Reality twists 38/39
Jan. 3rd, 2012 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herumtreiberChapter: The real menace
Author:
Genre: Post DH, romance, adventure, time travel
Rating: R
Epilogue compliant? No
Chapter length: ~3,275 words
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters, nor do I make any money from writing these stories.
Warnings for the fic: Angst, threesome, violence, noncon, character deaths (not the protagonists)
Summary: Harry/Draco/Daphne. Draco in Azkaban, plus time-travel. Explores the idea of powerful magic pitted against a nuclear bomb and the implications for the world. Noncon - evil Hermione and Ron – Atlantis may appear later on, and another meaning of the Prophecy. How a Time Turner can win a game. Very ecological use of the Fidelius charm; Dementors abound, but...
Table of contents
37. Enter Scorpius
Harry noticed when Draco keeled over. He just chortled, and started to imagine the endless ways in which he was going to taunt Draco for this. Maybe it was because he finally got to see his son after so many years. At any rate, Harry was highly amused as he made his way to the door and peered inside. He was able to see a small figure swaddled in clothes, with wisps of platinum-blond hair, that could only be Scorpius. Then he noticed there was something else, and when he realized what it was, he couldn't handle the surprise and he … fainted dead away.
The irate voice of Daphne could be heard saying, "These good for nothing mates of mine, I am the one who does all the work and suffers for hours on end, and you louts have the grace to faint at my door! How rude!"
Daphne called, "Ant, Deneb, Iolus and Cass, please bring my excitable mates and put them on that bed, while I take care of my babies."
The younger Malfoys knew to follow with alacrity the orders given by an incensed Daphne. Iolus sneered, but complained nonetheless. He knew how inflexible Daphne could get. They put the blond and black-haired Seeker on the bed.
Eventually the Seekers woke up and beheld a wondrous sight, Daphne was on the bed, her face still red and strained by the labor, she was holding two small bundles, one held a blond baby and the other had a baby with a shock of black hair, that promised to withstand the best efforts of brushes later on.
The babies were passed around the Malfoys, Andromeda, Severus and Iolande. Ant and Deneb were really taken in by the bona fide twins, Cass looked a little disappointed that none of them was a girl like she wanted, but she still intended to get to know them.
Andromeda and Narcissa took a twin each. They marveled that the troublesome young men and woman had finally found peace, and were able to bring such treasure into the world.
Then came the turn for Lucius, he held the future of house Malfoy, and couldn't help but shudder at the memories of the monstrous things that the boys had had to overcome to come to this point. Lucius shed a tear or two, because he never thought he would live to be a grandparent, and that's what he was.
Severus held the small Scorpius in his arms, and remembered once holding a similar frail-looking Draco when he was born. He remembered how torn he had been when he'd been named his godfather. Truly he didn't want the responsibility, but soon he came to care for Draco. His curiosity and stern will were some of his characteristics that inevitably led him to trouble. Later he mourned when he appeared to fall prey to Lucius's rhetoric. He didn't doubt for a second when Narcissa asked of him the Unbreakable Vow, for he was intent on saving his godson.
In the end, he didn't. It was Draco who saved him and brought him back from the dead and gave him the opportunity to live a life of fulfillment with his family. He had a feeling that a promise made to the world long ago had been fulfilled today.
Daphne explained patiently to them, "I am a Healer and know intimately the rhythms of the body, I've also taken Genetics and Obstetrics courses in Muggle universities. When the time for the conception came, I knew there was a chance that I could get pregnant by both Draco and Harry. I made love with you, Harry, and later on with Draco. I became pregnant. I didn't want to jinx in any way the pregnancy so I prevailed on having only Iolande as Healer. I'm sorry Draco, if you think that I would willingly put in danger Scorpius's presence with us, but I had to give Harry what he wanted so desperately."
"You haven't seen him as I have, gazing at the children and obviously yearning to have one of his own. Now he does, and I'm sure he will make a wonderful father."
