XI
Bless the Child
The Conclusion
"...gone back in time to bless the child..." - Nightwish
(Same time, different universe as Chapter X)
"It's happened again, Harry," Professor McGonagall said, Floo-chatting with Harry.
"What variety of Albus have we got now?" Harry asked in reply.
"Well, now he thinks he's a Slytherin - again. At least he's got that right! He also thinks, however, that Scorpius Malfoy is his cousin by a second marriage, and that Draco Malfoy is married to Hermione Weasley, thus making her Scorpius' stepmother! Then there was something about Scorpius' little brother, Orion? Oh, and of course, Rose Weasley is now Scorpius' stepsister! Oh, and there's more," she went on describing Albus' latest tale.
"Have you informed Draco?" Harry asked anxiously.
"I have not," McGonagall replied primly, "But I must commend you two for healing old wounds and working together on this. I can scarcely believe it myself! Frankly, I thought your boy had simply gone mad!"
"You didn't get it from me, because technically, it isn't happening," Harry reminded her. "Keep telling people that Albus is still suffering from that head injury. Ginny believes it, and so do his Grandparents. I don't think we need to tell Ron and Hermione that other bit, though?"
"I wouldn't think so," McGonagall agreed, "The notion of being married to Draco Malfoy might be more than either of them could handle!" She had to laugh.
"Well, let's just hope the Unspeakables don't stick their mysterious noses into this, if they get wind of it," Harry fretted. "I still don't know what those people get up to down there in the cellar of the Ministry!"
"No one does, that's why we call them that," McGonagall reminded him. "In the meantime, though, this particular Albus wants to try out for Quidditch. Shall we allow it?"
"Since I'm technically not his father, I can't really say, but yes, go ahead. We don't want to appear suspicious, if he's asking."
"He wants to be a Chaser," McGonagall said, "Says he's better at it than his brother James?"
"Then he's got two things right so far," Harry laughed. "I'll see if Draco has come up with anything new. If you'll excuse me?"
McGonagall nodded and vanished.
***
In the cellar at the Ministry, the seated man laughed. "Oh, bless him! He has no clue we're already poking our noses into it!"
"Switch back," the other man said, "I want to watch Albus-One again. I just hope he doesn't jump into a Timeline where he doesn't exist."
"What then?"
"No clue," Colin sighed. "I've only been at this for nineteen years, you know. I still don't know how it all works!" His voice squeaked.
"Have you even shaved yet?"
"Oh, bugger off, Fred!" Colin snorted, "If I'd known they were going to do this to me, I'd have snapped my wand in First Year and grown up to be a milkman!"
***
"Draco, are you home?" Harry called, tossing in a fresh handful of Floo powder.
"Where else would I be, you infinite prat?" Draco answered. "I'm trying to use that connection thing you talked about, and you're breaking my concentration."
"Any leads?" Harry asked, "Because Albus just jumped again. You won't believe what we've got this time!" Harry then repeated the story to Draco, who seemed to choke on something.
"ME, married to HER?" Draco had to laugh. "Where's Ron in that other Timeline?"
"Assassinated," Harry said darkly. "It seems that you stepped in to help Hermione in her time of need."
"I had another son," Draco mused, sounding wistful. "My, my...what a good person I really am, no?" Then he thought about it. "Merlin, I hope he has my hair!"
"Don't push it, Draco," Harry sighed.
"That explains the bursting headache," Draco added. "Must have been when the boy jumped. I can tell you this, though - he's very close, Harry. Very, very close to finding his way back. It seems that he's not gone too far."
"I think it must be the injuries, what push him out into a new Timeline," Harry said, "He's not been badly hurt or endangered enough to go too far off. But the bad news is, they're going out for Quidditch try-outs this afternoon."
"WHAT?!" Draco gasped, and this time he did choke, as something broke. "Drop your Wards!"
Harry did that, and Draco burst out of the Floo. His white shirt was deeply stained in purple, and he looked quite upset.
"Lead crystal goblet, ancient wine, cost me thousands of Galleons," Draco grumbled, firing a cleaning Charm into his shirt. "That was a 2002 Justice Syrah, I'll have you know! Imported from the United States!"
"Can we talk about MY SON instead?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Yes, no time to waste, Harry," Draco replied, heading for the door and grabbing a cloak off the rack. "We're about the same size," he observed, quickly changing the Gryffindor emblem into a green Slytherin crest. "Grab a cloak, and let's go!"
"Where are we going?" Harry wondered, "Just help yourself to a cloak, why don't you?"
"I thought I just did?" Draco commented airily. "I have a new idea, and we need to go to Hogwarts to test it. I'm sensing that I already like this new and improved Albus. Can we keep him?"
"NO!" Harry yelled, as they started down the hallway, where they received many a confused stare from other employees.
"This will certainly give them all something to gossip about," Draco observed, as he threw his arm about Harry's shoulders. "Now, if you were to invest that amount in the Apothecary," Draco said loudly, "The returns would be just smashing, and..." he went on, seeming to enjoy the stares.
"Do the words 'Avada Kedavra' mean anything to you, Draco?" Harry muttered. Draco smirked at him.
They exited through the visitors' entrance. When the phone booth opened, they stepped behind a rubbish bin and Apparated.
"I know the way, and don't hug me again," Harry snorted.
"You have to put on a good show," Draco replied.
"I know where he is," Draco then heard his own voice saying in the darkness, and Harry flinched.
"OUCH!" Harry yelped, as they materialized at the front gates of Hogwarts. "I think you made me Splinch a toenail!"
"Be glad it wasn't your head," Draco shook his, offering a simple Healing Spell. "Quidditch indeed! Do you know how far away Albus will be pushed if he gets hit with a Bludger?"
"No?"
"Good, because neither do I!" Draco admitted. "But I think the more serious the injury or danger, the further he'll go. That Hufflepuff-Albus was just about more than I could believe, and we don't want him blown completely out of the realms of possibility! We need to put a stop to this."
Harry tapped the "H" emblem on the gate with his wand, and after a few moments, Professor Miles Urquhart came down the way to admit them.
"And to what do we owe this unexpected pleasure, gentlemen?" He asked, his eyebrows going up.
"Just came to watch Quidditch try-outs, sign the forms, if that's all right?" Harry asked.
"Far be it from me to say no to the Head Auror," Urquhart nodded. "Albus seems much better now, Potter, if that's why you've come? Ahhh, Mr. Malfoy?" He then greeted Draco icily. "Nothing better to do?"
"No, I've not decided which business to buy out next," Draco sneered at him.
"Very few parents come to practices," Urquhart commented, "Come along then, I need to get my players moving. I was just on the way."
"Harry, I need to touch him," Draco finally revealed his plan, whispering it behind a Muffliato Charm. "I think if I can connect to that bit of me that's attached to him, I might be able to lock onto our real Albus."
"How many bits of you are floating around out there?" Harry asked in wonder, "Are you even sure?"
"Trust me," Draco sighed, as they made their way to the locker rooms, "When your Soul shatters, you have no idea what it's like. I think the Muggles call it 'shitz-suh-frenium' or something? I keep getting bits and snatches, memories of things I know aren't possible. The best way I can describe it is like being at the beach, when a wave washes over you - only this time, you're the sand."
