"It was all good and dandy, you know. I was having fun living my introverted little life, playing DnD on the weekends, doing my 9-to-5 struggles on the weekdays, and reading enough smut to get me through those lonely cold nights. But I was happy… content even. But no, I had to go and get myself stuck in the unending loop of AO3… It all started easy enough I guess. A fic here, a fic there. And then one cold night… you know, that cyclone of December 2022… I was feeling extra lonely and fell down the rabbit hole of Wolfstar… my fascination with anything beastly… mind you, in the shifter and werewolf variety only, proved to be my demise I guess.” Sirius took a deep breath.
Draco sat there blinking, not entirely sure what he should be thinking. Him coming to this world still felt … not real, but this… this was too much. They were sitting in the backyard away from the other two occupants of this place, their cover story being cousins catching up.
“I was writing my 20th werewolf fic and there were some issues with electricity or something, 'cause the next thing I know, my desktop system was all fired up and there were sparks and then black. I woke up in Azkaban with a 'System' (derisive snort) in my mind. I spent days or months… not sure about that but it was there about when I received your letter. The one about how Snape was innocent and you know who had done it.
I guess the ward issues, as Remus tells it, had rerouted the owl. Did you know you get owl mail in Azkaban? I mean, seems stupid, like what if the prisoner gets something to escape or hurt other inmates? But I guess wizards are morons like that. Anyway, it got the owl to deliver your letter to me.
Zee, my System, had known there had been another Subject when they couldn’t read the files of this world anymore, so we discussed and concluded it must have been you. That’s when I decided to divert from the story path and just go for it. I’m going to be dying soon enough… so why not just live my best werewolf love story, right?
Anyway, it took some time for me to get the hang of me turning into a big-ass dog. By the way, don’t I just look absolutely beautiful? They never caught the real majestique of Padfoot in the movie or the reboot… did they now? Anyways, that’s when I went looking for Remus. I remembered him staying in Yorkshire from a fic I had written about him some time ago. It took some time to make him listen to me. Had to go through the BDSM route, you know. Bind him up, blindfold him, and all that rot. On second thought, the blindfold might have been more of a fantasy than strictly necessary, but better safe than sorry, right? You are old enough to talk about the kink thing right? I’m not perverting you or something right? Also, did you know about the Snape thing? Never even imagined that git could be in the fun. I’m not all gung-ho about the greasy git being my fling or whatever, but he doesn’t look that bad I guess…. also, you know the Potion Master thing? You never know, I might get my mpreg fantasy for all I complain… right?”
Sirius had finally stopped talking and was looking at Draco in askance. (They had tried telling their other names but couldn’t seem to say or write or even mime it to each other. So they decided to go with their character names.) Draco wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do here exactly so he just shrugged, trying his best to exhibit his true emotions, which were somewhere near flabbergasted, surprised, and downright shocked.
“You need to help me. I had tried changing the story paths, you know, but it never holds. I either have to relive the scenario or it just goes into some kind of prerecorded shit, and no matter what I say, the others just go with the scene as it is supposed to go. But you…” Sirius gave him a weird look. “anything you change remains changed. Snape was supposed to be bad, but you changed it, didn't you? Zee told me as the main Subject for this world you get to make exceptional changes.”
“I mean I try to make it better?” Draco intoned.
“That’s why Zee and I decided it have to be you to change my course. Please, you need to help me, I can’t just die. I don’t want to die.” Sirius gave a mournful cry.
“But…but it’ll be fine right?” Draco asked, “You get to go back and live your life as you want?”
“But that’s so boring. Here I get to live my best fantasies and have people who are created to love me… out there… it's not really good, you know.” Sirius assured him. “So you have to save me, boss man.”
“Fine… fine. We will figure something out. You still have plenty of time. Stop fretting.”
.....
“Vii?”
“Yes, my lord & Savior?”
“Stop doing that. I hate it when Sirius does it.”
“But it's so fun to see your feathers ruffled.”
“Shut up.”
“Fine.”
“Honestly, you remind me of a disgruntled teenager sometimes and that’s saying something coming from me… a former disgruntled teenager.”
“In here you're still a teenager… so I don’t know if there’s any improvement.”
“Shut up… what did Sirius mean when he said I change things?”
“Well, you're the main Subject for this world and the purpose of being here is to see if you can change and be good. So you get to change stuff.”
“But you said I have to follow the story paths, otherwise it has disastrous consequences?”
“Yeah, I said that and look at the whole Archie situation, we don’t even know who that is.”
“Still no update?”
“I found some stuff but I’m not sure if I should tell you that right now. So I’m keeping it under wraps for now-”
“But Harry-”
“Harry is the Main Lead… don’t worry he’ll be fine. He can't die no matter what you change.”
“Ok… so how come I change things? Still not clear about that.”
“Words have power. When an author writes a story and people start believing it, it becomes a universe of its own. Then there are some who compound on that universe and write their own story for any ambiguous part of it giving life to those ambiguities.”
“Still not sure what that means.”
