Hanging by a Moment
Chapter Three – I break in Two Over You
Early the next morning Hermione awoke in the manner of a person would who had forgotten how she had come to be in the place they had awoken in. Her eyes flew open and she shot straight up in the comfortable bed, wondering wildly why she was there and not a cold prison. Her clouded mind wondered wildly if everything in the past year had been a dream, and now she was awake in her own time, her own tower, and a couple walls away her own friends were sleeping soundly, not knowing what their friend was going through.
As soon as she drew her curtain, however, she realized that wasn't the case. On her bedside chair the house elves had dutifully laid out a Gryffindor ensemble for Hermione to wear, probably on Dumbledore's orders, and Hermione could plainly see that they were not the style she was accustomed to.
It was clearly before dawn as Hermione looked out the window while dressing. The sun wouldn't rise for at least another half an hour. She made her way down the winding steps into the common room, and for some reason, wasn't surprised to see Draco sitting in Harry's favorite chair, staring intently into the fire.
She was surprised; however, to see that Draco was wearing robes identical to her own, it almost took her breath away.
"You tell anyone about this," Draco said without looking at her, "I will personally see to it that you are the one without a future."
Hermione giggled in spite of herself. "You got it, Malfoy." She said, taking a seat in her own chair. "What brings you here so early?"
"Probably the same reason for you. Couldn't sleep, woke up in a strange place. I feel like I'm in an alternate universe, and then I see these damnable robes sitting were my Slytherin ones usually are, you think you're in a strange place, try stepping in my shoes."
"I'm surprised you got into them without me having to threaten you," Hermione said with a smile. "Although I'll admit it's a bit unnerving."
Draco smirked. "Then at least I accomplished something today."
Hermione laughed and threw a pillow at him playfully. He threw it back and they stopped at stared at one another for a moment, sizing each other up, almost as if looking at one another for the first time…or in a whole new light.
"I still don't trust you." Hermione said bluntly. "But you're the only thing I have left from a life I loved, and so…I need you." She finished in a very quiet voice.
Draco felt his heart quicken at Hermione's brutal honesty, and then felt it skip when he realized he felt exactly the same. If waking up beside Gryffindor robes had unnerved him, realizing he depended on Hermione Granger launched him over the moon.
"What are you doing to me, Granger?" Draco said in a deathly whisper. Hermione looked confused.
"What?"
"How are you making me feel like I've never actually known you before? How are you making me want to know you?"
Hermione looked, well, surprise would be an understatement. "Maybe it's the times." Hermione said in quiet sort of voice. "In this time…maybe we're not supposed to hate one another, because we don't actually exist."
Draco seemed pacified by this. "And when we get back, will things go back to normal?" he asked.
Hermione looked at him. "That's exactly what I don't want to happen, Draco."
They sat there in silence for a while, both looking into the fire for some sort of familiar comfort, but finding none. It was like this that the Marauders found them.
"You two do realize breakfast doesn't start for another hour?" James asked, after suppressing a yawn.
"You four are up," Hermione retorted, raising an eyebrow.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "James here insists on getting up before Lily does, so that she can't avoid him straight away in the morning."
Hermione giggled. Draco looked amused.
"Speaking of which," Peter said, looking towards the girl's stairway. Lily was descending down the stairs with another seventh year girl.
"Good morning Miss Evans," James pounced on her as soon as she was down the stairs.
Potter," Lily said coolly. "Please, I'm hungry, I want to go to breakfast and then I have some potions homework to check."
"How about breakfast together and I'll help you check it?" James asked hopefully.
"Not today, Potter." Lily said stepping around him, and she left through the portrait hole.
"It was a good try, mate." Sirius said to James with a pat on the back, "Maybe you'll catch her off guard during lunch."
James, like always, didn't looked abashed at the brush off, he had a determined look in his blue eyes, a look Hermione recognized instantly from the look Harry's green eyes would get when faced with a challenge. Hermione looked away and her eyes settled on Remus, who was watching the portrait where Lily had been just moments before.
