September 1st had, within the past few years, become one of Draco's favourite days. Even the threat of his father's presence beside him on the platform did little to dampen Draco's mood. He knew better, of course, than to let his happiness show in his voice or words. As the clock ticked closer to 11:00, Draco turned to his parents. Narcissa pulled him into a tight hug and Lucius clapped him on the shoulder. For all those watching, they looked like a regular family, lovingly saying goodbye to their only son. However, Draco was able to see the cold light in his father's eyes and the wariness in his mother's. Draco said goodbye and turned to get onto the train.
The compartment that he occupied was filled with Slytherins, most of whom were in Draco's year. He sat silently, listening to his classmates tell each other of their wonderful summers. Although it was a Wednesday and Hermione and Draco planned to meet that night, Draco was incredibly impatient to see Hermione. After struggling to control the desire to get up and find her for half the journey, Draco's impatience won the day. He stood up and muttered something about stretching his legs. Crabbe and Goyle also stood, indicating that they would like to come with him. Smirking, Draco nodded and led the way out of the compartment. Evil Draco was not a character that he liked to portray, but if he wanted to see Hermione, Draco would have to find her and, more than likely, say some terrible things once again. But, he rationalized, at least that meant he would be able to see Hermione. Crabbe and Goyle followed behind him, painting a menacing picture as the group stalked the corridor.
Draco spotted Hermione in a compartment, of course with Harry and Ron. He also noted the sleeping man in the compartment, which he figured would help ensure nothing too nasty occurred. He, Harry, and Ron exchanged words. Draco was incredibly careful to not speak a word to Hermione. After not seeing her for two long months, he did not want his first words to her to be from evil Draco. He was able to glance at her a few times and she returned his glances, a small smile on her face that she quickly wiped away so as to maintain their illusion. Draco allowed himself to be scared away by the prospect of the sleeping professor and returned to his compartment with Crabbe and Goyle.
When the train ground to a halt, the Slytherins in the compartment started complaining. Draco let his voice join with the others, to blend in. However, when the Dementor entered their part of the train, the room fell silent. Draco froze. He knew what Dementors were and he was also aware of their effects. He had no desire to relive every terrible moment with his father. Draco stood and moved quickly to the compartment door and flew down the corridor, in the opposite direction of the Dementor.
Unfortunately, the despair followed him and, with no other choice, he turned into a random compartment and allowed the awful memories to overcome him. The Dementor did not pause long and soon was moving further down the train, toward Hermione's compartment. Draco took a deep breath and glanced at the occupants of the room he had tried to hide in. Two Weasleys and a couple of older students he didn't know by name. All of them were pale. Draco attempted to put a sneer on his face, but his mood was so affected by reliving some of his father's worst moments that the sneer was half-hearted. He stood up and fled the room before anyone could say anything.
After the Dementor, Draco was on autopilot. He went through the motions of being evil Draco and managed to get up to the feast in one piece. During dessert, he helped himself to a few chocolate things and started to feel marginally better. Once the feast was over, Draco headed to his and Hermione's meeting spot to wait for her. He waited a little longer than normal before Hermione came rushing in. "Sorry, I had to go up to our common room before coming here. I'm so happy to see you!" She pulled him into a hug and then held him at arm's length. "You're taller." She accused him, her eyes narrowing.
Draco chuckled. "Sorry, I must have had a growth spurt over the summer." It was true, since June he had had to get new robes. He was now a full head taller than Hermione. "Come and sit, tell me all about your summer."
Hermione obliged. "I had a great summer. The summer felt so short. My parents and I were in France for a large part of the summer. There were so many things to do, but I also managed to do some extra reading." She paused and shot Draco a glance. "How was your summer?"
"Actually, it wasn't the worst summer." At Hermione's raised brow, he continued. "My mother is helping us."
"What do you mean," asked Hermione.
Draco cleared his throat. "Well, she has decided that we should leave my father. She doesn't want to rush into it and needs to prepare us for it, but she has a plan to leave with me by the summer of fourth year." Draco proceeds to outline his mother's plan, including the muggle lessons, bank account and safety deposit box full of jewels. "Also, she taught me occlumency. I'm actually good at it. We should work on it more this year. You're going to need it eventually."
Hermione looked taken aback. "I can't believe how much you did this summer! It's amazing! How did your mother know all of these things?"
"She said it was from a cousin of hers, from the Black family."
Alarmed, Hermione asked "Sirius Black?" Draco nodded and Hermione recoiled. "Draco, Sirius Black shouldn't be trusted. Apparently, according to Mr. Weasley, the reason Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban was to murder Harry!"
Draco furrowed his brows. "Are you sure? According to my mother, there is no way that Sirius could be a murderer. And she said that he is Harry's godfather. I can't imagine a man plotting to murder his godson."
"Are you sure?" Hermione looked scandalized. "Harry's godfather? Harry isn't going to take that well. Do you know the whole story?"
