Harry Potter: Divergent Paths

Chapter 29 – Revealing and Rallying

Disclaimer: Yo, I don't own Harry Potter. If I did have an actual deadline like real authors did, then perhaps I wouldn't have been late on this chapter! XP Gotta love self-deprecation. They're good material anywhere, even disclaimers~

Reunion was always a heart-warming scene to watch, and always one to be admired quietly. No words needed to be exchanged between the mother and son pair and any sound from the spectators felt truly inappropriate in the moment.

How long had it been since Narcissa last held her darling son within her arms? How long had it been since Draco experienced his mother's loving embrace? Under Lucius Malfoy's watch, the answer was simple – far too long. He was gone now. There was nothing stopping them from filling the void in their hearts that they had long lost hope for. However, even separated within the manor, Lucius wasn't able to monitor and prevent the few glances of maternal love that she conveyed to her son. It was those emotion-filled gazes that kept him going in his loneliness at times in the past.

If not for the warmth encompassing him and the gentle arms embracing him, he may have been unable to believe that this was reality. But it was real. He finally had his mother back.

..

After a good amount of time spent in silence, Draco and Narcissa separated. They were now seated individually, with the others placed around them.

"You've grown much, my little dragon," Narcissa smiled.

Draco just blushed with embarrassment and nodded.

He took a deep breath and calmed down slightly, before glancing at his school friends. "Why…are you here, mom? And where is this?"

"I came here because of my friendship with Harry and Iris's mother, Lily Potter, and my need to get away from your…father, among other reasons," Narcissa answered, glancing at Adrian. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind, Draco…"

He shook his head, smiling. "It's fine. I understand why you had to. It was Adrian who brought me here today, so I can only imagine it was Adrian who made this possible at all," Draco said, looking thankfully at his friend.

"Perceptive of you," Adrian replied with a smile. "But anyway, to answer your other question, this is Vulpis Manor. You'll be staying here from now on, if you'd like. You could always return to Malfoy Manor otherwise, but…well, that's up to you."

Draco froze and fervently gestured in denial. "No thank you, I'll accept the offer and stay here," he said with a sigh of relief. "I really wasn't looking forward to going back to Malfoy Manor." His gaze swept to the other woman in the room, who gave off an aura of familiarity to him, though he could swear he'd never seen her before.

"My name is Andromeda Tonks," she started, taking the initiative to introduce herself after seeing his questioning look. "I'm your aunt and also a friend of Harry and Iris's mom," she said with a smile.

Draco greeted her politely in return, but then his eyes flickered, connecting a few pieces within his mind.

Iris tilted her head. "Don't you have any more questions, Draco? It's a lot to take in, you shouldn't hold back."

"Well…with Adrian's connection to you and Harry, I can assume that he recruited my aunt and mother for help since they were friends with your mother. That's all I really need to know right now, anything else can wait. I don't really want to take up the entirety of my mom's birthday with questions," he shrugged, before blushing. "But I didn't get a present for her…"

"Being able to see you again is enough," Narcissa said gently.

Adrian relaxed as the celebration continued. The news that he would be his friend's step-father in the future was a bombshell that could wait to be launched.

In the meantime, Narcissa unwrapped the rest of her presents, receiving a book and some sweets from Harry and Iris and a new robe from Andromeda. The presents were appreciated, but they didn't matter very much in the end. All she needed to enjoy her birthday was the presence of her loved ones around her. Material things lost a bit of value when you had access to so many things and had no want, after all.

Once they neared the end of the celebration, Adrian brought their attention together one last time.

"I have one last present, though it's more of a present for everybody," Adrian said, acting as if he'd just remembered. "I've had this one planned for a while now."

"What is it?" Harry asked excitedly. Adrian's gifts were always interesting.

The purple-eyed boy simply smirked and snapped his fingers, summoning another cloud of smoke with it. They all coughed and averted their eyes for a moment. When they looked back, the cloud had vanished and all that remained was a pet cage with a dog sitting inside of it.

The dog was healthily large and had black fur. It was wagging its tail beseechingly, as if it were complaining. Adrian laughed and waved his hand again, opening up the cage and letting the dog out. It padded its way out and laid down on the ground in satisfaction, before staring at the group watching it with amusement gleaming in its eyes.

"A dog?" Andromeda asked with a raised brow. "You got us a pet dog?"

"Something like that," Adrian said with a large grin. "Meet Padfoot."

