Changing Destiny

Twenty-Eight: Breaking Stuff

My younger self relayed the message that the Unspeakables gave her in her next owl letter to me from school, and I knew that it was time to deal with destroying the horcruxes once and for all. Kreacher kept the Slytherin locket for safe keeping, but I allowed him to keep the fake one as a thank you for his loyal service. He beamed with happiness at that. I pulled it out of my desk, and an Unspeakable arrived just as I laid my hands on it.

The Unspeakable was a wizard, and he held the Hufflepuff gold chalice and a ring box in his gloved hands.

"What about the snake? She doesn't become a horcrux until Riddle regains a body next year," I pointed out.

The wizard chuckled, "Leave that to us, Madame Prince. Go ahead and bring the necklace to the potions lab in the cellar..."

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I obeyed, and he laid out the items he had with him. He opened the ring box, and there was the gold ring with the Resurrection Stone on it, and then there was the golden chalice. "I still don't understand how you acquired the Sword of Gryffindor," I asked. "Or, of why I was sent back to this time to begin with to exist alongside my younger self. She is growing older, and questioning who Severus is to her."

The agent nodded, sighing, his voice robotic sounding like they all sounded, "You were sent back to prevent this vergence in the timeline, Hermione. As to how I acquired it, it was simple: the floo network in the Headmaster's office of Hogwarts isn't as secure as Albus Dumbledore thinks it is. But no matter, the Sword will be returned once the horcruxes are destroyed."

"Then, my son and husband can come back with me if the horcruxes are all destroyed?" I asked, my voice hopeful.

"It shall all depend on your decision. Already, your younger self is falling for the Malfoy heir, and Potter has not met his soulmate yet," The Unspeakable answered. "It is why you had that visceral reaction to the senior Malfoy."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Men have random hookups all the time, and yet if a woman does it, she gets condemned for it."

"Let us proceed."

"Sure."

We laid out the items, and he handed me the Sword. The sword was as light and balanced as any rapier, and I brought it down on to the ring. Flashes of Riddle's school years flashed before me, and disappeared in a black puff of smoke. The Unspeakable destroyed the chalice, which temporarily flooded the basement before we cleaned it up, and the locket required something to open it. The Unspeakable brought out a digital recorder, and his gloved thumb hit the Play button. Harry Potter's adult voice came out of it speaking Parseltongue, and the locket opened.

Smoky images popped up, as if one was stirring a pensieve. I saw my first kiss with Ronald Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets, and his shouting, "You let that Potter brat kill me, you teacher loving slut!"

More images of me with Viktor Krum on my Yule Ball date, and then Lucius and Severus were dueling...over me. "Quite the conundrum you've found yourself in, mudblood. Two of my finest soldiers, fighting over you. What makes you so special? I wonder and--"

The Unspeakable shouted at me, this time in a vaguely smooth voice similar to Severus's: "Destroy it! Now!"

I snapped out of whatever hypnotic trance the horcrux had me under, and I brought the Sword of Gryffindor down on to the locket...hard. The locket broke into pieces, and I fell to the floor, sobbing.

The Unspeakable held me against him, and I felt his lips kiss the top of my head. "Shhh, it's over now. You did it."

I calmed down somewhat, and then looked at him in shock. "Who...Who are you, Agent?"

His face was still in shadow as he calmed down his breathing. "My superiors wouldn't like it if I messed with this paradox further. May I...see your son?"

"What has Sebastian have to do with you?"

"Please. You will understand once I see him."

"You won't harm him?"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Alright..."

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We cleaned up our mess, and I led him to the nursery. He stared into the crib, where my son was sleeping for his afternoon nap, and the Unspeakable removed a black leather glove, revealing a strong but delicate hand, just like Severus. He seemed to be crying, and he wiped at his eyes it seemed.

I laid a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to study me. He lifted down his black hood, and I saw my features, and Severus's in this young man's handsome face: my dad's chin, my high cheek bones, Severus's obsidian eyes, almost identical shoulder length black hair, nose, and my lip shape; but accelerated into a twenty something year old face.

I couldn't breathe, even move! "S-Sebastian?!"

He nodded, his face grave. "Mum. Yeah, it's me. You bring me back to your timeline, but dad had stayed behind during the Battle of Hogwarts to protect Harry for some godsdamn reason. I wanted to ensure he goes back with you."

I still was in shock. Baby Sebastian looked up at his older self, and he smiled. Sebastian smiled down at him, and picked him up. He cuddled him a bit before giving him a black niffler plush toy. Older Sebastian laughed, "Hey, don't give mum that hard of a time, kiddo. She has enough on her plate as it is."

"What did he say?"

"He wanted more siblings."

I laughed, "Do I have more children?"

"I am not at liberty to say."

"Your father would want to meet you."

Sebastian's smile was all his father's, "He will, in time. Drink this potion."

"What is it?"

"Calming Draught."

"Um, okay."

He hugged me, and I kissed his cheek. "I love you, mum. I mean that."

"I love you too, son."

He put up his hood, and he was gone, and out of my life with the Sword of Gryffindor in his possession once again. But, as soon as I drank his potion, my brain fell into a fog, and couldn't remember anything that happened, other than that I needed to get to work. I went to work, and only remembered that I destroyed some horcruxes, but not how, or why exactly, just that I did.

I checked off what horcruxes were left: Nagini, Harry Potter himself, and the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. Nagini would be difficult to kill without being detected, the diadem was lost somewhere in the Room of Requirement, and Harry...gods, would Harry want to give up his connection to Voldemort? Somehow, I don't think that this would be an easy decision for him to make, but then again, it was in my time as well.

I got ready for work, and distracted myself with meaningless pureblood charity drivel, and after that was done, had high tea, and pampering done with Narcissa after our trip to the health club to work out, and check out sweaty, young wizards working out while sipping our smoothies.

I then went home, and my life followed its usual routine over the next few months until Remus Lupin "forgot," to drink his wolfsbane potion, and Sirius Black "escaped," from the Ministry of Magic clutches once again. But by this time, my younger self had her own treasure hunt to find, and her own confused feelings about what her role was in this timeline over all....