History Repeats Itself

Authors Note: I know I've been MIA as of late, but I assure you that I'm back on track now and not only will I start updating current stories, but I've actually started 2 new stories that I will begin posting shortly.

Many thanks to my beta Shannon!!

Chapter 10 A Curse on Both Your Houses

Nearly a month had passed since Potter’s Dear John letter and I had never felt better.

Potter leaving had been the best thing to happen to me. It took every ounce of confusion he had created in my life and replaced it with the calm that came from knowing what destiny had in store for me. All I had to do was go back to my father’s plan for my future and I had no more headaches, no more heartache and no more stress.

The first thing I did was write my father back so that I could tell him how thrilled I was that he had found a proper match and that I couldn’t wait to meet her. Mother replied and sent me a picture of my future bride and she wasn’t even terrible looking.

After that I had to reestablish my place as head of the Slytherin house because I had been letting my authority slip. My dalliances with Potter had been too big a distraction and I couldn’t afford to let someone else steal my place at the head of the line.

With a few well-placed jabs and pranks on the younger students and a couple stories boasting my upcoming nuptials and the fact that Voldemort himself would probably be attending, I was back in. I knew it was returned to normal because Blaise and Pansy wouldn’t give me a minute to myself while Crabbe and Goyle began asking me for class assignment advice again.

Unfortunately there was also the matter of Shannon to deal with. I still wanted to be friends with her, but every time I looked at her I was reminded of Potter. Our friendship went hand in hand with my secret relationship with the Gryffindor liar and it was just too painful.

She tended to keep her distance anyway.

After the morning I got Potter’s letter I ignored her. I ignored everyone really, but especially her. I couldn’t help but hear my ex’s parting words from her mouth and it made me physically ill, so I avoided her whenever I could. I was fully aware that it made me an arse, particularly since I made her read it to me to begin with, but I couldn’t help the way I felt. As irrational as it was I hated her just as much as I hated Potter. Clearly she sensed that after awhile and she started avoiding me in return.

My rift with Shannon had forced me to ask Pansy to the dance, which I regretted immediately as she declared herself my girlfriend until I could persuade her that I was engaged to be married to someone else as soon as I graduated. Technically it didn’t really matter who I took though, because when the dance was announced the only person I had wanted to spend the night with was Potter, and clearly that wouldn’t have happened whether he had left me or not.

It was nearly a week before I could stop thinking of him as Harry and go back to referring to him as ‘Potter’ in my typical seething manner. First names were for idiot saps who fawned over pretty boys with pretty words and that was not Draco Malfoy - at least not anymore.

There was no more Harry and Draco, or Drarry as Shannon had been fond of calling us. It was Malfoy and Potter again, rivals, hated enemies and sometimes I thought that I should have given him over to Voldemort when I had the chance.

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The final night of that long and turbulent month without Potter found me lounging in an armchair in the Slytherin common room. Pansy was sitting on the floor at my feet as she leaned her weight against my legs and drew invisible circles on my leg. Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle were all gathered around a game of exploding snap and Shannon was on our sofa, curled up by herself with a book.

“So, Drake,” Pansy began out of nowhere and I cringed at the nickname. I was forced to wonder if anyone in the history of the Malfoy line ever shortened his or her name? I doubt anyone had the audacity to call my father ‘Luci’. But I knew Pansy wasn’t being malicious with it, she was just stupid, so I let it slide.

“Yes,” I muttered distractedly.

“Rumor has it you were secretly fucking Harry Potter,” she blurted and all eyes suddenly turned toward me.

It was clear that they had all been waiting for Pansy to ask that particular question and I was curious as to how long the rumor had been flying through the halls without my knowledge. Their faces were riddled with hunger for my answer, all except Shannon, who only peeked at me worriedly over her book.

I knew in that moment that I had to act quickly and perfectly or else they would have my head on a platter. I nearly thanked Potter out loud for leaving me so coldly, because had we still be together, I would have surely been caught by my housemates. As it was the shock of the question alone nearly gave me away.

