"Draco Lucius Malfoy, do you swear on your life that you will not tell a soul what I am about to show you?"
"Blaise, I'm getting impatient now! Have I or have I not already told you ten times I wouldn't tell?"
"Just swear it!"
Draco glared his harshest glare, but decided it was best to just swear it again and find out what the bloody hell Blaise was going on about.
"I, Draco Lucius Malfoy, swear on my very own life that I will not tell a soul about what you will show me," Draco paused and added, "unless, of course, I have your permission." Draco was relieved to see Blaise nod in approval of adding that last bit.
Blaise set privacy spells around their dormitory, though it wasn't really needed; they were the only two eighth year Slytherins (aside from Nott, who stayed in his own world) who weren't sent to Azkaban. Draco just barely managed to avoid it, thanks to Potter.
Blaise reached in his robes and pulled out a compass. It looked to be very ancient; its chain was rusted in some places and the print on the inside was faded. Some of the gold was flaking off the surface, and it must have lost its shine three life times ago.
"This," said Blaise, holding the small compass in front of Draco, "is a Time Alterer." Draco let out a small gasp of shock before he could stop himself; these kinds of devices were extraordinarily rare.
"Now," Blaise continued, "as I'm sure you know, Time Alterers are very rare. There are, of course, some rip-off versions of these, but those only give you 5 second visions and don't let you go further back in time than 20 minutes. There are only 12 original Time Alterers left on Earth, and people are quite greedy, so it is very important that you don't tell anyone about this, understand?" Draco nodded half-heartedly in response; he was too lost in thought to actually comprehend the words being spoken to him.
Of course, Draco had read all about these, and how incredible they were. There's known to be only 12 left on earth, and they could travel as far back as 700 years in the past. With the original ones, they were passed down by blood, which meant Blaise had to have a distant relation to the creator of all 12. The magic was so profound and extraordinary that no other wizard had ever figured it out. Since Blaise inherited it by blood, that meant that Blaise would be essential to each Travel the Time Alterer did, and would have to accompany every trip in time used with this specific device.
"Are you mental? Why would you take something this valueable to Hogwarts?"
"As long as it stays here with me at all times, and no one knows about it, it should be fine. And it's in the inside pocket of my robes, so it won't be too hard to miss someone stealing it," Blaise said with a casual expression.
Draco still thought it was much to risky, but thought better than to say anything if it. Blaise must intend to use it with Draco if he was bothering to even show it to him. Still, Draco asked, "Why are you showing me this?"
"You saved my life, Draco. I can't think of a way to repay you for it, since I most likely won't be there when you need your life saved. I must fulfill my debt some way." Blaise wore an eerily serious expression, but that didn't stop Draco from feeling the excitement run through him.
"I am offering to let you use this (with my assistance, of course) to see what could've happened if something in your past had been different. But it can't be anything stupid. I shouldn't be careless with it." Draco had his head cocked slightly to the right, thinking of what he wants to see different. Sure, there were lots, but he wanted to make the most of it, and see something important... At the same time, he didn't want to waste it on something important to the world, but instead something important to his life. He could be selfish! After all, he was Slytherin.
"I would reccomend thinking of something you personally regret," Blaise said. Draco searched his mind for things that he regretted. Joining the wrong side of the war, getting the dark mark, living with the Dark Lord, bei-
Those all had to do with the Dark Lord, and Draco didn't want to think about that. He focused on what happened to him personally, what could have made a huge difference on his life...
Potter refusing my handshake.
Yes, that's perfect.
"The handshake. I want to see what would've happened if Potter hadn't refused my handshake in First year." Draco was absolutely sure that this was the right choice. He didn't know why he knew, but he did. It had to have some big effect on him, right? After all, that's what started their whole rivalry in the first place.
"You do understand that in order to do that, we have to get Potter to come along with us?"
Draco raised his head in question. That would've been a good thing to know.
"Yeah, I probably should have told you that you have to include everyone that is involved in the altered memory." Blaise looked almost embarrassed when he said it.
"Yeah, that's kind of a big part, isn't it." Draco thought of what he could do to get Potter to agree to come along with him. It'd be a big awkward, for sure, but they were on civil terms now, so maybe Draco could try to ask instead of using magic. He definitely can't use the imperious curse, because that would surely get him into Azkaban, and he'd barely got out of that with his ass intact. Plus, the wand restrictions wouldn't allow that, of course.
Yes, he would have to try to convince Potter.
"Do I have permission to tell Potter? I won't tell him everything, and I won't mention you or the Time Alterer directly, if you'd prefer."
"No! Absolutely not. That Mudbloo-" Blaise hissed in pain from the cuff around his ankle: it was charmed to send a sharp pain up his ankle and through his leg everytime he said Mudblood or anything else 'offensive'. It also did the same when a dark spell was used or attempted by him, and the cuff was magically binded onto his ankle, so there was no way of getting it off. Draco knew, because he had one too.
"That friend of his, Granger, would figure it out in 2 seconds! I can't risk it getti-"
"Don't forget that they saved your life too, in the Room of Requirement. This could repay your debt. And, though I don't like them, I have to admit that they're Gryffindor enough to keep their word when they say they will, so I doubt you have to worry about them telling people. And they don't seem like the greedy type, either.
The mention of the debt seemed to be working, because it looked as if Blaise was having an inner battle with himself, before he sighed with defeat and finally said, "Fine. Though you do seem to be talking... decently...of them. What ever happened to hating them?"
"They saved my life countless times, is what happened. I can show a little gratitude, can I not?"
Blaise simply rolled his eyes and stared blankly out the window; he seemed to do that a lot, since the war.
And with that, Draco started plotting out exactly how he would convince Potter to come along. It should be fairly easy, if they really were on civil terms, and if Potter was just as curious as Draco was.