Father and Son

~Chapter 10~

Verity of a Malfoy

August 2015

'Dad?' Diana asked, entering her father's study along with Draco.

Her father looked up from his work. His eyes were sleepy and he had dark rings under them. Diana wondered when she had ever seen him in this state.

'Diana, your invitation to the trial has arrived,' he said. 'And a letter from Potter. He demands that we testify that it's a lie.'

'It is a lie!' Diana snapped.

'I don't think I will let him off this easily,' Draco said with a self-satisfied smirk.

Diana moved further into the study.

'You will testify that I don't have a relationship with him!'

'I won't. Not until your mother returns. I already wrote her that I want a magical oath from her. She'll promise that she'll never leave me, or Potter will be sent to Azkaban.'

'What? Dad, are you mad?' Diana didn't believe her ears. What had gotten into him? 'Mum will never agree to this. And you've got no proof, but your own testimony.'

'And a few witnesses from Knockturn Alley.'

'You bought them!' Diana shouted indignantly.

'Diana.' Draco had risen from behind his desk. He looked strictly at her. 'I'm a Malfoy. I've got to defend the honour of my family.'

'By pulling my name into the dirt?' Diana shrieked.

'Sacrifices must be made. I will move heaven and earth to get your mother back, and bribing a few people and forging a few evidences is the easiest part of it.'

'I hate you!' Diana shouted.

She turned and looked at the younger version of her father who looked more than confused.

'Come on, David. I've had enough of him.'

Draco needed a moment to realize that she'd addressed him, but then he followed her.

'I can't believe it! He's mental!' Diana fumed.

'What was he talking about?' Draco asked, trying to follow Diana. 'He wants to send Potter to Azkaban? Harry Potter? Like in scar-head Potter?'

Diana glared at him.

'Don't tell me you like him,' Draco said.

'He's... I don't dislike him, all right? But this is not only about him. The Daily Prophet printed an article that said Harry and I have a "physical relationship". Now Harry's getting a trial for seducing an under-aged girl.'

'You're dating Harry Potter?' Draco asked, looking at her as if she'd run from a madhouse.

'I'm not dating him! For heaven's sake, he could be my father!' Diana snapped.

'Just checking! Can't have my children disgrace the family.'

'I know that, under mysterious circumstances, you'll one day become my father, and therefore, I'll excuse you for sounding like him. But at the moment you fill the position of my brother, so don't think you have a right to decide over me!'

'The circumstances weren't that mysterious. I guess your mother was defeated by the Malfoy charm and I shagged her.'

That just earned him an irritated glare from Diana.

'By the way, what did you want to imply with "grown-up man"?' Draco asked, remembering their earlier discussion.

'What did you want to imply with "lunatic girl"?'

'Nothing. I mean everything I say,' Draco responded dryly.

'Well, dito,' Diana snapped.

'I am a grown-up man!' Draco insisted, trying hard not to pout.

Diana laughed. 'Yeah, right. Did you see my dad? That's what we call a grown-up man, baby,' she scoffed.

'He's not a grown-up man, he's a wreck!' Draco growled.

'I know. He doesn't sleep much and he barely eats anything since mum is gone.'

Draco was startled by the sudden change of her voice. It was almost sad now, and concerned.

'Gone where?' he asked.

She sighed and then said:

'Let's go back to the library and I'll tell you everything.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

December 1997

When he entered his father's bedroom, David realized he would be late for classes.

He found the neatly packed school-bag next to his desk, and immediatly searched for a schedule. To his horror, Draco's first lesson was Potions.

He snatched the bag and went down to the dungeons. He'd thought about going to the hospital wing and faking a headache or something like that but then thought better of it. If he wanted to cause as little damage as possible, it was probably better to not attract anyone's attention.

When he entered the Potions classroom, everybody went silent. In front of the class stood a quite young looking Snape with greasy black hair. The Snape David knew had grey hair and looked more wrinkled.

'Mister Malfoy?' Snape raised an eyebrow.

David heard his father's voice in his head. A Malfoy is never late!

