Misguided Intentions

~~~~~~~Misguided Intentions~~~~~~~

This is an alternate ending for this fic since for the past six months I have had many a request for it. Hopefully it will satisfy those of you who wished for the different ending :)

For anyone who read this chapter the first time, it's been reedited yet again :gaze up: I wasn't happy with the way it turned out in the last rewrite after I gave it another thoroughly reading, I realised I really had made it too similar to the first ending which wasn't my original intent, nor what I was asked to do :mutter: So hopefully this time it will work a bit better :) I'll say it here, and again at the end of the chap...this is going to end up as a 2 part ending. What I originally had was a 14 page one shot deal, but in the reedits I came up with so much more things I wanted to do with it, and it ended up like 20 pages, so I'm chopping and rewriting so I can put out two decent chaps instead of one 'rushed' chap like I did earlier this morning.

~~Chapter Twenty - The Alternate Ending: Past, Present And Future?~~

'Oi, Harry...wake up...you're gonna miss breakfast again. Awe come on, wake up already!' a voice said shaking Harry for the second time now.

'Go 'way...I'm tired...' the Harry said said groggily and tried to pull the duvet back over his head and return to his dream of playing Quidditch for the Wasps. 'You know I hate mornin's Peter...go bug Jamie, he'll get up...he loves morning's...stupid git that he is...' he grumbled.

'Peter? Jamie? Harry have you lost it or are you having a weird dream or something? Though why you would dream 'bout that good for nothing rat is beyond me. Oh come on, Harry, get up!' the person said in a huff and pulled the duvet off his friend in one swoop now.

Harry rolled over in protest, trying to focus on the voice speaking but oddly enough found himself to be having problems seeing. The voice speaking now didn't sound familiar though now that he thought about it...yet in a strange way it did. Like it was someone he hadn't heard from in a very, very long time. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes he yawned, still half asleep, then said in an annoyed tone of voice, 'Peter, if you're messing with me on the last day of school...I swear I'm going to let Moony bite you on the next full moon!'

'Moony? Last day of school? I wish! Geeze, Harry, that's one hell of a dream you must have had if you were dreaming 'bout those people. And I'm not messing with you, if you'd put your glasses on already you'd know that. The dresser's to your left Harry...' the voice said now in exasperation as again Harry was reaching off to his right, though for what he wasn't sure. Everything at the moment was just big blurs, though he wasn't sure why. Reaching off to his left as he was told to do now however, he felt cold metal under his fingers and indeed it was a pair of glasses. From the feel of it...they were his glasses too. Glasses that he hadn't worn in forever now, and putting them on he blinked quickly to try and get used to them again, wondering again why he even needed them.

'Finally, will you get up now? We're going to be late for breakfast and we've still got to finish that homework assignment for today on vampires for Professor Lupin. Not to mention we have a two foot essay due tomorrow for Professor Lockhart. I still can't believe we chose to take Muggle Studies this year, honestly! I could strangle Hermione for even suggesting it!' the voice said petulantly.

'P-professor L-Lupin? P-professor...L-Lockhart? Muggle Studies?' Harry repeated stupidly, then he finally looked at the person who had been speaking and sat there stunned. Drawing his breath in sharply and letting it out slowly, he wasn't quite believing what, or rather who, he was now seeing. 'R-Ron? Ron is that...you?' he said astonished. The name sounded familiar to him, he was sure that it was the boy's name, but it had been over half a year since he had even last thought on him really, and the boy in front of him seemed more like a distant, faded memory than anything else.

Ron rolled his eyes and shook his head, making a tsking sound as if he did understand what was going on somehow. 'You messing 'bout with bludgers again at the pitch last night, weren't you and one must have hit you. 'Of course it's me, who else would be harping 'bout homework this early in the morning...'cept maybe 'Mione,' he said with a chuckle. Seeing how pale his friend had gone however as he was speaking he got concerned and said, 'Harry? You all right mate? You don't look so good. You were messing 'bout with bludgers again weren't you! One must have pegged you good this time too, you didn't even hear me come in last night.'

