A.N.:

Thank you for all the reviews. I know Draco is having a hard time, but things will look up soon, promise. I'm trying to write a story that stays interesting and exciting over many chapters, because I often see time travel stories in which everything goes smoothly, and they get boring after a few chapters. But things will definitely look up for Draco in the next chapters.

To Stroke:

"By August 2020, Theodore Nott, while working for Lucius Malfoy, created a prototype of a time-turner, presumably in the hope of saving Voldemort from his fate. The prototype only let the time-traveller stay in the past for five minutes, although they could travel as far back as they wanted.

Nott eventually created a better and improved model, which let the time-traveller stay in the past for as long as they wanted. They could also use the device to return to the future when needed. While Malfoy kept the improved model, which was eventually passed down to his son, Nott kept the prototype. Even though they both owned something which could be used to save Voldemort, neither of them tried." (harrypotter wikia)

So the time turner Draco used does not exist yet.

As always: Read, enjoy and review :)

By the time they had explained what had happened in the forest, the door to the infirmary burst open and the minister strode in, followed by a few Aurors and, to Draco's immense surprise, his parents. Apparently, news had spread fast at the ministry.

"Draco!" Narcissa yelped dramatically and sprinted to his side. She embraced her son, nearly squashing him.

"Mother," Draco complained, but secretly enjoyed the display of affection. His parents usually did not show their emotions so freely in public. "I am alright. No need to change that by squeezing me to death."

Narcissa took a step back, taking in the appearance of her son with raised eyebrows. Draco took a look at himself as well, noticing that his hands were covered in dried blood and his clothes in dirt.

"Really," he added meekly. "It looks far worse than it is."

Lucius stood behind her, giving his son a worried look. He then looked at the kids standing around him, wrinkling his nose.

Narcissa also looked around the room, her gaze lingering on Sirius. Without a word, she stood up and approached him.

"Mother," Draco called after her and she turned around and looked at him. "He is innocent."

Narcissa nodded and continued her walk. She stopped in front of the bed Sirius was lying on, his eyes closed.

She stared at him for a while, her face unreadable.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. A weak smile tucking at his lips. "Long time no see, Cissy."

"He will be kissed tonight!" the minister announced, interrupting their reunion.

Draco and the others jumped up to defend him.

"No!" Narcissa spun around. "He is a Black and as such deserves a proper trial."

"Narcissa," Lucius took a step towards his wife, obviously not sharing this sentiment.

"Don't you Narcissa me," she hissed. "Draco said he is innocent and I believe him. And Sirius is part of the family. If he is innocent, he deserves a trial. And I want the real perpetrator who attacked my son to be found and punished."

Sirius smiled at her.

Lucius looked between the minister and his wife. Draco knew that his father despised Sirius, but he also knew that he would do everything for his mother.

Lucius closed his eyes, his brows furrowed. When he opened them again, he had a sickly-sweet smile on his face. "Cornelius," he said, approaching the minister. "I am sure we can talk about this."

Later that day, the Aurors left with Sirius in tow, followed by a satisfied Narcissa, an unhappy Lucius and a confused minister. Lucius had succeeded in convincing Fudge that Sirius deserved a fair trial and the minister had promised to give him one. Not that he had much of a choice if Harry Potter, the Malfoys and Albus Dumbledore stood behind Black.

"Never thought I'd be happy to have your parents around," Harry chuckled, once the grown ups had left the room. They still had to stay back to be checked by Madame Pomfrey.

"I'm sorry I slapped you," Hermione said, sounding sincere.

"Don't worry about it," Draco shrugged it off. "You thought I was helping a serial killer kill your best friend. I'd say I got off lightly."

"Why didn't you just tell us?" asked Harry.

"Would you have believed me? If I had just walked over to you and told you?"

"Honestly? I guess not," Harry conceded. "But what about you, Neville? We would have listened to you."

"Would you?" Neville asked. "Because so far you haven't. And you never trust me with any of the things you are up to. You also have the tendency to run into trouble. I was scared you might do something rash."

The trio looked at each other.

"Then why not go to a teacher?" Hermione finally asked.

Neville pondered this. "I don't know. I wanted to tell someone, but Draco was against it."

"I said we could tell Snape," Draco defended himself, although he knew Neville was right. He had only suggested Snape because he knew Neville would never agree to tell him.

