Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and all its lovely characters are not mine. Also, the title is a spin on a line in Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Double, Double Time-Turner Trouble
To successfully lead a double life, one must be good at keeping a calendar. Hermione first learned this in third year, when she secretly double-booked her courses to get the most of her education. She kept a meticulous schedule of her many classes and her very few social obligations, and it helped her out tremendously.
But Hermione found that having a clandestine life was much harder in seventh year, despite her color-coded planner.
For one thing, she had many more responsibilities now that she was Head Girl. One would think that, after she helped Harry defeat Voldemort last school term, she would have much more free time on her hands. Alas, the mundane activities of the daily Hogwarts grind still managed to fill in the crevices of her life. What was once late-night hours spent researching counter spells to dark curses were now taken up with hallway rounds to catch fifth-years snogging in shadowed alcoves. The weekends that were spent sneaking out to the Forbidden Forest to track down Voldemort sympathizers were now used for herding boisterous students around in Hogsmeade.
Another aspect that made things more difficult is that it was no longer just her own calendar to consider. She had to factor in his activities, as well; classes, Quidditch practice, and time he needed to spend with those ridiculous people he called friends. She had to find a way to mesh two vastly different schedules.
Three schedules, if she was inclined to be generous, as her libido often insisted on keeping its own timetable. It was particularly unrelenting around ten in the morning and right after classes, before she headed to the library.
Maybe four schedules, if she thought to include his raging teenage hormones, as well. His libido peaked…well, it was always raring to go, and it demanded to be penciled in at any time of day.
Like right now, when it was very clearly 'library time.'
Hermione was standing in the narrow space between two tall bookcases when she felt strong arms slowly encircle her waist from behind. She instinctively leaned her head to the left, exposing the side of her neck. He complied with her silent request, and she felt his lips leave a languorous trail from her earlobe to her collarbone.
She was about to lean back into his body and release a satisfied sigh when he suddenly freed his lips from her skin.
"You're really not going to check who it is?" he asked in her ear. "How could you be sure that it's me? For all you know, I could have been Weasley."
"I could never confuse you for Ron," she said. "He kisses very differently."
She heard something between a huff and a growl, and she turned around to catch his sleeve before he could storm off.
"Kidding!" she said with a mischievous smile, but he still gave her a sullen look. "Anyway, that's what you get for impinging on my library time. Aren't you supposed to be at Quidditch practice right now?"
"I am," he said with an infuriating, secretive smile.
Before she could ask him to clarify, he pulled her deeper into the dusty stacks of the library.
"I had one of my House Elves get this for me at the manor," he explained as he pulled a thin gold chain from around his neck. He dangled a familiar-looking pendant in front of her eyes.
"A Time Turner?" she asked, unnecessarily. It was quite obviously one, as it featured an hourglass in the center with tiny, magical sands.
"I saw this in my father's study over the Easter hols," he said, in a rather self-congratulatory tone. "I thought it might come in handy for us."
She gave him a sardonic look. "I beg your pardon? Are you truly suggesting that we break dozens of laws regarding the misuse of a restricted magical object, just for a little extra snogging?"
"Of course not," he said, looking affronted. "Not just for snogging—"
She snarled in frustration, and it was his turn to grab her arm to prevent her from stalking away.
"Granger," he said in his most persuasive tone. "Be a bit more open-minded about this, will you? I feel like I haven't seen you in months—"
"We see each other every day. I make sure to put it on our calendars—"
"We can barely scrounge up more than fifteen minutes at a time between our schedules! It's not enough, Granger," he complained.
"There are only a few more months of the school year left," she reasoned.
"Granger—" he whined.
"Just buck up, and after we graduate, we'll have all the time in the world for—"
"Hermione," he said sweetly, enfolding her in his arms. It made her close her eyes and purse her lips in vexation.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Draco's triumphant smile.
"Fine," she said through her gritted teeth and pointed a finger at his chest. "But, you can't always do that to get whatever you bloody want, you know."
"I think I'll keep using it until it loses the desired effect," he said candidly, thanking her by resuming his earlier attentions to her décolletage.
