Disclaimer:I wonder what would happened if I did say I owned Harry Potter. Hmm…

Chapter 2: Answers

"In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled." -Paul Eldridge

Rosemary Lupin would be bringing in the Ministry official any minute now, and then Hermione would be able to inform them about any future goings-on that they needed to know. She fidgeted uncomfortably in her wheelchair. Hermione would have felt a lot more comfortable about this meeting if she'd known where her wand was. Or if they'd waited until she could walk.

Her hands wanted something to hold on to, something more solid than the white handkerchief she was currently twisting.

Making a conscious effort to still her fingers, she tried to calm down. It wasn't as if she had to talk to that loathsome Umbridge fellow again. After that fiasco, the ministry had apologized profusely, and appointed someone else to deal with her case.

Hermione knew quite well that the only reason they were doing so was because they hadn't expected her to know the legalities of her position. They would try a similar trick again if they thought they could get away with it, no doubt about that. Hermione would just have to be calm and rational today, giving them no reason to make her a ward of the Ministry. Because if they did, they could do many things in the name of "looking out for her best interests." They could cite a agoraphobia as the reason she was not allowed in the outside world, a nervous disposition as the reason it would be best not to have visitors, a history of law-braking as the reason she should be interrogated until the Cruciatus claimed her mind…

My, but she was cynical today.

Logically, she was quite aware that, for all the Umbridges and Fudges in the world, there were quite a few Weasleys and Tonkses. (More Weasleys than Tonkses, she supposed.) The Ministry wasn't entirely corrupt. Besides, they had no reason to go after her- she hadn't broken any serious laws.

Well, she had broken into the Ministry, and she supposed that was serious. But there was a good reason for that. And it wasn't as though she had deliberately attacked someone… well, besides the DeathEaters. But they'd attacked her first, and even the Ministry couldn't find fault with her for that. It wasn't as though she'd ever attacked someone for a reason other than self-defense…

Unless you'd counted that time with Snape, when she'd set fire to him. But… that was kind of like self-defense, wasn't it? It was… Harry-defense. And everyone liked Harry. Why, in the Wizarding world today, they loved him! So she couldn't possibly get in trouble for that. Even if Snape hadn't really been attacking Harry.

Well, she hadn't done anything really, really illegal. Nothing worthy of… more than a year in Azkaban, surely. Except… she did remember reading that time traveling illegally could be worth up to a decade jail time, especially if the time traveler caused "undue risk of timeline contamination."

That had been an accident, though! It wasn't like she had time traveled illegally on purpose. Although there was that time she had gone back to rescue a convicted murderer and free a dangerous hippogriff from… well, from the Ministry. But it wasn't like she was ever going to tell them about hiding Sirius.

Oh, crap. Sirius. Sirius rotting away in Azkaban this very moment.

She'd forgotten. So wrapped up in her own grief and self-interest she's forgotten. How?

She'd have to tell the Ministry immediately, of course. Dumbledore, too. Now was probably the best time. How to do it, though? Dumbledore would listen, but the Ministry would need proof. Well, this time they would be able to capture Pettigrew. She knew where he was, after all. And if he somehow got away… well, she was a time traveler. They would have to listen to her, at least. Long enough to give Sirius a trial, or at least ask Professor Lupin about the Animagus thing.

Her mind was made up. Nervousness gone, she looked at the door expectantly. When the Ministry official came in, she would tell all. If it was someone like Fudge, she would simply ask to see Dumbledore so she could tell them both at the same time. Dumbledore was still respected in this time, and no wizard would think it at all unusual for her to ask to see her dear old headmaster.

Hermione was still looking at the door twenty minutes later when Rosemary Lupin brought the ministry official into the room.

"Hermione, this is the Ministry liaison for St. Mungo's, Lucius Malfoy," Rosemary Lupin said cheerfully. "He's a great benefactor to the hospital here, as I'm sure you know."

