from Time to Time | Lucius Malfoy

Don't change anything

After graduating from Beauxbattons I began to study potions at university. I've always been particularly fond of the subject, and it would definitely help me on my future time travels. A vial of Polyjuice was always in my coat pocket, you never knew... in an emergency, I could add a stranger's hair and transform. take me to safety submerge. Thank Merlin that was never necessary.

Over and over I made little journeys into the past, however never more than a few weeks back in time. I wanted to be on the safe side. If something went wrong, I would only have to wait a few weeks to get back to my "normal time". Of course I would have to avoid my other self, it would only confuse me if another me suddenly appeared and explained to me that from now on there are two of us...

After the 4th semester at university I finally wanted to do it. Gone are the days of research and notebook writing, actions should follow! How far can you go? I started the little game. I knew the rules, after all I had designed them myself:

1. Prepare for your journey and acquire knowledge about the current affairs

2. Dress appropriately but unobtrusively

3. Adjust your language and only speak little

4. Do not interfere in any incidents and do not change anything

5. Do not stay for more than 24 hours

My 4th rule gave me headaches multiple times. I have traveled through many centuries, witnessed extraordinary natural spectacles, attended concerts by Mozart, Bach and Haydn, repeatedly visited Notre Dame and its structural progress until it was finally completed, stopped at Merlin's repeatedly and acquired knowledge from all over the world. Not being allowed to change the course of history is a burden. I couldn't prevent the witch burnings. I didn't want to prevent the outbreak of the French Revolution, but I would have loved save the innocent fallen from their fate. I've witnessed war, death, suffering, disease and poverty.

Over and over I visited places that I knew would no longer exist in the future. I met people who would be dead for hundreds of years by the time I got back to my own time.

One day I decided to travel back to the day I was taken to the orphanage. I wanted to know who gave me up, I wanted to know why my parents didn't want me, where I came from... I was only a few weeks old when I was given up as a foundling.

For hours I hung around in front of the orphanage's entrance until I saw the man who carried me inside. I looked at him closely, but couldn't place him. It was an elderly gentleman, shabbily dressed, dirty... maybe he was my grandfather? I would never find out because I couldn't just ask him who he was and where the baby in his arms came from.

I couldn't complain about my childhood in general, the orphanage for witches and wizards was run by the school I later went to. My aunty? The chief witch and administration of the home. We grew up sheltered, the carers lovingly looked after us and we didn't lack of anything except of parents. Rarely a well-heeled couple came by and wanted to adopt a child. At the age of 11 I started school in Beauxbattons and had given up the desire to have a family of my own. In my opinion there was no point in getting adopted now because I would be living in school 9 months a year and would be moving out at the age of 18 anyway, going to a university to study. That's exactly how it happened in the end. Nevertheless this childhood shaped me, I never really attached much importance in making friends or acquaintances. I was a loner, a bookworm, an adventuress and daredevil. I took care of myself and didn't need anyone to help me. And I didn't want to help anyone either. Until that fateful day...

In July 1698 I was walking down a small street in Vienna. There was a loud yelling from a coachman. What was going on? I looked around, the horses had bolted and I quickly jumped aside as did many others too. A little girl was running across the street, I could have grabbed her sleeve and pulled her back but I wasn't officially there... The carriage rattled towards the child, the mother's scream was bloodcurdling. The kid was run over. People ran towards the child who was lying on the ground but it was too late.

Bad dreams plagued me for a long time after this event. Should I have intervened? What did the death of this innocent child has to do with the future? What would it have taken from the future if I had saved the child? For nights I kept staying awake in my bed in my room, always asking myself whether my self-invented rules weren't a bit too far-fetched. What would it change if I changed something in the past? What would it change if I stayed longer than a day? What would it change if I showed up in the Middle Ages with sneakers and jeans? What would it change if I helped someone?

I decided it would change everything. In most cases it would even change something for me. They would take notice of me, possibly arrest me, lock me up, take my necklace from me, my return ticket to my usual time... The rules are good, I thought. The rules are good and must be followed, you are not allowed to change anything. But should I meet a helpless child ever again, I would help them. I wouldn't look away again. I swore to myself...