A/N - So I saw some article about plot holes that movies got away with, and it mentioned the time turner thing in POA. If they had a time turner, why didn't they just go back and defeat Voldemort when he was a kid, save Harry's parents, etc, etc, etc. So then I got a plotbunny...
It had been his sixtieth birthday gift from Astoria.
"I know you have a lot of regrets, a lot of things you would change if you could do your life over again. I wish I could give the opportunity to fix them all, but I can't. I can only give you the opportunity to fix one."
Time Turners had, after Voldemort's defeat, become as illegal a commodity as dragon eggs or unicorn blood. The Ministry didn't want to take the chance someone might decide to roll back time and prevent Harry Potter's victory.
Somehow, Astoria had gotten her hands on one. It could only be used once, and could only return one person to the past for one hour, but one hour would give Draco a chance to right at least one of his multitude of sins.
He had known what he would do with it from the moment Astoria had explained the gift.
When all was said and done, no matter how many regrets and sorrows he had, there was one set of eyes that haunted him when he laid down to sleep after all these years. No matter how many times his mind healer and his wife assured him that he had not killed Luna Lovegood, the thought echoed in his head that he hadn't saved her, either.
In his dreams, he saw her eyes in all their forms - lively and amused as she skipped through the corridors at school, fearful and pained in the cellar, dull and as scarred as her body in the years after the war, and finally lifeless, as he had been the one to find her that cold morning.
He spent months researching and second guessing his decision. He bought a pensieve so he could study his memories objectively, looking for the right moment to intervene, and looking for things that could go wrong.
He carefully counted the exact number of years, months, weeks, days, and hours to set time backwards, and then double and triple checked his calculations. There was no room for error.
He landed in Hogsmeade just after 10am on 20 December 1997. He situated himself just off the path the Hogwarts students would take on their way to the train station, where he could see them pass but hopefully they wouldn't see him, and waited.
Students were already starting to trickle past his hiding place. Draco even caught a glimpse of himself, walking with Pansy and Blaise.
Finally, when nearly every student going home for Christmas break had passed him, when his nerves had mushroomed into a near full-fledged panic and he had started to believe he missed her somehow, she came down the path.
His heart caught in his throat, as he watched her skipping toward him, so young and oblivious and alive, the way she had been before the months of torture and years of heroin had taken their toll.
He waited until she had almost reached his hiding place, and called out "Lovegood."
She stopped, frowning curiously. "Draco Malfoy?" She asked aloud.
"Over here." He called out again, and she made her way into the brush without fear.
He stepped out from behind an overgrown holly, and her mildly curious look transformed into one of distress. She subconsciously took a step backwards.
"You're not Draco Malfoy." She shook her head, looking at him with fearful mistrust, a look he was quite familiar with from her.
"Lovegood, wait!" He cried as she screamed and turned to run.
She was a teenager, and he was considered by some an old man, but he still moved with surprising grace and agility. His long legs quickly closed the gap between them, and he caught her by the waist from behind.
"Lovegood. Luna! Stop fighting me!" He ordered. "I'm not going to hurt you. You just can't get on that train."
She stopped struggling for a moment.
He nearly sagged in relief. "That's it. That's a good girl. We'll just wait until the train leaves, and then I'll let you go."
His relief was short lived, as she suddenly tugged on his left sleeve, exposing the scar that used to be his Dark Mark. Instinctively, Draco reached to cover it with his right hand.
It was all the break she needed. As his grip on her loosened, she slipped out of his arms like a wriggling fish. She backed away a few steps again, looking from Draco's arm to his face and back.
"Lovegood, I swear I'm not going to hurt you." He assured, holding his hands in front of him and speaking slowly, as if calming a frightened animal. "I just …
"Expelliarmus!"
The shout rang out, and Draco's wand flew from his sleeve into Longbottom's outstretched hand.
Lovegood walked over to stand between Longbottom and Finnigan, but now stared at Draco curiously.
"Who is he?" Finnigan asked, staring at Draco with his wand raised.
"Dunno, but I dunno all the names of the Death Eaters." Longbottom spat the words contemptuously.
"What are we gonna do with him?" Finnigan glanced over at his two companions.
"Leave him for the Aurors to find. We'll call them when we get to London." Longbottom flicked his wand, and Draco found himself tied to a tree.
"I'm not going to hurt anyone!" Draco protested.
"No, you won't." Longbottom nodded, silencing him. "Come on, Luna. We've got to hurry or we'll miss the train."'
With one last glance at Draco, she turned and followed the two young men up the path.
"No!" Draco shouted, not that anyone heard him.
Being overwrought and out of practice, it took several minutes before Draco was able to focus his magic enough to wandlessly and silently untie himself. Longbottom had taken his wand, so the only thing Draco could do was run up the path to Hogsmede station.
He knew, before he reached his destination. He heard the wheels turn and the whistle sound, and knew he would never make it in time. He ran faster, hoping he was wrong, hoping the train would be delayed for just a few moments, just long enough for him to jump on.
It wasn't.
He reached the station as the tail end of the Hogwarts Express cleared the platform. His chest already ached from running so hard. Without a wand, there was no way he was going to slow the train enough to get her off, or get himself on to hide her from the Death Eaters.
He had failed.
He had one chance to save her, and he couldn't do it. He sank onto a bench numbly and buried his head in his hands. The thought flickered across his mind that if another train came along soon enough, he could throw himself in front of it.
Then he wouldn't have to face failing her twice in his life.
"Draco?" a softly lilting voice asked.
A voice that belonged to a person who was dead in his time.
He looked up to see the most wonderful sight he had ever seen in his life.
"Luna?" He frowned in curiosity before a relieved smile broke across his face. "You didn't get on the train."
"You are Draco Malfoy." She nodded confidently. "But not the Draco Malfoy I know. I know your voice, and I saw the scar where your Dark Mark used to be. You came from the future. And if you went to that much trouble to stop me from getting on the train, I knew it must be important for me not to."
He nodded, still unbelievably relieved. "You have to go into hiding. The Death Eaters will be coming after you."
"Very well, then," She smiled. "Is there anything else you need to tell me before you return to where you came from?"
He sighed. "It's probably best if I don't tell you any more."
"It's a good thing I'm a patient person." She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Goodbye, Draco Malfoy. I'll see you again one day."
She gracefully spun on her toes and walked away with a flounce.
He watched her exit with a smile.
A/N - I had only intended this to be a one-shot, but so many people have asked about a continuation that I have written a sequel one shot, called The Butterfly Effect. You can find the link on my profile.