Narcissa's Time Turner

Chapter 6: Eavesdropping on the Express

The Hogwarts Express loomed above Draco. It has been so long, he thought. His veela was overjoyed she accepted the necklace, and kept ranting and raving about giving her more and more. The gossamer gems would look stunning on her, if she ever actually wore the necklace. The purplish stones and pink pearls would go well with the warm tones in her hair. The more green and silver hued stones would match with the periwinkle blue color she often wore on her casual clothes. It was likely too fancy of a necklace for her to wear often, but he hoped she would let it grace her neck at least once. That hope was quickly dashed when he realized she would then have to explain to Potter and Weasley where she had gotten it, since it was obviously too expensive for her to get herself. 

If Draco Malfoy had only known he was a veela! He would have known that it was Hermione, even if he still hated her. He would have draped her in jewels and finery long ago. Fate was kind to the veela, his mother had written, but fate was especially kind to him! Fate gave him a chance encounter and a purposeful encounter on the same day, the very day that was best for him to make a move. He could only hope it was enough. He could have followed the trio after his encounter with Hermione but that would only make them upset with him or worse, attack him. He had to be satisfied with what he had accomplished on his most fateful day and leave it at that. Draco was so lost in thought he almost ran into the platform wall, quickly righted himself, and boarded the train. 

The journey to Hogwarts was a long one. Harry Potter was sitting across from Neville and Luna, eating sweets from the trolley, when Ron and Hermione finally entered their train compartment. Ron greedily took some sweets from the pile on the table, and sat down next to Harry.

"Hi Neville, Hi Luna," Ron said joyfully. "Guess what? Malfoy's not doing his prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

"Really? How odd. What did he do when you went by him?" Harry wondered. 

"Nothing at all!" Ron exclaimed. "That's what was even weirder. No dirty looks, no flipping the bird, nothing! Why isn't he out there bullying the first years?"

"Dunno," said Harry, his mind racing about what could possibly be more important to Malfoy than subjugating the younger students. 

"It's not as though he's really needed, there are a lot of prefects this year," Hermione pointed out. 

"I don't think so, I think he's up to something-"

And just then, a breathless girl burst in to give Harry and Neville their lunch invitation to Professor Slughorn's compartment. They went to meet him, and tried to avert attention from themselves as much as possible during the mind-numbingly boring discussion. Slughorn was obviously just trying to boast of his connections to famous witches and wizards, from Zabini's famously gorgeous mother to McLaggen's ministry ties. 

Neville and Harry left the compartment just behind Zabini. "I'll catch up with you later," Harry whispered to Neville as he threw on the invisibility cloak without giving Neville a chance to respond. Harry tried to slip into the compartment with Zabini, but wasn't quite quick enough, and Zabini closed the door on his foot. 

"Such cheap things!" Zabini shouted as he slammed the door into Harry's foot over and over again. Harry forcefully pushed the door open, knocking Zabini into Goyle. "Oi!" shouted Goyle, while Zabini yelled right back "It's this damned door!" They drew everyone's eyes as Harry slipped up into the overhead luggage space, peering at Malfoy. Zabini settled next to Crabbe and Goyle, and Draco sat with Pansy Parkinson attempting to cuddle closer to him. 

Pansy had crossed her legs up on the seat and was looking at Malfoy expectantly, but he didn't seem to notice. "Do you want to lay down, Draco?" she flirted, gesturing to her lap. Draco's face was a mask of indifference but he seemed mildly annoyed to Harry's eyes. Then again, when didn't Draco look irritated and holier-than-thou? 

Malfoy asked Zabini, "Who got invited?"

"The Weasley girl, McLaggen, a Ravenclaw named Belby"

"Not him, he's a prat!" Parkinson chimed in.

"...oh, and Longbottom."

"Even Neville? Weird. Is that absolutely everyone?" Draco queried. 

Blaise thought for a moment. "Yeah, that was everybody."

Curious, Draco thought. He was certain he had seen Hermione when he crashed the slug club party. she must have been added later, and he had to ensure he was added too. 

"I wouldn't hold your breath for an invitation, Slughorn didn't invite Nott even though he used to be close with Nott's father back in the day," Blaise continued. 

Pansy seemed peeved about more than just her friends being snubbed by Slughorn. "I can't believe he's snubbing the families of death eaters," she whined, "It'll be his downfall one day." She looked towards Draco for approval, but again he said nothing in the face of her expectant looks, just stared out the window. Draco and Blaise began discussing quidditch, and how Draco was all but guaranteed the seeker position, until Hogwarts came into view. 

Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, and Parkinson grabbed their suitcases, and Harry was careful to avoid bumping against them. He held his breath and double checked that his feet were within the cloak since they were all looking directly at his hiding place. 

"You go ahead, I've got to get something" Malfoy told Pansy as she waited for him by the door with her arm held out for him to take. She nodded, looking dejected, and left. Draco Malfoy got his luggage, and then he looked directly at the invisible Harry. Harry had to quiet his breathing, and thought, he couldn't possibly be looking at me...

"Did you enjoy ogling slytherins from their own compartment? I hope you get better at using that cloak before you spy on more intelligent wizards, Potter. How incredibly obvious," Draco scoffed as he grabbed the door handle. 

Harry was stunned. No one else was in the train car, and Harry had just directly contributed to Draco's father's imprisonment with the events at the Department of Mysteries. They were at school so he could get away with using his wand. Draco could have killed the boy who lived right there and then, and gotten glory from his family and from Voldemort. So why didn't he? Maybe Harry could just pretend he wasn't there-

"Aren't you coming? Or are you staying on the train for the entire return trip?"

Draco tapped his foot impatiently. He was glad not to repeat his past mistake of not only breaking Harry's nose, but also putting him in danger by leaving him bleeding on the train car floor. However, Draco still felt the need to let Potter know he had been caught, because who knows how brazen he would be in the future if Draco had never made it clear Potter wasn't as perfectly undetectable as he believed? Repeating such a transgression could get him murdered, and Potter would never see it coming. 

Harry reluctantly pulled off the cloak and sighed in an annoyed fashion. Draco opened the train car door and gestured for him to pass with a mocking smile. Potter stalked by Draco, accidentally or perhaps purposefully bumping into him on the way out. To his continual surprise, Draco said nothing more. 

"Draco caught me," Harry said quietly to Ron and Hermione once he caught up with them.

"What did he do?" Ron replied.

"Just told me to get better at using the cloak, since other 'intelligent wizards' might catch me too," Harry said irritably.

"He's right, you know, Harry," Hermione piped up. "You really need to be more careful when you use that thing, and use it less often. What if a death eater caught you?"

"A death eater already did catch me," Harry said grimly.

Ron raised an eyebrow at him. "Oi, no death eaters are that young, you have no reason to think he is one already."

"He's just been acting suspiciously lately. I have to see for myself with my cloak if no one believes me!"

"You best hope the next person who catches you is as nice about it as Draco Malfoy," Hermione said with a laugh, and Ron joined in. 

Thanks so much for reading, please leave a comment about which parts you liked most so far!