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The Paths We Take	By : Luckycharms Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 18436 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That right goes to the AMAZING JK Rowling. No profit is made off this story. Shout out to Scorpia11 for being my awesome Beta!!

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Chapter 4- Forbidden Fruit
Spring of 44 BC
Slamming hard onto a stone surface, the four students gasped in pain as they rolled on the floor in extreme discomfort. Finally managing to get the aching feeling to subside after a minute of them groaning, Ginny struggled to stand up before looking around at the small room they had landed in.
“Now where the hell are we?” she asked while looking around at the multi-colored drapes dangling across the ceiling before her eyes landed on a semi-comfortable looking bed. “Oh, a bed…Finally!” she exclaimed happily while throwing herself backwards onto the full-size straw filled mattress, littered with decorative over used pillows. “I could sleep here for days…” she sighed with a giggle. “Wait…no” she claimed, propping her upper body up on her elbows as she scrunched her nose in disgust. “This thing smells something fierce and I think it has hay in it…I guess my body is more worn than I thought if I find this comfortable right now.”
Hermione scanned the room, along with Blaise and Draco, but only she studied the tiny details of chamber the boys overlooked. As Draco picked up a small dirty off-white piece of fabric and Blaise held up a phallic shaped stone, she took note of the wine and oils sitting upon a small table near the wooden door to her right. The odor lingering in the air reeked of soot and sweat as the ventilation in the room was scarce and only two small oil lamps lit up the area.
“Gin…Get off the bed” she ordered while staring hard at the object in Blaise’s hand, hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was.
“What? Why?” Ginny replied confused. “It may smell a little funky, but I live with a bunch of boys. I’m used to it.”
“Ginny, please…get off the bed” she pleaded while walking over to Blaise and smacking the stone out of his hand.
“What the hell?” he inquired with furrow brows as the stone crash to the floor. “What has gotten into you, Granger?”
“This is a high-end brothel!” Hermione replied before looking to Draco still holding the fabric in his hand. Draco’s eyes slowly grew wide as his jaw clenched and he dropped the cloth onto the floor. He quickly wiped his hands on his trousers to try and remove the filth from his skin while Blaise stared at his hands appalled.
Ginny immediately jumped off the bed and shuddered as Blaise’s face contorted like he was about to be sick. Hermione rushed to the tiny window behind her, which was too high to view out of normally, stepped on a small stool in front of it, and looked out to witness a massive city lit up by a blistering sun.
“Oh, my Merlin…” she expressed with a gasp as she studied the busy people walking around below.
“What? What is it?” Blaise asked while Ginny and Draco scourgified themselves clean.
But before Hermione could answer, the wooden door burst open revealing a middle-aged overweight woman looking down at the silk blanket in her hands. The group froze in fear as the woman slowly lifted her head and cried out in a panic when she saw the four students staring back at her in shock. Hermione slowly stepped off the stool as Ginny backed up to stand next to her.
“POIOS EISAI? TI EINAI EDO?” she began to yell, causing everyone’s eyes to widen in confusion as the lady shouted in a language they couldn’t understand. “APANTISE MOU! POIOS EISAI?”
“What the bloody hell is she saying?” Ginny questioned as the woman stormed up to Draco, still shouting while pointing a finger at him as if she was scolding a child.
“I have no fucking idea! Someone, get this bloody woman away from me!” Draco yelled with his hands raised up as he tried to back away. The woman cornered him against the wall as she continued to scream, before Ginny raised her wand, and temporarily stunned her with a full body-binding curse.
Everyone went quiet when the woman crashed to the floor with a hard thud and Draco exhaled quickly in relief after getting his breathing under control.
“Thanks…” he uttered as his eyes flicked to Ginny in gratitude.
“Don’t mention it” the redhead answered as she stepped up to the woman laying frozen on the ground and studied her. “Who is she?”
“Better question,” Hermione began as she too gazed at the woman confused “what language was she speaking?”
“Greek…I think…” Blaise responded, causing everyone’s eyes to snap to him as he inspected the woman on the floor. He lifted his gaze to his peers staring at him and shrugged his shoulders before pulling out his wand and cleansing his hands. “I’ve traveled the world while my mother searched for a new husband almost every year. I learned the sound of different dialects, but never studied them long enough to understand or speak a different language other than Italian.”
“H-how did you ever translate anything then?” the bookworm asked with a raised brow.
“Language spell…” he answered while flicking his wand back and forth in his fingers. “Came in handy quite a few times in Russia.”
“I can speak French…” Draco mumbled as if mentioning he actually took the time to learn a language, would cause anyone in the room to ask him about it in interest. But it seemed as though no one was paying attention and he sighed heavily before crossing his arms in defeat.
“Language spell? But there’s no such thing?” the brunette said with a shake of her head.
“That you know of” the wizard stated with another shrug. “I made it myself four years ago. Wasn’t hard actually, it helped me understand what others were saying and even though it sounds like I was speaking English to them, they only heard me speaking whatever dialect they spoke.”
“Huh…” Hermione stated with an unseeing stare, clearly impressed with Blaise’s ability to create his own spells when he was just a fourth year. “So…how long does it work?” she asked looking back up to him.
“An hour, at most…Why?” he inquired before understanding what the bookworm was trying to say. “You want to use it here, don’t you? Well I don’t mind teaching it to you, but again, it only works for an hour, and the incantation is in Latin.”
“We are all ears, Zabini” Ginny claimed with a wave of her hand. “It seems we are going to need a charm like that right about now.”
“Okay, well…you have to hold your wand to your temple, think of the language you want to hear and speak, and say ‘Audi lingua’. It means ‘listen to the language’. It might take a few tries to perfect, but it shouldn’t take more than three.”
