Dinner and a Show
Hogsmeade has always been busy when the students from Hogwarts got to visit on a weekend. This Saturday was no different. Although, not every student is there to hang out with his friends or on a date. One particular student is meeting with some not so nice people inside the dingy pub the Hog's Head, he has news about a recent event that happened inside Hogwarts. These people have been trying to find out what happened, who is involved and why it has been kept from parents and the general population? This student slunk ungracefully down onto the booth bench across from two others, all three dressed in all black with their cloaks still on, even though it was Summer. This is meant to be a short encounter.
"What news do you have?" One of the not-so-nice people asked, sneering at the boy across from him. "I wasn't told very much, anyone else involved is not saying anything. What I was told, two guys appeared from thin air on the fifth floor, then taken to the hospital wing. They have since been moved to Potter Manor. Nothing else has been told to me." The other leans closer so she is heard clearly, "Is that all? You're not telling us everything." "Well, there were rumors that one of them looked a lot like Malfoy. I know that's impossible though. What reason would he have to be at Hogwarts? But then again it was just a rumor." The nervous student whispers. The two Death Eaters stood to leave, "If that is all, we are done here. You will notify us if anything changes Wormtail."
Peter Pettigrew always wanted attention and respect. He feels he will never get those things being in the Marauders shadow. James, Remus and Sirius were the Marauders, Peter was just their friend. He did everything alongside his friends, but never felt like he truly belonged, even when they told him otherwise. So when he was approached by Thaddeus Nott earlier in the term with an offer from the Dark Lord, who was he to refuse? Peter wasn't as brave as most Gryffindors, he knew refusing the Dark Lord would cost him. Peter knew he was betraying his friends, he could not bring himself to care when he has been promised fame and fortune.
After the Death Eaters left Peter waited a few moments before exiting the pub. He is supposed to meet his friends at the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Then some shop-hopping, ending at Honeydukes for refills on his sweets stash.
"Wormtail! I thought you were behind us? You missed James getting hexed." Sirius threw his arm around Peter's shoulders. "Lily turned him down again?" Peter huffed. "Doesn't she always?" Remus came to stand on the other side of Peter. James joins the friends, "At least it wasn't that Bat Bogey hex this time." James rubbed his left buttcheek, "Although sitting is going to be painful for a few days." Peter couldn't help the laugh bubbling in his chest, but his smile didn't reach his eyes. It was times like these where he felt guilty about joining the Death Eaters.
The Following Saturday
Since waking last Friday, Draco has been slowly regaining his strength. It was upsetting when he couldn't walk himself to the loo without help. Now he is capable, albeit slowly, of getting himself showered and dressed. He no longer has bandages covering his face, even though he is not fully healed. Being stuck in bed for two weeks has given Draco, with Ron's help, the opportunity to go over Hermione's notes and lists. They have created a projected timeline of each significant event. Draco added in the bits of information he knew to fill in some of the blanks. Rolling up the three foot parchment with the timeline, gathering Hermione's lists and making sure they look presentable, they head to the dining room.
Stopping before the dining room, "You ready for this? You know your parents are probably in there?" Draco asked a pale faced Ron. "Ready as I'll ever be. I'm going to have to see them sooner or later." They both take a deep breath and open the double doors.
When the doors opened all the adults looked up to see Draco and Ron entering. Ron was casually dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with white trainers that have seen better days. Draco wore a black silk button down, with black slacks and black trainers. The two teenage boys scanned the many recognizable faces, as well as those they never met or got to meet. An overwhelming urge to turn back around and leave the room came over them both for different reasons. Ron couldn't bear to look at a younger version of his father without wanting to break down. Draco, on the other hand, felt really out of place. He has no one, besides Ron, he is alone. Draco puts his head down and turns to leave, "This is a mistake. I don't belong here." Before he could take a step out of the room Euphemia stands to stop him, "Draco Malfoy! Come sit down. I know you didn't spend all of this week going over everything, just to turn away. We are here for you, for both of you. We would like to hear what you have to say. After dinner of course." The room was silent, so silent you could hear a ...stomach rumble.
Ron faced his friend and snickered, "Come on Malfoy, can't concentrate if you're hangry." He patted Draco on the shoulder, he knew his back was still sore. Draco exhales forcefully, "No, I guess not." They make their way to the table. Ron awkwardly sits next to Arthur at the end of the table. Draco sits across from him, next to Edgar Bones. At the head of the table sat Fleamont, next to him on his left side was his wife Euphemia. Next to Euphemia was Fabian Prewett, then Gideon Prewett, and Arthur Weasley. Alastor Moody on Fleamont's right side. Benjy Fenwick is between Moody and Mrs Bones, her husband Edgar on her other side.
