Recap:

"Watch your tongue, Malfoy," she warned. "I'll be there."

"Brilliant," he said, a dark laugh behind his voice. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow night then. Sweet dreams, Granger."

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Chapter Two: Space and Time

"I love you."

Hermione tilted her head back and looked up at Ron, his face upside down from the position she was sitting in. The common room was empty at this time of night, and they were just about ready to head off to bed as well.

"I love you too, Ron," she whispered back, savoring the warm feeling that coursed through her veins at the mere thought of him. For too long she had kept her feelings for him a secret to herself and to others. Only a few days before, when presented with the possibility that he may never find the courage to tell her, did she discover what her heart really wanted. Ron Weasley.

"I wish I knew you liked me sooner," he sighed. He kissed her forehead and smiled. The simplest little things he could do with her now. The feeling was more than amazing.

"Who says I liked you before seventh year?" she giggled, spinning around so fast and attacking his unguarded stomach that he didn't have a chance to block her. By the time he was able to squirm free, his sides ached from laughing.

"You witch!"

"Why thank you."

He ran after her, tackling her to the nearest couch, their lips finding each other immediately. It wasn't until they pulled back to breath, yawning simultaneously, that they realized just how tired they were.

"It's nearly midnight," Ron said, climbing off the couch and pulling her up with him. They walked towards the boys' dormitory and were almost through the door, when suddenly Hermione remember the night before and Malfoy's vicious dare.

"I think I should sleep in my own room tonight, Ron," she said, dropping her eyes. How she wished she could fall asleep in his arms. "I have to get up real early for this Head Girl thing, and I don't want to watch you like last time." Which was of course true, she had woken him up last night she got up early. But the knot in her stomach refused to untie. She was lying to him already and they'd only been dating less than a week.

"'Mione," he cooed, nuzzling his face in her neck. "I don't care."

"Just this once," she promised, pecking him on the cheek. "You tell me how good of a sleep you had, and if it was miserable without me, then I'll never go back to my room again."

"Fine, fine," he sighed. "You win."

They kissed goodnight, and he disappeared into his room, leaving her alone and riddled with icy guilt.

With a heavy sigh, she tiptoed back down to the common room to await Malfoy's arrival.

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"For the record, Malfoy," Hermione said, after they had been walking in silence for some time, "I'm only doing this because I'm just as curious as you are, not—"

"You can add to your little record there that I don't give a shit," he grunted back. When they finally reached the room, Hermione had to unlock the door with her wand. They made it in just in time to escape Filch's prowling feline. "Damn, they sure cram a lot of useless junk in here."

"Malfoy?"

"What Granger?"

"How are we supposed to find this thing if we don't know what it looks like?"

"Simple," he laughed, brushing some snowy hair from his eyes. "We probably know what everything else in this junkyard is. Find the thing that looks strange and that's it. Simple."

"Right," she sighed, veering in the opposite direction. "Simple…"

After what seemed like an hour of searching, she heard a muffled chuckle from across the room. Malfoy stepped out from behind a high stack of boxes and presented her with the strangest thing she'd ever seen, Muggle or Wizarding World.

"What in the name of Merlin do you think it is?" she asked. It was about the size of a small loaf of bread, rectangular in shape and bluish in color. At the two farthest ends were what appeared to be handles in the "L" shape, and all over the supposed top were dozens of small buttons with strange undecipherable symbols. It was almost ancient looking. Hermione wanted to get away from it as quickly as possible. She did not like the bad feeling it seemed to be sending her.

"Dunno." Malfoy shrugged and proceeded to press a few of the buttons in random order. Horrified, Hermione grabbed at the object and tried to pull it away from him.

"You haven't the faintest idea what this thing does, Malfoy!" she snapped. "For all we know it could kill us!"

"You're just a paranoid goody two shoes," he mocked, pulling back harder. "Now let go before you break it."

But, before it either of their prophecies came true, they felt that all too familiar tug at the navel. It was too late to drop it now; they would simply have to see where the portkey took them.

Seconds later, the air stopped swirling and the two students righted themselves, confused to say the least.

"But we're—"

"—in the same place," Hermione finished for him. "Where's the…thing?"

Malfoy looked around, patted his chest and shrugged.

"Gone I suppose. Oh well, it was a useless piece of junk anyway. Didn't even bring us anywhere new."

"Malfoy!"

"What?"

"We have to find it! Clearly it's important, and we lost it! If Dumbledore—"

"Would you forget about that old coot and relax. No one knows we're here, therefore no one will find out. Merlin knows I would never tell anyone I snuck out with YOU."

With that said, Malfoy turned on his heel and walked out. Hermione was quick to follow, yelling under her breath at him the whole way to his common room entrance.

"I cannot simply ignore what just happened, Malfoy! We must tell Dumbledore or—"

"Or what?" he sighed. "We'll get expelled?" The mere thought of it made him laugh, and made a cold chill run ramped through her bones. Expelled!?