“Fan-fiction, you moron… people write fan-fiction, and if a fiction gets enough support, it gets written into the universe as long as it follows basic laws of the universe. And this one is magical so no matter what they write, there is a 90% chance it can be written into this universe. Hence the good Draco, mind you that’s like the number one of Fiction world, a Sirius, Remus and Snape thruple, James being in love with Regulus and Lily. Slytherins being good. Time travel and you changing the timeline. Everything is a possibility.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
.....
Dear Esteemed Investor,
The Twins Incorporation would like to invite you to the very first demonstration party of our prototypes. You are to arrive at the Leaky Cauldron at 1 o’clock this Friday.
Be punctual and try to come alone.
Yours truly,
Gred & Forge Weasley.
Draco had received the invitation two days after coming to Spinner’s End. The said two days had been… interesting to say the least. Seeing a smiling Snape was disconcerting on its own, and seeing Snape laughing, after months and months of whining and crying, was…even more disconcerting. But the man was happy as obvious as the sun.
Remus was a great person truly. The books showed him to be mild and gentle but man! The guy had a filthy mouth of a sailor. How this Remus had been the most respectable and eloquent professor was beyond Draco. Not a single sentence was without a swear word that left Remus's mouth. That aside the guy really was a paragon of virtue.
When Remus heard about Harry’s living situation he was enraged. He was all but ready to storm the Privet Drive and get Harry away from the Dursleys. Draco was surprised by the revelation that he had somehow never told Snape Harry’s living arrangements. Both Remus and Snape were adamant that they were ensured Harry’s well-being and safety when Hagrid had taken him away that night and were lied to. It caused a whole new conundrum of why Snape and Remus were lied to. Then Draco was forced (by Vii) to tell them about the Gastrells. Draco made sure to impart his distrust of the Gastrells as well. This whole discussion had led to them discussing Draco’s distrust of Dumbledore, and Snape, Remus and Sirius’s (Obligatory) assurances for Dumbledore being the nice guy.
“If he was so good why didn’t he tell you that Snape was a spy and not an actual death eater?” Draco snapped.
“I was too hasty to make my judgment of Snape being the bad guy; I never gave him enough time to tell me.” Remus reasoned sounding a little embarrassed but indignant.
“What about the wards?” Draco raised an eyebrow. ”That’s… I’m not sure about.” Remus leaned back.
“What about Sirius not getting a trial?” Draco pointed out. “He knew Sirius was not the Secret Keeper so why didn’t he do anything?” The three of them had nothing to say to that. So it was decided unanimously (on Draco's insistence) that they would not be talking about this stuff till they were back at school.
And now it was Friday and he had asked Snape to Apparate him to the Leaky for his meeting. He could have Apparated himself but he wasn’t really sure he wanted the others to know that just yet.
On his way out Sirius has given him a smirk with a thumbs up, communicating his enthusiasm for getting alone time with Remus and Snape. Draco shuddered just at the implication of what that meant and discarded any and all thoughts of those three in a house alone… ew… just ew….
“Hiya there…”
“Nice of you being all punctual and shit….” Fred and George said in greetings.
“Hey… how are you guys…what the-” Draco tried sitting on the bench opposite the Twins but was unceremoniously wrenched out and led to the door.
“Oh, we are not staying-”
“so many places to be so many things to see…” George said. An unholy glee bright on identical faces.
The Twins took him to the nearest Apparition point being all cloak and dagger and the next moment Draco was standing outside Hog’s Head pub. He was rushed through the entrance and led to Ariana’s painting on the first floor. They came across Aberforth Dumbledore at one point who mumbled quite loudly ‘Ruddy Pranksters…’ in greeting to the Twins.
After traveling through a long winding staircase Draco found himself in the Lab he had set up for the Twins. Seems like The Twins were resourceful enough without needing his help.
“You don’t look surprised…” George gave him a suspicious frown.
“If you remember, gentlemen, I was the one to show you this Room… do you really think this might be a surprise for me?” The Twins nodded in understanding.
“Anyways…” Fred moved to the central table which was full of what Draco assumed were some complete and some incomplete products….
“Come meet our first baby…” Fred said proudly holding up a snakeskin rustic vest.
“You remember how we have been working on that Headless Hat?” George explained. Draco remembered the hat in question. The Twins have been trying to make something to turn them invisible inspired by Harry’s cloak but unfortunately, it worked only on their heads, hence rendering them headless.
“Turns out it's more the material than the spell itself that makes the enchantment effective.”
“Also the placement of product matters.”
“Like a hat of normal enchanted material hardly worked below the shoulder.”
“But a fortified Basilisk skin vest on the other hand,” Fred said wearing the vest and buttoning up. “Turns your whole self invisible.” as the last button closed Fred disappeared. Draco looked at George feeling his face break out in a grin.
“It’s not only more effective.” George explained, “The Basilisk skin takes the enchantment quite easily as well.”
“That means” Fred removed the vest appearing back “less work more reward.”
“That’s….” Draco was speechless. “That’s absolutely brilliant.” Draco had known the Twins were the said inventors of this generation but he was amazed at the work they had actually completed in less than a month.
“Oh…” The unholy glee was back on the Twins' faces. “It’s not even the beginning yet, our little investor.”
“There is so much more in works.”
