Fractured Time
Summary: Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?
Pairing/s: None.
Warnings: Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.
-o-
Thanks for all the reviews, glad to see you're liking it!
Fractured Time takes place around five years before The Nightmare Man's Journey.
-o-
Chapter Three
Going through the crack was like Apparating, yet very different from it. Rabastan felt the raw magic around him, pulled at the rope and finally found Draco's arm. It was too bright to see, but he heard voices. More than Draco's.
Of course Bones' bloody people made it through with us!
"Get your wand ready!" he screamed at Draco.
He didn't know where they would land. When they would land. He didn't even know if they would land somewhere.
But soon enough the ground came hurling towards them, and Rabastan pulled Draco in, held him tightly before cushioning their fall with a spell. He still banged his shoulder as they landed on the ground, but then they rolled and got up. Rabastan caught the sight of at least twenty people, perhaps even more than that and how did they all manage to follow them without being sucked into some other crack in the Ministry?
He smelt burnt grass, and looked around. It was a field, a huge one, and they were standing in a charred crater of said field. Had magic done this? Had Potter's magic done it?
"Where are we?" Draco asked. "When are we?"
"No time for that!"
There was truly no time; Bones' group was getting their wands out, aiming them at him and Draco, and Rabastan wasn't about to lose here. So he grabbed Draco and Apparated, pulling the young Malfoy with him.
They smashed into a wall in an alley in London, and Rabastan expected the cracks. He truly did. He was just so used to them, that seeing a street in London not riddled with them made him pause for a bit.
Draco tugged at the rope still connecting them. The cut-off part reminded Rabastan of Narcissa and Lucius, and he pushed at his chest with the heel of his hand. He hadn't been friends with them while the Dark Lord was alive. They were always so concerned with family. It was the years following Potter's disappearance that he had spent time with the Malfoy couple.
It must have been a horrible choice for Narcissa, to be forced to choose between her husband and her son. She loved them both so dearly. But Rabastan understood her decision; he was connected to Draco and would thus not leave Draco alone. Had she gone with them, she would have left Lucius alone, wherever… whenever he ended up.
"Do you think they're dead?" Draco asked, holding onto the rope even if he had removed it from around his waist.
Rabastan silently begged to every deity that existed and bothered to listen to humans that they weren't. But begging, and in turn hoping, wasn't much of a reassuring answer.
"They're not," he said instead. "They're stuck, wherever they are, but they're together. They'll make the most of that."
"Yeah," Draco said.
His eyes were sort of glazed. But then he took a deep breath, blinked and straightened up. The young Malfoy heir was emerging from the fugitive young man he had been the last few years and despite the ragged robes he looked a bit like Lucius did in his younger years. Regal and calm. Rabastan smiled.
"So, can I ask now where the hell we are?" Draco wondered. "Or when. When it's a better question."
"Tempus," Rabastan said and smoke formed out of his wand, shaping the date. "2001."
"Alright," Draco said. "Is that a good thing? It's in the past."
"We'll see," Rabastan replied. "Let's sneak into the Ministry and get our bearings."
Draco nodded. They wouldn't go into an official entrance though; Rabastan led the way to one of the many secret entrances Lucius knew of, and was glad to see it was functioning. The lively sounds of London traffic and Muggles walking around were getting on his nerves. He had gotten used to the silence of a slowly crumbling world.
Once inside, they took a moment to get dirt off their robes, and disguised their faces a bit. Rabastan then led the way down the hall, Draco just behind him.
People milled around, not a single one of them paying him or Draco any attention. Rabastan was fine with that. He was actually glad to see a Ministry without the cracks of time distorting reality. He was glad to see it up and running.
Depending on who was Minister, though, he just might not be that happy soon.
"The atrium," he murmured to Draco who nodded.
They would hopefully get a clearer view of the time they had ended up in if they went there to observe. But they didn't quite get to the atrium before Lucius Malfoy entered the hallway they were in. He was reading from a parchment, and didn't appear to notice them.
"This isn't right," Draco whispered. "Father shouldn't… he shouldn't…"
Draco quieted down, just staring at Lucius. This one wasn't as gaunt and haunted as the one Rabastan had seen less than an hour ago. A lifetime ago. A whole world of cracks and realities ago, it felt like.
"Minister!"
Lucius looked up, and a young witch ran past them to get to Lucius.
"Minister, I'm so glad I found you," she said. "There are some disputes about the new law, and they would like your input on the matter. Also, they would like to hear lord Voldemort's opinion as well."
"Perfectly understandable," Lucius said, tucking the parchment away. "Tell them to come to my office; I shall call on lord Voldemort myself. Can you send a message to have tea sent up? No need to have it become a shouting match when we can calmly discuss it."
"Of course, minister, I'll get right to it!"