Harry shook his head in a daze, too stunned yet to respond. Finally he looked round the room he was in, and he began to realize where he was, like a ghostly image coming back to haunt him.. This was his old dorm room. Not the dorm room he had slept in only just last night...but the dorm in which he had slept in nine very long months ago. This one was the one he had once shared with his best friend Ron Weasley, and his other dorm mates Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Up until last night though he had shared this dorm with James, Peter, Sirius, Remus...and Draco. He remembered now there had been six beds in this room last night, not the five that were there now, which is why it seemed so spacious at the moment.

A strange panic began to well up in him now. Closing his eyes as if he wanted to erase what he was seeing, he felt a touch better when the old memories of being a Marauder and everything he'd been through in the past nine months flowed back to him, and reopening his eyes he looked round, his eyes once again seeing six beds where his friends slept. Though of course Draco had been sharing his bed for months now, just as Peter and Sirius had been doing since Yule.

When he saw no one however he became concerned, then thought this had to be a last day prank or something, typical Marauder style. Though why they would choose him to play it on he wasn't sure, he was usually the one coming up with the pranks lately more than not. 'Dray? Dray where are you luv? Oh come on this is not funny mates! Moony? Prongs? Padfoot? Peter? Severus? Lils? Someone answer me...please? This is not what I would call a 'decent Marauder prank' guys! Dray...this is not the way to start out a wedding day, you're only ticking me off now!' he called out now, partly angry to be at the tail end of what had to be a prank...and yet...half afraid that somehow...perhaps this wasn't a prank.

Ron however just stared at Harry in shock at hearing this. 'Harry? Harry, maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey, you're acting really odd now. Why are looking for those people, Harry? And Severus? When did you start calling Professor Snape by his first name? When did you start calling Professor Lupin by the name Moony, only Sirius does that. What's going on, Harry? Who's wedding day?' he asked totally confused now.

Harry however was paying little attention to Ron at the moment, his mind was reeling at what was going on. He couldn't be seeing or hearing what he was, this couldn't be happening today of all days. He knew today was the last day of school so a prank might be in order since they never did pull the 'big' last prank everyone thought they would. He knew they were all supposed to leave for Hogsmeade soon, but it couldn't be that late already. He really wasn't happy at being the butt of a prank just now either, not when today was the first day of the rest of their lives...Marauder's till the end. He also didn't understand why he would need his glasses either when for nine months now he hadn't needed them.

Looking round the dorm room again he shook his head in wonder, fear now really slipping through him like hot lead. His friends...they really weren't there. Closing his eyes he tried to focus on breathing normally again, and when he reopened them now he saw....there really were only five beds...not six as there were supposed to be. The boy in front of him was...someone he had once known...but for the moment it escaped him again who he even was or why he knew him.

He tried to think back to how he had even gotten here to this strange dorm room, but everything seemed a blank at the moment. That was until he glanced down at his hands. Hands that were clutching his duvet with white knuckles...and then with a wave of relief his eyes rested on something on one of his hands, and a soft smile spread across his face. It was a ring...a shiny golden ring...that he was now looking at, and the only thing he knew right now would keep him sane.

Harry jumped out of bed, shaking his head again at the situation he was in as strange memories started flowing into his mind. He knew something was very wrong here, Draco wasn't there, but Ron...yes...he remembered the other boy now...Ron was there, and was looking at Harry like he had just lost more than a few of his marbles. Which at the moment was exactly how Harry felt, not to mention completely empty at not having Draco next to him when he woke up, something that in five months hadn't happened. No good morning snuggle, no words of morning love, and above all...no good morning kiss which made Harry feel like someone had stabbed him in the stomach right just then at the loss.

Looking up at Ron he said in a pained voice, 'Sorry...listen, R-Ron...I'll umm...I'll meet you downstairs. I've err...got something I've got to do first all right?' He then got out of his bed quickly, noticing right away the temperature difference of the room. It was warm, but not the warmth of the beginning of Summer as it had been just yesterday, but rather the cooler warmth that comes at the end of Summer, as it was turning into Autumn.

