herumtreiber

Title: Unusual ending - chapter 13 - part 2
Chapter: thirteen - second part
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: 2462 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

Slithering & Struggling - part 1

Ron was running down the marble stairs, clutching the Cloak in his right hand, Hermione right after him. Narcissa was trailing them. Narcissa had told them succinctly about the predicament Draco – and now Harry – faced, trusting that Weasley and Granger would rush to help Harry and the twins, if not Draco.

Afterwards, they had entered the Room of Hidden Things and Narcissa vainly tried to use the cabinet to return to Draco's side.

Narcissa had exchanged worried glances with Hermione and Ron. They all faced the grim realisation that neither of the boys was returning. They were trapped in that loathsome castle.

Narcissa felt engulfed by a maelstrom of emotions - anguish, despair and fear amongst them; but she resolutely pushed them to the background. It was up to her to care for Draco – and Lucius – and she intended to wreak havoc on the Death Eaters if they touched her son. She had lived with fear for her family ever since the awful Dark Lord had returned, but like the Slytherin she was, she managed to compartmentalise her emotions. I'll blast all those smirking Death Eaters, beginning with Greyback and ending with Bellatrix, the bitch! I bet she and her twits from hell, Riddle and Rodolphus, are just waiting for the chance to move to the Manor. She was always jealous of Andie and me, thought Narcissa angrily.

It was Hermione who suggested they should look for McGonagall, who'd been patrolling the fifth floor when she and Ron had dashed through Hogwarts, hoping to find Harry in the Room of Requirement.

Hermione ran behind Ron, clutching her wand to her bosom, its glow casting jerky shadows as she moved. She felt stitches running through her chest but she pressed on.

Ron was running as if Fluffy was after him; he dreaded the thought of seeing Harry dead. This was truly a nightmare for Ron, Harry leaving him after Ron had been such a prat lately.

Ron was in such a hurry that he didn't notice the silhouettes outlined by two balls of light in front of him and he had to swerve in the last second to avoid crashing into a man. Instead Ron skidded and bumped into a painting of a hippogriff. Startled by the jarring movement of its abode, the eagle-headed creature reared its head and lunged at the uncouth boy who so rudely interrupted its dreams. Fortunately it was just a painting and did nothing apart from startling Hermione and Narcissa - who still had nightmares about such creatures attacking her helpless son.

"Easy now, what's the matter?" said the calming voice of Remus.

Ron and Hermione tried to tell the story, but their explanations were rather incoherent. It was Narcissa, fear and anguish permeating her voice, who briefly told the problem in front of the other students. There was no time for secrecy when the lives of the students trapped in Voldemort's lair were at stake.

After hearing the news, Remus immediately sent a Patronus message to Albus. The amorphous light of the Patronus brought a poignant reminder of Tonks to the DADA professor's mind.

After dispatching the message, Remus shook his head and looked sternly at the assembled students. "You lot stay here."

He ignored the indignant gasps coming from his enraged students and Narcissa. "I'll go and join Albus – he'll surely figure a way to save Harry."

"B… but we h... have to save Harry," stammered Ron. Cho and Parvati simultaneously said, "Yes!" In her distress, Parvati gripped tightly Cho's hand, all thoughts of her supposed betrayal forgotten.

"Someone might turn Draco into a slug again, let's save him!" said Cho, and then she belatedly added, "And also the wet kisser, of course!"

Hermione glared at the Ravenclaw girl, and Cho scowled fiercely at the Gryffindors.

"Yeah!" Blaise shook his fist in the air and smiled sympathetically at Ron, the friend who'd deserted him long ago for unknown reasons. Frowning, Blaise added softly, "But we don't know where You-Know-Who's castle is, and even if we did, it's bound to be protected."

Remus turned and walked away, determinedly holding his wand to light his way back to Albus' office, when the uncharacteristically timid voice of Pansy stopped him. "Actually, I have a way to get there."

Pansy took a shiny object from the pocket of her robes. The golden cylinder gleamed in the light - a thin leather cord hanging from a small hole on its side. Pansy's knuckles were wrapped tightly around a red wood spindle.

Parvati gasped and pointed at the cylinder. "Where'd you get a prayer wheel, Pansy?"

Holding it aloft, Pansy replied, "This is a Portkey my father sent me. It's supposed to take me to You-Know-Who for my initiation."

