A/N: I also like reviews to every chapter. When I get a new reviewer near the middle or end of a work, I smile when I see they're taking the time to review to every chapter. It really touches me, especially if they're the good reviews that speak to me.

Chapter Three- The Second Chance

It was night time. Harry wasn't quite sure what day it was, but he was at Hogwarts... just like before. Draco's coffin was gone, as was the hole it would go into. Lights in the castle were going out. It must be light's out for students-.... Wait. That meant he had gone back at least five days! School let out for summer four days ago, but if students were still at Hogwarts at night, it had to be five days ago.

Harry smiled. This didn't prove much, but it did prove he'd gone back far enough. If tomorrow really was four days ago, then he had a day and a half to save Draco. He didn't know exactly when it happened, so he'd just have to stick around Draco as much as he could.

Without a second thought, Harry threw on his invisibility cloak and sauntered off the Hogwarts grounds. If he had the date right, this was the day Harry left for Germany. If he didn't, well the ministry was a great place to go to figure out the date. He'd recognize what was happening easily and pick out the date.

No sooner had he set foot off the grounds than he was whisked away to the ministry's halls. Of course one couldn't simply apparate into the ministry of magic. Harry had to use a door of some sort like everyone else. After working there for 7 years, Harry knew every way into the workplace. Today, Harry used a door that opened onto a street of London. It was sort of like The Leaky Cauldron. You couldn't see the door unless you were a wizard and knew it was there.

After he got in, Harry knew he'd been right about the date. There he was... Harry Potter, standing in the center of the ministry's busiest hall, was staring off at the golden statue of a wizard whose wand was spirting out water. Harry tried to remember how staring at the golden statue had made him think of the goblins in Germany, but he failed. Then he counted to three.

One...

Two...

Three...

"Hey, Potter, are you alright?" Enter Draco. "Potter, I'm talking to you!"

"Draco?" Harry asked. Yes. It had been odd for Draco to walk up to him so simply, as if it were commonplace, and check up on him.

"Yea. We're both late for work and you're standing in the middle of the hall like you're possessed. Are-You-Okay?" the beautiful blonde asked. Harry wanted to hug him till he couldn't breathe. He already missed Draco's taunting, annoyed voice. But to do anything to Draco now would no doubt cause the blonde to freak out and then Harry would be caught and restrained and he would throw off the universal balance of... well, everything.

"Y-Yeah," Harry from this time nodded. "I was thinking about the cases piling up down in the office," he explained as they began to walk. Harry under the cloak had to walk quicker than he remembered just to keep up with them. "I was just deciding to take that goblin case over in Germany when you came up."

"The goblin case? You know it's all a bunch of coswallop, Potter! What kind of idiot are you? Are you THAT bored?" Draco asked as they stepped onto the lift.

"Yeah," the 'real' Harry laughed. "I guess I am."

Harry stepped onto the lift and stood as far from himself and Draco as possible. He spent the ride staring at the man he'd just seen dead a few moments ago. Oh, Draco...

"-and if you go, I shall find myself without a soul to nark on. You can't go, Potter. That's that," he heard Draco decide as though his word would keep Harry there.

Actually, it was odd it hadn't. The last time Draco had pulled such a stunt had been when Harry had wanted to take a vacation to check on the Dursley's and maybe go to a beach with the Weasley's, who - if he'd heard right - had never been to one. But Draco had pulled a similar complaint, about having no one to talk to, and Harry had moved his plans down a week to when Draco would be gone as well and couldn't complain about him leaving. This time, perhaps it had been the word 'nark' that had kept him from giving in to Draco's demand.

"Draco," the real Harry said as they stepped off the lift onto floor two, "I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find someone else to bother for a day or two."

The Auror headquarters was akin to a muggle office. Cubicles. Draco leaned on the first one and sighed as he looked out over the other cubes.

"Yes," he sighed. "Why ever would I have an issue finding someone to bug in such an entertaining atmosphere?" he asked sarcastically, but with drama and feeling.

