A Second Too Late

by seamusseyebrows

Repeating their last year at Hogwarts after the second Wizarding War, the Golden Trio, along with a few old faces, encounter a whole new threat that involves using the time turner for their own selfish gain. A slow burn dramione fic with many other ships alongside. All characters/original story belong to J.K Rowling.

8. the invasive thought

Walking down the hallways of Hogwarts didn't feel right when he was in such a small body. Everything suddenly felt taller and students he hadn't seen in what felt like years were approaching him and saying their greetings and hellos.

'Nice going on the quidditch field!'

'Great job catching that snitch.'

'See you in the great hall!'

Shit, the great hall. The cup. The tournament. Everything was spinning in his head and he really didn't quite understand what was going on; why he woke up in his fourth year body.

'Harry!'

A familiar voice woke him up from his thoughts. The raven hair boy looked around at his friends, who were stood in front of the great hall. He swallowed as he realised what was about to happen, this was when they watched Cedric Diggory enter his name into the Goblet of Fire. He looked at Hermione, who was beckoning him to step through the doors. Even he could see the fear in her eyes, she couldn't explain it either. They all remembered being captured by Rockwood and then here they were, reliving their younger years but this time fully conscious of what was going to happen.

Harry sighed and walked towards his best friends, dreading what he know was going to happen. He took a deep breath and entered the great hall behind Hermione, Ron and Neville who were scanning all the students in search for Luna and Ginny. If they had disappeared with them after Malfoy spun the time turner, then they had to be in here somewhere. A flurry of red shot towards Harry as arms snaked their way round his torso. A crying sound could be heard emitting from the small figure who was now hugging him.

'Harry, please tell me you remember!' Ginny's voice was muffled as her face was buried in his chest.

Harry took a step back and lifted her chin, planting a small kiss on her forehead, 'Gin, I remember everything.' He smiled down at her as two voices shouted from behind them.

'Hey, that's our sister!' Fred and George charged towards the chosen one in mock anger, scooping their arms under him and lifting him up to drag him away from Ginny.

Shit. Harry thought, he'd forgotten where they were for a second. He looked at the twins apologetically as they finally put him down.

'We love you Hazzer, but we've got better things to do then keep horny teenagers away from our sister.' George grinned, producing a vial from his robe pocket.

'Yes oh holy chosen one, please do not claim our Ginny as your humble prize.' Fred laughed and bowed to Harry as Ginny slapped his arm.

'Shut up!' Their younger sister blushed.

Both the twins flashed a mischievous smile at their sister as they turned round to the rest of the great hall.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready for the greatest trick of them all?!' Fred announced, looking at his brother.

George smiled back, 'Behold as we surpass the age barrier that surrounds the Goblet!'

Fred tapped his twin's shoulder as if to tell him to wait. He bent down, stooping down to the height level of the Golden Trio who were perched on pews in front of them.

'Granger, aren't you going to tell us this isn't going to work?' The ginger raised an eyebrow.

Hermione sighed and blew out her fringe. She hadn't stopped thinking about what had happened, but most of all, what had happened to Draco? She shook her head and shrugged.

'Honestly, I really don't have the energy.' She said quietly, looking away.

Fred looked at her confused but let it go. He turned to his brother who was handing him a vial.

'Ready Fred?'

'Ready George!'

'Bottoms up!' They both exclaimed as they downed the unknown liquid in one. They hesitated fo a second before cheering as they realised there was no side effects.

Hermione laughed slightly, knowing what was about to happen, when she spotted a tall blonde walk through the great hall doors. He immediately caught the attention of the golden trio, who started to whisper amongst themselves.

'You ask him.' Ron whispered to his spectacled friend.

'Why me?!'

'I don't know, you're the boy who lived!'

'What if he wasn't sent back to the same time as us? If I talk to him and he doesn't remember, then I'll be the boy who fucking died.'

'Oh for Merlin's sake, I'll talk to him!' Hermione huffed, smoothing out her robes.

A loud bang made them turn their heads towards the Goblet. Fred and George had now sprouted long, grey beards and were rapidly growing silver-white hair. They were rolling across the floor hitting and shouting at each other, knocking over every student or chair that was in their way. Everyone was roaring with laughter and pointing at them so Hermione took this distraction as a chance for her to make her way over to the Slytherin. She held onto her robe sleeves in nervousness and stepped through celebrating students, weaving in and out of bodies although her eyes were fixated on Draco.

