1994 – Third Year

Hermione woke in the hospital wing, the familiar dull tones of Professor Snape stirred her from her restless sleep. She rubbed against her eyes and groaned as she propped herself up in the bed, trying to remember how she came to be asleep in the hospital wing, still dressed in her filthy clothes from the night before.

Memories of the previous nights events came flooding back to her. The true identity of Ron's pet rat, Peter Pettigrew, Professor Lupins moonlight secret and Sirius Blacks innocence. He was innocent. Her head turned rapidly towards the person Professor Snape had been talking to and she watched as Cornelius Fudge congratulated Snape on his heroic act of saving the three students from both a savage werewolf aa notorious criminal.

Hermione turned her head quickly over to the bed where Ron lay sound asleep. Just as quickly, her eyes flickered to Harry who was now sitting upright in his bed rubbing the back of his head. Almost as quickly as she had after finally coming too, Harry's eyes focused in on Fudge before he leaped out of bed, Hermione followed close behind as they both headed towards the men stood at the end of the hospital wing.

"Sirius Black is innocent!" Harry shouted before he had completely reached the men, Fudge turned to him perplexed, whilst Snape rolled his eyes but before he could protest, Hermione spoke up.

"It was Peter Pettigrew." She added, causing Fudge to raise his brows in disbelief, his eyes moved between the children in front of him and Snape before he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and opened his mouth to ask for further explanation, but Harry had continued regardless.

"He's an Animagus, he turned into a rat-"

"Pretended to be the Weasley's pet rat for 12 years-"

"Honestly, we are telling the truth, he's innocent." Both Harry and Hermione spoke too quickly and mostly over each other, it was difficult to understand everything they were trying to say, however from everything they had just unloaded between them, Fudge managed to form some sort of sense out of what they were saying.

"I think, if you don't mind me saying, it is clear to see that Mr Potter and Miss Granger have been put under a lot of stress given recent events, and I would almost go as far as to say," Snape began to drawl his explanation, looking at neither one of the people he referred to and only at Fudge before he continued, "Black may have used a Confundus charm on them." He finished.

Before either Harry or Hermione could protest any further, Snape waved his hand and gave them a stern look, in most situations this would have silenced any other student, perhaps even the students before him, on any other day.

"You wouldn't know because you were unconscious at the time!" Hermione yelled, causing Snape to pale slightly as his eyes widened.

"Yes, and why is that Miss Granger?" He asked before turning to Harry, silence fell around them all as Hermione closed her mouth and clenched her fists. Snape turned back to Fudge, a certain smugness across his face as he opened his mouth to continue telling the Minster for Magic how Hermione and Harry were not in their right state of mind. Before he had chance to let any further words stumble out of his mouth, the group were interrupted as Professor Dumbledore walked through the Hospital wing doors.

Hermione grew mildly irritated as she watched the men before her exchange pleasantries whilst an innocent man rotted in a cell waiting for his punishment, a fate worse than death. Her frustrations caused her to block out the chatter around her, so much so that she hadn't realised Harry had grabbed her arm and had begun leading her out of the hospital wing, the doors closing behind them as Dumbledore turned to them both.

"Professor you have to believe us, Sirius is innocent-"

"Harry – Harry, I do believe that Sirius Black is innocent of the crimes he has been charged with, which is why I have brought you here." He said calmly, it was difficult not to feel at ease when he spoke, even if the situation warranted erratic behaviour.

"Now, make sure you stay hidden, nobody – absolutely nobody is to see you. Should you succeed, more than one life will be saved tonight." Dumbledore said to only Hermione.

Harry's brows furrowed with confusion and he looked between the two and before he had a second to ask for an explanation, Dumbledore walked away whilst Hermione's eyes remained wide and glued to the wall where the professor had previously been stood.

"Hermione, what was that about?" Harry's voice clipped at her ears, bringing her back to reality as she turned to him, she quickly reached underneath her jumper and pulled at the chain around her neck to reveal the Time Turner she had been gifted at the beginning of the year.

