Chapter 4

Teamwork

They walked over to the place where the wizard they had seen had disappeared and then hid and waited.

They decided that Draco would hit him with the spell while Hermione stayed hidden just in case she was needed as a surprise back-up. They also decided to use Levicorpus so that they could still talk to the wizard, but he couldn't escape. That was as far as the plan went because, not knowing who he was or exactly what he was up to, made it difficult.

It seemed a long time waiting, and it was uncomfortable crouching behind a clump of bushes but eventually they saw a figure walking briskly towards them from the castle.

As he got closer, they could see his face, but Hermione didn't recognize him. He came to a stop, right by them and withdrew a small, silver item and a small piece of parchment from his pocket. He referred to the parchment and then began to twist it around in his fingers and Hermione felt her heart jolt. He was setting his Time Turner! She dug Draco in the ribs firmly and he gave her a look of protest. She held their own Time Turner in front of his face, waving her arms at the wizard to indicate that Draco should hurry.

Draco jumped out from behind the bush and hit the wizard with 'Levicorpus' which immediately lifted him off the floor and dangled him upside down by his feet from some seemingly invisible cable.

Draco approached the wizard who was wriggling and cursing, his wand and some other objects he'd been holding having fallen to the floor beneath him.

"Who are you?" Draco asked, pointing his wand at the wizard's chest.

The wizard replied with another batch of curse words and Draco gave him a rough push with his wand.

"I asked you a question," Draco said, his voice low and threatening. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Minding me own business," the wizard answered, gruffly. "Just like you should be."

"What does that mean?"

"You ain't supposed to be here."

"How do you know whether I'm supposed to be here or not?" Draco pushed the wizard again.

"Unless you took an ageing potion in the last 5 minutes, then you ain't supposed to be here cus I just saw a little lad who looks just like ya up in the castle," the wizard gave a deep throated laugh. "You were right funny lookin' weren't ya – stuck up little bleeder!"

"Who are you working for?"

"I ain't tellin' ya and you ain't gonna do nowt to me, you ain't allowed. There are rules for your sort."

Draco stepped closer to the wizard. "As you seem to know so much about me, you should know I don't stick to the rules."

"You should leave it all well alone. If ya still got some of your family blood in ya, then you'll be happy, you'll be wishing ya helped." He gave a loud laugh. "I'd be ashamed if I was a Malfoy, working for them lot."

Draco grabbed the time turner that had dropped out of the wizard's pocket. "Where are you going with this? Why are you using these?"

"I dunno. Just doing what I'm told."

Draco glanced over at Hermione who pointed down at the items the wizard had dropped. Draco gave the wizard one last threatening look then raised his wand and hit him with 'stupefy'.

Hermione came out from behind the bush and walked over to him. "What did you do that for?" she demanded, looking at the now unconscious wizard. "He was our only source of information!"

"He wouldn't tell us anything, but the contents of his pockets and what he dropped on the floor might," Draco gave their captive an unceremonious shake, so that the pockets of his jacket and trousers, spilled their remaining contents onto the floor. They both bent down to examine them.

"Well, his time turner is exactly the same as ours so that tells us he's involved somehow," Hermione said, holding it up. She examined the small piece of parchment he had been holding. "This has two sets of numbers on it – they match the dials on the time turner."

"They must be years to jump to," Draco took the paper from her. "However, they make absolutely no sense whatsoever!"

"Make sure you bring that with us, we need to try and figure it out," Hermione said. "You left it late to hit him with the spell! He had almost jumped out of here!"

"I was watching him, I had plenty of time," Draco answered her casually. "There's nothing exceptional about his wand," he said. "He has a few sickles and a bank note."

Hermione was examining a large piece of parchment that had been folded in the wizard's pocket. "Look at this!" she said.

Draco took it off her and frowned. "Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Longbottom, McMillan, Malfoy…" Draco's voice trailed off and he looked up at Hermione. "What is this?"

Hermione took it back from him. "Some of the names are circled, Abbott, Longbottom, McMillan, Nott, Weasley," she looked up at him. "Those names are all students at school!"

Draco frowned. "So, what is this? Some sort of mass abduction? Kidnap the children so they can't grow into adults?"

"That doesn't make sense. What's to gain?"

"What's this?" Draco held up a small plastic pouch. He gently squeezed it and looked for an opening but couldn't find one. "It's full of some sort of liquid."

"Best not mess with that until we can open it safely," Hermione said. "Grab all of this, we need to move before we're seen. What are we going to do with him?"

Draco stood up and looked the wizard up and down. "Obliviate, take his wand and his time turner and leave him here? I'm sure you won't agree to the other option to make sure he doesn't cause us any more problems," Draco gave Hermione a sideways glance.

"No, I won't! And neither should you! You're an Auror now and quite a senior one!"

"Joking, Granger! Don't have an aneurysm!" Draco cast the spell and then lowered the wizard to the ground, before dragging him over by a bush, out of sight.

"I hate to point this out but what do we do now?" Hermione asked. "Do we need to go and find a way to warn everyone on the list?"

Draco shook his head. "What would we say? Be careful just in case you might be kidnapped by someone from the future?"

Hermione sighed. "We have to do something!"

"We need to know where our friend there was heading," Draco said. "Check the parchments again – is there any clue?"

Hermione grabbed his arm and nodded her head towards the castle. "I don't think we have time," she said. "There's a whole class of pupils headed our way!"

"Come on," Draco grabbed her hand again and they scurried around the edge of the grounds until they were out of sight. "We need to search all the contents of his pockets again."

