"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."
William Shakespeare

Chapter 2: The Game

As Sarpe Diavol looked at the clock on the wall of the small coffee shop, he knew what he needed to do. Answer the many phone calls of his secretary, the numerous ones from his wife, meet Blaise Zabini Jr. for a drink, and then head home for dinner. However he didn't want to. He couldn't think about this world right now however, not after what Mr. Malfoy had just told him. Not after what he had discovered about Falnic Potter and pain that Ava Potter was dealing with. He wanted to get away. Get away from these haunting thoughts. He then glanced at the clock on the wall once more and before he even had time to glance back down at his coffee cup, his impulsion got the best of him and he was gone. He had apparated on a hill near a big, beautiful cabin. Green grass surrounded every centimeter of the ground as far as the eye could see and besides the big oak tree near the cabin there was nothing but hills for miles. A soft, warm, wind blew gently as the sun warmed him, and for the first time in what seemed like the longest time a smile spread across his lips.

He knew exactly where he was, and although this place was filled with the memory of that night, the night where everything changed, it was filled with some of the most beautiful memories in his life. He looked at the patio of the cabin and he remembered the warm summer nights with her in his arms. His smile grew, and although he hadn't been here in ten years it felt like he had just been here yesterday. He walked down the hill towards the cabin and as he saw the big oak tree he smiled as more happy memories came flooding back. As images of her emerald green eyes, her long wavy black hair, her smooth olive skin, came back to him his smile grew, his body lightened tremendously, and he felt once again like a young man of twenty-six. His steps dramatically quickened and then stopped dead as the one horrid memory hit him the moment his eyes hit a gravestone. After a few moments of standing there he began walking towards the graves and as he read the name Andrei Malfoy he looked down at his feet. He couldn't move anymore, he thought he might be stuck to this spot forever now, for that gravestone was a reminder of a life he had once craved so desperately and now was lost forever. He was frozen, frozen with fear and regret and sadness, sadness for Ava Potter, for Falnic...and then all those emotions left him, and something else took over his body, something that made goose bumps run all over his body and moved him to his very core, a voice, a little voice that made him turn towards the cabin and then freeze again.

"Mommy there's a man here." The boy said, the boy was Falnic Potter, he'd bet his life on it.

The boy ran up to him and stopped a few feet short. He was quite handsome, a sight to be seen really. His hair blonde like Andrei's, his eyes big and emerald, his nose small, and his face thin and handsome. He was tall and thin and had a sweet demeanor, like his mother, yet proud and strong like his father. Mr. Sarpe Diavol smiled at the little boy and felt such love, nostalgia, and pity for him. He kneeled down on one knee and smiled sweetly at the boy.

"Hello mister." The boy said.

Mr. Diavol's smile grew, and then as he was about to speak he heard a second voice call, "Falnic! Falnic, darling where are you?" Then as he saw the woman to whom the voice belonged to he stopped dead for a moment, he felt as if he had been hit by a ton of bricks. She was beautiful and had not aged a day in ten years. Her hair was blonde, which Sarpe did not like compared to her jet-black hair, but still she was as beautiful as ever. She was wearing a black dress, tight, short to her knees, and quite classy. The noise of her black heels as they walked down the steps of the patio and walked nearer to him where the sweetest noise he'd heard in years. His heart stopped, his breathing followed and he feared he might die, in the next few moments.

However as she drew nearer his heart quickened, his breathing too, and instead of death, pleasure began running through his veins. He slowly rose and as she drew nearer it was as if his youth was being restored to him. Ava Potter walked over to her son and grabbed his hand and as her eyes met Mr. Diavol's she stopped dead as well. The three stood in silence for a moment and Mr. Diavol was sure he could see tears build up in her eyes. At that moment pleasure was replaced by fear. Did she recognize him? Did she know? Had she figured it out?

"Excuse me," she said, "I... you... for a moment I thought. Have we met before?"

Mr. Diavol shook his head.

She nodded, "I'm Ava," she said.

"Sarpe Diavol."

"Did you know him?" She asked as she pointed to the grave.

Mr. Diavol nodded, "Quite well."

She nodded too and as she looked at him once more, Mr. Diavol then saw tears falling down her big emerald green eyes. He wanted to run to her, wipe away her tears, grab her and kiss her. He wanted to console her but was afraid to speak, he was afraid of what he might say, because he knew exactly what he wanted to say. He wanted to confess, tell her everything, fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness, Would she forgive him? And although one part told him that she wouldn't there was still a part of him that told him she might, and that was the part he desperately wanted to believe.

"Falnic go inside darling." She said to her son sweetly, and the boy ran inside obeying his mother.

She then turned to Mr. Diavol once more and tried to smile as she pushed back tears that so desperately wanted to run down her cheeks.

"Are you all right?" He couldn't bear to say her name.

She nodded, "How did you know him?"

"Since birth practically," Mr. Diavol said.