Harry shivered, wondering if Voldemort had felt anything like that when he'd split his Soul.
"Dad! Uncle!" They then heard Albus yell, as he and Scorpius came charging down the path to nearly tackle them in greeting.
Urquhart gave them all that look again as Albus first hugged his father, then his "Uncle".
"Albie," Draco smiled at him, placing his hands on the boy's cheeks, humoring him.
For just an instant, Albus seemed to freeze. Then he blinked. "What wuz that?" The boy exclaimed. "Everybody here's all weird, Uncle! Scorpy gets all stupid when Rosie talks to him, and he don't know his own Mum!"
"Do not!" Scorpius retorted, his face pink.
"Albus, I don't think this is such a good idea," Harry offered, "What with your head and all?" Albus, however, protested mightily until Harry gave up.
Draco smiled at him. "We'll talk about it all later, shall we? Now go and make us proud!"
"Yes, much later," Urquhart agreed, as he shooed the boys into the locker room. 'Uncle Draco'? He wondered. Why would Potter allow that? Unless that rumor that they remained friendly over the years is true?
"I have him," Draco whispered. "He's in Slytherin again, and fitting in quite well. I can feel him - feel me. He's...we're...very close now. I feel like I could reach out and grab him."
"Keep concentrating," Harry suggested, as they went to stand in the lee of the announcer's box. "While I step back and hide from relatives."
"First up, Slytherin Seekers," Higgins called out, as the game began. "Double elimination!"
"We should be going for the Sorting Hat," Albus muttered, not knowing why, as they set off after the Snitch. "And I'm more of a Chaser."
"What'r you on about?" Scorpius asked.
"We can do that after we're done, I guess...watch out!" Albus yelped, as a Bludger just missed Scorpius.
"You get the feeling we've done this before?" Scorpius asked, as he spotted the Snitch and they zoomed off after it.
"I got it!" Albus was shouting.
"Back off, loser!" Scorpius laughed.
In the lee of the stands, Draco and Harry watched. Once the tryouts game was underway, Urquhart joined them.
"Are they playing with each other, or trying to really catch it?" Harry wondered.
"They're playing," Draco replied, catching a glimpse of something white in the stands just above them. For just an instant, he saw a flash of sunlight on fluffy white hair and heard an excited little voice.
"Go, Scoh-pee-us!"
Orion? Draco wondered, as a scattering of dust fell from the rafters. Then the boy was gone.
"Watch out for Bludgers!" Urquhart suggested, his lips moving rapidly and his eyes glazed as he turned away from the two men.
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
Both boys were closing in on the Snitch, oblivious to what was going on below them.
"Look out!" Draco shouted.
The Bludger just grazed Albus' cheek, the whistle of it deafening him in one ear...
Blood flew.
Two hands in different gloves closed on the Snitch.
"There!" Draco pointed, as he then gasped and went to his knees. "Did you...see...see his robe change color? Just a flash of it?"
"No?" Harry wondered, as he gave Draco a hand up.
"He's shifted," Draco gasped, clenching his eyes shut.
"What? What...a Snitch?" Albus gasped, nearly falling off his broomstick as he saw his green robe. "This isn't funny, Cormac!" He yelled downwards, as the Snitch buzzed by his nose.
A bell sounded.
"Slytherin scores!" Someone called out.
"Duck!" Someone else yelled, and Albus felt the Bludger slam into him. He coughed, spraying blood from a nosebleed, and was suddenly jerked sideways. He felt himself falling, but a hand with a glove like his own caught his wrist.
"Nohhh!" Draco groaned, going down again.
"Perhaps call Poppy?" Urquhart suggested flatly.
"I don't think we need to call St. Mungo's," Harry replied, kneeling beside Draco to steady him.
"Each...hit...shifts..." Draco gasped. "Merlin, Harry, it's hurting him!" Draco was almost in tears.
But as Harry gripped Draco's upper arms, a scattering of golden dust fell from the cloak. "They're being destroyed," Draco breathed, watching the dust now falling up instead of down. "Harry!" He almost cried, "I know what it is! I know what the bloody dust is!"
"ALBUS!" Scorpius was shouting, as Albus looked up to see a Scorpius in black and gold gripping him by the wrist. "I told you this was a bad idea!"
Then the other Bludger grazed Scorpius' cheek as a hopeful Beater sent it his way.
Albus saw blood.
Scorpius was bleeding.
Reality was bleeding.
"It wasn't me!" Scorpius was then screaming at him, as Albus felt that same hand over his, and something struggling within his closed fist. Tiny golden wings were sticking out of his glove. "Aspie don't let go! Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry! I wasn't me then!"
"AAAIIIGGGHHH!" Albus screamed, desperately trying to get out of Scorpius' grip. He didn't care if he fell - he just wanted away from Malfoy! He's trying to steal my Snitch capture!
Albus had just enough time to take in the green of his worst enemy's robes, the confused sneer on his face, and the green of his own robes before he sneezed again, blowing blood from his injured nose.
Still, their hands gripped one another.
"Don't...let...go..." Draco gasped.
"Get help! Get Iris!" Harry snapped at the Potions Master.
Urquhart didn't move.
The boys rolled, there was the CRACK! of a Beater's bat, and fiery pain exploded anew in both Albus' and Draco's heads.
Draco focused, with an effort, and saw Albus' robes shift from green to black and yellow, then to scarlet and back to green. And only I can see it! Draco realized.
Albus looked down, then back up at Scorpius. He's trying to help me?!
The boys fell.
Bleeding, Albus thought, neither willing to let go, but both for different reasons. Hang on, Scorpy!
"Sweet Merlin!" Scorpius swore, "It's not...you're the Gryff-...? Albie, hang on! I'm with you!"
Draco cried out in pain.
He called me Albie? Albus wondered. Like he likes me again?
"Arresto Momentum!" Harry aimed his wand and shouted as the turf rushed up to meet the boys.
Scorpius lost control of his broom, his hand still locked on Albus' forearm in a death grip.
"Aspie, I'm here! This time, I'm going with you!" Scorpius managed, just before their whole world went black as the boys hit the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Hmmmmm!" Urquhart observed from behind the announcer's stand. Perhaps now there'll be no need to call...
"DRACO!" Harry screamed, pulling him to his feet, as they both stared at the clearing dust.
There were no boys on the ground - only two riderless broomsticks hovering above two sets of abandoned green robes, gloves, and boots.
"Find him," Draco muttered, "Find me, wherever you've gone, boys!" Then his eyes went distant. "He knows...Draco knows. He knows how to undo this!"
"Where are they, Draco?!" Harry gasped. "Where did they go?"
"Scorpy...Scorpy had him," Draco panted, as he looked up sharply and his eyes cleared. "Merlin's beard! They're gone, Harry! THEY'RE GONE! I can't sense him anymore! Albus took Scorpius with him!"
On the Pitch, the dust formed up into a small tornado and whirled away into the breeze.
But as Harry watched, tiny little particles of it came scurrying through the air and grass and seemed to vanish upon contact with Draco.
Draco collapsed.
"Interesting," Urquhart observed. "That should be THAT!"
-O-----------
Deep within in the Department of Mysteries, the stone archway creaked and showed only the slowly waving tapestry again. From beyond it, voices called.
