Hello there. This chapter is quite long, as are the next few. Thank you for reading and please review.
Chapter 4:
Hermione peeled her eyes open to find the sun shining directly in her face through her bedroom window. She squinted and rolled over. She had an ache in her neck and was still wearing her work clothes from the day before.
She looked at the electronic clock on her bedside table. Hermione enjoyed a lot of her muggle things such as her clock and her tv. The clock read 8:30 am. "Shit," she muttered, pushing herself off her bed. She was was supposed to meet Harry and Ron at 9 o'clock.
She stumbled to the bathroom hoping she didn't look like a total trainwreck. Her hopes however, were shattered when she looked in the mirror. Her hair was a rats nest and the little makeup she had been wearing the day before was, now smudged all over her face.
She didn't have enough time to shower, so she sent a quick cleaning spell over herself hoping it would do the trick. Her hair was still a disaster, so she threw it up in a quick bun hoping it would contain enough of her frizz. She then quickly brushed her teeth and wandered back into her bedroom, wanting nothing more than to crawl back into bed.
She turned to her closet instead. She decided to wear some simple muggle clothes for the day. She pulled out a nice pair of black jeans, a white flowing button down shirt with black polka dots, and a black pair of ballet flats. Her clock now read 8:50.
Hermione grabbed her bag and her wand heading for the fireplace in the livingroom. She grabbed a handful of floo powder on the mantel and threw it into the flames and stepped in. "Ministry of Magic," she clearly stated standing in the middle of the now green flames.
She felt herself hurdle through the floo network and land in the Ministry. She stepped out of the fireplace and quickly dusted any ash off herself as she marched towards the lifts.
She squeezed into the already packed lift and headed for level 2.
"Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement," a sweet voice echoed through the lift. Hermione stepped off and made her way towards where she had left the boys the night before.
She looked at her watch as she neared the interrogation room. The clock read exactly 9 o'clock. Just on time. She thought to herself as she turned into the interrogation room. Ron was sitting at the table playing with his wand. An evidence bag with the vial of memories in them sat on the table.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked setting her bag down next to the table and sitting opposite him.
"He went to get the Pensieve from McGonagall. He flooed her last night and asked it he could borrow it," Ron explained. As he finished his explanation Harry came in through the door.
He was gently carrying a large wooden box. He placed the box on the table and opened it, removing the pensieve.
"Ron can I have the memories?" Harry asked placing the pensieve on the table next to the box.
Ron grabbed the bag with the vial in it and opened it. He handed the vial to Harry.
"What do you think we're going to see in there mate?" Ron asked watching Harry pour the memories into the pensieve.
Harry, in response to Ron's question, took a deep breath and shook his head. "I don't know." He looked between his two best friends then back at the pensieve. "Ready?"
Neither Ron or Hermione responded. "Okay. Here we go," Harry muttered then he dipped his head into the pensieve and fell into the memory. Hermione quickly followed him. The liquid felt cool against her, but at the same time didn't feel like liquid at all.
She felt her feet on solid ground and looked around at her surroundings. Harry stood to her right and Ron landed on the opposite side of Harry. Directly in front of her was her own office. She watched the Future Hermione go through papers on her desk.
Hermione looked over at the calendar she always kept on her wall. "It's November 21st," Hermione stated. Harry looked over at her confused.
"How do you know?" She pointed at the calendar in response. This was occurring a little over a month from present time. Ron reached forward and tried to touch the desk, but his hand passed through it.
The door to Hermione's office opened. It was a secretary named Jan. "Miss Granger. A girl has been attacked. Grillo wants you to investigate with an officer at the hospital," Jan said. Grillo was Hermione's boss.
Future Hermione nodded. "Thank you Jan. Who's the girl?"
"Pansy Parkinson."
That caught all of their attention. Future Hermione raised an eyebrow but nodded. "I'll head over there now. Thank you."
Jan turned and left and Future Hermione stood up and grabbed her wand marching out of the office.
"Follow her," Harry said running after the memory version of Hermione. Ron and Hermione followed him.
The three visitors had to jog to keep up with Memory Hermione's fast pace. She kept walking until she made it to her destination which was Ron.
"Hey Ron, I need your help with something," Memory Hermione said to Memory Ron.
"Of course 'mione what is it?" Memory Ron replied.
"Pansy Parkinson has been attacked. I need to go investigate things with an officer at the hospital," Memory Hermione said already heading in the direction of the apparition point. Memory Ron followed without hesitation.
The memory blurred. "What's happening," Ron asked.
"I think it's skipping," Hermione said. Future Hermione seemed to feel whatever happened in the next few minutes was unnecessary as the memory returned moments later with Ron and Hermione entering the waiting room of St. Mungo's.
"Granger!"
The three visitors looked towards the voice. It was Draco Malfoy.
Memory Draco rushed over to Memory Ron and Hermione. "Malfoy, what's wrong?" Memory Hermione asked looking around him.
Blaise Zabini sat in a chair with his head in his hands. Memory Hermione looked at Ron and nodded towards Blaise. Ron nodded back and walked over to Zabini.
"Granger, you need to get Potter," Memory Malfoy said looking truly panicked. Visiting Hermione didn't think she had ever seen him so genuinely panicked.
"The cuts on his arm are starting to scar," visiting Hermione pointed out to her two companions.
