Out of Hand II: A Matter of Time by relativelypositive

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related and I make no money from the use of the characters created by J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 9

"…them off. There's no way we can have the ceremony right now!"

"They're already here. It would be impolite to cancel."

"I will not subject Miss Granger to the ceremony unless I know what she has been through."

"I will apologize profusely and reschedule for this evening."

"You do that."

Hermione was slowly waking up, and she felt bizarre.

She felt like she was back on the painkillers she was given when she broke her arm. It was the feeling of knowing you were in pain, but not really caring.

"Who poisoned her? How did they do it? The magical signature is so complicated…it's almost as though on top of being poisoned Miss Granger was cursed! But the diagnostic spell clearly said Moonseed Poison! How did she stay awake? Why was she screaming?"

Hermione cracked her eyes open to see the headmaster and the medi-witch on one side of her bed studying the diagnostics, Professors Snape and McGonagall on the other, quietly bickering.

"Thank the heavens that the bezoar worked, Severus. Now if we can only figure out why she is in such pain."

They had used a bezoar? Ewwww. The idea of a bezoar as a life-saving measure was textbook first-year potions knowledge…but it was disgusting. If she weren't in the state of "I don't care" she would probably be retching!

"It is not a side-effect of the poison or the bezoar. It must be a physical ailment or a curse!"

"It isn't physical. That would have shown up in the diagnostic spell."

"It almost looks like spell damage! Like she tried to break an unbreakable vow!"

"Chaperone," Hermione croaked out. Why did her throat hurt so much?

"Hermione?" Professor McGonagall's face was suddenly much too close to hers. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

"Yeah. My chaperone poisoned me. Then, when I used your gift there was a ripping pain."

"My…oh. Yes, I see. Albus, I have made a terrible mistake. I was only trying to help!"

"You did help me! If I hadn't used your gift I would be dead, wouldn't I?"

"Pray tell, what is this mysterious gift?" Professor Snape asked.

Professor McGonagall looked guiltily at the others gathered around Hermione. "It's just that the whole situation was so unfair! Narcissa Malfoy was exercising control over Hermione's life and I wanted to give Hermione a way to fight back! I thought I had considered everything."

"You didn't consider that my chaperone would be a homicidal maniac?" Hermione asked casually.

"Your chaperone?" Professor Snape questioned. "The ceremony isn't for another twenty minutes. They've just arrived and are having tea in the Great Hall."

"I gave her a time turner," Professor McGonagall murmured, clearly embarrassed.

"Where did you get a time turner?" Professor Dumbledore asked curiously. "I've always wanted one, but they are kept under such strict rules by the Ministry. I tried to make one once. Something went wrong. Before I knew it all the produce in the kitchens was rotting. The elves were beside themselves. They thought it was something they had done. That was quite the…"

"Headmaster," Professor Snape interrupted, "if you would, do you think you could get the dissolution spell for Miss Granger? I'd like to get this bonding undone before I have to administer another pain potion."

"The only way for the bond between a betrothed witch and a chaperone to be dissolved is for it to be overridden by the bond between man and wife."

"That can't be true!" Hermione yelled. "There has to be a counter-spell! I will not get married!"

"Albus, really, there must be a way."

"Oh, well, yes! Death. Hermione or her chaperone could die, therefore dissolving the bond."

"That's a little extreme."

"Doesn't really seem that extreme," Hermione commented.

"Haven't we had this conversation before?" asked Professor Snape.

"Call my parents!"

"Hermione, why?"

"They have friends that are medical doctors. We did discuss this before. When I was trying to find a way out of the engagement."

Professor Snape scoffed. "Foolhardy. Yes, I understand that the Muggle science is plausible, but the risk is too great. You could die…permanently."

"What is the other option? Letting her suffer?" Madam Pomfrey defended.

Hermione was quite shocked. Had she found an unexpected ally in the medi-witch?

The debate was interrupted by Professor Sprout bustling in, followed closely by Draco and Blaise.

"Why was I not informed immediately? That is my fiancée! I had to learn that she has been in the hospital wing for hours by accident?"

"Calm yourself," Professor Snape ordered.

"What happened to her?" Draco demanded.

Professor Dumbledore led Draco from the door to Hermione's side. "She was poisoned. Thanks to a bezoar Hermione survived."

"A bezoar? Ewww. And I thought Weasley tongue was the grossest thing I'd have to scrape out of your mouth before I kissed you!"

Draco smiled down at Hermione and she woozily grinned back.

