A/N: Wow, I feel like it's been forever since I've posted despite it only being a three days difference! I had to take a small break as I was really struggling with this chapter and I needed a break from the angst and drama of this fic.

This chapter is sort of a filler (don't worry, there are some important moments, in my humble opinion) which is why I found it so hard to write. This chapter will wrap up November (think of it like snapshots of the month) and I'm excited for our favorite duo to move into December! Okay, enough rambling! Chapter 12!

"Okay," Hermione said, pacing back and forth in front of Draco, who was sitting dejectedly on the couch. "Have you tried Specialis Revelio?"

More than two weeks had passed since Hermione revealed herself in the Room of Hidden Things, and she had only met Draco in the room twice, finding nothing new. They had also begun to work on their runes assignment, which they were almost halfway done with, inside the junk-filled room.

Harry and Ron hadn't noticed her increasing disappearances, likely because Ron was too busy with Lavender and Harry was too busy trying to ignore them.

Harry had also given up sharing any information he discovered about Draco with Hermione, much to her enjoyment.

Draco exhaled, "Yes. Nothing new. Same for Evanesco."

Hermione bit her lip, continuing her pacing, "Reparo?"

Draco looked pointedly at Hermione. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't have tried that, Granger?"

Hermione sighed, "Worth a shot."

She stopped pacing and joined Draco on the couch. He leaned back, his head looking straight up at the cathedral ceilings.

Hermione grimaced at his demeanor and asked softly, "Have you spoken to Borgin about this?"

Draco nodded, sitting back up. "We're in correspondence. He's given me the spell to repair it, but I need to truly want to repair the cabinet for it to work."

Hermione ran a hand through her unruly brown hair and stared at the cabinet with conviction, determined to figure this puzzle out.

While thinking to herself, Hermione failed to notice Draco retrieve a parchment from his bag. Shoving it toward her, he explained, "Read it. That's pretty much all I fucking know about the cabinet."

She glared at him for being so crass but read,

Mr. Malfoy

It has come to my attention that you are repairing a certain cabinet under the orders of a certain wizard. I have some information that may be of use to you. To fix the cabinet, you need to desire to fix it. While repeatedly saying the incantation, "Harmonia Nectere Passus," wave your wand slowly against the cabinet. This will take tremendous work and repeated efforts. Remember, the cabinet will not work if your heart is not in this mission.

Of course, it would be much easier and swifter to repair if you would just bring it to me so that I can inspect it. If not, this is the most information I can provide without having seen it myself. Continue working on this assignment; the consequences would be rather dreadful if you should fail.

-Borgin

Hermione scrutinized the messy scribbles before nodding to herself. She looked up to see Draco watching her, trying to see her reaction. Handing the parchment back to him, she said, "So what I've gathered is that you don't actually want to fix the cabinet."

Draco glared at her. "I want to. I want to not die, and fixing the cabinet is a large part of that."

Hermione shook her head, "You aren't actively wanting to fix it, though. You just want to protect yourself."

"Well, Granger, I don't see how I can want to fix the bloody wardrobe if my life is on the line!" Draco snapped, "Last I checked, the Dark Lord isn't holding a wand to your throat and judging your every move."

Hermione couldn't help her sneer, "In case you've forgotten, I'm the Muggleborn best friend of Harry Potter. I have a huge target on my head. While Voldemort," Draco involuntarily winced, "isn't threatening me as of yet, he will be soon!"

Draco gestured passionately toward the cabinet, standing up, "And do you think I don't know that, Granger? I don't want to fix the cabinet! Okay? I said it! Because when I fix that fucking Vanishing Cabinet, do you know what happens? I am held responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths that will inevitably occur!"

Draco stopped yelling, his chest heaving from his outburst.

Hermione stood up cautiously, replying, "Listen, I understand your… hesitance to fix the cabinet, but you need to see the bigger picture here. If you don't fix-"

Draco grabbed her bookbag from the ground and thrust it into her arms. "You know what? Stop helping me. Get out and stay the FUCK away from me!"

Hermione stared at Draco, a war raging in her chest. She knew she should stay, but her angry feelings of fury toward Draco won the battle, and she indignantly placed her book bag around her shoulder.

"Fine. You win, Malfoy," Hermione spat, purposefully using his last name. "I'll see you around."