'I'm sorry, sir, I had urgent Head Boy duties.'

Snape nodded. 'Well, sit down.'

David searched the class for an empty place, but there was only one...next to Hermione, who was still scowling at him.

Snape continued: 'So as I was saying, we will be making the Draught of Living Death. I expect no one to achieve less than an Outstanding for this potion, since we already did it two month ago, although the results of certain people have been dreadful.'

David turned to see who he was staring at. Behind him, Ron and Harry stared back at their professor with pure hatred.

It was odd to see them this young. It made him feel older than sixteen.

'You will work in pairs of two, so you'll manage to brew it in the given time. You can start now,' Snape finished his instructions.

'Set up the cauldron, I'll fetch the ingredients,' Hermione ordered abruptly.

David decided not to argue with her until the potion was finished. He was completely helpless at Potions, and this was subject material of seventh year Advanced Potions. If he wanted to live through the lesson, he had to play her stooge.

David was glad when he discovered that she had chosen to ignore him. The Hermione he knew was easy-going and kind, although quite strict with her own children. This girl was much more aggressive, and her usual bossiness was more forceful. Plus, she was a worthy opponent when it came to verbal combats.

When the end of the lesson drew near, David noticed Snape looking at Ron and Harry's potion.

'Green is a favourite colour of mine, but I'm not quite sure that will be a plus when I grade it. However, I appreciate you forsaking your own house colour, which the potion should be by now, just to prove your constant inability once again.' Snape sneered at them and left their table before they could respond.

David had always liked Snape for overlooking his own, more than bad potion abilities. Somehow he sympathized with those Gryffindors who'd made a mess of their potion.

Throughout the lesson, Hermione stole glances at her partner from the corner of her eye.

Something was odd today. He didn't behave like himself. One minute, he was overly friendly, and the next he snapped back at her. His behaviour only allowed one conclusion.

After the lesson, she rushed out so Ron and Harry wouldn't be able to follow her. She waited until Malfoy left the dungeons, and went after him, hidden behind a group of giggling fifth years that were discussing if the Head Boy was more gorgeous than than the Quidditch captain of Gryffindor. When they reached the corridor to the Head Boy and Head Girl quarters, they'd finally decided that this month, blond hair overruled black, even though they liked Harry Potter's unruly hairstyle better.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

The giggling girls left the corridor as soon as David had disappeared into his dormitory.

Outside the portrait, Hermione took a deep breath and took out her wand.

She felt her heart beating as if she'd run a mile.

'Dragon's blood!' she said to the portrait that swung aside.

Hermione rushed into the room, her wand pointed at David's back.

When David turned, Hermione flung herself at him, and shoved him onto the blue couch behind them.

David yelped when her knee landed on his most important item.

She immediatly pressed her left arm against his throat, while her right hand poked her wand into it.

'Who are you?' she hissed.

'Wh... what?' David stuttered, desperately gasping for air.

'I don't know who you are, but you're certainly not Malfoy!' she said, angrily. 'What did you do to look like him? Polyjuice Potion?'

'I... no!' David struggled to get free, but she only pressed both, her leg and her arm, harder against him.

'Tell me, or Voldemort will be having you back in pieces!'

'You know, if somebody sees us like this, they'll probably get the wrong idea of what we're doing,' David choked out, who was trying hard not to look at the curve of her breasts at his eye level.

Hermione slapped him when she noticed his gaze and got off him, her wand still pointed at his head.

'You are a Death Eater. You are showing all the signs of a polyjuiced Death Eater. You are disorientated, you don't act in character, you are exceptionally friendly and you keep following me around and asking me strange things. So if you don't mind, I'd like to take you to the headmaster's...'

'Expelliarmus!' David had drawn his wand so fast, that Hermione didn't see the spell coming.

Her wand clattered to the floor near the portrait of the snobbish-looking woman, who smirked at Hermione.

Hermione wanted to reach for it, but David held his wand out and said: 'Don't move!'

'Accio wand!' he said, and her wand came flying towards him.