Draco answered gruffly, "You put yourself at some risk, Daphne, concocting this scheme and guiding it to a successful ending." Listening to Draco, it was easy to imagine shades of jealousy that maybe a scheme of hers works so flawlessly, when he had to work so hard on his own plots. He continued, "I just wished you'd told me, on second thought, no, I'm glad you kept it to yourself. I would have died of nerves. I have also seen the eyes of our Angel as he gazes at the children in the parks and schools, I know he yearned for one of his own, and now he has two. Well, done, Green Eyes."
Harry was close to tears as he held his son and counted his fingers. The baby had a strong grip on his father's hand, and Harry delightedly pointed out that it would mean he could be a good Quidditch player. Harry said, "Thank you for my son, Daphne. I never imagined I would have one so soon. I always tended to think about him in terms of several years of waiting. You and Draco have given me a family and my son, and for that you have my endless love."
Daphne was alarmed to note a glint in Draco's eyes, which he generally had when he was in the grip of a wonderful idea or plot to put in execution. Whatever it was, it behooved her to make sure that it didn't affect her sons.
Draco asked Harry, "Any idea how you are going to call your son?"
Harry replied dreamily, "He'll be Sirius Potter-Malfoy."
Draco countered, "That sounds good, but you have to take into account that he is Scorpius's twin. I think his name should reflect that and also give grandeur on its own. I have the perfect name: Sagittarius."
Harry sputtered and muttered, "I'm not going to call my son that! What's with you and names?"
Things looked ready for a heated confrontation, when they were diffused by Daphne's eminently reasonable words, "Why don't you have a game of Quidditch one on one and the winner gets to name him?"
Grudgingly Harry and Draco made their way to the pitch, after having Daphne inspect the Golden Snitch – and surreptitiously swish and flick her wand a little – Daphne had of course confiscated temporarily the time-turner. She had also insisted that Cass should be the referee, as her decisions were very wise.
The game ended in a draw, as Daphne could have foretold them, the Golden Snitch functioned exactly as it should have under her nifty spell. As a result, the baby boy would be known as Sirius Sagittarius Potter-Malfoy. Harry would be appalled to learn that people apparently liked Sagittarius so much better than Sirius and that's how they called the boy: Sagittarius Potter – Malfoy.
Later, it became apparent that Scorpius had the stormy grey-eyes of his father, and Sagittarius had the green-eyed intensity of his father. Draco was determined to find out if it was really Scorpius, so he descended into the thought-universe, the world of exact memories, and proceeded to compare the physical features of Scorpius then and now. He came to the conclusion that they were the same. It was indeed Scorpius who was with him at long last.
Antares finally relinquished control over his plushies and gave them to the twins. So it came to pass that Scorpius was jealously guarded by the dragon and Sagittarius by the griffin.
Two years later, Daphne got pregnant again. The pregnancy did not cause any trouble. In due time, Daphne delivered a baby girl, with black hair and green eyes.
When Draco was about to comment about a wonderful name he had for the baby, the baleful stares of his mates made him pause. Inwardly he considered that it was a pity that they couldn't sustain that deadly scowl for long, or the basilisks would be given a run for their money.
He conceded and left them to choose the name of their daughter. They picked Iris Potter-Malfoy.
Draco inwardly crooned about having chosen the names of 5 babies, a quite large amount, if he did say so himself.
HRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRH
Draco still was completely immersed in running the Malfoy companies, and looking out for the Wizarding World. He had a substantial number of people working with the Muggles who reported to him. He didn't completely trust the efficiency of the Ministry, or the response capacity of the Muggles themselves.
Working near the Muggle hotbed of sedition he had two moles. He had considered the question long and hard, and decided that the only coin that would bring respect would be the fulfillment of their dreams.
He invited Isaac Applegate and Ronald Whiteshire to his offices in London, he explained to them about the Wizarding World, his position in it. He took out a Pensieve and plucked a memory for them to experience. It was their trip to the Amazon Preserve. The men could hear and sense the cacophony of the jungle, the effects of the Fidelius as it was being cast, they realized that the lungs of the world were safe, thanks to the man in front of them.
