Visions From Platform Nine and 3/4

By RaistlinofMetallica

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Epilogue: Familiarity

The winter holiday was over and once more, Draco was having dinner with his friends and housemates beneath the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. Suffice to say, he had had more than enough of theory and research on the subject of time travel and infinite probabilities. And it was all due to a conversation that he had with a strangely familiar first year at King's Cross when the holiday had started. Though the incident was rapidly becoming indistinct in his memory, he still had a funny reassuring feeling deep in his heart about the whole business. He figured, however, that it would be a very long time before he saw Lucien again, and then he'd be old... with the natural Malfoy grace, of course.

"I was in France with Mum and Dad," Pansy said, trying to smile. Well, in these dark times, it was rare to see a genuine smile anywhere. She poked her food with her fork absently. "We went visiting the countryside. It was really pretty. I think I'm going to go back there, someday." She sighed, and looked up. "How about you?"

Tracey replied, "Stayed home this year. Father decided it would be safer to stay home and strengthen the wards." With a shrug, the Davis girl skewered the remaining green pea on her plate. "You can take a guess as to how exciting that little endeavour was. Little brother still is angry at Father. He was hoping to go south this holiday."

"Majorca?" Blaise suggested, curiously.

The Davis girl nodded. "Mm-hm."

Vincent cracked his knuckles loudly. "When's dessert?"

"Is that all you think about?" asked Daphne Greengrass, turning up her nose in distaste. "Goyle, kindly hit your kin for me!"

Obediently, Gregory punched Vincent in the arm, not so hard as to hurt him but enough to let him know he was being rude in front of the ladies. "Does that appease Madam Greengrass?"

"Well, all right," she huffed, crossing her arms.

And, with a soft pop, the dessert appeared. Tonight, it seemed, was a night for fudge. Draco cocked his head, looking at the plate of fudge with a curious gleam in his eyes. Something seemed out of place and that mysterious first-year's words came to mind.

"I could always go with the Ferret Fudge or the Canary Creams. My big brother stopped checking his desserts for charms when he left Hogwarts."

Quickly, Draco looked across the hall to the Gryffindor table. The Golden Trio, flanked by the Weasley Twins, were looking over at his table rather expectantly. The Weasley Twin to the right was checking his watch. "Crabbe, Goyle, put down the fudge," Draco said quietly.

Both boys stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"The Weasel Twins are looking at this table as if something is going to happen at any moment," Draco explained slowly. "I'll say it again. Put down the fudge."

Tracey quickly pushed away her fudge with an alarmed look.

Pansy shot a glance over her shoulder. "You're right! Do you think they've charmed our desserts?" she asked, in a hushed voice.

"We'll know in a minute, I suspect," Draco said. The boy hadn't said how long they took to work.

"It tastes okay," Blaise said, risking a bite or two. "Really, it tastes fine."

Daphne slapped her forehead and muttered something about a 'right bloody idiot'.

All of a sudden, there was a series of loud pops all around them, finishing lastly with Blaise. Ferrets, bouncing up and down on the seats, had replaced their housemates. Blinking in surprise, Vincent remarked, "I'm never having dessert again, as long as those Weasel Terrors are here."

"It's a noble sacrifice," Pansy sighed with a reassuring grin. Quickly, she attempted to catch Nott, or was it Millicent? No one could really tell anymore. Too many ferrets were bouncing around the table.

Already, their infuriated head of house and the deputy Headmistress were leading those annoying grinning monkeys, known better as the Weasel Twins, out of the room. The Headmaster announced that everyone should remain calm and something about pranks of this scale not being tolerated.

Gregory caught another one of their bouncing classmates. "At least this isn't as silly as those Canary Creams. What do you suppose they call this stuff?"

"Ferret Fudge," answered Draco absently. "I'm sure of it."

Tracey looked at him curiously. "They haven't put out their new catalogue yet. How do you know what it's called?"

"I met a rather interesting boy at the start of holiday," he replied, smiling. "He mentioned using them on his older brother. It seems that Ferret Fudge is very popular in the future."

Daphne rolled her eyes and grabbed the bouncing ferret next to her. "Are you saying you met a time traveller? If you say yes, I must insist you get your head examined."

"In a sense," Draco mused aloud. "You might say I did. Though as to which of us was the traveller and which the visited, I am uncertain to say the least. The steam from the Express made it very hard to tell."

Some of the Ravenclaw Prefects had approached the table and were quickly transfiguring cushioned cages for the affected Slytherins. The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor prefects were assisting in the collection of the one hundred thirty-four ferrets. Gregory handed over a total of four of his housemates to a prefect and proceeded upon catching another bunch as gently as possible.

"Well, who was he?" Pansy asked curiously, as she handed over a ferret to the passing prefect. "What house was he in?"

Tracey took off her black robe and quickly tossed it over her classmates like a net. "Sorry," she said to the bouncing bundle and hurried to find an empty cushioned box.

"His name is Lucien and he's a first-year in Slytherin in his time. I don't know what houses his brother and sister were in, as he told me they'd left already." Draco smirked, rising from his seat to catch the ferret bouncing past. "Apparently, his sister is twenty-three and his brother is twenty-one. I'm willing to bet they were in Slytherin, though."

Daphne glared at the ferret that was squirming in her hands and then handed it off to a prefect. With a scowl, she regarded the blonde boy. "And how would you know?"

"Because he was a Malfoy," Draco said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "It seemed I had the honour of meeting my grandson."

Vincent breathed in awe, "Wicked!"

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AN: I was bashing around an epilogue in my head. It wasn't supposed to be this long, but some things just had to be said. Greengrass is one of the unnamed members of Draco's year. Well, not with a first name, anyway. First name confirmed in "Harry Potter and Me" (see HP Lexicon for more). I did doa spin off of this. It's called The Spiral.