Disclaimer: don't own.

That's what happened in chapter 15:

Harry, Draco and Hermione quietly crept out of the door and came face to face with a seventh year Slytherin who glared at them. Draco protectively took Hermione's hand. The Slytherin 7th year took in their robes and his glare suddenly became confused.

"I've never seen you before." he barked curiously. "New students?"

"Uhm… yes." harry nodded. "We are new here."

"And I see you've been sorted into Slytherin." he nodded approvingly. "Still… procedure is procedure. I have to test you, if you are purebloods or at least, halfbloods. No muggleborn in this school." he said proudly.

He pressed his wand to Harry's chest and it glowed green. "Pureblood." the boy mumbled.

The same with Draco; it glowed even greener than Harry's.

When they boy neared Hermione, her breath hitched in fear. What colour would it have? She swallowed convulsively. Did Dumbledore's potion work?

The wand glowed blue. "Half-blood." The Slytherin spoke. "Well, don't worry… still better than a muggelborn. Now, I'll show you to your dorms. Follow me, please."

On with the story:

"By the way, welcome to the SNAKE's institute of DARK MAGIC."

It was like a nightmare for Hermione. And she had been so certain that they had succeeded with their mission. What went wrong? She couldn't think of anything. She had shown Tom how to love – hell; she had even MADE love to him; Tom had stopped using the cruciatus and he had gotten to know and like his father. So what went wrong?

Hermione 's thoughts were interrupted by a snide voice. "Where are my manners? My name is Daniel Burke, by the way." the boy said. "And you are?"

Uhm… should they use their real names? If she used Granger, then he immediately would notice that she was a muggleborn. Or wouldn't he? Was Granger a typical pureblood name?

It was Harry who spoke first – without actually considering the consequences.

"Harry Potter."

Would they recognize him? Hermione waited with baited breath.

"Pleasure, I'm sure." the boy drawled without showing signs of recognition, or disgust. Okay, that was part one of what was frightening Hermione. They boy clearly didn't recognize them. They should therefore not exist.

"Draco Malfoy." Draco said superciliously. "And this is my cousin, Hermione Delacour from France."

Hermione shot him a grateful glance.

Daniel nodded thoughtfully. "So you are going to get married, then?"

WTF? Hermione's eyes flew open in shock. How did he make that assumption?

Even though Draco seemed surprised, he quickly recovered himself and put on his best Slytherin mask. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you brought her here to England? I am talking about that marriage law that was introduced two weeks ago. Purebloods and halfbloods have to get married to each other – even if they are related – in order to keep up the standards. So that no Mudbloods will ever know of our world again." They were passing a window and Daniel pointed to the black sky. "Our master doesn't like Mudbloods that's why he bans them from our world."

Who was this master then? Time to act.

"'oo Eez your master?" Hermione asked with a slightly French accent. If she was from France, she couldn't really know about it anyway and had to keep up appearances.

"Nobody knows, do they?" Daniel answered when they arrived in the dungeons. "But all his creatures are under his command – and so is this school. Our headmaster, Snape, does know him personally though… Although even he claims that even he doesn't know his real face and he is really close to him."

"'im?" Hermione asked sharply.

"It could also be a woman." Daniel accepted grudgingly whereas Draco and Harry snickered behind their hands.

"This is our common room." he told the three unnecessarily. "If you have any question, go and bother the prefects. Good-bye."

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"We should go back." Harry said immediately as soon as they took a seat in the familiar common room.

"What did we do wrong?" Hermione glared at her friends. "I did everything in my power."

"Don't worry, love." Draco said soothingly. "You did exceptionally well. Don't worry, we'll find a way – maybe this is the right future."

"It doesn't really look bright to me, Malfoy." Harry rolled his eyes. "Although I strongly suspect that my parents are alive – Daniel didn't really think I'm famous."

"Famous." Draco sneered and Hermione jokingly slapped his arm.

"I'm still surprised why no one recognized us." she said sadly. "That means we have a slight problem. We are in a wrong time – a time that must not exist."

"What does this mean?" Harry asked frightened.

"Harry, have you ever read 'WHEN TIMETRAVEL GOES WRONG' by Libatius Wriggle?" Hermione said condescendingly.

"Why should I, when I have my mobile library with me every day?"

Draco chuckled and even Hermione couldn't suppress a grin. "It means that we are in a wrong time; a time that should not exist."

"But we couldn't help it; we just returned here."

"THIS time should not exist. It's a time where no one knows us. Do you know what this means?" Hermione asked angrily turning to the blonde Malfoy. "It means we are going to DIE! Because no one knows our parents, because maybe they don't even exist. We won't exist. Draco, send a letter to your father: he won't know you, because you just appeared in this time: a time we know nothing about."

"Oh my god." Harry sank down on the sofa weak-kneed. "So you think my parents don't know me?"

