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Rating:
Mature
Archive Warning:
No Archive Warnings Apply
Category:
F/M
Fandom:
Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationships:
Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Harry
Potter/Ginny Weasley, Daphne
Greengrass/Blaise Zabini, Parvati Patil/Ron
Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black
Malfoy
Characters:
Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry
Potter, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott,
Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass,
Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black Malfoy,
Ginny Weasley, Astoria Greengrass
Additional Tags:
Post-War, Time Loop, Time Travel,
Slytherins Being Slytherins, Enemies to
Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Drama
& Romance, Plot Twists, Post-Hogwarts,
POV Draco Malfoy, POV Hermione
Granger, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Draco
Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, Minor
Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Minor
Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy,
dramione - Freeform, Married Couple,
Mystery, Not Epilogue Compliant,
Memory Loss, Tearjerker, Angst with a
Happy Ending
Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of Timeless Series ● Next Work →
Collections:
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Dramione Tea Room, dramione for my
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Stats:
Published: 2020-10-17 Completed:
2021-01-23 Words: 323427 Chapters:
50/50 Comments: 1913 Kudos:
3847 Bookmarks: 1930 Hits: 258579
Timeless
alexandra_emerson
Chapter 11
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter
for notes.)
If you want to know his heart, pay close
attention to what angers him.
If you want to know his mind, listen for the
words that linger in his silence.
If you want to know his soul, look at where
his eyes are when you catch him smiling.
-Lang Leav
Present Time: May 2001 / Draco's Time:
Same as present
Hermione Granger
Hermione started meeting with Malfoy once
a week in the Ministry Archives. She'd
expected him to protest more when she
explained that she'd have to move the day
they met each week to fit into her work
schedule, but he'd simply shrugged.
She'd thought he was unpredictable before,
but it was nothing compared to how he was
now. She never knew from one moment to
the next if she'd get a mean version of him
closer to the boy she'd known in school, or
an understanding, nice Malfoy like the one
she'd become friends with over the past
year.
Even he didn't seem to know what to
expect from himself and she got the sense
he was frequently altering his opinion of
her. She wondered if the extreme
moodiness was a part of his personality, or
caused by the time travel, since he was
constantly trying to reconcile his present
time with an unfamiliar future.
Or, more accurately, an unfamiliar collection
of futures, since every time he was
transported to a different date with
separate rules and scenarios than the
previous dates he'd visited. Just thinking
about it made her head hurt. The one
fortunate thing about Malfoy's situation was
that it could not have happened to someone
more capable of handling its complexity.
In just the two weeks she'd been working
with him, Hermione had learned that Malfoy
was very sharp and had an incredible
memory, which was ironic since she'd
assumed for the past few months that he
suffered from memory lapses.
If this time jumping had happened to
anyone else, she could see them getting
completely lost in the time jumps, but
Malfoy had a strong grasp of the intricacies
of the different timelines and seemed to be
able to visualize them clearly in his mind.
She hadn't known how smart he was since
he'd never really applied himself in school.
But she wished she'd known about his
intellect before she insisted she'd be able to
find a pattern he'd missed in the dates of all
his jumps. She hadn't. Like he'd said, the
jumps appeared to be random.
When she finally admitted he was right, he
smiled to himself and nodded, but didn't
say anything more. Okay, so he's closer to
nice Malfoy today, she thought to herself.
He looked up at her and cocked an eyebrow
at her in confusion. She blushed and looked
away, realizing that she'd been staring at
him for a few minutes.
"Anyway, I've been researching the
butterfly effect," she said, looking back
down at her notes. "I assume you've come
across the concept already?"
He nodded.
"Good. So you know that you need to be
careful about changing the past. One small
action could have lasting effects."
"Yes, I will inform my future self," he
muttered sarcastically.
She rolled her eyes, thinking she may have
been too quick with her previous
assessment of his mood before turning back
to the book she was reading. Her attention
was soon torn away from the passage in
front of her when Malfoy started speaking
again.
"When I first read about the butterfly effect,
it made it sound like you go to a time and
start making changes willfully. But – well –
I'm finding it's not like that."
Hermione turned to face him. "What do you
mean?"
"I – Well, during some jumps to the future,
I've heard of things that happen in the past,
things I've done and I thought to myself at
the time, 'That doesn't sound like me, I
wouldn't do that.' But in another jump, I did
it, the thing I had already done, and it
seemed so natural at the time. I guess it
was what I was meant to do. I thought it
would feel forced but-" He cut off and shook
his head.
"I don't-" he sighed, "-I don't like it. It's a
little terrifying at times, to be honest. Like
I'm just a pawn in a larger chess game and
I have no idea who is moving the pieces."
