The workings of fate are strange. How can two different people in two different timelines meet and fall in love? Can the darkest of dark wizards of all times have an innocent story to tell? Can Harry Potter's best friend be more than just Harry Potter's best friend?
Read and find out...
"So Harry, all ready for today's game?" Ginny Weasley asked Harry Potter who sat down for breakfast at the Gryffindor table.
Giving a confident smile, Harry answered, "Why yes! We are going to beat the Slytherin's!"
"Careful Harry, Malfoy's father has arranged the latest Firebolt for all team members this year. While you may be able to beat Malfoy for the snitch, not all of us may be able to stop the rest of the team from scoring goals," reminded an anxious Angelina Johnson to Harry, who scowled as he remember the last Gryffindor Quidditch meeting, in which the Weasley brothers informed them the news.
"Relax Angelina," said Fred as he joined the Gryffindor's with his brother, George, and their best friend, Lee, to the table, "Slytherin's may have the latest Firebolt's, but we have the best players with us. We will win this game today for sure."
"Yes, we will win!" said Katie Bell confidently. All the Gryffindor's nodded their heads in agreement and reassured Angelina.
"Well, I can't wait to see an angry and pissed off Draco Malfoy for lunch today," replied Ginny with a smug smile and everybody laughed, except for one bushy haired sixth year, who silently shook her head as the Gryffindor players left the table to get ready for the match.
"Honestly, I don't understand why everybody stresses so much about a game. There are many other things students can strive to achieve success in, I believe. For example, exams," said Hermione Granger cooly.
While everyone tried to be silent and not respond, an occasional stiffled laugh did break out from some sides of the table.
"Oh come on Hermione, don't be daft! Nothing is more important than Quidditch!" said Ron looking at Hermione with disbelief.
Before Hermione could respond to this, the announcement for the game broke out.
"Attention students! The Quidditch game of Gryffindor versus Slytherin will be starting in half an hour. All students interested to watch the game may assemble at the stands in fifteen minutes. Students not attending the game are requested to stay within the castle and not cause trouble. Any student attempting to create disruption will be strictly punished. You may now start to assemble at the Quidditch pitch in an orderly manner. Prefects, please guide your house members accordingly."
Hermione and Ron looked at each other and got up to line up the students from the Gryffindor table. While Hermione watched attentively to see if all Gryffindor's were in a proper line, Ron looked longingly at the line, wishing he too was part of it, rather than a prefect at the moment.
"All right everyone, let's start for the pitch," said Hermione as they turned around and walked outside the Great Hall. As all students were taken to the Gryffindor stand and seated properly, so the teachers chairs were not occupied and everyone could watch the match properly, Hermione walked up to Ron.
Ron observed Hermione walk up to him and now his demeanor changed to a more serious mode.
"Do you want me to come?" he asked her, but she shook her head.
"No, it's quite alright. I just want you to keep a watch and see that no Slytherin leaves this pitch and walks to the castle. I can't trust them to not find me if I'm in there," she whispered as she looked around.
"And you have the cloak with you? Don't remove it once, understood?" Ron whispered back, looking at her sternly. Hermione nodded as she felt her bag on her shoulder, feeling the cloak inside it.
"I'll leave now. All the best," she said, and Ron hugged her.
"All the best to you too, Hermione. I wish Harry didn't believe in this nonsense regarding Malfoy. Then you wouldn't have to do this," said Ron as he watched her leave. She smiled at him, and quietly left the Quidditch pitch.
As she started walking towards the castle, she heard Lee Jordan announcing the start of the game, and the cheers ringing for Gryffindor, and hoped Harry's suspicions were false.
She was inside the sixth year Slytherin's boys room, which she had to admit, was much like Gryffindor's boys room, except for the red switched with the green. Currently, she was rummaging a certain Draco Malfoy's belongings, hoping to find some clue that will link him to the life attempts made on Ron Weasley and Katie Bell this year. It had been a plan on her mind for sometime now, seeing that Harry was unwilling to bend his belief that Draco Malfoy was the killer.
