Silver Hourglass

The Sorting Hat Chapter 5

Harry Potter, age thirty seven, and Lucius Malfoy walked through the pathway that connected the Womping Willow and the Shrieking Shack. "Amazing, simply amazing." Lucius said, "More than forty years as Hogwarts Governor, and I did not even fathom a passageway from the Willow to Hogsmeade. Potter, how did you find this passage?"

Harry opened his robe and searched his inner pockets until he pulled out an old parchment. "This is the Marauder's Map." Harry said, "It was made by my father and his friends. Somehow Fred and George obtained it, and they gave it to me."

"And when you obtained this map you found the passage?" Lucius asked.

"Um no actually. My godfather dragged my friend Ron through the passage trying to get Wormtail." Harry said.

Lucius looked at Harry and wondered if he was joking. "I suppose you're going to explain."

"Sirius was an Animagus, in fact my father and Wormtail were Animagi too. Sirius could turn into a huge black dog, and he was trying to get Ron's pet rat who was Wormtail." Harry explained.

"So Wormtail had the ability to turn into a rat? No wonder we could not find him after that explosion." Lucius said. He stopped and thought, "Wormtail gave his hand to resurrect the Dark Lord... if what you said is true, then he is here in Hogwarts as a rat. We could just kill him and be done with it."

"I suppose, but how would that affect the timeline? I think it would be best to talk with Dumbledore first about this." Harry said, pocketing the map.

"Very well." Lucius said, he thought for a moment as they walked in silence and asked "Do you believe the sorting is done? It would be awkward to barge into the castle during the ceremony."

Harry nodded and stopped to think, "I still only remember getting sorted into Gryffindor. And that was when your son and I were rivals. As of now... I think the train ride here was the same in both timelines, although my first time to Hogwarts getting fuzzy. I remember more sitting in the boat with Draco, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott."

"Figures. Liked minds tend to gravitate towards each other." Lucius said, "At least with liked preferences."

"You mean those two are also?"

"Well, Mr. Zabini doesn't care if I can recall Draco's rants correctly. But I'm pretty sure Mr. Nott is as well." Lucius said.

"But didn't Nott marry that Greengrass girl?"

"Astoria?" Lucius asked.

"Yeah, I heard that those two married after Draco and her divorced." Harry said, both of them reaching the exit of the tunnel.

"Correct. If I believe correctly Nott wanted children, and was still... what was that muggle phrase again? When you deny your sexuality?" Lucius asked.

"In the closet?" Harry provided.

"Is that what it was called? Your muggles have strange sayings. We just call those people cowards." Lucius said.

"It takes a lot of guts and bravery to come out Lucius. Look at me, I wasn't exactly true to myself till two weeks ago." Harry said.

"I suppose. Still hopefully after our meddling you might give Nott some of that brash Gryffindor courage." Lucius said. Harry laughed and said "Hopefully Blaise would stop kissing my hand."

Lucius kept silent as Harry pulled against a root of the Womping Willow, stopping the tree momentarily. Harry climbed out of the tunnel underneath the tree and helped Lucius. "I suppose that tunnel would be useful for escapes in case of attacks." Lucius said.