Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all else aforementioned in the other tedious disclaimers.
Thank you for all the reviews. Now then, I want to reply to some of my reviews.
No, I won't be adding more to "The Anniversary", at least, not for 2 or 3 weeks. Right now I have a huge biology test in the prospect and I couldn't possibly find time to add more to the story. If by chance my readers choose to read THAT story as avidly then yes, I will add to it. *cough cough* That is a hint!
And I doubt that Hermione will return Draco's affections.
Doubt, though, can change.
I doubt that my doubt will change.
~* 10 *~
Hermione sighed and then opened her eyes again. She felt a sharp pain blast through her forehead right away. She turned to Draco beside her, who had yanked his hand out of hers right away. He frowned. " You're bleeding."
" I know." Hermione dug into her pocket to find a napkin but couldn't find one. Draco handed her his own handkerchief. She pressed it to her forehead. " When did I hurt my forehead?" She asked him.
The time change whirled around them faster and faster, the air whooshing by with a familiar sound. There was a deep rattling echo in the distance and Draco managed to say " You bumped your head on the parapet," before the entire world seemed to freeze again. They found themselves standing in the room again, the other one in which they were serving their punishment. This room looked different though, it had two cots but in opposite ends of the room and the desk wasn't in the room, there was a small coffee table. There was a plate of cookies on the table.
Hermione heard the door rattle. " Duck!" She hissed at Draco. He did, but reluctantly.
They hid behind a stack of boxes in the room. Draco whispered: " I think that we went back to when the Potters were in here."
" I think so, too." Hermione looked puzzled. " Lily and James seemed to get along fine before, though."
The door of the room swung open and Professor McGonagall stepped in. She looked very young, in her early twenties, and she was followed by Lily and James Potter. Professor McGonagall might have looked young, but her unmistakable and very characteristic frown seemed to occupy her face anyway. Draco and Hermione exchanged knowing glances and Hermione whispered: " This is when they were put into here. But why?"
" Shh!" He said.
" Now, I will come back every day to give food, and to take you out to the bathrooms." Professor McGonagall turned around to face Lily Potter. " There will be no more arguing or fighting. Do we have an understanding?"
James Potter shook his head. " This is unnecessary."
Lily nodded.
" Miss Evans, I think we can see what was unnecessary."
Lily spoke up, finally: " Professor, I can assure you that I did not do what I'm accused of."
" What is it?" Hermione whispered softly.
James looked at her. " Then who else?"
Lily looked near tears. " I was framed by Malfoy, I'm sure of it! I'm sorry about what happened to your books, James, but…"
" You're sorry? My books are covered in tar!" James shouted.
Professor McGonagall intervened immediately, seeing as the tension rose dangerously in the room. " We are not here to play the blame game, I just want both of you to get your act together and start behaving like the seventh years you are."
" Why would I do something like this, though?" Lily demanded.
" Everyone says you've had a crush on me for ages. Everyone knows about it, Lily." James said.
Lily's ears burned red.
" Wouldn't it be a normal reaction to be angry that I went to the Yule Ball with Deborah Bones and not you?"
Lily opened her mouth, gasping for air like a fish, and she looked ready to cry. " James, you are positively, absolutely, a jerk!" She shouted, finally. " I can't believe you! Do you think that I'd stoop so low as to play childish pranks? Isn't it obvious that it must have been some Slytherins goofing off again?"
" We've discussed this before, Lily." James rubbed his temples angrily. " All the evidence points at you."
" What evidence?" Lily shuddered at the sound of her voice.
Professor McGonagall looked angry. " Now, both of you, sit down and calm yourselves. I won't have this nonsense going on, do you understand me?"
The students ignored the teacher. James ranted on:
" Your fingernails were black! Black like the tar that you must have put on my books!"
" I'd be smarter then to put it on with my hands, don't you think? I know my wand better then to rely on my hands!" Lily retorted. "My fingernails were black because I was helping Professor Wilde in the greenhouse!"
" What about the note you sent Deborah Bones? It was signed in your handwriting."
" I told you, it was forged!"
Professor McGonagall sighed. " I wish that one of you would just confess. Dumbledore is considering putting you on the Truthful Spell, until you tell the truth, Lily."
Lily seemed to die inside. Her face paled considerably and her fingers trembled as she pointed at James. " I didn't do it." She whispered. " I promise you." A tear slid down her cheek.
Hermione wanted to race up to Lily and embrace her, because Lily looked so very frail and alone all of a sudden. James crossed his arms, feeling awful about making Lily cry. James wasn't easy to give in, though – he seemed hell-bent on the idea that Lily played the pranks.
Draco suddenly took hold of Hermione's elbow, avoiding her clammy hands, for the room was being sucked into a little dark point, or so it seemed. A terrible and low whistling sound echoed in their ears, and then the sound of a very big and over-blown balloon popping.