"What're those?" Harry asked. Hermione looked down at her neck to realise she had pulled out her dragon pendent also.

"This is a Time Tuner." She said as she held the cold necklace between her finger tips, hoping it would be enough of a distraction to deter him away from the other necklace that hung around her neck. "Used correctly, it allows someone to travel back in time, its how I've been able to attend so many classes this year."

Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend, unsurprised in her eagerness to find any way possible to do more studies. Hermione continued to explain the mechanics behind the Time turner as she pulled the chain and wrapped it around the two of them, twisting the dial several times before they both disappeared.

Draco stood behind a pillar, just out of view of the entrance to the hospital wing, having just observed Harry and Hermione disappear before him. He had experienced the powers of the Time Turner he'd overheard her telling Harry about, but seeing it from an outsiders perspective was an entirely different experience.

His face fell into a frown as he watched the empty space where Harry ad Hermione once stood, frustrated that his friend always got herself into dangerous situations. He waited for a moment longer for the pair to reappear back where they once were, hoping at the very least, Hermione would return in the same condition she left in.

Within minutes he heard footsteps coming up the corridor beside him, he shifted further around the corner out of view of the pair of Gryffindor's who made their way towards the hospital wing, panting and more filthy than when they left, he noted a fresh cut above Hermione's left eye.

Draco shook his head as he moved slowly back to his original spot, he noticed a glimmer in Hermione's eyes as she crouched over with her hands on her knees, forcing heavy breaths from her mouth as she tried to regulate her breathing. He couldn't help but admire the look she got in her eyes when her sense of adventure kicked in. She glowed with excitement, even if the adventures did bring her closer to death, she was all the more radiant for it.

Draco decided he had seen enough, she was back, she was safe, and no doubt would find him later on where he would hear all about another years adventures. He pushed himself off the wall and made his way outside towards the castle grounds. Night time had already fallen around the castle, the air was soft and cool as it gently swayed a few stray strands of his hair.

Finally he'd had enough of walking aimlessly when he took a seat upon a rock overlooking the steep path that lead to the Grounds keepers hut, just outside the Forbidden Forrest.

He sighed deeply as he looked out, admiring his view, wondering what Hermione could possibly have gotten up to this time that would cause the trio to, yet again, find themselves in the hospital.

He wandered what had gotten Professor Snape so riled up to cause him to raise his voice and storm out of the hospital wing. He also wandered why it seemed impossible to have a normal year at Hogwarts.

Something stirred inside him as he pondered all of these things, from conversations he had been privy to with his father, he knew something was coming, but what is was still remained unclear. He felt a nagging in his chest as he contemplated how much darker the world would be if the Death Eaters succeeded in their plans to resurrect Voldemort.

Already in the past three years there had been two apparent sightings, no matter what shape or form he possessed, Voldemort's name was being mentioned more and more and it concerned Draco deeply.

His father, along with the other Death Eaters, somewhat lack of morals are what made them perfect followers for Voldemort. His fathers beliefs, Draco's old beliefs, they don't allow for Draco to be friends with Hermione and Voldemort's return would only add more complications, more than there already where.

A twig snapped behind Draco, he sharply twisted his body around where he caught site of a man stood ten feet away from him, a mass of filthy, matted hair hung down the mans elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been mistaken for a corpse. His waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. Draco recognised this man immediately, although his pictures plastered all over the papers no longer resembled the man in front of him, Sirius Black looked much more dishevelled than he had imagined.

"Draco Malfoy." Sirius spoke quietly, almost as though the act of speaking caused him pain.

Draco's eyes flickered between the man stood before him and the Hippogriff he recognised from his incident at the beginning of the year, Buckbeak, who had taken to pruning himself as he lay beside Sirius.

"How do you know my name?" Draco's voice shook as he asked.

"You look just like him – your father I mean."

