2
'Is that..??'
Potter's eyes widened as he recognized that one of the newcomers looked... exactly like him.
Well, except for the obvious fact that he was just a little older.
He rubbed his eyes with his pointer finger and thumb. Unsure if he was hallucinating or not, he faced his friends, who also looked at him frantically at the same time.
“Harry is that?-”
“But, You're right here-”
“Salazar is that Malfoy?!”
At the sound of Malfoy's name, he immediately snapped his head back to the scene at the entrance hall.
His eyes widened once more, and let his mouth agape as he finally took notice of the other person beside his older self
Malfoy, the most insufferable git in the whole world, including both muggle and wizarding, the biggest prat of all the prats out there, grew to look like a bloody veela!.
Instead of a skinny and scrawny kid, Malfoy looked like he grew some muscles on him, even the robes couldn't distinctly hide the biceps on him. And his height, Merlin and Morgana, if Harry had to guess, he had to be at least 6’3.
His older self looked so puny and small beside him, he felt a little embarrassed.
“And who might you two be?” Dumbledore's voice echoed through the quiet hall, breaking everyone out of their trance.
As if the two newcomers needed an introduction.
They both looked at each other at the same time. The raven haired boy spoke first.
“I'm Harry James Potter, professor”
“Draco Lucius Malfoy, Sir”
“And what year do you suppose it is right now?” Dumbledore calmly asked, looking at the two with strange fascination.
“1998?” Malfoy replied. The students looked at each other, at their friends, immediately gossiping and asking questions.
“Not quite right, my boy see for us, it is still 1993”
The older Harry furrowed his eyebrows, looking down in deep thought.
But Malfoy nudged him with a shoulder, urging him to look somewhere. He flicked his eyes over to the Slytherin table, where they saw the silver trio.
The younger Malfoy, bless him, looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his sockets. Pansy had to close his agape mouth, else nargles would make their home there.
And Blaise, well there wasn't really much to say about him other than the fact that instead of being shocked at the situation at hand, seemed to be..entertained, as if he was about to ask for a bag of popcorns.
“Why don't you two find a seat for now, you must be hungry. We will discuss more of this later”
The two nodded, and The older Harry immediately took hold of Malfoy's hand and dragged them over to the Gryffindor table.
“Hi.” The older Harry grinned at his friends as they took their seats In Front of them.
But the group continued to gape at them, whether from shock of seeing their best friend but older, or the fact that him and Malfoy seemed to be close “friends”
“Harry?” Hermione was the first to speak up, although she seemed to hesitate
“So you and Malfoy are-?”
“Friends? Yup. The war is over and don't get me wrong, It definitely took some time for us to get over our extensive history, but…here we are.” The older Harry looked up at Malfoy, putting on a smug smirk. Malfoy doing the same thing, except looking down. Merlin their height difference made current Harry blush in embarrassment
Hermione stared at them for a few seconds, pulling that face that indicated that she was analyzing something very carefully before she broke out in a soft smile
“Hm. That's nice”
“But don't think just because me and Harry are friends, I'd change my whole personality, I'm still a prick, especially to Weasley over there” Malfoy spoke up, his voice had drastically changed to a more deeper and mature octave.
Ron looked ready to give a comeback, but Malfoy beat him to it.
“But I have to say, you are a delight to play wizarding chess with. Brilliant tactics and all.” Malfoy calmly leaned back whilst Ron calculated what he had said before breaking out an intense blush on his face.
Rons always been insecure of himself, so hearing a compliment, especially by someone that he resented, was a big boost to his confidence.
“I-i suppose I am quite skilled in that game” Ron shyly looked down, a pink blush still evident on his face before Hermione nudged him.
“T-thanks..”
Malfoy replied with a small smile. “As for Granger, I am forever grateful for that schedule you made for me. Very useful indeed”
Hermione snapped her head up.
“You've..actually used the schedule?”
“Why of course, what else would I do with it?”
Hermione broke out into a grin, her pearly white teeth showing. “Some people usually just ‘accidentally’ forget about the schedule.”
She glared at the two boys beside her, both wearing a sheepish smile.
“Well, now that we got that over with, why don't we all continue on with our meal, you can ask us more questions later, I'm starving” Older Harry explained, looking ready to dig into his meal.
Everyone went back to their meals with a constant glance to the duo
Nobody missed the moment when Malfoy effortlessly placed his treacle tarts and Yorkshire pudding on Harry's plate, as if he knew that Harry needed more to make up for his time during the summers at the Dursley’s.
And nobody missed the moment when Harry accepted the food without putting up a fight, as if he had never rejected an offering of food from anyone, even when he desperately needed it.
But everybody missed the moment when the current Malfoy stared at the spot where Harry Potter had confidently held his older selves hand in his. If only he had done that during their first year at Hogwarts.