As fourteen year old Ron Weasley and Harry Potter sit through yet another awfully boring History of Magic lesson, they are beginning to worry. Hermione Granger is forty five minutes late to an hour long lesson. Harry was almost on his way to search for her when she finally turned up. Her hair, which had recently started to calm down looked worse than it ever had. She looked like a lion and had the foul expression to match. Her bag was ripped and she had some very heavy books held in her arms. Only the teacher, Professor Binns, didn't notice her arrival as he was droning on about the ninth century Goblin Rebellion. Hermione stormed to the back of the class, her cheeks rosy and her forehead sweating. She dropped the books as soon as she reached the boys, not even apologising when they all landed onto Ron's broken leg.
"Bloody hell, Hermione! Ron exclaimed as he cringed in pain. "That hurt. What's up with you?"
Hermiones' only answer was to put her head in her arms. After a few moments, quiet sobs could be heard.
"Herm-" Harry was cut off by the sound of the bell. It was lunchtime. The class left and Ron looked a little torn about whether to leave or not. A sharp look from Harry persuaded him to stay. After Binns had left – disturbingly by just floating through the nearest wall – they were alone.
"Hermione?" Harry tried again. "What's wrong?"
"Hermione lifted her head up. Her eyes were already bloodshot. "They know. They know and they've got it."
"Who?" Ron asked. "Who's got what?"
"Crabbe and Goyle have my time-turner," she said. Harry groaned but Ron still looked confused. "It's how I've been getting to all my classes, Ron. I've missed three exams and four lessons today."
"Tell McGonagall," Harry said. "She'll understand!"
"Don't you get it?" She exclaimed. "It's not my exams I have to be worried about! Two of the dumbest excuses for humans have a TIME-TURNER! Two idiots and Malfoy!"
Ron cursed and Harry stood up. "The longer they have it, the worse it can get! Why are we still here?!"
"I don't know where they are," Hermione said uselessly. "Students can go home from today if they have no exams left and we all know they aren't going to bother turning up to theirs. I searched for them for ages."
"Well we know they won't go until they've eaten though," Harry pointed out
They waited in the Entrance Hall until the Slytherin pair left. As they were in the doorway, Harry and Ron hit them both with Confundus Charms allowing the trio just enough time to shove the boys into a broom cupboard. The two boys came around, just as Hermione was locking the door.
"What do you want, scar head?" Goyle asked Harry as he was stood nearest to him.
"Hermione would like her time-turner back."
"A what? It was no time-turner," Crabbe said, confused. "Dint do nothing. Broke after two minutes."
A small yelp from Hermione signalled that that was bad news. "Where is it now?" Hermione asked, once again close to tears. Time turners were rare and expensive, and a broken one could cost her thousands of galleons. A mistake in time could cost her years in Azkaban.
"Malfoy said he'd fix it for us," Goyle said. "Dunno why, looked useless to me."
"Where is he now?" Harry asked urgently.
Goyle, being the slightly more intelligent of the two, sensed that whatever this was, it was important. He smirked, "Common room. Where else?"
Common room. The only place the trio couldn't get too. Well, not without Polyjuice Potion and that took at least a month to make. They were just going to have to wait outside until Malfoy left. Hermione unlocked the door again and the three of them rushed out. They didn't have Polyjuice potion but they did have Potions after lunch. This meant Draco had to come out sooner or later, and if not, they had the Invisibility cloak. Just to make sure Crabbe and Goyle hadn't tricked them, Harry took out the map. Draco's name was stationary inside the Slytherin Common Room. It seemed unlikely that Crabbe and Goyle had enough combined brain cells to trick them anyway. The fact that Draco's name was stationary meant he was either sat down or sleeping. They doubted the latter and decided to stay in the dungeons until he came out. They'd only been there for about fifteen minutes though when Snape came around the corner, heading for his class. Draco still hadn't moved but it was almost the end of lunch. So, as they'd planned earlier, Hermione slipped into an alcove behind them, out of sight.
