Timer (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter One

Chapter One

"It's alright for you guys," Harry grumbled, picking at his food as they sat at one of the tables in the great hall. The house banners still hung overhead, but one of the nicer aspects of returning to school for their so-called 'Eighth Year' was that people seemed to care less about the boundaries that had once separated them. So it was therefore not unusual that they were having their dinner at what used to be considered the Ravenclaw table, mingled in with friends from not only Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff and even the odd Slytherin too.

Harry's mind however was not on the school houses as he poked at his wrist, the numbers dormant now for over seven years. His best friends sat opposite him sympathetically, but holding hands nonetheless. "Mate," said Ron. "I know it's tough, but, well..."

"What kind of idiot doesn't pay attention to when their timer runs out?" Harry supplied, and Ron looked sheepish.

"I think what Ron's trying to say," Hermione pitched in determinedly. "Is that are you sure you don't remember even a little bit more detail of when you noticed?"

It was alright for them, Harry thought to himself, unable to be bitter at his friends' luck, but at the same time they didn't understand. They knew from the moment Hermione had run into Ron and Harry's compartment on their first trip to Hogwarts that they were destined to be together. Even if it had taken them a few years to actually accept the idea.

By that point though, Harry's clock had already run down. "I'd just found out I was a wizard," he said with a sigh, explaining to them for the hundredth time how it had possibly slipped his mind. "Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley, and it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen." He poked his mash potato around his plate before giving up and dropping his fork. "All my clothes were so big," he carried on, rolling up his sleeve to look at his timer properly. "I was used to it being covered. By the time I thought to check in the evening it was already at zero, and I'd spent the day with about a thousand people. It could have been any of them."

Hermione drummed her fingers on the table, and he knew what she was going to say before she even said it. "But you must have interacted with someone – someone who was paying attention and realised it was you they were destined to meet."

"Then why didn't they say anything?" Harry countered, and Ron shrugged, looking around the bustling hall full of chattering students.

"Eleven is pretty young to meet your soul mate," he said sympathetically.

Harry leaned his head on his hand. "It worked out alright for you guys," he said, trying not to by grumpy.

They shared a knowing look. "Yeah," said Ron carefully. "After several years of ignoring it and fighting like cat and dog."

That managed to get a smile out of Harry at least. "Okay," he agreed. "But you two were always insufferable like that."

"No argument here," came a new cheerful voice, and Harry looked round to see Draco Malfoy swing his long leg over to sit next to him, pulling a plate over to get himself some dinner.

"Ha ha Malfoy," said Ron with relative good humour. Perhaps the most surprising turn of events since they had all returned to school was Draco's complete and unequivocal about turn in his attitude towards, well, almost everything. He had sought Harry out on the very first night to apologise for his appalling behaviour over the years, and once Harry had accepted (in a state of shock) he'd done the same with Ron and Hermione. Sometimes Harry still wondered if he was genuine, but the months had gone by and without the constant animosity to stop them, he and Draco had, against all odds, become actual friends.

Harry still felt something strange when Draco was around though, and he put it down to the fact that they had been enemies for so long; there was still a small instinctual part of him that was hyper-aware of his every move. Sometimes it felt like there was electricity between them, there was no other way to describe it.

"So what are we talking about?" Draco asked unabashedly. He was always good at just cutting to the point.

"Harry's soul mate," Ron said with glum resignation. "He managed to miss meeting her."

Only because he was always so aware of the way Draco moved did Harry catch the slight way his body flinched. "Really?" he said, eyes on Ron.

Hermione shook her head. "It could have been anyone he met on his first trip to Diagon Alley."

Draco nodded, eyes on the gravy he was pouring over his sausage and mash, but he'd become prickly, and Harry wasn't sure why.

Ron was helping himself to seconds. "It is strange the other person didn't say anything though," he mused.

"Maybe they did," said Draco, laying his unused fork down. "And you didn't notice?" He only glanced at Harry as he spoke, a small smile at the corner of his mouth. He looked almost vulnerable, and Harry felt a sudden urge to squeeze his shoulder or something. He resisted though; Draco may have changed but that kind of touch would be crossing a line.

"Ron's right though, eleven is young," Hermione said. "They might have been older and just said hello, not wanting to scare you off? Can you remember who you met that day?"

Harry laughed. "Blimey Hermione, I spoke to pretty much every shop assistant on the street and Hagrid introduced me to dozens and dozens of people, I hardly registered who they were at the time." He sighed and scrubbed his face.

Maybe he would never meet the person the universe had decided should be his soul mate. He'd tried taking matters into his own hands before with Cho and Ginny, but with their clocks still ticking both relationships had been nothing more than a dalliance.

"How long have you got on you clock Malfoy?" Ron asked when the silence stared getting uncomfortable, but if anything Draco's face paled even further.

"I," he said, eyes flicking between Ron and Hermione in front of him, and then finally Harry beside him. "It uh...already ran out."

Harry's eyebrows shot up in shock, and something cold and indefinable sparked through him. "Really," he said, his voice a little tight for some reason. He coughed to try and shake it. "When, who's your soul mate?"

Draco almost seemed to have taken ill, and he pushed his untouched food away. He took a breath, and lifted his wide, silver eyes to meet Harry's just for a moment. "I have to go," he whispered, and was on his feet before anyone could stop him.