Shaking his head, Draco continued to speak. "No, I don't. I just know that he and my mother used to sneak around muggle London and now she's teaching me how to blend in. We rode on the underground!" Draco saw that Hermione still was not convinced. "Look, I know it's kind of crazy to say, but trust me. My mother knows a couple of things about evil men. And in her opinion, Sirius Black is not an evil man." Hermione thought this over and slowly nodded her head. "Okay," Draco continued, "Thank you for trusting us. I'm sure it won't make that much of a difference anyway, but it is nice to think of being related to at least one good guy." Draco paused and realized, "Oh! We haven't even talked about your time turner, yet. Can I see it?"
Beaming, Hermione pulled the time turner out from beneath her robes. "Professor McGonagall gave it to me earlier. I can't wait to use it. She went over a ton of rules, the most important one is not being seen. Do you want to test it out?"
"I would love to. What does not being seen mean, in particular?"
Hermione sighed. "Well, there is some matter of disappearing in front of people, reappearing an hour in the past. Also, you can't run into yourself. Ever."
Draco nodded. "That makes sense. I know that if I encountered myself I wouldn't think about asking questions first."
"Exactly." Hermione toyed with the chain on the time turner. "I suppose we can't test it here, since going an hour back in time would mean running into ourselves in this room."
"We definitely can test it." Draco paused to think. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but we could spend however long we want in here. We have to be in here for at least an hour. And then we can leave the room and go back in time just outside the door. As long as we time it right, our past selves should be in here talking. All we have to do is go our separate ways and not enter this room. Then we won't run into ourselves."
"That's perfect!" Hermione exclaimed. "The added benefit of it is that we won't actually be missing from wherever we are supposed to be. We'll be able to spend as much time together as we want, and still be able to study! Or spend time with friends." She paused, and then continued cheekily, "Or with quidditch."
Draco laughed, "it does sound perfect. Should we perhaps stick to our three regular meeting times? Although I would love to spend more time with you, I also know the reason that you have the time turner is all of the extra work that you will have to get through thanks to all of your extra classes."
Hermione nodded, still excited. "Yes, I will have lots of work to do. I can't wait."
Draco shook his head and changed the topic. "What did you think of those animagus books?"
"I thought they were perfect, just what we needed. I suppose that we can do some of the steps this year. But the mandrake leaf?" Hermione paused and looked thoughtful. "I don't know when we can possibly do that portion. I mean, I could over the summer. But will you be able to keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for an entire month over the summer and then brew an incredibly difficult potion?"
"No, I don't think I could do it over the summer. I was actually thinking of doing it this year."
"During the school year?" Hermione looked scandalized once again. "But then you couldn't answer any questions from any professors!"
Draco laughed, sharply. "I'm sure that I could manage to be quiet in class for a month. Could you?"
Hermione did not answer him, instead, she looked thoughtful. "I could probably try. What do you think? Should we be prepared to do the mandrake leaf at some point this year? I mean, I have the time turner, so if we needed extra time with the potion or meditating, we'd have it with the help of the time turner."
"I think that's a great idea. Professor Sprout still had mandrakes in greenhouse three. I'm sure one of us could go in and grab two leaves at any point. Do they have to be fresh?"
Hermione opened up one of the animagus books that she had brought with her and the two of them poured over the text. Soon, an hour had passed and Hermione cleared her throat and motioned to the time turner. "So? Should we try this thing out?" Draco nodded eagerly and got to his feet, pulling Hermione to hers shortly after. Draco exited their room first, glancing around and then opened the door again to allow Hermione to exit as well. With no one around, Hermione stepped close to Draco and put the chain of the time turner around Draco as well. She took a deep breath and flipped the time turner once. Suddenly both Draco and Hermione felt the strange sensation of flying backward. The hallway blurred briefly and then came back into focus. Gasping, Hermione clutched at Draco's shoulder. "That was not pleasant."
Draco chuckled, "I think we're going to have to get used to that sensation."
Hermione nodded and removed the chain from around Draco's neck. Tucking the time turner away, she glanced up at Draco. "How can we be sure it worked?"
"Well, I would assume that whatever that sensation was, meant that the time turner worked. What do you think?"
Hermione opened her eyes wide and waved her hands to make Draco be quiet. "Shhh!" They both stopped and listened. Taking a step toward the closed door, Hermione tilted her head. She could hear her voice, talking about Sirius Black. "It's us, an hour ago, talking about Sirius Black," Hermione whispered to Draco.
"Cool," Draco whispered back. Taking a few steps away from the door, he continued to speak in a whisper. "We should get going, I don't want anyone to catch us out in the hallway, least of all ourselves."
Hermione nodded and smiled. "You're right. Meet again on Friday?"
Draco nodded and then watched as Hermione walked away. He turned in the opposite direction and headed toward his common room. Being back at Hogwarts made Draco so incredibly happy that, for a moment, he didn't even regret needing to act like evil Draco when others were around. His friendship with Hermione meant so much that it seemed like all the wrongs in his world melted away and didn't exist for his brief few hours with her.