The group did as they were told and practiced a few times before discussing their next step.
“Alright, we haven’t actually figured out where we are yet” Hermione stated soundly “so, before we do anything and the spell on this woman wears off, we need to blend in. There’s a whole city out there filled with people dressed like-like it’s ancient times or something.”
Blaise raised a brow in confusion before walking over to the window, stepping up on the stool Hermione used only minutes before, and peeked outside before hopping off.
“Rome” he stated flatly with a deep sigh. “Sometime well before 70 AD. The Colosseum hasn’t been built yet.” He then walked over to the woman lying on the floor, bent down, and picked up a small brown sack off her sash. Opening the bag, he pulled out a silver coin, and studied it carefully. “Ah, Caesar…”
“Who?” both Ginny and Draco asked at the same time.
“Julius Caesar…” he answered with narrow brows while standing up. “The Roman dictator, military general, politician…” he listed, but when the pair looked at him with pursed lips, he shook his head and chuckled. “He played a very critical role in the events that lead to the rise of the Roman Empire and the demise of the Roman Republic…Not ringing any bells? Nothing?”
“Sort of…” Ginny replied, thinking hard on what she had learned in Muggle Studies.
“In other words, he was a Dictator” Hermione added. “He spoke both Latin and Greek and was a very powerful man until his assassination in 44 BC.”
“Ohhh! Him!” the red-head perked with a slight bounce.
“So, we’re in Rome during this…Caesar blokes reign?” Draco questioned with a crease etched in his forehead. “And to top it all off we are in a high-end brothel, where who knows how many whores had sex in here, and a crazy lady just attacked me…Does that about cover it?”
“Pretty much, yeah” the brunette shrugged. “So, that makes this crazy lady the Madam or manager, of this place.”
“How do you even know this is a high-end brothel, Mione?” Ginny asked while looking around the colorful room.
“The beds aren’t made of stone and there is a lot of décor for a place like this. Which means only the rich, who don’t already own slaves or don’t want to use their own, rent from here.”
“Slaves?” Ginny whispered in shock. “That’s…that’s barbaric!”
“That’s Rome” Hermione answered with sorrow in her voice. “Anyway, we need to come up with a story. We don’t know anything about this city and have nowhere to go, let alone any money.”
“I can change our outfits to fit the time period…” the red-headed witch suggested. “I’ve become quite good at altering my own outfits over the years. I just need a reference to copy.”
Ginny walked to the window and looked outside to study the clothing of the people when the woman on the ground began to stir as the spell holding her, released on its own. Draco quickly brought out his wand, pointed the wood at the woman, and altered her memories to the first thing that popped into his mind.
“What…did you do?” Hermione asked while staring at the blonde with wide eyes and a slacked jaw.
“I-I…Don’t be mad…” he answered slightly panicked as the woman groaned while sitting up and grasping her forehead with her fingertips.
“What happened?” she asked as she glanced over to Hermione and Ginny. “You!” her voice boomed. “Why are you not dressed?”
“Dressed?” Ginny’s face turned to one of confusion as Hermione looked back to Draco with a scowl, knowing full well what he just did.
“Well at least we know the language…thing…worked” he nervously chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to deflect the situation he knew, was bound to have an adverse effect for him.
“What is this? What are these clothes you wear?” the woman continued while looking around at the students standing in her bordello wearing foreign clothing she had never seen before in her life. “Never you mind” she continued with a dismissive hand wave while trying to stand. “You grab cloths from downstairs, and you dress for game soon.”
“Game? What game?” Hermione asked with a slight shake of her head.
“Oh, shite…” Blaise spoke allowed to himself.
“The senators gladiatorial sport, of course!” Hermione’s eyes widen when the ‘game’ clicked in her mind and went to say something when the nameless woman turned her gaze to Draco and Blaise before tilting her head in confusion. “Who are you? What are you doing here? I do not know of you…” she questioned while looking the boys up and down.
“They uh, they-they are hear for us…Madam…” the bookworm quickly spoke when she noticed Draco’s Dark Mark was visible with his rolled-up sleeve. Moving over to stand in front of the blonde Slytherin, Hermione lifted her arm and began to caress his cheek with her fingertips, making his eyes go shockingly wide.
“Wh-what-uh, what are you doing?” he inquired with a large gulp as his body went ridged and her fingers gently drifted down to his chest. When she smiled softly as she flirted heavily, his dick suddenly began to grow hard. However, as soon as his lips parted while he thought strongly about kissing the witch before him, Hermione grew scandalously closer to his mouth. But she quickly threw the Slytherin off as she gripped his tie and yanked his face passed hers. Bringing her lips close to his ear, the brunette whispered through clenched teeth so that no one else could hear.
“Remember when I said I wouldn’t hit you in the museum? Well I am about to take it back and punch you in the face, you slimy git!” she stated sharply while pulling the sleeve of his left arm down. Whipping her body around as Draco stood stunned and the color began to drain from his already pale face, Hermione grinned from ear to ear while holding his tie over her shoulder. “I want this one!” she expressed cheerfully.
Both Ginny and Blaise stared with a mixture of shock and confusion as the woman glared strangely at the duo; obviously thinking hard about something.
“They too early; they come back another time and pay first! You come back later!” she yelled while shoving Hermione out of the way and started shooing the boys out of the room as they looked helplessly back at the girls.
“What…the fuck…just happened?” Ginny questioned curiously before her fixed gaze turned off the now closed door, and to her friend standing with her fist clenched tightly in anger.