She turned around, prepared to leave but was stopped by Draco's hand, which was clutching her shoulder fiercely.

"Granger, wait," Draco pulled her back to where she had been standing before dropping his hand and releasing her from his clutch.

Hermione felt tears of anger stinging behind her eyes but ignored him, staring Draco down with a furious glare. "What do you want?"

Draco took a deep breath and met her eyes. With a pained sigh, he said, "I… I appreciate your help."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at this. This was the absolute last thing she had been expecting to hear. He continued on, obviously finding it very hard to speak.

"I acted rashly and... I apologize," he continued as Hermione's eyebrows raised even higher toward her hairline, "But I'm under a lot of stress. And… I think you should know that I think you're right."

Hermione bit her lip, waiting to hear it. The apology, a real apology, that she had been wanting since second year when he called her a Mudblood for the first time.

"I'm sorry for how I've been in the past. You've blamed my parentage, but honestly, I can't use that excuse any longer. I was ignorant, childish and a bigot. So, I just wanted to tell you, as hard as it is for me to admit, I think you were right about what you said about Muggleborns."

Hermione felt the tears stinging at the back of her eyes push forward, and she quickly swept them away. "Draco, I-"

"No," he shook his head with a sigh, "I'm sorry."

Hermione nodded curtly. She appreciated the apology and wanted to forgive him, but didn't know if she could. Not yet, anyways.

"I want to forgive you," Hermione said in a quiet voice. "I really do. But… it's hard. I can't do it. Not yet, at least."

Draco nodded, a look of understanding on his face. "I get it. But someday?"

Hermione gave him a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, someday, maybe."

Draco awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and Hermione was snapped back to reality.

Hermione cleared her throat and turned her attention to the cabinet. "Shall we continue?"

"Yes."

"Harry, I don't care what Ron and Lavender are doing," Hermione said as she stacked her books up, lying. She did care, but only because she was mad at Ron.

Well, she wanted to care. It was strange; originally, her crush on Ron only continued to grow all year long, but now Hermione didn't feel as smitten with her friend.

The two friends were sitting in the Gryffindor Common room together later that week. After Draco's apology earlier that week, Hermione had gone to the Room once or twice more. Their relationship was slowly fading from constant bickering to mostly bickering with occasional moments of civility.

Of course, Draco still made fun of her hair, her overly studious habits, her house and her friends, but it was more of playful banter, rather than the usual contempt disdain he held for her.

Harry didn't look convinced. "When you're upset, you stay away from Ron and go to the library. Hermione, you've been at the library at least eight times in the last two weeks. What could you possibly be studying so often?"

Hermione blushed, knowing she had, in fact, only been to the library once or twice to quickly do her homework (which was quite easy as she had already learned all the information once before) and the remaining time was spent either on her Ancient Runes assignment or on helping Draco repair the cabinet.

"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes are very complex subjects, and on top of those, I have an Ancient Runes project that I've been working on all year as well as all my other classes. So, forgive me for not caring about Ron's snogging habits and putting more attention on my classwork."

Harry shrugged, "Fine; I suppose I believe you."

"You suppose?" Hermione asked, looking and feeling affronted, "Harry, what is it that you think I'm doing?"

Harry blushed at her sudden interrogation but responded, "Honestly? I think you've been meeting with Malfoy."

Hermione groaned with frustration. Flinging her hands up, she cried, "This again? Honestly, how many times do I need to explain this to you? We're partners in Ancient Runes! And don't start about wanting me to spy on him, because I will not do it!"

"Come off it, Hermione. You have to admit that he is at least slightly suspicious!" Harry exclaimed, trying to get Hermione to admit to it.

Hermione folded her arms and glared at him with a stare that could rival Mrs. Weasley. "Harry James Potter. I will not have this conversation again. I've spoken with Draco plenty of times over the past few months and I can assure you that he is not a Death Eater."

Harry replied in a sulking tone, "Fine."

Hermione dropped the death stare and smiled, "Would you like to head to dinner?"

Harry smiled, looking slightly alarmed at her sudden change of heart but joined her, leaving the common room behind.

"Aren't you excited for the Slug Club Christmas party?" Cormac said with a waggle of his eyebrows as she was studying in the library later that week. "It's getting closer."