"Where'd they go?" The seated man wondered.
"They're dead to the world, Fred," Colin sighed. "It's too late to turn back now."
"Who's this kid?" Fred then asked, as the image in the Arch shifted to show a haggard little boy in Ravenclaw robes.
-O-----------
When he managed to get one eye open, Draco Malfoy stared up at a light above him. His head was clearing, although he'd expected a pounding in it, and he wondered where he was.
"Father's gonna murder me for wrecking the Nimbus 2001," he fretted.
"Oh, snap out of it, Mr. Malfoy!" Iris Pomfrey complained at him. "You're fine! You can go!"
It all came back to Draco at once.
"They're not here?" He gasped, sitting up quickly - which was a terrible idea. He groaned.
"Not a sign," Harry replied. "I've locked down the entire campus, everyone is searching, but no one's seen them since..."
"You won't find them," Draco breathed, his eyes wide and looking frightened as he gazed around the room. "They've jumped. Scorpius wouldn't let go of Albus, and they went together."
"What do you see?" Harry asked him.
"Darkness," Draco shook his head. "Impenetrable darkness. Are there no substitutes for the boys? No Doppelgangers?"
"None," Harry mumbled.
"They should have changed places," Draco reasoned, "Unless…"
"We've got the Ghosts and all the students covering the inside of the Castle," Harry replied, "But the Ghosts don't seem too hopeful?"
"Find the Baron," Draco suggested. "He knew something before, and I think it's time we got him to talk!"
In the Slytherin Chambers, Urquhart was making a show of searching for the missing boys.
Apparently, someone else got rid of them, he was thinking, But gone is gone!
About then, not watching where he was going, he passed right through the Bloody Baron. Urquhart gasped, and for just a moment, froze.
The Baron, however, kept right on going.
Urquhart didn't see the look on his face change, or the Ghost's wide eyes get even wider as he headed up and out of the dungeons. Perhaps if I'd passed through Riddle all those years ago, the War wouldn't have happened, he mused. If we'd only KNOWN then! "Summon the Hunt! We must find Draco Malfoy," the Baron whispered to Sir Nicholas, as they met in the entryway. "I have news that he and Potter need to know!"
"They're here, up in Hospital," Sir Nicholas replied. "What is it, old friend? Is it about the boys?"
The Baron nodded. "Something I just gleaned from passing through someone."
"This looks serious?" Nicholas asked. "You know the prohibition on Possessing? Were you noticed?"
"No. But I know where those boys are, and I've got to get to them," The Baron replied. "I have a feeling that they are gone to where I have no counterpart, and that all this," He gestured around wildly, "Is in danger of collapsing. Nicholas," he lowered his voice, "I know who ordered the murder of Scorpius Malfoy, and WHY, and what caused Albus Potter to shatter our initial Timeline!"
They found Harry and Draco in the Hospital Wing.
"Sir Nicholas?" Harry wondered, giving the Baron a look.
"Come with us, gentlemen," Nicholas offered, "The Baron has news."
They followed the Ghosts up to the Seventh Floor, and Harry recognized the door to the Room of Requirement at once.
"We need to find a way to those missing boys," the Baron said as they entered, and Harry flinched at what he saw.
Standing in the far corner was the Mirror of Erised, but now it cast no reflections.
"How?" Harry breathed.
"Long have we suspected that Albus was crossing some sort of Trans-Dimensional barrier, much like the barrier between the Realms of the Living and the Dead," Sir Nicholas explained. "We needed a Trans-Dimensional object. This is the only one at Hogwarts," he gestured at the mirror.
"A what-object?" Draco asked.
"Harry, do you recall how the Stone got into your pocket when you were just a Firstie?" Nicholas asked.
Harry nodded, remembering it all too well. "Dumbledore put a Spell on it, so that only one who wanted the Stone, but didn't want to use it, could get it." Harry blinked. "And he used the mirror!"
"But how does that get us the boys?" Draco asked.
"Where do you think the Stone went when Dumbledore placed it into the mirror?" The Baron asked. "It had to go somewhere, did it not?"
"He said it was a brilliant idea, and that that was saying something." Harry recalled. "That's how the Room stores things! It calls them from other Dimensions? Other levels of being?" He gasped.
The Ghosts nodded.
"How do you know this?" Draco wondered.
"Time and Reality as you see it mean nothing to us," The Baron replied, "We told the boys all of this in a dream a few nights ago. They seemed to grasp it."
"You're not telling us everything, though?" Draco prompted him.
"No," The Baron replied, "As there are prohibitions. But you already know what you need to know. You know that you, and young Potter, shattered this Timeline and rewrote it to your own liking."
"I had no choice!" Draco retorted hotly.
"You resorted to murder," The Baron countered, "And in doing so, turned your very Soul to dust! Do not argue murder with me, boy!" The Baron glared at him, his countenance chilling as he fingered one of his chains. "I will pay for one murder for all of Eternity!" He said, pointing at the dusty old mirror, which now showed a small boy with white hair. He was sitting in the privacy of his four-poster bed, crying. "Will you have him pay for this, for all Eternity?"
Harry nodded, knowing full well that the Baron had killed Helena Ravenclaw so long ago and would never be done paying for it. As he thought of Draco in the same state - perhaps with only a tiny fragment of a shattered Soul - he shuddered.
"M-make it go away," Draco shivered, turning from the Mirror.
"Why can't I see him? Why can't I see Albus?" Harry fretted, knowing that was what his heart truly desired.
There was a flicker, and for just a second, Harry saw himself holding the Elder Wand in a hand that wore a hideous ring. Parts of his reflection were phasing in and out, then Reflection-Harry vanished.
"Some small part of you covets Power, just as some small part of Malfoy fears loneliness," The Baron advised. "I would advise that you both purge it," He cautioned Harry. "Perhaps a small bit of damage from sharing The Dark Lord's Soul?"
But Draco was moving towards the Mirror again. "Yesss," he seemed to hiss as he ran his hands over the dusty frame, "That's why I can't feel them. They've gone to where I...where I..." he faltered, as the Mirror carried the little boy away into swirling darkness.
"After the Final Battle, Harry freely gave you back the Hawthorne wand," The Baron informed him, and Draco could only sink to his knees in front of the Mirror and nod as another memory from another Draco took him. The Baron waited a moment. "And years later, you would turn it upon yourself."
"I remember," Draco gasped. "But how can I remember? It was in the Manor after Scorpius was...gone," he choked, "I thought nothing could be worse than..." he choked, reaching out to the mirror.
But the crying child was gone.
"WHY do you think I never moved on?" The Baron interrupted, pointing a long finger at the Mirror. "Who would choose an eternal damnation - of his own making?"
"There is no Draco Malfoy in the place they've gone to," Harry reasoned, "Is there?" Then he turned to the Ghosts again. "How do you know all this? 'What is Time to a Ghost', you said? What are you not telling us?"
The Ghosts exchanged a long look. "Never before has Time been so disrupted," a new voice replied, as the Grey Lady appeared among them. "We did not know this before, until that one," she pointed at Draco, "Committed this abomination!"
"How dare you?" Draco snarled at her, but she held up her hand.
