Chapter 11: Trapped

The sun was rising. It was the beginning of the longest day of my life.

Mira opened her mouth, but I immediately pressed my hand over it and pulled her into the parlor. Pulling a book from the bookshelf titled The Twisted Stair, a small door opened beside the bookcase, and we went down a small stone stairwell and into the basement, where, in the other reality, I left my darker objects hidden until the Dark Lord had returned.

"I won't come down here this morning, and this room is soundproof. I shouldn't suspect anything," I said, removing my hand.

"Lucius, what in the name of Merlin is going on? Have you gone mad?"

For the first time, I truly focused on Mira without a haze of panic.

While her skin was abnormally pale as always, her lips were deep red, and a hint of color graced her cheeks. Suddenly it dawned on my how lucky I was, for it seemed Mira had recently fed, and had not been as tempted by the hand I had placed over her lips.

"Would you care to tell me what's happening? You do realize there's going to be three of you at the same point in time now. I heard you – the other you."

Calculating the day's events in my head, I corrected, "Four, actually." Mira put a hand over her eyes and shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. I've saved you."

"Saved me? From what?"

"You were after this," I said, holding up the Time-Turner. "But you got caught."

Mira stared at me in silence for a few moments. "And?"

"You were…McNair…they…"

Understanding suddenly dawned on Mira, her eyes widening. "I died…didn't I?" she asked hesitantly. When I said nothing, she slumped down onto a nearby armchair. "They killed me. I suppose I should thank you for rescuing me, but…" She put her head into her hands. "You're such a fool, Lucius."

My eyes narrowed. "You're calling me a fool? You broke into the Department of Mysteries during a hunt for every vampire in England!"

"Yes, I am a fool," Mira said under her breath. "You should have left me dead. You're messing about with time. That's dangerous. You never know what could happen."

"And what were you planning on doing with this?" I said, holding up the Time-Turner again and waving it around a little. "Hmm? Wearing it as a fashionable necklace?"

"I have a plan."

"And what is it?"

"Trust me, Lucius."

"I've trusted you with everything, Mira. Why don't you trust me for once?"

A cold chill shot up my spine as Mira's head snapped up, her red eyes glaring at me. She stood, muscles tensing throughout her arms and her neck. I dropped the Time-Turner, wincing as it hit my chest, and began backing away from the vampire.

"You think I don't trust you?" she asked, arching her eyebrow. "Perhaps you have put your life in my hands. But you are the only one I have ever trusted, even though I have always known that you generally hated creatures like me, even though I knew that you could easily destroy me with a word to your late master, and even though I suspected you to be exaggerating the changes you would enact for my kind. I do trust you, Lucius." Mira's eyes faded back to their dark, harmless shade. "But I – I am a monster. Let me leave your Manor for one last time, Lucius. Give me the Time-Turner."

Mira held out her hand, her dark eyes shining with tears. I wrapped a hand around the Time-Turner, finding myself unable to even consider her request. "You say you wish to leave one last time, yet you also want the power to turn back time…" Deep eyes continued to gaze steadily into mine. A moment later, to my surprised, I removed the Time-Turner from about my neck. Mira's eyes were becoming red once again, and I realized she was somehow influencing me to hand over the object.

"No," I muttered. "No. That's why you won't tell me. You're going to change something…something that will keep us from knowing each other. I can't let you do that."

"And why not?" asked Mira.

I struggled to keep from holding the Time-Turner out to her. "Without you, I would not have become Minister. The Dark Lord would still be in power."

"Don't worry about the Dark Lord, Lucius. He will still be defeated."

Mira may have been my secret weapon, but she was only one woman, one vampire. How could she, never knowing me, ensure that the Dark Lord would be defeated? I had known Mira for so long now. We had been through so much. She had stayed with me and comforted me when I lost Narcissa. She had done all she could to ensure that I would come to power. She was with me after I lost Draco. It was a strange good fortune for me that Mira had been attacked by Greyback that night, the night Narcissa to brought her wounded friend home with her.

I was caught off guard when Mira suddenly jumped forward and wrenched the Time-Turner from my grasp. She backed away from me, putting the chain over her head. "Mira, no…I can't lose you, too."

"You'll have your family back, Lucius. That's all you care about. I understand now." I stepped forward to reclaim the Time-Turner, but Mira bared her teeth and hissed threateningly. "There's nowhere safe for me in this reality anymore. I will still be caught in the Department of Mysteries, or at least be known to have been there, and McNair will turn up dead by your hand, and I will be wanted for the rest of my life."

"We can fix it," I pleaded. "Please. Don't leave me alone again."

Mira's fingers paused on the small trinket as she again gazed at me. "You'll have your life back, Lucius. Your reality."

The full implication of Mira's words suddenly occurred to me. She was not fixing this world – she was going further than that. She was going to undo everything to put me back into the reality I remembered.

Except that reality did not seem any more real than the one I was living now. "Mira, no. I don't want it." I surprised myself by this admission. "I don't want it."

Mira arched an eyebrow in speculation. "It's all you wanted. Even when we defeated the Dark Lord, you wanted that life back."

"Not anymore." I cautiously stepped forward, wondering if there was a chance of me taking back the Time-Turner. "This is my life now, Mira." Mira lowered the Time-Turner and placed it against her chest, her brow furrowed. "I will make this world better. I said I would."

Turning her back to me, Mira asked, "You could have Narcissa and Draco back. They would be safe."

"And what of you, Mira?" I dared step closer.

"What of me?"

