Disclaimer: I don't own it, nope not me

"My mother says I didn't open my eyes for eight days after I was born, but when I did, the first thing I saw was an engagement ring. I was hooked."-

Elizabeth Taylor

CHAPTER THREE

In which Hermione meets Hermione and Draco gets an answer...

September 19, 2003

The mask of dilapidated peace that the park had obtained after years of emptiness and half-hearted maintenance seemed to have fallen away like so many gossamer curtains- replaced by an irritable cacophony of shouting that was punctuated by showers of sudden, sporadic green sparks.

The source of most of the disturbance- a man with slick white-blonde hair and dressed in an olive green suit and a woman with sleek brown hair pulled into a gigantic up-do on top of her head and swathed in a gigantic white gown that made her look the queen of the cupcakes- was located beside a rotting bench in the center of the park.

"Could we go, please?" The woman looked around suspiciously, nervously wringing her hands.

"No, you're not remembering it properly, first I—"

"Will you SHUT UP!" Draco roared, a sudden spatter of angry green sparks shooting from the end of his wand and sending long shadows across the walk.

"Yes, exactly like that and then- "

"Please, let's go!" The woman grabbed his hand and started to back away.

"No, you're not remembering it properly! Lot's of things happened and then- "

"Well I WOULDN'T remember it properly, would I? I was kind of UNCONCIOUS!"

"Well yeah, but I- "

"I said SHUT the BLOODY HELL UP!" Draco shouted again, another rain of green lightning shooting across the walk.

"Good, god, I do remember that. That must mean…" her eyes flicked automatically down to Hermione, who had propped herself up on her elbows and was rising shakily onto her feet.

"Ow…" she groaned and then leaned haphazardly against Draco's shoulder- digging in her own robes for her wand.

"Oh, right, now I remember…" the man tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear and then stared thoughtfully at Draco- who was becoming very agitated as he swung his wand back and forth between the woman and her partner.

"Yes, that seems about right and then- DUCK!" the man dove to the side, pushing his collaborator into a patch of dilapidated bushes and taking Draco's stunning spell in the chest before falling backwards in a heap of olive green silk.

"Silencio!" the woman snarled, snatching away Draco and Hermione's voices in a whirl of white light before they had even pointed their wands at her.

"Enervate" she flicked her wand casually at the man on the ground, ignoring Draco as he advanced on her, mouthing silent curses. The man rose, disdainfully brushing dirt off of his pants, his lip curling fiercely. "Expelliarmus" She rolled her eyes as Draco's wand went flying behind him and he swore silently.

"Sit" she commanded, they did not. She sighed deeply and sat down herself, brushing a bit of dirt off of her lacy skirt and picking a twig from her hair, "alright then, if you will not, I will, and you will attempt to tell me what's going on; and," she added tiredly, "without your voices."

Neither of them made a move to sit, so she continued.

"Er…" she began, absent-mindedly picking at a bit of sparkly lace on her skirt, "Well, er… you see… well." She stood, regaining her composure. She held out a hand to Hermione, "My name is Hermione Jane Granger, and when I wasten-years-old I had a crush on a little boy named Todd Hanson. I wrote him a valentine but he vehemently did not return my feelings."Hermione's face went through a series of expressions- mostly variations on confused, then a look of understanding dawned on her face and she took the woman called Hermione's hand.

"Finite Incantato" She smiled weakly, then gestured for Hermione and Draco to sit. Hermione did, and Draco followed her reluctantly, protectively placing a hand on her knee.

"Not a word from you,"'Hermione' continued, pointing her wand at Draco as he quickly shut his mouth, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Now honestly, what are you going to do without your wand? I could be a satanic, Hitler-worshipping, ex-death eater and the most you could do isglare atme." Draco tensed, but the woman sitting beside him laughed.

"So you think this is funny?" Draco sneered, his eyes meeting hers for a moment, which made her laugh even harder.

"And you call yourself smart!" She snorted, which served only to make her laugh harder.

