Disclaimer: Why the hell are you reading this? I don't own Harry Potter, or any characters, I owe JKR for those amazingly brilliant creations!

A/N: An update, finally! yay! Tell me what you think please!

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Review Responses:

To all my lovely reviewers – thank you sooo much! I really appreciate every single one, you guys are my muse!

DestinyEntwinments: At least one of us feels sorry for their hung over state :D

Sleepingmagic: Thanks

Potterhead123: I'm glad you like it! And I'll try and make it more realistic from now on!

Itsasledgehammer: I do try to be original :D Glad you like my story!

Sarcastic-nut: I'mpleased you like it! I'm with you, I can't wait to see Ron's reaction; I always look forward to that in a H/D story! As for whether they get home, well you'll just have to read and find out, won't you? ;)

DarkRaven1989: Thanks for the great review! And I promise I will try to update faster, just for you! And as for Ron and Hermione, maybe sparks will fly soon, and your wish just might come true…

Jepp: Thankies :D I do try and make it original, but that seems to be really hard these days! Don't worry, I'll most certainly keep going!

And now, on with the show!

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Chapter Nine – Success?

Shenth lead the three of them into another, slightly larger room. It was dark; for there were no windows, but it was dimly lit by two fire torches on the walls. The place was dusty and unclean, and had a rather odd smell than neither of them could place. On one side of the room stood a plain, shabby bookcase full of, well…books (even though there weren't many and all were slightly tatty and ragged). On the other side of the room was a wooden cabinet occupied by all sorts of different ingredients. They looked like the sort of things you would find inside Snape's storeroom, further convincing the two boys of Shenth's wizardry. Last, but certainly not least, in the centre of the room stood a large table with a black cauldron on top, and many other potion-making apparatus.

Harry and Draco explored the room with great interest. It was so different to what they were used to at Hogwarts, yet it was so similar at the same time. Hetti turned to her father.

"Okay, so what do you propose we do?" she asked, and gave a serious, 'get-on-with-it' kind of look.

"Make a new potion, of course," Shenth said and walked over to the bookcase, then searching the shelf for a particular one.

"Ah, here we are," he said, and pulled out an old, dusty one from the bottom shelf. He skimmed through the pages, and once he'd found the right page, set the open book down on the table. He pointed to the top of the page. "Here is what we shall make, but it is very complicated, it will take a long time to brew."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Exactly how long is a 'long time'?"

Shenth checked the book. "Twenty-four hours."

Draco and Harry looked relieved. "That's not too bad," Harry stated optimistically.

Draco nodded. "I thought it would take much longer than that," he said.

Harry sighed. "I guess we'd better be heading back then," he said. Draco nodded, and the two of them headed towards the door, but Shenth stopped them.

"Actually," he said. "I'd appreciate it if you would help me with adding the ingredients."

Harry and Draco nodded (for how could they say no?) and made their way over to where the cauldron on top of the wooden table stood.

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Hermione was shovelling her food down her throat even faster than Ron normally does, and that was saying something. Of course, she had no time to waste. After discovering Dyvill's diary, she became curious and puzzled, so she had sat in the Library reading it for a while. When it was time for dinner, she had read the part of the book that told her the information she needed, and it was then that she realised what she must do. She had then hid the diary in her robe pocket, and rushed into dinner, intent on seeing Snape immediately afterwards. Hence the rushed eating.

Ron was looking at her as if she'd grown two heads. In all the six years he'd known her she had never eaten in a fashion anything less than ladylike.

"Slow down, Hermione," he said. "You're gonna choke!"

Hermione said nothing; she only continued quickly eating the rest of her food as if she hadn't heard him. Once finished, she dropped her knife and fork with a loud clatter, and stood up, nearly elbowing Ron in the face. He looked up at her with disbelief.

"What's the rush Hermione?" he asked curiously, but with a hint of demand in his voice.

Hermione sighed. "I can't stay and chat, Ron," she told him. "This is important." She turned around and walked towards the double doors. Ron stood up.

"What? More important than telling me what's going on?" he yelled across the hall. Hermione ignored him and kept on walking. It was only when she had left the hall that he realised the whole school had gone quiet and was staring at him intently. Ron slid back into his seat, his ears having gone a bright shade of pink.