Dotty appeared next to the table, snapped her fingers and a variety of dishes appeared on the table. "Like my wife said, we will talk after eating." Fleamont proceeded to load his plate with a little bit of everything. Soon everyone else at the table had filled their plates. The boys are still getting used to eating large servings again. Ron being on the run for over a year with Harry and Hermione suffered from hunger pains after about six months. Then Draco joined them at Shell cottage for a couple months before the final battle, used to an abundance of food at Malfoy Manor, he had to share smaller meals with the Weasley household. They learned the hard way not to eat too much, too fast. Tonight though they seemed too nervous to eat a full meal. Keeping their heads down, taking small bites, and waiting patiently for dinner to end.
When the table was finally cleared of the meal, and tea was served, Fleamont opened the floor for the boys, "We all know what will be revealed tonight cannot leave this room. My boys James, Sirius and Remus somewhat know what's going on but they were informed not to talk about anything. Their other best friend Peter doesn't even know all the details. Just that Ron and Draco appeared out of thin air inside Hogwarts. So, the floor is yours boys."
All eyes turned to Ron and Draco. Ron broke the silence first, "I guess we should start from what was happening right before we were sent here. Then we will tell you what we know, and what we've been through. Some things may be harder to explain, so showing the memories will help, if we have access to a pensive." Ron panned his eyes around the room, "We came here from the final battle. Tom Riddle and his Death Eaters had overtaken Hogwarts and were killing any and everyone on sight. Their main target was Harry. Riddle gave the order to not kill Harry because he was the one to kill him. Harry, Hermione and I were tasked by Dumbledore to find and destroy Riddle's Horcruxes." Ron noticed the confused expressions when he mentioned Horcruxes. "We had destroyed all but two, his pet snake Nagini, and the final Horcrux was Harry. He was an accidental Horcrux created when Riddle murdered Harry's parents. We'll get more into that later." He paused for a moment to let that sink in.
"What is a Horcrux?" Fabian asked.
Ron gives a slight nod to Draco, 'your turn', "A Horcrux is very dark magic. Most dark wizards and witches haven't even heard of it. It's that dark. Horcrux is used to hide a piece of one's soul in order to become immortal. To create a Horcrux, one must commit murder, which damages your soul. A spell is cast to sever the damaged portion of the soul. Then a ritual is performed to place the damaged soul in an object or some cases a living being. Even creating one Horcrux causes you to lose some of your humanity. The Dark Lord did this seven times."
The whole room chorused, "Seven times!"
"You called him 'The Dark Lord'. Are you one of his followers? You sure we can trust you?" Moody paranoidly yelled. Standing and aiming his wand at Draco.
Draco calmly stood, his face void of emotion, rolled up his left sleeve. His forearm on full display. Everyone can see the disfigurement left behind where the Dark Mark had been cut away. "I was one of the youngest Death Eaters and I hated it. I only took the Mark to protect my mother, and she was murdered by my father. All because she wanted to get me away from what was going on in my own home. I was being forced to watch Bellatrix LeStrange torture Hermione, a Muggleborn, for information. Information she never gave up. In all honesty, she should be here, not me. I have done nothing but bully her and her friends since first year. By the time they were captured and brought to my house, my home, I wanted out but I was going to stay to protect my mother. When Lucius killed her, I lost it. As horrible as this may sound, killing Lucius was easy. After everything he had done, and put me and my mother through…"
Draco shakes his head to try and clear it before continuing, "Killing him caused Bellatrix to stop torturing Hermione and target me instead. The Cruciatus is nothing new to me, it's Bellatrix's favorite along with her cursed dagger. Before Bellatrix could get too carried away, Harry and Ron had escaped the dungeons with the help of a house elf. Ron stunned Greyback to get him away from Hermione. Greyback was wanting to defile her the moment he got his claws on her. Greyback was tossed away from her by this guy." Draco points to Ron. "Harry disarmed Bellatrix, and instead of leaving me there, he came and helped me up and we got out of there. Unfortunately, Bellatrix threw her dagger, aiming for Harry, but ended up killing Dobby instead. He was a free elf who only wanted to protect Harry." Draco's mask of indifference has fallen by this point. He was angry. Angry at Lucius for giving him to Voldemort and ruining his life. Angry with Voldemort for being an evil tyrant wanting to rid the world of lesser beings, and for desecrating his once beautiful, ancestral home. Angry with his mother for not keeping her head down. But mostly angry with himself for his cowardice.
Taking a few deep breaths before resuming, "The past two months I have spent with Harry, Hermione and Ron, as well as the rest of the Weasleys', really showed me that there is more to everything than blood status. Or the fact that you don't have to be directly related to be treated like family. Molly and Arthur took me in without hesitation, knowing I was still a git. Knowing who I was and what I've done, and treated me like family, like I've always been there. Molly was even knitting me a sweater like she does for everyone living in her home every year. That may not seem like much to most but it meant a lot to me." Draco rolled his sleeve back down, buttoning his cuff, then sat down. A shocked but sad expression on Arthur's face, 'Molly is going to be so upset she missed this.' She was currently tending to their children.
Edgar cleared his throat, and gestured between the two boys, "So what was happening when you were sent here?"