Harry rolled his eyes and went into his designated cubicle. He checked the posters on his walls, which magically tacked themselves up in order of which ones were considered more important. All the big time ones had X's over their faces or somewhere nearby. This meant Harry, or someone else, had taken care of it. All available missions right now were small things. Harry pulled the goblin document off the wall and scanned it. It had only been on the wall for two days. The goblins shouldn't be too angry.

A chair rolled into his cubicle, right up against Harry's. The blonde sitting in this new chair didn't seem to care that his presence made it impossible for Harry to sit down.

"If you don't move, I'm going to sit on your head, Malfoy," the real Harry threatened. Harry smiled under his cloak. Oh. The beautiful moments of easy joking, light flirting, and the hum drum of day to day life... it was cute, but how long until he left?

"Potter, you're not that talented," Draco countered suavely, but he moved over enough for Harry to sit down. Harry slowly sat down in the corner so he wouldn't bother the other two until the time was right.

Time passed slowly. Draco drummed his fingers on his knees and stared off at the high ceiling while Harry scribbled down some information he had overdue or might need on this goblin trip. Finally, almost a half an hour later, Harry got up and headed to leave. On the way out, he ruffled Draco's hair like a kid's. Draco grumbled and ran his fingers through his hair. He drummed his fingers two more times. Harry waited patiently under his cloak.

"Potter!" Draco called. He jumped up and stood in the aisle. Harry turned around and smiled encouragingly at the blonde.

'Tell me,' Harry begged from under the cloak. 'Tell me! What were you trying to say?'

But, just as has happened before, Draco turned back around and sat back down in his chair... in Harry's office. Harry waited until he heard the lift leave. Then he took a deep breath.

"Draco," he whispered. The blonde looked around cautiously. "Draco, promise not to freak out?" Harry asked. Draco leaned out into the hall and saw Harry was gone and no one else was within listening distance. Then the pureblood male nodded.

Harry slipped the cloak off and let it fall to the floor. Draco's eyes widened. He covered his mouth so he wouldn't 'freak out' about seeing Harry here in the office wearing different clothes than the Harry he just saw leave. When Draco leaned back so far in his chair that it fell over, Harry had to cover his own mouth so he wouldn't let out any escaping giggles.

The noise caught someone's attention. Harry quickly slipped the cloak back on and stayed crouched on the floor. As Draco groaned in pain and made sure he hadn't broken anything, two other wizards ran down the aisle and to the doorway. At first they looked worried, but then they saw it was just Draco on the floor and calmed.

"What are you doing in Harry's office?" one asked with a smile.

"And on the floor, no less," the other added, obviously finding the sight funny.

"None of your business," Draco bit out. "Now bugger off, you prats, before I hex you both into Saint Mungo's."

Harry didn't know if it was because of Draco's growling threat or because it had become uninteresting, but the two wizards shrugged and hurried back to their work. Harry recognized them, but not by name. When they were long gone, and Draco had reset his chair, the blonde wizard searched the office for the mysterious Potter that had startled him.

"Where are you, you polyjuice drinking imposter?" Draco growled softly.

"I'm not an imposter," Harry argued. "And I'm not coming back out again until you take you hand off your wand."

Draco narrowed his eyes. It was obvious he didn't believe Harry, but he did release his wand. Standing tall, Draco was almost taller than the cubicle walls. Harry knew it would be the same for him if he stood up... but no one would be able to see, so it was safe. Harry stood up and took the cloak off. Then he hung the cloak over his arm.

"If you're not an imposter then who the hell are you supposed to be?" Draco asked, still glaring... especially now that he had someone to glare at.

"Harry Potter," Harry announced like it was obvious. Draco clenched his fists.

"What a bloody liar!" he exclaimed while still keeping his voice soft enough for only the two of them to hear. On that thought, why wasn't Draco yelling normally if he didn't believe Harry? Shouldn't he be trying to catch other people's attention? "I just saw Potter leave not 5 minutes ago!"

"I'm not lying!" Harry replied in the same tone and decibel - just loud enough to make his point without drawing attention. "Look, Draco."

