Disclaimer: It's not mine.
Chapter 2
The next morning Hermione bounced anxiously in her seat at the Gryffindor table, largely ignoring both her plate of eggs and toast and the exasperated sighs of the people around her.
Ginny peered at her over her juice glass, shaking her head with an amused grin. "Merlin, Hermione! What's gotten into you this morning?"
"Schedules!" It was all she could do to keep from clapping her hands together like an overexcited five-year-old. Her friends just chuckled at her enthusiasm and turned their attention back to sausages and kippers. "Laugh all you like, but we're really here! We're back at school, McGonagall is about to hand out our class schedules, Voldemort is dead, the wizarding world is safe, and we get to just be students for once! I'm honestly so happy I could cry."
Harry studied her expression closely before smiling hugely at her. "You're right, as usual, Hermione. I say we make a pact, right now, to make the most of this school year. We're going to really live and enjoy our last year of adolescence and irresponsibility."
Ginny smiled wryly at her boyfriend. "Don't you mean your first? You've never really had a go at irresponsibility, Harry."
Hermione nodded sagely. "She's right. You've had the weight of the world on your shoulders your whole life. But that's over now. Now you get to be just…"
"Harry." He smiled at the memory of his 11 year old self being confronted with the truth of his magical identity.
"Yes, just Harry at last."
The three friends chattered on, making plans for the rest of term and discussing classes until McGonagall arrived with a stack of schedules. Hermione ripped into hers, ready to scan and memorize her courses but came to an abrupt halt after reading the first line.
"Professor?"
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"What's this course, 'Advanced Studies in Magical Mysteries'?"
Harry, Ginny and Neville looked over as well. "Yeah, we've all got the same thing on ours. With Professor Verdandi; isn't he the new Defense teacher?"
The Headmistress nodded. "That he is, Mr. Potter. I can tell you that the professors have chosen their top students from the relevant subjects to participate in a very special course this year, and Professor Verdandi will be instructing said course. I would tell you more, but I'm sure he'd prefer to do so himself, and you'll hardly have to wait long, seeing as how your first class starts in 4o minutes."
The three looked at one another curiously as McGonagall turned to continue handing out schedules. After that, their conversation turned to speculation about the new course, and before long it was time to head to class.
The class ("Mysteries," as they'd decided to call it) was meeting next to the Defense classroom, so they had no difficulty finding it. Once inside, they each took a seat in desks that were positioned in a large semicircle at the front of the room. At the back of the room stood several large tables; each was covered with a heavy cloth that only hinted at the objects beneath and protected by lightly pulsing wards of pale blue light.
The quartet continued their discussion from breakfasts, their heads swiveling to the two empty desks to Hermione's left as they wondered which students would be filling them.
Suddenly, they heard raised voices coming down the hallway, both male and distinctly unhappy.
"…You don't have to look so bloody pleased with everything. You could at least pretend to be upset…"
"And why the hell should I be? I'm glad the Dark Lord's dead, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm glad both our arsehole fathers are rotting away in Azkaban!"
An audible scuffle broke out then, and before anyone could process what was happening, Hermione was out of her chair and sprinting for the doorway. Harry called out for her to wait, but she darted out and spun around, spitting out petrificus totalus twice before either boy was even aware of her presence.
She casually brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes as she walked forward to address the petrified forms of Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott. "Hello boys. Fighting on the first day? Tsk tsk, that won't do, at all. Now, I'd very much like to let you both up, but I want you to know that the next stunt like that will earn you both a quick stunner and detention for the rest of the month, understood? Excellent."
She flicked her wand wordlessly, and the two boys scurried away from one another before dragging themselves to their feet. Theo shot Hermione a furious look before stomping to the classroom and throwing his things down on the furthest desk.
Draco picked his book bag off the floor, glancing up at Hermione through his pale blond fringe. "Sorry."
Hermione just nodded. "It's the first day; things will settle down soon."
"Yeah, sure."
Draco had turned to head into the classroom when Hermione spotted a splash of garish red near his hairline. She quickly reached for his arm, making him pause halfway through the door.
"You're bleeding."
Draco raised a hand to gingerly pat at his head, scowling when he saw the blood on his fingers. "Bugger knocked me into the wall. It's fine, just a scratch really."
"Well hold still, then." She raised her wand to hover just over the small wound, muttering vigoratus quietly as she passed over it. The cut was quickly healed, and she conjured a damp cloth, passing it to Draco to clean the blood off with.
"That's…impressive. Where'd you learn healing spells?"
"Oh, just some research I did over the summer. Even a simple spell like that one would have been immensely helpful last year."
Just then a good-looking young man with sandy blond hair dressed in charcoal gray robes joined them in the hallway. Hermione immediately recognized him from the feast as the new Defense instructor, Professor Verdandi.
He smiled warmly at the two, noting the slightly bloody rag with an amused smirk. "Good Godric, we've resorted to bloodshed on the first day! Should make for an interesting term, eh?" He winked at Hermione before ushering them both through the door and to their seats, seemingly disinterested in any details of the injury.
Once everyone was seated and silent, he waved his hand at the board, which soon had a brief message written across it:
Professor Elian Verdandi
Advanced Studies in Magical Mysteries
"Welcome! I'm Elian Verdandi, and for the next nine months I will be your guide as we explore and experiment our way through several of the modern wizarding world's greatest mysteries."
"That you are present today is truly a compliment. As you can see, few were chosen for this course. You six are the top students in six core subjects. Representing herbology, we have a Mr. Neville Longbottom. Stand up, Mr. Longbottom, take a bow!" Neville stood awkwardly, gave a little bow, and sat down again, cheeks aflame.
