Unusual ending 9/?? - part 1

[herumtreiber]

Title: Unusual ending - chapter 9 - part 1
Chapter: nine
Author:herumtreiber 
Genre: Slash, time travel, 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: R
Warnings: Sexual content
Epilogue compliant? No way!
Chapter length: 4621 words
Beta: None.
Summary: Old meets new. Harry walks all over Draco's heart, and when he realizes his mistakes he does the unforgivable so Draco takes him back. Time travel. During HBP, disregards Deathly Hallows - that means everyone's alive, except Sirius, but...

Table of contents



Express encounters 

April 1st, 1997

Draco trotted upstairs, motioning for Pansy and Blaise to walk faster. They were a bit late to their DADA class - on the way down from the Charms classroom the stairs changed direction and left them on the wrong corridor.

He smirked when he saw Harry standing in front of the door, talking animatedly with Neville Longbottom. He greeted them and put an arm around Harry's shoulders. Longbottom didn't mind; he was a true Gryffindor and stayed loyal to his friends.

Neville continued talking about his herbology project. When Draco became bored with the Gryffindor's longwinded explanation, his gaze strayed to the classroom devoid of benches and the bare wooden floor, which gleamed as usual.

"…. and the fanged geranium bit Seamus. He was talking with Dean, and didn't pay attention." Neville grinned boyishly while Harry smirked. Definitely something Harry should do more often, thought Draco.

Draco noticed Harry's beaming smile directed to the left and he turned around. Remus Lupin walked up to them and greeted them, tugging his striped tie. He motioned for the group of Slytherins and Gryffindors to enter. Draco jostled Harry, who was in front of him, and caused the Gryffindor to stumble into the classroom. Harry glared at him, promising retribution.

When Draco came into the brightly lit room, he noticed the usual desks and benches. Shaking his head – these house-elves were downright fast, when they were not obsessed like his former elf Dobby – he sat down next to Pansy and Harry.

The group talked animatedly, and the Slytherin wondered when Lupin would come in.

Draco looked up to the teacher's office when he heard a creaking sound; Lupin smiled as he walked down the marble stairs. Draco smirked, thinking that the teacher's werewolf reflexes really came in handy.

Remus sat on his desk, striking a graceful posture. Draco noticed that it looked tidy and neat. This DADA teacher was really efficient, not like Lockhart, or fake Moody.

"This book is Timely Trials, by Henry Grant Wells" - Remus brandished a worn book animatedly –"it describes the regulations governing time manipulations. This is a quite rare edition." He deposited the book softly on the table.

Hermione raised her hand and Remus pointed to her. "Yes, Hermione?"

"But we don't have this book, it wasn't in our list!"

"Don't worry; we are not going to use it. What the ministry publishes is rubbish anyway." Remus raised his wand and continued, "We are going to learn a practical spell that manipulates time."

Remus walked in the aisle between the Gryffindor and Slytherin benches, his face aglow with excitement. The full moon had come and gone a week ago, giving him time enough to recover. This was what he loved to do, teach practical things that would help his students when they faced the Death Eaters. He thanked Merlin that Albus was able to convince Minister Scrimgeour to allow him back in Hogwarts. Fortunately the meddling witch Dolores Umbridge had run away to Spain, intent on escaping any memory of her adventure with the Centaurs.

Remus looked around. "I need one volunteer."

When no one raised his hand, Hermione poked Ron, and the reluctant Gryffindor finally lifted his arm.

"Thank you, Ron. Please come here." Remus motioned for him to go to the front. Ron walked timidly past a table with a curiously winged skeleton.

Remus turned to the students. "I'm going to teach you a spell that slows time. It's very difficult to master because it requires a strong imagination, and a sense of music. It's very hard to perform."

He walked to the desk and reclined against it. "That's why the Death Eaters can't use it, or we would be in danger indeed.

"To cast the spell, you must think about a slow piece of music. Imagine how you feel when you listen to it," explained Remus, after looking at his watch, "Hold that thought, and then ..." the Marauder moved his wrist and the glissando notes of a piano were heard; Remus turned to Ron and deftly swished his wand, "... you do this."

"Adagissimo," said Remus slowly.

A bright light shot towards Ron. Remus moved to him and waved his hand in front of his face. Harry could see that Ron appeared to be very sluggish; he didn't follow the movement of the hand. He reacted very slowly when Remus went to the desk, grabbed the book and put it upon his head. The students laughed at the sight of the redhead moving as if he was under water. Remus took off the book and turned to his students, explaining, "The spell wears off in three minutes."

After Ron returned to his seat, wondering why people were snickering, Remus proceeded to pair them up. Every couple went to the front of the classroom and he corrected their pronunciation and wand movement.

