I mark the hours, every one, Nor have I yet outrun the Sun. My use and value, unto you, Are gauged by what you have to do. [1]
IT was located in the second drawer of her bedside table, in a glass case. It sat on a soft, purple rectangular cushion, with the chain tucked behind the cushion, while the hourglass was in the front, in full view of anyone that opened the second drawer.
But Hermione Granger was a witch. She wouldn't leave one of her most precious belongings unprotected where anyone could find it. The glass case itself was warded against any one that wasn't her, and if someone tried to spell it open, the spell would backfire, as Hermione had also placed a spell that only accepted her magical signature and imprint.
Hermione had found it when she had decided to finally tackle all the brown cardboard boxes laying around in her new apartment, thinking that maybe cleaning, organizing, anything but thinking about Draco would help her forget, forget, even if just for a little while.
She had just tossed her backup wand into the second drawer - the essentials drawer - and was about to do so to the rectangular box in her hand, when her brain registered what it was that she was holding.
The time turner. Turner of time, turner of fates, and the beginning of Hermione's new plans.
The idea rushed through her head, and implanted its roots inside her brain, like that of a tree taking root in the soil. For the first time since Draco's dea- the incident, Hermione could finally feel something more, more than numbness, anger, or regret.
If she - If she wanted to keep Draco alive, she would have to make sure that they would never collide like they did in this life, make sure that the night of the Yule Ball hadn't gone like it had, and make sure, make sure that Draco Malfoy never fell in love with Hermione Granger.
The thought made her eyes burn, and before she knew it, she was choking on her tears yet again, but due to another event - one that hadn't happened yet.
I wish I could just change everything! Wiping her tears with one hand, Hermione carefully placed the case into the drawer and walked to her bookshelf. She wanted to forget about the rough plan she had concocted, and the only way she could think of right now was to go through some of her belongings.
On shelf closest to Hermione's shoulders, there lay a box. Quite plain, quite simple, for Hermione didn't have the heart to decorate it or even label it, not since she'd practically put a piece of her heart in there.
The box contained notes that she and Draco had traded, and some pictures that Draco had taken - none of his face, because if that was found, none of them would be able to explain it, but just random things. She had even took some pictures, during their secret Room of Requirement meetings, and Hermione knew that looking at the pictures would be bittersweet.
She grabbed the box and put it on the nearest table, and the first thing that she saw once she had gently lifted the lid was the back of Draco's head. In this particular shot, the moon was high, and the light had hit a particular spot on his head. That spot was different from the rest of his pale blond head in that they were silvery strands, and seeing that his was a wizarding photograph, she could see the strands of his hair moving, as if the picture was alive.
As if Draco was alive.
"How are you, Hermione?" asked Ginny. She was sitting cross legged on a couch that Harry had picked out, because Hermione couldn't care enough about furniture, and her vibrant red hair pulled into a loose braid.
"I'm … fine. Just fine," said Hermione. No, I'm not fine. Not fine at all. She felt light headed each and every time she thought about what happened, and her heart would beat louder and faster each time she saw red - red like the blood that gushed from - stop thinking about that!
Which is why Hermione was careful in making sure not to look at Ginny, because the first thing she thought of when she saw any member of the Weasley family - Ginny especially, with her darker curls - was blood.
"Hermione - I'm your best friend, I think I know that you're not fine!" exclaimed Ginny, jumping up from the sofa. Hermione's eyes widened; Every other time Ginny had asked Hermione about her feelings and her mental state, Hermione would reply with a fine, and Ginny would purse her lips but not say anything.
Ginny exhaled loudly and tilted her head back. Hermione sat still and stared at the third cushion of the sofa, not straying her eyes from that point, as she had the entire conversation, careful not to look at Ginny's hair.
"Hermione. I know you don't want to talk about it, but - the first step of healing is to talk about it. Talk about to me, or even Harry, I don't care! I just - I want you to get better, feel better, maybe accept his death-"
And Hermione exploded.
"Accept his death? Ginny, have you ever felt you heart being extracted from your body, have you ever dreamed of your future alongside someone else, only to have them leave you alone? Completely alone? Do you ever wake up in the morning, and for a split second, think of him alive and well, only to have your hope snatched from you? Do you know the feeling of wiping your tears off the glass of his picture frame, or the feeling of not feeling anything at all?"
"No, Ginerva Weasley, I do not think you have," finished Hermione, her voice breaking at this point. Her face was red and blotchy, and tears were cascading down her face and staining her grey sweater.
