A.N.: Don't own it. Wish I did. This chapter is kind of crappy: my apologies. I have another story I want to start working with (not a fanfic) and am trying to keep up with both.
Chapter Three: Like a Record, Baby
Hermione didn't know where to begin when it came to finding out what had gone wrong. So, she did the only thing she could think of.
Like a good member of S.P.E.W., she drove the house elves from the common room and began to clean herself. She conjured up a bottomless trash can and began filling it with plates, cups, streamers, and empty Firewhiskey bottles, trying the whole time to remember reading any spell, ever, that would do such a thing.
The closes thing she could come to was the decision that she had gone insane and was actually locked into the hospital wing until she could be taken to Mungo's. The thought that this was a delusion comforted her greatly. It explained Snape's tan very well, too. God knew that man would never tan. He probably melted in the sun, honestly.
Hermione giggled about that as she cleared the cups and bottles away from the record player, which was still on. The record was the Weird Sister's greatest hits; why the school didn't buy decent musical equipment she would never understand…
The record sparkled prettily in the light as it spun, glittering golden.
Wait a minute.
Records weren't sparkly…
Hermione stopped the record player and gasped in astonishment. The glitter hadn't been sparkles…it was sand.
Hermione's mind jumped back to her third year and Professor McGonagall.
"Now, Ms. Granger." The Professor said, facing Hermione across her desk. "I must impress upon you the great responsibility that comes with possessing a Time Turner."
"Yes, Professor." Hermione replied. Her heart was racing. They were going to let her take all the courses…she'd finally be challenged!
"There are three rules that come with this device." McGonagall said, taking a velvet purse from her desk drawer. "Rule One: You must use it for the authorized purpose only. No gallivanting around three hundred years ago. History is not your playground. Rule Two: No one may know about the Time Turner. This rule is especially important in your case. This is the first time a witch of your age has been allowed the use of such a powerful device. And Rule Three is this: Wait for the sand to drain fully from one side before a second turn. If the sands are continuously moved, not only time, but space, is affected. This will have disastrous effects. Understood?"
"Yes, mam." Hermione had said shakily, taking the Time-Turner.,.
Hermione slowly removed the record from the player. She had broken two of the rules her third year…and it appeared she had now also broken the third. For the second time in her Hogwarts career, she had been entrusted with a Time-Turner at the beginning of term. Her course load combined with her incompetent Head counterpart (Draco had never done a day's work in his life) had qualified her once more.
"Oops…" she said softly.
"What oops?" Draco drawled from behind her, coming into the common room. He walked to her and took the record. "This is easy to fix, just some dust."
He blew all the sand from the record. Hermione watched it fall to the ground like powdered gold.
Then, she fainted.