Then she ran off again, and Lucius changed directions towards the Minister's office. That apparently was his office. Because apparently, Lucius was the Minister of Magic. Rabastan stared after him.
"What the hell is going on?" Rabastan managed.
-o-
They left the Ministry and Rabastan considered trying conjuring Muggle coins for a hotel, but then decided against it. He didn't know how to act in front of a Muggle.
But Draco earned a bed in a somewhat safe place. So he pulled Draco into another alley and said:
"We're going to the Cauldron. Got any money?"
"A fair bit," Draco said, patting his pocket.
"Good. Keep the disguise, we'll get the food to our room and then leave in the morning to learn more."
"Where have we ended up?" Draco asked.
There was only one answer Rabastan could think off:
"Another dimension. It must be another dimension."
"Why would the crack take us here? Why did Potter's magic come from here?"
Had Potter come through to this dimension? Had his travel through the crack forced another dimension into existence? Or had it always been here? How many dimensions could exist in that case?
Rabastan shook his head before he could tread down that path and give himself a massive headache.
"He must be here," he said. "Come on, let's go. I could go for some sleep."
-o-
It was amazing, in one way, to be in a world that wasn't descending into chaos. Waking up in the Leaky Cauldron and being able to just walk without fear of being dragged through a crack of time was… well, rather nice. Very nice in fact.
They took their time to recover a little bit. Sleep away the stress that had been eating at them for years. Draco slept more than Rabastan, and the first morning he was confused. He had begun asking for his parents, before remembering. He didn't speak for the rest of the day.
After that though, Draco didn't slip up. They went out to learn more, and soon understood this world was the same, yet vastly different.
Lucius Malfoy had been the Minister of Magic for about five years or so. Magical England had been under Voldemort's rule that long as well, and he had an ally; a supposedly ancient monster.
"Nightmare Lord," Rabastan mused.
They had moved out from the Cauldron and found an abandoned house to squat in. They already knew they existed in this dimension and thus didn't want to cause any chaos by appearing out of nowhere.
Rabastan wondered briefly what Bones' group was doing. Being angry and upset, most likely, that the world they had ended up in was under the rule of a dark lord. But this Nightmare Lord… Rabastan looked through the parchments of information he already had on this man. It wasn't much, to be honest. Voldemort seemed to respect the man's wishes to remain in the shadows, and the information was limited to the public.
But he was supposedly old, very old, and had creatures such as Dementors on his side. He had an army of Inferi as well, and servants. He played a part of the taking of the Ministry and Hogwarts five years previously.
"We should meet with this dimension's Lucius," Rabastan said at last. "He wouldn't throw us to the wolves, especially not when he realizes you are really Draco."
"What about Bones and her people? Why haven't we heard anything about them?"
"They might be like us. Laying low until they've figured out the whole situation."
Rabastan didn't know much about the new situation, he realized a few days later when he spotted Potter. Not their Potter, but Potter from this dimension.
This Harry Potter looked completely fine, but he wasn't in the company of that Weasley boy and Granger girl. Maybe he wasn't friends with them in this dimension?
Draco and Rabastan watched this dimension's Harry Potter at a distance; they were in Diagon Alley and he appeared to be shopping. Trailing behind him was two women, both with a silvery sheen to their eyes. They didn't seem to be older than thirty, but for some reason Rabastan didn't trust that.
They spotted Potter again a few days later, but this time he was accompanied by none other than Severus Snape, as well as one of the women from before. Draco stared at Severus, looking healthy but wearing the same silvery sheen to his eyes. He seemed to advice Potter on some potion ingredients, both looking at a list.
"I still don't understand much," Draco said later, when they were having lunch in Muggle London.
"So is it time to schedule a meeting with Lucius?" Rabastan wondered.
"I see no other option. Once we've established our identities, father… this dimension's Lucius shouldn't do anything rash towards us."
Draco sighed and rubbed at his eyes. They were both still tired, a sort of bone-crushing exhaustion still lingering around. Rabastan just wanted to crash and sleep for days in a safe place. Knowing he could relax. He figured Draco wanted the same thing.
"I'll take care of it," Rabastan said. "Arranging the meeting. I'll do it under my name; that ought to be good enough."
"I suppose it would look weird if I did it," Draco confessed. "As soon as possible?"
"As soon as possible."
-o-
It still took three days to get a meeting with Lucius Malfoy, and they used the time to try and find out where the hell Bones and her group were hiding. They weren't having much luck with that though, and Rabastan threw in a last-minute trip to buy a new set of robes for them both. The ragged robes they had worked when disguising them a little bit, but it was better if they looked clean and neat for a meeting with the Minister of Magic.
Draco fretted up until they entered the Ministry. After that he walked next to Rabastan as they walked towards the Minister's office.
