Disclaimer: I own nothing that which belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Divergence Point
Draco sat in the center of the library with a pile of books surrounding him. He remembered seeing Victoria study for her tests like this and wanted to see if he could study the same way. He had multiple books on Potions surrounding him, along with some on Arthrimacy and its implications to Potion Crafting. I don't know how she does this. I'm giving myself a massive headache trying to compete with her. But she makes me want to be something more.
"Draco, whatever are you doing?" Narcissa asked as she walked past the library's open doors and saw him on the floor surrounded by books.
"Trying to figure out how Victoria thinks, mum." He replied as he rubbed his temples. This is complete madness, do I even have the correct books? Did I need more books? How does she do this? "I'm not sure if I can."
"Oh…you really like her, don't you?" Narcissa says softly as she sits down in the window seat across from him, a smile playing on her lips.
"Yes and now that she is not going to be a Hogwarts student anymore, I want to aspire to be like her." Draco could feel his heart breaking. "I had hoped she would be a 7th year, so we could at least see each other in the halls and meal times.."
"I imagine she will still want to spend time with you Draco, maybe not at Hogwarts but she can still visit you during Hogsmeade weekends." Narcissa says softly as she picks up one of the Arthrimacy books on the floor. "I can help you if you need help understanding Arthrimacy."
"Do you understand the complex equations required for Potions?" Draco asked, confused, like he had no idea his mother knew anything beyond what it means to be his mum.
"Of course I do." Narcissa laughed softly, shaking her head. "I may never have had the aptitude for creating new Potions, but I was really good with numbers. I used to help Severus when he first struggled with his Arthrimacy equations."
"I didn't know Professor Snape ever needed help with anything." Draco said, baffled.
Narcissa laughed, covering her mouth. "He was just a boy, when I helped him. I doubt I could help him with anything he's working on now."
"Oh…I guess I never imagined him as a Student…just like I never imagined you as one," Draco said as he turned to face her. "I'm sorry for never asking you about your time at Hogwarts."
"I know you asked your father tons of questions, I expect you never asked me because I was always mum to you?" Narcissa sighed, the hurt in her eyes visible, as she stood up. "Dinner should be starting in 20 minutes, why don't you put all the books in a pile on your desk in your room and get cleaned up. I can show you some Arthrimacy tricks tomorrow."
"Yes, mom." Draco trailed his hand over the books in a complete circle scooping them into one pile as he stood himself up. He stood there a moment regaining his balance and giving his legs a good stretch before walking up to his mother and holding out his hand for the book she had in her hand, which she gave to him after scanning a few pages.
"See you at Dinner, Draco." Narcissa watches as he leaves the library through the double doors. She turned her whole body to gaze out the window, watching as two men in dark cloaks came towards the mansion. One was walking sideways and looked as if he was sniveling, and the other walked like he owned the place. She couldn't tell who they were, but they both were wearing death masks. The designs on the masks are hard to see from this distance. "I suppose, I should send someone to greet them. Ducky."
With a loud Pop, a house elf with big blue eyes appeared wearing a black silk pillowcase. "Ducky is here to serve, Mistress."
"Please greet the gentlemen at the door when they arrive,"
"Of course Mistress, anything else I can help with?"
"When you finish greeting them, check on the Kitchen and make sure dinner could accommodate our unexpected guests."
"I can be doing that, Mistress."
"Run along then," Narcissa says as she keeps watching the two gentlemen from the window. Our house is becoming HIS base of Operations and there is nothing I can do about it.
Ducky popped out of existence.
Master Croaker's office was phenomenally stunning, when Victoria stepped through the doors she never expected to see such a large space hidden within it. There were what looked like millions of cogs lining the walls and churning, one pendulum swung sideways across the room and it looked like it could kill someone if it wasn't protected by glass. All of them looked like some kind of copper, that looked like it was inducting an electric charge. Within the room were many glass globes that reminded Victoria of the prophecy orbs, however, they were showing very specific scenes in various time periods that she couldn't imagine anyone having moving images from. Upon the long desk in the back of the room, there was a large torsion looking clock with a crystal rose encased in glass with a depiction of the sun and moon reflecting down into the glass case. The closer she got to the torsion clock, she noticed the rose inside the glass was spinning like a tornado.
"Ah yes, that is one of our prized possessions. I was grateful, when it survived your little excursion, I brought it into my office for safekeeping after that night." Master Croaker said softly as he stood behind her, leaning over her shoulder. "Do you know what that is?"
"No, I have never seen anything like it." Victoria replied softly as his words broke her from the hypnotic trance that the rose held over her. It looks like a clock, but it doesn't tell time.
"We are not sure either, it's a strange clock that doesn't tell time, but we are unsure of what exactly it tells. " Master Croaker replied softly.
"A clock that doesn't tell time…then what is the point of it?" Victoria scrunched her nose as she examined it. "It almost reminds me of the Rose from Beauty and the Beast…but this rose doesn't lose pedals does it?"
"Beauty and the Beast?" He laughed softly at her incredulous look she was giving him.