'Err...sure, Harry...whatever you want. I still think you should go see Madam Pomfrey though, you're acting way too weird, even for you mate. ' Ron said still a bit stunned at how his friend was acting, not to mention very worried that maybe his friend had really done some damage with a missed bludger last night and didn't tell him for some reason. He gave Harry a strange glance before he started to head for the door, shaking his head as he wondered what on earth was going on.

Harry suddenly thought of something then turned back round, stopping Ron before could leave. In a far off type voice, 'Wait...Ron...do...do you remember how...how I got here last night? I mean to my bed? Or...where I was and err...if was I...alone?'

Ron stared at Harry more worried now then even before. 'Harry...you were out at the pitch last night, don't you remember? I watched you for a bit from the window whilst 'Mione was at the library, and I can say for the time I did watch you out there, you certainly were alone. Then 'Mione came back after 'bout half an hour and came up and got me, then we went back to her room and err...well you know,' he blushed for a moment leaving Harry to make the inferrance. 'Anyway, when I got back up here you were already in bed out like a light. I went right to sleep and when I woke up I got dressed then I got you up. You really hate mornings don't you,' he chuckled now, though still very worried.

Harry gave him a watery smile then nodded. 'Yeah...I always did,' he said quietly, a soft smile on his lips as he remembered another time...right here in this bed...in which someone else had woken him up all too often in the mornings, though in a far different way then Ron had of course. A way that on the weekends it sometimes warranted missing breakfast completely.

'Well, guess I'll see you downstairs then, I'm completely peckish now. 'Mione will have my hide if I don't get down there soon,' Ron muttered and with a wave over his shoulder headed back out of the room, most likely to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Harry didn't bother to think anymore on all of this, last night was still just a blank. He didn't remember going to the pitch, he didn't remember coming back to the dorm. He didn't remember how he'd even gotten here...and at the moment he wasn't even really sure where 'here' was even. What he did remember however was something far more important, something he had to make sure was real, because at the moment none of what was in this room did seem real.

Throwing on some clothes and a robe that he found in his trunk, he shook his head and made a mental note to replace all of the horrible clothes he was looking at as soon as possible. Then not even stopping to brush his hair, which he now realised by touching it for a moment was short and mussy, not shoulder length as it should have been, he quickly ran out of the dorm room to one place he hoped was still real.

He didn't even need to think where he was going, his feet took him there automatically, and before he knew it he was standing outside of a specific portrait in the Middle Tower, gazing at it in hope. It was a picture of a field on a Summer's day, two lovers having a picnic and lounging in the warmth of the sun. Harry smiled now at the two people who smiled back and nodded at him, then like a dream from the past the painting in front of him swung open, revealing a room behind it. A room that Harry knew all too well, and before he could stop himself he stepped inside, a heavy sigh of relief slipping from his lips that at least this place still was where and what it should be.

Closing his eyes a moment as the picture silently shut behind him he breathed in deeply, remembering the last time he'd been in this room. How happy he had been, how different his life had become...and the people he had shared this room with. It wasn't until he realised he wasn't alone in the room that he reopened his eyes and gazed for a moment in silence at the person who was looking back at him now, a mixture of fear and questions in his eyes.

Grey eyes were now staring at him...not blue ones. Those eyes belonged to a boy that now had silvery blonde gelled backed hair, instead of the dirty yellow blonde hair that should have been halfway down his back and neatly tied in a pony tail. Harry closed his eyes again, groaning slightly at what he swore he was imagining, had to be imagining because it couldn't be real. The person now before him couldn't be real...

'Harry?' a voice said softly, a voice that was next to him now, though Harry hadn't heard the other boy even move near him.

Harry opened his eyes wearily for a moment, once again gazing into stormy grey eyes. Barely able to breath he said in a half whispered voice, 'Dray? Is...is it really...you? Oh Godric...tell me it's you in there, Dray...'