“Draco-bloody-Malfoy just happened…”
XX
May 5^th, 1999
“I’m confused…” Robert claimed in shock as he and his wife stared in awe at the front gate of Malfoy Manor. “You’re telling us…that you-you live here?”
“That is correct, Mr. Granger” Narcissa smiled as she looked up at her home.
“It’s…massive” Elizabeth added in absolute awe.
Malfoy Manor over the year, had lost the dark ominous shadows looming over the mansion leaving it bright and welcoming; the way it should have looked when the Malfoy’s moved in after Lucius and Narcissa had been married. The setting sky twinkled brilliantly over the castle size Manor as the suns’ beams radiated off the stone texture and vines growing carefree up the walls.
“It is. The property was given to us after Lucius’s father had passed and has been an heirloom of sorts, since the eleventh century” the elder Malfoy continued as the large group filled with adults and students followed her down the long narrow path leading up to the tall double doors.
“That long? Fascinating…” Robert exclaimed, enamored by the architecture.
“Would be, if the last time Harry and I were here, we weren’t being dragged by a bunch of snatchers, leading up to us being locked in the dungeon while Mione was tortured by this woman’s sadistic sister…” Ron claimed callously with a scoff, making everyone stop walking and turn to him in shock.
“Seriously, Ronald?” Molly scolded in disappointment. “Have some tact!”
“It’s quite alright, Mrs. Weasley. He has every right to be upset” Narcissa sighed while folding her hands neatly in front of her. “This home was not always so dark, but during that time, I had no control over what happened here. My husband let the Dark Lord take over and I was helpless to stop it. I could do nothing but watch as myself and Draco witnessed the torment that occurred during your…stay. I never wanted any of that to happen…I am truly…sorry.”
Everyone except the Grangers, who gazed on in confusion, looked at Narcissa in bewilderment. Never in the history that anyone had ever known the woman, had she ever apologized to anyone except her family and Voldemort. The Malfoy’s were not known for warmth or friendliness, let alone to show remorse and regret. But there she was, standing in front of all the people she and her family have ever hurt, apologizing for a past deed she knew was reprehensible.
Without uttering another word, Narcissa bowed her head, turned around, and continued walking towards the front entrance of her home. The large group stared in surprise before Harry smacked Ron upside the skull and shook his head; upset with his friend and his big mouth.
As the band of witches, wizards, and muggles carried on down the path, the former Slytherin Queen opened the grand doors of the manor and stepped into the brightly lit Foyer with a high canopy, taller than a two-story building. The Foyer was repainted white with gold trim and held a massive gold chandelier in the center of the dome ceiling, flickering with a hundred burning candles to light up the room.
The polished white marble floor shined in the luminous light as two grand eighteenth century ivory masonry staircases rested on either wall. A tall pillar of Arum-lilies laid at the base of both stairwells while a large glass table settled between the steps with a gold snake statue centered in the middle.
Behind the table was a living room that could be seen through a wide archway with an awe-inspiring fireplace big enough to fit twenty people inside. Even Ron couldn’t hide his astonishment as everyone looked around the Foyer in adoration as the mansion looked nothing like what Harry and he were used to seeing. The last time had they stepped foot into the Foyer, it had been greyed out and sinister looking. Now it stood vivid and encouraging, welcoming even, compared to the damp and wicked demeanor it once held.
“Are-are we sure we are in the right Manor?” Ron questioned, still stunned by the beauty he was experiencing.
“Welcome to the new and improved Malfoy Manor” Narcissa gleamed proudly. “It took us months to complete but it was most certainly worth it in the end. I wanted to modify everything to be what a home should look like. Draco and Blaise helped out a lot over the summer and once they returned to Hogwarts, I finished everything on my own…well, with a little assistance from the house elves, that is.”
“This is remarkable…” Arthur exclaimed in shock as he studied a muggle painting hanging on the wall to the right of the entrance.
“Ah” Narcissa stated while walking over to the Head of Weasley House. “That is what muggles call ‘The Persistence of Memory’ a painting by Salvador Dali in 1931. I personally saw to the purchase of it from America.”
“What do all the melting clocks represent?” Harry inquired as he, Luna, and Neville walked over to the painting.
“Well…it could mean a number of different things to many different people. I, myself, think he gained influence from the dream theory, in which the unconscious may be accessed through dreams in which time works in all direction. Although, others have attributed it to a chance sighting of a melting over-mature camembert…In other words, the artist was simply just playing with time.”
“Doesn’t that fit accurately with what we are dealing with now” Ron scoffed as he crossed his arms. “Can we get to this map now, please? I would very much like to find my sister.”
“Of course, follow me” Narcissa said gently before making her way up the stairs. “Now I know it’s late,” she continued as she and the group traveled down a long corridor “so you all are more than welcome to stay in the guest wing just off to the East of the library, for as long as you wish. There are plenty of bedrooms to go around and I will see to it that Valky, one of our house elves, contacts the parents or guardians, of those staying. Piskey our cleaner elf, will also collect any clothing or other necessities you might need from your homes and Keesy, will make you anything you desire to eat in the kitchens. I feel this is going to take a long while so, for the time being…my home is your home.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy” Elizabeth said softly as she clung to her husbands’ arm.
“Please…call me Narcissa. And it’s the least I could do after everything my family has put everyone through. Now if you could all follow me this way, the library is just around the corner.”
Spring of 44 BC
Draco and Blaise stumbled out the bordello after the owner pushed them through the door, into the chaos of the busy city. They looked around and took note of all the people staring oddly at them, before realizing they were still wearing their school uniforms. Glancing up at each other in fear, they quickly stole some colored cloths off a station in the bazaar, but unfortunately, they were not quick enough with their larceny.
