Chapter 13
"Your father taught you well," Draco says when Gus finishes chopping.
Snape snorts from his canvas.
"What?" Gus demands, glaring at him.
Draco smiles. "Severus, you're losing your touch. This one's not afraid of you at all."
"Nothing like his father then," Snape mutters.
"The only reason my dad was afraid of you in first year is because you were a bully," Gus says.
"There's definitely some of Pansy in you, son," Draco says.
Gus makes a face. "She's not like that in our timeline."
"I know. I saw that in Becky's memories," Draco says. "I'm glad she's not." He sighs. "I think this timeline brings out the worst in everyone."
"Not you," Gus says.
"I'm worse in your timeline?"
"Not worse," Gus says, "just different. In our timeline you're nice. Everybody likes you. But here you're…" He gropes for the right word but can't find it.
"Noble," Snape says.
"Yes," Gus agrees. "Noble."
"The noble Death Eater?" Draco shakes his head with a sad smile. "I think not."
"Noble enough to give up the woman you love to save the world," Snape says. "Though I'm not sure the lady in question is on board with the plan. Understandable, given that she's the one who will end up married to the bat of the dungeons."
"You're not a nasty git in our timeline," Gus says. Draco laughs and Snape glowers. "You're not as ugly either."
"You're as blunt as a bloody Gryffindor," Snape says.
"The Hat said it was a toss-up," Gus admits, "but Mum promised me a top of the line broom if I ended up in her House instead of Dad's, so…" He shrugs. "Anyway, where we came from, you're not ugly and you're not a git and Aunt Hermione doesn't mind being married to you."
"Indeed?" Snape sneers.
"Yeah," Gus says. "She likes you."
"I find that exceedingly difficult to believe," Snape says.
"She probably wouldn't if you acted like this though," Gus says.
"If portraits could look into a Pensieve you wouldn't find it difficult to believe," Draco says, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice. He turns to Gus. "So in your timeline, your mother and I were never…?"
"Oh, you dated my mum when you were in school," Gus says. "But she says she came to her senses in time. Oh, sorry," he adds, realizing how that sounded.
"So I lost one woman to Longbottom and another to you," Draco says to Severus. "I really must be noble if I want to go back to a world where I've made a career of being thrown over."
"You seem happy with Astoria," Gus says.
"Well, that's a comfort," Draco says. He vaguely recalls Daphne's entirely unremarkable little sister. They did have beautiful children. Magical children. Children the Dark Lord didn't put down like they were some sort of defective animal. At least the monster cast the Avada himself instead of ordering Draco to do it. If he had, Hogwarts would now have another Headmaster.
Draco is pouring the cooled potion into bottles when Hermione comes in. "It's finished?" she asks.
"Just now," Draco says. "Mr. Longbottom here was a great help."
"How are you feeling?" Hermione asks Gus.
"Not too bad, why?"
"Becky doesn't look well. I wanted to see if the potion was ready."
"I'll take it to her now," Draco says. "Ready?" he asks, holding his arm out to Gus.
When the two of them have Apparated away, Hermione turns her back to Snape's portrait and heads for the door, but stops before she reaches it. When she turns around, Snape is watching her, his expression inscrutable.
"I suppose you could always destroy the diadem and then make a suicide run at the Dark Lord," he says.
"All in vain if he's made another Horcrux."
"So you've already thought of that possibility. Can't say I blame you."
"I suppose you'd risk keeping the Dark Lord alive to avoid marrying me," she says.
"That hypothetical is hardly comparable."
"Isn't it? You hated me when I was in school."
"No more than any other student," he replies. At her rolled eyes, he amends, "No more than any other Gryffindor student. It was not personal."
"You didn't hate me in Becky's memories," she says. "Quite the opposite, as difficult as that is to believe."
"Not as difficult to believe as you feeling…quite the opposite about me."
"But I did," she says. "She did, the version of me in that other timeline."
"Just when I had accepted this bizarre situation," Snape says, "I fear I am once again back to believing that someone is having us on. Or at least me. You and my godson seem to be in on the joke."
"It's no joke, Severus," she says, ignoring his surprise at her use of his given name. "I saw it with my own eyes. We were married, and happily."
"And having seen this, you now go willingly to your fate?"
"Will you stop with the sarcasm, please? Just for a few minutes? Long enough to let me see if the man I saw in those memories is in there somewhere?"
He sneers, but holds his tongue.
"It's true that I dread what we're about to do, but it has nothing to do with you personally," she says, "at least not since I saw Becky's memories. I'd feel the same if it was Harry or Ron or Neville or anyone else I was married to in that timeline. It's losing Draco that I dread, not being with you."
Snape watches her carefully but says nothing.
"You were a wonderful father in that timeline," Hermione says. "That little girl loves you so much."
"I never thought I would be a father at all," he says. "to say nothing of a good one. I never thought to be anyone's husband, either," he adds after a moment. "I don't imagine I was terribly good at that."
"You were, actually," Hermione says. "From what I could see through Becky's eyes, at any rate. We were…affectionate with one another," she finishes awkwardly.
"Are you certain I didn't Imperius you?"
She smiles. "If you did, your stamina in keeping it up for nearly twenty years of marriage is most impressive."
"It's always been my best Unforgivable."
She looks at him sadly. "What kind of life have you led, that the only way you can conceive of having love and happiness is by means of an Unforgivable?"
"Precisely the kind you might imagine."
I'm so sorry, she wants to say, but knows he'd hate it if she did. She realizes that her unspoken thoughts are written clearly on her face when he says, "I neither need nor want your pity. Bad enough to endure the guilt and shame of knowing that some version of you will be saddled with me instead of my godson, but to have your pity as well, when you're the one who should be pitied…"
She opens her mouth to speak but he cuts her off.
"Go, Granger. You and Draco haven't much time left. Don't waste it."