Time Management

*


Draco slept badly due to Crabbe and Goyles snores. Finally, he got up and placed a silencing charm around his hangings. He lay in his bed, violently wishing he had just dealt with Potter in his own universe.

Draco turned over onto his side and sighed. Potter was definitely good-looking in this universe though. Draco closed his eyes, remembering the way Harry looked in those tight jeans and without them... He felt a familiar tightening. He groaned and reached down to soothe his hardening cock.

'This is so wrong,' Draco thought as he stroked himself. 'I should not be getting off thinking about Potter. Yes, I wanted him before, but now he's different.' Draco silently cursed Blaise for not being more forceful in his protests.

Draco gasped as he came in his hand. He withdrew his wand and cleaned up his mess. He supposed tomorrow he might have to go to Dumbledore and see if he couldn't straighten everything out. The thought pained him, but he didn't know any other way to do it.

***

The next morning Draco woke early and dragged Blaise out of bed. Blaise grumbled and mumbled something about "too much honey" before Draco shook him awake. Needless to say, he wasn't very pleased about having to get up.

They dressed quickly and quietly left the dormitory for Dumbledore's study. They knocked on the door and the gargoyle leapt aside at a silent command from Dumbledore. Draco and Blaise went up the spiral staircase and entered Dumbledore's office.

It looked the same as it always had. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk looking especially grave, more so than Draco had ever seen. He gestured for Draco and Blaise to sit down. They did so cautiously.

"Well, boys, what is so important to come this early in the morning?" Dumbledore asked them with the hint of a smile.

Draco and Blaise looked at each other, then Draco spoke up. "Well, Professor," he drawled, "It seems I may have...done something."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Draco. "What do you mean?" he asked lightly.

"Well, I kind of changed the past."

Draco sat, eyeing Dumbledore carefully, as though waiting for an explosion. Dumbledore didn't say anything. He put his long fingers together and surveyed Draco and Blaise. Blaise sat, fidgeting slightly, in his chair under Dumbledore's light-blue eyes.

"You changed the past..." Dumbledore repeated and Draco nodded in assent.

"I was hoping to change my future," Draco added.

"With Harry," Dumbledore finished the sentence and Draco sat up, alert. He hadn't said anything of the sort. How did Dumbledore know these things?

"I didn't say any--"

Dumbledore held up a hand to stem his excuse. "Tell me, what was your previous relationship with Mr. Potter?"

Draco scowled at being interrupted but decided it was best to answer the question. "He basically hated me. I suppose I didn't do anything to discourage it," he said disdainfully.

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "And what was his stance on Voldemort?"

Draco saw where this was going. "He hated him and wanted to kill him. His stupid Gryffindor nature always kicks in, and he nearly kills himself every year though." Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought of Gryffindors.

Dumbledore's eyes widened significantly. "He was in Gryffindor?" he asked pressingly. Draco shrugged as a sign of agreement. "How did you change the past?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Draco sighed laboriously. "I went back in time," he told Dumbledore.

"You did this with a Time Turner?" Dumbledore asked lightly.

"No, I had my own spell."

Dumbledore sat back in his chair and appeared to be thinking. After a minute of silence he leaned forward again. "What did you do in the past?"

"I convinced my younger self to befriend Potter," Draco replied smoothly, dusting off his robes unnecessarily. Blaise scoffed and both turned to look at him. Draco glared at him, but Blaise disregarded it. He turned instead to Professor Dumbledore.

"I told him not to, but he didn't listen," Blaise said scathingly. Draco shot daggers at him. Dumbledore remained silent while the two boys had a silent battle. Draco won, of course.

"So you, Mr. Zabini, have not changed either?" Dumbledore asked.

Blaise opened his mouth to respond, but Draco beat him to it. "No, I put our names in the spell so that we wouldn't change," he supplied.

A remnant of Dumbledore's old twinkle shown in his eye. "My, that must have been some spell. Where did you come across it by chance?"

Draco didn't respond immediately. The book was not exactly full of good magic by a long shot. He wondered what would happen if Dumbledore knew he got the spell out of a book full of dark magic. "Just a book I found in the library," he lied easily.

Dumbledore nodded, but Draco was sure he knew better. "Well, why did you come to me, Mr. Malfoy?" he asked.

Draco stared at him in disbelief. Surely he knew why they were there. "We need to fix this!" he said adamantly.

Dumbledore chuckled and it infuriated Draco. "I'm afraid there is no way to fix this, Draco."

"What?!" Draco exclaimed. There had to be a way to fix this. He was NOT going to spend the next year in a dormitory with Crabbe and Goyle and a Harry Potter who did whatever he pleased whenever he wanted.

Dumbledore smiled benignly at his outburst. "If you would like, I could create a separate dormitory for yourself and Mr. Zabini." Dumbledore had read his thoughts it seemed.

"Yes!" said Draco, a little too quickly and loudly. Dumbledore chuckled and withdrew his wand. He waved it in a circular motion, then replaced it inside his robe.

"Your new room is on the 4th floor behind the painting of Uric the Oddball." Draco exchanged a skeptical look with Blaise. Dumbledore caught the exchange. "Don't worry, a portrait is completely trustworthy as a guardian. The password is 'lemon drop' until you wish to change it." Then Dumbledore stood up and escorted them to the doors. He held open the door and watched as they descended the spiral staircase.

He returned to his chair and sat down with a sigh. He rubbed his temples and tried to absorb all the information he'd received. It was possible that Harry could have been good? And he would have been a Gryffindor! Too bad this happened, but then again, you can't change the past.