He looked away, embarrassed, and she
guessed he wasn't used to confiding in
people. That would change, she knew, since
he'd confided in her easily multiple times in
the future. She wondered what accounted
for the change.
"I know the exact feeling," she admitted in
an effort to alleviate some of his discomfort.
"You've time traveled?" His head snapped
up in surprise.
"I have."
"Why? When?"
"I-" She thought of Buckbeak and
remembered why his life had been in
danger and cut off, unsure of what this
version of Malfoy would do with the
information.
He shook his head and looked down,
dejected. "You don't trust me."
"I - well, no. I don't," she admitted.
He regarded her for a few more seconds,
then gave her a curt nod and turned back
to his book. They didn't speak for the rest
of the session. When Hermione's wand
alarm went off, signaling the end of their
time together, she stood up and started to
stretch.
They stacked the books they'd used in
silence but before Hermione could return
them with her wand, a paper airplane
landed on her head. She read it quickly and
sighed in frustration.
"What?"
She'd forgotten Malfoy was still standing
there. "My lunch meeting has been canceled
again. This is the third time we've had to
move it…" she trailed off and started writing
a response on the note, asking if tomorrow
would work, then sent it back to her
colleague with a flick of her wand.
"Right," Malfoy mumbled as he bent to pick
up his bag.
"Do you want to go to lunch with me?" The
words were out of Hermione's mouth before
she could consider them. She regretted the
invitation as soon as she saw his face.
She'd been trying to relieve the tension
between them that had settled in after she
told him didn't trust him, and she'd had
lunch with him countless times, but then,
that hadn't been this Malfoy. He was
hesitant and looked like he was trying to
find a polite way to let her down.
"Never mind, I'm sure you have plans," she
added in a rush.
"No, I don't." His expression was different
now and he looked guilty and a
little...hopeful? This Malfoy was impossible
to keep up with. The range of emotions that
would flash in his eyes over the span of just
one minute made her dizzy. It was a good
thing she was clever and good at handling
complicated problems, otherwise, she didn't
think she'd be able to keep up.
"Okay then, uh - are you ready now?"
He nodded and they walked together to the
lift. When they reached the Apparition point
at the Ministry entrance Hermione paused,
considering where to take him. She'd been
planning to take him to the café they
typically met at, but she remembered that
this Malfoy probably hadn't been there yet.
And it occurred to her that maybe this was
when he found out about it, so he'd know
where to go when he sought her out in the
future.
If she changed her mind now, he'd never
find her in the future and she'd never start
up a friendship with him. She'd never have
gone to his flat, he'd never have kissed her,
and she wouldn't be standing here with him
now in this awkward silence. She could
change it all with one small decision about
where to go to lunch.
"Granger, do you always think this much?
Or is it just our special - uh - situation?" He
was looking at her with an amused
expression and she blushed, then decided
then to stop overthinking it and take him to
the café.
She ignored his question. "Are you fine if
we go somewhere Muggle?"
He shrugged, then transfigured his clothes
with a silent spell and looked back at her
expectantly. She did the same, offered him
her arm, and Apparated them both to an
alley close to the restaurant where they'd
eaten together many times.
After they'd sat down and ordered their
food, he repeated his earlier question. "You
never answered me before. Do you always
stare off in the distance, deep in thought?"
"No. I'm still getting used to the time travel.
Every single action is layered; it's
fascinating to consider, and incredibly
complicated."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, this restaurant, for example. Have
you ever been here before?"
Malfoy shook his head.
"Actually, you have, many times, with me.
You came in one day and sat down. At the
time, I had no idea how you'd found me,
since I only ever come here alone, but I
just realized, when I was deciding where to
take you to lunch, that if I took you here
today, well – that was how you would know
where to find me in the future."
He looked around, then eventually, back at
her, "Yes, I know what you mean. You – uh,
you'll get used to it." Hermione didn't know
if she ever would. "So, I just came in and
sat down one day?" he asked.
"Yes."
"I'm surprised you let me."
"Hah! I protested, of course, but you
threatened to break the Statute of Secrecy,
so I didn't have much of a choice."
She thought this would be a surprise to
him, but he just nodded thoughtfully.
"Then, after a Quidditch match, you took
me to a pub and apologized to me for- uheverything." She studied his face,
interested to see what his reaction would be
since it had just occurred to her that this
Malfoy had never apologized to her. Every
action that had redeemed him in her eyes
hadn't been done by this version of him.
He met her gaze and his grey eyes were
sad, but he didn't say anything.
"I thought that was the point of it all," she
continued, "why you'd reached out to me,
but you kept coming back..."
He opened his mouth to speak but was cut
off when the waitress came with their food.
