For the first time since ending up in the past, Max was beginning to feel horribly out of his depth. Previously, he had felt so confident that he knew what he was doing in regards to his parents, but now he had no idea what direction to go to. He'd thought using Malfoy to make his father was a smart play, but it seemed like his father had found some other witch to bury his sorrows in. Then, he'd thought he could make his mum jealous, but she just seemed annoyed that he was talking to her about Adrian Pucey at all.
He could finally concede that maybe he should have listened to Minerva McGonagall and just let things work out as they were meant to. He'd be weeks ahead on his miserable time turner project at least.
But now that he'd messed things up, it wasn't as if he could just stop. He needed to be born, even if that meant sitting them down before he returned to his future and just telling them the truth.
That was a last resort, though, and one he hoped to avoid. Seeing as it was the fault of his father's friends for mentioning Draco Malfoy in the first place, Max sent a letter to Graham (who he knew to be the most responsible of his father's friends) to call for an emergency meeting of Operation: First Comes Love, as he'd been calling it.
Graham wrote back with instructions to floo over to Cassius's flat the following morning, which Max was happy to see. Hopefully the trio of Slytherins would be able to advise him about how to proceed next. He really hoped he wasn't going to have to break up his father and his new mystery witch.
Max wouldn't dream of asking Headmistress McGonagall for permission to leave the school grounds, so he did what any self-respecting Slytherin would do. He snuck out.
The whole of Saturday, Max wandered around the castle, talking to whoever he could with the aim of being seen by as many students and professors as he could be. Then, after sunset, he went for a walk on the school grounds. Using his time turner, he quickly rolled back the hours until it was morning again and walked off in the direction of the Three Broomsticks. From there, he floo'ed to Cassius's.
That way, no one would notice his absence.
Cassius Montague's flat was very much what he would expect for a young bachelor, but it was a polar opposite to the sprawling country house that the man would occupy in the future. Marcus and Graham had already arrived as well, and they appeared to be at least a pint in when he arrived.
"Really?" he asked, crossing his arms in annoyance. "You couldn't wait for me to get here. I told you that this was an emergency," he hissed.
Graham burst out laughing. "If that wasn't Granger, I don't know who's kid you are," he said with a snort, which only served to make Max more annoyed.
"Ease up, kid," Marcus said in his typically gruff way. "It's Puddlemere away today."
"How can you be thinking about Quidditch at a time like this?" Max countered, still feeling annoyed. "My parents might not end up together - they might not have their happily ever after - and you are more concerned with getting pissed and watching a game? Isn't Adrian your friend?"
"Of course he is," Cassius assured him, taking a measured approach. "Why don't we take a few steps back and you can tell us what the big emergency is? I am sure we can get it sorted in time to head to the Quidditch match."
Max was still irked that they seemed to think this would be such an easy fix, when he had been working on getting his parents together for weeks with no luck. They hadn't been doing any of the hard work and they had no idea how bad the situation on the ground had gotten. He wondered what they would think of his mum's total indifference to the idea of his father being with another witch.
Taking an offered pint with a frown, Max followed the other wizards as they walked to the little seating area, before everything spilled out of him. "I decided to move forward with making my father jealous. I spoke with Draco Malfoy," he started. "But the dumb little ferret decided to come up with his own plans and kissed her right in front of him."
"Malfoys always think they know what's best," Cassius said with a roll of his eyes.
"But how did Adrian take it?" Marcus prodded.
"Well, I wasn't actually there to see his reaction, but apparently he stormed right off in the other direction," Max said, letting his eyes drop to his lap when the severity of the situation washed over him again. How had he managed to mess this up so horribly?
"And how did Granger react?" Graham asked. "I can't imagine that she just sat there and let Malfoy kiss her."
"Reckon she punched him again?" Cassius quipped, catching Max off guard.
"Mum punched Malfoy?" Max asked, confused.
"Nevermind that," Graham shook him off. "What did she do when Malfoy kissed her?"
Max felt his cheeks grow hot. "Well, I don't actually know, as I said, I wasn't there when it happened. And I didn't ask Malfoy about what she did. But that's not even the worst thing."
"Go on," Marcus encouraged, fighting a smirk.
"Apparently my father found some mystery witch to bury his jealousy into," Max said, feeling disappointed in his father, that he would do something like that on a whim. "I went to his room and when he answered the door it was very obvious that he had been snogging someone for a while, and I think I heard her still in there, even though I didn't catch a look at her."
"Well, I can't say that really sounds like something Ades would do," Cassius said, scratching at his chin. "But maybe Malfoy was enough to get under his skin."
