Hanging by a Moment
Chapter Two – Here Without You
Vaguely Hermione heard someone groaning beside her. She tried to block the sound out by squeezing her eyes tight shut, but to no avail. She was afraid the guards had left her a surprise in her cell, but as the groaning got louder, her conscious got the better of her and she opened her eyes.
She wasn't in her cell. She wasn't even in Malfoy Manor. A bright blue sky was smiling down at her and she could hear a chirping sound in the distance. Chirping. She hadn't heard such a happy sound in so long; she forgot what it was for a moment.
Finally it hit her. It wasn't a dream or a figment of her weary mind, she had smashed a time turner, and now here she was, back in 1977.
She turned to see a boy with very light blonde hair laying beside her, still groaning and rubbing his head. She rolled her eyes and proceeded to stand up on wobbling legs.
"Come on Malfoy, We have nearly three decades of work to do." She told her companion. He bolted upright and looked around wildly.
"Bloody fucking hell Granger! What in Merlin's name did you do?" He said angrily.
"We went back in time, just like you suggested." Hermione said, biting back a smug smile.
"I wanted to go back 24 hours, where the hell are we now? That was not a one day blast, and why did you smash the time turner? Now there will be no way to get back!"
"It's 1973. I had to smash it to get this far back, and of course we'll get back, time turners are not difficult to make, just dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." She folded her arms across her chest and glared right back at him, daring him to challenge her.
And, of course, challenge her he did. He got up and brushed his hands on his pants and looked at her with a steely gaze. "Do you realize how completely stupid you are?" He asked angrily. "This could change everything! How can you mess with time like this? Everything we know could be destroyed!"
Hermione felt tears sting in her eyes. "Don't you understand Malfoy?" She asked, "Everything I know has been destroyed! There is nothing left for me to lose now! My life? There is nothing in my future now but sadness and death. I felt my friends die Malfoy, I felt them both die, and now the only thing I had left was to die myself. You offered me a chance to change it, and you had better fucking believe I'm going to try. Destroy everything? Nothing is left. I couldn't screw the world up anymore than it already is." She held his gaze, her tears threatening to fall.
To her surprise, Draco smirked. "How very Slytherin of you, Granger, I didn't know you had it in you."
"I didn't a year ago," Hermione said quietly, her gaze drifting to a large tree. "But look at how time has already changed me."
Draco stared at her intently as she attempted to clean up her dirty and ragged robes with her wand. The proud Gryffindor emblem still stood out against the black of her school robe. Draco was wearing just plain (but none the less expensive) black robes.
"So what's your plan now, Granger?" He asked while he watched her perform a cleaning charm on herself. "Ready to shout to the entire countryside about the impending doom of wizard kind?"
"This isn't the countryside, Malfoy," she answered impatiently. "This is just the outskirts of Hogsmead village. And I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet…I hope I got the year right…I didn't have a lot of time to calculate, I could be completely off…" She trailed off into her own thoughts.
"Damn right you're completely off," Draco scoffed. "What calculations? What's so special about 1973?"
Hermione snapped back to attention, and then said with half a grin: "If I'm right, 1973 was the year Harry's parents were 7th years at Hogwarts."
Draco froze. "And what are you going to tell them? Hi, my name's Hermione, I'm from the future, but you're not. In fact, your future ends in about eight years, have a nice life!"
"No, you twit." Hermione said. "I know how they died; I know how to prevent it."
"No one lived once the Dark Lord decided to kill them." Draco answered matter-of-factly. "Not even Potter."
Hermione bit her lip to fight her tears. "I know the details," She insisted. "I know what went wrong, and I'm going to change it. I don't think it would do to just barge in and announce ourselves, though, they'd never buy it, especially Professor Lupin…oh dear, he's not a professor yet, is he?"
"Lupin was friends with Harry's parents?" Draco asked, slightly interested.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin…and Peter Pettigrew." She said the last name like it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
"Wait," Draco said, "you mean to tell me all those people are friends, now? Pettigrew was his friend?"
"Yes." Hermione said. "And he betrayed them. He was the real guilty person for everything Sirius was blamed for. I'll never forgive him for that. I don't know what I'm going to do when I see him. I'll never be able to put up an act."
"An act?" Draco asked. "What act? Did you decide what you want to do?"