He patted Harry's shoulders when the Gryffindor managed to cast the spell on a rather scared-looking Dean Thomas. At the end of the exercise, only Harry, Draco and Parvati Patil had managed to cast the spell correctly, to the annoyance of the rest of the students, especially Hermione.

"Great wandwork, Parvati," said Remus softly.

Remus motioned to Hermione, who had raised her hand. "Yes, Hermione?"

"Shouldn't we learn the Ministry regulations about time spells? If that book is so rare, how will we study them?"

Remus raised his arms pleadingly. "Don't worry, Hermione. I have it covered."

The Marauder walked to the door and waved his wand, unshrinking a box that Harry could swear wasn't there at the beginning of the class. Remus pointed his wand to the box and the books within flew out to the students.

Hermione raised her hand again, but Remus chose to ignore her this time. He wasn't very happy with the way she was treating Harry lately. She grimaced and squirmed on her seat, but the DADA teacher remained apparently oblivious.

Harry raised his hand, sporting a knowing smirk.

Remus nodded to him. "Yes, Harry?"

"I noticed that there was nothing near the door when we entered." Harry frowned, thinking about the Marauders playing tricks. "Did you cast that spell on us and slowed us down? I reckon we wouldn't see anything then."

Remus sat on the desk again and smiled proudly at Harry. "Actually, you raise a very good point, Harry. The box wasn't there at the beginning of the class. But I didn't cast any spell on you."

Remus' hand darted inside his robes, and he took out a silver chain from which a small globe dangled. Inside the globe there was an hourglass. He held the magical device aloft. "I used this Time Turner."

He looked at them intently. "You see, while you were distracted by an unmoving Ron, I used the device and put the box there myself." He turned to look at the window near the marble staircase. "And I also put the benches, since a certain house-elf didn't." Remus frowned, thinking about Dobby; the elf appeared to be more restless than usual.

Hermione put up her hand and Remus wearily nodded to her. "But the past can't be changed using Time Turners – you can only change things that are unobserved. Besides, you'll go mad if you see yourself in the past," said she, primly tugging her robes.

Harry bit back the urge to argue with his former friend and let her know that he'd used a Time Turner to change the past. That would surely shock her.

Remus held the hourglass in the air and rocked it gently. "Actually, you have a point, Hermione.

People believe that time can't be changed, that it is like a Muggle highway." He observed the puzzled looks of the Slytherins and added, "Or a river that flows from the mountains to the sea. We sail it in one direction until we arrive at the ocean."

Remus pointed to Parvati, whose hand had shot up in the air.

"But what about cyclic time?" She raised an eyebrow. "I heard my parents discussing that."

"Yes, some people believe time repeats itself, that we travel along the edge of an endless wheel." Remus looked intently at the Time Turner.

"There are many theories about time. Who knows which one is true?" Remus said, gently swaying the hourglass.

He nodded to Draco, who'd raised his hand.

"But what do you believe, Professor?"

Remus replied wistfully, "Believe me, Draco, if I'd been able to travel back in time, I would have saved a friend of mine."

He exchanged a sad look with Harry, thinking about the missing Marauder, Sirius.

Remus casually raised his hand and looked at his watch. "I think our time is up." He winked at Harry. "Albus is coming back today and I have to meet him later."

When Harry and Draco were at the door, they heard Remus say, "But remember, while it is true that rivers always flow straight to the sea" – the students turned back and saw him pocketing the Time Turner – "some of them split along the way and form deltas."

---

After kissing Draco goodbye, Harry dashed to his next class. It was increasingly easier to display these small tokens of affection, either ignoring catcalls or dealing with the more recalcitrant bashers.

He sauntered along the corridor, but he was startled when a sudden pop announced the arrival of Dobby.

The house-elf wore a shrunken magenta sweater and several woolly hats. He sighed melodramatically, rubbing his hands. "Dobby has news for master!"

"Don't call me that, Dobby! I'm not your master."

The elf bowed. "As sir wants."

He gazed furtively around and looked up to Harry. "Dobby has followed the evil pureblood boy as sir wanted-"

"I told you to follow Boot, not Draco!" shot back Harry.

The elf looked mournfully to the floor, his bat-like ears flopping disconsolately.

"But Dobby has seen the boy in the Room!" He motioned upwards and approached Harry.

"Dobby saw him uncover a strange cabinet" – the elf jumped up and down excitedly – "and he put a green apple inside!"

Harry shook his head, wondering about Draco and his obsession with apples. Perhaps he could get one for his hedgehog, which wasn't eating very well.

Harry walked away from Dobby to the left corridor, then he turned around and lifted the rim of his glasses with his right pinkie. He shrugged. "So what? It's probably a magical refrigerator or something."

Dobby gazed imploringly at Harry's retreating figure, but the Gryffindor didn't look back.

Pouting, he was about to disappear when another student approached him. Dobby frowned fiercely at the Slytherin tie of the huge boy.