"What's wrong with her?" The smile was replaced quickly on Draco's face by fear.

"Strongest pain relief potion and spell combination we have," supplied Madam Pomfrey.

"What poison was it? How long will the aftereffects linger?"

"It was Moonseed Poison," Professor Snape said. "In combination with the attempted dissolution of a bonding spell. It has…complicated things."

"Hermione? Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Nope. Hunky dory here!"

"How long is she going to be loopy?"

The adults exchanged worried looks. The headmaster stepped forward to lay a comforting hand on Draco's arm.

"We find ourselves with a rather unsolvable problem. Or rather, the only solutions are drastic. Hermione was bonded to her chaperone, then used a time turner to return to a time where her chaperone is not yet bonded to her. Hermione is still bound, and therefore is suffering the agony of a fractured bonding spell."

"So find this chaperone and re-bind her!"

"Impossible. First, Hermione claims her chaperone is the one that poisoned her."

"She did! The bitch. Let's kill her!" Hermione interrupted, letting all the indignity she felt shine through.

The headmaster cleared his throat and continued. "Second of all, Hermione is already bound. She can not be bound again to a chaperone, even to the same person as long as the first spell is in place."

"Well then, what do we do? Just tell me! I'll do it!"

"You won't like it," warned Professor Snape. "You didn't like it the first time around, you'll like it even less now."

Hermione watched Draco, her sexy Draco, as he started to pace. There was nothing wrong with her hearing, her thought process was just a little screwy. She had followed the conversation perfectly well and knew that she was going to see if her theory would work. She was pleased. She knew her hypothesis was sound.

Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy!

Okay, she thought, maybe her thought process was more than just a little bit screwy.

"No!" Draco had caught on quickly and tried to put the kibosh on the idea once again.

"This isn't like before," Professor Snape said with more compassion than Hermione had ever heard from the abrasive man. "She will have to be dosed with pain potions and kept under constant care unless this bond is dissolved."

"And the only way is to kill her?"

"Well, no," Madam Pomfrey thoughtfully mentioned.

Draco ignored her. "Couldn't we kill the chaperone instead?"

"It wouldn't have an effect. The timeline Hermione has already experienced still exists. We're now experiencing a new timeline. In this timeline the chaperone not only isn't bonded to Hermione, she hasn't tried to poison her. In essence we'd be killing an innocent woman."

"I hate this! I hate this so much!" Draco yelled, then calmed himself down with a visible effort. He leaned in to look Hermione in the face. "If I lost you…I don't know what I'd do!"

"So don't lose her."

Hermione looked past Draco's glorious face to see Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey smiling widely at each other.

Draco looked sadly at Hermione. "So many things could go wrong!"

Hermione smiled goofily at her fiancé. "Nothing will go wrong!" She reached up and pinched his cheek. "Silly boy! Muggles are amazing! Some day I'll tell you all about space exploration and Facebook! Antibiotics and cell phones! Splitting the atom and Eastenders!"

"I think you misunderstood me, Mr. Malfoy. There is another option."

Draco's face was hidden from Hermione's view when Professor Dumbledore related the other solution. However, the effect was instantaneous and overwhelming.

"You could marry, therefore dissolving the chaperone's bond."

Draco froze, then whooped while jumping up with his arms in the air.

"Yes! Hermione! Yes!"

His joy was infectious and she could feel the answering smile taking over her face, even though in the back of her mind she didn't like the idea of a shotgun wedding.

Suddenly her vision was filled with Professor Snape's assessing visage. "We must dose her soon or the pain will become unbearable."

Hermione tried to move her head to free her gaze of her potion master's stern face. She wanted to watch Draco celebrate his good fortune.

She saw that he had grabbed Blaise, who had been uncharacteristically sober and quiet during this debate, and pulled him into a celebratory hug.

Draco turned back to Hermione, bent over her, and in front of everyone, kissed her deeply.

Finally Blaise spoke up.

"Hey, Draco! What does a bezoar taste like?"

Madam Pomfrey, who had been tearily enjoying the expression of young love, smacked him on the back of the head.

A/N:

Going in a different direction. Realized I had an issue since time turners only go back about seven hours, throwing off my original idea. I'm trying to keep the story 90% in canon, using devices, potions, Weasley products that "exist," etc. Bah….

Thanks for sticking with me! This is darker than I'd intended, but brighter times are ahead. Thanks for the reviews: julietrose21, KodeV, Thomatshu, and Chester99!