Morning dawned with an undercurrent of all things good - happy reunions and tender smiles. There was uncertainty too, a whole new world had opened up and an entirely new family had been forged - with bonds, however unconventional, that perhaps ran deeper than most.
Harry stretched his limbs, only slightly hungover from the previous night. He found himself cuddled up next to James and Sirius, all three of them sharing the couch while Hermione, it seemed, had conjured herself a mattress across from them, her tiny frame wrapped within a cashmere shawl.
He slid out, trying his best not to disturb the Marauders, smiling to himself as he saw the men snore loudly and shift closer to each other, his father's fingers wrapped tight into the fabric of Sirius' shirt.
Entering the kitchenette, Harry was pleasantly surprised to find everyone up and eating. Remus was stood flipping omelettes into the air as Lily and Peter sipped their coffee at the table. Sat across from them was Rab munching into his breakfast.
"Good morning, kid," Lily chirped, her smile wide. "We didn't want to wake you lads up. But you should wash up now that you have. We're not expecting Dumbledore for a while yet. Why don't you go and freshen up and your Uncle Moony will have something prepped up for you by then?"
Remus whooped in the air as Harry flashed him a thumbs up, grinning.
"I might as well wake up the others," Rab muttered, clearing his plates away and making his way out to the living room. He bent at the waist, threading his fingers softly through his sister's curls, his heart warming at the sight. It had been a while since he had seen her sleep so soundly. He didn't have the heart to disturb her just yet but the day was already at its peak and it wasn't going to be an easy one on the girl. "Hey, wake up, Mi. Let's have you up and ready now."
She mumbled incoherently, nuzzling her face against his hand. "A little longer, big brother."
He chuckled. "You're up already, I can tell. Don't try and play tricks on me now, young lady. Up you get, come on."
Hermione grumbled, sitting up as she cracked her knuckles.
"Good morning, Mi!"
A soft smile. "A good morning it is," her eyes crinkled. She breathed in a sigh. Deep and content. "I'm so happy, Rab."
"I'll make sure it stays that way then," he cleaned the dirt from her eyes.
She cocked her head to the side, a gentle feeling of belonging blooming inside her heart. "You really do love me the best, don't you?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Nothing has to change between you and I, Rabastan?"
He brushed his lips softly against her forehead, kissing her eyes one at a time. "Never. You are my sister, Hermione. Need I remind you of that every day now? I will if you asked."
"No," she shook her head, "I think I'll trust you on this."
He clapped his hands together, rising up and moving towards the two Gryffindors sprawled across the sofa. "Come on you two," Rab said loudly, snatching away the blanket shared by the tricksters. "You're the only ones left. Don't blame us if there's no food left over for you lot."
Hermione laughed, kissing her brother lightly on the cheek before bounding away.
"Try and take the food away from me," James grumbled under his breath. "You'll be babysitting an irritated manchild the entire day."
"I'll throw tantrums," Sirius warned, his eyes bleary as he raised his head, trying to make his way out from the tight embrace his best friend had him in. "Where's the food?" He yelled. "Bring me the food, Moony. He's trying to take the food away from me, Moony."
James bolted out and padded over to his wife, his steps hurried and frantic. "Where are the kids? Harry? Hermione?" He looked around, a moment of brief panic before Lily shushed him.
"Well, what's come over you, James?" She frowned. "They're upstairs washing up."
He nodded, dumbfounded. "Dunno. Just. It just doesn't feel right for some reason."
"What do you mean?" Peter came over to his side, patting his back.
Sirius joined the party, concern dripping in his voice. "Everything okay, mate?"
James sighed. "I guess it was just a bad dream."
"Care to tell us?" Rab suggested.
"I," he closed his eyes painfully, "I think we lost them .. Hermione - she, she wasn't alright. We lost her and then Harry, he didn't stay. He left."
Lily drew her brows together, wrapping her arms around his torso. "It's okay, love. Let's take you upstairs. It was a long night. I'm sure all of us are a little flustered. Let's take it slow today."