Draco sighed though it was one of pure blissful contentment, and not even trusting himself he did the only he could do now, he threw himself into Harry's arms sobbing in relief. 'Oh, Flyer! I thought...oh I don't know what I thought! When I woke up this morning and you weren't in our bed...and I was in a strange dorm room with people I didn't know...looking like...like this...Oh Harry it was awful, I was in the Slytherin dorms! I got so scared, I could find anyone, not Prongs, Peter, Moony, Padfoot...not even Lils...and especially not you! Harry...Harry, what's going on, where are we? Is this a prank? You think the guys pulled something on us at the last minute?' he said now confused.

Harry just held Draco close to him a moment, his heart once more beating normally at having his husband back in his arms, yet he was still in fear of what he suspected now. 'I don't know...but I think...Dray...I think we've come back. We're in the future again...I don't remember a single thing from after we got...oh Dray...is...did we...we did get married last night...right?' he said staring down at Draco's ring now, a look of pure happiness now spreading on his face as it confirmed at least that was not a dream.

Draco looked up at Harry, for Harry was still taller then him, and smiled softly, nodding at him. 'It was the only thing...the only thought...that was keeping me sane this morning...until I could see you...touch you again. Make sure you were real. All I could hold on to was the fact I know that we are married...that you're mine and I'm yours now...always,' he said sighing contentedly.

Harry sighed in bliss, kissing his husband tenderly for a moment. 'Always,' he whispered. Bliss didn't last too long though until more things began nagging at his mind again. 'But Dray, in this time...now...here...what's going to happen next? I hate to tell you this but, I think...we've come back to the very next day in which we left...if I'm right that is,' he said in frustration. 'Which means....oh hell...we'll have to take the bloody N.E.W.T.S. all over again!'

Draco laughed now and shook his head, amazed at his husband that he could even think of such a stupid thing as that at a time like this. 'You're impossible Harry Dursley...oh...I take that back...you're 100% proof positive batty...Harry Malloy,' he said with a devilish grin and nipped at his husbands neck hungrily.

Harry grinned now and before Draco could say another word he leaned down and kissed his husband not tenderly like before, but as if they had been apart for years instead of hours. It certainly felt like years anyway to them at the moment, unfortunately however time in this case was against them. Finally it kicked in what Draco had said, and Harry groaned again, shaking his head whilst trying to remember what Ron had also said to him earlier.

'Draco we've got serious problems, and I don't mean the canine variety as per usual, though Merlin I wish I did,' he sighed. 'The future...I mean...the present...oh hell I don't know what to call it!' he said in frustration now.

'Try using the here and now maybe? It's not really our 'future' any longer...nor our 'past'. Not even our 'present'. Merlin this is confusing!,' Draco said equally frustrated, and drew his husband over to the bed to sit down, making sure to keep a firm grasp on Harry's hands.

Harry nodded. 'Right we'll just call it the here and now in the meantime. Anyway it's changed...or at least some of it has...I think. I'm getting such weird memories even now but...Ron...I think it was Ron anyway...he said that Moony is teaching, Dray. And so is Sev...but I'm pretty sure I remember that he was a professor even before we left.'

Draco frowned then and tried to remember back so long ago. 'He was...I remember that. Wasn't the DADA teacher someone named Havery or something when we left though? I think he was a vampire...or a vampeal or soemthing,' he said quite unsure himself.

Harry nodded. 'I think it was he was half veela, not vampire, I don't really remember honestly. I know for fact though it wasn't Moony. He only taught here in...damn...second...or was it third...yeah...that's right...our third year. That's not all of it either...' he said fidgeting now.

'What else is there?' Draco asked a bit concerned.

'There's a...a Muggle Studies professor...and I certainly don't remember taking Muggle Studies before I left...but his name...well...I assume it's him...is...Lockhart,' Harry said in a pained voice.

'Lockhart? Are you sure, Harry? Maybe you misheard what that bloke said?' Draco said groaning slightly at what he now semi-remembered of the overstuffed, boorish, annoying man who'd taught them once before.

