X
True Slytherins
Dark Mirror
-O----------
Voices were speaking.
Through the fog, he could hear them.
"Well it's not just every day that two naked boys fall out of the sky, Harry!"
He tried to move, but soon found that it hurt too much.
"How are they?" A more familiar voice asked. "Are they going to be all right?"
"A few scrapes, bruises, and the stray broken bone - nothing I couldn't fix in a few minutes," the first lady replied. "I think they really did fall from...somewhere."
"The resemblance is uncanny," someone else noted, as Albus struggled to get his eyes open.
Hospital, again! He groaned, blinking and realizing that he didn't have his glasses. He assumed that the flesh-and-white-colored fuzzy shape to his left was Scorpius, in bed as well, but he couldn't be sure. 'Naked boys falling out of the sky'? He wondered, "Oh, no," he groaned out loud.
"The dark-headed one's awake!" Some lady exclaimed, and Albus could see the shape moving towards him. Once again, he felt the magical scans penetrating him.
"I don't care how much they look like us," Albus then heard his father saying, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then Harry Potter's voice turned cold. "I want to know who they are, where they came from, and why they're here! And I want to know it now!" He paused. "Why isn't the little one reacting?"
Doesn't he know me?! Albus gasped.
"Because he probably can't see you, Potter," that lady spoke up again. "Scans show he's badly nearsighted, and you're too far away. Let me see your glasses so I can duplicate the prescription."
Albus heard a muttered word, a soft popping sound, and suddenly the world snapped into focus as glasses were gently fitted to his face. He yawned, wincing in pain, and opened his green eyes all the way.
"Dad!" He gasped.
But Albus got a shock as his father rounded on him, pointing a wand that the boy didn't recognize - right at his nose. He looked closer at his father.
Harry Potter was dressed all in black, his businesslike robes trimmed all in scarlet and gold. His black hair was messy and shot through with gray. The glasses were the same, but the eyes behind them looked harder. His face was lined, his brow creased, as his shoulders set as if he were carrying the weight of the world. As Albus stared again at the long and well-used wand pointed at his face, he saw his father's hand tremble just a bit. Then he saw the ring.
It had the most ugly black stone mounted in it that Albus had ever seen. Why anyone would have wanted to mount it in a gold setting and wear it, the boy didn't understand. It looked too large for a ring setting, and it was even cracked down the middle.
"Give me a reason!" Harry snarled at him, pulling back and turning to the Mediwitch that Albus didn't know. As he did, Albus saw the shimmering swirl of a paisley patterned cloak billowing behind him, as parts of his father seemed to vanish beneath it.
Albus looked around, and saw his Uncle Neville and Godbrother Teddy Lupin. Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron were there, as well as James - who looked terrified.
"Dad? It's me - Albus?" Albus whispered, shaking his head, but this version of his father apparently wasn't done with him.
"I don't know who you think you are, boy," Harry said coldly to Albus, sticking the tip of the Elder Wand up to the frightened boy's nose again, "But after I keep you locked up in here for an hour or so, and the Polyjuice Potion you're obviously taking wears off, you'll regret that you were ever born - much less daring to come here, impersonating my son!"
"D-dad?" Albus stammered, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's me! I'm Albus! Really, I am! Why don't you believe me?"
"YOU are NOT my son!"
The look on Harry's face, his harsh words, and the rejection were more than Albus could stand. His father had never spoken him to like that, and he couldn't take it, given what he'd just been through. In every other alternate Hogwarts he'd visited, his father had always known him. Albus began to cry, turning hopefully to his big brother, James.
"James?" Harry nodded to him, "You all right?"
James nodded and glared at Albus, his brown eyes flashing murder and his deep auburn hair looking like it might catch on fire in anger.
"My little brother died when he was nine years old!" James retorted hotly. "And he'd never Sort into Slytherin! Dad disbanded it after the War, you sick b*st*rd! There is no Slytherin House anymore!"
Albus slumped back in his bed, glancing over at Scorpius, who had yet to awaken.
"No..." Albus groaned, finding that he couldn't do anything other than just squirm and stretch. He seemed to be Sticky Charmed to the bed.