Remus placed a flask in front of his friend, "You should take this. Have a hot shower and come grab a bite. I'll make you some toast on the side, alright?"
Lily nodded, grabbing the drink and helping James upstairs.
"Guess he's just shaken up," Remus whispered.
"Let's hope it's just that and there's nothing more to this dream," Sirius muttered darkly, stood leaning against the door frame, his body hunched over.
"Hey, none of that now," admonished Rab, "you should go join him. Come back downstairs in half an hour and we'll have fixed your breakfast by then. Take it easy, all of you. We're fine. We're in the clear. We'll make it."
Remus sat down at the table, letting Peter take over the lead on breakfast. "Everybody's on edge."
"No wonder. Seeing all of that makes you feel really insignificant, doesn't it? I can't imagine being that person. Doing all those things alongside Voldemort. It's unbelievable how much a single person can do."
"What do you mean?"
Rab shook his head tiredly. "If you think about it, Hermione being in this timeline, living a life with all of us - she's changed so much already. I didn't end up losing my sanity. Peter is safe from the Death Eaters. You," he pointed at Remus, "don't have to spend the rest of your life in hiding, unable to meet your friend's child or take custody. Sirius doesn't have to go to Azkaban. And above all James and Lily get to live. If nothing else, I'd say she's saved us all. I know we lost Reggie. We lost so many more families too. There were casualties this time around as well. But all of us - the people currently in this house - we owe it all to Mi. Each one of us."
"Guess we count the small mercies," Peter mumbled quietly.
"It's alright, mate," Remus turned to him. "You have to come to terms with it. I'm glad you're around. I'm sure all of us are."
"Indeed we are," proclaimed Dumbledore, a twinkle in his eyes behind the half moon spectacles he wore, striding in and making himself at home, posing the strangest site. The Headmaster of Hogwarts sat sharing a simple English breakfast with a bunch of younglings. "You do not realize it yet, Mr Pettigrew, but you will go on to do big things for the world. I believe anyone who gets a second chance at life at the hands of such ancient magic is special indeed. It is not a small feat to have been chosen by the Fates, is it?"
Peter stared at him, his brows furrowed. "Professor, how do you bring yourself to adjust to everything as if nothing ever happened?"
"Most certainly because it did not," Dumbledore smiled, putting his hands together. "We have to take very good care of our time travelers once the war is dealt with. Because their very presence means that nothing ever has to happen the way it did. And yet it remains a reality for them. So it falls on us to provide them safety and comfort. To give them love that surpasses the grief they've been laden with. Look on the brighter side, Mr Pettigrew, I'm certain you have a big role to play."
He sipped marmalade as if he wasn't over a century old, a childlike glee on his face. "Mr Lestrange, I believe you've been transferred the rights over your House?"
Rab nodded his head. "I received the official Ministry Owl almost instantly. That's how we knew Mi was in trouble. Rolf, he .. we cannot get his body back," he sighed. "Once we've blasted off the Death Eaters, I'll ask Narcissa to take me to the island so I can bring him back. Send him off."
Dumbledore's smile grew wider. "I believe your property must currently be in lockdown then?"
"Yes," he answered.
Remus clapped his hand onto the table, "It means that Voldemort can't access the Lestrange Manor! It means he can't access the Malfoy Manor either because after Lucius was killed off by Mi the property rights must have transferred over to Narcissa."
"Well not precisely," Dumbledore raised his finger, just about to say something when Peter beat him to it.
"The baby's here?!"
Dumbledore's eyes gleamed. "She gave birth to a girl just last night. And the child now has the official control over the Manor. The Manor is where the diary is. And fortunately for us the remaining Malfoys are on our side."
"That's one less thing to worry about - hang on, wait, no, that's not right," Peter frowned. "Wasn't it supposed to be a boy?"
"Draco," Rab whispered. "He's - that means he's not coming around .. Lucius is dead." He cursed, "Harry and Hermione - they don't need another heartbreak .. Mi, she's going to feel crushed .."