Draco swallowed as he tried to gather himself slightly, to make himself look less nervous than he actually felt. His father had taught him to never show when your nervous to a potential threat, but everything about his expression and body language screamed fear as he stood and waited for the Azkaban escapee to reveal his intent.

"I'm not going to hurt you Draco, you can relax." Despite knowing nothing but bad things about the man in front of him, something about the way he spoke immediately settled Draco's prickling nerves.

"Your father and I, we never got along. I even advised your mother against marrying him at one point. But of course - women in the Black family are not one to be told what to do. My dear cousin Bella is a prime example of that." Sirius spoke to Draco as though he had known him for years, as though they weren't strangers meeting for the first time, as though he was his close family as apposed to an estranged cousin that had been removed from the Black family tree.

"Even your Aunt Andromeda, she's a fiery one. She wasn't for being dictated on how to live her life." He chuckled at the mention of his favourite cousin, it was clear to Draco Sirius cared very little for Bellatrix Lestrange. Draco remained confused as he listened to what he could only think where the ramblings of a mad man.

"I may not like your father, his views, his belief system. But you are family Draco and I can see that you're different to him, to them. You don't share the same beliefs, otherwise you wouldn't be friends with Miss Granger."

Draco's eyes widened at the mention of Hermione's name. Once Hermione had told him that Fred Weasley had discovered their secret friendship, for a moment he was concerned their secret was out. It was the friendship that she held with Fred that allowed for that fear to fizzle out, he had grown confident that Fred wouldn't want to do anything to intentionally hurt her.

Sirius on the other hand, was different. He held no loyalties to Hermione, he had no reason to spare her the pain of Harry and Ron finding out, or Draco should his father discover his friendship with her, a Muggle born.

"Am I Wrong?" Sirius asked.

"No. I'm not like my father. He wants me to be, he's trying to make it that way, but I don't think or feel the way he does. I used to, but then I met Hermione…"

"And you began to realise that blood prejudice was bullshit."

"Something like that. I still don't understand. I grew up to believe that they didn't deserve their magic, that they stole it from our kind."

"There is no our kind Draco, that's the point. You either have magic of you don't. You don't deserve your magic any more than Muggleborn's. You should feel blessed to have any magic at all, you could've just as easily been born a squib." Sirius turned to face Buckbeak who had stopped pruning himself and was watching the exchanging of words between the men before him. For a moment Sirius wandered whether the Hippogriff understood what they were talking about, before his mind quickly switched back to their current topic of conversation.

"I used to be like you. I was born and raised in a pure blood family, then I came to Hogwarts and met some of the best people I would ever meet, my best friends, some of which were Muggleborn's and Half Bloods. I soon realised that everything I had been taught as a child regarding blood status was just some misguided belief that somehow hadn't managed to die out."

Sirius sighed and turned back to Draco, he had stayed longer than he had planned to and was putting himself in further danger of being caught the longer he remained out in the open and spoke to his cousin, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. From the sky as he rode the Hippogriff, he saw a glint of reflection from the moon against Draco's hair, he wasn't sure of when he would get another opportunity to speak to him, and so he had to approach him.

"I can't stay. It's not safe here for me."

"Did you do it?" Draco asked. The surprise on Draco's face was almost matched by Sirius as he held his breath and waited for a response to a question Sirius never thought he would be asked.

"No." Was all Sirius said before he climbed on top of Buckbeak, rising in the air and preparing to take off once more into the night sky.

"We are family Draco, and because of that I feel almost responsible for you in a way. If I know your father, and I do, you're heading down a dangerous path. I only stopped to warn you that your friendship with Miss Granger needs to be thought about carefully. She is a nice girl with a big heart and a lot to give. If you hurt her in any way, which you are more capable of than you may even realise, you will regret it for the rest of your days." Sirius finished, he applied pressure from his right food against the side of Buckbeak and they both took off into the air, leaving Draco alone once more.