“Maybe you should stop spreading lies and find other uses for that big mouth of yours, Parkinson,” I offered suggestively.

Apparently it was the right response because Crabbe shoved Blaise with a ‘told you so’ and everyone went back to what they had been doing. Everyone except for Pansy, that is.

Instead she smiled demurely, which was my first warning sign, and sidled up into my lap. “I only ask because you certainly haven’t been fucking me,” she purred.

I raised an eyebrow and tried not to shift uncomfortably under her weight. It wasn’t lost on me that Shannon was watching my every move with a slightly smug grin. Clearly it amused her to watch me squirm after I had been such an arse to her. “When have I ever, Parkinson? You know I’m engaged.”

“So,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “That doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun on the side.”

Before I had the chance to reply, Shannon was pulling Pansy from my lap. “If Draco’s going to be with anyone other than his true love that person is certainly not you,” Shannon growled and shoved Pansy away from the both of us.

Not that I wasn’t grateful for her interference, but I did notice that she wasn’t talking about my bride-to-be. I was fairly certain that when she said ‘true love’ she meant ‘Harry’ and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. At the moment I wasn’t prepared to argue semantics though.

“Oh, and would that person be you?” Pansy shouted at Shannon with a vicious laugh. The girls had never gotten along. Shannon saw Pansy for what she was, a vacant predator and Pansy always saw Shannon as a threat to her standing as the Queen of Slytherin.

A flicker of shock crossed Shannon’s face before she bowed up and nodded. “Maybe it is me,” she replied haughtily and in that moment I couldn’t have been sorrier that I had ignored her.

“Oh, right. What was I thinking, of course it is,” Pansy huffed sarcastically. “Do you really expect us to believe that he’s been with you?”

What happened then surprised me as much as everyone else. Shannon whirled around, shot me a brief but apologetic look and kissed me. After a quick recovery from the shock I tried to return the kiss, or at least as best as I could since it felt like she was practically my sister.

Pansy stormed off and once again everyone went back to his or her own activities and I was left slightly befuddled. Before I could say anything though, Shannon leaned in and whispered a cold ‘you’re welcome’ in my ear before disappearing into her own dorm.

The next morning she was avoiding me again. It took me hours to try and corner her and it wasn’t until right after dinner before I finally did. She was on her way to the common room when I pulled her into the same unused classroom that Potter and I had used the first time we kissed. It seemed appropriate somehow to apologize in the place where it all began.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted, not waiting for her to protest at being there with me.

She shook her head, pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, looking very much like an angry mother. “Not good enough.”

I sighed and tried to grab her hand but she yanked it out of my reach. “I know I was a prat, but it’s been hard,” I admitted.

“You think I don’t understand that?” she rebuked. “You’re acting like a completely different person now.”

“The guy you were friends with doesn’t exist. He shouldn’t have to begin with. When we met part of me already belonged to Potter. Gentle Draco’s gone now, but you and I can still be friends. You just have to get to know Malfoy instead of the Draco you knew before,” I offered.

She rolled her eyes. “You are ridiculous. First of all, his name is Harry, not ‘Potter’. Second, you’re still the same person no matter what you say, you’re just angry so you’re being a git to everyone.”

“Of course I’m angry! I have every right to be! He slept with me and then he bailed. He broke my fucking heart!” I wailed and nearly collapsed to my knees. I would have if Shannon hadn’t held me up.

“I know he did, and I’m so sorry, Draco, but you can’t make everyone else pay for Harry’s mistakes. He was an ignorant prat for what he did to you but two wrongs don’t make a right. So you turning into a huge prat as well isn’t going to make anything easier,” she chided.

