Chapter Three

Head pounding, Hermione awoke in a dingy room, on a small bed. Snoring could be heard from the room just outside her door. Looking around, Hermione took in the faded curtains and worn rug. The room was small, smaller then her own at least. The curtain was partially open and she could see darkness and stars. Either it was the same night or she had slept the day away. She tried to remember the last thing that happened to her. She remembered hearing Ron's voice, calling out to ... someone. She concentrated on the memory of the voice. It was calling out a name, it was calling out ... Malfoy! Suddenly she remembered. Malfoy had run up the tree she was hiding in. He had grabbed her and covered her mouth. She remembered struggling and then ... nothing. There must be something wrong with her head.

A loud snort shook her out of her revery. There was someone in the other room. She crept to the door, trying to be silent on the old floor boards. Pulling lightly on the door, she peaked out into the living room of what appeared to be a tiny shack. Sprawled across the mouldy love seat was Draco Malfoy, fast asleep. Hermione reached for her wand so she could stun the large man before he could wake up. Patting her pockets Hermione began to panic, her wand was gone. She quickly and quietly searched the small bedroom to see if she had dropped it while she was out. Giving up, she went back to looking out the door, maybe Malfoy had her wand.

Sure enough, tucked into the front pocket of his pants was her wand. She listened to his steady, deep breathing before deciding that he was out like a light, and would not wake when she crossed the room. Moving carefully, she eased open the bedroom door and stepped out onto the bare wooden floor of the living room. Slowly she managed to reach the coffee table, the only obstacle between her and her objective. Stepping to the right, Hermione miscalculated the decrepit state of the floor, and fell right through. Squealing out of shock, Hermione came to a stop halfway up her right thigh.

The sound brought Draco out of his sleep with a start. Looking around wildly, he found a struggling Hermione Granger stuck up to her hip in the floor.

"Hold on, I'll pull you out." He started towards her.

Looking up, Hermione panicked. "No! Leave me alone! I just want to go home!" All her struggling did was cause the floor to creak ominously. She pushed against the floor with all her might, trying to heave herself out of the vulnerable position.

The floor cracked and Hermione found herself falling through the air. THUD! The landing was hard but at least there was something reasonably soft beneath her. Soft and warm. Getting to her feet, Hermione looked up. She expected to see a sneering, laughing face above her, but there was nothing. A groan from under her feet forced her to look down.

Lying on a pile of broken wood was Draco. He had saved her. She dropped to her knees to check on him. Blinking he opened both eyes, only to squint at the light from the hole in the ceiling.

"Are you ok?" Queried a quiet voice beside him. Glancing up he saw Hermione gazing down at him.

"Ah!" He scrambled to move away from her. "I'm sorry!"

"Stop moving!" He froze at the command in her voice. "You might have a neck or back injury. Let me take a look."

Cautiously, she moved towards him. He kept still while she checked first his head, then his chest and back, and finally his arms and legs for injuries. "Do you hurt anywhere? Tell me if I touch something that hurts." She continued to check him out, looking in his eyes and asking questions about the date and how many fingers she had.

"I- I'm fine." He stuttered. "Just a bit bruised. Trust me, I've been through much worse." His grey eyes hardened as he sat up straighter and pushed her away from him. "Why do you care anyway? You hate me, remember?"

"I don't hate you, not anymore anyways. The war was long enough ago that I can forgive. Why did you say sorry to me? When you woke up I mean." She had her hands out, waiting for him to let her check him over some more .

"Seriously, I'm fine. I said sorry because- Wait a minute. How can you say the war was long ago? It only ended this morning!" He looked at her like she had sprouted a second head.

"Malfoy how old are you?"

"Almost 18, why?"

"My next birthday is my twentieth. Putting me two years ahead of you."

"That's impossible! You're only a year older than me!"

"Oh! You know my birthday. How odd, I thought you hated me." Hermione smiled at his confused expression. "Come on, let's find a way out of this dank basement, then I'll explain everything."

They found the stairs hidden behind an old oil tank. It took both of them to move it out of the way. Finally, the tank fell back away from the stairs and Hermione and Draco collapsed onto the bottom step.

"Phew, that was hard. Why didn't we just use magic?" Hermione gave a short laugh. "Oh, do I get my wand back now?" She looked at the boy next to her. He stared guiltily through his hair at her.

"Oh, yeah, um, here." He reached towards his pocket, only to pause. "Um, I think I may have broken it." He pulled the two halves of her wand from his pocket and handed them to her.

Tears filled her eyes. The broken wand in her hands had been through everything with her. She remembered the day she bought it, during her first trip to Diagon Alley. Her first spell, her first class at Hogwarts. For eight years her wand had helped her and saved her from certain death, and now, it was gone.