"Make sure they live, Jane," he told the Mediwitch. "Keep them comfortable. I'll send Seamus and Dean up to guard them. In the meantime, I want a comprehensive workup on them - traces of PolyJuice residuals, Age Regression Potion, any transfiguration Charms," he nodded at Teddy, "and a full Magical and medical workup. I want to know how two boys - if they are boys - got onto this campus and just decided to try to splatter one another all over my Quidditch Pitch!"
And with that, Harry put his arm around James' shoulders and led the visibly shaken boy out.
"Scorpy?" Albus asked.
"Odd? Is that his name?" Hermione asked, moving closer to his bed, but with her wand drawn as well.
"Scorpius Malfoy?" Albus nodded, wondering if his Aunt were going to go off on him as his father just had.
"You two should have done more research," Hermione commented, as Jane the Mediwitch then began with the physical part of the examination. Albus found himself levitated over to an exam table, and breathed a sigh of relief to find that he'd at least been given pyjamas.
We've landed somewhere where I don't exist anymore, where THIS Albus died when he was younger, Albus fretted, realizing something else as well - he'd arrived in this version of Hogwarts without his clothes, without his glasses, and without his wand. This is bad, he thought, Because that means there's no duplicate-me to trade places with! He then realized that Hermione was talking to Jane.
"Do a cheek swab, and we'll verify the DNA before they change back," She suggested. "Cross reference it with known Pureblood families."
"No PolyJuice residuals," Jane commented, "Not that they could have gotten hold of a boomslang anyway, since Harry had the Scamanders exterminate them in the wild. No signs of baby Mandrake or abnormal amazonite traces either."
About then, Scorpius began waking up. "Aspie, where are we?" He groaned. "I feel like I just fell off the Astronomy Tower!"
"Told you," Jane snorted, turning her attention to him.
"And you would be?" Hermione asked.
"Sc-Scorpius...Scorpius Malfoy?" Scorpius replied, looking at her oddly as he struggled to assimilate the clashing memories that were now spinning into his mind. He looked desperately at Albus.
He's pulled me along with him, Scorpius thought, into another Timeline! And I remember all of it, like the Baron said! Aspie's Aunt...Rose's mum ... MY mum, but NO! And then - Orion! Scorpius sniffled. Orion's gone...
"The House of Malfoy fell with the death of Draco Malfoy, just after the Final Battle," Hermione informed him.
Scorpius just lay there in shock, his face deathly pale.
Daddy's dead?!
Then how do I find Uncle...Draco Malfoy in this Universe? Albus fretted.
"There are no more Malfoys," Hermione added without emotion.
"Fortunately," another voice spoke up from the door. "Although the poor kid does look like him."
The boys looked over to see two men at the door. One of them was quite tall and black with an Afro. The other was shorter, with sandy hair cut in a crew fashion. They were dressed in Gryffindor trimmed robes as well.
"Seamus, Dean!" Hermione greeted them. "Did Harry tell you?"
"Tol' us there wuz some fool up 'eer imperzonatin' wee Albie?" Seamus replied.
"He'd like you to take over, Ron," Dean said, "James is pretty bad off, and he had to sedate him again. To say nothing of the fact that he can't turn the ring and contact Albie. It's drivin' him mad; Albie always came before?"
He's using the Hallows! Albus realized, having heard those bedtime stories since he was little. Dad's gone mad with the power! And he can't call my Ghost, because I AM the Ghost!
"Makes no sense," Ron snorted, giving Hermione a serious look. Then he glanced back at the boys. "It's been over an hour since we found 'em on the Pitch, so we're sayin' it's not PolyJuice?"
"No chance," Jane replied. "These really are two little boys, and other than the usual childhood injuries, and what they got hit with recently, since healed, they're perfectly healthy. Merlin's beard!" She then exclaimed, pointing at the illusory monitors over the exam table.
"What is that?" Hermione gasped.
"A magical signature unlike anything we've ever seen before," Jane offered.
"Meaning?" Ron asked.
"No idea," Jane breathed. "It's like they're both pulling on some kind of new and unheard-of Magic! It's completely inverse!"
"With'ow' wands?" Seamus asked, surprised.
"Alert Harry," Hermione told Ron, and off he went with a dark look at the boys - Scorpius in particular.
"Feels like home already," Scorpius snorted.
"Gods, 'ee looks like ol' Malfoy, don' 'ee?" Seamus asked.
"An' the little'un looks jus' like Harry," Dean agreed.
