A Whole New World
May 2nd, 1998
Draco watched as Potter entered the Come and Go room with the mudb- No. Not a mudblood. You saw enough of her blood on your floor to know her blood is the same color as yours. Granger. He entered with Granger and the Weasel. He didn’t know what they were up to. It seemed foolish of them to come back here now when Potter didn’t stand a chance. His luck could only hold out for so long, and Draco feared it would soon run out. But Draco knew one thing.
He’d do anything right now to make sure Harry Potter won this war.
He never wanted to be a Death Eater, not really. It was a role he was destined to step into, a path accelerated by his father’s failures in service to the Dark Lord. It was this fate or death. Or torture. Or the torture and death of his parents. It seemed like such a simple choice at the time.
But the things he’d witnessed during this war.. He couldn’t keep putting his family’s safety above everyone else’s. He knew when Potter was brought to his home. He knew the moment he looked into those Avada green eyes that his allegiance had changed. This man whom he had hated for so long was willing to give everything of himself to see his mission through, whatever it may be. After watching Granger getting tortured and carved into by his bat shit crazy aunt, he realized that his family didn’t deserve that protection. They made their own choices and now Draco needed to make his. He would do the right thing before this war was over, and afterwards, he would do whatever it took to gain redemption.
_*_*_*_*_
“I still don’t know exactly what a diadem is,” Ron said, looking warily around at the junk piled higher than they could see.
“It’s basically a tiara. Silver with a big gemstone in the center.” Harry was desperately trying to remember where he’d seen it. “Last I remember, it was on a stone bust of an old wizard. Should be here somewhere..” They searched a few more rows before-
“Potter!” Harry turned so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet.
“What are you doing here, Malfoy?” For there stood Draco Malfoy, white-blond hair disheveled and his icy gray eyes determined. He looked nervously at the three wands pointed in his direction. He slowly laid his wand on the ground in front of him and kicked it towards Hermione, who was quick to pick it up. From behind his back, he pulled out the horcrux they’d been searching for. Panic and hope conflictingly built up in Harry. “Malfoy, you don’t understand what it is you’ve got. You-”
“I know that I don’t know what’s so important about this damned crown, but if you need it to defeat him then I want to help.”
“How thick do you think we are?” Ron scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “You really think we’d believe you? Just like that?”
“Ronald! He’s just willingly handed over his wand,” Hermione scolded, her wand lowering the slightest bit. “Harry, I think we should consider what he has to say.”
Harry and Draco had kept their eyes locked on each other the entire time. “Why would you switch sides?”
Draco kept his hands in the air in a placating gesture, the diadem in one hand. “I didn’t want to join him to begin with. I did it to keep my parents safe.” He looked down at his shoes in shame. “But they aren’t safe, Potter. None of us are, and after everything I’ve seen, the things I’ve been forced to do.. He can’t win.” Draco met Harry’s eyes again, full of conviction for what he was saying. “I love my family, Potter. I thought protecting them was the right thing. But they’ve made their choices, they let a monster into our home.” He took a shuddering breath before continuing, looking each of them in the eye. “I know I’ve been an arse for as long as we’ve known each other. I know I’ve said and done things that are unforgivable. I want to apologize for all of it, but that would take much more time than we have right now.”
Harry studied him for another moment before he lowered his wand. “You can’t be serious, mate! He’s a bloody Death Eater!”
“Shut it, Ron! If he wanted us to lose, he would’ve turned us in at the manor.” Looking from Ron, back to Malfoy, Harry said “What you hold contains a piece of his soul.” Draco’s face turned a sickly green color at that. “We need to destroy it before he can die.”
Draco immediately set the diadem on the floor and backed away. “Get rid of it, kill it, do whatever you have to do.” Without a second of hesitation, Hermione lunged forward with the basilisk fang and stabbed the diadem right in the center of the big blue jewel, giving it no time to taunt and manipulate. Harry thought, as the inky black substance that poured from it seeped into the stone floor, that the resulting wailing scream would burst his eardrums, and then Harry was in the Shrieking Shack, clutching his chest with a crazed Bellatrix Lestrange rushing through the passageway to stand before him.
“Bella, it is time for our back up protocol. Bring me Severus.”
“My Lord, Snape has betrayed us. He took out Dolohov and Rowle before he turned his wand on me. I tried to capture him, my lord, but the coward fled! He’s likely to try to assist Potter before we go to the ministry, we need to be swift in our departure, my lord.”
Anger bubbled ferociously, but he had to keep a clear mind. This was yet another detour in his path to victory, but he could not risk Potter getting his hands on Nagini.
“Let us go now, then, Bellatrix.” With his most faithful servant on one arm and Nagini coiled around the other, Voldemort apparated directly into the Department of Mysteries and stepped through the veil.
