Chapter 6

Close Shave

They were in a dark corridor and Draco crept along listening at doors. The voices were coming from the door at the end. They both listened intently for a few moments, but the voices were muffled.

Hermione saw Draco reach for the door handle and put her hand on his arm to stop him, shaking her head vehemently.

"I'm only going to open it an inch," Draco whispered but Hermione continued shaking her head.

"No! They sound really close."

"If I don't open it then we may as well jump time right now! You're the one who said we had to find as much as we can!"

There was a crashing noise, and someone cried out from behind the door. Draco brushed off Hermione's hand and slowly turned the handle on the door. He stepped back, treading on Hermione's toe and she put her hand over her mouth so as not to cry out. Instead of just opening an inch, the door swung wide open before Draco could grab it.

"It's the storeroom," Hermione whispered, memories of Harry using the passageway flooding back to her. "The trap door to the passage is here."

The portion of the room they could see was empty, but the voices were now really clear and worryingly close. Draco stepped through into the storeroom before Hermione could stop him. She hesitated to follow him but then decided that she had no place to hide in this narrow corridor.

They snuck behind a large shelf, laden with sweets of every kind and for the third time today, found themselves listening to a conversation.

"What do you mean, you don't know what happened?" A deep, harsh voice was speaking.

"I don't, sir. I was going to the forest and then I woke behind a bush." Hermione immediately recognized the voice of the wizard they had interacted with at Hogwarts. How had he managed to jump to here without a time turner?

"How can you have been so stupid! Was it one of the students or teachers?"

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't remember."

A third voice joined in. "He's obviously been Obliviated, sir."

"I thought we had dealt with the ministry team. You said they had lost the trail?" The harsh voice sounded so angry that it scared Hermione even from her hiding position. "I won't tolerate anyone being caught."

"Of course. I will double the check the status of everyone again to make sure this isn't connected to the ministry attack." The third voice sounded groveling but firm.

"How many do we have in that timeline? Do they all have a spare time turner? They need to be told to carry out their missions immediately and return now."

There was the sound of a door opening and noise from another room. "Flint? Somerfield is back but he's not making any sense."

"What do you mean?"

"He can't seem to speak other than a constant muttering."

There was a muddle of voices as several people spoke at once and the sound of the door opening and shutting.

"Flint? Marcus?" Hermione mouthed to Draco nodded.

"Yeah, he's already on our radar, he's quite high up in the pecking order," Draco whispered. Hermione, who always struggled with time travel and all its many connotations, had to get her head around the fact that the adult wizard she'd just heard talking was the same Marcus Flint she had attended school with. Adding to the complications was the fact that they were probably in a time where both she and Flint were still young children. A time when Hermione didn't even know she was a wizard.

"What now?" Hermione mouthed again, looking round. She cautiously peered around the shelf and found the room empty. "They've gone." She scoured the room and saw a large desk that contained several time turners and parchment. She turned to Draco and pointed towards the desk indicating that she was going to have a look. He shook his head frantically, but she ignored him, and tip toed over to the desk.

She glanced at the door the wizards had exited through then back to Draco who was looking around the shelf and pointing frantically at his wrist, where a watch would be if he was wearing one.

Hermione ignored him and grabbed a couple of the time turners, making sure they had their dials set before shoving down her blouse because she literally had no-where else to carry them. She scoured the desk, trying to spot what might be useful, if anything.

There seemed to be lots of numbers written in the same way as the time turner dials on the one piece of parchment with notes next to each number. There was also another with a list of names, many more of them written in a list, some ticked. She grabbed them both and was about to return to Draco when she spotted some more of the pouches. She turned them over, reading the names but a sound alerted her, and she grabbed a handful shoving them into the very small pockets of her skirt.

She was about to run back over to Draco when the door swung open, and she was caught standing there. She didn't recognize the wizard who had opened the door, but she didn't have time to think about who he was, as he had withdrawn his wand and was approaching her threateningly.

Her hands were full, and she was just thinking of reluctantly dropping what she was holding, in order to get her wand, when Draco appeared, his wand aimed at the wizard.

"Drop your wand now!"

"I don't think so." The wizard turned his wand to Draco.

"There are two of us," Draco pointed out.

"There are twenty of us." The wizard grinned, showing his broken front teeth.

"If you shout, I'll kill you on the spot," Draco said and he sounded very convincing, despite Hermione knowing that he would only do this as a last resort.

The wizard grinned again. "Maybe, maybe not. But you'd be dead too once I've called the others."

