The Privy Councilors 17/35

[herumtreiber]

Title: The Privy Councilors 17/35
Chapter: Of books and time
Author:herumtreiber 
Genre: AU to HBP, romance, adventure
Disclaimer:  I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Nor do I make any money from the writing of these stories.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Epilogue compliant? No way!
Chapter length:  ~4,157 words
Summary: Draco/Harry, Luna/Neville, Ron/Hermione, Narcissa/???  Harry is about to be sent to Azkaban. The story explores  Wizengamot politics and the fight against evil Dumbledore -  where he gets vanquished early and does not prattle on and  on - but is he gone? Plus de-aging. Someone returns whose name begins with S. (And my revenge on characters whose accents are hard to read – like Hagrid and Fleur ;-)


Table of contents



14. Déjà vecu

If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting
Time after time

After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows - you're wondering
If I'm OK
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time –
(Time after time, Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman)

At Hogwarts, Luna was meditating  near the lake, under the light of the moon. Summer was gone, and now Fall reigned. She still could not believe they were there, as if nothing had happened, as if Draco Malfoy had not murdered Albus Dumbledore.

However cruel the old man proved to be, to Luna's eyes Draco was worse. She could not forget the taunts about her supposed offbeat behavior. Even if in the last months there was a decrease in such comments, the fact remained that Draco had once expressed himself so. He was so far gone, he could not be redeemed.

Luna should know about this, after all, she was a Seer. Not a Seer like Trelawny, who had puny dreams and limericks about the future, but a living Seer, fundamental to the working of the Universe. Luna had the ability and the knack to See a scene and observe it carefully. The thing is that Seers had to be present somewhen and somewhere for the environment to go on. She knew that a lack of Seers brought about the fall of Atlantis. The world, without being observed by aware individuals, is unstable.

Once she'd had a very enlightening conversation with Hermione. The Gryffindor had explained to her the concept of Schrödinger's cat and how the result could be expressed as a cat that is both dead and alive, until the moment that it is observed. The mere act of observation fixes the outcome.

The whole of Wizardkind could be lost to the world and they would continue, but if ever her fellow Seers died out, the world would soon follow. Fortunately they were smart enough not to seek each other out, although there had been disquieting rumors of late.

Having the knack of Observing could be dangerous. People would realize it and pay more attention to her. Fortunately her father led her to skirt the issue by talking about mythical animals and acting in a very offbeat manner. She used this disguise to cover her astonishment at the depths of some of the things she perceived, and with time, it became her trademark.

Luna observed, and what she saw was a Draco who had always bullied the younger ones and his age group, especially the Golden Trio and friends. She Saw someone who she believed could never be saved. True, he had changed lately and been more open and supportive to his friends, the people he'd invited home.

The deciding factor, however, was the recent votes in the Wizengamot, condemning those two men to Azkaban for life and forcing the Vow on the Muggleborns. It was preposterous!
It was the fastidious blond doing that which had forced her hands and made her obliviate Neville! If Malfoy hadn't continued being a nuisance, she wouldn't have felt the need to oppose him, and to obtain Neville's support, no matter what.

Draco's need for revenge was counterproductive! Of course, if someone hurt her father or her Neville, she would seek just retribution!

Hermione couldn't meet with Draco until three days after the beginning of term. Hermione was busy revising, looking after a sometimes marauding Crookshanks, and carefully offering support to Ron.

Ron wasn't the oblivious boy he'd been. It was plain to see that his family splitting hurt him. The only ones who could pull him out were Hermione, Harry and Draco. The Gryffindors offered quiet support, the Slytherin spoke sarcastic commentary as if it were going out of style, and surprisingly Ron reacted well.

Hermione met him in the Room of requirement, as he had requested. She then put strong silence and privacy charms. Draco entered and greeted her, casting also some grey and light privacy wards.

He sat regally on the big leather chair and bade her to sit on the other one. Hermione complied and started, "I researched some information I found about these manifestations, they are called déjà vu "already seen," apparently there are others such as déjà vecu "Already lived." Muggle scientists believe they are the result of a small imbalance in neurotransmitters."