_*_*_*_*_
“Harry! Harry, wake up!” With tears in her eyes, Hermione shook her best friend’s shoulders until his eyes fluttered open. The moment he sat up, she flung her arms around him in a sob. “Thank Merlin you’re alright, Harry! I was so worried.”
“What the bloody hell was that, Potter?!” Malfoy shouted in a clear state of panic.
Hermione released Harry so he could explain. “Voldemort is gone. Him and Bellatrix and his familiar.” The other three looked at him in shock.
“What do you mean, Harry?” Ron asked, looking confused.
“He apparated with Bellatrix and his snake right into the Department of Mysteries. He walked straight through the veil. The one Sirius went through. But how is that possible? I thought people died when they went through, but he went willingly, easily..”
“Harry,” Hermione said gently, “It is the Department of Mysteries. None of the magic in there is entirely understood, and most of what we think we know is theoretical at best. It may be that they think you die simply because no one has yet to come back, but it is entirely possible, likely even if Voldemort went through, that the veil leads to somewhere else.”
“His backup plan..” Malfoy murmured.
“What was that, Malfoy?” Hermione asked.
He looked from her to Harry and back again. “I don’t know exactly, but I heard talk of a back up plan. Something set in place in case it seemed like he might lose the war again. It was supposed to be a way to ensure his survival where he can rebuild his power and come back stronger than ever. This must have been the plan. But I’m surprised that Uncle Sev wasn’t with him.. He was always a part of those meetings. He-”
“That, Draco, would be because I am not working for the Dark Lord.” As Severus Snape rounded the corner, all four teens raised their wands towards their former professor. “Potter! Follow me. We have work to do if we are to stop the Dark Lord from returning to this world.”
_*_*_*_*_
November 2001
“Harry, we’re all here, we’ve prepared as much as we possibly can. You’re stalling.” Hermione fixed Harry with a hard glare as he fumbled for words.
“Hermione.. I.. It’s just..” Draco reached over to give Harry’s hand a gentle squeeze and an encouraging smile. “No one has ever come back through the veil. If you all come with me, there is every possibility that you may not ever see our world again. You can still choose to stay here and I won’t blame you.”
“Oh, Harry,” Hermione sighed in exasperation. We’ve had this talk a million times. I don’t have much left to stay here for anymore. Yes, I have friends, but they are all moving on with their lives. My parents will never get their memories back, and I’ve made my peace with that. I am determined to see this through, to end Voldemort once and for all. Even without the need to go for the sake of peace, the pursuit of knowledge would likely be enough to persuade me. I’m ready.”
“Potter,” Severus drawled, “I do not like repeating myself, but I will say this once more, and only this once. I made a vow to protect you to the best of my ability and have made it my life’s mission to see to the end of the Dark Lord. We are, unfortunately, stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.”
“Harry,” Draco pulled Harry close to him and cupped his face in his hands as he looked down into his eyes. “My love, you will not get rid of me so easily. I haven’t been afforded many of my own choices in this life, but this I choose. I choose you and whatever this new world may hold for us.” He leaned down to brush his lips lightly against Harry’s and smiled when the tension left his shoulders.
“Merlin, Draco, when did you become such a sap?” Harry asked with a blush rising to his cheeks.
Before Draco could retort, Severus said “If we are done bearing witness to your displays of.. affection.. Perhaps it would be best to get this over with.”
With the four of them in agreement, they linked hands tightly, knowing that the only chance they had of making it to the same realm as Voldemort was trusting that the bit of Voldemort’s soul residing in Harry wouldn’t lead them astray. If any of them let go of Harry, it was entirely possible that they would wind up in separate worlds with impossible odds of ever finding one another again.
Taking one last breath, Harry walked through the veil, holding tightly to Draco, who had a death grip on Hermione, who would not release Severus until they were safely on the other side.
_*_*_*_*_
“Cauldron boil me, Tam!” Lucien exclaimed. “There are hardly any sentries left, how can you possibly justify sending Andras out?”
“Lucien.. There are mere months left to break the curse. How can I give up? This is for the good of my court. I don’t-”
CRASH
Immediately, Lucien had his sword drawn and Tamlin had his claws out. Both males had jumped away from the table, which now had four unconscious people atop the broken pieces.
“Human,” Lucien said. “They’re all human. How did they get through the wards?”
“I don’t know, Lucien.” Tamlin eyed the humans, three males and one female, with a cautious eye. Were they tricks of Amarantha? Some sort of game to entertain her towards the end of the curse? Or could these strange humans be just the miracle he was hoping for? “Have Alis set up rooms for our guests. We shall see when they wake why they have come here.”