"Is life so cheap to the Death Eaters, that you would just toss it aside in favor of another?" Helena Ravenclaw asked. "Was Scorpius Malfoy's life worth the ruined lives of two other little boys? How much damage have you done - and what is yet to come?"
"Dust," Draco whispered, running his hand along the floor as he just sat there. He held up his hand.
"What is it?" Harry asked, noting how Draco's hand shimmered.
"Fragments of a Soul that has gone to Hell," Draco replied wistfully, as the Room produced a pillow and steaming pot of tea. "And if this night must last for a lifetime," Draco added, "Then so be it." He then turned to the Grey Lady. "I understand now."
"This very room is Trans-Dimensional, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"One of my mother's greatest discoveries," Helena replied. "Think carefully about what you require!" And then the Ghosts were gone.
They sat in silence for a long while, both men staring into a mirror that would show them only swirling blackness.
"Draco?"
"Which one?" Draco asked in reply.
"How long do we sit here and watch?"
"As long as it takes."
Lunchtime came and went.
"Getting dark out," Harry later observed, as a window appeared on the far wall.
"I'd heard about this mirror," Draco mused, "Heard you found it in First Year?"
"Yeah?"
"As I understand it, we shouldn't see the same things?" Draco asked.
"Ron and I never saw the same things. I wanted to show him my parents," Harry recalled.
"Maybe you broke it," Draco joked. Then he flinched, as the mirror seemed to shiver just a bit.
"What?" Harry had just enough time to ask, as the blackness began to swirl again. Two images seemed to forming up.
"Get in front of it with me!" Draco snapped, grabbing Harry's arm. "I think it wants both of us!"
Slowly, the images in the blackness began to take shape - Humanoid shapes.
"I need to know where they are, which is where I am not," Draco spoke to Mirror. "I need to call them back."
"Bring my son back to me," Harry added, feeling a chill as if he'd made this request of Draco before.
For just an instant, they saw a clear image of both boys, dressed all in white.
Then the Mirror of Erised exploded outwards in a brilliant flash of green, showering them in a storm of flying shards of glass and golden dust. Both men had just enough time to raise their arms, shielding their faces, before they were knocked to the floor as something physical collided with them.
"Get his wand!" A boy's voice shouted, as Harry felt a hard impact to his chest as someone fell on him, then - "Expelliarmus!"
Draco felt his wand fly out of his pocket, and as both men rolled out of the scattering of dusty glass, they looked up to see Albus and Scorpius standing before them.
The boys were dressed in white hospital pyjamas, and they were carefully avoiding the broken glass with their bare feet as they began circling the two dazed men.
"What are the three Houses of Hogwarts?" Scorpius demanded, taking aim at Harry as Albus covered Draco.
"Boys?" The men gasped in wonder, starting to move towards them, but the boys warned them off. The ring on Scorpius finger began to shine green.
"HOUSES?" Albus repeated at the disarmed men.
"Four," Harry replied, as he named them. "And you are Albus Severus Potter, my second son, and you got your mouth washed out with soap by your Grandma Molly last summer for saying 'the F-word'!"
"What's this?" Draco shook his head, as Albus seemed pleased.
"PolyJuice key questions," Harry informed him, "A security question."
"Merlin, you've trained your kids as little mini-Aurors already?" Draco sighed.
"Four Houses, good," Scorpius agreed, aiming Harry's wand at his own father. "What's my favorite toy?" Scorpius demanded.
"Thunderhead, the Hippogriff," Draco answered, as the boy's face turned pink and he lowered the wand.
"You have a toy Hippogriff?" Harry had to ask. Scorpius glared at him.
"Boys?" Draco then asked, his voice quavering, "What...what's all this?"
"Is it him, Aspie?" Scorpius asked Albus, "I'm still a bit loopy from that ride to tell?"
"Seems to be," Albus agreed, giving his father's wand a look. "Four Houses, wand's right, question's right."
"Are you two quite finished hopping parallel Timelines now?" Harry asked.
"Who you married to?" Albus asked Draco, who answered in annoyance.
"Don't ask me," Scorpius shook his head. "I dunno if I'm comin' or goin', or WHO my own Mum is anymore!"
"Malfoys do not drop the 'g' on verbs," Draco informed him. Scorpius finally smiled at him. "Nor do they wear the color orange, or..." Draco launched into a short speech.
"Daddy!" Scorpius then cried, throwing himself at the man that he now recognized as his father. Draco grabbed him up and kissed him. Both father and son wept at the reunion, both holding tight for fear of being lost again.
At Draco's feet, the shards of glass turned to dust and began slithering across the floor towards him to vanish upon contact with him as those parts of his Soul reunited. The Castle shivered.
"Dad," Albus sniffled, as he was caught up in a similar embrace.
When they had all regained their composure, the boys gave the wands back and Harry verified their magical power signatures.
They matched.
"Great," Draco snarled, "Just what I needed! A wand that answers to two bloody Potters now!" But he had to laugh.
"Boys, where were you?" Harry asked, and the boys began telling them about the Dark Mirror Timeline that they'd just vacated.
The Room provided them with soft couches and a steaming tray of food that it must have summoned from the kitchens as the seemingly tired boys sat down.
"He warned me," Harry sighed, when the boys were done with their story of the Dark Mirror Hogwarts. "The Baron warned me about lusting for Power!"
"I can't see you sending children to a concentration camp," Draco offered, his arm still protectively around his son. "He said he was going to find them, didn't he?" Draco then asked.
"The Baron helped us, and so did Dobby," Albus nodded, "And Uncle Neville."
"Y-You met Dobby?" Harry gasped, and Albus nodded. "And now he's somehow saved my son's life," Harry added, biting his lower lip and hugging his son again.
"What I want to know, though," Draco cut in, grabbing up his son's hand, "Is where did you get this beautiful ring?"
"Out of Salazar Slytherin's secret safe," Scorpius shrugged. "His portrait told us about it, after Aspie gave him 'what for' in Parseltongue! Show 'em the key, Aspie!"
Albus pulled out the key as well, which had an emerald like the one in the ring set in its head.
"You...you inherited that from me?" Harry gasped in shocked wonder, "And you never told me?"
"I didn't know," Albus shrugged, "I never met a real snake before, what wanted to chat?"
"These don't belong here," Harry then pointed out, scanning the objects with is wand. "And they were created via Blood Magic!" He then flicked his wand, and the Patronus burst forth. "Hermione, I need you in the R-R," Harry told it, and off it went.
"Salazar's portrait talked to you?" Draco wondered, his jaw dropping. "They said it was painted before the Portrait-Animation Spell was discovered?"
"Apparently not," Harry reasoned, "Just keep these objects away from that safe. We don't want them coming into contact with their counterparts - which is what started all of this to begin with?" He looked up at Draco.
Draco looked away. "It's not over, you know," He admitted. "Not until we find a way to set this right again. The slightest injury could send them away again."
"You found them!" Hermione gasped, panting as she entered the room. "What a mess!" She then hugged the boys as well, and Scorpius seemed overly pleased to see her.
"I'll explain later," Harry told her.
"I see you're all back?" The Baron's voice then spoke up, as he appeared before them.
"Thank you, sir," both boys nodded at him.
