Came out of the Darkness 33 – Rise against your fate

Characters created by J.K. Rowling.

Feels like your life is over
Feels like all hope is gone
You kiss it all away
Maybe, maybe
This is a second coming
This is a call to arms
Your finest hour won't be wasted, wasted

Hate, hate, hell is what you make, make
Rise against your fate, fate
Nothings gonna keep you down
Even if it's killing you
Because you know the truth

This Is Gonna Hurt – Sixx A.M. – lyrics by Ashba, DJ, Sixx, Nikki, & Michael James © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., DOWNTOWN MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

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*x*x*x*x*x*

Draco stood on the edge of a small stream watching the water flow. The small tributary branched off of a winding river to flow through Longbottom Village. It babbled over rocks, around a fallen tree, split around a small island, then reconnected to flow around a bend and out of sight. There it rejoined the river just before the watermill.

In the week that followed the 'Riot at the Cup' as all the papers were calling it, Draco had spent a lot of time alone. They'd left the cabin at dawn, Martin driving up Lords' Avenue to retrieve them from the doorstep. They drove Amos and Cedric home, where Beth was outside pacing franticly. Then on to Longbottom Manor, where his own mother was waiting with Lady Aggie and Xeno. But they didn't stay, instead dropped off Neville, Harry, and Hermione, and left for home immediately. He was stuck in the house with his mother, who was quiet and stayed in her room for hours at a time. His father was at work in his capacity as Lead Advisor to the Minister round the clock. So Draco was alone.

Then he and his mother came to Longbottom Village where she was working with Lady Aggie and the other wives and mothers to plan arrangements for the Tournament. He was welcomed, but it was obvious that everyone was tense. The normal lessons in town had been cancelled except for Wizard yoga and combat with Hiroaki. Neville and Luna spent most of their time in the greenhouse, engaged in a project they wouldn't talk about with anyone. Hermione was friendly, but distant. And Harry always seemed to have a headache, and he kept rubbing his scar. So the end of summer passed with him spending time alone with his thoughts.

"Draco?" a voice cut through his thoughts.

Draco turned, "Uncle Sev, thanks for coming."

Snape had just arrived at Longbottom Village and immediately sought out his godson. "You said you needed me."

"I do," Draco sighed as his voice cracked.

"What is it, Little Dragon?"

"My father is a Death Eater."

X * x * x * X

Harry was sitting at the base of a small wooden footbridge crossing the stream that ran through Longbottom Village. He was watching Draco in the distance and saw Severus join him. From behind him, he heard her footsteps on the wood. She walked up and sat against his back, one leg on each side of him, then rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Hey," he turned his head and kissed her cheek.

"Professor Snape just get here?" she asked.

Harry nodded, "I wish I could hear what they were saying." He stared at her intently.

Hermione took a deep breath, "You are a bad influence on me, you know that, right?"

"Yep."

Hermione reached out her hand, cupped it and brought it back in front of them. Bringing the voices to them.

"It's complicated, Draco," Snape said

"It isn't! He was there!"

"They were in hooded robes, wearing masks."

"I know my father. I know the way he walks, the way he handles his wand. He was there. He wasn't one of the ones toying with the Muggles, but he wasn't doing anything to stop it!"

"Draco you need to have this conversation with your father," Severus urged. "He won't be angry. You need to give him the right to explain himself." Draco scoffed and turned back to the water. "Dray… Your father took the Dark Mark when he was just fifteen years old. His father, your grandfather Abraxas, insisted. I'm not making excuses. He had a choice. He could have walked away but he didn't. He took the mark of his own free will. Just as I did. I thought I knew what it meant. But you never think that the choices you make at that age will decide your fate for the rest of your life." Severus sighed heavily. "Your father loves you, more than life itself. Everything he's done has been to ensure a better life for you and your mother. Promise me that you'll talk to him."

Draco nodded, "I promise. I guess it's something that he wasn't actively hurting those people. If he casts me out of the family I can always come live with you, right."

"He won't. But yes."

They paused for a moment and watched the water flow. Then Draco sighed, "You know Harry and Maya are eavesdropping, right? Very Slytherin of them."

"Oops," Hermione dropped her hand, and the link to the conversation.

Draco and Severus exchanged a few more words, then started over to where Harry and Hermione sat. Draco walked to stand right in front of them and said, "So you two have gone back in time to repeat your life, making changes to save lives. So is my mother. That about sum it up?"

Harry gaped at him, then at Snape, who shook his head, "Not a word."

Draco rolled his eyes, "My parents still don't know that there are certain heat vents that let you hear conversations from all over Malfoy Manor. I'm a Slytherin, I eavesdrop. Mother remembers some things but not much. They think you two remember everything."