With her other hand, she brushed tears off her cheek. One of the reasons Draco decided to spy was because he wanted to know beforehand when she and Blaise would take the Dark Mark so he could prevent it. Draco will probably end up in the hospital, like the time when that ugly hippogriff attacked him, thought Pansy. She sobbed when she felt Blaise's hand gently squeezing her shoulder.

Remus realised that the Portkey could take them all to the boys in a moment. He trusted his students would use the spells he'd taught them effectively. And as Dumbledore was so fond of saying, 'the fate of our world depends on Harry.' So rather than go to the Headmaster and wait for the Order, the professor decided to take this shortcut. After Remus elegantly moved his wand and enlarged the prayer wheel, he nodded, looking sharply at Pansy, waiting for her to say the password. But a voice coming from the darkness prevented Pansy from uttering the word.

"You're not going anywhere without me, Remus, are you?" asked Tonks. She walked into the light, her hair a wild riot of pink and fuchsia. Her arms akimbo, Tonks confronted Remus with a scowl on her face. "I was bringing you hot chocolate for your patrols." Tonks hefted a silver thermos, a bit larger than the bottle Mad-Eye Moody used.

Narcissa realised this was her sister's daughter; she resembled Andromeda. Perhaps there'll be time later on to mend fences with her and Andie, thought Narcissa, before an overwhelming wave of anxiety for her son hit her.

After Remus explained the situation in few words, mindful of the urgency, Tonks took her place amongst the people surrounding the Portkey. Shrugging, Tonks thought they needed something, an edge that would help them fight against You-Know-Who. Even in the dim light, it was quite noticeable when her hair became darker until it turned black, elongating and forming riotous curls. Her features changed and became those of her other aunt. Tonks turned and winked at a distraught Narcissa.

With a precise swish of her wand, Narcissa changed her niece's clothes. Hermione and Ron shuddered when they beheld the perfect replica of Bellatrix Lestrange standing next to them. Finally, Narcissa turned and nodded distractedly to Pansy.

When Pansy murmured the password, they were transported out of Hogwarts.

In his struggle to shake Nagini off his body, Draco dropped his wand. Fred jumped on Nagini and tried to stop her movement. The serpent intended to crush Draco's legs.

In the general commotion, no one noticed the skulking figure of Slughorn, who had come out of the dungeon where he'd been preparing potions for Voldemort when he heard the fight. He took a long look at the struggling figures of the snake and the boys and hastily stepped away towards the potions room. This fight didn't portend anything good for him, and he was still suffering the aftereffects of the Crucio. He decided to use his trusted camouflage method.

Fortunately the time Slughorn spent as manager of a furniture store in Concord, New Hampshire had allowed him to memorise different useful forms. In a graceful motion, the portly man transformed into a slender oak chair, whose back and sides consisted of multiple thin spindles attached to a solid, simple seat. Its legs splayed slightly outward and its back reclined at a slight angle. Those Americans are good craftsmen. This way I don't have to worry about upholstery; and there are no bloody cats around, thought the colonial chair smugly.

George, seeing Draco's empty hands, tried to search for his wand on the floor, but the dim light of the sconce farther away on the corridor didn't permit him to search effectively. Realising the futility of looking for the wand, George joined the fray, jumping on Nagini.

Draco and the twins were punching Nagini with their bare fists; the twins also kicked the snake where they could. Nagini, though magically enhanced by Voldemort, was weakened by the spirited fight the troublesome wizards put up. She started to suffer under the combined assault of the unruly boys and the cuts Draco had inflicted earlier. Releasing her hold on Draco, Nagini tried mightily to shake them off and concentrate her attack on one of them. They all wrestled violently on the floor. The three boys and Nagini were entangled in a writhing mess not unlike the sculpture of the Laocoon.

When Dobby arrived with a popping sound, holding Harry's hand, the sound went unnoticed.

The elf frowned when he saw the predicament that the Malfoy boy and the Wheezy seniors were in. Rapidly snapping his fingers, he magically flung the snake to the ceiling. There was a loud sound as Nagini's upper body collided with the ceiling. Pieces of rock fell to the floor. A big rock trembled on the brink of falling down. No one noticed this except a big brown rat which had stopped on his way from the castle's sewers, returning to deliver his report to his master. The rat observed the scene with beady eyes, noting the sudden arrival of the elf and the boy. When small pebbles rained on the rat – known as Wormtail - and he was almost trampled by Nagini's trashing tail, the rat scampered away towards the stairs.