"The boys are quite correct, gentlemen - it is not over," The Baron then informed them. "Time is still not as it once was."
"But there's no way to fix it," Hermione countered. "Not with the Office of Time destroyed?"
The Baron winked at the boys, which really wasn't a pleasant sight!
"Can you use this, Mum...Ma'am? Sorry!" Scorpius asked, pulling the emerald-encrusted Time-Turner from under his pyjama top. "Slytherin invented it, with some help from Ms. Ravenclaw!"
They all just stared at him.
"It was in the safe," Albus offered helpfully.
"And I don't suppose you'll tell us where this safe is?" Harry asked.
The boys shook their heads.
"Only true Slytherins can open it, Grandfather said so," Albus replied.
"Grandf-...?!" Harry spluttered, and Draco laughed again.
"The Peverell brothers," Hermione snapped her fingers, "Of course! They must have been Slytherin's Great-something-Grandsons!"
"Our eyes match," Albus offered helpfully, nodding.
"Make ready," The Baron advised, "Before this all begins again," He reminded them.
The Trio went into action at once.
"Get Iris in here and blanket these boys in maximum protective spells," Harry advised, "For the moment, we don't want anyone to know..." he then paused.
"What?" Draco asked.
"Why did Professor Urquhart suggest 'Poppy' come and see you, instead of 'Iris' Pomfrey, just hours ago?" Harry asked.
"Odd, I wasn't listening," Draco replied, "But Miles should know her name? He's been teaching here since..."
"Since the boys were in Primary!" Hermione cut in. "There's no way he could make that kind of slip! He was a student here when Poppy was the attending Mediwitch, but she long since moved to St. Mungo's after the War, when Iris took her place!"
"But why now?" Draco asked, "Why did Albus jump Timelines when he got here? What's the trigger? Something he ate?" Draco seemed to joke. "Or a…potion?"
"The Magical field surrounding the Castle?" Hermione offered. "It's been know to do strange things to powerfully Magical children in the past?"
"I'll have Ron and some Aurors go over the Express, it's still parked at Hogsmeade Station," Harry offered. "That's if Honeydukes hasn't cleaned out the trolley yet! Blast!" He then gave his wand a shake. "I hope this works! I've trying to get the spell right for weeks! RON!" He yelled at the wand. "Ron, are you there?"
"What is it, Mate?" Ron's voice crackled from the wand, "Hey! You finally got it right!"
"Fabulous grasp of the obvious, for a Weasley," Draco sighed, and Hermione punched him on the arm. "But much easier than a Patronus, and more sneaky! I like it!"
"Ron, are we secure?" Harry asked.
"Yeah?"
"Good! Get a team to Hogsmeade at once. Check the trolley on the Express, and don't EAT anything off of it! If it's gone, get to Honeydukes and close them down. I want their entire lot scanned for traces of anything Trans-Dimensional. Get an Unspeakable or something if you have to, or someone who used to work for the Office of Time. We're looking for an alternate, or odd, Magical Signature in any of the food!"
"Bloody hell! You think someone tried to poison Albie?" Ron asked, missing the point.
The Baron nodded.
"Draco, once Iris is in here, keep her with the boys," Harry went on, "I want them impervious to any injury, for as long as she can make it last. Have her make sure they didn't get hurt in that...that other place," he fumbled, but went on, "Then you go and find some way to chat up Urquhart. See if you can get him to slip up again!"
"He's not going to talk to me," Draco countered, "I'm sure you noticed before, how he greeted us? He's hated me since I made the first move to buy out Slug & Jiggers after the War, and-..." Draco then froze.
"What about Professor Urquhart?" Scorpius cut in.
"He was there, in Diagon Alley," Draco recalled, "I passed him coming out of Gringott's!"
"When?" Hermione asked.
"The day of the murders," Draco mumbled, which got him a look from the boys.
"Lots of customers there," Harry discounted that idea, "But he is extremely good at Potions. What did you do, jack up prices on him?"
"He could have been in the bidding war, when old man Jigger announced he was selling," Draco mused, "It was supposed to be confidential bids, you know, but..."
"You bragged?" Harry interrupted.
"I made it clear that I wanted it," Draco corrected him. "Malfoys do not 'brag', per say."
"We don't?" Scorpius wondered, confused.
"There's a difference, son," Draco informed him. "It's a question of style. But you're right, Harry," Draco went on, "Miles' family is sort of well-off, and they could have been after it, too. It would fit, with him teaching here and always having been so secretive about his own personal work."
"He is kinda creepy," Albus agreed.
"An' he looks at me funny, when he thinks I'm not watching," Scorpius added.
"You'll recall he didn't run for help when you told him to, today?" Draco agreed. "When he got Pomfrey's name wrong?"
"I don't think he heard me. He was muttering - very involved in the game," Harry said icily.
Hermione's eyes sparkled in realization. "Just like Quirrel was when he tried to kill you in your first match! He couldn't break eye contact, or blink! He was tampering with Albie's broomstick!"
"Harry," Draco then said very softly, moving to embrace his son again, "Do you think...Miles ordered the attack on Scorpy?"
"With that amount of money involved, and having lost a very lucrative business to you? Draco, you of all people should know what money will drive most men to do?" Harry answered flatly. "You said you saw him at Gringott's? What if he was planning the buyout, and your move got him in trouble with the Goblins? What if he promised them something?"
"He might have taken the teaching position to be safe, here," Draco agreed. "Even if he did turn the loan money back over at once, they'd have still wanted a murderous fee for it!"
"Murderous," Harry nodded again. "It's beginning to fit! Something about this derailed Urquhart's plans for his future, it would seem, and he just might have ordered, if not carried out, the hit on the Hogwarts Express that you went back to prevent!"
The boys exchanged a long look, and Albus' eyes went distant. So did Scorpius'. The nightmares, both boys thought, nodding at each other as they realized it, THAT really happened! That's how we were killed!
"Excellent," the Baron sighed, having been his usual silent self during the exchange. "Now that you have deduced it, the restraints upon us are broken!"
"What do you mean?" Draco gasped.
"He knew?" Albus spoke up.
"All that stuff the Ghosts told us in the dream?" Scorpius agreed. "They knew!"
"Boys," Harry started, but Albus interrupted him.
"We know, Dad. We remember it, just like Uncle Draco remembers things he never lived through."
Hermione blinked. "'Uncle Draco'?"
"Long story, Mum," Scorpius said with a signature smirk.
Hermione blinked.
"There are many restrictions upon Ghosts," The Baron then informed them, "Many things about us are unspeakable. Many things that we know, or can find out, or powers that we have, cannot be known to mortal men. Suffice it to say, you are correct. I know your premise to be fact, but I cannot reveal how."
"But you told the boys?" Harry countered.
"Just enough for them to figure out how to put this right," The Baron nodded.
Hermione looked shocked. "You can't seriously think we'd let them use that thing?" She pointed at the Time-Turner.
"But we've gotta undo this!" Albus protested, "We've gotta find out what's making me jump!" He looked down at his feet and sniffled. "I...I can't keep it up," Albus explained, "Not knowin' where or when I'll be from one minute to the next! You dunno what it's like, havin' everything change around you, and you don't even know what House you live in! I thought I was goin' mad! If it doesn't stop...I...I just might!"
