A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! Can you believe that we are already halfway through this story? Do you think that Max will be able to get his act together? You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter eleven and be on the lookout for chapter twelve soon!
There was no denying that Max was avoiding Headmistress McGonagall. He knew that she wanted to talk to him, her heavy gaze palpable when he sat among the Slytherin students in the Great Hall during meals. He studiously avoided her gaze, instead talking with the seventh years that he had integrated himself with over the last two weeks.
He didn't want to speak with her, because he knew that he had made absolutely no progress so far with his time turner. If anything, he was growing somewhat concerned that his testing wasn't going as he'd hoped at all. His previously infinite assurance that he would be returned to his proper time at the end of this was beginning to dim somewhat after repeated failures to jump even a few seconds forward in time. If Headmistress McGonagall knew that he was struggling so much, he knew that she would want to rope the Ministry in as soon as possible. Him being in the past was nothing if not a liability.
But, he was also avoiding her because he was somewhat certain that she knew he had not taken her directive to leave his parents alone to heart. Max had promised her that he wouldn't meddle, but surely the Headmistress knew that he was a Slytherin.
So, he avoided her eyes at all costs at meal times, and even avoided her in the hallways.
However, Max unfortunately had to acknowledge that there was no weaseling his way out of a direct invitation for tea with the woman in question. Begrudgingly, Max presented himself to the gargoyle that guarded the Headmistress's office at the appointed time, making his way up the spiral staircase, dread sinking deeper in his stomach with each step he took.
"You've been avoiding me, Mister Purney," the Headmistress said from behind her large oak desk.
Max gave her a charming smile. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Headmistress," he answered. "I'm sure it's not intentional. I've just been so busy working on my time turner and spending time with my fellow classmates."
"I hope that you haven't been seeking out your parents," McGonagall said sharply. "You remember that there could be dire circumstances if you interfere in their relationship. Like you being unborn."
He studiously shook his head. "If anything I've been going out of my way to avoid them," Max said, somewhat telling the truth. "My mum is particularly persistent."
"Yes, well, she's always had a soft spot for lost causes," McGonagall quipped. "So, if you don't seem like a lost little puppy, she will probably lose interest in you quickly." She lifted her cup of tea to her lips, staring at him over the rim to gauge his reaction.
Max felt badly that she was still doubting him, although she was not wrong to suspect him. He had been meddling in his parents' relationship, only, he hadn't done anything so Gryffindor as to directly approach them. He was seeking outside forces to help them see that they were right for one another.
His hope was somewhat buoyed by his father's friends' assertion that Adrian was very interested in Hermione. He just needed to get going on operation make-his-father-jealous as soon as possible.
"Well, how is it going?" she asked, pointedly.
He nearly gave her a run down on his plans to work with Draco Malfoy before he realized that the Headmistress was referring to his work with the time turner and not his plan to see his parents happily together. Clearing his throat, Max caught himself just in time. "I was able to repair the time turner easily," he explained, his hand slipping into his pocket where he always kept the golden little sphere.
"You didn't tell me it was broken!" she said, sounding more than a little concerned. "I wouldn't have agreed to this...this scheme of your's if I'd know that."
"It was broken, but now it's fixed. No need to worry about that, Headmistress," he said, giving her another one of those smiles.
"Oh, please don't smile at me like that," she nearly begged. "It's making me regret trusting you."
Unhappy that she was so able to see through his Slytherin charm (it worked on practically every professor he had!), Max's face fell. "I've tested it's capability to move backwards through time, and it's working as expected," he explained.
"Well, that's good," she conceded, her mouth held in a tight line.
"I'm only just beginning to test moving forward in time. As you know, that's a lot trickier," he said. "I'm only willing to go a few seconds at this moment, but you have to trust me that I will get it sorted. I promise."
The Headmistress looked at him for a few beats, the war within herself quite obvious. "You have a month, Mister Pucey," she said. "And then I will be handing you over to the Ministry. They will be able to return you to your correct time."
He wanted to argue with her that a month just wasn't enough time for him to work. He'd only had two weeks so far, and he wasn't nearly where he wanted to be on either of his projects. But he couldn't tell the Headmistress that.
Plastering a fake smile on his face, Max nodded in agreement. "Of course, a month is very generous of you," he agreed. "I am sure that I will be out of your hair well before then."
McGonagall sighed, the weight of trusting him obviously weighing on her heavily. "Alright, you may go," she said, dismissing him from their tea. "But I want a progress report from you every week. No more avoiding me, Mister Pucey. The Ministry is only a fire call away."
Max gave her a mock hurt look. "I wasn't avoiding you, Headmistress," he told her.
"I wasn't born yesterday, Mister Pucey!" she countered. "Now go, before I change my mind about you."
He didn't need to be told twice, and hurried down the steps, away from the Headmistress's office.
