I knew Scorpius would be in the library, because that is just where he goes when he wants to research anything. Scorpius in no way believes people know more than books.

Never mind that people wrote those books.

I heard them talking before I saw them.

"Scorpius. I can't…" Albus was miserable. Scorpius was miserable.

Scorpius pleaded with Albus. "I know. You're in Gryffindor now. You don't want to see me now. But here I am anyway. Talking to you."

Albus tried to explain. "Well, I can't talk so…"

Scorpius was having none of it. "You have to. You think you can just ignore everything that's happened? The world has gone crazy, have you noticed?"

"I know, okay? Ron's gone strange. Hermione's a professor, it's all wrong, but…" They were unlikely to be the only things that had gone wrong.

"And Rose and Hugo don't exist." Scorpius had a damned fine grasp of the situation. "Our family, we as good as killed them!"

"I know. Look, I don't understand everything but you can't be here." I knew I should have interrupted, and explained they could now talk to each other, but something told me they needed this time. It was important.

"Because of what we did, they weren't even born!" Scorpius sounded panicked. "Do you remember being told about the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball? All the four Triwizard champions took a partner. Your dad took Parvati Patil, Viktor Krum took..."

Albus knew the family history as well as anyone. "Aunt Hermione. And Ron got jealous and behaved like a prat."

Scorpius clarified. "Only he didn't. I found Rita Skeeter's book about them. And it's very different. Ron took Hermione to the ball."

Albus nearly shouted. "What?"

"Sshhhh!" a snooty voice hissed out. Polly Chapman was there, WHY now did she decided to be studious?

Scorpius dropped his volume. "As friends. And they danced in a friendly way, and it was nice, and then he danced with Padma Patil and that was nicer, and they started dating and he changed a bit and then they got married and meanwhile Hermione became a..."

Albus was succinct. "... psychopath."

Scorpius went on. "Hermione was supposed to go to that ball with Krum... do you know why she didn't? Because she had suspicions the two strange Durmstrang boys she met before the first task were somehow involved in the disappearance of Cedric's wand. She believed we... under Viktor's orders... cost Cedric the first task…"

Albus sat down hard. "Wow."

I wavered back and forth. Should I reveal myself? I was hiding behind a bookshelf. This sneaking and spying thing was not as hard as I would have thought.

Scorpius continued explaining what went wrong. "And without Krum, Ron never got jealous and that jealousy was all-important and so Ron and Hermione stayed very good friends but never fell in love... never got married... never had Rose and Hugo. We KILLED our cousins!"

Albus sounded stunned. "So that's why Dad's so... did he change too?"

Scorpius delivered a blow. "I'm pretty sure your dad is exactly the same. Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Married to Ginny. Three kids."

Albus was as disappointed by this as I felt. "So why is he being such a..."

Definitely time for me to show myself.

Scorpius had no more time for Albus' daddy issues at the moment than I did. "Have you heard me, Albus? This is bigger than you and your dad. Professor Croaker's law the furthest someone can go back in time without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler or time itself is five hours. And we went back years. The smallest moment, the smallest change, it creates ripples. And we... we've created really bad ripples. Rose was never born. Hugo was never born. I really like that kid! Because of what we did. Lilliana!" Scorpius was surprised to see me round the corner.

The librarian shushed us.

Albus thought quickly. "Fine, let's go back... fix it. Get Cedric and Rose and Hugo back."

Scorpius was already shaking his head. "…is the wrong answer."

"Scorp, we HAVE to." Who said that? Not me, because no way was I OK with mucking about in time again. My own mouth betrayed me!

Scorpius just looked at me shocked. "You can't be serious, Lils!"

Albus jumped on my support. "You've still got the Time-Turner, right? No one found it?"

Scorpius took it out of his pocket. "Yes, but…" Albus snatched it from his hand. "No. Don't… Albus. Don't you understand how bad things could get?"

Scorpius grabbed for the Time-Turner, Albus pushed him back, they wrestled inexpertly. My best friends were NOT brawlers.

Albus pleaded. "Things need fixing, Scorpius. Cedric still needs saving. Rose and Hugo need bringing back. We'll be more careful. Whatever Croaker says, trust me, trust us." He pointed to me and himself. "We'll get it right this time."

Scorpius looked terrified. "No. We won't. Give it back, Albus! Give it back! Lilliana you just CAN'T be OK with this."

Albus held the Time-Turner away. "I can't. This is too important."

"Yes, it's too important... for us." Scorpius shook his head. "We're not good at this stuff. We'll get it wrong."

Albus would not give up. And Merlin bless me, I knew I had to help him. "Who's saying that we'll get it wrong?"

Scorpius looked at me as if I had betrayed him. "I say. Because that's what we do. We mess things up. We lose. We're losers, true and total losers. Haven't you realized that yet?"

Albus finally got the upper hand and pinned Scorpius to the ground.

Albus looked at Scorpius bitterly. "Well, I wasn't a loser before I met you."

Scorpius looked at me for help. "Albus, whatever you've got to prove to your dad... this isn't the way."

Albus tossed me the Time-Turner. "I don't have anything to prove to my dad. We've got to save Cedric to save Rose and Hugo. And maybe... without you holding us back... we can make a proper go of it."

