[author's pov]
Theodore Nott the second, Ted, sat eerily quietly in his late father's red office. He stared at the scrolls upon the wall that read Cure to the Curse of a Half-Life, True Love: Myth or Real?, and hieroglyphics scattered upon the room. Maps were stapled on the wall with chaotic red marks everywhere, trailing to France and Albania. Trailing from the UK to the deep rural lands of South Asia.
But underneath it all, unbeknownst to Ted's eyes were particular papers hidden under the mess. Adoption papers.
A mark that he would truly be able to understand just how much his non-biological father loved him. A mark that proved that blood did not create a family.
Theodore Nott the first's office was the emergence of his desperate measures to find a cure. Not for him though. But that secret was taken with him to the grave. And even though he had died, he died achieving his goal.
He had gotten to see her true eyes one last time.
He had freed her from eternal slavery to the darkness and that had been enough for him.
But as for his sons, they would never understand. Especially Ted.
They'd never understand his love for Victoria.
He sat quietly in the same suit he had been wearing the past two days, not moving from the seat his father once sat in. You would think he was dead if it was not for his heaving chest of anger that gave it away.
Around his neck was the golden chain that had been gifted to him nearly fifteen years ago. And now, it's returned to its original state.
A time turner.
His fingers played with the time turner's hourglass as he had been contemplating for weeks to try to turn the tables. To undo the damage that had been done.
His fingers think before he does as he twists the circle rims and the room around him begins to spin before his eyes. He stands and as soon as he does, the office has changed to a well-put and clean blue office.
He can hear music playing from downstairs as he nears the door and begins to hear old festive music playing. Carefully, he tucks the time turner under his collar as he walks down the hall, making it to the top of the stairs, to see the ballroom full of life and people.
He's almost taken away by the magic that'd somehow returned to the Nott Manor--there hadn't been a ball in ages and that only meant one thing. He'd been brought to the past.
He watched as a young witch gasped and confessed her admiration to a group of colourful fairies. Not too far, a young couple–who he thought looked like Draco Malfoy–danced the night away.
Joining the crowd, he begins to search for his father. It would be easy, as he wouldn't have looked a day older from how he remembered him
Ted surfed the crowd with a thrilling hope in his chest to find his father. It was then he stumbled across a confused-looking young woman with dark hair. Her eyes were as ethereal as a clear elixir and she stood out to him more than anyone else.
In a room full of strangers, she was not close to one.
He suddenly rushes over, taking her hand in his for a dance.
"You don't look a day older," he says quietly.
"Excuse me?" she asked, confused.
But this would only be the start hearing this for the next long decades of her life. It would mark the beginning of where it all went wrong. Why she had lost so much and why her life was the way it had ended.
"I think you've got the wrong person," she says, struggling to step away.
"You're exactly who I'm looking for-"
But she's lost in the large crowd as the room around him begins to spin again. He chases after her in the crowd as she's swept away in the arms of a familiar man. His father.
His father dances, his eyes full of passionate love as he stares down at his one true and only, unaware of their fate.
Their painful, tragic fate that he would not regret.
Not even after his death would he regret it.
Ted felt his heart race as he watched in disbelief. After all this time, here he was as if nothing had happened. A certain goal occurred his mind as he watched, being swept out of the crowd.
He had to stop her. He had to kill her.
But before he could do so, his surroundings began to changes as he tried to fight against the force that pulled him back to the present. Or rather, the future.
Stumbling into Knockturn Alley, he falls against a bush. The thorns tore through his skin and shirt, leaving bloody marks. Finding his balance, he straightens himself as he desperately tries to get back to the past. But the time turner around his neck had a tiny little crack, not moving one bit.
"Reparo!"
Nothing changed.
"No, no, no!" I cried like a mad-man. That would be so if he did not live in a world of madness already. As he yelled to the sky, a witch walking by saw the sight of the horrifying man and screamed her lungs out.
Dropping her shopping bags, she ran for the hills, screaming in alarm.
"Death eater! He has a time tuner!"
Exclamations could be heard as he looked down at his arm, the tattoo on his forearm becoming revealed under the pale light of the alley. It began to sting , rippling on his skin lightly. Grasping the time turner in his hands, he turned and headed deeper into the alley. Deeper into the darkness with one vengeful thought on his mind.
"For my father," he thought."For all of us."
The war may have ended two years ago with a peaceful silence upon the wizarding world now, but he had been waiting for a chance to undo the damage.
The wait was over, even if it burned.
-------
January 25th, 2024.
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