I'm sorry about what I do to the Harry in Gin's time, but he has a chance to make it better. If it makes you too angry, I apologize. You can always stop reading. I am also sorry if Draco seems a little OOC, but it sort of turned out that way. Also, if I seem to have changed my mind on something I was saying earlier, the truth is I did change my mind. I am imitating JK Rowling (I will try not to rant about that).
Disclaimer: Clearly, I am not JK Rowling. In fact, I have only slightly more money than a friend of mine. Sorry guys, in-joke.
"You know, Gin, this actually isn't half bad," Lupin managed. Mrs. Weasley was even able to nod.
Gin snorted.
Harry considered what he himself was eating. The pasta severely undercooked, and he didn't want to think about what was in the sauce.
"Well," Gin said. "I just felt you should know what you were going to be subjected to for a very long time. Until it becomes absolutely necessary, however, I think someone else should do the cooking."
Even Lupin had to agree.
"Now," Gin said. "I've been sorting through memories and I think we'll be able to start from the beginning soon. Until then, I would like to get some sleep."
The next morning.
"We have a little bit of an issue. Actually, it's probably a good thing, because now I really have to explain myself," Gin told them the next morning. "I've only just been informed."
"What is it?" Lupin asked.
"Seems someone else came back with me. It is good, though, he can help me. I just want you all to promise not to do anything stupid."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Draco. The ghosts have been taking care of him. Again, Harry, don't do anything I'll regret."
"What?" Harry asked, indignantly.
Gin laughed a little. "I know you a little too well for that, Harry," she said. The next thing Harry knew, they were all in some obscure room of the castle. There was a bed, and Draco Malfoy, age twenty-seven, was lying there. He was awake, but was trying not to look at Gin.
She walked a little closer to him and crossed her arms. "You did this," she said. He nodded, almost imperceptibly. "You sent me back here." He nodded again. "You broke my coffee table!" She pointed at him violently. "And my favorite mug!" He nodded again. She sat down on the bed. "Why?"
"Well," he said, folding his hands. "I was paid a visit by an old… friend. Who had an idea."
"Who?" Gin asked.
"Harry Potter," Malfoy said.
Harry stomach dropped. "I did what, now? Since when was I an old friend?" he added. Especially after what had happened only a few months ago.
"Oh, don't worry, Potter," Malfoy snapped. "We've never been friends. I was trying to be delicate. That said, I will continue. He marched and proclaimed that he could change things. The spell, loathe as I am to admit it, was his idea."
"And what did you tell him?" Gin asked.
"Well, I told him he was insane and to get out of my house," he said. "I was still somewhat in shock. How would you have felt, having him show up at your door?"
"And then you went straight to my house and tried it on me?"
"Of course not! I studied it thoroughly and found it to be sound. Nobody likes the way things turned out, Gin."
"Well," she said. "I will of course make the best of things. However, I feel the need to say that no matter how bad things could get, there were good things about my life, and I think-"
"Gin," Malfoy said, slowly. "Tell me again. What are three good things about your life?"
She sighed. "My husband," she said, smiling a little. "My friends. And my family."
Malfoy rolled his eyes a little at the friends and family bit. "Gin," he said. "How is this not a good thing? Your husband is here. He is younger, he is happier, and if I recall my dates correctly he is one tragic relationship short at this point. Your friends are here, true they're a touch a younger than you, but they're happy, for Merlin's sake! And they're alive! Hermione's here. Luna and Neville and everyone else are here. Harry's here! Even I'm here! Two of me! You can pick and chose. If I remember right I used to be a lot less jumpy. And, finally, your whole miserable family is here, some of them being less objectionable than others. But even if I said that they were all a disgusting bunch of blood traitors and I hated every single one of them, I would not be speaking ill of the dead. So I ask you once again, how is this not a good thing!"
"Okay, Draco. I probably haven't thought this through half as much as you have. It's fine." She patted him on the hand. "It's fine." She looked over her shoulder at the Order members and shrugged.
Harry mouthed, "What's wrong with him?" Malfoy had always been strange, but this was something else altogether.
Malfoy saw Harry's unsubtle question and glared. "Well, how would you feel," he snapped, "If you were me, hmm?"
"Pretty damn awful," Harry muttered irritably.
"I wasn't finished. How would you feel if you were me? If you had only just escaped being killed by Lord Voldemort because you can never do anything right, and you've ended up having to do a lot of terrible things in order to rise and finally you reach the position of third, maybe fourth in command, and then you are replaced, in fact everyone is eventually replaced in his favor, by Harry bloody Potter! And then, you are taken in by a bunch of traitors and half-breeds, and despite your obvious discontent given the situation, you eventually reach the point where, when asked, you find yourself saying your two best friends are a Weasley and a werewolf! Now, tell me, how would you feel! 'Pretty damn awful' is probably right on the mark!"
"You said I what?" Harry asked sharply, still a little stunned.
"Harry," Gin said, pacifistically, "What you have to understand about that is that you-"
"No, I want to hear what he saying," Harry shouted. "You said I was-"
"All right, Potter, I'll explain, since Gin clearly doesn't want to. Not that I blame her, of course. You'll have to help me, though, Gin."