"I don't care who he looks like," Jane retorted, finishing her examination of Albus and putting him back in bed. "This one's a child, and a frightened one at that. Nothing more. And I'll wager that the blond," she gestured at Scorpius, "Is too!"
"We have names," Scorpius mumbled.
"Which make no sense!" Hermione reminded them. "My nephew died, as Harry told you, and the Malfoy line is extinct."
Scorpius sniffled again, biting his lower lip, and giving Albus a look that more than said that he was struggling with the severity of the woman that a recent part of him remembered as his mother.
"Wh...whut happened to me?" Albus asked in a very small voice. "Albus, I mean, Ma'am?"
"He fell off his father's Firebolt when his brother talked him into a joyride," Hermione humored them. "Poppy did everything she could at St. Mungo's, but the head trauma was just too much. James had a nervous breakdown, and wasn't even able to start school until he was twelve. You can't begin to imagine what finding a copy of his little brother on the Pitch did to him! Ronald said he's been nearly hysterical ever since!"
James found us? Albus wondered.
"You said that Mr. Potter closed Slytherin House?" Scorpius asked, as it was his turn to be poked and prodded.
"Don' tell 'em nuthin' else, 'Mione," Seamus offered. "They could be part o' tha Pureblood Underground!"
What is THAT?! Albus wondered.
"Harry and Shacklebolt did away with Slytherin, a few years after he joined the Aurors," Hermione informed them, "If you must know? It had become the smallest House here, once most of the old families fled the country, and was dying out anyhow."
The boys nodded, anxious to hear how this Timeline had turned out.
"He did a bit of housecleaning at the Ministry too," She offered.
"Bloodbath was more like it," Dean snorted. "It was like ol' Moody was reincarnated!"
Albus blinked. "So he beat the Dark Lord?"
"Beat 'im?" Seamus laughed, "Beat 'im? With two 'o tha three Deathly Hallows? Tha' was all 'ee needed! When 'ee disappeared under tha Cloak, then let tha' Stone loose an' called up an army o' tha Dead, all Hell come after the Death Eaters! Damn nigh burnt ow' 'is magic, 'ee did, but when Harry set tha Marauders loose..."
"And once he got the Elder Wand, there was no stopping him," Dean cut in. "Harry wanted revenge, an' he got it!"
"He wanted our world kept safe," Hermione defended Harry.
"Oh, is that why he nailed half the Ministry staff with Veritaserum and had them killed?" Dean smiled.
Dad? Albus wondered, Dad went mad after the Battle?
"Harry never killed anyone," Hermione disagreed, "It's just...unfortunate...that so many of the Ministry Staff he flushed out didn't survive Azkaban."
"Wh-what happened to my da- … I mean, Draco Malfoy?" Scorpius had to ask.
"Harry gave him back his wand, and not long after, Malfoy turned it on himself. He committed suicide," Hermione informed them.
"Wh-what about S-Slytherin, you said?" Albus gasped, as Scorpius just lay there, stunned by the news.
"Harry dissolved the House after a few years with the Ministry," Hermione went on, "None of the Slytherins helped defend the Castle in battle but for Horace Slughorn, and since none of the Slytherin students even came back, and enrollment continued to fall, the Hat was ordered not to Sort anyone there ever again."
"B-but what if a kid really is a Slytherin?" Albus asked, dreading the answer.
Seamus and Dean laughed, and Albus saw his Uncle Neville shudder. Neville hadn't said a word up until then. He'd just sat there quietly with Teddy.
"They're immediately sent by Portkey to the Karkarov Reform Center in Siberia for a year," Neville said very quietly, his face pale. "If they...I mean, when they come back, they...they Sort into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw; quiet, very well-behaved students."
Albus caught the dark look that Hermione flashed at Neville, but said nothing at all.
"Ma'am?" A soft voice then asked, as the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw appeared at the door. Jane nodded to her. "Davies of my House is requesting permission to bring the little Gamble boy back in? Pritchard says he's doing it again?"
Albus and Scorpius looked sharply at her, and she nodded ever so slightly. Moments after the Grey Lady vanished again, a boy that they didn't know came in with a smaller boy that they did know - Mason Gamble.
And this Gamble was nothing like they remembered him.
Of all their roommates in what Albus considered his Reality, Gamble had been the friendliest and most inquisitive. He'd been the one to scoot over and make room for them at the Sorting. He'd been neat and outgoing, although cautious, but now his whole demeanor had changed.