**

Draco and Blaise walked slowly to their new room. They came upon it halfway down the 4th floor corridor. There was the portrait of Uric the Oddball. Draco looked at the picture in distrust.

"Lemon drop," he said clearly. The old wizard snorted as he adjusted the jellyfish on his head he was wearing as a hat and swung forward to admit them. Draco rolled his eyes at having such an idiot as their dorm guard.

He and Blaise inspected their surroundings and were mildly pleased with what they saw. Their things had already been switched. The beds were set far apart from each other and there were two bedside tables, desks, and a fireplace in the middle.

"I suppose this will do," Draco drawled, taking in his surroundings. He sat down on the fluffy bed and Blaise followed suit on his own. They sat in silence for a while, each thinking about what they shouldn't have done. Blaise broke the silence eventually, suggesting they go to breakfast.

The Great Hall was the same as it had been the previous night and Draco and Blaise conversed quietly as their fellow Slytherins ate their meals. Harry sat down a ways away from Draco and didn't look at him the entire meal. Draco and Blaise rose and left the table, hoping that their class schedule was the same here.

They were walking across the hall when Draco spotted Ron sitting on the steps in the Entrance Hall. Draco nudged Blaise and smirked at him, eager to take advantage of such an obvious opportunity.

"Well, well, Weasel, what's wrong? Did the Mudblood dump you?" Draco drawled maliciously.

Ron looked at him, confusion etched in his face. "What are you on about, Malfoy?" he asked quietly. Draco raised an eyebrow. Normally, Ron would have thrown himself at Draco at the mere mention of the word 'Mudblood'.

"Granger. What did she do? Throw you out of the bedroom because your poverty was starting to rub off on her?" Draco snickered and Blaise joined in.

Ron still looked utterly confused. "Hermione and me aren't together. She's an incessant know-it-all." Ron scowled as he said this.

Draco scoffed, and his eyes glittered with mischief. "Really?" he drawled, with a hint of amusement.

"Yes, really," Ron said scathingly, clearly starting to become annoyed by Draco's questions. "What's it to you anyway, Malfoy? I thought only Potter was allowed to make fun of me."

Draco laughed inwardly at Ron's use of 'Potter'. "Well, that's going to change, Weasel. So you'd better watch out."

Draco strode away with Blaise to potions, leaving Ron still sitting on the stairs, gazing wonderingly after them. They reached potions five minutes early, and they slipped inside. Snape looked up as they entered but didn't say anything.

They chose seats toward the back of the classroom. Soon the rest of the class showed up. Hermione picked a seat at the front and was soon accompanied by Parvati Patil. Ron came in moments later and cast an odd glance toward Hermione before moving further back in the room.

Lavender Brown flounced in shortly afterward and sat down next to Ron, kissing his cheek as she did so. Draco saw Parvati glare at the pair of them before turning back to talk to Hermione. The bell rang and Snape called the attention of the class.

He was halfway through explaining the potion of the day when the door was thrown open, and Harry strode in, completely unconcerned with the murderous looking professor at the front of the class.

Harry sat down next to Seamus Finnigan, who shrunk in his seat. Snape was fuming silently. To Draco's great surprise, Snape managed to control his temper and didn't issue any loss of points or detentions. Draco stared wonderingly at his godfather, wondering what had happened to him.

Snape continued the lesson as though nothing had disrupted the class. He set them to making a Confusing Concoction. Soon the room was full of wafting vapors. Snape strolled around, keeping a sharp eye for people doing it wrong. He sneered at Hermione's potion but couldn't find anything to comment on.

As he passed Harry, he didn't comment, even though his potion was no where near it should have been. He praised Draco for his work, and Draco smirked smugly. He caught Harry glaring at him, and he glared back. After a minute or two, Harry scowled and turned away. Draco was sufficiently satisfied.

After class, he and Blaise left the castle to stand in the courtyard. Draco saw Harry come out and glance around the courtyard. His gaze landed on Draco, and he moved quickly over to where Draco stood with Blaise. Blaise gave Draco a look and then moved away to the other side of the yard. Harry watched him go before coming face to face with Draco.

"Yes, Potter," Draco drawled, bored.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "I heard you talked to the Weasel?" he said in a dangerously low voice.

"So?" Draco asked, unimpressed. Harry gripped Draco's arm tightly and Draco scowled. "Let go of me, Potter," he growled. Harry frowned and loosened his grip. Draco pulled his arm out of his hand.

"You're not allowed to talk to Weasley," Harry said scathingly.

"Since when?" Draco challenged. He could see the anger growing behind Harry's emerald green eyes.

Harry leaned in closely so that no one else could hear. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he said in a low whisper. "Have you forgotton your place?"

Draco raised an eyebrow and nearly laughed at Harry. "My place?" he said incredulously. "Excuse me, Potter, but I don't take orders from anyone, especially you."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "You weren't obliviated. Something is wrong with you."

Draco rolled his eyes at his slow comprehension. "You know, you might benefit from hanging out with Granger. Your lack of reasoning skills obviously affects your perception of people."

Harry looked horrified at the mention of Hermione. "Hang out with a Gryffindor!? You must have taken a Beffudlement Draught."

Draco laughed derisively. This Potter was just as stupid as the previous one, and he didn't even have Granger to help him. "Whatever, Potter. I'm not going to take any shit from you. I will reclaim my throne." Draco then turned away from Harry and went back into the castle, his head held high and his nose in the air.

Blaise cocked an eyebrow and smirked at Harry as he passed him to follow Draco. Harry watched the two of them disappear into the castle. 'What did he mean, 'his throne'? What the hell was he talking about?' Harry wondered. This new Draco was really starting to bother him.


~*~

A/N: Please review! THey really do help... :)