DRACO'S DREAM
(or, "Deus Est Machina")

"With heat and iron and industry, we'll purge you from this world;
You will sunder, melt, and shatter from the bolts of wrath we'll hurl;
And upon your ruined end, our blood–red banners stand unfurled…
Our might has come online!"

That night, as Lucius, Narcissa, and Isis/Rowena slumbered peacefully in their beds, far away at Hogwarts, Draco had a dream.

A very vivid dream. In fact, Draco could not recall ever having had such a vivid dream before. Ever. When he thought it over later, at first he wondered if it was just the stress of school…it was rather hectic with all the extra students from the other two schools. It wasn't until much later, several weeks after he dreamed the dream, that he spoke with his mother and found out that she and his Aunt Andromeda, and even his Grandmother Druella, had latent seer abilities.

But at the moment, the dream was so vivid—so disturbing—that it haunted him for days afterward. It wasn't that the dream was frightening, really. Just that it was so unexpected, out of the ordinary, and felt so damn real! It was like Draco had actually been there. You know how most dreams are: You're sort of off to the side, observing. You don't really hear anything; it's more like you just get impressions, or flashes, of what's being said.

Not sowith this dream. In this dream, Draco heard everything, saw, everything, smelled everything. Everything.

Draco found himself standing beside a table. A family of five was eating what appeared to be supper: a father, a mother, and three children, a boy and two girls. Draco's lip curled up slightly as he noticed that the oldest girl was a Hufflepuff whose mother was a muggle born witch and whose father was a muggle.

What in Merlin's name am I doing here? He thought. He reckoned it must be a dream, as the family took no notice of his presence whatsoever, though he stood a mere five feet from them and clearly in their line of sight.

The mother seemed to freeze, her fork halfway to her mouth. Her husband, noticing this, put his own fork down. "What is it, dear? What's wrong?"

Before she could answer, everyone in the room felt it—even Draco: A shift in the air, like a sudden gust of wind. Then the space about ten feet away from the table and between it and the front door of the house seemed to wobble for a second, and the objects behind it blurred momentarily. Then, inexplicably, Lucius Malfoy appeared in the muggle-borns living room. Draco could tell it was his father, although it didn't look at all like how is father normally looked.

His hair was not much, if any, longer than Draco's own, and perfectly groomed. On top of that, he wore a black muggle-style business suit instead of his usual robes. He looked much as he had looked at the World Cup, and Draco had assumed that incident was a momentary thing with his father, perhaps as a result of his memory loss. But evidently it wasn't.

Glancing at the family, he smiled and nodded. "Good evening. Please pardon the interruption." Turning away from the group, he waved his hand; there was another momentary wobble in the air, and a large object materialized beside him. Draco, finding that he could move freely in this "Dream" or whatever it was, walked over to inspect the object more closely.

It had a long, horizontal and cylindrical top, the end of which had 6 hollow tubes sticking out, grouped around a bolt of some kind in the center. The six tubes ran back along the central cylinder, ending in a base from which entered (or exited, he wasn't certain which) a long metal band. The metal band ran from the bottom back of the central cylinder out to a large round drum of some kind, which rested just below the middle of the cylinder. And interspersed along the metal band at about one inch intervals were narrow pieces of copper colored metal several inches in length.

By this time the family seated at the table had recovered from their initial shock. The father had leaped up, pushing the younger children behind him as his wife and Draco's classmate had drawn their wands, training them on Lucius. Lucius, meanwhile, was paying the family no mind whatsoever. He was busy carefully inspecting the object with the cylinder, and muttering to himself. "Barrels are intact, ammunition belt looks secure, fire control operative. Heh, not bad for a first attempt. Amazing! I've never seen a complicated instrument teleported so easily and without needing even minor adjustments! The Tech certainly does work much better when fused to magic."

Draco had no idea whatsoever what his father was mumbling about, yet it intrigued him. However he had no time to ponder it, because a voice called out, "Hands up, Malfoy! What are you doing here? How did you get in through our wards?" It was the mother, and her voice, while relatively calm, wavered slightly, and had an edge of panic to it.

Lucius paused and turned to the woman with a slight frown. "My dear woman, I received a tip that your lives were in danger from some rather nefarious people. I have come to make certain your family is safe and survives the night through. Now, make certain that you all stay behind me.""

"The only 'nefarious person' I see is you, Malfoy!" She replied. "We all know you're still on You-Know-Who's side, just like before!"

Lucius frown deepened to a glare. "I assure you, madam, that the only 'side' I am on is the side of justice. That other Lucius Malfoy no longer exists. I refuse to play a boot licking sycophant to a murderous lunatic ever again." His voice was like ice. And Draco wondered what his father meant about the "other" Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius cocked his head then, as if he was hearing something in the distance. "Ah, here they are," he murmured. Lucius looked down at the cylindrical object and spoke to it. "Stand by with a full five second burst."And before Draco could wonder, or the woman ask, what he meant, the door to the house exploded in a shower of wood and metal fragments. Several masked and robed Death Eaters burst through the opening.