"We're going to pose as students." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Yes, we'll pose as students. I'll go to Dumbledore and say we've just moved here, we can be transfer students of some sort…I'm not sure. He never asks many questions, as long as you're cheerful and like lemon drops…and we can befriend them, get them to trust us so they don't think we're completely nutters for telling them we're from the future. Come on Malfoy, I need to do this before I lose my nerve." She started off towards the town, not even looking back for Draco. This annoyed him slightly.
Hermione and Draco walked up a familiar path to the school.
"Okay," Hermione said. "It seems as though it's about autumn. I bet the school year just started. If we play our cards right, we can just slip into the school life unnoticed. If anyone asks, we just transferred here this semester and are just terribly confused. We better find someone who can help us."
"Yeah yeah," Draco mumbled. "I can't believe I'm stuck in the past with a Gryffindor who's just lost the few marbles she had left."
Hermione just glared at him and continued walking, finally finding herself in front of the immense doors of the castle. "Do we knock?" she asked unsurely. "I don't know what to do!"
With an impatient sigh, Draco went up to the door and pulled it open. For being so big, it was very easy to pull. He stepped aside and with a sweeping gesture, beckoned Hermione to go in first. She took a timid step forward before strengthening her resolve and walked in with her head high. Draco followed, pulling the door closed.
Hermione stared up at her school. It looked just like before, but she felt like she was in an old movie. Students were walking around in groups of three or more, talking and laughing. Hermione nearly cried at the sight. She hadn't seen people her own age (or, well, you know) in ages. She felt she could do anything now. She noticed that their robes were a slightly different fashion than the ones she was wearing now. She scanned the crowd for a familiar face, but to no avail.
"Malfoy, I don't recognize anyone!" She muttered miserably. "How are we going to be able to do anything if I don't recognize anyone?" She felt slightly light headed, and swayed in place for a moment.
"Granger, you okay?" Draco asked, looking a bit concerned. "You look kind of pale."
"I'm a little hungry." Hermione admitted. "I haven't eaten anything for awhile, they forgot during all this attack excitement."
Draco looked slightly more alarmed. "Alright then, we'll jut get you to the kitchen, I know where to go."
"But we have to find someone to talk to!" Hermione said, even though she was following him. "We don't have time!"
"We have all the time in the world." Draco said simply. "Relax."
They were in a corridor now, and Draco could see the familiar painting of fruit at the end "Come on Granger, just a little further." Draco coaxed. "I'm hungry too."
But Hermione didn't reply. Her legs began to feel heavier and heavier, and Draco watched in shock as her eyes rolled back into her head and Hermione went down in a dead faint.
"Granger? Granger come on, wake up.."
"That's her name? Granger?"
"No you git, her surname is Granger, her first name is Hermione."
"That's a pretty name."
"Okay, sure, now, can you get her up?"
Hermione heard voices arguing over her head. Someone said her name was pretty. She thought. It didn't sound like Draco's voice though, he must be the other. She felt like she knew that voice, but….couldn't place it. Slowly she opened her eyes, and found herself staring into the bright blue eyes of Harry Potter.
Wait.
Bright blue?
"Aaaarrrghgghhh!" Hermione bolted up and knocked heads with said blue eyes boy. She scrambled back and felt herself collide with another person.
"Well James," The person behind Hermione chuckled. "I daresay that wasn't the first time a girl woke up seeing you and found herself saying those same, er, words."
Hermione turned around and found herself looking at a much younger, much cleaner, and very handsome Sirius Black.
"Ah!" She squeaked, although not as horrified as she was to see her best friend's father.
Sirius was crouched down on the ground looking very concerned. "You alright?" He asked.
Hermione's eyes were opened wide. Finally she took a deep breath and counted to three. She must have looked completely nutters to them.
Them.
She looked around her, and besides Draco, James, and Sirius, Hermione saw a tall, lean boy that looked like he had just gotten over the flu. Professor, er, Remus Lupin, and beside him was a much shorter and stockier boy. Peter Pettigrew.
Hermione was filled with such a rage she couldn't contain herself. She narrowed her eyes, but remembered that she had to stay calm.
"I'm sorry," She said to Sirius and James. "It's just that my friend and I have just transferred, and we're a bit lost. We were here at the beginning of the term, but somehow managed to get locked in a very odd room before we even made it to our dormitories. We now just got out, and I'm very hungry. That's why I fainted, I think." Hermione bit her lip, silently willing them to believe her.
"Merlin!" James said. "Start of term was three days ago! No wonder! Well, you picked a good place to collapse in front of, that's the kitchens that way. We'll get you something to eat."