"Mr Lestrange, correct?" a young man said as they entered the outer room to the Minister's office. He glanced over at Draco before saying to Rabastan, "Mr Malfoy didn't expect his son to join you."
"I'm sure he won't mind," Rabastan replied, his heart kicking up a notch.
"Oh, he won't. Please go ahead."
It was either that Rabastan and Draco looked exactly the same as their counterparts, or this young man wasn't too familiar with their faces. Rabastan wasn't about to question it, and stepped through with Draco just behind him. The door closed.
Lucius was reading a document but the moment they entered he said:
"Rabastan, I never thought you would actually request a meeting with me on such formal grounds. You know my house is open…"
His voice trailed off as he looked up, and saw them. His eyes narrowed, and Lucius abandoned the parchment as he rose from the chair.
"It's alright," Draco said and stepped forward. "We're not enemies."
"You're wearing my son's face, I beg to differ."
"I'm not wearing… we're from another dimension."
Lucius stopped.
"Another… dimension?" he repeated. "Both of you?"
"You can check us with Veritaserum if you like," Draco said, "but we have no reason to lie to you."
Lucius took out his wand, but his movements were careful.
"I'll cast a diagnostic over both of you," he said. "It'll tell me enough for now."
They stood still and let Lucius cast it. He checked the results, which he had transferred over to an empty parchment, and then sat down.
"Another dimension," he repeated. "Oh dear me… I think I might need something stronger than tea for this conversation."
He had them sit down, and then cancelled the rest of his meetings for the day. With a Firewhiskey in his hand, Lucius settled down in front of them and said:
"From the beginning then, please."
They took turns. Rabastan knew more about Potter, and thus told that part. When the disappearance of Potter led to the cracks of time, Draco could tell more. He trailed off when he mentioned his parents being dragged through another crack, and Rabastan said:
"Wherever they are now, they're cut off from us, possibly forever. Most likely forever."
"You lost them," Lucius said.
"In a way, yes. I do believe they're still alive, but yes… we lost them." Rabastan dragged his hands through his hair and leaned his arms on his knees, sighing. "Bones' group followed through. We've been trying to find them, but they're hiding."
"They are a threat then?"
"Yes. To you, to everyone on your side. Our side."
"I need to inform Lord Voldemort about this," Lucius said. "He might want to check you with Legilimens."
"Sounds like the same Lord Voldemort I knew," Rabastan said.
Lucius had heard what happened to the other Voldemort, and didn't seem to have any questions. Did he believe them at all? He hadn't called for any Aurors. He had just sat and listened. Draco stared at the profile of Lucius' face as he kneeled by the fireplace, ready to call on Voldemort.
It was a short conversation and Lucius gracefully rose from his position while the flames flared up. Voldemort stepped through, brushing a bit of soot off his shoulders. Rabastan couldn't help but stare.
He looked younger, and definitely fresher, this Voldemort. Like the Dark Arts hadn't ruined him. Like he had never been vanished and forced into a new body. Maybe he hadn't. Rabastan hadn't thought to check it too closely.
"Gentlemen," Voldemort said and looked at them. "I trust Lucius already said the part about Legilimens?"
"Yes, he did my lord," Rabastan said. "If you don't mind, I'd like you to do me first. Draco here isn't very accustomed to it."
"Certainly."
Like always, like the Voldemort in their dimension, this one slipped into Rabastan's mind with barely a look. He felt it, Voldemort sifting through his memories, and allowed it. Once Voldemort retreated, satisfied, he did the same with Draco. He must have done it a bit gentler, because Draco didn't look very worried about it.
"They're telling the truth," Voldemort told Lucius. "But you already knew that."
"I had no reason to doubt my own son and a member of the Lestrange family."
"You two informed Lucius about enemies coming through with you?" Rabastan nodded. "Give me as much information as you can. Then I need to tell you something. Nothing bad, don't worry. Just some pleasing news, I believe."
Rabastan nodded, and together with Draco they began to write up the names in Bones' group. With the people they didn't know the name of they tried to the best of their ability to describe their faces.
They had reached the end of the list, when they heard a commotion outside the door. The moment the first spell hit the wall in the office outside Voldemort pushed forward, wand out. Rabastan and Draco followed, Lucius last but just as prepared as them.
Voldemort brought down two of the intruders with a spell, not killing them but binding them and having their wands taken away. Rabastan recognized them; they were from Bones' group. Five of them, two down and bound, three still fighting.
He brought up an elbow into the face of one of the women Draco had identified as a Patil. One of the Patil twins. Rabastan didn't care which one, just as long as she was down and bound. If Voldemort didn't want them dead, he wouldn't kill them.
It didn't take long at all before all five were bound and their wands were in Voldemort's hand.