Once the waitress was gone, he said in a
low voice, "Granger, I am sorry, even
though I know the person who apologized
wasn't me."
Hermione waved him away, "It's fine,
Malfoy. I didn't mean to turn the
conversation to something so heavy. It's
just – a lot. I have no idea how you're
managing to keep up with all of this."
He shrugged. "You seem to be doing a fine
job of keeping up."
"Maybe. But I only have to manage one
time-jumping relationship. You have to keep
track of everyone in your life."
He looked at her oddly, then nodded slowly
and started eating his pasta. After a few
more moments of silence he asked, "Is that
why you offered to help me?"
"What?"
"I learned in the future that you'd help me
with this, but I couldn't imagine why. And
when you first offered, I didn't expect it,
especially since the last thing I'd done was
assault you." She blushed but he wasn't
looking at her. His eyes were focused on
something outside the window. "But it
makes sense now. The puzzle, the
complexity of it all, that's what appealed to
you."
Hermione considered this. Why did she offer
to help? It wasn't for mental stimulation,
like he thought. She thought it was on
behalf of the other Malfoy who she was
friends with. The one who liked to talk
about Muggle literature and made her feel
good about herself.
"I guess I didn't have a choice then," she
said matter-of-factly. "You said you learned
in the future that I helped, so I did."
This was the absolute wrong thing to say.
His expression darkened and she opened
her mouth to backtrack, but paused, unsure
where she'd misspoken.
"Hermione, you need to promise me
something." His suddenly serious tone and
the unexpected use of her given name
caught her off guard. When she looked into
his grey eyes, they were intense and
reminded her of a storm. As she stared into
them, she lost herself for a moment,
forgetting her previous thought, then
forgetting why he was looking at her like
this. Right, he wanted her to promise
something.
"Okay." Her voice was rough and she took a
sip of water to clear her throat.
"Promise that in all your interactions with
me from here on out, you will never do
anything because you know it happens that
way in the future. You have a choice. We
both do," he added, his voice intense.
"You're thinking of something specific,
aren't you?"
He nodded, never dropping her gaze and
she was dying to ask more but knew it
would violate her own request that he not
tell her specifics about her future.
"Promise me, Hermione." She could tell this
was extremely important to him. She
normally wouldn't agree to such a vague
request, but it seemed reasonable enough.
"Okay. I promise."
"Good."
He looked away and she finally had a
chance to breathe. She turned back to the
food in front of her that she'd nearly
forgotten and he seemed to relax slightly,
then took up his fork and continued eating.
As she ate, she watched him and saw that
his eyes were back to their normal, light
grey color. The storm she'd seen in them a
few moments ago had passed. As she took
another bite of salad, Hermione wondered
who would win in a staring contest between
Harry and Malfoy.
Present Time: June 2001 / Draco's Time:
January 2004
Hermione Granger
A week later, Hermione was studying in the
Ministry Archives with Malfoy again. She'd
been trying to catalog the differences
between this person and the versions of
him she knew from the future. This one was
more sullen and guarded and didn't smile
nearly as much as the other Malfoy.
He also wasn't as confident as his future
self. He was arrogant, just as he had been
in school, but it seemed forced and less
natural than the self-assuredness it would
one day become. She wondered what would
cause such a drastic change in his
demeanor in just a few years.
Her thoughts were interrupted when he
exclaimed, "Shit, it's about to happen."
"Really? Right now?" She rushed to his side
of the table and jumped when she saw him
flicker, as if he'd momentarily become
invisible. "How much warning do you
usually get?"
"About a minute. It's usually just enough
time to run off so no one sees me
disappear, but I guess I don't have to now."
Hermione watched, fascinated, as he
blinked out. Then, less than a second later,
he was replaced by another Malfoy sitting in
the same spot, in the exact same position,
but this one was wearing dress robes.
He looked annoyed once he recognized his
location, but when he saw Hermione, he
smiled and it was better than any smile the
other Malfoy had given her. She realized
she'd missed this version of him. It had
been ages since she'd seen him, not since…
She furrowed her brow as she remembered
the drunken kiss.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her
frown.
"What time are you from?"
"January 2004."
The kiss hadn't happened yet for him.
According to present Draco's notes, the
drunk version of him had been from 2005.
She guessed it wasn't fair to be angry with
him for something he hadn't done yet.
"Oh, nothing," she said eventually. "So, uh
– where were you?" She motioned toward
his dress robes.
"A silent auction to raise funds for St.
Mungo's."
"Oh. That sounds more fun than this."
"Yeah," he sighed. "My date was fucking
hot."
Hermione smiled back at him awkwardly.
