A/n: I've had this written for a while but have been really struggling with the details. At long last, I've succeeded in completing it. Apologies for the wait! We are definitely moving towards a climax, as you may suspect. Enjoy!

Chapter 20: The Discovery

Draco has to wait several days before Hermione is willing to speak with him about her investigation into Monsieur Basque and the third Time-Turner. At first, she seemed oddly broody and preoccupied, bothered by something she wasn't certain of. As the days passed, however, she seemed to grow more and more agitated. Until, at last, she arrives in the kitchen with a somewhat frenzied energy, tossing her coat and handbag down before rushing to the kettle to make herself some tea.

Sipping his own tea, Draco sets down the paper he's reading and watches Hermione mutter to herself and gesture angrily. Once she's succeeded in pouring herself a steaming cup and is settled down at the table, Draco ventures a question.

"Everything alright?"

Hermione shoots him a glare so menacing that he raises his eyebrows in surprise. He wants to ask her many questions, but he knows better than to provoke her when she's in a state, so he waits patiently and continues to sip his tea.

Once Hermione is halfway through her drink, she sighs and relaxes in her seat. She's looking down at her cup but doesn't really seem to register it, her mind miles away as she taps her nail on the ceramic rhythmically.

Click. Click. Click.

"Hermione," Draco says after the dozenth click, his patience dwindling.

She starts, as though having completely forgotten he was there, making Draco bite back a sigh of frustration. She gets like this sometimes, when she's so deep in thought that she loses all sense of self.

"Ah," she exclaims, apparently surprised to see him there, then clears her throat, flushing in the slightest. She says, "Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you; I just got too caught up in my thoughts."

Draco nods patiently despite his growing annoyance. "It's alright." He pauses to see if she's forthcoming, but when she seems like she's slipping back into her trance, Draco quickly asks, "What have you found?"

Hermione straightens at that and finally meets his gaze. "Well," she says, "I've discovered many things, but none of them are Monsieur Basque or the prototype."

Draco resists the urge to click his tongue. He schools his expression into remaining neutral and consciously removes the sarcastic bite from his tone as he asks, "Would you care to share your findings with the class?"

If Hermione senses his irritation at her reticence, she doesn't show it. She simply nods and says, "You remember when we first discovered Strehe and Monsieur Basque?"

Draco nods.

Hermione continues, "And remember how I said I sensed something amiss about him, as though he resembled us more, as though he were from a different time than this one?"

Draco nods again.

Hermione frowns. "Well, I think he may actually be from the future."

Draco mulls over that for a moment. "You mean, from the same point in the future as us?"

"Well, no." Hermione shrugs. "Because although you and I are from the future relative to this past, we're not actually from the same future, are we?"

"Yes," Draco agrees, "because I'm from a time several months ahead of yours."

"Exactly," Hermione says, making Draco frown.

"So, what are you saying? That Monsieur Basque may be from the future, but you're not certain exactly when?"

Hermione sighs and massages her temples. "I've gone over this umpteen times over the last few days. It's impossible for Monsieur Basque to be from this timeline because he has the prototype."

"And we're certain of that?"

"Well, why else would the unicorn egg shard take us to where he was?"

Draco shrugs. "I thought it took us to Strehe."

"Think about it, Draco. We know that the prototype has to have come from the future because we saw the distortions in time-space as we did with my lab."

Draco nods, following along so far.

Hermione continues, "The prototype has to belong to the future because, at this point in time, I hadn't even started thinking about creating Time-Turners, let alone actually creating a preliminary model."

Of course! Draco thinks, but Hermione doesn't wait for him to respond as she continues speaking.

"But when the unicorn egg shard took us to Strehe, it took us to the Strehe from this time, which hasn't yet been built."

"I get it now," Draco says, the puzzle pieces starting to make sense. "If the prototype was in Strehe, then we would've been transported to the Strehe from the future that came back to the past, like your lab did. But we weren't, which means the shard took us to the place closest to the prototype, which was—"

"Monsieur Basque," they say simultaneously.

Hermione smiles. "Indeed," she says. She leans forward, her eyes gleaming in the way they did when she was about to share something only she knew. She says, "I've also figured out why my lab got transported to the past but Strehe didn't."

"Oh?"