Their expressions of confusion changed swiftly to shock as the dog began to morph. A tall, handsome man with short black hair and striking grey eyes was now standing before them with a smile on his lips. His skin was pale and his face was somewhat gaunt, as if he had been recovering from malnourishment, but it didn't do much to detract from his charm.

Andromeda and Narcissa instantly recognized the man before them, bringing their hands up to their mouths in shock. Tears automatically fell from their faces as they reconciled the image of this man with the last time they'd seen their dear cousin, noting the differences that were likely caused by his stay in Azkaban. They also easily realized that he was much healthier than he should have been otherwise, no doubt due to Adrian. Any anger they felt towards the boy for hiding him, however, was immediately doused by their relief and joy.

"Sirius!"

Both women discarded all airs of elegance in favor of throwing themselves at their cousin, who received them with open arms and bright smile.

"Missed you two too," he replied simply and emotionally, his head turned down as they hugged each other closely.

When Sirius raised his head again, he locked onto the two children who reminded him so much of his two lost friends. They were near-perfect images of two of his best friends in the past, but he didn't let himself fall into believing they were the same. The time he spent in recovery helped him greatly here, allowing him to put away his longing for the past. No, these were his godchildren.

"Harry, Iris. James and Lily would be so proud if they could see the two of you now," Sirius smiled. "Come give your godfather a hug."

And they did, by way of eager flying tackle.

..

There was no mercy for them after the tears were dried, however. Adrian and Sirius were sitting in front of the rest, the former with a smile and the latter with a nervous grin. He never had been good at dealing with his angry cousins after all.

Narcissa and Andromeda were staring at the pair furiously.

"When did you break Sirius out of Azkaban?"

"Do you know how much danger you put yourself into!?"

"What were you thinking, doing that without talking to us first?!"

"What will happen if the Ministry discover Sirius isn't in his cell?"

"Why did you keep this from us?"

Adrian shrugged.

"A month ago."

"Yes, but you know that I wouldn't do anything I couldn't handle."

"I am really sorry and I should have, but I thought it would work best that way."

"The Ministry won't notice a thing. I have a shadow clone taking his place at the moment and we'll swap him back in soon enough for the trial."

Sirius glanced at the boy incredulously. He had to give him credit for being so calm under assault from womanly fury, amongst the other things he had to give him credit for. Like rescuing him from Azkaban.

Nonetheless, he answered the last question to take some of the blame. "I asked him to keep it form you guys. He told me he wanted to inform you guys of me being free, but I wanted to see you all after I took some time off to heal," Sirius cut in with a wry smile. "I didn't want the first look my godchildren got of me to be a maltreated, wreck of a man, you know? Don't blame Adrian here for that one."

Iris pouted. "We would have been fine with whatever you looked like, Sirius!"

Narcissa and Andromeda sighed, having defused most of their anger at this point. They could understand Sirius's motivation for his choice, but still would have preferred just seeing him first. Nonetheless, the past was the past.

"All right. It's good enough that you're here now," Andromeda said with a smile. "We missed you a lot, Sirius. I'm sorry for not getting you out of there sooner…"

Sirius waved it off, gaze darkening. "It's not your fault. The only people I blame for that are that traitorous rat and the old man." He took a deep breath and sighed, glancing at Adrian. "Though, you already caught the rat and apparently the old man's different now…"

Adrian shrugged. "He's doing his best. It doesn't make up for what he's done in the past, but he's trying to atone."

Sirius nodded, but smirked. "Won't stop me from pranking his wrinkly ass though." He looked to his other cousin. "You look even better than I remember, Cissy. Guess I'll need to be on shovel duty even more now…unless that is why you look so good," Sirius teased jokingly.

He was fully aware of the fact that Narcissa's contract with Lucius had been shattered thanks to Adrian In the interlude, he'd given a hug to Draco, his new first cousin once removed, as well. With that, however, he hadn't known the details of exactly how the contract was shattered or Narcissa's new status at the moment.

Narcissa had been trying to conceal it, not due to any sort of shame but mostly because it was somewhat awkward to explain. She succeeded with hiding it from Draco, but this time around, she subconsciously glanced first at her hand, then to Adrian.

Sirius's eyes gleamed and he swiftly reached out for his cousin's hand. Caught by surprise, she was unable to pose a resistance and he found her engagement ring. He connected the dots and looked to the boy at his side, spotting the ring on his hand as well. Once he connected the final dot, he froze in shock.