"It's a muggle fairy tale, retold by a famous muggle Disney. The curse that was placed on the Beast would be permanent when the last petal fell." Victoria tried to explain.
"Ah, I see…no, there are no petals as that is a crystal, not a real rose." Master Croaker replied softly. "What do you think it tells if not time?"
Victoria looked at it more closely, she could see the fibonacci spirals going in opposite directions that created the rose and another spiral down the center that was like the whirlwind tornado that made up the stem. "What if the rose represents you, and how reality works?" Victoria said out loud as she was thinking,"Was your offer genuine? I thought you were just trying to save me from the Examiners"
Master Croaker just stared at her for a moment like he was deep in thought. "You have an unusual way of thinking about things that I admire. Can't it be both?"
"I suppose it could. But why did you send me a bid before I even took my N.E. ?" Vitoria asked as he turned to face him.
"I simply couldn't allow another Master to take you away from me, Miss Prince." he said softly as he gazed into her eyes.
"Why?" there has to be some motive–
"To tell you the truth, I am your Godfather," when Victoria gasped at his admittance he paused, giving her a sad smile when she looked up to him confused. "And I owe it to your mother, to keep you safe." he took a few breaths and paused as he watched her process the information. "I missed out on 14 years of protecting you, it took me a while to realize who you were."
"You knew who I was in my Third Year of Hogwarts?" she closed her mouth after realizing she had allowed her jaw to drop.
"You think I would allow just anyone, the use of a Time Turner?" He laughed as she gave him a scandalous look as if she didn't deserve having a Time Turner.
"I wasn't…you knew who I was…this whole time?" She placed both hands on her waist as she felt her anger rising in the back of her throat. He's my Godfather and he's not made himself known…until today? What is it with the men in my life? First my father, now…Master Croaker? "If you are my godfather, what do I call you?"
"I am your Godfather, Victoria. I helped your mother protect you. I reversed Time, so that you would have a fighting chance." he spoke softly, as he placed his hands on her shoulders, bending down to meet her at eye level. "For now, you can call me Uncle Saul, but if you choose to be my Apprentice, we will have to go back to Master/Apprentice etiquette."
"Uncle Saul? Why did you need to reverse Time? I could have helped Harry–"
"My plan wasn't for you to help Harry, my plan was to keep you safe from the Prophecy."
The question 'What Prophecy' hung in the air as she sank to the floor in a panic. Master Croaker wrapped his arms around her as they both came down to the floor. Victoria almost looked like she was going to faint or cry. No…this can't be happening. "Victoria, I would do anything to keep you safe." He tucked her hair behind her ears as he lifted her chin up. I don't understand. "I'm sorry I failed to keep you off that Monster's radar. I knew he would return, what I didn't know is that you would as well." He spoke as he pulled the chain of the necklace that Voldemort had given her, examining closely. He failed? "I wish he didn't force you to wear this…only he can take it off."
"It's doing something to me, isn't it?" she sobbed into his chest and he just rubbed her back. It must be doing something to me…I'm always playing with it and thinking of…HIM. No matter how much I try to clear my head, those thoughts are like tentacles coming from the darkest corners of my mind.
"You won't be able to fight the compulsion he placed on the necklace for much longer if you keep fighting your emotions. You need to feel them and accept them to understand them so you can move past all this." Saul said softly as he held her to him.
"What if I can't?" Victoria said weakly, as she wiped her tears on his chest. What if it gets worse?
"Don't think like that, you need to get those intrusive thoughts under control." Saul hugged her tighter into his chest. "I'm sorry I didn't interfere sooner. I was watching so many events in time trying to fix the divergence point in the timeline–."
"What divergence point in the timeline?" Victoria felt like reality was cracking at it seems. Are the walls caving in? or are these emotions too hard to handle? I feel like I am suffocating.
"When the spells and enchantments that concealed part of your magic and your identity were lifted, the timeline fractured itself into a magnitude of branches that made the timeline look more like a tree. We've never seen anything like this before so I have been traveling to the different parts of the fractures trying to figure out how to fix it." Saul spoke softly.
"So you fixed it?" Victoria asked hoping. Please tell me I didn't break the world.
"No, not yet...our timeline is stable as are the fractures but people have been moving between them despite all the protections we've tried to put in place to keep them seperate." Saul replied, some frustration showing in his eyes. "This is NOT your fault, Victoria."
"But you said-"
"If it's ANYONE's fault, it's mine and your mother's for trying to protect you." Saul cut her off before Victoria could blame herself as he hugged her closer, while rubbing her back. "Shhh...this is NOT your fault. It will NEVER be your fault."
A Loud Gonging could be heard throughout the room, as a small voice came into the room from the speaker above the door. "Master Croaker, Headmaster Dumbledore is here to pick up his charge. He doesn't look to happy you have taken her from him."
Author's Note: I'm still here. This chapter took a bit longer to write than I wanted. Last week was my Birthday so I was a bit distracted. Please leave a little something in the little box.
W. L. O'Fallon