Erasing Time's Tracks
Chapter 5

Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.

- - -

Harry Potter,

Draco stopped writing and pondered what to write, to emphasise and what to leave out? He wasn't above manipulation, that was sure, but at the same time he felt an odd compulsion to be as truthful as he could to the Boy Who Lived.

By now you have probably gotten back home and you are sorting through all of the material you got at Diagon Alley. I hope you do not mind that I have taken the liberty of writing first, but I wanted to tip you off about a few things. Firstly, before I begin, my owl is called Zeus. If you have a long letter to write, just send him off and tell him to come back later, if you have no owl of your own. If you do not plan on replying right away then just tell him you have no letter for me. Keep him around only if you have a short reply.

So, on to class work; my father, as I said, went to Hogwarts and has told me all about it, and furthermore – this is fairly common among the old wizarding families – I have had private tutoring on various subjects that Hogwarts teaches. Please do not be upset or offended if I tell you that there is quite a lot of literature about you and more than a few rumours about you that have swept the magical world over the last decade as well. From that, and what you have told me, I suspect you have not got a very good advantage coming into Hogwarts. I want to remedy that for you.

The most important thing you can do is to read your Potions texts. Then read them again. My tutor for Potions was the Hogwarts Potions professor himself; Severus Snape. He knows my father as they were in Hogwarts together for a year or so, and that is a story in itself. Anyway, he has a deserved reputation for being quite exacting and tenacious. He also does not tolerate apparent stupidity; it would be wise of you to be quite knowledgeable about Potions. I would send you some of my supplemental texts but I am pretty sure that you will not have the time to read them all. If you think you have the time though, let me know by return owl; at the very least I will try to cover some of the more important extra material on the Hogwarts Express – speaking of which, would you like to meet on the train? If you do, just let me know and I shall make a note to look for you when I get on.

Finally, a word about my parents – please be careful about sending me owls. Once a week or so is fine, but my parents may become overly inquisitive if they see owls coming for me every day. Again, please do not be offended when I write that my parents are, shall we say, very status-conscious?

What that means is that they insist I associate with the "right sort", and so on. That usually means boring encounters with people I would rather not meet with, but have to in order to further my social connections, and by extension, those my father already has; but make no mistake about it, Harry… may I call you Harry? I want to be your friend and I really do not care what my father thinks.

Write back soon, please.

Draco Malfoy.

Draco nervously licked his lips as he re-read the parchment and then sealed it in an envelope, which he charmed in a way that made it readable to Potter only. When he went to Zeus, he whispered, "Get that to Harry Potter, all right? And try to be discreet about it. He lives in a Muggle house somewhere."

He had never been so anxious about a return owl as he had regarding this one. It was an unnervingly new feeling.

- - -

Dear Draco,

The blond's face broke into a smile at the greeting; he hadn't even realised until he had smiled that he had wanted Potter's approval that badly. To think they'd fought for six years because of Draco's monumental bad judgement and subsequent House rivalries! The two of them had always seemed to insist on striking sparks off each other.

Thank you for your letter, and yes, you can call me Harry. I hope you don't mind that I've called you Draco.

I had started in on my books already, but I will be doubly sure to cover my Potions books in detail now that you've explained about who is teaching it. That Snape sounds rather scary!

As for the train, I'd like that. I really don't know anyone except Hagrid and I doubt he'd be riding on the train. Speaking of which, I got a ticket for Platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross, but muggle train stations don't have fractional platforms. I haven't the faintest idea of where it could be in that case. Can you help me with that?

If your owl can carry the load (how much weight can owls handle, anyway?) I would appreciate a supplemental text or two if it isn't too much trouble. I really want to be prepared for a magical school!

I'm not sure what to think about your parents. My relatives sound a bit like that. They're constantly insisting that my cousin Dudley only associate with "good people", and they're also status-conscious. I think my uncle likes his new car almost more than he likes my aunt, which is a rather scary concept in and of itself.

Draco snickered at that last, although he wasn't quite sure what a car was. He expected it was one of those vee-hick-eels things his father sometimes had the Ministry send for him. He really didn't know why, but he guessed his father just liked abusing the privilege of Ministry Auror escorts for his own benefit, thanks to that idiot Fudge currying favour with the Malfoys and other wealthy pureblood families.

My uncle's new car is apparently very important to him because it reflects the fact that he can afford to spend all that money. His old car was just fine – not that I got to ride in it much.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my boring life so I'll close here. Oh – my owl's name is Hedwig. She's beautiful, isn't she? (I think she's also quite intelligent; she seemed to know that I was about to finish this letter and hopped down on my leg to get ready to take it to you)

Harry Potter

The beautiful snowy white owl had hooted softly at Draco just as he was preparing to go to bed. He had left his bedroom window open, ostensibly for the fresh summer air, but in actual fact so the owl could get in unobtrusively. He had surreptitiously analysed the Manor wards and remembered what he had learned in sixth year when he had become "the man of the house" as well as his strange experience with directly sensing the magical wards before his time-travel adventure.

It turned out that the wards did not notify his parents when an owl came onto the property, at least at the time. Draco surmised that the ward had therefore been added after fourth year, when the Dark Lord had returned and Lucius had had to be more cautious in ensuring that brass-balls-for-brains Fudge did not get an unfavourable report from some eager-beaver Auror about some of his less-than-legal financial activities (funding Voldemort's renewed war effort was something that one kept rather secret).

