Chapter 13

Happy Birthday

July, 1946

After more than a year of research and testing, hour upon hour of trials and errors, Draco Malfoy collapsed into his chair in defeat. No amount of evildoing were corrupting either boy. They had peaked. He could not risk wiping their memories anymore, it had been done too many times already. Harry had become forlorn because of this, Tom forgetful. Instead of growing into fearsome leaders they were both in hiding, protected by a Fidelius Charm. Frightened little boys in adult bodies.

Voldemort was not happy. His smoldering ire burned with each setback. And Draco had suffered for this, more often than not anymore.

Whatever it was that lit his passion before had been extinguished. He was a shell of a person now. The world was burning. His friends were dead. He had helped do this. Why had he helped?

There was a creak of a door and Malfoy flinched. His senses were heightened. He looked around the dark room but no one was there. Unconsciously, he gripped the Time-Turner around his neck. His knees knocked and his breath wheezed. He removed the Time-Turner and placed it back in the lock box. He sat at his desk, tapping his fingers on the grainy surface.

Draco questioned his loyalty to the madman. A man who was clearly not insane when he was a child. A little wicked, perhaps, but sane. Young Tom also had feelings that his master lacked. Draco clawed his fingers in his hair, pulling it hard enough to hurt.

And then it happened. His eyes, metaphorically speaking, opened for the first time in his life. It was then that he realized that was the bad guy. He was on the bad side. They were the villains.

Harry was the good guy. Was. Could have been. Harry was mad. Nothing could change that.

Or could he?

Draco stood up. If he could avoid Tom and work with Harry instead, maybe he could fix this mess. Maybe he could guide Harry toward the right path. He would hope it might help Tom but even if it didn't, he could save Harry. Harry was the key. If Tom became Voldemort, Harry could kill him. That was a fact.

There were others there that would help. Dumbledore and Hagrid were there. They were always insufferably good. Draco smiled, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. A myriad of options flooded his mind. He could do this. He could put the world back together.

Fuck immortality.

There was no apprenticeship to the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. It was ignored and forgotten. Tom sat in his den, anxiously writing. He rocked slightly in his chair for comfort to ease the trauma he felt. He rubbed sweat from his brow and sighed. "What was that word again?" he asked no one. He smacked his forehead several times trying to restart his deadened brain. A light went on in his head, lifting his frown. "I'd forgotten the words to the memory extraction spell. How silly."

He took a sip from his teacup. It was empty. He placed it back on its saucer. "Harry?" he shouted behind him. "Can you get me some more tea?" There was no reply. "Harry?"

After several minutes of shouting, Tom grabbed up his cup and saucer with a grumble. "I always get you tea, you great bunny."

He entered the kitchen of their grey-bricked home. The house was quiet and dim. He shrugged as he put the kettle on. "Harry must not be home. Probably visiting mummy." he said with a nod.

Something slithered across the tiled floor and looked up at Tom. "Are you talking to me? I didn't understand what you said."

"What the hell? Get out," Tom spat, surprised. He turned to face it fully, glowering. "How did you get in here?" It was a snake. A beautiful serpent: long and smooth with bright green scales. It reminded Tom of Harry's eyes. Definitely not native to their land. He had never seen one like this before.

The snake ignored Tom's glare. "I was a birthday present for Master Harry, sent by package. Just yesterday I arrived."

"Hagrid, no doubt. Where is Harry?"

"Had an errand to run. He said he wouldn't be gone long."

The kettle began to whistle as the water inside bubbled. Tom waited until the sound filled the room before removing it from the fire. Pouring it into his cup, he looked back at the snake to acknowledge it one last time. "You stay out of my sight or I'll nail you to the door. Understood?"

The bright snake turned around and left the room, muttering "He said you'd say that."

The streets of Richmond were so different from Little Hangleton. The war had been over for more than a year and life was starting to return to normal. Factories were making what they should be making again. Infrastructure was well underway. The town was growing, expanding with paved roads and shoppes lining them. There were celebrations and parades. Everyone felt safe again.

Well, almost everyone.

Harry scurried across the busy road, eager to get back inside where it was safe. They only left when they had to. He had a hood pulled up over his head, his arms were crossed and he kept his nose down, as to not attract attention.

As he approached his home to speak the secret word to enter, he was grabbed up by the neck.

"Hey, there you are!" Draco flipped him round, pulling him up against him closely.

Harry growled and dug his fingernails into Draco's sides in return. "Let me go, fuck face!"

Draco cupped the boy's hair and crushed his nose against his shoulder, all the while smiling and shaking his head at curious passers by. "Little brothers, huh? They say the god damnedest things. C'mon, Harry, we're late. Let's go." Faces turned away without much care as Draco dragged Harry into a nearby alley.

They were nearly the same size now, it was difficult to overpower the young man anymore. They struggled, stumbling against the brick wall of the alley.

Harry pushed away, knocking Draco off balance. Both men fought to get their wands free and both pulled them out at the same time to point it at the other. Harry's glasses were missing, broken by his feet on the cobblestone ground. It didn't matter. Malfoy's stupid pointy face was haloed by his ridiculously shiny, silver hair. A perfect target to hex. "If you don't bloody leave right now I swear I'll give you horns and a beak. And you know I can do it. I'm better than you."