"Bring them into my office," Lucius said to one of the Aurors that had come to the office. "Keep this quiet for now."
"Of course, Minister."
They were dragged in and Rabastan took some joy out of their shouting. They gave their plans away for anyone with half a brain, and Lucius seemed to consider to let them shout themselves hoarse to their hearts' contents. Voldemort however said to them:
"This is the people that Amelia Bones deemed worthy? What a tragic lot."
That made them go quiet. Voldemort held his wand, while inspecting the five he had taken from them.
"I think I should call on the Nightmare Lord," he told Lucius.
"A wise suggestion, my lord."
"Let me borrow your fireplace for a moment then, Lucius."
"I can't believe it," one of the five hissed. "We left one hellish reality, only to land in another."
For them perhaps. Rabastan would pay to see Bones' face when she realized that in this dimension, Lucius Malfoy was the Minister of Magic.
Voldemort pulled his head out of the fireplace and said:
"He wasn't home, but Elise is coming in his stead while the others find him and send him here."
"Who?" this Patil dared to asked.
"The Nightmare Lord," Voldemort replied as he came to stand before them. "Even if you are not from this dimension, surely you know that title."
The five looked at each other.
"There wasn't much known about him," Rabastan answered instead of them. "Your doing, my lord?"
"For all that he loves to bring chaos and fear onto people, he doesn't like being in the public eye," Voldemort admitted.
The fireplace flared and a woman stepped through. Draco grabbed Rabastan's robe; it was the same woman who had been accompanying Harry Potter of this dimension.
"Voldemort," she said with a nod. "Lucius."
"Elise. I'd like to introduce you to some people here," Voldemort said. "First of all, Rabastan Lestrange and Draco Malfoy from another dimension. Then, five people from the enemy side who apparently tried to get in here and what, kill Lucius?"
"If he was gone, we'd have a chance," one said.
If Rabastan remembered correctly, Draco called him Macmillan.
"Have a chance at what?" Lucius said.
"Getting rid of the darkness that has infested this country for the last five years," Macmillan continued. "It wouldn't solve much, getting rid of Lucius Malfoy, but it would be a start."
"Wouldn't be much of a start," Elise said. "Master adores Lucius' face. He wouldn't let you mar it."
Lucius rolled his eyes at the comment.
"We would've made it if it wasn't for… Voldemort," another spoke. "We'd take care of Malfoy, and then find Potter and get rid of him as well…"
"Potter?" Elise spoke and walked up to them. "Harry Potter is under master's protection."
"Not this dimension's Potter," Patil replied. "Our dimension's. The one who started all the chaos in our world."
"We believe our dimension's Harry Potter came through to here," Rabastan explained to Elise. "There were cracks of times in our world, and we went through one, following his magic."
"I see. Yes, a Harry Potter did come through to this dimension."
She seemed pretty sure of it, and Rabastan found himself straightening a bit. But then she continued:
"I believe he came through to here around 1800 years ago. During the second century."
Rabastan's heart sank like a stone, and settled like a freezing weight in his stomach. He felt cold and clammy, yet had a roaring heat around his head. Second century? 1800 years ago? That meant… that meant he's long-since dead.
His crazy friend. The reckless hero-turned-enemy. The one who Dementors followed. Dead?
"So he's dead?" Macmillan said. "He's dead!"
The five looked happy, despite the fact they were captured, and Rabastan felt like kicking them. He felt like killing them. Surely lord Voldemort wouldn't begrudge him that?
He looked at Elise, and she tilted her head while watching the five from Bones' group. Only now did Rabastan notice her boots seemed spiky at the front, and not as some sort of fashion statement.
"You seem awfully pleased about it," Elise said.
"That's one of our goals. To make sure Potter is dead. Seems like time itself sorted that for us."
The man, one of the completely unknown to both Rabastan and Draco when it came to a name, was about to continue when Elise kicked him in the head. The spikes made the skin split and had him screaming in pain as he fell over. Neither Voldemort nor Lucius flinched at her actions.
"How dare you," she hissed, lips curling in disdain at them. "How dare you assume something as trivial as time can kill him?"
What?
"Elise, before I forget," Voldemort said and held out the wands. "He would be rather pleased with this, won't he?"
"Oh yes," Elise said and turned from the group as if she hadn't just kicked one of them, taking the wands from Voldemort. "Master does love collecting wands."
"What do you mean?" Patil began.
But before Elise could answer, Macmillan was on his feet. His hands were free. He must have been working away on it ever since they were bound. He got the others free and they bolted from the office. They didn't get very far, because Aurors were still around the office and caught them before they fled.
"What were they thinking?" Lucius wondered as he walked into the corridor. "No, we're alright. Slippery prisoners, that's all."