“It is easier though. I’m back on track now. I don’t have to worry about someone catching me and Potter together anymore – because we’re not together, I don’t have to worry about how to tell my father that I can’t marry the girl he picked because I’m in love with someone else – because I’m not in love with anyone else, and I don’t have to worry about what the rest of my life will contain because it’s already planned out for me. I’ll graduate, get married, produce and heir and I’ll get the Dark Mark and become a Death Eater for Voldemort, just like father,” I told her firmly.

“You can’t be serious?” she demanded, her eyes wide and unbelieving.

“Dead,” I replied.

“That’s exactly what you’ll be if that’s your plan!” she shouted. “Harry left you to protect you, and you’re going to throw away his sacrifice by falling at the Dark Lord’s feet?”

“To protect me? Whose side are you on here? He sacked me, not the other way around. I owe him nothing. He made his choice and now I’ve made mine,” I snarled.

“Fine. You’re a big boy, Draco, you can do what you want, but don’t expect me to sit around and watch you ruin your life. You need to wake up and see that your father and the Dark Lord and all those Slytherin’s in the common room don’t know you like I do. I know what you really want and that is certainly not to marry some pureblooded bint and become a Death Eater. You want Harry,” she countered smugly.

“I did want Harry, but clearly he didn’t want me. I would have done anything for him and he left me,” I replied, close to sobbing. I hadn’t let myself feel the loss until then, not really. I knew he was gone, but I had refused to think about what that really meant.

With Harry my life had suddenly developed choices. There was no plan carved into stone with my name at the top of it anymore and I was free to do what made me happy. But then, what made me happy left and I was back to square one and no choices.

But maybe I did still have a choice even though Harry was gone.

“He’s going to come back, and when he does, he’ll be really cross with you if you’re wearing the Dark Mark,” she told me in a slightly teasing tone, but I could tell she believed it. I could tell she really thought that Harry would come back and we would just pick up where we left off.

I only wished it could be that easy.

I didn’t know what to say though, because I didn’t think he was coming back. He said he was going to kill Voldemort, and if he did that, then there was no reason we couldn’t be together, but he also told me to get married, which to me painted a clear picture that he was moving on.

Maybe he fell for someone else. Maybe there was a member of the order that he fancied and finally decided he preferred that person to me. A jealous fire burned within me at the very idea of it and I knew for a fact I was nowhere near over him. I sighed and buried my face in my hands.

“What am I going to do?” I pleaded to no one in particular, but Shannon was at my side, rubbing calming circles into my back.

“You just take it one day at a time,” she advised soothingly. “It’ll get better.”

I didn’t really believe her but I nodded and tried to force a smile. It was fairly obvious that she knew it was phony, but when we made our way back to the common room we did so together, which made me feel more adjusted than I had all month.

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I had a dream that night that felt like much more than just a dream. I thought at first that it was Harry and I in a bedroom that I didn’t recognize, but I quickly realized that it was actually Edward and Orion, though they looked older than they had in my last Time Turner trip. Not by much, but certainly a few years had gone by since Orion’s wedding.

The dream was fuzzy at first, like a thick fog had settled over my vision, but as it dissipated I realized they were both nude and writhing on the bed that centered the room. I turned away from their private moment, trying not to think about the single time that Harry and I made love and failing miserably.

It was then that I noticed the two women staring at me from the doorway. One was tall and extremely thin, almost too thin. She had blonde hair that was pulled into a very fancy knot and she wore a sheer green dressing gown over a long black slip dress. The other woman was a bit fuller and had a pretty blush to her cheeks; her hair was dark- nearly black- and was loose around her face while hiding most of her red satin gown from the waist up.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, but they didn’t answer. Suddenly I realized that they weren’t staring at me at all, their eyes were for the couple on the bed. Only then did I see that their faces were pinched in abject horror and betrayal and I instantly knew who they were.

Somehow I had managed to conjure images of Isabella Greengrass and Stephanie Prince, Harry’s and my great to theN-th degree grandmother’s and the wives of the men in bed together.

