It's the Thought

Even the best thief in the world can't steal time. - Ally Carter

She'd never expected third year to be quite so hard. A hefty bout of self-pity seemed so appealing, but Hermione simply couldn't waste the time. She had work to do.

Little particles floated in the column of light next to her chair. She chose this musty alcove knowing that, at this time of day, she wouldn't be there. Not yet. Hermione knew the rules and scheduled herself well.

She sneezed, then cursed She'd forgotten to take her medicine! Now she'd be sneezing until after her next scheduled… Oh, it was hard! Hermione's hand shot down into her bag and swung around wildly until she found the small pack of tissues she stowed in there. It wasn't an ideal solution, but she was unwilling to switch her schedule now. She set the tissues on the cushion next to her and opened the tome resting on her lap.

Hermione woke with a jolt and barely caught the book before it tumbled onto the stone floor. The noise was likely to bring Madam Pince swooping into Hermione's little corner if she wasn't careful. She bent to retrieve her book and checked her watch.

"Drat!"

She was losing her touch. Maybe if she had more time to sleep…

No. That was too much. Hermione needed to get out of the library now, but she didn't want to risk the common room. Not with Ron and Harry being so…

Hermione fought back a sniffle and finished packing her torturously heavy book bag. She would have to brave that empty classroom near Myrtle's bathroom.

She ought to make a not in her planner, but she needed to leave the library or risk running into herself when she would actually need to be seen here.

Huffing a little, she stumbled out of her alcove and ran straight into someone.

"Oof!" She landed squarely on her seat.

"Watch it!" Draco Malfoy loomed over her. As desperate as she was to get out of the library, she felt anger bubble up in her.

No!

No. Now was not the time to start a fight. She fought it down and mumbled a quick, "Sorry Malfoy," as she picked herself up and ran out of the library.

Draco, after realizing he had bumped into Granger, was spitting mad. He knew for a fact that Granger was standing in the stacks on the other corner of the library, near the restricted section.

He had snuck over here to avoid her and the niggling guilt he had whenever he looked at her. Stupid girl.

She was in two places at once. Magically speaking, Draco knew this wasn't impossible. He'd grown up in this world, after all, and thought a little differently than, say, a muggle-born. But it meant she was either breaking rules - laws, even - or had special privileges.

He had to know.

That - oh! Hermione couldn't see straight she was so angry. Malfoy was for certain, no way around it, an incredible arse! He had milked his non-injury for all it was worth. He couldn't leave well-enough alone, could he? She thought, that maybe, after last year…

But no, even the prat had warned her not to expect different behavior from him. That made it all worse, somehow, knowing he was playing a part. Just how much of him was a decent human being, and how much of him was the awful brat trying to get Buckbeak killed?

Did it even matter?

She was so tired. At least now Harry and Ron were talking to her again. But that wouldn't change things. She tried so hard, and still knew…

It wasn't going to work. The Malfoy patriarch had money and influence and his son had a vendetta for a creature he had sustained a well-deserved injury from. But she couldn't say that, not to Harry or Ron, and especially not to Hagrid.

She sighed and opened another book. She needed to revise. And honestly, she desperately needed a break from worrying about Buckbeak. It was looming over her.

She was so desperately tired.

THWACK! Malfoy's head snapped back even as his hands flew up to defend his face.

Much too slow. Hermione wanted to keep pounding her hands into his stupid smirk but turned away. It took all her self-control not to cradle her fist. Punching people hurt. Who knew?

She watched Malfoy run away from her, cradling his nose.

It served him right.

Hermione lay in the lumpy bed in the hospital wing, the curtains drawn around her for privacy. She hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. They had done well. For the first time that school year she wasn't following a rigid schedule, looking over her shoulder, wondering if anyone suspected, avoiding herself.

She was already sitting up and mostly alert, So Hermione simply watched Draco Malfoy back quietly into her curtained-off bed in the hospital wing. Instead of hissing at him, she quietly grabbed her wand from the nightstand and waited for him to turn around. She slipped her hands under the blanket, Why had he come now?

He spun around and was unable to stop an undignified squeak when his eyes landed on her. Obviously, he had the wrong bed.

"Granger!"

"Malfoy."

"Why are you awake?"

"Better question - why are you here?"

They stared at each other. Malfoy raised his chin stubbornly before letting his shoulders slump a bit. "Is that hippogriff alive?"
Hermione bristled, "What do you care?" She watched his shoulders slump more and said, "He got away. Gone. Out of your father's reach. Don't be too disappointed."

Hermione watched Malfoy's face as it softened in relief. Is he serious? She had no way of knowing. Hermione wanted to believe the best in this secretly okay Draco Malfoy, but…

"What are you doing here?" She finally hissed. She couldn't, she just couldn't believe that he was an okay person. He called her names! He tormented Harry and belittled Ron at every turn! Malfoy was a bully currently occupying her space, he was unwelcome.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at the floor. She had no trouble hearing his sharply enunciated answer, "I wanted to make sure you would not say anything."

Ah. That. Maybe he had the right bed after all. Hermione did some quick thinking and decided playing dumb was the best option here. She widened her eyes. "What are you on about? Say anything about what?"