"What are you doing? Why are you here?" Draco demanded.

"I think I'm the one who will be asking the questions." The wizard moved closer to Draco who held his ground.

Hermione realized she was off the wizard's radar, his attention almost entirely on Draco. She shoved the parchment into her waistband, feeling laden down with items that she had no way to carry. She fished around for the time turner, examining the dials to make sure it was the one they had found outside the shop, her fingers shaking with fear. She almost dropped the small instrument in her hurry to check the dials.

She took a cautious step towards Draco, who was still engaging with the wizard, who appeared increasingly threatening. Her movement drew his attention and he turned to look at her.

"Stay right there!" His wand was turned to her and with horror she saw the door swing open again and another wizard entered the room. She saw the new wizard raise his wand and begin to mouth the start of a spell. She had no choice but to ignore him and practically throw herself at Draco, who caught her awkwardly. She grabbed his hand and shoved the time turner into it, making sure she was still touching it as well and the next moment there was a flash and they found themselves crouched behind a tall wall in a dark alleyway.

It was pouring with rain, the sky black and within seconds they were both soaked. Draco was peering over the wall as he was tall enough to see over the top. He then crouched down beside her again.

"We're in Knockturn Alley."

"Great!" Hermione answered, sarcastically.

"Could be worse, at least we know where we are," Draco answered, looking around nervously, the rain dripping from his hair.

"We need to get out of this weather," Hermione had to raise her voice over the now torrential rain.

Draco nodded and grabbed her hand. Once again, his actions surprised her, but she let him lead her around the wall and along the alley, skirting the wall and moving from one shadow to another. Everything was soaking wet; the floor was slippery and Hermione skidded a couple of times only staying upright because she was still holding onto Draco. The rain was a torrent from the roofs of the buildings and Hermione felt like someone was literally throwing buckets of water at her.

Hermione didn't bother to ask where he was taking her. She was too tired and hungry to care. Her jacket was ripped, her skirt was torn and kept riding up, her shoes were pinching her feet and now she was soaked to the skin.

Draco suddenly turned off and led Hermione down a small, dark alleyway to a narrow door. After looking round, he raised his wand and muttered a spell. The door swung open revealing some steep stairs and Hermione's interest was piqued, despite her exhaustion. What was this place and how did Draco know about it?

They climbed the stairs, leaving a trail of wet footprints. At the top was a door which Draco used another spell to open. They stepped inside and Draco closed the door with a spell as well, surprising Hermione with his caution.

"Lumos!" Draco illuminated the room and Hermione gazed around. It was a small sitting room, with an old fireplace and a couple of saggy sofas. Over to one side were a couple of kitchen units with a sink and a hob.

"What is this place?" Hermione asked but Draco didn't answer her, instead he walked over to the fire and lit it with his wand. He then walked over to a small table and picked up some papers. "Draco?" she prompted him. She was shivering now, the small room chilly.

He looked over at her. "Sorry! You must be frozen. I was trying to see a date on this paperwork. This place was….is… my father's," Draco corrected himself, struggling with what tense to use. "He bought it for when he had to spend a lot of time in Hogsmeade." He walked over to a cupboard by the window and swung the doors open. "There are some clothes in here that we can change into."

"Your Father kept women's clothes?"

Draco turned to her with a smirk. "They're mothers. I don't think she ever wore them, she hated it here and rarely came."

Hermione didn't like the idea of wearing Narcissa's clothes, but she was that cold and uncomfortable she would have worn anyone's clothes as long as they were dry and warm. Draco flung a towel at her.

"There is no-where private to change, sorry," he said.

Hermione only hesitated for a moment before removing her outer clothes and then wrapping the large towel around herself to remove her underwear. Draco discreetly had his back to her and was sorting out clothes in the wardrobe.

Hermione used her wand to dry her hair and underwear, which took a while. She perched on a small stool feeling very awkward but having no choice but to make the best of the situation.

Draco had found some clothes and he put them next to her before returning to the wardrobe and pulling some clothes out for himself. Without further ado he flung off his jacket before undoing his shirt and trousers and stripping down to his underwear.

Hermione turned slightly, trying to offer him the same privacy he had afforded her, but it was a small room and other than stare at the wall, she really didn't have anywhere else to look. Draco wrapped his own towel around his waist and enviably ran his hands through his hair, which, despite still being wet, seemed to fall into place with no further effort needed.