"It's so simple that I'm annoyed I didn't think of it instantly," Hermione says. "I've already explained to you how the unicorn egg shards work—"

"Yes, they're all connected with each other even when broken apart and can therefore function as Portekeys of sorts," Draco interjects.

"Precisely," Hermione says. "The shards that I used when we went in search of the third Time-Turner already existed in the lab. I didn't acquire them here in the past. The lab brought them with it from the future."

Draco's mouth falls open. "Yet, you led me to believe you had procured them here!"

Hermione rolls her eyes. "I was just having some fun because it didn't matter then. But it does now because I realised that just as the shard we used transported us to the shard in the prototype—"

Draco gasps, everything falling into place now. "The shards in the lab transported the entire lab!"

"Bingo." Hermione sits back and shakes her head in awe. "I can't tell you how exactly it happened. In fact, everything I've said so far is mere conjecture; it's never actually been proven. Perhaps the magic of the shards interacted with the wards surrounding the lab, and the sheer quantity of shards within the lab allowed the entire room to be transported. Perhaps it's something else entirely that I haven't thought of yet."

She pauses to inhale a breath. "Regardless," she continues, "I believe that at one point in time, by some coincidence, all three Time-Turners were activated at exactly the same time, which may have caused some sort of butterfly effect that activated all the shards connected to the Time-Turners, thus transporting anything—and anyone—directly in their vicinity to the same point in the future."

"Madness," Draco breathes, in disbelief. "It's sheer madness."

Hermione exhales and seems to deflate. "I agree. It's pretty unbelievable, but it's the only theory that makes sense."

"Hang on," Draco says, a sudden thought occurring to him. "But doesn't that mean Monsieur Basque came to the past without intending to? Does that mean he's stuck here like us?"

Hermione crinkles her nose. "That's the conclusion I reached as well."

"That means…"

"He may not be entirely willing to give us the third Time-Turner."

Draco groans and takes his head in his hands. "So, what? We have to fight him for it?"

Hermione shrugs. "Or take it from him when he's not looking."

Draco scoffs. "Look at you, the Hermione Granger, suggesting we steal."

"It's not stealing if you're taking something that was yours to begin with," Hermione says, sticking her nose in the air. "I'm the one who gave it to him in the first place."

"I don't think that's how it works, 'Mione," Draco says with a snort.

She waves him off. "Doesn't matter. Perhaps we can strike a bargain. If he wants to return to the past just as bad as I do, we could offer for him to travel back with me if he gives me the Time-Turner and lets me figure out how to return home."

"You think it'll work?"

Hermione purses her lips. "Only one way to find out."

Draco nods. "But we have to find him first. Couldn't we use another shard?"

"I did think about it," Hermione says, "But I just can't seem to shake off this feeling that something about him is… off."

"What do you mean?" Draco asks. "I thought you'd figured out it's because he's also from the future like us."

Hermione shakes her head slowly, eyebrows furrowing, her eyes taking on a faraway look. "No, it's something else. It's strange, but I feel like there's more to it that I'm not seeing, but I just can't seem to put my finger on it."

Draco hums thoughtfully. "We'll figure it out eventually," he says. "We always do."

Hermione nods, but Draco can see that she's already slipping out of reality and back into her head again. He sighs and picks up the newspaper, deciding that it's as good a sign as any that the conversation has ended.

At midday the next day, an owl arrives.

Both Hermione and Draco are so flabbergasted by its appearance that they stand frozen, staring at the small bird as it perches on the windowsill. It cocks its head curiously at them, blinking its big eyes, then squawks once.

Draco jolts out of his reverie and turns to Hermione wide-eyed.

"Who in the world would write us?" she says, looking just as bewildered as he feels.

"Did you send someone a letter?" Draco asks.

"Not under my own name," Hermione says carefully. Draco can see her thinking back to ensure she hadn't accidentally revealed their hiding place to anyone.

"Well, I reckon there's nothing to do but find out who our mystery writer is," Draco says, moving towards the owl.

The bird sticks its foot out and nips at Draco fondly as he unties the little scroll. He wonders if the owl is the same one that Hermione had summoned some weeks ago, but is unable to recall.

Unfurling the letter, Draco scans the contents and snorts in amusement.

"Who is it?" Hermione asks, looking over his shoulder.

Draco holds the letter out so she can read. Once she has, she rolls her eyes and walks away.

"He thinks he's so clever," she says as she puts a kettle on.