“HEY! I SAW THAT! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THOSE! THEIEVES, THEIEVES!” the owner of the station screamed while pointing a finger at the boys hastily walking away.
Draco quickly pulled out his wand as the pair covered themselves with the tunics and stealthily aimed it at the man yelling behind him. Whispering the jelly-leg jinx, the man collapsed to the ground in sheer shock while a crowd began to form around him trying to help him stand. The blonde quickly pushed his friend forward as they walked aimlessly down the dusty street until they came upon a few guards wondering what all the commotion was about.
Blaise pulled Draco by his arm, dragged him into a small building, and hid behind the wall closest to the door just as the guards rushed past in hurry. Both boys breathed a sigh in relief when the coast was clear and snuck out of the hut when the crowd’s attention was on the merchant who couldn’t stand.
“That was close” Blaise stated while they both swiftly walked away from the scene they had caused. “Too close. We need to get back to the girls and get out of here, mate. Things could get bad here real fast.”
“That woman mentioned something about a game. Maybe we can intercept them wherever it’s being held and sneak out?” Draco replied while looking around to make sure no one was following them because he knew it was only a matter of time before the man told the guards a detailed description of what they looked like.
“Maybe” Blaise shrugged as he too glanced around as they made their way towards a large stone column wall surrounding a huge structure. “But Draco, we can’t just walk into an arena dressed like this. We need to blend in; we need something discrete but high enough in rank, to walk in without an invitation.”
“Would that work?” he asked pointing to two off duty sleeping guards that looked to be around their build and age, resting in front of one of the columns.
“I guess-Oh, shite!” Blaise expelled as he looked up at the wall in disappointment.
“What? What is it?”
“Mate…we need to get the girls out of the situation you put them in, and fast.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“This is the Theatre of Pompey…” he replied while softening his shoulders.
“So?”
“Draco…if I’m correct, and I hope to Salazar I’m not, then today is March 15^th, 44 BC…the day Julius Caesar is assassinated.”
“How do you know so much about this Caesar bloke? Or-or that today is the day he gets murdered?” Draco questioned with a raised brow, while praying hard that Blaise was wrong about everything.
“I told you, I traveled a lot. I might not have taken Muggle studies, but Rome is my mother’s favorite place to look for a husband willing to fall for the fraud she is. I spent a lot of time growing up here and that Senate game, isn’t a game at all; it’s a staged sport, conspired to get Julius to the Theatre by the men who will literally stab him to death.”
“Shite! Fuck…Okay…” the blonde Slytherin sucked in a deep breath before looking back to the sleeping guards and formulated a plan in his head “We can either go back and hope Granger and Red are still there and get them out or…or we steal these soldiers’ armor and sneak in before all hell breaks loose and grab the girls.”
“We can’t go back there. That merchant is sure to point us out and if we apparate, we’ll end up back in the room. And even if the girls are still there, we won’t be able to leave without being swarmed or they search the brothel. Worse case the girls aren’t there, and we screw ourselves more by not being able to leave, and they’re stuck in the Theatre during that chaos. I don’t think we have much of a choice but to steal the armor.”
“Then let’s do it quickly before we’re found out…”
Blaise nodded his head as he discretely brought out his wand and covered his head with tunic. Draco followed his lead and they slowly walked up and around the back of the sleeping soldiers before stunning both men and covertly dragging them into a cove.
XX
“Shite!” Hermione yelled as she looked around the floor of the bordello in a panic. “Gin, the amulet! I don’t have it!”
“What? Where is it?” she exclaimed with worry.
“If I knew I wouldn’t be freaking out right now! Help me find it!”
“You threw it in the sand, Mione, for all we know it’s not even in here!”
“Ginny, please…help me look!” she pleaded as she got down on her knees to look under the bed. Ginny quickly began scouring the room when Hermione spotted something shinny near the back corner. Standing up, she rushed over to the right side of the straw mattress and looked under the small table. Spotting the amulet on the ground, she breathed a sigh of relief, and reached for it right when the door to the chamber opened.
“Here, you dress in these to serve the Senate” the over-weight owner claimed while throwing pale fabric at Ginny, who looked down at the garments with wide eyes. “Be ready in ten minutes!” she finished firmly before walking out of the room swiftly.
Hermione stood up and walked over to her red-headed friend as she tucked the amulet into her beaded bag. Ginny opened the cloth material and when she saw how skimpy the outfits were, her jaw dropped in antipathy.
“We have to wear this?” she asked while handing the bookworm her own ensemble. “There’s like nothing here!”
“At least there’s a top. Almost all lower-end slaves had to serve in either nothing at all or just a skirt…”
“Mione, I don’t feel comfortable with this in the slightest.”
“We don’t have much of a choice, Gin. We have to blend in.”
“I’m going to kill Malfoy next time I see him! Mark my words, Hermione, I swear he’s a dead man!” she stated angrily as she lowered the cloth in her hands and scowled.
As the girls clumsily dressed, Ginny mutter obscenities the entire time as Hermione shrunk and hid her beaded bag in her roped belt, making it look like it was part of the material. Their outfits were simple; a long skirt with rope ties that fastened at the waist, leaving a long slit from their hip to their ankle. Thankfully the matron provided them with matching bindings which they wrapped snugly around their breasts and tucked between their cleavage to give them some semblance of modesty, while leaving very little to the imagination.
“I wish my stomach was at least covered…” Ginny said as she held her hands over her mid-section. This thing is so revealing, Mione, you can almost see my nipples through this fabric! If a breeze hits me, then everyone is going ogle and-”
“We’ll be fine” the brunette interrupted as she charmed her hair into a half-up style before walking over to the redhead to do the same with hers; making both girls look more Roman before tucking her wand deep into her tight curls. “We just have to get through this, find the guys, and hope the amulet takes us to a different era before someone tries to buy us.”