The lean and hungry-looking boy they now saw was disheveled, his robes worn, and his face sunken with distant eyes that looked far too old for a First Year. He kept very close to Davies, the Prefect of Ravenclaw House, and he was twitchy and whimpering.
"He wants to sleep under his bed again," Davies informed them in a disgusted tone, "And he just cries when we try to give him his potion. Poor little fellow's got to get some rest, now, doesn't he? Baddock says he hasn't slept since he got here."
Albus stared at Gamble, feeling nauseous, and remembered something - an old newspaper photo - that his father had shown him of his own Godfather, Sirius Black.
Poor kid looks like he's gone a round or two with a Dementor, Albus wondered.
"Now what's wrong, child?" Jane asked soothingly, but as she approached, Gamble's vacant eyes went wide and he started to scream.
"Hold him," Jane then ordered Dean and Seamus, as Gamble struggled to break free, head jerking and eyes darting about as if seeking an escape route.
Jane then pressed the tip of her wand to the boy's brow, right between the eyes.
"NO! I'LL BE GOOD! I PROMISE! DON'T SEND ME TO HIM! I'LL TAKE THE POTION! PLEASE...NO!" He wailed, as Jane then sent what looked like a small bolt of electricity straight into his head at point blank range.
"Ex-excuse me," Neville offered in a very small voice, as Gamble collapsed, and was put in a bed and restrained. Neville headed for the restroom.
"Aw, c'mon, Longbottom!" Seamus called after him, "Iz jus' a wee shock ter calm him?"
"You want me to have a go at them now?" Teddy then spoke up, and Albus flinched as he saw Teddy's hair turn red - the warning sign that he was about to blow. His eyes were sparkling amber, and Albus noted the points on his ears and eyeteeth.
"Go ahead and rule out Transfigurations, but try not to hurt them," Jane agreed reluctantly, as Teddy nodded.
Albus shivered as his Godbrother approached him, and when Teddy grabbed him by the face, he could feel some kind of painful power flowing through him as every nerve in his body was set on fire.
Albus screamed.
"No transfiguration Charms," Teddy then said, releasing Albus and moving on to Scorpius, who screamed as well.
When Teddy was done, both of the boys lay panting and quietly crying in their beds. Albus managed a look at Gamble, and turned away to see Neville coming back. He went and sat by Gamble's bed.
"Blame it on my bad upbringing," Teddy commented, as he nodded and left the room. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be watching Gryffindor House?"
"Shouldn't...shouldn't they at least have something to eat?" Neville offered nervously. "Now that we know they're really just kids?"
Despite the pain that Teddy Lupin had inflicted upon them, Albus' stomach was growling. There was no way to tell how long it had been since breakfast in their last Timeline.
"What would you like?" Jane asked. "The House Elves can make you up almost anything, but they charge for it."
"M-money?" Scorpius asked, "Now where would I have a Galleon? Up my ar-"
"I'll cover it," Hermione interrupted him. "What do you want?"
"Shepherd's pie and cold milk?" Albus asked timidly, his mind racing as to how they were going to get out of this one. He could just have easily have bitten his tongue and made it bleed, forcing him into another Reality, but that would have meant abandoning Scorpius, since he could not touch him. No, no I won't do that!
"How do you know that?" Neville gasped. "That was Albie's favorite food!"
"Uhhh ohhh," Scorpius groaned.
"I bet a lot of kids like it," Albus looked away.
"DOBBY!" Hermione called out, and a House Elf that Albus didn't know appeared with a soft CRACK!
"Dobby the House Elf, Ma'am," Dobby bowed. Then he saw Albus and squeaked in alarm. "Oh, this is bad! Bad things!" He gasped, "Things is all being out of shape! Dobby knows, Dobby has seen Magic in his day, yes he has!" He then leaned in for a look at Scorpius. "Mistress Weasley should know who this boy is!" Dobby rambled, pointing from Scorpius to Albus to the odd Magical readout above him.
"Dobby, they want Shepherd's pie and cold milk, please," she asked, ignoring his little fit. "And no, they're not who you think they are. It's not possible."
Dobby simply grunted as he vanished, returning moments later with food for the boys. As he placed the trays on their laps, he gave Albus a wink and went to sit by Neville. No one saw him reach over to hold Gamble's hand.
