October 13, 2009

"What did we do wrong?" Hermione whispered urgently to her husband in his Study.

As soon as they had heard Astoria's voice, Draco had replied with a quick response before they had rushed into his Study, unseen but the blonde witch.

Draco rubbed his face roughly and shook his head, "I don't know. I could have sworn that we did everything right." He answered quietly before a thought came to him. "Unless…"

The door to his Study opened and Astoria walked in, "Draco, Scorpius will be home soon and…" She suddenly went silent upon seeing Hermione, "What's going on in here?"

Draco looked between his two wives with uncertainty in his gut and a question in his mind.

"Draco!" Astoria snapped, slamming the door shut, "I asked, what the hell is going on in here?"

Draco inhaled deeply and looked at Astoria, "When did you take the potion?" He asked.

There was a moment of silence before she responded.

"What are you talking about?" She asked but he could see the sudden spark of comprehension in her pale green eyes.

"Astoria, when the bloody hell did you take the damn Blood Curse Curing Potion?!" He shouted, not from anger but from concern for his daughter and Hermione.

The blonde exhaled, "So, it was today?" She said before looking at Hermione and adding, "And it was you?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes." She replied before repeating Draco's question. "When did you take the potion, Astoria?"

"I took it on the first of January, after you left." Astoria left. "I was pregnant. I took three tests to make sure. According to Healer Chang, it was so early in the pregnancy that about half of the potion went straight into my system rather than the baby's." She replied. "I realized that I had made a mistake, but it was too late. And I mean honestly, Draco, I got to live. Why the fuck aren't you happy?!"

"Astoria, Hermione and I have a daughter!" He exclaimed. "You do realize that now she's…" he paused, his voice thick with emotion.

Hermione quickly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, determined to fix the situation…somehow.

"I'm sorry…" Astoria said quickly, feeling dreadful. "I had no idea." She added.

Draco nodded, and turned to Hermione, "What does the book say about this type of situation?"

Hermione immediately pulled the book from her bag and speedily flipped through it, searching for any information that could possibly help to solve the current problem they were facing. Upon finding a page titled 'Returning to an Entirely Alternate Reality', she scanned through the paragraphs, but she wasn't pleased with what she found.

She sighed and spoke up, "It states here that we can go back and attempt to fix the issues, however that could lead to even more problems. The bigger issue, however, is that we only have three hours from the moment of our return to change things or our memories will merge with our present self's life…meaning, you and I won't remember that we were ever married."

Draco inhaled deeply and nodded, "Okay. Astoria…" He said turning to the blonde witch, "What date exactly did you take the potion again?"

"January 1, 2001." She said, knowing what needed to be done. She sighed, "You two need to go back to December 31, 2000, and speak to that me and explain everything that has happened."

"You know what that means though, don't you?" Draco said with a pointed and pained expression.

"Draco, I put my own life ahead of your daughter's. It was unintentional, truly, but it's a fact and I simply cannot do that. You need to do this. I need to do this. You two must go and tell the past me to wait until Valentines Day at least. Be sure to explain all of this. I can even write a letter to my past self if you think that might help."

He looked at Hermione before the brunette cleared her throat, "Astoria, you should spend a few moments with Scorpius before Draco, and I go back."

She nodded and turned back toward the door before Hermione whispered, "I'm sorry, Astoria."

The blonde shook her head and turned back to face them, "No, I'm sorry. I erm…I knew that I had the blood curse for a long time before I told Draco..." She said, "Well, before you two came back to tell me. Whichever happened first, I knew before then, and I still had a child. I had been secretly using Contraception Charms on myself without your knowledge, Draco, but I made a mistake once and forgot. That's how Scorpius came to be. So, truly, all of this is my fault. It's time that I pay for that."

Draco sighed, "Why didn't you ever just tell me?" He asked but with no anger in his voice.

She shook her head, "Draco, we were forced into this marriage. The love we've shared isn't true love. It's only ever been friendship. I didn't want to burden you with even more than you already had to deal with." She shrugged, "It's not much of an excuse but it is the truth."

He nodded and glanced at Hermione before hugging Astoria, "I'm sorry." He whispered.

She nodded, "Me too." She said with a small sob.

As they separated, she wiped her tears and stepped out of the Study, hearing Scorpius's return from his best friend's house.

While she was gone, Draco turned to Hermione, "We'll go back to New Year's Eve in the year 2000."

"Should we have this Astoria write a letter to the past one?" Hermione asked.

He considered it for a moment before nodding, "Yes. I'll ask her to when she returns."

The brunette exhaled, nodding as she continued to flip through the book Blaise had loaned them.

After nearly an hour, Astoria returned to the Study, wiping a tear from her cheek, "Okay." She said in the shattered voice of a brokenhearted mother. "You two should go."

"First…" Draco said, "could you write a letter to your past self?" He asked, though he hated to. He knew that he was practically asking her to die so that his daughter could live, and he could be happy.

"Of course." She nodded, walking over to Draco's desk, and sitting down.

While she wrote, Hermione pulled Draco aside and quietly asked, "Is there any way at all for her to live and us to still be together and have Lyra?" She asked.

He inhaled deeply, thinking over all the possible options and their likely outcomes.

"The only thing I can see is that somehow she and I get divorced soon after having Scorpius, but that still doesn't ensure that you and I get together." He said quietly.

Astoria walked over, sealed letter in hand, and held it out, "You two are very kind to try and solve this, but there isn't a way. Something will go wrong, of that, I'm certain."

With a quiet sigh, Draco took the letter and said, "I'm sorry, we just want it to work out for everyone."

Astoria nodded, "I know." She exhaled heavily, "Well, I suppose this is it."

He nodded and hugged her before she snuck them out the front door.

Together, the couple silently made their way up to the alcove of trees. Draco altered them back into their disguises and pulled out the Time-Turner.

"Are you ready?" He asked Hermione.

She nodded and said, "No matter what happens, I love you Draco Malfoy."

He nodded, "And I, you, Hermione Malfoy."

He hung the Time-Turner around both of their necks before fiddling with the spinning sections. He made certain that nothing changed as he pulled the pin. Suddenly the world altered around them as years spun by.