"Neurotransmitters are…"

"I know what neurotransmitters are, Mione!"

Hermione was mystified, "How can you know about that item in the Muggle world?"

Draco answered lazily, "I've said that my father didn't want me to read Muggle books. But I am very stubborn and managed to make my way to London and a medium-sized Muggle bookstore. I started reading about their biology, History, Physics, and then branched into fantasy."

"People may get the impression that I suddenly changed after I had long talks with Sirius. At least that's what my mother thinks. The truth, as always, is somewhat murkier. I started having doubts about the Pureblood supremacists after I read the beautifully written Muggle books. There was also the relentless pressure of my father to contend with. Finally the conditions were right and I could move and change some things without such a menacing panorama as I faced before."

Hermione got back on track, "As I was saying, Muggle scientists believe that déjà vu experiences are caused by Neurotransmitters. Wizards do not have an opinion because such an occurrence had never happened to one of them, to their recollection."

"So?" The blond cocked an eyebrow at the witch.

"Draco, I read many Muggle definitions of the experience. I had a vivid déjà vecu event. I felt as if I knew what would happen. I foresaw your elf arriving and departing forthwith. Later, as I perused casually the parchment I left for you to study, the unique sensation came over me of having done this, many times before, making choices in that list and always losing the Wizengamot vote."

"That would be awful. We don't want to lose the vote if something unexpected happens!"

"Indeed. This time, I found no occurrence of such phenomena in the Muggle scientific literature, or in the Wizarding one. It was as if I were on a Way Station, or in the London Underground waiting for a ride and I couldn't escape the nagging feeling that I've taken it many times before, that I know exactly where it all ends."

Hermione sighed, and gathering strength continued, "But this is still not the strangest thing that happened that day. You made some comments about my book, which I know by heart. Then you left. I was too tired and went to sleep, a little fazed but still calm inside. Later I woke up and remembered your words about Pero, Hernán and the others from the Three Musketeers. This didn't agree with my remembrance of the book, I reread some chapters and checked them over with other copies of the book in the library. It concurred with mine."

"I do remember those names," said Draco. "I  thought i had read that book, now I'm not sure."

"I was ready to hex you for pranking me, until I realized I had agreed completely to your statements at the time. No matter what, if someone changed the plot of a book which happened to be my favorite, I would react strongly. Yet I did nothing, just agree and go to bed. Explain that!"

Draco had been intrigued by the incident too and had thought long and hard about this matter. He answered, "What is a book for you, Mione?"

"It is a repository of knowledge. The ancestral memory of mankind, ever since we learned to write. They are our common bounty and heritage. Most of all, the information contained in them stays that way forever, perhaps longer than the mountains, perhaps longer than the stars."

"Good answer, Hermione, and one with which I agree wholeheartedly." Draco's countenance glowed, and Hermione observed how he moved his head to get a wayward strand of hair off his grey eyes, using the same lazy movements as his lion form.

Draco continued, "I would like to build on your statement. Many books are written in a foreign language, and then we can try to decode them. Even if the authors were trying to trick us, we would observe a pattern to their statements and lies that would hint at the purpose."

Hermione nodded. She thought of books that way too.

"A book is the storage of information, possibly available later," said the blond. "The writer can influence their readers in many ways, like the Muggle authors influenced me. At any rate, books are a reflection of the environment, perhaps the only one that will last for a long time."

Hermione pointed out, "Books are also impervious to change, once they're published. When you have a cherished book change so abruptly, in such a smooth manner, it is terrifying."

Draco nodded. "Let's turn our attention now to the curious incident with the prophecies."

"But you explained that it was due to Harry rejecting the yoke of the Boy Who Lived!"

"Yes, I'm sure that is partly what caused it. The prophecies depended for completion on there being a Savior. If there be none, they would disappear. Still you must consider what a prophecy is. Care to tell me?"

