Chapter 2
The corridor was deserted and dimly lit with the sky dark outside the high windows which meant they’d moved further than Croaker’s time limit. His watch told him that time in the present was nearing lunch, five hours prior would have meant dawn but this seemed more like midnight.
He couldn’t recall ever being in this part of the castle, it was as anonymous as could be without any portraits or statues, yet it was unmistakably Hogwarts. The way the windows arched, the stonework, the alluring smell of young, untamed magic. It all came back to him, sending a warm wave of joy through his body.
“What?” Draco asked, staring at him and Harry realized there was a stupid grin plastered all over his face and he tried to rearrange his features.
“Just relieved to be out of the stinking Slytherin spunk cave” he said, which was true enough. The air was clearer out here and he could move freely, or at least he would have been able to if he hadn’t had to stay attached to Draco under the cloak.
Draco snorted and they took off down the corridor, bumping shoulders. It was far from the smooth walk he, Ron and Hermione had perfected over the years. Still, it brought back fond memories of roaming the castle past bedtime with his friends.
“You seem awfully pleased about where we are, Potter.”
He shrugged, unintentionally pressing his arm against Draco’s side. “It was the first place I was happy.”
“You shouldn’t be now, bad things happened here and we don’t know when we are.”
“Most of the time they didn’t” Harry said, the sparkle of joy still there. “Come on, aren’t you at least a little glad to be back?”
Draco snorted again. “I’m not you, Potter. This place doesn’t hold many good memories for me.”
Harry was about to protest because he thought Draco had seemed content enough through their first years, finding plenty of joy from the many occasions Harry had managed to muck something up, but admittedly, Draco’s time here had not ended well so he chose to change direction of the conversation. “How come you knew Enstone?”
“I’m a pure blood” Draco said as if that cleared everything up but then he went on. “I was encouraged to learn my family tree from a young age, especially on mother’s side. The Blacks are rather preoccupied with ancestry.”
“Mm” Harry mumbled, thinking of the tapestry at Grimmauld with its burnt-out spots.
“We are supposed to protect one another, it’s said a Black is to come to another’s aid whenever need be.”
Harry snorted. “Yeah, that worked well for Sirius.”
“It’s just a legend” Draco said with a shrug. “The meaning has gotten lost over the centuries. And it’s like I said, pretty much everyone in the wizarding world are related these days.”
That was a rather new take on blood lines on Draco’s part, Harry thought but knew better than to state out loud. “Any legends on Black heirlooms then?”
“Countless, none about time turners though, nothing to make sense of this.”
“Does it always have to make sense?”
“There’s always a point to a curse” Draco said.
“Is there?”
“Yes, people don’t just go about throwing them at random.”
Harry had an involuntary flashback of himself crying out sectumsempra without knowing what’d come out at the other end of his wand but quickly shut it out of his mind.
“But you said they could run a little loopy over time” he said, trying to recall their earlier discussion.
Draco snorted. “I don’t believe those were my exact words, but essentially, yes. For example, they could be meant to be activated by someone who is now dead, which would confuse it and it could start to act on its own.”
Unpredictable curses, great.
They turned a corner, the corridor splitting into two directions with him aiming for the right and Draco for the left. The cloak would have slipped their shoulders had it not been for a firm grip around his wrist, jerking him the other way, having him knock into Draco’s side, both of them letting out a groan in pain.
“What are you doing?” he hissed through gritted teeth.
“Library is this way.”
Harry let out a huff. “Could have just told me.”
“We can’t keep babbling, this is a more central part of the castle. We’re not supposed to make ourselves recognized.”
“Right, and you causing that havoc wouldn’t?”
“Shut up Potter.”
They moved onwards and almost made it to the end of the corridor before Harry managed to step on Draco’s toes which earned him a hard elbow to his ribs.
“Goddamn it!”
“You started it, Potter, don’t manhandle me if you aren’t prepared to take the consequences.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose, you bastard.”
“Ought to teach you not to do it again though.”
