This is a (Maybe Not-So-) Terrible Idea

Chapter One

Draco knows better. Truly, he does. He knows not to mess with time or with magic like this– and quite honestly, it's mostly Theo's fault anyway. Draco might've been the one to swipe the Time-Turner from his father's things, but Theo was the one who modified it. At least, that's what Draco is telling himself. It's easier to just blame Theo.

This damned Time-Turner shouldn't even exist. As far as Draco knows, there isn't another like it anywhere in the world. And it's in his bloody dorm room.

"This is a terrible idea," Draco breathes, his eyes flicking up to meet those of his supposed friend briefly.

Theo snorts, lounging back against his four-poster.

"Of course it is. It's your idea."

Draco rolls his eyes and takes a seat on the trunk at the foot of his own bed, Time-Turner held securely in his left hand, the necklace chain dangling down toward the floor.

"Nott," Draco groans, staring down at the object in his palm.

Theo huffs, rolling his eyes in return with much more drama than even Draco had.

"Malfoy," Theo mocks. "You realize that there is a much easier solution to your predicament, yes?"

Draco tips his head in the direction of the man who is allegedly his best mate, raising an eyebrow in question.

"That device goes both ways. You can just go back to before you got that ugly thing on your arm, rather than potentially destroying the space-time-continuum with your plan."

Absently, Draco scratches his left forearm.

"Technically, I think both options have the potential to upset the proverbial apple cart," Draco grumbles, standing again and beginning to pace the room. "I can't not get the Mark. That's not the answer."

Theo signs theatrically, standing himself. He stalks up to his roommate and claps his hands onto Draco's shoulders to stop him.

"But sending yourself into the future to 'make sure that everything turns out alright' is? That's mad."

Draco shrugs Theo's hands off of his arms but doesn't step away from him.

"He threatened my mum. I need to make sure that she survives what's coming."

Theo's expression softens.

"This is still a bad plan," he presses, crossing his arms over his chest.

Draco sighs.

"Yes, well, it's the only one I've got."

Draco decides not to use the Time-Turner immediately. Loath as he is to admit that Theodore Nott might be right about something… he might just be. Draco would sooner die than tell him that, though. Theo would never let him live such an admission down. He'd be reminding him of it until they're ninety– provided that they both live that long, anyway.

For two days, he wears the Time-Turner around his neck like a noose, underneath his Oxford like a temptation.

"I have an idea," Draco whispers after dragging Theo by the collar behind a tapestry and into an alcove behind the Transfiguration classroom.

Theo reclines back against the brick wall with a smirk.

"Oh, Draco, dear, I'm flattered, but you're not my type," Theo chuckles, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

At this rate, Draco's eyes are going to roll to the back of his skull because of this wizard.

"Oh, please, Theo, you couldn't get this lucky," Draco scoffs, almost grateful for the normality of joking with his friend. Draco snaps his fingers in front of Theo's face, bringing him back to attention as he tugs the Time-Turner out from under his shirt. "Focus. I have a plan."

In a moment, Theo pulls out his wand, casting a silencio and a notice-me-not over the alcove.

"Salazar, Malfoy, you're a disaster. Just whip that thing out in the middle of everything, why don't you?" Theo hisses, tucking his wand back into his pocket. "And don't snap at me. I'm not a dog."

Draco eyes his friend pointedly.

"Do you want to hear my plan or not?"

Theo pinches the bridge of his nose as if immensely frustrated at Draco for existing in this moment. Perhaps he is. Draco can't really think straight with all of the anxiety thrumming through his veins.

"Fine."

Draco looks down at the Time-Turner in his hands.

"I'm going to find you when I get where I'm going. It goes without saying that I can't have any contact with myself, so I'll find you. You'll tell me all about what I haven't lived yet. You'll know what's happening because you know about it now… and then you'll obliviate me before I come back."

Theo drops his head into his hands and groans aloud.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Draco laughs a somewhat manic, breathy laugh.

"Absolutely."