The Aurors bound the group members once more and one of the Aurors said:
"Are they to be killed?"
"Yes," Lucius said, "but not just yet. I believe lord Voldemort can extract whatever information we need from them."
"Alright. Just say the word, minister, and we can take care of the bodies."
"Thank you."
"That was rather stupid," Rabastan said to Draco. "Do they always do things like that?"
"Probably," Draco said. "Elise, was it? What did you mean… earlier, about assuming time could kill him? You mean Potter?"
She wasn't looking at him though. Someone had appeared at the end of the hallway. It was a man with long, dark hair and piercing, green eyes. He walked with purpose, directly towards them, slender and lithe, with robes cut to fit his frame perfectly. However, he was missing his left arm around the elbow. Rabastan soon located it; the man was holding the missing stump in his right hand. Blood dripped down onto the floor. Either the man didn't notice, or he didn't care because he wasn't trying to stop it.
Elise's gaze snapped down to the lower arm hanging loosely in the man's hand, and said:
"What did you do?"
"Bold of you to assume I did anything," the man replied.
"What. Did you. Do?"
"Asking again won't help."
"Master…"
"That tone stopped working on me a long time ago."
"Master, I will have you chained down onto the bed for the next two days if you don't answer me."
"Kinky. Also, I spent a long time stuck to a stone chair; two days in bed? Heaven in comparison. Hello, Voldemort. Hello, pretty face."
"How come I always get to be 'pretty face'?" Lucius wondered.
"It's a compliment," Elise told him.
The man was already looking at the five bound people. His gaze jumped up to Rabastan and Draco for a moment before it cut back to Voldemort.
"You called for me?" he continued.
"Yes, I did. Don't you… recognize them?"
Voldemort gestured to the bound people, and then to Rabastan and Draco. Rabastan himself was starting to realize something. Those eyes, he knew those eyes.
It couldn't be. But it had to be. Draco didn't seem to get it, and neither did the five from Bones' group but Rabastan took a chance. He prayed he was right, and said:
"Potter?"
The man looked at Rabastan.
"Pottery? Where?" The man turned around to have a look behind him. "No, corridor's empty. Hang on, you said Potter, not pottery. Why did you say Potter?"
"Master," Elise began. "Look harder?"
"I can only look so hard at someone, Elise, don't make me out to be an idiot."
But the man glanced a second time at Rabastan, and then Draco, and stilled.
"Oh," he said. "Oooh, with Potter, you meant me. Rabastan, Draco. Oh, dear."
"You're Potter," Draco finally realized. "You're Harry Potter from our dimension."
"Yes. No! Not Potter, not anymore, I threw that name away ages ago. I don't like it attached to me. Call me Harrison instead." He looked around them. "Why are we standing in the corridor? Aren't you supposed to have tea at moments like this? Elise?"
"Don't ask me," Elise said.
"You're the one who normally gives people tea!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, master."
"Now you're just being annoying on purpose. Is it because of the arm? It's because of the arm, isn't it?"
"Now where did you get that idea from, master?"
"Oh, for the love of…"
Potter, no, Harrison, their friend that apparently was well over a thousand years old, put the severed arm against his stump, and dear god, he's still crazy Rabastan thought. But he didn't get to do more than think that before magic surged. Potter's, Harrison's, magic surged around them and he stared as Harrison grimaced. Then Harrison let go of his arm and… and it didn't fall to the floor, on the account of being attached to the rest of him again.
Harrison wiggled his fingers, inspecting the part where the arm had been severed. Besides the blood, there was nothing. No wound or even scar. The five from Bones' group stared.
"There, all better," Harrison said. "Now will you stop being annoying, Elise?"
"I'm perfect, master, and you know it," she replied.
"Yes, yes, whatever. Shall we go into the office? Who are those five? Am I supposed to know them?"
"They are from your original dimension," Voldemort said.
"Yes, well, I'm a bit old, I can't remember everything."
"You remember those two," Voldemort said, pointing at Rabastan and Draco.
"They are special," Harrison protested.
"Patil and Macmillan are two of them," Draco supplied. "Same year as us."
Harrison walked up to Draco and Rabastan, and looked at the group once more. They still hadn't stopped staring.
"Nope, doesn't ring any bells," he said. "Give me a minute. And a chair, I'll take a chair as well."
They moved back to the office, and Voldemort set out to dig through the group's minds for information while Elise served tea to the rest of them after he waved away the offer, saying he'd have some later.
"So you were angry about the arm," Harrison said. Elise gave him a look. "It was just an accident!"
"Rebel-based accident or you being reckless-accident, master?"
"I'm always being reckless, Elise, you can't call it that," he replied, before snapping his fingers. "Macmillan didn't like me. Snakes?"
"Yes, because you could talk to snakes," Draco said. "And then he didn't like you because you turned evil."
