AN: Deathly Hallows canon compliant though not epilogue, and not cursed child compliant

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters, I own the story.

To Change Time

Chapter One

A Choice is Made

When he was first given the opportunity, Draco had the immediate reaction of, 'no way in hell.' He thought it was perfectly normal, thank you very much, to turn down an opportunity to potentially destroy the world. After all, he was a Slytherin and his first thought was (had always been) to protect himself.

Besides, why would he go back in time? Sure, people had died but in the end, things worked out. Potter won and saved the world, and ended up a bloody hero like always. What was there to change? (A pretty blonde girl that Draco had been rivals with came to mind but he shut the thought out. There was no need to remember the girl's mangled body after Greyback had lost control.)

But like a leech, the question stuck in his head. What if? He took a shower. What if? He ate breakfast. What if? He closed his eyes.

So here he was, Draco sodding Malfoy, former death eater and rival to the Hero that saved them all, about to go back and change everything.

The spell the Department of Ministries was simple in its complexity. A simple ritual involving putting all his past into a pensieve was completed quickly. And with a rush and a spin, a man became a boy and could live it all again.

The first thing the 28 year-old turned 11 saw was his old room. Dragons of all shapes and sizes were magically enchanted on his roomy bedroom. Slytherin colors of green and silver glittered around his exceptionally high quality bed. His eyes fell upn the lively stuffed dragon that he forgot he had, a gift from his godfather. (Snape was given a funeral at Potter's insistence and Draco sobbed when no one else was there to see. Death was final, he thought, and Snape was dead.)

He remembered loving this room, but now all he could think was of how lonely it was. (He sold Malfoy manor without hesitation the day his father passed. All he could think about was Hermione Grangers screams, and the permanent reminder his aunt carved into her skin.)

Draco flopped down on the bed and moved into a meditative position. He needed to think.

It was morning, Draco realized when he was startled from his pose by his mothers' gentle knock. (It had been years since he heard it. She and Lucius had left Britain. Potter may have saved their souls but that didn't save them from exile.)

He crossed over and opened the door, smiling warmly up at the woman who had saved the family. (When Potter told him in no uncertain terms, he was only repaying the debt, Draco was so so proud to be her son.)

It was hard, he realized quickly, to be the boy he once was. The DoM had tried to prepare him, reminding him of the importance and making him watch the memories over and over and over. Still, Draco could barely prepare himself to see his mothers' warm smile, and it was all he could do not to break down. (He had visited them only twice. Each time when he got back, the suspicion around him skyrocketed and it was all he could do to retain his status as a Lord. His mother forbade him from returning a third time.) Still, Draco managed it with increasing ease, falling into a character he never thought he'd play again.

He appeared to all the world as though he adored Lucius Malfoy. (He hated his father with a passion. He was at fault for everything. And while Draco had made poor choices, he had one person to blame for shaping him into the boy who made them.) He listened as though Lucius' words were sacred, and followed like a puppy starved for attention.

The man made sure to change his attitude toward his mother, though slowly. He refused to be the same boy who dismissed her without a thought, but he knew better than to do it too quickly, else he raise suspicion and lose everything before it began.

And so, when he first met Harry Potter, Draco thought he would be prepared.

To say he wasn't was an understatement. Potter was thin. ('They weren't abusive, they just… didn't like me much.') His clothes didn't fit and his glasses were broken. And like that, the man's careful plans changed. Potter was a child.

So, with a careful laced comment to his mother, the world changed.

Harry Potter-Malfoy was adopted almost immediately. Fudge at that point was so much under his father's thumb that there was little hesitation to agree. Bribing the right people kept everything under wraps until it was too official for even Albus Dumbledore to do anything. (Even in Death, the man manipulated Potter. It was Granger who burned the portrait, after Dumbledore sent the Hero on one too many quests after the grave. Draco had given her credit for the way she made it seem as though it was an accident.)

With Potter as his adopted brother, things quickly shifted. The boy became more and more Slytherin, though Draco was careful to steer him towards Narcissa for guidance and not Lucius. It was then Draco realized what Harry could have (and did, in ways) become. He had never realized how smart Potter was. He adapted to the world he was born to like a mermaid to water, and excelled in every art his mother taught.

