Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it. Parts taken from Halfblood Prince by JKR.

Real Life Must Go On

"Where is he?" Sirius worried for the millionth time. "And what the heck is going on?"

"I still don't know why he snuck out yet again," Narcissa bristled while they stood on the platform.

Draco kept quiet, exchanging looks with Hermione whilst they waited to see if Tom and Harry managed to arrive in time to catch the train. The whistled blew, singling the students better get on. At the same moment there was a loud pop and an ancient House Elf appeared holding the hands of Harry and Tom, who both looked sleep deprived and rushed. Tom's hair was sticking up and it looked hilarious. If he hadn't been worried about where Harry had gone and why he suddenly didn't know where Tom and Lupin lived, he would have laughed.

"There you are!" Sirius roared, chest swelling and winding himself up to shout more.

"Not now. Get on the train," Narcissa snapped, giving Harry a look Draco never wished to be directed at him.

Harry nodded his agreement before hugging her and getting on the train with his head bowed. This caused her to look momentarily off kilter before she hugged Draco and Hermione and hurried them onto the train.

"Hey! I didn't get any hugs!" Sirius complained.

The train started to move, the whistle drowning out whatever else Sirius was bellowing. Sirius jogged along side the train, still shouting, but the noise of the train drowned him out. As they turned the corner, Hermione reminded Draco they needed to go to the prefect meeting. And they were late.

"New Heads, hopefully not time sticklers."

Turned out the new Head Boy and Girl were not time sticklers as they didn't even turn up for the meeting till two minutes after Draco and Hermione and both were pink cheeked and distinctly mused. Hermione blushed and smirked. Draco stared at the ground, trying not to think about it.

The meeting ran long, so it was well past lunch when Draco and Hermione reached the compartment where Harry had sat himself with Tom, Luna, and Neville.

"There are Wrackspurts in here," Luna said by way of greeting.

Hermione waved her hands through the air around her head as she moved into a seat. Draco mouthed the word at Harry who shrugged.

"They are invisible, honestly," Hermione tutted. "Get in your ears and make things fuzzy."

"Oh, well, then," Draco said, batting the air around his ears.

"So, where were you this morning?" Hermione asked, sitting down across from Harry and next to Luna. "Sirius can't tell us where Lupin lives and Draco and I can't remember."

"Uh," Harry said, glancing at Tom, who was pressed into the corner of the compartment staring blankly out the window. His hair was still sticking up all over the place and his clothes were mismatched and wrinkled. Harry had changed into his uniform, so he'd clearly found the trunk they'd brought for him. "Last night, I guess, Addy Black came back."

"From the dead?" Draco asked, horrified.

"No. She, erm, she time travelled."

Luna looked up sharply. "She does that a lot, doesn't she?"

Draco blinked.

"She didn't die," Tom said, staring out the window as the rain began to fall from angry skies. "She took what she thought was merely a portkey."

"It wasn't just a portkey?" Draco ventured, his mind reeling.

He'd thought for the past six years Addy Black was dead, that she'd perished battling Voldemort. Instead, she'd been simply time traveling to 1996.

"It was a portkey and a time travel device," Luna breathed, looking utterly thrilled. "How brilliant."

"I destroyed it."

Luna looked heart broken.

"That was wise," Hermione assured Tom. "So…"

"Is time travel a thing with you guys?"

Everyone jumped, having forgotten Neville was in the compartment with them. Neville turned his round face to each one, then sighed.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but I assume it's not the Atlanta I knew," Neville said. "Who is she?"

"Atlanta D. Black," Tom supplied. "The last Spellsmith to graduate from Hogwarts. It was assumed she'd died with Regulus Black in September 1979."

"Regulus didn't die," Neville pointed out. "I don't understand how he didn't, but he's alive. I've met him. And don't feed me the story he's Sirius's cousin or whatever the official story is. That's a load of bull."

"How do you figure?" Draco asked.