"Oh, so I suppose you've got any clue what's going on here?" he sneered, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms irritably.

At this, both Hermiones roared with laughter.

"Really now, ladies." Suit-man settled himself between Hermione and Draco, who was sitting perfectly still, as though if he moved he was likely to break something- or someone. "Now." He sighed dramatically, donning an air of perfect seriousness."My name is Draco Lucifer Malfoy, and, er…" he leaned forward and whispered something in Draco's ear. Apparently the something was pretty shocking, because he immediately jumped up and stepped back from the bench.

"Who are you people!" he bellowed, reaching in his pants pocket for a wand that wasn't there- "Oh bloody hell," he rolled his eyes skywards, as if to ask "why me?"

"They're us!" Hermione giggled. "...and even if they aren't it's not like we could do anything to stop them killing us in horrible, wicked ways."

"Besides..." What we might loosely term Draco-in-a-suit leaned forward from his seat on the crumbling bench. "Do you know anyone else who looks this good with this much hair gel?"

Draco-in-jeans seemed to ponder this for a moment before repressing a smile and sitting down on the little wall behind him. "Alright then, let's say I accept that you're 'Us-of-the-future', or something. Why are you here?"

"It's not like they, we, you and I…" Hermione-in-a-T-shirt thought for a moment "they could tell us, it'd be completely and totally illegal, not like I don't think they're being here in the first place is legal in any way," she added, smirking indignantly

Hermione-in-a-wedding dress snickered. "You've got us there. But now, there's really no point in us staying here, so we might as well go- but here..." she pulled a golden ring off of her finger and then an identical one off of Draco-in-a-suit's. "You'll need these."

Hermione-in-a-T-shirt took the rings and held them an inch away from her eyelashes, they seemed to be covered in runes and numbers that were spinning too quickly to see at first glance, she gasped... "Are these...?"

"Yes," Hermione-in-a-wedding-dress replied stonily. "You'll need them in a bit, I expect."

"Alright." Hermione-in-a-T-shirt considered the rings for a moment, then placed them in her pants pocket and turned back to her counterpart, who was quickly dragging Draco-in-a-suit away, he didn't seem able to move.

"No! I know there's something else I have to say!" He moaned, tugging at her iron grip.

"Any warnings?" Draco-in-jeans asked hopefully, which made Draco-in-a-suit wrench his hand free of Hermione-in-a-wedding-dress's and grab Draco-in-jeans by the shoulders.

"Listen to me now," he began, "and you remember this, okay? Okay, one.." He took a deep breath and then continued rambling. "One, when you go into Flourish and Blott's, stay away from the romance novels. You won't, of course, but you've been warned!

"Two, when you see Pansy Parkinson, Roger Davies, or Cho Chang, run the other way, you got that? RUN.

"Three, tell Harry Potter last, you got that, last.

"Four..." He paused, searching his gibbering mind for number four. "Oh! Four, edible panties are a bad idea, you got that, bad! Bad bad bad idea!"

Draco-in-jeans made a face.

"Five." He released Draco's shoulders and turned to Hermione. "And this one's for you, Madame Malkin's ought to be the second place on your list after a stationary store, and house-elves do not make good cooks, especially at weddings, okay?" Hermione nodded as though she understood.

"And take good care of each other, okay? Oh! And you..." Hermione-in-a-wedding-dress pointed at her past counterpart. "Give him ten pounds when he goes out for wine, okay? Five will not, under any circumstances, be enough. Everything is going to be fine." she smiled reassuringly and sped off into the darkness, Draco-in-a-suit following closely in her wake.

"So…" Draco drawled once their footsteps had died away, leaving a ringing silence in the now-empty park.

"So what?" Hermione turned to him, absent-mindedly picking at a spot on her elbow where she'd hit the walk.

"So, will you marry me?" he asked, searching her eyes for an answer.

"Of course!" she laughed. "How could I say no after we'd seen that?" She leaned forward so he could meet her in an engagement kiss- though perhaps the success of the proposal should have been a sign for things to come…