“BUY US?”
“Are you ready?” the owner asked as she burst back into the room, out of breath, and with a sour expression; proof she hated using the stairs. But she stopped suddenly and stared at the Gryffindors in curiosity; confused as to when they had time to put bouncing curls into their wavy and pin straight hair.
“Yes” Hermione answered quickly, forcing the woman to pull back from her insane thoughts before turning out of the chamber.
“Not like I have a choice” Ginny grumbled under her breath as she adjusted the holster holding her wand on her leg, before following her friend out the door with a hatred filled clenched jaw. “He is so dead…”
XX
“This shite is so hot!” Blaise proclaimed while adjusting the scarf around his neck to protect from chafing. “How the bloody hell do these muggles wear this shite all day?”
“Use a cooling charm, Blaise” Draco retorted with a roll of his eyes as they dressed in the hidden cove behind a large pillar.
Blaise sighed as he brought out his wand and cooled his body before tucking the wood back into his belt.
The armor they stole from the now unconscious sentry, consisted of broad ferrous strips fastened to internal leather straps. The strips were arranged horizontally on their bodies, overlapping downwards, and surrounded their torsos in two halves. It was then fastened at the front and back by brass hooks, which were joined by leather laces.
Their upper bodies were protected by additional shoulder guards, breast and backplates, while their lower halves were covered with a skirt of leather wrapped around their waists, fitted with small metal studs. The woolen trousers added to the heat they experienced making them both regret their decision to dawn the sheaths in the first place. Luckily though, the cooling charm kept them from sweating their skin off and made the armor more bearable to wear.
The boys quickly put on the stolen leather boots, that had to be laced up the center of their feet and onto the top of their ankles, while iron hobnails studded the soles for added strength. Shaking their heads, Draco shrunk their clothes to fit neatly into their armor before hiding his wand in his belt and bent down to pick up two swords and the matching helmets.
Handing Blaise the items, Draco placed the helmet on his head as his lip turned up in disgust.
“Can you imagine how much sweat is in these things?” he questioned, more to himself than to his dark-skinned friend.
“We aren’t going into battle, mate, you don’t have to wear the thing. You hold it at your side when it’s not in use.”
“Oh, thank Merlin!” he exhaled sharply while promptly removing the brass helmet that made it difficult to see anyway.
“Wait, Draco…before we leave you have to cover that!”
Draco looked down at this forearm where his faded Dark Mark laid and rolled his eyes from the inconvenience it has caused him since he received the damn thing. Tucking the sword into the holster, he pulled his wand back out, and quickly placed a concealing charm over the scar. He then took a deep breath before covering the men with the tunics they’d filched and began walking off towards the entrance of the Theatre.
May 5^th, 1999
Harry stepped into the Malfoy Library with large stunned eyes and a loosened jaw, though he questioned why anything the Malfoy’s owned, surprised him anymore. The large depository of books looked more like something out of a museum than a home study mixed with a library, and it seemed the Hogwarts library, had nothing on the esteemed one he was now present in.
The vaulted ceiling stood over fifty feet in the air, housing three dark grey iron chandeliers evenly spread across the room. A second story could be seen wrapped around the room with steel grey spiral staircases in every corner while floor to ceiling windows, that allowed the suns setting rays to filter through, filled the wall off to the left. A matching Victorian banister blocked off the upper level from the rest of the chamber, as large matching columns, sheathed with marble snakes, sat perfectly spaced on either side of the room. Between each column were small sections, almost the size of a normal guest bedrooms filled with bookcases and glass paneled doors.
In the center of the room was a mammoth sized iron colored area rug with two angled wooden desks and multiple leather armchairs, giving everyone enough space to work without the feeling of being cramped. Just beyond the study space, was a large stage with two wide steps leading up to the platform, encased with an archway. On the back wall of the stage hung the Malfoy family tapestry stretching from corner to corner with a white grand piano sitting peacefully off to the left of it.
As the raven-haired boy stared in awe, Ron was busy swatting at an index card with a feathered quill floating around his head.
“What the hell is this thing?” he yelled in annoyance.
“Language, Mr. Weasley” McGonagall sternly spoke. “And please stop swatting at the archive recorder. It hasn’t done anything to harm you.”
“A what?” he questioned confused.
“An archive recorder,” Luna chirped happily while admiring a stack of books with a charmed quill writing down notes with Neville, “it records what you want to search for so it can summon it without you having to hunt for hours” she smiled widely. “Usually it has a rack that accompanies it if your request is large-ah there’s one!” she pipped while pointing to a book rack with wheels hiding in one of the nooks three columns down.
“That one has always been slightly nervous around large groups. I haven’t the slightest idea why…” Narcissa explained with a tilt of her head. “Anyway, the map is just behind the tapestry; if you need the loo there is one just off to the right, the Owlery is upstairs and to the left if you need to send out any mail, um…Oh, there is a more restricted section near the back which I will unlock to any who asks, but I must be there to supervise. We don’t want anyone opening up a cursed tome, now do we?” she chuckled nervously.
Theo and Pansy ventured off to sit at one of the desks while Narcissa made her way up to the family tree mounted on the wall. Pulling out her wand, she charmed the tapestry to roll upwards, revealing an extremely large…blank wall. Harry raised a brow in confusion before Narcissa pulled out a knife from her belt and sliced her left palm quick and hard. Placing her hand upon the marble stone, she whispered an incomprehensible incantation before removing her hand, stepping back, and healing the wound.