"Harry?" Harry's wand buzzed with Ron's voice, "You there? We just got done with the Express, and the trolley's clean. You want us to hit Honeydukes?"
"Yes, Ron," Harry agreed, closing the connection. "That's got him out of the way for a bit. So it wasn't anything in the food. Blast!"
About then, Madame Pomfrey showed up. They didn't explain it to her, but she did as they asked when they left the Room to discuss it in the corridor. Hermione prudently took the Time-Turner before the boys could activate it.
"It's got to be the magical field around the Castle then," Hermione reasoned. "For some reason, Hogwarts is doing this to Albie." She grimaced. "Argh! But why?"
"Maybe it's trying to protect itself?" Draco offered.
"From an eleven-year-old boy?" Harry wondered. "That's mental!"
"Either way, we've got the means to undo this," she held up the Time-Turner, "And we know the critical point at which to arrive. This time, though, it's imperative that we NOT BE SEEN!"
"Let's tell the boys then," Harry offered.
"Let's not," Hermione countered, throwing the gold chain around their necks. "Let's just do it. That way, Time changes back to how it should have been, and the boys are none the wiser."
"But what about us? I mean, after all, Hermione, you were wrong the last time you tried to warn me about this."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
Draco sighed heavily. "Remember what I told you? How I remember it all? I left from a point in Time when my Scorpius was almost twelve years old. He'd been killed. I went back to when he was just starting primary school. And I remained there. I'm actually about five years older than I really am. I am the Future-Draco - not the 'real' Draco. That Draco was turned to dust upon my arrival in the Past."
Harry looked at the Mirror. "That's what the dust is?"
Draco nodded.
"I hadn't thought of that," Hermione conceded, giving them both a long look. "But if we undo all of it, this time, then I think it's very likely that we'll all cease to exist and be replaced when this whole future is wiped out - again."
"I hope so," Draco sighed again. "Or I'm going to be a hundred years old before my son graduates!"
II
Redux -
Blaze of Glory
Harry felt a chill. "I just hope we don't remain in the past, five years older, and so much wiser," he shook his head.
"What about Urquhart?" Draco asked, "It's not like we've got the time to interrogate him? And if the Baron can assure us that he was the one who ordered the murder of my son, what's to keep him from doing it again, once we get back? I mean, we can't stop him from planning it, with Goyle and Zabini, can we?"
"We'll deal with Urquhart once we put you and the boys all back together again," Harry replied darkly, "Trust me."
"All the King's horses, and all the King's men," Hermione added, as she spun the Time-Turner.
Nothing happened.
"It won't work for you, I don't think," Albus piped up, as the door opened.
The boys were standing there, dressed all in black with cloaks, looking ready to travel. It seemed that they'd required clothing, and the Room had provided it.
"If you think for one second that you two are..." Harry began, but Draco cut him off.
"This device came from the hand of Salazar Slytherin himself," Draco spoke up. "And everything we've done, we've had to do in two's. The boys escaped the Dark Mirror Timeline together, which I have a feeling no longer exists. Scorpy?" Draco reached for his son's hand. "See this?" He pointed out the ring, which was shining green again. "Do you honestly think that the Portrait would have given these boys anything that could be activated by - no offense - a Muggleborn Gryffindor? Or any Gryffindor, for that matter? This looks like a very old Slytherin Prefect's ring."
"Grandfather said he'd never give help to 'Mudbloods or Blood Traitors'," Albus offered.
"ALBUS!" Harry snapped at him. "You know better than to use those words! And could you not refer to him as 'Grandfather', please?"
"Tha's what he said; can't pick your relatives, you know," Scorpius shrugged. "Anyway, we'll need to go and get our wands, unless you want us to steal yours again?"
"You are not going," Harry told them pointedly, as Hermione ducked out of the chain. Harry nodded at Draco. Draco spun the Time-Turner.
Again - nothing.
"We'll be right back," Albus snorted, as they left the adults standing there looking bewildered.
"Nice of that room to help us out," Scorpius observed, as Albus checked the key that he now wore on a silver chain around his neck. Once they had their wands, they were met by the adults in the Entry Hall.
"Ready?" Albus asked.
"For what?" Draco countered.
"To go to Diagon Alley, where you killed those men?" Scorpius reminded him.
Everyone blinked.
"You know about that?" Draco gasped.
"We know a lot more than you think we do," Scorpius replied. "And it won't do to go back five or six years in the middle of the Seventh Floor here, will it?"
"And no, we can't tell you how we know," Albus added. "I guess...all this jumping...dumped a bunch of new info into our heads?"
"The Baron and I are going to have a long talk about this," Draco snorted. "Harry, you coming?"
"Let's get this over with," Harry sighed, "And when we get back, you and I are going to have a long talk, young man!" He threatened his son.
"Just remember," Hermione shook her head, "DO NOT BE SEEN! DO NOT go near your old selves, and DO NOT make contact with them-'you'-whatever! Just prevent the murders, and get back here."
"Won't this bloody thing burn itself out, like the one you gave me before?" Draco had to ask.
"I have no idea. Go ask Grandpa," She told Albus. Harry gave her a deadly look, but said nothing.
Albus just laughed as they left the Campus to Disapparate.
-O-----------
"Oh my God, they've activated it!" Colin breathed, staring in shock at the Arch.
"I thought that thing was a myth?!" Fred gasped.
"No time," Colin retorted, "Let's go, before they bugger up the Timeline again!"
-O-----------
Diagon Alley, 5 years Past – during "Dust" (M)
The dark night of the deserted alleyway flashed into bright, warm summer sunlight as four figures materialized out of nowhere, frightening a stray cat out of its wits. They hid behind some rubbish bins, checked their watches, and began making plans.
"This looks like the right day, thank Salazar. Urquhart should be arriving at Gringott's within the hour," Draco informed Harry. "Why don't you go there and see if you can find out what sort of business he conducted?"
"Let's hope the Cloak still works in their lobby," Harry nodded, throwing it over himself, "What about you and the boys?"
"We'll wait here for signs of an ice cream sale," Draco replied, "That's the trigger. When Scorpy starts ordering, the six-year-old version, that is, that'll be the sign that Draco-Two is about to drag Goyle and Zabini in here."
"And?" The boys both asked.
"Then ... we wing it," Draco shrugged.
"But what's in it for me?" Griphook the Goblin was demanding of a sullen, dark man who was arguing with him at desk marked "Business Loans".
"Once we've outbid the Malfoys, with whom I'm sure you've lost no love, I'll offer you any benefits of the business at no cost," Urquhart retorted. "Free prescription and potion supplies for life? Whatever you require?"
"Interesting," Griphook agreed, "I must say, this is the most intriguing bidding war we've ever financed. But you realize that the Malfoy fortune is generating interest here at an almost faster rate than your projected income will be? Are you sure this amount will be enough to take over the Apothecary?"
"It's ridiculously high as it is," Urquhart snapped, "Draco Malfoy wouldn't dare go any higher than this."
"But you would?"
"Malfoy won't have your help, will he, Griphook?"
"No," The Goblin snorted. "Never mind the fact that I don't want him to have it. Perhaps he needs an object lesson in paying for what he did in the War?"