Hermione walked quickly through the school and down into the dungeons. She knew Snape would be down here; he wasn't in the Great Hall at dinner, and she could think of no other place he would be. Fortunately, she didn't run into any Slytherin's as they were still at dinner, so she swiftly walked through their territory with no problem. A minute later, she found herself at Snape quarters and knocking loudly on his door, which he answered to straight away. To say he was surprised to see her there would have been a major understatement.

Snape's eyes narrowed slightly. "Miss Granger," he sneered. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit this evening?"

Hermione did not back down from his hateful glare. "I think I've found a way, sir," she whispered, and Snape didn't even have to strain his ears to hear; her voice rang out through the corridor as if she had shouted.

Snape's face turned from a look of hate to shock, to relief. He silently beckoned her inside.

Snape sat down in one of the armchairs near the fireplace, and he motioned for Hermione to sit in the other one, so she did. He did not offer her a drink, and he did not speak at first; he just sat and stared at her, which made Hermione feel rather uncomfortable. After a minute or two, Snape broke the silence.

"So tell me, Miss Granger, how you think you have found a way."

Hermione sighed and sat up straighter in her armchair. "I was in the Library before dinner, researching," she started.

"Well, that is usually what you do there," Snape drawled mordantly.

Hermione cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Yes, well, there I was searching the Restricted Section when I came across a book."

Snape looked shocked. "A book? In the Library? How very odd!" It was strange to see Snape joking, as Hermione had never actually seen him anything other than completely serious. She hid her surprise and curiosity, and settled with rolling her eyes and carrying on.

"A book, yes. Well, more like a diary."

Snape took on a look of interest. "A diary, you say?"

"Yes." She searched the pockets on the inside of her robe and pulled out the old, deep green book. "Here it is."

She handed it over. "What we need is in that book. I've read it a few times just to make sure, and it's definatly the right one."

Snape studied the front cover closely. He then carefully opened it and scanned the front page, until his eyes rested on the scrawled name at the bottom right hand corner.

"Thomas W. Dyvill," he voiced, a frown upon his face.

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "I've never heard of him before, which is odd considering the potion he created."

"He created a potion?"

"Oh yes," Hermione smiled. "A very important one, too. The one that is going to save Harry and Malfoy."

Snape looked relieved. "Finally," he breathed.

"Yes, finally," she repeated.

Snape turned the page once more, to see lots more writing of the same scrawled script as before. Then, he started to read.

Sunday 6th September 1666

I have started this diary to record my findings, but it must never be read by anyone other than myself. No one must know what I am doing, nor how I intend to do it, and they certainly cannot know what I am. I would be imprisoned, or worse, be put to death, for being a wizard. I am far away from my home in London; I cannot stay there, not after what has happened.

London is a busy city. It is very crowded. The streets are narrow and dusty. The houses are made of wood and very close together. Inside the houses, people use candles for light and cook on open fires. A fire could easily get out of control. At least that's what everyone thought.
The fire began on the evening of the 2nd of September, four days ago. It started in Pudding Lane in the shop of the king's baker, Thomas Farrinor. No one knows for sure how the fire started, and I'm glad they don't. I feel it's best of they believe this: When Thomas went to bed, he did not put out the fire that heated his oven. Sparks from the oven fell onto some dry flour sacks and they caught fire. The flames spread through the house, down Pudding Lane and into the nearby streets.

No one was to know that it was my fault, that I was the one who started the fire. It's strange how a little magic can get so out of hand.
Soon London was filled with smoke. The sky was red with huge flames from the fire.
Everybody was in a panic. People loaded their things onto carts and tried to leave town. I was one of them. Others tried to get away on boats on the river. Some people buried their things in the garden, hoping to save them from the fire.
The fire still spread, helped by a strong wind from the east. London Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral were both burnt. I don't know if the fire is still there, or whether it is now under control. That is why I must brew the Histethro Potion. I need to cast my mind to four days prior and see what my foolish actions had caused. I need to know if everything was okay in the city of London. If not, I may just be in trouble.

Wednesday 9th September 1666

It has taken three whole days, but I've managed to search the country and collect the ingredients I need to make the Histethro potion. It hasn't been easy, but since when has anything in my life ever been easy? So now, I'm almost ready. I need a safe environment to create the potion, but that won't be a problem. I have a friend and fellow wizard named Francis Williams who I'm sure will offer me hospitality. I am on my way to his home in Oxford this very minute.

Friday 11th September 1666 (I think)

Francis welcomed me with open arms, to my enormous relief. I did not tell him the reason of my unexpected visit; only that I had to make a potion, and quickly. He led me to his own Potions room (Francis is very well off, mind you) and I began to set up my ingredients.