Draco held his hands up, letting is wand slip into his sleeve. "I know you are. I come in peace."

Harry sneered. "Bullshit."

"Such colourful language," Draco retorted, briefly forgetting he was supposed to be nice. "You should write greeting cards."

"I'm tired of you torturing us. I should just kill you right now," Harry threatened.

Rolling his eyes, Draco retrieved his wand and tossed it to Harry. "I don't doubt you want to, I just know you won't. Anyway, no more torture. I'm here to help you."

Harry dropped his arm to his side but held a tight grip on his wand. It took him a moment to compose himself. Anger flooded his veins. He hated this man, maybe more than Dolohov. "Why did you show up today? It's my birthday and I really wanted this to be a good day."

Draco felt a twinge of guilt and then it was gone. "Sorry about that. I hadn't realized. Anyway," he began, praying in his head this was the right thing to do. "I've come to encourage you to reach out to Professor Dumbledore. He is a brilliant man and he can help you." He pulled a thick manilla envelope out of the back of his jeans and thrust it into Harry's chest. "Do not tell your brother. Not yet. His and my master's minds are a collective. Voldemort will know I'm helping you and kill us all without a second thought. Then he'll just go back in time and start over. Promise me you'll give this to Dumbledore. Promise me."

"How many times has he started over already?" Harry whispered, unable to find his voice. The thought of him being killed, of Tom being killed terrified him. He leaned against the wall, feeling faint. "Has he killed us?"

"No. I don't know, maybe," Draco said quickly. "I don't even know if it's possible. Time travel has all these... time is... It's like..." he stammered. Time travel was impossible to understand. Every theory on it had been proved wrong. Its rules were unknown to him, to Voldemort. They had no idea what they were doing.

Seeing the look of pure desperation in Draco's eyes, Harry put an arm over the envelope to hold. "Okay, I won't tell Tom. I'll go to the professor as soon as I can."

Draco breathed. "Good. I have to go. You never saw me. I'll be in touch soon."

And then he was gone, leaving Harry standing in the warm sun but feeling very cold.

Glasses repaired, Harry entered the house and quietly slipped the envelope behind the old grandfather clock in the front sitting room.

"You home?"

Harry smiled. "Course. Think I'd left you for the milk man?"

Tom sauntered in and plopped down into a stuffed chair. He looked tired. He seemed to have missed the joke. "No, I was just wondering."

"I went to Prewett's and used his owl. I haven't seen ours in days. I'm getting worried." Harry sat down on the arm of the chair. He looked over his shoulder and the older boy. Tom's black hair had grown into his eyes. "I sent a 'thank you' to Hagrid for the gift."

Tom made a noise in his throat and pulled Harry down into his lap. "Your new pet sassed me. Hold still, dirty-blood."

Harry wiggled around to get up, giving a weak attempt to escape. He giggled, seeing Tom struggle to hold onto him. "I'm too big to sit in your lap, bastard, I'm going to fall down." And he did. He landed with a dull thud onto the rug below. He rolled, seeing Tom push off from the chair and fall toward him. He wasn't fast enough, mostly on purpose, and was swept into Tom's sturdy embrace.

Despite the seriousness of their sheltered lives, it excited Harry to be so close to him. Their parted lips met, their tongues caressed and Harry's worry began to melt away. He felt safe in Tom's arms. Fingers fumbled at his lover's belt buckle. He wanted to please him, to make the sadness go away.

Tom swatted at Harry's hands. "Knock it off, prat. I'm not in the mood."

"Lies. This says otherwise," Harry retorted, tracing his finger along the length of Tom's erection trapped behind his trousers. He let his hand drop. "But if you're not in the mood..."

"Don't you dare," he hissed, in that brooding manner that made Harry's blood race.

Harry was groping and rutted against him with such vigor that Tom growled and pinned him to the floor. "Aren't we a bit too eager, hmm? Slow down, you maniac. This is all you think about anymore."

"I can't help it. And it's my birthday."

"It is! Would you like to have your present now?"

"Yes, please."

The room seemed to dim and Harry froze. There was pain. Incredible pain.

Tom gasped. "What?"

Harry's hand flew up to his scar. It hurt worse than he ever felt before. Voldemort was there, outside of their hidden home.

"Good afternoon, you half-blooded aberration."

Blood leaked from his scar. Tom held out his hand and shouted for his wand. "Hold on, Harry! Don't die!"

"I have a little secret: I found our mother. We're going to have a family reunion. If you want to see her alive one last time you'll clean yourself up and hand me that envelope Draco gave you after your brother has gone to bed. Don't say a word to him, I will know. If you don't do exactly as I say I will not hesitate to kill-"

The pain stopped and Tom dropped his wand. Harry sat up quickly and vomited on the rug while Tom rubbed his neck. Blood that had seeped into his eyes was washed out by tears. He staggered to get up.

Tom helped him stand and guided him up the stairs. "What happened? Did he say anything?"

