A.N. If this summary sounds familiar, you've probably come across this story on Archive of Our Own, where it has fewer chapters. I've edited and combined chapters for the AO3 version.

Spoiler Alert: This story picks up right after Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, though you don't need to be familiar with it to enjoy this. It simply serves as a starting point, and I don't think the few references will spoil anything if you haven't read or seen the play.

This is a Draco-centered time travel story. I love time travel fics, but I often feel that when characters like the Golden Trio or Snape are involved, they know too much (though I still love those stories!). Draco, on the other hand, knows just enough to make a difference, but not so much that it's easy for him. Cursed Child also gives him a motive and means for time travel. I chose to start in third year, as it's the point where a time traveler could truly alter events - and Draco has to deal with people who already have opinions about him.

This is mostly a gen fic that emphasizes friendships, discussions, and character growth without bashing. While romance isn't the main focus, there will be some as the story unfolds (Draco is going to school with his future wife, after all, and the Yule Ball will bring some romantic tension).

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Please read, enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Prologue

Draco was rummaging through the attic of Malfoy Manor. It had to be here somewhere, he was certain of it. Tossing aside an old teddy bear, he dug into a mound of forgotten belongings, each item more dust-covered than the last.

"Ouch!" he hissed, jerking his hand back to see a thin trickle of blood on his index finger. It was the needle of an old brooch of his mother. With a grimace, he set it aside and plunged his hands back into the heap, feeling his body grow tenser by the second. He could feel the knots in his back. Every single one of them. He couldn't remember a time when they weren't present. Or the constant throbbing pain in the back of his head absent.

His fingers brushed over rough leather, then something that felt like an old hairbrush. But then - "Yes," he whispered. This felt like metal. Round, with a delicate, polished surface at its center. Heart racing, he grasped it firmly and pulled it free, staring down at the object with something close to awe.

How could he have forgotten about this until now?

He remembered it now - it had come into the his father's possession after the war and his time in Azkaban. For all his father's talk about the "good old days" and his complaining about the "Mudblood Minster", he'd never used it to change anything about the status quo.

For a long time after the war, Aurors had regularly visited Malfoy Manor. They had checked up on their Dark artifacts and whether any of them had been used. What he was looking for now had been the one artifact that neither he nor his father could in any way, shape or form explain. It was illegal enough to warrant a stint in Azkaban even without using it. So, not willing to part with it completely, his father had hidden it where no one would look for such a powerful artefact, in plain sight. Not quite hidden at all. Burried amongst plenty of worthless, long-forgotten trinkets. His father had hidden it there, and forgotten all about it. And so had Draco, right until this very moment, in which his hands closed around the invaluable object.

With a sly smile, he eyed the time-turner. It gleamed like gold, just the way the Malfoys liked it. With this, he could save his son, Scorpius, who had unfortunately ended up stuck in the past with Albus Potter, one of the sons of Harry Potter. He went for the door, but came to a sudden halt when realization hit him: With the time-turner, he could save more than just one person.

He could save Astoria, too.

Astoria… Just the thought of his beloved wife made his chest tighten. A deep sense of loneliness washed over him, the pain and longing catching him off guard.

Guilt soon followed. Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? He could go back a few years and work on a way to counter the curse which had taken from him his one and only true love. Astoria, Scorpius and him could be a real, happy family again...

He shook his head. Why should he be able to do what the best healers in the world had not been able to? And he would have to leave Scorpius behind and exchange his Astoria for another, something that she surely would not have wanted.

But maybe he could spend a little more time with her—just a few precious moments to tell her how much he loved her, how much he'd always loved her. Ask her how to help his grieving son when he himself was drowning in misery. His throat tightened at the thought. He could already picture her smile, warm and gentle, lighting up even the darkest rooms of Malfoy Manor. That smile had been his anchor in the chaos of his life, a quiet reassurance that somehow, despite everything he had done, he was loved and understood.

The ache of her absence flooded back with startling force, an emptiness so vast it seemed to swallow him whole. His hand shook slightly as he clutched the time-turner, fighting the sense of guilt for not thinking of this sooner, not realizing until now how desperately he needed to see her one last time. To hear her say his name, to know she was real, not just a memory slipping away into the void.

But he had to save his son first… or did he? If he just traveled back and made sure his son never went back in time? But he would arrive in an already altered timeline, wouldn't he? And that meant his son might not even be born in that new time. His headache grew stronger.

Although extensively studied, there was still much unknown when it came to time travel. There were theories and laws for small-scale time travel and theories and laws for bigger jumps back in time. The problem was: It was seemingly impossible to combine the different theories. There was not one that would explain everything and the theories already in existence contradicted each other in a way that not more than one could be true at the same time.

He couldn't take the risk. First Scorpius, he decided. Then Astoria.

Determined and with more hope than he had felt in years, he left the attic in search of one Harry Potter.

"Scorpius," Draco whispered, holding his son tightly.

"Dad," Scorpius mumbled, his voice muffled as he pressed his face against Draco's chest. They held each other like they hadn't in years. It was finally over; he had his son back, safe and in the right time and place. The original timeline was restored.

"I love you, son," Draco murmured. He did not show affection like that often, and he realized now what a mistake that had been. His son deserved to hear it every chance he could.

They were in the Auror office at the ministry. The Aurors were dealing with Delphi, his - he shuddered - cousin. Did that mean he was actually, in some way, related to the Dark Lord? He did not want to think about it.

The rest - Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and so on - were talking on the other side of the room. They had their own family reunions to celebrate.

His son left his embrace and walked over to the others. This gave Draco the time he needed to do what he felt had to be done.

He felt bad for leaving his son behind. But he reminded himself, that he wasn't. If everything went according to plan, Scorpius would never even know that he had been gone.

He glanced around, ensuring no one was watching, then grabbed the time-turner off the desk where it lay forgotten. He slipped out of the room unnoticed and left the ministry. Then he apparated straight back to Malfoy Manor and went up to the attic again.

Before he could change his mind, he started spinning the time-turner.

TBC

AN: Let me know what you think. Even if you're reading this when more than 70 more chapters have already been written, I would still appreciate any and all feedback. Even if you stop reading after a couple of chapters, let me know why.

I think time travel (at least in this story) is a bit like physics. There are rules for the big things (Einstein and his theory on relativity) and theories about really small things (quantum physics), but there is not one single theory that would explain everything (theory of everything). Although I do have my own theories which I use as a basis for this story so it is in itself coherent, but Draco isn't likely to figure that one out anytime soon.