"Well, that's a rather natural progress for him, isn't it?"
"Wait," Macmillan said. "Wait, I still don't… Potter? She said you landed in the second century!"
Was it only sinking in now for him? Rabastan thought they had all gotten it out in the corridor who Harrison was.
"I did," Harrison replied as he looked at Macmillan. "I don't like your face. Why don't I like your face? Well, it doesn't really matter in the end."
"But it's 2001!"
"I know that very well. Elise insists on reminding me."
"But you don't… you can't be that old."
"I hate wrinkles," Harrison said. "So I have no wrinkles. Also, I'm immortal."
He's what?
-o-
One of members in Bones' group was already lying on the floor, staring off into nothingness. Voldemort hadn't been gentle when looking through his mind, and wasn't aiming for it. The others in the group had been silenced as he took a look at their memories as well.
Rabastan himself couldn't stop staring at Harrison. It was their Potter. The moment Harrison got up and moved, he saw it. He moved like he used to. He made the same hand gestures. He had the same, insane glint in his eyes. Those lips shaped the same, wide smile like always, especially when he was informed he'd get the five people to do whatever he wanted with, and he got to know what kind of world he had left behind.
"You'll come with me, right?" Harrison then asked Rabastan and Draco. "Unless you live somewhere else?"
"We haven't settled down," Rabastan said. "We were looking for you. Didn't know I should've looked at the information regarding an ancient lord."
"I didn't set out to become one, but one thing led to the other…"
"Twenty-seven people including these five," Voldemort said at last as he rose up. "They change hiding places, so these five don't know where they are now. They volunteered to kill Lucius."
"Then they should've tried when I wasn't in my office," Lucius said. "Did they think people in the Ministry would congratulate them for killing me?"
"They do seem to suffer under the impression the2re are mostly people on their side in the Ministry."
"I'm not going to say there aren't any people on their side within the Ministry, but the majority seems to like me as a Minister," Lucius said. "So these five were bound to fail. Anything else, my lord?"
"They are all obsessed with killing their dimension's Harry Potter as well. Which means we don't need to worry at all on that part."
"Master will still be careful," Elise said. "He can still lose limbs and organs."
"Yes, yes, we know this."
"They don't," she said and pointed at Rabastan and Draco. "Don't let him do stupid things."
"Still here, Elise, I can hear you," Harrison said.
"Doesn't stop you from doing stupid things, master."
"I can't argue on that point," Harrison admitted. "Anything else they have, Voldemort?"
"I now know the faces and names of them all," Voldemort said. "However, we'll need to be a bit discreet about this. The public would be worried if they heard about people coming from other dimensions."
"Shall we only involve the Death Eaters?" Lucius wondered.
"I think so. May we have some help from your servants, Harrison?"
"Sure," he said. "Do you know any former hiding places of theirs? I can have Lucian check it out."
"I'll do it," Elise said.
Voldemort pulled out the memory for her to watch in a Pensive Lucius had in the office.
"Perhaps it's easier if we take the people with a Portkey?" Harrison wondered, tapping his lips with his fingers as he looked over the five people.
Macmillan was the only one who seemed somewhat awake, but his struggles didn't loosen the ropes this time around. Harrison saw it though, and smiled as he said:
"Trying to escape? I might let you. It would be fun."
"What do you mean?" Macmillan said.
"I mean it would be fun to chase you. Maybe. Depends on how good of a runner you are. People who give up right away are boring. It's much more fun the longer they run."
"Fun to do what?"
"To torture you afterwards, of course," Harrison replied.
Since Voldemort and Lucius seemed to take no notice of what he just said, Rabastan concluded this was a normal part of Harrison. He looked forward to learn more about his friend. It didn't matter his friend had gone even crazier, or that he was over a thousand years old. It was still their Harry Potter, only in an aged form.
Elise left to check out one of the former hiding places, while Harrison got a Portkey ready for himself, Rabastan, Draco and Harrison's new prisoners.
"I'll come by later," Voldemort said. "Or perhaps tomorrow? Give you a bit of time with your friends?"
"Sure," Harrison said.
Harrison pulled the prisoners and had them touch the Portkey before gesturing to Rabastan and Draco to do the same.
"Can we travel within the Ministry?" Rabastan asked.
"Special permission if it's a Portkey the Nightmare Lord created," Lucius said, looking at Draco. "Is it alright if I come with lord Voldemort, to talk to Draco?"
"Only if he wants to," Harrison said.
Draco just nodded, before grabbing the Portkey tighter.
"Alright, pretty face gets to join. Later then, cheers!"
Rabastan wasn't sure how Harrison activated the Portkey, only that he was tugged forward violently. He hadn't travelled with a Portkey for years, but still remembered how to land while the five from Bones' group landed in a heap. Harrison didn't seem that concerned, and dismissed the Portkey while Draco and Rabastan had a look around.