Hermione was trying her best not to watch him, but she was struggling. She would have liked to have thought that she was far too intelligent and self-assured to not be able to drag her eyes from a half-naked man, but here she was finding she couldn't tear her eyes from him.

He turned suddenly and caught her staring and she felt herself blush. She saw a faint smirk on his lips, and she stood up, making sure her towel was in place and reached for her underwear.

"Are those clothes okay? I managed to find the least formal one's I could. I don't think you can rescue your own, even if we dry and repair them," Draco held up Hermione's torn, dirty and very wet jacket.

"No – I can't wear those. They really aren't practical either." Hermione tried to start dressing discreetly but it was a fairly difficult task whilst holding her towel.

"Shall I hold the towel for you?" Draco offered. He must have seen the expression on Hermione's face and chuckled. "Don't worry I won't peek."

Hermione wasn't at all keen on the idea but nodded anyway. Draco came over, still only wrapped in a towel and he took her towel from her, holding it up between them. Weirdly, this did allow her the privacy and the space she needed to dress. The clothes he had found for her were not as horrific as she had imagined. She had only ever seen Narcissa dressed in formal attire, albeit extremely tasteful and good quality. These clothes were casual, if not too Hermione's taste and fit. She didn't care because they were warm and practical.

"I'm done now, thank you," she said, and Draco lowered the towel.

Just for a moment they held each other's gaze, and a small smile lifted the edges of Draco's lips. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"Go on! Say whatever it is you're dying to say!" she said.

"I don't know what you mean?" Draco feigned innocence.

"I'm sure you have some comment about me having to undress in front of you."

"I thought I'd been the perfect gentleman," Draco shrugged, still grinning.

"You have, it must be killing you," Hermione said, and Draco laughed.

"You're one of a privileged few who get to see me naked."

"Lucky me!" Hermione said, pulling a face that said anything but that. "And by 'few' do you mean to the nearest thousand?"

"I'm not sure what you're implying, Granger." Draco waved his finger around in a circle, indicating she should turn round. "Now, if you'd be a good girl and turn around so I can cover up all this gorgeousness."

Hermione sighed. "For Merlin's sake! Just how much do you love yourself? And you know what I meant. You must have dated at least a dozen women who work in our department alone!"

"Two! I've dated two!" Draco corrected her.

"Okay, chatted up, flirted with, taken out for a drink – that's easily a dozen."

"Have you been counting?" Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

"You're not discreet."

"Are you turning around, or shall I drop my towel and dress in front of you?" Draco touched the towel at his waist and looked at her questioningly. "And does this mean the number is now a couple of thousand plus one? Surely, getting naked together warrants you being added to the list?"

Hermione turned around as instructed but continued the argument. "We are not getting naked together."

"Sure looks like that to me," Draco chuckled. "I'm really going to enjoy telling everyone about this."

"You're presuming you'll ever be able to, we may be spending the rest of our lives in…." Hermione paused, "where are we now? How far back?"

"Well, judging by the clothes that are in the wardrobe, only a couple of years. You can turn around now." Hermione turned to face him, and he gestured up and down his body with his hands. "Shows over, sorry. I'm now fully respectable."

He was wearing some casual trousers and a sweater. Hermione vaguely remembered seeing him in casual clothes when they were at school and on very rare occasions at work, but it was strange to see him dressed like this. He looked different somehow.

"Why would they have bothered to jump back just a couple of years?" Hermione said, lowering herself wearily onto the sofa. "What's the point?"

Draco shrugged. "There's a lot we don't have answers to. We need to work through what we do know methodically but before that we need to eat." He pressed his face to the window. "It's still terrible out there, we may have to make do with whatever food is here." He began rummaging around in the cupboards, extracting half eaten packets of snacks, some chocolate bars and a loaf of bread. "Sorry, it's not exactly nutritional."

"I don't care – I'd eat anything to be honest, I'm so hungry."

They made a meal of what they had and then both sat in silence, eating hungrily. It didn't feel in the slightest bit strange to be sitting in this grotty, little room with Draco Malfoy, eating half open packets of snacks and roughly buttered bread. What was strange was that this didn't feel strange!

Hermione glanced over at Draco. He was such a weird mixture of kind but uncaring. His gentle teasing about getting undressed together had actually been funny. Despite his words, he had been the perfect gentleman. She didn't hate him and hadn't done so for a very long time, but did she like him? Could they be friends? Whatever the answer was, right now, he was very, very important. She knew if she was left alone this whole adventure would be torturous. Draco Malfoy was all she had.