~X~

"So after all these years, it was Peter Pettigrew, who's been masquerading as a rat?" Draco asked Hermione as she shovelled fork after fork of Cottage Pie into her mouth, completely ravished from her day's adventure. Draco looked at her as though she was insane, when really, he knew that everything she was telling him was completely plausible.

He'd seen the transformation of an Animagus with his own eyes in first year when Professor McGonagall changed into a tabby cat to wait patiently for her late students to arrive to class. He'd witnessed first hand how aggressive the Whomping Willow could be when he tried to investigate the hole in the trunk in second year, his curiosity nearly getting the better of him when the tree nearly hit him. He had also overheard Hermione and Harry pleading for the redemption of Sirius black just a few moments before he spoke to him directly, which could only have happened if what Hermione had just told him was true.

"You need to stop with these crazy adventures Hermione, they seem to get worse each year. Devils Snare and Life-sized Wizarding chess in first year. Deadly snakes and Polyjuice potions gone wrong in second and now time travel, dementors and Azkaban escapees in third. What's next? The Dark Lord himself?"

Hermione almost choked on her drink as she looked over the rim of her cup at him, as though the suggestion wasn't so outrageous to believe.

"I spoke to him y'know." Draco added, changing the subject away from something so dark as Voldemort. Hermione's eyes remained fixated on her food as she neared the end of her meal.

"Sirius, that is." He added, causing Hermione to stop eating completely and raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"I think he must've seen us together at some point, maybe when we were by the woods the other night whilst he was trying to lay low."

"What did he want? What did he say? Is he still ok and safe?"

"He's fine Hermione, don't worry. He flew off on that great big pigeon." Draco assured her, his description of Buckbeak made her eyebrows crease together and the corner of her mouth pull tightly to one side in a disapproving look.

"From what I gather, he wanted to warn me. He doesn't want me to end up like my Father. He want's me to be my own person. He's a fan of you though, there was a definite warning in there to keep you safe. I think he might actually commit murder if I hurt you in any way, that's for sure."

Hermione chuckled, putting down her fork before she crossed her arms and looked over at him with a softer face than she had moments ago.

"I can't imagine you'll ever hurt me, Draco."

"Not intentionally." He said with a glum tone.

Hermione rose from her seat and walked towards him, holding out her hands for him to take and gesturing for him to stand up. Once risen, he towered over her, their bodies inches from touching as she held his hands.

"I know that you will never hurt me. Any pain that you refer to will not be caused by you, it will not be your fault. So stop worrying. It's times like these when I'm just happy to be alive and have the people I do in my life."

Draco smiled down at her as she pulled herself into him, wrapping her arms around his waste and tightening her grip as she hugged him. His body relaxed into hers whilst he rested his chin on top of her head, the smell of her apple shampoo invading his nose.

"I can't stay for long. I told Harry that I wouldn't be long, he will only worry after everything that's happened if I don't return." Draco scowled at her words, more so when he could feel her grip loosening.

She pulled away from him slightly, gazing up at his face. She didn't want to leave as much as he didn't want her too. It had felt like a life time ago since their first kiss in the supply cupboard, neither one knew where that left them, Hermione felt in her young heart that this was the be all and end all, but a small part of her felt foolish for thinking that way.

Draco looked down at her for a moment, staring into her roast chestnut coloured eyes, admiring the lust for adventure that still glistened in the corners. He pulled his right hand up to her face and cupped her cheek, using his thumb to stroke against a small cut just below her left eye.

He moved his hand slowly, lightly traveling down her face before he curled his index finger below her chin and used it turn her face up further towards him. He leaned in slowly towards her, almost hesitant that she might pull away and change her mind, the moment her eyes closed, a silent confirmation, he closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers.

This kiss was different to their last, softer and more confident. Neither one had to worry about first kiss jitters, neither one had to be concerned they would get caught. Draco moved his lips slowly against hers, pushing them open just a enough to taste the pumpkin juice on her breath. Hermione felt her heart race against her chest as she instinctively raised herself further on her tip toes, pushing herself deeper into the kiss.