"I don't think so, I KNOW so. No one recognizes us, Harry."

"How long can we stay here before we die?" Draco said sadly.

"I don't know." Hermione said. "We'll have to ask Dumbledore. Why he knew about us is a mystery to me. Ah, maybe because we were in the past."

"What are we going to do?" Harry asked panicked.

Nobody had any idea and nobody answered. Another distraction arrived though and Hermione's head shot up.

"Oh by the way… here is Pansy." she said under her breath.

Hermione and Draco stared at the pug faced girl. Would she go and kiss Draco senseless – like in the other future? Or would she react differently?

Looking coldly at them she just nodded and went her way. "Not interested in newcomers, she is." another voice said. "My name is Sabrina Malfoy by the way."

Draco Malfoy looked slack-jawed at his beautiful blonde long-legged sister and even Hermione and Harry stared.

"Oh… nice to meet you." Draco stammered, as red in the face as Ron Weasley whenever he caught the Quaffle. He had a sister? In this future at least…

"You are?" Sabrina enquired still smiling.

"Draco – and this is my cousin Hermione Delacour from France." Only a Slytherin could have given that answer; with enough information but not too much.

"Oh…" Sabrina smiled. "I like your name, Draco. So is she your fiancée then?"

"Yes." this time it was Hermione who answered. "Oo are you going to marry?"

"Zarachias Smith." she smiled dreamily, but Draco's face suddenly became dark red.

"Isn't he from Hufflepuff?" Draco asked disbelievingly.

"What's a Hufflepuff?" Sabrina asked thrown. "He is from Manchester. And he is a Ravenclaw."

"A Ravenclaw?" Draco repeated confused.

"We have two houses here – Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Aren't you familiar with that?"

"Yes, we are." Harry quickly cut in. "Don't worry, Sabrina."

She smiled. "Your name is…"

"Harry Potter."

"VERY nice to meet you."

Harry blushed scarlet and Draco gave him a death glare.

At that moment, another distraction arrived in the form of Hermione's former favourite teacher. Mc Gonnagal. The portrait hole swung open and here she was. She was wearing her usual emerald green robes and smiled at the Slytherins. What was she doing here?

"Time for dinner. Everyone line up in pairs! I'll accompany you there."

"That's our head of the house." Sabrina told the baffled time-travellers. "We have to go to breakfast, lunch and dinner with HER in case the inferi attack again." Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Seriously – does she think we are first years or what? We can fight inferi off if we only we would want it. But since they belong to our master…"

Ugh. Hermione didn't feel hungry anymore and judjing by Harry's face, he didn't either. They could fight inferis? HOW?

"We have to follow her in pairs. Harry, will you go with me?" Sabrina took Harry's hand and Draco immediately took Hermione's.

"What kind of future is this?" he asked appalled. "It's chaos. No one knows us; the sky is always dark, the dark side uses all kinds of dangerous creatures, no one really knows who's behind it, I have a sister and McGonnagal is the head of our house. Oh and Sabrina – my sister – who is trying to seduce scarhead obviously loves inferis."

"Screwed up." Hermione nodded. "You forgot that there are only two houses open: Slytherin and Ravenclaw."

"My head hurts." Draco complained loudly. "I have to go to the hospital wing."

"Hospital wing?" Sabrina asked from behind them. She had obviously heard his comment. "There is no such thing."

Perfect.

Bloody perfect.

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Even the Great Hall didn't look like the Great hall the three remembered. The stone walls were black and dark green, it looked rather sinister. Instead of the four house tables there were several smaller tables placed randomly throughout the hall. Also, the high table for the teachers was missing. A handful of house elves were scurrying across the room, carrying stacks of plates and trays with glasses. Hermione had to swallow back the bile and felt Draco squeeze her hand reassuringly.

"We'll get through this together."

She nodded at her lover slowly.

"Let's sit down here." Sabrina motioned at a half full table. "You'll get to know your fellow Slytherins."

Oh joy.

Pansy, Goyle, Zabini and a girl Hermione didn't know were seated around the table, all nodding at them. "Harry Potter, Hermione Delacour and her fiancée Draco... What's your lastname?" she introduced them.

"Uh… Lumiere." Draco answered quickly.

"Pansy Parkinson." Pansy said in a bored voice, only glancing at them. Draco raised his eyebrows at her obvious disinterest.

"Gregory Goyle." Goyle looked the same as ever but his voice was different. More outspoken. Well, he almost seemed intelligent.

"Blaise Zabini." who winked at Hermione.

"Clarissa Edgecombe." the curly haired witch drawled and Hermione went two shades paler. So it would be a Clarissa instead of a Marietta. Or maybe both?

The four students sat down and immediately were being served by the house elf of their respective table. Hermione smiled thankfully at the creature, but she just scurried off, looking frightened.