After a couple of seconds, a black line began to form as everyone in the room watched in amazement. It took exactly three minutes for the entire map to fill the surface and exactly one minute for the witch to summon a book from a shelf upstairs.
Flipping through the pages, she found what she was looking for, before turning around and glancing up at the group staring wide eyed at the map.
“This…is going to take a while…all night I presume” she stated wistfully.
Headmistress McGonagall shook her head while rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers before adjusting her spectacles on her nose.
“Well, I cannot stay. I have many students back at the school that I must explain things too. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Lovegood, Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Parkinson, and Mr. Nott…I am giving all of you until the week is out, at most, to either stay here…or at your homes, before you are required back at Hogwarts to continue your studies-No exceptions and no excuses” she claimed sternly while holding up a hand to keep Harry quiet. “Professor Flitwick has already returned to the school, so I will have Hagrid floo here to collect the six of you come Sunday night since he will be available. I have enough on my plate as is, I do not need you failing your N.E.W.T.S before they even start. I will return tomorrow evening after I have spoken with the other Professors to see if we can work something out. I expect you all to stay on your best behavior while at Malfoy Manor…if I hear otherwise, it will be detention until the school year is out, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Professor…” the students chimed in unison, including Arthur Weasley who coward behind his wife with embarrassment written all over his flushed cheeks when everyone looked at him perplexed.
“O…kay then,” McGonagall continued after shaking away the bewilderment. “Please make sure you eat and get plenty of rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Minerva” Molly stated warmly as Elizabeth and Robert nodded their heads in gratitude. “I will be sure to send an Owl if we find anything.”
“I hope you do…”
“I will have Keesy prepare dinner” Narcissa said gently with a bow of her head as she made her way out of the library. "Oh, do forgive me,” she paused at the entrance “I've also instructed Piskey to bring up a cheese platter and wine to tie everyone over while dinner is being prepared. Please help yourself when she arrives."
An hour later, six students and five adults sat in an awkward silence in the luxurious Dining Hall built for thirty people and gazed back and forth at each other as dinner was about to arrive. The house elves had shrunk the table to comfortably fit them all without feeling like they were miles apart, and graciously placed bowls of thick chowder soup in front of each guest. After the appetizers were finished, braised duck with roasted glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, cranberry pecan salad, and freshly baked bread was served. A decadent cake promptly followed and even Ron himself, felt overly stuffed after the filling three course meal.
Satisfied with her visitors’ full stomachs, Narcissa showed them to the Guest Wing, which held over a dozen bedrooms, each decorated lavishly and in its own colored theme. The Grangers were particularly impressed with the moving and talking portraits that hung throughout the corridor but seemed to fair well around the reality of magic in the Manor.
Once everyone was settled, the elder Malfoy went back to the Library to perform the charms needed to modify the map in order to search for their missing children. When she finished, she reluctantly slipped off to bed and tossed and turned through the night…worried for Draco and Blaise’s safety.
Spring of 44 BC
“Are we sure the girls are going to be in there?” Draco inquired as he and Blaise looked up at the mass of men standing outside the Theatre of Pompey.
“Nope” his friend answered with a sharp inhale. “There weren’t technically any females present during this meeting. However, no thanks to you, somehow Granger and Red are now going to be present so…”
“So, I fucked up history…”
“You sure did!” Blaise stated with a worrying chuckled while patting the blonde on the back, making Draco’s concerns turn more woeful. “Might as well get this over with. The sooner Granger’s chews your ear off for messing with time, the faster we can all sort out our shite and move forward. So, are you ready?”
“No…” Draco replied with a deep exhale “but let’s go.”
Walking steadily up the multiple levels of stone stairs, Draco and Blaise nervously walked through the crowd of gentlemen dressed in red and white togas and tunics, as they made their way inside the Theatre. Julius Caesar had yet to arrive so for the time being, the boys stood in the archway and looked around for the girls.
During his scan of the large stone chamber, Draco spotted Hermione with a silver plate of red wine in her hands, reluctantly passing the out the drinks to the men eyeing her like a piece of candy. His gaze became fixed when he saw her ensemble, as his jaw began to slowly fall, and his breath caught in his throat. His heart began to race while his grip on his helmet, held securely at his side, slipped and crashed to the floor with a loud clang.
Everyone in the room went silent as they looked to the blonde whose eyes widen in embarrassment and he quickly bent down to pick up the headgear. In doing so however, Draco accidently kicked it further away from himself and he clumsily struggled to pick it up as a hundred gazes stared hard at him.
“Just leave it” Blaise soundly whispered through clenched teeth, forcing the Slytherin to stand up slowly and clear his throat while trying to look anywhere but at the beautiful figure he was sure he didn’t have feelings for.
Reminding himself that Hermione was going to rip him a new one when she figured out, he had messed with the past, he turned around and faced away from the quizzical girl glaring at him. Blaise raised a brow at his friend as the people went back to speaking to one another, before his own gaze fell to a certain redhead holding a plate of cheese and grapes.
Hastily facing the opposite direction, he now understood why Draco was acting mental, but before he could utter a word, the pair heard shouting and immediately turned back to witness Ginny holding a middle-aged mans’ wrist in her free hand, with a large evil scowl resting upon her features. The man’s fingers were twisted back as he cried out in pain before the redhead released her hold by shoving his arm back into his chest and stormed off; all while still impressively balancing the silver platter in her left hand.
“Looks like Red can take care of herself. Quite well I might add…” the blonde muttered as he leaned his upper body closer to Blaise.
Rolling his eyes, Blaise moved to take a step when he felt a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to stop. He and Draco both turned around to come face to face with a young raven-haired man, not much older than themselves.
