Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its related characters belong to J.K. Rowling
AN: This fic takes place years after the epilogue in Deathly Hallows so the events that have occurred up till then will be taken as such (with some changes but generally things are the same, the next-gen kids all exist etc). Harry and Draco end up travelling back in time as a result of an accident. This fic will largely be a half-crack, half-serious about their antics after they have travelled back in time.
Chapter 1: In which all was (suspiciously) well
All was well.
In fact, everything was going so perfectly well that Harry was beginning to feel just a tad suspicious about his wonderful turn of luck. Sure, some might call him cynical for his wariness towards a normal, smooth-sailing life, but Harry had spent the past forty-nine years of his existence battling an insane dark lord, annoying reporters and everything under the sun the universe liked to hurl in his path, that the extended period of peace and quiet was starting to unsettle him a little. He had every right to his reservations (Alastor Moody was the most paranoid bastard he knew and even he could end up kidnapped and imprisoned in his own magical trunk).
"Are you going to be done brooding over your wonderfully perfect life anytime soon? You've only been doing that for the past, I don't know, five days or so? Anymore and you'll end up with more wrinkles. Though I can't say that that wouldn't be an improvement, at least we won't have to spend more time disguising your face when we go on missions."
The familiar snarky voice jerked him out of his reverie, and Harry paused to clutch his hand to his chest before gasping incredulously, "Draco, are you calling me old?"
A snort (though Draco would deny till his dying breath that it was one, "Malfoys don't snort, that is undignified behaviour only uncultured plebeians engage in.") "You're half a century old, that's almost a fossil already."
Harry could already feel the grin stretching across his face. "Have you forgotten that you're actually older than me? By fifty-five days to be exact, you prehistoric dinosaur."
Draco sniffed, "I look much younger than you, you geriatric. And for the last time, dinosaurs and dragons are not the same! Dragons are a much superior species."
Harry burst out laughing at the mock-affronted look on Draco's face and Draco couldn't help but join him.
Their friendship was an unlikely one, but perhaps it was what made their bond stronger. If someone told Harry when he was fifteen that Draco Malfoy would become one of his closest friends, his first thought would be that the person had obviously suffered some form of brain damage and that a stay in the Janus Thickey ward at St. Mungo's was very much in order. Now, at forty-nine, he counted Draco as one of his most trusted confidants.
It started out as a somewhat shaky acquaintanceship after the war. They had exchanged a few words after Harry testified for the Malfoys during the Death Eater trials and paid a visit to Malfoy Manor to return Draco's hawthorn wand. Then came the awkward sessions where both of them babysat Teddy while Andromeda and Narcissa went out for "sister time", which was really just a nicer way of saying "gossip session" (the Black sisters had reconciled with each other). At that point, they had moved onto sort-of friends before –
"-and the last pair will be Potter and Malfoy. I trust that all of you will take your training seriously and will not allow any personal feelings or conflict to affect your responsibilities as an Unspeakable." With that the Chief Unspeakable ended his speech, surveying the four pairs of new recruits with his steely gaze. It was an unusually large number, but there was much rebuilding to be done in Department of Mysteries in the aftermath of the war. They were both just lucky enough to be judged to have aptitude for and invited for Unspeakable training.
It was only really through the numerous trials and tribulations thrown at them in the name of nurturing them to be fully-fledged members of the most esteemed and honourable Department of Mysteries ("It should be renamed Department of Loonies-high-on-whatever-magical-dust-is-floating-around" Draco had muttered under his breath when they had been tasked to take apart, count and reassemble Time-Turners to ensure that each one contained exactly 777 grains of time dust) that their close bond had truly formed.
None of their friends or family knew the truth about their status as members of the ever elusive department on Level 9. In a bid to tighten security and prevent further slip-ups due to exposed identities of Unspeakables, new incoming members were all given cover jobs to hide the fact that they actually worked on Level 9. To the rest of the world, Harry and Draco were Hit-Wizards that worked in a special division of the Aurors that dealt with cases that necessitated utmost discretion and hence all aspects of their work were hush-hush (though that wasn't entirely untrue as some of their missions did involve dangerous outfield work that would be absolute disasters if word got out about them).
Operating in secrecy, with only each other to watch your backs, when one wrong move meant the difference between being alive and coming out as a mangled corpse, worked wonders in trust building.
Slowly, over the course of their partnership, they began to confide in each other, things which were kept secrets even from their oldest, best friends. Draco learned about Harry's childhood, how he had been conditioned to intentionally do worse in school as a result of the Dursley's upbringing, how becoming an Unspeakable helped him change that, that there was no shame in wanting to be more knowledgeable, even delving into more obscure texts from the Malfoy and Black libraries together. Harry learned about Draco's tenuous relationship with his father, how he had grown up doing everything to gain his acknowledgement but never receiving it, how he still saw Crabbe's face in the flames even if they weren't Fiendfyre. Though Ron and Hermione were his best friends and Ginny his wife, the person who knew him the best was Draco Malfoy (and wasn't that a thought, Draco Malfoy: expert on all things Harry Potter).
Their children had even grown up together, gone to Hogwarts together and still travelled in the same circles after graduating. It was still a conundrum how Rose and Scorpius managed to have a relationship let alone get engaged when he and Albus were practically conjoined at the hip and you could never find one without the other.
Still, the most hectic days of his life seemed to be over at last and maybe he should just be thankful for this well-deserved peaceful tranquillity.
"Move your lazy arse, we'll really become relics of a past era if you don't unglue your arse from that chair." Draco grumbled, waving their latest case file one hand, gesturing rudely with the other towards the chair Harry was lounging on in the middle of their rather spacious office (there were perks to having an entire floor for your department).
"Such a ray of sunshine you are, dearest." Snickering, Harry dodged the case file that came whizzing dangerously close past his neck and swung on his cloak in one movement.
He really should have known better that this was just the calm before the storm (he should just trust his instincts dammit they saved him from a hell-bent murdering dark lord after all).
AN: Reviews and constructive feedback are welcome!