"Malfoy, just shut up for one second and—" But before she could finish, the Slytherin entrance came open and Pansy Parkinson stepped out, glaring at them both.

Hermione was so stunned with fear she couldn't even blink.

"Bickering again, are you?" Pansy groaned, rolling her eyes. "And I suppose you've forgotten the password, again."

"No," Malfoy snapped. He straightened himself up, puffing out his chest. "It's—" He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "—Dragon's blood."

"Dragon's blood?" Pansy laughed. "Draco, we haven't used that password in years."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed.

"What are you talking about Parkinson? I just used that password today!"

"You two haven't been doing drugs, have you?" She leaned in and sniffed the air around them. "'Cause McGonagall's still furious about what happened last week. She's just itching for reasons to take points away from Slytherin."

"What happened last week?" Hermione demanded, glaring heatedly at the Slytherin girl.

"You're too modest, 'Mione," Pansy laughed, slinging her arm carelessly over her shoulder. "Now you two better get back in here before someone sees you. We can't lose to Gryffindor this year."

"Parkinson," Malfoy all but yelled, yanking the girls apart. "Would you mind telling me what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you inviting that filthy mudblood into our common room? Have you bonked your head?"

Pansy stared at him for a moment, then burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh, that's a good one Draco. Hermione a mudblood? Right."

"But her parents—"

"Malfoy!" She pulled him aside and out of Hermione's earring rang. "You know very well that 'Mione's parents were killed by Death Eaters after she was born. It isn't her fault she has to live with those muggles. Honestly, show your girlfriend a little more respect!"

"Girlfriend!" Malfoy all but squealed.

Hermione's ears perked and she stared at Draco and Pansy, confused beyond belief. What was going on?

"That sorry excuse for a witch is NOT my girlfriend! How disgusting!"

"You didn't break-up AGAIN, did you? Really you two, it's getting old," she sighed, and without another word went back into the common room.

Mortified, they stared at each other, then back at the hall they had come down. Slowly, things began to fall into place.

"Malfoy!" Hermione screamed, flying at him with angry fists. "You moron! How could you! How could you! I'm a damn Slytherin! A Slytherin! What the hell did you press on that thing!"

"I'm just as confused as you are, Granger," he snapped, pushing her back. "Obviously, that dumb thing changed time or something. I don't know! But there is no way in hell you're stepping foot in my common room."

"Well I can't go to Gryffindor!" she retorted. "I'm a Slytherin, you idiot! A Slytherin…Oh God! What am I going to do!"

Malfoy leaned against the nearby wall, the gears in his head working. Hermione as a Slytherin AND his girlfriend simply would not do. But how were they going to change things back to normal when that thing they found disappeared?

"Ok," he said after an agonizingly long pause. "This is what we're going to do, Granger. You come into the common room and we pretend to be whoever they think we are—"

"I will NOT be your girlfriend, Malfoy!"

"Just shut up and listen," he groaned. "Tomorrow night we'll search the castle for that thing. It has to be around here somewhere."

"No," Hermione said.

"No what?"

"No, we are not sneaking around anymore. That's what got us into this stupid mess in the first place. We're going straight to Dumbledore in the morning and telling him what happened."

"Fine," he sighed. "It's your funeral."

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Hermione sat up, panting wildly, and looked hurriedly around the room. It was still pitch dark, the dead of night. She sighed with relief and fell back on her pillows. Thank God! It had all been a horrible nightmare!

She rolled over and closed her eyes, curling her arms around Ron's form beside her. He smelled so good! She still couldn't believe they were actually a couple. For too long they had been apart, and the thought of being his forever sent those all too familiar girlish chills through her. It was like a dream, but at the same time, she couldn't imagine her life without him.

She had wanted so badly to hate him in the beginning. Even after the troll incident first year. Harry had been so easy to warm up to, become attached to. Ron had been rough around the edges, an almost impenetrable shell surrounding him at all times.

It hadn't been just one thing that made her slowly fall for him. It was a collection of random and seemingly unimportant moments, showing her the course her life should take and who she should take it with. He was perfect for her, Ginny and some of the others had been saying that for years. She had liked him for so long before realizing that she loved him, that all along she had and had only been fooling herself to think she did not.

When she found out two weeks before that he felt exactly the same way, she knew, without a doubt, that he was THE one. And nothing could change that now.

Beside her Ron shifted in his sleep, and she pressed herself even closer to him.

"Granger," came an annoyed voice. She bolted upright, nearly falling off the bed. "Don't touch me when no one's around."

"Oh God," she cried, pulling her legs to her chest and burying her face in her knees. It hadn't been a nightmare. She was in Malfoy's bed, in Slytherin House, and her life was over. "Oh God…This can't be real. It can't be…No…"

Malfoy sat up, grabbed his wand off the nightstand, and illuminated it.