Hermione let Sirius and James help her up and beckoned Draco to follow. Draco was looking quite put out.
"How did you know we were here?" Hermione asked once they were in the kitchen, surrounded by houselves.
"Well," Remus said slowly. "We saw you, you could say, and since we didn't recognize your names, we decided to come and get aquatinted. Good thing, eh?"
Hermione nodded. She didn't need him to elaborate. The map, she thought.
Hermione happily accepted the food the houselves were preparing for her, and decided now was a good a time as ever to start making friends.
"What year are you in?" Hermione asked, directing her questions towards James.
"Seventh," He replied. "I'm head boy." He puffed out his chest proudly. Hermione giggled and he noticed her robes, "I see the two of you are in Gryffindor, corrects? What year?"
Before Draco could protest, Hermione quickly answered: "Yes, both in Gryffindor. Correct. We were privately sorted and are in our seventh year as well."
Draco looked furious, Hermione looked delirious. Remus looked bemused. "It's strange that you were actually locked up," Remus said thoughtfully. "Usually the castle doesn't take prisoners."
Sirius looked at his friends and gave out a loud, barkish laugh. "Take prisoners Remus?" he howled. "Oh that's rich."
"Well…" Remus nodded and blushed a light pink. "You know."
Hermione looked at each of the friends and felt more alone than she ever had in her cell. She was here, with her best friends father, here without him. It didn't feel right, but…maybe she could make it so.
"What school are you from?" Little Peter Pettigrew spoke up, obviously very curious. Hermione fixed him with a look, but knew she couldn't blow the cover just yet.
"Place in America." She said shortly. "Privet school."
Peter looked taken aback at Hermione's tone of voice, and granted, he wasn't alone.
"Erm," Sirius cleared his throat. "bad time at school then?" He asked, almost meekly.
Hermione looked at him for a moment, then realized. "Oh! Well, yes, you could say it was a bad time…it was put under new management, and they didn't like muggleborns much."
James looked furious. "That's all the trouble with the world today! He said passionately. "No one should give a care what sort of blood you have! It's your talent and your personality that make you who you are!"
"I know that," Hermione said, crossing her arms. It took awhile for Draco here, but I think he's starting to realize it as well."
"Draco, eh?" Sirius snickered a little. "Family name, I expect, what did you say your surname was?"
"I didn't." Draco said shortly. "But it's Malfoy, if you're so inclined."
"Malfoy?!" Sirius stared at him, mouth agape. "Malfoy? How the hell are you a Malfoy? The last Malfoy at Hogwarts was Lucius, and he graduated three years ago!"
"There are more than just Lucius, Black," Draco said.
Sirius stared, and then Remus's eyes shot to Draco. "How did you know his name?" he asked suspiciously.
"Heard you lot say it." Draco lied quickly. "Didn't catch the rest of them though."
Harry's dad seemed to be by far the friendliest, and the least suspicious, and the least traitorous, and he pointed them all out in turn. "James Potter, at your service, Sirius Black, he's a dog, Remus Lupin, sly as a fox, and cunning as a wolf, and Peter Pettigrew, he can be a rat sometimes, especially over food."
The four boys shared very similar grins, and Hermione wished she could share in on the joke they had thought was clever and private.
As they were laughing, a very pretty red headed girl burst in on them, wand out.
"JAMES POTTER!" she yelled. "WHAT DO YOU THI-"she stopped short when she saw Hermione and Draco.
"What's all this?" She asked in a much quieter voice.
"Lily my dear," James said with a cheeky wink. "Meet Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, transfers from a private American school. They seem to have been locked up in a room since start of term, and I, being the gracious man and not to mention the best head boy ever, accompanied them to the kitchen for nourishment. Certainly that deserves a reward. Will you go out with me?"
Behind him Hermione could see Sirius rolling around in silent laughter while Remus just shook his head sadly, a small smile playing on his lips.
"First of all, Potter," Lily said with obvious distaste. "I'm not, nor will I ever be your dear, second, Welcome to Hogwarts Draco and Hermione, I'm Lily Evans, head girl and thirdly, the giant squid has beat you to it, Potter, sorry."
James looked completely unabashed by Lily's remark and bowed low. "Alright then, but word in the halls say that Squiddy already has a date with Millicent Brackyard. I shall wait to comfort your broken heart whenever you need me."
