Inquisitions and Interventions:
1998…
As Hermione devoured her second plateful of scrambled eggs and sausages (all liberally covered in HP Sauce, just because) that the house elves had happily cooked up in only moments for her and her friends, she listened with not a little amusement to Ginny finish questioning Draco like she was a member of the Office of the Holy Inquisition hellbent on dragging his arse to the gallows for execution.
Their group had grown to include almost every surviving member of the student body who had fought in the battle, having all been sent downstairs by Madam Hooch when she caught wind of their destination and thinking feeding their hungry teenage stomachs to be a brilliant idea. It left the real adults free to deal with dead bodies and the wounded without the younger generation looking on and cringing the entire time. The only students exempt from the politely worded 'get out of our hair' order were the ones that had injuries that had yet to be treated or the two or three Hufflepuffs who were healing inclined and refused to leave.
Hermione would have been included in the latter group if Harry and Draco hadn't literally dragged her away from the Great Hall.
They were all sitting around a simple table in the underground kitchens of Hogwarts, Ginny's in-depth examination of Draco's motives and history the object of everyone's fascinated attention.
Hermione had to admit that Draco was mostly handling it surprisingly well, except for one probably justified instance, not getting fed up or too snarky like he would have once upon a time. It felt kind of weird to her to think it, but she could see how, in another time and universe, she might have actually liked the blond Slytherin. She could even admit that he was handsome… in a very pale and aristocratic way that didn't really do anything for her. But maybe that was because she had too many years of disgust for him and his father to see a Malfoy as something desirable.
Of course, in that same universe, they probably would have both been Ravenclaws because the Sorting Hat would have actually been able to properly sort people. Seriously, she and Malfoy had the best grades in the school, and Ravenclaws were supposed to be the smart ones.
"So let me get this straight," Ginny was saying as she leaned across the table towards Draco, a fierce frown on her pretty face. "Professor Snape was your Godfather and a double agent for the Light side. You technically weren't, but since you hated Moldy's guts for threatening your mother all the time, you did as little as you could possibly get away with whenever he gave you a task to do. You're still a pure-blood snob, but not as supremacist as you were and then pretended to be. You've somehow managed to never murder anyone but have performed the other two Unforgivables because you were forced to. And now you think everyone is just going to forgive your pigheaded self enough so that you can make a move on Hermione with no one protesting?"
Wait, what was that last part? Did I miss something? Who told her that? Draco wants to make a move on me? Is THAT what he's been doing, being all nice and such?
Hunh. I don't know how I feel about that.
She looked at Draco, who was sitting beside her and possibly a little closer than he absolutely needed to be now that she thought about it, and saw him smirk at Ginny in one of his trademark looks of superiority. "That's about it. Live with it." He then stood, pushing his chair back with more force than necessary and held a hand out to Hermione. "You're done, right?"
Hermione looked at her plate that contained only two or three crumbs of eggs left and had to admit that the she was, even if there was a huge part of her that just wanted to stay here with her friends and pick at a third plateful of food for the next hour. Or ten. "Yeah, I'm done."
Ignoring the hand that Draco held out to assist her to her feet – I'm not a fricking pure-blood flower, for Pete's sake! – she stood on her own. "Lead the way, Malfoy. I'm more than ready to make the last few years disappear."
Draco only blinked once at the slight and tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. He smiled at her, but it didn't reach the deep sorrow in his dark grey eyes. "So am I."
Hermione kind of regretted not taking his hand now, which was absurd. Wasn't it? It's Malfoy!
Harry surged to his feet as they moved to leave. "Hey! Not without me you're not!"
Hermione laughed almost bitterly. "Of course not. What kind of search for a magical object would it be without you beside me?"
"Exactly," Harry said proudly, moving around the table to catch up to them.
"It's not exactly hiding," Draco said dryly. "I know exactly where it is."
"I'm still coming with," Harry said, narrowing his gem green eyes at the Slytherin boy. "I'm not leaving you alone with Hermione any time soon, you can guarantee that."