“Soldiers are to stand guard outside the quarters. The meeting is starting so-toma, Étsi kalýtera na eíste sto drómo sas” the man stated before walking off.
“Uh oh…” the dark-skinned wizard proclaimed in fear.
“What the fuck just happened?” Draco questioned in confusion.
“The spell…it wore off! We need to get out of here. We can’t bring out our wands around all these people!”
Hermione watched as Blaise drug Draco from the room in resentment. She was pissed at the blonde Slytherin for putting her and Ginny into the predicament he had and the fact that he had possibly altered the past in doing so. Although, she knew his intentions were good, the results were simply less than favorable.
As the boys left, Hermione scanned the room to see where Ginny had ventured off to after the perverted man tried to grope her, but the hall grew quiet as Julius Caesar entered; talking to a few men while making his way to the center of the room.
Unnerved and frightened, the brunette witch carried her tray of wine over to the throne chair near the front of the chamber, where she was instructed to stand on the left side once the Dictator arrived. Holding the shaking silver platter in front of her, Ginny stood on the right of the cathedra and both pretended like they weren’t there as Caesar stood directly in front of them…only a few feet away.
While Julius spoke to a young man in Greek, both girls suddenly realized the language charm had worn off and looked at each other with wide eyes before looking back to the argument that began to ensue. Before they knew it, the man had brought out a knife, and thrust the blade quickly at the Roman Politician.
Caesar grab the dagger within his right fist, shocking the throng of people that had betrayed him, before pulling away as the man withdrew. As Julius’ injured hand flung backwards, his crimson blood poured out of his palm and splattered directly onto Hermione’s stunned face. Petrified and frozen in fear, Hermione’s lips parted as she tried to breathe, and Ginny screamed as a mass of deceivers, began to stab the Roman dictator all over his body.
When Blaise and Draco heard the blood curdling cry, as they stood guard just outside the closed doorway, they quickly looked at each other in dismay before kicking the doors open and rushing inside to find a chaotic scene. People began to run out of the chamber, making it hard to move forward as the boys searched the faces for the girls in the sea of men.
Spotting Hermione standing rooted to the floor in front of the room with blood covering her skin, Draco called out to her, concerned that she was hurt because of his choice to alter the owner of the brothels mind, and he tried his hardest to shove his way through the crowd towards her. Unfortunately, the bookworm didn’t see nor hear him and was pushed off to the left, out of view. Blaise, however, saw Hermione as he looked for Ginny and quickly ran to her. Cradling the shocked woman in his arms, he looked around for Draco and the brunettes’ friend while elbowing men out of his way; trying his best to get the witch out of the room.
No longer able to see Hermione in the disarray, Draco looked to the right to see Ginny clinging her back against the stone wall with tears streaming down her pale face. He respited for a moment, debating on whether to look for Hermione or save Ginny when he heard the redhead whimper in fear. Rushing over to her as Julius Caesar fell to the ground and the traitors of the Senate continued to stab him, he scooped up the Gryffindor bridal style, and carried her away from the pandemonium.
Bulldozing through the men scampering and shouting through the archway, Draco set Ginny down, grabbed her hand, and began to drag her down the multi-level stairs. He had no idea where the other half of his group was, but he knew he needed to at least get the fiery Gryffindor to safety before returning to the Theatre to find the missing duo.
Ginny was beyond disturbed at the murder she bore witness to and allowed the blonde Slytherin to lead her through the Bazaar without complaint. They weaved left and right as the pair raced passed stunned people, minding their own business, when Draco spotted two familiar individuals hugging down an alleyway. Stopping in his tracks, he hastily rushed back while still holding Ginny’s hand in his and released a sigh of relief when he identified the pair as Hermione and Blaise.
“Oh, thank Merlin!” he breathed as he and Ginny began walking towards their friends.
Hermione looked up from Blaise’s chest and gasped when she saw her best friend crying. Releasing her hold on the dark-skinned wizard, both girls raced to hug each other as Blaise walked up to Draco with alleviation flooding his body.
As Ginny tightly hugged Hermione however, she glanced up at Draco and sudden anger began to fill her gaze. Letting the bookworm go, the redhead scowled as she stormed up to the blonde before stopping directly in front of him and raising a fast hand; slapping him hard across his left cheek.
“OW! WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK?” Draco cried out while holding his cheek in the palm of his hand as Hermione and Blaise ran over to the pair. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?” she snapped with a stomp of her foot. “You’re the biggest fucking arse on this fucking planet, you daft little shite!” she snarled as she smacked the metal on his chest hard. “We could have been fucking bought! I was fucking groped by some pervert while you paraded around in fucking armor! I’M HALF-FUCKING-NAKED!” she screamed while pushing the blonde backwards before trying to attack him with her fists.
Blaise quickly grabbed Ginny by the waist and hoisted her kicking and flailing body away from a stunned Draco. She continued to holler as the wizard held her back and Hermione quickly stepped in between her hysteric friend and the blonde Slytherin.
“Ginny, please stop…” she uttered, trying her best to silence the rage within the redhead. The last thing any of them needed right now was people hearing their argument.
“NO! This is absolute bull-shite, Mione! We could have been sold to some old fucker thinking we were actual sex slaves!”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen!” Draco defended as he rubbed his cheek tenderly. “I fucked up yeah, but I wouldn’t have let either of you be sold! Are you kidding me? I just saved your life in there!”
“After you put us there in the first place!” Hermione retorted sharply, whipping in her body around with narrowed brows of embitterment. “You didn’t think, Malfoy! You could have easily just knocked the owner out again, but instead you-you altered her memories to have us attend that assassination no woman was supposed to be a part of!”
“I’m sorry, okay! I didn’t know it would all turn out like that!”