"When they're done eating," Ron snorted, as he came back in, "Harry wants to interrogate them - in his office." He gave them a grin that made the boys shiver. "Teddy's got Gryffindor verified, and Hannah's got Hufflepuff. Davies said he had his Ravenclaws, too?"
"Fine when I left, sir," Davies nodded. "Professor Descartes should be there now."
Office...good, Albus thought, as Hermione released their hands and he bolted his meal, Because that's where the Hat should be!
Once they finished eating, the boys were led - under heavy guard and still in pyjamas - up to the Headmaster's office. Had they ever seen it before, they would have recognized that not very much had changed since Harry had taken over for Minerva McGonagall, and later, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Albus glanced around at the whirring little silver machines, the vast bookcases, and finally spotted the Hat perched on a high shelf. It twisted around and seemed to follow his movements, as did the Portraits.
"Have a seat," Harry said flatly, nodding at his three former schoolmates. "Tell Neville to make sure the Prefects and Ghosts maintain the lockdown until I've sorted this out, Ron?"
Ron nodded curtly and left, leaving Seamus and Dean and a couple of other men that Albus didn't know to guard them.
"Normally, I'd not treat children so badly," Harry began, "But your appearances are disturbing. I don't know how you've done it, boys, but I am not amused."
"Like Gamble, sir?" Scorpius spoke up, hugging his bare feet and lower legs up himself. "Bet he'll feel better in the morning, huh?"
"Shut it," Harry snapped at him. "You're both obviously Human, Magical, and approximately eleven years old. By law, you're supposed to either be enrolled here at Hogwarts - or incarcerated at the camp in Siberia. There's only one way to tell which." He then flicked the Elder Wand, summoning the Hat. "Considering the Veritaserum in your milk, and the Hat, I'd say we're about to find out!"
He then stood up and placed the Hat on Scorpius' head.
Then Harry Potter heard a name that he never thought he'd hear again:
"Draco Malfoy?" The Hat gasped, "How is this possible?"
"WHAT?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Scorpius," Scorpius corrected it.
"Be that as it may, child," the Hat went on, "I have seen bravery to the point of reckless stupidity in my day. I have seen dedication that has defied even Death, and intelligence that frightened me. You, however, are Unsortable. You do not belong here."
Harry's hand trembled as he moved the Hat to Albus.
"Gahhhh! Another Weasley!" It gasped, and Harry relaxed a bit. "And another Potter-Weasley hybrid!" It then added in astonishment. "Albus Severus Potter! I never thought to meet you! But with a hint of Draco Malfoy as well?" It then twisted around to look at Harry with its 'face'. "I do not understand this, Headmaster. This is not possible. Only I can see into their minds and hearts, and what I see above all else is the Soul of Draco Malfoy. Hard to forget that one," it added.
"So what do you think?" Harry asked it. "This child is Confunded to the point that he believes he is my son?"
"Yes. And don't get your knickers in a twist, Potter, but I'd have to say Slytherin for both of them," the Hat replied, "If they even belonged here. Their Magic is unreadable to me."
"Thank you," Harry said flatly, as he placed the Hat on his desk.
"All right, talk. Who are you?" He then ordered the boys.
But despite the Veritaserum, Albus kept quiet. "It's unspeakable," Albus finally said, and he knew that that was the truth. He knew that he could sit there and lie to this dark mirror of his father, and that that would be truth as well. He glanced at Scorpius. I'd lie for you, and that's the truth!
"Now you listen to me, you little git," Harry pointed the Elder Wand at him again, "I don't know how you Confunded the Hat, or how you can beat Veritaserum, but I can tell you one thing..."
And then Albus saw it - a scattering of golden dust as he stared at the Hat, which had just fallen over on the desk, exposing its dark interior.
But something within sparkled...
As they listened to Harry's raving speech about conspiracy, sedition, and constant vigilance - and how his policies had made their world a safe place to live in - Albus watched as that something was sparkling within the dust. He elbowed Scorpius, hoping that the guards couldn't see him.
Very slowly, he reached for the Hat.
Scorpius did the same.
Two small hands reached into the Hat, and just as Albus' hand closed on something small and hard, Scorpius gasped. Harry looked up, whipped the Elder Wand around, and both boys pulled back.
"NO!" Scorpius yelled, jumping in front of Albus as the blast of blood red light hit him at point blank range.
