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1. Divergence

Harry Potter put down his quill and stretched his arms, letting out a yawn. It's New Year's Eve, an hour and fifteen minutes till the new Millennium, yet he was stuck in his office on a nightshift. Nightshifts, according to Harry, had become more and more dreadful as the Wizarding world gradually came out of the aftermath of the Second Wizarding War. Not that Harry complained about the lightening workload - after all, it allowed him more time with his friends and family. Yet it was nights like this that tested Harry's sanity the most: they gave Harry a chance to think and feel, but not to talk. At least, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were with him whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night; here, sitting with a colleague who was 10 years older than him and had no idea what he had been through, Harry had no way to control his train of thought. It was always during the nightshifts that Harry felt the most pain and guilt from the War, and today was no exception. As images of Cedric, Sirius, and all those who died before they saw the incredible dusk of May 2nd, 1998 ran themselves across Harry's mind, he shifted in his seat and lowered his head, his nails again sank deep in his arms.

"Potter!" Harry jumped up, wand ready, only to find a certain blonde smirking at him.

"Malfoy." Nodding curtly, Harry acknowledged the presence of his peer, "what are you doing here?"

"No time to explain. Get your trio and girlfriend, meet me at the Time Chamber in 10." Not smirking anymore, Draco ordered with urgency in his voice. Strange, really. Harry rarely saw him at work, let alone hearing him speak in such a manner.

"Wha-"

"Just do it." With that, the blonde ran out of the office, leaving a dumbfounded Harry flooing his friends and Ginny.

10 minutes later, as the four of them ran down the corridor of the Department of Mysteries and into the time chamber, Malfoy was already there, waiting for them. Beside him was a girl Harry recognized as Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's younger sister. Before any of them could ask any questions, Malfoy held up a hand and started speaking.

"How broken do you think this society is, Granger?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed at the question. "Why? Besides all the prejudices against anyone but purebloods, it seems pretty good to me."

"Exactly. And it's going to stay that way for a while, even with all our hard work. But there's a recent discovery - don't ask how, don't ask why, and don't ask what, you know I can't tell you -"

"Bloody Unspeakables." Muttered Ron. Malfoy simply ignored the comment.

"And there's a chance for people to go back and make things easier."

"You mean go back in time? But what about the paradoxes? And what's done is done, going back in time and change things will destroy all of us and more -" Harry is amused by the way Hermione fired questions. He made a mental note to encourage her to go into Law Enforcement.

"I'm the Unspeakable here, Granger. And to answer your questions, not necessarily. This new device will be able to create two realities, one with you agreeing, and the other with you refusing. Either way, life goes on and there will be no consequences in this world, and no interference between the two worlds."

"But why should we go? Why should we throw ourselves back to when Muggle slaughtering was still a sport and there was absolutely no mercy in the world?"

"For one, you won't be going straight to the war. It'll be earlier than that. And two, I know you, Potter. You'll be wanting to save those people. Just think about it."

Ron and Ginny looked expectant, even Hermione seemed to be thinking about the idea of saving innocent lives, and Harry understood. The temptation was real. Harry took a minute to recall the faces he just saw not long ago. Then, the pained face of Dumbledore at King's Cross appeared out of nowhere, "are you trying to tempt me, Malfoy? Shouldn't we just get on with our lives and accept it?"

Another smirk from the blonde. Harry found it extremely annoying, but he decided to just get used to it. Malfoy shook his head and explained, "don't you have brains, Potter? I already said that we'll be creating two realities, or timelines, one with you agreeing and the other with you refusing. We won't know which one we are in until you four make a decision. So, what is it?"

A moment of thinking, then the answer came almost too easily, "all right, I'll do it."

Draco nodded at the four, yet Harry could not figure out whether he was satisfied with their answer. Without any more hesitation, the blonde went on explaining,

"It'll be the six of us - trust me when I say you'll need an Unspeakable and an Obliviator. And you'll need civil Slytherins if you aim for Inter-House Unity. The rest of you makes a good team - an Auror, a strategist, a fact checker and debater, and a storyteller. This," Malfoy held up something that looked suspiciously like a tortoise's shell with unreadable marks on it, "is what we'll be using. It's like a Portkey, only through time and create a new time line. We'll be the same age as we should be then, but with the same memories and skills we have now. It departs at midnight today, but we need yet to decide our destination. To best help Inter-House Unity we'd better start in Summer, 1991, but," he looked at Ginny, "if you want to start during Summer holiday in '93, it'll make our jobs incredibly difficult, but it's understandable."

"Why would I - Oh -" The affronted look on Ginny's face faltered as realization drew upon the four, "the Chamber."

Harry pulled Ginny into his arms. Unsure of whether to comfort her or to discuss the options, he decided to do both, "it's all right. You don't have to go through that again if you don't want to. And that saves the rat problem, if we are trying to change things."

"The rat can be caged, Potter. Don't be that stupid. It's -" Malfoy shut up at Harry's glare, but Ginny looked at Harry firmly in the eye.

"What about Sirius, Harry? We could make his life so much easier by going back early! You know how important he is to you!"

"But I don't want you to go through that again, Gin! Who knows what's going to happen this time around? And to be possessed by him -"

"Shut it, Noble prat! It's unpleasant, I know. It's more unpleasant to you, remember? You'll have to come down and rescue me, you'll have to fight him in the courtyard, hell, you'll have to die again! And I'm not eleven anymore, I can handle it!"

"We don't know if I'll still be a Horcrux or not! Maybe I wouldn't have to - but you, down in the Chamber -" And that is definitely the wrong thing to say, as Ginny pulls herself away and is now facing Harry with flares in her eyes.

"Shut it, right there. The decision is made, summer of 1991. Is there a date, Malfoy?"

Distracted by the argument between Harry and Ginny and the hushed conversation between Ron and Hermione, Malfoy snapped back into the reality at the direct address of his surname.

"Yes. Potter, you are the last one to get a wand that year, if I recall correctly. When did you buy your wand?"

"July 31st."

"August 1st, it is." With a tap of Malfoy's wand, the shell glowed golden for a brief second and became dim again, "We'll have a month to make more detailed plans. Now, however, we need a plan to check on each other once we arrive."

The rest of the hour was spent in finalizing details of their actions upon arrival. Finally, several explanations and arguments later, the tortoise shell was again covered in a shimmer of golden light, and the six time-travellers put their hands on the shell. Gradually, six figures were engulfed in a warm, golden mist, only they were no longer conscious to their surroundings.