"No. Just pain." For whatever reason, Tom believed his lie. Harry dipped his hands into the basin as it began to fill with cool water. He splashed it on his cheeks. He dried his face and took Tom by the hand. "I need to lie down. Do that thing you used to do when we were children?"

"Course."

Tom curled around Harry and smoothed his hair, whispering hopeful promises of the future. Harry pretended to listen. In a few hours he was going to surrender himself to that monster. He would probably never see Tom again.

Draco felt uneasy as he crept into his office. The room felt stagnant. He reached out and opened the lock box to return his Time-Turner. The other one was gone.

"Hey, you're back."

Malfoy whirled around to face Harry. "Wha-"

"What'd you do to him? He was cursing you name before you left," Harry said, stifling a grin. "Whatever you did, you must teach it to me."

Draco's blood drained from his already pale face. "Oh gods, he knows."

Harry shrugged. "Knows what?"

After a moment of frozen shock, Draco grabbed Harry's arm. "You don't understand – we're both going to die soon." He slung the Time-Turner's chain around both their necks. "I'll explain when we get there. You're going to fucking hate me, but if we can stop this I'll take whatever I've got coming to me."

Draco set the dials to arrive before his own self did when he gave Harry the envelope. Voldemort would never know what happened. "Okay, here we go," he shouted, and set it spinning.

Nothing happened.

Harry waited, unsure of what was to come. He stood there watching Draco fumble with the thing on a chain, confused. Draco was trembling, cursing, spitting and crying all at the same time.

Finally, Draco dropped to his knees as he cradled the shiny bauble in his hands. "He broke it. He must have come to the future and broke it right after I got here. We would have seen him, though."

"He was probably under his Invisibility Cloak," Harry said. "What do you mean "the future"?"

"He has an Invisibility Cloak?" Draco went limp on the floor. "When did he get that?"

Harry smirked. He reached out his hand. "I guess we have secrets that you don't know about, too. Get off the ground, you look like an idiot."

Draco stood on shaky legs. "You're not taking me seriously."

Easing him into his chair, Harry agreed. "No, I'm not. You're not making sense."

"He's letting me stew. He knows there's nothing I can do and I'm going to die and my family is going to die and nothing I do now can stop that."

Harry clucked in annoyance. This was getting ridiculous. "Are you going to explain this to me?"

Draco let his head drop to his chest. It was over. No sense in telling him now. It would flood into Harry's mind the instant Voldemort began torturing his younger self. Their lives were over. The world was going to end. Everyone was going to die. His vision blurred from hot tears. He waved Harry off, who sneered back at him and stomped away.

Hours had passed. It was growing dark outside. It was nearly time to go. Harry sighed. He was watching Tom slowly drift off to sleep. Tom looked so innocent in his arms, so peaceful. "I love you," he whispered against his lover's cheek before kissing him. "And I forgive you for whatever you do. Rest now."

"Forgive me for what?" Tom mumbled.

Harry kissed him again. "I said rest."

He eased himself off the bed and slipped out of the room and quietly closed the door. His head ached, making it hard to think. There must be something he could do without alerting his brother. He dressed slowly, lost in thought. He had not felt this afraid since he was a small boy back in Little Hangleton. "Little Hangleton," he said to himself. "Family reunion. He's going to take me there. Oh gods-"

"Are you talking to me?" The new resident of their house poked his head out from under Harry's bed. "I don't understand what you're saying."

Harry jumped. "Oh, no I... Yes," he stammered. "I can't tell him - but I can tell you!"

The snake cocked his head. "What would you like to tell me, master?"

"Don't ever call me that again." Thinking fast, Harry came up with an idea. There was no way he could tell Tom, at least at that moment, but once Harry was with Voldemort it wouldn't matter if Tom knew. "You need to listen carefully. Remember everything I've said. The first part is what you're going to tell Tom when you wake him up. You will tell him the second part only after he is safely inside Hogwarts and standing alone with Albus Dumbledore."

He got up and went to where he had hidden the envelope. The green serpent followed. Harry tore it open and spread the papers inside on the floor. There were scribbled note, blueprints, something about a Time-Turner. Their childhood lives were written down and debated, stretched and prodded. They'd both been memory wiped over twenty times each. His mind was spinning out of control. None of this made any sense to him, and yet it felt so familiar. Harry ground his teeth as he read.

After twenty minutes or so, Harry's scar began to burn. "Okay, let's begin. We have to be quick, he's getting angry. Listen and remember," he said firmly to the snake.

"I will remember and do as you ask," he replied as he slithered around Harry's arm and coiled around his neck. "I won't let you down."

Harry petted him. "Thank you, my friend. This could be our one chance, we have to get this right."

Author's note: I'm sorry this took so long, like seven years too long. I could not write anymore. I started a new medication a few months ago and suddenly my ability to write returned. I know I've probably made many mistakes. I haven't had this edited and I have forgotten most of the HP lore I once had memorized. I just want to finish this story, I feel really bad for never finishing it. I'm working on the next and final chapter. I promise to publish it in under seven years. Thanks for reading :)