A high power Stunner at that range ... can kill ... Albus knew.
"STING!" Albus cried out, but the Spell was deflected by a green shield that was emanating from the silver ring now on Scorpius' finger.
"MEN!" Harry yelled, but the boys were already moving.
Spells flew across the room, blasting tiny machines off the tables and sending portraits scampering out of their frames. The boys hit the floor rolling, and as Seamus dived at Scorpius, the boy slid between his legs and reached up to punch him right in the...
"URGH!" Seamus groaned, toppling over and taking Dean down with him as the boys ran for the door. The other guards tried to stop them, but they could not penetrate the ring's shielding.
But as the boys reached the door, it slammed shut.
"F*©&!" Scorpius yelled, as Albus realized what he held in his hand.
It was a key.
And it fit the lock.
Albus slammed the door behind them, but as they barreled down the stairs, Harry blasted it off the hinges. All throughout the castle, alarms were sounding.
"Now I remember why Slytherins annoy me so bad!" Harry yelled, as the boys jumped the banister and slid down the moving staircase.
"CHANGE!" Albus yelled at it, and the staircase did, taking them in an opposite direction and making Harry have to take a longer detour.
"Where we goin'?" Scorpius gasped, as they narrowly avoided a quickly retracting end post and certain emasculation!
"Common Room!" Albus replied, "We got a key, and you got a green ring! We can't take 'em with us, so we gotta do it here!"
"Do what?" Scorpius asked, as they hit the floor running and jumped another banister with Harry still taking the long way down.
"We'll know when we get there!" Albus panted, as they sprinted off to the side and down into the dungeons. "Maybe we can contact your dad?"
"Malfoys are an extinct species here, remember?!"
"Oh, right! Sorry 'bout that!"
"No one's been down here for a while," Scorpius pointed out, as they made their way down into the dark and deserted corridor that was usually lit with natural and green-tinged torches. It was so dark, with only the glowing ring for light, that they couldn't even see the dusty floor.
"Over here!" Albus said, feeling the familiar tug at his sleeve.
"Yeah, but what was the bloody password like fifteen-twenty years ago?" Scorpius wondered.
Albus thought hard, staring at the key in his hand.
But there was no keyhole.
"Open the bloody door!" He yelled at the wall, pounding on the blank stone with his fists.
Nothing.
"In the name of Salazar Slytherin," he swore, not knowing why, as it suddenly came to him, "Please open the door!"
But the request came out not in English - but in Parseltongue.
The door slid open.
The boys ran in, slamming it behind them.
"You're late," the Bloody Baron commented, as the boys looked over to see him sitting on the loveseat alone. "Change password," he then called out, and his reply was a sibilant hissing from seemingly nowhere.
"I wanna go home!" Scorpius whined, and the door shuddered.
"Good enough," the Baron agreed.
Outside in the long-unused corridor, Harry Potter held his lit wand aloft and looked all around.
"Hominus Revello!" He called out, but there was no one there. "No way they got in there," he reasoned. "No one can penetrate those wards I put there!" Then Harry turned to go back up. "He looked like Albie," he sniffed, touching the ring that so resembled the one that Marvolo Gaunt had once been so proud of. "Where are you, son?"
And then he drew himself up again. "But that won't save him when I catch him!"
"Your dad's a bloody nutter!" Scorpius gasped at Albus, as the boys panted for breath.
"Tha's not my dad," Albus shook his head. "Merlin! What the hell went wrong in this Timeline?"
"Harry went wrong," the voice of Neville Longbottom then spoke up, and both boys jumped. "Relax," Neville held up his hands. "I'm assuming you came here so that you could leave this place the same way you arrived?"
"I hope," Albus sighed.
"Why aren't you attacking us, like everyone else?" Scorpius asked warily, holding out his fist in defense, where the stone in his ring still glowed green.
"Because only a true Slytherin could have opened that door," Neville replied.
"Then how'd you get in here?" Albus wondered.
Neville looked away. "Years ago, when Harry closed this House off, we started using it for storage," Neville explained, gesturing around at the collection of odds and ends that had accumulated in the unused room over time. "I figured I had to face my last great fear - this place. Of all the rooms in this Castle, I'd never been in here. So I offered to bring stuff down here. Only two of us knew the password. I figured if I could get past him," Neville gestured at Salazar Slytherin's portrait. "And Dobby helped."