A foot shot out of the crowd and she tripped over it, crashing to the floor with a painful thud. Tears welling in her eyes, she looked up to see Goyle staring down at her.

'What do you want, Gryffindor?' He sneered. 'I could see you making your way towards Malfoy, so what do you want?' He spat these last words.

She slowly stood up, brushing off her robes, her body throbbing. 'I just need to have a word with him Gregory.'

'What makes you even think that you're worth speaking to, mudblood.'

'Goyle.' A booming voice spoke from over her shoulder, making her body quiver. 'Piss off.'

She spun round to see Malfoy staring at her intensely.

Shit, he's tall. She thought to herself.

She coughed awkwardly, 'May I have a word, Malfoy?'

She swore he could see a slight smirk form on his mouth as she said his name, but she brushed it off. She had more important things to think about.

Draco stepped to the side and held out his hand, signalling for her to walk out first. She nodded in thanks and walked past him, hearing other Slytherin's muttering to themselves about them.

A huge cheer came from behind as they were walking out and Hermione knew that Cedric had put his name into the Goblet. She shuddered, knowing his fate as it replayed in her head over and over again.

'Cold?' Draco said, eyeing her as they walked towards an empty corridor.

'Let's just cut to the chase, Malfoy.' Hermione turned to look at him, her brown pools glinting in the candlelight, 'Do you remember, yes or no?' She folded her arms.

Draco scoffed and leant against the wall, 'Do I remember, what?'

'Don't talk shit, just tell me. What were you doing before you came here?'

'I was in my room?' The Slytherin smirked mischievously.

'And what were you doing?' Hermione was growing impatient.

'That's a bit of a personal question, Granger. If you want to know what I'm doing all alone in my room, all you had to do was ask.' He smiled, stepping towards her so there was merely inches between them. Even in their fourth year bodies, he still intimidated her; he always had. She held her breath and looked into his grey eyes, desperately searching for a way out of this situation.

'That's not what I meant, Malfoy and you know that.' Hermione whispered, looking down.

She was met with a roar of laughter from Draco in response, he was slowly turning red from it. She look surprised before realising why he was laughing.

'You DO remember, you arsehole!' She pushed him away, making him laugh even harder, clutching at his stomach in pain.

When he had finally calmed down, Hermione had refolded her arms and was tapping her foot in annoyance.

'I'm sorry Granger but I couldn't help it. For the smartest witch of her age, you're seriously lacking in common sense!' He placed a hand on her shoulder and wiped away an imaginary tear.

She shrugged his hand off and frowned, 'We're stuck in the past and you're laughing? This is just brilliant.' The Gryffindor rolled her eyes.

Draco's smile fell as he thought about Hermione's words, 'Shit. Oh fuck!'

A few first years looked at them as they walked past, clutching their books in fear.

'What the fuck are you looking at?' Draco sneered, as they hastily ran off.

'Draco, what's wrong?' Hermione asked. She knew he had thought of something she hadn't noticed.

The blonde's head snapped back to look at the Gryffindor. She felt like he boring right into her soul. The side of his mouth twitched upwards in a sort of smirk. He cocked his head.

'Did you just call me Draco?' He looked her up and down.

Hermione blushed, 'I've called you Draco before?'

'Yeah but not seriously.' Draco chuckled. Hermione smiled back at him. She liked him when he was like this, not annoying and not running his mouth.

'Anyway,' Hermione diverted her attention to the problem at hand. 'What were you swearing about a few minutes ago?'

Draco's eyes widened as he remembered what he was going to say, 'Yes, oh shit! I completely forgot! When I woke up from…wherever I was…I didn't have the time turner. I know McGonogall gave it to you last year, so I was wondering if it reverted back to its natural state here.'

Hermione's hand flew to her neck, checking if it was there. When she found it missing, she looked at him, 'I hadn't even thought of that.'

'How did I not beat you in all our exams, honestly.'

'It's all that peroxide your dad put on your head as a baby.'

Draco's mouth fell open, 'This is natural, I'll have you know!'

'Perfectly natural as my fist in your mouth again if you don't shut up and focus.'

'I'll put something in your mouth, for sure-'

'DRACO!' A voice came from down the hall. The Slytherin and Gryffindor looked round to see Ron, Harry and Neville walking towards them. Ron was frowning in anger as he stomped up to them.

'I think that's enough alone time with my girlfriend, don't you think Malfoy?' Ron abruptly stopped in front of them and looked from one to the other.

