AN- Hi friends! This is the last chapter of the segment "Blundering Heros - Finding a Place" and I just wanted to thank all of you who have read, showed your appreciation for my work, and supported anonymously. I am planning to write a second segment to continue the Blundering Heros' story, but I cannot say for sure how long that will take. I will try my best to post it as soon as I feel great about it (thanks ahead of time for your patience! (: )

Please feel free to message me if you have any input or ideas about how their story should continue; although I have some things set in stone, I love hearing what others have to say. Once again, J K Rowling is a genius and I am merely a fan. Thank you for reading!

- Chapter Twelve - June 23 1929 -

- A Clockwork Pendant and a Change of Plans-

Justin sat at the dining table chuckling at the way Hermione pretended to be a lion for Tom once again. The boy shrieked adorable giggles after her loud 'ROAR' as she tickled him with her curly hair. It made Justin's heart melt a little. His eyes trailed over to Luna, who sat on the couch watching the playful display while she knitted a small sweater with with her wand.

The scene was quaint. It was a gestalt moment that Justin wanted to keep with him when times were difficult and he needed encouragement. The only thing bothering him was that Draco was nowhere to be found. He had left the grounds a short while after breakfast that morning and the ancient clock on the wall was now just striking four in the afternoon.

Justin knew that Draco was a capable wizard who wouldn't be arsed to care if something happened to any of the folks currently in the Lovegood manor, though he couldn't help but worry about the blonde wizard. It must be very difficult for Draco to be in this incredibly surreal situation. The poor bloke was surrounded, yet alone.

Justin felt himself settling in just fine with the witches. Hermione was rapidly becoming like a sister to him; their bond growing ever stronger as mere days passed by. Their common blood status united them in a way unlike any other and her frizzy hair and strong attitude made her very lovable in his eyes. Another resounding 'ROAR' coming from the witch and the subsequent string of giggles from the elated little boy caused Justin to look up once again at the scene.

Although the main commotion was surrounding Hermione and Tom, his eyes moved to the beautiful witch knitting in the wing back chair. Luna drew him in like bees to sugary sweet honey. Her large eyes locked onto his when she looked up and his breath caught.

Justin realized how bloody obvious he was being about crushing on the pretty witch, but he couldn't help it. The attraction he felt for her was like nothing he had ever experienced. Justin didn't even know Luna that well, but she had made an impression on him.

In his past relationships, he had been often sought after and it was an interesting change to be pursuing someone, especially someone like Luna. He knew that he was fairly good looking and most people who knew him thought that he was kind. Folks would laugh when he cracked a joke; Hermione herself had told him that he was a catch. Justin wasn't arrogant however, and that was the main pull witches and wizards felt around him. That was what Hermione had pointed out at least.

His most recent relationship had been with Ernie Macmillan and that had ended shortly after sixth year began. The wizard had been smitten with Justin shortly after first year Charms class and the two had grown very close throughout their time at Hogwarts. In fifth year, they found solace in each other during the ever present developing war. When Ernie dragged Justin into a broom cupboard one night after a DA meeting, Justin did not argue. Sparks flew for many months after that.

Before Ernie, Justin and Padma had a great relationship in fourth year. That was until she broke up with him shortly before the Yule ball in hopes to go with Harry Potter. Their relationship was sweet for the most part and many of their peers didn't even realize they had been together. Most of the time they had spent together was in the library studying, or up in the astronomy tower awkwardly snogging. The Ravenclaw was very pretty, but over time, Justin realized that she was the type of girl who would climb the social ladder mercilessly and he wasn't into people who did that. Last he had heard, Padma had kept up correspondence with a Durmstrang fellow she met at the Yule ball - good for her.

The Ravenclaw constantly on his mind however, was Luna Lovegood. She appeared in every pleasant dream of his and was the sole reason why he would sometimes wake up in a cold sweat with a morning erection that lasted too long to be a coincidence.

He knew in his gut that if he pursued anything with Luna, everything would be different. With her, there were no social constructs to follow, and that was overwhelmingly refreshing.

The witch in question was staring unblinkingly at him. Her soft grey eyes crinkled slightly as her face broke into a tiny smile. His stomach clenched at the sight. Then as soon as she had looked up, she looked back down to continue her spell-work with the charmed wool.

Grinning in spite of himself, Justin looked back down to his project. The time turner was a maddening thing, it seemed as if too many pieces fell out when it broke and had expanded to make it more difficult for him. There were tens of tiny mechanical knobs and springs to play with. Justin, although frustrated by his task, was also excited. He had always loved working with his hands on machinery, even back when being a wizard was a new development.

"Justin, just because you're some fancy wizard now, doesn't mean all your other talents are to go to waste." Edward, Justin's father grunted from underneath the beat up '62 he was working on.

Twelve year old Justin leaned against the tool cabinet fiddling with a pair of broken pliers. The wavy haired boy, had he not become a wizard, would have followed in his father's footsteps and would grow up to work at the auto shop in town that their family owned and ran. Justin had never batted an eye when his mum insisted he could choose other career options. He was just like his father.

Edward stood up and looked over at his only child. The man was insanely proud of his son. Even though he wished that Justin wouldn't have to leave for large parts of the year for Hogwarts schooling, Edward often found himself wondering about what the boy could do with his magic. After scolding from his loving wife over the fact that Justin couldn't perform wand-work outside of school until he was of age, Edward ceased his questions.

Both of the Finch-Fletchley men were exceedingly kind as well as insatiably curious about mechanics. When Justin had explained to Edward about the different houses at Hogwarts, he had been surprised to hear that his boy hadn't been put into what Justin called the "smart and creative house". When asked about his own house, Justin's freckled face beamed with house pride as he would detail that Hufflepuffs (whatever the hell those were) were hardworking, kind and fair.

