CHAPTER FIVE

I was startled.

"Come off it, Malfoy!" I stuttered. "GET OUT OF MY ROOM, AND GIVE THAT BACK!"

He narrowed his pretty little eyes at me, ready to say something nasty.

Then he looked down at his hand.

"What's this?" he spat, thrusting the journal into my chest. "And why are we standing up? This isn't my room. TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON, RIGHT NOW MUDBLOOD."

"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S GOING ON, YOU CAME INTO MY ROOM AND STARTED LOOKING THROUGH MY STUFF, THAT'S WHAT!"

His face froze.

But magically, in a matter of seconds, it returned to normal.

"You're not to tell anyone about this, Granger," he snarled, pushing me and walking slowly forward. I stumbled and tried to get out of his grasp, but I couldn't. "You're to keep quiet and pretend I was never in here."

"Do you really expect me to do that?" I said bravely.

"How silly of me to think you'd let another chance to foil my reputation slip," he said easily, almost laughing, though he was still startled. He looking revoltingly at the journal in his hands, a piece of trash to him no doubt, and tossed it behind him.

"What, do I have to pay you?" He looked sort of desperate. But he maintained his cocky nature.

"You can keep your money," I said nastily.

He looked highly offended.

"Don't look at me like that, Granger, I was just being a gentleman," he said smoothly. "Trust me, there are many ways that I can ensure your trust. I'm sure you'd prefer just taking my money to any of them."

"Look, Malfoy," I said, starting to panic, "I just want to know what's going on. Why are you in my room?"

He took a deep breath and stuck his wand in my face.

"I'll tell you this once again and for the last time, so get it straight, Mudblood. You aren't to say a word," he poked my forehead with his wand, "to anyone."

I pulled back. "No," I said defiantly. "No. Something fishy is going on here, and I –"

"I warned you, Mudblood!"

I gasped and started to run, but before I could say a thing, my legs gave out, and I knew nothing except the pain that consumed me.

And then, there was darkness.

"Miss Granger," came a frantic and nasal voice from the back of my head. "Miss Granger, are you awake?"

"Yes, I'm awake," I tried to say, but I was too weak. I desperately tried to give them a sign, something, anything to communicate. But no noise, no movement. I began to wonder if I was dead.

"She won't awake, Headmaster," the nasal voice spoke again. "No, give her a couple of days."

Distantly, I heard a painful sigh and some familiar, but slightly shaken voices.
"Professor Dumbledore, when can we see her?"

"Will Hermione be all right?"

I tried to scream out to Harry and Ron, "Yes! I'm all right now! Please, Harry, Ron, can you hear me?"

But all of a sudden my thoughts echoed, and fell into nothingness. I felt my mind twirling, and I sunk into oblivion.

Days had gone by, me in utter frustration, trying to communicate to the outside world. I was left alone with my ignorant thoughts and, let me tell you, they were beginning to get on my nerves. I felt like nobody could hear me or understand me. If this wasn't death, I shuddered to comprehend what death would feel like.

And finally, after what seemed like years (and for all I knew, could have been), I felt a tug at my nerves, and I went into a jerky fit of movement.

A small light from the corner of my mind grew bigger and bigger…until…

I could just make out a group of people staring down at me. Their mouths were moving but I couldn't understand what they were saying. My mind slowly stopped twirling and I felt a wave of pain across my body, like a thousand needles stabbing me all over. It was a rather painful awakening from numbness.

I let out a groan.

"Miss Granger…"

"Miss Granger, can you hear me?"

"Yes," I hadn't spoken in what felt like so long, my voice sounded strange to me.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes," I said automatically.

Then, "No."

"What hurts?"

"Everything hurts…"

Professor Dumbledore turned to the stout and eager old woman standing beside him. He asked Madame Pomfrey to bring him something and returned to me.

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

I breathed. "No…Yes….No, no, I don't remember…"

"Think."

"I…I think…I passed out."

"Do you know why?"

"Malfoy…in my room…"

"Yes, we know, we've already spoken to Mister Malfoy, he has no recollection of the incident whatsoever."

I yawned and tried to sit up, but swooned and fell back down into the pillows.

"I think you had better get some rest until you're ready to be questioned, Miss Granger, you've had a rough few nights."

I hadn't the strength to object, so I closed my eyes and turned on my side, and slept.

"So, he breaks into your room in the middle of the night, steals your journal and then suddenly he's got no idea what's going on?" Rons face was contorted with confusion.

I walked swiftly ahead and Ron and Harry struggled to keep up with me. "Right," I said wearily. I had grown sick of retelling my story, not only to the administrators but to every student who walked past. "I told him to come off it and he acted like he was being set up or something. The strangest part is that he looked sincere."

