Parallel

A/N: I'm really happy with all the enthusiasm you guys showed for this little piece of mine and I really think I will lose all your love with this chapter. B.K. you guessed right, of course this story is linked to that one which I will never finish... sort of. Love for you all and thank you so much for your comments, please enjoy this chapter while I prepare myself to be flamed like hell.

Chapter 02

Scorpius stood frozen on his feet. His father, so proud, so elegant. His flawless father looked like a mess. He was obviously ill, malnourished and stressed. His hands were shaking as he pointed an accusing finger to stab Professor Longbottom's shoulder.

The blond boy was actually thankful Albus' hand found its way to his own again.

"Don't you dare use that tone with me, Neville!" Draco snapped. "I should rip your legs with my own bare hands. Don't you ever take my boy away from me again! What if he had caught you?! Huh? What would you have done!"

"But... the library" Thomas tried to defend Neville. Draco turned to him in an instant.

"Don't you even dare, Thomas! You are grounded!!" Draco growled, tears pooling in his eyes. "I don't care about those stupid books, when will you get inside your hard head that you are so much important that that! I'd go mad if I lost you."

Thomas lowered his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just wanted to make you happy."

Draco sighed.

"Stupid Gryffindor courage," he snapped, then his eyes landed of Albus and Scorpius. "Who are they?"

"We found them in the manor, they were calling out of you," Neville said seriously. "We were going to interrogate them but Aurors arrived."

"The resemblance is uncanny," Draco mussed as he rounded them.

Albus turned to Scorpius but the blond was too shocked to react. It must be really hard for him to see his father in such a state, specially fussing over a boy that was not him. Was this his brother? Or the child his father had in this reality?

It hurt nonetheless.

"We," Albus said then. "Mr. Malfoy, we are... I'm... "

"Father..." Scorpius whimpered, overwhelmed.

Draco's eyes widened.

"I beg you pardon?" he asked. Behind him, Thomas' eyes narrowed for a second.

"Who are you," he growled, wrapping a protective arm around Draco's shoulder.

"I... I am..." Scorpius swallowed, the Malfoy pride and stoicism his father and mother had taught him his whole life left the moment he was faced with his own father's ashen, slim face, the way those eyes he knew so well stared at him in distrust.

Albus frowned, tightening his grip on his classmate's hand.

"My name is Albus Potter, he is Scorpius Malfoy, we come from another reality."

Neville snorted.

"As if that was possible. I say you two are his spies."

Draco put a calm hand on Neville's shoulder.

"Great Grandfather Odysseus wrote on his memories that with a certain pentagram one could see different realities," he whispered, his eyes fixed on his supposed son's ones. "But he forbid anyone in the family from trying, the results could be disastrous. If you were there I would have stopped you."

"You tried," Albus winced. "But we were already on our way. We just wanted to see a world where we would not have been born."

It made sense, at least to Draco. He stared at them for a while and smiled sadly.

"You then," he said to Scorpius. "Are my son, right? You look like Astoria." Scorpius nodded slowly.

"That's my mother," he said.

Draco lowered his head.

"Then you must be Scorpius Hyperion, I always liked that name." he chuckled ruefully. "Had Thomas been born in different circumstances I would have named him that."

"As if he would have let you," Neville interrupted, taking a bottle of whiskey from a table. "You are not seriously buying their crap, are you Draco? Anyone with an alternative polijuice potion could look like you in your younger years, and this brat?" he snapped, pointing at Albus. "Come on! You can't be that gullible."

Albus growled low in his throat.

"We are not lying, we do come from another reality. We are both 16, Slytherin and we come from another world! You are Gryffindor's head of house there! You are our Herbology professor!!"

Draco narrowed his eyes then.

"Thomas, go to your room, set up the wards," he said slowly, his mistrust growing.

"As if I would have been Gryffindor's Head of House with him there, good one kid!" Neville aimed his wand.

Thomas did not move.

Scorpius stared at the boy, the way he looked different from him, but still had his nose, his hands, the same shape of his lips.