These qualities were reflected more in Justin's pleasant personality than his inquisitive nature, but Edward had always strived to foster a thirst for knowledge present in his son. Edward's only hope was that Justin would live a successful and happy life.

His twelve year old turned to him and asked for some help with the pliers. Edward got out from underneath the car and approached his son. "What is it?"

"It's just, there's no way of fixing these dad. I'm sorry." Justin's shoulders drooped and he looked up at his father sadly.

"Ah, come on son, take a look at them from a different angle." Edward grabbed the pliers and examined them blade on, "See? There's sauder residue caught in between the notch of the blades. We'll just have to melt it off later."

"Oh," the boy's shoulders drooped more and he looked almost sheepish.

"Not to worry, Justin." Edward smiled down at his little boy who was growing up much too quickly. "When you're faced with a problem and it doesn't seem fixable, just look at it from another angle."

Justin grinned up at his father at those words. "Thanks dad!" He ran out of the garage through the side door. Edward chuckled at the boy's thunderous footfalls. "I'm going to help mum with dinner!"

Justin smiled a sad smile at the thought of his father. He missed both of his parents dearly, but his father and he had a special bond. It was difficult leaving him for such long periods of time throughout his schooling. During his journey to the past, he and Hermione had bonded over the feeling that they were perpetually stuck between two worlds. Justin could only hope that he would one day see his father again.

Taking his advice, Justin took the time turner in his palm and held it up at eye level. No sooner had he done so then did he see a small crevice he hadn't noticed before. A couple more pieces fit in one at a time.

Justin felt the rising elation that came with an almost completed project. It was like the finishing of a jigsaw puzzle; every piece he magiked in made it even easier to see where the next piece could go. A small click and the last scrap of metal fit into the side with the adjustment knob. The time turner glowed slightly and vibrated for a short moment in Justin's palm.

"Hermione! Come quick!"

Draco tossed another stone into the river. He couldn't take the agony of waiting on a bloody Hufflepuff to fix their problems. His anger ebbed only slightly at the feel of a light breeze on his face. June was soon to be rolling into July and Draco took advantage of the cool mid afternoon air.

He spent all of yesterday seething at Justin's insistence that he could fix the time turner himself and that Draco should just relax. Relax!? He was a prisoner with unseeable bars; there was no way he could calmly walk around and do nothing.

Granger was insatiably smitten with little Tommy and Looney seemed fine with trusting Justin and his idiocy. Draco was reminded once again that he didn't want to be stuck with this trio. Granger's worried glances sent his direction this morning had nearly set him off.

He came to the small grove by the manor to blow up some rocks and ease his frustration without disturbing Tommy. The baby wizard was Draco's last chance at having someone on his side.

An idea popped into his head and Draco felt a smirk spread across his face. He knew that it was not necessarily nice, but when had he ever received niceties from the huffy hairball?

His plan was shaky, but it had only been a couple days and he was already regretting his decision to step into that humming blue glow that still haunted his dreams. Draco decided that he'd go back to the manor, grab his stuff and nick Tom just for the fun of it, and head into a different town. He couldn't trust Granger with the fate of the wizarding world, so he'd have to fix it himself.

He reached the door a while later, around dinner time, and was ready to sneak in when he heard cheering. Opening the door, Draco saw the three buffoons dancing around the kitchen with elated faces while Tommy clapped his hands in Justin's embrace.

Nobody saw him. Draco had this opportunity to at least summon and pack his things. This was his chance, but he was struck once more by the pouring out of emotions from the group. He stood staring at the little oddball family and his heart began aching once more. Why was this happening to him?

Granger turned her head to laugh at Luna's goofy dance moves and looked over to see him. She stopped dancing immediately and padded over to him quickly. Her fluffy hair was even puffier than normal and she blew it out of her eyes with the side of her mouth.

"Malfoy." Her olive tinted cheeks were flushed from dancing and her light brown eyes had that familiar dancing fire to them that Draco couldn't help but admire.

"Granger." He replied almost stoically.

"Justin fixed the-"

"I know."

"You can head back home now…"

Whatever words he was expecting to come out of her mouth, those weren't even on a list of the top one hundred. What did she mean by that?

Meeting his now quizzical gaze, she repeated herself.

"I know that this journey hasn't been an easy one for you. I'm giving you the choice right now." Granger looked at him with a ghost of a smile. "We can all head back to our time and leave you there to continue life, but that means we will never see you again. I'm quite sure that 'our time' doesn't even exists anymore now that we've taken Tom as ours, but we can try."

Draco now fully understood what she had meant. The frustrating witch was willing to risk everything so that he could go back home. He had the choice to return to a manor run by a madman, a boring desk job and to people who hated his guts.

"I…" He knew that she had no idea how foul the idea was for him to travel back there. As much as this situation was not ideal, the former was much worse; and it might not even exist anymore.

Granger stopped him and said softly, "I can give you some time to think about it if you like. Would that help?" This witch was almost acting human towards Draco.

Draco looked over to Justin, Luna and Tommy waiting with wide eyes in the kitchen. His heart did that funny melting thing once again. What was wrong with him? His face broke into a reluctant grin and he turned back to Granger.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easily, witch."

Draco's stomach did some weird things when Granger's face broke into a grin that matched his. He decided his odd anatomy problems were because of his lack of sleep (that made him feel better). Luna shouted hoorahs with Justin in the kitchen and even little Tommy shouted with glee. Draco had found a place with these blundering heros and at that very moment, he couldn't have been more content.