"Potter, Weasley," Snape said slowly. "Class is this way. Five points from Gryffindor."
The boys followed him groaning. Hermione heard a few comments from Ron that were enough to make Snape exclude him never mind take points. The witch remained where she was, still armed with the map and cloak, until she'd read the whole Potions class – minus her and Draco – were inside the classroom. Draco was now the only person in his Common Room, so she slipped on the Invisibility Cloak that Harry had lent her to prevent students seeing various versions of herself during exam season. It seemed she'd have to go after him. Her movements were slightly sluggish due to the extra time-travel fatigue. But she made it to the Common Room door fairly quietly. She then examined it. It didn't seem to ask a question like the Ravenclaw door, nor did it require a pattern like Hufflepuff as it didn't seem to be hiding. That only left a password. Hermione looked around desperately for another Slytherin to follow in, but the Dungeons were deserted. She looked at the map, hoping to see Draco leaving.
It didn't show him leaving, but it did show something else. Right underneath Hermione's name was a word that she couldn't quite make out. She took a step backwards and looked again. A speech bubble was appearing and fading from the door. A phrase, in Runes, was visible. Hermione knew enough about Runes to know this was a fairly simple password, and she didn't need her book. She translated the Runes into English and the door swung open, eerily – but thankfully – silent.
Once inside, she noticed Draco sat in a corner with his back to her. He was trying various spell on what could only be the time turner. Due to the magic in a time turner, he was probably ruining it more with every spell he tried. She made her way silently, or as silent as she could manage, up to the back of the chair he was in. She let the cloak slide off her and into her bag which was on her arm.
"Hello Malfoy," Hermione said quietly.
The blonde boy jumped so violently that the time turner almost ended up in the fire. Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't try to snatch it from the floor.
"Wh- What're you doing here?" He spluttered. "You can't get in here!"
"That time-turner isn't the only gadget I have," She said vaguely. "Mischief managed."
Draco watched as the ink on the map faded to nothing, and as Hermione put it back in her bag. "You Mudblood know-it-all," he said angrily. "I knew you were a swot but I didn't think you'd go that far. You have five exams today as well as the usual eight, well your usual ten. What kind of person uses such a great object for academia?"
Hermione shrugged, "I don't know. I just want it back. If you mess up time because you've broken it, I could get time in Azkaban!"
This time, Draco shrugged. "Not my problem."
"Please," Hermione pleaded. "I'll do anything."
"Like I want anything from you," Draco spat in disgust. "I just want this thing working."
"I can't give it to you," Hermione said. "It belongs to the Ministry. I suppose I could take you to the future. That's what everyone else seems to want if they thought time travel was real..."
"Like I'd want to go anywhere with you."
"Well its all you're going to get, that's even if it works. Trust me, I'm not thrilled about it myself."
"I'll pay you," he said suddenly. "Tell me what it costs to replace it and I'll double it. I just want it!"
Unbeknownst to both of them, the time- turner had started to glow a bright green colour, the same shade as the Avada Kedavra curse. It glowed, almost, but not quite like a Portkey. Hermione glanced down at it, and, noticing the glow, grabbed it quickly and groaned. So Draco had attempted Dark Magic on it? She could almost hear the ticking. She'd heard about this in her research books and decided it was better she dealt with it and not Malfoy. Unfortunately, with Draco being oblivious to what was happening, he just wanted it back. He tried snatching it from Hermione, who wasn't letting go. When both their hands were on the time-turner, the glow expanded and became as bright as a sun. The sensation that you felt when you held a Portkey smothered them both.
"Malfoy," Hermione gasped. "Please! Let go!"
"No," Draco answered through gritted teeth. "I want to see this thing work. And if it means having you around, I don't care!"
"Draco," Hermione whispered. "Please. Trust me."
Draco's eyes widened, either from Hermione using his first name or because the smothering sensation increase, Hermione didn't know. He narrowed them once more and set his mouth into a hard, grim line. "Never, Mudblood."
And that was when the now, temperamental time-turner took them, unwillingly, hundreds of years into the future.