"You think I like sharing my bed with a mudblood?" he said. Hermione looked away. One, because she hated the sight of him, and two, he wasn't wearing a shirt, his tight rippling muscles bare for all to see. No matter how much she hated him she could not deny how absolutely gorgeous he was. "We're going to Dumbledore in the morning and this will be sorted out. Now go back to sleep so I can."

"How can you sleep? We're dating, Malfoy. And from the sounds of it, we have been for a long time. Who knows what—" But she couldn't bear to finish the thought.

"What?"

"What we have…done."

Malfoy cringed and eased back under the covers.

"Don't put disgusting pictures like that in my head, Granger," he ordered. "Go to sleep. Hopefully Dumbledoof has a charm that will make us forget the whole damn thing."

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"If what you're saying is true, Miss Granger, I'm afraid there isn't a whole lot I can do for you," Professor Dumbledore said, his fingers pointed like a steeple as he sat behind his desk. Malfoy hadn't said a word since they got there twenty minutes ago.

"What do you mean!" Hermione demanded, completely forgetting that she was speaking to her superior. "I can't stay here! Not a Slytherin! No! You have to believe me!"

"I do believe you," he assured her. "And I know what device you speak of, but without knowing where in your alternate timeline things went wrong, there's nothing I can do. I know precisely where the 'device' you described is, but until I know how to change what you two have altered, there's nothing to do."

"But how are we supposed to know when that happened? Headmaster, I don't even know if I am fully comprehending the situation I'm in."

"Well then," he sighed, standing up. "Think your life over, Miss Granger. Something happened in this past that altered the present you know. Once you have that, I can send you back."

Hermione sighed and nodded. It all made sense, in a weird sort of way.

"Thank you Headmaster. Good afternoon."

"Well that was a big waste of time," Malfoy grunted when they were back in the hall. "Load of rubbish he was feeding us."

"Shut up Malfoy!" she yelled, clenching her fists at her sides. "Just shut up! I cannot deal with you right now!"

At that exact moment, what seemed like the entire school decided it was time to go to breakfast. They passed the unhappy "couple", whispering incoherently to one another. Hermione ignored them, turning her back away from them and Malfoy. But then, just as she was about to head back to the common room, where she would at least have some alone time with everyone else at breakfast, she heard something she could not ignore.

"Oh Ron," came a flirty girl's voice. Hermione spun on her heels, her eyes bulging. Ron, HER Ron, was walking towards the Great Hall, arm in arm with Parvati! A girl he had more than once said he hated. The sight made her angry and sick all at once. She was a milli-second from running after them, when Malfoy grabbed her arm and pulled her into an abandoned classroom.

"You're not grasping this, Granger!" Malfoy whispered, shutting the down behind them. "This is not our time or place or whatever. Weasley is with that girl, and you and I—" He cringed noticeably. "—are…together. I've accepted that! If we're going to figure this out and get back to where we belong, you're going to have to accept it too!"

She sunk to the floor, subconsciously pulling Malfoy down with her, and cried hysterically into his chest. Stunned, he allowed this, though would not go so far as to purposely console her.

"I just," she whimpered, pulling her head back and wiping her eyes with her robes, "I can't believe this is happening. Yesterday I was happy, with Ron. And now…now I'm a damn Slytherin and I'm with YOU. My life couldn't get any worse."

"Shut up," he sighed. He pulled her to her feet and adjusted his robes. "If I can help it, we won't be here any longer than we have to be. Just pretend like I said, and everything will be fine. God…"

"Malfoy," she said, giving way to her first smile since reality had struck. "Are you…are you trying to comfort me?"

"Cram it Granger," he warned. "I'm not going to listen to you blubber for days or weeks or however long we have to be here. Now I'm starving. And you're coming with me."

"Coming with you!" she baulked. "To the Great Hall? Where everyone can see us!"

"Yes, Granger," he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Obviously everyone in the school knows about us. You need to face that fact before we can move on and figure this thing out."

"But Ron and P-P—"

"It's a different time, Hermione!" he yelled, grabbing her furiously by the shoulders. "Get a grip, calm the hell down, and clear your damn head! We can't get anything done if you're crying all the time!" He let go of her, taking several steps back. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something."

"I—" she began, but the words weren't there. For a long while the room was in complete silence, and then, the most unexpected thing happened. Hermione looked directly at Malfoy and let out a chilling laugh. For some time that was all she could do, and when she finally quieted down, Malfoy was beyond confused.

"Have you gone completely mental, Granger?"

She smiled and shrugged.

"You called me Hermione," she finally said.

"Shut up and come on. I'm not going to miss breakfast because of you."

"Alright Draco."

"Call me Draco again and I'll curse you."

She only shook her head and laughed softly to herself. If she was going to spend an unknown amount of time here, then she decided she was going to make the best of it. And annoying Malfoy was the perfect way to go about it.

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I think I'm really starting to develop this story :) The idea for it just popped into my head out of the blue, and I wrote the first chapter in a few hours the same night. This is going to get interesting, heeheehee! :D

Review and I shall love you all!! :P