Draco used his right arm around her waist to draw her in closer, almost as quickly as he had pulled her in, he felt himself pushing her away as his mind became clouded and he felt his blood pump coursing through his entire body, rising in his cheeks and causing his thoughts to drift off else where.

Pulling away softly, Draco put some distance between them, still keeping his arm around her and his hand under her chin. He calmed his breathing down and noticed Hermione's eyes remained closed for a few moments after he had pulled away, for which he was grateful for as he could feel the heat still on his cheeks.

Draco moved quickly to the table beside where they had been stood together and took a seat. He crossed one leg over the other and poured himself a glass of water, cursing his hormonal body for acting the way it did.

Hermione finally opened here eyes and twisted her body around to face Draco, a hint of pink still rested on his cheeks as he looked into his goblet.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Hermione said softly, unable to keep the smile from her face.

Draco's eyes danced up towards hers before he smiled back and nodded, watching as she left the room still in a daze. He remained seated for a few more moments for his heart rate to return to a steady pace before he left for his own common room.

~X~

"I just can't believe it." Ginny repeated, shaking her head slowly as she stared aimlessly into the fire place in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"It is a difficult one to wrap your head around. Dementors, falsely accused Azkaban escapees, rat's that are really people, aiding and abetting." Harry responded, gaining a grunt of approval from Ron who was now discharged from the hospital and sitting with his injured leg up across the sofa.

"No, not that – I can't believe you had a necklace that allowed you to travel back in time and not only did you not tell me but you used it to do more studying!" Ginny looked at Hermione disapprovingly. Harry smirked from his seat on the floor beside Ginny, watching as Hermione stuttered through her explanation.

"Happy to see you're feeling betty, Ronny." George announced as he gave Ron's injured leg a pat, casing him to wince slightly.

"It all makes sense now though," Fred began.

"All those times-"

"A fella called Peter being beside you constantly-"

"Everywhere you go-"

"Even beside your bed-"

"The map never lies-"

"And you never once questioned it?!" Ron said embarrassed and annoyed with his brothers.

George shrugged and smirked at Ron, whilst Fred moved to place a hand on his younger brothers shoulder.

"Who are we to question your close and personal friendships." Fred said, pretending to sound sincere.

"We didn't want to Judge." George added.

"You thought I was gay?! Ron stuttered, his face quickly turning the shade of the drapes surrounding the Gryffindor common room. His eyes shifted nervously, between his brothers and his friends, he quickly noticed the smirk forming on Harry's lips as Seamus raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Would there be something wrong with that?" He asked, causing Ron to blush even further.

"No, no! Its not that at all! That's not what I mean, that would be fine – not that I am – not that that's a problem – I just mean that I'm not – but its fine if someone else is -" Ron stuttered over his words, panic ridden as he tried to explain himself, feeling like he'd dug himself too deep into a hole.

The group around him erupted with laughter as they watched him squirm over his words, he threw his head into his hands and hid his face, groaning as his friends continued their laughter.

Hemiones cheeks started to ache along with her belly from all of the laughter she was doing. She turned to Harry and wiped away tears from her eyes, Harry pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he gathered himself and finally stopped laughing at his friend, rolling his eyes at Hermione who was shaking her head.

"He wont live this down for a long time." He said quietly to her, she nodded in agreement, letting out one last sigh before she too managed to steady herself.

~X~

"You look troubled Draco, what's going on inside that gloomy head of yours?"

"Not a great deal, Theodore." Draco said with an exasperated expression.

The pair sat in the Slytherin common room in front of the lit fire, everyone else had already retired for the evening when Draco decided to stay up longer mulling over everything Hermione had told him a few hours ago. Theo had noticed this and waited for everyone to fall asleep before he came back outside to join his friend, now sitting on the armchair opposite him, fighting back a yawn.

"I heard Sirius black has escaped, again." Theo began, "I reckon by the look on your face, the Gryffindor saints had something to do with it."