Hermione huffed. "Not that I care much about Divination or the ditzy witch who teaches it, but they're supposed to foretell the future and can be produced by special people called Seers."

Draco went on, "Foretell the future, that's the ticket! They tell something about the future that can be avoided or looked for. So we have the prophecies that form a loop, future giving information to the past.The prophecies could have survived the jarring loss of Harry, but they couldn't escape the pull of time."

"So you think that the incidents are related?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"I think  bad times are coming."

Hermione looked dazed and confused, so Draco explained further, "You have the prophecies imploding, your déjà vecu experience, and our occurrence with the book. In a non-intuitive way, it all has to do with time: loops of it in the prophecies, experiencing time as if you were outside the timestream, like your events. Our incident was more frightening, for we explored a world where only one book would be changed. It was still obviously the same Universe. As we know, any book cannot be changed from the outside, it has to be changed from the reality."

Draco then said, "Accio medit-sieve!"

He looked distastefully at the device as he explained, "I think we should use it and we'll be able to have an independent account of the event if it happens again. Dumbledore intended for parts of the medit-sieve to attach themselves unobtrusively to their targets and record their daydreams to find out if they were his good followers. I've changed it somewhat and we can use it safely."

He took a piece of the m-sieve, shaped it into a ring, and wore it. Hermione followed suit, noticing the hostile glances he kept giving to the device.

He explained, "I don't like these things, they reek too much of Dumbledore. The memories are so intense, they're jarring. In any normal Pensieve you can notice a slight shimmer to the side when you stay inside for several minutes, Not with this, they relentlessly depict what they catch, as they would have betrayed our innermost secrets if Dumbledore had used them!"

Hermione approached and hugged him, as she had done a handful of times to calm him down. Then her face turned and she looked at the passionate grey eyes and prepared to kiss him. They were saved – or cursed – by the house-elf Kreacher who came with a letter from Narcissa.

They said goodnight and went to their rooms. When Hermione was putting on her pajamas, she decided to check on her cherished book, she longingly looked at The Three Lansquenets and smiled. She thought about writing the name on a piece of parchment. Everything was right here.

oOoOo

Draco read Narcissa's letter with glee. It seemed the Animagus had cracked up (probably under duress of going shopping or listening to disco) and had confessed his mistake, which nearly made his computer blow up. Sirius, aided by Fred and George, got a computer!

He had even connected the computer to the Web, though Draco suspected Sirius probably bribed two or three people to do it. Sirius justified getting himself a computer, telling them that he knew the equipment from the inside, now he wanted to handle the outside.

Draco smiled fondly at that.

Anyway, on some chat or whatever someone asked for cookies. Sirius hastily conjured them and stuffed them into the computer. Suddenly a black cloud was around them, and Fred and George must have thought that the computer was an instrument of the Dark, waiting patiently for them.

Fortunately for the mini-Marauders, the knowledgeable Pansy Parkinson was visiting the Manor. She saw the smoke, made her way there and took out the small fire. Se even cast a complex Reparo on the machine and got it to function again, after cautioning Sirius not to follow what they wrote too closely.

Soon they heard knocks at the door and a mussed-looking Remus and Tonks appeared, as well as a disgruntled Narcissa. To her intense dislike, Sirius insisted on keeping mum.

Draco was surprised at Sirius' resiliency. If it had been him resisting his mother, he would have collapsed in one day!

That's why Sirius was needed at Hogwarts.

He cackled with glee, and if Luna had been observing she would have concluded that he was as dark as they come.

oOoOo

A disgruntled Harry followed Ron as the redhead made his rounds.

Being a prefect gave him some perks, like the palatial bathroom, but it also entailed responsibilities. The Head Boy and Girl were completely inane, and he couldn't remember their names, even if he tried. He couldn't wait for this year to pass so Mione could be Head Girl. As Head Boy, the choice was clearly among Harry, himself and Draco.

Talking about Draco, Harry had toned down his angry look, and now observed longingly  his blond rival and friend. Perhaps Draco had something to do with the way Snape received them today.

