Disclaimer : All characters belongs to J. K. Rowlings. All were kidnapped in the dawn, and are not used to make money. They will be returned when I'm done.
See, don't own so don't sue, unless you're interested in my teddy bears collection...
Besides this work will contain people out of character since I am definitely not JK Rowlings, and some strange sentences since I'm French. Not to forget it's an AU... Still here?
So, on with the show...
Chapter 4 – Discoveries and the return of two ghosts
It was nearly lunch time and Draco Malefoy was starved. He was nearing the kitchens when he remarked a House Elf carrying a tray full of food. The elf was heading into a corridor Draco didn't know yet.
He stood there for a few seconds, comparing the attraction satisfying his hunger held against satisfying his curiosity. Curiosity won. After all, what was an elf doing, carrying a tray full of food in an empty house? His curiosity peaked when the elf stopped in front of a door closed by no less than three locks.
The tray hovering in the air behind him, the elf opened the locks. Draco hurried after it, there was no way he would be left behind a closed door. Stepping in, the elf tutted when it saw the nearly untouched tray.
"Young Master need eat! Young Master is not serious!" it squeaked.
"Don't want to." was the dejected reply.
"Young Master's husband will not be happy when Tiquy tell him that."
"You saw him? How is he?" the second voice seemed suddenly more eager.
Draco frowned. He wanted to know what was going on. A sudden thought occured to him : why was the prisonner's voice so familiar?
"Tiquy is not telling before Young Master is eating."
"Alright, I'm eating, happy now?"
The elf giggled.
"Young Master's husband is well. Sad, but well. He is not happy not being with Young Master. But not for long. Help is on the way!"
"Hu?"
Just then, Draco fell on the floor, right in front of the prisonner. He slowly rose from the floor to look at the young man. The first thing he noticed was the shackle on the man's left wrist.
The second was that the man looked like a younger version of his archenemy, Harry Potter.
"Who are you?" Draco's voice hitched, his mind going quickly through all the possibilities.
"Young Master is having help! Tiquy is happy! Young Master is soon going to be with his husband!" The elf gushed, going starry eyed.
The prisonner seemed uneasy. "I don't know you, but I find him a little bit scary like that." he stage-whispered to Draco.
Draco found himself nodding before he stopped. "Hey! Who are you?"
"James, and you?"
"Draco, nice to meet you!"
A pause.
Draco looked accusingly at James. "Stop that!"
James hold his hands up. "I'm not doing anything." He grinned. Draco sighed. "Ok, I'll try it in another way. Why are you here?"
"Trying to eat? Passing time, or was it being held hostage to keep my husband in line?"
Draco's eyes bulged 'keep doing that and they'll stay this way' he thought as he eyed James pacing the room.
"Potter!" he shouted.
"Yeah?" James turned to him.
Draco fell on the floor in shock. "You mean... no, that can't be...You're not James Potter... You're dead!"
"Not really. Though sometimes I wish I was..."
"You mean you are Harry Potter's father?" James quickly strode to his side and shook his shoulders. "You saw him recently? How is he? And Remus, Erwan, Sirius and Severus?" Each name earned Draco a shake.
He blinked and swapped at James' hands. "I don't understand! How can you be Harry Potter's father when you don't even look like you're twenty?"
"Nineteen actually."
"That I'd like to know too." sneered Lucius Malefoy on the doorstep. James winced and Draco gulped.
Narcissa was half behind Lucius, shaking slightly. Her eyes soon locked with James' own.
Nobody noticed the elf who put its hand on James' shackle, freing him. But everybody noticed the noise the chain made as it fall to the floor. James froze, eyeing his naked wrist. Narcissa jumped on her husband's back, trying to choke him and pinning his arms to his sides.
"Run!" she shouted to James, her green eyes imploring.
"Never without you!" answered James, his eyes darting around the room for something to help her.
"Don't worry about me! Go to Hogwarts! Save yourself!" Narcisa was nearly bucked off Lucius' back.
"I can't!" James was frantic.
