Ginny was awake, her long hair down, sitting in the kitchen when Harry returned home. The slight smile that she had on her lips told Harry that she knew everything. It frustrated him and made him want to smile at the same time.
"So, how did it go?" Ginny asked bringing the cup of tea in her hands up to her mouth. "Did Hermione listen to reason? Decide that it's not a good idea to help Lucius Malfoy. Went back to bed like a good girl?'
"I don't even know why she left in such a hurry like that! All I did was ask if she was doing this just to get under Ron's skin." Harry burst out. Controlling his temper still wasn't his strongest suit. With Ginny he rarely got mad. Working with some of the morons at the Ministry, he often came home to vent to her, when she wasn't off training with the other Harpies.
"Oh dear, you didn't? Honestly Harry. I love you but sometimes your rather thick." Ginny shook her head, standing up, putting her hands on his shoulders. "That comment is probably what sent her out the door." Letting her fingers run over the back of his neck, Ginny sighed, grinning at him. "So, Ron's already sent word he and dean will meet you over at the Ministry. Together the three of you can go and get Nott."
"Yeah, yeah alright. I just I don't understand those two. Nor how Ron can continuously make an ass of himself." Harry grumbled pulling on the navy Auror robes. Mentally he reminded himself to make Ron go apologize to Hermione. While Ron wasn't staying with Harry and Ginny, instead he'd chosen to stay with Fred, it didn't make matters any easier on Harry. Sometimes he wished the two of them would just remain friends. Then sometimes he saw them happy together and wanted nothing more than their relationship to blossom.
"Well, you know Ron. He can be a bit of a prat." Ginny grinned at Harry, kissing him on his forehead. She'd only been back for a week and Harry was sorely tempted to not leave her. They had such precious little time together.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." Harry grumbled, kissing Ginny quickly before disapparating for the Ministry. The look in her eyes had told him to hurry back. Just another reason that made him frustrated with the whole situation.
Though Hermione had never seen the Malfoy's 'summer' home in Bulgaria, because Lucius had given her the address she'd been able to apparate to the gate. Looking up at the house, smaller than the Manor they normally kept but still impressive, Hermione pursed her lips. Bulgaria was two hours ahead of London time, everything was dark, save for a few lights around the house. As far as she could tell, none of the lights inside her on.
"Miss, Abby is thinking this is a bad time. Maybe we should be coming back in the morning." Hermione hadn't even heard Abby pop in with her. Though it didn't surprise Hermione in the least that the elf had been able to follow her with such ease.
"We've got to Abby. If we don't do it now there is a chance that Malfoy might hurt someone, or himself, before the morning comes. Time magic is highly unstable, unpredictable. He is a fool to be messing with it." Hermione grumbled pushing open the gate, the fresh snow giving little resistance. The air was cold, the smallest of winds blowing at her back covering her footsteps as she made them striding down the path toward the heavy front door.
"If you say so Miss." Abby wasn't going to fight Hermione any more. She had made up her mind and it wasn't Abby's place to argue with her master, even if she was technically a free elf. As they came upon the front door, Hermione flicked her wand at it, not even bothering to mutter the spell, she didn't need to. The door rattled, not budging.
"Oh, I see." Upon closer inspection Hermione noted that the lock of the door matched the key that Lucius had given her. It was probably one of only two or three and, even as Hermione put the key in the lock, she understood. The key would be the only thing that would open the door. The Malfoy's, Hermione guessed, couldn't even apparate inside the house from the outside.
Opening the door, Hermione's skin crawled. The house was cold, almost as cold as the wind biting at her cheeks. The air had a stale, almost acrid smell to it as if no one had been living in the house. Not even the lingering scent of a fire hit Hermione. She could feel the magic in the air though, alive, buzzing with electricity. Immediately her wand was out, the house felt abandoned, but the crackle of magic made Hermione know, Malfoy was there.
"Abby. Keep close, but out of sight." Hermione instructed the elf moving into the house. Hermione wasn't sure where she needed to go, closing her eyes taking a deep breath she held her palm out. "Point me." She whispered watching as her wand automatically swirled, moving to the right. She could follow nothing but the growing feel of magic.
Following her wand, Hermione moved through the house silently. A few cobwebs lingered here and there, a sign that not even elves had been in the house recently. The floor made no noise as she walked, moving from the living room through a long hallway. One side covered in windows, the other in paintings. At the end of the hallway Hermione could see a door. Beneath it, bright flashes of pale green light seemed to hum every few seconds or so. Hermione would have been worried, thinking it the killing curse, but the light wasn't as harsh, and was happening so rapidly.