Draco then took a small dagger and obtained drops of blood from both of them, he used a spell to make sure they wouldn't repeat that information anywhere else. From now on, Draco knew he could count on them.
The world apparently has a knack for the absurd. It came to pass that once again nuclear weapons were being directed against Harry Potter in Malfoy Manor.
The first thing that Draco noticed was the lack of contact of Isaac Applegate. The man usually sent an e-mail first thing on Mondays to let him know what the people had planned on the weekends. He didn't receive any news, nor when he contacted other sites of interest.
Almost a week later, a bedraggled-looking barn owl, looking as if it didn't eat enough, made her way to the Manor and Draco's office. She deposited a small letter in his desk. Draco hurriedly told the owl to fly to the Owlery and he sent a House elf to get her a good meal.
He inspected the letter for Dark magic and found none. It was a Muggle missive, with a number of stamps. Draco thought that he letter had been unable to penetrate the Manor wards and was rejected, and only when it was noticed by an enterprising wizard and sent via owl did it reach him.
With a sense of foreboding, Draco read:
Dear Mr. Malfoy:
If you are reading this, I am surely dead. They know about me, I don't know how. I've escaped them for a bit, but they will find me. As I wait for my fate, I cannot help but remember the glorious green of the Amazon Preserve. You have given a powerful push to us and our descendants. This I must protect at all costs. They want to destroy you.
They learned about Harry Potter, that before he was a celebrated painter he was a powerful wizard. They want to get rid of him as a signal to attack the wizards. They are fools!
Powerful fools, though. They managed to find a way to disrupt and negate magic in a given area, and that coupled with a nuclear device, is what they want to unleash at your home. I think they will attack on March 23rd
Luck,
Applegate.
Draco hastily checked the date on his laptop and found that it was March 23rd. The Slytherin Prince still had one ace in the hole, but he wasn't willing to risk his mates, children and family to the vagaries of fate.
He understood the construction and operation mode of the Vanishing Cabinets, and knew that they didn't require magic for their operation. They relied on a physical discontinuity in space-time. True, they needed magic to set them up and contact for the first time the exiting and arriving points, but they worked magic-less from that point on.
The trouble was with the Malfoys and Malfoy-Potters and all of them being too stubborn to know what was for their own good. At the same time, he didn't relish the prospect of tricking them and having to deal with an irate bunch of blonds afterwards.
He made his way to the kitchen, and sent Cass and Deneb to fetch all the others. He explained the situation to them all. Antares and Deneb wanted to stay and fight, Cass wanted to flee, Lucius and Narcissa wanted to stay, along with the rest of them.
Draco chastised them, "I need to stay here and deal with this, but I'm not willing to put in jeopardy the future of the Malfoy-Potters! You will make sure that your children are safe, Lucius and Narcissa, and you will make sure about yours, Daphne and Harry! Aunt Andromeda, we need you, you must go!"
His mates looked thunderous and obviously wanted to make their displeasure known. Draco took out his time-turner and prepared to use it, and nothing happened, which didn't surprise him as he felt the wards fall.
Either the time-turner was defective, or the anti-magic shield had been put in operation already. He acquainted the others of this important fact and led them to the Vanishing Cabinet.
Grudgingly his brothers and sister left, accompanied by his parents. Then followed Daphne with her two sons and daughter, she was glaring daggers at Draco. Andromeda left, mustering a sad look at Draco. However, Harry refused to go, instead saying that he would face the problem with him till the end.
Draco tried to calm Harry telling them that if a nuclear bomb went off in their vicinity, they would never know what hit them. It would be a clean way to exit. He also hinted that other developments may come to pass, developments which Draco had prepared years in advance.
Harry asked where the other Vanishing Cabinet was, and Draco replied that it was in Marauders' Cottage. Harry shuddered, thinking of his precious paintings left at the mercies of the notoriously destructive blond and black-haired bunch. Draco commented that he had put a ward on his studio before they left, so his things should remain undisturbed.