“How long,” Isabella whispered from the door. It wasn’t very loud but it was enough for Edward and Orion to stop and look at the door with mortified expressions.

They flung away from each other like fire had burst between them, but it was too late and they knew it. Edward looked to Orion and nodded solemnly; apparently giving him the permission to tell his wife whatever story he wanted.

With a heavy sigh, Orion moved closer to Edward and took his hand. “Twelve years,” he said at last and a gasp of shock emanated from both gaping women.

“You were together before we got married?” Stephanie demanded angrily.

“Yes,” Edward admitted. “We’ve been together since fourth year, but it ended before the wedding,” he assured her.

“But began again shortly after,” Orion corrected.

Edward’s eyes were locked on his lover’s, barely paying attention that his own wife was in the room as well. “We love each other, and we couldn’t stay away.”

“So you cheated?” Isabella growled.

“We stood by you, we cared for you, we gave you children and you repay us with lies?” Stephanie shouted.

“What were we supposed to do? It’s not as if any of us married for love. We were all put here by our parents. Edward and I just chose not to cut our hearts out of our chests when we slipped that wedding band on our finger,” Orion protested.

“Stephanie, you were in love with that boy from Durmstrang when we were paired by our fathers. Surely if you had the chance to be with him now you would,” Edward reasoned.

“I could have been with him if we had broken our engagement!” she yelled. “Now he has a wife and children and my chance is gone. You never spoke of someone else, you never told me that you were in love with a Malfoy.”

Orion shook his head. “It wouldn’t have mattered. An heir is far more important than love. You both know that.”

“So that justifies it?” Isabella demanded.

“No, it’s just-“ Orion began but Stephanie cut him off with a wave of her wand and narrow menacing eyes.

“A curse!” she shouted and then her voice became trance like as she clung to Isabella’s hand. “A curse on both your bloodlines.”

Orion and Edward looked at each other nervously but I stood in rapt attention, unable to take my eyes off of the chanting women.

“Every generation in the lines of Potter and Malfoy will produce a single male heir and one alone,” Stephanie announced, her voice reverberating around the room as if it were an empty cavern.

“These heirs will have a cursed existence, bringing unneeded strife and even early death into their midst unless they follow their heart instead of the heritage and family laws pressed upon them. The Malfoy and Potter sons will only find peace with each other, and only then will their lives make sense and become fulfilled. Only then will the curse be broken,” she rasped and then fell to her knees, held aloft only by her blonde companion in betrayal.

I strained my eyes, trying to take in the reactions of my ancestors and also trying to keep the dream from fading around the edges but it was no use. The scene was escaping my vision and before long I was back in my own bed, dripping with sweat and my heart was racing.

For some reason I couldn’t shake the idea that it was true and not a dream at all. The curse didn’t make much sense to me at first, but as I stayed awake staring at my bed hangings, unable to fall back asleep, I thought about it and pieces fell into place for me. I knew very little about the Potter lineage, but I knew Harry’s father was an only son and clearly he died young. Was it possible that at some point he and my father were attracted to one another?

I shook the thought away, choosing not to dwell on it and hoping against hope that the age difference between them had kept them apart enough not to ever act on any affection if it had been there at all.

My family had always had only one male heir for as long as I can remember, and I heard my father refer to it as a curse on more than one occasion but I always simply assumed that he was referring to the curse of diminishing Pureblood families.

Was that why he bid me to seek Potter out my first year? Did he know what would happen if we actually spent any time together? Did he want me to break the curse or was I just blowing everything out of proportion and pulling wishes out of thin air?

Maybe there wasn’t even a curse and it was all just a silly dream, but why would I have imagined that of all things? Was it just my subconscious mind seeking out any way, no matter how ludicrous, where I could wind up with Harry and be happy or was there more to it than that?

I had to find out.