Hermione flipped her hair to look at the ginger, 'One, I am no longer your girlfriend and two, you're the people who couldn't decide which of one of you had to talk to him, so I approached Draco. Not the other way round.'

Ron's frown deepened, 'I thought you weren't serious about breaking up!'

'It was one of the many things I've ever been serious about!' Hermione stepped forward towards her friend, 'Now are you going to help us search for the time turner so we can finally get back to our own time, or are you just going to stand there and complain?' She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

Ron turned a bright shade of pink in embarrassment, 'Fine.' He turned back to Malfoy who was glaring at him. 'So what do you remember?'

Draco glanced around to see if anyone was listening. Just then, the clock striked 6pm and students started to fill up the corridor.

'Not here,' Draco lowered his voice, 'Meet me beside the lake at midnight and we can discuss it there.'

'The fact that I have to meet you anywhere makes me extremely uncomfortable.' Harry said, shivering slightly.

'You and me both, mate. It's like…treason or something.' Neville looked away, worryingly.

Draco rolled his eyes, 'Shut up, Potter. Do you want to get this sorted or not?'

Harry narrowed his eyes and searched his face for anything suspicious. When he couldn't find any, his face softened slightly. He sighed and rubbed his scar, 'Fine, but I'm bringing Luna and Ginny. They both were there too.'

'Ugh, okay! But I'm bringing Pansy, Blaise and Theo.' Draco stepped towards him.

'They disappeared too? Shit.' Neville scratched the back of his head.

All heads swivelled to look at Neville. He noticed they were staring at him and he furrowed his eyebrows.

'What?'

Draco chuckled slightly, 'I think that's the first time I've heard you swear, Longbottom.'

'Shut it, Malfoy. Let's just meet at midnight and get it done with. I'd prefer to get on with my final year instead of staying here and retaking it for the third time!' Neville huffed and stomped to his dorm.

'Killing that snake did him wonders.' Draco shook his head and laughed again.

Hermione grinned at him, 'Okay, see you beside the lake. Come on guys.' She said to Draco, grabbing her friends hands and dragging them off before they could say anything else.

The blonde watched the golden trio disappear into the ocean of students that flooded the hallway. How was he going to talk to the people he had despised for years, let alone explain any of what had happened. He didn't even know what was happening. He let out a groan in frustration and head butted the wall lightly, closing his eyes. Why did all the bad things have to happen to him?

A cough came from behind the Slytherin. His eyes immediately widened and he straightened up, still facing the wall. He slowly turned to see a group of second years staring at him in confusion.

'Piss off!' Draco yelled, waving his hand at them.

They all let out a high pitched shriek as they ran off and dissolved into the crowd of students. Draco's head started to pound. He stomped his foot in anger and stormed off towards his dorm, gripping his bag strap until his knuckles turned white.

On the way to the dungeons, he bumped into Blaise, Theo and Pansy who were stood in front of their dorm painting, chatting and laughing.

'Oh here he is, the blonde devil himself.' Blaise nodded, spotting Draco walking towards them.

Draco smiled, 'Hello fuckers, what have you been up to in your pre-pubescent bodies today?'

"Mainly this and that,' Theo replied, 'I forgot how much hormones come with a 15 year old body, I nearly got a boner watching Pansy bend over earlier.'

The Slytherin girl pushed Theo in anger, 'What the hell, Nott! Control your little shrivelled shrimp dick please!'

The group fell about laughing as Pansy wiggled her little finger to mock her friend. Theo turned a bright red as his friends made fun of him. His pride severely damaged, he whispered the password to the painting and stormed in - which just made his friends laugh harder as they followed him in.

'Oh come on man, all of us are bloody pre-pubescent. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Malfoy. He's the one that got us here.' Blaise laughed, chucking an apple to his blonde friend who caught it with one hand.

'Absolutely not,' Draco protested, taking a bite of the fruit. 'I only meant to go back to the beginning of that day, this one is on the powers that be.'

'The powers that be?! You're ridiculous. I'm still blaming you regardless.' Pansy burst out laughing as a cushion connected with her face. She caught it and glared at Draco who was now laughing too hard and choking on his apple.

'Are you not going to save me? I'm fucking choking here!" Draco demanded, in-between coughs and splutters.

'No.' His three friends replied in unison, shaking their heads.

Draco coughed a little more until he sorted himself out and then rolled his eyes, 'Fantastic friends I have here.'

The four friends laughed together as they melted into the common room sofas. They had collectively decided to skip their last lesson and just hang out with each other, without the threat of death eaters hanging above their heads.