"Shit." Draco stood up and offered his hand to the crying girl beside him. "Come upstairs, I'll, uh, make some tea."

Hermione took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Following after him, she couldn't help but stare at his back. Even with dust and debris on his shirt, and months of terrible living, Draco's shoulders were straight and broad, speaking of his upbringing and his pride.

Draco moved from the stairs to the kitchen. He pulled down a dusty tea service and set about boiling water. Hermione watched his movements in silence, until the awkwardness of his actions became apparent to her.

"Why are you doing everything like a muggle would?" Her question startled him. He turned to face her, shrugging with one shoulder.

"I don't have a wand. I lost my mother's during our escape from the Room of Requirement. Potter took mine weeks ago when, well, you know when." He turned back to the stove.

"I understand, and I forgive you for that. I know you were under duress and really didn't want to be there." She moved to the stove when Draco looked at the elements in confusion. "It's a wood stove, we need to light a fire underneath."

She opened the dusty oven door. "Oh good, there's some good wood in here, must be from the last occupant. We'll need more though, Draco would you take a look outside for some chopped fire wood and bring some in?"

Draco nodded and headed for the kitchen door. Hermione quickly whispered a spell to light the dry wood ablaze. Draco came back with a half a dozen pieces of fire wood not a second later. He stared at the warm fire before shrugging and dumping his load in the basket beside the stove.

"Right, how can you forgive me for that when it only happened yesterday? I mean even you can't get over something that terrifying in one day. And you said something about being almost 20 or some such nonsense. Explain." He moved away from her and crossed his arms, looking demanding and much like he had all throughout their school years.

She laughed at his expression and finished making their tea. Pointing to the rickety dining table she indicated that he should sit. Settling herself across from him, she cocked her head and gazed thoughtfully at him.

"I come from the future, really." Draco's eyebrows shot up in to his fringe. "I do, truly. One year after the final battle at Hogwarts I managed to get my hands on a new and improved time turner. I came back to stop the murder of Ron Weasley."

"Why? How did he die?" Draco sipped his tea and waited for her to continue.

"Um, I never did find out who killed him, but it was murder. He was chasing you, maybe someone with you did it." Draco didn't meet her eyes when she looked at him this time. He had been alone, abandoned and desperate. If he hadn't spotted Hermione's hideaway he would have had to confront Weasley. He must have killed him in the past. Not past anymore Draco thought. Having Hermione there had changed everything.

Hermione seemed to have come to a similar conclusion in her head about the past. She shook her head and a smile broke out on her face.

"Ron is alive! I must find him and make sure he's alright." Hermione stood up and started for the door. Draco followed her, speaking before she could get to far.

"Um, Granger, there might be some flaws in your plan. First, you have no wand, so you can't apparate away. Don't bother walking, this place isn't accessible by roads. Second, you can't be seen by the you from this time! And your present self will most definitely be with Weasley. And finally, well, I don't want you to leave." He glared at the floor instead of at her.

Hermione stopped a few feet from the door. Slowly, the insane circumstances of her situation hit her. She had forgotten the rules of time travel; you can not be seen, especially by your past self. She was stuck here for one year, forced in to hiding. She couldn't even go to Diagon Alley to replace her wand. That was of course if she could find her way away from the tiny shack she was in. Shaking herself, she strode to the door and wrenched it open. Running a few steps away from the building she gasped at the sheer darkness around her. It was pitch black outside, an inky darkness that scared her. The clouds moved past and suddenly the light glow of the moon and stars illuminated her surroundings. Draco was right, there was no road, no sign of any other light, no way out. She fell to her knees and bawled. She was trapped, with no magic, no help, and one Deatheater.

HGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDM

This time when she awoke there was no panic, no fear. She remembered her tears and Draco's stiff arms carrying her in to the shack to the small bedroom. She had fallen asleep still crying, her face was stiff from the dried tears. She wanted nothing more than to stay in bed forever, but her body had different ideas. She needed to use the bathroom, badly. She ran into the living room to see Draco sitting on the couch, staring at the wall.

"Where's the toilet?" She almost yelled at him.

"Um, outside, down a little pathway." He waved a hand in the general direction, not caring if she found her way or not.

"Outside? Are you kidding me? What house has an outhouse these days?" She continued to grumble as she hurried past him to the back door. When she returned she saw he hadn't moved, so her questions filled the silence. "Why are you here? Better yet why did you bring me here? You could have left me in the forest, I would have survived on my own."

Draco turned at the last comment. He studied her expression with a sneer on his face. "I forgot you are the oh so brilliant one of your stupid trio. Of course you could have survived on your own, but to me you were a liability. I didn't trust you not to follow me. Plus, you would have run right into Weasel's arms, compromising your place here in the past. If you need to stay someplace for a year, here is as good a place as any." His speech had started off full of sarcasm and disdain, slowly transitioning into melancholy and finally hope. He looked up at her through his fringe, his face blank.