The greasy git had said, "Please sit down, gentlemen and lady. There are some matters I must discuss with you. First, on the matter of your Quidditch ban, Potter, consider it annulled. You are free to play whenever you like. I realize you are not your father."

Snape looked at the Gryffindors and sighed wearily. "Try to understand, Potter. For seven years your father taunted and cruelly pranked me in this school, everybody knew and they didn't do anything because I was Slytherin. This dictated my actions, it also guided my interactions with you. Dumbledore used those same points to get me to follow his schemes, but when they weren't enough he used spells."

Harry gulped and nodded.

"Potter, there is one important matter I will discuss with you. Your friend Hagrid has hurt many students in the school through the years due to his poor choice of specimens. Hippogriffs are certainly not safe enough around thirteen year olds! I have warned him that if there is one other incident in his class, he will be summarily dismissed. If you value his presence here, I urge you to be a calming influence in him."

snape waved his hand at the door. "Do not worry. Madame Maxine has expressed interest in him becoming the Seneschal at Beauxbatons."

Looking at Ron, Snape continued, "Mr. Weasley, the DADA teacher has expressed interest in having you as his apprentice. It would be a signal distinction. You would get to advance farther than the others and help them later. It would provide you with gainful employment, which I might add would look good in any judicial confrontation."

Ron was flabbergasted. Hermione was considering who could be the person that influenced Snape. These actions were too kind, too thoughtful for a bitter Headmaster. It depended on who was the DADA teacher.

Snape continued a little bossily, "The teacher is someone you know very well, I must say. Alas, I know him too. Mr. Remus Lupin will be the new teacher."

Snape steepled his fingers under his chin.  "Ms. Granger, it has come to my attention that you are the premiere student in this school. Your insight can easily win a battle for us, it behooves us to increase it any way we can. Hereby you are granted complete access to the library, including the Dark Arts section. The only requirement is that you write down the name of the volumes you take out."

Hermione felt light-headed, she wanted to do a victory dance. Only the thought of Filch muttering at her while she did detention kept her from doing just that.

She had an inkling of who was the secret benefactor, someone who understood her passion for knowledge, and could speak to Snape in a reasonable way and get him to agree.

oOoOo

After several days had gone by and no new happenings were occurring in the animal front, Draco decided to act.

That Tuesday the Sixth Years had Care of Magical creatures in the morning. Everyone came feeling a little sleepy headed. Goyle, Crabbe and Blaise were present, but no Draco. Fortunately Hermione had decided to drop that class, so her keen eyes didn't see what would happen.

They were studying griffins, and had several of them present. Most of the griffins were quietly observing them back, except for one who was glaring at them as he strutted around, spread out his wings and let out a powerful screech.

Pansy said, "That thing sounds like a demon"

The griffin turned his eyes toward her, and she could've sworn that they were grey. He advanced and then half-jumped, half-flew to where she was.

Everybody was running around until Blaise took out his wand to take out the dangerous beast. However the wily animal, perhaps because he had eagle eyes, had sensed something like that, turned around and seemingly grabbed Pansy from her robe using his claws and put her in front.

Once the griffin was seemingly content with all the chaos and mayhem, he made his way into the pen, where he conveniently took the antidote to the potion provided by the Twins. When the glamour dissipated and from the famed griffin a humble lion was left, he transformed into Draco, who took out his wand and used the Wingardium leviosa spell on himself.

The next day, after hearing the charges and listening to witnesses, Hagrid was summarily dismissed. He wasn't sad, though, because now he got to stay with Maxine.

oOoOo

When Snape announced the name of the new Care of Magical Creatures professor, the people gasped and many were dumbfounded. Mr. Sirius Black would return to Hogwarts as a professor!

Harry was in Seventh Heaven, as was Draco – though more sedately. For one thing, he worried that he would bring his computer and try to feed it or something and create a fire! There was also the matter of his mother. Perhaps he could coax her to come to Hogwarts for a while. Life seemed simpler as a griffin.

