Chapter 18

Becky stands at the edge of the dance floor watching the couples twirl and glide past. Scorpius and his new bride Aurélie are gorgeous and glamorous, but Becky spares them barely a glance. It is her own parents who absorb her attention. She's observed them surreptitiously since the day she and Gus came back, but the wedding is the first occasion she's had to watch them together when they won't notice her doing it. Watching them dance gives her the confirmation she needs. They are in love. Her father is happy. Her mother doesn't have feelings for Draco, whom Hermione treats in the same casually affectionate way she does Harry, Ron, and Neville.

When the song changes, Draco and Astoria join the dancers, and Becky turns her attention to them. She's been observing Draco and his wife as well today, but she can't tell much. They're pleasant to one another, and they're certainly an attractive couple. The whole family is almost too attractive to be real—Draco and Astoria, Scorpius and Aurélie, and Lucius and Cissy, both still beautiful well into their sixties, which for witches and wizards isn't really old. And then there's Cassiopeia, holding court amid a bevy of admirers.

Cass doesn't get under Becky's skin the way she used to. In a new House, with new friends, Becky has too much on her mind to bother much with mean girls in other Houses. The Hufflepuffs have Herbology with the Slytherins, where Becky sits with Gus and most days forgets Cass is even there.

Being in different Houses has not made Becky and Gus any less close. If anything, they are closer, having shared the experience of that other timeline. But it is a different kind of relationship now that Becky's crush has evaporated. For the present, she is concentrating on her schoolwork, set on learning as much as she can. She knows she isn't going to beat her swotty brother's NEWT scores, but she can become a competent—possibly even powerful—witch worthy of being Hermione and Severus Snape's daughter.

When Draco and Astoria leave the dance floor, Becky's eyes follow them. Astoria moves to join her sister Daphne, while Draco walks toward the ballroom door. Becky follows him, down the corridor, around a couple of corners, and into the library.

"Why aren't you enjoying the party?" Draco asks, surprised, when she enters.

"I have been. It's a lovely wedding. But wanted a break from the crowd for a bit, and I love your parents' library."

"I wanted a break from it, too," he says. "Mother and Astoria live to entertain, but I find it a little exhausting."

"Draco, may I ask you something rather personal?"

His brows lift. "That depends. How personal?"

"Mum will never talk about what happened, why you and she were going to get married but didn't."

"No," he says, "I don't imagine she would."

"And that means you won't either?"

"No, I won't."

Becky nods. "I didn't think you would," Becky says. "But…" She bites her lip, hesitating, then takes a breath and plunges in. "Are you happy?"

He frowns a bit, puzzled. "Am I happy?"

"Yes."

"I suppose I'm as happy as most men. I love my family. I have a successful business. I have nothing to be unhappy about. What makes you ask?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."

She sighs. "I suppose I just have a hard time understanding how people can be in love one day and then not in love the next."

"Love is a complicated thing," Draco says, then adds, "For what it's worth, I don't think your mother and I would have been suited, long term." He grins. "She's awfully bossy."

Becky laughs. "I've noticed." Her smile fades as she realizes that the reason Hermione wasn't as bossy in that other timeline is that she was a despised Muggleborn in the Dark Lord's world.

"Severus handles it much better than I ever did when we were young," Draco says.

"You stayed friends with both of them, despite everything."

"I'm not going to talk about the details, but suffice to say there were extenuating circumstances, and neither of your parents did anything…dishonorable."

"Thank you," Becky says. "I appreciate your telling me that."

"I suppose the father of the groom had best be getting back to the party. May I?" he asks, offering his arm.

"I'll stay here for a bit," she says. Alone in the library, she nearly jumps out of her skin when Lucius Malfoy shimmers into view as he removes his Disillusionment charm.

"You scared me half to death!" Becky cries.

"Obviously," Lucius says.

"What are you doing here?"

"This is my house."

Becky rolls her eyes.

"I followed you," he clarifies.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know why my son is of such particular interest to you today."

"He is not of particular interest to me."

Lucius chuckles. "You're just as bad a liar as your mother. Why do you suddenly want to know what happened between Draco and Hermione all those years ago?"

"I don't know."

"Another of your terrible lies. I think you saw something that made you curious."

Becky nods.

"Something you weren't meant to see?"

She nods again.

"Something no one in this timeline was meant to see?"

She gasps.

"So, you found your mother's Time Turner, did you?"

"How did you know?"

Lucius smirks. "Let's just say I've been down this road before with another curly haired young witch."

"How did you know she had a Time Turner?" Becky asks.

"First, I want to know what you saw with that Time Turner."

Becky hesitates. "Do you promise not to tell my parents?"

"That depends on what you tell me. If no one will be hurt by keeping your secret, then I'll keep it."

She thinks about this for a moment, though it isn't as if she has a choice. "Fair enough. It was supposed to be just a lark, hop back a few hours and play a trick or two on the swotty Ravenclaws. But instead of hours, we went back years."

"We?" Lucius settles himself on the sofa.

Becky sits down beside him. "A friend and I."

"Ah, Longbottom then."

"We took a souvenir back with us, and it turned out to be a Horcrux."

Lucius draws in a horrified breath. "And the Dark Lord was alive?"

"Yes. He came back during Mum and Draco's fourth year, and everything was different. It was horrible. Everyone was awful. Pansy was just horrid."

"She was a horrid girl," Lucius says, "but she grew out of it."

"In that timeline she didn't. You were horrid, too, Mum and Draco said. My father was dead but his portrait was awful."

"And your mother and my son? Were they awful, too?"

"No, they were both good and kind. Especially Draco," she adds. "And they were..."

"They were…?" Lucius prompts.

"They were in love."

"Ah. Hence your question to Draco."

"Yes," Becky says. "They loved each other so much in that world. It made me wonder why they didn't in this one."

"The answer to that question involves the very same Time Turner."

"No one should ever use Time Turners," Becky says. "I don't know why Mum even had one."

"Time Turners can be used for good. And that one was, once."

"Tell me," Becky says.

"Not many people know that story."

"Who?"

"Just Severus, Hermione, Draco, and Cissy."

"And you."

"And me," Lucius acknowledges.

"And me, after you tell me."

He chuckles and she waits, pulling locks of his long, silky hair through her fingers as she's done since she was a tiny little girl.

"And you, after I tell you," he agrees. She leans against him and he puts his arm around her shoulders. "The first time the Dark Lord fell," he begins, "not in the past we all know now, but in a different past, a past most imperfect…"

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading, and special thanks to those who have reviewed or added the story to their favorites list. This story has been less popular with readers than Past Imperfect , but is no less dear to my writer's heart because of it, and I'm glad that some readers have enjoyed it and the final installment, Future Imperfect.

Many thanks to the incomparable turtlewexler and Fragilereality, who beta read and Brit-picked this story when it was first posted. Both of them are marvelous writers and their stories are well worth reading. Any errors are due to my revisions after that.