Hermione, pursing her lips at her History of Magic textbook, looked up with a forced smile, "Yes, Cormac. I'm sure it will be fun."

"Yes… fun," Cormac smirked, stood up straight (he had been leaning on a chair opposite from Hermione) and tilted his head in a goodbye. Hermione rolled her eyes as he left and let out a disgusted sigh.

"So," Hermione turned around to see Draco, walking toward her from behind a shelf, holding a book on Magical Transportation. "You're still going with him?"

Hermione sighed, "Well, I can't exactly back out of it with only a few weeks until the party."

Draco scoffed and Hermione noticed the book in his hands.

Hermione tilted her head to read the title of the book Draco held sideways in his hands, "Magical Transportation: A Guide to The Rarer Side of Transportation. Is that for our… Ancient Runes assignment?"

Draco's lips curled into a small, wry smile at her nickname for the Vanishing Cabinet. "Yeah… for Ancient Runes."

"Any new information?" she asked as she lazily scribbled more information down for her Potions essay.

Draco sighed, "I haven't read it yet. I was about to find a place to sit and start when I heard some grossly offensive attempts at flirting from McLaggen, and I just had to see who he was tormenting with his words."

Hermione snickered at his cruel joke, and stopped writing to grab her wand and levitate a chair toward her table. "If you don't have anything better to do, we could work on, er, Runes."

Why did I just say that? Just because I'm helping him doesn't mean we're friends! Hermione scolded herself before realizing, Well, actually, I suppose having a friend would significantly lower his chances of pitching himself off a tower.

Draco raised an eyebrow, used to animosity and bickering with Hermione, but tentatively replied, "Okay."

So he sat down, across from the girl he used to despise, and began to read.

"No, Ronald," Hermione whispered aggressively to Ron while Slughorn was lecturing about the Polyjuice Potion later that day.

Ron was trying to get Hermione to help him with a History of Magic assignment despite not exactly being on good terms with her. Although Hermione was starting to realize that she didn't necessarily envy Lavender or hate Ron because he was dating her, she was mad at his childish immaturity that led to his relationship with Lavender.

There hadn't been any Felix Felicis, meaning that he hadn't kissed Lavender to spite Hermione, and if he had it was because he had been annoyed with her for some other reason. The whole situation was rather stress-inducing for her.

"Please, Hermione," he pleaded, sitting beside her. "You'd do it for Harry."

Harry's eyes snapped up, not wanting his name to be dragged into their conversation.

"No," Hermione looked pointedly at him, "I wouldn't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to listen to Slughorn."

Hermione could sense Ron looking at her, undoubtedly trying to guilt-trip her into helping him out. She refused to look back at him and turned her gaze to the other direction. Unfortunately, that meant she was looking at McLaggen who was staring suggestively at her. She scoffed and decided to look straight ahead.

When Slughorn was finished lecturing about the potion that Hermione had managed to brew at age twelve, they began to prepare to create Polyjuice. Harry tried talking to his two friends about something they could all discuss, but the number of shared interests between the friends wasn't particularly broad.

"Er…" he tried, "have you been enjoying patrols?"

Ron rolled his eyes, "I've been patrolling with Slytherins and Ravenclaws. The two most ruddy arrogant houses I know."

Hermione sniffed, "It hasn't been particularly horrid. I did have to patrol once or twice with Draco," Ron rolled his eyes at the use of his first name, "but our schedule has changed and I've been walking with Padma and Ernie. Some of us don't have such close-minded views on the houses."

Ron sneered, "Name one Slytherin who isn't-"

"Guess what," Harry interrupted, not about to listen to another argument. "Dumbledore and I have been doing more meetings, and I've found out more about Voldemort's past."

As Harry explained the newfound information, Hermione paid little attention, having already heard the majority of this information.

She instead turned her gaze to Draco's bookbag, which was lazily discarded beside him. She thought of his journal, wondering what the newest entries would entail. Hermione didn't want to betray his trust by reading his private thoughts now that they were acquaintances? Friends?

No, definitely not friends. Not yet. They hardly knew anything about each other. With a determined chop of her flobberworms, Hermione decided that would be her new mission. To learn about Draco Malfoy.

While Draco and Hermione were sitting on 'their' sofa across from the cabinet, working on Runes, Hermione decided it was time to begin her plan.

