Disclaimer: The science behind how True Time-Turners work is completely made up by me—none of it is canon, nor is it derived from anybody else's work.
Chapter 17: The Change
"Hermione!" Draco hollers the moment he Apparates home. "Hermione, where are you?"
He can't find her in her lab so he clambers up the ladder and shoves open the trapdoor, beside himself with excitement.
"For Salazar's sake, Hermione, where—there you are!"
Hermione looks up from the meal she's preparing and frowns when she catches sight of a puffing and panting Draco.
"What's gotten your pants in a knot?" she says as she brings two plates of food and sets them on the table.
Draco goes around the table and grabs her by the shoulders, shaking her, his whole being thrumming with anticipation.
"Hermione, I've just remembered it! I think I may have found a sure-fire way for you to return home!"
Her brows furrow sceptically. "What?"
"You remember how we gave up looking for Monsieur Bascque when you couldn't find a way to get into Strehë?"
Hermione needs no more prompting. Her eyes widen and she slaps a palm to her forehead. "Mais bien sûr!" she exclaims dramatically. "But of course! Why didn't I think of that?"
"Considering the prototype is from the future—" Draco begins to say.
"—then it should take me straight back!" Hermione finishes. Then she settles down, her expression growing sombre. "But—but what if our theory is wrong, and the prototype isn't here? Or even worse, what if it was, and Monsieur Bascque has already used it to return to the future?"
Draco waves a hand. "We won't know that for sure until we actually look for either or both. Perhaps looking for him or the prototype will be easier than getting into the speakeasy."
Hermione snaps her fingers, as though an idea has just occurred to her. "Yes, it makes perfect sense! Like I surmised earlier, all three Time-Turners are connected because they were made from the same magical elements and materials—sort of like Voldemort and Harry's wands being connected, you know?"
Draco inadvertently flinches at the mention of the Dark Lord, but Hermione doesn't seem to notice as she continues speaking. She says, "Theoretically, we should be able to remotely activate the prototype by using one of the common elements used and locate it."
"Where are we going to get the materials we need, though?"
Hermione scoffs. She heads down the trapdoor to the lab, dinner all but forgotten, Draco on her heels. Once they're at the magically concealed desk that housed the previous Time-Turners, Hermione gestures at little worn pouches embroidered with runes that glitter as though they are alive.
Draco looks at her in surprise, and she says, "You didn't think I was just playing house while you were off saving the world, did you?"
"Hardly," Draco says, the awe in his voice clear. He reaches forward, intending to pick up one of the pouches, but Hermione slaps his hand away.
"Careful. They're volatile."
He clears his throat, his mouth dry. "Right. Sorry."
Hermione slips on a pair of white gloves. They seem to be made of some kind of shimmering hexagonal mesh-like structure, and when Hermione gingerly picks up one of the pouches, electric-blue light streaks up in the gaps between the meshing, as though consuming the magic from the pouches. She unfurls the opening and carefully empties the contents onto the palm of her hand.
Draco peers at the little golden nuggets, curious. She turns them over one by one to reveal multi-coloured lights dancing within, as though someone had trapped the aurora borealis inside the small rock.
"They're pieces of fossilised unicorn eggs," Hermione explains, her voice barely above a whisper, as though the slightest disturbance would set them off.
"Unicorn eggs?" Draco echoes, perplexed.
"They're called that because of their appearance," Hermione says. "They're extremely rare, extremely expensive, and nearly impossible to come by."
"Yet you seem to have acquired multiple pouchfuls," Draco muses.
Hermione's eyes glitter mysteriously. "You know how I feel about sharing my sources, Draco."
He holds up his hands. "Yes, yes. I shan't pry." He nods to the glittering pieces of rock. "How do we use them?"
"Unicorn eggs have strange magical properties," Hermione begins, picking one of the smallest rocks and setting it in the centre of a petri dish. "Nobody really understands how the magic works, as with any obscure magic, but what we do know is that even when broken into the smallest fragments, they're able to retain a sense of wholeness."
"So every part functions as though it's part of the whole rather than a separate piece," Draco iterates.
Hermione nods. "Exactly. But it doesn't end there. Because every fragment behaves as though it's still whole, it's able to draw on the power of its other fragments, creating a complex network between fragments that maintains a live connection regardless of time or space. That's essentially how True Time-Turners are able to traverse freely through time and space, unlike Typical Time-Turners."
Draco shakes his head, the science behind it baffling him. "What you're saying is that these are the fragments you used to create all three Time-Turners, so, theoretically, by activating the fragments here, you should be able to activate the fragments in the prototype, leading us to it?"
Hermione nods again. "I failed to find a way into the speakeasy Strehë—it's more complicated than simply Apparating inside because it doesn't exist within this timeline. So I'd given up on finding the prototype and had decided to create a Time-Turner from scratch. But what you said earlier reminded me of something very simple. The magic of the raw materials is more powerful than their modified form within the prototype, so, hypothetically, manipulating the former should allow us to create a gateway that leads us straight to the latter."