"Hmm." Draco hummed absentmindedly.

"Every year, something dramatic happens which causes them to end up in the hospital wing, and every year around that time, you look like the world is falling apart around you."

"Hmm."

"Are you actually listening of just making noises until I shut up?" Theo laughed, Draco turned to his friend with a smirk on his lips, guilty as charged.

"What's next then? He's escaped, suspected supporter of You-Know-Who, something tells me this adds a little something to the pot that is brewing to get him back."

"He wasn't a supporter of the Dark Lord, he was a falsely accused supporter. Someone else ratted on the Potters, but it wasn't him." Draco laughed through his nose at the choice of his own words.

"Who?"

"Weasleys pet rat. He's an Animagus and has been in hiding for the past 12 years. Black found him and outed him, apparently, he got away though, so I agree. This will add something to the mix."

"His pet rat!? That scraggley thing he carries around with him all day, and probably sleeps with, that was a person?" Theo was on the brink of breaking out into laughter, sat on the edge of his seat, until Draco nodded and tipped him over the edge, the pair couldn't contain themselves at the idea of Ron sleeping innocently next to a rat that was a fully grown man in hiding.

"This pleases me greatly, I can see Weasleys mortified face now." Theo chuckled a little more before steadying himself and getting back on topic. "Who was he, did he know the Potters?"

"He was the same as Black, a childhood friend. One of their closest friends."

"Wow… It takes a certain kind of person to give up their friends to someone who is indefinitely going to murder them."

"That kind of person may know the missing piece to the Death Eaters ramblings, he may be able to figure out what they need to do to bring him back."

The pair sat in silence for a moment whilst gazing into the fire, completely lost in thoughts of how the world would be should Voldemort return. A shiver at the idea brought Theo back into focus and he turned once more to Draco.

"I don't want it to happen, like, I really don't want it to happen. My mother will insist on me joining, for a start I'm far to young – I also do not have the same belief system as those twisted Death Munchers, It can't happen-"

"Theo calm down." Draco interrupted when he realised his friend was getting into a frenzy at the idea. Theo leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, taking deep breaths with his eyes closed.

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Who knows, this rat might turn up at fathers, or any other one of the Death Eaters houses and they might kill him on the spot for hiding for the past 12 years. I don't think we should condemn ourselves to a life of misery just yet." He gave a soft, reassuring smile to his friend, not something Theo had seen very often for as long as he had known him.

"Nearly the end of another year." Draco said, changing the subject.

"Each year just makes me wander what next years drama is going to be."

"I'm hoping for a quiet year!"

"Nooo, that would be boring, we need something to happen at least, just not the return of You-Know-Who. Next year will be a good year, I can feel it in my bones."

"Alright Mr optimistic, a few moments ago you were ready to jump off the astronomy tower."

"And now," Theo said between a yawn as he stretched and stood up from his chair, "I'm going to go to bed, good night Drakey." He said before heading to the dorm room, dodging the cushion Draco has through his way for the use of his least favourite nickname.

Draco sat beside the now dimly lit fire, mulling over what he had discussed with his friend. Theo had been right, something was going to come of Peter Pettigrew being back, and what ever it was, it wasn't going to be a good thing. In fact, there was a part of him that believed Pettigrew to be the missing link, just what the Death Eaters needed for their plan to unfold, he had knowledge they needed.

With a shiver that travelled through his body, he too stood and headed to bed. In his mind he wandered how his evening had gone from kissing Hermione in their room, being embarrassed through the lack on control of his bodily functions, to wandering if Voldemort was going to return.

Yet another summer holidays he wasn't looking forward to.

Author Notes

Sorry its been so long guys! Moving was a lot more stressful than I anticipated. Hope you're still enjoying it, but can we just take a moment to just process the fact that WE ARE FINALLY HEADING INTO FOURTH YEAR! I've been super excited to write fourth year, just for all of the obvious reasons! Any feedback is welcome and appreciated!