Harry thought hard on a suitable retort because sticking out his tongue this close to Draco’s face did not seem a good idea, fortunately he did not come up with one before they turned the corner and almost barged into Severus Snape.
At least they were in sync this time, coming to a halt as one, holding their breaths while Snape’s eyes wandered their way, as if searching for something. More than once Harry had wondered whether the man was able to read minds and had come to the conclusion that he probably was, but would he be able to sense their presence when invisible?
His heart hammering away, Harry tried to control his breathing and remain perfectly still, two things that should not be as hard as they seemed at the moment.
Snape kept staring in their direction, his brows furrowed. “Draco Malfoy” he bellowed, his voice echoing in the corridor and Harry felt Draco flinch next to him. Oh, this was bad, he though. It wasn’t just that he didn’t much fancy being caught by the potions master, but Snape had played a central part in the war. Reveling themselves to him could not only alter the future but muck it up completely.
He was just debating whether to stun the man when a blond, small boy who looked like a first or second year passed him. Even with his head bowed under Snape’s scrutinizing stare, there was no mistake to his identity.
“You’re out late, Draco” Snape said with a frown. “I should deduct house points.”
“I only came out to look for you sir, you see, I overheard Potter and Weasley talking about sneaking out at midnight, to the trophy room.” There was an anxious look to the boy’s face and had Harry not known better he might have fallen for it. Now he saw right through the angelic, sweet smile. Moreover, he had a pretty clear idea of exactly what night this was and debated whether to stamp down hard on Draco’s toes but decided not to risk it. He didn’t much like the idea of facing Snape and two Malfoys, should the cloak slip.
“Potter, you say?” Snape’s eyes narrowed. “Very well, I shall alert Mr Filch. Thank you, Draco.”
“Anytime sir” Draco said, battling his eyelashes innocently.
Harry pretended to vomit under the cloak.
He was certain Snape wasn’t fooled by Draco’s performance any more than he was but overlooked it at the chance of putting Harry in detention. “I shall escort you back to your common room first” he went on and they watched him leave with the younger Draco trailing behind.
“Git” Harry muttered once they were out of earshot.
Draco shrugged. “So what, you stood me up anyway.”
“No, you were the one to challenge me to a duel and not show up.”
“You bought that?” Draco grinned “Well, you didn’t get detention anyway, I remember because Severus was much disappointed.”
“No, I just ended up battling a three headed dog, so no harm done” Harry said sarcastically.
“Of course you did, couldn’t even take a stroll through the castle without playing the hero, could you?”
They glared at one another until Harry remembered that it was a long time ago since Draco had made him lose any house points and that they were supposed to be two professional ministry workers finding out how to travel through time.
“So, we’re in our first year” he concluded.
“That’s a rather big time loop” Draco said, this time coming across like an accomplished curse breaker rather than a whining eleven year old.
Harry nodded, it seemed forever since he had walked into the great hall for the first time. “So definitely not a ministry approved time turner then.”
“Definitely not” Draco agreed “I suppose we’d better get to work in the library unless we want to roam the castle unseen for fifteen years” he added sourly.
“Yeah, unless you want to go and throw an AK at Quirrell’s turban.”
“Excellent idea Potter, because that wouldn’t mean meddling with time at all.”
“I’m joking” Harry said. “Although, it would spare a lot of people a lot of trouble.”
“That’s putting it mildly” Draco mumbled and there was a sudden sadness to his voice that Harry hadn't heard before.
“I know we can’t” he said softly, pressing his arm against Draco’s in a clumsy attempt at comfort.
Draco turned to look at him, grey eyes raw and vulnerable. Harry opened his mouth to speak, to apologize for getting them stuck in this mess, but before any words came out of his mouth he was interrupted by a whirring sound from his pocket. He extracted the time turner that seemed to have gone mad, the golden circles spinning rapidly around each other.
“What does this mean?” he let out.
Draco did not reply but closed his hand firmly around Harry’s wrist and the next second the corridor turned into a blur before his eyes.