Lily gave an impatient sigh and turned to the new students. "I should go and inform Dumbledore of your rescue." She said with a grin. "Gryffindor robes I see, well, welcome also to the house, I'm sure you'll love it."
Hermione grinned and looked at Malfoy. Oh, yes, this could definitely be fun.
"Thanks, Lily," Hermione said. "Would it be okay to go to the dormitories now, I'm kind of beat."
"I'll escort you, my fair lady!" Sirius was immediately at her side, looping his arm through hers. "Have no fear, I'll be sure you get there safe and sound."
Hermione let out a weak giggle and beckoned a disgruntled Draco to follow them. Hermione knew where she was going, but Draco however, did not.
Hermione looked around the old castle, which was exactly the same as she had left it so many years in the future, except for what looked like almost deliberate mistakes. Suite of armor that she recognized from one part of the castle seemed to have become bored in the next few years and now stood by the Gryffindor portrait hole. Portraits where usually stationary, but there were a few less than in her time. It was a little disorienting.
"And here we are, m'lady," Sirius gave her a exaggerated bow and Hermione looked to the picture of a large woman in an unflattering pink dress.
"Er," Hermione said as convincingly as she could. "What now?"
"Password?" The rich voice of the fat lady asked the group below her.
"Chocolate pudding," James said with a grin, and beckoned the group to follow him into the scarlet and gold common room.
Draco visibly blinked his eyes several times, internally marking all the differences between his own common room and this unusually….chipper one.
"Welcome to Gryffindor," James said with a smile. "The boys dorms are that way, girls that way.
Hermione turned around in a full circle, eyes threatening to betray her sadness. The Hogwarts she left was turned into a dark art academy, the Gryffindor tower probably destroyed. There was Harry's favorite armchair, right in the middle of Hermione and Ron's. Closest to the fire, they were always warm enough. There was the large work table that Hermione had often claimed all for herself on many occasions. The bulletin board where Fred and George Weasley advertised their jokes. Oh lord. This was hard.
"It's bright," Draco mumbled. "Very bright."
Sirius seemed to think this was incredibly funny, and let out a bark-like laugh. "'Course it's bright! What do you think we are? A bunch of Slytherins?"
James, Remus and Peter continued to laugh along with Sirius, whereas Draco's pale cheeks tinged a bit pink.
Just then the portrait behind them opened again and Lily Evans came through. Hermione glanced at James and watched as his eyes glazed over at the sight of her. He had it bad.
"Dumbledore has arranged for beds in the 7th year dorms." She said with a smile for Hermione and Draco. "You'll be in there with five other girls, Hermione, and there are two other 7th year boys besides these jokers, Draco."
James winked and Sirius laughed. Remus looked slightly offended. "Certainly you don't group me in the same category, Lily?" He said with a slight smile.
Lily looked at him and smiled back, and corrected herself. "Oh certainly not, Remus here is far better than the other three, and especially better than James and Sirius, you need to watch out for those two."
"I promise you'll never have to look out for me again if you go out with me," James said, grinning at Lily. "Come on Evans, just once."
"Quit wasting your breath Potter." Lily said impatiently. "I have some homework to do, I think I'll go upstairs." And with that she turned and left for the girls dormitory, leaving all the Marauders besides James chuckling.
"She loves me," James declared as he sank into a comfortable armchair by the fire. "She just doesn't know it yet,"
"Scary," Hermione said under her breath to Draco. "He's completely right."
"James is slightly delusional when it comes to the affections of the lovely Miss Evans," Sirius said with a playful grin. "Has been at it for about four years now."
"He asks her at least three times a day, seven on a good day," Remus added. "Really, when James wants something, he makes it a priority and will stop at nothing."
Hermione laughed along with the Marauders, while Draco kept back a little, still feeling out of place in the Gryffindor commons.
The six students sat in the various spots around the Gryffindor common room, Hermione occupying the Marauders minds with questions about Hogwarts that she knew already, and before long, Peter was stifling a yawn. It was nearing midnight.
"I think it's time to turn in," Remus said sleepily. "Double potions tomorrow."
Hermione and Draco glanced at one another before agreeing with the others. It had been a long day.
Hermione was quiet as she crept into the 7th year girl's dorm. A large four poster bed identical to the one she has later was waiting for her, magically appearing as soon as Dumbledore heard there was a need. Hermione climbed into it and sunk into the think down covers, remembering for a startling moment that she hadn't slept in a real bed in over a year.
She didn't dream at all that night.