Harry shook his head quickly. 'I'm sure, Dray. He said 'Lockhart', and that he teaches Muggle Studies. Dray I know without a doubt that I was not in Muggle Studies when I left, why would I need it? I hate the Muggle world...well...I don't hate it you know that...but I had to live in long enough where I didn't need a course on it. And I certainly would never have signed up a class with that git teaching it!' Harry grumbled now.

Draco was about to respond when to both boys amazement the portrait door opened, and two men walked in, two men that the boys knew all too well and gasped in surprise at seeing. Though not the same as they had seen them last, they were older of course, the two men were smiling like children. They quickly walked over to the boys and to both their surprise, the men picked them up in a giant group hug as if they were long lost brothers. Harry and Draco were smile too now, beaming actually at the two men, and hugged them back equally like brothers.

'Remus...Severus! I don't believe it, what are you two doing here?' Harry said now in shock, though happily so, and sat back down on the bed again next to his husband.

'We've been checking the room every morning for a couple days now, waiting for the two of you to come back actually. We weren't sure exactly when the Mirror would have sent you back to exactly, we had a good timetable though. We know it's only been a day to the both of you, but it's been nineteen very long years for us. Merlin though, it's good to see you two again!' Remus said happily and pulled up two chairs for him and Severus to sit down on.

'But how? We didn't even know what was going to happen. This is way too confusing...but you do remember...us...right? Us as in...Harry Dursley and Draco Malloy?' Draco asked hesitantly.

Remus and Severus nodded and looked at each other with a knowing expression. 'Yeah, Dray, we remember you and Flyer, as if we could ever forget two of the six Marauders eh?' he grinned and winked mischeiviously at them both. 'Why and how and all that...it's a bit hard to explain really, but we'll see if we can,' Remus said. 'It started the day after we got married, when the two of you should have been in the dorm room the next morning...but weren't. Not just in the dorm either, you weren't at breakfast, you weren't on the pitch, you weren't up here...you were simply nowhere. It was as if you two had just vanished off the face of the earth...or never existed at all.'

'Vanished? You mean we just weren't 'there'? That makes no sense,' Harry said in astonishment.

'At the time it certainly didn't make sense. All of us were worried about you of course, but when we got back up to the dorm and saw that all your stuff was gone now too, we really got concerned. Albus finally came to the commons and told us that you had to suddenly leave very early that morning. That your 'parents' had come for you because they had to go back to 'France' on an emergency, and that's why you suddenly disappeared. That was until Sev remembered that you were never really in 'our' time to begin with, that you were from the 'future', and it was likely that somehow you got returned back there without anyone knowing it,' Remus said thinking back on that day as if it was yesterday.

'So that's what happened. I'm blanked as far as what actually happened last night though. I guess...' Harry said now turning to Draco. 'I guess we did get back through the mirror then, because Ron said I was out flying last night. Thing is...I remember now that's what I was going to do before...well...'

'Before we got sucked through in the mirror. I remember you saying that now too,' Draco said softly. 'But how did you know to meet us here?' he said now turning back to Severus and Remus.

'Ah, now see that's the tricky part. After you two 'disappeared', Sev and I knew something much more was going on then Albus was telling us. We knew you were from the 'future', so instead of going back on the train like we all originally planned, Sev and I both stayed at the school instead, and had a long talk with Albus...or rather Professor Dumbledore at the time,' Remus said with a chuckle.

'That's when he told us everything, or I should say...Remy and I wangled it all out of him, that day after you disappeared. He told us about the Mirror of Wrongdoings, he finally figured out that it was that mirror and not the Mirror of Erised you had come through. He told us your real names too, under extreme duress I might add,' Severus said with a slight smirk.

'Try that you spiked his pumpkin juice with Veritaserum before we talked to him, Sev. You really would have made a great Marauder you know,' Remus laughed.