They had landed in front of a manor. A rather large one. With a tower or two. A pale man with markings on his skin came walking up to them.
"Master," he said. "Who are these?"
"Ah, yes, the ones on the ground are prisoners. These two are special," Harrison said and gestured at Rabastan and Draco.
"Special prisoners?"
"No! They're friends, from my original timeline."
"Oh." The man bowed to them. "My name's Lucian, master's second servant."
"Second?" Rabastan said.
"Yes, second," Harrison said. "Back in the day, I kind of lost my memories… for a few hundred years. I made servants. Two of them. I have more now, but Elise and Lucian were the first ones."
Lost his memories for hundreds of years? Rabastan wondered what could have caused that.
"Lucian, take those five to the dungeons. Also, two rooms for Rabastan and Draco?"
"I'll have Ywgraine take care of the rooms. Lucy has been looking for you."
"What does that devil want now?"
"Master, she's a ten-year old child."
"Yes. Devil. Where is she?"
"Probably driving Severus crazy," Lucian said.
"That's not hard; I drive him crazy the moment I try to make a potion."
"You don't make potions; you make disasters that sometimes have a liquid form that you try to pass off as potions."
"Semantics," Harrison told Rabastan and Draco while rolling his eyes. "Come along then."
He led the way into the manor.
"So, around 1800 years old?" Rabastan said.
"Yes, there about. People think it's all nice being immortal, but really, it can be quite inconvenient sometimes."
"Like when?" Rabastan had to ask.
"Like when half your body is destroyed and you just continue living," Harrison told them. "That was an experience. I think I slept for years to make up for the damage my body received. Oh, and five years ago I had my lungs ripped right out of my chest. That hurt. But I tore off that man's head in retaliation so I guess we're even."
"Lungs ripped out?" Draco said.
"Oh, yes. It was Fudge who did it." Harrison turned to them. "It was a bit embarrassing, I have to admit that. I mean, that man was never really a challenge, I was just being reckless."
"It sounds more like you were being a bloody idiot," Draco said.
"There is one thing you must learn, Draco," Harrison said and grabbed his shoulders. "When I say reckless… I actually just mean stupid."
"You're insane."
Draco just spoke their thoughts out loud, and Harrison laughed.
"That's old news," he replied. "Like, really old news. Shall we sit down, or do the rooms? Rooms maybe. Ywgraine!"
He called out to the manor in general, and it didn't take long for a woman to run up to them. She looked from Harrison to Rabastan and Draco, and said:
"Who are these, master?"
"My friends. Can you prepare two rooms for them? Near mine, please."
"Oh, of course!" she said and clapped her hands. "Lucy wondered where you were."
"What about Angel; she didn't wonder where I was?"
"Admit it, master; you like them."
"No," Harrison said. "Devils, both of them."
He didn't explain who they were, but Rabastan had heard Lucy's age. She was a child from the sounds of it. Harrison's? No, he had never struck Rabastan as a father.
Ywgraine went off to prepare the rooms, while Harrison went deeper into the manor. They soon heard a girl's voice, and then Severus' deep voice answering. The moment Harrison opened a door, Rabastan and Draco heard a shriek of:
"Uncle Harrison!"
A girl threw her arms around Harrison's waist, and grinned up at him.
"Hello," Harrison said, looking a fair bit stiffer than just a moment ago. "Devil."
"My name's Lucy, Uncle Harrison."
"I know I'm old, but there's no need to make me feel old every time you address me, young lady."
She laughed and let him go before running back into the room again. Harrison cleared his throat and stepped in as well, followed by Rabastan and Draco. Rabastan felt Draco grab his sleeve as they caught sight of Severus.
He was bent over a cauldron, peering down onto its contents and saying:
"Whatever you say you want to make, master, the answer is no."
"I'm not going to make anything, I'm having friends over. Well, not just over, they'll live here."
"Friends?" Severus said and looked up. He narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that…"
"They're from my universe," Harrison hurried to explain as he was dragged over to Severus by Lucy. "My original universe that is. I made a mess over there!"
"A mess?"
"Oh, yes. Listen to this…"
Harrison proceeded, with the help of Rabastan and Draco, to tell Severus about the world filled with cracks of time, a world slowly descending into chaos. Rabastan made sure to be overly dramatic, because it made Draco snort and it made Harrison's eyes lit up with delight. At one point, his old friend just sat there, clapping his hands, barely able to contain his energy hearing what chaos he had left behind. Severus rolled his eyes at Harrison's antics, listened without pause, and then said:
"Well, I figured master would be pleased about having caused a world to descend into madness. But what will happen to that timeline?"