Hermione found herself a few minutes later waking up on the floor of their Punishment Room. She looked around and found Draco sitting on his cot, looking dumbfounded.
Hermione asked:
" Was that it? The entire memory cycle?"
" I doubt it. Maybe we stayed in there too long. I guess we have to take it piece by piece." Draco smiled happily. " Pretty neat pranks, don't you think? I never knew Potter's family had it in them, to do that sort of thing."
" Don't you get it?" Hermione cried out.
" Get what?"
" Lily didn't do it!" She shouted. " She was framed, and you might even know who it was that framed her."
Draco shook his head. " It's likely that you'd point fingers at my dad, but he had his limits, I bet. Why would he want to get Lily in so much trouble?"
" Maybe because he had a crush on her!"
Draco laughed. "That's a hoot! Why would he ever want anything to do with Potter's…"
" He didn't know she was going to be a Potter then. Maybe he saw she liked James so much and he used a perfect time to get Lily in trouble, and then have James and Lily turn against each other."
" You've got it all planned out, don't you?" Draco looked furious.
" I do."
" Well, news flash! You're wrong! That's impossible." Draco's voice cracked.
" It's possible." Hermione said, darkly. The room fell silent.
" I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Draco grimaced and then lied down on the cot, closing his eyes. He wanted to shut Hermione out for now.
~*~
The time that was spent in the secret room wasn't that lengthy. Hermione calculated that the two memories that she and Draco were transported to were the equivalent of a few minutes on the other side of the hologram window. She felt her heartbeat quicken as she imagined telling Harry all about the memories she saw – memories of his precious parents, whom he had little knowledge of. She could almost see his green eyes, like two emeralds, blazing happily as she expressed the joyous memory of James winning, and the bitter-sweet exchange of glances between him and Lily. Then, her stomach sunk as she thought of telling Harry about his parents quarreling. Of course, they weren't his parents then, so…
She paused her train of thoughts when she heard Draco coughing loudly. She looked up at him. He pointed at the door.
" Someone's here for you, again." Draco emphasized the word, trying to sound fed up with Hermione's friendly visits.
Hermione flickered her wand around and then said, softly: "Draco, how will we find your wand? It must have been propelled through time to some random memory."
He didn't seem worried.
Hermione walked to the door and then said: " I'm here."
The voice on the other side was rushed. " Hey, it's Ron, Hermione. Um, I just wanted to… uh…" He stopped, then pushed something under the door. She heard his footsteps retreat as he ran back down the hall.
Hermione's short and rounded fingernails brushed the folded sheet of paper between the base of the door and the tiles. Her fingers trembled as she unfolded the paper. She read the short few lines:
' Hey, Hermione.
Me and Harry are in Potions. Snape is soooo boring. He hummed some sort
of spooky song while grading our tests today. I hope he doesn't quit his
day job, know what I mean??? Fred and George glued Harry to his seat during
lunch, it was an accident but Harry was really emberassed. They apologized,
but I think Harry is still upset. He keeps talking about you and how he misses you.
He's lost it up in his head, I think."
Hermione grinned as she took view of a boggle-eyed version of a cartoon Harry that Ron had sketched. This Harry looked absolutely love struck, with little hearts in his eyes, and dozens of happy hearts around him. A speech bubble escaped his mouth, where Ron wrote: "Oh, Hermione, Hermione, where art thost, Hermione?"
Hermione laughed.
" What's got YOU so worked up?" Draco grumbled. " More notes from your boyfriend?"
She stiffened. " Harry's not my boyfriend. And that was Ron at the door."
" If you didn't day dream so much, you might be able to actually hear Harry at the door next time, since if I didn't tell you today, then…" He stopped, bristling a bit. Draco realized that he had almost done a favor for Hermione. It seemed to anger him in some way since he clenched his fists and then said, bitterly: " … forget it."
Hermione looked down at her bare feet. She was sitting cross-legged on the cot now, and she was trying to piece things together. " When do you suppose we'll return to the memory room?"
" How about never?"
" How can you say that? Don't you want to know what will happen next?"
" We know what happens next. They get it on, Harry comes, and boom! They're dead." He frowned.
" Why don't you want to see any more?"
" I just don't okay?" He shouted.
" Why?" She demanded.
He threw his pillow at her. " Go to sleep, will you?"
She threw it back, laughing. " No! Tell me."
Draco watched the pillow fall down short of his cot, and he smiled softly, then grew another angry frown. He didn't say anything else, obviously not knowing what to say without speaking out about how he felt. Hermione didn't have to know the truth, she didn't have to know anything. He didn't want to see Lily and James die, because he knew something about that death, something dark about his own father. Something dark in himself.
~*~
And that was chapter 10! Yahoo! It was pretty long too! I did it! Yes!
R/R!!!!