He clenched his hands.

"When you were five years old, you picked up a puppy and asked the house elves to keep it from grandfather," he said slowly, his eyes downcast. "You would go down to the kitchen all mornings to play with the puppy while grandfather Lucius was in the Ministry and grandmother Narcissa prepared another one of her tea parties. But great grandfather Abraxas found you and killed the puppy... he also threw a Crucio at you."

Draco's eyes widened.

Neville raised his wand.

Scorpius took a deep breath.

"The puppy's name was Aristides," he said. Neville snorted.

"Even I know about that dog," he snapped. "Good try though"

"Did you know then," the blond boy swallowed. "That Grandfather Lucius killed Great Grandfather Abraxas himself, with his own bare hands because he hurt you. He then took you in his arms and told you that you would always be more important than anything else, that he would protect you from harm's way until he died himself."

Neville turned to Draco then, still suspicious.

Draco's eyes were wide and tears were pooling in his eyes.

"Who told you that?" he asked weakly.

"Grandfather Lucius did, we were all spending the summer in France, right here in this room. He pulled me aside when you grounded me because I picked up a kitten and it gave me rabies."

"In your world... father and mother are ok?" Draco sat down, his eyes still wide.

Scorpius nodded.

"They moved to this house in 2012, said Britain had become a jail for them and they wanted some peace." When Draco kept silent, Scorpius gathered the courage to ask. "Where are they?"

It was Thomas who answered then, his own eyes downcast.

"They died sixteen years ago, in Azkaban. Them, Uncle Severus, Aunt Poppy. They all died in prison."

Albus knew immediately that something had gone very wrong in this world if the one person he was named after, that had supposedly died, had gone to Azkaban with Madame Pomfrey and died there with the Malfoys.

"What about my parents?" he asked. "Where are my dad and my mom?"

Neville turned to him then.

"You are Ginny's kid, right?" he asked. Albus nodded.

Draco lowered his eyes.

Silence reigned for a moment.

"Draco, why don't you go to bed for a while?" The taller man said. "Thomas must be tired, why don't you two lay down? I'll deal with the new brats."

"Neville," Draco said. "Don't hurt my son, or his friend..." Slowly he got up and took Thomas' hand in his.

"Don't worry about it, Dragon, I'll just chat with them and wake you up in an hour, sounds good?"

Thomas stared at them for a while before smiling weakly.

"Let's go to sleep, then we can get to know my little brother better, ok?" he suggested as he dragged Draco up the stairs.

Scorpius knew they would be sleeping in the main bedroom, where his parents used to stay while in the house.

Once they were alone, Neville dragged two chairs and served both boys a glass of whiskey each. His face was twisted in a grim frown as he drank straight from the bottle. Scorpius sat and took his glass but Albus remained standing, his eyes fixed on the older man.

"You didn't answer my question," he stated seriously.

"I'm trying to think of a way to break the news to you, kiddo," Neville answered as he lit a cigarette. Scorpius stared at him for a moment, trying to guess what had happened that changed their sweet professor into this jaded, angry man before them.

"Be Gryffindor blunt, I'm used to it from my brother James."

"Ah, right, James Sirius," Neville rolled his eyes. "So you were the second born?"

"Professor Longbottom..." Albus growled threateningly. Neville eyed him for a few seconds, his eyes cold.

"Your mother died, kid, she was pregnant with her first child and fell from the Astronomy Tower," he finally snapped.

Albus' eyes widened in shock. So James had not been born either? All three of them did not exist?

Scorpius tugged on his hand to make him sit, his arm going immediately around his shoulder for comfort. He didn't actually dare to ask about his own mother, as it was obvious his father had not married her.

"What about Grandma and the rest of my family?"

"Kid, you don't really want to..." Neville began.

"ANSWER ME!" Albus growled.

The man sighed.