When the woman moved on to advanced first year material for both boys in a month, (It was instinct more than anything that made Draco match Potter spell for spell, though he knew he really shouldn't), she smiled so proudly that Draco felt accomplished. Harry, for the first time in his life, felt wanted and he and Draco bonded in a way that they never would have the first time around.

And then it was September 1st and time for the train. Harry had been kept from the rest of Draco's Slytherin's. (Goyle, Crabbe, Parkinson, Greengrass, Nott, Davis, and Bullstrode were all dead. Only Zabini, a neutral, and he survived.) But, now that it was finally time to go to school, Harry met them all, and charmed them immediately.

('The hat wanted Slytherin. I chose Gryffindor. Life is always about choice.' Harry had said.)

(Draco asked, 'Did you ever regret it?')

('Everyday and never.')

Ron Weasley took on his former role, the adult turned child noted with amusement.

"You shouldn't hang out with him! He's the son of a Death Eater."

Harry's killing curse green eyes narrowed coldly. "He's my brother. Which makes me the same thing." (And how it sounded so very like his trial. 'Draco was a lot of things. But I stand by my choice to let him go. So should you.')

When it came time for the hat to sort them, Draco knew everyone's house all too well. (Most of his class died in the war. The Claws' and snakes for Voldemort, and the 'Puffs and Lions for Potter. But death was death and they had all barely lived.)

And then came his own sorting. 'Well well well. What do we have here? You are an adult, Mr. Malfoy." The blonde straightened but said nothing. 'Shall I say Gryffindor? It almost suits you now.' (Draco was a coward but when the assassins came for Harry, he surprised himself. He got a cut for his trouble, but Potter would have lost his head.) 'Ravenclaw, perhaps?' (Draco studied hard, no longer reliant on his name. Malfoy's were the past. He needed to be the future.) 'Even Hufflepuff would work, I suppose.' (It was an easy choice for him to side with Potter when the next wanna-be Dark Lord tried to rise to power. Potter was better, was stronger. Potter had saved his life. He would never turn on the hero again, for whatever honor he had left dictated it.)'But, alas, it has always been SLYTHERIN. (Harry and Draco were tied back to back. A vampire loomed over them. 'One of you will be turned, the other will die.' Draco talked the lovely vampire into letting them go. He had always had a knack for surviving.)

Draco stood and walked to the familiar table with familiar faces. He smiled warmly at them all, determined that none of them would find the same fate at the end of this new chance.

And then Harry was called, his name the first change. Dumbledore's furious gaze fell on Draco and the man couldn't help the smug smirk. The second was when, after five minutes, the hat yelled 'SLYTHERIN.' (After knowing Harry for five years, the pure amount of cunning he had never stopped surprising the blonde.)

Dumbledore went white with anger.

Draco defended Harry fiercely against any who tried to speak against him. (Draco was pinned to the wall by two burly aurors when Harry found him. His green eyes flashed, and the two dropped him immediately. 'Draco has my protection.' His voice was sharp. 'This will never happen again.') That extended to his godfather, who quickly realized it was Harry or him in Draco's life and changed his tune. (His last note to Draco was in his bedroom after the final battle. 'You were the son I never had. Stay strong.)

Harry still joined the qudditch team, though it was Ron picking on Bullstrode that started it. On Halloween, the troll was still let loose, but it was the Weasley twins who saved her. When told to go to their common rooms, the prefects were smart enough to lead them to the library, murmuring curses to Dumbledore the whole way.

Then came the first Quidditch match, and Harry won with ease. His eyes narrowed in thought, but Tom Riddle had been Slytherin, and perhaps that was enough to change things. ('Tom Riddle was Voldemort.' Harry hissed out, his eyes on the pureblood who was trying to avenge his lord. 'He was a half-blood, so insulting me by saying that is insulting him.')

