Timeless

Chapter 1

Present Time: January 2000 / Draco's Time: Same as present

Draco Malfoy

The wind was howling outside and began to rattle the windowpanes. Draco looked up from the desk and watched the grey sky. He guessed it would be snowing by the time he left the Manor.

He hadn't checked the weather in London before he left, since he'd apparated from his flat directly to inside the Manor, but he wondered if it would be snowing there too. He'd planned to visit Diagon Alley to get a few items to restock his potions stores after helping his father, but would skip that errand today, if there was a storm.

He focused back on the objects laid out on the desk before him. The sooner he finished cataloguing these, the quicker he could leave.

Draco and his father were still on probation for the role they'd played in the war. In addition to notifying the Auror office anytime they left England and attending bi-annual check-ins, Draco and Lucius had been tasked with purging Malfoy Manor of all dark artifacts. They'd spent months combing through the house and were finally on the last few items.

They attempted to identify them and ward them before turning them over, but in some instances, the item was so arcane that neither Draco, nor his father, could figure out what it did. In those cases, they left it alone and called the Aurors to pick it up - aware of how dangerous it was to handle an unknown dark object.

Draco didn't mind the quiet hours with his father but would still be glad to see the task finally done. Astoria would be happy too. She was constantly complaining that he had to spend most of his weekends away at the Manor. She'd offered to come help a few times, but he'd refused. It was too dangerous, which was why his mother wasn't in here either.

Draco felt for his wand to confirm it was close in case any of the dark objects went off. It was in an inside pocket, so he moved it to an outside pocket that would be more accessible, then went back to one of the reference books he was using to identify the objects. The current one, which looked like a black, over-large sextant, had stumped him for almost an hour.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" Draco eventually asked his father.

Lucius looked up from his book and focused on the unknown object. "Isn't that used for star charting?"

Draco sighed, "No, it just looks like a sextant. It doesn't have any of the right markings, though." Draco carefully moved the unknown object to the side and went to grab the next object. He studied it for a moment, then froze when he recognized what it was.

A time turner.

He'd read that all the time turners in Britain had been destroyed following the war, but here one was, clearly missed. He figured that was the point of the Ministry demanding a cleanup of all the old pureblood estates. They must know there were plenty of objects left out there that could cause harm.

Draco studied the object, then noted there were different rings for years, months, and days. He spun the hourglass to line up with the ring for years, then slowly started turning it, counting in his mind and thinking how incredible it would feel to be able to travel back in time.

1999, he thought. This last year was an awful year. He'd been extremely depressed and had cut himself off from all his friends. The biggest thing of note that happened in the year was that he worked up the courage to apologize to Harry Potter.

Then, just a few months ago, he'd finally moved into his own flat in London and started dating Astoria. He admitted the year hadn't been an entire waste, though he would never choose to go back and relive it.