"So," Peter said. "Breakfast anyone?"
Hermione was unsurprisingly excited to go to class. Not only had she not attended one in over a year, but it would be completely turned about. Potions, for example…
Severus Snape's predecessor was a rather old which by the name of Professor Meg. Hermione was reminded of Professor Sprout, but Professor Meg was much sharper than Hermione's old herbology teacher.
Hermione also got her first glimpse of Severus Snape in potions. A greasy haired boy who stood hunched over his cauldron during class, she was interested to see how he was as a child. He only somewhat resembled the man he was to be, he lacked the air of purpose and confidence that Hermione supposed the war would give him.
Just as promised, James asked Lily out again at lunch, saying something that Hermione couldn't quite here, but earned James a lapful of mashed potatoes.
"Does he really ask her out that often?" Hermione asked Sirius, who along with the rest of the Gryffindors, didn't seem to think anything was amiss as James swore loudly and went about cleaning himself up.
"For about three years now." Sirius said with a grin. "I think she does like him, but figures the shock would just kill him."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully and Draco leaned over to whisper to her. "How the hell did Harry's parents ever get together?" He asked. "His mom hates his father!"
"Something happens this year." Hermione replied quietly. "I'm not sure if we should wait for them to get together before we do anything, if we interfere before they get together, Harry may never be born."
"Not a bad idea," Draco smirked and winked at Hermione, and then it was Draco who earned a lapful of mashed potatoes.
Hermione was afraid of heights. It was a simple enough fear, really. She avoided brooms and trees and other things high up. Everything except the quiddich stadium.
For some odd reason, she loved the quiddich stadium. She loved the hoops and the stands and during games she loved the energy and the people and watching Harry win every time. And now, she loved the familiarity.
She was completely alone, as no game was scheduled that soon in the school term. Back in her own time she would come to the stadium and sit in the stands and read when the common room was too noisy and the library too constricting. But now she was just simply thinking again, now that she had the power to act on her thoughts.
The weight of her rash actions had finally hit her full force when she realized that she had to time everything so perfectly. There was a chance Lily and James would still get together after a bit of shocking news, but was it worth the gamble? How long would it take Lily and James naturally become drawn to one another? Hermione knew she had years really, until they died, but why wait? Was Peter betraying them right as she sat? Was Snape a deatheater this exact moment? Could she really change everything? What was she really willing to risk? Yesterday, in her rash decision to come back to this time, Hermione had declared she would risk everything, and she still would, but what if the outcome wasn't what she wanted? Hermione doubted things could get worse than they were in the future, but still, the little seed of doubt had planted itself in her heart, and the old, rational, smart Hermione surfaced over the new and war-tired one, trying to tell her she was being stupid. Was she stupid?
Hell no.
This was all that was left, and Hermione was going to win.
She just had to make the right friends.
Severus Snape was in the library, his sanctuary, his home away from home. No one ever disturbed him, no one was that stupid.
Obviously, no one told Hermione.
"Hello," Hermione said, taking a seat across from her future professor. "My name is Hermione Granger." Severus didn't say anything, but he did look up from his text long enough to glare.
"Listen," Hermione said in a careful voice. "If I told you I hold a lot of respect for you and your knowledge, what would you say?"
Severus looked up again and stared at her. "I'd say you wanted something, and get the hell away from me, mudblood."
Hermione, instead of frowning or scolding his for his use of language, smiled and replied. "That's very Slytherin of you, Severus, however, I am not a Slytherin, and so you'll have to realize you are quite wrong."
A clouded sort of look crossed over Severus' young face, as if trying to process what it was exactly Hermione had just said. The cloud passed and he smirked. "Very clever mudblood, is it a battle of wits you want?"
Hermione grinned. "If you insist."
Hermione and Severus spent more than an hour in the library, debating, insulting, and all around earning each others respect.
"I have to admit," Severus said, as he prepared to clean up his things after an interesting debate over elfish rights. "You're too smart for Ravenclaw, too bold for Hufflepuff, and, although it hurts me to say it, too cunning for Slytherin, why Gryffindor?"