She nodded silently, staring at him, studying his face. He didn't shy away from her however although he knew that he shouldn't allow her to study him so, although ten years had passed he knew her, and she knew him, she knew his face and that was why she was studying him so. Although all of him knew to walk away now, a part of him the same part that hoped she would forgive him wanted her to notice him.

"Were you related?" She asked as she moved closer to him.

He smiled. "He loves you more than you can ever imagine."

"Loved," Ava said as she pointed to the grave and she swallowed and looked down, "he isn't around anymore."

Mr. Diavol said nothing. He just looked at her. How beautiful she was and how he loved her so, still to this day. He walked closer and stopped himself from touching her even though he craved it so.

She looked up at him and their eyes met again, her green eyes met his pale blue ones and he smiled a smile that his lips hadn't expressed in what felt like an eternity. He cocked his head to the side and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. His spine shivered as their hands touched, how pleasant it was that her touch still made him shiver. He could sense her whole body freezing and then all then all pleasant emotions subsided and he panicked. He let go of her hand and took a step back. She knew, he knew she knew, and the knowing look in her eyes scared him. She moved closer to him and as she went to touch him with a look of wonderment and awe, Mr. Diavol committed the biggest regret of his second life and disapparated.

He opened his eyes and she was gone. Her image replaced by a huge three story house. He stood at the gate for a minute staring at it. He hated himself, if this had been his second chance with her he had just blown it. He wanted to apparate to her again, but he couldn't, he had ruined everything once again. So he walked inside the gated house with the perfectly trimmed yard instead. He opened the door and began walking across the corridor, when a beautiful woman came to him smiling. Her brown hair tied with a ribbon and her mahogany eyes sparkled by the light coming through the window. She kissed him sweetly on the cheek and Mr. Diavol walked past her showing no change in his blank expression. She tried to speak but without realizing Mr. Diavol cut her off. "I'll be in my study. Make sure no one disturbs me."

"Aren't you going to say hello to your kids?" his wife asked.

"I've had a bad day," he said as he continued walking.

"Well," his wife said, "I don't mean to make it worse but Thomas Necaz called your office after you left, then he called here. He wanted you to call him as soon as you had some free time. He wants to get a new house built and he wants you to design it."

They both stood in silence for a moment, then Sarpe said, "I can't call him right now. I'll call him tomorrow, I need some time."

"He'll get suspicious, he's the Minister of Magic, you can't ignore his phone calls."

"I'm not calling him now!" Mr. Diavol insisted!

"Sarpe is everything okay?"

He nodded. "I just want some time to think."

His wife was quiet for a moment and then as Mr. Diavol took a few steps away from her she said, "Your father was here today."

Mr. Diavol stopped and turned to face her. "I already spoke to him."

"He wanted to talk to me," she said.

"And what did he say to you?"

"That we should leave England."

"That's preposterous! We have a life here, I have job here... everything is here... I'm not leaving!"

"I agree with him Sarpe, we should leave."

"No!" Sarpe said.

"You can get a different job, we can have a different life, a better life."

"We're not leaving Mallory!"

"Why not?" She asked.

"We're not!"

"If we don't leave that means you have to call him back and work with him and meet him and what if he recognizes you."

"He won't Mallory," Mr. Diavol said as he tried to reason with his wife. "The mind is a powerful thing, he won't know who I really am."

"But why even risk it? Why?"

"Mallory, we're not leaving! It's final!"

"It's because of her isn't it?"

"Mallory, you're being crazy. I just I'm comfortable here and I don't want to leave."

She looked at him and her face tightened. "So are you going to do it?"

"Do what?" he asked.

"Kill your son?" She said without feeling. "He told me. Your father told me about Falnic."

Sarpe looked at her and for the first time ever he realized that his wife wasn't as sweet and as nice as he had thought. He didn't say anything he just walked away from her.

"You and your father can pretend all you want but you're still him... You're still Andrei Malfoy! You didn't die that night and you didn't just top loving her and what a fool I was to marry you." She walked away from him and even though he didn't turn around he knew she was upset, he knew he should go console her, he should tell her she was wrong, because that was why she had said those things just so he could contradict her, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to play this game anymore. She was right anyways. so why pretend? Why pretend that she was wrong? Why pretend he was Sarpe Diavol when really he was Andrei Malfoy, alive and kicking and still in love with Ava Potter. He needed wished that things had turned out differently... if only he could change things... make them better.

It was then that he made his mind up. He could fix everything, all he'd have to was alter time. Alter time in such a fashion so that he would end up with Ava forever. He knew exactly where to go too, all he'd have to do was remember, remember everything, remember their story and then figure out where exactly he needed to go to change it, to live the life he had always wanted. He wouldn't be a coward this time, he wouldn't take the simple way out, he'd stay by her side forever.

Chapter 2:) Please let me know your thoughts... I'm not quite sure if I like it all that much yet!