"To be fair," Draco says with a smile, looking down at Harry's familiar looping scrawl, "he is clever if he thought to send the letter here."

Hermione is silent for a moment, and the kitchen is filled with the sound of the kettle whistling. Finally, she slaps her hand against the counter and frowns at the owl. "It doesn't make sense."

Draco eyes Hermione warily as she continues, "It just doesn't make sense. How on earth would this owl know to trace you? You're not from this world."

"Well," Draco reasons, "I very likely have the same magical signature as my late self from this time, so the owl probably just found a means to locate me."

Hermione looks irritated. "Draco, there are a number of Repelling, Masking, and Disguising spells around this house to ward off any form of contact. Nobody could've traced us unless they knew specifically that we were here."

Draco stares at the owl again, his heart beginning to race. "Do you recognise the owl? Perhaps it's the same one that came when you called for one last time?"

Hermione squints at the owl and shrugs. "But how would Harry have found this specific owl?"

Draco sighs. "So, what? You think something ominous is afoot?"

Hermione waves her hand at first, then suddenly goes very still. She looks up at him, wide-eyed and pale.

"Basque."

"You think?" Draco asks hesitantly. "But how would he know about us at all, let alone where we are?"

Hermione places a hand on her face and shakes her head. "No, no, this can't be happening. I was certain I wasn't followed. I should've paid more attention—"

"Hermione," Draco interrupts, closing the space between them in two long strides. "You're spiralling again. Talk to me."

She exhales a shaky breath and stares at the kettle. In monotone, she says, "I've been scouting the premises of Strehe these past few days. Although I made sure I was in disguise and never got too close for him to discover me, perhaps he somehow did…"

"That doesn't explain how he would know of this place," Draco reasons.

"Or why he would send a letter masquerading as Harry," Hermione says.

Draco eyes the letter again. Slowly, he says, "I think we should reply."

Hermione looks at him as though he's off his rocker.

Draco shrugs. "He may not think that we suspect anything, so we could play along and see what he does. I don't know why he's made contact with us, but don't you think this may be the easiest way to smoke him out?"

"I don't know," Hermione says. "The timing seems too convenient."

"What does it matter, Hermione? We've been struggling to locate him. Yes, this may not have been our plan, but if it really is him, wouldn't this be the easiest way?"

Hermione is silent as she thinks. At long last, she nods. "Fine," she says. "But I'll be the one to write the letter."

Draco shrugs and hands the piece of parchment over. "Suit yourself."

Hermione disappears down the ladder into the lab, leaving Draco in the kitchen in a stare-off with the owl. He's trying and failing to recognise the bird; it's an ordinary tawny owl with no redeeming features that may have stood out to him. There's no way for him to identify it as the same one from last time.

He sighs and wonders if he should visit Harry just in case, to make sure it wasn't really him who sent the letter. Just in case.

Hermione returns as Draco is pondering over his new decision. As she ties the roll of parchment to the owl and sends it off, Draco makes up his mind.

"I'm going to see Harry," he announces.

Hermione raises an eyebrow at him.

"Just to make sure he wasn't the one who sent the letter," Draco continues.

Hermione gives him a disbelieving look. "You know you don't have to make excuses to see him, right? Not to me, at least." She walks to the kettle and heats it up again. She adds, "Nor to yourself."

Draco mulls over that and nods. "Yeah. I'm going to go see him."

Hermione offers him a small smile. "Give him my love."

"Haha," Draco replies sarcastically, since Hermione didn't want Harry to know of her existence, to which Hermione raises her mug in a toast.

"Alright," Draco says as he goes to grab his coat. "Here goes nothing." Before he Apparates, he pauses and fixes Hermione with a stern look. "Behave," he says. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

She waves him off, and he spins on the spot with a sigh. Why does he feel that every time he leaves, Hermione would get up to some mischief or the other?

That's what created this mess in the first place, he thinks as he arrives in the alleyway outside Ron and younger Hermione's small flat. He looks up at the building and hopes beyond hope that they're both at work.

It takes so much effort to lie, he thinks as he makes his way up the stairs. How did I do it so effortlessly?

What a crooked child you were, an insidious voice whispers in the back of his mind, and Draco shudders. He shakes off the bad feeling creeping up on him and tells himself to look forward to seeing Harry again.

Perhaps this time he can convince him to dissolve the blood pact once and for all.