"So, Sabrina…." Hermione began, when she saw Cho Chang almost gliding into the hall. "Vat about ze people oo don't vant to go to zees school?"

"It's this school or nothing." Sabrina, Blaise and Goyle laughed loudly. "You know the Weasley's? Probably not, if you are from France. Well, they are Mudblood-lovers; so called blood traitors and they wouldn't ever send their five children to the SNAKE's institute, believe me."

OMG. 5 children? Who was missing?

"Vat are zeir children called?" Hermione hesitated. "I zeenk, I've eard of zem."

"Charlie, Bill, then their triplets Fred and George and Percy." answered Pansy. "I know them, because my father works in Gringotts with the mudblood lover Arthur Weasley." she explained to the others. "I'm sure, you haven't heard of them, Hermione. They aren't famous. Besides, it's just a matter of time and Weasley will have to pack his bags and leave. We don't need more bloodtraitors."

Hermione felt faint. What had they gotten themselves into? "Eesn't Arzur Weasley ze one oo worked in ze Ministry of Magic?"

"Ministry of Magic?" Goyle raised one eyebrow. "What are you talking about? There is no such a thing as a ministry of magic. Maybe you are talking about the so-called Dark Side? But let me tell you… Arthur Weasley would never work for the Dark Side."

No ministry of magic? No minister? This was getting worse and worse.

"Draco… I don't feel like sleeping in the Slytherin dorms tonight. I'm scared." she said when the others were back to talking. "This is such a fucked-up future."

"I know. My sister can be a real monster." Draco gave her a half smile half smirk.

"Your so-called sister is the only one who is okay." Hermione scowled.

"Fine then. Tonight, we'll sleep in the room of requirement." Draco grinned suggestively. "And we'll make it unplottable.

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Hermione awoke relatively early the next day. Draco was still sleeping and although he held her tightly in his arms, Hermione felt unsafe. She let her thoughts drift and they landed on a black-haired, blue-eyed boy from another era. Hermione missed him terribly. What was he doing now? Was he still alive? Was HE the one from the dark side? Or was he just a normal person?

Her heart ached when she thought of him. Poor Tom. They had left him all alone without any warnings. And then it hit her! The future turned out this bad, because they had just left everyone there – without even saying good-bye.

That was it! They had to go back! Even if it was only for a short time, but still.

"Draco wake up!" Hermione prodded him excitedly. "I know what we did wrong. And I know how we can fix it."

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Although it was still early, they ended up hurrying to Professor Dumbledore's office. They needed the time turner to go back. Of course, Draco was less than enthusiastic, but he didn't want Hermione to go back in time alone. Surprisingly, they had both decided on NOT taking harry with them. Hermione was the key after all; not Harry.

Draco knocked on the wooden door three times and Dumbledore opened them immedialtey, his face white and worn. Hermione caught a peek of chaos in Dumbledore's office – papers, instruments, books and sweets were lying everywhere.

"Uhm… professor. Is this a bad time?" Hermione asked worriedly.

A tear escaped Dumbledore's eye, startling the students. "Well – there was another attack last night." he gestured to his office. "An attack of the acromantulas; they were in my office, destroying everything, but the worst part is, that they got into Ravenclaw tower."

Hermione's face went as white as snow.

"What happened?" She whispered.

"Every single student in Ravenclaw died; the acromantulas only left their blood-less life-less bodies behind."

Hermione felt sick and everything started turning. Oh no. This couldn't be happening. This was worse than any horror movie. She sat down weakly on one of the chairs.

"Professor, we need the time-turner. We need to get back – we know what we did wrong now." Draco said urgently, but to everyone's astonishment, Dumbledore shook his head.

"Professor, we can stop this nonsense."

"My dears… have you had a look around my office?" Dumbledore said incredulously. "Every single item is destroyed; some parts are broken beyond repair. And so is your time-turner. I'm sorry."

This time it was Draco who sat down next to her. "What? There is no time-turner left? Can't you fix it?"

"No. I can't. Sorry." Dumbledore repeated again, looking really sorry though. "It might have been our only chance."

"Oh no. Then we have to try to change the present by being in the present." Hermione said thickly, blowing her nose. "However, I'm scared, professor. No one recognized us. What does this mean exactly?"

"It means, that this time is not supposed to exist. And it also means, that you are not supposed to exist. Eventually you will die."

Draco panicked. "And how can we help that?"

"You can't. You arrived in this time, and the time-turner is broken. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice yourself for a good cause."

"I don't want to sacrifice myself." Draco yelled.

"Shhh, we'll find a way." Hermione said, but she sounded unconvincing. "How long do we have until we die, professor?"

"Hm, I would say a few days. Nothing more than a week."

Great, a week to live, if they were lucky. Draco banged his fist on the table. What should they do?