She waves a hand. "Rather, it brings both fragments together in non-space then re-directs the more powerful one to the location of the other like a Portkey, but that's wholly too complicated and unnecessary to explain, so let's just leave it at that."
Draco doesn't argue. "But this is all theoretical, yes?"
"Well, yes," Hermione says, but not with much conviction. "True Time-Turners, too, were purely theoretical until I created them, so I don't see why this shouldn't work as well."
"The insouciance with which you say that is somewhat alarming," Draco admits.
Hermione laughs. "Come, now, Draco. After everything we've been through, you still doubt my adroitness?"
"Not in the least," Draco says. "But we learnt the hard way that time travel is far beyond our reason or control. I worry that simple confidence may not be enough of a driving force to succeed."
"We won't know unless we try."
Draco sighs. "It should terrify me that I've grown so lackadaisical about risking my life with you."
"Maybe it's because our lives are worth risking," Hermione says quietly as she settles the fragment in the centre of a circular rune pattern.
"No, they're not," Draco says emphatically. She looks at him, and he can see a sense of shame reflected in her brown eyes. He shakes his head. "Our lives are not forfeit, Hermione. We may have thought so when we first chose to undertake this journey, but if I've learnt anything since then, it's that no life is expendable. If we can risk everything for Harry's life, why are we so willing to give up our own?"
Hermione chuckles, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Sometimes I'm glad you chose to be a Mind Healer. Without your stability, I may not have survived long enough to get this far."
He squeezes her hand back. It had been an arduous journey to get to where he is and to say with conviction that his life is indispensable. The Draco from a decade prior wouldn't have thought so. Merlin, the Draco from before their leap into the past wasn't able to say so.
But watching Hermione die before his eyes and seeing Harry alive again had changed him in ways he couldn't have begun to imagine. And he suddenly saw how recklessly Hermione and he had lived their lives since Harry's death—constantly taunting death, constantly disregarding self care for self ruin.
He finally understands why Ron had made the decision to take custody of the children and how difficult it must have been to accept that he couldn't save Hermione from herself. Neither could Draco, although he'd managed so far.
"The only person who can save you is yourself," he whispers, his voice thick with emotion.
Her eyes grow teary and she looks away, dropping his hand and moving closer to the desk. But Draco isn't about to let her off that easy.
"There's no point in returning if nothing's changed, Hermione," he persists.
"Everything's changed," she says quickly. "Harry's alive and well, you've finally found happiness, and I'll finally be reunited with my family."
Draco inhales a deep breath. He doesn't want to speak the words he's about to, but she needs to hear the truth, no matter how bitter. So he says, "You don't know if any of that will remain true in the future you go back to." Her shoulders tighten, but she doesn't look at him, so he continues. "Harry may still be dead in your world, I may be as well, and considering that's what broke apart your family in the first place—"
"Enough, Draco!" she exclaims, spinning around. Angry tears stain her flushed cheeks. "I don't need to hear this from someone who already has everything he came here for!"
That shatters the last strand of Draco's composure.
"I've got nothing!" he yells. "I can't reveal myself to Harry, you don't want me to tell him anything about you, the Hermione I came with is dead, and soon, you'll leave me as well! What have I got, besides seeing firsthand a life I may never have dangled in front of my eyes constantly?"
"So, what?" Hermione demands. "Is this your way of saying you don't want to go through with this? You just want me to stay here with you, so we can continue to be miserable together as we had before?"
Draco inhales a shaky breath. "You know that's not true."
Hurt and pain are reflected in her dark eyes. "I don't know what's true anymore, Draco." She gestures to the fragment of unicorn egg. "All I know is that I don't belong here, and my only chance of happiness is by returning home to my family. Why won't you allow me that?"
Draco sighs, then moves forward to hug her. She stiffens for a moment, then sags into his embrace. He says, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to antagonise you. I just wanted you to realise that your life is too important to keep risking."
She's silent for a long moment, then says, "Ron used to say that to me a lot. I think I finally see what he saw."
Draco nods into her hair. "Yeah. Me too."
They stand that way for several minutes, simply revelling in the humanness of the moment, and Draco feels as though the past decade of their lives unraveling had all come down to this moment of realisation. Perhaps this is where things truly change.
When Hermione steps away, she looks much calmer. She smiled up at Draco. "I know it's probably too late at this point, but I realise I never even asked if you wanted to do this. I wouldn't blame you if you chose to sit it out."
Draco scoffs. "You're right, it is a tad late for the formalities." He smiles. "Besides, I think Ron wouldn't take it too kindly if he found out I let you go gallivanting into danger by yourself."
Hermione chuckles. "It's nice to see his protection over me extends far beyond the constraints of time and space."
Draco's smile widens, and he knows for certain now that her decision to return is the right one. He inhales a deep breath and strengthens his resolve.
"Let's get you home, Hermione."