'Bloody hell! Which idiot gave that to you?' he asked, looking at Hermione's wand, while rubbing his redded cheek.

Hermione heard him mutter something about 'bloody witches who shouldn't be allowed to have a wand'.

'Who are you?' Hermione asked again. Her voice was suddenly shaky.

David couldn't quite place her new attitude, but then it hit him hard: she feared him!

'I'm not a Death Eater, Granger!' he growled and nodded towards the armchair opposite him.

Hermione still glared at him, but slowly went to sit down.

'You are not Malfoy!' she repeated, stubbornly.

'Why do you think so?' David asked, honestly interested.

'Malfoy never engages in Head Boy duties, except if it's to his advantage. Malfoy never calls me Hermione, and most certainly, Malfoy's not a fool in Potions who needs my help with every tiny step.'

'All right, you got me,' David admitted, grinning playfully. 'I rather enjoyed to...'engage' in Head Boy duties, I called you Hermione because I didn't know your maiden name until McGonagall mentioned it, and why the hell is everybody making such a fuss over my bad Potions skills? The subject is bloody useless, all right?'

For a moment, Hermione looked confused. But she soon regained her hostile attitude.

'Why did he send you?' she asked.

'Who?'

'Voldemort!' she hissed, expecting him to wince, but he didn't.

'I told you, I'm not a Death Eater!'

'I don't believe you!' she snapped.

'Here!' He threw his wand towards her.

She caught it with an expression of complete bewilderement.

'Cast a Veritas-spell.'

'What?' she asked, even more confused by his demand. 'It's forbidden. It's dark magic and there are wards to detect it everywhere in the castle.'

'There are no wards here. My father told me that in the Head Boy and Head Girl quarters, the wards were turned off.'

Hermione didn't know, whether to believe him or not, but it was his wand, anyway. They wouldn't know that it was her casting the spell.

'Veritas!' she said.

White light streamed from her wand and hit David at his heart.

Immediately, David felt the pain like somebody ripping his chest open and he felt somehow naked and unprotected.

'Who are you and why are you pretending to be Malfoy?' she asked.

'I am Malfoy!'

'You are lying!'

'I'm not. You know that I can't lie to you while under the spell.'

'You just admitted that you're not him!' she snapped at him.

'I'm not the Malfoy, you mean,' he smirked.

'Lucius!' she whispered. 'Lucius Malfoy!'

'I'm David Abraxas Malfoy, and I came from the future. From the year 2015!'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

August 2015

Draco was shocked to learn about the current state of things, but, while he tried to intently listen to Diana's report, his thoughts were somewhere else. It had felt very odd to see himself as a thirty-five-year old man. Even odder was the image of Ginny and himself as a married couple. He'd sometimes imagined what it would be like to be married to her, but certainly his dreams had never looked quite this dark. She obviously hated him. Or at least she was very mad at him if they both considered divorce, because once Ginny had told him she disregarded people who got divorced.

On the other hand he could understand why she felt this way. He knew he could be awful at times. Sometimes he even realized that he was being an arrogant prat, but he somehow couldn't help it. That was just how he was. And if Ginny didn't kick his arse everytime he was being a jerk, they wouldn't have been together so long. It was something Draco couldn't quite put his finger on. She always tried to help him out of his own mess, always confronted him about it, and told him off. Every other girl would probably have left him the second or third time. Ginny could rage, and cry, and scream at him, but afterwards they always found a way to make up. She had taught him the meaning of working on a relationship.

'I want to talk to Ginny,' Draco suddenly said.

Diana frowned. 'Why?'

'I don't know. Gin and I always managed to work out our problems.'

'Dad already tried to talk to her. More than once. It's always starting up again, and I don't think mum would talk to David like she'd talk to Dad,' Diana reasoned.

'You know what's bothering me most?' Draco asked.

'That she's at Harry's?' Diana snapped.

'That I cheated on her,' Draco said calmly and looked down.

Diana wished her father would still be the same man he used to be.