Once Max was free from his conversation with the Headmistress, he knew there was only one place to go - the Slytherin Common Room. Despite not being officially in the house, Max sat with the Slytherins at meal times and Draco Malfoy had given him the password so that he could stop by.
It had been surprisingly easy for Max to befriend the wizard. It seemed that Draco was somewhat of a pariah at Hogwarts. He surmised that it was due to the Malfoy heir's role in the war, seeing that he was the only student who had actually been a Death Eater and the rumors about his actions in Dumbledore's death were still swirling about.
Draco was obviously quite annoyed by it, so he was glad to have an outsider like Max treat him like a normal friend. Max just found himself wanting to reveal the wonderful future that Malfoy was going to have once he left Hogwarts and started an import company for potions supplies. If he didn't already have his family's wealth, Malfoy would still be an incredibly rich man, with a lovely little family. He was seen as a somewhat progressive voice in the Wizengamot, too. Once he got a bit more distance from the war, he would be a celebrated member of society on his own merits.
But, Max knew it would be silly to do something like that.
No, he really needed to start on his plan to make his father jealous, and he planned to do that by pushing Draco and his mum together. They wouldn't actually be romantically involved (for one, Draco was quite enamored by Astoria Greengrass, who would be his future wife, Max was pleased to admit; for two, he didn't want to chance his plans backfiring and his mum actually falling for the Slytherin), but rather, give the appearance to his dad, who was a bit notorious for jumping to conclusions.
Graham, Cassius and Marcus had convinced him that Draco would be the best wizard to really get under his dad's skin. Apparently, Draco and his mum had a long history of sniping at one another, but had put aside after the war. Perhaps his dad might think that romance was the cause for that. Max had been skeptical, but when they mentioned Draco and his mum in the same sentence, his dad seemed to lose his cool. It was enough to convince him to move ahead with planning.
It couldn't happen soon enough, either. Max was becoming increasingly concerned that his mum might actually be interested in him. She'd followed him all over the castle the other day, before he used his time turner to get away from her. She was always watching him in the Great Hall, too. He couldn't think of anything so mortifying as his mum having a crush on him.
No, it only highlighted his need to get his parents together as soon as possible. Then he could focus on getting back to his correct time.
When Max entered the Slytherin Common Room, it was a bit like coming home. Of course, he spent a lot of time there while he was at school. But it wasn't quite right either. The decor would obviously be getting an upgrade in the coming decades, and they would be fixing the heating so that Slytherin house wasn't quite so damp and cold.
He was pleased to find Malfoy sitting near one of the big fireplaces that bookended the room, trying to get a little warmth during the frigid February weather. "Draco," he greeted the blond with a grin. "What are you up to today?"
"Just counting down the days until I'm released from this school," he answered, sounding thoroughly depressed. "And studying, I suppose."
"Oh, don't say that," Max tried to comfort him. "Just think, you wouldn't see Astoria everyday if you weren't here."
"I suppose she is the one bright spot in my miserable existence as a Hogwarts student," Malfoy agreed.
Max rolled his eyes, realizing that Draco was in one of his moods. "What will you do when she is here all by herself next year, and you are out in the real world?" he questioned.
"Write to her everyday, and visit on Hogsmeade weekends. Perhaps her mother would let her visit me on holidays," he said wistfully. "That is, if she even wants to see me. Perhaps I've just been a diversion."
"Please, she's as besotted with you as you are with her," Max told him. "A pureblood like her wouldn't be sneaking around in broom cupboards with you if she wasn't serious."
Malfoy flushed, perhaps not aware that anyone had known about his secret trysts with the dark haired girl. "Well, what did you want to talk about?" he questioned. "I'm sure that it wasn't to talk about Astoria."
"You're right," Max smirked. "I was wondering what you thought of Hermione Granger."
Draco's eyebrows rose at the name. Apparently, it was a topic that he was not expecting. "Don't really think too much of her, not since we...cleared the air earlier this year," he answered. His eyes dropped to his lap. "Honestly, most of the time she just makes me feel ashamed."
"Why's that?" Max asked, wanting to get a bit more insight into his mum.
"Well, I was a little twat to her, wasn't I?" he asked. "I was so rude to her - somewhat deservedly...she can be an annoying know-it-all - but mostly just because she is muggleborn. And only because I was copying my dad. It's embarrassing."
"I'm sure that she's forgiven you. She can be very understanding," Max told the other wizard. If he knew his mum, he knew that she wouldn't hold a grudge over something like that, especially not if Malfoy had apologized properly.
"Anyway, why do you ask about her?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.
"Oh, she was just the witch that found me when I showed up," Max lied. "She keeps trying to talk to me, and I wasn't sure if she was a good sort of person."
"I think she's a good witch," Malfoy agreed. "At the very least - she is going places. She'll probably be running the Ministry in five years. But I don't think that you should go after her."
"Why's that?" Max asked, even though he wouldn't dream of going after his own mother.
"I think another wizard has his eye on her already," Malfoy answered. "And he won't play fair."