"Both your grandparents died too, a few moths after Ginny. Percy was found floating in the Thames, Charlie and George are missing. Bill ran away to America with his family and Ron is actually residing in Azkaban." And just before he could see the question in Scorpius' eyes, he lowered his head and said. "Just before you ask, all the Greengrass family is there too, most of the Slytherin in our year are..."

Albus started to shake, feeling ill.

Scorpius shook his head.

"Why?" he asked. "What did they do? What is happening to this world? Why is my father so sick and why are you living here?"

"That would be because of me," Thomas said as he made his way down from the stairs. "Sorry, Uncle Neville, I couldn't just leave my little brother alone." Slowly, reluctantly even, he stood before both boys and bowed respectfully, the same way Draco had taught Scorpius how to bow. "My name is Thomas Marvollo Malfoy," he said then. "It is a pleasure to meet you two."

Albus gapped at him.

"You are named after Voldemort?!" he screamed, pointing at him. Thomas nodded.

"Never piss a Malfoy off or you get the sarcastic naming of a baby," Neville sighed, offering a chair for Thomas.

"What the hell is happening here!" Scorpius said, his eyes fixed on his 'brother'.

"He's gone mad with power," Neville growled back. "We all disregarded the prophesy and what effect it would have on his mind. None of us saw it coming until Ron was dragged to Azkaban because all of this mess was obviously his fault," he snorted.

Albus was starting to get mad, this twisted reality had to really be a joke.

"What prophesy, isn't Voldemort dead?"

Thomas sighed.

"He was killed on 1997, that's not the prophesy we are talking about."

"Then what prophesy?" Scorpius asked.

Thomas closed his eyes.

"On the night of the full blue moon, both enemy and beloved shall meet in passion. From their fruit will the Dark Lord raise and only their strength will balance out the hate of the Bulgarian Lion. Beware of the father, for if you separate them, darkness will conquer his soul and grief shall spread among all wizarding kind." he recited, his voice trembling.

Albus clenched his hand around Scorpius.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"It means that the moment Thomas was conceived the new Dark Lord was awoken," Neville said. "But we were too blind to see it coming."

"This Bulgarian Lion person?"

"No," Thomas sighed. "That would be me."

"I don't understand," Scorpius said. "If you are the Bulgarian Lion that would mean-" he didn't get to finish, however, when a loud explosion rocked the whole house. Smoke filled the little room they were in and fire started to spread quickly around them.

"NEVILLE!" Draco screamed as he ran to them. "THE WARDS WERE BREACHED!"

"ALL STAND BACK!" Neville roared as he put all three boys behind him. Draco took out his wand and pointed at the entrance too, but Scorpius could see that, unlike Professor Longbottom's, his father's hand was shaking lightly.

"Well, well, well, it seems you really came to this nest of snakes, beloved." A cold voice mocked as a tall shadow approached them among the smoke.

"Thomas, go to the fireplace slowly. You know where to go, take your brothers with you." The blond boy nodded.

"Thomas?" the voice mocked. "Oh, that's right. It's the name you decided to give the child, didn't you, Draco?"

Albus gasped as the shadow became finally visible through the fire and smoke.

"... D... Dad?" he whispered in shock.

A tall, muscular Harry Potter grinned darkly, his eyes never leaving Draco's.

"I liked James Sirius better," he chuckled, his wand raised. "It would have been a wonderful name for my son."

Albus gapped, turning to the blond boy. This was... his brother James?

Draco took a step back.

"Yes, a great name for my son..." Harry mussed, his wicked smile still in place. "Such a shame he has to die, don't you think, my love? Avada Ke-"

"STUPEFY!!" cried Neville at the same time.

Draco raised his wand too.

"THOMAS, GO NOW!!" he cried, forcing a barrier between them and the green eyed man.

Thomas nodded, moving a few stones in the fireplace revealing ancient runes. Frantically he bit on his thumb and spilled his blood on them.

Light filled the room for a second.

... and then, they disappeared before Harry's eyes.

TBC.

Ooook, please raise your hand all of you who hate me for stopping there? =w= hope I don't get crucified for this. *shrugs* Comments anyone?