"Master Albie?" Dobby then spoke from the shadows, and something came back to Albus.
"You knew me?"
Dobby nodded. "Dobby knew the Spirit of his Master, who loved him. Dobby is not knowing how Master Albie comes back now, not summoned by Master Harry Potter's ugly ring, but Dobby is glad he did!" He then began to beat his head on the wall, but Neville stopped him.
"I...I know you!" Albus breathed, as his memory painfully shifted, and Dobby nodded. A new set of memories from the departed resident Albus was flooding in on him, and it took him a moment to assimilate it.
I... he died...James...oh, Merlin! Albus thought.
"Dobby cannot speak of that which is Unspeakable," the Elf replied, "Or he has to punish himself, lest he end up like Kreacher!" Dobby shuddered. "But even if Master finds old Master Draco - somewhere else - he is still in danger!"
"Great," Scorpius snorted, "But how does he know?"
"House Elf magic is different," Neville put in.
"So you got over it?" Scorpius then asked Neville.
"I thought I'd finally be over it...all. But..." Neville fumbled, "then Harry went...went..."
"Mad?" Scorpius offered helpfully.
"Yeah," Neville nodded. "I just want to know one thing, Albie," he asked, and Albus gasped.
"Y-you believe us?"
"I do," Neville replied sadly. "You see, when you ordered Shepherd's pie and 'cold' milk, I remembered something. Hannah and I used to baby-sit you and James, you know. You got sick once because the milk was bad. You always had to have milk with it, and from there on out, you always said 'cold milk, Uncle!'" Neville then laughed. "No one but my little Albie," he choked, wiping at his face, "could have known that." He then held out his arms, and Albus went to him.
Neville held him for a bit, as Scorpius looked on. "Hermione was talking about Trans-Dimensional Theory once," Neville managed, "But I...I never believed it."
"Excellent, Professor," the Baron agreed.
"Sir," Scorpius finally asked, relaxing just a bit, "What did the Gamble boy do?"
Neville slumped and turned away. Dobby whimpered. "He was hiding food in his room again," Neville sighed, "And he's afraid of the dark. Afraid of noises. Afraid of ... Harry."
"Owwwhhh," the boys sighed hard.
Neville sniffed again, laying his wand aside as he moved to stand in front of a large, oval mirror. He gazed into it. "The happiest man in the world would see only himself, just as he is, in this mirror," Neville mused, sounding lost.
"Uncle?"
"No, don't explain it," Neville waved him off. "I don't want to know where you came from, or how you go here. Just go, before Harry finds you!"
"But how do we do that?" Scorpius wondered, "How can we put it all right if we just keep jumping into other Realities?"
Dobby made a small sound and went to stand by Neville, running his long fingers along the mirror's frame. "Mistress Hermione Weasley suspects?" Dobby offered.
Neville winced, but turned away from the mirror to stare at Albus. "How anyone could look at a child," he shook his head sadly, "And then send them away to ... when they've just come here with a head full of hopes and dreams ... and I can't even ..." he faltered. "It's just so bloody aggravating!"
"'Don't aggravate Salazar'," Scorpius whispered. "Remember Dad's letter, Aspie?"
The boys turned to the portrait again, where those same piercing green eyes seemed to look right through Albus. Albus stared back into them, his own green eyes boring right back at them.
"Shhhr Seleeethyyyn, shahhh?" He asked in Parseltongue, without even realizing it.
"Oh my!" Neville breathed, as the Portrait of Salazar Slytherin moved for the first time that either boy could remember. "That picture's on the wall with a Permanent Sticky Charm! Even Dobby couldn't break it!"
"And who wouldst thou be?" Salazar Slytherin asked.
"Albus Severus Potter, sir," Albus replied, "And Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy."
"Long hath my House stood empty," Slytherin sighed, "Be this the work of Godric Gryffindor, at long last? After all these centuries?" He asked in English.
"Sort of," Scorpius replied.
"Not since little Tommy Riddle have I conversed with a Parselmouth," Slytherin mused. "Often have I thought that the gift had died out. Who art thou, really, boy?"
Albus' head spun as he tried to recall all the stories his father had told him about the War, the Hallows, who had done what, and who was related to whom in the complex genealogy of the Wizarding World.
Then it came to him as something that chilled his blood clicked into place for the first time.