'What do you think about the insinuation mum would cheat with Harry?' Diana asked curious. She had just realized that opposite her sat the man that her mother had once fallen in love with.

Draco looked up.

His eyes seem so sad. Diana thought.

'I...I don't know. I always fear that she'll go back to him. He'd probably be better for her,' Draco admitted.

'Dad doesn't think so. He thinks he's the only one Mum could be happy with.'

'No,' Draco said quickly. 'He fears Potter. He knows exactly that she's better off with him.'

'Why do you think so?'

'Because he's making a silly and rushed move. He's desperate. Otherwise his plan would be better thought through. This trial, for example, is just ridiculous. Have you heard him? He's talking about keeping face. He's trying to save the family's honour by dishonouring you.'

'I know. It's bullshit,' Diana agreed, looking gloomily.

'He's trying to play his final cards.' He snorted. 'Blackmailing Ginny Weasley! He's the one who should know best that you can't blackmail Ginny.'

'Ginny Malfoy,' Diana corrected him lightly, nearly unconsciously.

Draco frowned.

'She'll hate me forever, if he suceeds.' Draco looked down.

Diana put a hand on his shoulder.

'He won't. We'll find a way out of it. And we'll get Mum and Dad back together.'

'How? He has eye witnesses, and you and Potter have only your word against that.' Draco rose and started pacing around the library.

'He always does this, too, you know,' Diana remarked smiling tiredly.

'Who?'

'David.'

'Is he a lot like me?' Draco asked.

'Yes and no. Mum always says he behaves exactly like you, but Dad always complains that his mother's temper sometimes breaks through.'

'He better be as convincing as me, or my relationship with Ginny is ending sooner than we thought!' Draco growled.

Suddenly he stopped pacing. 'By the way... how do I get back?'

'How did you get here?' Diana smiled innocently.

'I don't know. You, my own flesh and blood, messed a potion up!'

'It wasn't me,' Diana said, annoyed. 'David is dead-loss at Potions. He inherited that from mum, I guess. But to answer your original question, I think the only one who can make you swap back is probably David.'

'Why?'

'He's got the time-turner that was involved. At least I hope he has, because it isn't here anymore.' Diana showed him the empty cauldron that was still black from the explosion.

'Perhaps it was just blown through the room?' Draco suggested. 'Accio time-turner!'

'You can't use your wand!' Diana exclaimed, looking at him horrified. 'We are not yet of age!'

Draco's eyes widened. He hadn't thought about that. If the ministry got hold of him and found out about the time-meddling, they'd be in a lot of trouble.

He looked at the wand in his hand. It looked like his own, though it felt strange in his hand, now that he thought about it.

'It's David's. He has this dent at the hilt that looks like a 'v'. David's still furious that I scratched it during a duel.'

'Do you think the ministry will notice?'

Diana hesitated.

'Dad should have noticed it. He set wards to detect when we do magic. The ministry would never notice it. They are magically shut off from Malfoy Manor. But Dad doesn't want us to do magic anyway, unless he can supervise us.'

'I know. Same with my father. But when I used to set off the wards they were howling through the whole manor,' Draco pointed out.

Diana nodded. 'They still do. Normally. Strange, what... Hang on! They weren't set off because you're of age. The manor doesn't regard you as David Malfoy. It thinks you are Draco Malfoy.'

'Which I am,' Draco said, annoyed.

'I know!' Diana snapped. 'Try this out: the master of Malfoy Manor can lock every door just by command.'

'I'm not the master. My father...'

'No, my father is the master,' Diana cut him off, eagerly.

Draco looked at her hesitantly. Then he turned to the door of the library.

'Lock!' he commanded.

The door flew shut, and a quiet click told them that it had looked itself.

'See?' Diana said, excited.

Draco looked at the door, stunned. Then he turned to look at Diana.

'Do you know, what that means?' he asked.

'You've got a plan and Dad's in for it?' Diana guessed.

Draco smirked and nodded. He was going to show his older self just what Draco Malfoy used to be capable of.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~