"Okay," she said quietly.
"As I recall, you leave the castle to go looking for Horcruxes. Granger stays behind," Draco began, giving Hermione a sarcastic smile.
She snorted at the smile.
It faded a little. "I do hold you in the highest esteem," he told her in a low voice, pursing his lips. "You are very brave. While we're paying our respects, you too, Weasley," he added, jerking his head at Ron. "That said, I will continue. That's probably the start of Potter's problems; he's starting to feel betrayed. What's the day, by the way?"
Harry told him.
"I see. Then we'd better start getting ready for a Death Eater attack, there should be one tomorrow night."
"He's right," Gin said. "There should still be one. Nothing should be that different yet."
Malfoy nodded and continued. "We have more people at Hogwarts this time around, and we're prepared for it, so things shouldn't end as badly. In our time, however, this attack and subsequent others at nearly all the Order's hiding places severely depleted it."
"How did they know where everyone was?" Lupin asked. "Nym?"
Gin nodded. "We think there was someone else too, who was killed in one of these attacks. We never found out whom."
"At any rate," Malfoy took over. "By the time Harry finds his next Horcrux, a new Order has been formed, because Voldemort's minions are everywhere. Things are arguably worse than they were in the first war. By September, even students with sufficient magical talent are admitted. Hermione, of course, Neville, Luna and Ginny," he nodded his head at Gin. "Remus is the leader, of course. Bill and Fleur are still there, and all the other Weasley's. Tonks is still on our side at this point, and Professor McGonagall is still around. Hagrid gets his wand back; at this point it is generally accepted that those kinds of laws don't matter anymore. All the Death Eaters are out of Azkaban, the dementors have joined Voldemort. You get the picture."
"You said 'our side,' you hadn't joined by then, had you?" Harry asked, still not sure what he thought of the idea.
"No. Even at this moment I'm probably at home. Severus manages to hide me until the Dark Lord forgets about my little failure. Or at least enough to let me back into the club. I'm too insignificant to do any damage until he loses a few people, then I rise in rank and he's willing to forget it entirely. That said, I can see Mr. Potter won't be comfortable until he hears more about himself, so I'll talk about that for a while."
Harry sighed. So Malfoy hadn't changed much after all, not that he'd been optimistic. And he did want to hear about himself, but only because he simply refused to believe he would ever end up on Voldemort's side. Ever.
"Well. I don't know half as much about isolated incidents as Gin does, and I'm sure she'll be able to explain better when we have more time. But it's something like this: Potter goes a little crazy," Malfoy said in an icy voice with an even icier smile.
"Draco," Gin said. "Be nice."
"Yes, Gin." He turned to Harry. "Not only are you completely obsessed with finding the Horcruxes at this point, you don't trust anyone anymore, with the possible exception of Ron. So, one day, it gets to the point where there isn't anything that isn't worth being risked in order to make progress. So Weasley even gives up on you too."
Harry looked over at Ron, who stared back at him. At this point Harry didn't particularly care who these people were, he didn't want to believe a word they said. But Ron looked so pale that Harry had to make a joke. "If I ever do go crazy, whatever he means by that, and do something really stupid, I give you permission to leave me."
"Thanks," Ron managed.
Gin took over at that point because she could tell Draco's way of explaining things wasn't helping anyone. "Then Ron gets killed by someone you think in on our side, and…"
"And I just suddenly decide to be best mates with Lord Voldemort?" Harry shouted.
"Harry it is much more complicated than that," Gin told him in a hiss. "I swear I will give you a full explanation as soon as I can, but right now we need warn as many members of the Order that we can."
Harry was still angry, and he still didn't believe a word she said, but something in her voice made him nod.
She squeezed his shoulder and looked up at Lupin, giving him a strange smile. "If Death Eaters really come tomorrow, will you believe us?" she asked.
Matching her smile perfectly he replied, "You could be a Death Eater and know that. You could be telling us all this for Merlin only knows what reason. But I never said I didn't believe you."
"But of course you don't," she said, smiling again. "You hide it well, but none of you fully believe me, especially now. And I don't blame you, especially you, Harry. But if there's a way I can prove I'm telling the truth I'll be happy to hear it. Harry? Remus? Anyone?"
Harry considered. There was one thing he could think to ask her, but it was very possible that even if everything she said was true, Gin wouldn't know. Still, it was something no one knew about but him. "What happened in the cave, the day I found the locket with the first Horcrux? "
Gin smiled. "Good Harry. I do know that one."
And then she told him, all the way down to the last detail. No one was sure whether to be relieved, or devastated.
"She still could be lying," Ron told Harry later on.
Harry wasn't sure what to think.
Author's Notes:
360Hazard: I don't write just for reviews, but if nobody likes what I'm writing I want to know because I could be writing something else (i.e. the pieces of writing people pay me for). Also, don't feel alone, I'm lost too.
i-am-invisible: Thanks a lot! I know what you mean about things being sudden, but I wasn't sure what to do to slow it down. When I get finished I'll probably rewrite it, and by then I'll have gotten my bearings.
ForeverBetrayed: Thanks.
Nattou-sama: Like I emailed, don't kill me.