"I don't know, Hermione," Harry said quietly. "He's been so infatuated with you lately. He can't seem to be away from you. First he rapes you, now he's breaking into your room at night and reading your journal – "

"No, Harry, it's not like that." And I truly didn't think it was. It was obvious he had other plans while he was in my room last night, but hadn't gotten to pursue them. "He was looking for something, rummaging through my things. I just doubt that he had gone through all of that trouble and risked being caught, just to read my journal. No, he was looking for something else…"

"Well, don't get too wound up about it," Ron said. "If you do he'll come back and set a dementor on you or something, he seems to have it in for you, Hermione. He's leaving for good next week."

"I wasn't planning to do anything," I said defiantly, holding the door open for Harry and Ron as we entered Transfiguration. When I closed the door and walked in after them, the room fell silent.

Everyone was looking at me. I went to take my seat, but then I noticed Professors Dumbledore and McGonnagal were talking quietly, no doubt about me, standing in the front of the classroom. They beckoned for me to come over.

"Miss Granger, we'd like you to come with us," Professor McGonnagal said calmly. Then she turned to the class. "Class, I will be out of the room to attend some business, so I have managed to get Professor Twiddledum as a replacement until I return. I expect you all to treat him with respect, and if not, I will be undoubtedly hear about it."

She left without a word, and a tall, lanky, dark-haired man emerged from the corner, and began to speak to the class. I followed the Professor out the door and into a strange room that I'd never seen before, working hard to keep up with her swift pace.

Finally she stopped abruptly and turned around to face me. She motioned for me to sit down on the couch opposite her and Dumbledore. She took a deep breath and I sat very awkwardly, fidgeting.

"Miss Granger, I would like to tell you something," a desk drawer opened itself behind her and she extracted a golden chain from it – attached to it was the Time Turner she had given me in my third year.

"This is – "

"The Time Turner," I whispered. "But why –"

"I found this in your room this morning, Miss Granger. I hope you'll forgive me for going through your things – "

"Of course…"

"But it was for an important cause. We have come to believe that the night Mr. Malfoy was in your room, he was looking for this." She twirled the golden chain around her fingers.

I took a moment to take this in. "But why would Malfoy – "

"Mister Malfoy does not remember ever entering your room. We aren't positive, but Professor Dumbledore and I think," she glanced over at Dumbledore, her eyes pleading, "We think that Draco Malfoy is being possessed by Lord Voldemort.

"We believe that Lord Voldemort wants to use the Time Turner to return to the moment 18 years ago when he killed Harry's parents. Now that he is, presumably, stronger and more powerful, he wants to go back in time and kill Harry."

I was shocked. I looked at Professor Dumbledore and tried to sit up, but he lightly sat me back down.

"Miss Granger, we know this is tough for you, but we'd like to help you," he said calmly. "We will ensure that no harm will come to you; the Time Turner can no longer be in your possession. We are sending it to the Ministry of Magic so they can keep it under close watch there.

"We want you, however, to keep safe. That means no leaving the castle alone, and alert us whenever something suspicious happens."

There was an awkward pause.

"We…er…also need you to promise us that you will not tell Mr. Potter about this."

"Why?"

"Because…" Professor McGonnagall sighed, but Dumbledore cut her off.

"Because we don't want any panic," he said easily. "Do I make myself clear?"

His blue eyes bore into my head and I was silent. I knew Dumbledore wanted me to be safe…God bless him for that. I knew that no harm would come to me so long as the situation were under his watch. But I was still worried, somehow. Something twinged in my brain. It was an undistinguishable feeling I'd had all day, and it wouldn't go away.

I realized I was getting lost in my thoughts. Professor Dumbledore had lowered his glasses and was looking at me intently.

"Perfectly," I said.

Professors McGOnnagall and Dumbledore nodded and gestured for me to leave. Trembling, and knocking over several books and objects on the table as I stood, I left without a word and proceeded to Transfiguration.

Authors Note: Hey everyone! I'm so sorry I didn't update until now…I had a serious case of writers' block, and I got a ton of homework recently, but the sad thing is this: it ("it" being my writer's block) is going to get a lot worse following the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. See, I never planned any of this. I'm not one for plots, really, I just write what I feel and let it go, which is why most of my stories are plotless, pointless, with a small bit of undistinguishable humor thrown in. (:-P) What I mean is, after this chapter, I only know vaguely where I'm going, I have no plotline to follow, or anything, which is a bit scary, because we're so deep into the story…So, in short, it may be a while. Just warning you.

I always used to hate it when authors didn't update their work for like, MONTHS at a time, and there was no way to contact them or anything…So, I like these little author notes so that you guys know I'm still alive and I haven't been infected with some sort of paralytic disease that disabled me to update…And you can also e-mail me…I LOVE to talk with people on and discuss their interests with them and such…so, go ahead and e-mail me please!

If you can't access it on the site for some reason, I'll give it

OK, I'm gonna go now…Hope you like the chapter, and I promise it won't be too long, but I won't get too full of myself…nobody's really HANGING to see what happens next. Well there's me. Hehehe…