"So," she said casually while Draco was reading a book on advanced Runes translations, "how is it that we've spent four months together and don't even know each other's favorite color?"

Draco looked up, his face apathetic. "How is that relevant to Runes?"

"Because a good team doesn't work without a steady foundation," Hermione improvised. "So, let's hear it, then. Is it emerald green or olive?"

"Ha, ha," he sarcastically drawled, "but my favorite color is actually blue."

"Like sky blue? Navy blue?"

"More of a…" Draco squinted slightly, searching for the right words, "a Prussian blue, I suppose. Not too blue; not too green."

Hermione nodded appreciatively before contributing, "Well, not that you asked, but I've always been fond of green. Like a deep seaweed green."

Draco jokingly scoffed, "That is officially the most ridiculous thing you've ever said."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed, laughing.

Draco's face fell to a look of distaste as he cried, "That is so out of character for you! I would've expected maroon or burgundy, or some shade of red. Something very Gryffindor-ish. Not," he looked pointedly at her, "seaweed green."

"It is not ridiculous!" Hermione replied, smiling at the absurdity of their conversation. "Besides, you just said your favorite color is blue! That's a Ravenclaw color!"

"Prussian blue, Granger. Much more refined than," he scoffed, "seaweed green. What would Potter and Weasley think of their dearest Granger liking a shade of green? Suppose that started when you came to Hogwarts and met the vastly superior members of the Slytherin house?"

"As if," she crossed her arms. "I've liked green since I was a little girl."

"Fine, then," Draco sat up a bit straighter, "I'll entertain the idea of getting to know you, only to prove that the majority of your opinions are stupid and invalid."

He paused to think.

"What is your favorite portrait in Hogwarts?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Intriguing question. Much better than mine. But I suppose the answer is the portrait of that melancholy woman reading in a flower field. On the fourth floor; by the library."

Draco had now closed his book and was thinking about his answer. "I don't think I've ever noticed that portrait."

"Most don't; it's tucked away in a dead-end near a window, which draws most people away from the painting."

"Well, I rather like the landscape on the fourth floor. The one with the mountain and the field."

"I wonder," Hermione mused, "if the two paintings are somehow connected. Whose turn is it to ask a question?"

Their game continued until the bell rang. By the end of the banter, Hermione learned that Draco owned a black cat, vacationed in various European countries over the many summers of his childhood, hated the word 'doily', and could play a few songs on piano.

Overall, Hermione was happy with the start of her accumulating knowledge on Draco.

Laying in bed toward the end of November, Hermione couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning in her sheets, she had the uncomfortable feeling that she had forgotten something important. Annoyed at herself, she decided to read if she wasn't going to sleep.

Crawling quietly on her bed toward her trunk, she dug to the bottom of the bin to find the book that she had bought last month before Katie had been cursed.

Having been so caught up in drama with Ron, schoolwork, and Draco, of course, she hadn't had much time to appreciate her new buy. Settling down in her bed, she began to read by the dim light of her wand. After a few minutes, she stumbled upon a short passage dedicated to Tempus Itinerantur.

Tempus Itinerantur, perhaps one of the most complicated and most dangerous time travel spells ever cast, is a charm that has been largely forgotten by the population of the magic world due to the extreme, and even fatal consequences of miscasting. In 1294, the spell was officially outlawed in all countries after a fatal mistake killed Aldwin Brickenden and destroyed the memory of Helewise Brickenden.

After careful research and studious experimentation, the British Ministry of Magic released the following information.

'A new revelation has been made in reference to the complicated and perilous spell, Tempus Itinerantur. The reason that the spell is so deadly is that following the casting of the spell, if the person(s) casted upon does not complete whatever task they were inadvertently given by the original date and time of casting, death is almost unavoidable. If the said task is successfully completed by the time of casting, the person(s) casted upon will forget the original timeline and accept the reality he or she lives in as the only reality he or she has ever known.'

To sum the analysis of the spell by the Ministry of Magic up, if whatever the task given to the person the spell is cast on is not completed, that person will die. If they manage to successfully complete their task, they will forget that the spell was ever cast and their mind will replace the missing gaps caused by timeline overlaps and changes with new information.

Hermione closed the book slowly. Death? Memory loss? By the end of March, Hermione would either join Draco in a coffin or forget the reason she was even doing any of this.

Well, shit.