Under the Cloak, Harry bit his lip to stifle a gasp. Griphook's in on it, for revenge?" He realized.
"Paying?" Urquhart had to ask.
"There's not enough treasure in the Malfoy vault to repay what they did to me and my kind in the War," Griphook explained. "You wizards are all thieves!"
"But you can't get at their deposits," Urquhart countered. Then his face paled.
"There is one way," Griphook reminded him, "If there are no more heirs, and no Last Will when the family dies out, then all deposits revert to Gringott's!" Griphook added with a leer that gave Harry a chill. Then Griphook shoved a quill and parchment at the startled man. "You can start by getting rid of the little one. I'm patient, Urquhart. I've waited this long, I can wait a few more years while you pay interest on the loan!"
"And if he still outbids me?"
"That would be - unfortunate," Griphook replied. "For you."
"I'll need...assistance...with this," Urquhart admitted.
"Just don't tell them what it's for," Griphook advised, "I'm sure the Malfoys have no shortage of enemies? And as I said, I can wait!"
Harry watched as Urquhart signed the paper, fighting down the urge to arrest them both right then and there. I can wait just as well, Griphook, he told himself.
"HOT FUDGE!" A piping little voice called out, and in the alleyway, Draco and the boys froze.
"Merlin's pants! Did I really go out looking like that?!" Albus gasped.
"Yes, you did," Draco snorted, "Watch now, at the rear of the crowd! I should be showing up at any second."
"This is gonna be neat, three of you here at once," Scorpius observed, as small flecks of gold dust began forming up in the air around them.
"He's … I'm here," Draco whispered, as the dust seemed to gravitate towards him and vanish upon contact.
"Isn't that changing things already?" Albus asked, and Draco nodded.
"Blaise! Gregory! So good to see you!" Draco Malfoy came up behind them and greeted his old friends, throwing a casual glance over his shoulder at the two little boys who were standing in line to order ice cream. He absently brushed the golden dust off his fine shirt, which drifted off on the breeze and into the alleyway.
"Daddy?" the little blond at the counter asked in confusion. The dark haired boy beside him just shrugged.
"Blaise, a word?" Draco asked.
Goyle looked at Zabini, confused. "Weren't you just...?" Goyle asked, pointing at the ice cream counter at a blond man with his back to them.
"Oh, no!" Draco smiled at them, leaning in closer, "Say, I've got something that you simply MUST see?" He gestured at the dark alleyway. "Something of Father's you know?" He hinted.
"Cool!" The two old Slytherins said in unison, following their version of Draco into the alley.
Draco-Present promptly Disillusioned himself and the boys. "Here they come!" He hissed.
Once they were all hidden, Past-Draco-Two pulled out his wand and cast a Muffliato over them. He then Disillusioned them all, not realizing the proximity of three other sets of eyes that could see through the overlapping Charms.
"What is it?" Goyle asked greedily. "Something Dark?"
"Ohhhhh yesssss," Past-Draco-Two almost purred, as he pulled out Scorpius' burnt, ruined wand.
"What's that?" Zabini breathed. "An evil wand?"
"This," Past-Draco-Two said softly, as one single tear rolled down his cheek and fell, anointing the ruined wand that had once resided in a warm, smooth little hand to do its Magic, "Is the wand of a dead child."
Scorpius gulped as he stared at what remained of his wand. Images of the nightmares flashed through his mind, and some part of him knew that he was staring down the men who had killed him - in some other place, in some other Time. His heart ached as he also took in the expression on the face of his Past-Father - the man who was willing to sacrifice everything to save him. But what do we do?
"Cool!" Goyle snorted. "What does it do?"
"Only one thing," Past-Draco-Two smiled. He then leveled his own hawthorn wand, and the dead ironwood wand, at his old friends.
"You see, my friends," Past-Draco-Two sighed, "In about five years or so, someone is going to attempt to murder those two boys out there eating ice cream. One of them is my son, Scorpius, and they will succeed. The other is Albus Severus Potter, the namesake of a noble man who laid down his life for a love that was forever denied to him. The ones who will murder them will leave a calling card that calls those boys 'The Shame of Slytherin House'. Ring any bells?" Past-Draco-Two added darkly.
The two men gaped at Past-Draco-Two, then exchanged a quick look. Past-Draco-Two caught it.
"But Draco...we...we didn't...I mean, we wouldn't...kill your SON?" Zabini gasped.
Scorpius could feel eyes on him right then, although he knew that no one could see them. Someone was behind them, and Albus seemed to realize it too. There was a creak, as if something had shifted. Albus noticed something silver-green out of the corner of his eye.
It can't be, can it? Albus wondered.
"No, Blaise, you're right, you WON'T," Past-Draco-Two agreed, "And you will not harm his best friend, the boy who will give up his own life trying to save him, either."
"Malfoy?" Goyle gasped.
This is the time, Albus realized, nodding to his best friend - the friend that he had just heard that he would willingly lay down his life for.
And Albus knew that it was right. "Now!" He hissed at Scorpius.
Scorpius seemed to realize what was happing, and both boys pulled their hoods up and over their faces and jumped out into the alley - and out from under cover. Their Draco made to grab them, but too late...
"STOP!" The boys both shouted.
"AVAD -... what's this?!" Past-Draco-Two gasped in surprise.
"You can't do this, Mr. Malfoy," Albus said, in as low of a voice that he could manage.
"If you do, you'll destroy not only these men, but their families - and your own as well," Scorpius added.
"Who the bloody hell are you, boy?" Zabini demanded, as he and Goyle drew their own wands.
Both Dracos flinched, and the air began to fill with swirling motes of golden dust. The boys felt the ground shaking, as if with a small earthquake, but as they stood there between the old friends who had now turned to enemies, they realized something:
It had all just come undone.
The dust was a veritable choking cloud.
"PETRIFICUS PARTIALIS!" Both boys yelled, using the distraction, as Goyle and Zabini found themselves as stiff as statues from the neck down.
In Past-Draco-Two's hand, the ironwood wand then turned to dust, as did his own.
"No!" he gasped, "This was my only ... Albus' and Scorpy's last chance," he whimpered. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU BOYS THINK YOU ARE?!" He then demanded of them, his voice broken, "YOU'VE JUST COST ME MY SON!"
"It's unspeakable," Scorpius retorted, as he pointed a finger right at his father.
Draco-Two saw the shining green ring then, and he flinched. So did the other two, as best they could. From his concealment, Draco-Present looked away, bracing himself for the bliss of non-existence that he knew that he now had to face.
It's finally over...
The boys had undone it all: There would be no double murder. There would be no shattering of Draco's Soul, and no bits of that Soul to bond with the boys and send them on their odyssey that had brought them here.
Somewhre in the distance, Draco-Present thought he heard a train whistle.
The Hogwarts Express, five years from now, has rolled into the station at last! Carrying two perfect boys! Draco-Present then knew.
There were no tears.
So long as they meet up out there, Present-Draco realized, as he heard: "More hot fudge!" the piping voice of a little boy was saying again.
More?
Then Draco-Present felt hands on his shoulders, but he didn't react. He just bowed his head in relief. "It's over," he whispered.