"I saw him after the battle in the Ministry last year. He came to check on Sirius," Neville said. "They look far too much alike to be only cousins and they were way to familiar with one another to be long lost relatives."

Draco smiled at his friend.

"Addy was a Spellsmith. She invented spells for a living. One was a spell that locked Regulus in a moment, a rather important moment as he'd just ingested a lethal potion. Knowing it'd take Dumbledore awhile to discover the antidote, she locked him for fifteen years."

"Oh," Neville said, even though he clearly did not understand.

Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you wanted to fight Voldemort. Welcome to my life."

Harry was bittersweet as he said this, but Neville smiled.

"Regulus Black was a Death Eater, or a former one, right?" Neville asked, looking at Draco.

"Correct."

"Okay. What else? You guys live very…weird lives," Neville said, chuckling a little. "Keeps my boring life in perspective. But, anything to help against the war, right?"

"Right."

"So, this…Addy, she saved Regulus because…"

"She knew he'd rejected the ways of the Dark One," Draco ominously said.

"She had a duel with the Dark One," Tom added. "I'm not sure how as of yet, but she convinced him she was dead and came here."

Neville shook his head in wonder.

"Where's she now?" Draco inquired.

Tom finally turned his face towards the group, eyes locking on Draco.

"The Hospital Wing," Tom replied simply. "Madam Pomfrey said I would be allowed to visit after dinner tonight. I'll request you be allowed to visit, as you did know her before."

"You knew her?"

Everyone stared at Neville. He looked unsure and asked, "Do I really want to know?"

"If you tell him only Ginny will not know," Luna replied.

"You know?" Hermione asked, sounding incredulous.

"Since the start," Luna dreamily said. "The dust told me."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course. The all knowing dust."

Neville looked massively confused.

Tom locked eyes with Draco and Draco instantly knew what the other boy was going to say.

"Neville is important, but above all he is your friend. He should know, if he's the only one left out."

"And Ginny," Harry added.

"Did Atlanta know?" Neville quietly inquired. "About whatever you're alluding to?"

"Yes," Draco said. "You and Ginny are the only ones in our group that do not know."

Neville looked pleased be in any group, which made Draco want to tell him even more. He glanced at Hermione, who gave him a look that told him it was his secret to tell.

So many people knew already, what were two more?

Draco took a deep breath. "My seventh year at Hogwarts, I made a choice to travel back in time to my eleven-year-old body and redo the timeline to prevent Voldemort from getting to power."

Neville appeared doubtful.

"I've managed to change a few things," Draco defended. "I accidentally sent the Atlanta Black I originally knew back to the 1970s. We call her Addy, as she's quite different from the Atlanta Lupin we knew."

Harry shifted uneasily.

Neville sat back heavily and glanced between all of them, appearing as if he was waiting for his head to explode.

"You're here because of this Addy Black, right? She accidentally made you, right?"

Tom nodded.

"Okay," Neville said. "So, since I'm late to the party, do we know what big thing is happening this year that we've got to prevent so Voldemort doesn't take over? Because, well, so far— Draco, I'm sorry, but you're not doing a good job."

Draco snorted darkly. "Yeah, well, there's fixed points in time. We have to work around those."

"Huh?"

"I'll write you a summary," Hermione assured, patting Neville's knee. "Ginny will likely be confused when we tell her as well."

"I dunno if she'll believe you," Neville hazard. "I'm not sure I want to, other than…well, a Malfoy in Gryffindor. Who would think we'd see that?"

Draco snorted. "I rather like Gryffindor. More cozy and friendly. And warmer."

"Oh, gosh. You were a Slytherin," Neville realized. "Oh. You didn't like me."

"I didn't know you," Draco was quick to correct. "I didn't know Harry or Hermione or any of you because I kept to my own House and, well, I was an utter prat. I thought the world of myself and made sure everyone knew it and if they failed to agree, well, I was a bully."