"Miss." Abby tugged at Hermione's coat, her large eyes looking at her in terror. "Please, let us go." Her last attempt in vain to get her Mistress to see reason.
"Stay back Abby. I don't want you to get hurt if this goes bad." Hermione whispered, though the words were an order. "Do not interfere unless absolutely necessary." She added after a moment of thought. Hand on the knob, Hermione turned it slowly. It wasn't locked, though she wasn't surprised to find it unlocked. She doubted very much that Draco expected anyone save for members of his family to find their way inside the house, not to mention to where he was.
Hermione wasn't sure what she would find opening the door, but the scene before her hadn't been one of them. The dark room was filled with a huge cauldron, Malfoy's back to her. He was added a few ingredients, the low fire beneath it a frightening blue. The thing that worried her the most though, the pulsing orb above the cauldron. It almost didn't look like a real thing, it looked like a ball of pure magic. Rings of runes floating within it, every now and then it pulsated the same pale green light she had seen beneath the door. The orb itself took up most of the room, suspended in air above the cauldron Hermione could see flashes in it.
Taking a small step closer, she inspected the images. People's faces, Lucius, Draco, Narcissa, Dumbledore's, even her's and Harry's. For a moment she wondered if they were Draco's memories. Then, to her surprise, she saw things like dragons, chimera's, Godric Gryffindor. Brown eyes widened in horror. They couldn't possibly be Draco's memories, not with things like that in the orb.
"It's time." Hermione whispered to herself, though Malfoy didn't hear it over the hum of the cauldron and the soft incantations he was chanting. "Malfoy, what have you done?" Hermione asked louder this time. Arm's full of ingredients, a wild look on his face, Malfoy spun at the sound of her voice.
"Granger? What the hell are you doing in here?" The humming began to get louder, frantically his grey eyes shot toward the orb. His usually combed blond hair in disarray. "Get out of here!" He yelled turning back to the cauldron, beginning to mumble his incantations again as he added ingredient's to the cauldron. The orb grew larger as he did, making Hermione take a step back.
"Malfoy, whatever this is. It's got to stop. You can't mess with time! It's unstable unpredictable. You haven't done anything illegal yet. Just stop this." Hermione ordered in what she hoped to be her strongest voice. "You can't change the past!" Hermione added when it seemed as if Malfoy had no intention of listening to her. "If you do, you might make it so that you don't exist!" She had to yell over the humming, the humming which she realized was not coming from the cauldron but from the orb.
"Stop this!" Hermione burst out, grabbing a hold of Draco's arm as he went to throw another ingredient into the cauldron. He looked at her thin, in the glowing green light she could see the lines on his face, the dark circles under his eyes. He looked like a ghost, the shell of the man he was.
"You don't understand!" He yelled savagely pulling his arm away from her and throwing the ingredient into the cauldron. Hermione could see it now, bubbling with thick lavender potion. He reached in filling two vials quickly with it. They glowed bright and florescent as he did and Hermione grabbed him again, this time pointing her wand at him.
"Malfoy you might do more than just damage your own time. You could kill innocent people. I can't let you do that. You've got to stop this." She demanded ready to duel. Though he only looked more distraught, not bothering to bring out his own wand.
"You don't understand Granger! That's what I'm trying to do. The orb, I can't stop it and I don't know what it's going to do. I've been trying to create a potion to destroy it. It's powerful, I've contained it for now but it sucks you in and throws you out. You can't control it! Now let me go!" He partically screamed. Hermione looked at the orb in terror, it had grown in size again the the light being thrown off of it in waves. Hermione felt it hit her. It wasn't just light, but pure magic. It made her skin tickle and hair stand up.
"We have to stop this." Hermione yelled looking at the orb in fright. She had stopped his incantations and the orb was doubling in size exponentially. "Malfoy what do we do?" She asked frightened for the first time since she'd entered the room. Draco watched it grow in size, the ingredients falling from his arms.
"Run it's going to explode." Malfoy yelled turning and grabbing Hermione's arm to pull her from the room. A blast of magic hit them before they even got to the door knocking both of them to the floor. The humming of the orb was growing louder, filling up Hermione's head, it was all she could hear for a moment as the orb enveloped the room. Then she heard voices, small snippets or people talking, her eyes grew wide as the orb began to pull her and Draco in. She turned, clawing at the floor but even as she moved away, Hermione realized the orb wasn't pulling her. It was growing around her around them.
"Malfoy!" Hermione looked at him, seeing that the orb had almost swallowed him completely. She called his name in terror letting out a small scream as the magic sucked both of them in completely.