Previously: She was out of here. Whatever was happening, it was affecting his entire mind, and Hermione shook with the effort of breaking herself free from the mindscape.

She took a shuddering breath, and blinked furiously. Suddenly, she was back on her feet, in the deafening silence of the Room of Requirement. Draco sat still in front of her, in a pose that might even look serene if it weren't for his guileless open eyes.

What had she done?

Draco's eyes snapped into focus at long last, fixing on Hermione with an intensity she had never seen.

"Hermione." He whispered softly.

She leaned forward. Was this just another trick?

"Draco?" She said tentatively. He looked sickly, like he had taken a nosebleed nugeot without the good end, or like he'd entered the realm of the spirits as a ghost. She hovered over him, unwilling to get too close in case he would double-cross her. "Draco, are you alright?"

He groaned, his pale hands moving to cover his paler face. For a minute, neither of them said anything, as Hermione watched from afar and Draco seemed to finally regain his focus. "Mione, when are we?"

She gasped. When are we, he had asked. Could this be her Draco?

"It's fourth year, Draco. Right after the first task."

"Fourth year, but how? We were supposed to come back in first year. And my memories are so jumbled." He squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. He looked in pain, and Hermione wished she could help him.

"Hey, Draco, it's ok. We're both here." She put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her with agony.

He shook his head, trying to clear it. "No, something went wrong. It's all wrong. What happened?"

Hermione sighed. What had happened? Was this really her Draco, or another ploy? Or, a small part of her mind worried, was this a Draco from a different future altogether?

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Draco sat back in his seat, thinking. "I'm not certain." Was all he said for a solid minute. Finally, he seemed to process his thoughts, and said, "I remember running with you, to the veil. To come back in time. And I remember… it's the oddest thing. I remember a river, and a house, but I can't remember much of anything after that. Bits and pieces of my memories came back to me.

"I remember being a git in first, second, and third year. I remember those bits better than anything, honestly, but only tiny little flashes. The rest… I remembered it vaguely. I feel as if I've been in limbo, trapped in my mind. And then I saw you, in my mind. I remembered everything, Hermione, everything we ever said and did, the Horcruxes, the fights, the good times and the bad… but more than anything, I remember pain. I almost died, I should have died, the moment I hit the veil. And that's been plaguing me ever since."

Hermione swallowed heavily. She knew what had happened. And it seemed that she might have made a mistake. Just like her, Draco had made it back to his former self. But his subconscious mind seemed to be shielding the hurt from his younger mind, sequestering it away in the shield she had unceremoniously disturbed.

"How do you feel now?" She said softly.

Draco grimaced. "I've felt worse." He gave her a sickening grin, the way he had looked at her when his hand was cut off. It was a grimace of pain, and she knew he must be in agony.

"Barely, it seems."

"I'm functional. We came back for a purpose, and I'm not about to let a little pain get in the way. Slytherin, remember?"

"And I'm not about to let you suffer more than necessary. Gryffindor, remember?" She returned, grinning. Despite the dire circumstances, she was happy to have her friend back.

Draco groaned and forced himself to sit up in the chair. "So it's fourth year. What's the plan? Did you just get here, too? Are you hurt?" He added the last question fearfully, and she was touched by his concern. It struck her just how different her Draco was from his former self, the young Draco she had just replaced with his future self. Her blood ran cold when she thought about the implications of her actions. She was so concerned about her own survival, but she hadn't even thought to run equations for him. Stupid.

"I'm fine, Draco. But I think there's a bit more going on than you realize."

"What, what is it?" The pain hadn't left his face.

She bit her lip. "I've been here since the end of third year. And you, Draco, well, I think you've been here for years."

"I don't understand."

She was fighting back tears at this point, her throat tight and words chipped like shards of glass. "I went into your mind, Draco. Legilimency, to the third level." She saw his face, already furrowed, get darker. "You weren't your younger self, you know, but you weren't here either. You were somewhere in-between: you thought you were a seer, or something, Draco, I was the one who put you in this state!"

Tears ran down her cheeks, and she swiped at them angrily.

"Hey, its not your fault. I'm sure you were trying to help."

She laughed humorlessly. "Help. That's true, all I've tried to do was help. But even your younger self knew I was making mistakes, hell, that's why he took me to the Room of Requirements in the first place."

"What exactly have you done?" Said Draco. Hermione's heart sunk. She knew that voice. That was the voice Draco used when someone came back with news of a raid, or when someone had caused them to lose an advantage and Draco had warned them. She remembered the last time he sounded like this all too well.

The study was dimly lit, lamps fluttering weakly in the stiff atmosphere. Poppy was sitting at the desk, head in her hands, a sheaf of parchment laid out in front of her. Her tone lacked her usual brisk efficiency, and instead sounded as weary as Hermione felt. "We are as good as doomed, friends. They have found the other outpost."

Hermione felt her heart sink. That had been the only safe haven for those who were injured, unable, or unwilling to fight. She looked around the room, and each member of the council looked sick to their stomach.

"Lavender was able to send this missive just before the Death Eater Obliterators came in."

"Obliterators?" said Draco questioningly. "But that would mean they found it through the ministry materials."

"That's correct, Draco. Someone must have used unauthorized transportation, and tripped their wards. We do not know who did this, but we must ensure the security of this final outpost. These are dark times, and whoever is wandering around without taking precautions has endangered the entire Resistance. What if they break into their minds? Some of their occlumency shields are weakened or simply weak. We cannot trust in our own safety, and I can guarantee that all of our friends at the outpost are long dead."