George and Draco were thrown across the corridor. Fred collided with George and rolled sideways, ending next to the jerking serpent. Nagini dazedly reared her head and prepared to lunge at Fred, who was struggling to sit up – just three feet away from the snake. More pebbles rained on the snake, Fred and Draco - who looked up at the ceiling with a puzzled expression.

Nagini's tail was trashing madly and hit Dobby, who was sent flying and collided with the wall next to George. Entranced, Draco saw part of the ceiling crumbling above Fred's head.

In these few seconds, Harry had little chance to act faced with the pandemonium involving the wizards and Nagini. In the moment of respite after Dobby hit the wall, Harry seized his chance and trained his wand on Nagini. He used the spell that was uppermost in his mind.

Draco shook off his stupor and lunged at Fred.

Harry muttered, 'Adagissimo.'

And the big stone that trembled ominously above Fred's head finally fell.

Before the spell hit Nagini, her head struck a glancing blow against Draco's chest just when Draco collided with Fred. Both boys rolled across the floor, finally hitting the wall with a thumping sound.

Immobilised by the spell, Nagini was unable to move aside as the stone fell. Harry watched mesmerised as the heavy stone struck the serpent's skull and killed her instantly.

Draco gingerly touched his aching chest. Smirking at his boyfriend, he wheezed, "Good...shot...Harry!"

Harry looked at Draco tenderly. The Slytherin was covered with dust and serpent blood, his blond hair resembled a hedgehog's quills, strewn in every direction; there were dark smudges on his cheeks and nose, his robe was torn in several places – and Draco had never looked more enticing, more powerful than in this moment.

Fred's bandage had slipped and was tinted red with Nagini's blood.

Harry smiled, approaching Fred and Draco, avoiding Nagini's still jerking body. With practiced ease, he cast Evanesco on his boyfriend, Fred and George. Harry eyed curiously the twin's clothes. Draco stood up, shaking the dust off his robes and looking for his wand in the dim light.

George stood up, brushing his pink robe. He walked up to Fred and offered his hand. Groaning, Fred took it and stood up. "Did you see her tongue, Forge? It was like a snake coming out of a snake!"

"Gred, I think I have an idea for a new product," replied George, brushing Fred's robes fastidiously whilst Fred adjusted minutely the bandage wrapped around his head.

"Umbridge was here, right?" said Harry, winking at Draco and smiling wickedly. Draco growled.

Dobby slowly stood up, groaning. Shaking his head, the elf looked at the dead body of the snake, thinking that it would have been easier to use a magicked Bludger to get rid of her.

Dobby frowned when he saw Harry Potter hugging the Malfoy boy. When he looked towards the end of the corridor, he saw another evil person he recognised from his time serving the Malfoys. He stood valiantly in front of Harry Potter and the boys and prepared to do battle again.

Voldemort was leisurely crucioing Amycus Carrow – his yelling masking the noises coming from the dungeons - when a short, balding man out of breath burst into the hall.

Pettigrew ran to Voldemort's side and said between gasps, "My… Lord… Potter's here…"

Voldemort's lipless smile turned predatory, listening to the message.

"A... house-elf… seems to've brought him…" continued Pettigrew, bowing as he clutched his chest.

Voldemort grimaced in a sinister parody of a smile. He walked to the center of the hall, the Death Eaters parting before him like scared ants.

His wand arm stretched horizontally, Voldemort rotated slowly whilst speaking Parseltongue. A bright light shot out of his wand, blinding those present before it seeped into the stone walls and beyond. After he finished, he announced to the Death Eaters, "I have strengthened the wards. Potter will not escape."

He glared at the expectant faces of his followers and announced, "No one must touch him! He is bound to come here, for there is no way out of the castle now. We will wait for him!"

Sneering at the prostrate Carrow, Voldemort walked to his golden throne and sat down. Surveying the assembled Death Eaters, he said ominously, "I must be the one to kill Harry Potter!"

Severus touched his Portkey and weighed his options. When the boys appeared, should he save his godson or Harry Potter, who was essential to the fight against Voldemort?

But there was one Death Eater who did not hear Voldemort, for Bellatrix Lestrange had made her hurried way out of the hall once she heard that Harry Potter was here.

Whose wand is it anyway? - 1/2