Max's POV

The sun bathed into the living room, the heat reflecting off of my head. Groaning, I opened up my eyes, squinting at the shining sun, covering it with my hand. I sat up, rubbing my temple.

"What time is it?" I asked myself. Then, I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "What day is it?" I felt like I had been passed out for a long time. To be honest, I couldn't remember much. Then, I looked over at the empty whiskey bottles and a few empty shot glasses.

Oh, now I remembered. How the hell was I still alive?

It had all started just by the thought of Draco. The thought of us being apart from each other was really etched into my mind. Then, my mind went to Scorpius, then Harry, then every other bloody person in the family. I was so tired of thinking about it all that I decided to get a drink to relieve my stress. One drink turned to three, then one shot turned to five. Or six. Or eight. I couldn't remember the exact number, but it was way too many.

I stood up from the couch and went to close the curtains when a Patronus came towards me. I backed up and recognized the stag once it was close enough. "You need to come to Hogwarts. It's about Scorpius and Albus," Harry stated. Then, the stag dissolved.

I groaned even louder in frustration. This was exactly what I needed while I was suffering from a hangover, more problems to deal with. I got dressed, brushed my teeth and hair, then Apparated to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Before I made my way towards the castle, I ran to a nearby tree and threw up. The taste of vomit lingered inside my mouth as I finished. With a disgusted face, I walked up to the castle. I got to the gargoyle, muttered the password, then walked to the door and knocked twice. Once I heard a slight mutter, signaling me to come in, I opened the door and entered McGonagall's office, shutting the door behind me. Harry, Ginny, and Draco stood by the kids while Professor McGonagall stood behind her desk.

"Ah, Maxine, glad you could join us," McGonagall stated.

Maxine. Such a weird feeling when she called me that. "It's always a pleasure, Professor," I replied.

"Well, maybe next time you can come in better shape," she retorted, then turned to Albus and Scorpius. "So, to be clear...you illegally jumped off the Hogwarts Express, you invaded and stole from the Ministry of Magic, then you took it upon yourselves to change time, whereupon you disappeared two people--"

"I agree that it doesn't sound good," Albus intervened, scratching the back of his head.

"And your response to disappearing your cousins was to go back in time again and instead of losing two people, you lost a huge number of people and killed Harry and Maxine and in doing so you resurrected the worst wizard the world has ever known and heralded a new age of Dark Magic. I say, that's a lot of damage you two have done in three days."

"Wait, I was dead for three days?!" I blurted out, widening my eyes, then looking at the boys. "You two killed me?!"

McGonagall rolled her eyes at me, turning her head towards the boys. "Yes, you're correct, Mr. Potter, it doesn't sound good. Are you aware of how stupid you two have been?"

"Yes," Scorpius immediately said.

Albus looked up at his father. "Yes," he responded with hesitation.

Harry cleared his throat and looked at McGonagall. "Professor, if I may--"

"No, you may not. What you choose to do as parents is your matter, but this is my school, these are my students, and I will choose what punishment they will face." McGonagall huffed a sigh. "I should expel you two, but.." She shot Harry and I an odd look. "With all things considered, I think it might be safer for you to remain in my care. You are in detention for...well, you can consider yourself in detention for the rest of the year. Christmas is cancelled for you two as well. You can forget visiting Hogsmeade, too, and that's just the start..."

All of a sudden, Hermione barged through the door. "What did I miss?" she asked.

McGonagall was now irritated at this point. "It is considered polite to knock when entering a room, Hermione Granger. Maybe you missed that."

Realizing she overstepped, she sheepishly put her head down. "Sorry, Professor."

"If I could also give detention to you, Minister, I would. Keeping hold of a Time-Turner, of all the stupid things!"

"In my defense--"

"And in a bookcase! You kept it in a bookcase! It's almost laughable!"

"Well, Professor--"

"Your children didn't exist and Harry and Maxine were dead, along with many other people!" Hermione kept quiet, at loss for words. "This happened in my school, under my watch. After all that Dumbledore did, I couldn't live with myself..."

"We know," I spoke up.

McGonagall took a moment to compose herself, then she continued. "Albus, Scorpius, your intentions to save Cedric were honorable, if misguided, and it does sound as if you two were brave, but the lesson even your father, Albus, and your mother, Scorpius, sometimes failed to heed is that bravery doesn't forgive stupidity. Always think. Think what's possible. A world controlled by Voldemort is--"

"A horrific world," Scorpius finished.