Hermione shrugged and smiled. "Maybe I've got some bravery in me somewhere."
"Well, hope you never have to find out." Severus replied.
Too late. Hermione thought. "This was refreshing." Hermione said. "I've never had a friend who could match me in a debate, they just back off and assume I'm right."
Severus looked up sharply. "Friend?" he asked, staring at her.
Hermione gulped. "Well, yeah, if you'll have me."
Severus gave her a glare then smirked. "And I've never had a friend who was in Gryffindor. I guess there's a first for everything."
Hermione went to take her leave of the library. "Good bye Severus." She said.
"Goodbye…Hermione."
Hermione waltzed into the Gryffindor common room in time to catch Draco in the act of playing exploding snap with James, Sirius, and Peter. Hermione grinned victoriously and Draco looked slightly ashamed.
Hermione took in the sight. Draco Malfoy was playing exploding snap with a Harry replica. It was off, but somehow comforting. There would be time to taunt him later; however, Hermione was on another kind of mission.
She scanned the room. There were the boys on the floor playing cards, some girls trying out some cosmetic charms in the corner, Remus reading a book in a chair by the fire, Lily working on some homework at one of the work tables…aha.
Hermione walked over to Lily and sat down across from her just like she had Severus. Lily's welcome was much warmer.
"Hello there," Lily said with a smile. "Did you need help with anything?"
Hermione returned the smile. "No, actually, I just wanted some girl talk, and you're the only girl who has actually introduced herself. It gets sort of dull with just boys to talk to."
Lily looked relieved to have a distraction from her homework. "Well that's the truth!" She said with a laugh. "Especially those four, their trouble makers."
Hermione was glad Lily started in on the subject. "And James," Hermione said slowly. "He seems to be the sort of head trouble maker, huh?"
An expression flickered in Lily's eyes that Hermione couldn't quite place. "Yes," Lily replied. "James is one of his own. You never quite know what's going on in his brain."
"Yeah," Hermione said, readying herself for her next daring move. "Is that why you like him so much?"
"Maybe…" Lily said, absentmindedly and then her eyes shot up to Hermione's and she clasped her hand over her mouth.
Hermione grinned and winked at her. Lily turned bright red. "That was very Slytherin of you, Hermione." She said warily.
"I've been getting that a lot today," Hermione said brightly. "So anyway, let's talk about what you're going to name your future kids…"
"You WILL?!"
Hermione looked over in time to see James slump to the floor as Lily, Draco, and the marauders looked on in amusement.
"Always thought the shock would kill him," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Good job Lily; you finally found a way to shut him up."
Lily gave a weak grin. "So what now?" She asked, motioning to the lump that was James.
"This is the part where you kiss the handsome prince and he wakes up." James said from the floor in an over exaggerated stage whisper.
And to everyone's surprise, but most of all James', Lily did just that.
"I can't believe you made friends with Snape."
Hermione and Draco were on one of the Gryffindor couches, both having given up on sleep altogether. They shared a large red and gold blanket and were nursing cups of hot chocolate retrieved from the kitchens about twenty minutes prior.
"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Hermione said. "It's all about playing your cards right, relying on what you know about them. I just played all mine right."
Draco looked at her and was about to open his mouth, but Hermione cut him off.
"I know, I know." She said, sighing. "How very Slytherin of me."
Draco looked surprised, but didn't question her. "And Lily? How did you know?"
"Well," Hermione said as if it were obvious. "I don't suppose that Harry counts as evidence, does he?"
Draco mumbled something Hermione couldn't understand, and then went back to the subject of Severus Snape. "What are you trying to gain by befriending him?" he asked curiously.
"Gain?" Hermione asked. "I don't want to gain anything, I'm just trying to undo about twenty years worth of history. He seems like he had a very bad childhood, and he doesn't seem to have very many friends. Friends make a difference, and I think they could make a difference in him. I don't suppose you know whether he's a deatheater yet, do you?"