She blinked at his tone. He wanted her to stay here, with him. "Fine, I agree with some parts of that little rant. I'll stay, for now." She looked at him again. His face was frozen half way between outrage and excitement. "Now, is there any food in this place? I'm starving, and I'm sure you are too."

She walked away into the kitchen in search of sustenance. Draco quickly got up and followed her.

"This place used to belong to my family but was abandoned decades ago in favour of more uh, modern living. I believe my father had it stocked with supplies a short while ago in case we had to flee from the Dark- from anybody."

Hermione opened a few cupboards and began pulling things from them. She thought carefully of how to respond to his remarks while she prepared some dinner for them.

"I know some of what you went through Draco. A few days before I came back, I had the chance to listen in on your statements to the Ministry of Magic. You were quiet honest for the most part, you-"

He interrupted her at that. "I was talking tho the Ministry? Why? Was it willingly? Because I don't want to go anywhere near that place right now. I just want to be alone, well, away at least." He looked at her, afraid of what she would tell him of his circumstances in the future. "Please, tell me what happened."

"You just said please."

"It happens."

"No it doesn't. I've never heard you, or any other Malfoy say it, ever."

He grimaced at her, crossing his arms. He looked so put out Hermione couldn't help but laughed out loud.

"Stop laughing and tell me what happened!" His yell caused her to sober quickly. Moving over to the table with two plates of spaghetti, she sat across from him. Again, she contemplated how to answer his questions without giving away too much information.

"Okay, but remember, anything I tell you now most likely won't happen. I changed everything when I came back in time. i don't truly know how I have effected things. I took a big risk doing this." She sighed. "A few days before the anniversary of the battle you were captured by aurors in a abandoned shack, probably this one. You were questioned about your involvement with Voldemort and the deatheaters. When I left you were still awaiting trial. I don't think you would have gotten much time in Azkaban. You were just a kid." Hermione lapsed into silence, watching for his reaction.

"Well, we'll see what happens this time around, right? Maybe the Ministry won't find me this time, maybe I can hide forever." The bitterness on his face was clear, he didn't want to hide forever, nobody did. He looked down at his food, appetite gone.

"Eat, Draco. You'll need the energy when we clean this place up by hand." Hermione laughed at the indignant expression on his face, clearly he hadn't thought about the state of the shack and how much work it needed.

"By hand? But I'm a wizard, I can just wave my wand..."

"You don't have a wand and mine is broken. We have to do everything the muggle way. Lucky for you I know how." She took his empty plate to the kitchen and began searching for a way to get water. "Looks like the pump in here is rusted, I'll look outside for the main pump. Can you open the windows? We should air out the house some."

He sat staring at the door after she left. She wanted him to do work, Draco Malfoy, doing housework. Shaking his head he got up and started opening windows. Most had no glass, most had screens, though many of the shutters were nailed shut, requiring the use of force to open them. Twenty minutes later he stood watching swirls of dust dance in the light of the setting sun streaming in the windows. Hermione had still not come inside so he went looking for her. Circling the house he found the old water pump, but no sign of Hermione. A little panicked, searched the edge of the woods.

"Granger! Where are you? You can't leave me alone like this!" He half shouted towards the woods. Leaves rustled to his left and he started when Hermione stepped out.

"Relax, it's just me. I had to find a stream or creak to grab water from. I can't start the pump with out water. Were you scared I'd left you? There's no where to go, as you helpfully pointed out earlier." The frustration she felt bled into her words, making her sound upset. She stomped past him, hiding the tears streaming down her face. "Go find another bucket."

He flinched at her sharp words, she was stuck here just the same as him. He entered the house, finding a bucket under the kitchen sink. Walking back outside, he saw she had the pump going, pouring cold, fresh water into the trough. He passed her the bucket and took the full one she handed him back inside. A couple minutes later she joined him in the kitchen, he was looking at the smaller water pump.

"It's rusted here, see." She pointed to the handle joint. "The handle won't move up and down, so it won't pump water. We'll have to work on cleaning it up. But not tonight, it's getting late, we should get some sleep."

Closing the shutters on the windows with no screen or glass, she moved about the room preparing for the night. She went into the bedroom and returned with a pillow and blanket from the bed.

"Here, use these, they'll make the couch more comfortable." She turned to go back to the bedroom.

"Why do you get the bed? You slept in it last night, it's my turn." Draco whined at her, making no move to go over to the couch.

"I get the bed because I'm a girl. Also, you dragged me here, I didn't exactly think I would be sleeping in a hovel. And I don't trust you, not this you. I can block the bedroom door from the inside, keeping you out." With that she turned and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.