"What?" Hermione exclaimed, stopping mid step as she entered the kitchen, Harry and his family right behind. "What happened?" She cocked her head to the side, concerned at the pitying looks she was receiving from everyone.
"Whose cat died?" Sirius tried to joke, laughing humorlessly.
James hit him in the head, hissing at him sharply, "Padfoot, no!"
Remus bated his breath, unsure how to break the news, mustering up courage. "Mi, Professor Dumbledore is here with news about Narcissa."
Hermione's face paled. "Is she alright? Is the child alright?"
Harry frowned, connecting the dots, leaning against the table heavily, his gaze dropping as if he knew something he shouldn't have.
Rab went around to wrap his arms around Hermione, while Lily braced hers against Harry's, sensing the discomfort in the air.
He looked at her in the eye, holding her firmly. "Narcissa gave birth to a girl last night, Mi."
"No." Hermione felt the earth beneath her feet give away. "No. I don't believe it."
"It's true, she -"
"You're lying, Rab," she cut him off, "you're lying."
Harry rubbed his face tiredly, guilt marring his features, "Mione, there's something I haven't told you.."
She shook her head vehemently, mumbling under her breath. "That's not possible .. it's supposed to be a boy. It has to be. Lucius, - I killed him - she can't have another baby - no, no, no - it can't be a girl .. that's not right, he's - no, NO!"
Harry came around to stand before her, making Rab shift, letting her go.
"Harry, you're scaring me. What is it?" She looked around frantically. "What do I not know, Harry? It's supposed to be Draco. It's supposed to be him!"
"Mione, it's months later than when he was supposed to be born .. I'm sure you'd noticed .."
She felt her lips wobble. She had. But the timeline had already gone so awry, she chalked it up to just another triviality. "I hoped .."
A tear slipped out.
"He .. he must live.
It - it can't be - please, Harry, what is it you're not telling me?"
He closed his eyes painfully, "There's something you should see," he murmured, summoning the brown wallet Hagrid had gifted him, the one with fangs. Digging deep into it, he retrieved an old parchment folded upon itself, wrinkled at the edges as if it had already been opened and closed multiple times before, wearied by the years.
She extended her trembling fingers, wrapping them around the parchment tightly as if her body just could not allow her to let the contents be revealed. There was dread pooling in at the base of her gut. She had led a life full of surprises but never the pleasant kind. She had already had her mind, body and soul played with. One time after the other. It wasn't like her to hope for anything good anymore anyway but the possibilities at that moment seemed darker than anything she might have imagined. Could it be that she had once again been marked by fate to be struck down, beaten and prodded at? Had she still not had her fill? Must she still face the death of a face from her older life when it had vanished altogether? Was she still trapped within her past? Were her sins still unpunished?
Harry pried away her fingers, opening it up for her. She held it away from her, her eyes already watering before she'd even turned her gaze at the offending item.
To My Dearest Comrades
Her breath caught.
"I can smell him on it," she croaked out. It was tangible proof of her past; proof that Draco had lived.
I hope this letter finds you when you're safe somewhere in the distant past. I am certain you two are already milling with ideas to take down the Dark Lord. I fervently hope that you can do it with a clean slate this time around. If anybody can, it's you. My faith in you is unwavering.
I would be lying if I told you I regret not traveling back into time with you.
A part of me is relieved.
I can rest now at last. My fight is over.
My part in the grand war, it seems, has come to an end. It was a long fight - a tough fight. Most days began with an uncertainty of whether I'd be able to see the sun set and yet I made it longer than I should have. I made it longer than most. Perhaps it's comeuppance for my sins. A drawn out hell for the hurt I've caused.
While you two are battling on, I might have left you another scar. I feel indebted to you for the last few days of my life that I have been fortunate enough to spend in your company. You provided me with the kind of camaraderie I had never hoped to find in my life. I hadn't even known it could exist - that somebody could put their lives in my hands; that somebody could come to cherish me.