Draco made a note to himself to alter any such wards to ignore specific owl magical signatures; this would have the side benefit of giving him a secure way of saying he wanted out if he dared reveal all to Dumbledore and needed a backup plan.

The young blond grabbed his copy of A Guide for Apprentices in Potions, a fairly slim volume that outlined standard Potions techniques as well as basic precautions against dangers in Potions labs. There was also a review of the theory of magical Potions ingredients. He remembered that Snape had given him the guide just after his tenth birthday, and said in his usual no-nonsense tone that Draco should read it immediately.

He then penned a quick reply and sent it back with the owl.

Dear Harry,

Thank you for your swift reply!

(And you have no idea how worried I was about being too familiar with your name; in my social circles the way you address someone can be very important) Do not be nervous, though – at school we just use last names unless we know each other well, so you would call my friends Pansy, Vincent and Gregory instead of Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle, once you were properly acquainted with them. At least, my father said that was the way things were when he went, and I doubt very much that things have changed.

As for the train I am not certain myself, not having been there before. One thing I do know is that in the magical world we often create barriers or false illusions to distract Muggles. So at the train station there may be a wall or barrier that looks solid, but which you can actually pass through.

I cannot say I have researched how much weight an owl can carry, but my father has used owl order before (which is a very handy way of getting books from Diagon Alley without having to go to Flourish and Blotts), and the post owls can usually handle three books apiece. Since my owl is younger and smaller, I do not think he can handle that just yet. I have used your owl instead, as she seems to be a bit bigger and stronger.

Anyway, I have included a supplementary text on Potions. Please be careful with it as it is my only copy and I was given it by Professor Snape himself.

Wait a week before you reply to this.

Draco.

- - -

A week later, Potter-no, Harry-his reply came, and to his surprise, so did the supplementary text.

Dear Draco,

Thanks very much for the supplemental text! I got a brilliant idea, and slipped out to the local library to get it photocopied. I nicked some money off my cousin to do it; the idiot was more interested in blabbing about his Smeltings stick (what a device used to hit people has to do with character development is beyond me, although apparently not beyond my uncle. I have to conclude his brain works in some kind of alternate dimension) than paying attention to his wallet in his bedroom.

Draco snickered and marvelled at how openly Potter expressed the characteristic Slytherin trait of witty barbs about other people. Perhaps being around the Weasleys had dulled the brain in the old timeline, although the blond suspected it was being around that Ronald especially that really did it. That bint the Weaselette and the two prankster twins were devilishly smart otherwise; Potter the Gryffindor certainly never snarked about people, but, in a rush of wonder, Draco thought maybe Potter the Slytherin would.

Anyway, so I have a copy of the book now, so I can return it to you. So far I've read and memorised the standard lab techniques. I never realised there was so much work involved in making a potion! I hope I'll be up to the task at school. I'll be starting on the magical ingredients theory later on.

Draco wondered what exactly a photocopied-thing was, and concluded it had to be the muggle equivalent of a duplication charm. Against his will, he began to wonder just what other marvels the muggle world had, if they had things that could copy books.

I'm still having a hard time believing I really am a wizard. When I came to Diagon Alley everybody seemed to know who I am. I even met Professor Quirrell, who seems to have a speech problem, and he'll be the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Hagrid said he'd been off to some Black Forest to chase a vampire.

Alarmed, Draco stopped and goggled at the letter. He'd met the possessed Quirrell already? Harry had even unintentionally told the blond where Voldemort had been before he began the long process of resurrection!

Lucius had told his son an abridged version of the events that happened at the end of fourth year; one thing that he had been told was the Dark Lord's story of what he'd been up to all those years. He had made a casual remark about a "young and foolish man" who he had possessed, who had been a professor at Hogwarts. Since only Quirrell had disappeared after first year it took little mental effort to deduce what had happened.

At the time though, Draco had not really made the connection, but as his memories of that talk came back, so did the connections that he had previously ignored. Uneasily, he read on.

Anyway, with you helping me I feel a bit better about the whole thing, and I definitely hope I see you on the Hogwarts Express. It's a shame you can't introduce me to your parents; I wish I could learn more about the magical world (not that you're unhelpful or anything, mind – it's just that they might have known my parents) in times past.

Harry.

His face twisted as he remembered Potter's reactions whenever he or someone else had made cracks about the boy's parents. This letter was just another reminder of how much the boy missed and idolised his parents, to the point of unthinkingly imagining that everybody in the world had only good things to say about James and Lily Potter.

Draco slammed his hand on his desk. He thought, Damn you, Potter. Why did I promise to stand by you?

He realised he still meant to keep that promise; Malfoys never broke promises.

Author Note:

Evidence for Harry's ability to make witticisms about people come from remarks he's made to Dudley in Philosopher's Stone, such as "(t)he poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it -- it might be sick." said to Dudley after the latter makes comments about practicing the Smeltings first-year hazing on Harry. Twisting Dudley's words around and tying him in mental knots strikes me as quite Slytherin. :)

Thanks go, as always, to Maddevillechilde for the beta-ing. :)