Week 8 Trope: Time Travel
Rating: G
Word Count: 500
Warnings: N/A
Result: 3rd Place, Admin's Choice, LDWS Round 4 Finalist

I am BEYOND THRILLED to have made it to the LDWS Finals this year! It's been such an amazing experience. Thank you to everyone who has read and voted over the weeks. You all are the true winners here.

Matter of Time

Hermione arrived at the Department of Mysteries' new hire orientation five minutes early. Her partner arrived perfectly on time.

Her jaw dropped as Draco stepped from the shadows.

"How did you—"

"Blinded hiring process," he whispered. "The Ministry's turning a new leaf."

"This is outrageous. This is—"

"Unspeakable?"

She glared. "How are we ever going to manage?"

"Not sure, Granger." Then, with a lopsided grin: "It's a mystery."

Hermione chose the Mystery of Time. Draco followed.

"Get your own interest," she snapped, collecting the shards of a broken Time-Turner.

"This is my interest." He prodded a pile of dull sand. "What happens when we succeed?"

"We'll travel back and tell ourselves how to do it," she groused. "Obviously."

Draco considered that, then nodded. "I'll come back first."

Over the past six months, Hermione consistently arrived at the office before Draco. His presence at her workbench before she'd finished her morning tea triggered every wary instinct she had.

He looked older, somehow. Tired.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hard night?"

"Hard year." His fingers skimmed her stubbornly irreparable Time-Turner. "Try the Muggle way. Watchmaker's equipment, jeweler's tools."

"What?"

Draco shrugged. "It's more art than science. And Hermione…" He took her hand. "Don't waste too much time."

He left before her brain could catch up with her racing heart.

In their eighth month, Hermione arrived to find the Time Room crowded with phials of multicolored sand.

"What's all this?"

"Samples." Draco held a phial filled with pink sand up to the light. "Not just any matter can control time."

"Yes, but here?" She gestured to the workbench, where fine quartz crystals threatened to bind her Time-Turner's delicate gears.

"You said you didn't mind sharing space. Just this morning, you told me not to waste time, and—" His eyes narrowed. "Did you change your hair?"

She furrowed her brow. "I had the morning off. I haven't seen you today."

The significance hit at once. They looked at the Time-Turner, then at each other.

"Never mind," she said. "You can stay."

"Carefully."

Hermione held the Time-Turner between two pairs of forceps, just beyond a magnifying lens.

"This isn't my first time."

Draco barely whispered it, focused on funneling every single grain of black sand into the hourglass.

"I know."

Draco looked away just long enough to share the private joke. It was worth it: the trust in her eyes steadied him more than any amount of self-confidence.

Only when the last speck of sand was added and the cap applied did they relax. Hermione stretched her cramped fingers; Draco rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

"Do you think it worked?"

"Only one way to know. Care to do the honors?"

"No," she said with a smile. "We agreed it would be you."

"Then before I go…" He leaned forward and kissed her, tender and sweet.

"So much time wasted quarreling," he whispered against her lips.

"Agreed. I wish we'd known sooner."

He picked up the Time-Turner and kissed her again.

"I'll pass it along."