'Oh, I told Potter and the rest of the muppet show that we'd meet them by the lake at midnight.' Draco casually mentioned, staring into the fire.

A groan came from the rest of the room as the blonde shot them all evils, 'Hey, they're also stuck in their child bodies. The least we could do is put our heads together and try and find a way out of this. I am not repeating any of my school years thank you, I have enough childhood trauma to last me for the rest of my life.'

'Fine, we'll come.' Blaise said, rubbing his forehead, 'But don't expect me to be best pals with Potter after this.'

'I don't think any of us could stomach that.' Theo laughed.

'I'd, hand on heart, rather take the cruciatus curse.' Pansy chimed in.

'Dear Salazar, I get it!' Draco laughed along with them, 'I just want to be in my 18 year old body again. I miss drinking and I miss having sex.'

'How can you miss something you've never done before?' Pansy asked, feeling another cushion hit her face. 'Enough with the fucking cushions, Draco!'

Dinner in the great hall came and went and before the four Slytherins knew it, it was half past eleven. They gathered their coats and bags to take with them and set off. They knew they couldn't cast invisibility charms as it would flag their wands up in the ministry - the magic was too advanced for a 15 year old. They had to be sneaky in order to get past the prefects.

'Stick to the shadows, make sure you're not seen.' Draco said to his friends before leaving.

Blaise laughed, 'Why are you acting like this is our first time breaking curfew?'

'I don't fucking know, let's just go please.' Draco rolled his eyes as they walked quietly through the hallways.

Pansy leant over to Theo, 'He's just excited to see Granger.'

'LOOK IT'S PANSY PARKINSON BREAKING CURFEW.' Draco announced to the empty corridor.

Pansy reached over and smacked Draco's mouth, 'Are you fucking crazy?' She whispered, 'Do you want to die? You have a death wish, right?'

The three boys loudly laughed at her as she rushed to hush them, 'Why are you being so loud!'

'I cast a silent muffliato before we left, you pleb.' Draco laughed, watching as her face turned from confusion to annoyance.

Pansy clenched her fists, 'Let's just get to the damn lake. I swear if Rockwood doesn't kill you then I bloody will.' She stomped away, whispering to herself as her three friends followed her, chuckling together.

Waiting at the lake for them were the five Gryffindors and Luna. They had all seemed to have spoken together as Luna and Ginny welcomed the Slytherin's as if they were old friends.

'Look, just because we're stuck in this timeline together does not mean we're the best of friends. We're not going to hang out in Hogsmeade and drink butterbeer like a group of people who have known each other for a long time.' Draco sneered, narrowing his eyes at the others.

'Duly noted.' Ron rolled his eyes.

'And no licking my arse either, Weasel.'

'Who said I was?!'

'So you would lick it?'

'Enough!' Hermione announced, stepping into the circle of people. 'Arguing will not get us out of our fourth year bodies. We need to find a way out of this, I am not enjoying reliving my younger years.'

'My name comes out of that Goblet in three days, I am practically shitting myself.' Harry said as everyone fell quiet, remembering what had happened last time.

Pansy coughed awkwardly, 'So what do you think we should do, Granger?'

Hermione raised her eyebrows as this was the first time a Slytherin had ever asked for her help, 'Research.'

A collective groan sounded from the group, joined by the sound of sighing and people sitting down.

Hermione laughed, 'I'm sorry but it's the only way we can understand our situation.' she said, pulling books out of her bag and handing them around the group. 'I managed to sneak past Madam Pince using the invisibility cloak to get some books out of the restricted section. I think they'll be of some good use.'

The rest of the group were opening their individual books to get a feel of what they were about, 'We'll meet here tomorrow and go over the research we've done.'

'Tomorrow?' Theo complained, 'We've got other classes you know, Granger!'

'I understand that, but we need to do this quickly and quietly before anyone finds out. Me and Draco will set out to find the time turner tomorrow during classes.'

'Wow, Granger skipping classes? We must be in trouble!' Blaise laughed as Ginny covered her mouth to stop herself from joining in.

Hermione gave the Slytherin a sarcastic smile and turned to Harry, 'Unfortunately for you Harry, you're going to have relive the tournament.' Harry groaned and sat down dramatically, laying himself across Ginny's lap.

'So if you and Malfoy are off gallivanting, trying to find the time turner, what are the rest of us supposed to do?' Ron huffed in jealousy.

