Chapter Text
Letter I
Hidden inside Hermione’s copy of “Hogwarts: A History”
---
Granger,
You do not know me yet.
That sentence should trouble me more than it does.
In other timelines you know me very well.
In some of them you hate me.
In most of them you distrust me.
But in all of them — eventually — you look at me the way I have always looked at you.
Like the world might still be saved.
I am writing this because time is broken.
And you are the only witch clever enough to fix it.
---
The first time I realised the loop existed was not a heroic moment.
Mostly I was annoyed.
I woke up in my childhood bedroom at Malfoy Manor with the distinct memory of having just died.
Not peacefully.
I died in the ruins of Hogwarts.
The Dark Lord standing victorious over a courtyard full of corpses.
Yours among them.
You were lying beside Potter, your hand still clutching your wand like you meant to keep fighting even after death itself.
Even now that image refuses to leave me.
You would hate how often I think about it.
---
The moment I woke, I knew something was wrong.
I remembered the war.
The Ministry.
The trials.
Becoming an Auror.
Becoming powerful enough that the Department of Mysteries began asking questions.
And then the final battle.
Except when I checked the calendar, it was years earlier.
Before the war had even begun.
Before you had ever looked at me like anything other than a spoiled coward.
I thought it was a dream.
Until the loop happened again.
And again.
And again.
---
You should know something important.
Every timeline where Voldemort wins has one thing in common.
Me.
More precisely:
Me not standing with you.
The timelines where I stay loyal to my family…
You die.
The timelines where I hesitate…
You die.
The timelines where I try to help too late…
You still die.
I have watched you die twenty-three times, Granger.
Burned by Fiendfyre.
Killed by Bellatrix.
Struck by the Dark Lord himself.
Once — and this one nearly broke me — you died protecting me.
I remember thinking, while holding your body,
This is wrong.
You were never meant to die for me.
It should always have been the other way around.
---
You are wondering, if you are reading this, why I am writing to you instead of simply telling you.
The answer is humiliating.
Because the first time I tried…
You punched me.
Hard.
You are stronger than you look.
I remember thinking how fascinating that was.
---
There is another reason.
Every timeline, you eventually figure things out.
It's important that you do.
But it takes time.
And during that time you have an unfortunate habit of attracting male attention.
Weasley.
Longbottom.
Once — disastrously — even Potter.
Watching them hover around you while knowing you will eventually belong to me is…
irritating.
I will admit something shameful here, since this letter is meant to be honest.
There have been loops where I obliviated them all.
It improved my mood considerably.
---
You should also know something else.
In most timelines we end up working together.
Not immediately.
You fight me at first.
You accuse me of manipulation.
You threaten to report me to McGonagall.
In one timeline you actually did.
I spent two weeks in detention.
Worth it.
Because that was also the first timeline where you kissed me.
---
You do not remember that kiss.
But I do.
I remember every single one.
That is the cruel thing about time loops.
I carry all our memories.
You carry none.
Yet somehow…
Every time we begin again…
You still find your way back to me.
---
Which brings me to the real purpose of this letter.
There is someone interfering with time.
Someone making sure Voldemort always wins.
Someone ensuring you and I never stand together early enough to change the outcome.
It took me twelve loops to discover who it was.
I will not tell you yet.
You are clever enough to figure it out.
And I would quite like to watch you do it.
Observing you solve impossible problems is one of my favourite pastimes.
That and watching other men realise you are not interested in them.
---
Right now you are sitting in the Hogwarts library.
Third table from the window.
You have ink on your left hand.
You always forget you are left-handed when writing quickly.
You look irritated.
Probably because Weasley is staring at you again.
Do not worry.
He stops doing that eventually.
---
You will meet me soon.
You will not like me.
You will think I am arrogant, manipulative, and morally questionable.
You will not be wrong.
But you will also learn something important.
Across dozens of timelines…
Across years of war…
Across every version of reality that has ever existed…
You always choose me in the end.
Even when you do not remember why.
---
And when you finally read this letter, Granger,
you will understand something else.
Every man who approaches you now…
every boy who thinks he might win your attention…
is competing against multiple lifetimes of me loving you.
They never stood a chance.
Yours —
in every timeline,
Draco Malfoy