Scorpius scoffed. "Without me? Oh poor Albus Potter. With his chip on his shoulder. Poor Albus Potter. So sad."

"Scorpius…" I was shocked at his outburst.

Albus glared down at him. "What are you saying?"

Scorpius exploded. "Try my life! People look at you because your dad's the famous Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world. People look at me because they think my dad is Voldemort. Vol-de-mort."

Albus suddenly looked sorry. "Don't even..."

Scorpius went on. "Can you even slightly imagine what that's like? Have you even ever tried? No. Because you can't see beyond the end of your nose. Because you can't see beyond the end of your stupid thing with your dad. He will always be Harry Potter, you know that, right? And you will always be his son. And I know it's hard, and the other kids are awful, but you have to learn to be okay with that, because... there are worse things, okay? There was a moment I was excited, when I realized time was different, a moment when I thought maybe my mum hadn't been accused of changing time. Maybe Lilliana's mum wasn't dead. But no, turns out, my mum is still under suspicion. I'm still the child of Voldemort, Lilliana is still without a mother, both of us giving sympathy to the boy who doesn't ever give anything back. So I'm sorry if I've ruined your life because I tell you... you wouldn't have a chance of ruining mine... it was already ruined. You just didn't make it better. Because you're a terrible... the most terrible... friend."

I had no idea Scorpius felt any of this. "Scorpius… let Albus up. We will solve this like always. Together."

Albus digested this. He finals seems to see what he's done to his friend.

We heard Professor McGonagall. Had Uncle Harry talked to her yet? "Albus? Albus Potter. Scorpius Malfoy. Are you in there... together? Because I advise you not to be."

Shoot, I guess not.

Albus looked at me and Scorpius, he pulled a Cloak from his bag. "We need to hide."

Scorpius was confused. "What?"

Albus looked ready to cry. "Scorpius, look at me…"

I debated, I could tell them that it was OK, that Uncle Harry was fixing it but… this might play out in my favor… if we were going to fix it all anyway…

Scorpius looked impressed by the cloak Albus was waving. "That's the Invisibility Cloak? Isn't it James'?"

Albus held the cloak up. "If she finds us, we'll be forced apart forever. Please. I didn't understand. Please. Lilliana, stall her!"

Professor McGonagall sounded like she was giving them every chance. "I am about to enter."

Professor McGonagall came into the room, holding the Marauder's Map in her hands. The boys disappeared beneath the Cloak. She looked around, exasperated. "Alright Miss Dursley, where are Albus and Scorpius."

I looked around. "I don't see them Professor." I answered honestly.

"Well, where have they... I never wanted this thing and now it's playing tricks on me." She looked back at the map. She identified where they should have been. She looked around the room. Objects move as the boys invisibly move past them. She saw where they're heading, she made to block them. But they skirted around her. "Unless. Unless... Your father's Cloak."

I moved to block the way they had gone.

She looked back at the map, and at the boys and smiled to herself. "Well, if I didn't see you, I didn't see you."

Once she left the two boys remove the Cloak. We sat in silence for a moment.

Albus finally spoke. "Yes, I stole this from James. He's remarkably easy to steal from; his trunk combination is the date he got his first broom. I've found the Cloak made avoiding bullies... easier."

Scorpius nodded.

"I'm sorry... about your mum, Lilliana. I know we don't talk about her enough... but I hope you know... I'm sorry... it's rubbish... what happened to her... to you. And I am so sorry my dad hasn't stopped the rumors about you Scorpius." Albus did look really sorry.

Scorpius nodded. "Thanks." I said nothing.

"My dad said... said that you were this dark cloud around me. My dad started to think... and I just knew I had to stay away, and if I didn't, Dad said he would..." Albus stopped choked up.

Scorpius looked horrified. "Your dad thinks the rumors are true... I am the son of Voldemort?"

Albus hung his head. "His department are currently investigating it."

Should I break in NOW? No, whatever was happening we would fix it.

Scorpius shrugged. "Good. Let them. Sometimes... sometimes I find myself thinking... maybe they're true too."

Albus and I looked at each other in shock. "No. They're not true. And I'll tell you why. Because I don't think Voldemort is capable of having a kind son... and you're kind, Scorpius. To the depths of your belly, to the tips of your fingers. I truly believe Voldemort... Voldemort couldn't have a child like you."

"And even if he did." I took Scorpius' hand. "It wouldn't change how we… how I… feel about you."

Scorpius is moved by this. "That's nice... that's a nice thing to say."

Albus threw an arm over each of our shoulders. "And it's something I should have said a long time ago. In fact, you're probably the best person I know. And you don't... you couldn't... hold me back. You make me stronger... and when Dad forced us apart... without you..."

"I hated not having both of you. I confessed.

Scorpius slipped an arm around me. "I didn't much like my life without both of you in it either."

"And I know I'll always be Harry Potter's son... and I will sort that out in my head... and I know compared to you my life is pretty good, really, and that he and I are comparatively lucky and..." Albus started babbling.

Scorpius mercifully interrupted. "Albus, as apologies go this is wonderfully fulsome, but you're starting to talk more about you than me again, so probably better to quit while you're ahead."