'Anyway, after we finally got the full confession from Albus, between the three of us, we decided to pinpoint down the day you would 'rearrive' in the future again so to speak. It stumped us for a bit actually, Albus didn't seem to remember the exact date that you had arrived for some reason, but we did assume you would come back on the day if not also time you left. It was actually pretty easy in the end though once Remy and I figured out it wasn't James and Lucius we saw the night you got to the past...it was the two of you, and unlike Albus, I did remember that date,' Severus said.

Harry and Draco nodded a bit sheepishly. 'Yeah it was us. Thankfully it was dark enough down there thought you two couldn't tell there were differences in us at the time, and it worked out in the end. You see we saw the two of you before we could get to Professor Dumbledore and tell him what was going on. He changed us round a bit, then put the spell on Harry so he could speak French so we could hopefully avoid suspicions by being 'exchange' students,' Draco said.

'Well you certainly could pass for them in a dark corridor that's for sure, at least as you are now,' Remus grinned. 'Tell you though, you almost had us thinking James and Lucius were having an affair for a moment!' he teased.

'Oi, don't spoil my appetite for the day, Remy,' Severus said dryly causing everyone to laugh.

'Well anyway, I don't know why you're 'blanked' on last night, could be an after effect of the mirror returning you as suddenly as it did, Albus might know though. We didn't know exactly where you'd end up, but Sev and I figured this room would be most likely the first place you'd both go to see if it was all real soon as you could, and we were right,' Remus said happily.

Harry meanwhile was thinking on something else, something that was now buzzing in his mind for whatever reason he didn't know, or maybe didn't want to know, but curiosity got the better of him. 'Ron said there's a professor here named Lockhart, is that who I think it is, the picture perfect prat from hell?' Harry said with a slight scowl.

Remus and Severus exchanged looks between them, then nodded their heads. 'There's a lot about the present that's been...'changed'...I guess...from what you two might still remember it being, Flyer. Albus told us this most likely would happen, so that's why we had to catch you...before you went out there and errr...' Remus began hesitantly, looking for the right words to say now.

'In other words before you said or did something to make people think you've gone off your rockers,' Severus said finishing out Remus's sentence with a chuckle.

'Oh wonderful, like we really needed that right off the bat eh? Bad enough the way things were at that. So that prat really is teaching again?' Harry sighed now dejectedly.

'He's actually not a bad bloke these days, Harry. I remember reading about him back in your second year, though it might not be all you remember. After that incident in the Chamber when he lost his memory, he did manage to get it back. However, he was forced into coming clean, that everything he had written pretty much was a pack of lies, and after that he hid himself in the Muggle world for a few years. Albus hired him just this year after proving he finally is capable of being a decent professor now. I think you'll like the change,' Remus said.

'Well that remains to be seen. What else has changed?' Draco said shaking his head at the prospect that Gilderoy Lockhart could ever change.

'More than you think...or maybe more then we think. Which is why first...there's a few things we have to know as well, because our memory of the past, and your memory of the past...are probably two different things,' Severus said in all serious now.

Harry and Draco nodded and then for the next few hours or so everyone compared notes on what had been, and now what was. Harry and Draco were relieved to know that Severus and Remus were still married, and from the changes in Severus, Remus had been quite the positive influence. Severus actually looked very good now that they really had a chance to remember the 'old' Severus Snape. His once oily, greasy hair from his youth was now clean, and neatly tied back in a pony tail since he had grown it down to the middle of his back now.

Severus nose wasn't completely hooked like it had been, since in this 'changed' time somehow he never got it broken as a death eater, which is why it had been more hooked then in the past. His skin was tanned now, no longer pasty and sallow, which Harry and Draco found was the result of the fact he and Remus owned a beach-side cottage that they used during the Summers. That reference only served in reminding the two boys again that it was now only a month into the new term, rather then their graduation as it should have been.

Oddly enough the more they swapped stories, the more of the 'past' of what Remus and Severus were speaking on seemed to float into Harry and Draco's minds. Over the course of the next three hours and some in which they compared and contrast the 'past' and 'present', the ' changed past' was slowly playing 'catch up' with the two boys. They remembered, or at least were almost remembering, a few of the changes that had been made, and it was a very odd feeling have two sets of memories now.