Draco grinned. "I know for a fact Snape got his mark after he left school, he told me before I got mine…" Draco rolled up his sleeve and showed Hermione the angry looking green tattoo on his pale forearm. Hermione reached out, almost mesmerized by it and brushed her fingers lightly against Draco's skin.
"Did it hurt?" Hermione asked in a whisper.
"Worse than anything," Draco said honestly. "I cried for days. It was like they injected some sort of essence of dementor in me, I felt depressed for weeks. I honestly didn't think anything could be worse than living with this thing, look" he pointed to, if possible, and even paler line of skin by the skulls eye. "I tried to cut it out, but it grew back in one piece, I'm surprised that's all the more scarring there is. I'll have it for the rest of my life."
"You're very brave," Hermione said. "You're the one risking everything here. All I'm risking is a worthless life if this doesn't work. You're risking your money and power and name, and everything. I'm grateful you're still here Draco, I don't think I could have gotten this far without you, I could still be lying in that corridor, passed out from hunger."
Draco was a bit taken aback by Hermione's honesty once again. He hadn't really thought he was risking much. Of course there was the money and power and whatnot, but what good was it if he wasn't free? He could lie to anyone and say that the Dark Lord favored him and his family, but he couldn't lie to himself, he knew that he wasn't of any real value to Voldemort. No one was. It was only a matter of time before Voldemort achieved immortality, and then the world would end. Power corrupts, and Voldemort was soon to have more power than anyone could ever imagine.
"If this crazy plan actually works," Draco asked. "What do you think the future will be like?"
"Better," Hermione said simply. "Harry's parents will be alive, and Harry will probably not be famous, he wont have a scar. And he and Ron will be alive. My parents too. And maybe there won't be as much prejudice against muggles and muggle borns. And maybe our houses will get along. I wouldn't mind that."
Draco looked at Hermione, who was looking at him as though she was contemplating something very interesting.
"Do you think we'll be friends?" Draco asked her. "I mean, if Gryffindor and Slytherin got along?"
Hermione sat quiet for a moment, then said, "The house rivalries are centuries old, older than we can imagine. Do you think we could change that too?"
Draco gave her a real smile. "You already started it, didn't you?"
Hermione looked puzzled for a moment, before she realized. "Severus? Well, I suppose that's a start, huh?"
"Everything needs a start." Draco said. "You started out just changing a little history, maybe with a little work we can change the world."
"That's very inspirational," Hermione said with a smile. "I didn't know you had it in you."
"You don't know a lot about me." Draco said with a shrug. "Neither one of us are the same people we were in school, and yet we shouldn't even be done with school yet."
"I wish I knew what made you change your mind about everything." Hermione said. "Maybe it would put things back into a bit of perspective."
"I don't know," Draco said with a shrug. "Maybe I was tired of feeling like my shadow had turned into a dementor. I don't really see a bright future for anyone with the Dark Lord in charge, it doesn't matter who you are. That, and seeing Potter and Weasley die…Granger…Hermione…I know we were enemies, all of us…and that was school. I took the role of school bully seriously, and my father groomed me pretty well. I never actually wanted any of you to die. When they brought you into the manor you were still a force to be reckoned with even without your wand, but you started to break, and I watched you break. I realized somewhere along the line I didn't like to watch people break, and I didn't want to be the one responsible for it."
"Draco…" Hermione said quietly. The look she saw in Draco's eyes told her that words were unnecessary right now.
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, both in their own worlds.
"I think we need to start upping it a notch." Hermione said. "If we're going for house unity, we have a lot of work to do."
"I think we can do it." Draco said with a smile. "You took down Snape's walls, Hermione, I think you can do anything."
(A/N) Love this Chapter! And it was fun to re-visit it again and add a little bit, like Draco's soliloquy on the couch there. There's one more prewritten chapter I need to go through then it will be all new stuff I write now. Don't expect anything right away after this next chapter….I'm getting married this Friday! As always, let me know what you think!