Draco sighed. 'Look like I'll be the one to save the situation' he thought as he grabbed a nearby cauldron and emptied it of its contents 'Polyjuice?' Shrugging, he grabbed the handle and swinging it two times in a full circle, connected it with Lucius' head, preventing him from hexing James who was standing in front of Narcissa, lying on the floor.
Lucius fall like a dead weight on the floor, without a sound.
The two others looked surprised from Lucius' unconscious form to Draco, still armed with his cauldron.
"That's your chance, James, run!" Narcissa urged James as she was holding onto his hand as he was helping her to stand.
James shook his head and grinned "Never without you!"
"Stubborn fool!" Narcissa smiled before embracing him, "I always told you that your chivalry would cause your death! Why don't you listen, stubborn Gryffondor!" she hugged him tighter.
Draco cleared his throat, startling the two. "Not to be a bother, but I think we should take the explanations elsewhere, don't you think?"
"The little shrimp is right, we should go!"
Narcissa nodded before grabbing James' hand and tugging towards the exit.
"Nice swing!" James commented as he passed Draco. Draco shrugged, and bending down, he picked his father's wand and put it in the cauldron he was still holding. He followed the two others, determined to discover what exactly was going on.
As they neared the entrance door they heard hurried footsteps and Lucius appeared in the entrance way. "Where do you think you are going?" he snarled. Behind him Lord Voldemort could be seen, as well as three or four of his thugs.
The three runaway stood frozen. Draco, once again, saved the situation. Looking around him, he spotted the dinning room.
"This way" he shouted, dragging the other two with him. They closed, locked and warded the doors as soon as they had stepped in.
Grabbing Floo powder, Narcissa threw it into the fire. Stepping in with James, she hugged him tightly, and shouted "Hogwarts, Headmaster's office! Follow us Draco!" They were gone with a swich. Draco stood for one second, thinking his options through. "Draco Malefoy! Wait till I get my hands on you!" Hearing his father's bellow, Draco shrugged, threw some floo powder into the fire, stepped in the seath and said "Hogwarts, Headmaster's office." His cauldron and him were gone when his father and associates teared the doors open and stormed the room.
When he arrived, it was in the middle of a chaotic scene. Dumbledore was lying on his office floor, unconscious. Two blue eyed version of a younger Snape were laughing in their seats while a blond teen was trying to revive Dumbledore.
A black haired one was eyeing the scene, shrugging and saying "Yep. We did that too. But, honestly, James how did it happened?"
James looked confused "Could you take the Glamour off? I'd like to know who I'm talking to."
The four teens smirked "Oh, James, how could you not recognize me, your best friend, Sirius!" whined the black haired, brown eyed teen. The two Snapes laughed harder.
"Stop that, I've got a fully loaded Draco, and I won't hesitate to use it!" James grinned. Narcissa smiled a little.
"Yep, let the madness begin!" retorted one of the Snapes.
Dumbledore, who had finally awaken, thanks to the blond teen's efforts, promptly fainted again. Said blond teen looked annoyed to the others "Look what you've done! He's gonna sleep all day if you go on like that! Help me put him on the couch, Moony. We'll write him a note, and go to speak more privately in our quarters."
Draco stood bewildered. "Excuse me, but I want to know what is going on!"
The teens looked at each other before nodding. "This is going out of hands." stated the blond one.
"It's our cue to tell the truth to our boys then." interviened the brown eyed, black haired teen.
The two Snapes sighed in unison "I'll go and fetch the boys" one of them stated before exiting the office.
"Prongs, do something to alter your appearance..."
"Can't without a wand" was the bitter reply.
"Yes, what was I thinking! Here!" the last Snape said, pointing his wand at James and muttering an incantation. When it was over, a young girl with curly brown hair tied into ponytails and brown eyes stood before them, dressed into a muggle cheerleader outfit. Snickering, the second Snape ran out of the room.
"Padfoot!" shouted James before running after him.
Narcissa shrugged and followed at a more sedate pace, discussing something with the two others teens.
Draco stayed in the office, his brain trying to understand what he had just witnessed, before walking briskly to go after his mother and the others, not forgetting to close the door on a still unconscious Headmaster.