"Sir, we need your help?" Albus asked, slipping back into English.
"And why would I give it?" Slytherin asked, "When my House hath fallen to ruin? With no Slytherins, my line is ended. I will give no help to Mudbloods or Blood Traitors!"
Albus' mind spun with Wizarding Family Tree information, trying to recall who was related to whom. Then it came to him. "Because I'm the last Peverell, descendant of Ignotus," Albus hissed at him, holding up the key and meeting his emerald gaze with equal hardness.
"Grandssssson," Slytherin then hissed in satisfied reply, nodding, as the portrait hinged outwards to reveal a wooden door with a single keyhole.
"Oh my!" Neville breathed.
Albus inserted the key and turned it.
Something clicked, and the little door opened.
"There's nothing in here," Albus sighed, peering in and looking by the light of the Baron's glow.
"Taketh two," Salazar offered.
"Let me look," Scorpius offered, as he reached in.
The stone in his ring then burst into intense green light, and Scorpius felt something.
"Got it!" He cried triumphantly, as he withdrew his hand and pulled out a small emerald-encrusted hourglass on a dainty gold chain.
"A Time-Turner!" They all gasped.
"My greatest invention," Slytherin offered, as the portrait swung back shut. "Of course, Rowena did help," he confessed, smiling at the boys. "Ahhh, Rowena," he sighed.
"Yes," The Baron agreed.
"I feared that someday, all that we had built might be lost to the Shadow of Time," Slytherin said, "So I hid this here, cursing the door to my safe, so that only my last true descendent could ever open it. All they ever had to do was ask for my help."
"That's why V-V-Volde-HIM! Never found it!" Neville gasped. "He would never have asked for help."
"Bring back my House, noble Grandson," Salazar Slytherin then ordered them. "Undo the travesty that hath befallen us all! For every outcome, there is always one - and only ONE - key event that triggered it. Go there, my sons. Reshape Time Itself to thy liking!"
"No one has that kind of power!" Neville gasped.
"I did," Slytherin replied haughtily. "I still do!"
"Aspie, there's one little problem," Scorpius pointed out. "If we jump again, the Time-Turner won't go with us? We showed up naked, remember? Not even your specs came?"
"Bugger!" Albus groaned, looking all around the room. "And we have to find your dad! That's what they kept telling us! We can't fix this without him!"
Then Albus saw Slytherin's portrait, but in reverse, as the key grew hot in his hand and Scorpius' ring began to glow again. "In the mirror," he gasped, moving towards it as it drew him in, the frame beginning to glow green as well. "What does this mirror do?"
"It shows the deepest, wildest desires of a man's heart," Neville told them. "Many a night, I've sat here, lost in it," he sighed. "And do you know what I see?"
The boys weren't sure they wanted to know.
"I see the children," Neville's voice broke, "Because that's all we were - CHILDREN! I see Fred and Colin, and all the others who died that night. Children who lost their childhood to the war, before it even began. And I see the happy children - like poor little Gamble - that come here and...and never make it past that damnable Hat!" Neville sobbed, as Dobby moved to comfort him. "I should have let it burn," he choked.
And as Albus and Scorpius moved towards the Mirror of Erised, they saw themselves dressed in new Slytherin uniforms - and handing the Time-Turner to...
"Daddy!" Scorpius whispered.
"Yes," the Baron nodded. "Only an object that transcends that which is mundane could show these things. Perhaps, in some other places, some other times, these visions are in fact - real? Somewhere, or some-when, else?"
"Harry told me a story once, about how Albus Dumbledore used this mirror," Neville mused, as he approached the boys and laid his hands on their shoulders. Then he bent down and softly kissed Albus' cheek, taking the boy's hand and firmly planting it in Scorpius'. "Never let go, Albie. And thank you for this one, last chance," he said, as he then shoved the boys forward at the glass.
Dobby snapped his fingers.
"UNCLE!" Albus screamed, as he held tight to Scorpius' hand and they fell into darkness.
The mirror cracked, then the glass turned to dust. On the far wall, Slytherin's portrait burst into green flames as the Castle began to shiver. Dust and small stones rained down upon them.
"Goodbye, boys," Neville sighed again, as he and Dobby waited for the bliss of something - although they knew not what - that would surely take them away from the horror of their own Universe that had become nothing more than a Dark Mirror of what it should have been.