Harry heatedly kissed the blond, and only interrupted his ministrations when the blond's stomach growled, alerting them to the fact that he hadn't eaten anything for some hours.
Draco called on Trini to get them something to eat. After the elf had prepared dishes full of scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes and treacle tart, Draco and Harry fell to with a vengeance.
Draco ordered Trini to notify all the Manor elves to go to the summer residence in Italy for the moment. When the elves left, the Manor was left bereft of life, with only Draco and Harry. Not even when Voldemort was prowling around had the Manor looked so forlorn and sad, and Draco hoped that it wasn't a harbinger of things to come.
Two hours later, as Harry was telling Draco about the latest twin prank of Antares and Deneb, the blond interrupted him, saying, "Listen!"
Draco continued, "There's something coming, let's go to the garden and see what it is."
They left the house and entered the garden and they saw in the distance a rapidly approaching black thing that moved serenely in the air. Much too noisy to be a dragon, much too ominous to be a plane.
It turned out to be an Apache helicopter. When the pilot apparently had identified several landmarks, he let loose the warhead it carried. The bomb gracefully arced in the air as it inexorably descended to the ground, while the helicopter turned tail and ran home, not without Draco noticing its registration number.
The bomb crashed in the garden and both Harry and Draco expected to be engulfed in a fire of elemental atoms, but nothing happened.
Harry didn't want to get close to the bomb, but the mechanically-minded Draco knew he had the find of a lifetime, a bona fides nuclear bomb thar didn't go off. Draco had an inkling that he knew the reason it failed.
Eventually they got to the bomb and Draco proceeded to open it, how did he know how to open that artifact, Harry wasn't sure. He just did. Perusing the bomb carcass, Draco found that a circuit had been removed, and there was a thin piece of parchment in its place.
Draco took it out and read:
They are mad. Beware of them at 456 Saville Road. Beware of the black Wizard!
Harry and Draco felt at that moment that the wards had come up again. Draco felt almost home, until he noticed that they were not alone. Apparently there was another wizard with them.
The man walked into the light and turned out to be Kingsley Shacklebolt. He taunted them about having become so sure in their inane everyday life that they didn't consider old perils.
Shacklebolt gleefully told them how he had been obliviated of most of his life and his magic seemingly taken from him. He traveled abroad and got to know a Healer that proceeded to Kiss him and heal his soul, bringing back his power and his memory.
He intended to torment them as much as he had been tormented himself. He gleefully confessed divulging information to the Muggles. He had expected the Manor to go up in smokes, when it didn't, he went to investigate.
Shacklebolt took out his wand and whipped it in Harry's direction. Harry and Draco would be too late to mount an effective response.
Draco refused to let it end like this, let Harry's life be stilled on this day by such a crackpot. His iron will manifested itself, and as Shacklebolt was shouting "Avada kedavra!" Draco stepped in front of the Killing Curse meant for Harry, denying its action with every fiber of his will.
There was a moment when the bright green light almost blinded Harry. He had seen Draco step in front of him, and the thought of the blond, dead, made him want to throw up. But the light didn't touch them. It hung one or two seconds in mid-air and started to retreat the way it had come, it arced back to Shacklebolt. The black wizard received the full blast of his Killing Curse and died instantly.
This time Draco sent a Patronus message to the rest of the family, informing them that things were all right, but there was some cleaning to do. He suggested they return the day after.
Draco reminded a still dazzled Harry about the peculiar feature of the descendants of the Prince of Atlantis to circumvent the Killing Curse.
Then Draco called his office in London and got them to come over and take away the ominous bomb. He directed the Ministry's attention to the suspicious activities in 456 Saville Road. He gave them the license number of the attacking helicopter. He started a search for Whiteshire, though he suspected he wouldn't find him. He had obviously been killed by the crazy Muggles.
After he'd called back the House elves and set them to fix the garden, he cuddled with Harry for a long time, just having the luxury of having his mate near him.
Draco pushed eventually for a harsh sentence for the conspirators. They were sent to Azkaban for life, even though they were Muggles. Draco didn't intend to trust them around other Muggles, even in prison.