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As soon as the first light of dawn crested the horizon I spared no time in pulling Shannon from the warmth of her bed and into the cool dewy air of the courtyard. I ignored her grumbling and sat her down on the nearest stone bench, unconcerned with the idea of being overheard because there was no one up at that hour.

“I need to go back in time. Do you know anyone with a Time Turner?” I asked excitedly.

“I heard a rumor that Hermione Granger has one,” Shannon offered. “But why-“

“Nah,” I interrupted. “I already stole hers. Anybody else?”

“If you already stole Hermione’s what do you need with a second one?” she asked, looking thoroughly perplexed and maybe even slightly annoyed. “And why do you-“

“I broke it the day that Harry broke up with me,” I told her.

“You broke a Time Turner? Draco there are only like a dozen of those in existence!” she shouted.

“Well, now there are only eleven. Do you know where any of those are?” I pressed again.

“Obviously not,” Shannon scoffed. “But why do you need to go back in time in the first place?” she finally had the chance to ask because I had taken a breath.

“I had a dream about my past, well, my ancestors actually, and I need to know if it’s true,” I reasoned.

“What? Of course it’s not. It was only a dream,” she replied with a laugh.

“Maybe, maybe not,” I huffed.

She looked as though she was humoring me when she patted my arm, but couldn’t contain the snicker that escaped her lips. At my withering glare she got a better hold of herself –barely- and nodded as if to indicate that she was done laughing and that it wouldn’t happen again. “Okay, if you’re set on this theory, then I might have an answer for you.”

She was silent after that and I couldn’t seem to get it across to her how important it was she told me what she knew. “Well!” I demanded after another moment.

After rolling her eyes delicately she finally continued. “I was snooping around in the restricted section of the Beaxbatons library earlier in the year and I stumbled upon an interesting book on illegal potions. It was fascinating really, the recipes for everything from pox powders to imploding serums was in it,” she mused reverently as if flipping through the pages in her mind’s eye.

“Why would that be helpful?” I asked, starting to get slightly annoyed.

“If you would let me finish you might know already,” she griped.

“If you would finish faster I might know already,” I countered.

“It’s helpful to you because I remember the instructions for how to make a Time Travel potion,” she told me in a huff.

“Shannon, that’s brilliant!” I exclaimed and hugged her tightly.

“Now wait a minute,” she interrupted, pushing me back far enough that she could look into my eyes. “That potion is very dangerous. It’s only your consciousness that does the traveling, not your body, so if you can’t find your way back to your body, you could be stuck in limbo forever,” she warned, a look on her face that was all seriousness and held none of the playful mirth I was used to seeing.

“How would I get back?” I asked, slightly worried.

She merely shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s different for everyone. All I know is that you have to get back before the potion in your body wears off,” she replied.

“And how long will I have?” I asked, still concerned, but also still determined.

With narrowed eyes, as if she could tell I had already made my decision she held up two fingers. “Two hours.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before nodding once. “I can do what I need to do in two hours. Let’s start it. How do we begin? What ingredients do we need? How long will it take?” I asked, frantic to get my answers.

“Whoa,” she said, placing a finger over my mouth. “First, you have to tell me why you’re risking this,” she demanded. “I’m not helping you unless you tell me.”

It wasn’t the threat that made me spill, it was the look of concern in her eyes, which surrounded by the rich landscape of Hogwarts had taken on the shade of green that reminded me of Harry’s.

So I told her everything. I started at the beginning with my theft of Granger’s Time Turner, and my first foray into the past and ended with the dream I had about the curse. Everything just flowed out of me like a faucet left on high.

When I was finished she just sat there and stared at me for several long minutes and then before I knew it, she was rattling off ingredients and transfiguring parchment out of nearby leaves. After an hour, I had a list of what I needed and precise directions on how to make it and together Shannon and I set off for Snape’s storage closet.

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Authors Note: So I couldn’t resist a bit of Shakespearian quoting there, even if I did alter it a bit in the story I kept it in the chapter title. Time Travel potions for everyone