Hermione furrowed her brow. "But who could have done that? We have so little communication with the outpost as it is, and everyone knows the rules against traceable portation.

Draco whirled around, turning to the former Unspeakable, Bartleby. He had never looked or sounded so much like ice, firm in his ways and poised to strike. "There is only one person who could have caused this."

Bartleby shrunk in his seat, unable to meet Draco's eyes.

"Bartleby. You underpowered, incompetent shite. What did you do?" He rounded on the man, leaning forward with each word.

The man refused to speak, something he was all too good at.

Poppy's voice ran out sharply. "Is this true, Bartleby? Did you activate the wards?"

Bartleby mumbled something unintelligible, looking at his shoes.

"Yes Bartleby, what exactly have you done?" He rounded on the man with his wand outstretched. "Poppy, I can make him talk." He said with an almost feral grin.

"Hermione. Talk to me. You need to tell me what happened, because if you've fucked something up, I need to know what's wrong before it's too late." The words were harsh, but Hermione was more than used to it.

Hermione took a breath and opened her mouth to speak. Almost immediately, she stopped, grimacing, shame pooling in her gut like a physical thing. "Let me start out by saying I didn't know the whole situation. It doesn't excuse my actions, but it does explain them. I awoke in the hospital wing, almost a year ago for me.

"I was so alone, Draco. I realized that something had gone wrong, and I was alone and upset. And I probably made a few decisions that I shouldn't have."

He stared her down hard. "Who did you tell?"

She sighed. "Just Snape. And honestly, he's been pretty helpful. He's been able to keep me sane, really, cause I really had no one-"

"Hermione," he said calmly, "I hope you realize that Severus is a self-serving git. If he helped you, it was so you could help him later. And I say that as lovingly as a godson can. So what the bloody buggering fuck possessed you to share our secret with him?" He said each word very evenly, but she could detect the pain in his voice.

"I didn't exactly have a choice, you know. He cornered me in my classroom – which should have been warded to hell and back, I have no idea how he got to it, honestly– and my options were to tell him or to try and obliviate the best Legilimens in Britain."

Draco rubbed his face with a hand. "I don't know if you realize how dangerous Severus is. Even after Potter made all the world believe he was on the right side, I don't even know for sure. And I lived with him during that time, as you well know. But if that's the only thing that's happened, I suppose it could be worse."

Hermione made a small humming sound, something halfway between a whimper and a laugh. "I wish it was all. I've been able to find and destroy two horcruxes, and I have a pretty good plan on the last two. So in terms of the horcruxes, we're doing just fine. But your younger self… Oh Draco, I think I may have caused you to be in so much pain." Draco flinched at that, and Hermione continued quickly. "The thing is, your younger self was having, erm, visions, or something, but they weren't the whole story really-"

"You told me. What happened, Hermione?"

"- Well, he told me he was making changes with what he saw, and I sorta invadedyourmindanderasedhismemories."

"Come again?"

"Erm, I invaded your mind, which is why you're here right now instead of him, and I think I may have erased his memories of the last two years."

"You mean the last two years, Draco Malfoy has been running around wild? His head filled with notions of blood purity and his dreams full of the future? And you did something ridiculously obvious that tipped him off, so he was willing to get between you and your plans to manipulate the future to his advantage?"

Hermione gulped. "How far do you think he'd have gone to change things?"

"If it were me – and it was – as far as possible. Further, if he could get away with it. Changing little things here and there so long as they wouldn't change the big picture; like we planned to do, but instead of planning to defeat Voldemort, he was trying to save him! Bloody hell, Hermione, I don't want to blame you for his actions, but this is bad. This is really bad. I have no clue what I've done, especially if he didn't have all the details from the future. We have to figure out what he's done. Has he been acting any different?"

"Actually, he has been!" Hermione said, her mind flooding with memories. "He's acted quite strange honestly, ever since I came back. He was treating me nicely in comparison to how you used to treat me; no hard feelings, of course, we're fine now, and he hadn't provoked Harry nearly as much as before. Honestly, he may even have kept Harry from hating him – you – so very much, which I suppose is a plus."

"Hardly," said Draco. "I would be nice to Potter so I could double-cross him, or stay under his radar and strike where he least expects it. I have to assume he's played many of these sorts of games, and if all goes well, I'll be able to play the part convincingly."

Hermione frowned. She hated that he was pushed into this situation immediately after returning from the future. In his perspective, he had only been back for a few hours. She remembered how disheartened she had been after coming back to the wrong time, and that was without Draco's constant pain. "I'm sorry, Draco. I wish you didn't have to play these games anymore."

"I've been in the game all my life, Hermione. It's hardly a new challenge." He leaned back in the chair once more, looking quite tired. "Except this time I don't have all the cards. Hopefully I don't lose the game, because it might very well mean death."

AN: Thanks for sticking with me, everyone! I'm amazed that we've hit 200 reviews - that's more than I ever expected, and I'm really glad you're all enjoying the story. Real life is getting very busy, unfortunately, so updates will continue at a slow pace. We're about half way through by my reckoning. Congratulations to Jedilogray and sessan98, who guessed what happened to Draco. Question - do you like having the end of the last chapter to remember what's happening? Let me know, and if you like it I can continue.