Harry looked to Hermione who nodded, "So do Luna and Neville. We tried this once, it ended badly, Fate sent us back to try again."

"We remember a lot," Hermione continued, "It's not possible to remember everything. People remember major events, not every minor thing."

"Are you changing things?"

"Some things," Harry admitted. "Small things to try to direct the path. But we're going to start making major changes very soon."

Draco nodded and shrugged at the same time, "Sounds good. I'm in. Just tell me what to do."

Harry blew out a long breath. "This is new."

"Hey!" Draco snapped. "Ended badly translates to me being dead. So yeah I'm ready to help change things."

"Right, sorry Draco," Harry replied. "Welcome to the revolution."

"Revolution?" Snape asked.

"I'm considering it as a title," he said as Hermione rolled her eyes.

Then three things happened simultaneously.

Harry's scar flared pain, cutting through his head like an ax. He bent forward away from Hermione's embrace.

Snape's left arm burned in fiery agony, breaking through the concealment charm. He winced and clutched his arm to his chest.

And lightning struck a nearby tree.

They turned as one to see an ominous black cloud spreading out across the heavens. Lightning flashed, illuminating the turbulent mass. Thunder roared. The wind whipped up. Cold. Bitterly cold in contrast to the hot day.

"MOVE!" Snape commanded. "Inside, now. Let's go!"

Draco reached down and pulled Harry to his feet bringing Hermione with him.

In the Village they could hear parents calling for their children, cries of fear. Then the wind blocked all sound.

"The Mill is closest!" Harry yelled over the onslaught. He had Hermione by the hand as they fought their way along the stream that was now whipped into whitewater.

Snape stopped on the Mill steps to help them climb. One they were inside, he closed the door and slid the bolt home. "This is no ordinary storm. What's happening? Harry, Maya, what was happening today? Think. It's two days before the start of term. What's happening?"

Harry looked out to the waterwheel that was spinning rapidly. "Crouch has rejoined Riddle. He's behind this. Or it's the result of what he's doing."

"Crouch? Barty Crouch? Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

"His son. Barty Crouch Jr." Hermione corrected.

"His son? His son is dead. He died in Azkaban."

"Yeah, not so much," Harry replied, wincing as lightning crackled through the sky, striking another tree directly across the river from the mill.

Snape was silent for a moment, "Was that who you saw? In your nightmare before I retrieved you?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "I saw Riddle and Pettigrew killing an old Muggle."

"The Riddle House caretaker. I saw his obituary in a Muggle newspaper," Snape said. "It mentioned the death of the Dark Lord's father."

Draco was astonished, "The Dark Lord's father…. was a MUGGLE? What the fuck?"

"Language," Snape admonished automatically. "But yes. Tom Riddle was a half-blood raised in a Muggle orphanage."

"Huh."

"So what is happening?" Snape demanded.

Harry sighed, "Ask me again in two days. After we're back at school. After you've faced Dumbledore again. I swear I'll tell you then."

X * x * x * X

The Marauder's Map was spread out on Harry's bed. Harry, Hermione, Draco, Neville, and Luna surrounded it. "So that's the plan," Harry concluded.

Draco contemplated the group, "Is this the first? The first time you've saved someone?"

"More or less," Harry nodded.

"Why would you do the same things over again? Some of it you had to remember and so didn't need to redo."

Harry shrugged, "Yeah. But we already have such intense memories of some of these things. We figured it was best to do them again so that if these memories were accessed we would have less explaining to do. Like this past winter. I followed McGonagall into a tavern to overhear a conversation that I knew to be worthless and wrong. But it was a very powerful memory. One that would be easily resurrected. So I did it again, so that I could remember it from this time, instead of only the last one."

"Makes sense I guess," Draco shrugged, "Some of what you told me has to be dragon shit. I mean come on, I was only friends with Crabbe and Goyle? I'd go mad in a week! Neither of them is remotely intellectually stimulating. And I can't imagine they'd be all that loyal as friends."

Harry shrugged, "You and I were arch-nemesis. Nemesees? Nemesises?"

"Nemeses, e-s," Hermione corrected.

"Whatever. I didn't keep up with your social calendar," Harry said. "But you were usually with the two of them. Zabini and Pansy Parkinson were around a lot. Nott seemed to keep to himself."

"This is much better," Draco said looking to each one of them in turn.

Luna beamed, "Can we keep this Draco? I like him."

Everyone snickered and Draco reached over to squeeze Luna's hand. "So this rescue plan… may I make a few suggestions?"

"We're in this together now," Neville answered. "What are you thinking?"

Draco smiled, a slow sly smile identical to his father's, "Chaos."