They were glad to know Voldemort was still finally destroyed, though saddened at how it had happened, since that part had not changed apparently. Sirius and Peter had gotten married they found out, so there was another difference, though Peter in the end did betray James and Lily as meant to be. James and Lily had married in July as Harry has asked them too, causing Harry to be born right on schedule. They named their son after their old friend 'Flyer', because Lily used to joke that the baby definitely was going to be a Seeker more than a Chaser the way it moved round in her. In essence, Harry had been the cause of his own naming ironically.

Severus did join the Death Eaters and Voldemort, playing spy right from the beginning as was planned, though thankfully he was never part of the 'inner circle'. Because he wasn't as closely watched, he had helped save countless lives over the years, and had stopped many attacks on Muggles and wizards alike by keeping his ears open and 'spying' wherever he could.

He and Remus had continued their marriage in secret, even after James and Lily died. Remus did live in the flat in Islington for a while until the first downfall of Voldmort, when they decided to by the beach cottage. Severus never was 100% convinced Voldemort was truly gone, and he didn't want to risk repercussions at the time that could hurt his husband, so he wanted him far from London just in case. The more the years had passed though and despite the fact they couldn't be together sometimes for months, the more in love they had become. Though during the ten years of peace Remus had forced Severus to 'clean himself up'.

Severus regretfully was ashamed that he couldn't find out in time that Peter had been the traitor, but Harry didn't blame him for that. In a way it had been his and Draco fault too since after Yule they had decided to never tell anyone about the 'Slaves Mark' they knew Peter had. They had returned to their own time anyway before they could tell anyone, and even if they hadn't, as someone had once told them some events were just meant to be.

In the end however the wizards bond made between Harry and Peter back in Harry's third year saved both their lives. Harry was glad to know that most of that year had remained as he had remembered it originally, plus or minus only a few minor changes. Because of the bond, Peter threw himself in front of a paralyse curse to save Harry's life when Voldemort had attacked Privet Drive this past Summer. That in turn gave Harry enough time to kill Voldemort once and for all, and that part of 'history' was just as Harry remembered from before they had left. What had changed of course was what followed after that between Peter and Sirius.

Peter did not die from the curse, he was just paralysed from the neck down. Sirius, because of the bindings of his marriage to Peter, though he was hurt and angry with him for a while, found his way into forgiving his husband. After all Sirius himself had pulled some horrible things in his life, and at some point had finally admitted to Severus and Remus what had almost happened years back in which he nearly tried to kill Severus. Severus in turn forgave Sirius and Peter for putting his husband through the gristmill for so long and for not trusting him to be the Secret Keeper. Thanks to Remus and Severus however, they concocted a complex potion that cured Peter of his paralysis. Now Peter and Sirius had a small cottage not to far from Remus and Severus at the beach, and were still firm friends with them.

They were making up for lost time these days however as Sirius had been sent to Azkaban for twelve years as in the original history, that much had not changed. He had gone after Peter that day, incensed with his husband and with every intent to turn him over to the Ministry. What was different however was the reason why Severus follwed Remus, who had been the DADA teacher too, out to the Shrieking Shack that night. He did it because he thought Sirius would try to hurt his husband, and he in no way shape of form tried to bind up Remus like before.

Unlike in the past memories, Severus did not get knocked out by Harry and his friends, rather Remus stopped them before they could do any damage, and made Severus hear Sirius out. Harry and Hermione did still have to save Sirius though because Remus had forgotten his Wolfsbane that night and Peter did get away. So Sirius went off with Buckbeak because Fudge would not accept him as innocent, even though Severus had seen Peter alive. Severus was still a 'known death eater', only Albus of course knew him as a 'spy', so his testimony was useless.