"I don’t want an apology, Malfoy!” Ginny scorned. “I want you held accountable for your actions! Y-yo-" she laughed when Blaise released his grip enough to only slightly hold her back. Though he was prepared if she tried to lunge again. "You don’t get it! You'll never get it!"
“Yeah, I got that!” the blonde countered angrily. “I will never be good enough in the eyes of the Wizarding World Saviors, oh, no! Only they’re allowed to mess up! The rest of us must apparently be absolutely perfect!”
“She never said you weren’t allowed to mess up!” Hermione spoke while throwing her hands in the air; fully annoyed with how things were turning out. She knew fights would occur between the rival houses, but she was also aware that they all needed each other, if they were going to make it home alive. “Look, can we just…not fight right now?” she asked gently before turning her gaze to Ginny, who was glaring angrily at Draco. “Malfoy made a mistake, Gin. Let it go…We made it out of there without being bought and we are alive. Can we just be grateful for a moment that none of us were hurt in that mess?”
“I’ll be grateful when this git finally learns to think for once in his damn life! He should be fucking thanking me for not hexing his arse for what he did!”
“I said I’m sorry…”
“Are you?” the bookworm questioned as she rotated her body to face the Slytherin. “Are you truly sorry for putting us all in that situation?”
“Yes…” he replied while staring deep into the brunettes’ brown eyes which were searching carefully into his.
“Good” she claimed soundly. “And I am sorry for this, but I told you back at the brothel this would happen.” Before Draco could think about what the Gryffindor was talking about, Hermione raised a hand and slapped him hard across the same cheek Ginny did only a moment ago. “That’s for making us sex slaves when you clearly could have come up with a better alternative.”
Gripping his cheek again as he hunched over in pain, Blaise chuckled slightly as he bit his lower lip and Ginny crossed her arms in satisfaction before walking off towards the bazaar. Hermione quickly pulled out the amulet from her bag and shoved it into Draco’s chest.
“This is on you from now on” she stated as Draco took the relic. “It seems every time we jump, I end up being the unlucky person holding the thing, so you now get to carry that responsibly. Maybe it will teach you something, I don’t know…” she finished before walking off to catch up to Ginny. Blaise pinched his lips inward and raised a brow while stepping closer to his wounded friend.
“You okay, mate?” he inquired as Draco looked down at the necklace in his hand while he rubbed the left side of his reddened face.
“I’m fine!” he groaned heavily with a deep sigh as he placed the relic in the pocket he had conjured into the fabric before he and Blaise had returned to the theatre. “I deserved it.”
“I told you Granger wasn’t going to be happy with you. Though, I didn’t expect Red to go full beast mode. I’m surprised she didn’t hex you on the spot” he claimed while walking with Draco towards where the girls were waiting for them at the end of the alley.
“Honesty…I’m surprised too.”
“So, where do we go from here?” Ginny questioned with fire still in her voice as she refused to look at Draco.
“I have no idea…” Hermione replied as Blaise suddenly realized the girls were still half-naked.
Grabbing a tunic off a stand behind him, he quickly threw the blanket like fabric over Ginny’s shoulders as the owner of the stand began to yell at him. Since he was still in his stolen soldier uniform, he simply waved the woman off who scoffed in irritation and shook her head, before checking Ginny to make sure she was alright. At the same time, Draco noticed the stained blood still splattered over on the brunettes’ face and without thinking, raised his left hand to slowly wipe at a small stream trickling down her cheek.
Hermione’s eyes snapped to him in surprise and he quickly pulled his hand away before clearing his throat and looked around the bazaar. His eyes landed on a colored cloth behind Blaise on the same stand he had filched the tunic from, and he swiftly shoved his friend out of the way. Picking up the white fabric, he reached into his pocket and paid the lady who was about to yell at him, with two coins he had lifted when he took the guards armor.
Slowly turning around, he handed the cloth to Hermione who eyed him skeptically, before taking it and wiping off her face. She thanked him as she wrapped the material around her torso, but Ginny quickly grabbed her wrist and began hauling her down the dirt street before Draco could utter a single sound.
“She is really mad at you” Blaise stated while crossing his arms as they watched the girls window shopping at a stand not too far from them.
“I don’t blame her. I’d be mad too” Draco acknowledged with a heavy sigh. “Come on, mate. We should catch up to them” he finished as he lightly smacked Blaises’ chest with the back of his hand.
The four walked down the busy street that was still unaware of their dictator’s death, with Ginny and Hermione well ahead of the boys. As they rounded the corner of the bazaar and took in the beauty of the city of Rome, Draco’s felt a slight vibration in his wool trousers and looked down to see a soft glow emitting from the pocket.
“Shite! Guys!” he called out while discretely pointing to his leg.
Hermione’s eyes widened before she looked around for a place to hide as quick as she could. Pulling Draco immediately into the first empty building she could find, while Blaise and Ginny hastily followed them. This time though they prepared for the blast they knew would happen and formed a circle. Hermione entwined her left hand in Ginny’s right, as the red-headed witch did the same with Blaise. The dark-skinned wizard then quickly grabbed a hold of Draco’s right hand before the blonde held tightly to Hermione. Seconds later, the loud piercing sound reverberated against the stone walls, but it seemed the only ones who could hear it, were the four students’ band together in a ring.
Trying their best to tune out the high-pitched noise emitting from Draco’s pocket, the group shut their eyes tightly and waited for the decisive burst of energy. Before they knew it, the blast that would have normally thrown them backwards, echoed through the chamber, knocking the group to the floor. However, they never released their holds on each other as the magic of the amulet pulled them forward and dropped them into a very cold, very white…terrain.
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The Paths We Take