be only Draco, looking very pissed off.

"Look at this, Pot-Peverell!" Draco caught himself quickly as he helped Harry up and out from beneath the rubble, "We haven't been here two minutes and already someone's trying to fucking murder us!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Relax-"

Draco scoffed, "That's exactly what a Gryffindor would say, 'Relax, Draco, it'll be fine. Oh look! There's Tom Riddle over there, I am going to go and try to hug him now! And look, some more murderers over there-!'"

Harry quickly cut him off when he became aware a very familiar sound; spellfire. On instinct, he dropped into a crouch and brought Draco down with him, causing the now brown haired boy to squeal in surprise.

"What the bloody-!?" started Draco, but Harry interrupted him again by shoving his hand over his mouth. Draco looked ready to argue or bite Harry's hand, but was stopped when he too heard the noise, and the most unnerving thing of all...was that it wasn't directed at them.

Harry let go of his friends mouth and gestured for him to follow. Harry kept low and began scanning the area for the cause. Eventually he found it.

The noise of fighting was coming from across the street, near the side of the burning building, he finally realised as he barley made out flashes of red and green as wizards and witches duelled.

Harry jumped almost half a foot in the air when Draco whispered in his ear, "Those aren't Death Eaters. Riddle hasn't organized them yet."

He shot a glare at him, but nodded in agreement anyway.

Getting a fix on who was fighting was difficult because of the shadows cast by the nearby buildings and flames, as well as the panicked bystanders who were screaming, fleeing and hiding from the firefight. What concerned Harry and Draco (Harry mostly) was that both parties seemed to be using illegal spells - they would swear they caught the distinctive green light of the killing curse a few times as they watched.

"Who the heck are these guys?" whispered Harry to Draco as they both fixated on the fight, eyes shining with the reflection of the multi-coloured curses.

Draco just shrugged and crept closer, being careful to keep some sort of cover between him and the fighting. Harry sighed and followed him, knowing that this meant that Draco would probably want to get involved in this.

Harry fell flat on his bum when Draco jerked to an abrupt halt. He was about to curse at him when a brilliant fireball erupted from the location of the two warring parties, but this time the aftermath was suffused with screams of the injured. Harry shook his head warily. Any doubt that they should stop this disappeared; whoever was fighting obviously had no care for the lives of the innocent. He didn't know if the Aurors of this time were just as slow as the ones in his - he hoped not, but he couldn't take the risk and wait for them to arrive. Harry knew that from the way Draco's hands were curled into angry balls that he felt the same way.

As Harry debated on how to interfere, the fight escalated as both sides begun using spells of increasing destructiveness. Fireballs and killing curses gave way to sprays pf acid and venom, only to be replaced by lightning storms and deadly pressure waves. Both of the 23 year olds had seen these spells before, they had been used on the battlefields of their time and also Dumbledore had been sure to go over almost every spell in the book with them at some point, so they knew the results, and they weren't pretty. Harry inched his way closer, he could feel his fingers sparking with magic, itching to be used. He only stopped when Draco held up an arm, holding him in place. It had always been like this with them, Draco would hold Harry back from joining a fight until he thought that it would be beneficial for both of them to join in.

Harry, of course, had been reluctant at first, but as they worked together on more and more battles, their magics seemed to trust one and other, leaving them to trust each other also. So Harry waited. He waited and watched as Draco evidently tried to work out who was winning, who were the good guys (if there were any good guys), and if they needed to interfere.

Suddenly, but not unexpected, Draco brought down his arm and gave Harry a short nod, both looking into the others eyes and seeing the unrestrained magic there.

Harry leaped into action as Draco stayed behind the cover.

He fired a series of random stunners wandlessly, he didn't want to use any of the more dangerous spells he knew yet, not when he could just knock them out.

He quickly ducked behind a slab of overturned concrete as both parties seemed to realise that someone else was firing at them. Clearly thinking that their enemy had hired a sniper to take them out, they all open fired on his position causing his concrete cover to shudder from the impacts.

"Bloody hell. What are you doing, Draco?" Harry swore and poked his head around the cover to try and spot Draco, but pulled it back just in time to avoid a series of nasty-looking hexes that flew overhead. The constant drumming of spells told him that he would have to reveal himself soon, especially of Malfoy wasn't thinking of doing anything. He was about to get up and start firing back, when the spells stopped banging against his cover and a moment later a breathless Draco dropped next to him; the concrete under attack again.

Draco looked over at Harry, breathing heavily, "Shit."