"Hermione, I -"
"Ginny. Please, I know you care, I know you worry, but - please. Please leave me alone."
Ginny frowned, but said nothing. She picked up her purse and cardigan, but before she left, she gave Hermione a hug. A hug that squeezed not only Hermione's body, but her heart.
Before Hermione closed the door, she whispered, "Thanks, Gin." Hermione wouldn't lie to herself; Letting every single thought that she had just pour out of her made her feel better. Lighter, even.
Ginny smiled. "Don't mention it, Mione."
After Ginny left, Hermione wrote a letter and addressed it to the Malfoys, deciding that if she were to act, she would need to sort out her life here first. Maybe she could even ask for permission to research.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy,
I accept your invitation. Please send me a date and time for us to meet and talk, preferably not at the Manor.
Thank you,
Hermione Granger.
That was how Hermione ended up here. Where, she did not particularly know. All their reply letter had said was a location for her to Floo to - Starswirl Manor.
The Manor was just as big as the Malfoy Manor was, only Starswirl Manor was a little bit lighter, with more windows, or maybe just less curtains.
Hermione was seated at a large table, as that was where she ended up after flooing here. She did not want to explore here, as she had come for two reasons. One, talk to Draco's parents, and two: gain access to the Malfoy libraries. She would not be able to get back inside Hogwart's while it was still being rebuilt, and she did not know what other libraries were as old and as big as the Malfoy Library.
"Hello, Ms. Granger," said a light and elegant voice. Hermione turned her head towards the direction of the voice, and was greeted with the sight of Narcissa Malfoy, with a tall Lucius Malfoy behind her.
Narcissa was wearing a black dress, with sleeves that ended just past her elbows, and a single pearl necklace. Lucius donned simple black robes, and his signature cane was with him.
Hermione herself had no idea what she should've worn, so she wore the dress that she had planned to wear to graduation a long time ago. Just in case it wasn't the Malfoy's preferred attire, she had tossed on a set of wizarding robes that Madam Malkin sent to her.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Thank you inviting me," said Hermione, trying to be as polite as she could possibly be.
Narcissa and Lucius sat down at the other end of the table, gracefully, and with a snap of Narcissa's fingers, the table shortened, and now Hermione was a decent distance away from both the Malfoys, rather than world's away. She wondered how Draco had ate with his parents; close like this, or far away from each other like before.
"This is Starswirl Manor, one of the manors under the Black family. It was my wedding gift from my mother, and it was also one of Draco's favorite places to stay during Volde - Voldemo - He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's reign," said Narcissa, struggling with Voldemort's name.
"Voldemort, Mrs. Malfoy. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," Hermione said, quoting what Harry had told her a long time ago.
Narcissa smiled at Hermione. "Of course - Voldemo -" a pause "- Voldemort. But, Lucius and I are not here to talk about him. We - we are here to talk about Draco. As you know, when Lucius and I heard that Harry Potter was advocating for both Lucius and I, we were both surprised. When the news came out about - Draco and you, we knew it had been your doing."
It had been. Harry had originally planned to advocate for Narcissa only, but Hermione told him to do the same for Lucius. He had, and Lucius had been given house arrest for three years. The only places he would be allowed to go to were houses under his or Narcissa's name. His wand was also taken away, to be returned at the culmination of his house arrest.
(Hermione guessed that that would not be a problem. The Malfoys were probably taught advanced forms of magic, such as wandless magic, since before they could speak. She knew Draco was advanced enough in it.)
"Mrs. Malfoy, why am I here?" asked Hermione, in no mood to receive thanks from the Malfoys. She had asked Harry to do so because that's what Draco would have wanted. In fact, she partially blamed Lucius Malfoy for everything, as he was the one who foolishly brought Draco into his lifestyle, and she even blamed Narcissa the tiniest bit, for going along with her husband.
Everything would've been different, had Draco been raised by a different family, or had Narcissa and Lucius changed their way of life.
"Narcissa, dear. Call me Narcissa," she said, deftly avoiding Hermione's question.
"Narcissa - just give Miss Granger the letter," said Lucius, finally speaking up.
"What letter?" asked Hermione. Immediately, her brain started thinking of what kind of letter it could be, could it be - could it be that it was a letter from Draco?
No, no. It couldn't be. He couldn't have possibly foreseen his death.
"It is a letter from Draco. He - He wrote two letters; One for Narcissa and I, and one for - you. He charmed it to find us if he had died. The letter for you came to us before we knew how you two were involved - but when the Daily Prophet came out - we understood why," said Lucius, not once making eye contact with Hermione.