With the destruction of Voldemort however last Summer, and Peter's sacrifice, Sirius's name was finally cleared, and Harry would never have to face the Dursley's again. He had moved out of Privet Drive to Sirius's cottage the day after he killed Voldemort. Just like in the original history, Severus had also been there at Privet Drive along with Peter, ready to take Voldemort down if need be himself if anything happened to Harry, but like before Harry hadn't been unprepared.

Peter had spent over a month recovering from the paralyse curse at St. Mungo's after taking the healing potion, so Harry hadn't had a chance to spend much time with him before school had started. Peter and Sirius still to this day had no clue Harry and Draco were the same 'Harry Dursley' and 'Draco Malloy' they had known in school, only Remus and Severus knew that. Remus had returned only just this year to teach DADA classes, and to finally be able to openly share his life and his name with his husband, something that both were willing to do happily. They were even secretly working on a type of potion that maybe could help create a child for themselves, though it was still more theory then practicality.

Turned out that Severus had been the cause of Draco's naming ironically, having been there when he was born out of duty as a 'death eater'. He made a passing comment that the baby Draco, who at the time still had no name, looked like a 'little feisty dragon', and hence Narcissa named him 'Draco'. Draco too had in essence been the cause of his own naming via Severus. Lucius however did not escape from a 'changed' history, though that was on all sides a good thing. Originally he had bought his way out of his dealings with Voldemort, and had still been leading a 'normal but evil' life after Voldemort's death.

However in the 'changed' present someone, no one but Albus apparently knew who either, betrayed Lucius to some very top officials of the Ministry, and Lucius was subsequently arrested, tried and given the kiss for his actions. What shocked Harry most of all was that somehow in this 'changed' history, Arthur Weasley was now the Minister of Magic. He had succeed in this history in ousting Fudge after Voldemort's defeat, claiming that Fudge was incompetent and useless and that had he listened sooner to Albus Dumbledore many deaths could have been avoided. In the 'original' history Arthur had ended up getting demoted for trying to overthrow Fudge, he hadn't enough allies to support him at the time.

From what everyone could tell the changes however over all were not that momentous. No major events had been changed really, to Harry's dismay of course on his parents end. Other then the few differences, everything was actually pretty close or on par with what Harry and Draco still remembered of their 'other' lives. The only major issues they were having now was distinguishing what was the 'here and now' and what was the 'then'. The memories were intertwined and jumbled, only the past nine months were as clear as day to them. The time they had spent in the past as far as they saw it, was their only 'reality' they could anchor on at the moment.

When everything was said and done however, more questions then answers still remained. They really did not want to have to retake N.E.W.T.S., or rather Harry certainly did not want to go through that again at any rate, and Draco was inclined to agree at this point. The fact that they had returned to the same time and day meant that they were still seventeen, but over eight months 'younger' then they really were, in 'body' anyway if not in 'mind'. The idea of retaking seventh-year definitely was looking unappealing, mainly because they felt that without their 'friends', it wouldn't be worth it.

After many deliberations and realising time was pressing on them, they all decided now would be the best time to speak with Albus. If anyone would have the answers, it would be him, or they hoped so anyway, and so they headed towards his office, each within their thoughts. Thankfully everyone was in class at the moment because Harry and Draco felt out of place suddenly, and a sadness came over them as they walked. They felt confused now, not really feeling like they 'belonged' in this time and place any longer. The memories of the recent past, the days at school, were still too fresh and overruled all the other memories they were still getting.

The only thing Harry and Draco did know was that no matter what, they belonged to each other. No one would deny that of them, they wouldn't allow it. They slowly began to let this all really sink in, becoming afraid for the first time in a long time. The past was now long past, the present was to them really the 'future' still...and suddenly the 'future' wasn't looking all that great. Whatever would happen next though, whatever decisions were made, the only constant in all of it was simply the love they had for each other. And that with that love, they knew could and would overcome any obstacles they would now have to face.

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Well I was going to do this all in one shot, however there's still too many loose ends yet, so I will post part 2 of the 'alternate ending' later today or tonight.

September 01, 2002 9:26 AM ©Piriotessa/Piri Lupin-Snape