Reweaving Fate's Tapestry

Reweaving Fate's Tapestry (or I Should Have Been a Ballet Dancer)

From the record of the lecture of Professor P. Doxical, Hogwarts' Charms Master, January 10^th, 1942:

"Time travel, one of the most poorly understood and dangerous branches of magic. Even an inactive observer may change the course of history by carrying with him a disease, or losing something insignificant in the past that has yet to be uncovered. The possibility for disruption is exponentially greater when someone enters the past intending to change the future. In these cases, there will almost inevitably be some changes, just not necessarily the ones aimed for."

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1998, or a year after the second fall of Voldemort

Draco Malfoy was miserable. Strike that. Draco Malfoy's life had gone beyond miserable and was downright hellish. Destitute lepers in Turkish prisons, in his opinion, led a more joyful life than him. His life was in absolute tatters. He had had his destiny stolen from him. He should have been top advisor and heir to Voldemort, the greatest ruler the wizarding world would ever know. It had always been a dream of his, since he was little, but for a long time there was no hope of realizing it. Then, one glorious day in his fourth year of education, Lord Voldemort returned, ready to bring him to the honour he deserved, to set things right, to make the world it should be. And, for a time, his dream had seemed to be coming true. He hadn't actually been named heir yet, but Voldemort was well on his way to becoming supreme ruler of the Wizarding world and they could work out the details of succession later.

Except there wasn't going to be a later. Harry Potter saw to that. When the Dark Lord's victory had seemed inevitable, that arrogant, bigheaded idiot was lucky for a second time, and created defeat from inevitable victory. It had caused him, Draco, extreme difficulty. His family couldn't get off the hook for the second time by saying they had been under the Imperius curse, so they had gone into hiding. Draco had the feeling that they were closing in on him ever since he had approached Professor Snape, asking for help. He kept running into the same people, and sometimes thought he saw someone tailing him. He was almost out of time.

Which was why he was returning to the mansion now. His family had inherited a good number of Voldemort's possessions following Potter's first lucky chance, and the ministry had yet to uncover the crypt where the great majority of them were hidden. It was a desperate chance, but it was his best. As the Auror making rounds turned the corner, Draco made a mad dash for the house. He crept silently through the corridors and hidden passageways until he reached it. Ignoring the many sharp and deadly looking objects, he went straight to a pile of rather old and dusty books. Picking up the first one, he blew the dust off the spine, read the title, then quickly tossed it away. He did this to the next ten books, until he finally found one that pleased him, "Time Travel: Reweaving Fate's Tapestry by Professor P. Doxical". This book had, immediately after the first publication, been put on the Ministries restricted list. Most copies were now destroyed, with one or two rumoured to be in the possession of the Department of Mysteries. He scanned through the pages until he saw something that put a grin on his face. He pulled out his wand, about to cast a spell, then stopped himself. He reached down, picked up the book as well as another, then re-raised his wand. He grinned a wicked grin. If Voldemort were to not fall a first time, then his life would be in proper order. He was sure of that. With a flick of his wrist and a quick incantation, he disappeared, right before the Aurors stumbled across the door.

***