"Malfoy calm down," Memory Hermione said. "This isn't a case necessary for an Auror."
"NO," Memory Draco yelled grabbing Hermione's arms. "You need to get Potter."
Memory Hermione yelped a little. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll get Harry here, but you need to sit down."
Draco nodded and went to sit with Blaise again. Memory Hermione followed him over to where Memory Ron was standing. "Ron can you go get Harry?" she asked.
"Why?"
"Just please go get Harry." Ron nodded and then disappeared from the memory. Memory Hermione looked at the two men sitting in front of her while visiting Hermione examined them herself.
Blaise had some cuts and bruises on him but nothing too bad. The only notable thing was a large cut on his head that seemed to have stopped bleeding.
"So can you tell me what happened?" Memory Hermione asked.
"Pansy and I were in Diagon Alley," Blaise said his voice shaking a bit. "And we were down an empty street when we were attacked. They hurt Pansy pretty bad but I managed to get them away. I called Draco."
"Is there anyone you think-" she was interrupted by Malfoy.
"Potter!"
"What is it Malfoy?" Future Harry question.
"Harry I'm sorry he claimed you needed to be here," Hermione explained.
"Potter it's the same people."
"What?"
Zabini chimed in. "Draco is under the impression that whoever attacked Pansy is the same people who attacked him."
Both visiting Harry and his memory counterpart perked up at that. "And why do you think that Malfoy?"
"Because the first thing Blaise said to me was that they were Death Eaters," Memory Draco stated clearly. Everyone's attention was now on Malfoy.
"I said I thought they were Death Eaters. I have no proof," Blaise defended. "Besides I had just been attacked I was panicking a bit. I wasn't in my right mind."
The memory began to blur.
"It's changing," visiting Harry stated.
A new memory began to form around them. Harry and Hermione were sitting in Harry's office.
"Potter," a man said coming into the office. It was Sienna, he was the head of the Auror office and Harry's boss. "There's been a Dark Mark," he said darkly.
"What? Where?" Memory Harry questioned.
"You can't go," Sienna said.
"What? Why not? I'm the best auror you've got-"
"Potter, you can't go because it's Andromeda Tonks-" Harry shot out of his seat and visiting Harry looked like he was going to be sick. "And I know your godson is- Shit."
Harry had pushed past Sienna and bolted out the door. Memory Hermione was now chasing after him.
"Keep up with them," visiting Hermione said. Harry didn't need to be told twice. He seems just as desperate as his memory self to find out if Teddy Lupin was okay.
Memory Hermione and Harry reached the apparition point in the Auror's office and Apparated to Andromeda Tonks' house. The three visitors felt the world bend around them. Colors and shapes began to twist together.
Finally they landed in front of the house. Memory Harry and Hermione ran inside, wands out, and the three visitors chased after them.
All of the windows were broken and broken glass littered the floor. Furniture was overturned and things were smashed.
"TEDDY!" Memory Harry shouted panicked. Visiting Harry looked just as terrified.
Andromeda was nowhere to be seen. The house seemed empty but there was a small whimper from a closet in the hall.
"Harry," Memory Hermione mouthed nodding in the direction of the closet. Harry slowly walked over to it and ripped open the door. Four year old Teddy sat on the floor of the closet whimpering. His face was covered in tears and he was clutching a small bear.
"I was going to give him that bear for Christmas this year," visiting Harry muttered.
"Hey buddy," memory Harry said softly to the young boy. "it's me." He reached out to Teddy and the little boy stood up and embraced Harry still clutching his bear.
Harry lifted the boy and carried him out of the house and the memory began to change again.
"I think that was this upcoming January," Ron said as the memory changed. Hermione nodded. It was probably sometime just after Christmas since Teddy had his Christmas gift from Harry.
When the memory returned they were standing in Hermione's office. Memory Hermione sat at her desk going through paperwork. Memory Ron and Harry sat in front of Hermione's desk going through paperwork of their own. The boys often did this considering that Hermione's office was quieter than Harry's and much quieter than Ron's cubical.
"Hey guys listen to this," Memory Hermione said looking at a file. Visiting Hermione recognized it as a small crime file she'd often get to go over. Memory Ron and Harry both turned their attention to her. "Narcissa Malfoy's personal Gringotts vault was broken into on the 30th of January. Only one possession was stolen, a necklace she says belonged to her late sister Bellatrix. Mrs. Malfoy has not insisted on further investigation," Hermione read the report aloud.
"I was on the initial investigation for that," Memory Ron said. "We didn't find any evidence.
"That's odd," Memory Harry said then the memory began to fade again.
When the memory returned it was just Harry and Hermione in the office. Visiting Hermione noticed the calendar now said February.
A small paper airplane flew into the office and landed infront of Memory Harry. He opened it and read it. "Shit," he said flying out of his seat.
"What is it?" Memory Hermione asked.
"Malfoy's been attacked again," Memory Harry said before rushing out of the room.
The memory ended.
"Harry," Hermione said. Harry looked over to her. "Almost everything that has happened so far involves Malfoy."
Harry and Ron both realized this. "We need to bring him in," Harry said.
"Let's stop here and get Malfoy," Hermione suggested. Both boys nodded and pulled pulled out of the pensieve.
Hermione focused on leaving the memories and felt her feet on the solid ground of the interrogation room.