Hermione rolled her eyes, 'I already told you, research!' She held up a book and shook it at him, 'There are seven of you researching together so you should be able to cover a lot of ground.'

Realising the severity of the situation, the rest of the group nodded in agreement. They went over the plan one more time and then each said their goodbyes to each other. Taking their leave, the Slytherins skulked off to their dungeon dormitories, research books in hand. Draco and Hermione had agreed to meet at 7am outside the Gryffindor dorms, in order to use the invisibility cloak to sneak into the room of requirement; they'd use this as their planning headquarters so they would be away from any of the other students. He did not have a clue on where to start looking for the time turner but he would give it a damn good go. All ten of them were to meet in the room of requirement at midnight to go over their findings.

The Slytherin's arrived at their common room and returned to the sofas they were once sat in, all of them not saying a word. Until the meeting there were joking and laughing around, not really taking anything in but afterwards; everything was so much more serious. This was the year Harry had saw Voldemort in the flesh. Back then, they didn't know it, they didn't understand why Cedric had come back dead - the ministry did their best to cover it up. But this time, this time they knew future events, they knew that the Triwizard cup was a portkey and Draco had made it is his personal mission not to let that happen to the Hufflepuff.

'I think I'm going to bed.' Blaise's voice tore through Draco's thoughts and his friend rose from the sofa and yawned, stretching his arms out.

'Yeah, i think we should all head to bed, we have a long day tomorrow.' Draco announced to the room, looking over at Theo who was staring into space and to Pansy who was snoozing against a cushion. He shook his friend slightly and she opened her eyes slowly.

'Come on, Pans. I'd carry you to bed but you know I can't get into your dorm.' The blonde said, smiling at her slightly.

Pansy nodded her head silently and got up, her body feeling heavy, 'Goodnight guys.' She whispered, rubbing her eyes and staggering to her room.

The boys smiled as she left, knowing that she would always be like a younger sister to them. They gathered up their belongings, stuffed them in their bags and retired to their rooms; exhausted from even thinking about what tomorrow entailed.

Draco washed up and put his pyjamas on. Saying goodnight to his friends, he got into bed and stared at the ceiling. On one hand, he needed to get back to his real time; he had a life there. But on the other, he liked being in his fourth year body. It was easier, no worries of taking down Rockwood or his mother, no taking over the family business. Here he could just go back to being a kid again, focus on exams and play quidditch, like he used to. He didn't want to admit it but this was the time before everything in his life spiralled down, before his father wanted him to become a death eater, before he even knew Voldemort's plans. His father wasn't even in the Dark Lord's inner circle yet, they were still trying to nurse him back to health.

But this time it was different, they knew what was going to happen so couldn't they just tell someone? Draco tossed and turned in his bed as the sound of Theo's snores echoed through their bedroom. This year was the only year that Draco felt normal, before he felt like a puppet under the imperius curse with no way out. It was the moment he thought of regularly when he was feeling the most depressed or when he was feeling sorry for himself. He even thought about it when he spun the time turner.

All of a sudden, Draco sat up in his bed. How could he be so stupid? He spun the time turner in an attempt to go back to the beginning of the day, but at the last minute he thought of the beginning of his fourth year, back when everything was okay.

'A psychic link? A mind reading charm?' He whispered to himself, thoroughly confused. He knew he had a connection with the time turner he just didn't know what. He made a mental note to tell Granger in the morning that that thought might be the thing that sent them all back. The only thing next was to find out why all of them were thrown back in time, not just him. Draco laid back onto his pillow in frustration. He hated not having any of the answers to his own burning questions. He squeezed his eyes shut in a futile attempt to fall asleep, he wished he could be asleep quickly in order to wake up and tell Hermione everything. After a few minutes of silence, the blonde Slytherin eventually fell asleep, but the question in his head still remained; why?

Light footsteps echoed through the boys dormitory and stopped right in front of Draco's bed. Laying a piece of parchment down on his bedside table, the figure chuckled to itself and turned to look at the sleeping boy. In an almost sentimental manner, the figure outstretched it's hand in an attempt to stroke the boys head but pulled away at the last minute. The footsteps then quickly left the room, closing the door behind it. As if awoken by the sound of the door closing, Blaise sat up and looked around the room, studying the dark corners closely. Shaking the invasive thoughts out of his head, Blaise pulled the covers over his head and attempted to go back to sleep. He knew, as well as the rest of the group that had been dumped into their fourth year bodies, that this had happened for a reason, and finding out why was going to be a whole lot of work.