McGonagall nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, indeed." She looked at all of us and sighed again. "You're all so young. You have no idea how dark the Wizarding wars got. Many dear friends of ours sacrificed a huge amount for this world, to create and sustain."

"Yes, Professor," Albus and Scorpius said in unison.

She nodded her head. "Go on. Get out. All of you. And find me that Time-Turner."

*******

Harry, Draco, and I took Albus and Scorpius back to the Slytherin Dungeon. Harry took Albus to his room while Draco and I took Scorpius to his room. The last time I was in the Slytherin Dungeons was Slughorn's Christmas party. I remembered that night so well. Of course, I knew Draco remembered it as well. It was one of the best nights of my life.

"Strange being back here," Draco muttered.

We followed Scorpius to his room. He sat down on his bed, looking pitiful and guilty. "I'm sorry, you guys."

I gave him a sad look and sat down beside him. "We know you are. What you two did was very stupid."

"Coming from the one who went back in time with her brother and friend to save their godfather," Draco added in a rude tone.

"We got permission from Dumbledore, thank you very much," I snapped, shooting Draco a stern look. I turned back to look at Scorpius. "Scorpius, why did saving Cedric mean so much to you?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess we thought that we could change things. I mean, it's unfair, what happened to Cedric."

"Of course it is," I stated. "I was there when he died. I watched him die. All of this, Scorpius...to even take the risk..."

"I think he gets it," Draco said.

"No, he doesn't," I replied. "Scorpius, if you were trying to go on some kind of adventure, then you went at it the wrong way. Your uncle and I didn't volunteer for an adventure. We were forced into it."

"Oh, and I wasn't?" Draco intervened, annoyed with me now.

I sighed. "Draco--"

"No, you and your brother were not the only ones forced into the war. I was, too. I didn't want to be a part of it as much as you, so stop acting like you two were the only ones who had no choice, because I didn't have one, either, and that goes for the majority of the Wizarding world at the time as well."

I stood up, finally pushed to the edge. "What's your problem, Draco? All you've done ever since I got here is slam me as if I'm the bad guy here."

"No, I'm just trying to be here for my son, just like you."

I scoffed, shaking my head. "Well, you're not doing a very good job, are you?"

"Says the one who came here hungover."

"Mum, Dad--" Scorpius tried to intrude.

"In case you didn't notice, I was dead for three days."

He shot me a hateful look. "I'm sure you enjoyed death more than being with me."

A sad look fell upon my face as I shook my head. "No. No, I didn't. Listen to me..." I tried to grab his hand, but he snatched it away.

"Just leave, Max. It'll be better if you just do that," he said, walking past me and sitting next to Scorpius.

I turned around to face him once more. "Leave you here or leave our marriage?" He didn't respond. I felt a lump in my throat. "What happened to you three days ago?"

"A lot can change in three days," he told me.

I shook my head. "I find that hard to believe."

Scorpius stood up and came up to me. "Mum..." he whispered, giving me a teary-eyed look.

"I'm sorry, Scorpius, but I have to go," I said, kissing him on the forehead. "I'll talk to you soon." With that, I left his room and hurried out of the damn castle as fast as I could.

*******

I didn't go back to Grimmauld Place. I was not in the mood to be alone. Instead, I went to the one place that I knew I had someone to talk to: Harry and Ginny's house.

Even after so many years Harry and Ginny were two people that I could just go see and talk to them for countless hours. It was nice to be able to do that, especially with what was going on right now. We all needed each other right now, really.

I knocked on the door twice and it immediately opened. Ginny gave me a soft smile. "I had a feeling you'd show up. I already got the firewhisky out."

"Oh, no, not this time," I told her, stepping inside. "I'm still trying to get over this hangover."

Ginny closed the door behind me, then went to go put up the alcohol. "Harry isn't back yet."

"That's fine," I said, sitting at the table. "Just out of curiosity, how often do you and Harry argue?"

Ginny let out a chuckle and sat down beside me. "Harry knows better than to start an argument with me. Even if we do argue, I always win."

I chuckled with her. "True. It's because we're always right." I paused for a moment after the laughing died down, then continued. "It seems like Draco and I have been arguing a lot lately."

"I'm sorry," Ginny stated. "I know that doesn't help much."

"It's okay. To be honest, I'm not sure if anything can save our marriage at this point." Ginny raised her eyebrows at me. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied smoothly.

"No. No, you gave me that look."