"Well, I couldn't help but overhear that conversation," drawled Marcus Flint as he hastily looked around them to catch possible eavesdroppers, "and I share your worry about Malfoy."

Flint smirked to himself. Luckily his father insisted he should repeat certain courses – by direct order of the Dark Lord.

"Sir worries about that?" replied Dobby, gazing earnestly at his possible accomplice.

Flint reclined lazily against the wall. "I think Malfoy is up to no good, but no one will hear me out because," he grimaced in apparent sympathy, "I believe in elf equality."

"Sir believes that?" said Dobby, beaming.

Flint brushed invisible lint off his sleeve and remarked craftily, "Yeah, I do. I could help you to keep an eye on Malfoy, you know.

You have access to the Room of Requirement when it's in use, right?"

"Yes, Dobby does!" replied the elf proudly.

"Well, if you could put something inside just when Draco and Potter go there, that would help against evil Malfoy."

"Dobby will do that, sir!" The elf rubbed his hands gleefully.

---

In the late afternoon, Hermione and Ron made their way to the Headmaster's office. Hermione had finally listened to Ron's story about meeting himself. She suspected it was one of the twins masquerading as Ron. It would be just like them to pull such a prank.

They were using Harry's invisibility cloak. Hermione was holding the Marauders' Map, making sure that they didn't run into Harry. Thankfully he spent a lot of his time with Malfoy, Merlin knew where. He obviously was neglecting his homework, though he still managed to get better marks than she, thought Hermione grumpily.

She uttered the password Hagrid inadvertently blurted, and the duo made their way into the office.

Glancing around fearfully, Ron took out one of the memory vials his supposedly future self gave him. He approached the Pensieve and upended the vial, and watched the mercurial liquid sunk into the Pensieve. Looking at Hermione apprehensively, he submerged into the memory. Hermione followed him an instant later, and they found themselves transported into their future apartment.

Standing near the couch, they observed their disconsolate future selves and the visit from the strange old man, Antares. Up until the moment when Ron revealed what happened that night long ago.

Ron cringed when his future self reluctantly admitted he was raped by Avernius Flint. Now there was no doubt in his mind that it was himself he met that day.

After they got out of the Pensieve, Hermione tentatively put her arms around him. "Is it true? Why didn't you tell me, Ron?

I know it is awful, but I'll help you any way I can," whispered she into his ear, her strawberry scent calming Ron somewhat.

He replied in a trembling voice, "I hardly remember that, Hermione."

He shook his head. "There was this awful feeling. Sometimes I'm not sure what happened. But there was blood afterwards."

Hermione choked back a sob and tried to find a way to distract Ron. She stepped away from him and pointed to the Pensieve. "I know who that old man is. It must be Malfoy. Did you see when his glasses slipped? Did you notice his grey eyes?"

She took a memory vial from Ron's unresisting hand and continued, "Besides, that name, Antares…"

She emptied the vial into the Pensieve. "…I looked it up for the Astronomy homework last week. It's the name of a star in the Scorpio constellation. Just what a bigoted pureblood would use to disguise himself!" huffed Hermione.

She pointed to the Pensieve. "Let's see the other memories, all right?"

Ron nodded wearily and cringed when he bent down and submerged his face in the liquid, expecting more painful revelations.

The memory contained the moment when Ron and Hermione learned about Harry's disappearance.

In the final memory they saw Antares telling Ron to fetch Harry's body using this strange ring to whisk it out of Hogwarts. Hermione was too shaken to be angry when she heard the old man tell Ron to get her silver bracelet, the one Kreacher tried to keep from her.

After they came out, the two Gryffindors were crying. They held into each other, shaking.

"Harry died! And it's because of us!" moaned Ron.

Remembering Harry defending her against the other Gryffindors, Hermione mutely nodded. If it had not been for Ron supporting her, she would have crumbled to the floor.

"But that's in the future. Perhaps we can change that?" said Hermione between sobs.

Ron shook his head grimly. "You said the past can't be changed!"

Hermione wearily rubbed her face. "Maybe it can. Remus seemed to think so, anyway."

She looked at Ron and touched his face. "We have to keep our Harry alive, Ron. I just…" she cried out loud, "…I don't want him dead!"

Ron held her in his arms and vowed to himself to stop taunting Harry, to let him live as he wanted. He didn't want to see him dead.

They consoled each other and promised to support Harry. After a while, Hermione calmed down and started formulating theories, as usual.

She said wonderingly, "Why would the old man want that bracelet?"

She narrowed her eyes at Ron. "You should've told me you needed that. I would have given it to you willingly, you know."

Ron was about to retort that he didn't know anything about any bracelet, that it was his future self who knew, the git, when they heard the sound of the door opening. Hermione hastily grabbed the cloak and threw it over them, just before the Headmaster and Minerva McGonagall entered the room.

Part 2