Track Change

Track Tau Omicron Eta

"Oh, don't be shy..." Draconius purred, smirking. "Do come on out. Come into my world, please. I want you to see it."

The room he was standing in looked oddly familiar to a few of the Dracos in the Express. It was dark, dank, damp, and was decorated everywhere with large statues of snakes, and flickering torches. Directly behind Draconius, looking very menacing, was a statue of a giant head - Salazar Slytherin's head, to be precise. They were, in other words, in Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. The very Chamber of Secrets whose opening had, really, when you got right down to it, caused all these problems in the first place.

Swallowing, Alpha Draco turned to look at the others. "I think... we should listen to him, if we're going to get Harry back."

At that, Draconius laughed again. "And which Harry were you looking for, Draco? Because they're all mine. Mine."

"Like shit they are," Gamma Draco growled, and stepped off the train with complete determination. "Give him back."

"Ha," Draconius snorted, tossing his head back, laughing. He started to speak, even as the other Dracos began to pour out of the train as well, slowly sneaking in amongst the Harrys, which, for some very odd reason... were not moving. "I suppose you asked the Express what was going on with Tau Omicron Eta? Well, I'll tell you."

"We already know," Beta Draco snapped. For some reason, Alpha, Beta and Gamma Dracos had become the almost unofficial spokesmen for the rest of the Dracos, but it might have just been because they were the first three to find the way onto the Express, and together, they stood as a trio in front of Draconius.

"No, no you don't." Draconius sneered. "Tau Omicron Eta is hell. That's all there is to describe it. No Harry Potter - Lord Voldemort won. He controls the magical world. He murdered Headmaster Dumbledore, and uses Hogwarts as his own personal castle, his own personal headquarters from which he raids and destroys the Muggle world. You either have the Dark Mark, or you die. That's all there is to my world. And it is the one place in the Multiverse where Draco Malfoy has no connection to Harry Potter. None. Nothing."

"So why force all the other Harrys and Dracos together then?" Alpha Draco sneered.

"Because you did not know what you had right in front of you!?!" Draconius roared, making everyone take a step back - except the Harrys, which all remained motionless. "I accidently discovered, via a slightly strange anomaly with a time turner and a potion my Uncle Severus had had me brew for practice, that I could at times, look into other worlds. Other places. And I discovered that in so many of them... there was both a Draco Malfoy and a Harry Potter. But so many of them hated each other. They fought. They wasted what they could have had. I could not bear to see one more Draco Malfoy squander what they had before them. And so I made it my mission in life to fix what you have all done." He snorted, shaking his head. "I had to save you from yourselves!"

"Is it just me," Beta Draco muttered, "Or is he completely nutters?"

"I am not nutters..." Draconius sneered, apparently having heard the comment. "I am brilliant. You don't even care about what you have. You don't matter, do you understand that?! All that matters is Harry Potter. And me. I will keep them all safe from you... you idiots who do not even appreciate them!"

"Right." Beta Draco snarked. "We matter. Draco Malfoy matters just as much as Harry Potter does."

"Liar!" Draconius shrieked, then snapped out his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

"Sheildus!" Gamma Draco yelled instinctively, throwing a gold energy shield up around them. The green light of the Killing Curse bounced off of it... and struck one of the Harrys who stood, still frozen, around the room.

"No!" Draconius gasped, eyes widening in horror.

The sheer amount of magic in the killing curse apparently ended whatever freezing charm Draconius had used, because that Harry suddenly drew in a sharp breath, back arching, eyes widening. "Draco..." he gasped, before he crumpled to the floor.

The room was frozen as they stared in horror at the vision before them.

Harry Potter lay sprawled on the floor, black hair arrayed around his face like a dark, messy cascade. His round glasses had slid halfways down his nose, and there was a spider-web crack through the left lens from where it had made solid contact with the stone floor. But most disturbing of all, were his emerald eyes. His mother's eyes. The spark that had always marked Harry as so different was gone. His eyes were flat, dead, without life or spark. There was no emotion left, nothing but a vaguely confused expression, as if to say, 'That's it? I survive an attack from Voldemort as a child, face him every year for six years after that, get branded as the savior of the Wizarding World, and that's it? Hit by a stray curse meant to kill my rival? How pathetic. How anti-climactic. How can that be it?'

"No!" Draconius roared, horrified, rushing forward to drop to his knees, and scoop the body up, cradling it to his chest. "NO!"

Nearly a hundred Dracos stared in horror, and surprise.

Then the worst thought of all crossed every one of their minds.

Which one was it?

Whose Harry Potter now lay in that mad man's lap, lifeless as the rock beneath them?

Which one?

"This ends now," Gamma Draco growled, snapping out his hands, making his shield drop. That was when anyone who was paying attention would have realized that he had just done so - and in fact had done the same with the shield - without the use of his wand, but no one there was really paying attention. "Finite Incantium!"

Collectively, nearly a hundred Harrys drew in a sharp breath, then all started moving at once, pushing forward, trying to escape that crushing place they'd had to see once in second year, and that had been too many times as it was, thank you very much.

"Everyone grab onto someone!" Alpha Draco yelled, then gathered as much magic into himslef as he could manage.

"Apparate!"