Hermione gave him a steady gaze, her head to one side, her arms folded across her chest. "No, we don't," she said, smugly.

"If you have an idea, spit it out and stop acting like a know-it-all!" Draco said, impatiently.

Hermione held up the wizard's time turner and dangled it in front of Draco's face. "We have this."

"So? We already have one of our own!"

"He was setting the dials as he approached us," Hermione pointed out. "So, if we use his Time Turner, it's already set and should take us to exactly where, or should I say when, he was going!" She grinned at Draco. "Bet you're glad I'm here to come up with all the good ideas!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, Granger! What would I do without you?!" Draco's voice was laced with sarcasm and Hermione chuckled again.

"You hate it when I think of something before you do!" she teased him.

"We're supposed to be a team, aren't we?" Draco said. "A triumph for one, is a triumph for all."

Hermione burst out laughing at his terminology. "Who's been swatting up on his Auror handbook? So, are we ready to do this?" She held up the small instrument and looked at Draco questioningly.

"Well, at the risk of bursting your 'I'm so brilliant it hurts' bubble," Draco said. "The problem with your plan is we could be jumping straight into the middle of anything? He might have been returning straight to a hideout or into the middle of a meeting with his superiors."

"He might not have superiors – he might be working alone."

"He obviously wasn't the brains behind whatever this is, and Potter wouldn't be involving us if it was just one wizard stirring up trouble," Draco pointed out. "It's a risk to jump straight to wherever he was going."

Hermione sighed, knowing he was correct. "Annoyingly, you're right!" she said. "We need to jump an hour or so before he was going to."

"Which we can't do because we don't know how to use the Time Turner!" Draco pointed out, unnecessarily. "Great information Potter left us!"

Hermione ignored his last comment. "I don't think we have any choice but to risk it. Harry said follow the trail – this is the only trail we have."

They stood together, touching the time turner and after a moment, there was a flash and when Hermione opened her eyes she was staring at a familiar sign. Olivanders, makers of Fine Wands since 382bc.

"Olivanders?" Draco's voice sounded puzzled. "This isn't what I was expecting."

"Not the usual type of place evil wizards meet-up to plan their dastardly deeds?" Hermione asked, facetiously. "A subject you're an expert on, I'm sure!"

"You're hilarious aren't you, Granger?" Draco was looking around, nervously. "At least we didn't jump straight into the middle of a meeting of those evil wizards discussing their dastardly deeds!"

Hermione looked up and down the street. "It's deadly quiet. Eerily so."

Draco gently tried the door of the wand shop, but it was locked. "There doesn't appear to be a welcome party waiting for us. Which means we are going to have to try and work out where our wizard friend was going after he jumped."

"What time is it?" Hermione asked.

"You're worried about what the time is?" Draco asked, impatiently. "Shouldn't we be worrying about what year it is?"

"I mean the time of day will affect where he might have been going! Is the Hog's Head open?"

"They wouldn't be meeting in the Hog's Head," Draco said, dismissively and Hermione felt her annoyance rise.

"I don't hear you having any better ideas!"

"Come with me," Draco started to stride off, but Hermione stood firm and stared after him. He realized she wasn't behind him and turned around. "What are you doing? You just said we needed to get out of sight?"

"Where are we going?"

"Let's just move."

Hermione shook her head. "No! It's more risky trailing around aimlessly. We need to think logically."

Draco walked back towards her. "I can't think logically standing in the middle of the street, Granger!"

"Well, you're going to have to, Malfoy!" Hermione shot back at him. "You're one of the best Aurors we have – are you telling me you can't work out problems on the run?"

Draco stopped glaring at her and smirked. "One of the best Aurors? Is that your considered opinion, Miss Granger?"

Hermione sighed loudly. "Yes, you're brilliant! Where would we be without you? Now you've had your ego stroked, can we get back to the immediate problem?"

Draco chuckled. "Just for the record I'm not one of the best, I am the best," he said, and Hermione couldn't help but give a little laugh.

"You really are a prat, Malfoy," she said but it was with humour.

"Dogweed and Deathcap," Malfoy said.

"Sorry?"

"That's where we are going."

He started walking off again and Hermione scurried after him. "Why? Why are we going there?"

"They used to stay open late sometimes for Father and some of his dubious friends," Draco said, not slowing his pace.

Hermione felt a little breathless trying to keep up with him. "What for?"

"Honestly, I don't exactly know," Draco said, glancing at her. "I know they have a 'back room' that sells 'special' herbs and substances." He made air quote signs as he said back room and special.

Hermione didn't want to point out that this a very tenuous link to think that a Herbology shop that sold some slightly less than legal substances, could be involved in this but it was all they had, so she kept quiet.

They arrived at the shop, but it was unlit, and the doors were locked. Hermione felt the little bit of energy she had sap. This was too difficult, constantly clutching at straws with no help or guidance.

"Bloody hell!" Draco exclaimed, his next words mirroring her own thoughts. "This is ridiculous! We need to find a way to speak to Potter or we could be chasing our tails forever. Literally!"

"Well for once, I agree," Hermione confirmed. "Do Patronus work when we are jumping through time?"

Draco stared at her. "Yet another thing I don't bloody know! I can't imagine they do."

Hermione leant wearily against the door of the shop. "Let's find somewhere we can sit and work through this properly. Preferably whilst eating!"

"Three Broomsticks?" Draco suggested. Hermione nodded and they trudged wearily towards the pub.