Thank Merlin for those years of lying to teachers. She was just barely able to school her features into an expression of polite recognition. "Oh, yes! Of course," she said, adopting a bright, cheerful (and most importantly, brainless) tone of voice. Rosemary looked somewhat puzzled, but seemed to ignore her new charge's sudden I.Q. drop.

"I've heard so much about you, Miss Granger," Malfoy said with a smile that didn't reach his cold eyes.

Hermione couldn't run. She couldn't hex the bastard, either. She supposed she'd be able to shout "He's a Death Eater!" but she couldn't see how that would help. Even if Rosemary believed her, he'd simply memory charm them both. And he was supposed to be interrogating her as to what the future was like. He probably had some sort of truth detector on him- it was standard for any interrogation. Damn. What was she going to do? It wasn't as if she could simply stay here and make polite conversation… or was it?

Alright, now she had a plan. She would play dumb and hope he went away. If he asked her questions, she would reply using strictly true statements that were nevertheless misleading. Her main priorities were to keep Rosemary in the room and to avoid eye contact and hope like hell Malfoy didn't know any Legilmency.

The silence had been going on a bit too long. "I've heard a lot about you, too!" she said brightly. "I'm in the same year as your son, you know- in my time, he's the seeker for Slytherin."

Rosemary Lupin smiled. "That's wonderful," she said, glancing at her watch. "I hate to leave you two so soon, but I'm going on my lunch break now. I'll be back in about half and hour."

So much for keeping Rosemary in the room.

Malfoy turned his back on Hermione to speak to the Healer. "Oh, it's no trouble, I assure you," he reassured her politely in his well cultured-voice. It didn't seem to have it's usual charming effect, however, as Rosemary Lupin's brow furrowed in puzzlement.

Rosemary Lupin looked uneasy. It was hard to tell, but someone who knew her well could spot the slight tightening of skin by the corners of her mouth and eyes. Remus Lupin knew his mother very well.

"Mum," he said as he watched her cut her sandwich in half, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Remus," she said distractedly as she dug into her meal. He raised his eyebrows. "Well, nothing really important," she amended. "I was just wondering if I shouldn't have left Hermione by herself like that."

Remus' mouth quirked upward as a surge of amusement took him. "You do realize I have no idea what you're talking about, don't you?" he asked. "This is about the girl you're thinking of taking in though, right? So what are you worried about?"

"Well, her interview with the ministry official is today, and I… well, I thought they were getting along all right, but then Hermione caught my eye as I was leaving, and she looked… rather nervous. Umm… more like terrified."

Remus mulled this over a bit. He'd heard a lot about Hermione Granger from Mum over the course of the past week, though he hadn't met her himself. And something seemed wrong. His mother seemed to know this, too. "That doesn't seem like her- not from what you've told me." Remus remarked, trying to get to the root of the matter. "was she acting strangely before she gave you that look?"

"Well, yes, I suppose so. She seemed.. I don't know. She had a kind of manic cheerfulness about her- and her voice was funny. All exclamation points and no forty-year old vocabulary, which is the norm for her. I suppose she had more cause to be nervous now, though." Rosemary seemed to be trying to reassure herself. "After all, she's supposed to be telling the Ministry official everything- well, about how she got here, and what the future's like, and so forth."

Remus frowned. "What if she doesn't trust the Ministry official? Just who is he, anyway?"

Rosemary Lupin looked relieved. "Oh, don't worry about that. It's Lucius Malfoy- he's been making generous donations to the Ministry for ages. There won't be a problem on that front, at least."

Malfoy. Remus really, really wished Dumbledore hadn't left the country. He looked his mother in the eye. "Um… I wouldn't be so sure…"

Hermione Granger stuck to the facts. They were quite interesting facts, and she made sure Lucius Malfoy focused on them. Happily for her own well-being, (and the rest of the Wizarding world's) they had very little to do with what had actually happened at the Ministry.

