When the Future is the Past, the Present is Now

It felt like he was breathing in stale air as the world around him corroded into nothingness and he was left grasping for something - anything - as the broken time turner spun under his thumb like an object possessed and Lucius only hoped he would not die. There was a piercing sound, a scream; but inhuman and it hurt. It vibrated within his skull, lighting all his nerves on fire as it wore on and on as the ground beneath his feet fell away. Releasing his hold on the time turner, he did not hear it hit the ground and as his fingers yearned for perch, they grabbed nothing but emptiness.

It was in this chaos that he began to wail. He wailed for life as it seemed to be ripped from him bit by bit, leaving his body feeling weaker, smaller, vulnerable. And then, then just as all seemed to be taken from him and he could feel no more, the world or more like a world came back to him. Bit by bit, each sense came back; first his hearing, then his sight, smell, taste and touch.

He heard nothing but wind, the creak of metal, a shuffling of a bird and maybe, just maybe the grind of those muggle carriages's wheels on pavement. His sight first picked out blue, then white and at the edges he thought he spied green and the yellowish hue of a sun as it begins its midday set. Lucius could smell rotting grass and weeds mingling with muggle smog; in his mouth he tasted the hot, muggy summer air of England and when he thought to move his fingers; slick and coarse patches of grass bristled against the pads of his hands.

Sitting up, the world spun once. But then the blond saw something odd, no, interesting come to life in front of him. It was a rusting children's park. An Abandoned one at-wait, there on the swings was a small boy. His clothes were too short and too big in equal parts and his dark hair flopped ominously into his small face.

"H-"

Lucius cleared his throat.

"Hey!" He yelled out. "Hey!"

The boy's tiny foot stopped its rocking motion and he his hair fell back to reveal beady, light-less eyes; it made his breath hitch. He recognized those eyes. A tight frown pulling back his thin face, the child shouted back, tone smooth and clear;

"Yes?"

Struggling up onto his feet, Lucius yelled; "Where is this?"

The boy raked his eyes up and down him, and for once in his life, Lucius felt he was the one out of place. "You really aren't from around here, are you?" He inquired getting off the swing he sat upon.

Lucius looked down upon himself. Fear and repulsion filled him at what he saw; his robe, shirt, pants and shoes were all too big. They sagged on him as nothing ever had and his hands oh good lord! They were a child's! Smooth, pale, finely haired as all boy fingers should be. Just what had that broken time turner done to him? Eyes skittering around the dirt and grass that was around him, Lucius did not spy the broken brass object; further dismayed, he would have sunken to the ground if the child had not appeared in front of him.

Eyes squinting, the boy asked; "Were you playing dress-up in your father's clothes?" Another glance up and down Lucius's form, a knowing twinkle came to his previously vacuum-like eyes. "Or maybe you were pretending to be him? Did you set someone's child's bike on fire by accident? I did that once." His small hands went to his shoulders and rubbed at phantom-pains. "I woulda if I could have. But da locked away mum's potions stuff an' I didn't know where I'd get the stuff to make that potion anyway."

"No," Lucius croaked. "I-" he licked his lips. "I don't know what happened, I just think I got lost."

The child nodded. "You pro'ly caused an accident, don't you think?"

"You have no idea!" Lucius exclaimed, laughter bubbling out of him until it turned to keening wails. In deference to his strength of character, the child did not turn away from his unmanly display and instead waited quietly; occasionally patting his shoulder to say "It's okay," even when they both must have known "okay" was not a possibility.

It was after he'd calmed down enough that the child was no longer a water-pane image of himself that Lucius offered desperation in return. "I can take you with me."

He frowned. "Where?"

"Wherever," Lucius answered waving a hand to the world around them. "Just you and me."

Suspicious, beady eyes searched him. "...Why?"

Why? Lucius hardly knew himself, but what he did know was he'd ruined more than his own life over the course of living and sometimes, sometimes he wondered if this boy couldn't have been happy if he hadn't meddled in his life and used him for his own reasons.

"You deserve everything and more;" He finally answered.

With far too much trust, the boy took Lucius's hand and shook it. "I will go with you," he agreed.

Chortling, he felt it was his turn to ask; "Why?"

Unlike Lucius who had answered with little to no trouble, the child visibly struggled in answering; "I...don't like it here and I'll miss mummy, but she doesn't talk much anymore and-and-" he opened his hands to him. "I feel like I met you once."

"Oh?" He whispered in response.

The boy's dirty hair flopped as he bobbed his head. "Yeah," he affirmed.

There was quiet as wind gusts whipped through the park rustling both of their clothes. He would take him home. He did not know if another Lucius would be there or if he had replaced him, but either way, he will dobetter. He will make everyone's life better. Grasping the child's hand, Lucius inquired in a hush; "Before I take you home with me, where do you want to go? In all the world?"

The child didn't answer right away, but when he does, it's with a wide smile. "The ocean."

It only took a single thought and then the world began to twist behind their navels.

Watching the boy frolic in the foaming waves, Lucius believed he'd found something like peace. It's not perfect, but it's not finished yet either; watching as the child laughed breathless as water lapped at his bare toes, he felt there was still hope in this world. The sun beginning to color the waters hues of pink, orange and red; He stood up from his rock and called out to the boy.

"Hey! It's time to go!"

A dark head whipped around, light still glinting in his beady eyes. It took a moment, but the child trotted over to his side and plopped down on the rock.

"Can we watch the sun set first?"

Lucius couldn't find it in himself to deny the boy the one request he had made all his own today.

"Why not?" He replied and it earned him the right to see a star come to life in his friend's young gaze.

They sit there watching the warmth fade to cold and it was as the moon finally settled high above the air that Lucius thought to question the child's choice. "Why here?"

The boy beside him kicked his feet and looked to the dark waves. "Someone said once the ocean is where all life came from. I've never seen it, but I always wanted to." In the dark, Lucius could make out the white of a tiny, opened-mouth smile; "I can see it now, it's so big no wonder all of us came from it!" In the darkness he could feel the child sigh. "Take me home please," he finally said after a long silence.

Hopping off the rock, Lucius opened his arms and the boy fell into them; once more, the world spun behind their stomachs and whisked them away. Landing in his family home's foyer, Lucius called out; "Father! I have returned!" He didn't know if the man had noticed his absence or if he'd cared, but when he felt the strong, man grip that took a hold of his shoulder he realized his disappearance had been noted.

"Where have you been!?" His father roared with all the rage and fear of a normal man.

Smiling in the dim light, he pulled his young friend between the towering blond and himself. "This is Severus, father."

He fell speechless, looking at the boy and then Lucius uncomprehending of the connection.

"And he will live with us from here on out"

"Lucius-"

He glared at the adult with all the intensity of a man, father, veteran, and hero, villain and victim; "You cannot stop me, father."

"Okay, okay," he whispered frightened.

Combing a hand through the limp hair of his small friend, Lucius smiled at him. "Let's set you up with a bedroom, hm?"

Star-filled eyes shine in the light as the small hand circles around his; "Thank you Lucius."

Closing his eyes, the man but not sees a new world come to life: there is no war, no strife, only peace and happiness and Severus is a part of it. So is Narcissa, his son, his son's son...yes it will exist. Does exist. Opening his eyes, Lucius smiled down at the boy; the first step to this world.

"You are welcome my friend."

And he meant it.

I have no specific instance in cannon when this would have happened, it just does and it is irreversible so Lucius is made to do what he can with the second chance he has been given here.

Thanks for reading everybody and let me know what you all think by leaving a review please!

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