So when she finally understood that she couldn't stop him, she decided to test this belief. If they got a chance to search Draco Malfoy's room and find something, then they will be more careful of him. But if Hermione couldn't find anything in his room, then Harry must stop chasing Malfoy at all times. With Quidditch match of Gryffindor vs. Slytherin being in a few weeks, it was deemed the perfect opportunity to carry out this plan. The easiest was to get the password, hiding underneath the invisibility cloak, and waiting for a Slytherin to walk by, especially the first years, who were innocent, loud and clear, so the wall could understand them well, as well as Harry, Ron and Hermione, who congratulated each other on the easy success.
It was bad times, and if what Harry believed to be true, then the danger was too close to be relaxed, and Hermione knew the danger of the Dark Lord becoming too powerful once again. Her life, as a muggle born, depended on his not being strong, not being powerful, and she wouln't let a bullying, cowardly, sixth year spoil it for her.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you saw it, Hermione was currently finding no evidence against Malfoy in the room at all. Either the boy was smart to cover his activities carefully, or there were no activities that were to be suspected. She stood up, after closing the final drawer of the desk searched.
She wanted to fill the happiness of proving Harry wrong, but she wasn't feeling it. Being in the dorm room, she felt she ought to have found something mischievious in Malfoy's belongings, but his was the most neat and tidy bed and desk than everybody else's.
She decided to check on a random Slytherins belongings and see if she found something mischievious, and she did. A rusty dagger. She checked another Sytherin's desk, and out came an evil glass eye, and another Slytherin possessed something that looked like as dark as the hand of glory itself.
She straightened up and decided to check if Malfoy's bed possessed any secret openings where he may hidden any dark objects. Muttering spells to reveal hidden objects, she started moving her wand around his bed. The results were effective, as small drawers started revealing themselves to her from various corners of the bed. In fact, there were more than twelve drawers that had already revealed themselves to her and she hadn't even finished. Hermione started checking each of them and drew a deep breath.
Poisonous candles, a tiny silver instrument, bloody daggers, peruvian instant darkness powder, a time turner, decoy detonators (so Malfoy was a fan of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes), wartcap powder, and... everlasting eyelashes? She giggled and continued searching for more objects, but she heard a sound from the common room.
Hermione panicked as she realised that the voices were of two boys and they seem to be coming closer to the sixth year dormitory. She hurried put on her invisibility cloak and started shutting the drawers. Closing one too hardly, she internally screamed as it fell out of it's shelf and fell noisily on the floor, all the contents thrown out. The footsteps outside started hurrying towards the room, and Hermione tried her best to put everything back in it's place with her hand. To her horror, when she touched the time turner, it wrapped itself to her hand, and refused to detach itself, and her skirt got stuck to the end of the bed. She watched in horror as the door opened to reveal Blaise Zabini and Vincent Crabbe as the intruders.
"Damnit Ron!" she thought as the two boys observed the open drawer, but couldn't see Hermione. Zabini slowly smiled a cruel smile, that made Hermione fear for her life.
"So this is how Malfoy hides his favourite toys, is it?" he said as he moved towards the direction where Hermione was hidden.
Hermione tried moving away, but it was of no use, she would be seen. She saw with fear as Zabini approached closer, and looked down, spotting the time turner. If Zabini came towards her and felt her, he would catch her and no teacher need find out that a student had broken into another house room, the Slytherins would decide the punishment themselves. And being a Muggle born plus Harry Potter's best friend at a time when the Dark Lord had returned was not a protection within the current room.
She decided, she didn't know how powerful the time turner was, but surely she may not land in a time worse than she was currently in, would it? Hopefully, it would land her a few hours back and she would be able to atleast find a way to warn herself about this situation. She drew a deep breath as she watched as Zabini came as close as steps away from her.
She knew it was a bad idea before she did it, but this was the only option. As Zabini took that last step where he would feel her, she turned the time, not knowing how forcefully she did it, nor how many times it turned, but when Blaise Zabini put his right foot on the space Hermione Granger was hidden in, one second earlier, he felt a strange air before his foot landed on the ground. He frowned and looked at Crabbe to see if he felt something, but the dull boy was not paying any attention at all.
"That was weird," he said to himself, but then he observed the open drawer and smirked as he rummaged the various items.
"Everlasting Eyelashes? Ha! I knew Malfoy was gay!" he said as he observed the tiny bottle of magical cream and laughed, while Vincent Crabbe guffawed.