"Like Nott?" Neville quietly asked, looking at Draco as if he didn't want to know him any longer.

Draco felt his cheeks heat and he forced himself to maintain eye contact with Neville.

"Yes."

"But, unlike Nott, he's seen the error of his ways," Hermione quickly put in. "Has he been anything but kind to you since he met you?"

Neville shifted guiltily. "What was I like?"

"I don't honestly know," Draco said. "I didn't actually know you past what I saw in classes. You weren't…very good."

"Well, of course not!" Neville shouted. "I must have been dismal since you weren't around to help me!"

"Neville—"

"No! You were the first person who actually saw me, Draco! You didn't care who my dad was, didn't care that I couldn't do anything as easily as everyone else!" Neville exclaimed, looking frustrated suddenly. "You kept telling me to be myself and it didn't matter how good my dad had been at magic or anything. You saw me."

Neville thumped himself in the chest.

"No one ever saw me before that," Neville finished a little quietly having realized everyone was staring at him.

"No one saw me till I was in Gryffindor," Draco quietly said. "I…never tried very hard to…be myself. Until I was in Gryffindor."

Hermione squeezed his hand.

Neville nodded. "Okay, so time travel. Got it. Draco's done this all once before as a Slytherin. Got it. There is another Atlanta Black, who is from Draco's original timeline. Got it."

"I think that sums it up," Luna offered, patting Neville on the head. "Speaking of Nott, we've yet to see him and its after lunch."

"Did we miss the trolley?" Draco asked, his stomach rumbling.

"Yes. Here. I got you this," Harry said, shoving some pumpkin pasties at him. Draco split them between himself and Hermione. "Was Nott at the prefect meeting?"

Draco hadn't noticed, but luckily Hermione did.

"Yes, actually. It seems he's branching out from being a Draco clone."

"Har, har, har," Draco mocked as the compartment door slid open and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside.

"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom and Harry P-P-Potter," she faltered, her eyes drifting towards Harry. She immediately turned bright red, but managed to hold out two scrolls. Neville looked massively confused, but reached forward (he was closer) and took the two rolls of parchment, handing Harry his. The girl stumbled backwards and out of the compartment.

"What is it?" Hermione inquired, trying to look over Neville's shoulder.

"An invitation I would assume," Tom drawled, going back to staring blankly out the window, "to be collected by Horance Slughorn."

Harry made a noise somewhere between distaste and amusement.

"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Neville asked.

"New teacher," Harry replied. "Do I have to go?"

"You ought to, since you missed eating a proper meal this morning," Tom said flatly.

"They don't serve proper meals on the train," Harry pointed out.

"He'll have good food," Tom offered blankly, still staring out the window. "He does love his food."

Harry made a noise of frustration and stormed out of the compartment. Neville glanced between Tom and Draco before going after Harry.

"What is wrong with you?" Hermione demanded.

"She's alive because Atlanta's dead," Tom stated sharply, turning his insanely blue eyes on Hermione. "I spent nineteen years mourning her, but she's in fact alive only because Atlanta's dead. I am only solid and sitting here, feeling the cushion and vibrations because Atlanta's dead."

Hermione looked unsure how to respond to that and glanced at Draco, who less knew how to behave. While he had relatives pass, he'd only lost one friend and that was Crabbe. Crabbe had been dead less than an hour before Draco had time travelled and the lumbering giant was alive and stupid once again.

Tom turned sharply away and went back to brooding. Luna stuck her strange looking spectacles on and went back to reading the Quibbler upside down. Hermione cleared her throat and began talking about what she'd learned whilst her family was vacationing in Sweden.

"Daddy and I went to Sweden this summer," Luna said, peaking out from behind her upside down magazine. "We used the money he got from selling Harry's story to the Daily Prophet. We went Crumple-Horned Snorkstack searching. They're native."

"Yes, I read that," Hermione replied before Draco could snort. "They live in Northern Sweden, don't they?"