"Nice of you to join."

Harry nodded at Draco's glare as his lips quirked upwards. Draco raised an eyebrow and slowly lifted his mouth into a smirk. They had always loved this part.

"Left or right?" Harry asked, his mouth nearing a smile now.

Draco snickered, a dark glint to his eyes, "Right."

Harry nodded and watched as Draco immediately spun away from the cover.

"Stupefy!" he roared as he threw himself forwards, blocking the measly dark spells rocketing towards him.

Harry turned back to face the way he was sitting, chuckling darkly.

Merlin, it would take him a long-ass time to get used to this new voice, even his laugh was different. And his longer hair, that had to be the fifth time it had gone in his mouth. With a caress of his hand, his shoulder length black curly hair, tied itself in a low ponytail just at the crook of his neck and he grinned humourlessly.

Just in time, Harry threw himself down on the ground into a press up position as a blasting hex tore a fist-sized chunk of concrete out of the block he had been using for cover.

He rolled to his feet, adrenaline pumping through him. His eyes darted across the street to where Draco had taken cover against about ten assailants. But now, it seemed that Harry had captured more attention. Well, some things never change.

He hesitated a brief second to note the location of the incoming fire, then ducked and rolled for the nearest available cover, throwing himself behind a set of wooden barrels that contained something he did not want to identify. He rolled to the side as the barrels began exploding under the withering barrage of fire.

Harry clenched his fists as a splinter of wood made a dash across his cheek, allowing blood to fall down his face.

"Alright, you want all out war, you've got it." he muttered to himself as he reached the last barrel. Hoping that those shooting at him were still were he remembered them to be, he silently counted down as his cover was reduced to rubble.

The last barrel splintered as a "Reducto!" hit, and Harry threw himself into a forward roll, right hand slicing down through the air as he went, firing back with a load of low-powered hexes and jinxes that would hopefully send the opposition scurrying for cover themselves, and buy him, and Draco, some breathing space.

He sprung back to his feet, sweeping his hand wide to raise a wall of flame, snatching the flames from the burning buildings, making them stop blazing and creating a barrier between them and the two boys.

Harry quickly ran over to Draco, getting to his friend when he had stood from behind his cover.

Draco stared at Harry's fire wall, "Nice. I imagine we're going with Tactic C, then?"

With their extensive training with the Ministry, as Aurors, and Dumbledore, as Grand Sorcerers, Harry and Draco were always being paired up on missions together, and therefore had planned different Tactic options for different situations.

Harry nodded and made his way, Draco following, around until he was almost behind one of the groups, covered by the smoke and flames.

Draco took up a similar position on the other side with the other group, and smirked at Harry, signalling his readiness. Harry grinned back and with a wave of his hand, he found himself staring at the exposed backs of one of the hostile groups. He raised his hand, putting much more force behind the spell than it was designed for, "Pulsus!"

The overpowered banishing hex was copied by Draco on the other group and blasted all the combatants, tossing them through the air; it would leave bruises, but wouldn't kill them.

Harry quickly cast a mass area wide, "Expelliarmus!" and he found himself with about fifteen wands in both of his hands, and when he looked towards Draco, he saw that he was also in the same predicament.

Harry ducked as one brave soul tried to catch him off guard by getting to his feet and throwing a punch. But Harry and Draco had also been trained in muggle fighting, unhappily in Draco's case. So Harry snapped back up and gave the man a strong kick to the stomach that sent him backwards and on his arse again. Hmmm...perhaps this bigger and physically stronger body had it's perks.

As the majority of them all tried to stand, a number of pops sounded and men and women in distinct purple robes appeared. Immediately they started to detain the fighters and started putting out the fires that Harry hadn't managed to pull into his fire wall.

He watched and suppressed a groan as a number of bystanders that were being questioned by free Aurors were pointing and gesturing over at Harry and Draco.

Half a dozen Aurors then turned around and approached Harry, their wands drawn and aimed at his chest. He smiled cheerfully and threw all the wands down at his feet just as Draco yelled with laughter in his voice, "Careful with that one! He's dangerous!"

Harry's laughter boomed through the Alley, surprising many, as he replied, "Yes, yes. Be afraid of me! Not ferret-boy. Careful though, he does tend to hide in people underwear!"

Draco glared at him and turned a colour almost lilac while Harry snickered and held up his hands in mock surrender to the Aurors, "Nothing to worry about, lads. Just trying to do our bit."