Fact #1: One of her friends had a guardian who worked in the Ministry. (She refused to say who, because "Oh! I wouldn't want them to get in trouble with their parents for something that hasn't even happened!" But mostly because she knew that Malfoy would do his best to get Mr. Weasley fired if she mentioned him in any way.)

Fact #2: She had gone into the Ministry with her friend to see his guardian. (Different friend, different guardian, and there were quite a few other people around as well- but she carefully omitted these bits of information.)

Fact #3: The Ministry had seemed to be empty. (Quite true.)

Fact #4: She'd become very curious about the door on a particular corridor, her friend even more so. (This was not why they entered it, but it was nevertheless true.)

Fact #5: They'd gone inside.

Fact #6: One of the Ministry officials had gone quite mad. (Mr. Bode, back in December. Malfoy had never specified that she tell the story in chronological order, after all.

Fact #7: She and her friend had run for their lives, and then she'd been hit with a strange purple light. After that, she'd fallen unconscious.

All in all, she thought, it wasn't a bad story. It was even easier when he asked her for information on the future. She could talk for hours about disasters totally unrelated to Voldemort and Death Eater activity- robberies that could be prevented, natural disasters to prepare for- without ever once lying. And look- his Sneakascope hadn't even lighted up! She gave herself a mental pat of self-congratulation.

All the same, she was very relieved when Rosemary came in, a good ten minutes early. There was only so much more of Malfoy's company she could take without hexing him.

Hermione didn't have a visit from the Ministry again. Before Lucius Malfoy left, she had assured him that she'd told all "that it would be remotely helpful to tell", once again taking comfort in strict fact. It certainly wouldn't be helpful to tell a Death Eater so much important knowledge about the future, after all.

It wasn't until later that night, the last night she would spend in St. Mungo's before going off to Mrs. Lupin's house, that she remembered.

Sirius. She would really have to do something about that, she decided. And since she couldn't count on the Ministry… hmm. Dumbledore would (probably) believe her, but he wouldn't be able to get Sirius out of Azkaban. Even if he could, Sirius would have to live the rest of his life in hiding.

And… (she felt guilty even thinking this) she also had to consider that the Ministry would know she was somehow involved. Because she hadn't told them about Sirius escaping from Azkaban beforehand, in the other timeline. And they would know that such a large change in events would have had to have somehow originated from her. She didn't want to go to jail, not at all.

So, what she needed to do was prove to the Ministry that Sirius was innocent. But she couldn't do that without "Scabbers". And Pettigrew would undoubtedly know something was wrong if Dumbledore or Lupin (the only people she had the slightest chance of convincing) showed up on the Weasley's front door looking for a rat.

So the person to find Pettigrew would have to be someone inconspicuous. Someone nobody would think was a threat. Like a half-paralyzed teenage girl, perhaps a friend of Bill's from school…

Hermione looked up at the ceiling apprehensively. It would work. She hated the idea, (why did she always have to solve the puzzle, discover the basilisk- couldn't some Auror do it?) but it would work. All she had to do was to make friends with Bill, and somehow get herself invited to the Weasley's. Not a great plan, by any means- but she didn't exactly have a better one. And (she shivered) Percy might not even have Pettigrew yet. It might be Charlie, or Bill himself.

She worked out the ages in her head. Yes, Charlie and Bill would both be at Hogwarts- Bill as a fourth year, Charlie as a second. So there was a good chance -a very good chance- that Scabbers would be with one of them. Ron had said something about that during one of their fights, something about Scabbers going to Hogwarts with Bill because he was lonely, awayat Hogwarts for the first time…

She dozed off like that, lost in dreams of rats and stags and blood, until Rosemary Lupin's voice shook her awake the next morning.

"Rise and shine- you're moving to my house today, remember?"

A/N:Thanks for all your lovely reviews so far. Keep 'em coming!

(Also, I'll try to update at least once a week.)