Draco snorted.
Hermione rolled her eyes. Like I can't take care of myself. Sheesh.
"Well, you're not bloody well leaving me behind again," Ginny stated, leaving no room for argument as she popped off her chair as well. She attached herself to Harry's arm again and that was that.
Shaking her head at the younger girl, Hermione strode for the exit, a small herd of people following behind her. She didn't even realize that Neville and Luna had quietly attached themselves to the group until they were climbing back up to the stairs to the Entrance Hall and she heard the familiar breathy giggle of the blonde, fairy-like girl.
Hermione looked back over her shoulder and raised a brow as she saw Luna and Neville whispering to each other and holding hands. When did that happen? Oh, who cares. I'm happy for them.
And maybe just the tiniest bit jealous.
Because she realized that even though she and Ron had kissed earlier, nothing had actually changed in their interactions afterwards and she hadn't felt inclined towards doing so. There had been no giggling. No hand holding. And certainly no heated looks like the other two couples with her were sharing. And that just brought it home in an unforgiving way that her earlier doubts had been justified. Even though there's a good chance I can get him back, I don't think we're meant to be together romantically. Especially considering it hadn't happened in the entire, nearly seven years that I've known him.
Hermione kept the forlorn sigh that threatened to escape to herself. She glanced at Draco contemplatively, who was walking beside her but far enough away to not feel like he was crowding her as they made the long trek down to the dungeons. He seemed just as happy as her to stride in silence (unlike the two couples trailing behind them, producing much whispering that sounded too loud in the hushed and broken hallways). His expression was set in determined lines, but there was a slight quiver to his jaw that indicated he was probably thinking about his mum.
Her chest hurt in sympathy for him. At least both my parents are still alive. I feel like I should give him a hug or something. But he's sure to interpret that the wrong way and I'm still not sure about him. Not even close. I think I should feel more than passing interest, right? And I refuse to settle for good but not great. I'd rather be alone and turn into a crazy old cat lady if I can't find a wizard who can make me forget about books.
Shrugging off that depressing thought as something to contemplate another time, Hermione quickened her pace, eager to get this time travel experiment over with so she could eat some more, shower the echoes of Greyback's touch off of her for an hour or two in scalding hot water, and then take a year long nap.
They finally arrived at the locked door of the cold dungeon office that no one in recent memory had ever wanted but Snape, and everyone gathered around the door. Knowing from past experience that a simple 'alohomora' was not going to open this door, Hermione first looked to Draco before she went to the effort of cracking the various wards that protected Snape's private sanctum. "As the Godson, I'm guessing you can get us in."
Draco smirked. "Of course." He pulled out his wand with a flourish.
Harry glowered and crossed his arms over his chest at the reminder.
He'd had a massive fit at the breakfast table when he'd learned that little fact that went something along the lines of, "Wait. Snape's Godson? No wonder he took your side all the time! That was bloody unfair!"
"Fuck off, Potter," Draco had sneered back. "Uncle Sev just refused to follow in everyone else's footsteps by treating you like you shit rainbows and candy. Get over yourself already."
"Why should I, you sodding git? I'm not the one who's a Death Eater and hopefully going to Azkaban for the rest of his pathetic life."
And that, naturally, had led to the two boys pointing their wands at each other as they leaned over the table, glaring almost literal daggers.
Which, of course, had led to nearly everyone else at the table (except for kind-hearted Luna) drawing their wand against Draco as well. Hermione had felt like the only sane person left alive as she'd sighed and just kept eating, used to the dramatics of her fellow students. She was so tired and just DONE with all of this that she honestly didn't care if they all hexed themselves to death. Maybe if she hadn't been going back in time to change all of this, she would have cared more, but she was so she didn't. She decided to enjoy the show instead.
And then Harry had gone and made things just a little bit more entertaining by noticing what wand Draco was holding, blurting out, "Hey! That's my wand now!"