"Yes. We failed to find them. They are good at hiding."

"Did you visit Stockholm?"

"No. We didn't have time before Daddy needed to be back at work," Luna lamented.

"Mum and Dad have their own practice and just shut down for a solid month so we can travel," Hermione said.

"Oh, how wonderful," Luna offered, giving Hermione a faint smile. Hermione nodded then began talking about the broom racing she'd learned about.

Harry and Neville were gone until they were nearing school. Neville changed into his school robes along with everyone else, save Harry who'd already put his on. Hermione and Draco hurried off the train as it arrived, trusting the others to get their trunks. Draco hated this part most about being a prefect: supervising arrival and getting the second years to the carriages. After everyone was in a carriage, Draco spotted a familiar looking witch standing on the platform.

"Wocher, Draco," the witch called, sounding like Tonks, but looking nothing like her. She waved, then turned back to scanning the platform.

"Is that Tonks?" Hermione whispered, appearing at his side.

"Yeah."

"What is with her hair?" Hermione asked. "Isn't it usually…more vibrate?"

Tonks' hair was mousy brown and a little frizzy. She also had an air of miserableness to her that seemed out of character.

"Come on, we best move or the last carriage will leave us behind," Hermione said, tugging on Draco's sleeve.

The pair snagged a seat in the last carriage with the new fifth year prefects from Hufflepuff. Both were super excited to be prefects and chattered the entire way about how awesome the year was going to be and kept asking what Hermione and Draco for tips.

Draco had no tips, other than not to be a prefect.

Clearly, he didn't follow his own advice as he was a prefect.

After the Sorting was through, dinner filled the plates and Draco merrily ate his fill of chicken and dumplings. For dessert he had some chocolate gateau. The table was rather subdue (for Gryffindor). Most of the table kept sneaking looks at Tom, who ate at record speed and vanished to see Addy in the Hospital Wing. As people finished, the food vanished, and Dumbledore stood up. The talk and laughter died down and the whole hall was silent.

"The very best of evenings to you!" Dumbledore said, smiling broadly, opening his arms wide enough to embrace the whole room.

This action allowed the population to see his dead hand. Draco, who'd paid little attention the first time around, gasped as the hand was black as night and very, very dead looking. It was worst than he'd imagined after Harry described it. Whispers and other gasps swept the room; Dumbledore, interpreting them correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple-and-gold sleeve over his cursed hand.

Draco glanced across the room to where Hermione was seated and she looked grave. Draco turned to Harry only to find him missing.

"He went with Tom," Neville whispered as Dumbledore assured the population airily, "Nothing to worry about."

Draco pressed his lips together and turned his attention to Dumbledore.

"Now, to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you!"

Dumbledore continued on in the same vain he did every year, reminding everyone the Forest was out of bounds and there were new items on the banned list, mostly every single product sold by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for a new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

"We are also pleased to welcome a new member to the staff this year, Professor Slughorn,"—Slughorn stood up, his bald head gleaming in the candlelight, his big waistcoat belly casting the table below in shadow—"who is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post as Potions master."

The crowd began whispering.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Dumbledore went on, raising his voice so it carried over the muttering, "will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Neville looked as if someone had cancelled Christmas.

Dumbledore cleared his throat as the whispering had risen in volume. The noise ceased.

"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining strength."

The silence tautened and strained. Draco looked at Nott, who whitened, but continued to stare forcefully at his empty plate. He sat between Crabbe and Goyle, who looked as smug as the other Death Eater children seated at the table. Like at the end of the school year before, Blaise Zabini and Ronald Weasley were at the other end of the table, surrounded by the few who did not support Voldemort's ways. None of these students appeared smug or gleeful as the news, but seldom as the rest of the school.

"I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magic fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we still must guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them— in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and other's safety."

Dumbledore's blue eyes swept over the students before smiling once again.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip, pip!"