"You're bonkers," interrupted Ron.

"He would have never listened to me!" agreed Neville.

"And you think McGonagall would have listened to me?" Draco asked. "Also, Snape did help us. He saved Astoria."

Neville didn't know what to say. "Maybe I also didn't tell anyone because I wanted to prove that I belong into Gryffindor. That I can be brave, too."

"Oh but of course you belong to us, Neville," Hermione said.

Neville gave her a weak smile.

Daphne walked over to them.

"Hey," Draco greeted her, the others looked more guarded again. "How is Astoria?"

"She is asleep now," Daphne said with a shaky voice. Draco could tell that she had been crying. "Snape and Pomfrey did everything they could. But she still looks so weak."

"I'm sure she will be fine," Hermione tried to comfort her.

Daphne started to cry, and Draco put an arm around her.

"I- I'm sorry I dragged you and Astoria into this," Draco whispered.

"Oh no," she said, "we knew what we were getting into. We knew it might be dangerous. We wanted to help," she smiled at him and then turned her head to tentatively smile in the direction of the Gryffindors. "And you are brave, Neville. You fought a mass murderer. That's pretty brave in my books," she added.

"But so were you and your sister. Maybe bravery is not something that only Gryffindors possess," pondered Harry.

Draco was happy to see that apparently Slytherins and Gryffindors could get along, if they wanted to.

"Terrible, that after all, he still got away," sighed Daphne.

"This is all my fault," Draco said. "Maybe we really should have told someone instead of doing this ourselves."

"I don't think it is your fault," Harry said. "Yesterday, Professor Trelawney went very – very strange. Her voice went all deep and her eyes rolled and she said… she said Voldemort's servant was going to set out to return to him before midnight… she said the servant would help him come back to power. And then she sort of became normal again, and she couldn't remember anything she'd said. I think she was making a real prediction."

"Great," Draco moaned, "so I brought Him back. At least my parents will be proud."

"That… That's not what I wanted to say. What I wanted to say is: I think this was destined to happen. I don't think this was anyone's fault. It would have happened, no matter what we did."

This somewhat calmed Draco. Pettigrew had, after all, gotten away the first time as well, so maybe it really wasn't his fault. And Sirius was getting a fair trial, which was something that had never happened the first time. So maybe he had made things better.

Madame Pomfrey examined all of them and although only Astoria had suffered something worse than a few scratches, all of them had to stay the night.

Draco couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He dreaded the next day. Dumbledore would have questions. Snape would have questions. The other Slytherins would have questions. The whole school, probably. And by the way he had been acting, Neville seemed to have some questions, too. He wasn't sure whether he would be able to answer people's questions or not. Or if he even wanted to answer them.

The events of the day had also shocked him quite thoroughly. Sirius had been caught, Astoria had been hurt, the time-turner was destroyed, and he had nearly killed a man. It took him a long time to fall asleep that night.

When Draco woke up the next morning, he looked around the room. He seemed to be the first one awake. He made his way over to Astoria's bed. She looked a lot better already. There were a few faint scars on her throat and looking at them made Draco angry again.

He turned away from her and found Professor Lupin looking at him.

"Good morning, Draco," he said hoarsely.

"Good morning, Professor," Draco nodded.

Remus Lupin did not look well. Scars and bruises covered his whole body. But what was worse, was the look on his face. He looked devastated.

"I fear I won't be your professor for much longer," he said.

"What? Why?"

"You have seen what happened yesterday. I can't risk this happening again. I endangered you and your friends. And it is my fault, Peter got away. As soon as I am out of here, I will resign."

"No! You can't do that. You are the best Defense teacher we ever had."

"Please don't resign," croaked a voice from behind Draco.

"Astoria! You are awake," Draco beamed.

"Morning," she smiled. She looked weak but not unhappy.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," she admitted. "But I'll be alright," she turned her gaze from Draco to Lupin. "Please don't resign, Professor. No one is blaming you for what has happened. And I won't tell anyone about… you know what."

"That is very sweet of you, but-"

"No," Draco interrupted him. "No buts. You will stay."

Remus looked at him. "I- I will think about it. And I will talk to the others. If they feel the same way as you two do, I will consider staying for the rest of the year."

Draco smiled. At last, some good news.

TBC