Theo, for once, is silent. If Draco wasn't so bogged down by the severity of this situation, he might've called The Prophet to announce this once-in-a-lifetime event.

"Start brushing up on your memory charms. I can't have you frying my brain after all of the effort that I went through for this," Draco states, punctuating the statement with another exhaled laugh.

Theo narrows his eyes.

"I'm the one who modified the thing. You just sat there with your hand in your shorts," Theo huffs. "Sometimes I don't know why I'm still friends with you."

Draco's features smooth out, looking at his friend seriously.

"You know why."

Theo exhales.

"Yeah, I guess I do," he frowns, likely reminiscing on said reason. "Fine. I should be committed for helping you, but fine. I'm in."

"So, if future-me is meant to obliviate you upon return, how will you know if your trip ahead is a success? How will you know that all is right in the future-world?"

Draco sighs. Truthfully, that's the gamble of this whole ordeal. He supposes that he'll just have to trust himself enough to know that he'll only come back when he's sure that his mum survived the coming War.

"Intuition?" Draco reasons, shrugging his shoulders.

Theo rubs at his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, sighing.

"I won't say it again, but you should know that I want to."

Draco looks to his left at his dorm mate, his expression unamused.

"I know, I know. Terrible idea."

Theo beams, almost as if he is proud of himself for annoying his friend.

"So, how far into the future are you planning on going?"

Draco looks up to the ceiling, averting his eyes from the curly-haired wizard to his side.

"Eighteen months."

Draco can't see him, but he knows that Theo is probably gaping at him like a fish. He can feel his eyes burning holes in the side of his face.

"Eighteen– that could kill you! One month is risky, let alone over a year."

Draco runs his thumb over the edge of the Time-Turner resting against his chest.

"Don't trust your own invention?" Draco snarks. He knows the risks. His mum is worth it.

Theo levels Draco with a Look– one which says something along the lines of, 'I hate you right now, but you're basically the only family I have, so I'm not going to argue with you.'

"I have to go ahead that far. A month or two isn't long enough. If I'm going to interrupt the fabric of time, I might as well make sure that it's worth the effort," Draco explains when Theo opens his mouth to speak again.

Theo signs a resigned sigh.

"When are you leaving?"

Draco breathes a heavy exhale, squaring his shoulders and attempting to fight off the wave of nausea which hits at knowing what he is about to say.

"Now."

Draco adjusts the chain of the Time-Turner around his neck, holding the device in his hands as he prepares himself to time travel.

In eighteen months, Draco and Theo and the rest of their class will have moved on from Hogwarts, so his plan to find future-Theo will likely be most effective by going to Nott Manor. If Theo hasn't burned the place to the ground upon gaining majority control of the estate when he turns seventeen, that is.

It occurs to Draco a moment before he activates the Time-Turner that, with what he knows of the future already, that there's a chance that Theo might not be around. A shiver runs down his spine, but in the end, he has to trust his friend's sense of self-preservation and ability to keep himself alive.

Draco poises his fingers on the hourglass, exhaling deeply. This is it. He is about to activate the device when Theo speaks one last time

"Draco–," he stammers, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Draco isn't sure that he's ever actually seen Theodore Nott uncomfortable before. "Just– just be careful. Come back in one piece, alright?"

Draco nods curtly and swallows hard. He meets Theo's eye for a brief moment before turning the Time-Turner eighteen times.

The world whirls around Draco. It whirls and whirls and whirls and just when he thinks that it'll stop, it whirls again. Draco slams his eyes shut in an attempt to keep himself from vomiting, despite his gut being seemingly intent on doing exactly that.

After what feels like several eternities, the motion around Draco stops. He blinks his eyes open, his gaze focusing in on emerald green drapes hanging off of the four-poster across the room from where he stands.

Draco quickly tucks the Time-Turner back into his shirt, hiding it until he needs it again. The last thing that he needs is to lose track of it and his way back.

Looking around himself, Draco notes that the Slytherin boys' dormitory appears not to have changed much. He supposes that it wouldn't. Less than two years can't have changed much, he decides.