She leaned her head back to give him better access, and muttered at the library ceiling, "Why did it have to be a bloody Slytherin?"
ooOOoo
It wasn't long before her immaculate planner was scribbled and drawn with arrows and closed loops. She had never felt more exhausted in her entire life, although she can't place the blame solely on the act of time travel itself.
Not that she was complaining.
She certainly had no grievances at this minute, when she and Draco were sequestered in the Room of Requirement. This afternoon, the Room was generous enough to provide them with a large, four-poster bed and a comfortable fire in the hearth.
Hermione was straddling Draco on the firm mattress when the door unexpectedly opened. She yelped and threw the covers around her exposed body.
"I'm so sorry! I thought – bugger –" she heard a recognizable voice as the figure at the door hastened a retreat.
"Wait!" Hermione yelled. The person turned back and cautiously peeked into the room.
"Oh!" her doppelganger said. "Yeah, I think I remember this."
She stepped into the room and quickly closed the door lest a passer-by happened to round the corner.
"A bit lost, are we?" Hermione asked herself.
"Apparently," her twin admitted. "I don't suppose this is four-thirty in the afternoon on April twenty-eighth?"
"Right time," Hermione said, with a wry smile. "But I'm afraid you overshot the date by a week."
"Bollocks," the other witch said, and she started fumbling with the Time Turner around her neck. "Well, I better get going—"
"Hold on!" Draco, who had silently stared at them during their short exchange, loudly interrupted.
Hermione arched a curious brow at him.
"Well, I mean—" he said, as he leered at them both. "Since you're already here—"
Both Hermiones sputtered indignantly at the implication.
Present-Hermione threw a pillow at his face. "We're not going to potentially create a paradox and possibly destroy time itself," she said scathingly, "just so you can cross an item off your list."
Draco pulled the pillow off his face, revealing a roguish grin. "It'll be worth it," he said confidently.
"This schedule is getting incredibly confusing," Hermione said. Intrigued by a thought, she turned to her other self. "Is this the only time this happens? Us, er, running into each other like this?"
Other-Hermione shook her head. "Draco accidently interrupted a session at the boathouse a few days ago."
"The boathouse? Really?" she said curiously. "I don't think I have that on my calendar yet."
She crawled over Draco to grab her timetable off the nightstand and walked over to her double, who had also produced her planner from the pocket of her robes.
"You'll want to add it, trust me," her mirror-image said with a wink. She pointed to a box on the calendar. "You should do it on this Wednesday."
"That Wednesday? Isn't that when Advanced Arithmancy is scheduled?"
"It's going to be cancelled. Professor Vector is suddenly going to come down with the flu," her lookalike said, and added salaciously, "at the same time as Madam Hooch."
"What a strange coincidence," Hermione smiled, hinting at the sweet, long-rumored love affair. "All right, I'll add the boathouse to that Wednesday. Oh, but I suppose I should move the Greenhouse to Thursday night instead?"
"Yes, I believe seven in the evening was a good time—"
They were disrupted by the pained groan of a suffering man.
"One of you needs to leave right now," Draco said in an agonized tone, "or I may spontaneously combust."
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"The sight of the two of you poring over your schedules, planning out our future trysts," he said, his eyes wide with alarm, "is the most inexplicably, mind-numbingly erotic thing I've ever seen."
He looked down at his lap and mumbled, "What have you done to me?"
Hermione wasn't sure if he was talking to either of her, or his traitorous member.
ooOOoo
Graduation day had finally arrived. Family and friends gathered on the gently rolling hills that bordered the Black Lake.
The Headmaster addressed the crowd. Hermione, as Head Girl and top of her class, gave an inspiring speech. Diplomas were bestowed. Graduation caps were thrown in the air.
It was brief and efficient, as ceremonies went.
Afterward, the guests mingled on the lawn, flitting around the buffet under the white canopy, waiting for the fireworks that signaled the end of the jamboree.
Her own parents had left shortly after the ceremony, as most other Muggles had done. Hermione stood with the large group of Weasleys, trying to keep tabs on the conversation around her. She kept getting distracted, however, by the tall blond standing with his parents at the edge of the crowd. The Malfoys stayed under the awning of a large tree, which also happened to be one of Draco's favorite spots to take Hermione.