However, his next sentence was somewhat cut off when Draco walked speedily over to Harry, completely ignoring the Aurors trying to detain him. Draco turned and faced who appeared to be the lead Auror when he got to him. Harry followed his lead and crossed his arms, liking the way he could see the muscles move, but his easy going smile slipped off of his face as he recognised the man before them.

Sure, he was twenty-five years younger, with his right leg still intact, had a little less grizzle and there was a distinct lack of a creepy magical eye, but this man left no doubt to Harry who he was. Mad-Eye Moody.

He quickly regained his grin, "Hercules, my man, it appears we are acting unbecoming of our status." Harry held out a hand to Moody with a short bow of his head, "Taurus Peverell, Head of the House of Peverell. This here is Hercules Blake, Head of the House of Blake."

Draco stuck his chin the air as he fiddled with his tie, trying to get it back into place, "Yes. Although I am rather confused as to why these men are pointing their wands at us, Taurus."

Harry scoffed as Moody's Aurors looked towards their boss who had just let go of Harry's hand after shaking it twice.

Moody took a moment to give both Harry and Draco the once-over and turned to the men, "Go and help the others with those idiots in the dirt over there." The man waited a moment until they left, then took a few steps towards them, eyeing them very carefully.

Draco snorted, "It's about time you arrived. Merlin, it appears the Ministry is no better than it was in my fathers day."

Harry nodded absentmindedly, "Well, what did you expect, Herc, -" Draco glared at Harry, "-with the way things are, I cant imagine it getting any better."

Draco rolled his eyes and said, haughtily, "It can't help with that horrific Minister they have here."

Harry shrugged, trying to keep his face impassive as Moody studied them and seemed to think that they had forgotten that he was there.

Moody cleared his throat making Draco snap his head to the old Auror, Harry's grin widened when Moody flinched slightly at the intensity of his glare. Harry rapped his knuckle on the side of Draco's head, "Relax, Hercules."

Draco rolled his eyes again but still didn't glare as much as Moody spoke, finally, "You guys are the ones who took down all of those...people...back there?" he asked with unmistakeable disdain for the combatants, who were the in process of being rounded up and transported to Ministry holding cells.

Harry was about to say, 'Yes.', when Draco beat him to it, "We were. And if I didn't know better, it would seem that you didn't hear Lord Peverell when he announced that we were indeed Lord's of Ancient and Noble Houses, else an Auror of your stature would never have the audacity to call us 'guys'."

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes at Draco's little outburst of social call. But Draco merely buffed his nails on his dress-shirt and stared down at an angry looking Moody.

"Of course...my Lords." Moody growled, "I apologise." he turned to the people being rounded up before he spoke again, "The witnesses seem to agree that you're not part of the people who started the trouble, Lords. So we're no gunna charge you. I still say that you're crazy for taking them on..." At this Moody leaned in slightly, as if sharing a secret, "They're saying you did it wandlessly?"

Draco merely snorted and Harry waved a hand, as though flicking something away, that didn't seem to be the answer he was looking for, but he didn't push it anyway - possibly due to Draco's earlier speech.

Harry looked over at the fighters, there were only a few left now, and there were many more reporters on the scene. Well, if he and Draco were going to be staying here, it was probably right that they were firmly planted on the side of the light right from the get-go.

"Who are they anyway?" he asked, hoping to get some answers out of the man. Moody looked up at him, and sighed.

"Purebloods. They're dissatisfied with life, the Ministry, each other, so they take it out on whoever they run into at the time. I wish that it was only the young ones doing this, but things are getting tense even among the family Heads in the Wizengamot." the Aurors tone told them all they needed to know about what Moody thought about those sort of politics, "Anyway, their family's and Heads of Houses will be driving us up the wall until we release them, so we wont even be able to get them with anything."

"That is usually the way it works." said Harry with a sigh, "I don't think that I've come across a pureblood who seems to take his actions in hand by himself."

Draco turned sharply to him, "What are you trying to say?"

Harry smirked but chose not to answer, and instead turned to Moody, "Are we free to go?"

Moody looked at him strangely for a few moments, before tilting his head down to peer at Harry's Peverell Lordship ring, he then brought his head back up and met Harry's eyes with his, "Of course, thank you for today, Lords. I hope we meet again, under different circumstances."

Harry and Draco knew for a fact that the old Auror definitely did not want to meet them again, but nodded all the same. They turned and walked away, ignoring the flashes of cameras in their direction.

And so it had begun.