In the privacy of the– evidently empty– dorm, Draco casts a quick disillusionment charm over himself and a notice-me-not, just for good measure. Draco is suddenly grateful that he had thought to do this during suppertime so as to prevent any witnesses– or, at least, limit them.

Based on Draco's task, if future-him is successful, he's probably not welcome in this castle, so remaining hidden is of the utmost importance. Briefly, Draco wonders if the future-version of himself is in Azkaban. He probably ought to be.

Draco squares his shoulders. It doesn't matter what happens to him, only his mum.

Draco sneaks out of the dungeons, trusting in his charms but also still trying to remain as silent and undetectable as possible. The sooner he gets to Theo, the sooner he can return to his own time.

Draco manages to make it out of the castle and away from the grounds in much shorter order than he might've expected. Perhaps sneaking away from this castle is easier than he always thought.

Legally, Draco isn't technically allowed to apparate yet. The future version of himself likely has his apparation license, but his current self doesn't. Either way, current-Draco knows that the fastest way for him to find future-Theo would be to apparate directly to his manor.

So, as soon as Draco is out of sight of the castle and somewhere private enough, that's exactly what he does. He lands with his dragonhide shoes on the grass in the back garden of Nott Manor with a bit of a wobble. Huh. Better than a splinching, at least.

Nott Manor looks about the same as Draco remembers. Admittedly, he hasn't been to Theo's ancestral home in several years, but it doesn't seem as if much has changed. It's still a massive brick building with turrets and gargoyles– Draco supposes that not much could change that, really.

Draco steps forward, in the direction of the manor, a pit of anxiety burbling in his gut. Admittance to the wards on Theo's grounds is one thing, but admittance to his home is quite another. What if something has happened in the last eighteen months to change Draco and Theo's friendship. What if Theo won't help him?

Draco knows that he's never been a particularly good friend– to anyone, really. Theo has always been more like a brother than a friend, but sometimes that makes relationships even more volatile. More emotion is involved. Then there's the matter of the fact that Draco would sacrifice anyone to save his mother, even Theo. Maybe the now-in-the-past-but-technically-also-current version of himself tried to do just that and Theo will hex him on sight when he knocks on the door.

Draco takes a deep breath. Well, there's only one way to find out.

Draco raises his hand to the frosted glass on the door to Theo's sunroom and knocks. Not even a War would change Theo's favorite room in the house, so it doesn't surprise Draco that he can see the blurred silhouette of his friend reading in an armchair across the room.

Draco tucks his hands into his trouser pockets and waits, watching as future-Theo rises from his chair and walks toward the door. Future-Theo twists the knob on the door and opens it toward himself.

"Well, it's about time you showed up. I've only been waiting for eighteen years."

Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! (:

Welcome to This is a (Maybe Not-So-) Terrible Idea. This fic originated mostly just from my desire to write a time-travel fic because I don't think that I ever have before. If I'm being entirely honest, I don't know too terribly much about the Time-Turners in the HP universe, but this idea came to me and the thing that I love about writing for HP is that you can pretty much justify anything with the use of magic, lol.

So, yes, I know that this isn't really how Time-Turners work, but just go with me on it, okay? :P

Also, I'm marking this fic as a Dramione because it technically is, but it's more-so a fic about Draco & Theo's friendship with a sprinkling of Dramione. I'm counting it as a Dramione, though, because the scenes with Draco and Hermione were what inspired this fic to begin with.

This fic is a total of five chapters and they are all pre-written, so I will be posting them, as usual, weekly on Tuesdays. So, follow this fic or me as a writer is you are interested in seeing what all Draco encounters in the future. (:

As always, thank you all so much for spending a bit of your time here with me this week. I am truly so, so grateful for your support and kindness- and a special thanks to all of you who continually come back every time I post something new. It genuinely means the world to me. I cannot express my gratitude, but believe me when I say thank you.

If you feel so inclined or are excited for this fic, please leave me a review. I love reviews. They're like candy to me and reading them makes me so, so happy! (:

See you again next week!