Lifelines (Draco X Hermione)

Chapter 2 MINISTRY OF MAGIC

MEDERA shook her head and sighed in anguish. The Minister didn't seem to hear a single thing she had said. The gravity of the situation they were dealing with seemed to swing his understanding. Irritated she shooed him to the side and pushed the parchment of writing and scribbles to the side. "Look here, see" she started drawing a series of straight parallel lines. In the middle of the page, she connected the lines to form a tree-like shape branching off into more lines. "Think of it like this Kingsley. You woke up this morning and made a series of decisions. You drank coffee, you read the newspaper, you walked to work, or you met someone" with each decision she moved across the lines to a new one. "Your decisions have consequences see, instead of your day ending up here, you ended up here" she pointed again at the lines on either side of the page. She studied his face checking to see if he had understood the blasphemous simplification of her life's work.

Kingsley nodded and met her gaze once more waiting to see what lines on a page had to do with their current political situation. "This idea is how our entire world works. There are timelines running in continuum, and when big events occur. Then our train so, to say shifts rails, taking us in a different direction. Such events could be like the war, the birth of Dumbledore, and the failed death of Harry Potter...." she paused waiting for him to catch up. One would have to live under a rock and then a hundred feet underground to not know of the chosen one. Medera had just insulted the hero of the war with her theory and the expression on Kingsley's face proved it.

"The lack of death of Harry Potter as a child as shifted the timeline towards war" she simplified again.

"Yes yes, I know that. We are trying to fix the destruction from that bloody war. Tell me something I do not know woman" Kingsley huffed. He hadn't come here to listen to her tell him about their past. He needed to figure out how to fix it. His irritation humoured her, showing that he had not understood why she was sitting Infront of him; first thing on a Monday morning. The highly confidential folder of papers that he had seen on his desk was written in riddles, and it seemed that their author was not doing a good job at deciphering it.

"Another war" she added, causing him to stop and listen fully. His lips pressed shit quickly as the room fell into a creepy silence. Finally, she had caught his attention.

"How can this be? " He asked finally, before falling back down on the chair. This was the last thing he wanted to hear. She hadn't the time to detail him the characteristics she was observing and the definitive bright shining arrow pointing at it. It was too obvious at this point.

"Minister the signs are starting to show even now. The punishments for Voldemorts followers were harsh, surely it is obvious that hate creates hate. Unfortunately, I am certain that the following war will be worse." She was mumbling as she flicked through a book with yellow stained pages and curvy foreign letters. "It will involve more than just the wizarding world. There will be centaurs, Mer-people and muggles you name it. Only, this time we actually have a chance to stop it, before it's too late" she added looking at his face. With every string of information, she provided the minister seemed to age a decade.

"What does this all have to do with Potter?" He stung back leaning forward. She mused; it was such a ridiculous question when everything in their current world revolved around Harry Potter.

"I asked the same. I managed to trace the timeline shifts and found something that I had never seen before. A sort of constant so to say" Medera added, excited to get to the truly fascinating aspect of her most recent discovery. After a long pause of looking for the correct word. "In every continuum, Ms Hermione Granger and Mr Draco Malfoy meet and fall in love."

A long pause filled the room. Kingsley could not believe the words that he was hearing. In fact, he burst into a fit of laughter. She was telling him about a potential all-killing war and based her theory on the fact that two teenagers had not fallen in love. "You are basing your entire theory on...on senseless love?" He interrupted, before shaking his head in disbelief. His words laced with irony.

"But of course." She stated affirmatively, the humour not reaching her. Her gaze was unwavering. "Love is the strongest magic of all Minister. It is the one magic that exists in all timelines, realms, and creatures and beings. I would think you more interested in hearing what I have to say, Minister, considering that it is the best way to fix your current and future dilemmas" she added the last phrase with sass. After barging into her office and taking up her morning, she would have thought he would be more considerate towards her.

"Proceed madam" he sobered up, before attempting to release tension from his head.

"Well, as I was saying" before you interrupted me, she added in her mind before proceeding "Love has the ability to last between realms. Many of us will find love in one lifetime and our souls will find each other in the next. For most of us, this occurs twice or four times at the most. However, with Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy, it appears to be different. You see Minister, this is the only lifeline out of fifty, that their souls have not merged. And it is because of the change of continuum caused by Harry Potters survival" she added finally finishing her explanation. "I ran the timeline again in the scenario where Mr Potter in fact died, and it was interesting to see how much the fate of the golden trio changed. Miss Granger was placed in Ravenclaw, went to the Yule Ball with Mr Malfoy and on from there" she summarised. The couple had fallen in love with each other in the most beautiful way, Medera supposed it was their best story of them all.

"But the sorting hat placed Miss Granger in Gryffindor. It is never wrong" he asked confused again.

Medera could almost laugh at the stupidity of the question. How he managed to become the Minister of Magic was a mystery to her. The man was clueless about everything. She glanced around her table for something to use to explain. Her confusion disappeared as she picked up her wand and began waving it over the pages of the book, soft foreign mutters left her lips, it sounded like a deep humming. Bright twinkles began to list off the page and collect at the tip of the wand like a piece of golden thread. "If you would follow me, minister, I would like to show it to you" without checking to see if he had indeed followed her she walked to the side of the room and placed the gold string into the water of the Pensive. Without another word they submerged their faces into the cold water, taking them to another timeline. The minister was shocked to see he was standing in the hallway of the Hogwarts express.

"Anything from the trolly?" A voice called from the end. He felt dazed and confused as Medera began peeping into different compartments with excitement.