"For transfiguration, the lovely Miss Hermione Granger." Hermione stood and gave a timid little curtsy.
"Our charms master is Miss Ginny Weasley." Ginny bounced out of her seat, grinning hugely and sweeping low in a dramatic bow, earning chuckles from the class.
"Yes, yes, there's the spirit! For defense, none other than the unstoppable Harry Potter!" Harry stood and nodded to the class, grinning indulgently.
"Our potions expert must be this handsome gentleman, Mr. Draco Malfoy." Draco stood and, scowling only slightly, gave a sophisticated bow before settling himself back into his seat gracefully.
"Finally, our numbers man and arithmancy expert, Mr. Theodore Nott." Nott stood, rolled his eyes, and sat again.
"Yes, well…welcome, all! Your knowledge and personal dedication are essential to any progress we may make in this class."
"Now, if you'll all follow me to the back of the room, I will show you the first substance we will be studying."
The class followed Verdandi to the covered tables, watching as he waved his wand over the first of the three, bringing down the wards. He then gripped the heavy cloth and dragged it away, revealing a sphere that seemed to be constructed of shimmering silver magical energy. It levitated a hands' width above the table, and inside the sparkling globe swirled infinitesimal grains of sand. They appeared white until catching the light, when they reflected it back in a bevy of colors. The students watched with wonder as the strange sand flowed continuously in its confinement as though caught in unseen currents.
"Would anyone like to venture a guess at what this is?" The professor's warm, brown eyes focused on Hermione, an expectant grin lighting his face.
She looked from the dome to his eyes and back before clearing her throat to answer. "It's time-turner sand."
"That it is, Hermione. Ten points to Gryffindor."
"But Professor, weren't all of the ministry's time turners destroyed several years ago?" Harry remembered clearly the ancient bureau smashing to the ground only to right and repair itself before crashing again, over and over.
"Indeed, Mr. Potter. It took some real finesse, but we were finally able to extract the precious sand from the destroyed turners and contain it magically. It was a tricky business you know; when this sand is not magically contained, the properties are extremely erratic."
"Oh, how so?"
"Well, traditionally, a time turner is only able to transport someone back in time, but when uncontrolled, the sand was sending time forwards and backwards, speeding and slowing it and occasionally just freezing it altogether."
Hermione's eyes were alight with new information, and she found herself inching closer to the magical sphere, as though she could discover its secrets by proximity alone. She hadn't realized how close she'd gotten until Verdandi shot a hand out to grip her shoulder.
"Careful, Hermione. I'm not sure how secure that containment device is. We wouldn't want you to go falling through, now would we?" He was smiling at her amusedly, and for the second time that morning, he winked at her.
Hermione took a step back, feeling the heat suffuse her cheeks and trying to ignore the knowing looks Ginny was shooting at her. Shaking her head lightly to regain her focus, she turned to her disconcertingly handsome professor with a question. "But how are we to study its properties if we can't remove it from the sphere?"
"I never said we can't remove it, I merely implied that it would be exceptionally difficult and dangerous to try."
The boys who had appeared to be losing interest perked up at this, and the professor looked around the group, smiling mysteriously. "We'll begin the extraction process on Wednesday. For homework, I'd like each of you to do some research on the known and unknown properties of time. Look for past research, experiments and studies. Come back with some sort of precedent with which we might construct a new hypothesis. From there, we'll know how to conduct our studies. Class dismissed."
Hermione, smiling brightly, gathered her things and headed straight to her favorite place, her sanctuary, her home away from home: the Hogwarts Library.
***
When Hermione and Harry climbed the stairs to their new common room that night, they were still chatting animatedly about their upcoming Mysteries experiment. However, their bright smiles were immediately dimmed when the cherub opened the archway to the common room and Pansy's shrill voice reverberated harshly through the closed staircase.
"What the hell is the matter with you, Draco?! I feel like I don't even know you anymore!"
They could see Draco slumped tiredly next to the open window, massaging his temples and visibly restraining his temper. "Well maybe you never really knew me to begin with, Pansy."
The angry brunette stomped her designer shoes. "How can you say that?! We've been friends since…"
"Yeah, since we were kids, Pans, and in all that time have you ever seen me do any thinking for myself? I've spent my whole life trying to live up to my father's impossible expectations; acting, thinking, even looking the way he told me to. It wasn't me, not any of it."
"Draco…" Pansy placed a hand against his cheek, but he swatted it away.
"But it doesn't matter anymore, because the bastard's finally gone. He nearly ruined my life, nearly got me killed, so I feel I'm past the place where I need his approval, not that he'd ever really given it before, anyway. Now he's in Azkaban, and he's never getting out. No sadistic Dark Lord is going to break him out again; he's gone for good. And I'm free. I'm bloody free, Pansy, for the first time in my life! And I'm not going to let you, or Theo, or anyone else who thinks they bloody know me tell me who to be, ever again. You got that? Good."
Pansy sniffled pitifully, her arms crossed over her chest like the petulant child she was while Draco stormed past, headed for the stairs to the dorms.
"I'm going to bed. You'd better think about what I said, because I am not having this conversation with you again. Oh, and as for your little prank against Granger; I'd rethink it if I were you. That witch is bloody powerful and she could make your life hell if she wanted to."
With that, the door to the second bedroom slammed shut, and Harry and Hermione were left gaping at one another in the dim stairway. A moment later, Pansy rushed past, seeming only mildly alarmed at their presence before passing them on her way down.
Harry shook his head slowly. "Bloody hell…"
Hermione just nodded, eyes wide with new understanding.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter one—I haven't had time to respond to each of them, what with finals and all, but I really do appreciate each and every review immensely!