A little later, Harry and Ron noticed the Twins' barn owl. They expected it to come to the Gryffindor table. They were quite surprised to discover that it was heading to the head table, to Headmaster Snape!

Snape took the letter and gave a piece of meat to the owl. Noticing who were the owners, he performed charms to ascertain the letter had not been pranked.

Then he read it. Groaning, he said, "Potter, Weasly, Malfoy and Granger, please stay for a moment."

He glared at the students. "I'm sure you will be pleased to note that two of your friends have decided to finish their education in Hogwarts. Apparently, they feel they can leave the future of their store to Lee Jordan and are heading back here for their last year. Your twin brothers, Mr. Weasley, will be here in the morning."

The Golden Trio left grinning like fools. Draco grimaced, wondeirng about his own plans. Things were certainly going to be interesting.

He was interrupted by an eagle coming to land on his shoulder. He grinned at the bird. "What's up Pans?"

The eagle pecked him and swooped to the floor. Pansy transformed and said cagily,  "How did you manage to  look like a griffin?"

Draco gulped. "Whatever do you mean, Pansy?"

"Come on, Draco! You have a habit of grabbing a person as if they are going to break, you do it very gingerly. I've felt it when you've done it before, and I felt the same way with the griffin, which by the way had grey eyes! I'm not going to betray you or blackmail you or something, perhaps gloat a little. And someday ask you for a favor."

oOoOo

The next day at breakfast, they were distracted by an infernal racket coming from the lawn. Finally the most enterprising students made their way to the front, among them the Golden Trio and Draco.

A black motorcycle was making its loud way down. Draco was pleased to note that this time the device looked just like a motorcycle and not a phoenix.

He saw Sirius, looking decidedly mature with his choice of clothes, which Draco guessed were Narcissa's. He vowed to get him to shop for clothes in Muggle London, perhaps he would look good in a green suit. He bet Harry wouldn't like that. Thinking about Harry, he wondered if he had made up his mind to defect or remain, not imagining that life is much more complex than chess.

He motioned for the Twins and began his report of their pranks. After burying the hatchet and getting to know each other, they realized they had the love of plans and plots in common. Draco consulted them about ways to turning into a griffin from a lion.

The Twins delivered a potion poised to create a glamour over the animal so powerful that it would include sound. People would really believe the animal was a griffin, the downside was that the potion could not be given to human beings. Still it could be given to intelligent animals.

It was really providential that he knew there would be a class devoted to griffins. He lobbied so hard for it!

Harry embraced Sirius joyfully. He was now with the people he loved. The past Marauders and the present Marauders. He looked to the side and saw Draco talking animatedly with the Twins. Gred was playfully punching him in the arm as Draco made a point.

He realized that in a very big sense it was Draco that made it all come to pass, his narrow escape, the victory over Dumbledore, the defeat of phoenix-Wormtail, and the resurgence of Sirius.
His histrionics and love of dramatics, his need for revenge, they had added superbly to the whole.

He almost missed the entrance of a cold and haughty Severus Snape. The students gathered around, ready to face a great battle, a clash of magic or maybe just a fight or two.

Snape said sternly, "Professor Black. Welcome to Hogwarts, you can safeguard your mode of transportation in the hut that belonged to the former teacher."
"Headmaster, I will do so very soon."

Snape left and the people sighed, feeling like they were being deprived of entertainment.

In the Gryffindor tower, Hermione woke up and discovered that she had slept late and therefore would be delayed for breakfast. Why had no one woken her up?
What were they thinking? What will happen if Snape decides to make an example of her?

She was fuming and wanting to hex whoever caused her friends to leave her alone, because surely they would remember her, right?
Then Hermione remembered and thought bitterly, 'They would not forget me for their beloved godfather, would they? They would remember even if their twin brothers showed up?'

Hermione was frantically searching her notes for the next Herbology homework in two weeks, when she found the piece of parchment in which she had written the name of her book. She read it and paled.

16. Choices