Draco, being Draco, had only sneered and gripped his wand tighter and growled back, "No fucking way! This is MY wand! You bloody well took it right out of my hand like a thief. I'm claiming it back. You've got the fucking Elder Wand now, isn't that enough for you?"
Harry had blinked behind his glasses, completely speechless at the crude but possibly accurate accusation as everyone else in the room had turned to Harry and gawked at Dumbledore's wand that they all recognized instantly now that they'd focused on it. Hermione had nearly burst into laughter at the shocked gazes.
"You mean the Elder Wand is real?" Ginny had breathed out faintly, clearly awed.
"And Dumbledore had it?" Neville added.
"Yeah. Moldy had a serious hardon for it and orchestrated everything so he could get it," Draco had sneered, glaring at the wand in Harry's clenched fist.
And just like that, Ginny's interrogation had continued and everyone had sat back down to eat and listen.
And now Draco was basically taunting Harry with his wand again as he contemplated the door like it was a giant puzzle, arms crossed over his chest and tapping his chin with the tip of his wand. Hermione was torn between laughing and punching Draco again out of principle. She settled for eye-sparking annoyance. "Just open the door, Malfoy."
Draco huffed, gave Potter one last curl of his lip, and then did as the Gryffindor Princess asked, which he had a feeling he'd be getting in the habit of doing quite willingly, for the most part. With a complicated wave of his wand and a silent, 'Alohomora, Potious Sanctuarium,' so that the nosy gits with him wouldn't be able to defile Snape's space in the future, Draco opened the door.
The office looked the same as it always had; dimly lit, somewhat musty, and filled with floor to ceiling shelves of potions ingredients and books. To Draco, it was almost a second home, he'd spent so much time in here visiting and learning from his Godfather. He walked in confidently, the gaggle of Gryffindors and scatterbrained Ravenclaw (who was proof positive that the Sorting Hat was a few candles shy of a lit room) following in his wake, and walked straight to a bookcase on the left side of the room.
Hermione watched as Draco ran his wand down the spine of a dark green book located in the middle of a row of similar books. Her left eyebrow rose as the bookcase swung outward with a creak from the trigger. And how did Snape expect me to find all of this on my own? I would have been running around the castle on a pointless treasure hunt if Draco hadn't deigned to help me.
Maybe that was the idea. Maybe he wanted us to work together. Maybe he wanted me to realize that Draco wasn't so bad.
Or maybe I'm reading way too much into a dying man's wishes.
Inside what turned out to be a fair sized cupboard, every weird and pointless instrument or bauble that had been in Dumbledore's office was now stacked neatly on shelves with a care that showed respect to the former owner. And in the corner stood a tall, ornate bird stand with a bowl under it to catch the ashes as the phoenix burned, that used to belong to Dumbledore's faithful companion, Fawkes.
Hermione levitated the heavy stand to the center of the room as the six of them crowded into the cupboard. They then proceeded to inspect it from top to bottom in the hopes of finding a hidden compartment. They cast revealing spells to no avail. Then they ran their fingers over every millimetre of it, hoping to trigger something. Also to no avail.
Draco may have taken that opportunity to brush his fingers against Hermione's on purpose, but you'd never get him to admit it out loud. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to notice, which kind of hurt. But he was used to being ignored by her, so he didn't take it to heart. It just made him more determined to try and catch her attention in a less devious way.
After a good twenty minutes of investigating, Hermione glared at the stand with crossed arms, her wand pointing outwards from tapping fingers. "Okay, I don't see how there's a time-turner in here. This is ridiculous."
"Agreed." Draco frowned at it. Maybe Hermione heard Uncle Sev wrong? Or he was delirious and spouting nonsense?
Neville had been mostly unhelpful, basically trying to stay out of everyone else's way, but now he had something to say as a brewing thought simmered to the surface of his mind and decided it needed to be said. "What if it's not what it seems?"
Hermione turned to him, surprised. "What?"
Neville gained confidence in his idea, standing just a little taller. "What if the stand is not a stand? What if it's been transfigured from something else?"
Hermione's eyes widened. "Of course!" She whipped back around and pointed her wand at the stand. "Finite Incantatem!"