"When the battle started, the professors and Order members were trying to seal us in and keep the Death Eaters, werewolves, giants, mountain trolls, Dementors and Acromantula out. The shield was massive, covering Hogwarts almost completely.
"Those of us who were of age were instructed to get the younger years out. We used a passageway from the Room of Requirement in the school to Hogsmead, exiting through The Hog's Head. It was one of the ways Aberforth was helping. Some third year Ravenclaws got caught up in everything, I had to yell at them to get them running when I was caught by Death Eaters. Two of them pinned me down while another carved into my back. The one holding my left arm used the same dagger to slice off my Dark Mark, and then they stood me up to let Greyback finish the job. He almost did when Harry, Hermione, Ron and a few others showed up..." Draco trailed off.
Ron took back over, "Our friends and I showed up to help get us all out of there. Harry and Hermione must have realised we were going to lose when more Death Eaters showed up. We were outnumbered and outmatched. Harry put up the strongest shield I have ever seen, giving Hermione time to hand over her beaded bag and rope a modified time turner around both our necks. Harry and Hermione were acting very secretive a few weeks ago and now we know why. They had planned to send us back to before the war took a turn for the worse. This is our chance to set things right. To make sure the war ends before the death toll rises into the hundreds. She explained to us the risks of traveling back to a time before we were born. Draco and I may not be born now."
The room was unbearably silent. Dotty had entered the room to clear everyone's tea cup and stopped to listen. "Excuse me sirs? What of Hogwarts' house elves?" Dotty was taught to speak more clearly by Euphemia. Both Draco and Ron smiled. "The house elves of Hogwarts were bloody brilliant. Going after Death Eaters, Acromantulas and a couple trolls with just kitchen utensils. Winky and Kreacher led them and they fought bravely." Dotty stood a little taller, proud of her fellow elves. She snapped her fingers and the table was cleared.
Draco brought out all the notes, timeline and Hermione's journal found in her beaded bag. Also, two sealed letters were found written in Hermione's elegant script, one addressed to Andromeda Tonks, nee Black, the other to Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black. Draco thought he would have Fleamont owl them later. He unrolled the three foot parchment, "I constructed a timeline with all the significant events and deaths. It is only an estimate. Our arrival may have shifted some things, but we are hoping to change or stop some of the events altogether. Before you look at this, you must understand that you cannot tell anyone. Even if you see your own names on here. " The parchment was passed to Fleamont. The more he looked at it, the paler he got, "I think I'm going to be sick." Moody takes it from Fleamont, he too was silent as he passed it along.
Twenty minutes goes by and everyone at the table has gone white as a ghost. "As you can see, it gets much worse from here on out. There is a thirteen year gap, however everyone was still on edge and suspicious of each other. Quite a few Death Eaters believed he wasn't truly gone since their mark never faded. The ones not in Azkaban would search for any kind of sign of his whereabouts.
"My father, Nott Sr, Goyle, Crabbe were very discreet with their searches, while Crouch Jr, and Pettigrew quite literally got their hands dirty during their search. Those two were the ones that eventually gave Riddle a physical body during our fourth year. Cost Cedric Diggory has life and Harry almost bled to death, was Crucioed, and Imperioed but he resisted. Harry was able to get away with Diggory's body.
"I'm jumping ahead though. Ron and I feel there are two events that would make a drastic change in this war. Stopping Pettigrew from being in the Order and ending up secret keeper for the Potters is one. The second coincides with the first. Pettigrew betrays the Potters and James and Lily are killed by Riddle but Harry survives. Then the Longbottoms are tortured to the point they lose their minds and end up permanently in St Mungo's. Neville is then raised by his grandmother.
"If we could stop those two events from happening, it will change so much." Draco stopped to take a breath. Unrolling the parchment with the list of Death Eaters, current and future, Draco passed it up to Fleamont. "Again, quite a few names will be recognized. But we can't just approach them out in the open. We would need proof of their involvement before taking any action. Some of the Death Eaters currently in his ranks are Ministry employees. I, from personal experience dealing with some of the lower ranking Death Eaters, found they were only involved out of fear. They stayed because they felt trapped. Obligated by their families. Regulus Black and Rabastan LeStrange are perfect examples. Neither of them truly believed in the cause but could not get away."
The silence was broken by one of the Prewett twins, Gideon, "I am probably not the only one that thinks this. If Dumbles was here, he would have stopped these two from revealing too much to us. He would have wanted the information kept quiet so he could control the outcome. We all have seen a change in him over the past few years. With the rise of Riddle, Dumbles feels relevant again. If we have to exclude him, then that's something I am willing to do. I don't know about all of you, but I do not want to sit and wait for Dumbles to actively fight."
Moody cleared his throat after coming to his senses, "Maybe we should coordinate with other Aurors to patrol in teams instead of partners, less of a chance of being outnumbered. We'll meet outside of the Ministry, away from prying eyes. In the meantime, you two need a backstory. Did you finish your schooling?"