"It's not over, Malfoy," a young man's reedy voice told him, as Draco-Present looked up to see two men in black cowls standing behind him. "Scorpius could just as easily dispatch them, as you once did."
"They'll hear us!" Draco-Present hissed.
"No, they won't," a strangely familiar voice of the other man added.
"You...you're Unspeakables, aren't you?" Draco-Present gasped. "This is what you do!"
"This is what your son does," the first man replied. "What his best friend does with him. From our perspective, that is."
As the two cowled boys faced their petrified would-be murderers, albeit some years after, they exchanged a look of frightening realization as more of the golden dust seemed to be forming up around them as well. There was a flash of Ghostly light around the two boys, and a sudden calm came over them.
"On Christmas Eve of his First Year," Albus then said, the words coming unbidden to his lips, "Brock Zabini will die at Hogwarts when he stays over for Holiday. He'll die of a broken heart, when his Magic gives out - literally - because he's pined himself away over his daddy."
Blaise Zabini just stared at the mysterious boy, then he glanced at Goyle as Albus' chest began to shine green. Albus pulled out his key so that they could see it.
"And during his Second Year," Scorpius turned on Goyle, "Your son will be arrested and sent to Azkaban for losing his temper. Without guidance, such as it might be," he snorted at the thuggish Goyle, "He won't ever know right from wrong, and he'll feel no remorse at killing another student during a Quidditch match with a Beater's bat." His ring then lit up again.
"That...that ring!" Goyle gasped, glancing at Scorpius, too, "Father said it was a myth!"
"What, this old thing?" Scorpius snorted, "It's just a thousand-year-old Prefect's ring?"
Zabini's face paled. "This isn't real! You can't know all that!" He gasped, "It's just rumors! You can't be..."
"Unspeakable, so shut up," another voice then cut in, as they all looked to see yet another pair of cowled men entering the alleyway.
"Might I suggest, since this travesty has been averted, that we all go get some ice cream and forget it happened?" The other new man offered. "Besides," he glanced at the boys, buffing his silver and green ring on his cape, "You two need an education, first, before we can even come here to tell you that! Must speak to the jeweler," he added whimsically.
"My head hurts," Goyle moaned.
From his hiding place behind the rubbish bin, Draco-Present fell over in a faint. He leaned back, and felt himself being caught as the cloud of dust now forming up within his Disillusionment began to choke him.
"All the King's men," Colin whispered.
"Just put Malfoy back together again," Fred nodded. "Gotta admit, I didn't think he had it in him!"
"How much of this..." Draco-Present managed, as he felt the world beginning to spin away from him, "Will I...will the boys...remember?"
"That remains to be seen, as you arrived from an aborted Future, but before the EVENT that aborted it," Colin told him. "Why don't you ask your son about it..."
"In about twenty years?" Fred snickered.
And then Draco-Present vanished into a shimmer of gold, taking the remaining dust with him, at the exact same time that Draco-Two began to cough and hack as well.
Then the only Draco Malfoy left in the alley looked up, his colorless eyes wide in shock as the world seemed to jump out from under him.
He smiled.
On the front steps of Gringott's bank, a breeze whipped around and up the steps, and passersby thought they might have heard a surprised gasp. But no one was there, except for an owl taking flight.
Hogwarts, RoR, 5 Years Later (Story present day)
At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a frenzied owl appeared at the Seventh Floor window of the Room of Requirement and crashed into Hermione Weasley with a Howler. The red two-page letter promptly exploded with Harry Potter's voice in a puff of golden dust:
"HERMIONE! IF YOU'RE STILL AT HOGWARTS, FIND URQUHART! GET RON, AND ME, IF YOU CAN FIND ME! HE'S THE ONE WHO KILLED SCORPIUS!"
When Hermione finished with the lengthy letter, she saw the explanation ... and the postage date that was five years past.
"But I thought they'd changed it back?" Hermione wondered, as it all came back to her. "The Room shielded me! I needed it to shield me from the changes, so I'd know that Urquhart did it!"
"Yes," the Bloody Baron sighed. "Time has resumed its normal shape."
Back in Diagon Alley – 5 Years Past (Ending of "Dust" (M))
"If we let you go, can you sort this all out without killing each other?" Albus then demanded of Zabini, Goyle, and Draco-Only.
"I would suggest that you try," the first cowled man threatened them, as a bit of green light began to shine from his breast pocket. "Why don't you all get your boys together and go and have some ice cream? Invite Tommy Nott, while you're at it. And Mason Gamble. He's sitting over by The Magical Menagerie, dreaming about a unwanted little owl he can't afford."
"Yes," the second man agreed, "Because I'm really not looking forward to doing this all over again...again!"
And Draco-Only nodded, stepping out of the now-empty alleyway with his two perplexed old friends.
"I can count it myself, Daddy," little Scorpius Malfoy then said proudly, pulling out some money, as three men stepped up behind him.
But as the little boy turned around to smile at the blond man just behind him, Draco-Only saw his initial self simply blink out of existence. The little boy looked all around, confused.
Only the man's hawthorn wand, polished and unspoiled, fell to land on the neatly swept sidewalk and roll over to the dark-haired boy - almost as if it knew him. But the wand knows Harry...
There was only a very small puff of dust, and Draco-Only felt it all coming back to him.
"You dropped this, sir!" the garishly dressed miniature version of Harry Potter in line spoke up, picking up the fallen wand and handing it to its Master.
And Draco-Only accepted it with a nod.
"Who're you?" Scorpius Malfoy asked the strange boy.
"What just happened?" Zabini interrupted, "Where's Miles, anyway?"
"Who cares?" Goyle replied, as a small black boy with short dreadlocks and a heavier Caucasian boy came running up to meet them. "His crazy idea got the Unspeakables's attention, an' I'm NOT goin' along with him!"
"So what do we do now?" Zabini asked.
"I may be slow, but I know not to mess with Unspeakables," Goyle admitted. "And besides, that short one was wearing Salazar Slytherin's ring!"
"Let's go buy that owl," Draco suggested, nodding at the Shoppe across the way where a sad little boy sat with his nose pressed up against the window.
The boys seemed to be ignoring their fathers as they began ordering.
"Oh, I'm Albus Severus Potter, by the way," Albus introduced himself, offering his hand to Scorpius.
And little Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy shook it.
"You think we got it right this time?" The man with the glowing key at his throat asked his friend.
"I bloody well hope so," the man with the glowing ring replied. "Did you see where our intrepid others went?"
"I can only assume that this little toy put them back where and when they…WE all belong!" The first mused, holding up an emerald-encrusted Time-Turner. "Otherwise, we'd not be here now!"
And both men laughed.
"How did ol' Salazar DO that?"
"Well! Let's go ask him, shall we?"
Note: For months, this was the stand-alone ending while I worked on the epilogue. It's not so short after all! The next chapter will be the wrap-up, alternate endings and all! Many thanks to everyone who emailed, commented, and added the "Dust/Reality" series to their favorites. This version fixes a few glitches, foremost that it was Mason Gamble who needed an owl. You will notice, in the endings, that our heroes may have changed a few things in their one, true Reality! As with all time travel stories involving Paradoxes, however, interpretation is left open to the mind of the reader. Is a story like this ever really finished?
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