Draco, at this moment, vaguely recalled the conversation they'd had during the Sorting Feast while he was more focused on his other mental conflicts.

"Is that a promise ring, Adrian? How do you have on at this age?"

"Haha, it was one of the more unique stipulations placed upon me...The contract isn't set to be finalized until eight years from now….I am quite the lucky wizard, however."

Both Draco and Sirius's eyes flickered between the matching promise rings on Adrian and Narcissa's hands, the blond boy adopting a growing expression of horror. Harry and Iris were suppressing their laughter, while Andromeda just sighed and rubbed her forehead. Narcissa blushed and coughed into her hand and Adrian just shrugged helplessly in amusement.

Sirius made a strange sound as he spoke. "So…you and Adrian…"

"We have eight years…but yes," Narcissa admitted with a nervous smile.

Two thumps sounded out as Draco and Sirius both fainted and fell out of their chairs, smacking their heads into the wooden floor. Adrian motioned upwards with his hand, lifting both of them into horizontal positions before snapping and teleporting them into two bedrooms.

"Well, I guess that's one way to end the day," Adrian smirked.

Harry and Iris finally released their laughter.

"Did you see Draco's face?"

"Did you see Sirius's face?"

"Their eyes got all buggy and everything, hehehe."

"Well, I suppose they needed to find out eventually," Narcissa said with a helpless smile.

She was concerned towards how Draco might end up reacting towards the news, but she had faith that he would be fine. She wasn't concerned with Sirius whatsoever, on the other hand. She was, however, expecting a vigorous amount of teasing from the man once he woke up.

"So, how were you planning on returning Sirius for the trial?" Andromeda asked, moving on from the recent debacle with a shake of her head.

"Kurama can handle it. It's better for Sirius's health to stay out until we need him there anyway," Adrian responded. "How is the trial set-up progressing?"

"Swiftly. One more week," Andromeda answered. "Amelia's quite anxious to finally prove Sirius' innocence," she said with some amusement.

Adrian raised a brow. Perhaps another thing for him to investigate...but he wouldn't. It wasn't any of his business, after all.

After spending another hour together in the living room, they retreated to their rooms, drained from the day.

..

Sirius. His godfather. He really hadn't expected that one. That was the great thing about pleasant surprises, he supposed. He rolled around on his bed for a bit, staring at the ceiling and mulling over his thoughts a bit more, when he heard his door creak open softly. Light footsteps pattered their way over to him, narrowing it down to one person.

"Hey Iris."

"Hey." His bed shifted as her extra weight settled into it. He waited a moment before his sister's face popped intruded into his view of the ceiling. "What's up?"

Harry snickered. "I'm looking at it."

"That's not what I meant," Iris replied with a slight pout. "You're doing it again. Letting your thoughts stew."

"That's not always a bad thing," Harry complained.

"It was the first time," Iris countered, sticking her tongue out. "Come on, what's on your mind?"

He remained silent for a while.

"Sirius, I guess. What am I supposed to do? He's our godfather, but he was gone for so long… It's not really his fault. But it still feels weird, you know? I want to accept him, but I'm not sure if I can. Not when he chose revenge over us the night we most needed him."

"I understand," Iris said, laying down beside him. "Part of me wishes he came for us instead of chasing after Pettigrew too. Maybe things would have been different then. But there's nothing we can do about the past, just look forward to the future. He might not be able to change that much, but we have to give him the chance first. I think he can do it."

"I really hope he can. I…am I being selfish again?" Harry asked sadly. "We've just met and I'm acting like this…"

"Stop that," Iris said firmly. She rolled him onto his side and made the same motion herself, facing him and looking into his eyes. "You've been hurt before, Harry. You're scared that he might let you down again. I feel the same way, but I know that you feel it even more than me. If you were perfectly fine, I would be surprised. I came over here for a reason, you know," Iris said with a smile.

Harry hugged her thankfully for a few moments before letting her go. "Thanks Iris."

"No thanks necessary!" she replied, puffing her chest up proudly. "I'm your big sister! That's my job."

Harry smiled for a moment, before smirking deviously. "Of course it is. There's a different job you want to have when it comes to Adrian, so you couldn't be his sister."

He only realized how badly he screwed up after the words came out of his mouth. Her expression darkened dramatically and he suddenly felt as if he was staring into the face of a demon and one of her hands gripped tightly onto his arm.

His face paled. "I'm sorry, Iris, wait a second, I didn't mean –"

"You can feel sorry after you suffer."