"Right. Well, I'm sorry you have to spend
the next two hours with me instead."
He smirked to himself and shook his head
and there seemed to be some joke there,
but she didn't get it.
"Didn't you know, though? That you'd miss
it? Isn't the version of you from this time at
the silent auction now, making a memory
you can recall?"
His eyes narrowed and he muttered under
his breath, "Yeah, he's making a fucking
memory all right." He cut off when he saw
her watching him curiously, then said
louder, "I knew I would leave. I just didn't
realize I'd disappear after less than 30
minutes." He sighed and turned to face her.
"How are you?"
She smiled in spite of herself. It was so nice
having pleasant Malfoy back. The other one
would never ask her how she was so
casually. "I recently found out you've been
time traveling and all the memories I have
with you aren't really, well, you."
"They're all me, Hermione, just at different
times."
"I don't know. There seems to be a clear
divide between the Malfoys I meet from the
future and the Malfoy currently living in this
time."
He nodded thoughtfully and she
remembered all the questions she'd planned
to ask future Malfoy when she saw him
again. "I have a lot of questions for you."
He smiled and shook his head, amused.
"I'm not surprised."
"When I saw the dates of all your time
jumps, I noticed that you spent so many of
them coming back to see me. Why is that?"
He thought for a while before finally
answering her. "We're friends in my time
and it sort of came about because of these
research sessions. But I knew you'd never
offer to help me if I didn't show you, as
early as possible, that I'm not as terrible as
I was in school."
"That sounds like cheating."
He shrugged and smirked at her. "I'm not
surprised you see it like that."
Hermione hesitated with her next question.
She wanted to know why he'd called her
stunning that first day at Flourish and Blotts
and why sometimes it seemed like he was
flirting with her, but she was suddenly too
embarrassed to form the words.
And as she thought of his 'hot date,' who
was probably the gorgeous Astoria, she
wondered if maybe he was just a flirty
person. Like he'd just said, he'd come back
to be nice to her so she'd agree to help him
with this research. He was just using her,
which fit in more with the Malfoy she knew.
"Didn't you have more questions?" he
asked, and she wondered again if he knew
Legilimency, but thought not, since she was
sure if he knew what she was think now, his
expression would look more smug.
"No, uh, that was it." She went back to the
computation she was working on. When he
didn't make any move to join in on the
research, she moved the formula she was
working on toward him and asked, "Can you
help me with the maths here?"
He shook his head and pushed the
parchment back to her.
"Why not? I'm doing this to help you. So
you don't have to be pulled around to
random points in time anymore."
"I don't want to fix this," he argued back.
"Wait, what?"
"I like my life. I like how it all turns out.
And if I change this - well, it's a part of
what got me to where I am now. Remember
the butterfly effect?"
"So this has all been just a big waste of
time?" she asked, exasperated.
Malfoy sighed and scooted his chair close to
her. He lifted his hand and she thought he
was going to place it on hers, but he
seemed to catch himself, then put it back in
his lap. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I do
appreciate your help, really. It's good to
understand this as much as possible. But it
doesn't mean I'll decide to reverse it if we
ever figure out how."
"Do we figure out how?"
He smiled back at her and shook his head.
"Rule number one…"
"Yeah, yeah." She sighed and stretched in
her seat, then looked at her watch and
stood up. "I understand if you don't want to
work on this, but I'm not going to sit here
and do it without you."
"Where are you going?" He looked
disappointed and she felt bad for
abandoning him, but shook it off. Ron had
asked her to join him for lunch today and
she'd had to decline since she had plans
with Malfoy. Since he wasn't interested in
researching, she could still make lunch with
Ron and earn some much-needed goodwill.
"I'm going to lunch with Ron."
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "When are you going
to dump him? You two are rubbish
together."
"What happened to rule number one?"
Hermione snapped back, angry now. "And
rule three, not insulting my friends. You
can't sit there and say something like that
to me. God, Malfoy!"
He was smirked at her, which made her
even angrier, and she started pacing the
area next to the table he was still sitting at.
"So, what happens now? You plant this idea
in my mind about Ron and I wonder, 'Wait, I
don't end up with Ron?' I trusted you! I was
worried you'd do something like this and if
you do it again, in any time, I'm done
here."
"Relax, Hermione." He was standing across
from her now and she was happy to note he
looked ashamed. "I was kidding. You know I
don't like Weasley. Don't read into it so
much."
She continued to glare at him, but his face
was unreadable and she couldn't tell if he
was lying or not. She stormed out of the
room and was relieved to find the lift
empty. When she got inside, she leaned
against the wall and dropped her face into
her hands.
Hermione knew in her heart she didn't end
up with Ron, and she couldn't even be mad