Lucius, head slightly lowered in a predatory stance, his face covered in a sinister smirk, greeted them with a calm "Good evening, gentlemen."

The Death Eaters raised their wands at Lucius and the muggle-born family. "Malfoy!" The leader spat. "You disgusting traitor! Defending mudblood filth! Well you can die with them! Avad—"

The Death Eater never spoke again. For at that moment, Lucius muttered, "Engage!" The next instant, Draco slammed his hands over his ears, and the children of the muggle-born family screamed. For the…whatever it was with the cylinder began spinning at a frightening speed, fire bursting from the tubes at the front, while a horrible roaring sound, very much like that of an enraged dragon, filled the room.

In seconds, the Death Eaters were literally chopped into pieces by the fire that belched out of the roaring cylinder. And a few moments later, the cylinder stopped roaring, and its spinning slowed to a stop. Thins wisps of smoke were coming from the ends of the tubes at the front.

Lucius, his face still covered in the sinister expression, let out a maniacal giggle. "Well, it appears the score is magic: zero; technology…" Here he paused and counted the body parts in the entryway. "Technology: seven. What a marvelous example of Clarke's Third Law!" He let out another giggle as he picked up the head of one of the Death Eaters. Attaching a small, glowing orb to it, he whispered, "Return to sender." The head glowed blue for a moment before vanishing with a flash.

Lucius then walked over and tapped the cylindrical metal dragon (for such had Draco come to call it in his own mind…reasoning that nothing else could have done what it did and roared so loudly if it weren't some type of new dragon). It too vanished in a flash of blue light.

Lucius turned to the stunned and terrified family. "I apologize for the mess. I suggest you summon the…uhh…what was that word?" He looked up at the ceiling and tapped his chin, lost in thought. Then he shrugged. "Summon the magical police, whatever it is they're actually called, and have them collect what's left of these villains. I would be careful of what you tell them, however. I doubt they would believe the truth." He then smiled and nodded. "I hope the rest of your evening is more peaceful and pleasant."

He snapped his fingers and was instantly gone. The family glanced at one another before collectively gasping a few seconds later as Lucius suddenly appeared in the room again. "And by the way, you're welcome."

The husband frowned at him. "Welcome for what?"

Lucius sighed. "My good man…you're welcome for saving your lives! Good night." And with another nod he disappeared again. And Draco found himself sitting up in bed, breathing heavily. What in Merlin's name just happened?

Draco kept his eye on the Daily Prophet for the next week and longer, looking for any mention of his father being arrested, or anything about the muggle born family being attacked, to no avail. No mention of an attack, and only a couple minor references to his father…once about a donation to somewhere, and once in the gossip columns written by the loathsome Skeeter woman, commenting on how "it seems Narcissa Malfoy and her long estranged older sister Andromeda Tonks had apparently patched things up." Which did cause Draco to raise an eyebrow…he would ask his mother about that in his next letter home, as well as ask her for her opinion about his dream.

Draco was most surprised that his father, of all people, would allow any reconciliation between his family and his blood-traitor Aunt. And yet, he thought about how different his father had been the last several months. Ever since his potions accident.

Potions accident. Draco frowned. The radical shift in his father's personality, demeanor, and attitude—not to mention clothing and hair style—had all taken place since the potions accident. And he wondered, with a growing suspicion, if somehow what he had witnessed in his "dream" was not something that had already happened, but was going to happen somewhere in the future.

Draco's frown deepened and he stared off into space. This will require some thought.

Beside him, Daphne Greengrass, who had replaced Pansy's position at Draco's side over the last few weeks, placed a gentle hand on Draco's shoulder. "Draco? Are you alright?" Her soft touch and melodic voice (so much better than Pansy!) brought him out of his reverie. He turned to her with a smile, and was once again smitten by the look of genuine concern in her eyes, and the soft vanilla and cinnamon smell that always seemed to emanate from the blonde girl.

"Yeah, Daph, I'm fine." Draco's own voice was soft and filled with adoration.

Daphne searched his eyes for a moment; then the smile that Draco so loved covered her delicate face. "Good. Because it's time for potions."

Draco sighed. Then he perked up as a thought struck him. Potions! I can ask Uncle Sev about father's accident! They had been working together in Uncle Sev's lab that day. Maybe he'll have an idea! Smiling once more at Daphne, he kissed her hand, causing a light blush to grace her cheeks. He stood, gently pulling her up beside him. And so, of course, his usual entourage of Crabbe, Golye, Daphne's best friend Tracy Davis, and Blaize Zambini stood as well, the group moving off to class.

And across the room, at the Gryffindor table, Harry Potter's eyes narrowed as he watched them leave the Great Hall….