"Perhaps the cracks will stop," Rabastan said. "Perhaps they won't. Either way, the damage they have done is most likely too great to ever fix."
"I don't care," Harrison said. "All I cared about in that world is here with me now."
"The Dementors… they vanished after you did," Rabastan said. "Do you know why?"
"Yes, I do. I didn't at first, but they explained it. Somehow, they managed to travel between dimensions."
Harrison seemed unsure of the details, and how it was possible, but Rabastan was willing to accept just about anything at this point. So they had travelled through dimensions, and left again after Harrison disappeared.
At one point, a young girl tottered into the room and simply climbed into Harrison's lap. While flinching for a moment, Harrison did allow her to do whatever she wanted.
"Who are these two then?" Rabastan asked at last, pointing at Lucy and the girl.
"That is Lucy, and this is Angel."
"Yes, but whose are they?"
"Uncle Harrison killed my parents," Lucy said. "And he stole Angel from hers."
"That was an accident," Harrison said. "I was tired."
"You still stole her."
"Yes, by accident."
"You killed her parents?" Rabastan said, glancing at Lucy.
"She's surprisingly alright with that," Harrison said.
"It's fine," Lucy said with a shrug. "Uncle Harrison is nice."
For some reason, Harrison shuddered. Severus grinned.
"Master does hate being called nice."
"It's unnatural," Harrison hissed.
"Alright, Uncle Harrison is insane, but he buys us presents," Lucy said. "Ywgraine and Joanne are nice. Elise too, but she's a bit like Uncle Harrison."
"That's better."
At this point, someone pushed the door open. It was Lucian, with a rather large tray. Severus sighed and started putting his potion ingredients away, as well as putting out the only fire lit under one of the cauldrons.
"Tea?" Harrison asked. "We had tea."
"Food, not just tea," Lucian said. "These sandwiches are for you, master."
"I don't need them."
"You are eating them, master."
Harrison poked at them, and got his hands slapped away.
"Don't be picky, master," Lucian said.
"Well then, Elise shouldn't have spoiled me by letting me be picky for well over a thousand years," Harrison snapped.
"There aren't any cold vegetables on the sandwiches, master. Don't be such a child. Look at Angel and Lucy, eating without a complaint."
"They're better behaved than me," Harrison muttered as he viciously bit into one of the sandwiches.
"I wasn't sure what you two preferred," Lucian told Rabastan and Draco, "so I went with a bit of everything. Please do tell us if you have any special food preferences."
"Thank… you," Rabastan said, not used to have someone care about what he ate.
Angel and Lucy were both delights, and Harrison did seem to like them a lot even if their nearness made him a bit stiff. But the longer Angel sat in his lap, the more he seemed to relax.
"Master isn't very used to children being near him," Severus said after a while, when Angel was distracting Harrison with some questions. "He's not a caretaker. I'm surprised he kept them. He took this dimension's Harry Potter too."
"We saw him, with Elise and with you," Draco said. "In Diagon Alley."
"Oh, yes, master is quite protective over the children. Then again, most of us are children in his eyes. But the youngest don't travel alone."
Angel floated past them with a giggle. Rabastan turned to look at Harrison.
"What?" Harrison said. "She likes to fly."
"You're spoiling them," Severus informed him.
"Well, what else am I supposed to do? My form of discipline involves a lot of gutting, blood and screaming."
The door slammed open, and Ywgraine was there.
"The rooms are ready!" she said.
"Thank you," Harrison said as he wriggled his fingers.
Magic filled the room, Harrison's magic, and Angel laughed out loud as the magic pulled her back to his arms. Such easy display of power… Rabastan gaped. Just how strong was Harrison?
-o-
It was perhaps early for them to go to bed, but Rabastan was exhausted. It had been a day of discoveries, but at long last he had found his crazy friend. One who had thrown away his name, become a dark lord, and was now considered an ancient being.
The creator of Dementors and Inferi, although Voldemort had figured it out on his own in their original dimension. Harrison, the Nightmare Lord who had terrorized Muggles and magical people alike. The man who befriended the four founders of Hogwarts, the one who in this dimension gave the castle its name.
He was complicated and horrible and kind, to those who counted. He was a fussy eater, despised cold vegetables and his Muggle relatives were demons in his head. Rabastan figured it would take some time to grow to know his friend again.
But they had time now. They were in a world without cracks of time spilling through and distorting reality. Bones' group was still a problem, for now, but Rabastan felt confident Harrison along with Voldemort and Lucius would take care of them.
With that, Rabastan fell asleep quite easily, feeling safe for the first time in years.
To be continued…
Bit late, per usual, but much longer chapter this time around!
Chapter four: Rabastan and Draco get used to life in the Nightmare Lord's manor.
Cheers,
Tiro