Harry wanted to save Draco, so he had to be around him... but Draco didn't trust him as the real Harry Potter. He had no choice... so Harry pulled out his time turner and held it up so Draco could see what it was.

"A... a time-turner?" Draco asked, shocked. Apparently that hit him hard enough to make him a believer. "Wh-what? What are you using a time-turner for?"

How should he reply? Honestly? Should he tell Draco what happened?

".... Someone very special and important to me died... or will die two days from now," Harry explained.

"Bullshit," Draco growled, glaring again. "Why would you come back so far if it doesn't happen for two days?"

Harry adopted a shocked expression. Then he thought back to exactly how he'd spun the time-turner. He shrugged, and Draco stumbled back a step, not expecting such a nonchalant answer.

"I was crying and upset when I spun it... and I don't really know how to use it. In all honesty, I just sort of spun it backwards as fast as my trembling hand could manage, and I popped out in this time," again Harry was being brutally honest.

This time, Draco didn't respond. Harry could see his thought process, or some of it. He was probably trying to imagine who Harry would be so desperate to save that he'd be too upset to properly use a time-turner... or perhaps he was just trying to imagine Harry upset to the point of tears. Harry hardly ever cried... even when people around him were dying. He held them back or just got really angry. To have Harry be moved to tears was probably a foreign concept to the Malfoy heir.

"Anyway... Since I have two days, and I just left for Germany, I thought I'd hang out with you until the date right's itself," Harry explained. "I'll be back by the third day anyway. See? Now you have nothing to complain about. You'll have someone to annoy for the whole time I'm gone."

This seemed to strike a note with Draco - a final blow to prove he was actually Harry. Draco looked his superior from head to foot and back up. He looked like Harry, talked like Harry, acted enough like Harry - though maybe a bit happier, and - here Draco leaned a little closer to Harry and breathed deep - Draco supposed he smelled like Harry enough. Draco leaned away from Harry again and crossed his arms.

"Alright then. If you came back to save someone so important, shouldn't you be upset right now? They musta just died for you. Time-turners can only go back so far," he pointed out, sitting down in his chair again.

"I have a second chance, Draco," Harry replied, setting himself down slowly into his own chair. He never took his eyes off the youngest Malfoy. "I can make things right."

Draco watched Harry for several moments. Something must have seemed interesting there, because it wasn't a cold or suspicious look he was giving Harry. It was one of curious, innocent wonder. Harry was smiling softly. His heart felt as though it would burst. Draco was here, breathing. Harry never thought he'd miss seeing the way Draco's breathing made his chest move through his tight black shirts, half hidden under robes. He never thought he'd miss the way Draco's hair fell around his face, his ears, and lined the back of his neck. He never thought he'd miss the way Draco sneered at him or just stared; the way Draco's cheeks would seem more sunken when he was angry beyond belief or simply covering fear with such an anger, and the way they were so fine and soft - like a china doll's - when he was smiling or staring with interest.

No... Harry never thought he'd miss these things so much that seeing them again would make his heart just ache. Draco was watching him, confused as to why Harry smiled so delicately... and Harry knew it was because he feared he may break in half if he let it all out... and this was enough...

Yes... enough for now.

The return of me doing previews!

Preview: Chapter 4 - The Ever Watchful Gaze

"Will you stop it?" Draco snapped in a whisper. Harry raised a curious eyebrow.

"Stop what? I'm just sitting here," he replied.

"Exactly."

This caused Draco to blush again, much to Harry's delight. It wasn't dark, but because of Draco's skin tone it was obvious again. If Harry were to blush the same way, no one would notice because it would blend in with his skin.

"You're so full of shit," Draco accused without looking at Harry. "And you're very distracting. Just sit in the corner or something, and I'll be done soon."

Harry laughed at that.

Draco stepped up to Harry, probably not knowing just how close he was. Harry's breath stopped and his heart thrummed loudly in his own ears. Draco held out his hand for Harry to take. When Harry's hand slipped from under the cloak, Draco grabbed it and they apparated away.