"What look?"

"Don't mess with me. You know what I'm talking about."

She laughed again. "No, I don't, actually."

I shot her an annoyed look. "Well, you were trying to tell me something, so what was it?"

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest. "Do you think staying separated is helping at all?"

Looking down at the table, I shook my head. "No, it's not. I learned that today. I think it's just pushing us away even more."

"So talk to him."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"He hates me, Ginny." I looked up at her, a sad look upon my face.

She leaned forward, her arms on the table. "He didn't sound like he hated you when he was here talking to us."

My sad face turned confused. "When he was here? When did he come here?"

"A few days ago. Him and Harry had a little duel in the kitchen."

"They what?!"

"Yeah, it was a mess. I was gone for a few minutes and they completely destroyed this kitchen. Anyway, Draco talked about you. He misses you a lot."

I scoffed. "Well, he's certainly not showing it."

"Because he's hurt. You hurt him, Max."

"I know, but he hurt me, too, Ginny."

She huffed a sigh. "And this is why you two need to talk about this, let your feelings out to each other."

"That's the thing. We did let our feelings out and this is where it led to."

Ginny stood up from her chair and went to the fridge. "I still think there is more to be said by both of you."

All of a sudden, the door opened and Harry walked in, looking exhausted. "Oh, hey, Max."

"Hi, Harry," I greeted him.

Harry huffed a sigh and sat down across from me. "What are we going to do about our kids?"

Ginny handed both of us a glass of water, then sat down in her seat again with her water. "I have no idea, but we'll figure it out. We always do."

Harry nodded his head. "I hope so."

And so the three of us stayed in the kitchen and talked about nonsense for hours. It felt nice, being able to be distracted for a while about everything that was going on. A distraction was what we all needed.

Once it began to get late, I decided to go back to Grimmauld Place. I bid Harry and Ginny goodnight and left their house. Due to me being too lazy to Apparate, I began to walk home. A good stroll in London didn't sound too bad. I probably needed that, too.

As I was walking, I thought more about what Ginny said about Draco and I. I knew that she was right (she always was), but talking didn't seem to work for us. How could I talk to him without him blowing up in my face like today? The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.

I had to do this for Scorpius. I had to get our family back together.

Suddenly, I was getting dizzy. I closed my eyes and leaned against a building, trying to compose myself. The dizzy spell was not getting any better. In fact, it was only getting worse. Then, he was there. He came back.

Voldemort came back.

"Maxinnnneeee Pottteeerrrrr..."

"No. No, stop it. Leave me alone."

"I smell guilt, there is a stench of guilt upon the air."

"Get out of my head!"

"Mum...Mum..." Scorpius said, reaching out his hand, a desperate plea on his face.

I screamed, my throat beginning to hurt. I felt the tears stream down my face as I saw Scorpius disappear before my very eyes. My eyes opened wide when someone grabbed me. "No!"

"Max, Max, it's just me!" Ginny assured me, holding onto me. "Are you okay?"

"What?" I asked, panting and confused. "How did you--"

"Max, your screams were bloody loud," she told me. "I could hear you from inside the house. To be fair, you didn't get very far..."

"Ginny...Ginny, he's back...Voldemort's back...guilt...Scorpius...danger..."

"I know, I know, Harry's freaking out, too," she said. "Listen, we have to go right now." She helped me up and rubbed my back. "Calm down. Just calm down."

My breathing went back to normal and I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Okay, what do we do now?"

"Harry and I are going back to Hogwarts to see if the boys are there," she explained. "Go to the Ministry and meet up with Ron and Hermione. We'll be there soon."

I quickly nodded my head. "Okay." As Ginny was walking away, I called out her name again. "Ginny!" she turned around. "I think we're all in danger, not just Albus and Scorpius."

With a serious and scared look, she responded with, "I know."

~~~~~~~

A/N: Ayee, new chapter! Not as long as the last one was, but that's okay.

What did you think? To be honest, this chapter was a lot sadder than I thought it was gonna be. I also missed writing in Max's POV.

But school starts back on the 8th, but hopefully the updates won't be slow again.

ANYWAY, IN OTHER NEWS: If you like either Maze Runner or Stranger Things (or both), I have two new fanfics up! One is called Strange Atmosphere (Maze Runner) and Unforgettable (Stranger Things). I will be posting chapters for both stories very soon, so go check those out!

Song above is World Gone Mad by Bastille.

Comment, vote, things are getting crazy now!

-A