He saw her staring and gave her a surreptitious wink.
"—Hermione?" she heard, and she snapped her attention back to the group surrounding her.
"Sorry?" she asked awkwardly.
"Are you heading out tonight with Ron and Harry?" Fred repeated patiently.
"No," she answered. "I've had so much to do over the last couple of weeks that I haven't had time to pack my things. So, I'll have to do it tonight."
Her eyes wandered once again to the tree near the lake, where Draco was still smirking at her.
"Actually," she said as she tore her eyes away from her handsome wizard. "I should probably go and get started. I have a lot to pack away."
"You're not staying for the fireworks?" asked Ginny.
Hermione shook her head. "Once you've seen one fireworks show, you've seen them all."
She said her thank-yous and good-byes, and headed back to the castle, careful to catch Draco's eye.
An hour later, she was sorting through her books when she heard the door to the Head Girl sitting room open. She rushed out of her bedroom and jumped into Draco's awaiting arms.
"Sorry it took so long," he said. "My parents wanted to wait until the fireworks were done before they left. I had to feign food poisoning to leave them there by themselves, but then when I got to the castle, there were too many people milling about for me to get here without anyone seeing me."
"It's okay," Hermione said, in between kisses. "Is the party done?"
He nodded. "I heard the last of the fireworks over half an hour ago."
She grabbed his outer dress robe to remove them, but he clutched at her wrists to stop her.
"Not here, Granger," he said huskily. "I've been watching you flit around outside all day, and I've done nothing but imagine peeling you out of those delectable robes and fucking you hard against that tree."
Hermione moaned as pleasure suddenly shot through her at his words. "Meet me there in ten minutes," she said, breathlessly.
He left her private room stealthily, and she took a few minutes to regain her composure. After the heat in her cheeks subsided, she stepped out into the hallway and started heading back to the Black Lake.
When she rounded the corner, she saw Harry and Ron walking in her direction, carrying their bags and dragging their trunks behind them.
"Harry! Ron!" she greeted them cheerfully. "Have you come to say goodbye?"
A pink-faced Ron sped his gait, but rather than stop in front of her, he zoomed past, yelling over his shoulder, "Uh, right! Bye, Hermione! See you at the Burrow!"
"Bye?" she said, confused by his strange behavior.
Harry, who was trying to catch up to Ron, accidently dropped the handle of his trunk.
Hermione stooped over to grab the other side of the luggage. "Here, Harry, let me help—"
"No!" Harry suddenly yelled. "Er, sorry, Hermione. I mean, no, thank you, I've got it." He looked down at the floor as he stammered his apology.
"Is everything all right, Harry?" she asked, ducking her head and trying to catch his eye.
"Y-yes," he answered and focused on a spot over her shoulder. "Fine, just fine. I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow."
He rushed off without another word, leaving Hermione to gawk after her odd best friends.
ooOOoo
The second she reached the tree along the empty field, Draco sought her out in the darkness and grabbed her.
"Finally," he said. "What took you so long?" He pulled her in for a fierce kiss.
"Harry," she said against his lips. "Ron."
"Ugh, Granger, don't murmur those names into my mouth ever again," he grumbled.
She closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, and soon they were tearing each other's clothes half-off, desperate for immediate contact. They started out against the tree trunk, but, after a while, their legs gave way.
They trundled on the ground, not caring about the twigs and leaves and pebbles that got tangled up with them. Hermione felt something small and angular against her chest, trapped between their bodies. It rolled around on their skin as they moved against each other.
She ran a hand up Draco's back to clutch at his neck when her fingers were caught on a cool, metal chain.
Before her mind could form the question, she heard the unmistakable sound of a firework exploding in the sky above the two of them.
A high-pitched screech emanated from somewhere in the surrounding crowd.
"Hermione?!"
FIN
A/N: Thank you for reading!
Just a little something I wrote to get back in the headspace to do the third chapter of Mrs. Azkaban…I hope to have that up in a couple of days, so I hope you'll join me there!
Reviews are very much appreciated!