"I guess," Max said. "Anyway, I figured, if I couldn't make him jealous, I could make mum jealous. After all, she is definitely a witch that doesn't share."
"How'd you plan on doing that?" Graham asked, not sounding particularly concerned.
"I told her that Adrian had some kind of mystery witch," Max answered.
Again, Marcus was not able to contain his laughter. "What? Just like that?" he questioned.
"Well, I did it under the guise of maybe he wouldn't bother her quite so often in the library if he was preoccupied with this other witch," Max said with a frown, upset that they didn't approve of his methods.
"I thought that was kind of like their foreplay," Cassius said with a smirk. "The arguing, I mean. Why would Granger want to give that up?"
Trying to keep the mental image of his parents like that out of his brain, Max made a face at Cassius's words. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because mum couldn't have been bothered in the slightest!" he nearly shouted. "She was completely indifferent to who my father was dating or otherwise. I'm beginning to think she didn't like him as much as everyone seems to suggest."
He felt really down confiding about this to someone else. If anything, it only seemed to highlight his failure. He stared into the foam of his half-drunk beer before swallowing the rest of it, the cold liquid anchoring in his belly like a weight. Salazar, he hoped things could be salvaged, but he was starting to worry that Graham, Cassius and Marcus weren't the right answer. They just weren't even taking him seriously. Maybe Ginny Weasley could be consulted?
"I think we can help set your mind at ease, kid," Marcus said eventually.
"Get under a disillusionment spell, there is something that we want to show you," Graham said.
Intrigued, Max did as he was told and cast the spell on himself, shuddering at the sensation of cold water running down his back. He watched as the three men crowded around the fireplace, before placing a floo call to Adrian Pucey himself.
It only took a few moments for his father's head to appear in the flames, his hair still looking slightly ruffled. He wore a scowl on his face.
"Adrian!" the trio shouted in amusement, playing up their drunkenness.
"It's match day!" Marcus cried. "Are you coming down to London to watch the match with us or not?"
"Didn't you get my owl?" his father groused back. "Typical of you lot, the first time you invite me for a day out in ages and I find myself with some plans of my own."
"And do your plans involve a witch?" Cassius asked, wagging his eyebrows.
"You know that I've got a date," Adrian said with a scowl. "Did you guys really forget what I wrote in the letter already?"
"'Course not," Graham answered casually. "We just thought you might be pulling our legs. Can't believe that Hermione bloody Granger would actually agree to have anything to do with you. Besides, last we chatted it seemed like you hated her."
His father smirked. "I guess I just hated the idea of some other wizard snatching her up," he said with a smirk. "But now that I've got her all to myself, I'm quite attached to the idea of her."
"And she doesn't mind you gossiping about her to your friends?" Marcus said with a big grin. "Because if so...we are going to need details."
"Ha!" his father laughed, obvious joy on his face. "We agreed to tell close friends only right now while things are fresh. So I better not read about this in Witch Weekly, Cassius, or I will know that it's you that's spilled the beans."
"I wouldn't!" Cassius defended himself.
"Alright, well, I can see that a witch in your bed won't compete with a day out with your mates at Quidditch," Graham said with a grin. "Get back to Granger before she can rethink putting up with you!"
The friends all laughed in agreement, and eventually Adrian was wishing them a fun day out and cutting the floo connection.
Max dropped the disillusionment spell immediately, letting his absolute shock show. "So now I know why mum wasn't jealous!" he said, feeling a little annoyed with himself. "How could she be jealous of a mystery witch when the witch was herself?"
"So, would you say that the status of Operation: First Comes Love can be downgraded from emergency?" Graham asked with a pointed look at the younger wizard.
"I'd say they might even be skipping forward to Operation: Then Comes A Baby by the look of Ades!" Cassius said with a bawdy grin that had Max's face going positively red. He did not want to think of his parents like that at all.
"If you knew about this, why didn't you just tell me?" he asked, annoyed that they'd let him stay in a state of perpetual agony, thinking that he'd gotten himself unborn.
"Just wanted to see how much you'd sweat," Marcus said with a shrug of his massive shoulders. "Now, you better get to running back to Hogwarts so that we can go enjoy our Quidditch match in peace."
Max could agree with that. He needed to get back to the school as soon as possible. Now that his parents were sorted, he had limited time to figure out the forward time travel or else the Ministry would be involved, whether he liked it or not.
But, he also knew that he couldn't leave the trio of Slytherins with knowledge of his ever being there. Who knew if they would spill the beans to his father when he returned to his proper time. No, even though it was highly unethical, he knew that it had to be done. On his way out of Cassius's flat, he oblivated the three of them, removing any knowledge of Max Pucey from their minds.