"So … you're telling me that - you've had this, this letter from Draco for so long, yet you've just decided to give it to me?" asked Hermione, quietly.
"Hermione - can I call you that - you must understand this: Lucius is a known Death Eater, and and I am affiliated with them through marriage and bloodlines. We were not there for - Draco's death," she said, her voice breaking at this point. But, like the perfect pureblood, Narcissa did not break down in tears in front of Hermione.
"But, we had heard how you - reacted to his death. When we heard - back then, they were rumors, and no one near you would provide comment. Weasley even broke a reporter's camera and mic to get them to stop following him. When everything was eventually released - we tried to get letters to you, but your apartment was warded, with several layers of different types of magic, so we could not reach you that early. After Harry Potter came to the hearing, we asked him to get the letter to you, the invitation to talk. But we were not sure that he had even gave it to you, until you replied."
"Anyway - that does not matter here. Just - Here is Draco's letter, and … Lucius and I - we brought you here also to say that, even though the Malfoys no longer have the same standing that they did, we will support whatever endeavors you take part it - whether it's house elf rights or werewolf rights - we are behind anyone that Draco supports."
Hermione looked up at Narcissa Malfoy, finally deciding to make eye contact with the woman. Narcissa was trembling in her seat, no doubt trying to keep the tears at bay. Harry had told her of what Narcissa had asked him, when she was asked to check whether Draco was okay. Then, Draco had been okay, when Harry said as well. But now - with him dead - Narcissa Malfoy was truly hurting inside, perhaps more than Hermione. Because just as Hermione had loved Draco with all her heart and soul, Narcissa did, too, with the love of a mother.
And now he was gone. Taken from both of them.
"Thank you, Mrs - Narcissa. I appreciate your support. If I may - do you think that I could access Malfoy Manor's library?"
"Hmm? The library? Of course, we - we won't have much use for it anyway," said Narcissa.
"What is it that you need to research, Miss Granger?" asked Lucius.
"Have you hear of time turners, Mr. Malfoy?"
The Time Turner was given to Hermione in 3rd Year, and was terribly helpful to her during her hectic 3rd year.
And it would help her now.
If her plans went right, if she didn't cause terrible harm to herself or to time itself while travelling backwards, then -
Everything would finally be righted, and maybe Hermione could finally feel happy, free.
[1] Source: Harry Potter wiki
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor any of the characters; I'm just playing around with possibility.
Hey guys! It's Faerose here! I'm updating the chapter a day early because I've got rehearsal tomorrow for this show I'm going to participate in, so it would be unknown if I would have time or internet access to post the chapter or not. Better early than late, right?
This chapter is more of a filler, and also because I didn't want to jump back into the future. I wanted exposition, and so here it is. I don't know how I feel about it, as I kind of struggled with writing Narcissa and Lucius's character, and their interactions with Hermione. I'm trying to show how grief-struck Hermione is without it being annoying, which is why Hermione was kind of quiet and distraught during their conversation. Also, I'll put up a poll tomorrow, right before I leave on whether you guys want to see Hermione's experience from 1st year onwards or not. If you guys vote for us to read about everything from 1st year to 7th and future, then yes, that'll be written about. If not, then 1st year will still be focused on for just a bit, but then we'll be in 4th year. I don't want to spoil what will happen if you choose not to include 1st, 2nd, or 3rd year, so I won't say more. [Gah, I hope you can understand what I'm saying]
Other than that, thank you to Aurora Yuy, Fay Katriona, KitsukeHikari, LilithiaRW, PADfootBalck, RIA24, RoPete, Thamizhaci, Tikkall, aeireis, bhalesfb, galasard, meikej, pinkcrazyness, sonnetStar, sweet-tang-honney, Miss Neecy, jessiemomo2247, mama123, meil04, ninawinna, and Draconian666 for following this story! It means a lot to me. Thanks to sweet-tang-honney, Anisia, jessiemomo2247, and Draconian666 for favoriting this story, as well! (Also, Draconian666, thank you for following and favoriting me as an author, too!)
Also, thanks to ninawinna (same, I cired too), Guest (thank you so much!), Jessie (I won't stop writing this, thank you so much!), Suzululu4moe (lol I see what you did there), and aeireis (thank you so much for being the first review, that made my day, and my week!) for reviewing! These reviews were a joy to receive, and they propelled me into writing whenever I had spare time!
In summary, thanks to everyone for being amazing, and I hope you like this story! :D
{Who's excited to read the letter? Hehe who knows when Hermione will finally decide to read the letter}