His screams were confined within the room due to the silencing ward that Iris erected. Hell hath no fury…

..

What makes me any different from Voldemort? From Dumbledore? What makes me any different from them with what I plan to do? Only you can answer that. But I can answer what I am. No matter what sugary words mask or sweet perfume masks my actions, they don't change a thing. I'm just another dictator.

My enemies will fall. The rest can stand aside. If they stand against me, I will not act, up until the moment they act against me. If their ideals do not offend those I protect, then I will show mercy. If they breach the line, then I will kill them. If they commit crimes against the innocent, I will destroy them with no remorse. If they threaten my family, if they threaten my friends, if they threaten anyone in an attempt to garner leverage, then nothing can stop me from finding them. They can play as many games as they wish, but no games hold substance against power. I'm just another dictator.

That is the simple truth of the world. With enough strength, with enough power, anything can fall. It is a breach against etiquette and conduct, the conduct by which people have carried themselves for decades, even centuries. But for magical Britain, is conduct not flawed at the base? They may argue your ideals to me. They may attempt to change my views. They may succeed in doing so. But they will not receive a pardon from me. Magical Britain has had its chance, and this is the state it has led to. It has stagnated and it ceases to grow and improve. Its government is a cesspool of corruption, and potential is stifled and caught within the mire of the system. Perhaps what magical Britain needs is a revolution. And for a revolution, who says the leader can't be a dictator?

Purebloods need not be removed, but they cannot stay where they are now. We need not conform to non-magicals, but we must accept first generations without enforcing prejudice. Our world must be allowed to develop, rather than stagnate as it is now. We must hold onto our culture, but welcome change. Who better to lead this charge than those we stand in the middle, those who have always sought out a balance? I do not wish to become a dictator, but I will do what must be done if I must. History is dictated by the victor, and I have no intention of allowing this story continue as it has for so long.

I am Lord Slytherin. This is the change I envision. Make your choice. Find it within yourselves to lead Magical Britain towards the future that it deserves or leave it within the hands of a self-proclaimed dictator. Make your choice.

That was the letter that made its way to House Greengrass, House Longbottom, House Bones, and the other families that were considered within the neutral faction. It was the first direct correspondence from him to the families within the faction he intended to create. It was that letter that would be immortalized within the history of magical Britain as what marked the beginning of the large change that 20th century magical Britain would undergo, forging a path to an unknown future. When the change began, how it was implemented, and the results of the tumultuous shift were yet to be seen. Only time would tell.

..

A/N: Hey~ Yea, this chapter was released just a teensy tad late. I'm really sorry about that, I was having some sleep deprivation issues and kinda flopped around for a bit.

So, the last portion of the chapter answers a big part of the review left by one Clairent. Indeed, Adrian is a dictator! Anything else, is subjective~ In my wholly unbiased opinion, I think he's a good dictator. He doesn't want to commit genocide, wants to change things, treats his peeps well, all the good stuff, ya know? Seriously, it is up to you though. In my wholly politically inexperienced mind, this is simply my solution for the situation. No doubt there are different methods one could take, but this is the most direct. What if his ideals aren't the best for the world? Well, we'll see, won't we?

Doesn't mean he'll hammer through everything right away, but at some point, he'll be able to. For now though, we can just chill in Hogwarts. It'll take a while for any of this stuff to actually matter a lot, but that portion was just to clarify and transition decently into the tone of the next chapter.

Towards the part of Clairent's review of how it seemed that only Slytherin has bad people, that's my bad! As far as I've written, I've only portrayed and excised the bad people from Slytherin, but there will be negative parts to Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw as the years carry on. You can probably take a good guess to some of the instances, but they'll come up in my story eventually. Just not at the moment.

I do apologize if changing Blaise's gender after I set him as a guy annoyed some people. It was just something that I had been planning ever since I decided to bring him in as a character. In fact, initially, I was just intending on him being a regular female under the same guise of wanting to differ from her mother, but then I saw the opportunity to tie this more into the magical species portion of my story. I'll be expanding on that notion throughout the story and at more of a later point, but it will be relevant and is only contributed to by dear Blaise. I'm sure some people guessed it when I first showed 11 males and 9 females in Slytherin.

Ryder: Good question…what will Malfoy vanishing imply in the long run? We'll just have to find out won't we?

Haha, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll do my best to have the next chapter on time and not die at the same time. Also, we're near the 400 follows mark! *excitement* Anyway, Licras out. Cheers!