It wasn't two hours later and I was ready to start making the Histethro potion. It was a good job I had learned how to make it years ago, and so I was fortunate enough to remember the order in which to add the ingredients, and how long the potion must brew for. At least I thought I did. I suppose that was my mistake; thinking I could make a potion without a potions book to guide me. Consequently, my potion went wrong. When I went back in the room after the potion was ready, I saw it was the completely wrong colour. Pink. The potion was pink, and it was supposed to be purple. I realise now that I accidentally added three spoonfuls of Lavender Essence instead of two. An easy mistake that anyone could make, but it was vital, and it messed up the potion worse than I expected. Of course, at the time I was unaware of this, so I drank the potion, and I found myself stuck in Ancient Greece. So instead of casting my mind into the past like the potion was meant to, it transported my whole body, but I had the outward appearance of their Emperor. Obviously a problem. I have been the "Emperor" for a day now, and yet I still need to work out a way to get back to my own time. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Sunday 27th September 1666

It took just over two weeks, but I managed to make another potion that transported myself back to my own time. I had to search the area I was living in discreetly for any ingredients I could find that might have been able to help me. I also observed the people there to see if I could recognise a wizard, but no such luck. Anyway, after many days of research, I finally made the right potion that sent me back home. I am still here at Francis' house and I think this is where I will stay. I can't say I didn't like my unexpected journey at all; it was a new and wholesome experience. And I managed to create a new potion that will help me with my research from now on. I wrote them down for that purpose:

The Dyvill Potion

Ingredients:

Dried nettles

Snake fangs

Frog eyes

Powdered horn

Lavender essence

Ashwinder eggs

Cockroach shell

Sliced caterpillars

Chopped daisy roots

Leech juice

Leave two minutes in between adding each ingredient, in that order. Stir the now simmering potion anti-clockwise five times and leave for an hour. The potion is then ready to drink.

I did exactly what I have written above, and it brought be back home. I mustnot let anyone know I'm herethough, I am sure someone has told of my accidental start of the fire in London. They may be after me, I know what I must do, and I've got to

The diary stopped there. Snape looked up from the page and glanced at Hermione, who was biting her lip nervously.

"Sound familiar?" Hermione asked.

Snape nodded his head. "Indeed. Both potions went wrong and ended up pink. I do not think there is much more to it than that."

"I do not believe it is a coincidence, Professor. Both tried making the Histethro potion, and both ended up pink, probably from the same mistake. I think Harry and Malfoy are now enduring the same fate as Dyvill did."

"Are you trying to tell me, Miss Granger," Snape said. "That the potion Potter and Malfoy made is the one this Dyvill person also made in the year 1666?"

Hermione swallowed. She thought he would be glad of her finding, that they would finally be able to save the two boys. Or did he just not believe what he had read?

"Yes, sir," she said finally.

"And how did you expect this to work?" he asked rather jadedly.

Hermione was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Obviously the counter-potion is only a one way potion." He told her.

She looked at him blankly. "Meaning…?"

He rolled his eyes. "Meaning that this potion would only work if Potter and Malfoy made it, and drank it where their minds and bodies currently are, if indeed they came across the same fate as Dyvill."

Hermione thought about it. What Snape said made sense, but if they would be able to make it, then why can't they? She voiced this question to her professor.

"It just won't work that way, Miss Granger," Snape said, irritably. "The man Dyvill made it while his mind was in Ancient Greece, so theoretically, only Potter and Malfoy would be able to make it."

"But we could make it and get the unconscious bodies to drink it!" Hermione argued forcibly.

Snape shook his head. "Impossible. We don't know what the side affects would be, maybe it wouldn't even work."

"But if they can take it where they are in the past, surely they can here, too…"

"We just can't take that risk," Snape said firmly.

"So the diary is no use to us, then?" Hermione asked angrily. "What if that's the only way they can get back? What will happen then?"

Snape stood up and walked over to her, then handed her the diary back. He brought his face down to her level.

"Then we will just have to find a new way."

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You loved it? Hated it? Detested it? Tell me please! Sorry guys that therewasn't much Harry/Draco appearances, but the whole chapter with Hermione and the diary was really important, I had to get it out of the way! I PROMISE the next chapter will be full of Harry/Draco! Can't wait to read it? Then review! Spread the word of this fic to to your friends,if more people review, then i'll hopefully update sooner!