When Yule comes, they go home to his- their- parents. And how strange it was share his parents. He got just as many presents as ever, but half as much attention. Still, seeing Harry's eyes light up when he saw his presents. ('My first Christmas was really at Hogwarts. Before then, well…')

Coming back from Christmas was very different. Harry had a package waiting for him on his bed. After getting a prefect to check it. (Things had changed but Quirrel was still possessed and better safe than dead.) Draco had known Harry had an invisibility cloak, but knowing it was his fathers, and kept by Dumbledore was different. The note was subtly insulting to the Malfoy's but the usefulness of the gift had Harry accepting it anyway, with a grin at his adopted brother.

Following Harry on an adventure was new, at least this young. ('I love Ron and Hermione, but.' The man shrugged. 'My boss says I need someone to come along, and you are very good at magic.' And what could Draco really say to that) They ended up in front of a mirror.

Harry said he saw nothing, confused. Draco saw his Harry, without the scars he had gained throughout the years and happier than he had ever seen him.

But they stayed away from the third floor.

Oh, he as well as the rest, had heard the rumors of what lay on the third floor. The quickest way to get a snake to do something was to tell them not to, after all. But the serpent house stayed together and protected its young. When a prefect told you it was dangerous, you listened.

And when Yule was done and classes had started again, Draco realized it was Weasley who had encouraged Harry's trouble-making. The redhead was telling everyone of the Cerberus, with Neville Longbottom nodding beside him.

Draco prevents Harry from going to Hagrid's hut to see the dragon. The man had been his first introduction to the world of magic, and Draco didn't want to sever that tie, but he'd be damned if he let Harry go back into that forest.

It's Longbottom with Granger and Weasley who gets got, and them who get the grand adventure. That's fine with Draco, who stays huddled near his brother when the story is told. Harry needs to stay safe. He has always needed to stay safe.

But somehow, Draco's desperation to keep Harry safe runs out, and the two end up in the forbidden corridor. It's Draco who plays the music, too afraid to get mauled to consider the consequences and harry is down the trap door before he can stop him.

The Devil's snare is easy for them to get past, with Draco's knowledge of plants. (Neville Longbottom and Draco were working on another potion together, with Draco cursing as it once again turned orange instead of red. Neville sighed, 'I think it's the snare that is causing the problem. Maybe we should add it after…')

And then they are in an empty room and Draco glances around confused. It's Harry who figures it out. 'Is it just me, or is it odd that a troll was let loose when there aren't any here in Scotland?'

The next room is a chess set and Harry plays the king. ('You're being stupid, Potter.' Draco hissed. 'We lose you and it's all over. Your death is checkmate.) Draco is the Queen. They win. Draco has always been good at chess, after all.

And then it's his godfathers' riddle. And it's this that reminds him of the brilliance of the man. This would stop most children, though neither he nor Harry are average, and that was the goal after all. This was never meant to stop Voldemort, just the youth that would be harmed. But still, its easy enough to pass through after checking to make sure Harry agrees with his solution.

And then they are by the mirror.

And so is Quirrell. There is no hesitation when Draco steps in front of Harry. His grey eyes meet the possessed man's. 'I wont let you hurt him.' Draco warns. 'Harry, do you trust me?"

His brother not by blood nods. And Draco takes a deep breath.

"I need you to run." Harry glances between them. "Please brother, go back." And it must be something he says, or his confidence or the survival instinct his mother beat into the boy that makes Harry obey because he does. And Draco shifts.

Physically, Draco can't change. He is 11 now. But magically? Magical majorities can't be undone even by time-travel. And so, Draco lets his magic free, feeling it in his hawthorn wand. And Quirrell stiffens.

But there is nothing he can do. Because while Draco doubts he would win against Voldemort at his prime, and he never wants to find out, a possessed man is easy to best. And so, with Quirrell dead, and Voldemort a spirit once more, the adventure ends.

Draco knows what he did was stupid. Tom Riddle was a genius after all, but he'd be damned if he ever let Harry come to harm by that madman again. And god, maybe he should have been a Gryff this time around. Draco hopes the Dark Lord will think polyjuice first. Because if he even suspects what Draco is, well…

But, that's a worry for another time. Draco gets what he wants, and Voldemort is gone. Harry asks him what happened but Draco doesn't answer, just gives his brother a smile and insists he is fine. Older brother, Draco thinks, as his house celebrates its win, is a role he can do.