Everyone gasped as the stand immediately began to shimmer and shake, and then with a burst of golden light it transformed into a giant gold hourglass within a series of circles that was about three feet tall in total.
The exclamations came out all at once from her companions while Hermione just stared in silent awe.
"Holy shite!" Harry gawked.
"Whoa," Ginny gasped.
"Fucking hell," Draco breathed.
"Merlin's balls! I was right!" Neville crowed.
Luna tilted her head a little and smiled. "Pretty." She wrapped an arm Neville's waist and kissed his cheek by standing on her toes and then patiently waiting for the tallest boy in the room by far to bend down a bit. "It's nice that you listened when I told you that there's always more there than the eye is willing to see."
Neville looked down at the tiny girl and grinned like he'd just won his first ever Quidditch match. "I do try and remember everything you say, my little sweetie pie."
Draco nearly gagged at the sight. Merlin save me from sickening displays of Gryffindor affection.
"Trust Dumbledore to have the biggest time-turner known to wizardkind," Hermione said with a slow shake of her head after a moment of gawking at the adorable couple. The sheer size of the time-turner got her thinking.
As far as she knew, you had to actually be touching the device for it to work, but who knew with such a big source of magic? So she turned to her friends and gently started herding them back out of the cupboard, not wanting to take any chances with the range of such a massive time-turner. "Right. That's it. Everybody out." There was no way she was letting any of them come with her, not even by accident. It would be hard enough to keep herself undetected in the past; she didn't need the added worry of another person.
Used to following her orders, they all moved without protest for a few steps before Harry and Draco realized what she was doing and dug in their feet, which meant that everyone came to a stumbling halt in the doorway and then shuffled awkwardly back in so they weren't all in a pile anymore.
Harry narrowed his eyes at his best friend, jaw clenched tight with suppressed anger at what she'd tried to pull. "You are not doing this on your own, Hermione Granger. I'm coming with you."
"So am I," Draco said just as determinedly. "I probably know more about Voldemort than both of you combined; I did share a house with him and work for him if you'll care to recall. You'll need me."
Hermione shook her head adamantly. "No. I'm doing this alone. If something goes wrong, we don't all need to be stuck Merlin-knows-where. I have nothing left in this reality to hold me here. You both do. Harry, you have Ginny. Are you really going to leave her behind again?"
Ginny gasped at this, her brown eyes widening with fear and hurt at the reminder of how Harry had refused to let her come on their Horcrux Quest with them. His shaggy black-haired head swivelled back and forth between Hermione and his girlfriend, clearly torn.
Harry shook his head slowly, his eyes wide with mournful realization. She's right. I can't leave Ginny again. She's already lost Fred and Ron today. If I disappear too, that would just be too much.
Hermione continued ruthlessly on while Harry sighed in defeat and wrapped his arms around a very relieved looking Ginny. She turned her gaze to the Slytherin who was looking obstinately back at her. "And you. You're the Malfoy heir. If you go back in time now and don't make it back, you're leaving your family name to rot. With your mother gone and your father probably going to prison for the rest of his life, there won't be any more Malfoys."
Draco sucked in a breath at that and frowned at her. "Damn, witch. You hit hard."
"As you very well know," she had the audacity to remind him.
Draco almost touched his nose in memory, but forced his hand to stay down. He clenched it into a fist instead as he thought over his options. It took him about two seconds to realize he didn't have any, because Hermione was right; he couldn't go back in time and possibly abandon the Malfoy lineage. He was the last of his line. But I'm sure Granger will be back in no time at all. At least, that's how it will feel to me if this works. Assuming I even remember that she left. She's talking about rewriting our history, after all.
I'll just have to take the chance that I'll still like her in the new timeline. And I honestly don't see why not. She's bossy, brilliant, and beautiful. What's not to like?
Either way, it doesn't hurt for me to give her something to look forward to coming back to, he thought with an inner smirk, and then stepped closer to her, grey eyes turning to molten silver.