I haven't been entirely truthful to you about the ritual. There are undercurrents of truth that you cannot pick upon if you haven't grown up dabbling in the Dark Arts the way I have. My father taught me there's always a price to be paid. The ritual demands a sacrifice that bleeds across time and space. It demands blood. It demands life.
While I cannot be certain I do have my theories. If my instinct can be trusted it is very likely that I shall not be born again. Once you're in the past - I believe you'll be traveling across decades not just months - I do not find reason enough to believe I might come to be born again. The ritual demands an erasure of my existence entirely. That is what sacrifice essentially is.
What would you even give up by plundering a knife through my gut when you knew you'd meet me again as the cycle of Time is reset?
If my predilection is correct and if I have made any headway with understanding the two of you, it is to say that you will wring yourself with guilt over finding out the truth of my situation. I would be a fool to think you'd move on easily from this. That would go against the very fabric of your person. I only hope you will understand that you have brought me no pain. You have brought me no hurt. It is by my own choice that I am giving myself up for the cause.
In return for the love you have given me, I believe I might have left you with indelible damage. I can only hope that with time you will bring yourself to forgive me for the sin I've forced you into committing.
The cause is just.
The cause is fair.
And for the sins I have committed, the cause demands remuneration in the manner of my blood that I am only too glad to shed.
Since I'm short of time and my days are counted, I can't help but apologize to you for the many crimes I have committed - for the many grievances you have had against me. I was a wayward child back then and yet my words always meant to injure and maim. I have spent each day of this measly life regretting. Perhaps this is my chance at repentance.
Perhaps if I had been brave like you, I may have had more time. More time to fix things. More time to have known you as I have. To have come to feel love.
We have seen the world fall apart and crumble at its very seams. We have been the last three standing and I am sorry .. I am sorry that I can no longer shoulder this burden with you. I might have spent my life as a snake. But trust me when I say I was ready to shed my skin. Know that I anticipated it.
Reborn, I shall never be. The world may never know of me but you will and that is enough for my heart to contend itself with.
Out of the selfishness of my heart, there is however a favor I'd like to ask of you. I urge you to tell my mother, when you meet her, of my existence. I doubt she would believe you but perhaps you could try. I do wish you will be able to save her from his clutches long before she has to lose most of herself to him. I hope you will let her know of a son she once had - a son she once loved.
I hope she will know that I loved her too.
The world as we know it may never come to be. And yet I take solace in the fact that I have known it and been a part of it. For all its faults it was and shall always be home.
I am hopeful that you will find yourself a new one - a home, that is. But I ask you to never forget. To never forget that which drove you to be your bravest selves. To never forget that which you have lost. To never forget that which will forever and always be the foundation of your heart.
To never forget your friends.
Ron. Ginny. Fred and George. Bill, Charlie and Percy. Mr and Mrs Weasley. Remus and Tonks. Dumbledore. Snape. Sirius. Hedwig. Dobby. Cedric. Neville. Dean. Seamus. Blaise. Viktor. Luna. Moody. Kingsley.
My mother.
Let this be my legacy.
Let me be remembered as a man who tried to be better.
Who would have thought?
My heart is stone and yet it trembles.
In another life,
Draco Malfoy
Hermione sat with the parchment crumpled up in her hands, staring out at the wilderness through the window, her body bent over, completely still.
Nobody dared disturb the silence that fell over the group as she finished reading, her voice barely a broken whisper towards the end, her throat wound up and raw. She got up, took a step forward and stopped. A deep breath.
Sirius, with a lifetime of experience of tending to the Marauders whenever they got sick, immediately transfigured a mug into a paperbag, patting Hermione's back as she retched into it, the alcohol from last night mixed with acid from her stomach burning her throat, stinging in her eyes, her chest racked with dry heaves. She closed her eyes.
"He's not coming back. In this world when people leave they don't come back. They never come back."
"He left us his wand," Harry mumbled, holding it delicately in his hands as he saw her tear up. "That's all that's left of him."
She fell to her knees, Harry following after her and holding her close.
"So we killed him for good." A sardonic smile, frantic laughter that turned into quiet sobs. "We murdered our friend."