He raised his eyes to meet hers, disbelief obvious on his face. She couldn't help it if he thought she was lying. She was.

"About last year," he prompted.

"What about it? I was petrified for a good deal of it, spent a record-breaking amount of time in the hospital wing, and the other part I mostly remember a whole lot of name calling!" She gripped her wand tighter, wanting that comfort. She was a witch. She could defend herself. Or at least hold her own against Malfoy. And the names didn't matter. They didn't. They didn't.

Hermione watched Malfoy's eyes darting side-to-side. Maybe he decided that she was telling the truth because he swore quietly under his breath and put a mean smirk on his face. He stood up straighter, throwing his shoulders back. "Forget I was here, Granger, I mean it." Aha, the good old 'I mean it.' Last resort of desperate parents everywhere. Malfoy probably didn't know it was the desperate last resort for parents who were usually subpar at discipline.

She briefly considered pushing him, or maybe… Maybe they could talk about…

No. No, he was a bully trying to stay on daddy's good side. The mean mask he supposedly put on proved it. But she didn't want him hanging around either. "It would be a waste of time to remember," she said.

With a jerky nod, Malfoy peeked back out through the hangings and slipped out of her space.

Hermione sighed gustily and lay back down on her pillow. She caught the gleam of the time-turner underneath her shirt and pulled it out. She needed to drop Muggle Studies. It was a silly class for her to be taking. And useless for wizards, but she wasn't about to tell them that. Honestly, they would do better to learn how to actually function in the muggle world, not the rubbish they taught in that class. What did it matter how electricity worked when they didn't even know what a light switch was? With that off her schedule, as well as Divination she would be able to hopefully get to all her classes and do all her work without needing extra time. But that also meant they would be taking the time-turner away.

And look what they had done with it. They saved Sirius and Buckbeak.

And lost Pettigrew. And Professor Lupin had... She shuddered.

No, it was better to give it up. All that extra time had aged her more than her friends and she was already older than them to begin with. She didn't want that responsibility weighing down on her along with all of her classes, plus managing Harry and Ron. Those two were enough trouble as it was. Better to not have the temptation to abuse the power she had been given for the year. She would give it back to Dumbledore in the morning.

As she drifted off to sleep she had one last troubling thought, just there on the edges of her mind. How had Malfoy even known she was in the hospital wing?

Draco waited outside the hospital wing for five minutes, then ten. Then twenty. After half an hour passed he slipped back into the cavernous room and crept toward the hangings that ensconced Granger. This time, he peeked into her area before walking in. He was always backing into trouble. Better to check where he was going than where he currently was. Probably.

She was asleep, her wildly large hair all around her head like another pillow. Her arms were flung up above her head, hands tangled hopelessly in that hair. He would have laughed in any other setting. Instead, he slipped quietly in and avoided looking at her face. At least she didn't snore.

The next bit he was worried about, but almost laughed out loud when he saw it, sitting there on the nightstand next to her. How stupid, to leave something that valuable just sitting around. Maybe Granger was only book smart. The thought made him grin.

Staring at Granger, to make sure she didn't wake up and start playing dumb at him again, he rummaged around in his pocket. Slowly he pulled on the gold chain until swinging in front of him was a time-turner.

It was a trinket from his own Gringotts vault. Entirely worthless, though, it didn't work. He grabbed it over the winter break, on the off chance that he was right, and Granger had special privileges

Stupid bloody Gryffindors and their preferential treatment in absolutely everything.

He stepped up to the nightstand and studied the time-turner laying there. It looked the same. Even the chain was similar enough. He wondered if that mattered. Would Granger notice if the chain she wore around her neck the entire year was slightly different? The links on his looked a little larger. If the chains were important, though, and he thought they were…
No. He wouldn't switch the chain. He wasn't actually sure if he could switch it anyway. That decided, he studied how the turner was laying on the nightstand, then quickly grabbed it and stuffed it in his pocket. He did his best to rearrange the broken time-turner to match how Granger's had lain upon the desk.

With another quick glance at Granger, he started backing away. He stopped at the curtain, remembering that he really ought to look where he was going first. He peeked out and saw nothing save for other closed bed hangings in an empty ward. He took one final glance back at the sleeping Granger. Honestly all that hair, how does she breathe with it floating around her face like that?

He slipped out of the room.

A/N: Thank you for following along with this story. Special thanks to those who reviewed; I appreciated the feedback! If you do take the time to review this chapter and happen to know good spotify playlists (instrumental, heavily piano, acoustic something, anything not too distracting haha) for writing to, I would love to hear suggestions! There are these dogs at apartments surrounding my apartment that bark ALL DAY LONG. It's driving me barmy.

There may be a little timeline smudging. I try to stay mostly correct, but since it is fanfiction that is eventually going to veer dramatically from canon, I hope you will all be okay with the smudging.

Anyway, thanks, guys, I really am new at this. Not necessarily writing, but writing in spaces that allow for feedback. It's very nervewracking, isn't it? I tried to fix the formatting in the last chapter, but it isn't working out. *cries* Formatting seems to remain elusive for me. Any suggestions on that? I'm stuck using the page break lines for every single break until I figure it out. Thank you for reading!

Ta-ta!
LL