Mira jumped as I placed my hands onto her shoulders. "I like who I am here better, now that I am with you."

"I was your secret weapon," Mira spat. "That's all."

I spun Mira about to face me. "You are my friend." I moved my hand over her shoulder and up to her neck caressing it gently. "I don't want to lose you." Isn't that obvious?

Taking the opportunity, I grasped the chain of the Time-Turner and tried to pull it up over Mira's head. She resisted faster than I had expected, grabbing hold of the Time-Turner itself in one hand as she brought her hand across my face. I did not let go of the chain, but reached up to touch my stinging cheek with my other hand. "Mira!"

"You're lying! You just want to take this back," Mira accused.

"No, no…" I said quietly. "I mean it. Which is why I can't let you use this."

Mira began reaching with her other hand to turn the Time-Turner. Knowing that if she did I would lose her forever, I ducked under the chain so that the Time-Turner encompassed both of us, just as she began turning the trinket. She tried to push me away again, but I grabbed the hand she was using to hold the Time-Turner and forced it down, keeping us both within the chain. I began to feel dizzy as we struggled, and a few times I swore I saw faint blurs of people moving about the secret room.

The Time-Turner shattered.

Time abruptly resumed as normal, and I collapsed onto the ground. Mira fell down right beside me. For a moment, neither of us moved. I tried to sit up, and my head spun as though I had a serious hangover, and I immediately lay back down.

"Are you all right?" Mira asked after a moment.

"I'm not certain," I admitted, feeling the urge to vomit. "What happened?"

"The Time-Turner…" Mira rolled onto her side and touched the pieces of the item. "It's broken."

I forced myself to sit up. "I wonder when we are…?"

"You make it sound like a joke," said Mira as she got to her feet.

"Trust me, that's not how I meant it."

Mira was silent, standing with her back to me and the broken Time-Turner.

"I'm sorry," I said. The room was really cold. "I didn't mean for it to break, but I couldn't let you just vanish."

"And why not?" Mira asked, her eyes flashing as she turned to look down at me. When I didn't answer, she continued, "Now we are trapped here, whenever here is."

I pulled out my wand and tapped myself on the head, feeling as though liquid was dripping down my body. Mira's brow furrowed as she looked at me and seemed to have trouble focusing on me. "What was that?"

"A charm to keep myself hidden. May I?" I asked, holding my wand up toward her. Mira nodded hesitantly, and I performed the same charm on her. She shuddered, and suddenly, despite knowing she was standing right in front of me, I could hardly see her. The charm was certainly effective. "Let's go find out when we are, shall we?"

The Malfoy Manor seemed to be empty, which was fortunate and allowed us to look for clues as to when we had arrived. We passed through the dining room on the way to the kitchen, and something occurred to me. I looked at the bookshelf and was shocked to see it filled with books, and not merely Tom Riddle's diary. I quickly skimmed through the bindings and was surprised to find an unusual absence.

"It's gone!"

"What's gone?" Mira followed my gaze. "The diary!"

"That's been there since the Dark Lord's return, has it not?" I asked. Mira nodded, and we looked at each other as realization dawned. "The Dark Lord isn't back."

We went outside and discovered that it was really warm. It was likely near the end of the Hogwarts school year, and Draco's second one if the book was gone…unless it was even further back into the past. Assuming it was Draco's second year, the Dark Lord had not yet returned, but he would soon if we did not discover what had happened to cause the second reality.

With side-along Apparition, I brought Mira with me to Hogsmeade Village, so that we would at least be close to Hogwarts while we figured out our plan of action. We went to the Hog's Head, which was quite nearly empty, in order to talk things over. Drinking some firewhiskey, we finally discussed our predicament.

"We could try to change things," Mira suggested. "We could try to make it the other way, where your family is safe."

"But I don't want to trade you for it," I insisted again. "You're important to me, and now neither life seems any more real than the other. Who are we to decide what happens?"

Mira downed the rest of her firewhiskey. "Lucius, we do not even know what caused what. Doing nothing could cause either reality. So, do we try to interfere and choose, or let fate decide?"

Mira stiffened suddenly, watching someone carefully over my shoulder. Glancing behind me, I saw that Remus Lupin had entered the pub. It was rather disturbing to remember killing him in one of the possible futures. Avoiding eye contact, I busied myself with my drink as Mira muttered something about, "he'll know" and quickly darted out the back door of the pub. I supposed the rumors about vampires and werewolves being instinctively enemies were true.

I downed the rest of my drink before paying the bartender, who smelled much like a goat, and then left the pub, doing my best not to be noticed by the werewolf. Once in the street, I found that there was no one around the Hog's Head. I looked down the alleyway beside the pub, thinking that Mira could be waiting for me there. It was very dark in the alley, and I cautiously stepped into the shadows. "Mira?" I inquired quietly. "Mira?"

Annoyed that my vampire friend had simply vanished, I pulled out a small knife I always kept on my person for emergencies, and put it against the palm of my hand. Taking a deep breath, I grit my teeth against the pain as I drew the knife across my hand, a line of blood forming across my palm. The smell of my blood would surely bring Mira back to my side, albeit she would probably be very irritated at me for it. I readied my wand, just in case.

Suddenly a woman in a hooded cloak was at my side and almost on top of me, only held back by the wand I held between us. "That was quick," I said, taking a deep breath.

"Shouldn't you know better than to wander into dark alleys, Mr. Malfoy?" hissed the woman. "Especially with such pure blood dripping from your hand?"